E234 - Lessons from Jordan Meyer: Focus Beats Hustle

Rob Tracz: What's going on, everybody? Welcome back to a Friday recap episode of Surviving the Side Hustle. I want to kick it off by asking you, or saying this actually. If you try to do everything, you'll do nothing well.

See that quote came from this week's guest on the guest interview episode, Jordan Meyer. He's the founder of Addy Health. And honestly, it stopped me when he first said that. Because Jordan is building a skincare business.

Grant specifically formulated for people on GLP one medications. You know, the ones like Ozempic, Wagovi, the drugs that are reshaping how a third of America thinks about weight and health. The problem he spotted is real. People take these medications to look and feel better, and then they get what the internet has started calling Ozempic face.

The loose skin, the deep lines, the hollowed out jaw. And Jordan saw that gap. He did the research, he formulated around the science, and he built Addy Health to solve it. The company is about a year old and already operating in channels that Jordan had zero experience in when he started.

So if you're a builder who has ever had to figure something out with no roadmap and no warm context, this recap is for you specifically. So before Addy Health, Jordan was the CEO of Obaji, a skincare brown brand going through what he calls a hardcore turnaround. We were talking SEC investigation, the threat of being delisted from the stock market, and 80 to 90 hour work weeks just to keep the lights on and the company moving in the right direction. And the thing that stuck with me from that stretch of his life is how honest he was about the CEO role actually is.

People picture the top job as the easiest one, right? Like you give directions, others execute, done deal. Jordan said it's almost the opposite though. As CEO, you carry the most responsibility and in some ways have the least direct control because everything you want to accomplish has to move through other people.

So he had to learn fast how to transmit a vision, get alignment and and lead through agency rather than authority. He navigated all of that and then, instead of taking a breather, he spotted the GLP 1 skincare gap and left to build something from scratch. Addy Health launched with a plan to go through med spas and dermatology clinics, the channels that Jordan knew well. And then reality arrived and redirected him towards compounding pharmacies and telemedicine companies.

Spaces he had almost zero network in and no playbook for either. So the pivot itself was not the hardest part though. Jordan is quick to point out that being a small, fast startup is actually an advantage when you need to change directions. What was hard was the network.

He did not know anyone in the compounding pharmacy, and he didn't know anyone in telemedicine. He was honest that you cannot just hire a sales rep into a channel that is still figuring it out itself. The infrastructure for co-prescribing a skincare product alongside a GLP1 medication barely exists today. So Jordan had to go build it himself through conferences, through LinkedIn, through conversations that turned into introductions, that turned into relationships.

And the other thing that he wrestled. With that Obagi, the thing that said the turnaround really taught him is how easily you can hang yourself when you refuse to narrow your focus. The pressure to say yes to everything is enormous, especially when the stakes are high and when you feel like every direction and decision is yours to make. Learning to draw a hard line around what he would and would not do, that was not a small lesson.

That was the lesson. So what actually keeps Jordan operating at a high level when everything around him is in motion? Well two things came through really clearly in our conversation. The first is his sleep.

And I know that sounds simple, maybe even a little boring, but Jordan was deliberate about it. He talked about protecting his sleep because it directly shapes his judgment and his emotional regulation. Specifically, his ability not to overreact or underreact to the noise that startups throw at you every single day. The second thing is focus, not motivation, not hustle, not energy, but focus.

He came back to it multiple times in our talk, knowing what you do and what you do not do, making the rugged trade-offs in his words, and then being obsessive about execution on the things that make the cut. He even referenced Steve Jobs on this. The idea that the best management move is usually saying no to almost everything. So the yeses actually get done right.

For Jordan, that discipline is not a personality trait, it is a performance tool. Okay. So, how and where does this connect with the prime performance process? Well, Jordan's approach maps cleanly to a few of the six principles that we talk about all the time.

But the most obvious one is clarity. Jordan is running a one SKU brand in a channel that had to learn from zero. And he knows exactly what the two things are that he works on every single day. That kind of operational sharpness does not happen by accident.

It is the result of making deliberate choices about where your attention goes and where it does not. And the sleep piece that connects directly to energy and resilience. Because what Jordan is really describing when he talks about protecting his sleep is protecting his capacity to make good calls under pressure. I talk a lot about how you have to understand your own systems before you can improve it.

And Jordan is a living example of it. He's gotten clear on what his body and his mind need to stay sharp, and then he protects it. The whole prime performance idea is that. Looking good, feeling good, and doing great things are not separate lanes.

They feed each other. Jordan's discipline around sleep is not just a health habit, is how he keeps the business moving. All right. And if you want to check out what Jordan's building, go to Addy Health.

co. That is A-D-D-I-E-H-E-A-L-T-H dot C O. They have got one product right now and a full line coming in the near six months. All formulated specifically for people on GLP1 medications.

So if you're on Ozempic, Wagovu, or any of those drugs and you have noticed changes in your skin, this brand was literally built for you. And if you are a potential strategic partner, a pharmacy, telemedicine company, or someone in the GLP1 ecosystem, Jordan is very much open to those conversations. So you can find him and connect with him on LinkedIn by searching Jordan Meyer or find the brand on Instagram at Addy Health. Addy Health skincare it is.

He is out there and he is building in the public. So go and connect with him. So Jordan man, if you're tuning in and listening to this recap, I want to thank you for being open about the hard stuff, like the SEC investigation, the pivot you made, the network that you had to rebuild from zero. And it's awesome because you did not sugarcoat any of it.

And that is what makes it useful for people that are listening today. So genuinely thank you for bringing it. And for everybody who's tuning in to this one, make sure you go check out the other episode. but here is what I want you to sit with.

What is one thing you're currently saying yes to that is quietly diluting everything else? I'll ask again, what is the one thing that you're currently consistently saying yes to? That is quietly diluting everything else. Because Jordan taught us today that it is the trade-offs, and that trade-off that you're making here is not optional.

The focused yes and the rugged no are the same decision. All right. So, if this hit for you, make sure you're following the show. If you're not, you can listen wherever you listen to your podcast.

And if you can catch the full episode with Jordan at survivingtheSidehustle.com. So go over, check it out, and let us know what you think. Until next time, guys, peace, peace, peace, peace.

Catch you next week.