NICE TO MEET YOU

I'm The Real Jason Duncan

I was an unemployed schoolteacher in 2010 when I decided to start a business. I built a multi-million dollar business that was featured in Inc. magazine as one of the fastest-growing privately held companies in America. We also were recognized by Entrepreneur magazine as one of the top entrepreneurial companies in the country.

That sounds great, but I was trapped!

I was trapped as the owner-operator. I decided to figure a way out without selling the company, a method I now teach entrepreneurs all over the world called #ExitWithoutExiting. I show people like you how to retain ownership but get all your time back. 

I started this coaching program and mastermind to exclusively serve entrepreneurs who are tired of the lack of freedom as business owners. 

Why I Do It

I believe that business ownership is not the goal; rather it provides financial resources to support our families and personal lives outside the business. I believe this because you started your business to give you a better life, not just to give you a better job.

This is why I spend most of my time coaching entrepreneurs.

I teach business owners how to design businesses around their lives rather than their lives being built around the business.
I’ve helped founders free up over 50% of their time to focus on more important tasks in the business or just so they could spend more time with their families.

If you could begin living the exit lifestyle without having to sell your businesses like I’ve helped all of my other clients do, what would stop us from working together to get you there, too? Click below to apply to work directly with me.

My Story

I am the oldest son of two loving parents. I grew up in the small town of White House, Tennessee. I am married to Kristie, my high school sweetheart whom I met on a blind date when I was 16 years old. We have two adult kids: a son and a daughter.

My first career was in pastoral ministry, which I did for 13 years. In 2007 I entered the classroom as a school teacher and spent four years teaching 8th-grade American history.

I became an accidental entrepreneur in 2010 after my school district did not renew my contract for the following school year due to budget cuts. My life would never be the same after that decision. 

It was then that I found myself searching for the next chapter of my life. That is when I founded my first business, which soon became the top LED retrofitting company in North America. My skill as a salesperson coupled with my unique experience as a pastor and teacher combined to make me a very effective accidental entrepreneur.

Since 2010, my leadership as the founder that company led to recognition in Inc. magazine two times as one of the fastest-growing privately held companies in America. It was also named as one of the top entrepreneurial companies in America by Entrepreneur magazine. We also won several Small Business of the Year Awards and a Best in Business award from the Nashville Business Journal. I was even recognized by the Tennessee Small Business Development Center as a “Rising Star” in 2014.

Over the years, I began leveraging my success as an entrepreneur and my unique background as a pastor and teacher to consult and coach other entrepreneurs and business owners to get to success more quickly. In 2020, I founded the coaching and consulting firm, TRJD Enterprises, which specializes in teaching entrepreneurs how to exit their businesses without necessarily selling them to a third party. Then in 2021, I founded The Exiter Club, which is an exclusive mastermind for select entrepreneurs who want to live #TheExitLifestyle.

I am also the host of the nationally syndicated podcast, The Root of All Success. It is a show where I interview the top successful entrepreneurs from across the world about how they got to success. Essentially, the podcast is about how entrepreneurs grow incredibly successful companies.

Currently, I am the owner of five different companies. My primary interest is investing in people because I truly believe that the only thing that moves from this world to the next is people. As I always say, “If you want an investment that pays eternal dividends, invest in people.” To this end, I started a mentorship program called “PEAP”, which stands for Professional Entrepreneur Apprenticeship Program. PEAP is a competitive apprenticeship program for young men between the ages of 21-29 who want a world-class hands-on education in entrepreneurship from an award-winning entrepreneur.

I am a STRATEGIZER

I am able to sort through the clutter and find the best route. I have a distinct way of thinking, a special perspective on the world at large. This perspective allows me to see patterns where others simply see complexity. Mindful of these patterns, I play out alternative scenarios, always asking, “What if this happened? OK, well what if this happened?” This recurring question helps me see around the next corner. There I can evaluate accurately the potential obstacles. Guided by where I see each path leading, I start to make selections. I discard the paths that lead nowhere. I discard the paths that lead straight into resistance. I discard the paths that lead into a fog of confusion. I cull and make selections until I arrive at the chosen path – my strategy. I then strike forward. This is how I put my strength in strategic thinking to work: (1) Ask “what if” (2) select (3) strike.

I am a RELATOR

In simple terms, I am pulled toward people I already know, but I do not shy away from meeting new people – in fact, I enjoy the thrill of turning strangers into friends – but I does derive a great deal of pleasure and strength from being around my close friends. I am comfortable with intimacy. Once the initial connection has been made, I deliberately encourage a deepening of the relationship. I want to understand their feelings, their goals, their fears, and their dreams; and I want them to understand mine. I know that this kind of closeness implies a certain amount of risk – I might be taken advantage of – but I am willing to take that risk. For me a relationship has value only if it is genuine. And the only way to know that is to trust myself to the other person. The more we share with each other, the more we risk together. The more we risk together, the more each of us proves that our caring is genuine. These are my steps toward real friendship, and I take them willingly.

I am an ANALYZER

My analytical nature challenges other people: “Prove it. Show me why what you are claiming is true.” In the face of this kind of questioning some will find that their brilliant theories wither and die. For me, this is precisely the point. I do not want to destroy other people’s ideas, but I do insist their theories be sound. I see myself as objective and dispassionate. I like data because it is “value free”. It has no agenda. Armed with data, I search for patterns and connections. I want to understand how certain patterns affect one another. How do they combine? What is their outcome? Does this outcome fit with the theory being offered? These are my questions. I peel the layers back until, gradually, the root cause or causes are revealed. Others see me as logical and rigorous. Over time they will come to me in order to expose someone's “wishful thinking” or “clumsy thinking” to my refining mind. It is hoped that my analysis is never delivered too harshly. Otherwise, others may avoid me when that “wishful thinking” is their own.

I am an INNOVATOR

I am fascinated by ideas. An idea is a concept, the best explanation of the events. I am delighted when I discover – beneath the complex surface – an elegantly simple concept to explain why things are the way they are. An idea is a connection. Mine is the kind of mind that is always looking for connections, and so I am intrigued by seemingly disparate phenomena that can be linked by an obscure connection. An idea is a new perspective on familiar challenges. I revel in taking the world we all know and turning it around so we can view it from a strange, but strangely enlightening, angle. I love all these ideas because they are profound, because they are novel, because they are clarifying, because they are contrary, because they are bizarre. For all these reasons, I derive a jolt of energy whenever a new idea occurs to me. Others may label me creative or original or conceptual or even smart. Perhaps I am all of these. Who can be sure? What I am sure of is that ideas are thrilling. And on most days that is enough.

I am a MAXIMIZER

Excellence, not acceptable, is my measure. Taking something from below average to slightly above average takes a great deal of effort, and in my opinion is not very rewarding. Transforming something strong into something superb takes just as much effort but is much more thrilling. Strengths, whether mine or someone else's, fascinate me. Like a diver after pearls, I search them out, watching for the telltale signs of a strength. A glimpse of untutored excellence, rapid learning, a skill mastered without recourse to steps – all these are clues that a strength may be in play. And having found a strength, I feel compelled to nurture it, refine it, and stretch it toward excellence. I polish the pearl until it shines. This natural sorting of strengths means that others see me as discriminating. I choose to spend time with people who appreciate my particular strengths. Likewise, I am attracted to others who seem to have found and cultivated their own strengths. I tend to avoid those who want to fix me and make me well-rounded. i don't want to spend my life bemoaning what I lack. Rather, I want to capitalize on the gifts with which I am blessed. It's more fun. It's more productive. And, counterintuitively, it's more demanding.