Jonathan Yamasaki was born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona. He is a traveler, singer and also the host of the Go Entrepreneur Yourself podcast, who from a young age had to learn to deal with a tough environment.
“While most high school kids dodged balls and physical education, I had to dodge gang violence and an abusive home. As a kid, I was trying to survive because neither my home nor the streets were safe.” Jonathan shares.
Jonathan’s life began to change when he went to college, which gave him the opportunity to be an example of resilience and hard work to others.
“Struggling with poverty, child abuse, and gang violence is what helped me deal with any adversity that came my way, from my childhood experience, my involvement in college and starting my professional career, I have exemplified resilience and hard work that not all people can say they have. Experiencing and enduring challenging moments in the professional workplace and in personal life has allowed me to build the emotional intelligence and ambiguity tolerance to be able to work with people from diverse cultures and backgrounds.” He adds.
Today, Jonathan works for a local non-profit organization that supports high school and college students through college access and support with the goal of graduating from college.
Moreover, he produces and hosts a podcast called Go Entrepreneur Yourself, where he features entrepreneurs and leaders from across the country who share their story of adversity, and talk about advice and business success.
“Go Entrepreneur Yourself interviews entrepreneurs at different stages of their business, from up and coming to established startups.”
This podcast is highly recommended for anyone who wants to start their own business, people who are already growing a business, and also anyone who likes to listen about someone else’s story.
“Our show aims to inspire a community of entrepreneurs to stop dreaming and start entrepreneurship, that is, to get up and start putting their ideas into practice instead of sitting and thinking about them. Listeners not only get advice by tuning in to the show, but they also have the opportunity to contact some of our entrepreneurs directly for advice.” Jonathan states.
The motivation behind the podcast was seeing that there were not many community platforms or organizations in Arizona that taught young and aspiring entrepreneurs how to start their own business.
“Not understanding the reason why so many people don’t take the next steps to start a business, I wanted to make sure that those with an amazing business proposal had no choice but to start taking their idea from the drawing board to an official company. As a result, I was motivated to help my community by developing Go Entrepreneur Yourself, which inspires future entrepreneurs to take action and follow through with their ideas while giving them advice from already successful entrepreneurs.” Jonathan explains.
In creating his own podcast, Jonathan was inspired by others such as The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, How I Built This with Guy Raz, and Entrepreneur On Fire by John Dee Lumas.
“We love to share a wealth of information to those who may not have access to the right people and help others find their purpose and achieve greatness in personal or professional life.” He says.
The Go Entrepreneur Yourself podcast is different from other podcasts in that it offers digestible and valuable content on business that teens and young adults can easily understand.
“We offer a diversity of guest entrepreneurs ranging from music to the tech industry. In addition, we bring in guests who might not otherwise be the ‘ideal’ entrepreneur in that industry. For example, a first-generation Latina woman managing a startup and building the company from the ground up to a 9 figure multi-million dollar brand or an undocumented immigrant who was recognized as a Forbes 30 Under 30 reception who created a non-profit organization to support Dreamers through art therapy and civic engagement.” Jonathan adds.
In the near future, Jonathan wants to expand the Go Entrepreneur Yourself podcast by creating a non-profit that supports underrepresented youth who want to start a business through training and seed funding.
“So if you want to listen to quality content, have a good time and at the same time learn from others who have already started their entrepreneurial world, you can listen to the podcast on Spotify, Google Podcast, Apple Podcast, and all other streaming platforms. Tap in, subscribe, and leave a review on apple podcast and Spotify if you enjoy the show.”
Find out more about Jonathan here.