Jonathan Bailor

Jonathan Bailor is the Founder, CEO, and Chief Scientist of the world’s fastest growing metabolic healing and Diabesity treatment company SANESolution. He founded the field of Wellness Engineering and authored the New York Times best seller The Calorie Myth and The Setpoint Diet, starred in and produced the award-winning movie BETTER, has registered over 26 patents, has spoken at Fortune 100 companies and TED conferences for over a decade, and created the best-selling brain, gut, and hormone supplements Vitaae, Viscera-3, Luminae, and Aamia. His work has been endorsed and implemented by top doctors from Harvard Medical School, Johns Hopkins, the Mayo Clinic, the Cleveland Clinic, and UCLA. Jonathan lives outside Seattle with his wife, Angela, and daughters Aavia and Keirra.

Where did the idea for SANESolution come from?

Back in my personal trainer days, I was eating 6,000 calories and couldn’t get bigger while my clients were eating 1,200 calories and couldn’t get smaller. I wondered “What’s so different between us that I can eat five times more calories, exercise less, and not gain weight… while they can eat five times less, exercise more, and not lose weight?”

What does your typical day look like and how do you make it productive?

My day usually starts when I am woken up by my two-and-a-half year old daughter at 5 a.m. I then answer emails before getting her off to school at 7a.m. When I get back, I head to my “groffice” (garage office) to lovingly enable human excellence through proven science, practical habits, and powerful love, at SANESolution (https://sanesolution.com/) until 5:15 p.m. when I go pick-up my two-and-a -half year old. After that, I dedicate the evenings to family time and a bit of work until I fall asleep.

How do you bring ideas to life?

In order to bring my ideas to life, I write it down and then let it marinade. If it sticks, I discuss it with at least two trusted collaborators, then let it marinade some more. If it sticks with all of us, we create at minimum viable product to test it out. I also highly recommend listening to a diverse array of audio books and meditating. The diversity of ideas from the audiobooks have an interesting way of coming together in new and interesting ways during and after meditation.

What’s one trend that excites you?

One trend that really excites me is working remotely. I feel like it can enable people to get radically better work done, AND spend more time with their family if discipline required is developed.

What is one habit of yours that makes you more productive as an entrepreneur?

As an entrepreneur “SANE” eating has helped me maximize my energy and focus to levels that I never thought possible. It’s like having more time in the day. Honestly, if you can get 3 times as much done in the same amount of time, it’s like your days are 3 times as long. As the primary caretaker of two daughters under 3, these 3X days are essential!

What advice would you give your younger self?

If I were to give advice to my younger self, it would be to focus on being effective rather than being “right.” This is because it’s really easy to be “right” and alone and stagnant. It’s impossible to be effective and not further your goals.

Tell us something that’s true that almost nobody agrees with you on.

I’m very introverted. I can “play” an extrovert very very well, but I am energized and happiest with my family or during alone time.\

As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?

Experiment. The truth is, that basically nobody knows what they are doing (exceptions include very specialized and well-defined fields like surgeon, attorneys, accountants, etc). The only way anyone else finds something that works is trial and error. The more “trials” (aka experiments) you can undertake, the higher your chances of success.

What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business?

Experimentation. I see so often that people do what they’ve always done because they’ve always done it. That may work in the short term, but only by constantly experimenting on a small scale will you evolve into something so much greater than you can even imagine right now.

What is one failure you had as an entrepreneur, and how did you overcome it?

Our first attempt at building the software backend of SANESolution failed completely. Nobody liked it and frankly it didn’t really work. We overcame it by having the best angel investor in the world bail us out and give us a second chance. Suffice to say, we’re so committed to deserving that second chance.

What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?

“Hire a tech savvy son” for remote light IT support. It’s a phone number people over 65 can call to get basic tech support from a kind young man who will also take an active interest in their life.

What is the best $100 you recently spent? What and why?

This was less than $100, but buying a blue sweatshirt for my toddler daughter that matches her favorite blue sweatshirt. Everytime we match she gets so happy and gives me a big hug which honestly is the best feeling I’ve ever experienced in my life.

What is one piece of software or a web service that helps you be productive?

Gmail android app. Its suggested replies and sentence completion are amazing. It’s getting close to writing emails for me!

What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?

Antifragile. It will make you “welcome” “problems.” And you’ll probably start writing the word problems in quotes moving forward.

What is your favorite quote?

“Be the change you wish to see in the world.” – Gandhi

Key Learnings:

• To perform better, eat better, sleep better, and move better. No “hacking” needed.
• Focus on being effective rather than right.
• The more you love the more successful you and your business will be.
• Nothing is good or as bad as it seems.
• Having kids is a fantastic way to turbocharge your business because it turbocharges your heart.