What do Bitcoin exchanges and dog food have in common? Innovation, if you ask Jaron Lukas.
In this episode of The Strategic Business Influencer, Paige Velasquez Budde sits down with Jaron Lukas, founder & CEO of Yumwoof Natural Pet Food and author of The Canine Coco Omega Effect. Before disrupting the pet food industry with clean-label, seed-oil-free, and synthetic-free formulations, Jaron founded and sold CoinSetter, one of the first venture-backed Bitcoin exchanges covered by CNBC, Bloomberg, and The Wall Street Journal.
Jaron shares:
– Why he walked away from finance and tech to follow his passion for wellness and pets
– How Yumwoof is challenging one of the most competitive industries by focusing on transparency, ingredient quality, and innovation
– The role of trust and storytelling in building a premium brand that becomes part of families’ lives
– What he’s learned about PR and influence from navigating both Wall Street media and the podcast-driven creator economy
– His personal lessons on burnout, meditation, and building a life of passion and purpose
This candid conversation proves that building influence isn’t about staying in one lane—it’s about aligning innovation with impact, no matter the industry. Read the full transcript of our conversation below.
Want to learn more about Jaron and the incredible work his team is doing? Visit Yumwoof.com.
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Paige: Hi everyone, and welcome to the Strategic Business Influencer, my new series. For leaders who know that in today’s evolving world, trust is the greatest competitive advantage. Today’s guest is Jaron Lukas, a powerhouse and pet nutrition, and a true innovator at the intersection of wellness, tech, and sustainability.
Jaron is the founder and CEO of Yumwoof Natural Pet Food, a company that’s completely re-imagining how we think about dog food. He’s one of the leading voices in clean label formulation, and his commitment to ingredient transparency and product quality has made Yumwoof a rising force in the industry.
Now, before he got called into pet health, Jaron built and sold a successful FinTech startup called CoinSetter, earning national media attention from CNBC, Bloomberg, the Wall Street Journal, and many, many more. So yes, this is a founder who knows how to build and scale across completely different industries.
This is why I’m so excited to have Jaron on today, and he’s also the author of acclaimed book, The Canine Coco Omega Effect. So I’m excited to dive in. Jaron, welcome to the series.
Jaron: Thanks so much for having me, Paige. Good to be with you.
Paige: So I wanna talk about your journey a little bit. As I mentioned, you’ve built and sold a FinTech company, you advise a hundred million dollar brand, and now you’re disrupting in a completely different industry, the dog food industry.
And so I wanna know what led you to pivot into an entirely new world like pet food.
Jaron: You know, it really came out of me wanting to do something I’m passionate about. I had previously, you know, done different things in tech and, um, and even before that finance, which no, uh, personal satisfaction can be found in finance.
Paige: Mm.
Jaron: But, you know, I think my, my career has really been a progression towards doing things that. You know, inspire me to, to get up every morning and do something that I think is gonna make the world better. And, and so Yumwoof really evolved out of that. You know, it was a combination of me getting this dog that I became obsessed with Sherlock.
And he, he also had some joint issues that kind of, you know, made me start thinking about this. At the same time, I learned that all of my food allergies or all of my skin allergies are actually food allergies. So, you know, I went on this just nutrition Deep Dive, came out on the other side of it. I ended up writing a whole book about, uh, like data analysis on fats tied to dog longevity.
And this really just became kind of a, a passionate obsession for me. There are just so many bad dog foods out there that I ended up choosing to do something in this industry.
Paige: Wow. And I’m curious with, with all the different industries you’ve touched, have you seen any type of through line or commonality throughout your career?
Jaron: Uh, I would like to say innovation, you know, I, I, uh, really. Try to, I, I’m just personally interested in things that are kind of on the forefront of what’s happening. So, like, really early in my career back, way back when, a decade ago actually, uh, more than a decade ago about 12 years ago, I was the person who I had, I had started one of the first venture capital backed Bitcoin exchanges in 2012, and I ended up being the person who taught the Wall Street Journal, what Bitcoin is.
You know, fast forward layer I ended up selling that company in 2016. You know, I consider myself very much, uh, out of that space and doing something that I’m a lot more passionate about. But, you know, I think that, um, maybe, maybe that’s an example of just like where I’ve been trying, you know, not, not necessarily super interested in like, a lot of what’s happening in the mainstream.
I’m always kind of looking at like. What, what are innovations that are happening today and where, how can we really do something kind of cool and fun with that? So, with Yumwoof, we ended up inventing this soft and chewy, air dried dog food. And so we really invented like a new kind of format of dog food and, and, um.
You know, I think that when you look at what we’re doing today, like we were really one of the first brands that didn’t use seed oils. We’re still really one of the only brands doing that, but, um, seed oils, uh, we, we actually just innovated with this new synthetic free dog food, which is very hard to do.
So, you know, I think we’re really just continuing to kind of like press forward and. You know, when I, you know, I have all sorts of crazy ideas for, for things I might do next. And you know, I think even lately there are different things that interest me. Like I, lately I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about, um, like what kinds of packaging could replace plastic packaging and mm-hmm.
Just they’re these little things where like, take it from someone who has tried to offer biodegradable bags. Then seeing all of them break on ’em, you know, like you see how, uh, kinda tough it is to be innovative when it comes to, uh, sustainability and stuff. So these are just things where it’s like, okay, you see where like the world needs to head eventually will have better non-plastic packaging, but today really doesn’t exist.
And so the, those are just like things I’m always thinking about. And you know, today it even comes just out of personal problems I have running a dog food brand.
Paige: Yeah, I love that. And, and as you mentioned, young Wolf is not your average dog food brand. You know, y’all are very innovative. And there’s so much that I even saw differentiated just when I landed on your website.
And so I wanna talk to you about that from a branding perspective. What have you done intentionally to differentiate in such a commoditized space? ’cause when you think about dog food, it’s pretty competitive out there.
Jaron: Yeah, I think we might be in the most competitive industry out there. And, and so differentiation has been a key focus of mine all along.
And, you know, I think it, it really starts with just thinking about like, you know, how, how are you, like, what are the priorities you’re placing on your product that are making it different? And for us, one of those early ones was not using any seal oils. So, you know, I came to, you know, I, my wife and I spent two years on keto, uh, back at, starting in 2020.
And this again came out of like me learning that like I should try a food elimination diet and maybe like I’ll discover what’s wrong with me. And it worked. Um, you know, I just, uh, found all these things that I’m allergic to, but at the same time, you know, it, it really got me into nutrition. And, and so we kicked seed out seed oils out of our diet and.
It was just kind of a natural thing at that point. Like, okay, I’m not going to eat seed oil, so why do I want that in my dog’s food? And what a lot of people don’t know is even like why seed oils are there in the first place. And it really comes from like. All of these, like basically evil dried tibble manufacturers that, uh, didn’t want to use meat, which is a source of omega six as their main ingredients.
So they had to find ways to supplement that. So by using cheap ingredients, they added cheap seed oils. But anyway, so like a lot of times when I meet people whose dogs are, uh, are uh, you know, like eight years old and occasionally people will come to me and be like. Yeah, he’s getting up there in age.
Um, and I’m just like, your dog is actually not that old. Like you’re just feeding them bad food.
Paige: Yeah.
Jaron: So, you know, a lot of this you know, I think some people start to emerge out of like maybe that base level, but then we compete as young wolf more in the premium category and so mm-hmm. Standing out, uh, there across like all these different competitors we, we have to think about, okay, like.
What are the reasons people might want to choose us? Why would I want to choose us? Over all these other options. Some of them are really great and, and so, you know, the, the no seed oils, again, that’s really been a big one. The no synthetics. So like for us it’s a lot of, I would say like product, difficult to do, product formulation type things that we focus on.
But, you know, I really, you know, it’s an evolving thing for us. Like, I don’t, I don’t think we’re at the end of that journey. In fact, like we have a lot of internal conversations going on right now that are really talking about like, okay, what, what is it, what is the positive message that, like, people could tell their friends?
Like, what, what could we say about our company in one sentence that is so inspiring that people wanna then go tell other people about it. And so that’s, I think that really gets to the core of like. How do you differentiate a brand? It’s like a message that, is, is so kind of, uh, welcoming that, people really buy into it and, and wanna talk about it.
Paige: Yeah. And I think that’s, that’s so interesting and that’s what I see when I visit y’all’s website is, is you and your wife’s story, but also story of many others who have used Yumwoof and what it has done for, for their pets and their families, which I think is so incredibly powerful. You know, with, with Yumwoof, you’re, you know, you’re not just building a brand though.
You’re really asking people to trust. You with what they feed a member of their family. And that’s how I think about, you know, my dogs as members of our family. And that’s a whole level of responsibility. So, you know, as, as a founder, how do you approach earning that personal trust from pet owners, especially when there’s so much noise on the market and there’s so much education I’m sure that y’all have to do on the front end as well.
Jaron: Yeah. Yeah. You know, one of the first things we do is we publish, uh, like full nutritional analyses. So we publish more information than what most dog food brands are currently doing. In fact, you know, we, we really don’t hide our ingredients label be there, you know, you see, what you know there, there are a few tricky things that different brands out there will do.
One, especially direct to consumer. What you see a lot is brands will list like their ingredients, but then under, they’ll list vitamins and minerals and like, that’s supposed to be in the ingredients label, but by separating it out, they can kind of trick people into thinking that, oh, this is a very limited ingredients dog food, not, not all those synthetics because that’s like kind of like a different section that I’m not gonna look at.
You know, so we, we really just like shy away from doing stuff like that. So I think transparency, uh, is really number one. And, you know, in addition to that, I would say like, just trying to be good at customer support. That that’s like one of the benefits that DTC brands have is like, you do get to answer customer questions, you know?
Certainly, uh, I mean, they’re, they’re all over the spectrum. Like we have questions about like, people whose dog has pancreatitis or like some food allergy. We, we’ll, we’ll respond to that, but, but having a level of expertise within the company about those things. Mm-hmm. Um, I think that’s one way that we also build trust.
So, you know, it, it’s really across the board. It goes from the, the product you know, when you are using like. For our perfect super food. We have like different products, but for perfect super food. That’s the one where we essentially took the raw diet and air dried it, so mm-hmm. The benefit of that is that it has no synthetic vitamins and minerals because you’re getting all the nutrients from organ meats.
Wow. So that can have like a really limited kind of ingredient to LISC because it’s like literally all just real ingredients and um. So, you know, I think that by, by keeping the recipes somewhat simple to, you know mm-hmm. They’re not simple for us. Like we have to use all sorts of dog food formulation software and whatnot to do these things.
But
Paige: Sure.
Jaron: For, for the, uh, and kind of customer, if they can just read the ingredients label, understand it easily, and then have this kinda like. Person they can talk to on the other end in, in case they have questions beyond that. Like, is this right for my dog? Um mm-hmm. That’s, I think how we have, worked to build trust and, and, um, yeah, I’m sure, I’m sure when you ask me this question a year from now, I’ll have all sorts of things to add to it.
’cause you know, again, like all these things are constantly evolving.
Paige: Yeah, I think you know what you said, transparency with the brand is so key, but also the customer service part, because I feel like that not only attracts customers, but that’s what retains them. And, and y’all are in a business where you have, you know, customers for a lifetime value, truly.
And so I think that’s really unique about what y’all do. Um. When it comes to exposure, so I, I read, you know, from your accolades, you’ve been on CNBC, you’ve done the Wall Street Journal, you’ve had maybe major media exposure, which a lot of entrepreneurs don’t get to that level. So I’m curious, you know, your philosophy around using PR to build influence and how should founders think about visibility?
And then what other marketing, you know, tactics have you felt have really moved the needle for you in the past?
Jaron: Yeah, it’s uh, it’s definitely been a wild ride ’cause I’ve watched PR change so much over the years. Back when I was running you know, my, my FinTech company that one of the big first Bitcoin changes I was mentioning, that was like really towards the end of like CNBC, Bloomberg Fox News.
Like having I would say like they were an organic channel on their own. So like you would, you would go on them and they had tons of viewers still, like the internet was, people would read stuff online, but it just wasn’t fully transitioned over to the internet yet where like mm-hmm. That was such a thing that those outlets, like they really can, um, be part of a overall strategy where like, they do still carry more trust than a lot of sources.
But let’s be honest, like nobody watches that news anymore. Uh, you know, I think, uh, I was just looking this up, like, 2 million people watch Primetime Fox News today. And you think about how that compares to a lot of podcasts out there. I mean, oh yeah. Fox News. So if you can get on it, I would still highly recommend doing that.
But it, it is, uh, only one kind of like outlet today. And so, with all these podcasts and even if you go on a podcast that’s like. You know, 500,000 views or something. Mm-hmm. Um, you know, you only need to add a few of those up before you kind of add the same kind of numbers. And there’s like a lot more, like people are kind of like locked in on a device, whether it’s their laptop or their phone, where like they also have easy access to the internet.
So there’s a lot more when you think about it in terms of like wherever you want people to go next to learn more or explore more about like whatever message you’re presenting. It, it’s just so much more easy to get people from point A to point B when you’re like in one of these newer formats. Plus there are so many more of them, you know?
Right. I, I was lucky back in the day to kind of, but I will tell you like there is nothing more nerve wracking than going live. On any of these channels,
Paige: I’m sure.
Jaron: Oh my God, it is. I maybe if I were to do it today, I would be like a lot calmer. Um, I didn’t meditate back then, but oh my gosh. Okay. I mean, they’re just different formats too, like
Paige: Yeah.
Jaron: One is like, from Bloomberg, you, if you’re not live in studio with them, they put you in this like black box room. Which just like, kind of creepy to be in and you just have like one camera pointing at you with like a red light on it and you’re just like, Ooh. I, uh, I hope these millions of people, uh, like how I look.
’cause I can’t see anything. I’m just in a black box. And then there’s like CNBC if you’re like prime time with them and you’re like up there with people like Andrew Ross Sorkin and all that. Mm-hmm. I mean, that is like, you’re just like, you are like such a professional speaker and I know a lot about something, but this is completely outta my zone.
So,
Paige: yeah.
Jaron: Definitely also like maybe less, um, a lot less scary to go on podcasts. But yeah, a lot live television is, uh, is definitely, is definitely an interesting
Paige: piece. Yeah. So, you
Jaron: know, it’s, it’s interesting the, um, the PR game, like I don’t, I don’t know that like. People, people, I think there’s like a small group of people who could tell you like what the current PR game is.
Yeah. But, uh, for the most part, I think people are still like really confused by what’s happening. They’re still kind of like, they think pr, they think like, okay, mass media. Even if they’re thinking podcasts, it’s like not very strategically well thought out.
Paige: Mm-hmm.
Jaron: And, and really like the world has moved there.
And I think fundamentally like PR is just all about like, where are eyeballs and how do you get in front of them without paid ads? It might still be paid, but but you know, it’s, it’s different than like that organic, than that paid marketing like Facebook ad, stuff like that. It’s more like where else are highballs and, um.
Yeah, it’s, uh, it’s, it’s definitely interesting thing, isn’t it?
Paige: Yes. And I, you know, I think you, you talking about being in those, you know, TV sets and in a live format, and I, I do think a major difference as well you know, especially for you as a, as a passionate founder, is you’re no longer beholden to a, two to five minute.
Segment, it’s now you get to do 30 minute formats, 40 minute formats, and really get into your expertise, the passion, the why, which I think translates so much stronger. Just in terms of sharing why you’re doing what you’re doing and in your brand and the impact that you want it to have. So, I. I love seeing that transition in terms of where people’s attention is going, because you’re right, it’s so much more towards the micro media, which is, you know, tuning in on the interests that they have and not wasting time on mass generic media where they might only get a fraction of what they’re really looking for.
Jaron: Yeah, I love it too. Like, I mean, I, I am a total podcast nerd. I listen to a million intellectual podcasts and I compare it to how things were back in like, 2005 to 2012 era and mm-hmm. And maybe like someone I would point out in that era was Charlie Rose.
Paige: Yeah.
Jaron: Like he, he was like a very good interviewer and had a lot of interesting guests on and, and, and, you know, he did really get into the long format.
So maybe he’s even a bad example, but I, I actually would counter position his role with the Charlie Ro show. Mm-hmm. With what he did later as, um, he was, he was the host of like, uh, 60 minutes. So he would have a lot of the same guests, but then he would highlight them on 60 minutes where it might be like a five to 10 minute kind of thing.
And you are getting like visually engaging, kind of like, okay, here’s, here’s like Steve Wynn in his casino, like walking around the resort. And it’s like very, yeah. Visually interesting to watch. And it’s a fun segment to watch. But you, you don’t get any depth. And from that, I don’t think you actually learn anything that can benefit your own life.
So that’s the thing I like about a lot of, uh, po long form podcasts today is like, I watch them sometimes they are still brain rott and I, uh, I hate when that happens.
Paige: Yeah.
Jaron: But a lot of times, you know, if you’re listening to. Um, really anything, and you kind of pay special attention to some of the, the insights that like experts have.
You can glean these like, wow. Like I could have never, I would have to be at like a dinner party with that person to like go get this insight that I just learned. And that, that’s the kind of stuff I love because, you know, as someone who runs a business I, you know, I’m always thinking about like, okay, what are the newest, most unique ways to grow a company?
I’m also recently also, like, we’re really expanding our team, so I’m also very interested in like, how do you think about like hiring the best people and managing an organization and what, those are things that I’m kind of growing into as a leader and, and so being able to kind of just like gap, hit those insights from, uh, listening to something in the background is, uh, definitely, definitely handy.
Paige: Yeah. What’s your favorite podcast right now?
Jaron: Oh, well, my favorite podcast is actually the Tim Dylan show. So literally has nothing to do with business. But he’s a very funny comedian. I’ve seen him live here in Austin many, many
Paige: times. Okay.
Jaron: And, uh, he’s my favorite. He’s like, you always touching on like, um, current events and political issues, but I would say my second favorite one that I’ve been listening to for a long time would be the All In Podcast.
I’ve been listening to that one for a long time, and then I kind of rotate through like a lot of different, uh, businessy ones. Most recently, I’ve been entertaining myself with acquired, uh, which will like, they’ll, they’ll go deep on just like a bunch of different entrepreneurs just Oh wow. Like a whole wife basically.
And how they started the company. Anyone, everyone from like Rockefeller to. Like, who started Kellogg to, I’m currently listening to amazon.com, so they, they kind of go across the board. But it’s like a really good one because you’ll, you’ll glean these insights on like, okay, and here are commonalities of like how, how consistent entrepreneurship and what like, kind of has unlocked new things over time.
I was just listening to one about the, the Michelin brothers who started Michelin Tire and talk about, uh, PR strategy. They created the Michelin Guide, as many people will know.
Paige: Yeah.
Jaron: And they really did it because, uh, at the time, like roads were barely a thing. And you know, if you went on these road trips, like, you know, you kind of need to know where to eat.
So they created the Michelin guide and, and from that they also. Really built a brand reputation around that too.
Paige: Mm-hmm.
Jaron: So, um, you, that, that’s a good one for any like p to dive into. If you just like try to learn about the origin of the mission guide you’ll learn a lot, but it just shows you like, not, not all marketing is, um, paid ads,
Paige: that’s right. Yeah. I love that. I’m gonna have to add that one to my list.
Jaron: Oh, it’s a good one. You’ll love it.
Paige: That’s awesome. You know, I wanna, I wanna talk a little bit about, you know, some of the stuff that you have out there online. You know, just personally, I feel like this is so unique about you, but you’ve been very transparent on your, you know, YouTube channel, personal site about failure, burnout, and just the realities.
Of, of startup lives. So I wanna know from you, how has that vulnerability helped you as a leader and also just as a person?
Jaron: Well, uh, yeah. As someone who’s been through many burnouts a couple of big ones over the years, I definitely I definitely understand it. We’ll, we’ll just say that. The, I think the, the most important thing about burning out is to not burn out.
So, um, you know, I, I really take it to heart because it’s something I can kind of notice in, in employees and a lot of times they won’t tell you.
Paige: Right. Of
Jaron: course. I also notice it in myself, but that’s a different topic. So like, you know, in terms of, uh, you know, managing a team, that’s something where I’ve like really like.
You, you really want to make sure that you maintain your employees. Mm-hmm. And in order to do that, one of the most important things, especially if you’re like a high growth company, where everyone’s like really high energy and intense and like focused on this mission, that’s like the perfect environment where like if you’re crying too fast and your team doesn’t quite grow fast enough with it, people will hit these moments of, um, like overwork and potential burnout.
And so I’m by no means an expert, but one of the best things that happened to me is we, we brought on a new member of the team who is, um, you know, a, uh, a business operations manager who’s like really the, the middle person between like all of operations and all of the like, businessy marketing, financey stuff.
Paige: Mm-hmm.
Jaron: It essentially lets me like be creative and like. Be able to delegate a lot of the like, operational stuff that comes off the end of that. Now, don’t get me wrong, Lavin finds solve that. It’s way back to me, but, um, sure. But most of it doesn’t. And, um, and so that, that member of our team has been someone who also by working with so many other people has been able to kind of like tell me, like find out about and tell me that like, hey, like this person like really needs support Also, they’re like about to burn out.
So, it, it, it’s something where, you know, I think it, it, even if you’re not the one burning out, it’s something to like really place at the forefront. It’s really hard. A lot of times people won’t tell you that. And, um, and then for myself, you know, I mean. And with the amount that I like, with the kind of goals that I put on myself, I constantly, have this kind of threat come at me.
And, and so I’ve just really, yeah. I think what I try to do is like if I notice I’m in that moment, um, I’ll just take a break and however long that break needs to be, uh, I’ll, I’ll just like let that happen. So. I would say that kind of maybe comes off of this idea that, you know, is popular in tag about like mini retirements.
Um mm-hmm. Now the mini retirement is like longer than the break I take usually, uh, the mini retirement is like maybe a year. Uh, I have taken that too. But, um, you know, you, you, you want the, instead of thinking about like, okay, I’m gonna work, work, work, and then I’m like 65, 70 years old and that I’m gonna retire, is this idea of like, I’m always gonna be doing something.
So like if I’m stressed out today, I need to make sure that I chill today.
Paige: Mm-hmm.
Jaron: And you know that, so like these mini I’ve, I’ve kind of extended this idea of the mini retirement to like. It can be an hour, it can be a day, it could even be a week. I usually I, these days I don’t make it go longer than a week, but, um, I rarely do I even take a week vacation.
But, um, but I do take vacations. And I think that’s another thing I’ve noticed with like a lot of entrepreneurs, they really don’t take any vacations. Yeah. Um, so that, that seems like a big warning sign to me, just like, maybe I’ve inserted more vacations into my lifestyle and, um, I work on vacations a lot of times.
Like it’s very rarely I’ll go on a pure vacation, but I find, um, I meet a lot of entrepreneurs who are like, yeah, I haven’t taken a vacation in 20 years. And sometimes it’s like a bad badge of honor and I’m just like, dude, your life sucks. Hmm. Like, uh, that’s like not my dream. Yeah. So, yeah, it’s, uh, just, I, I really think it’s like if you, if you are stressed, it happens all the time.
Like if you are stressed though, like that’s like a good time to go take a break and just like see how long that needs to be. And at some point, like you’ll just find yourself in this moment where like work kind of like naturally makes sense to kinda go pursue that and then that’s when you like go back to work.
Paige: Yeah. Yeah. I love that. You know, mindset around a break doesn’t have to be a year, but it could be an hour, it could be a week. It could be a year if you need it to be. You mentioned earlier, you meditate now, and so I’m curious how you got into that and what does that look like for you as a daily practice?
Jaron: Well, my meditation came on the heel of a, uh, 2018 where I had a big financial gain and loss within 12 months. Wow. And, um, and so like, basically that was such a hit to my ego. That I you know, I, I mean, I was like really depressed, honestly. And so I, I, uh, was recommended by my brother and sister-in-law to, hey, like, go, uh, try this meditation out.
I think you’ll really like it. And, um, and so I did that and I, I did quickly. Be. I loved it. And, uh, and so from there I basically spent the next year just learning every type of meditation technique I could. Wow. And I was spending hours upon hours every day meditating. And it, it’s really like the first thing that kind of got me from, being, being so tied, like, so, you know, pe people like, and there’s like sayings around how like your, your self worth isn’t your net worth. Um, but like people have a lot of trouble with that. And so it was like the first time I kind of like start, was able to kind of like, break that of her and, um, and then, and then it just became like such a daily necessity.
Like I, I still meditate almost every day. I give myself, uh, Saturday and Sunday mornings off, but, uh, but I end up still doing yoga and like meditating in some other way during the day. So, you know, it’s, it’s a pretty, yeah, it’s pretty ingrained to me. I, I do, um, I, I do find that it, it like really helps you just kinda like detach from, uh, the stresses of the world.
Mm-hmm. So it’s just like a really easy way. Again, a meditation doesn’t need to be like 30 minutes long. It can just be a single breath. And you know, just like, okay, pulling yourself back has been really helpful for me to you know, when you’re in those stressful moments, just remember like, okay, there’s like something greater here and there’s something like, I don’t.
Need to be, uh, so tied into this and
Paige: mm-hmm.
Jaron: And, um, yeah, huge, huge, huge part of my life. Uh, the yoga I also originally did for like, similar, those kind of like reasons, but, uh, now I do it because I have a, uh, almost 11 month old son at home who like I have to bend over and like do all sorts of things
Paige: with him.
Mm-hmm.
Jaron: So when he was born, uh, a few months after he was born, I, I recognized the like. My, uh, my, uh, joints, uh, weren’t as flexible as they used to be. So yoga has become an important part of my life, just so I don’t feel 90 years old.
Paige: I love that. Yeah. Those little ones will definitely make you feel all the areas that you need to be stretching and, you know, weight lifting and all those things.
So I love that and I, I think what you said was so incredibly important about. You know, meditation and, you know, not letting the ups and downs of entrepreneurship, take you all of those places. But staying centered and, and being able to remove yourself at times from that is, is so key. What a beautiful habit to, to instill.
There are two questions that I love to ask every entrepreneur, and the first one is, who are you in addition to being a CEO?
Jaron: I would say in addition to being a CEO, I’m a a hiker and a good friend. I, you know, I, there there’s something about life where I’m like, just trying to kind of like, enjoy the day, um mm-hmm.
Mostly because like, I have like other beliefs so deeply ingrained in me, like, just like, yeah. Huge, huge things like, um, I don’t know. I go, I go on some pretty crazy vacations because of it, but a lot of times I’ll be like, why am I not on a crazy vacation right now? And, um, so I try to take a step back and I’ll just notice like, the days that I enjoy most are the ones where like I go on a walk with my dog and I see my
Paige: friends.
Jaron: So, um, I, you know, I think I do better than most people at, at maintaining friendships. Probably just because it’s something I really care about. And, uh, my dog does probably get more walks than not pretty much any other dog out there.
Paige: And what kind of dog do you have?
Jaron: Oh, he’s a corgi poo. Uh, which is, uh, is uh, definitely an amazing breed.
It’s like a Corgi that doesn’t shed.
Paige: Oh my gosh. That’s amazing. I have a, it’s a good bite. English cream Golden retriever. And I, I know about shedding that. There are many a vacuums.
Jaron: Yeah. Yeah. The, the shedding, uh, the shedding will get you, but um, yeah, you’ll have to send me a pic. Uh, hey, I don’t think I’ve seen you dog yet.
Paige: Yeah, I’ll definitely send you a pic and you, you the same. And then the, the second question I want to ask you is, what is the impact that you wanna have at the end of every single day?
Jaron: Well. Great question. Not sure I’ve thought about it that way. ’cause usually people ask me like, what’s the impact you want to have, like, overall?
Mm-hmm. And, uh, you know, asking what’s the impact I want to have at the end of every day? And honestly, it has to change every day. I feel like one of the most important things to like, the whole lifestyle I’ve created is that like every day gets to be different.
Paige: Um,
Jaron: that’s like one of the beauties sometimes the, uh, the pains of being an entrepreneur.
And so, you know, the impact. I mean, um, I think the impact that I want to have today is to you know, lead my team in the right direction and support their needs. I would probably extend that to, you know, my family as well. So, I guess, you know, like supporting the people around me is probably like the inspiration I have of, of today.
And, and when it comes to my company in particular, uh, you know, I, I spent time this morning I guess, you know, kind of visualizing where I want the company to go. You know, at, at like a bigger milestone. So I was, you know, really just trying to kind of understand what, what the company looks at that point.
And, and those types of sessions always have me like texting a bunch of employees ideas. So, you know, I think that I am currently laying the groundwork for, um, the next kind of phase of growth for what we’re doing. So, you know, that that is, um, you know, I think, I think, um. That was one side. The other side I was, uh, thinking about like what some cool vacations look like.
So I think I’m also kind of putting out there like an intention to have some, uh, some fun vacations with, uh, with some friends and family.
Paige: Yeah. What’s the next big one?
Jaron: Well, uh, we’re about to leave in a few days. We’re going to Chicago. So we’re gonna go meet up with, uh, a bunch of friends there, and then we’re gonna go visit our co-packers.
So we’re actually gonna go visit one of our manufacturers. And, uh, hopefully something great will come out of that. Uh, then we’re gonna go visit Ons family in Arizona. And then uh, I do promise you that Tucson was the last place I wanted to be in August. So that’s kind of why I was trying to get out of Austin in the first place.
So. Mm-hmm. Um, so I started looking at where are, uh, like, does anywhere in Arizona have like good temperatures in August? So it does turn out. Flagstaff does.
Paige: Yep.
Jaron: So we’ll, we’ll be spending a week in Flagstaff and then Nice. And then, uh, yeah, we’ll, we’ll be coming back, but that’ll, that’ll be a good like two and a half through week, uh, vacation.
We’ll, hopefully. Avoid the heat in August for the most part. And, um, yeah, it’s crazy. I’m trying to get back to Mexico too. Um, haven’t, uh, I know you were, uh, recently in Mexico City and I’m, I’m like really dying to get back ’cause I haven’t been in like a year and, uh, really missing it. So maybe like later this year we’ll try to get there.
Paige: There you go. I love your mix in family, business and, and fun, you know, all in a couple of weeks. That’s amazing.
Jaron: It’s the Jaron way. You can trademark that.
Paige: There we go, the Jaron way. Well, thank you so much Jaron, for, for being on today. Please share with anybody listening where they can find you and more about Yumwoof.
Jaron: I am Jaron Lukas on Instagram and Yumwoof, uh, is my company. So we’re Yumwoof.com. It’s like yummy and woof. So Yumwoof.com and Yumwoof on Instagram. And yeah, those are the the best ways. Uh, you know, anyone who wants to learn more about dog nutrition, and I wrote this book, the Canine Co Omega Effect, which.
Is, it’s an interesting read for anyone who either like has dog with a dog with a bunch of inflammatory issues or like you just want to read a bunch of research about what fats are leading to dog longevity. Um, and, uh, yeah, like definitely uh, hit me up on, on Instagram, uh, if you have any questions about that kind of stuff.
Paige: Awesome. Well thank you so much, jar, and you just shared so much just in terms of your journey, experience, vulnerability with us all and I appreciate it and I know that anybody listening to this is gonna get tremendous value. So thank you so much for your time.
Jaron: Ah, thanks Paige. Good being with you.
Paige: All righty.
Well we’ll see y’all next time.