Jerry received his Bachelor’s
degree from Rutgers University. Immediately after college, he started his
career as a personal-fitness trainer at New York Health & Racquet Clubs,
and soon became one of the company’s top trainers. Having established himself
as a fitness professional in New York City, Jerry moved Los Angeles, where he
became a top trainer at Equinox. After mastering the science of human
engineering, Jerry parted ways with Equinox to launch his own private training
business. His clients currently include high-net-worth individuals,
celebrities, royal family members, fighters, and a variety of other
tastemakers. While still based in Los Angeles, he travels nationally and
internationally to train clients.
Jerry is also an investor in
stocks, real estate, television and film properties, and anything else he
believes to be worth the risk. This is his first book, and he wrote it to help
others walk their own paths to success.
Visit him at Twitter at www.twitter.com/realjerryford.
Author and Celebrity Personal
Trainer Jerry Ford has authored a powerful, painfully honest book entitled
GUNS, DRUGS, OR WEALTH as a help and inspiration to others who also seek
personal wealth and independence.
Said Jerry Ford: “ ‘Guns,
Drugs, or Wealth’ is about how I went from the hard streets of Detroit to
building wealth through stocks, real estate and smart spending. I share with my
readers how I began
to build my wealth as a personal trainer. As I wrote this
book, I imagined myself having a front porch casual conversation with my
readers. This how-to guide on building wealth will not only teach people how to
build wealth, but it’s written in layman’s terms. The genres of this book are
business, inspiration, and self-help.”
Mr. Ford’s book tells all that
he has learned, offering readers specific, tried-and-true tools for building
wealth by creating three streams of income: (1) passive income (through
real-estate investing), (2) portfolio income (through stock market investing),
and (3) earned income (through hard work and smart spending).
As a personal trainer, Jerry Ford has worked with many, many “big name”
clients, including rapper
Big Sean to musical artist MoBeatz. One special trip
led to Ford becoming an author. “I was traveling with Big Sean and MoBeatz and
decided to journal a few hours a day on the trip. A few hours turned into
many…and two months later I had created the manuscript for my book.”
A tragedy earlier in his life
also drove Jerry to pull himself up from a hard life in his native Detroit and
build a life for himself as a personal wealth coach and trainer. “My brother
Sam was murdered…I miss him every day. He inspires me to get out of bed and go
as hard as possible in life every day…I feel like I am living for two people
instead of just one, myself.”
“Being an author was never a
plan,” asserted Jerry. “I knew I needed to figure out a way to help the eighty
percent of America who are poor or middle class. I knew that I needed to help
the three billion people on the planet who are really poor. Of course this book
doesn’t make up for the world’s educational flaws, but it’s a start. Schools
don’t teach people how to build wealth.”
Praise for Jerry Ford and His Method
"Jerry traveled across the globe to train me. He goes hard in fitness and in life!"
--Alisha Boe, actress best known for 13 Reasons Why on Netflix
"I am inspired by Jerry's principles of building wealth through real estate and stock market investments as well as entrepreneurship. With multiple streams of income, the sky is the limit when it comes to potential earning power. This book is here to help!"
--Adrienne C. Moore, actress best known for Orange Is the New
Black on Netflix
"Jerry is a beast, and I can totally understand why. Coming from our city, it's life or death."
--Dj Mo Beatz, best known as Big Sean's official DJ
"Jerry is not only a trainer; he's an entrepreneur. He has come up with incredibly creative ways to service his high-end clientele. Not only do I enjoy working with Jerry--he's great to hang out with."
--Marc Webb, film and television producer
ORDER YOUR COPY:
Amazon
Thank you for this interview! I’d like to know more about you as a person
first. What do you do when you’re not
writing?
I am
a full-time professional fitness trainer based in Los Angeles but I travel coast to coast and country to country to
train my high-end clients. I have a deep passion for fitness and I jump at the
opportunity to go out of my way to help my clients reach their goals. My
clients' happiness and satisfaction mean everything to me. I personally
work out twice a day, six days a week. I believe that a client can only be
as good as his or her trainer. I go hard. In addition to investing, I love
cars, paintings, and jewelry. I love watching scary movies and
action-packed films. Finally, I love eating dark chocolate.
When did you start writing?
I started writing in 2010 when I wrote my first play titled Hope directed by Turron Kofi Alleyne. Hope is a one-man show that follows my
struggles of growing up in Detroit, Michigan.
It hits on all the life-changing moments in my life including my poverty and
witnessing gang violence, drug abusers, and both my brother’s and best friend’s
murder. As the play progresses, I show the audience how my life slowly started
to get better, and it ends with me attending Rutgers
University. Hope was performed in a variety of theaters including Lincoln
Center. My book Guns, Drugs, or Wealth is my second
piece of work.
As a published author, what would you say was the most
pivotal point of your writing life?
The most pivotal point of my writing life occurred while
writing my book Guns, Drugs, or Wealth.
I realized that I cannot write a book the way that I speak. This was difficult
for me because I am a listener, not a reader and I am a speaker, not a writer.
Learning how to bridge the gap between speaking and writing while still keeping
my voice and my intentions was very difficult.
If you could go anywhere in the world to start writing your
next book, where would that be and why?
I would go back home to Michigan
to write my next book. I would split my time between my hometown of Detroit
and the city of Alpena. I would go
back to Detroit because the lessons
and pain that I have endured in my hometown brings magic out of me and straight
into my writing. That is where my history is, that city made me the man that I
am. I believe that every moment brings you to the next and that whatever does
not kill you makes you a survivor. I had a hard life in Detroit,
a life that I would not wish on my worst enemy. However, the moments that I
had, good and bad, made me the definition of adversity. Detroit
made me a man ready for the world. As my client, Big Sean, says, “people say
that if you make it in New York
you can make it anywhere, but if you make it out of Detroit,
you can make it everywhere.” In Alpena, my Martial Arts master had a campsite
that we went to in order to become one with nature. We used the campsite for
belt testings, hunting, and vacations. Alpena is also where I started to become
a man. There is something about hunting for my own food, building my own fire
from scratch, and tackling every obstacle course that my Martial Arts master
placed in front of me. So, I would split my writing time between these two
places because this is where it all started. This is where my mind started to
expand and understand that the world was much bigger than Detroit,
bigger than Michigan, bigger than
America.
If you had 4 hours of extra time today, what would you do?
If I had 4 hours of extra time today, I would work out again
and listen to more of the audiobook I am currently listening to called FEAR.
Where would you like to set a story that you haven’t done
yet?
I wrote a play about my life growing up in Detroit.
I would love to write about my new life here in Los
Angeles, CA.
Back to your present book, Guns, Drugs or Wealth, how did you publish it?
I published my book under my
publishing house, Beast Publications. However, Scribe did my book design. It
was an honor to work with such experienced book designers. They did an amazing
job. The cover speaks for itself.
In writing your book, did you travel anywhere for research?
No, I did not travel anywhere for research, however, I
started writing my book in Bali, Indonesia.
Why was writing Guns,
Drugs, or Wealth so important to
you?
Writing this book was so important to me because I grew up
poor. Most of the time growing up my family did not have heat, water,
electricity, or food. I responded poorly to the murders of my best friend, my
brother, and my aunts. My response could have landed me in jail or a grave. I
wrote this book because eighty percent of Americans are poor or middle class. I
wrote this book because everyone deserves the opportunity to gain specialized
knowledge to build wealth. With that, they deserve to know how to work on their
own responses. To learn that their responses to life actions will define
everything that they are and everything that they will become. The word
“responsibility” literally means the ability to choose our responses. I needed
to write this book because I wanted people to know that if they cannot catch up
to a Harvard graduate by being one way, figure out a way to catch up by being
different.
Where do you get your best ideas and why do you think that
is?
I get my best ideas from hiking or taking walks outdoors.
The outdoors, nature, and trees calm us and bring our stress levels down. I
believe that it also helps ideas flow effortlessly.
Any final words?
The only person that knows your limits is you. Focus,
educate yourself, and execute with no hesitation.
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