Hi, my name is
Jarod Ferguson.

If you had told me 30 years ago this is how my life would turn out, I would’ve gawked in disbelief. I might’ve even laughed at you.

In grade school, I was writing my first lines of code, and by high school, I was using drugs and in and out of the system. I know that sounds wild. How does a bright kid go from coding and watching Voltron to being in an episode of Breaking Bad? 
‍
The Beginning:
‍I was born in Dallas, Texas, surrounded by turbulence and dysfunction, and slated for adoption. My parents were just 22 and not ready for me. My father, James, grappled with addiction, and my mother was dependent on my grandparents, Royal and Ann. 

My mother, still grieving from giving up her first baby for adoption at 17, was being pressured to do so again. But when they saw me, they couldn't proceed and chose not to sign the papers.

Shortly after my birth, my grandpa was transferred across the country for work. My mom had a choice: move with her support system or take a chance on a new life with my father. She decided to leave Dallas.

‍2:32 am:
‍My father would only see me once. Standing in that living room together, I believe my dad was also faced with a decision: get it together or lose this family. Looking down at me in my mother's arms, he chose heroin instead of fighting for his son. My father was tragically killed in a car crash on October 6th, 1976, at 2:32 am. I was three months old. Still today, I wonder if he would be here if we stayed. 

My mom and I lived with my loving grandparents, Royal Jay and Ann, and my six aunts and uncles for the next few years. When I turned four, my mother moved us to a small apartment. Not long after, my mom bought a house, and my Aunt Jacquie moved in with us. The little I remember about this time is happy, as my Aunt nourished me with all the love and attention a child needs.

‍The Reign of Terror:
‍Around my sixth birthday, my mom met an alcoholic Vietnam vet who would become my stepfather. For the next several years, I would live in fear of this man and the physical abuse he’d hand out at his leisure. 

His violent rage and emotional tirades stripped me of any sense of confidence I might have had. I understand now that his behavior was a reflection of his childhood conditioning, but this realization can never excuse his actions.

‍The Seed + The Push:
‍At seven, my mom enrolled me in programming classes over the summer, where I learned to code BASIC and logo. Little did I know, while playfully spinning in my chair coding digital turtles to dance across my screen, I was tapping into my innate talent, my genius.

One day, my Aunt Ceci witnessed my stepfather push me backward down a flight of stairs, and luckily for me, they called my grandparents to come and get me. My grandfather made the 6-hour drive from Boise, and the following day, I got into his truck and left that house. That would be the last time my stepfather would physically hurt me.

‍Royal Jay, Ann & The Question:
‍I loved my grandparents more than anyone in the world. Ann was a nurse and counselor. Growing up in the streets of London during the harsh realities of war, she learned to navigate life with resilience and spirit. Royal was an agronomist born and raised in a small town in rural Idaho. I loved going to work with him. I vividly remember the early mornings of driving in his truck to farms throughout the countryside and walking through fields together. 

One day, at the top of the stairs, my grandpa asked me, "Do you want to go back and live with your mother?" I replied, "Never." So it was; I moved in with my grandparents permanently. I attended Boy Scouts, raced on my junior high ski team, played competitive soccer, went to church, and enjoyed Sunday dinners as a family. Life was peaceful. I started building computers from my Uncle Michael’s hand-me-downs. Those computers gave me a space to escape into a world where my genius flourished.

‍The Pain that Love couldn't Heal:
‍It would be convenient to say my grandparents' love was enough to erase all my pain, but that would be a fairy tale. As I grew into a teenager, the trauma that had laid dormant began to emerge. I began to look for people as broken as me. I searched for connection and my friends' acceptance, which led me to drugs and alcohol. First, drinking beer at parties, then smoking pot, and escalating from there. 

I snorted my first line of meth on Christmas Eve at 16. Meth consumed me, and the only thing that mattered became doing more, at any cost. The next few years were a blur, I had no regard for my life. My grandparents tried everything they could to help and put me in rehab several times, but by 19, after a string of crimes, I was incarcerated for nine months. 

‍The Call:
‍My life could have easily continued down this path, and if I hadn't received "The Call," it probably would have. As I stood with a cold prison payphone in my hands, I heard two life-changing words, "I'm pregnant." I knew immediately what decision I had to make, the one my father didn't. 

At that moment, everything changed. I was suddenly determined to make something of myself and be there for my child. I now had a responsibility to someone else. I might not have loved myself, but I knew I would love this baby. It wasn't going to be easy. I was a 19-year-old with a record, a recovering addict, and a soon-to-be teen father, but I didn't care.  

‍A New Beginning:
‍After my release from prison, I stayed clean and worked at a machine shop. With the encouragement of my roommate, I applied for a technical job at a call center supporting HP printers. Honestly, given my record, I thought it was a waste of time, but I scored so high on the interview test that the manager decided to take a chance on me. Within a few months, I was awarded the “Best of the Best” as the number one agent within a call center of over 800 people. Being recognized for my abilities felt amazing. 

Finding myself behind a keyboard again, I began writing code, building HTML pages, and completing courses and certifications any chance I could get. I was promoted off the phone and put in charge of creating an inventory database. Software engineering came to me naturally; I could code in several languages intuitively, and I excelled. I found my voice and rediscovered a genuine love for coding—my passion for creation. The next couple of years were filled with awards and acknowledgment.

Looking for new challenges, I moved on from the enterprise world and spent the next several years working with various startups. I held multiple roles as a software professional and made a name for myself in software architecture. I blogged and spoke about coding, design, data, and APIs. I was awarded Microsoft MVP three years in a row, and a bigger dream to be an entrepreneur grew inside me.
‍
‍An Entrepreneur is Born:
‍I started my first software business with two friends in 2009. We quickly gained traction while experiencing a lot of those first-time founder challenges. Though we eventually went our separate ways, it was a memorable time for me, and this failure pushed me forward. In 2011, I founded Royal Jay and built its first SaaS platform, WebWaitr. 

To fund the growth of my SaaS dream, I began developing software and consulting for other startups. The dev shop took off. I was the guy people would come to when they had an idea and needed help turning it into a fully operational software product.

My reputation for building software and helping companies find product market fit eventually led me to a disruptive healthcare startup in 2013. Over 7 years, I assembled a talented engineering team and led the architecture and development of their tech platform, resulting in thousands of customers and millions in revenue. Today, that platform connects 2.3 million healthcare providers and handles a staggering 8 billion transactions yearly.

‍The Addiction Never Left:
At this point, my business took off. There were new clients, big contracts were signed, and success was the norm. Royal Jay was growing, and I “should’ve” been happy, but that wasn’t the case. Instead of feeling content or accomplished, there was an insatiable desire for more. The continuous pursuit of the next goal became a never-ending loop.

The growth gave me a sense of importance and inflated my ego, further fueling my addiction. We see it all the time in the movies; men wear suits and drink expensive alcohol, and they deserve it. In the startup world, alcohol is everywhere: lunch beers with the engineering team, happy hours with clients, and tech meetups with other entrepreneurs. I would even meet new candidates for a beer before extending an offer to join our team. It sounds crazy now as a sober person, but this was normal in almost every startup I’ve been around, from kegerators to bourbon of the month clubs; alcohol is deeply ingrained in the fabric of doing business.

‍The Road to Burnout:
‍I increasingly felt overwhelmed by the immense pressure of running multi-million dollar businesses. The kind of weight that makes you want to pull the covers over your head and not want to get out of bed. My personal life began to unravel, and alcohol became my refuge. It was dark. 

And that’s where the growth slowly started tapering off. I was delegating everything I liked about being a creator and loading my plate with all the tasks and responsibilities that drained me. I began to pull further away from my genius and the products I was building. 

I joined masterminds and attended entrepreneur events, thinking they’d solve my problems, but it wasn’t long before I realized how misaligned I was in those spaces. I believed more success would fill the hole inside me, I just needed a better idea. So, like a lot of entrepreneurs do when things get hard, I pivoted the company, created new software products, and started new brands looking for a fix.

‍Searching for a Savior:
‍I started to wonder why I was doing any of this. What was this entrepreneurial journey all about? 

Most entrepreneurs glaze over this question with the typical, "We want to make a lasting impact. We want to change the world," but don't stop to ask themselves, “Am I doing this from a place of ego, or is it coming from alignment? Is it fulfilling me or masking a deeper wanting?” 

I went searching for a solution as I wrestled with these profound questions. I spent a small fortune hiring coaches, talking to therapists, and trying to understand myself at my core. At first, I was under the belief that my discontent was a systems problem, a problem of how efficiently I was running my life. And sure, that was true to a point, but something deeper was underneath the surface. I’d heard the typical business Guru's advice to ignore our feelings and push through the discomfort, and it didn't feel right. It is human to look for a savior, but the truth is that the savior is within ourselves.

‍Expanding the Mind:
‍It wasn't until a journey into intense psychedelic therapy and a year-long ontological coaching program that I was able to finally gain a deeper perspective of what was going on inside. I was living life out of fear and in a constant state of survival, driven by my unresolved past. I realized I was still trying to prove myself to others and was deathly scared to fail.

Once I started healing the fractured pieces of me from my childhood, I developed the awareness to see life differently. I found a way to comfort the scared seven-year-old inside me and convince the 16-year-old that he was safe. I began to love all that it is to be human with courage and compassion, starting with me. 

Psychedelic therapy provided a gateway to see into my subconscious. To see the repressed memories lurking in my shadow and allow me to process the traumas driving my behaviors. Being a student of Ontology gave me the framework to explore my ways of perceiving, being, and interacting with the world. As I reset the thinking patterns that were not serving me, the muted palette of my life was flooded with bold colors.

‍A New Calling:
‍I began to integrate all my learnings about psychology and performance into a set of tools and models to empower change. Through this process, I realized the expansion of my genius, that I have gifts and experiences I can use to serve others like me. Those who have faced life's challenges head-on, using their resilience, ingenuity, and creativity to rise above their circumstances. Yet, despite their achievements, feel isolated, navigating the lonely peaks of business success, searching for a balance between their creativity and their role as leaders. 

I'm not claiming to have all the answers—truthfully, no one does. However, I've embraced a renewed sense of purpose and passion to create a space that helps people do what is right for them. No two situations are the same, but the healing process begins with the space and support to break patterns. 

‍Authenticity:
‍Every day, I strive to live authentically, tapping into my inner creator to fuel my passion and growth, even when faced with fear.

• I am mindful, balanced, and authentic.
• I create regularly both in my business and personal life.
• I lead multiple teams, making significant impacts on the tech world.
• I coach tech entrepreneurs and founders on bringing back joy, fulfillment, and growth into their lives and businesses.