Jacob Emery

Jacob’s early years were marked by struggle and self-doubt. Overweight, insecure, and unable to read and write well, he felt like something was always wrong with him. By 16, he was drinking heavily after school, and his future looked grim. He predicted he’d be “dead or in jail” by 21.

But at that same age, something miraculous happened. Watching a team from his future company digging a gas line outside his school, Jacob felt a distinct gut twist and thought, “I’m going to own this company one day.” Years later, working at that same company for $9 an hour with a shovel, he was still going nowhere fast until a mentor asked him the life-changing question: “What the hell are you doing with your life?”

That wake-up call at age 20 sparked Jacob’s transformation. He started exercising, listening to podcasts, and changing his environment. Within two years, he went from laborer to running crews of 30 men.

At 23, Jacob made what seemed like a delusional commitment: “If I can do this in two years of dedicating myself, I’m going to buy the damn company by the time I'm 30.” With a slim chance of success, he and his business partner, Cody, embarked on the journey to purchase the multimillion-dollar company.

When they succeeded (just 407 days later!), Jacob expected to feel on top of the world. Instead, he felt empty. “I thought that was going to be everything, and I realized that it wasn’t.” This led to a crucial realization: fulfillment comes from who you become during the climb, not from reaching the destination.

It was around this time that Jacob’s attorney, Jim Havens, told him he was ready for Strategic Coach. “Coach allows you to understand exactly where you’re at in the journey, and it’s empowering.” Finally, he felt he had found what he was missing his entire life: structure, clarity, and an environment where his entrepreneurial chaos made sense.

The Program's tools transformed Jacob’s scattered energy into focused power. “What you think is accomplishment is really just a lot of activity. Action does not equal accomplishment,” he learned. The Kolbe Index revealed he was a Quick Start in a company full of Fact Finders, helping him understand why he felt like “a spark plug in the wrong engine.”

Today, Jacob hosts “The Iron Infrastructure” podcast, runs a coaching program called “Unlocking Greatness,” and follows his five daily “standards of greatness” with the goal to achieve complete freedom within Strategic Coach’s “Four Freedoms” by age 40.

He also recently returned to his old high school to speak to students—sitting in the exact same seat where he’d had his original vision 20 years earlier. “If I can do this, anybody can,” he told them. From $9 an hour with a shovel to multi-business owner, Jacob proves that greatness isn’t reserved for a select few—it lives inside everyone, waiting to be unlocked.