A Little Bit About Jordan:

Jordan Whelan, known as “Jordan Power” is a multifaceted entrepreneur and musician based in San Diego. He founded Gray Smoke Media, a comprehensive marketing firm specializing in legal marketing, and recently launched a successful music career. 

With a background in PR and marketing, Jordan brings a unique blend of creativity and strategic thinking to his professional endeavors, focusing on helping clients achieve their goals through innovative marketing solutions and personal growth.

After overcoming a chronic health condition through holistic approaches, Jordan experienced a spiritual awakening that led him to create music. In just one year, he has released 20 songs, achieved 4 million streams, and secured airplay on 12 radio stations.

• Website
• Instagram
• YouTube                                                     
• Spotify

TRANSCRIPTION:

JP McAvoy: Hi and thanks for joining us today on the show. We’ve got Jordan Whelan, or Jordan Power. As you look here, we’re going to discuss music, things metaphysical. We’re going to discuss legal marketing to a certain degree as well. But really, we’re going to talk about what is going on and where we’re going. Here’s my conversation with Jordan. 

Jordan, thanks for joining us here today. I guess dialing in from San Diego, is that right?

Jordan Whelan: Yeah. I’ve been here for three months. I’m a newbie.

JP McAvoy: From Toronto, right? Moved down from Toronto?

Jordan Whelan: I was born a little outside Toronto, but I lived in Toronto for about 15 years. 

JP McAvoy: So we’re talking offline, and there’s a number of things we’re going to get into. Obviously, Grey Smoke Media occupies a lot of your time, as does music and a number of the other things you’re working on. What is inspiring you these days?

Jordan Whelan: About a year ago, I had a rapid spiritual awakening. I was completely unconscious for about 37 years of my life, 36 years of my life. And this might sound a little hokey to people, but I was sick with a chronic illness called ulcerative colitis. I was diagnosed when I was 18, and took a drug called Accutane. There were multi million dollar lawsuits that were settled in the US. But unfortunately, because of Canada and a lot of reasons, my case never went through. Payday would have been nice for the suffering, but I was about two months away from getting 13 inches of my colon removed where I would have a permanent colostomy bag for the rest of my life. I was depressed, I was anxious. I was trying to run a business and expand as a human being. And I had a doctor say to me, this is the only option. There’s no other option. As a background, both my parents when I grew up were doctors, so I was in that conventional medical establishment. And I heard this sort of voice that now I think is a higher self or something that came over me and just kind of said, no, this isn’t in the plan. I turned to the doctor and said, it’s not really in my plan. And he’s just kind of looking at me like, Okay, I’ve heard this a million times. And I went home and started looking up on the internet, and I started researching places in the world where they didn’t have the diseases we had. So it’s sort of places like New Guinea where they didn’t have new teenage acne. They didn’t have cardiovascular disease. And I sort of thought, why would my body be attacking itself? That doesn’t really make any sense. 

And so I looked up a guy named Paul Saladino, and kind of jumped around different people and started doing my own research, which I know has become a loaded phrase these days. God forbid, and so I eliminated all the chemicals for my entire house. I filtered my drinking water. I filtered my shower water. I made sure that none of the chemicals in my house, everything from deodorant and beauty products. I did not know how deep the rabbit hole went. I did not know that there were products that were sold in our stores that were banned in Europe, and so I also took my diet. I went organic, but just really got the seed oils and a lot of the crap out of my life. I was already eating pretty well. It wasn’t like I was an unhealthy person. And within 60 days, the disease that had plagued me for 18 years of my life was gone. I had a follow up colonoscopy, and the doctors just completely said, oh, it must be the medication you’re on now. And I’m like, oh, I haven’t touched it for two months. And that led to a higher consciousness, an awakening where I began to question a lot of things that I grew up around. And then eventually, that led me to Bali where I met a woman in a tent who sat me down. And again, I’m pretty close minded at this point. I’m a gay guy. 

So what happens is, when you grow up, you learn that religion hates you, and then you tie in spirituality with that, not really understanding the difference between the two. And for about a week, I went back and Ubud and the woman just did all these wacky things to me. Inner child healing, sound healing, breath work. I woke up to who I was. Why we’re on Earth, the purpose, it all sort of flashed in front of me. And she said something really crazy to me. I had been trying to make music for about a year. I’d been running my business and I was like, I think this is my purpose. And she said to me, you were a musician in your past life and a sound healer in another life. But you killed yourself both times, and so you’ve come back this time to merge those two worlds together and make it right. And I’ve guffawed at her like, okay, here we go. And I flew back to Canada. I hadn’t been able to write a song for about a year, sat down on my couch, and something just took over my body that was completely foreign to me. They call it automatic writing. So I was hearing the chords to the song, and the whole thing came out of me in maybe five minutes. And then subsequently, I did my first EP in three weeks. And the weirdest thing is I kept flashing back to this woman who said, you used to do this. Because I was in the studio, and I kept having these deja vu moments like, I’ve been here. I know how to do this. This feels extremely familiar to me. Even the production aspects everything. So that was in June 2024 that I started music, and I’ve released 20 songs. I’m at 4 million streams, and I’m on 12 radio stations right now, and I’m trying to go for it. And so that is the long winded explanation as to what I’m up to these days. And then at the same time, I’m running my marketing firm, which I love.

JP McAvoy: Which is great. I know that it was your marketing firm that originally introduced us. But as I said, I wanted to speak to, what was inspiring this purpose? I find that entrepreneur, as they find what their purpose is, they find energy. And the way you just described the automatic writing, it seems to be that something takes over, and they’re driven to create whatever it is they were meant to do. Clearly, you were meant to do this music. There’s been some traction, right? To say, with the music already, there’s been a lift to it. And I imagine part of your marketing background is going to allow you to give it further lift as well. Let’s just back this up a little bit. I want to talk about the awakening first before we talk about where we’re going with this. Because that experience itself was, obviously, very profound for you. Completely unexpected as well, which I think is part of the draw to it. For those that may be thinking that they’re looking for something as well, it’s not as though you were calling for this. It’s something that happened, right?

Jordan Whelan: Yeah. Eastern philosophy, Dharma says that when it’s time for the gifts to come out, the right divine timing to come out, then they will come out. And they really did come out. I had no musical background. I just heard it. It’s almost a channeling experience. I’m uniquely positioned in that. I am a right brain, left brain person. I can run a business, and I’ve done it before, multiple businesses. But I’ve always been more creative than I am a business guy or an entrepreneur. I don’t get crazy about the numbers. I’ve just like to pursue things that I like, and then find a way to make some money out of them. And so I do think it came at the exact time it had to. I had to go through an entire period of my life that was very difficult. Lost a lot of people, father, lovers, best friends, and lived in hospitals. I had to go through a very grueling existence that I have some gratitude for now to get to this exact point, in this exact moment in my path, and it feels exactly right when I say automatic writing, or how this happens. I think when people ask me how I write music, it’s just that I spiritually connect to my higher self, and I allow my higher self and the higher mind to take over. And then I think the secondary part of that is that because time is not linear. I think what I’m actually doing is connecting to my future self that already exists now, and basically borrowing the song and pulling it back into the NOW through lucid dreaming, through out of body experiences, through psychedelics.

JP McAvoy: A lot of this psychedelic driven, is this when you have a connection to hire, for a lot of what you’re describing, I’ve explored that, and I think there’s even a current of thought in that, is that, is that drawing a lot work for you?

Jordan Whelan: Initially. But I think it’s a cheat code initially, right? You don’t need it, but you do need it when you need to fully rip, pull yourself out of the matrix. And so I’ve used mushrooms to write five songs in three days. I remember one time that I did a mushroom trip, it was like six grams. And I got back to my apartment and I was like, I can’t stop writing songs. I couldn’t even answer my phone. It just took over my body. Now, I think just from trying to run a life, kick it high all the time, I use breath work, and I use a combination of sound healing, and I use meditation like an hour a day, now I start the breath work and I get the meditation to get into these zones. I do think it helps. And DMT was extremely helpful for me. I did DMT alone on my couch, which is not recommended. But I’m a fearless guy, and I saw the future version of my concert. I saw us starting the concert with a breath work meditation, and people putting their phones away. My merch being spiritual healing, shower filters, the things I used to heal myself. I saw it all seven months ago, and so I’ve just been basically on a quantum level. I’ve just been connecting with that future reality.

JP McAvoy: Because what you’re describing, the current thought, or a lot of people now discussing quantum, right? And I think that there’s more and more proof, that is not the right word for it, but there’s more and more substantiating the quantum reality. How do you describe it?

Jordan Whelan: An invisible field, basically of everything’s energy. The ideas, particles and everything, and the look at the double slit experiment. Some people say that the lowest form of energy is actually plasma, but that everything’s energy. And essentially in the double slit experiment, they’ve shown that when you stare at something, that it’s a wave of probabilities, and then you can sort of collapse them into 3D form. There’s other schools of thought. There’s everything from non duality and solipsism, stuff like that. I don’t really know what I fully believe, but I can tell you that I can now manifest things in 24 hour periods. Good and bad, right? Which is scary, because I can vividly imagine things. And then all of a sudden, if I code them with anger, which is a strong emotion. It happened to me with my lawyer yesterday. It was like I coded it, and I was creating these scenarios, and boom. It became very freaky to me. But I think we’re kind of getting this period at this exact moment in time. And you look at like, I listen to Tom Campbell on Joe Rogan and a couple other people, Dr. Hoffman. I was listening to yesterday like, we don’t really know the full nature of reality, and it’s kind of this weird time where we’re figuring out that maybe we are wearing some sort of a VR headset, and we’re sort of just decoding the energy around us, and maybe the purpose of life is to evolve our consciousness. And I do believe that I’ve lived many lives. The reason is because when I do the psychedelics, I can see them. And the one where I was a spiritual healer, I was definitely a woman. Because when I did the really high doses of ketamine, it was a completely disassociative experience where I looked down and saw these little girl feet and this tribe. And the immediate feeling that came over me was, oh, I’ve been here before. This feels like I remember this.

JP McAvoy: Do you have that experience during waking moments?

Jordan Whelan: Not of past lives. But sometimes, I’ll just be walking down the street and half of the chorus of a song will just come on my phone, and then I’m frantically running to record it. It’s funny to say this because a year ago, I would have been like, Jordan, go get psychological assistance. But I went to this medium and she said to me, it’s funny that she’s kind of connecting with my higher self and higher entities. And she’s like, they think it’s funny that you think you’re writing these songs. And I was like, I don’t think I’m writing these songs. Because when I’m writing these songs, a lot of artists sit down and they are at the piano and just hacking, hacking, hacking. I’ve done that, but this is truly so easy. Sometimes it’s scary, and I almost feel guilty putting my name on the credits.

JP McAvoy: Well, I hear that in the many of the most recognizable songs that we know, the artists that created them did them in a matter of moments. In fact, Eric Clapton described how the most successful things he ever did came to him in a matter of moments. I think that there’s going back to the automatic. There’s some that we’re discussing, and it’s across any art and any application. You see, anybody’s passion is successful in whatever realm they’re working. There’s something that flows through people to create. For you, what’s happening for music and you’re speaking to it for music, but it could be anything, right? When people are able to tune into what we’re describing here, that’s where greatness is created. 

Jordan Whelan: It’s that flow state. Sometimes I’ll go three days and I’m like, I can’t even try to write songs right now, because there’s no magic in me. I don’t feel a warm chest, I don’t feel motivated. And then it’s like, I can’t shut it off for three days. It’s a feeling where they describe in metaphysics, sort of the observer effect where you’re not really your thoughts. You’re sort of pulling back and watching this all like a movie. And I’ve had that. Sometimes I’m writing the lyrics online. I’ll write like three lines of something, and then I don’t really know what it means, and then I go back 30 seconds later and decode it. I’m like, well, that’s kind of poetic. I didn’t even think about the double meaning there. And then I go, that wasn’t me, because I would have had to consciously think that through for four or five minutes to piece it together. The best songs I’ve written, the highest stream songs on Spotify are all less than 20 minutes. And when I say 20 minutes, I mean the concept, the double themes, the lyrics, the melody and the structure and arrangement is in less than 20 minutes. And I feel that it’s kind of this crazy elation feeling, but it’s also incredibly freaky still, after a year.

JP McAvoy: It’s still surprising you, although it’s becoming more familiar that’s why I asked about psychedelics as well. How much is that influencing things? Because I’ve spoken to many that, yes, perhaps there may have been an entry, a gateway to it, but they’re also describing how they’re able to get into it through meditation, through other methods, and able to go there more regularly. You describe meditation. Are you finding tools that are able to take you there with it, as opposed to using psychedelics?

Jordan Whelan: Fauci frequencies for me are everything. So when I write songs, the 528 Hz is technically in the key of C. And this goes back to past life sound healer, that there’s some innate gift there that when I hear the 528 Hz, I don’t even need the chords. I hear the chords coming through, so you’ve got that, oh, right. And I hear the chords moving, and I can write just 528 Hz. So for me, it’s in alignment with the frequency. And if you think of any metaphysics and law of attraction, all these different things, when people ask me how do I get money. How did I did this with romantic prospects a month ago? My spiritual teacher is like, oh, you don’t have to go outside of you for anything. Stop doing that. Anything you chase is going to run away. She said it’s very simple. Just sit on your floor, you have no past, no future, completely present. Do some breath work. Get your nervous system regulated. Get into a deep, deep breathing pattern. And for me, I have a particular one, which is just out of the box breathing. And then listening to 528 Hz is just going to open up your heart chakra, and your heart is associated with love, abundance, stuff like that. And she said, you can trick your body for 25 minutes into feeling like the day that you fell in love with someone. And it’s not just love for people, it’s love for self. It’s love for animals, love for nature. And I sort of just cycled through this video of me hugging dogs and nature. The moments I fell in love in the past hugging my parents, and I just sat in that and held that for 25 minutes. And within a week, three romantic prospects that were exactly aligned with the type of values I have appeared serendipitously in my reality. Again, that’s all you have to do. You just have to align with the frequency, embody it, and then believe that creation is finished, and that it’s yours. And so I’ve been doing that with business and different things, and it’s still freaky to me. This whole thing is still freaky.

JP McAvoy: Yeah. It catches you off guard. Let’s talk about wealth, abundance. But particularly with regards to wealth. How was that manifested?

Jordan Whelan: Two things changed. Last year, I decided to only work with people that I want to see succeed, that I want to go for dinner with, that I feel spiritually connected to. And I have worked with a lot of people in the past, made millions of dollars that I don’t really care for, and it didn’t sit right with me. So that’s the first thing. The second thing is abundance wise. You have to recognize it. So to bring abundance into your life, and so I’ve been able to do this. You have to have gratitude for what you have and for what’s coming. It’s everything from a roof over your head to your health, which is obviously personal for me. To your food, to the opportunities that are out there. You have to see it. You have to be happy for people that have done well. You can’t look at people that are rich and hate them, because you’ll never be able to align with that frequency if you see money as something bad. And then what I’ve been essentially doing is just vividly imagining emails in my inbox, leads, clients, calls. The feeling that I would hold in that, and then the feeling like what it would be to be abundant. Hold that frequency. And it’s been so easy. And I think of all the years that I ran around like a chicken with my head cut off just trying to force it, make it work, get people to like me, it had this desperate energy around it. I was just crazy. And then now when I do this metaphysics stuff, it’s like a movie. I know you’re not gonna believe it. Even though we are connecting today, this has happened to me three times now. The last three interviews I’ve done, there’s been a metaphysics bent to it, and we were going to talk about marketing, and it’s no coincidence. So my publicist was like, oh, you do these interviews, and then you and I just immediately frequency wise. I believe in it deeply, and I think there’s a lot of people that don’t, or they don’t want to go there. Because then it’s like, oh, did I manifest an illness? Are you blaming me? And then it gets into larger questions, but I know what I believe now.

JP McAvoy: I hear that. I take what you say for that, and talk for everybody. You were very close minded yourself even as you described it. But for those who maybe have seen, maybe just a couple of coincidences that they’re pondering on a little further to think, well, actually, is that just a coincidence then? For those types of people, what can they do baby steps? What can they do to perhaps broaden or increase the likelihood that things continue to manifest in a positive manner for them?

Jordan Whelan: The first thing I would tell people to do is, when they get defensive, I just say to them, do you really know why you’re here? Do you really know why you’re on Earth? Do you really know what this is? Are you that certain what happens when you die? And you sort of see them taken aback. Like, I haven’t really thought about that. I thought it just arrived here. I’d say, the first thing you do is you study the laws of the universe. You can read Cabal and Yin. You can kind of look into some of these teachers. You can see who you connect with, some people like Bucha or law of attraction, Abraham Hicks, stuff like that. You can see what works for you, and then immerse yourself in higher consciousness communities. Because then, you will meet people that have made miracles happen. And I would say, honestly, my music career to this point, it’s been less than a year, it is nothing short of a miracle. And I don’t mean that in a, wow, look at me kind of way. I don’t know what’s going on. I kind of do, but I don’t believe that there are coincidences. And I also believe that people have a unique purpose on earth. And I think once they connect with it, I would say, you can figure out the laws of the universe and slowly dip your toes in a 10 to 20 minute meditative practice. It is amazing. The number one thing I say to people, I tell them all these things, how are you doing all this stuff? And I’m like, you got to meditate. The number one thing I hear from 90% of people is, I’ve tried, I’ve tried, I’ve tried. I can’t do it. I can’t do it. It’s like, well, I don’t go on social media. I don’t really read the news anymore. That freaks up four hours a week for everyone. So you can do it. It’s just, what do you want out of life? And people think it’s just a hokey thing. You sit in the silence, but it’s about connecting to your higher self. It’s even just on a level of, most people don’t have ADHD. I actually think that’s something that was kind of created, so even maybe just tackling that.

JP McAvoy: It’s interesting, because I’ve had a wide range of thought leaders, world experts on the show. And no matter what their area of expertise is, I won’t say to a person, but almost without fail, it’s been enlightening to hear how they have all incorporated a meditation practice and do what they do, no matter how brief it may actually be. As they say, almost without fail. There’s been some component of a meditation practice reflection. Even business leaders and those that say that they’re busiest of all, say as they get busy, they recognize the importance of making the time for their meditation practice. So great things have come from, and I’ve certainly seen that. I’m hearing more and more people now describe quantum and other fields in other areas. You described a community, or finding a community. How have you been able to connect with one? How has that occurred for you organically?

Jordan Whelan: So for me right now, I’m trying to finish up my second album. It’s incredibly important to me. I’m almost living monastically right now. I don’t know if it’s a good or a bad thing. but at this phase of my life, I’m very careful about my energy. Energy transfer is real. I tell people that I think even in business, people just do not understand how electromagnetic fields interact with each other. For the past three months, obviously, moving here, it’s been a little overwhelming, but I have kept up a breath work practice. I’ve done Kundalini awakenings, the light awakenings. I love it. But man, it’s a little wacky. People are speaking in tongues. They’re screaming, they’re crying. But you learn compassion in that, right? You never know what this person’s going through. The spiritual community, there’s a lot of schisms in it. And I would say one of the things that’s so interesting is there’s a big shadow to it. You are dealing with some people who think it’s bad to have money. Then you’re dealing with another variety of people that are looking for answers, and they’re spinning out of control because they just got out of rehab or something. You’ve got different groups. But the one thing that kind of pulls us all together is we’ve humbly said, we don’t know what’s going on, and we’re submitting to the system. And that’s been really great. If you want to connect with people in that way, go to these events. You go in with an open mind, and you learn things from each other. 

I was learning about Bufo yesterday from the breath work instructor, and they teach you things, and you see what hasn’t worked for people. And the thing that’s really important to remember is that a lot of people study this stuff for years, and it doesn’t click for them. They’ll watch them. They’ll watch manifestation videos for four years because they don’t get the nuance. And one of the most important two things of all this is, number one, your nervous system has to be regulated if you’re going to take on anything big, or if you’re going to try to manifest, or anything around metaphysics. That was a huge problem for me. I had a lot of trauma growing up. I could go on and on and on about it, but I’ve been doing energy healing, breath work, meditation. These things to realign my system. And then second of all, you’re never going to become something in your 3D reality if you cannot rewrite the subconscious programming that you have. So for example, people grow up poor, they think money’s evil, they think it’s unattainable, stuff like that. If you really want to do this, it’s something that requires two to three hours a day for months. 

JP McAvoy: It’s me focused on effort, right? And you get what you put in, obviously. So focused effort with that. How do you reprogram your subconscious?

Jordan Whelan: I use subliminals. So I bought this headset, and it got me speaking on a loop. Or I play an 8 hour 1, and you can sleep with it, kind of like an eye mask. And then as you’re sleeping, it’s rewriting, and you’ll wake up in a completely different mindset. But you can also do shadow work with the spiritual teacher to try to deconstruct your programming and why you think of yourself a certain way. Why do we see others a certain way? Why do they trigger us? What do we see in them? So I’ve been doing that, and it’s tough. It’s not easy because your ego is going to fight you every step of the way. It’s going to try and pull you back into what’s familiar. And so someone like me who had a lot of trauma, I try to stay safe. I go into that. And so I’ve been pushing through that. And obviously, things have been clicking. And then sometimes, I regress a great deal. It’s not rainbows. This whole process is very difficult. And in some ways, I’m worse mentally because I’ve had to confront so much and the emotions that I stuffed down for years, but I do feel like I’m moving towards something greater. 

JP McAvoy: What we’re getting to is, I think that as a society, maybe not the right way to say it, but as a consciousness, we are going towards something greater. How do you define it? What do you think we’re heading toward?

Jordan Whelan: We’re moving towards our default state, which is unconditional love. We are aware. We are light beings. We are immortal again. These are just my beliefs. But a lot of people also believe this. We are all connected. We are one. And I think what we’re realizing is how we’ve been manipulated in a lot of ways. How many of the stories we’ve been told are not true? But then the problem is everybody’s self interest. Elon Musk comes in at Doge, and maybe he finds some Waze. But then those companies aren’t going after his companies. And so weird how they didn’t go after the Department of Defense where there’s billions of dollars missing. I don’t know who can be trusted to take the reins here and lead humanity into a better place, because everyone’s got their own agenda, and I’m distrustful in that manner.

JP McAvoy: You say like, we don’t need to focus on that. We need to be aware that that exists. But when you say trusting who to follow, maybe not follow, or just disconnect. Disconnect and tune in to more on what you’re describing otherwise. Because as you say, I agree. The underlying current is love, and people are feeling that. It is taking them, taking us somewhere. And that’s what I’m asking on is, it’s interesting that you guys, you just voiced it. I agree to an extent, and I’m wondering if there’s still more, and if you can dig deeper?

Jordan Whelan: I think it’s so individualized. I think that there’s a unique purpose as to why everyone’s on Earth. I think everyone has unique gifts. I think they build them up through past lives. The other week, I was watching near death experience videos. There’s like thousands of people who have the exact same story. And you can look at the book, many lives, many masters. You can look at the work at the University of Virginia where they take these kids, and they’re two to three years old, and they go to their parents and say, I was murdered in that park by a guy named John. And then they look into this cold case, and it all checks out. There’s Eastern philosophy, stuff like that. I think about what we’re moving towards where we came from, and why we’re here on an individual basis. I think what’s driving people to get some people together at this point is they’re not being served by the systems that they used to follow. For example, the news is largely trauma based mind control. I say that as someone who worked in the mainstream media for 12 years, and I mean that on conservative side, liberal side, whatever, whoever’s serving you their agenda, I actually think there’s going to be a disconnection from the news. And there has been a move towards podcasts. But I think generally, people are going to start to pull back from it. I can tell you that I used to read the news four hours a week, and maybe I do five minutes now, and nothing’s lost. Same with social media. It’s the same people trying to get attention. It’s the same game, but it’s not all of us. Some people say this like New Earth, higher consciousness evolution. There’s a split, right? Some people have no interest in realizing why they’re here, self improvement. And maybe they will in 10 more lifetimes if you believe in that. But I don’t try to change anyone or try to influence them at this point. I just try to find my tribe and my people that are going to elevate me, and I try to figure out why I’m here. My spiritual teacher read me my dharma, and I got goosebumps. It was basically like you came here to do what I’m doing right now. It said marketing, it said music, and it also said to get rid of my pride. And that’s been something that’s plagued me my whole life. And so, yeah, that was a protracted answer. I don’t know, I’m not sure if I answered it. 

JP McAvoy: You kind of went back to the things that we really don’t need to be putting that energy, any energy into. I think people are realizing that, and came full circle to realizing where it’s been revealed to you, where you ought to be spending your energy, and you’re clearly doing that now. That’s taking me to a higher place to clearly hear and see that.

Jordan Whelan: What about you? What would you say? 

JP McAvoy: This conversation, I think, is what I’m meant to be doing. I think that things are being revealed to us again there. I also believe there’s no coincidences. So the fact that we’re having this conversation now and leading to a higher consciousness, you’ve talked a number of times about it on an individual basis, and maybe it’s great to reflect upon yourself, but I think there’s something more. It is a collective as well that we’re headed towards. And for those that are not paying attention well, they’ll be pulled along, I think, blindly. But there are people that are now focused on it, and it is happening very naturally and organically. And for that reason, it speaks to what we’ve been saying. As a part of the theme of this conversation is it’s a path we’re not sure exactly where, but we know that there’s an undercurrent of love to it, and that is leading to a better place. And maybe it’s all a question of, what are the questions we’re supposed to be asking? Are we asking the right questions? It’s hard to know what questions to ask, but all you can do is ask the questions, and then continue to follow. I always say trust and follow. And I think that’s that’s the path that I’m on myself as well, because it speaks to me at different times, in different ways. And again, this conversation is another example of that. I want to turn the focus a little bit to AI, because I think there’s a big component of that as well that is starting to be revealed for this as well. We focused a little bit on that in this show. And obviously the permits, people don’t realize the degree to which it permeates all aspects of our lives. So in a similar way to say, we need to be open to it, and eyes open to it. How is AI influencing your life? And what impact is it having on the types of things that you’re doing?

Jordan Whelan: On the musical side of things, I refuse to incorporate it on the production side of things. On the production side of things, I just think it’s in its infancy stage. And also, I really enjoy the collaborative process of working with someone in person. Some people use it for lyrics. I can’t do that. I just sort of tap into my heart center on the business side of things. So the background is that I own this company, Grey Smoke Media. I started it 12 years ago as a background. I had a background in PR, and I was able to leverage media for my clients, and get them on television. And then there were secondary benefits where it would show up in their search results, which we call SERPs, credibility, SEO, other things like that. And then I sort of narrowed it down about a year and a half ago to just lawyers, because lawyers are pompous, usually. So are doctors. But I found a lot of lawyers were distracted, and they didn’t know what they didn’t know. And I had this case study 12 years ago. I work with a company called Diamond. And diamond, there were 20 people in Toronto. In a little over a decade, we’ve been able to grow them to the biggest personal firm in Canada. 600 employees, biggest real estate firm. And then we’ve kind of gone into different areas. And during that, I taught myself all the different facets of marketing and unconventional marketing, because that fun stuff for me. But that’s the background. People are like, who is this guy who is just prattling on about spirituality? So I would say with AI, there’s two things. First of all, I would say that anyone that’s scared of AI, the counter to AI is humanness, which ties into what we were just saying. 

For example, if you’re a lawyer and you’re filling your blog with content, if the content is easily replicated by AI, or if it’s something that your competitor can just spin with any type of program in two minutes, you’re in trouble, and you’re not going to get ahead. But if you start to humanize your business with blogs about clients that you’ve helped in your journey, and you connect with people on that human level, you will counter a lot of the AI stuff as your competitors just fall to the wayside. In terms of my clients, we use AI for internal management, chat bots and stuff like that are good for managing clients, CRM, databases, stuff like that. On the marketing side of things, it can be used to spark creativity, come up with ideas. Competitor analysis is great. Look at trends for you instead of sifting through a different bunch of different things. But overall, I do question why this all comes at the cost because I’m not one of these people that believes that AI is going to create, people say, oh, it’ll create new jobs. It’s not really how it works. Instagram sold for billions of dollars with 12 people. 50,000 graphic designers are replaced by a software program that’s $29 a month. I don’t really see how to fix that, so I guess the question is, at what cost do we replace all these truck drivers with automated machines? What do people do all day? And I’ve heard people say that, oh, they’re going to go realize their dreams. But it’s not just about having dreams. During COVID, there were four months where people didn’t have to work. How many of them wrote a page of their book, or a song, or started their business? So even though work can be grueling, it gives people purpose, and I am concerned on a personal and spiritual level for where we’re heading.

JP McAvoy: It’s a valid concern. A lot of people describe like they’re never going to write that page, or they’re never going to start that business, so I’d put that aside. The concern itself, though, is valid. Because as you say, work is where someone is deriving their purpose from, and they aren’t working. Then obviously, that’s an issue. Hopefully, more and more during the type of thinking that we’re describing here in the show, and realizing that there is more. But you’re right, there’s a large subset of society that’s going to be uprooted by the impact of AI. Like it or not, it’s coming. As part of this conversation as well, or part of what I do. I think it’s to educate and make sure people are aware that it’s coming, and perhaps participate in whatever means possible to help shape it. For example, this conversation, I believe, is helping to shape what the outcome of AI as we know it will continue. Because the AI is going to be combing through podcasts, shows, the notes and all the things that we do here as well. And educating itself, educating us. So I think it’s important that we participate however small that input may be, to ensure that there is the best put forward. Because I think we’re going somewhere where there’s going to be this combination of the AI and the humanness you describe. You put it very aptly there. That humanness, I think, is what our contribution will be to whatever this greater that we’re going to.

Jordan Whelan: And even on the artistic side of things, with my music out there, and I just heard a PR firm to get me out there. And I sort of think that it doesn’t matter that AI creates music wise. People want a person on the stage. They’re not going to go see a hologram, although that is a thing, which I did see. But they want a story. They want a background. They want to know how you go out there. They want you to connect with them on a certain level, and that cannot be replicated in any way. So I think the counter, like I always say, is to find the way that I had a legal dispute, and I ended up not using a lawyer. I just used AI in my own acumen. And it was interesting because I was able to handle that just as well as if I would have hired a lawyer for 600 bucks an hour. Obviously, it’s not as enforceable, because I don’t have a law degree, and they’re not as scared. But I do think for certain people, there’s upward social mobility. If I’m a young person who’s getting smacked over the head by my multi millionaire landlord and they’re treating me a certain way, I do think there’s some social justice there. I now have the tools to stand up for myself and put them in their place, so I don’t think it’s all bad. But we have lost human connection. I think what I want to do with my concert and the music I’m creating is really create a movement away from our phones. I really have gotten sick of going out for dinner with my friends and they’re on their phones. Or we’re at a meeting, and everyone’s on their phones. I’m trying to get away from that. And I think there’s a huge percentage of the population that feels the same way. It’s degrading us, and we’ve lost our humanness. Young people are not dating as much, they’re not having sex. Their attention spans have been whittled down to a goldfish. A lot of this comes at a massive cost. And I think if you did the net negative, net positive, I think it’s a negative.

JP McAvoy: And a lot of people aren’t even conscious that that’s actually occurring. So the first thing is to realize what is occurring. Some of the parties that I go to now, some of my friends that are curating the experiences or saying, everybody parks their phone. In fact, there’s phone checks. You may show up at an event and you get your manila envelope, and your phone goes into a sealed envelope and is secured for the evening. I think it’s really important. And it goes back to what we’re talking about, this humanness. That connection is at a concert as well. There will always be a draw out to have a performer and also be surrounded by people, because there’s an unspoken energy that exists between us. And as humans, we all want to continue to experience that. But we are going to this place where there will be a convergence of that AI and that humanness. It’s going to be an interesting place as we go to look for that. If someone’s going to look for you, where would be the best way to find you?

Jordan Whelan: If you want to listen to my music, it’s Jordan Power on Spotify, or whatever platform you get your music. But if you want to talk marketing, you can book an hour or half hour with me, sorry, half hour on my website, greysmokemedia.com. Or you can just reach out and see if we’re a good fit. I mostly work with lawyers. But if there’s an interesting project somewhere where I think I could help, I worked with a publicly traded pharmaceutical company two years ago. I can’t talk about it, but it was the craziest experience of my life, and I had a great time doing that. When I’m not doing music, I specialize in finding very creative solutions for people to get traffic on the internet. I’m driving 25,000 clicks a month right now to my Spotify from a traffic source that people don’t talk about. So if you come to me and say, hey, I’ve got half the budget of my competitor, and I need to (inaudible) my traffic, we find a way. And so that’s what I kind of do. Grey Smoke Media itself is really the only all in one legal marketing company that exists in the sense that there’s media buying, SEO, PR, social media. It’s kind of all in one symbiosis. So that’s where they can reach out to me, just greysmokemedia.com. And when they want to follow along to my music, but music success objectives are not always for everyone.

JP McAvoy: Yeah, that’s right. But it’s part of all this exploration. It’s been fun exploring this with you here today, and thanks for being on. Anybody listening, please go check Jordan in those two places. Two very varied areas of focus, but certainly well worth exploring. And I’d like to end these shows, Jordan, with something that anybody listening might be able to take with them through the rest of the day, through the rest of the week after they’ve enjoyed the show. Can you perhaps share some of the things you heard along the way that have resonated for you, that have allowed you to be the success that you are? And can you imagine what places you wish to go?

Jordan Whelan: My spiritual teacher said this to me, and just stick with me first when you hear the quote. She said, stop thinking. Thinking is the problem. We learn in meditation. We are not our thoughts, we’re not our body. We’re supposed to let those thoughts go by like clouds, not rejecting them. Because whatever you resist persists. But tap into your higher self intuition. There’s a great meditation I did. But it says basically that at the 25 minute mark of any meditation or stillness of mind, you will get the answer to what you need. So whether it’s a fight with your spouse, or a business question, or creative question, we are so much more powerful than we are led to believe. Our human mind is so limited, so what I would say to people is try to find a way to meditate stillness. Stop thinking, listen to your heart. Joe Dispenza talks about the heart, brain coherence. It’s real. And listen to your heart and your intuition. 99% of the time, if you don’t like a person, you don’t trust a person, you’re probably right.

JP McAvoy: There you go. Jordan, thanks so much for being here today. I look forward to tuning in, checking out the music and all that you do in the future.

Jordan Whelan: Thanks for having me on. I appreciate it.