Welcome to the Christian Business Growth Podcast where faith meets entrepreneurship. Each episode, we uncover the strategies, stories, and spirit-led insights that help Christian business owners align their goals with God’s call. From practical tips to real-life testimonies, we explore what it takes to build a business that honours Christ, serves others, and impacts the Kingdom.

Fun is Serious Business

JonnyJuan Ortiz

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CONTACT

• Johnny's Website
• For Business Networking Training from Johnny,  text 'funlife', one word, fun to 3377

Fun Is Serious Business: What Entrepreneurs Can Learn from Childlike Faith

Many business owners spend years chasing growth while unknowingly leaving behind one of their greatest assets: joy.

In this episode, Johnny Juan Ortiz shares how a passion for helping people enjoy life and business led to unexpected opportunities, speaking engagements across the country, and a growing movement centered around what he calls "The Fun Life." His message is simple but powerful: fun is not a distraction from success; it is often a catalyst for it.

Johnny and Rev. Lyle explore childlike faith, creativity, trust, and the courage to follow God's direction even when the path isn't clear.

If you've been feeling stuck, overwhelmed, or disconnected from your purpose, this conversation may help you rediscover what you've lost and remind you that God's plans are often bigger than your own.

🔹 JohnnyJuan's Quotes

• "People rarely succeed at anything unless they have fun doing it."
• "You never want to lose that childlike faith, that childlike curiosity, the fun in it all."
• "When you flip on that imaginator and start believing anything is possible, it's amazing what God can do."
• "What makes you laugh may not make me laugh, but whatever makes you laugh, get into it."

🔹 Rev. Lyle

• "Kids laugh more than adults. Kids imagine more than adults. We have to hold on to that joy we had as kids."

• "God soometimes takes the little things and says, 'Make a business out of this."

• "When we step into the unknown, we have to allow ourselves to stretch. And messing up is okay. We should have fun with that too."

• "Remember, we will forget fun if we don't intentionally look for it."

How to Embrace Joy in Business: Insights from Johnny Juan Ortiz

 

In a world where business can often feel overwhelming, one question arises: How can we maintain joy while pursuing our professional goals? In this post, we'll explore insights from Johnny Juan Ortiz, a successful entrepreneur who emphasizes the importance of fun in business. Learn how to keep joy at the forefront of your entrepreneurial journey and achieve the financial freedom you desire.

About Johnny Juan Ortiz
Johnny Juan Ortiz is a dynamic entrepreneur and the founder of The Fun Life Community and Funlife Coaching. With a passion for helping high-level executives and Christian entrepreneurs, Johnny combines his business acumen with a focus on maintaining joy and faith in the workplace. His unique approach has transformed how individuals view success, blending personal fulfillment with professional achievement.

 

Why Fun Matters in Business
Many people enter the business world with a sense of excitement and passion, but somewhere along the way, that joy can fade. Ortiz highlights a crucial point: "People rarely succeed at anything unless they have fun doing it." This sentiment, echoed by Dale Carnegie, serves as a reminder that joy is not just a luxury; it's a necessity for success.

The Connection Between Fun and Success

- Increased Engagement: When individuals find joy in their work, they are more engaged. This engagement leads to better performance and higher retention of information.

- Creativity Boost: A fun environment fosters creativity. Ortiz recalls his childhood, where imagination thrived in the absence of modern distractions. Encouraging creativity in the workplace can lead to innovative solutions and fresh ideas.

- Positive Mindset: Laughter and joy release feel-good chemicals in our brains, promoting a positive mindset. This positivity can significantly impact productivity and overall workplace morale.

 

Overcoming the Challenges of Trusting in God

Ortiz emphasizes that maintaining joy is not always easy, especially during challenging times. He references his reliance on faith, quoting Jeremiah 29:11 about God's plans for prosperity and hope. Trusting in God can provide the strength needed to navigate through difficult periods in business.

 

Steps to Embrace Joy and Trust

1. Reflect on Your Purpose: Regularly revisit why you started your business. Keeping your purpose in mind can reignite your passion.

2. Incorporate Fun Activities: Find ways to integrate fun into your work culture. Whether through team-building exercises or casual Fridays, fostering a joyful atmosphere is key.

3. Practice Gratitude: Acknowledging the good in your life can help shift your focus from stress to appreciation.

4. Surround Yourself with Positivity: Engage with individuals who uplift and inspire you.

 

Key Takeaways

- Joy is Essential: Success in business is intricately linked to the joy we find in our work.

- Trust in the Journey: Embrace faith and trust that challenges are part of the process.

- Create a Fun Culture: Actively seek ways to incorporate fun and creativity in your business.

 

Wrapping up
In today's fast-paced business environment, it's crucial to prioritize joy and fun. Johnny Juan Ortiz's insights remind us that success doesn't have to come at the expense of happiness. By embracing joy, trusting in God, and fostering a positive work culture, we can achieve our professional goals without losing sight of what truly matters.

 

Rev. Lyle
Hello and welcome to the Christian Business Growth Podcast. I'm here with Johnny Juan Ortiz. So, Johnny Juan, how did God get you into business, brother?

JohnnyJuan Ortiz
Man, it just one of those you know, one of those taps on the shoulders that you look back and nobody's there. You wonder if somebody kind of tapped you on the shoulder as a joke, you know, the old g they get on the other side. But it it it it really was I didn't even think of it as a a business more so than, you know, hey, what what are people looking at you for? What what are people how are people contacting you? and it just turned out that people just weren't having

Rev. Lyle
Right.

JohnnyJuan Ortiz
I c I finally come to the realization that people just weren't having fun in whatever it was that they were doing. And it's oddly enough, one of one of my favorite authors, you know, Dale Carnegie, wrote How to Win Friends and Influence People. One of his quotes that has always stuck with me was that people rarely succeed at anything unless they have fun doing it. And I'm like, I wonder if I can create something around that. And so that's where

The Fun Life was born, the Fun Life Community, Funlife Coaching.com. There, all this stuff started coming together and just really helping high-level executives, professionals, individuals, Christian entrepreneurs grow and scale their business so that they can really achieve the financial freedom they're looking for without sacrificing their time, their family, their faith, and especially not their joy, right? The Bible talks about how restore unto me the joy.

Of my salvation, and sometimes the business can get so crazy and chaotic because you get you you lost track of why you got started in the first place. But you never want to lose, I call it childlike faith. That that childlike faith, the childlike curiosity, the fun in it all. And my tagline is fun is serious business. Cause it is.

Rev. Lyle
Right. I agree with that totally. So fun was the thing you you stuck on 'cause of Dale Carnegie, what he said. But that's just part of your life. You like exude joy in everything you do. It's kinda like natural for you just to kinda go into that. Where did that come from?

JohnnyJuan Ortiz
Man, it just from being a kid. I mean, I remember I I know a lot of this generation doesn't realize it, but when you go outside and you stu we when you grow up and you didn't have a whole lot of toys and you didn't have a TV and you didn't have Nintendo and you didn't ha you got to go outside and we would go outside for hours on end. We lived across the street from some railroad tracks and sometimes the the engineers would leave the would leave the caboose unlocked and we could go with th they we'd go in there. I don't know if it was

An invitation or not, but it wasn't locked. So we would play with that was like our hangout place for the weekend. And we just, I mean, just let our creation cr our our creativity, our imagination run wild. And when you allow that, I call it the imaginator, it's a little switch right back there behind the amygdala. When you flip on that imaginator and you start to believe that anything is possible, it's amazing. It's amazing what your childlike faith with childlike curiosity really can contemplate and

Another one, I'm a quotes guy. You know, Albert Einstein said that imagination is everything. It's the preview of life's coming attraction. So if you can imagine it, right, as a man thinketh in his heart, so is if you can if you can imagine it, what you think about comes about, you start to put all these modalities, methodologies, and and these phrases together, and you start to speak of those things that are not as though they were power of life and death is in the tongue. And you start to really start to just believe for the impossible.

it's amazing what God and and and who God puts in your path to make it happen. Much like today.

Rev. Lyle
Exactly. Yeah. I love that I love that you're talking about this stuff 'cause it's something that's really close to my heart. Cause you do research and kids laugh more than adults. Kids imagine more than adults. You look at what they do and there's that's I love that Jesus said you have to have that childlike faith to come to him. You've got to have that openness, that joy, you've got to open your heart. 'Cause as we get older we tend to close our heart down and we get caught up in a in a jaded world. To be let's just be honest, we live in a tough world.

But we gotta hold on to that joy and I love that you hold on to that joy in your life. That that's exciting to me.

JohnnyJuan Ortiz
Yeah, the the the business side, the professional side of Johnny Wan dot com is the childlike faith consulting services, where we work with high level executives, C suite executives and really kinda find out where they left their childlike faith, right? They say that you can always go back to where you left it. And it's amazing because the main question I ask is when was the the last time you remember really having fun? And man, it's been a while. And it's funny you talked about laughing because the child right, 'cause you just said, Hey, suffer not the little children.

Right, because unless you become like one of them, and he's well, he wasn't talking about being childish. He was talking about being childlike. And in twenty twenty-three, oddly enough, I became an internationally l certified laughter yoga instructor. And one I kid you not, I can't make this up. And one of the statistics statistics that they shared with us was that a child, when growing up, laughs an average of two to three hundred times a day.

Rev. Lyle
fun.

Rev. Lyle
Mm-hmm.

JohnnyJuan Ortiz
Do you want to guess how many times an adult laughs?

Rev. Lyle
Three times.

JohnnyJuan Ortiz
twenty to thirty. I mean a hundred yeah, I mean it it's not very many. We don't we don't laugh as much. And what you don't realize is that when you laugh, your your your your your subconscious, your your everything going on up in here, it starts to release those feel-good chemicals, the dopamine, the serotonin, and oxytocin, those endorphins.

Rev. Lyle
Okay. I was low. I left more. Yeah. No.

JohnnyJuan Ortiz
That lets you know that, hey, man, this we're we're enjoying what's going on. And cognitively, what happens is that if you're in a learning environment, you're 40% more likely to retain the information that you're listening to, that you're hearing, and even more likely to implement what you just learned because it was fun, because you enjoyed it. And so when I get up to speak to train, our main thing is to engage, to educate, and entertain. If we can educate,

if we can engage, entertain educate, entertain, and not necessarily in in that in that in that order, but at some form at some part of the event and conference, whatever, when we're doing that, people are having fun, they're enjoying, they're meeting new people, and before you know it, this the whole atmosphere changes.

Rev. Lyle
That's exciting. Yeah, I've heard people even do stuff like putting a pen in their mouth when they're not feeling happy, but it forces you to kind of make a smiling face and your brain says something good is happening. It's like counting your blessings, those gratitude factors, focusing on the positives, not focusing on the negatives.

JohnnyJuan Ortiz
Yeah. Yeah.

JohnnyJuan Ortiz
Yeah, the the the the trick to smile, right? My my coach said it that it's the it's the it's that that that curve or that that that curve that that sets everything straight or that you know that that crooked that crooked thing says But I tell people that the trick to laughing or smiling is to connect the corners of your mouth with the top of your ears. If done properly, you can actually eat a taco sideways.

Rev. Lyle
Like that.

Rev. Lyle
I don't know about that, but it's hilarious. You and your tacos. We'll talk about that in a little bit. what is God doing right yeah, what is God doing right now in your business, brother?

JohnnyJuan Ortiz
Yeah. No pun, right?

JohnnyJuan Ortiz
my goodness, man. You know, so in twenty twenty-four I went to an event and it was a great event. Very high energy, great speaker, some incredible peop people were there. And I just happened to know to have known the event host. So I went up to him, I said, Hey, I love your event. Everything's great. It's just missing this one little thing. And he asked me what it was, and I said, Man, there's this little lull, this in in between transitions, there's this little

space that I think is a great opportunity to really kind of amp it up, to really kind of bring it home. And he says, Well, yeah, well, we already have an MC, but get with them and see if we can coordinate that. And so I came up with what's called the back of the room MC, literally just pulled it out of thin air because I didn't know what to call it. And we share I shared that with the MC. We did it in between a couple of transitions and a couple of breaks. And all it was if if you were if you and I were doing a a sporting event

Rev. Lyle
Yeah. Awesome.

JohnnyJuan Ortiz
Right. Let's just say you were the play-by-play announcer, the MC, then the back of the room MC is like the the color commentator. And so we're just kind of giving instructions. All right, everybody back to your seats. Restrooms are over here. All right, five minutes, you know, two-minute warning. Everybody back in your seats. You know, grab somebody, high five them, take, you know, just kind of kind of setting it up to where the MC can get up an MC and not have to corral everybody and spend the first minute or two trying, okay, everybody, let's get back.

And so that's what we did. And after the after lunch, the MC came to me and she said, Hey, listen, you're killing this thing. Let's just get you up on stage. And that's where over the top MC was born. And we somebody somebody that was in this audience in Dallas was from Chicago and they said, Hey, can you come and do that at my event? You know, Chicago landed us in Dall in San Antonio, San Antonio landed what the Milwaukee.

We went to Orlando. We're gonna be in Denver next week as over the top MC doing this big achieve biz explosion conference for a bunch of world renowned leaders. Forbes Riley is one of the keynotes or is the keynote speaker. she does a big thing. You know, she's known as Queen P with like Paul. And it you start to really get out there and it's amazing because I would have never have thought that that again, we we created an another side business in the Fun Life community umbrella without really trying. That was kind of

a blessing in disguise. And so that's really what we're leaning into right now in our business is the is the over the top MC experience.

Rev. Lyle
That's cool. I love to hear that. I love to hear that how God takes the little things. You're just making a small improvement. God says, Ho, make a business out of this. Why not?

JohnnyJuan Ortiz
We we just ran with it. If you would have told me right now, you know, back in the day that we were gonna be doing this, flying to Chicago, flying to Orlando, flying to Denver, fli driving down I close enough I can drive to San Antonio. but man, it's just blown away what happens when you just trust God, right? To to lean not to our own understanding, but in all our ways, acknowledge him and he will direct our path. I'm just like, Lord.

Yeah, I mean no, we're we're not where we wanna be, but man, we're a lot further away than where we thought we'd be.

Rev. Lyle
Give me give us a little more information about that. You said you trust God. What was that process like for you and that trusting?

JohnnyJuan Ortiz
Man, it was not fun. Man, the the that trust, right? You know, the the whole the whole thing about, you know, yay, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. I'm like, this doesn't make sense. God, please help me. God, do you know where I'm at? Do you know what's happening? and yes, he's God. He knows exactly where you're at.

Rev. Lyle
Wait a minute, I thought you talked about fun. I'm just kidding. It stretches you, doesn't it?

JohnnyJuan Ortiz
And what I've had to learn, what I've had to lean into was my my well, my quote, my life's quote is Jeremiah twenty nine eleven, right? I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper, you're the harm, plans to give you hope and a future, right? Another trend that says an expected end. But the quote that I really, really leaned into during that moment of trust, of the not so fun side of Johnny Wan was the quote from from Corey Tanboon who said, Never

Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God. And when you start to really lean into that, yes, things may look bleak. Yes, things may look like it's about to an end about to end. But in God's economy, right, that that dead end is really just a detour because that's not where God wants you to go. Sometimes God's no is an answer to prayer. We may not always feel like it is.

I was like, God, did you really even is this it? I mean, we had those what we call it two-chair moments. You know, one of my favorite authors, Bob Bodine, wrote the book Two Chairs. And we had those two-chair moments. I was like, God, are you serious? This is not how I drew it out. And of course, God kind of laughs. He's he's the ultimate laughter yoga instructor. He's like, You're cute, Johnny Wan. That was cute. Let's try it this way.

Rev. Lyle
Mm-hmm.

Rev. Lyle
There you go.

Rev. Lyle
Yeah. It's funny 'cause we we line up our own ideas of what it needs to be. And it's not that God laughs at us to make fun of us. He just says, I have so much better for you.

JohnnyJuan Ortiz
Correct.

my goodness. Yes. A and we as human beings, you know, we we we we wanna hold on to that good so much that if we would just let go of the good, he's got that great, that that that bigger thing waiting for us. but that complacency, the the the common the the the the man, the what's that called? The the that the the space where you just stay that comfort zone because you're it's good, right? And and

And in order to have that big, that that life that God wants for you, you're gonna have to sacrifice the altar of of comfort. You're gonna have to put that life of of of good enough on the altar so that you can live your best, most fun, blessed life ever. And that's where that's where Phenomenal Life, F-U-N, Phenomenal Life. We're working on that website, phenomenalife.com, was c kind of born. So we're gonna be putting that website together and just really sharing with people.

How to really live their fun, most blessed life ever. And that's leaning into their gifts and their talents, their abilities and skills, right? Because that thing, God placed inside of us something that He didn't place in anybody else. And it's the it's that thing that we do the absolute best at with the least amount of effort. And then once you start to kind of tie in how that, how that blends and how that fits into the marketplace.

And what people are willing to pay for, all of a sudden a business is born. And that's exactly where I'm at right now. And I'm just at the early stages. So you guys are watching this kind of as it unfolds. And right now, I don't know what it's gonna look like. I don't know how it's gonna end up. I'm just trusting that, you know, again, never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God. And if I know anything, is that God has He doesn't he doesn't just give good gifts to his children, He gives great gifts, right? He's the

JohnnyJuan Ortiz
He owns the cattle of a thousand hill. It's all his anyway. We're just we're just our goal is to be good stewards and and and and a good funnel that he's allowed he he he can work through us for the benefit of of somebody else.

Rev. Lyle
Absolutely. Well, as we take a shift right quick, we're gonna talk about business growth tip. What's a business growth tip for somebody who's listening in, they want some help in their business or they have an I they want an idea, just kind of take it to that next level. What would you tell them?

JohnnyJuan Ortiz
The the actual word grow. The it I love across sticks, that's how I learn. But grow, G R O W, getting rid of old ways. I guess that's two O's. Getting rid of old ways. Once you once you're able to get rid of the old ways of how of how people do business, or what what people thought how you do business, all of a sudden you realize that you know what? you you can you you you you can

kind of blaze a new path. You can do something different, right? Because you can't it's the old saying, you can't expect to get different results if you keep doing the same thing over and over again. I it's just not. And it's not that you keep doing things over and over again. That's the definition of insanity. It's that you keep thinking the same thing over and over again.

Rev. Lyle
Absolutely. I like that. Get rid of getting rid of old ways. I think one of the quotes that kinda hit me this just recently was a quote that talked about it's not that it's easy or hard, it's that it's known or unknown. And sometimes when we step in that unknown, we've got to have that faith and we have to allow ourselves to stretch. We have to allow ourselves to mess up. And the messing up is totally okay because we should have fun with that too.

JohnnyJuan Ortiz
Right.

He's nice. He might give you like a little love bite, but I'm sorry, I lost you there.

Rev. Lyle
Sorry, I was talking about we can we should have fun even when we mess up.

JohnnyJuan Ortiz
Man, I tell you what, once you once you realize that every single day, either you win or you learn, y you can't you you you you you have to find the fun in it. And my my laughter, my my instructor told us when you fail, find a way to laugh at yourself. It may not be funny right now. Ha ha ha ha ho ho ho hee hee he. But one of the things that we've learned in our certification for the laughter yoga certification is that your mindset

cannot you your mindset doesn't know whether you're laughing for real or it's manufactured. It your but the benefits are the same. So even if you don't feel good, if you will fake laugh, you could actually you could actually trick your brain, trick your body into feeling good. Matter of fact, it's been known to to kind of curb some of the some of the mental illnesses that that happen, dementia, Alzheimer's, it's actually been able to slow

Because when you start to breathe have you ever laughed really hard, Lyle, to the point that you laughed so hard that you actually got a little bit of a high, a little bit of like, whoa, whoa, whoa, what happened? That's because your brain isn't used to using all getting that much oxygen shot to it at the same time. And our lungs have about a three three three liter capacity for for air, but because we're such shallow breathers, we don't fully use

all of that capacity. And so whenever we start to get all that brain all that oxygen into our brain, disease cannot live in an oxygenated brain. It it cannot. It's impossible.

Rev. Lyle
That's a good word. I was thinking about you know how how we put laughter into our life. This sounds so corny, but I still watch Saturday morning cartoons. I still try to find some time in my week where I can watch a cartoon and just do it. And here's on my feed, I was I'm not this old, but on my feed I've seen some Buster Keaton and some Laurel and Hardy. There was a Laurel and Hardy, they were dancing and they put a Michael Jackson song behind it. And I just thought it was hilarious. And just it's fun to put fun in front of you because.

JohnnyJuan Ortiz
Yes, yes.

Rev. Lyle
We forget to we forget it if we don't look for it.

JohnnyJuan Ortiz
Even if it's those funny cat videos or I I kinda have a morbid sense of humor, but I love those scare pranks. I love the scare pranks where people are popping out and you know, but th that don't don't don't judge me. But it's just one of those things, you know, that that that it makes me laugh. but what makes me laugh may not make but whatever makes you laugh, just get into it. Five, ten minutes a day. Get just just knock it out.

Rev. Lyle
Yeah, we goes my wife and I will catch a dry bar comedy every once in while because it's fairly clean comedy and I try to keep clean stuff in my head because there's a lot of vulgarity when it comes to the comedy world. But I we try to do that together. Just every once in a we'll put them on and just kind of relate to them and just laugh together. I think as a couple and the podcast that came on for this was me and my wife talking, and I and I shared that in there. I think I believe I shared that in there that I try we try to laugh together on a regular basis, because that's important. As we end up here, what's

JohnnyJuan Ortiz
huh.

JohnnyJuan Ortiz
There is.

Rev. Lyle
go ahead.

JohnnyJuan Ortiz
No, I gonna say and laughter's so contagious. Even if you're in a room and somebody's laughing like really hard, you don't even know what the joke was. You don't even know what's laughing, but you're laughing with them.

Rev. Lyle
Yeah, absolutely. I saw those videos where this guy shows up on a on a subway and he just starts laughing for no reason. And everybody just slowly you see the whole subway car fill up with laughter. I'm like, that is so cool to see. Exactly. So as we end up here, what is one little tidbit of wisdom you want to leave us with and how can we get in touch with you?

JohnnyJuan Ortiz
Yeah.

They don't know they don't even know what it's about. Absolut that's awesome, man.

JohnnyJuan Ortiz
Absolutely. So one little tip that I can tell you with what I really love doing is networking. I enjoy networking. I enjoy getting out and meeting people. The reason a lot of other people don't enjoy doing it is because they don't have a good plan on how to do it. And so I'd love to share with your audience a networking tool resource that we've put together that gives you not only the mindset, but the motivation and the methodology on how to get out there and network at a really high level.

Because if you go to your next networking event and you have a game plan and you know why you're there to who you're there to speak or who you're there to meet, all of a sudden you can go in there without the anxiety or that that odd feeling of, my gosh, I gotta go and I meet gotta meet everybody. No. What if you just went with the mindset of I'm just gonna meet three quality people? I'm gonna introduce myself, I'm gonna connect them, I'm gonna show up. One of my tricks is that I like to show up to an event and act as if I'm the host.

I go around and I meet people. Hey Lyle, thank you so much for coming. I appreciate you being here, man. Anything we need to do, I'll already scope it out. Hey, restrooms are over here, drinks are over here. It's obvious that that you can see where it, but it's just something about making people feel welcomed that gets you to connect. And so if anybody in your audience wants that free resource, they can actually text the word fun life, one word, fun life to 3377. 33777. Just check the word fun life and I'll email you this resource.

That you can get and you can you can apply it. It's so simple, you can apply it at your next networking. And that's why we I I I operate off of the KISS formula, K-I-S-S. Keep it super simple. We had to kind of change some of the previous terminology. Keep it super simple. and how to connect. How to connect. the website right there is JohnnyWan.com. Go on there. You can set up a we I do complimentary complimentary strategy sessions for Christian entrepreneurs if they ever want to just kind of

Rev. Lyle
Yeah.

Well, Johnny, thanks for sharing your goal. Go ahead.

JohnnyJuan Ortiz
kinda kind get a wanna get a childlike faith perspective on kind of how what's been holding them back in their business. Complimentary, it's a thirty, forty five minute session. We get in there and do it. Just go to Johnny Wan dot com and book your session. The my calendar's on there so it's it's all synced, all put together. So let me know how we can help you guys and we'd love to be able to visit with you. So thank thank you, La

Rev. Lyle
Good. Thanks for being with us.

JohnnyJuan Ortiz
Appreciate ya.