Jesse Itzler Tells JCK Attendees How to Give Their Businesses Soul

By Karen Dybis | June 01, 2026

Jesse Itzler has worked at a kiddie pool, cleaned meat trucks, performed as a rapper, built a private jet business, and sold a business to Coca-Cola—and because of what he learned from these experiences, he considers himself a “spiritual billionaire.”

Before you roll your eyes at that term, hear how Itzler explained what it means to a receptive audience at the JCK show in Las Vegas. “There are two sides to business,” Itzler said in his JCK keynote address on Saturday morning. “There’s the financial side, which is super important, but we tend to overinvest in the energy we’re putting into the financial side.

“Then there’s the spiritual side: What kind of culture did you build? Were you philanthropic? Were you kind to your customers? Did you have adventure in your life while you were building your empire? Sometimes we tend to neglect that side.

“If you have a billion dollars and your spirit is zero, a billion times zero is zero,” said Itzler.

During his nearly hour-long pep rally, Itzler emphasized that you can bolster your relationships, wealth, and overall happiness by pouring your soul into your business and other things important to you.

“Customers feel soul. You can’t outsource soul. Soul doesn’t live on a spreadsheet,” Itzler said. “I built entire businesses based on enthusiasm and soul.”

Serial entrepreneur Itzler is a cofounder of Marquis Jet, one of the largest private jet card companies in the world; co-owner of the Atlanta Hawks basketball team; and partner in Zico, the coconut water company that he and his partners repurchased from Coke after selling it to the beverage giant.

“Entrepreneurs do one of two things,” Itzler told the JCK audience. “They either create something new that never existed before or they take something that existed and make it a little bit better.”

Itzler, who has sold five businesses, said he has done a bit of both. And while he’s had an unorthodox journey as an entrepreneur, he’s also had a lot of time—and money—to ponder business and personal development.

That’s how he came up with the label “spiritual billionaire”: It stems from the idea that if you don’t invest in yourself and personal relationships along the way, you might have money, but you won’t have the wealth that feeds your soul.

“I was lucky. My dad owned a plumbing supply house, and I was raised by a billionaire…a spiritual billionaire,” Itzler said.

He brought up the acronym SIPPS, which Itzler said tends to be used in regards to activities and facilities for seniors—it stands for social, intellectual, physical, purposeful, and spiritual. These five criteria for senior wellness can be used by businesspeople to take note of what they’re concentrating on outside of work, he said.

Itzler also told JCK attendees about how he annually chooses a word to define the year ahead—and soul has been that word for the past five years. Soul means caring so deeply that you always give 100%, he said.

His speech additionally touched on the role of luck in business and life. For Itzler, getting lucky means doing things that allow you to seize opportunities and possibly reap benefits.

“Lucky doesn’t happen Sunday night watching the Kardashians on your couch. Luck happens when you put yourself in a situation where the universe can reward you for being there,” he said. “The universe rewards the bold.

“But then you have to be really good at whatever it is you do and take advantage of the opportunity,” Itzler added.

Other takeaways from his “Spiritual Billionaire” presentation for JCK:

Complimenting, congratulating, and consoling. With these three actions, you can develop deep, authentic relationships, according to Itzler. Business can be transactional, but relationships shouldn’t be, he said. Give compliments liberally. Congratulate with sincerity. And show up in person anytime someone you care about might need consoling.

Live your life with urgency. Every year you have 8,760 hours to achieve what you want, personally and professionally. Most of those hours are spent sleeping, eating, and working, so be diligent with the other 25% of your time, Itzler advised.

“Time doesn’t sit around and wait for you,” he said. “You don’t need me to tell you life goes fast.… Put more on your plate of the things you love to do with the people you love to do them with. If you have a chance to build a memory or a moment, you take it.”

Your words matter. Negative and defeatist language limits you, Itzler said. Choose more positive language when you speak or respond, and you will see a different result.

Rip up the playbook. If nobody taught you how to do your job, how would you do it? Itzler said his wife, Spanx founder Sara Blakely, asks this of her employees. And he knows from his own experience how innovating can creating opportunities.

“If you rip up the playbook that everybody in jewelry and retail has been using for the last 50 years, how would you package your product? What would your business card look like? How would you write thank-you notes to your customers? That’s where separate comes from. That’s where innovation comes from,” he said.

“When you step out of line, you do things that no one else is doing—that’s how you separate yourself. Once you get over the fear of being embarrassed, it’s the most liberating gift you can give yourself.”

Top: Jesse Itzler delivers his “Spiritual Billionaire” keynote address at JCK Las Vegas on May 30. (Photo courtesy of JCK Events)