Jonathan Kamps was struggling with a “scarcity mindset about life and zero confidence,” and had “mastered pretty much every negative behavior in the book.” Listening to the AoC Podcast helped him turn things around; coming to the AoC Bootcamp in Los Angeles sealed the deal.

Profiles of Success highlights the stories of the people who attend our AoC Bootcamp or partake of our other programs. Sometimes we forget just how life-changing our courses can be. These stories remind us and, we hope, will inform and inspire you.

“AoC helped me to find true confidence.” -Jonathan Kamps

The Art of Manliness podcast occasionally features a short, five-minute conversation with another podcast host that they insert at the end of their episodes. Jordan has been featured a couple of times and it was this five-minute conversation that first led Jonathan to AoC. “It was everything I needed to hear and discussed everything I wanted to attain,” was what Jonathan said he felt when first hearing an Art of Charm podcast. He went back and binge-listened to every single episode, particularly our Toolbox episodes, which he listened to two to three times each, and started saving money for Bootcamp.

Before AoC

Despite having a bachelor’s degree in accounting, and being in a relationship with a future dentist, Jonathan wasn’t his best self. He was working at a local retail store as a cashier instead of in his field. “I had a scarcity mindset about life and zero confidence,” he remembers. “I used to struggle with low value behaviors in my everyday life. I mastered pretty much every negative behavior in the book. I was genuinely unhappy with myself and I struggled to form deep relationships.”

He had taken some mock interview and self development courses throughout college but none of them addressed the real problem. “I was the problem,” Jonathan noted. “When you go to these courses they tell you what to do, not how to be. When I heard AoC I realized the answer to the problem I hadn’t ever really identified.”

Bootcamp

Even with all of the AoC podcast content he had learned and started to implement, he realized on the first day of Bootcamp, in December 2016, that he did not present himself to others in a friendly way. “I was very aggressive in my body language and eye contact and I seemed fake and insecure. On that very first day, as we did video work, I realized why I was struggling with forming deeper relationships with people: I presented myself poorly and lacked true confidence.”

While it’s uncomfortable to watch low-value behaviors in your face in a video recording (and being called out on them by coaches), it allowed Jonathan to let go of everything he thought he was doing right. He was free to start over and build a foundation right from the beginning. It was difficult, but this is where he saw the turnaround start.

It was the personal attention and the authenticity of the coaches that really helped Jonathan progress. “I struggled with the new habits and sometimes old behaviors would creep in. They were there to help me break those old habits and start over. It was the best chance to create the new genuine, confident, authentic me.'”

Jonathan considers Bootcamp to have been the single best week of his life. He came out with a new mission: to be a high value person all the time, and to have the perspective to give everything and everyone he engaged with his very best effort.

After AoC

Jonathan’s life is vastly different today from when he first ran into AoC. For starters, he took a pay cut from his retail job to get his foot in the door in the accounting field. He worked hard and, inspired by an Alex Kouts appearance on AoC, managed to ask for a raise that more than covered his tuition for Bootcamp. He also earned the title “Employee of the Year” and managed to earn another promotion that came with a trip to Europe this summer — which he will be taking with his new girlfriend, who is an AoC sister. As the newer one in the relationship to AoC, she has no problem calling him out on little things when he doesn’t live up to the very high standard he has set for himself post Bootcamp (“marry her now!” I insisted during our interview).

His deep gratefulness for all he has learned from AoC has led him to share it with everyone he meets and knows. He’s always a bit surprised when someone says that he is “okay” and “doesn’t need any help.” While we do think that everyone could benefit from coming to Bootcamp, sometimes we all suffer from blind spots, like the ones Jonathan said he had before coming to training.

“I do my best to always pay attention to how I am presenting myself to others everywhere I go. I do a body check every time I walk into a room and make sure to keep a high value mindset. I feel that I am a better listener now and I pay close attention to low value behaviors that try to creep back into my life. My conversations are better. People see me as a confident person and as someone they can talk to. The increased enjoyment of my life and my relationships are priceless and the investment I made in myself has already financially paid itself back several times.”

Are you tired of low value behaviors you might not even know you have? Are you ready to level up your life? Click here to learn more.