Meet Jeremiah Higgins

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jeremiah Higgins a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Jeremiah, so great to have you with us and we want to jump right into a really important question. In recent years, it’s become so clear that we’re living through a time where so many folks are lacking self-confidence and self-esteem. So, we’d love to hear about your journey and how you developed your self-confidence and self-esteem.

My parents tell a story about when I learned to swim. I was four years old when they signed me up for swimming lessons at a local pool in Santa Barbara aptly named “The Plunge.” The way they tell the story, I went directly to the diving board and jumped in without fear. The way I remember it was I just knew that Jaws was in the deep blue reflections of water, just under the surface and waiting to eat me. The only way to eliminate the fear was to run towards the water and jump in. So I did.

However, the lessons that I learned later in life gave me my self-confidence. We moved around a lot. I eventually went to eleven schools in twelve years. Every year, I was always “the new guy.” I am naturally shy, but I quickly realized that if I didn’t make friends, I would eat, study, and play alone. Being the “new guy” forced me to insert myself in social groups with my fellow students. Luckily for me, most of the kids accepted me. I am sure most of them also thought: “Who is this strange kid inserting himself into our group?”

This attitude towards being brave and meeting new people has helped me immensely as a radio host. I am able to talk to anyone about anything and relate to their story.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

Always the “new guy” Jeremiah turned to movies, books, and the fantasy world in place of friends in his youth. He saw his first major motion picture “Star Wars” with his father at the Arlington Theatre in Santa Barbara when he was seven. Wired on Red Vines and Coca-Cola and a galaxy far, far away, from that moment on he was hooked on the silver screen.

For most of his life, Jeremiah thought of nothing but movies, instead of his schoolwork. One day after a particularly bad day of waiting tables in his early twenties, he saw a Vanity Fair cover of Young Hollywood Disruptors on a coffee table. He knew what he was meant to do: Produce movies.

He barely graduated high school, but wasn’t going to let that detour him. enrolled in Santa Barbara City College with the goal of going to UCLA Film School. He graduated from SBCC with Honors and made the Deans Roll. He didn’t get into UCLA but he was accepted to USC Film School. Jeremiah began classes in the Peter Stark Producing Program and attended USC Cinematic Arts from 1998 – 2000.

While there, he met an elderly Jewish author in his 90s, Phil Albaum, who helped pay his way through school by hiring him to adapt the true story of his experience in WWII called “In The General’s House.” From this work, he got an agent at Paradigm Talent Agency, and the script was eventually optioned for six figures. Sadly it was never made.

While in school Jeremiah also worked at Miracle Pictures for Alex Kitman Ho. He was an Executive Assistant to Laurie Hansen from 1998 – 2001. Jeremiah worked on pre-production on Claire Danes, Kate Beckinsale, and Bill Pullman’s movie called “Brokedown Palace.” Next came Sean Penn and Elizabeth Hurley’s “The Weight of Water.”

When Hollywood went on strike in early 2000, Jeremiah went back to the restaurant business and found great success.

Jeremiah has developed and opened over 200 music venues, hotels, nightclubs, restaurants, bars and retail stores. A few of the diverse building projects include Mick Fleetwood’s Fleetwood’s on Front Street in Maui, Santa Monica Seafood’s retail stores, The Landsby Hotel, the Pueblo Bonito Hotel, and The Cabo Wave Hotel in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

He is a top-performing hospitality visionary with over thirty years of industry achievement analyzing business drivers, designing operational systems, building staff, and developing cost-cutting, profit-building initiatives to create new businesses.

Jeremiah hosts an internationally syndicated radio show on multiple stations globally and an award-winning podcast called “The Jeremiah Show.” He has served as Executive Producer for Mariel Hemingway’s podcast, It’s Radio with TVs Tim Stack, The Mike Gormley Show (Music Manager once for The Police, Rod Stewart, Oingo Boingo) The Arwen Lewis Show (Moby Grape and granddaughter of Oscar-wining actress Loretta Young) and The Kimi Kato Show (VP of Universal Japan for 12 years developing Taylor Swift, Justin Beiber, Lady Gaga, U2 and more.)

Please subscribe to The Jeremiah Show on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-jeremiah-show/id1186940086

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

The qualities or skills I have learned that are most impactful on my journey are listening, a sincere interest in others, and cultivating and growing your network.

You will find that most industries are very small. Those that are successful in your industry are successful for a reason. Cultivate a powerful network of the top people in your industry. Contact them for advice, and remember their milestones. Build a respectful friendship and keep in touch through the years. A network is the most essential thing in your career and your life. Practice being a good listener. You will gain so much knowledge from listening; the information you gain will serve as a path to your success.

Thanks so much for sharing all these insights with us today. Before we go, is there a book that’s played in important role in your development?

A book that really helped me navigate building a business was Jim Collins’s “Good To Great.” I highly recommend it; I learned so much from the advice on its pages.

I’ve achieved success and rewards in the restaurant business over the years, and I couldn’t ask for much more from that business. I started my radio show in 2015, covering “Pop Culture, Music Icons, and Food Gods.” A little of all of the things I care about. The show has had a slow, steady growth. I love my listeners and my guests. It is the most important thing I do. I am always looking for new guests and to reach new listeners. That is my most persistent challenge. If you have an inspirational story and would like to be a guest on the show, please email me at [email protected]. You can listen to the show by subscribing to The Jeremiah Show on Apple Podcasts here

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-jeremiah-show/id1186940086

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.thejeremiahshow.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therealjeremiahshow/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com
• Twitter: https://x.com/ShowJeremiah
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@therealjeremiahshow

Image Credits

PHOTO CREDIT: Jeremiah D. Higgins