In this episode of Founders Journey, we sit down with Aron Myers, who opens up about his unconventional path from a childhood marked by adversity to becoming a leadership coach and entrepreneur. Aron shares how growing up in East New York with parents struggling with addiction and his time in the foster care system shaped his understanding of resilience, focus, and determination. This conversation highlights how his early experiences with ADHD, special education, and lack of academic confidence became foundational to the mindset he brings to coaching and leadership today.
We explore Aron’s early academic struggles and his breakthrough moments in middle school, when the support of a key mentor helped him see his own potential. He discusses how structure, routines, and self-awareness played critical roles in managing his attention and improving his performance in school, eventually leading to his acceptance into a Catholic high school and later college.
During college, Aron pursued law and interned at top firms, but he soon realized that the lifestyle and ethos of the legal profession didn’t align with his purpose. This pivotal realization led him to shift to social sciences, drawn by his personal experiences in the foster care system and his growing desire to help others. His time working with mentally handicapped adults profoundly reshaped his perspective on empathy, humanity, and service.
The conversation then moves into Aron’s professional trajectory in social services. He details his rise through the ranks, from volunteer to executive director, managing multimillion-dollar budgets and overseeing complex programs supporting vulnerable youth. Despite achieving success in the nonprofit space, Aron recognized he had reached a plateau financially and professionally. This turning point catalyzed his move into entrepreneurship.
Aron shares the mindset shift required to move from being an executive to an entrepreneur, and why stepping away from constant crisis management to create something on his own terms was essential. He discusses the importance of knowing your niche, learning from failure, and pricing your value appropriately without letting fear dictate your worth. He also offers practical strategies for early-stage entrepreneurs: start with what brings you joy, figure out how to monetize it, and build slow, deliberate partnerships.
The episode closes with advice on influence, leadership, and exit strategies. Aron breaks down the difference between being passionate about your product versus being passionate about entrepreneurship itself. Whether you want to build one business or several, Aron makes the case for creating systems that allow your work to scale and eventually run without you.
This conversation is a masterclass in how personal history can inform professional clarity and how emotional intelligence, strategic thinking, and service can form the core of a successful business model.
