No spam. A short note when the first workshops open.
25 years advising founders
The problem
Very optimized. Not enjoyed.
You did the hard part. You built the business, hit the numbers, earned the freedom — and somewhere in there, "successful" quietly stopped feeling like "happy."
So you chase bigger experiences to fill the gap. Everest. The Antarctic cruise. The party someone spent a fortune on. And they leave you a little cold — because they were built for the photo, not for you.
The more Instagram it is, the less fun it usually is.
Meanwhile there's a real distance between the life you project and the life you actually live behind the scenes. A ten-million-dollar house with garbage food in the fridge. A calendar that's optimized to death and a week you wouldn't actually choose again.
I close that gap. I bridge who you project you are and who you are behind the scenes — so you finally start living what you've been projecting.
Here's the thing almost nobody will tell you: most people don't actually know what "good" is. A great life isn't more optimizing or a more extreme experience. It's real relationships, better decisions, far less anxiety, and food, parties, and experiences that are a true 10 out of 10. I've spent 25 years advising founders and executives — and, by my own count, roughly $2M of my own money — chasing down what a genuinely great life is actually made of. Now I teach it.
You're not un-optimized. You're just not enjoyed yet. Let's fix that.
Credibility
Why listen to James
This is for founders and executives who already made it — and quietly suspect they're not actually enjoying the life they built. If you're still climbing and love the climb, you don't need me yet.
James Perly is a Canadian entrepreneur who has spent 25+ years advising founders and executives — most of it running his own advisory practice. He was the earliest mentor to Jayson Gaignard, founder of MastermindTalks, and he's quietly helped a lot of successful people make sharper calls and build lives worth having.
Then a spinal injury sidelined him and reset everything. Coming through it sent him deep into the real work of rebuilding a life — years at the frontier of human transformation, including plant medicine and non-ordinary states most people only read about, where he trained as a practitioner. Most life advice comes from people who were already doing great. James isn't wasn't one of them.
Earliest mentor to Jayson Gaignard
Founder of MastermindTalks.
Trained at West Point and MIT
A leadership program at West Point, taught by U.S. generals; an executive program at MIT; and the Canadian military.
Two decades running his own advisory practice
Helping companies make sharper calls and get funded to grow.
A trained guide in deep transformational work
The frontier of human potential most coaches never go near.
A top-rated workshop at EO Grit 2026
At the Entrepreneurs' Organization (EO) unconference — and a paid college lecturer besides.
Don't take my word for it
"James Perly was pivotal in transforming my vision into MastermindTalks' reality; his mentorship is a blueprint for success and legacy."
Jayson Gaignard, Founder, MastermindTalks
MastermindTalksEntrepreneurs' Organization (EO)
The workshops I'm building
These are going to be 10 out of 10. Small and exclusive — 6 to 8 people. Tell me which ones you want, and I'll let you know when the next one opens.
The Good Life, Actually
You optimized everything and enjoyed none of it. Let's fix that.
A blunt audit of where your "great life" is actually just for the feed — and what genuinely excellent looks like instead.
How to design trips, nights, and experiences that burn into your memory, not your camera roll.
The difference between an ego experience and a real one — and how to stop paying a fortune for the wrong ones.
More days you'd actually choose to live again.
For: founders and execs who've hit the numbers and the bucket list and quietly feel it's hollow.
Eat Like You Mean It
A ten-million-dollar house and garbage food in the fridge. I walk into these homes and I'm horrified.
A handful of unforgettable meals that make people crowd your kitchen.
How to buy and cook great ingredients — a couple hundred dollars that outshines parties that spent a fortune.
How to throw the dinner people talk about for years — the opposite of the Instagram party.
Real hosting energy. Not a caterer.
For: high earners who eat like they're too busy to live, and anyone who wants to host but defaults to restaurants.
Grit: Tough Person, Tough Times
Are you a tough person going through tough times? Here's a framework to ride on top of the wave.
A repeatable framework for staying functional — and deciding well — when everything's on fire.
Real stories of grit from the room, framed and pressure-tested.
How to carry far less anxiety through economic, technological, and personal chaos.
The floor of a great life: you can't enjoy what you built if you're brittle and rattled.
For: leaders under pressure — the entrepreneur crowd who already call themselves gritters.
Also in the works
More than workshops
Retreats
Small, off-grid, and genuinely transformational — the opposite of the Instagram trip. Real food, real people, real experiences, and, for those who want to go there, the kind of deep, guided inner work that resets how you see everything. Register your interest and you'll hear first.
1:1 coaching
For a handful of people who want the whole thing, direct. By conversation only — start by getting on the list.
Stay in the loop
Tell me which ones you want.
Leave your email and pick what you're interested in. When there are enough of us, I'll open the next one. That's it.
You're in.
Check your inbox for a confirmation link — click it and you're on the list. I'll only email you when one of the things you picked is actually happening. — James
