From a successful career to a secure 9-5 job, there could be a lot of things that bring satisfaction to one’s life. For some people however, it’s the pursuit of a purpose that drives their journey. That was the case with Eli Jonah Karls who snubbed his dream degree to attain wisdom and made it his mission to impact lives across the globe.
Karls found early success as a music festival producer, bringing in world famous DJ’s and performing artists to his music festival in Montreal, at the young age of seventeen. Soon after he embarked on a spiritual trip to Jerusalem, a journey that transformed him forever.
Despite his early success, Karls wanted to live a different life. His journey to Jerusalem gave him a new found perspective on life. Karls wanted to be impactful rather than successful and he realized that social media was the most effective way to do it. He sensed that Social Media can be used for much more than just monetary gains and social connectivity.
So he created The Daily Wiz; a social media film series of inspiring, impactful and relevant wisdom, that he delivers on a weekly basis. He aspires to make wisdom relevant again and spread it across the globe. His videos are all about day to day wisdom that everyone can relate to, and demonstrates how it can transform one’s life.
Three years later, The Daily Wiz has amassed over 100,000 views on its weekly videos alone. Within one year since it was created, The Daily Wiz has garnered the support of well recognized personalities around the world like hockey superstar Nick Suzuki, performing artist Karl Wolf, and social media icons Agon from project Nightfall and Farokh Sarmad from one of the world’s leading luxury and lifestyle pages (GoodLife).
Karls also hosts a weekly show “What’sYourWiz” – a platform where thought leaders, entrepreneurs, pro athletes and even world renowned music artists spread their “Wiz” to the world. So far he’s had guests like Kansas Royals pitcher Alex Katz, Canadian serial entrepreneur Stephan Ouaknine, and LinkedIn Award winner Berel Solomon, along with many others to join his talk show.
Karls attributes his success in finding his purpose to sacrifice. After leaving high school, Karls had worked four hard years to make it to honors and be accepted into a top business program in Montreal. His family was happy but Karls wasn’t. He wanted something greater, where he could impact lives on a mass scale, and was fully aware that he had to move beyond the classroom textbooks to make that happen. So he rejected the offer from the business school in order to get into a Yeshiva; an educational institution driven by spirituality along with personal growth.
Karls kept getting rejected from most the schools he’d apply to because of his lack of foundational spiritual knowledge. Even the month before all institutions were beginning, he still had nowhere to go. Family pressure was building and he was getting frustrated as he had left everything behind for this opportunity. It was his commitment to a greater mission that made him relentless, and just two weeks prior to the start of the year, Karls received the acceptance from the Yeshiva in Israel. After 18 months away from his family on a spiritual trip, Karls got an invitation from the Yeshiva University in New York. His persistence paid off and now he is influencing thousands through his videos that aim to introduce millennials to the importance of wisdom.
“It’s the fear of not becoming who we could’ve been, because of our lack of sacrifice, that kills most of our potential,” Karls said.
“Our level of sacrifice will ultimately determine our level of success, and that is something that could never be forgotten,” he added.
Karls tells those in search of a purpose to stay patient, persistent and eager to learn more about the world around us, in order to break through the deterrents that stop them from finding their true calling.
Karls aims to make The Daily Wiz the torchbearer of tangible change. He wants social media platforms to be transformed into sources of inspiring, impactful and valuable content.