If that were how we all looked at the world and everything and everyone occupying it, we’d miss a whole lot that lies just beneath the surface.

Take Jesse James for instance. If you went solely from initial observation, your impression might go something like this: outlaw, daredevil, tough son-of-a-gun. Which isn’t to say that he isn’t those things, as audiences have learned from watching him on television shows like Monster Garage, where he comes across as having a serious approach to having fun. But he is also so much more than his inked arms and laid back So-Cal persona belie… he is one astute businessman, for starters.

Viewers of the just-wrapped season of Donald Trump’s Celebrity Apprentice got to witness that side of James. Water cooler and online chatter predicted that he was the participant who might win it all, due to his well-rounded skill set, creative mind, problem-solving skills and business sense, and not because he refused to parade around his beautiful celebrity wife Sandra Bullock. Shamefully, it seems that’s exactly why Trump let him go in the end.

Those on a personal level with James, who know him from more than just watching him on television, are already aware of his sharp business sense. Take his involvement with Maverick Business Adventures, for example. This company invites top-level entrepreneurs on adventure trips that double as business and personal development sessions.

Outings will also offer participants a chance to rub shoulders with and learn from a well-known figure who shares his or her experiences, and Jesse James has been a part of two trips to Baja, Mexico, for off-road dune buggy racing.

Yanik Silver is the founder of the company and has first-hand experience of the savvy entrepreneur behind the legend of Jesse James.

“He’s not writing business books and he’s not out there speaking and lecturing about business,” Silver says. “So a lot of our guys walked in thinking that they sort of knew who he was – he’s a tattooed-up guy, and comes across as really rough-and-tumble. But everyone in that first trip walked away going ‘Wow, that guy is really sharp.’”

Silver has seen another, lesser-publicized side of Jesse James as well – the committed philanthropist.

“Jesse is actually quite involved in charity, and not just raising money on TV,” he says. In anticipation of making it all the way to the end in Celebrity Apprentice, James asked Silver to mobilize his circle of Maverick Business Adventure buddies, and when the group ponied up $12,500, Maverick matched the funds for a total of $25,000.

We may have seen Jesse James walk into Millikan High School in Long Beach to present the charity of his choice, the Long Beach Education Foundation, a $20,000 check on this so-called ‘reality’ TV show – in actual reality he was instrumental in motivating people who know him personally to add an additional $25,000 in a very short period of time.

Even more impressive, this brings James’ total fundraising efforts for Jesse’s Fund, an account of the Long Beach Education Foundation, to over $110,000 in less than one year.

“I actually started the fund,” James shares, “because there was nothing set up to give money to any kind of industrial arts for kids. Any kind of funding that goes to schools goes straight to computers. No one ever thinks of working-class kids that are going to have working-class jobs.

I think a lot of kids are like me – they’re not going to be a doctor or a lawyer or a rapper… they’re going to be a diesel mechanic or something like that. I thought it would be good to make them stick in school so they can have training so they can get a $25 an hour job.”

Judy Seal is the Executive Director of the Long Beach Education Foundation. She has seen, up close and personal, Jesse’s mostly unpublicized fundraising efforts and his way with the kids who will benefit from the money.

“He has a very kind and gentle way. He’s got such a hopeful, optimistic countenance about him, and the kids just gravitate to that,” she says.

These kids may only have an image of Jesse James from his media personality, but what they may not know is that he started out just like them, says Seal.

“Jesse’s story is so compelling. His high school welding teacher really saw in him this incredible artist. He was truly a gifted welder,” she explains. “The way I understand the story is, a light went on in his mind and that light really guided him throughout his career. So he’s turning around and trying to make sure that the kids in the Long Beach Unified School District have a chance to turn on that light as well.”

This illustrates two more things about Jesse James that people may not know from watching him on television – his love of kids, and his civic pride. He could have based his busy shop that turns out only 12 – 14 coveted customized choppers a year anywhere in the country, but he is a Long Beach boy at heart and always will be.

“I have a five-mile radius of life,” he says. “This is my home and I know what to expect. Three generations from Long Beach, and I don’t want to go anywhere else. This is it for me. I’m not going to be like Snoop Dogg and live in Claremont claiming I’m from 21st Street in the LBC. This is it, I’m here to stay.”

Asked why, James responds in typical honest fashion.

“It’s just a good place to get your ass kicked. It’s one of those places that’s being cleaned up, but it’s still a blue-collar town. It’s one of those places that’s never gonna be soft.”

The fact is, he probably wouldn’t stay if Long Beach did go soft. Jesse James likes a little grit, and a lot of adrenalin. We’ll get to see a whole lot more of that side of his personality in the new television show, “Jesse James Is A Dead Man”, which premiered on Spike TV on May 31.

In this action-packed series, James takes on a new, very possibly life-threatening challenge every week in a bid to stare death in the eye and see who blinks first. In one episode, he will ride a motorcycle across the Ice Highway in the frozen tundra, in minus 60-degree weather. Another week will have him being lit on fire from top to toe by Hollywood stunt men.

A promo for the show has the announcer ominously describing James’ “dark dangerous urge”, and a producer of the series looks worried as he says, “If he can’t die, it’s not appealing to Jesse James.”

And that’s no exaggeration.

“Everybody thinks about the consequences but nobody ever thinks about the reward, you know,” explains James. “I don’t know if you got the memo but we’re all dying. Maybe I’ll die on the 405 tomorrow.”

An upcoming Dead Man episode features James donning a flight suit and being put through the rigors of a 9 G flight in a fighter jet. Although he didn’t pass out or hurl, he’s not considering a career change after the experience.

“It was amazing. It was nuts, crazy, to be crushed under 9 Gs of force – you can’t describe it. You cannot fully imagine it until you go through it. It’s like your whole body is being shrunk. It ruptures all the capillaries and blood vessels in the bottom of your legs and arms,” he eagerly describes.

There is a method to his madness, though… it’s all about coming out a better person on the other side.

“Pushing yourself to the limit or pushing yourself through a certain level of fear, and making it out on the other side I think will always build character, and I always learn something about myself,” he says.

“You learn what your limits are and what your perceived limit is. You know, sometimes you think you can only do one thing but you push yourself through an amount of fear and pain and endurance, and come out the other side like, ‘Wow, I didn’t know I could do this.’”

Jesse James might actually say the same thing about the path that his career has taken, which is a skyward trajectory since pimping out a friend’s Schwinn bike with custom paint job and chrome and then reselling it for $900 – at age 9.

It started with West Coast Choppers and continued on with many more properties built around that subculture: television production company Pay Up Sucker Productions – which produces documentaries and features – then Pay Up Sucker publications, which is responsible for Garage magazine, Jesse’s Girl clothing, custom car business Austin Speed Shop, and the new Jesse James Workwear, sold at Walmart.

There’s no formula for success other than good old-fashioned blood, sweat and tears, says James – which is probably why he’s not out there writing books and lecturing on success in business. It’s just that simple to him.

“It’s just hard work, and being stubborn, and not accepting mediocrity,” he explains. Everything I do, whether it’s food or a magazine or TV or everything… I don’t give a (expletive) how much it costs, how hard it is or how long it takes. If I’m putting my name on it, it’s got to be the best. And I apply that to everything we do.”

Including something so benign as hamburgers – since 2006, a Long Beach favorite has been James’ restaurant Cisco Burgers, located across the street from the Choppers shop, that also happens to be one of the most eco-friendly burger joints in the country.

Named after his cherished pet bulldog, Cisco is completely operated on solar power, uses real silverware and cutlery instead of disposables, and delivers orders in a Prius. The Kobe beef burgers, LBC cheese steak sandwich and cornflake French toast earn rave reviews from diners.

“I didn’t want that to be the focal point, like, ‘Come and try our crappy food, ‘cuz we’re environmentally-friendly.’ I’d rather have it be about being good, awesome food, and oh yeah, it’s pretty good too for the environment and your body. Usually it’s done in reverse.”

Even through all of his impressive business accomplishments, Jesse James has remained humble about what he’s been able to achieve. “You know, I never expected this,” he says. “I go to the restaurant for lunch every day and it’s packed at lunchtime. It just trips me out, because for 15 years down in this area, no one wanted to be around here. I’m surprised by it so much.”

It’s not surprising that people pack the place for a great burger but also a chance to lay eyes on the man behind it all. Because past the tattoos and the pulled-down cap, the one defining characteristic above all else about Jesse James is his charisma. Family man, sucker for dogs and kids, devoted husband, in addition to outlaw, daredevil, tough son-of-a-gun. It makes for a dynamic combination, and someone that people just gravitate towards… even if his appearance at first throws off an unapproachable vibe.

“Don’t judge a book by its cover; don’t you think that’s what we all learn from Jesse James?” asks Seal. “There’s no doubt why Sandra Bullock sees so much life in his eyes. He is so big-hearted and he has something very pure about his mentality – the honesty, the ethics. He is truly a very good person.”