Three MILLIONAIRES Explain The Mindset Of The TOP 1% | The Calum Johnson Show

Watch more entrepreneurs describe their journeys from $0 to multimillion dollar businesses.

Calum Johnsonhost

May 6, 202430mWatch on YouTube

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Transcript

35 min read · 6,694 words

0:00 – 0:41
Intro
1. SPSpeaker
  You won't see the success that you want in the timeframe that you want, but it takes a lot of delusion to keep going even when you don't see it. You can let every day go by, and the longer you delay taking that first step, the longer you could've been living the life that you always wanted to live.
2. CJCalum Johnson
  Okay. Before we get into the episode, let me just say this. In the last four months, we've gone from 700 subscribers to over 50,000. I have a crazy goal for the next 60 days, which is that I want this channel to go from 50,000 subscribers to 100,000 subscribers. Please subscribe to the channel. Help me reach my goal. Now back to the episode.
0:41 – 5:16
You must take control of your life.
1. CJCalum Johnson
  What is the earliest kind of moment, story, experience where you were like, "Yeah, I'm just different, but I'm confident with that. Like, that's just me. I'm confident with it"?
2. SPSpeaker
  What happens is, is when you're comfortable in a relationship, you forget what you were dreaming of in the first place. So now everything becomes an illusion around you, and the dream is gone. So now you're just letting days just go by, every single day the same stuff over and over. And when I was in that relationship, this was right around the prime time of me getting kicked out of my mom's house. So this is when I was sleeping on the floor, and, you know, I had to take out the couch cushions and slam them on the floor, and then grab a sheet and then put it over, and then grab my, my girlfriend's, uh, sister's twin size bed and lay it next to it, and, "Now this is our bed." And this is, you know, a six-month-old baby who doesn't understand anything, and then there's her, and then there's me, us sleeping on the floor. And I'm playing Call of Duty every morning, uh, when I get back or every afternoon when I get back from work. And I'm working ... I'm waking up at 6:00 AM just to go to the factory. I'm getting off at 3:00 PM every single day. And I would try to drown out the fact that I just worked all these hours. I would get off, and I would take off all my stuff. I would wash up, and there would be a ring of dirt in the s- inside of the tub. And then I would have to clean it out and scrub, and I'm just sitting there scrubbing like, "I fucking hate this shit."
3. CJCalum Johnson
  Mm.
4. SPSpeaker
  But I would go play the game because it would distract me from the hate that I was feeling inside. And it didn't start affecting me too much until, like, when we talked about on the last podcast, like catching mice. Like, that'll ... Depending on who you are and what type of environment you're used to growing up in, like, I didn't have to do that when I was growing up as a kid. But turning 18, 19, going like, you normally think people go up and up and up throughout, through life.
5. CJCalum Johnson
  Mm.
6. SPSpeaker
  Like, that was a moment where I was, like, going up, and then I took a huge step back to a level I've never been at.
7. CJCalum Johnson
  Mm.
8. SPSpeaker
  So I had to relearn how to even live my life because the lens that I'm living it through now is not something I'm accustomed to.
9. CJCalum Johnson
  Mm.
10. SPSpeaker
  So I think for me, that's when things kind of, like, start ... I started realizing like, "Whoa," like, "This is not for me. I gotta switch up everything." Like, I can't keep working the same job. I gotta go get a sales job. I gotta start wearing suits. I gotta start switching up how I talk. I gotta make sure I'm smelling good 'cause I don't wanna be the person, the only person inside of the sales, you know, position or sales room-
11. CJCalum Johnson
  Mm
12. SPSpeaker
  ... who doesn't look the part.
13. CJCalum Johnson
  Mm.
14. SPSpeaker
  And I just slowly started changing my mindset from there, but I think that was the key moment of, like, I was comfortable, and I was comfortable eating the canned foods. I was comfortable not eating the stuff that I want or having to penny pinch and buy Subway or not being able to buy the medicine. I was comfortable with that.
15. CJCalum Johnson
  Mm.
16. SPSpeaker
  And then only until I started questioning what I truly wanted for myself and for my future is when I said, "You know what? I shouldn't have to worry about paying for Subway." Like, why is that even a thing? Why am I tripping about $19.55 when I should have $100,000 in my bank account right now? Like, at the root of everything in my life, everything I've achieved, everything I've lost, it was always my fault. And I think that I can't credit something that didn't put me in that mindset because that mindset is the sole mindset of why I am where I am. It was always my fault, 100%. If I'm sleeping on the floor, it's my fault. If I'm not making the money I want, it's my fault. If I'm not as fit as I want, it's my fault. If I'm not in a healthy relationship, it's my fault. Because most of these things come down to your ability to choose things, and I think that when people are presented options, they choose the one that is the easiest for them rather than going with the hard shit. And I just kinda realized throughout the last five, six years of my life, every time I took the h- the hard route, the thing that was the most challenging, it always had the best payoff. So I was like, "You know what?" Like, I'm gonna go do everything that's difficult. Even now, most people wouldn't do 75 Hard again after I completed it. Why wouldn't I?
17. CJCalum Johnson
  Right.
18. SPSpeaker
  Right? It's like, it's, it's difficult, but it's based off of my ability to think about what I want for myself. And I think a lot of people have not had that realization yet because fear is keeping them comfortable. They don't know how to think past the fact that if I risk a dollar today, there's a potential four dollars coming back tomorrow. So without me having the surety or 100% knowing and the confidence of knowing that this is going to be a return, people don't take the risk.
19. CJCalum Johnson
  Mm.
20. SPSpeaker
  And what I f- what I've found is that you can let every day go by, and the longer you delay taking that first step, the longer you could've been living the life that you always wanted to live.
21. CJCalum Johnson
  I'm curious,
5:16 – 8:43
How to break free from childhood trauma
1. CJCalum Johnson
  like, your dad was robbing banks.
2. SPSpeaker
  Yeah.
3. CJCalum Johnson
  Like, that was kinda the reason that he ended up in prison.
4. SPSpeaker
  Right.
5. CJCalum Johnson
  I'm curious, for you as a child, how aware are you even of the context of your dad being in prison?
6. SPSpeaker
  Not at all.
7. CJCalum Johnson
  'Cause you don't think about that, right?
8. SPSpeaker
  Not at all.
9. CJCalum Johnson
  What was kind of your emotion growing up? Were you, like, angry about it, or was it just pure confusion, like bewilderment?
10. SPSpeaker
  No. It was more so, like, I didn't understand when my dad came back from prison why he didn't wanna be around. So when I was younger, I didn't have the context of obviously my mom and my dad are together when they're young. You go to jail for 15 years because of a decision you made, obviously my mom's not gonna wait around for you for 15 years. So he goes out, has his own relationships, you know, gets married, et cetera, when he gets out of prison. And in my head I'm asking myself, like-
11. SPSpeaker
  What am I or what am I not? Or why do you not want to be around and what did I do to make you feel like that? But my mom did a really good job of always as I was growing up just being like, "Bro, you're a star. Like, you're gonna be amazing. Like, he's gonna beg to be in your life at, you know, some time because just how great you are."
12. CJCalum Johnson
  Mm.
13. SPSpeaker
  Um, so it was more so the idea of, you know, approval. Like, why don't you wanna be around me and what do I need to be for you to wanna be around?
14. CJCalum Johnson
  Mm.
15. SPSpeaker
  So that was really my, my emotions around it.
16. CJCalum Johnson
  Yeah. You know, that's actually, um, it's really interesting in that there's actually been psychologists that have tested this with children where, uh, especially things that are done by their parents, the way that the child interprets it is I'm 100% responsible for this.
17. SPSpeaker
  Yeah.
18. CJCalum Johnson
  So if my parents are arguing, it's because of something I did. And so a lot of these kind of characteristics that people build in their personalities-
19. SPSpeaker
  Yeah
20. CJCalum Johnson
  ... it's often actually to kind of guise or kind of just respond to the situation that they were thrust in.
21. SPSpeaker
  1000%. And finish if you-
22. CJCalum Johnson
  No, go ahead.
23. SPSpeaker
  No, 'cause I was gonna say I've been l- like looking into this so much lately because I started to realize like in different relationships you will try to seek out other things in a partner that you were missing as a, as a child. So one day I did this exercise where it talks about all of the basic human needs that you have, whether it's like contribution, connection, et cetera. There's six of them. And then it was like out of all of those six things there's like sub things that are inside of them, whether it be like approval or personal development or growth or whatever your actual need is. And it was funny because, so for instance like you said, arguing. If a child saw their parents arguing growing up, they think that that's love because their parents are together. Now you may have a need for connection, and then you grow up and you get in a relationship with someone, and then you start to argue with them not because you're mad but because you want to connect, and that's what you deem connection as-
24. CJCalum Johnson
  That's what you know
25. SPSpeaker
  ... and love. So now when I'd sat back and thought about that I was like there was always some- I was writing it down, and everything that I wrote down it was centered around personal development, growth, and then I kept writing the word approval down. And I was like, "Why do I have a need for status or a, a feeling of a need for approval?" And then I like, it snapped and I was like, "Bro, okay." 'Cause I've been trying to like exceed and achieve because I've subconsciously wanted the approval of my parents or my, specifically my dad. And I was like, that was so interesting. It was like a great unlock and breakthrough for me. [keyboard clicking] So yeah, at, at
8:43 – 13:31
Why you must expose yourself to successful people.
1. SPSpeaker
  17 years old I was, um, a senior in high school. My whole life I played sports. I played, uh, basketball like all throughout middle school, high school, so I was very competitive as a kid, but I didn't have any business acumen whatsoever 'cause I just didn't. Um, you know, I grew up in a single mom household. Um, at a young age I watched my mom work very hard and make a little bit of money, and no one in my family was like successful as far as business. Everyone worked regular jobs, so that's pretty much all I knew. And even my friends and people around me, I didn't see anyone that was doing business whatsoever. So I always thought that you just had to work and, you know, make money, or you would go to college and get a nice degree and make a lot of money. So at 17, like my only aspiration or goal was to get it, get through high school, which I wasn't a good student. Um, I actually m- was hoping that I would get a basketball scholarship to be able to go to college, um, but that didn't end up happening. You know, like my senior year, I, I played all the way through my senior year and then out of nowhere we started getting 6'5" point guard transfers from different schools. [laughs] I was like, "Yeah, probably not gonna work for me."
2. CJCalum Johnson
  [laughs]
3. SPSpeaker
  I was like, "Probably need to find something else to do."
4. CJCalum Johnson
  [laughs]
5. SPSpeaker
  So, you know, I ended up getting a lot of jobs around 17, [smacks lips] and, uh, yeah, man, I was just, just working, trying to make money. And, uh, it wasn't until I actually went to a networking event while, when I was like 18 years old that I realized, oh, wow, like it is possible for people my age to make a lot of money. And I tell people this all the time, like you can really only grow to what you've been exposed to, and up until that time I wasn't exposed to being able to make a lot of money in different ways other than working a traditional job. So, um, you know, I'm blessed to have been able to been exposed to business and to be- people that are successful in business at around the age of 18 because that's when it actually started to click in my head that it could happen for me for real. So around that 17 and 18-year-old, um, you know, period of my life I was watch- I was working at an Amazon warehouse from like 6:00 PM to 4:00 AM every single day. Um, I was also going to college from like 11:00 AM to 4:00 PM, so barely sleeping. I was going to school, going to work, going to school, going to work. And eventually I was like, "You know what? I gotta pick one." And school had never been my thing, so I was like, "You know what? I'm gonna just focus on making money." So I dropped out and I was just working full time. And while I was working full time I remember just being in bed one day after work and I was on my Instagram and someone had posted on their story that there was a networking event in my area. And keep in mind like when I was younger I was very introverted. Like, I didn't really like meeting new people just 'cause I wasn't a good communicator. And but I knew that I had to go to this event because the position that I was in currently wasn't a position that I wanted to stay in. And, uh, the, the pain was just, just bigger than me just being complacent at that time. So I was like, "You know what? I'm gonna go to this networking event." So I, I drove to this networking event and there I met people that, you know, they weren't super successful people, but they were people my age that were doing, you know, you know, big things like real estate agent, um, investing in real estate or crypto, stocks, just different things that I wasn't doing at the time, that I wasn't even exposed to at the time. And even before that I was already doing my own research on YouTube like how to make money, how to make money online, how to make money as a, a teenager. Like, and I was looking at all these YouTube videos, like you said, seeing people that were my age making a lot of money. But it hits different when you meet someone in person that's doing it. So it's like I was seeing all these people online, but then when I went to this event and I was shaking hands and rubbing shoulders w- with people that were in my area, that had gone to similar schools, lived in the similar ZIP code as me-
6. SPSpeaker
  That we're actually doing it, that's when I was like, "Oh, wow," like, "This is real and I can do this too." So that's when, like, my mindset kind of shifted.
7. CJCalum Johnson
  Mm. You know, you said something very interesting and I, and I, I remember this quote always comes to mind for me 'cause I think it's so good, is, um, you will make the change when the pain, the pain of staying the same exceeds the pain of the change.
8. SPSpeaker
  Right.
9. CJCalum Johnson
  So a lot of the times, like, it's difficult to make changes. At ... No matter what point you're at, it's difficult to stop, like, stop doing a certain habit and start doing something else. That is difficult. It is painful. But when the situation that you're currently in is so difficult, that's when you will make the change.
10. SPSpeaker
  Yeah.
11. CJCalum Johnson
  Like, that's what will push you.
12. SPSpeaker
  It's back against the wall mentality. Um, there's really only two things that can, um, force you to get out of your current situation, and it's inspiration or desperation. And 90% of people, it's always the desperation because it takes a unique person to just be inspired and then have, like, this super drive to go after something, whereas most people, you have to literally hit rock bottom before you're like, "All right," like, "Let, let me do something else," or, "Let me-
13. CJCalum Johnson
  Yeah
14. SPSpeaker
  ... try something else."
15. SPSpeaker
  Throughout the entirety
13:31 – 17:05
How to level up from a toxic relationship.
1. SPSpeaker
  of that relationship, I didn't realize that I had an anchor on my ankle. And the problem is, is that the dreams and the goals that I had set, my significant other couldn't fathom that. And that's why I feel like there's a big difference between hanging around people who understand your vision and under- and, and just being around people for the time being. And what I realized is throughout that time period, bro, leaving that relationship allowed me to see that it is possible for me to go out there and achieve the things that I want despite what you think about what you want for yourself. And I think that was a transformational thing for me because before it was always these limiting beliefs on myself, "Oh, I can't do this," or, "I can't do that," or even just reaching 10,000 people on a video or something like that is out ... insane or unheard of, or $100,000 in the bank is unheard of, and it's because I was hanging around people who thought like that. So I think with leaving that relationship, I think one of the biggest things for me was I had to upgrade. I always think of myself as a person, if I leave any situation, I have to come out on top at the end, and that's the only thing I thought about. So once I left out of that relationship, I felt like I had a soul tie. Like, I feel like I had got so used to being around somebody or somebody being around me all the time that I didn't know how to be alone anymore.
2. CJCalum Johnson
  Mm-hmm.
3. SPSpeaker
  And that's when I realized I need to be alone. I didn't want to be alone, I needed to be alone. So I put down the alcohol, I put down the weed. I, I stopped going out and kicking it every single week, and I just stopped. I cold turkeyed everything and I said, "You know what? Over the next six months I'm gonna just challenge myself." Like, do you really wanna become this version of yourself that you always tell people you wanna be? Do you wanna just keep tweeting it, or do you wanna be the person and then tweet different things because the next version of yourself is even better?
4. CJCalum Johnson
  Mm.
5. SPSpeaker
  And I was like, "You know what? That's what I'm gonna do." So I started going to the gym. I started eating healthier. No more weed, no more alcohol. I didn't feel like I was under a soul tie or anything like that. And you can get a lot of stuff done when your focus isn't on pleasure and desires and lust. You can get a lot of stuff done.
6. CJCalum Johnson
  Mm.
7. SPSpeaker
  I think that any person who wants to become extremely successful has to have an insane amount of imagination and craziness to you. And I think that you won't see the success that you want in the timeframe that you want, but it takes a lot of delusion to keep going even when you don't see it. And I think for me, that's one of the biggest signs. If I'm with my ... a partner, right? And they can't understand the dream that I have or understand the vision, especially as a man, how do you expect me to lead if you're not willing to see the vision or trust in my vision and, and allow me to lead? And I think that was one of the biggest things for me because even then, you know, at that age, I was 20, 21, that was what, 21, 22 years old, I already had a certain type of level of thinking or, or, or f- a way of thinking where I knew I wasn't the same as everyone else, and I took that on as m- a part of my persona and I communicated that, but I also had to go do enough research on myself. I had to spend more time with myself. I had to learn, well, why do you feel like this? Why does this make you uncomfortable? This post right here that you just seen has you feeling, like, a little anxious or you're doubting yourself. Why? And it takes a long time to understand those things and to even address them, and these are things that people, in most cases, just skip by.
8. CJCalum Johnson
  Mm-hmm.
9. SPSpeaker
  So I think for me it's like, like you said, your environment. You know, Nipsey said it the best. If you hang around nine broke people, you're bound to be the 10th.
10. CJCalum Johnson
  Mm.
11. SPSpeaker
  So if you wanna be successful, you should probably flip it around and hang around nine successful people. But how do you get around those successful people? Nobody's gonna tell you that, right? You just gotta better yourself so you can get in those positions in those environments.
17:05 – 20:07
There’s always a WAY!
1. SPSpeaker
  I'm from Houston, Texas, born and raised. Single parent household, obviously. Um, and my dad, he actually robbed banks. Crazy. So he actually got away with 10, and then he got caught on the 11th, and then he did 15 years in jail. So at the age of two he went to prison, and then he got out when I was 17. So all of my formative years was spent with my mother in Houston, Texas, just me and her. So she had to raise me and be the man and the woman in the situation. There's some things that a woman just can't teach a man.
2. CJCalum Johnson
  Mm.
3. SPSpeaker
  So during the formative years, didn't have really any male role models besides, like, Mom's friends and whatnot, but they weren't present in my life. Um, but yeah, I mean, born and raised in Houston, Texas. Grew up with a single mo- mom. Most amazing woman I've ever met. She did an impossible job, bro. Like, she had me at 17. So when she had me, my grandmother actually kicked her out the house 'cause, you know, she had me and she, like, she didn't approve of it or whatever. And my mom was sleeping couch to couch, you know, bouncing around friends' couches with me, and she was still in school. So she was Like, me and her sleeping on friends' couches, and then she would take me to school. By the grace of God, her school had a daycare as well, so she can put me in daycare and then actually go to school. And then she ended up, um, getting into, uh, like, nightlife. So she was, like, doing bottle service, things of that nature, and making some good money, but she was also doing, uh, real estate as well. So she got a job, and she was doing, like, IT stuff. So during the job she would, like, do real estate on the side, but then her job found out she was do- using her computers to do real estate, and then they fired her. And then she had to go into real estate full time, but she also picked up that job doing bottle service. And then at one point she was like, "Man, I just wanna go into full time in real estate." And then that whole time she was raising me. So it was... It's just impossible, bro.
4. CJCalum Johnson
  Yeah.
5. SPSpeaker
  Yeah.
6. CJCalum Johnson
  I'm curious, what's the impact of you and just witnessing that? Because I think we, especially as children, we learn so much from just observing our parents. So when you're watching your mom kinda grind and hustle like that, like, I'm sure that has an impact even to this day.
7. SPSpeaker
  Yeah.
8. CJCalum Johnson
  Like, when you reflect on it, what would you say that is?
9. SPSpeaker
  Yeah. I mean, just seeing someone do that, it's just like, bro, you just kinda grow a work ethic because it's like you don't really take lightly to excuses, or you don't give yourself excuses 'cause, like, bro, my mom had me at 17, worked three jobs, and was by herself, and she still made it happen. So you kinda get that work ethic instilled in you. And I like what you said, too, about, like, how you model behavior after your parents and whatnot, 'cause I was thinking about it too, and I was talking to my boy about it. And I was like, "Why do children want to walk?" And they get up and they fall, and then they don't stop trying to walk. Because it's so funny when, like, you're older, you fail, and then you stop because of the failure. But when you're younger, you wouldn't say, like, "I tried walking and I fell, and this- walking's just not my thing."
10. CJCalum Johnson
  Yeah.
11. SPSpeaker
  But the reason you continue trying to do it is 'cause you're modeling the behavior of the other humans that are around you.
12. CJCalum Johnson
  When it came
20:07 – 23:43
The ONLY way to be successful.
1. CJCalum Johnson
  to Shopify and selling stuff online, you actually became good. Can you kinda talk about what went into that? Like, genuinely getting good at something.
2. SPSpeaker
  Yeah. I mean, [laughs] the thing with getting good at something is you have to be bad at it first, and people don't wanna be bad at it. It's like they wanna instantly be good. So for a year straight when I was trying to sell something online, I didn't make any money. I literally just lost money for a year straight. So a lot of people aren't just, aren't willing to do that. I mean, imagine going to work 6:00 PM to 4:00 AM every single day, and every single check you get, you're just essentially burning it. You know, [laughs] you're spending money on ads, on products that are not selling. Every single week, just your paycheck is going into this business. And someone will look at that as like, "Dang, he's just burning money." But the thing though, the way that I look at it is I was already in the mindset of this has to work or it has to work. Like, it has to work or it has to work. Like, I... There's no way that it won't work. So every time I would spend money and lose it, yeah, I was losing the money, but I was failing forward.
3. CJCalum Johnson
  Mm.
4. SPSpeaker
  I was learning every single time, and it just got to the point where all the things that I learned had just compounded to where my moment came. And I found that one product that worked, and that was all I needed to find because after I found that one product, it sold consistently for six months straight, and I made a lot of money to the point where I didn't have to work a job again. And I think that's... A lot of people see someone, like, let's say you post an episode and it gets millions of views, right? A lot of people might look at you and be like, "Dang, that's- he's a overnight success." But they don't see all the other episodes before that, and then before you even posted your first episode, you were putting in work.
5. CJCalum Johnson
  Mm.
6. SPSpeaker
  You know? So a lot of people don't see that, and it's, you just gotta be willing to put in the work. And it sounds so cliche, but it's like for you to be really good at something, you have to be really bad at it first.
7. CJCalum Johnson
  Mm.
8. SPSpeaker
  And over time you just, you get better. And obviously there's ways that you can, I call it time traveling. You know, you can time travel if you actually, you know, meet mentors and pay people to teach you to be better, that those are ways to kinda, like, hack it and, and shorten the timeframe of you getting good at stuff, but you still at the end of the day have to put in the work.
9. CJCalum Johnson
  It's so easy to lose the motivation. It's so easy to lose the hope. In that period, like, what was keeping you going? Like, that mindset of like, "It's just gonna work. Like, I'm gonna make it work," what was propelling that?
10. SPSpeaker
  Yeah. I mean, for me, my mom has always been a big motivation to me, and I just remember, like, I went, like, two years where I didn't talk to anyone. I was just zoned in, locked in, watching. I probably watched every single e-commerce video on YouTube in 2018 'cause I was watching. I was obsessed, and Grant Cardone has a book called Be Obsessed or Be Average, and I'ma just save y'all the whole having to read it. The title is basically the book. If you're not obsessed about something, you're gonna be average. And the reason why I found success is 'cause I was literally obsessed with making money online. Like, I was obsessed about being able to do it. Like, I would be s- sitting down eating food and my phone was propped up. I'm watching a drop shipping video, like, just a tutorial. I'm chilling, like, on my bed. I'm watching a video until I fall asleep. I'm at work at the front desk and I have a video propped up, AirPods in, I'm watching the video. I'm driving, I'm not listening to music. I'm listening to a video on how to, like, sell products, how to market it. So I was obsessed with learning this thing, and every day I was learning more and more and more and more. I wasn't making any money, but this was, like, a huge compounding effect that was bound to happen because I was just learning so much.
11. SPSpeaker
  High school taught me a lot because
23:43 – 26:39
Self awareness (Talent vs hard work)
1. SPSpeaker
  I was an athlete. I was playing basketball. But I think the thing that really stuck out to me as far as me knowing that I was different was I was, you know, trying out for the basketball team, so I just came into high school. Ninth grader, had braces still, and I think I remember it was, like, the second or third month of starting in high school I got my braces off, and my teeth were super white, super straight, and everyone just looked at me differently. Because naturally when you have a nice smile, you're going to attract, you know, people to look at you and talk to you and all those things.
2. CJCalum Johnson
  Yeah.
3. SPSpeaker
  And I didn't realize how big of an impact that had made until probably, like, two, three weeks afterwards where I was talking to girls who are older than me now. I'm, I'm-
4. CJCalum Johnson
  [laughs]
5. SPSpeaker
  ... finding myself in-
6. CJCalum Johnson
  Yeah
7. SPSpeaker
  ... certain cliques or in certain environments where I wasn't normally getting into.
8. SPSpeaker
  And I think one of the transformational por- uh, moments for me was trying out for the basketball team and, and having this ego like, "I know I can do it. I know I can make it. I'm this person," right? And then getting cut on the first round.
9. SPSpeaker
  Mm.
10. SPSpeaker
  And for me, it was like I was already playing in the YMCA growing up, and I was playing all these, you know, different, you know, camps and things like that to get better and better and better. But I just noticed I wasn't always good as everybody else. I didn't have the bounce. I didn't have the speed. I didn't have the critical thinking to make the moves at the right time. And I was like, at that moment when I got cut, I was like, "I'm not as talented as them." And I think when I took that on as a part of my persona, I said ... And especially at ninth grade, you gotta be really critical to tell yourself you're not talented, right?
11. SPSpeaker
  Mm.
12. SPSpeaker
  But I told myself, "I'm not as talented as everybody else, so something has to give." So I just started working harder than everybody else. And that's when I was like, "You know what? I just gotta go to the gym every single day. I gotta just go put up two, 300 o- two, 300 shots a day. I gotta watch all the inspirational, motivational videos I can, 'cause right now I'm getting beat up right now, getting cut."
13. SPSpeaker
  Yeah.
14. SPSpeaker
  And that summer, I just practiced and practiced and practiced. Next year, I made the team. But this time, I didn't get any minutes.
15. SPSpeaker
  Mm.
16. SPSpeaker
  So now it was like, "Oh, I'm on the team, but now people's making fun of me because I'm riding the bench." [laughs]
17. SPSpeaker
  Yeah.
18. SPSpeaker
  So it's like, all right, I gotta get better and better and better, and the only way you can do that is through practice. So I was like, all right, cool. 11th grade, I'm like, "I got this in the bag," right? "I'm gonna make the team." Get cut second round. And it was like, it hurt my feelings because it was like, "Well, I thought I had my way in. I made the team last year." And it, it showed me that your position is never truly secured unless you make it secured.
19. SPSpeaker
  Mm.
20. SPSpeaker
  And I'm always moving through life like I don't have an ego where I'm like, "I'm this person, so I should get this thing." Fuck that. I am who I am, and with me being who I am, a part of m- me being me is knowing that I have to outwork every single person because I'm not talented in these areas.
21. SPSpeaker
  Mm.
22. SPSpeaker
  I may be good at certain things, cool, but they still need to be perfected. They still need to be better. And that's just kind of how I look at things. So ninth grade is where I really noticed like I'm not that good at as, as everybody else in things. But that's perfectly fine, because I'm the best me. I'm the only me.
23. SPSpeaker
  Everybody on my,
26:39 – 30:18
The reason you have to CHANGE your friends?
1. SPSpeaker
  my dad's side of the family, all the men, you know, particular, like they do illegal activities, you know? So being around that, I'm just like, all right, well, they're getting a lot of money, and they're doing it really fast. So I'm like, man, that's what I wanna do. So I started to dabble in that on the side while I had a nine-to-five job. So then I get into a circumstance where I'm just like, it was, it's crazy. So to paint the picture without incriminating myself [laughs] um, I'm in a parking lot, and I'm having a conversation with someone, and then there's a bunch of guys around me, and I see them like pulling guns out. And I'm like, "Oh, okay. That's what this is." So then I'm like, all right. In that moment I'm like, I have a choice of continuing doing what I'm doing now, and it's either gonna lead to death or jail. That's inevitable. Or I have a choice to go down an unknown route, but hopefully it'll be more positive. So the way I logically thought about it is that it's actually more risky to stay doing what I'm doing now than it is to go and do something else. So I remember when I went back to the, to my house one day, I lived in a one-bedroom apartment with five people, so had my own place. Um, after graduating college, was super depressed, bro, 'cause I'm super popular in school. I'm, I skipped a grade. I'm throwing parties, doing 10, $15,000 a month, and then I squandered it 'cause I'm young, making money. And then I graduate, and I'm popular, but I have no job, no internship, no place to stay, no car, no nothing. So I ended up having to, you know, move back to with my mom. And I get a job, and then I go back to my home 'cause I wanted to have my own space 'cause I didn't want my mom telling me what to do. So one day I get a knock on my door. It's my cousins, and they're like, "Yo, stuff's messed up at our house. Like, can we come and stay with you?" And it was, uh, three of them. So I'm like, "Cool." And then in that time period, that year or so, there was like six or seven people living in my house. So I'm sleeping on the floor. Um, we'd rotate in the bed. Two people sleep in the bed, three on the floor, two pe- like, you know. And one day I walk in the house after coming home from work, and I'm just dog tired. I'm looking down, and I see like three people just asleep on the floor. And then I remember telling myself like, "Bro, this is not what your life is supposed to be like." So in that moment I was like, "Bro, I wanna be, I wanna do something better. I just don't know what to do." And I remember going on, um, Google, and I typed in like what do CEOs do? And then one of the things in like those articles that are like clearly for SEO is like, um, they read books. They do this or whatever. So I was like, "Okay, cool. I'm gonna read a book," 'cause the average CEO reads a book a week, and the average American reads one. So I picked out this book I saw on Instagram, and I just bought it, and it was called, uh, No Excuses by Brian Tracy, and it was talking about the importance of environment. And I remember just saying to my friends or my cousins, and I was like, "Hey, guys, it's May 1st, June 1st. I'm about to be on the stuff that's inside of this book. So if you aren't on that trajectory, I will leave, or you guys will have to leave. But I have to curate my environment." And environment is twofold. You have your digital environment. You have your physical environment. Digitally, people stay stuck because they consume content, and there's a reason why they call it consuming content. You are what you eat. So you're consuming this content, and you're becoming, you know, what you're seeing. And then in the physical environment, you're becoming like the people that you're around. So I knew that I was like, "I have to change both my physical and digital environment." And then I told them that I'll be leaving. And then one day they pulled me to the side a couple days later, and it was like, "You probably should, like leave or kick us out because we're holding you back, and we see where you're going."