EYL #201 Eric Thomas on Motivation & Building a Multi-Million Dollar Empire

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We started thing God is Monday seven eight years straight. We put up a video every single Monday I'm talking about without failed ringsleep.

It didn't matter.

So now what I realized started to happen was even if you rock with Tony Robbins, you got e right at your fingertips every day. So by the time you watching him on a regular basis and waiting on your box set DVDs because everybody else was doing the freemium model, right, like, hey, watch two minutes of this and then you order the rest. We just start giving away every time because he's such a content machine. You see most of the time, like you go to like comedy concerts now and they take

They just want to see it live.

My graduates from my school being Forbes back drop, Mike Drop backdrop.

All right, guys, welcome back EYL South Atlanta Edition. This is something that we've been looking forward to for a long time, actually since we probably even started the show. Was one of the main targets. E T the hip hop preacher Eric Thomas, a legend in the game, in my opinion.

The number one motivational speaker in the world.

Correct me if I'm wrong, Not that's.

What, that's what Let's says.

Let's brown.

So you know, you probably obviously have seen clips on Instagram, YouTube, stuff like that, but there's always more to the story. And it's interesting because even researching you, there's not a lot of information about you, and it's it's a lot of speeches, it's a lot of but it's not a lot of information. Definitely not a lot of business information. And when people look at things, they don't necessarily look to see the business side of it. So that brings

Good energy was with us.

So when I first met Alex and he was telling me about his journey, we'll talk about that with et and the family, and he was talking about CJ. And he's like, CJ is the person that you have God's like, he's the he's the plug, like he's the one that actually puts the plays together, does that and the third and then I had deveiled relationship with Toby. Shout out Tobe, we'll talk about that as well, described the relationship. So and then he told me about you and then shout

On the platform, not our own, I guess one of the first.

Yeah, I appreciate and I appreciate you. So this is gonna be a powerful conversation. We're gona go through the journey. We gon talk about business, were gonna talk about scale, We're gonna talk about how you guys, you know, got to where you are now and where you're planning on going. So first and foremost, thank you for joining us. Appreciate it. Yeah, So all right, so let's start. There's a lot of things I want to talk about, but let's get let's

I'm gonna be real, I think I'm number one just because as a as a people, we have forgotten, you know, what we were. So Frederick Dougas was an orator, you know, Dubois was an orator, X was an orator, Garvey was a and I think what happened is is we progressed and started making money. We went to hip hop, you know what I'm saying, We went to football and basketball, But before there was any of that, we were orators.

So that was my students. So I was on the block after college.

After my class, I'd be on the block, sitting down talking to the kids running my GED program. And so the first thirty minutes was these kids, don't they not motivated to learn, they don't want to read books. And so I would take thirty minutes of just motivating whatever, and I pay attention like, ooh they feeling that, Oh

So let's talk about the church for a second, because the early stages, obviously there was homostician story and there's you know part of it a preacher spoke life into you. So I'm wondering that that moment changed the trajectory of how you were going to think. And is that the reason that you just said I need to pour back into communities because this happened for me.

Now I got to pay before.

Well, you know what was crazy is like I was always sandwiched prior to like what I learned, bro, And I'm being real like, how like, let's say you in New York. There's just certain figures in New York. You just like yo, Biggie, you know what I'm saying. You like jay Z, you know what I'm saying just certain figures when you grew up. When I grew up, it was Martin Luther King was just like Bro, like bigger than any pop.

He bigger than anybody.

Every house you go to, they got to picture doctor mart Luther King every house you go into. And so for us, it was like you always knew I got to give back. Why because not only did Martin get back, he had got shot and killed for the cause. So it was like he had just gotten shot. Like it wasn't like you got Biggie shot pot imagine I'm boring nineteen seventy. Martin Kick just got shot. So they were still talking about King like he was alive.

You feel me.

So when you were shorty, everything you hear TV, everything, I have a dream speech, like everything you hear is Martin Martin. So I always felt like rosa parts like his streets named after them in Detroit. So I always felt like I gotta do that. I wasn't necessarily doing it, if that makes sense, but I always felt like I gotta do that. So when the pastor was like, bro, you got something like Bro, you gotta imagine I was homeless bro eating out of trash, cast, you know what I'm saying.

Like I was.

Thinking, like when people think homeless, they I don't know what they think. They like, Oh, he was bro like I was wearing the same clothes I was coming to church, felt like this my breath was thinking.

I wasn't brushing my teeth, you know what I'm saying.

So for this man to pull me to the side and go, bro, you got an annointy. I ain't know what that meant. I didn't grow up in church. I never see my parents pray. But he was like, you got an anointing, Like come back to church every week. They started really like loving on me, making sure I was there. Like I had to go to work. I was working at McDonald's. They was taking me to work every day, making sure we didn't have cell phones.

You know what I'm saying.

But they was making sure when we met at church that I was good.

Feed me.

He was like, bruh, we're gonna get you your ged. You're gonna get off these streets and we're gonna send you to Oakwood College. And that was just all they energy was on me getting my ged going to college, and eventually I did and went to Oakwood and so you got to imagine having people like pick you up and take you out of what you're in and put you on a solid From that point forth, bruh, I.

Was like, Yo, what can I do for you?

Like matter of fact, quiet as kept that pastor actually came to our college and did a revival, so like it didn't have to do with me. I just happened to go to year that he came into the revival. I promise you, my man must have baptized like three hundred and fifty people, no, lie, So you gotta imagine this the dude that helped me. I'm watching my man. He was an army man, he was an army back. I'm watching him baptized three hundred like Bro, they had to do it in days. It was so many kids.

Was another level of okay.

He gone like his spirit ain't in an earth I'm about to take this thing to a whole nother level.

Yeah.

So after that, you know it's interesting. You got your ged. Yeah, but you studied education.

I did so.

He studied education at Oakwood, had a degree in education leadership.

Yeah, graduated, went to Michigan State. Absolutely when you met this gentleman. Absolutely, So how did this come about?

Right?

He was? He a student in your class? Well, you know what's so crazy? I ain't no C.

I had been there from two thousand and three to two thousand and five getting.

My masters cause I put my head down, you know what I'm saying.

I would be doing stuff for the university, but I kind of had my head down, just studying, and I would do a weekly program called Blackmail Initiative, Right, And so I didn't know C. So after I graduated, they hired me and so I started my own program. And when I started my program, I don't know it just random his coach from high school, my guy. I've been knowing him since like ninety five. He was like, E, you need to come to this event talk to the kids.

So why I was sitting there.

He's like, ee, I don't know where I'm gonna put you, but like we're gonna figure something out. I was like, all right, bet, just I'll come to lunch and chill until you figure it out. So while I'm sitting there chilling, his father is sitting across from me, and so you know, his father like black black, you know what I'm saying, like he from that era. So we chopping it up about the culture, We chopped it up about history, we chopped up about life. And so he like where you at.

He was like you lying. I was like yeah.

He was like, my son's up there.

I was like for real.

He's like, yeah, my son up there, and he doing same stuff you doing, Like I trained him that way, you know what I'm saying to give back. And I was like, okay, bet tell him come hol up in my office. He's like all right, back, and I you know, bro, I'm not trying to be funny, y'all know it. We meet thousands of people, so people always saying you know what I'm saying, like, E, I'm gonna call you, or I want my child to meet you.

I'm like whatever.

I brushed it off, like if you're up there, he up there, I meet him? I meaning whatever, but whatever, And I guess that Monday. We were together Friday, and he told his son to come see me on Monday. And my man came up there on Monday and was like, yo, you remember Mr Carl's point, Like that was my father's like you lye coach Bogan.

I was like, bet, I'm not lying to you. Like we met that day. I showed him a video that I did, showing him.

The work that I had done before. It's like a promo video. I had some work I did.

He watched.

It was like, I see you tomorrow and from that day forth, Bro, Like we talked every day since two thousand and with I don't know what that was in two thousand and five six, remember, but.

We haven't separated since that day.

Yeah, So it was crazy too, bro, just to elaborate, Like my dad was so adamant about me meeting this dude, Like my dad ain't really on that, you know what I'm saying. But he called me Friday, was like, Yo, I meant this dude, Eric Thomas, you need to go see him. I got his card, you know what I'm saying. This is addresses office. I'm like, bet he called me Saturday. It was like, hey, remember on Monday morning I told you call me Sunday night was like hey, tomorrow morning

What was your early responsibilities, like when you first started the link with ET, what did you do?

You know what I didn't know.

The first thing that he taught me was that this could be a career, right, like you know just speaking, you know, edge kay, you know, going around because the crazy thing is I love it.

Now.

You mentioned that I don't do a lot in front of the camera stuff like that. But I started off speaking. I had been speaking since I was in the eighth grade. I always had to give to speak. I was introducing the mayor of the city anytime it was gun violent stuff. I would like, stand up for the school talk class president type stuff. And then I met E and I was like, yo, you can get paid doing this. Like I was just doing it like on a hum giving back stuff like this. I never knew it could be

We just went up there.

Bro you talking about kids in there for like ten fifteen years in there for murder, all kind of stuff. And we went up there and he was like, yo, get him. I was like, I just start going in, He'll start going in. We just tag teamed it, and you know, everywhere we went, I was just speaking. Really, I wasn't even doing it. There was no business to run. I was just really rolling with him.

So at what point do you realize it's better for you to take a step back.

Yeah, I'll never forget. And everybody probably seen the speech. It was about two thousand and sixty seven and we were at the Advantage Program, a program we had started up on campus, right and we in the room. It was a regular night, but I don't know what happened. Somebody pissed E off. He was in a bad mood, kind of like to be honest with you, and I was like, Yo, what's going on? And he was like, man, these kids ain't taking nothing serious, Like, you know, they

And I was like absolutely. He was like, I'm gonna mike you up.

And back then everybody was miked up like you usually you just had the camera be terrible audio ever.

Talking about cameras back then six grand right what I'm saying today right brand for that co.

So we had videoed a few things before, but it was always terrible audio quality. You couldn't really hear it. Well, this night he miked it up just like the the lapels we got on.

Right.

So we sitting in the room, I'm like, all right, he about to go off now, mind you he been going off forever. Like the reason I was rolling with him is because I never seen nothing like it. Like imagine we'll go to like a university or wherever, a high school and kids to just be sitting there crying, Like I'm like, yo, this is the most amazing thing I seen. But this particular night, we were sitting in there and he was going off, and he was like, when.

You want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe.

Then you'll be successful. And everybody knows that video now. It is one of the most famous motivational speeches of all times. And I say, yo, that was cool, right, And then this was on a Tuesday night. I was so inspired, y'all. I was like, Yo, it's the best thing I ever heard. I literally have the best motivational speaker in the world. I called a local middle school the next day and I was like, yo, I got this dude. His name is Eric Thomas. I'm telling you

This was FaceTime. You had to have a college on Facebook the same time.

College I need to get on.

So I told him, I said, hey, see if you can get it up there, and of course he got one of the most common names in the world, Eric Thomas or Eric Thomas was actually taking So I was like, Man, I was sitting there. I was like, yo, et Et Motivator, ET Speaker, e T. And then he had just did a sermon I remember the day before he did a few days before he did t I you can.

Have whatever you like.

But he remixed it for like if you have Christ, you can have whatever you like, and was like, yo, my man is like a hip hop preacher. So then I sat there and I was like, yo, Carl, check the availability of Et the hip Hop Preacher. So he was like, yeah, it's available, and so I was like bet. And so from that moment on, I was like, Yo, I'm out of here. Everything we do needs to be et. Every timas Et the hip Hop Preacher. We only pushing him. Everything we focused on from that moment forward was he.

All their about is the community and the people like they not own how much bread they gonna make. Martin Uther King had a PhD at twenty six. He was a faster getting a Tizon ofference. He didn't have no business mind, Like I'm even thinking like, yo, if people had had a business mind, where Martin would have been financially. So for me, it hit me like, okay, see you right in my ignorance, I want to help everybody, but it's gonna it takes money to fight a war, bro

On preaching what you're preaching.

So I literally went to college and got my master's degree and then my PhD in Michigan State because I was like, yo, I need to learn the rules.

I need to learn the language.

I need to learn the codes, like for real, Like I can't compete with these boys if I don't. And then I realized as I was studying, I was like, be real, the reality is the blueprint. They like, if you go to school and you start reading books, the blueprint is there. So I was like, yo, I can learn what they're doing and I can go in corporate and do this.

And the advantage that I got is I got sold.

Like flat out, like you can't get you can't study this, you can't go to school and learn this like this passion I got it ain't no academy and it ain't nobody that's gonna be able to compete with me because I'll know the business side. But I also got that spirit of king in me. I got that spirit of Mouthcolm in me.

I got that.

Spirit of guard v in me, and they ain't got that, so they're not gonna be able to compete. So see was the one that came and was like, E, all of that spiritual stuff is good, that character development stuff is good. But if we're gonna own our own, if we're gonna be able to decide what we're doing when we're doing, don't nobody own us. We gotta go business. So let me just straight. I thought him in the beginning because I didn't understand them. I wanted them to still talk like.

He wanted to be rocking side by side, cause that's all that's what I knew going to an HBCU like it wasn't just a speaker, it was we was we on the road, were traveling, we go on the restaurants, were eating, and so I'm like, yof C become business, that's gonna separate us.

It is what it is, bro, you start doing business. I mean he gonna have to go to these meeting. I'm gonna have to go speak on my own. And quiet has kept since he became a businessman.

You left Win two thousand and nine.

Brouh it's twenty twenty two. We ain't been in the same city since we made this move. So it was like I lost and not we like fam but I lost that time and that I lost that to business. So in the beginning, I was like, yo, Brown, No, I rather for us just to do us then change the world, like I really like, let's.

Just brou we was.

We weren't cut Like we was walking to the grocery store every day by lunch meat, coming back making sandwiches. We was going to church together on the weekend, you know what I'm saying, Like I was at his parents' crib eating on Sunday, like it was a brotherhood. And so for me it was like, bro, I don't know, like I brother keep this then changed.

The world funny with shall you asked what was my title? And I said President And I always laughed tongue in cheek. But we had went somewhere, we did a big conference or something, and he was like, yo, I got He invited everybody to his hotel rooms at the Embassy suites, right, and he had like the big suite and the Embassy suites, and I remember I was like, yo, what is he doing? He was like he was like, yeah, just be down there, like I gotta you know what I'm saying, tell you something.

And I was like, the president of what. Bro.

We ain't even had no coming, We had no llccene, we ain't had nothing.

He was just like this idea y'all was bro.

But look, you know, I'm young. I'm young, right, I don't.

Know no better.

He gave me an old breakthorcycle shirt. I was like, am I supposed to put it?

Like?

I didn't even know? But to his point, you know, he wanted us to roll like that forever. But what I understood, Bruh is one like I was like, Okay, I start looking at going I'm seeing people that he is better than who making Bruh. I just I wouldn't looked up, Okay, Tony Robbins network, what I'm like, no, I'm looking up these other speakers. I'm like, yo, he is better than them. And then once I understood, oh,

Like I love it.

People were like, oh, Rihanna can't sing. Okay, Rihanna can't sing as good as cool. It's probably I'm not no joke. We in Atlanta, it's probably a million young ladies who can out sing Rihanna And I don't even know if she knew a whole lot of dancing. Her brand though, like that's that's what makes her real. I love Rihanna, but it's her brand that makes her her and people care about her. So I was like, Yo, talent alone

We're not doing the we Black so were good.

With just making fifty sixty thousand at a time, and so he was like, Yo, we quitting our jobs and we're getting after this thing.

So how does this scale?

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Now.

It's funny because he mixed tapes, he can say what he wants.

He created it.

Yeah, yeah, so yeah, No, I'm brilliant. I don't like the brag on a lot of stuff, but brill I've been in that love I was the first one doing that show.

Yeah, exactly that. Hey that was me, y'all go back, Hey, that was.

Me, and I came up with it because well, first of all, I don't want to skip ahead. But in two thousand and nine, when I got my masters degree, I ended up being his graduate assistant. And then I got my master's degree, and he was like, yo, we quitn't. And I was like, where are we going? He was like, it don't matter. It's like we can't. Yeah, we can't write. And at that time, again you got to think two thousand and nine, you two ain't booming like it is now,

She would have stayed had he convinced that we need to stay. But he was like, I got to take care of the business, so I'm willing to. And y'all got to understand this because he not a two man like.

He ain't no two man like.

He would have got drafted one in his class.

That's the part I'm thinking when I'm hearing it, I'm like, what point does ego creep.

In or does it not?

You know what's so funny though, And I promise you I mean in disrespect to either of these brothers. All love because we learned so much. But early on E and I used to religiously study Jay and Dan and I was like, yo, they explained. I used to tell E, Yo, explain to me how when you have nothing, y'all is best of friends, right, like inseparable, And all of a sudden you got fifteen multi million dollar companies booming, and y'all don't talk anymore. Like again, no, I don't mean

I'm ready put my eye.

But like we studied them too, literally religious and and we literally would go back and forth like, yo, why is it that they don't talk anymore? Like they built everything they could imagine as partners and then they fell out. And so with me, the ego thing is I tell people all the time, I love it people come up to me like you're such a good human. Your ET's right, hen man, I said, don't get it twisted. I'm balling too, you know what I'm saying, Like, no, it was the

You know what.

But you know that in that New York energy, right the sid I'll be honest, this might have been my second time in New York in my life. So I'm just fascinated, you know what I'm saying. I'm from Lanston, Michigan. Bro, we don't have nothing like that, you know what I'm saying. And so we out in Harlem, right, and we are in this church and he's preaching that week. So we used to do a whole week. It'd be like fit

You mother, I'll kill you. I'm talking about like causing the scene.

It was like it was like New York style brou o haul right right right right, Hey, we we on linux ad so me Carl and now Carl about this big and I'm we on the stoop and I look and I'm like, okay, my man, he's coming this way so he might be like at the wall and me and Carl backed up about four five steps. He's standing in the middle of the sidewalk like this and turns and face towards my men, and I said, yeah, yeah, my man is literally like the smith is cracking under

My man fell to his knees, snap tears.

Coming out of his eyes.

He stood up.

He hugged him for about thirty seconds and was like, go in peace, and my man walked off just boo who.

Crying, and everybody out there was like.

Yo.

He was like yo, y'all ready. I was like, hold on, man, you're not gonna have like this just happened at that. But you see what I'm saying, like, bro, ain't no ego, Bro, Like I told you long ago, if this was about speaking, I had been speaking since I was a kid, I would have just been like, you know, when it's time to break off, like you know, we had our run and it's like okay, Jordan go that way, Pippen, go that way. Everybody do their own thing. But I was like,

And she came to the VIP and she was like. I was like, I.

Looked at her.

You know, y'all have events when you see people who look a little like, you know, sticking out a little bit.

I went up to her.

I was like, how you doing.

She was like, yeah, I'm here for the VIP event and I was like, how do you know T And she was like, well, my students play rugby and I was in I had cancer and I was going through chemotherapy and every day they would send me one of his videos. And she was like, and I beat cancer because of him. And she was like I've never seen anything but the videos they sent And so Bru when you're talking about DA we're not talking about music, We're

So I do need some paper. So I get to the bread with you.

But bruh, I will do whatever I can to make sure the world knows who he is.

But let's get back to this mactape situation. Yeah, yeah, yeah, what's the deal with that? Yeah?

So you know, it's crazy because a lot of people start hitting me up like yo, I love et stuff like I want to I listen to it when I work out. And I was like, man, I listen to all the time too. But I'm like I would always take like I would have make a playlist and have like E and then like fifty and then E and then hole and then and then And I was like, man, I was like, what if I kind of blended those two worlds together with the music and the motivation, you know,

Bigre But from a business standpoint, that's when it shifted. So you could literally look at our algorithm and see that now our biggest followers were white males between the age of twenty two analytics yeah, and they were direct sales. So now that's who listening to it. So they just little Ray Ray you know, on the block and listened to it. Now dudes and like banking dudes selling solar like they coming in in the morning and they listening

Come live now analytics.

You know, because a lot of people like you speak for Alabama football, you speak for Michigan football, you know, all the LSU all, but all the big program. It wasn't the coaches. It was a strength and conditioning coaches that was saying that. And now they, ah, they like, we gotta get him in here because you feel what I'm saying. So with that mixtape, it really created the pathway for the bread, for the money for corporate. And then once I started doing corporate, you know what it is,

Like I said that, yeah, he was like yo.

It's like he like they was talking about how Detroit was the recession and they was gonna buy it up and they bothered up.

So they buying.

They buying Scott Scrapers for five hundred grand. And I'm wid them put kids in there with these great ideas. So the kids paying for real estate like to be there, and they giving them twenty percent or whatever they was giving them for the idea and then for them investing.

So I'm in the room, I'm in the I'm in.

The elevator by myself with Dan Gilbert and Warren Buffett, and then like, e I'm not gonna necessarily like cash you out, but I'm about to expose. My man gave me an office right across from his office. So I'm like, I'm at the I'm at the playoffs, Bro, me and my wife and kid. We right behind Lebron in the finals. I'm everybody like you with Bron. I'm like, I don't personally know Bron, but I'm in the back with Dan Gilbert. It's just me and him, like were just sitting there.

Who was in the room.

So now when I go into Louis Gucci find the product, I know the dude that own them all Earns.

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So it's a whole different.

My mindset changed, not like WHOA at first, I'm not gonna lie I was geeked to be in the room because just to be in the room. But then God So was like, yo, you think I brought you in this room with billionaires not to be one.

So see was doing this thing.

But then I looked up with C was like, all right, see, I see what you've been on because I'm gonna be real. I wasn't on that at first, so he was by himself, if you will doing the work. Then I found out and I was like, yo, see let's get this bread bro. Why because now I'm taking twenty kids to the super

It was like, okay, we got to yeah we merged them, Yeah, we merged it.

So Dan Gilbert, you estab that relationship. Is that the first big corporate relationship you had?

Because obviously hip hop preachers, so obviously this is a hip hop side to get here with the next sing that blew up? But who was like the first corporate relationship that was like.

Oh wait, Dan Gilbert was the first one who gave me game free, Like, Yo, you come in this office, you be wherever you want to be, wherever you want to be. I don't got to be here. Everybody knew who I was. I walk in that joint, I walk around. I can come to any meeting.

Brouh.

Yeah, stuff that we you know, imparted into our company. He got what he called, I mean.

Nineteen is but it's like ten commandments. It's like the Bible's ten commandments. He got his nineteen commandments.

This is what every But it was weird though, because like we would go to an office in Detroit and then you go to the office in Arizona and everybody do the exact same thing.

Then remember any of them?

Yeah, all of them them? All my boys. Oh yeah, you hear me saying that speed is kid. Execution is worship. Oh yeah, yeah, a bunch of worship. Yeah, execution that was his thing. He said, ah, man, what was the first part. The first part was innovation is rewarded, but execution is worship. So y'all can come up with these ideas all day, Okay, cool, But the people that can actually get those ideas and make those things accomplish them.

He like, that's a different level.

I've watched my man fire somebody. If you ain't called back in twenty four you got fired. He was like, Yo, what he did that I've never seen before is he did a conference before he hired you to see if you believed in what he believed in, and told you what he believed in, and then once he hired you, if you didn't do it, he fired you immediately. I never seen that before. Like most people hire you didn't tell you what they're about. He told you what he

Bro. We standing in the line. I don't know if nobody gonna be going online getting a pair of shoes.

They can't even see.

I mean, this is the conversation.

We haven't his son putting like he letting his son get involved, his son doing stuff like Bruh, it was an idea. There's a white boards that they have. I watched it the first time it got put on the boards. I'm sitting in the room, they asking me what I think, and I'm like, bro, I don't even think that's gonna work. Bru quiet has kept so I can go back to none of the meetings.

Years later, I'm like, what in the world. Bruh, bruh.

You know? So for me, I'm not mad, but I got exposed and then from there I was.

Like, yo, you can't play with these ideas. You can't play. But Bka, I got a out to Beka.

My boy.

He was over a company called verb BKA. Was the first one who flew me first class. He was the first one to give me a retainer.

He was the first one to put me in my family in the hotel where it's the big suite. I'm over here, my kids over there. He was the first one to stroke a check. You know what I'm saying. He was the first one to show me how valuable I was in network marketing when I didn't even really know who I was. He used me to attract kids to come to his events. So he was the first one to say I'm not only gonna say you sweet, I'm gonna back it up economically.

He was the first one.

I was like, Yo, I'll give y'all two mel to do some stuff with y'all for Michigan State and the students a scholarship in your name. But See was like, I E, I don't know if we want to See had the presence of mine in. I don't know if we want to connect ourselves and nobody else. We want to stay independent because you're so rare that if we start clings.

At the time I turned down two mil.

I think my tax returns I made like twenty eight thirty thousand that year, and they came with two meal like cash.

And I was like, nah, to be partner.

Just understood the power of independence even back then, and and by that time, to be honest with you, I saw the trajectory, you know what I'm saying, Like, I did see where this thing was going.

So I saw a video on Instagram a while back then when viral where you was talking about you're the number one motivation speaker in the world. You can't be treated differently just because you're black, as far as your

They don't have a ceiling.

And it's hard to really complain about that cause like you're still making a lot of money, but it's not you know what I'm.

Saying, that's the part that we gotta deal with, cause that's why I wasn't asking for more. I kind of felt like, yo, E bruh, you making thirty thous a pop.

You know what I'm saying, Like, come on, your mom, ain't never see that kind of bread. You got five kids, you got a hundred fifty grand?

Bruh, what you're tripping about?

Then I got up to fifty, I was like fifty a pop, like bro, and you know the volume of work I'm doing. So I kind of felt like, E, keep your mouth shut, like this hain't where you want to just be tripping about because you're making good money whatever. And I did get to that point where I was like, yo, equality is equality, and E every time you go somewhere, people are not only talking about how good the message was, but how you care and like you ain't just about the bread.

And it was just like, I'm gonna be real. I don't know who she was.

It was some chick that called us during the recession, and she's like, Yo, I'm not trying to be funny, but I need to tell you I'm in this industry, like I booked speakers, like I do this. I've been with a bureau forever. You the highest ranking in charging the least. She's like Yo, you need to stand up for yourself.

Twitch she charged in.

Like fifty at the time or speech, and speech was like twenty twenty four, yeah, twenty twenty one, twenty twenty one, twenty twenty twenty one, right, right, twenty twenty one, B right, yeah, B does all my stuff.

And so recently we just after the pandemic. It's no such nigga after But y'all know what I mean. You know what I'm saying. Yeah, you never hear right when everybody else Then when everybody come up to Atlanta, you fee what I'm saying. I said seventy five and then B, who's here, does all my whatever? And B was like, yo, e, I just got somebody to like do eighty something. And I was like, B, let's go off one hundred plus, you know. And here's the crazy part. When we said

I'm doing it in forty five minutes. I ain't got to put no wood.

Down though, you understand something. He do that on the corporate level to be able to go question he does. He speaks more for freedom, he speaks no question. If you want to make sure people understand that how people are in the is right now, like all right, you blow out and charge out in eighty thousand. The kids in the hood can't hear no, no, no, I'm charging thousand, so we could stay.

I stay in the hood, you know what I'm saying.

And now I can really do more for the hoods than I've ever done before. Now I could take the hood to.

The super Bowl. Now I can go in and get a kid.

Jay's literally twenty kids to the super no question, like not to the super Bowl experience, like in the Super Bowl, like don't give away super Bowl tickets. You know what I'm saying. So I just want to make sure people understood. And I'm gonna be real. Only twenty because only twenty kids did what they was told to do. I went to four schools and told them I take everybody who can go. I ain't tripping if you can go, if you do your.

Homework, had your mama come up here. We did a program in the day. Then we met their parents in the afternoon and said, here's the qualifications they do this, they go to Super Bowl. So only twenty kids out of the foest kids schools did it. I would have put up two hundred and fifty if I had to. But do you think I'm speaking one hundred and eighty. I'm like, brother, that ain't nothing for me to go back and bless them.

I want to go back to what you said.

You said the number one goal is to make people kid right, and so what was the plan to make people care right? Because he's doing stuff for the schools, you still need to have corporate Ye think.

That's what you want to do.

So so man, I saw, okay, let me just get you all the game, right Like so, I said, he was.

Only gonna get half of the game.

No, no, no, I was about to give you half, but let me go. I wanted to give you the full thing. So I sat in the office right, looked up Brouh.

Again.

I'm not the smartest person in the world, but I know I know how to do my Google's right. Who's the number one motivational speaking in the world. Tony Robbins cool looked at his website. Looked at all this stuff, I said, all right, cool, I know that he is first of all, don't look nothing like that. Tony Rabbins like six ten, like I loved short black dude. I'm like, okay, we ain't got to look all right cool. We definitely don't have the money to create this type of website.

Right.

He had a wife and kid and so like the weekends was like dead for us. So we would come in on Monday and everybody at the office would be like dead. I'm talking about no energy. I don't know if y'all ever worked the corporate job, but it's like people like barely speaking, they barely doing anything. We would

At first, or something like that magical Monday motivational moment.

Right right, So he was just on camera, just waxing deep, and then finally it came around to thank God his Monday, and we started thank God is Monday, and he put how many years.

Did we do it? Like seven to eight years?

Seven eight years straight? We put up a video every single Monday. I'm talking about without failed ringsleep. It didn't matter. We put up a video every single Monday. So now what I realized started to happen was even if you rocked with Tony Robbins, you got e right at your

I oh, he would give a full hour.

I didn't care because he's such a content machine you see most of the time, Like you go to like comedy concerts now and they take your phone. It's because they're doing the exact same routine every time. He never gave it the same speech twice in his life.

Matter of fact, we.

Used to go places and people be like, can you do the gurgle story again? He was like, I don't do that, like this ain't like I'm not doing like a hip hop song like I don't redo my songs, and people will be like, he do that when you want to succeed? Are you gonna tell that story? He was like nah, And so I realized that he was a content machine. So we just start putting it out. I'm talking about free all day and everybody like, yo, see, how did you come up with that?

That was dope?

I said, well, man, I go to the mall on a regular basis, and when I go through the food court, shout out to my Asian brethren. It's only one group of people willing to let you try their stuff. I'm just being real. They had the tooth pick out and you walking past them and they like here, and you like, you won't even want nothing, and they're like no. They aggressive. Sometimes they're like no, no, no, no, just try it and you're like bowing and then you're like, you know what,

Don't rob me.

If you've ever been live live is better than you do.

You know, I just want to make sure hear what camera.

Listen, listen, I'm hey, I'm gonna tease you, though I tell him all the time. So how much did he say he was getting paid to speak?

Now?

You know, we still haven't had a speech go as viralists when you want to succeed as bat as you want to breathe. So he getting paid a hundred thousand for what we couldn't get paid nothing for to get worse speeches.

I wouldn't say what. I wouldn't say worse.

Hey, listen you greatness upon you.

You had a killer virul what's camera do?

I look?

Hey?

None of them went that viral.

B all right, but they was still just as explosive.

They ain't technically they were worse, yes, but no they were great. So but back to your question, you know the other thing, And I want to make sure people understand this when you think of the ethos and energy of the brand, right like you talked about racism and you know I will say this, Yes, we have to fight against a lot of that, of course, but.

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Crazy thing about when we start coming up, if you notice, like the hip hop culture in the last ten to fifteen years is wait, like I died laughing sometimes like Two Live Crew got banned from entire states for the same thing CARDI be doing on bit more than America.

And I like ice Cube is the perfect ice Ta the perfect example. He made a song called cop Killing played a cop for the last twenty years, right.

Fam, So you see what I'm saying, So like thin think about the difference in generations where it was like two Live Crew is getting banned from a state and now you know Cardi doing her thing on like Ellen. You know what I'm saying, So that that we were a part of that. When we came in, nobody was wearing gym shoes and hats. Every motivational speaker had a ten piece suit on and was, you know, doing their thing.

And it was the first time.

We were about to get ten thousand dollars for a speech and somebody called me and they were like, hey, we want to build Aaron Thomas. I remember he told me like, hey, you need to we need to get up to that five figure mark. And I was like, all right, cool, I'm gonna get to ten thousand. Boom, I remember I called. They called. It's like, yeah, we did the whole negotiation. I was like, boom, I got ten racks. Called e I'm like bad, we good, Let's

You know what I'm saying.

I was like, called EUP. I was like, yeah, bro, we're good on the ten thousand. They just want you to wear a soup in that joint, you know what I'm saying. Because he was like, oh, tell him, I can't do it. I said what He was like, Bro, that's not the brand, Like bro, we hip hop, Like that's what we are. And I was like, bro, I just said they got ten thousand dollars for one speech. He was like, tell him I can't do it, and I'll never forget. I called the lady back and she

He's not gonna wear a suit.

And she was like, you mean to tell me that you guys are going to turn down ten thousand just to not have.

To wear suit.

I said, hold on, hold on, no, no, no, I will come in and tuck season.

You know what I'm saying.

I will come to that joint in servemo dirt. He ain't coming, so she was like fine, and I promise you. It was a while later and we were over ten thousand, but a lady called and I booked a gig and she called me back and she was like, oh, we just had one thing, and you know you had that dejah vu.

I had dajah vou and I was like, oh my god.

I was like, she's about to say we're a suit and I was about to just tell her like, we're not wearing no suit, forget about it. And she was like, can you make sure he wears the hat and the gym shoes because that's how we watch all his videos and when he comes in.

We want our whole staff to know it's him and watch this.

Though we never talked about this, she wasn't with me when I first started. So I was wearing suits and I just got to a point two things. One I was like, Yo, I'm just tired of being what they want me to be. Bro Like for after a while, you just when you realize bro like, bro, I'm just I'm tired, like this ain't I ain't no suit, dude. I'm from Detroit, brouh this four GM and Christler. Culturally,

You know what I'm saying, Bag to the beats up there?

You know what I'm saying.

We were doing am breaking a beach street and I knew watching commercials.

I'm like, yo, the.

Colonel doing the.

Whoa okay Southwest? They not Southwest? Wearing shorts, T shirt and they ain't on they rapping the I'm like, okay, we look like hip hop, look like it's It looks like it's taking over. So I was like, yo, e hip hop taking over. Don't be one of those dudes to wait till it take over. Tike on your chance right now, Like just like jay Z and all them are making a you in this game, you can and listen to me, bro, Like y'all may not get this. We always been rats, bro, before we did anything else.

Just look at the block.

They telling Joe, they running game, They trying to mac the girl like we've always done this, We've always been talkers. I was like, bro, this is what we do. I got home court advantage, Like this is what we own. And not only do we do this, the world respects Martin, the world respects x X was on the he was on the copy of stuff. He had a relationship to FBI was on my man like he wasn't no, he wasn't no lame. So the mouthpiece has always been Richard

I can whatever.

And after that, bro, I'm just telling you, like we took off.

That reminds me of kind of my story too, because I used to be a financial advisor before I did this, and I was a financial advisor for twelve years. And when I first started, my first office was in Mahat. It was on Park Avenue, so you know, coming I'm like twenty four year old black kid, one of the only black people in the office. So you know, it's you don't even think about you wear a suit, you

Polo shirt, right, that's a shirt and loaf and stuff like that.

And I was doing that for like ten years, and I actually did like it on a certain level. I got into the suits and all of that, and I still wear suits every now and then, but I'm like by choice, yeah, exactly, so, But when we started this, it was like very intentional that we just dressed how we dressed, whether it's T shirt, hoodie, you know, with a lawsuit, because that's that's the era that we grew up in. And it's like, you know, we could dictate

But it's hard to do that though, when you tell somebody who's on the come up, right, Like if you know you working, you at a place where they're telling you, like, this is the acceptable norm in the standard. And so it's easy for us to say now because of what we built, but people do feel that pressure to conform.

Bro.

You I'm just being real, Bro, Like we run a solar company. Shout out the Harbor Solar. You know what I'm saying, Like, Bro, we have guys who go door to door. I'm just being real. The black kid knocking on somebody door cold, it's different than the good looking white dude with the blind hair. I'm just saying, opening your door. They literally have to get somebody to open the door and walk into the house and sit down

That's just bro.

That's why we always say we got to be even better, you know what I'm saying, go faster and stronger. So that's why we get on our guys like, yo, you can't be already starting to race back and running slower, you know what I'm saying, Like it could be done, but you really got to put that work in the grind because there are some built in disadvantages that most

So talk about growing laterally.

And you know you have the Alice good Energies of the world.

His name, Yeah you got that's his last name. Yeah yeah, right, come on, n w I g w E.

You know what I'm saying.

You got you got five millionaire?

Yeah yeah, man, Jeremy, you got the crew, Niki Ni Niki. So all right, so now you kind of have built what is it a management firm type? What's the relationship with all of these different people in the ecosystem.

No, these are all just I say friends and business partners, you know, brothers. You know, it was crazy because what I realized is and Toby really made me realize it, right because like the same people don't even like if people go back and watch right, we just thank God It's Monday forever. Anybody know how Toby blew up Get Twisted Sundays.

Get Twisted Sunday.

He would sit on the floor and his wife would twist his hair and that's what blew him up. And people didn't even catch on to the fact that all we did was take thank God is Monday, which was a weekly motivational series, and do Get Twisted Sundays, which was a week and he did it every single week on Instagram on Instagram, and it literally blew up because he did it consistently and it started to build a following.

He was like, what's the course?

I said, Bro, We're just gonna put everything you know into a course so that the masters can come get it. Because what if I live in Chicago or Houston or Philadelphia or LA and I want to learn this information from you, I gotta fly in the Atlanta and get in the hotel for a week for you to teach me all the stuff that I could learn from my computer. And so it was just really me saying, Yo, all of these people who are coming up with us, let's

And I believe really from New York.

No, no, no, I told you it was a little test.

I just believed that if Alex was doing good work in this world and turned himself into a multi millionaire, that at some point we would be doing great business together, which is what we do now. Inky, same thing I saw Inky is like Inky is the closest thing I've ever seen the e in my life. Like Inky is a machine dog, just a good dude. So Inky used to just pull up at my crib and be like, yo, see, let me know what's up.

You know what I'm saying.

So my job was to always help people who had a gift to take that thing to the next level. And people always like, yo, you know, how do I find my gift or whatever? And I tell people all the time, what comes easy to you, that's hard for most? Right, Like think about that, Like what comes easy to you that's hard for most? That's usually where your gift is. You know them people, I don't know who drew that, but somebody who drew that, I'm not saying that they

I would be like, okay, music.

Here, crescendo it here, off here, and then every time it would go viral and so that. But I'm in my gift. So when you see Nikki, she's in her natural gift. When you see Jeremy Anderson, when you see Alex, they're in their gift. When you see Inkys in his gift, and you know Toby he bro Me and Toby Full you know quick story.

Were in the car.

Toby was just in the car with me and he starts freestyling and I looked at him and I was like.

How'd you meet him?

So okay, he told me came and picked up from the airport one time. He called into the number we had on the battage.

I was still working at Michigan State University.

Was a driver.

He was he just wanted to get not like that he was he had finished playing about nothing. I s not like I didn't wish you sorry, don't apologize. I meant he had finished. Yeah, he had finished football. He didn't know what he was going to do in life. And he just called him. Was like, yo, e I'm this, this, this and that, and if I just want to connect with you because I watched you, I get inspired by you. So if you're ever in Houston, I'm gonna come pick

Have a car.

He would his homegirl worked that enterprise and she would hook him up when I would come to town, and so he would fake it like he had transportation.

He picked me up in the truck, put.

My stuff in, and so when I would go to the hotel, he would stay with me.

So I'm like, yo, you take the bed.

I take the floor, because at that time I wouldn't really balling balling where I could get multiple hotel room or me.

I just love I had no brothers, so I just love it.

So he's sleep in the bed, I sleep on the floor and we just hang out. And he took me to his school and did a play. I never seen nothing like it. He wrapped his sister dance. I never seen kids. It was like a black musical. I never

I was like he got a lot of ideas. That's the problem. He called you every thirty seven with an idea.

I'm like, bro, I meet people and I'm like, I think this the one, not all I make the one, but you got to listen to something of them if they gonna meet them one.

So I was like, no. Told.

I was like, I know, I messed up on the couple with the one. I'm telling you one.

No, but mind you though, never nothing to do with music, you know what I'm saying. He was like, the kid was just talented. And so we were down there, and remember I told you my wife took that job with General Electric, and so she was getting rotated across the country and one of our stops was in Houston. So when I was there, I finally hit Toby up and was like, all right, man, Eve want us to meet whatever. And of course he came through and we hit it off. We just kicking it and we were in the car

Bro.

He just start rapping, and I was like, Yo, this is crazy. At the same time, he and I were coming up a little bit, so I was like, look, I don't know what else you're doing right now. I can give you like a couple dollars to just focus on music full time. He's like, what do you want me to do? I was like, bro, I don't know, just start figuring it out. Because again what I say, imagine the cat who could sit here and rap like this, who's never actually tried me. I tried rapping. I got

I ain't never held a gun oh, I'm talking about crazy.

But Toby again, I said, Man, you could rap like this without trying. Imagine if you put it into ten thousand hours. We were big on glad Well at the time, Outliers. I don't know if y'all ever read ours, but you know the ten thousand hour rule.

We were big on that. So I was like, Yo, just start rapping right now.

And he started rapping, bro, And then like I said, to get twisted, Sunday's things start hitting. And then sure and sure enough, Bro, I mean, this boy doing stuff with Beyonce. We got records coming out. By the time this come out, y'all are here. But uh, you know some of the biggest producers in the game collabing with

Right, but I say I think the other to your point, I think the other thing that's unique about how we did it is that, yeah, it's the blueprint.

She does the business, but I do the character and spiritual development.

So for me, with everybody that's in our crew, it's like, Yo, Bro'm y'all young, I'm fifty one.

I seen a lot of cats with bread come and go. I've seen a.

Lot of black people sports business, make a lot of money and lose everything. So my job is, bro, I don't care nothing about you see making money? Can you sustain it for the next fifty sixty years? So that's my job. It's saying, Yo, I know you in this generation, but I'm the og. Some of the moves you make, it like, I'm gonna tell you you don't want to be making those moves.

I know this.

I know it's trendy and they doing it, but I promise you, bruh. Like y'all from New York, everybody ain't. Everybody ain't for your success, and y'all online so people can watch your moves in a way that when we was coming up, you can't like you don't know where I'm at. You can't watch my mood. You can't So for me, I'm on the Okay, you got it, but my job is to help you to keep it for the next thirty forty fifty years. You feel what I'm saying,

And I just.

Showed my crew, bruh. Food is a trillion dollar industry. Sex is a billion dollar industry. Drugs is a trillion dollar Like you feel me like you make it, they want to take it from you and so it's easy for them to take it from you because it's a business to sell drugs, it's a business to sell food ain't healthy for you.

So my job is, hey, y'all sit down with me the OG.

I ain't telling y'all what to do, but let me tell you how I started this when I was nineteen.

Not perfect, but I ain't. Never fell off.

And like you said, bruh, my wife was online one night looking it up and my wife was like, Yo, I'm proud of you, And I.

Was like, why you say that.

She's like, because since you decided to do this for real, for real, like not just speaking in your twenties, but like since you hit that, had your kids, and like you took you took this thing serious, Like ain't no stuff on you, Like you can't go and go eaty. So I ain't perfect, but I'm like I've watched many men. Yeah, I can name we all can name it. It ain't it ain't more than what I'm saying.

You can all name the stuff that take us down. So my thing is white, build with one hand and then tear down with the other one.

So if you're gonna get tore it down, let somebod else tear you down, but don't tear your own stuff down.

So for us, it's like your Inky family, Toby family.

And at any point I can pick up the phone and be like, ininc you're killing the game, but I see something.

I want you to focus on this and work on and none of the may like ah, E, don't call me, don't tell me, they like yo, O G.

Whatever you say, Like, we own that because we want to keep our foundation solid.

And to that point, man, when we talked about ebing number one in the world, I honestly think that's the thing that I'm most proud of. Like bro, like not to give ourselves kudos, but several multi millionaires, not just us, have come under your like and so when you talk no disrespect when you say Tony, I don't know who Tony Robbins, Like, what's his tree?

Who else do you like?

Oh, he's like you just named off Toby Alex, Like these people came up under us and now our building kingdoms. So when you see like the compound effect is just being crazy, you know what I mean? The only one that you said and he gonna kill mem said Ma was already a multi millionaire before you took I don't. I don't want to say, but.

He did.

I ain't one of these little sus you raised up. It became been a millionaires since. Ye, yeah, absolutely, of course you know what I'm saying. So y'all hear Mare's story at some point. But Mare has one of the craziest stories ever. But he's a part of the fan. But of course, yes, Mare, we know you were a millionaire several times over before.

We mentioned.

Before the scale standpoint obviously as your building. Yeah, answer everything too, So the merse becomes thing trade barking. I see obviously the logo, the mixtapes. He had the books too, so before obviously you know you is now but were the three bus that came fire?

Question? What made you decide?

All right, I'm doing this from the brother stand point, but now here's the actual literashire that goes along with it.

Yes, go for it.

I'm just saying mc hammer, I'm just saying master p. They left, they had gave us the blueprint do it out. The trump like, don't go with nobody because you're gonna lose your bread. So the first three was like, don't nobody know me? I go with a publishing deal. I'm not gonna get an advantage, Like it's gonna be a disadvantaged So I'm like, I trust me, I trust him, I trust my garage.

We took all the.

Cars out the garage, fill that joke up with a hundred thousand books and we did what we had to do to sell a hundred thousand copies of the first Secret to Success.

I signed every last one. So for us, it was a money move. It was like, he need a salary, Karl need a salary.

So these books.

Twenty nine ninety five times a hundred thousand books.

It's gonna give us some need.

But to even speak before that to your question, we listened to our audience. Yeah, So he was doing TGIM every week and everybody was like, we need the book. Oh, when we're gonna release the shirts. We was like, look, they're ask him for a shout out. Dave Shan's you know another one under the tree that we didn't mention. But he did our first shirts. You know what I'm saying. We did the shirt design. When you want to succeed, but you want to breathe. We let them joints go

Can I get? Oh?

I seet got the hat? Can we get the hat? You know what I'm saying.

So it was just really listening to the market and what the market was demanding and then creating that product from that.

You know, and the market demanded this what they called like with a check. I'm like, man, you gonna get me a check to write a book?

Wow?

You know what I'm saying.

This is our first major talk about you.

We're on the label now, you know what I'm saying, Right, Bill, you.

Know what I'm saying.

We signed now, you know what I'm saying, kind of you know what I'm saying, joint venture.

He got the turn down, Like where you go it? Yeah, it's a financial that world.

So all right, So what's what's the deal with this book? And what made you after doing three books independent, having success, making money. What made you want to say, Okay, this time we want to do it.

You know what turns out?

Turns out shout.

They don't.

They don't let you count like New York Times bestseller when you do it out the trump.

They want real numbers.

You know what I'm saying.

I'm like, look, I'm telling you we so I'm telling I got proof. They was like, man, if you don't get your little black but out of here. So I was like, okay, So anyway, I told E this time, bro, let's get like that milestone.

You know what I'm saying. Like, we've accomplished a lot.

We have not had a New York Times bestseller, right, and like I look at E in the space and you know, you see all these authors and stuff like that. And again we did books that did tremendous and they were great for us financially, and you know, we made a lot of money and you know, the informations out there and it's fantastic. But this time we wanted to go legit so that we could have that out there

When we get this one right here, bag going up.

I mean, you know what I'm saying, it's another not in the bag. I mean, why not?

You know what I'm saying.

Again it is and then and then this is dope because the book is so personal this time. I mean, we're sharing some stuff and are we allowed to talk about it? Ain't all been rosy we had you know, he and I have had our it's all been rosy. I'm the one that's got the issue. Now I'm the one to grow up without the dad, you know what I'm saying. So I had this stuff to work through. So we we get we get deep about like some things like everybody looking like okay, But we've had our moments,

I don't.

I grew up with the best dad in the world, so I was secure. But he felt like okay, like I'm so long story short, I'll let y'all read the book. But I start getting ahead of myself. When the money start coming, I was like, all right, cool, I know how to do this now, so I'm about to just go crazy. But you got to understand something. He was still traveling and speaking. I won't go into no speaking events.

Which so so that so that was hard for you because he's getting on the linlight. He's a star.

He's going places, and you in the office just right, and eventually you want to at least be in the room.

No, he never wanted to know. No, I never wanted to do.

I want because I felt like we built it and he ain't nowhere.

So he was.

So he is one of the most relational humans you'll ever meet in your life. Like, bro, I just kind of be by myself, like I'm good, like he wanted to like if he comes, he like he want to do breakfast, He want to do lunch, he wanted to do dinner.

Look, he want to, he want he want to.

He want to sit out on the balcony and talk about our dreams all day. And like I understood that. And for a time I was there. I was that for him. And then when he started going out and again you got to understand something. We ran hard to build the brand, and then it got to a point where it was like we got every company in the world called how many gigs did you turn down last year?

Well it was one year.

I turned on a thousand opportunity.

A thousand, and he talking about big bags, And so that was my job is to get us hot.

That a whole bunch of being inkies though you know what I'm saying.

So again, my job was to get us to that level. And once we got almost worked myself out of a job, if that makes sense. So I said to myself, Look, this can't be the only way we feed our families is when E get on stage and talk.

Even the books and stuff is cool.

But if he decided he done, or he don't want to talk no more, all the products in the merchant ain't.

The sweet anyway.

Jordan, the only one to be able to retire for twenty years and still keeping stuff hot. So I couldn't guarantee that we was gonna eat off this forever. So what did I do. I started going out and building other businesses. So we got into the real estate, we got into the solar, and I was telling him about it, but you know, eat old school. So he like, I ain't seen no check. He didn't know that we were just dumping the money right back in. We was investing the money.

But again not in a bad way, but they were just going. They were just getting the movie moving. So you gotta understand, I'm used to every we talk about everything. Now they doing business and we not talking about nothing. But I literally got e on everything a question communication.

And again because because he's so relational and he see me now making all these moves over here, he like, see, ain't been in none of my speaking gigs, and were talking on the phone every day. Don't get it twisted, my son, godfather, we bro we all day with it. But again he like you, he's that's his love lanes. He wants you to be like with me, like roll out with me. And I wasn't doing that. I was trying to go build those other things. Yeah, And I was like, bro, I told I. I was like, bruh.

In my vision it wasn't just communicating. Bro told you Monsle King, he got about twelve people running with him. You see Marla Kay, jesse Jah, jos Will and you ya, all of them, Like he got a crew like they want. When he got shot in Midmith, they was on this porch with my man. So that was just my Malcolm like boom, it's about five hundred million, like blah blah blah. So for me, success looked like a village, a community,

But at the same time, there were some other things.

That I had to deal with in order to get to Like dog.

I literally when we had the conversation, I was looking at him like, brou are you serious right now? Like Bro, like bruh, I've been here, Like I ain't flinched, not one time, I'm talking about cats coming in, offering bread, trying to get me out, the equation coming to him, all, we'll give you ten million dollars. You just got to get rid of cj ax, him out as a partner, all of this other stuff. Bro, I've been here the whole time, ain't flinched one time. So I felt like

She ain't on. He did.

My daddy had been there, yeah, right right right he did. But you know when you daddy ain't in your life.

But I was hurt. Though I told my wife I was hurt. I was like brouh.

I was like, come on, bruh, like you know me and you and again like you know how I feel about money, You know how I feel about our families. You know how I feel about your son, like my son, my son, like your son, like we family for real. But again I realized that my lack of communication allowed that that you know, that devil on that shoulder on each shoulder, to be like, oh see see moving on without.

Do you think?

I mean, you know, you experienced different things and you watch movies, and all of the movies is the same. Like, do you think that money and success breeds to paranoia, because that's why you kind of become paranoia after a while, where it's like one person crosses you then you don't really know and you're looking at your your brother eventually like you know what I'm saying, you're looking at him.

No question and not him like he don't think that with me. But again, like you said, just me and we'll talk about this movie. But New Jack City, that's.

What you jacksony real thing, you.

Like, a real thing, you know.

And so for me, yeah, so for me, I was But the cool thing about it is my morals and my beliefs and I relationships was the thing that had me go ae. And it was funny because I talked to my wife and my wife was like, oh, you know, you wrong, And I was like, why would you say I'm wrong? Because like, you don't even know that whatever. She's like, you wrong because for two weeks you kept it to yourself. You don't never keep nothing from ce,

Together, and for me, it's we always together. So it ain't like the four of us. It's the three of them, and I'm not in it. But it's the three of them working.

On here what I'm saying. But he's saying relational, so I'm not with them. But every time I look up, they all together and they talking, and I'm like, man, I wonder what's going on. It was so bad I didn't even talk to my wife about it. That's how I knew something was wrong. I never talked to her. She's like, what's wrong?

And I was like nothing. She's like, who you talking to?

Like I see your swag, like you talked to see for a couple of minutes, but you ain't go in like what's wrong? And I'm like, what's nothing. She's like, come on, nah, that's your guy. Y'all ain't got that kick?

What's up?

And I was like, man, I said he was?

And I seen him and I don't know, so I ain't saying nothing because I don't know. And she's like, Okay, it's cool, but go say something. And so I went and talked to him, and that's when he was kind of like, you know, he kind of went hard, you know what I'm saying. And I was like, hey, point, well, taken, I'm good. You ain't never got to worry about me. Thinking now, our moves didn't change. I didn't switch game up. I just in my mind was just like yo, I don't know, and it.

Was just different.

It was like, imagine you always working with your quarterback, and then now you got to you got a new quarter new ride receiver, a new running back, and now.

He telling it. You gotta go. You don't gotta make it mess.

You can put it to y'all like if y'all y'all built this together, and the imagine the opportunities start running it and you go that way and you go that way. Y'all still own the company together, but it's it's not the same in terms of sitting down and doing it like this. And I was okay with that.

He wasn't. I'm saying so, and that we just had to talk the other day. It's about having an honest conversation.

They don't have to be uncomfortable, right every every every conversation.

That's not about building your life, character development Jesus Christ and changing people.

Life is uncomfortable. Used to be yeah, not no more, like Bro.

We used to be in meetings and like, Bro, like I would be the dame dash of the like, especially when it was broke. I had an attitude like I used to be pissed at everybody, and I would be going off and he would seeing me, like get to that level. He would be so uncomfortable he'd just walk out the meeting like he was.

Like cool by y'all had changed?

No coo, bile, y'all in the room, no more.

I'm out.

They getting into it, right, Bro?

I mean we started a company now, mind you Bluod sweating tears.

We was broke.

We got people in the staff meeting like, we don't feel like the work environment shop the work environment is, I said, y'all work from home?

What you mean to work? Work? Like?

When we transitioned into like a come company, it was us and how many people we got, how many people that we had to work with us, now.

Forty three people.

You know what I'm saying, Like, so that changed for me, and I didn't want to. I never signed up to be nobody supervisor, like that wasn't my thing, and so that kind of also put a, you know, a damper on what we were trying to build. In my now, these people are extremely talented and very important. Shout out to everybody worked for ETA. I love every one of y'all. But it changed the dynamics of how save one more time?

Saving one more time? Bruh.

I love everyone.

Hey listen, I know I love all of the bro It's just different now.

I got an email came through the other day apparently we got a wellness reimbursement program. I'm like, wait, so people go get besides this and I gotta pay for it. It's just different, you know what I'm saying. And want people to feel good and feel well. I'm saying so look that that again. And I love everybody and they play a great part in the company and building the company.

But it changed. It wasn't just the ET and CJ show anymore. So is it safe to say that you were a greatly the great creator, not a great boss? Oh?

One hundred percent that I don't want to tell nobody what to do. I don't want to be in charge of your schedule. I don't just want to go get the bad bro, I promise it. Now, we gotta sign up for that. She do a great job of that.

I don't.

I don't want to be telling people what it Steiny's my creativity, Like my job is to build and create, and I can't do that. Like I tell people all the time, it'll be like I emailed you, I don't check email. I don't do email. Bro, don't email me. You got you either you got my number and we cool enough to text, or I don't need like I promise you, it's nothing.

I don't.

Only reason I got a computer is because the pandemic Nikki start making us do zoom stuff like with our podcast. I don't have no computer. So people like, oh, I emailed you, Okay, that's how I know. I don't need to fool with you. If you emailed that, you know what I'm saying, Like, I don't do that because again, what happens is and I don't do calendars. I don't do Google calendars. I don't do none of that because

I was firing off.

I was killing everybody. I literally I felt.

I hung up the phone and like it rang right back, and I know he was like, hey, you know he he don't like the big confrontation. He's like, hey, you know what, See, don't even worry about the staff meetings. I'm gonna take care of that.

I was like, thank you.

I ain't been on one since. I ain't been on one since. But it just changed the dynamic up a little bit. But again, you got to understand at that same time that we kind of like we're doing our separate thing. I got married, I had a kid, I had another kid, I bought a house. My wife was working like it was just I wasn't when we met.

I was single.

I was just like, yo, we run wherever. I'll sleep in your basement. It's all good. And he wanted that feeling the last forever.

And so hey, kid, ask.

Im like, BROI it turns out my wife actually wants me to come home, so I gotta go.

Bro, so before we rather, let me tek you this both you guys can say if you want, what is somebody gonna get out of that book?

Like what do you want them to get? What do you think that they think?

You know, I want people to stop, especially people of color, to stop talking about all the things that are against us and why they can't live the American dream. No father, like my biological father was in my life, my mom, and you know I'm married your father. Bro, I'm just being real just because of the way it happened, we never really got that emotional boy, and it was on me, like you said, I'm the one I take I take my l but I just homeless, high school drop out.

You know, I just went through a lot and for a certain period of my life.

It was always about why they ain't doing this for me, why this ain't working, why I can't live the American dream. I just had a bunch of excuses. I just want them to know, bro, when I woke up one day and it's like, yoa, it is your life. You gotta own it, bro, Like you got to own the fact that your father wasn't there. You ain't the only one who daddy was in your life. You ain't the only one Mama who got pregnant at seventeen. You ain't the only one from the hood. Like, you ain't the only.

One that had it. Bro.

You know what it's like, bro, having a father who raised you. My mom you know she married. You know what it's like having a father who's six 's eight. You know what I'm saying, two hundred and fifty pounds and everybody like, you know, that ain't your daddy, And I'm like, it's got to be because my mom said it was.

You know what it's like.

You know how it is on the on the block or at school. The jokes is like, you know, people go hard, bro, Like a joking is already joking. But when somebody finds something, they going hard. My whole life, CATS was coming at me because of my situation. So I always had a reason for why my life ain't where it's supposed to be. And I just was running and hiding and like you said, didn't want to deal with confrontation.

Didn't want to.

And I woke up one day seeing people fly first class, seeing people by coastal, seeing people walk millions, seeing people change people's lives, and I was like, E, you could do that, but you can't do it until you own it.

And I want people to read this book.

Bump E.

Don't cadding about E. I want you to read this book.

I don't care if you read chapter one and you feel like I'm taking full responsibility for my life. Stop reading the book right after chapter one. If it takes you to chapter three to go, I'm taking full ownership of my life.

I don't care what chapter it takes. I just want people to understand bruh.

Life got an expiration date on it, and you don't know when it is Bruh Brad is better than human life. At least you know when bread expires, Milk you know when it expire. You don't know when you are pout of here. We don't know if we out of here this year, next year to yeat. So it's like Bruh says, you don't live that long. Whatever you want, go get it, but you cannot get it if you going CJ owe me something, or the government owed me something, or the

And was gonna come and save me and my wife. He was in the White House.

He wasn't about to come to Detroit Henry Ford, where I went to school. He wasn't about to come to Detroit and talk to those kids. So I woke up one day and was like, YO, you can have whatever you like, but you have to take personal responsibility.

You gotta own it.

And I'm gonna tell y'all something. Once you take responsibility and you own it, can't nobody stop you. I'm talking about like I watch y'all.

I'm proud of y'all, Like you got We didn't even take our podcast at this level.

Why because we didn't own the podcast, like the podcast was something was up, just like we're having fun.

It's a way for me to talk to me once a week.

Since he got a wife and kid, you're gonna said, at least the podcast a good hour and a half.

We could chop it up.

So we were just chilling on it.

But I look at what y'all done with the podcast and the people y'all had and the dialogue, and when you can literally watch y'all podcasts and go to work like it's like going to college without going to college, Like you can watch your lead and walk like yo, I'm.

An earned like we're owned. Take me, that's it.

Earn own it, take responsibility.

So I just want people to read the book and from that day forth go, I'm counting on one human being. I'm counting on one human being the rest of my life, and that's the human I'm looking in the mirror. And I can do and be and have whatever I want if I make that person live up to that person's potential. And if you could do that, that's all I want from the book. And again, I am a poster child.

It ain't none.

You could tell the authority comes from It ain't none. You could tell me I'm not a good speaker. I went from nothing to number one in the world. You can't tell me that. If you take your life serious, it ain't nothing you can't be or do. And so you gotta read the book. Even if you don't want to read it, you gotta read it because you gotta help your boy. You know what I'm saying, get to the next level.

So I need you to go. You owe you to go. Get in the book. Yeah, man, hip hop preacher.

Thank y'all, thank you, thank you.

I gotta ask a question, right, said hip Hop? He started with no questions, no question. I'm interested, no questions. This hip hop Top five.

Hey, y'all young, forgive me, but y'all gotta show respect to run DMC. Y'all wouldn't even be there without run DMC. So don't give me all that pop can be run DMC started it all off, all right, Now, this is my wild card, this is my but I ain't never seen no sixteen year old with the passionate energy LLL cool J my radio.

I watched him live tougher than Leather.

I was.

I was in.

I was at the stadium watching my man do his thing. Of course, pop because of what I'm into, Pop, Biggie and my favorite. Just because I'm from the d you gotta throw eminem and then I know y'all want to hear that, but you gotta throw in in there because for me, he created a He took something that was already phenomenal and gave it a twist that nobody had ever heard before.

And get I'm from eight Mile.

I'm sorry eight Mile, but I lived on eight mile, which is a digital It is a digital, it is a wealth, it is an academic divide. I lived on this side of eight mile. The rich white Couca lived on the other side of eight miles. So I understand what he meant by eight mile, not just the street because I lived on it, but culturally in Detroit, eight miles separates the halves from the half nots. And then, just like I said, trailer park, that's that whole concept to me. One of those are my top five.

I'm gonna get you. I wanna get your too. Wins and losses. The intro, oh who put that together? Was that you see familiar what me was doing.

I didn't know what Meek was doing.

I didn't know what that's business.

I didn't know. You know, no, I knew Meek meaning that we were at the super Bowl together. I never forget. We were in the mall of the galleria and I saw like eight to ten brus all walking. I'm like, what in the world.

And I looked and I.

Saw Meet, and Meet saw him. He was like, what's up? And we exchange. He was just like yo.

When I was, you know, locked up like you're I listened to your stuff and I was like, wow, you never know who is listening. But from that exchange, like that was it like we kind of connected og. He just come out, you know, had that energy. But I didn't see it was just like, hey, what you want to do From a financial standpoint, I was like, I see, I'm just grateful that they're using I never knew it would man, I never knew it would do. I never knew that he put some heat on that. Yeah, I

One though, is to me already ready you know, just you know they want to sign off on it.

What's the other group? Though?

Nobody talks about disclosure though after me I went to got the money and Disclosure.

Did they think you know they don't do nothing but beat?

Yeah?

Yeah, So we made a lot of money from those boys. You never know who you are, but listen, it was so embarrassing. They so they did a big concert over in Australia. Right, I'm so happened to be over there in why Disclosure over there doing this set. It's thousands of people that enjoyed. They're like, oh, we're gonna bring it out and he gonna do the words like he on there saying like when the fire Stars they burned, he forgot the.

Worst the word I ain't never know the world. I got to chaske him backstage.

I just got the check.

I was like, hey, you know it right?

He was like yeah, what you say?

And then it was like e T he's a rent out there. And then he's like it got to his part.

He's just like let's go.

Let's cause like they know what happened was though they took some off YouTube, but they mixed it, so they.

Didn't have it just like I said, they.

Switched it up, bro, so it was the same album verse.

Whatever, let's go on, let's go on, he was, we're still getting the check. I must have done okay because they brought me back to do three things live in the.

Studio and recording, so let's go. Yeah, they did screw more, so let's gotta get your five. Man.

Well, you know, I'll be remiss about it. I gotta start with with my son told me we played as his father. I would be, you know, be trouble at the house if I didn't say him. Biggie is my favorite rapper of all time. Man, I'm just a big fan.

Again.

I don't know what best you know all of that, but big whole probably second part, uh and fifth I would say if we put tebe Niggas, I got to uh. I know y'all gonna hate me, but I gotta go. Me and Alex gonna go Drizzy all day.

You know.

First of all, you know Drizzy is a representative of the half white Okay, you know what I'm saying. Let just be honest about my bike and we are you know what I man, I grew up. You know, a mixed kid too, So it's good to see him and we're gonna.

See that we're just talking about just pure.

Boding community, you know what I'm saying. You know, we we've been you know, suppressed for a while, but Drake got us on top.

Now.

I look, hey, listen, I know a lot of people too hard core to say Drake, but I promise you I love everything Drake do.

So I would say Drake is in my top five for sure.

It's definitely, it's encouraging, it's inspiring. You never know who you're gonna impact enough to get Jim Jones. So Jim is somebody who was an interesting person because on the outside you look at Jim and you're thinking, like, you know, a gangst the rapper or a tough guy, super tough guy. But he's actually a really good dude and we've gotten a chance to know him. Yeah, and last year we did in Best Fest. Last year we had less Brown VIP night. He was telling him and he was like, nah,

Wow.

He was like, change his life for a few different reasons. He was like, A, he never heard a black man speak like that, yeah, And B he was like, so he Madison Square Guarden was sold out, he wasn't singing, he wasn't dancing.

Wow.

He was like to see eighteen thousand people there for a black man. He was like, so we made the connection.

He got a chance to actually speak to him on his zone, and then he got a chance to meet him in person.

He was like, yo, bro, like, you don't know how much this means to me. Yeah.

So I say that to say, I'm sure that there is somebody that's you know what I'm saying, multiple thousands, millions of people that same story, Like you know, you never know, you never know who you're impacting.

But I'm encouraged, I'm inspired.

So I'm pretty sure every single person that's hearing this, And this is the good thing about what I do, Like, I feel like wording is very important. So we stopped calling it a podcast. A long time ago. Dame had told us that actually he's like, don't call it a podcast, And I feel like this is like a historical archive.

Question, especially on the level of y'all doing it, Like yeah, we're still just doing the pod.

Yeah, we doing this. Yeah, but like twenty years from now undred like you know, we went to each of them.

We saw the aeroglyphs on the wall, and it feel like, you know, when they look at this moment in history twenty twenty two and recorded history one hundred years from now, they'll look at this and they'll say that this is a moment history. These are very important people in history to help change the course of history. So I want to thank you brothers for coming.

I keep killing it right up, keep killing.

I see y'all got Hopefully we're getting King James on. I heard you know what I'm saying Lebron saying. If you're watching, yeah, you know he loves you to life. Now I go, yeah, Brown number one all day. You know what I'm saying, Shout out to my brown face.

Wise man.

We argue. That's all we do on our podcast.

I'm from the South Side.

It ain't even no argument, bro in the shot.

We know the deal. We know what we rock right with Brown all day.

But yeah, y'all, y'all keep killing seriously, man's watch since the way back when you know, Alex was on the pile he put me on, was like, yo, you gotta check these dudes out. Been watching ever since. Of course y'all had you know, my my favorite human in the world, Nikki on there. Y'all just keep doing your thing, man, because I think for real, sky is the limit, Like y'all gonna you know, obviously you're already killing it, but y'all gonna go even for the new question.

And we had we you know, we all because of who we are, having choice.

And when I heard about, of course, the podcast, I was like, I gotta wait for something, like I just can't get in here and talk like they're so big time and they reached so many people. I gotta make sure it's historic, you know. And so for me, it was like, yo, I gotta the book. If we're gonna be on, gotta release that here. So I just want to thank y'all for creating the type of space that we have somewhere to come to and we ain't got to go somewhere else to go and blow.

Our stuff up. So I appreciate that. Make the book a New York Times bestseller, that's gonna happened.

All I educated is the schools, the school at least one hundred copies for the kids, all the coaches, copies for the teams trying to buy and both.

Yeah, yeah, all this out there. Yeah, already got relationships with the leads and yeah, oh yeah, we're working on all of that. Bro, We're working on all of that.

As you can see. Shout out to my boys CP three from doing.

Our guys, appreciate you. Michael B.

Jordan's back Prime so we think you know you guys, everybody who you know blessed us. Man appreciate you'll hopefully when they see.

Your name it.

When and then when y'all invite me back, I can tell you the truth on someone.

Remember he said, you don't even want to you know.

Cap.

You know what I'm saying, tell y'all the real deal. So there's only one show you're gonna Yeah, I'm sorry, seriously, from the bottom of my heart. Man, appreciate y'all.

Man.

Any last words you want to say to the audience, go by the book man. Where can they buy the book? The books available every Amazon airport. Great if you're getting that. If you at the Greyhoud. You grab your copy before you jump on everywhere stream my son's music. He's got a lot of good music right now for artists, you

Man, Thank you, Thank Troy. How can I know?

Yeah, yeah, Shout to all our earners, Shout everybody euyl University, shout to all our patrons on Patreon, and shout out to the merch team, and shout out to y'all again. Uh, like you said, the lineage that you've created and the people we come in contact with all eight one people. So shout to Nikki and Moves because they got to they got to show to.

Historical I think they're working on may be practicing and we'll be doing.

And obviously alexis here.

That's all and now I see why there's a mural of Et the Great Yeah in the state. So man, so happy that we got just done. Appreciate, Thank you guys. Man, Thank you guys again.

Your words are encouraging and yet you're very humble and that's something that's big to us because that's that's how we kind of move.

So sometimes you don't meet people like that. Oh, no question. So you know you guys definitely down the earth. Say a few names.

I would tell you, and every time they come in here, you really want to go viral tells Hollywood.

You know what I'm saying. Who came in here? Fun? Y'all hate it? I really, I really appreciate y'all.

Man.

Thank you so much, and I'm sure we'll continue to do some great things together in the future.

Thank you guys for rocking with us. For see you next week. Peace. You have a lady.

My graduates from my school being forced back drops drop Mike drop back drop.

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