Zeke Pike - Founder & CEO of Ez Ecomm and Credit Wipe | God, Football, and Entrepreneurship

Welcome to success story, the most useful podcast in the world. I'm your host, Scott DeClaire. The success story podcast is part of the Blue Wire podcast network as well as the HubSpot podcast network. HubSpot podcast network has other great podcasts like marketing made simple hosted by Dr. J.J. Peterson. Now marketing made simple brings you practical tips to make your marketing easy and more importantly make it work. If you like any of these topics, you definitely want to go check out the show, how to write and deliver a captivating speech, how to market yourself into a new job, how design can help and also hurt your revenue, creating a social media ad strategy that actually works. If these topics resonate with you, go check out marketing made simple wherever you get your podcast. Today my guest is Zeke Pike. He's a serial entrepreneur, he's a founder of easy automated e-com and credit wipe. Now Zeke's journey to greatness started in high school. As an all-American quarterback, he was often compared to Auburn star Cam Newton and rightfully so. However, football didn't work out for Zeke. Through setbacks and run-ins with the law, drugs and a variety of other things including landing in jail for six months, he realized that he had to find a better way to build his life. Although it didn't come easy, Zeke over time mastered the art of Amazon. He built his own empire selling on Amazon and then turned his strategy that he learned from scratch that generated seven figures in Amazon sales into a service he offered other individuals trying to launch and scale Amazon stores. This was his first business that he scaled quickly to over eight figures. This was only the beginning. We'll talk about his football career and journey, the drugs, arrests near death, suicide, turning his life around how he cracked Amazon, became the top one percent of sellers he breaks down his full strategy in the pod and then how he's launched and scaled other businesses since. You came into this episode with some amazing perspective on life, success, entrepreneurship and he definitely doesn't disappoint. You're going to love it. Let's jump right into it. This is Zeke Pike, ex-All-American football star turned serial entrepreneur. I mean, I think for me it starts like my drive to be like just great in life in general, like started from a young age. My dad played 13 years in the NFL so I grew up kind of like seeing that, not really knowing what he was doing. To me, it was just kind of like my dad. I didn't realize he played in the NFL but to see that lifestyle from a young kid, it was always attractive to me. Money, things that seemed big as a little kid. It inspired me and obviously I always wanted to play football and that's kind of where my drive even began was in football. My discipline was always kind of stemmed from that and I wasn't always the most disciplined either. For me, I went through a lot of struggles in my life and faced a lot of real difficult situations and many of them were self-inflicted. Many of them were me just being rebellious and wild and living life on the edge and then when I wanted to follow my dad's footsteps and have a chance to go to college and play in the NFL, I got all of that. I was number two quarterback in the country coming out of high school, five star quarterback, all American, had offers to go full scholarship, to go play really anywhere I wanted to go. Here I was as a little kid that had these dreams and I got all this and my head was just like, and I was just like over for me and I didn't handle that in the right way. That's why I was over for you. I thought I was so much better and greater and bigger than everybody else. I really did. For me, my ego was the one thing that really destroyed me in life at a young age and so I was able to get through it in high school because there wasn't as much publicity but I got exposed when I went to college and no matter how good you are, it's easily able to be exposed especially in today's age with the way social media is like, it's everywhere but when I came out of high school in 2012, it was like when Twitter just kind of came out, it was just kind of starting to be a fence and everybody got fucked. Yeah, and so I don't even really, I just didn't realize how powerful it was. I was a Myspace Facebook guy, that's what I always was and also you're coming out of your dad, who was it for? Exactly, and you're like, I'm probably God's gift, the football coming out of high school, I can do anything. Yeah, and where I'm from in Northern Kentucky, which is five to ten minutes from Cincinnati, Ohio, is a very big but small town. So everybody knows everybody and for me, there was a lot of pressure at a young age to fill my, I mean, I went to the same high school as my dad. So my dad was the only guy that everyone's in my high school that played in the NFL and then here I am who's like really the only other player that's ever come to the school that's been, that's highly recruited and had that longevity or that projection that that was what was going to happen. And so I was told in high school like you're going to the NFL, it wasn't even like, it was just like a no brainer, you're going to go play at one of the top five schools in the country and then you're going to go to the NFL. And so that for me when I was going to high school was Auburn, Auburn University, it's when Cam Newton was there and like, I remember taking visits and I was like, this is insane. You know what I mean? Like, I was hanging out with Cam Newton and I'm like, you know, it was nuts and it was really for me. It was like hearing people like, you know, ask me for my autographs, take pictures of my babies, like at 16 years old, like, what? Who am I? You know? And so these were things that I wanted and then when I got them, I wasn't responsible with them. You know? Okay, so right now at that age, like it's in your head, like obviously major in your head. So what are you going into? You're going to college like I'm Canadian. So so bear with me. I don't know the whole like like what is NCAA like and then you like go into to call or whatever. Yeah. So like for high school, like I started getting recruited like as a freshman, which is like really young. Like I started getting scholarship. That's not right. That's not common. It's not common. Yeah. It's like very uncommon. And it started at a young age in, you know, down here in South Florida is completely different. Like there's some studs down here. Like the best of the best come out of South Florida. So down here, you can see high schools where there's like five to 10 kids on the team that are going to division one, where I'm from like in the state of Kentucky. There's maybe one, two, three guys a year, you know? So it's like completely different. We're talking like just South Florida. That's how much talent there is down here. And so like it was, you know, I was in the newspaper every weekend and ever, you know, it was just like it was all that, you know, it was all the time. It was constant. And anything I did negatively was also what did you do? What did like what the thing you want to talk about? Yeah. I mean, well for me, it started in high school. Like, you know, I started just like wanting to like fit in with the normal crowd and like go out and party and like, you know, live this like fantasy life of like, you know, party on the weekend. That's like what you do. And like for me, being a highly like a high high level athlete, like I, I needed to have boundaries and have balance. And I didn't always have balance and boundaries. And that's what kind of destroyed me. It was like trying to figure that out when I got to college for me. It was, it was alcohol. Like alcohol was really what kind of took me. And that's why, you know, I don't drink like, you know, what I mean, I don't, you know, and it's, you know, I've, I still have had my battles with it over the years. But, you know, that for me inhibits me and everything I do in my life. And so as an athlete, not to mention a quarterback, which is like, you know, the only player on the team that I feel like everybody knows that person, right? So that was me. So in college, I started drinking partying. And I'm like, you know, when I, I don't drink like a normal person, like when I'd drink, you know, I'm like, they're like, oh, yeah, that's the, yeah. So like at a young age, that was me. And, and I couldn't do that when I got to college. And then I'm a quarterback. You can go out to the club and act that way that I, it was acting in high school. You know, everybody's looking. Oh, everybody. And so it was just like, it got, it, it got to the point where it was just like, I got myself in trouble. I got a public test occasion. And by the time I got back to my dorm room, the next morning, it was on ESPN, like, you know, freshman quarter, all, you know, five star freshman quarterbacks, Zeke Pike arrested in my mug shot, like this little baby of a kid, like, you know, just lost afraid, literally afraid, full of fear. Like that's exactly what it was for me in my life. Just like, absolutely full of fear. And that didn't stop there. Like, you know, my, my time at Auburn was very short. I ended up transferring to the University of Louisville. And it, it really just kind of continued to spiral downhill for me. Like the negative publicity, like, I hated it. And I didn't know how to handle it. You know, and then when I went to when I was you're a role model, like, exactly, a lot of people looked here. And everybody expected me to make it. Like, you know, there was like, and I'm like, oh, yeah, it's going to be easy. Like nothing, nothing's bad. You know, there's never going to be any, like adversity. Like, you know, I just never, it wasn't like, my life was pretty, you know, I'm not going to say it was easy. But, you know, I didn't come from like, you know, a family that had amazing mother and amazing father, like an amazing family that, you know, again, I never really struggled when I was young. I made a lot of poor decisions, you know, but I never really struggled. And so when I, when I ended up transferring from Auburn to Louisville and I don't know, I became a point in my life for like, I don't know if I was playing football because I loved it or I was playing football just because I was good at it. Like, and I think that's really what it was for me. I think I did love football. But I think there was more of the expectation and the pressure to play knowing that I was good. Like, okay, if I just play, I'm going to make money playing NFL. And so that's where kind of like that, that one, like, I always thought at a young age, I'm going to make millions of dollars in the NFL. It's what I was going to do. Like being an entrepreneur was never a thought. Like, my dad, my, you know, my dad passed away in December. So, you know, shout out to him. He's amazing. He's looking down. I love him so much. He's taught me everything I know in my life 100%. But, you know, for, for, for him, it was like, you know, he owns health clubs and recreation, a recreation center back home. But it's not like the entrepreneur life is not what it is down here. It's just not that up there. And also, like, he made a ton of money. Yeah. And pro, I mean, he played 13 years, you know, that's a lot of money. If you're talking true entrepreneur, that's like no money to figure it out, right? Yeah. And so, you know, I'll be honest. Like, I thought that's what I was always going to do. You know, like, that's what loud. And, and then when I was at the age where I knew that I was going to do that, the pay was completely different than it was with my dad played, right? It's already completely now. It's insane compared to what it was. But it was already completely different to like with my dad's time. It was a ton of money for them back then, you know? And so, but he put it into a business where my dad showed up and worked every day. Like, he was, he was, oh, he was an entrepreneur. He was an entrepreneur. He was an entrepreneur, but he was a slave to his business. And like, that was like, you know, we, as he got older in life, and I got to be coming on. We can talk about this later. He's like, he started to realize, like, I am a slave time business. I get the worst thing you can be. He has to be a slave to your business. Like, you know, you know, you know, it's a point where you have to be for a little bit, but like the goal is to not be for how many entrepreneurs they just create a job for themselves. Yeah. And then they, and then they, they hate it. And they could have been making more money working. Exactly. Exactly. So there was a lot of, you know, there's a lot of expectations in, but from a young age, like, I know I wanted to make money. Like, and I was going to do that playing football. That was a way. Auburn, that happens exposed, get to Louisville. And, you know, it just kind of continued. I actually dated a girl for a little bit of time that ended up passing away while I was dating her. And it was just like so many things kept happening. I got, I got a, I got a DUI, you know, just a lot of different things kept happening in my life to the point where I'm like, and then, and then when it, when I made these mistakes, I was exposed, right? We're like, my boy and my buddy got a DUI, but nobody, you know, it gave a shit that he, you know, that he got. I'm like, oh, that's cool. You know, but me is like everywhere. So I, it took me a while to understand that I didn't like that. Like, I want to run from that, right? Because I was embarrassed. I was humiliated. I was exposed. I didn't like that. Like, I didn't want that. So I went to a dark, dark place when, you know, and the girl I was dating up time passed away. I went to a doctorate place where I was like super depressed, you know, excuse me. Didn't, didn't really know like what I wanted. Like, I was literally at a point in my life where I didn't know if I was supposed to play football. I didn't know if I was supposed to get a job. I didn't know if I was even supposed to be alive. Like, that was just, that was what it was, you know, and so I kept searching my whole life for something to like fulfill me, right? Like, I needed something to make me feel better. And that's where at point in time, I thought I found it in alcohol or drugs or a party in our women or whatever that may be. It was like always searching for something more because I was never comfortable with who I was. Yeah. 2016. I'll never forget. You know, I was at the point where I was like done with football. I, you know, I did you formally quit? I mean, I, I, I, I piss it up. Nobody, nobody wanted me anymore. Like I went from having literally every school in America begging me. I'm talking Nick Saban less. I'm talking the biggest coaches in the, I mean, we're begging me to come play for them. So the point where they were like, bro, fuck you. We're not touching you. Like, we don't want nothing to do with you. You're going to be nothing but negative for our, our university. And like, that's how, like, so I'm, I'm maybe I'm ignorant. So even if you're like the best of the best, you have negative press at that age. No one's touching you. I mean, dude, I got three chances. I didn't even tell you I went to Murray State. Like, they're going to another school after Louisville, which I was in no position to play football. But I was like better than sitting in my parents' house, you know? So, but it, I had opportunities. I just boom. Like, I've pissed them away. Like I, I self sabotaged my entire career. And I don't know. I didn't, I shouldn't say I don't know. I didn't know what it was until now. Like, I've done some serious work on myself, you know? Like, I've done a lot of work on myself. Like, I am, I'm, I'm far from perfect. You know, like, I've done a ton of work on myself. And, you know, I had a lot of like built up guilt and remorse and all these things that like, I felt because like, yeah, I was supposed to be all this. And then I wasn't, you know? And then it was like, you feel like you did that because where you were at in your head at that point in your life, your mature, or did you do it and you're glad you did it because you felt like that wasn't what you actually were meant to do. I wasn't mature then though. Like, I was so immature. Like, you know, like, it, it, it, it took me, like, I guess when I fit, when I kind of finished where I was going to explain more, but like, it got to the point where I had a gun to my head and like, I was going to, I was going to end my life. Like, I was so high on Xanax and cocaine. I was up all night. Like, I was miserable. Like, I didn't talk to my mom and dad. I didn't talk to them for like eight months. Like, I was hiding. Like, I didn't know if I wanted to live. I didn't, like, I didn't really want to live, but I didn't want to die. Like, it was scary. That was miserable. And I was so lost because that was all I thought I had him. I was, I was supposed to, you know, it was supposed to be easy. I was supposed to go playing the NFL. And then it got to the point where it was like, nobody wanted me. Like, what do I do? You know, or, and it wasn't, and then got to the point where it was like, I don't even know if I want this, but I feel like everybody else wanted it for me or like, I didn't have any other vision outside of that, you know? So that same night, I remember I was sitting on my porch and I was, I was just not in a good place. And I was like contemplating. I was like, I don't know if I want to, like, I don't know if I want to live. Like, I got to the point where I was so met, like, you know, in such a bad shape that I was like, I'm going to, I'm going to go in my life. And I got in my car and I was literally driving back to the woods. This was in Murray, Kentucky, like, the sticks, like, not a place to be driving. And on the way, and this is like two in the morning, like bad, bad shape. Nobody's on the road. It's in the country. I'm like a half a mile from where I know I'm going to go. I'm going to do it. And I look at my rear view mirror and there's red and blue flashing lights. And I get pulled over. And it was like a moment where I'm like, do I do it now? Or is this God, right? Is this God, like intervening, you know? And it was. That's what it was for me. You know, it was like something greater than myself that came and in that moment, I spent the next 364 days in jail. Like, I was in jail locked up. Nobody could save me. Facing 15 years in prison, like, you know, because of what was, you know, what was found in the car, you know, X, Y, and Z, and it was, it wasn't scary. Like, I was in a dark, dark place. But I was still alive, you know? And so it was in that, like, in those moments in that cell that, like, I found who I was. Like, I found, and I'm not going to say it was easy, and I'll get there. Like, it wasn't easy after this. Like, that's where I found who I was, though. And like, that's where I found that, like, I'm okay with Zeke. Like my whole life, the real issue was I was full of fear. And I still, every single day, I have to check myself, like fear of failing or fear of never accomplishing what I want to have in life. Like, and that's a scary place to be, you know? And so it's like, I think that's the one thing now in my life, as an entrepreneur, like, I don't have fear. And it can be really bad at times because I, like, too quick to do things. But, you know, it was, it was in prison that, like, not only did I find who I was, but like, I came to really, like, have a relationship with God. And like, that's a huge part of my life. And, and everything that I do, and, and it's really because of him, that I'm here. Like, it's, it's, and that's what I believe in. Call it what you want it. But like, I believe that some, like, you know, my God saved me on that night, because I was fully prepared to die that night. And like, it's scary when I look back, because I've never sent, like, since that day, I've never, ever, ever got been there, like, never gone back to that place. Mental in the spot that dark. It scared me so bad mentally that when I got out of, when I got out of jail, I actually started speaking. It happened so quick. I got an opportunity to speak as soon as I got out of jail. They wanted me to come in. They were like, I want you to talk to our school. So I'm like, okay, I like walk in and I talk to the entire school. And like, these kids are just like, like, they're, I mean, they, you know, when you used to have, like, assemblies, like, it's like, this is so gay. Like, you know, but, like, it's a lot of it. But, like, you could, like, it wasn't like that. You know, I would, we would have, like, the kids would have been all rowdy. And like, these kids were locked. And you could have heard a pin drop. And that's when I knew, like, I don't think I ever had an assembly where they had somebody just come out of jail. And I was raw. I was like, just gave it to him straight. Like, if you continue, you will fuck your life up. Like, it was, and at this point, I was like, so, you know, I'm so scared. I just hit three or six, four days in jail. I'm a big dude. I'm six, six, you know, 275, 80 pounds right now, 50 pounds too heavy. But I was scared, you know, like, I was scared in there. Like, scared to sleep, you know, like, I was, you're not in there with friendly people or happy people. But, you know, I also, at the same time, was able to impact some people in there as well. Like, I was able to, you know, be a leader for some of those people in there. You know, you have to, you know, you're locked up, right? You better, you know, be friendly with somebody, right? So I was able to form relationships. And it was like kind of been there in that moment from there to the time I got out when I was speaking that I realized, like, God had something for me, like, greater. Like, so, like, other than football, right? Like, I started to see that. Like, I don't really know what it is. So I started speaking and I had, I had an organization and we were like, I got like, I probably spoke at like 250, 300 schools, high schools, middle schools, universities, all across the country. And these kids were just like, I mean, they were just so impacted. And I was impacted by them, you know, because I, it was like in those moments that I was like, retelling myself, my story, and, you know, reminding myself, like, you know, it's very, you know, and I had a good, like, I had a good parents. I was like, raise the right way. Like, it's can be, like, I can only imagine, like, if you're not, if you're not in, you know, if you didn't come from, like, somebody that does, and like, I have so much respect for people that don't, and that can have the discipline and the drive and the understanding to know that there's something out there that's more than what you think. Like, you know, and so it was for me that I realized, like, maybe there is more than football. And so when I was speaking, you know, like, I'm telling my story, but it was like, I was really good. I got out of jail. Here I am telling you, like, there was, there was not the end that I wanted to the story, right? It's also not a happy ending either. Exactly. Like, you, you had a shitty point. Exactly. Everyone's like, hey, what next? Exactly. And so, and then like, like, what, oh, you just got a jam and like, now, like, so, and I'm like, I'm a speaker. Like, oh, this guy, what kind of people get on a jam and get a job and go to high schools and middle schools and speak? Like, it was insane. But for whatever reason, like, God opened that door for me and like, I took it. And that was kind of like, when I realized, like, yo, I'm very, like, I'm, when I walk into room, I don't say this, like, I, it's a gift that God's giving me, like, it's just a presence, right? And so I have a choice. And I think we all do, right? We all have a choice on our presence in terms of how we, we handled ourselves and like, I still work on this every day, you know? But it was kind of like in that, in those moments where I'm like, do I need to continue to like tell my story or is there something more for me? And I knew at this point, like, I was still dealing with like a lot of emotional and mental stuff that like, again, you know, I was speaking, but it was like, I went to a lot of things. I saw some fucked up shit in jail and like, I had some things went as a child that, you know, we're, we're unfair to me, you know, and, and that other people do, it's the same shit. You know, we all, we all have face things in our life. And I think the one thing that is repetitive over my life is like, no matter what happened when I, when I was down and I was kicked, like, my dad raised me to always get back up, like, get up. No matter how bad it is, get up, you know? And so for me, it's like, that's what it's always been. And I knew there was something more for me. I literally came down, I checked myself into a treatment center down in South Florida because I was like, I don't, like, there's something wrong with me, right? Like, there's more. Like, this is all before I realize all these, like, all these little voices, these little, you know, fears and things inside of me that were killing me, you know, and these things that you have self-awareness. You're like, I've self-sabotaged everything. Exactly. And I'm like, that's not normal. Like, that's not normal. I'm looking at like, normal kids that are the top five quarterback in the country that has, like, they don't, they don't do that, you know? They don't. And so for me, like, it scared me, right? Like, for me to get five DUIs, and like, yeah, after the first, after the second one, do it again, like, after the first one, do it again, but like, after the second, third, and then the fourth, like, and for me, it wasn't always drinking, like, I got to a point where I was like, really, really heavily, like, reliant on Xanax because of it numbed me, you know what I mean? And so it was like, this was all like, you know, 2015, 2014, 2015, 2016. And, you know, I moved down to Florida in 2018, in the 2018. Now, beginning of 2017, and I just completely focused on myself. Like, that was it. Like, I didn't come down. I had no idea. Like, I thought I was going back home. Like, I was just coming down here just to like, get away. I needed to work on myself. I thought it was 100% going back home. And I just felt like there was more here for me. And I thought it was football. I guys still thought it was football, you know what I mean? And so, I'm like, I'm gonna train to play football again. Like, this time, I'm like, look, I'm just going to the league. Like, forget college. That clearly didn't work. So I'm like, I'm just gonna try I'm gonna get an agent I'm gonna go and like, it was a complete long shot. And, you know, I train really hard for like a, you know, 18 months straight, really, really hard. It was in the best shape of my life. A lot better shape than I'm in now. And, and I finally got an opportunity, an opportunity with Indianapolis Colts. And I went up to Indianapolis for a few months. It wasn't long, but it was enough for me to go back up there and put the helmet back on my head and get back on the field and in the huddle. And, you know, what? There was somebody better than me. And that's okay. Like, you know what I mean? Like, it just inspires me to work harder and the things that I do now in my life, because again, I've understood that maybe guys trying to tell me, like, yo, football is not the plan that I have for you in your life. I'll ask you something. After, so you put 18 months in post jail and you're like, I'm trying to figure out my life. It doesn't work out. How do you not spiral again? I think I had an understanding of myself, finally. Like, I had, like, I was trying, like, when I, like, I was all constantly trying to, like, hide, like, I don't, like, hide, hide. I don't even know from what? Like, I was just full of fear. Like, I was really full of fear. And it was like, all this pressure and expectation that I don't even really think other people were putting on me. Like, I was putting on myself and like, I don't know why. Maybe it was because I thought, like, you know, I had to make it to the NFL because my dad played, you know, like, I don't know if, but I, it definitely, like, my dad never put pressure on me, which is what's crazy. Like, you know, it's insane. He never, all dude, so many parents, never pro. Never. Like, destroy their kids. Yeah. Never, ever put pressure on me. It was like, you know, obviously he wanted me to play, right? Because he loved it, right? He loved watching me, but never, ever put pressure on me to play, but supported it, you know? And like, I think what it broke is hard if I said, like, you know, I don't want to play anymore from a young age, but he would have definitely, like, you know, there wouldn't have been any love lost. And so even at the, like, he didn't, he didn't push me to go try to play again. Like, I wanted to do it. Like, I don't, I, I think I wanted to do it because I was like, damn, if I like continue to live my life, like, I'm gonna really have some serious regret that that's the way my career ended. Like, I would so much rather my career ended the way I did where I'm like, I trained for 18 months, and I had a shot to go play in the NFL. I got a chance. I had a shot to play in the XFL. Yeah. And so it was like, I got closure on it. And at the time, you know, which, you know, kind of takes me into like the whole entrepreneur thing is like, I didn't have time for a job then either. You know, I was training like, you know, between training two times a day and then, you know, taking care of my body and recovery and, and, you know, nutrition and everything. I was like, I didn't have time. So I'm like, you know, what do, what do I do? Like, I have to figure out a way to make money. And that's when I got involved in the e-commerce. And then that's, you know, when it all started, because I'm like, I used to sell Jordans and Nike's and shoes on eBay. Like, that's what I used to do. And I used to hustle. I used to love shoes. I was just kid, dude, I used to camp out at the mall, like, to get shoes. And I used to buy like three or four pairs. And I would sell them. And I'd only buy three or four pairs because they never had my size. I wore size 13, like, when I was in like fifth grade. So like, they only had one. So I never got them. So that was kind of, I started, I started selling again. And this was when like, it was, this was like post pandemic, like all post madness, like, or sorry, pre pre pandemic, pre pandemic, all like, you know, before the real spike in the e-commerce market. And we were like, I was like, kill, I was like, really making some like really good money. I want to know, okay, so you come from like zero business experience. Yeah. Outside of what your dad's done, even your dad never really scaled. Yeah. So how do you start this? I'm trying to think of what it was that you like, you go, you go set up a Shopify store. No, oh, in terms of what we do now, what you did when you started. So when I got started, I was like, all this stuff that didn't go like, yeah, yeah. I was like, you know, there's got it. There's like Amazon. I kept buying stuff from Amazon. You know, and I'm like, Amazon, like, so I'm like, somebody's selling this, right? Like, it's like, I was like, you click for me. Like, this is eBay, right? Like, you know, so somebody's selling, like, this is, this is so I can do this. And then I was like, I, like, shoes, you can't buy enough shoes, right? You can't, like, I couldn't at least at the time. And like, the margins weren't like, I didn't have a wholesale sell. Jordans were a good price. Like, so like, there was it, you know, so for me, I'm like, I wonder if I do this with just like any normal product, right? Like any normal product that could possibly sell, right? Yeah. So the dropshipping. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. And so I just started thinking, like, you know, okay, I started, I started dropshipping from like literally like Home Depot. Like, like, that's where I started. Like, I was, you didn't even do like the thing where you go, like overseas, you would like, Ali Express or some shit, you find a cheap product. You were like, I did eventually, like, I have used Ali Baba. But like, in the beginning, like, I didn't even know Ali Baba was like, I was like, Home Depot. Like, I wonder, you know, like online, I would just like search for different deals. Like, you know, every time every certain certain times of the year, there's always certain things on sale. It's every year. It's the same. And so I was just like, looked for little knickknacks, like nothing crazy, like literally the smallest things that you would see in a hardware store. And I was like, like, and that's where it started for me. And then it kind of like progressed into selling a lot and figuring out products that were really easy to get. And that had great margins, which is when we got into like more international market, where we started using Ali Baba. And we were like, I was like, wow, this is really easy like to make really good money. Like, these products are really cheap, you know, and I just kind of like started doing that more and more and more and more. And like, you know, it got to the point where I wasn't really having to do, I wasn't really having to add any more products because of the products that I had where like pretty good. So I had like just a stable amount of products. This was like, I don't know, probably like when I, I don't even know, two a year after I got down, and probably before that, because I kind of started selling before I started training, because I was like, I don't want my, I'm just kidding. I was like, my mom and dad were like, dude, you got to get a job. And I was like, fuck that. I'm like, that I'm going to just like milk it is. So that's what it is. So it started kind of be definitely before of like a job for football. But it was when I got football that like I had time at night. And I would just like, it worked with my schedule. Like I wake up in the morning, I'd make sure if I had any orders, I'd fulfill them. And then I'd be good all night at night. I'd have some messages. I'd have like, it wasn't really a lot. And then it got to the point where I was like, yeah, exactly. And so then I was like, damn, like I can, if I can just like hire a couple people, then surely this can be like pretty easy, right? Like they can just do this stuff for me. Like, I don't even have to worry about it. And then that's when I like found out about like Fiverr and like, yeah, some of these other like websites that I was like, oh, okay, wow. So that's for me, like kind of where it started after that. You know, this is, this is when dropshipping was like good. You know, now you can't dropshipping unless you have a warehouse. No, I was going to say because like, I'm even curious like, how did you, how did you like differentiate? Because I feel like everyone, I was straight dropshipping. I was straight. Everyone says like everything's it's go sign up for dropshipping and seems like everybody's trying to do it. No, I mean, everybody's trying to do it because they're doing exactly what I'm about to tell you. They're literally hiring people in India. Yeah. And they're giving them access to the Amazon story. They just sold for $30,000, $40,000. And they're paying these Indians $1,000 for it. Like, and it's all, then they're not doing anything. And they're dropshipping what's not within terms of service of Amazon. And they're getting their store shut down. They're like, well, you know, what the hell? That's what people are doing. That's what's happening. Yeah. And so like, I faced these issues on my own. Like, you know, I'm like, they got to a point earlier. This is like going into a noun. Yeah. And so like, we started seeing this because there was a point where you could drop shit, but they didn't give a shit. Yeah. Like, this is all right. When the pandemic happened in everybody's sort of like everybody started rushing to buy on Amazon. And then there's people who are that are like, I'm out of a job. I'm going to milk this unemployment as long as I can. Yeah. And then I'm going to sell on Amazon. But they suck, right? Like, they don't know how to sell. You can't just like start doing this. You can't just start getting what you can't stop on Amazon. I'm like, oh, I'm going to just sell. Like, you know, so it became a very bad experience. And then when the pandemic happened in the middle of it, shipping everything was destroyed, right? So it was terrible. So Amazon was like, we have to crack down because we're like, it's our it's our four allowing it to happen, right? We're allowing them to drop shit. So essentially using these Chinese suppliers that we don't we're not you we're not like, we couldn't get anything to wear house because you have to like have like the proper delivery two day delivery and all like the the quality. You have to have an infrastructure. Like Amazon wants you to have an infrastructure, right? Like they they've created an incredible platform. But they want you to have an incredible business like they want you to to run it at a large scale. If you can't like those are the clients they're looking for, right? Yeah. Frank, they don't need more sellers, right? They don't. If three hundred three hundred million active users a day and literally less than two million sellers, that's insane. You know what I mean? Like that's really those are those are crazy numbers. And so there's there's there's too many buyers and there's there's there's there's too many buyers and there's not enough is that right? Too many buyers not enough sellers. Too many buyers not enough sellers not enough sellers right now. So they said the sellers that are jumping on quick, they're shit sellers. Yeah, exactly which is why they've kind of like, you know, they're coming. They literally Amazon will sometimes make you get on a Zoom call like and verify your identity. So you're not just like setting up, you know, store after store. So for us, like we have over 150. So we don't have any stores that's been zero stores that's been so hot. Okay. So then just want to take a second and thank the sponsor of today's episode HubSpot. 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There's like there's three different models that we use. So we do we do use FBA and FBA is great. FBA is fulfilled by Amazon, which is, you know, where you'll essentially buy products in bulk, you'll send them to Amazon and they'll carry the heavy labor for you. The key is in finding the products, right? There's millions and millions of products and not every product has a margin. You know, so there's a huge, huge need for us in this space to develop relationships with brands and certain distributors that have relationships with brands where we can sell product that we want to sell and be in it's okay. Like we have the right to sell X, Y and Z, you know, product, whether that's a toothpaste company, you know, sense of dying. Like we're working with some companies right now that are pretty big companies and I can't say any names, but like would put us over the edge like in terms of like, dude, there's no telling what it's going to look like at holiday season, but you really have to have the infrastructure in place. And so for us, like I did the Indian, I did the whole Indian thing, you know, where I was like, I'm going to go to India and like and it was it was okay at first, but it got to the point where now like Amazon would rather have one seller that's really, really good and 10 that are really, really bad. So the three things that we do right now are the FBA, which is we're sending in, we still do dropship, but we dropship within terms of service. So we'll buy products in bulk, we'll actually package, you know, repackage, label and send it directly to the to the buyer. So that's kind of what we call like our hybrid model, which is how you're supposed to dropship. The reason why people can't, they can't, you know, they can't show a warehouse, they can't show proof of receipt for purchasing these products, they can't show some of these things if they're just, you know, dropshipping it from from another website. So that's, that's the second thing that we do, which is called a hybrid model. The third thing is, is white and private label. So we private label, we'll create customizable packages. And this is more for like our higher tier clients that understand the importance of like PPC campaigns and ads and yeah, kind of, you know, really that what it takes to run a business, I mean, I was like, people look at this and they're like, Oh, well, you know, $45,000, you know, that's a lot of money. Like, yeah, but if you're making $2500 a month, like go find that in real estate, like you can't find that in real estate unless you have a loan over your head and like with interest rates right now, like, I mean, they're not going any lower anytime soon. So it's like my personal opinion, it's, it's a great opportunity. It's just people don't sell it the right way. So when you're talking about that, so I'm not even talking about like, like, like people that are sitting at home that don't look for help because that's something that you should be doing anyway. But what you're doing is actually like, listen, you have to playbook. We know the, the terms of service we've done it's like two billion times. We're going to set you up. Right. And, and the thing is, and I think it's important to figure out like when somebody's looking to start on Amazon, a lot of people probably figured out themselves and probably screwed up a thousand times, kind of like you did before they get it. But there's also a lot of people that teach and like coach how to set up on Amazon. Yeah. So when somebody's like, never touched Amazon before, how the hell did they know to go to you versus like the $2500 other people that have YouTube videos and websites because it's like Wild West regularly. I mean, we're the type of company. And excuse me, I actually, we have a warehouse in Kentucky. Okay. So which is where I'm from. And is that the where you're talking about the other day when you're like, I'm setting up another. No, this is what I'm gonna say. So we had a, we had to wear, we have a warehouse in Kentucky that we've been, but we want, one, we have to scale. We need more space. We're, we're scaling quickly, which is great. It's a great thing. But we want people to come in. Like we want people to come visit us. Our warehouse in Kentucky is like, oh, warehouse. Like we, we were at the knit and grit and we got that thing. But now it's like, we want people to come in, come in, come see what we're doing. Come sit down with us. Like nobody can do that in this industry. Like show me a company that can do this is not one. Like what are you going to fly over to Bangladesh? Like, no, that doesn't work like that. You know what I mean? So it's like, that's why we got our building in mind. One because we can. We have the money to do it. We're scaling appropriately. We have 150 clients that are super happy. We turned down clients all the time because we want to work with good clients. We want to work with clients that understand. This is a long term business. If you want to drop shipping store, go get a drop shipping store. Yeah. And comes in me in four months. You know, I mean, when it shut down, yeah, you're like, oh, can you help me? Can you get my money back for me? Like, I should have listened to you know, cheap as shit. You know, anything cheap is not good. And so we attract a specific client where it's like, you know, if you, you know, there is a couple, there's probably a couple of people out there. I mean, there's people that we work with mentor-wise that are incredible coaches, right? Like I'm not any different. I have mentors that I have in my business that are I see I know they have courses and stuff. So yeah, you can absolutely go do it yourself. But the client that we attract is the client that doesn't have the time to do it. You know, or they they're looking for a passive income because their nine to five job is just barely enough, you know, like they need something that can, you know, and right now, dude, with inflation up, like shit is not cheap and it's not getting any, you know, it's not getting cheaper. At least for a while. Yeah, you're preaching to the choir when you're talking about like finding ways to diversify your income. Yeah. I'm an operator in a company. Still I do this podcast, write a newsletter. I do a lot of shit. I know people that diversify. So this is something that like it's smart to figure out ways to do revenue on the side. Yeah. Doesn't matter if you're working. And I didn't ever really plan to like do this for other people until other people started asking. And that's when I figured out I was an entrepreneur. Like it never even clicked for me. Like I thought owning a business was like what my dad does. Like you build it, you put the stuff in it and you show off the work every day. Like I thought that's what a business owner was, right? It's not. Like it's not, you know, like you can, I mean, you know, you own multiple companies, you know, like that's what's that's the beauty of being an entrepreneur. So like for this space, when I that clicked for me and I was like, wow, if I can make this on my store. And then somebody would be like, oh, I want you to help me like, you know, friend of mine. I want you to, all right, well, takes me time, right? My time is money. And then I started doing the math with the numbers together. And then, you know, it kind of just started from that. And this is like, again, this is like five years ago, you know, six years ago. Everyone, whenever I first got down here, five years ago, it was when I kind of got and since then, it's like, I knew that at some point in time, this was before the pandemic, I knew at some point in time, Amazon would get, would get tight because their platforms too good, right? It's, it's too good. They don't need that many sellers. They need, they have two million sellers and they're just going to keep growing. Like they want to make sure that they're growing the right way, you know? So I think for us, we saw the longevity in, in Amazon, and just an e-commerce in general, like, it's just starting for all of us. And we, we're all victim to it. Like we all do it all the time. I mean, I buy Amazon stuff on it. I mean, I buy it every day. You know, buy everything on Amazon. Yeah. And so that's the other thing where it's just super attractive. Like, you know, even right now, like the crypto market is freaking bleeding. You know, it's, it's got, it's going to get worse before it gets better. The stock market's getting ready to take a massive crash and inflation tie, you know, it straights our high, like real estate markets high, like e-commerce is the only thing where it's like, we're not getting affected no matter what. Like, it's independent. We're like, cool. We love it. Yeah. Like, you know, we, we, we, we thrive in times like this because everybody else is freaking out. Like, and we're not like, so I saw consistency in that. And I was like, if I can just really put the time, energy and effort and I tried it, like, I've tried working with companies overseas. I've tried working with other people. And all it is is taking a shortcut, right? It's like taking a shortcut, taking easy way out. I have somebody else do your shit. Like, no, it doesn't work. You know, so I was like, I'm going to do it myself. Like, nobody can do it better than me. You know, and so, so I started doing my brother-in-law works for me. Jake, he's, he's incredible. Like, he literally left his job to come work for me. Like, he had a job paying him six, six plus figures a year. Like, completely fine. And he was like, I miserable. I hate it. I hate going to work. I hate my boss. I'm like, right, you can work for me. I can't guarantee you that we're going to make them to the pandemic hit. And we went nuts. Like, we did, you know, five, six million dollars, like, in just in sales, like, in our, you know, in stores, right? Like, and then we kind of got to this point where it was like, hey, we got to slow down and make sure that what we have is right. Like, what we're doing is good. And we were still dropshipping at this point, right? We were doing small FBA stuff, because we, we, we saw a, a future with it, but we were still able to dropship and then the pandemic hit. And I mean, we had like 50 stores get suspended, like shut down. And I'm like, I'm the type of dude that always stays liquid in my business. Just in case it hits the fan. I'm like, I don't know, you know, like, I, I just want to make sure. But we have such good relationships with our clients. We didn't lose a single one. We didn't lose one single client. We were able to, I mean, we have a team, we have teams that are in place for things like that at the time. Now, we don't even, we don't even use them anymore. We don't need them. You know, we have one guy that knows what he's doing. If a store is happy to ever get in trouble. But, and I was like, man, I don't know if I'm in the right space, you know, like, you know, because I'm like, but then I'm like, you know, this FBA thing is like, it's working, right? Like we're seeing it work. It's slow. And we're used to like, you know, $10,000 a month, $15,000 a month on, we were dropshipping, right? Like profit. Yeah. And then it was like, you know, we, I couldn't wrap my head around only making $2,000 a month. I don't know. That's why why would I waste my time if I can do this? You know, but then you can scale up the stores too, right? Yeah. And so then as just as I was grew as an entrepreneur, right? Like I was young entrepreneur. You know, I came up, you know, kind of like came up. I just happened to be in the right field and do the right things at the right time. I came up, but it's great to like come up. But like, I want to come up like at the end. You know, and so I started realizing like, even just with the amount of clients right now, I don't need another client. Like even the clients are right now. I mean, my business is nine figures. You know what I mean? Like in four years, five years from now, no doubt. Exactly insane. You know what I mean? So it's like, and not only that, but like my clients have the ability to exit. You can't exit a dropshipping business. I think there's no exiting. What are you going to do? Show me your infrastructure. Yeah. Here's my product sheet. No, what do you mean? So now, like, so explain. Yeah. So you can't exit. You can't exit the dropshipping. There's not really any exit to it. No, I know. So, so you have to scale up. That's the only way. But you have to do that by having the infrastructure, which is, you know, eventually getting to the point in my opinion in the space, you have to have a brand. You have to have some type of a private label. So the goal for us is like, we want to generate revenue. Yeah. Make you passive income. Make you your money back. Yeah. Be completely passive. And then build a dope brand that we're going to sell for like my, my company could be like 500 million dollars. I see your saying. So now, now that's where the exit. So now I'm like, okay, why am I like, I'm already making money and you know, like, I can be patient, right? Everybody's got to have like that. So this for me is like, I, I am a lot of power in my hands. As long as we continue to scale. Okay. So how do you scale? How do you scale a good brand? How do you, how do you build the, how do you build the brand that worked with Amazon? And, and, and, and all, all you come and then how do you scale that up? Like, what's the lever you pull? Is it like you, you build the website? Obviously you build social. I'm thinking, like, movement watches or shit like that. Like, that's what I'm thinking. I mean, it's, it's, yeah, it's, we, we have a jewelry brand that, that is, is pretty crazy. You know, like, everybody loves like Cuban chains and all that. And so, um, I don't know, uh, my wife was in here. I would, I would show you. She has one brand of mistaken pictures of them today. But it's like, the margins are crazy. Like, you know, think about like, we're going to get it even better. When you have a name is, I don't, I'm not even going to say numbers on here. But it's just like, they're, it's, I mean, it's like two, three hundred percent margins, right? Like, which is like insane. Like, it's like not. So it, but it's about finding something that's like, you're going to be able to build, right? Not something that's like all hot for like a couple, like, a, like, you know, like, and that's what a lot of drop shippers did. Yeah. Yeah. I heard people talk about, like, I'll find some shit on, on TikTok. Yeah. And I'll go, I'll go drop shit that, like, a month. And like, like, like, now that there's like all these different programs that really pulls. So to say, like, products for you for drop shippers, it became really easy. Like, they, you know, like, just the same way now that more, more softwares are being created for the benefit of FBA, like wholesale, you know, FBA wholesalers, that was the same with dropping all these different types of, you know, websites that people were using that was giving them information that the same people have. It's not hard to get on Amazon and see what products are selling. Yeah. But when it comes to a brand, it's just about establishing something that is going to be able, you're going to be able to put the money into it and know that it's like got a couple of years to go. And so I think it's about finding the right product, but not about being like over, like, overcomplicating it, you know, like, I don't know, like, Grunkowski, like, Rob Guncrowski's brother does the whole, like, ice shaker, like, the, and like, they kill it, but it's such a simple thing, right? Like, it's not, you don't have to overcomplicate. It's a couple of, everybody, every day, you see him everywhere, like, and that's the stuff that, like, we started to think about is like, you can sell that, like, you know, like, we can sell that, like, you know, my, my, my wife actually just started a supplement company shout out to her boss babe supplements. I'll get her on here too. Yeah. And, and, and, and dude, like, it's, it was the same way she was like, dude, the margins are crazy. And all it is is marketing, right? Like, and, and so that, that is just about, if you have a good product, like, the marketing's easy, right? Like, we, we're pretty good with the marketing side of things. It's about being creative, being visual, you know, what do people want? But it's about, like, for that stuff, do you use, like, a lot of UGC stuff, like influencers, you use, like, paid, like, yeah, I mean, everything, like, for, it just depends, you know, like, honestly, like, we can run just campaigns through, you know, social media, you know, and, and get plenty of traffic and spend little, little, in terms of costs, just because of the product, right? Like, so it depends, you know, there's definitely, like, it's, like influencers and celebrities are obviously great, right? Like, if they're, if it's legit and like, they're, they're following is, it gets the engagement, then absolutely, like, there's probably, that's probably the best mark you can get right now. But you also want to find some, like, like, see, it's also, there's also a lot of influencers and, like, they're willing to just, like, put their name on anything, right? It's about, like, I tell, I tell Dre, I'm like, but she's looking for somebody right now, you know, they're looking for, they have a couple of people that they've been, they've been talking to, it's like, find somebody that, like, really, because they're, they're a women's supplement company. So it's like, obviously, boss, but it's like, so, but it's like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's like, yeah, you know, like, find somebody that complements that, you know, and can, can, can be a, but the, it will do that, you know, a lot of times it's not that complicated though. Just find people that don't, like, PPC campaigns and like, you know, just running any type of campaign, whether it's a Google campaign, I mean, anything, it's, it's, these are like, just about people seeing it, right? Like, you take it off, not take it off. Do you ever, you, like, your own site Shopify, or do you just trying to, yeah, we use, no, we use Shopify, when we create brands and we use, we Shopify. Now, well, you Shopify more for, like, the analytics side of things and to be able to, like, just from the manageability side, it's, it's more friendly. Amazon also takes a cut. Yeah, well, exactly, exactly, which, like, insane margins. Yeah, exactly. Which the margins are insane, but you don't have the control, like, that you can, you can use when you're using Shopify. So when it comes to, like, your own brand. So on, on Amazon, you know, it's just about having the skews, which is like, you know, every product has a skew, right? So it's like, you have to enter every single skew one by one, you know, into Amazon. It's a lift to get it set up. Yeah, it's, it's a lot. But after you get it set up, like, don't overcomplicate. Yeah. I mean, for our clients, like, that's why we do, we do it. It's for our clients. It's like, literally, all your responsibility is to literally one, have the upfront investment in two, have the capital. We say 15 or 10 to $20,000 of initial upfront capital, which is in the credit card. It's not in cash. You have to have that in, you know, you can use that in the credit card and you're fine. You know, you can explain that for you. So, so the credit, of course, again, it's like for real estate investors, for whoever, like, use, you know, other people's money, right? Yeah. We always want to use other people's money. And so instead of using our own money to buy these products, knowing we're going to sell them, right? We want to leverage the banks money, like bank give us money, you know, whether it's a credit card, whether it's a line of credit, whatever that may be, knowing that we're not ever going to max it out, unless, you know, the store is scaling appropriately. But in the beginning, it starts on a low scale. Even $10,000 a lot. You know, we may start the first month with only a $5,000 purchase order, you know, and the store scales slowly. So once that store is paid back, you know, probably by, you know, the, you know, say 45 days, you're paying it back, but you're getting paid every two weeks. So every two weeks, you're paying your card. So that's how I got, you know, that's how I started the credit repair company, you know, which we can talk more about too. But it was like, I see. Okay. So the credit, the credit point. So I'm like, I started hacking, the credit. I'm like, wait a minute. Holy shit. I have like, because I, obviously, I have my own e-commerce stores that I was doing. I was, you, this is what I did. I was using, I don't have money to scare. I know. So I was like, I'm going to use the bank. So that's where it all started for me on credit. You're not scared about like interest in shit if it doesn't scale. Like, no, I mean, I, when I was, when you're trusting me, it didn't matter. But now like we have it down to like, again, that's why I say we, it's a slow scale. You know, we, we, we're not going to buy, you know, X amount of products month one. If it's they're not going to sell it. It's also like, like, Candle, you're talking about five to 10,000. We're not talking about like 200, 300 that is relatively small investment. Like if you're, if you're working a good job, you get a 5,000 bucks that you could put towards product. If it's going to sell anyways, yeah, not that big. But investment, but what get more people is the upfront investment. Yeah, I get it. Yeah. And that's where we have to give people understand is like, you know, but it stands off if you do that, right? Yeah. And that's where it's like, you know, look, if you want to do it yourself, like you can, but, you know, that's what we charge. And you know, that, you know, we've had to raise our prices again, shipping is expensive. Everything's more expensive right now. You know what I mean? So it's like, we have to be able to keep up. And we're going to continue to scale to continue to provide the results that our clients need. I mean, man, it's like business in a box. Yeah. Like, like, I, and that's what it is nowadays. Like, that's what you want. It's interesting, because like, I'm the kind of person that's always like, I'll just figure it out myself. Yeah. But I can tell you how many times probably like you, you tried to figure it out yourself. And it's cost you like a lot of money. And I'm not all for like, I appreciate what you're saying about, like, comes it down with us come, like, come to our warehouse, a lot of bullshit out there. Yeah, for sure. An immense amount of bullshit, right? It's like, what's so, it pissed me off as an entrepreneur as well, because if somebody's putting money into something, you don't want them to get fucked. But I think that realistically, if you find the right people and, and the best way to start your entrepreneurial venture is to do it while you're still working. Yeah. You keep working, keep your nine to find it, and you invest in things that can generate. It's going to, like, I mean, for this, it's not going to matter. But if it's, you know, for something else, like, yeah, it's definitely the way to do it. It's going to suck for a little bit. But you could do it for you. You could do it for this too. Yeah, exactly. If you, if you work a full-time job, say your professional, say you're making like whatever, a hundred, two hundred thousand dollars per year. Right. And you want, and you want to, and you understand that your pension is going to be shit. It's not going to be great. You're trying to find ways to generate cash flow. Yeah. Like outside your job. There's a couple of ways to do it. I mean, like, there's not a bad way to do it. Yeah. Think about the money that, you know, anything that's going to generate significant revenue. Here's what I tell people have to invest in. Like, even, again, I'll bring it back to my, my reality, the podcast. I spend a lot more than 45,000 bucks in that's for this. Yeah. Like a lot more. And that, and now it makes money. But like, fuck, you, you spend money. Yeah. You have to, you have to spend money to make money. And, and I think like, people have to understand that, um, a little like any, like pat, if you can build any stream of passive income, that's the absolute best way to create wealth for yourself, for your family. Like, you can't just like start investing into these things until you've created some type of passive income stream, where you can generate the money. Cause, you know, that's, that's the one thing where I realized, like, the two businesses that I have, like, people need passive income and everybody needs their credit fix. Like, you know, like, nine, you know, they say one in three people, one in every three people, like, they suffer from bad credit. You know, like, let's just create me, there's three people and one of us got bad credit. So, uh, but, you know, that's like, that's, that's, you know, we try to, we try to find things that are going to be around for a while, like stock market. I mean, it's just, it's, it's, it's, it's, we're not, we're in a scary place in a scary situation. Like, in terms of like the markets right now, like, it's just, it's very uncertain, you know, like, in my opinion, I think we're going to see definitely, um, it's kind of get worse before it gets better. I think that more people are now looking for it, because like, obviously a lot of people going to real estate, a lot of people going to crypto, a lot of people going to, like, just like high volatility, like, even like tech stocks. Yeah. Um, you think more people are going to start moving towards investments like this? Do you see more people looking at it? Yeah, I mean, I think the problem, the, the, the, one of the problems too is like, again, we talked about the whole like everybody started selling drop shipping, right? And it was like, it, there was a lot of people that did a really, really bad job and gave, gave the name, the industry, so to say a bad, bad name on YouTube. You look up how to drop ship. How much there's like thousands of videos. Yeah. And it's like, it's really sad because it obviously works or people wouldn't be selling on it, right? So it's like, it obviously works. And there's obviously hundreds and thousands of people that are selling on it. So if you can do it the right way, it's going to work. You know, and so we try to do things just the right way. And when we started doing that and started like, you know, game, when you, when you, when I was a little bit younger and started first started making money, like, I wanted money, money, money, money, money, money. And then I, as, as like, you know, I'm like, no, I want longevity. Like, I want to be able to sell my business, you know, like, and so I, like, like, speed rest, I'm like all in on everything. So when I had an opportunity in business, like, I knew nothing about entrepreneurship, but I think I'm going to figure it out. All right, let's, let's talk about, okay, because like, you also built out the second business. Yeah. So where's your head out when you're building a business? The first one was kind of at a necessity. Yeah. And the second one, I said, it's such a, it's such a useful and explain what it is. It's useful, but I thought like, this is a weird business to be like sitting in bed at night and being like, I'm going to start a credit repair business, even though I've built this, like, e-com empire. And I'd be like, I don't fucking know where to start. Yeah. It's like, it's like, it's like a little bit. Not, but it all started, it all started from, from e-commerce. Like, I was trying to scale my story. Yeah. And I was like, I didn't have, I didn't have credit, like my credit sucked. So I was like, yeah. So I was like, okay. And I, honestly, I paid for credit repair and I got, like, I got screwed. I got screwed. It was like, not, it was, they fucked my credit. It made it worse. It was not good. And so I was like, okay, now I'm, I'm going to fix it because nobody can fix it better than I'm, and anybody's going to care more than I'm going to care, right? So I'm like, I'm going to figure it out. So I just started figuring it out and I started researching it. And again, it's something you can do yourself, right? You can do it yourself, but it's not easy, right? Everybody can do it. Everybody can do it a different way. You know, we, the way that we go about credit repair is, you know, we don't, we don't use experience, you know, I don't know anything about credit repair. All I know is that, like, okay, so I know that, like, there's trans union aquifact, I think there's actually a third one in the U.S. and Canada, there's only two main ones. Trans union aquifax and experience, you know, the three bureaus. And those are the only, there's more, but those are the three main bureaus they go by. Okay, but, and I do know that all you, the only trick I've ever learned is, if you see something, it's not on your report, you can like, report it to one of the bureaus and try and like, get it off. Yeah, but I'm sure there's like a lot other, there's a lot more. Like, the, you know, the common thing, one, one, I, I wanted to give, when I figured out the process and I did it for myself, I don't want to back up, because you know this, you're in it. How many people actually give a shit about their credit? Once they understand it, they give shit. Okay, like, a lot of people aren't educated on it. A lot of people don't know. I think education. Yeah, a lot of people, a lot of people will just go and try to buy a car and they'll be like, I'm sorry, like, you know, your credit's not good enough and they're like, oh, okay, well, maybe I should pay my credit cards, like, you know, you know, pay my balance on it. I guess not it. Like, it could be, you know, it can be something standing back 10, you know, five, 10 years down, you know, that you didn't even realize, you know, that Nordstrom credit card that you opened and just forgot or you moved in the bill, you know, the got lost and you, you know, whatever, like, and now you're sent to collections, right? And so you're like, why can't I get over a 650, you know, credit score? Well, because you have two collections from, you know, 2011 on your credit report and it's still showing. And so believe it or not, like, it's, it's not ever going to get better. Like, you know, it'll go up and down, but it will never get better until those things are actually handled. So believe it or not, like, every person should care about their credit, every person should know how to go and dispute some of these things because every time you go and apply or submit or give your name and information for anything and, you know, they're inquiries, they're, you know, they're on your credit, you know, like, they're showing on there. And so there's a, there's a, there's a method to the madness. And like, when people do, like you said, do people give a shit? Like, once they understand it, they do. And then when they understand how it benefits them, then it becomes like a dicting because how, like, how important it is, like, talk about like getting a car, getting your house, like, all this stuff. I mean, I think that all of you, I think the most, like, the thing that people obviously aspire to have in life is like a house, a car, a family, you know, a successful job, a successful business. You know, I started my business with zero dollars. I started my business off of credit, literally started my business off of credit. And when that clicked for me, hand in hand, I was like, wait a minute, even other business I have, like, completely off of just having good credit and going to the bank and getting money, right? When I was a kid, my dad was like, use the debit card. Do not use the credit card. And I'm like, why is the credit card is terrible? But no, like, we were fed that lie. Like no debit cards are trash. Like they're trash. They're absolute trash. And if you're going to spend the money, you might as well get the points, right? And so when I started seeing like people, like, I have clients that make like three, four grand, something, you know, like every two, every two, three, four months, like on cashback rewards, like, you know, just from like, spending, you know, so there's like, for me, it started one wanting to be able to help people. And when with the e-commerce business, we obviously have it had to have a price, you know, that was affordable for us that, you know, especially if we wanted to grow our business, that was going to be able to support this long term. And so I saw a need for a lot of people that wanted to get some type of business, but like they didn't know how. And so like when we take clients to the credit repair process, which is very simple, it's very hands-free, it's only $1,000, it's $997 a one-time fee. And we take you through the process, not just a fixing your credit, but of taking to the next step of getting funded. And that's when like your whole life can change, right? Like whether that's, you know, you getting whatever you want to do or starting whatever job or whatever business or whatever that may be, you know, so we try to start there because we understand like, yes, you know, there's clients that can afford $45,000, like it's no big deal. And start to, you know, that can do that, but there's a lot of people that, dang, they could really use $25, $35, $100 a month of passive income, but they just don't have the cash. But if we can fix their credit, we can get them funded. And they can make that at 0%. 12 to 18 months, we've been getting clients 0% interest, $100 to $2,000 sometimes. You know, it's insane. And these clients are turning around and making their money back in 12 to 18 months. And it's like, you know, it's like pretty. I just want to take a second to thank the sponsor of today's episode swag.com. Now, you know, if you've ever received a corporate gift or swag in the past, how many of those gifts did you actually keep? Probably not many, which is probably because the stuff that you got was not so great, I've gotten like a lot of stuff from great shows and from companies in the past that I've just thrown out the second I get it. So this is why you need check out swag.com. 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I love the actual products they sent me and there's a whole bunch more that obviously they didn't send me. But the stuff that they did send was absolutely beautiful. It was very high quality. And I can only imagine that if I actually got this when I was working for companies, I probably would have actually used it. And to be honest, I'm going to start using them for people that work on my show and in my company as well because I know this isn't just a novelty gift and somebody's going to throw it stuff that they can actually use. They have so many unique and customizable gifts that I've never seen anywhere else. They have custom yoga mats. They have custom apple air pods. They even have branded kayaks, which I did not know was a thing. So they carry all these premium brands like North Face, Yeti, Nike and more. And it's all customizable with your company's logo or artwork with swag.com. They take care of all of your swag at their warehouse and they ship it to individual addresses. Or if you prefer, you can just send it to a bulk location in one single shipment. It's easy to manage from their online portal, which you obviously get access to. So if this is something that you think would benefit you, if you have clients or customers or a team and you want to go the extra mile and you actually want to give gifts that people appreciate, which is a whole point of giving these gifts in the first place. Go to swag.com for the perfect swag and custom gifts. Right now they're giving everybody who's a success story podcast listener special offer. It's 10% off your entire order. But only when you go to swag.com slash success and enter promo code success 10. Remember for 10% off, go to swag.com slash success and use promo code success 10. It's like a cheat code. Yeah, it isn't so okay. So then so somebody realizes they they don't have good credit or they've been going through life. If you been going through life, you haven't been paying attention to this. Probably your credit's not. You don't have you don't realize you don't have good credit until you like apply for the new apartment or the car in their life. What are the things they do? What are the things that they should start doing that they even they can do? Yeah, the most important thing is like utilization makes up like one third of your credit score. Utilization is that like how much actual space is being taken up. Yeah, based on the limit that the banks have given you. So there was a point where my credit was this is this is why my credit was low because I didn't have credit cards. That's literally why I didn't have lines of credit. So yeah, so like I'm have I'd have like a fuck you know to like a $5,000 credit card that I'm trying to like scale my business and I'm like maxed out like you know as so when they report which they report once a month which every different every company reports once a month usually at towards the end of the month middle end of the month. You can call them and ask when do you report right? Yeah. And the key would be to make sure that you're paying those balances off before they report. So any credit any credit card company whether it's Chase, American Express, you know whatever whatever company you know any any of them they'll tell you they have to tell you when they're reporting your credit. So every day of of the month depending on what day it is they'll tell you and as long as you pay before that date your utilization will always reflect that and your credit score will boost. So it's little things like that that can make a huge difference. Again, it's a lot of just being uneducated. You know for us we we actually tell people like experience not bad right? It's not it's actually it can it can be a good thing for you but when trying to repair your credit it's a terrible thing because when you sign up for these apps like credit karma and experience etc. You give them the right to expose you like you give them the right to go and expose your information to banks and tell them basically every month this dude's got collections do not give him anything. You know next time he applies absolutely not he's got a collection for what for $300 wife had a collection for $700 from her sorority. I'm like are you far are you kidding me? So like we fixed it and her score went from like a 680 she's like a 790 now which is like you know you know we've done some other things but it's you would just like you would be surprised that and some people don't even know it you know like they just don't know that they have it until they until they apply for something they don't know what's sitting on the report right so we say don't like credit credit karma experience like an absolute no they expose you you know they're exposing your information to the bank there's there's a we use identity IQ which is basically a fraud protection it's more of a privacy protection where we can actually go in with the same capabilities that you know these other platforms have however they're not affiliated with banks like they're there so you see everything they're yeah they're going yeah exactly you're seeing everything you want to see but you're also able to be like dispute aggressively so you can go through and dispute to the bureaus without them saying oh dude this dude just went and disputed as you know it's let's kind of like they're shady they're working together though right like you there feeding each other money you know so it's once we get them on tied to the IQ and we can see you know like we'll we'll set up a call and speak to them like it's not just like we want to educate clients on their credit like it's not just like oh we want to repair your client yeah we have some clients that just don't care they just want to fix but like I tell my clients we're like we want to educate you right we want so it doesn't happen again so you know because if you want you know it's pretty easy to avoid right like once you you know like it's one like you shouldn't go usually you shouldn't go to collections unless you're responsible to pay anything and then you know knowing some little things like one like you know specific lines of credit you want to have you know the utilization's huge you know just there's lots of different tricks to the trade that so yeah so you like you keep your utilization down you report it that's inaccurate say say somebody has gone to collections yeah so what do you what do you do now is that stuff on there for good or do you know I mean no no absolutely not it's not on there for good see me a lot of times like we'll we'll actually like they have to prove documentation that you know they can send you to collections once but why did they don't keep those papers around you know the things are in the shredder long gone like prove it right you know so we're we're aggressive and a lot of times you know it is like like I'm just like they didn't mean for it to happen it was just a mistake it was a miscommunication you know it was I've had cell phone bills yeah paid off it it's closed or it was the other parties response like fall like there was no email there was no communication like you know so it sometimes you know it's it's it's just it's about going through the process right you have to know the right way to go through it you have to submit the right letters you have to speak the right language you have to know ultimately the way to go about it and that's by giving them as little information as possible right yeah like it's better to just be like I don't know what this is this is not it not dude like you know don't and I tell people tell me if you have a collection don't pay it the worst thing you can do is pay a collection really and once it's paid like you're like oh my gosh I paid the collection no but see it's like it's not dude it's it's life it will fall off eventually it will fall off eventually but it will still stay on there for a while you know I mean even though it's paid it's like oh yeah collection but he paid it but he's still looking the collections and we're still gonna penalize him for it even though he paid it so it's like yeah see that's the thing like they don't teach you shouldn't they don't and this is not teaching school that first of all I flunk school I didn't I don't know how I but you gotta learn this stuff to be smart because I can guarantee you that banks will not be helping you through the process no I mean they because they they don't want to help you why they want the highest they hire interest rate they want the higher APR like yeah they want you to have bad credit you know what I mean because that's where they're they're able to tax those rates on to get the money that you know banks don't have money they're making money off of our money you know what I mean so it's like 100% so if you have if you have okay so you have a shitty credit is you you like all the low utilization you make sure that you're getting shit off it shouldn't be there you're like using other things that don't communicate with bank what about like like getting cards and stuff like other cards that you should get that like help you out yeah there's definitely a process obviously we got to repair the credit first right if you need your credit fix you got to prepare the credit and there's other different ways other than should you apply for cards if you have low credit I would I would say no like it's just gonna add more to you know like just gonna add more to your report right so it's like instead of adding let's just be patient let's fix it you know let's understand the long-term vision of this you know it's not gonna be fixed and you know sometimes 30 days but very rarely you know just to take some 30 60 90 days you know a little bit of time sometimes longer you know if I've seen very very very I mean I you can't show me a credit credit score that's worse than I've seen like yeah you know and it's just it's it's sad it really is sad you know like it really is sad because people are educated on it enough how did the company that you use how did they fuck you over like what did they do it was like I gave him my money and I'm like like I want to be like what's the red flag the people will go for I think like I did want one my credit score got worse like I'm like why is it getting worse like you know and and I don't know maybe I was doing something wrong but if I was doing something wrong they should educated me right they should have told me and so you know we always educate like if we're fixing your credit like please do not go apply for a credit card yeah like please do not go try to buy a car or like let us just do what we need to do and we move quick like we you know if you get signed up with us today I mean you're gonna have disputes by tomorrow that are in action you know what I mean so and that's all able to be seen we have a client dashboard that we've built that is very accessible for our clients to see every little thing that we're doing and it's a benefit to them and like I said maybe it was something I screwed up in this company but like it's important that you educate people on it you know and so for me is like I like to educate people on it because it's like kind of a cheat code like I'm really you know and it's like I used to love when I was a kid I think that's like the most you think that's the biggest differentiator like as a business owner is an entrepreneur you think it's the biggest infrastructure differentiator that you offer like because you don't just provide the service right I mean that yeah we've become more of an education platform because I like it right like it's cool to see people win you know and like when you see people that are like oh my god I just got a 25,000 other credit line like you know that made up a lot to some people but like that's a lot of people that's a lot you know that can do a lot and then when you start understanding like dang you can transfer debt you mean I have a debt on this credit card and I can transfer it to this and this and this and get points for it next y and z like there's a lot of things that we try to do to educate them and then even from like the travel side like you know there's like think about how many people that spend money all the time and they never got to go on a family vacation like they should be able to go on a family vacation at least every couple of years based on the amount of points that their mom or dad or the family had to spend through the year on credit cards because they couldn't make it that week but they don't know it like this is all cheat codes of life that we want to educate people on you know what I mean that that's where I get purpose in life you know what I mean like making people money while making money and then educating people on how to to go and do it themselves you guys are more businesses after this one or is this like we're like super focused on on our on our e-commerce business right now we're growing and we're super excited I mean we're just we're really clicking on all cylinders um and like my team just done how did you okay so like lessons you learned um I want to I want to be like entrepreneurial lessons because you built a couple lessons now but lessons that you learned building um the credit company how did you scale I went up how did you start how did you scale it up the people the tools attack yeah I mean just started again you know doing it myself you know everything I've started doing myself and then you know hiring some people to limit your workload right and then from there like then okay how how can these couple people that we've hired to limit our workload become my my head guys that can take the business and run it and I just what's the first thing you don't want to do anything on a computer like anything on a computer any of that like I love talking to people I love working with the client I love like you know I love selling like I love get like bringing the opportunity to people and then building the relationship with them but I hate computers I honestly like hate all like the back end of everything I do but it's so important right and it's like it's like I'm so ADHD that like I have to really like focus okay like this is important even though it doesn't seem important like this is really important you know it's like I just don't like it so I don't want to do it like but that's what like I said my brother-in-law has been freaking phenomenal my credit business we've just been able to find some really solid people that again they've kind of grown with me over the last two years of that business and again I'm like as we scale like I'm able to pay people more and higher people more like you don't don't start with too much right like don't start with too much keep it simple stupid you know that's what they say and like so for us it's just like you know you said are you going to start any more businesses like if the right business comes along yeah but like I'm not in a hurry you know the one thing I some mistakes I have done is I've gotten into I've lost money I've got any bad businesses I've you know done made support decisions because what's the word like worst mistake you want to talk about oh like I think honestly the probably that the the dumbest was like the whole like shit coin market like that like just like I've law I lost hundreds of thousands of dollars on stupid shit just and it's like I'm just amazing everybody you would win and I would never win and I would always constantly I think I think people like they seem like they're winning yeah no I'm like I'm definitely not up so no that's good man no I think that like just like coming from zero business background I think people over complicate starting shit yeah I think that the one thing that you mentioned it was actually super interesting was your mindset and it was like being slightly fearless about starting things exactly if you were gonna talk to an entrepreneur and tell them advice for starting something from scratch what would be your advice or your recommendation is that mindset is it just do more start shit what is it I think the most important thing is like take the first step like it's so freaking uncomfortable in the beginning like it is really really uncomfortable when you're gonna go through some situations that are just really hard and you're gonna like do there's so many times where I'm like this is never gonna work like this isn't gonna work right like this is not so I think I think the biggest thing is like just in the beginning understand you're gonna be uncomfortable and when you're uncomfortable like that's really when you're growing and so like even now there's times in my business like it's been uncomfortable lately right we just got this new warehouse we just hired 20 new employees we just stripped to warehouse painted a warehouse yeah yeah X Y and Z like you know so there's a lot of things that we're doing that are you know so I would say don't you know don't over complicate it and and make sure that again like you're whoever you're aligning yourself with whoever you're surrounding yourself with like always aligns with your values too you know and so that that's kind of been the biggest thing for us is like just anybody that does work for us like you know this is who we are this is what we stand for we do things the right way and then it just pays off it seems like it continues to come back and benefit us by just doing things the right way after after starting this you know when you first started selling Amazon you're doing dropshipping yourself have your priorities changed like in your life like what's what's the most important thing to you now oh I mean the most important thing to me is my faith and my family my daughter I have a daughter she's freaking gorgeous she's coming to see me tonight she's on the way down here right now I'm super excited to see her but that's definitely the most important thing and the next is like just being being good right like it's hard like I have business partners and dude there's times where they probably think I'm like a loose cannon you know but like I want people to win so badly right like I just want people to win I I don't get fulfillment like me dude I swear like I don't get from a fulfillment like I could make so much money and it doesn't give me fulfillment but when I make other people money it gives me so much fulfillment it's like and in the beginning I'm like I got to make my money because it's not me it's like not enough not enough not enough not enough like it's not fixing you know but like I really get joy like I said like kind of like you know I like I get joy from that like it brings me joy you know and so I don't know no it's good man no I appreciate yeah for doing this like um I think that your story is probably one of the most inspirational stories like there's people that have incredible stories yeah sure but there's not a lot of people that had such you were so laser focused on what your life was gonna be and then when you have that rug pulled out underneath you and you hit like like talking like suicidal thoughts jail rock bugs like that's true like you can't yeah literally more rock bottom and that's like that's why it's bigger than entrepreneurship for me because it's like the like me coming on like this podcast is an opportunity for me like if I like I don't I don't need any business from this podcast like it's my story is bigger than my business you know what I mean and so it's like wanting you know there's people out there that are freaking hard right now like our world's so it's fucked up right now it's not good you know what I mean like and people are really sad like I've I've I have mental health issues I I work on them daily on the daily because I'm conscious of that right so I know there's somebody that's gonna hear this podcast is gonna be like you know what I've been in the same spot I felt the same way whether you can it's not like it's not a it's about what you can relate with right your story doesn't have to be the same but what can you relate well you you understand that like listen watching watching the weekend and he hit rock bottom and I'm going through shit right now yeah and if if you can figure this shit out and come in on the other side like that's the whole point of this at the end of the day this this whole podcast meant to be like yeah tactical and you learn some shit but you understand that people that are like you look at your social you like you look like like successful like you look successful you have a beautiful wife you have you know nice things you bit successful business but you have to understand is like always stories behind it right nobody very few people wake up and get that day one oh yeah for sure and a lot of people go through a lot of shit to get that yeah that's what I try and bring it yeah and I still go through I still go through shit you know what I mean like even even even now like I still goes like I said I told you you know my father passed away in December you know he lost about it with cancer and it's like I could choose to just like sit down and pal and be miserable but you know what like there's somebody else out there that just probably lost her dead too you know what I mean from the same situation and if I can rise up I can keep going and I can keep succeeding and keep winning so can you soak in that person and same thing I went to jail I was in jail for for a year like people like when you go to jail they count you out you're done you're a bomb you're a waste you know what I mean like I was determined not to be that like I think you were not going to know me as a freaking jail barely you weren't you know and so if that's you like if that's you and that's you in the situation like look look me you know what I mean like you can do to say it's not going to happen tomorrow or even next week or next month or probably next year but if you keep one step at a time and you just believe like it manifests manifestation shoes you know I manifest all the time manifested all this literally you asked my wife I manifest that she's she's brilliant now but I meant manifested a blonde hair blue eye girl and I was gonna buy her a white g-wagon and that's exact she she took a picture in front of white g-wagon and I thought it was hers if she showed up in like this beat up red outy and I was like you just catfish right I thought you were like but I said you know what baby I want to buy your white g-wagon and you like those are the things I'm able to do now because I don't have fear I just I just I have faith I just step I move if something feels right something feels aligned if I feel like something is a good idea and it's gonna benefit me I don't sit and wait and ponder on it and say let me think about it for a week or two weeks because by that point I'm definitely not gonna do it right so it's like if I have you know it's like it's if if God's giving you spark if the universe whatever's giving you this internal spark or voice do it act on it just do it you know what I mean just take action and so meeting my life the reason I've been successful is because I've taken action that's it if doors have opened I've walked through them like not everything's a scam yeah like you know what I mean not everything there's a lot of scams out there I've been scammed a lot not the not everything's a scam you know what lean in once in a while lean in once in a while and and take a chance and in due diligence right dude that's why we tell we come see us come visit us come meet us let's get on the call let us educate you like if you just send me your money tonight like that's you know great we'll take care of you you know but that's not smart that's not it's not smart yet but we have and again we want to we want to build a relationship with you because like it's it's it's this this opportunity is really like in today's age you anybody can start a business anywhere whether you're in your bedroom you can do it you know look at me anybody can start through e-commerce store today and never worry if they figured out they never work another day in a life never I want to do a couple rapid-fire closes up before I pivot where should people go check you out all the websites all the social where do you want to send people yeah credit dash wipe.com yeah credit dash wipe.com and it's easy e-com.com it's easy letter easy e-com with two m's e-c-o-m-m.com and on on Instagram as well that's probably the best way to get in touch with me which is zik.pyk and those are the best I mean Instagram's definitely the best way to get in touch with me I can leave my you know we can leave all that information and yeah if you mean if you reach out you know we'll help you you know in any way shape form or fashion that we can um and that's just what we want like we just want people to win you know and honestly like that's that's why we have good relationships that's why clients keep bringing out your mask and it is hell about it I know I don't know I think it translates through the camera but I can save room your fast and it's out it's very good okay let's do a couple rapid-fire closes that um what keeps you up at night now well keeps me up at night yes sir as in as in like what is the thing in your life and your business is stressing the fuck out that you don't know how to deal with I think this is something that I've dealt with all the time as an entrepreneur's because I I feel like I have to do everything in one day right I can say I can't do it tomorrow yeah so it's like for me understanding that I can do it tomorrow and if tomorrow doesn't come I don't have to do it you know what I mean like yeah so you know but I always like look at it like that like you know don't you know so for me right now my my biggest stress is like my anxiety we're getting this new place together yeah you know anxious for higher new employees what are they just what are they just suck what if they're really good you know like all these different things well you want the best you want the best where it's like I have to check myself look I check yourself how do you send yourself one I mean I meditate like I said I'm super spiritual I'm in tune with with with God and in my faith and that's huge for me in just terms of making conscious decisions with what I do and anything you know I put that first and then you know ultimately just try to continue to you know put myself in positions to to really you know be a light for somebody else you know yeah no I appreciate what's the biggest challenge you've had in your life one thing has been many like the one thing I mean I'll be honest like losing my dad was but was was was was was was rough and that one was like probably the one that hit me the most and you know I still I'm still dealing with it right now you know and yeah it's super fresh and so it's like that's definitely been the hardest thing but besides that I would say it's just like being so low to where I felt like there was no way out and feeling like my life was over what did you learn from that I learned it's not you know I learned no matter how rough life gets no matter how tall and that's why I was able to hang I mean I'm not perfect but I'm able to handle losing my dad right because I know one my dad's in heaven right now I know that he's watching over us and I know that he would be super proud of me you know so for me to continue to to move forward is about just you know handling things right when I've learned that through being in the darkest times in the past where you know I continued to to move I didn't give up I didn't quit I didn't put my finger on the sugar and pull it you know what I mean and for that I'm still here and I have all of this that I never imagined I would ever have I wanted it but then when you start to get it you're like wow you know like it really is incredible you know and so I'm super grateful my life you know I'm blessed I have an amazing daughter my wife is gorgeous I have businesses we're making money our clients are happy you know and all of this is like super it's just it's it's remaining grateful and in understanding like days days are still gonna suck like I still have sucky days and still have tough days but it's those dark moments that I realized like you know it the fuck up oh keep going you know you tie out your lane around like those are the days that you have to get out the days that you don't want to the most of the days that you have to do it there's been many people in your life that have impacted you one person what did they teach you how did they impact you hmm I would say my dad my dad for sure 100% and for that for it for him it was just being present being present and it's so easy for us to miss so many amazing memories and amazing moments in life because we're so distracted by everything that's going on around social media you know tick to all this crazy shit you know we just live in such a high like there's so much stimulation yeah and being present like the one thing that my dad did for us was he was present like he was there he was present and when he was there he wasn't on his phone he wasn't scrolling through Instagram like he was present you know what I mean he was with us until like that's super important like a lot of people miss a lot of great relationships and a lot of great opportunities in life because they're not present you know they're concerned they're consumed what keeps you up at night like just be present be in the present moment you know and so that's like the greatest gift that he's giving me I practice it every day now and I'm like I'm far from being good at it but I know that it's something that truly gave him peace right even though he had all the money and all the big but he had everything yeah he wasn't on his phone when when he was at dinner and in like in in in in situation that he was just present so good yeah um a book or podcast or something that's impacted your life um probably thinking girl rich was was one of the books I mean I'm not a big reader I'll be honest I hate I don't say I hate reading I'm much more of an audio book guy I can't sit like I'm like yeah so I like listen to him while I'm working out um that's been good you know I I listen to a lot of different podcasts it's just you know more for me it's like I like I said you know I'm very tuned to my faith you know I get a lot of of answers from that one thing to tell your 20 year old self start like start you know like I thought I had to be an adult like I thought I had to like grow up right to start my businesses and start making money and it's not like there's such an opportunity right now for you to start whatever it is you want to start whether you're still in high school or middle school you know kids right here getting it right now and a lot of people don't understand that and so for 20 years old it's like look if you're miserable where you're at you're miserable in your job and you're miserable with everything else that that's going on stop quit you know what I mean keep keep going yeah you know yeah no and last question what does success mean to you success to me I mean this is this is this is where it was like for a while success was was was all about like having the money the cars you know all of that right and for me now it's not it's like being a great husband great father and ultimately like leaving a legacy for my family taking care of my mom right she's going through right now taking care of her taking care of my brother my sister like for me it's just about leaving an impact on this life that like my dad left right the same impact he left and I'm so far from it but wanting to leave a greater impact than I ever felt like football could ever imagine you know like football is like what you know it's only you know it I'm destined for more I'm designed for more than that you know and so now it's just about being able to not just you know help people make money and fix their credit but hopefully along the way form a relationship with them we're having an opportunity to share something with them because you know I get I get joy from that I get peace from that I don't need that like I get healing from that too you know I get healing from sharing my story I get healing from talking to somebody else I get healing from listening to somebody else because it reminds me you know like I'm very easy to you know think the world's good and go make a bad decision because now it's back because things are good like go get it's so cool go you know go get loose you know go do this or that and it's like not like I'm a husband I'm a father you know I want to be that when I'm not here anymore you know I want to be known for that I want to be known for to do that you know fucked up and went to jail you know like and so for me you know every day I wake up it's like I want to be great on my legacy to be greater when I leave here you know for my kids my future son daughter that's not even born yet you know it's like that's what I want to leave