Everything that you have heard about how to do life, we have finally an example, a healthy example, and not a perfect example because, you know, you guys talked about some real stuff with so much more to uncover throughout the rest of this, that you too have a way so that you don't have to do it alone. So that's what Thriving 25 is about. It's a challenge for the entire month. Now here's the cool part.
You get to do it behind E's guidance so that he can align you with God. Right. It's it's it's essentially biblical principles.
You don't have to worry about like, man, I know this the worldly, but what? No, it's coming from a guy who, you know, has been grounded in the world is going to essentially lay out that system for you in that regard. And essentially for people who don't want to be on camera, you ain't even got to be on camera. You get you know what I'm saying? Just plug in, let the kiddos hear it in the morning, however you do it.
And for an entire month. Yeah. How much? Oh, yeah. I forgot to tell you.
Free. Say it one more time for the people in the back. Yeah, yeah. No, absolutely free, man.
You can plug in with us literally for an entire 30 days for free. Where do they go? Thrive. to success podcast what's going on world welcome to another edition of the secret to success podcast i'm your host cj joined as always by the bayesian sensation mr carl wesley phillips what's going on y'all what it do oh man i got douglas in the building clueless clueless let me tell you something i'm clueless hoodies is getting better and better every time bro i love it man and then uh we have Two special guests.
I would like to say that, you know, this is family, but I would like to say that these... It took you two people to replace what I was doing. I don't know if that's a compliment or not. I don't know. You got one of them.
I don't know. 60 seconds. All right.
Oh, yeah. Hey, welcome to the pod. Count him. Count him. Count him.
Count him. Don't take him long. He let me go and hired two to fill my spot.
But we have Moose, as y'all know, been on the pod quite a few times, my brother Mustafa. Did we have a baby when you were on the pod last time? Or was it right there? It was right before.
It was right before. Yeah, well, congratulations. Thank you, man. New baby. And, you know, the younger member of our team, the youngest.
He don't act like it. Is he the youngest youngest? He don't act like it. He has to be. For sure.
Yeah, absolutely. Him and Jada. Jada might be a, I don't know, she may be older. I don't know.
Yeah, also definitely replacing Marl is the most in shape. we got white mold white mold in your building white t-shirt and everything you know what I'm saying shout out to Maul man who is uh will be joining us soon on a future pod man his father shout out to Papa King has surgery he's doing better so keep him in your thoughts and prayers as we go but um yeah he'll be back with us soon so uh man uh we had snow in atlanta that was dope you know it was you know i wasn't there i didn't know i'm gonna be real i never really like i'm so michigan to the heart like even though i've lived in atlanta for 12 years something like that i still call this home like legit i'll talk to candace and be like all right should we go home this weekend and like in atlanta i'll be talking about and she feels the same way and so i never really thought about like having kids who weren't like michigan born and raised and so my kids are like obsessed with the snow and it's like such a different experience because i'm like man we were sick of the snow and we were playing and be like ah my kids dog when i tell you they loaded i'm talking about sweet he was like that snowball fight sledding uh we got the whole joint done let it snow Yeah, it was pretty crazy, man. But we were supposed to have our Next Level Speakers Conference. And let me shout out to my team real quick. And we did have it.
Oh, yeah, absolutely. We were supposed to have it in person. And let me shout out to the team. It was crazy, man.
Friday came up. We knew the weather was going to be crazy. I was talking to Moose about it.
And, you know, all the ideas are flying. Should we postpone it? Should we have it next week? Should we, you know, just do Sunday?
Should we do virtual Saturday? And in-person Sunday, people calling, yo, my flight's canceled. The Atlanta weather was so crazy.
And we ended up. you know, making the call to do virtual, right? And let me tell you something.
The team pulled off, and y'all saw it online, one of the craziest virtual experiences that I have ever seen in my life. I'm talking about the transitions, the music, the audio, the video, the timeliness of it. It hit probably better than it would have in person. And the response that we've been getting back, man, has just been insane. So, yeah.
Yeah, no, I want to shout out to the whole team and everybody here. Adam used the word earlier, the quick pivot. You know, I was just like, yo, it deserves an encore. Yeah.
I'm talking about not just virtual, but how fast they had to make the adjustment. For sure. And the way they did it and the attitude that they had.
Yeah. Because that's the thing a lot of times people don't realize. That's a currency, too. Yep.
You know what I'm saying? Oh, for sure. It's like sometimes when you don't have money, but you have a.
good spirit you have a positive spirit it can aid to it it's like okay yeah we pivot but people upset the energy is low like i could throw it off but everybody was just like okay once we found out like you know we're gonna hit like hey yeah yeah we're not gonna be able to do it yeah everybody was like let's make the adjustment and do what we got to do so no like no resistance it was yeah yeah no we had a phenomenal phenomenal time um we do have uh our guests on the pod and i did want to ask them Moose just hit a year, I believe, just over a year now as the president and COO. Yeah, of the company. You know, so I wanted to ask him about that first year. And then also, Brandon, as he's right here, man, these days in terms of the day-to-day, I would say. It's been two years?
Yeah. More than that. Yeah, more than that.
While Tim was there, but he's on the solo solo. Yeah. So I want to get.
let's just see let's you know let's have an open honest conversation about how how it's been because the thing i love about our company and our organization is we all like this is organic like you know b and mo started off as supporters right and then just kind of you know worked their way into this role i'd never forget moose asking me if i believed in him you know what i'm saying moose came up to me at p7d was like a comic elephant oh Wolf was like, excuse me, sir. I knew him. Do you think that I have what it takes? Young man, put my hand on his shoulder.
I said, young man, you have greatness inside you. And who would have known? You know what I'm saying?
Ten years later, he's the captain of the ship. The animated karate kid. Yeah, exactly.
So how has the first year been? Yeah, and keep it 1,000. Let's talk about the highs and the lows and all the in-betweens. Yeah, man. I mean, I think it's been a great first year because, quite honestly, many people didn't believe that he was actually going to take his hands off the wheel.
It was like, oh, yeah, this is just yeah, it was just This is one of them pranks. It's going to fade away. He's going to come right back and just whip the keys off.
And quite frankly, he did not interfere. So that tells you why. That tells you the trust I had because why didn't you take my hands off all these years? I could do it, but it wasn't the environment to do it.
No, understood, man. Understood. So I think that was a big wake-up call for everybody.
Like, whoa, we're going into a new season. And so that part was exciting. But also there's a lot of responsibility that came with it, man.
I don't think a lot of people realize, oh, everyone wants this position of leadership. But boy, do you got responsibilities that come with that. A lot of moving pieces. Yeah, there's no one that you know that you rely on when stuff kind of go left.
It's you. You got to answer the call. You got to make the call, all of that.
So I think that was a big piece of it that I realized like, okay, this is a real deal. So phenomenal year. I think we crushed it on so many levels.
We simplified our operation. We cleaned up a ton. So we're really moving So that means When you cleaned You did the cleaning I just want to make sure You know what I'm saying I'm still Even though I let my hands go I'm still taking the hands off I'm getting some of the cleaning I'm like I don't got nothing to do With the cleaning Right He called it He called it So I mean You know Let us in the right direction And I think we're making Some great strides So looking forward to 25 I think we'll give the people Some phenomenal products And experiences Oh yeah Some phenomenal products Moose got some tech stuff That he bringing to the table Yeah That's going to revolutionize the game. I can't talk about it just yet.
Well, that's good because I was going to ask a question we haven't talked about. What are we doing? But yeah, no, Brandon, come on, talk to us, man.
What's it like being the hip-hop preacher's right hand day to day? Fast-paced. Yes. Fast-paced.
It was a good experience for me, though, just, I mean, because I started five years ago, right? I didn't become the right hand for, I guess, about two years ago. I'm sorry. I got this one. Hey, take your hands off the media too.
All right. Moose, take your hands off the media. There's a reason why I don't take my hands off.
Moose is making me look good. I can't do it. But no, I was just saying like, this was never an industry that I wanted to get into.
Like this happened so organically. I found ET on YouTube and then I did a $250 coaching session when I was in college. And he invited me to Sophia's Pancakes at five o'clock in the morning. Got to take them there.
That's the date to see if it's the real deal. You know, that's the real story. The guru story.
Meet me at the beach at 3 a.m. Brandon did it. Meet me at Sophia's. Sophia's. Yeah.
So it was never an industry that I wanted to get into. So seeing it from the inside out at the highest level that you can get to in this industry has just been incredible over the last five years. And now you start speaking and doing your thing, coaching too. You got, you know, kind of bit by the bug, you know what I'm saying, as we like to call it. How has it been from that side of it, just seeing?
What you thought of him watching on YouTube and stuff like that and being inside the operation. What's been like one of the most crazier parts about that? He's the same person because especially with how many people we meet in the industry with all the different events that we do.
You meet a lot of personalities that are there for like what you talked about this weekend. They're there for the stage. They're there for the followers of the people. But he's the same way on the phone at five o'clock in the morning as he is on stage.
I didn't know if I expected that as a college kid who just happened to find him on the Internet. Yeah. Yeah, and Brandon did go to Michigan.
We try not to hold that against him around here. Yeah, you know what I'm saying? Hey, but if you ever want to go look up B, one of the most incredible things, I think he might be in the Guinness Book of World Records or something. He did a backflip while sitting on his butt.
I want you to know, listen, especially for my over 40s. I want you to picture sitting on your butt with your legs straight out in front of you and literally. Doing a backflip from off your butt.
You didn't use your hands either, right? No, no hands. No hands.
Literally. What is that called? Velocity force. What is it called?
No, I'm not. It sounds good. Yeah. It sounds good.
That's it. Yeah, you felt me. I knew exactly where he was going. I saw him doing it as you saw it.
I saw the force. I saw the Velocity Force as he was coming up. Absolutely.
Yeah, yeah. Hey, literally, I'm serious. It's one of the most incredible things I've ever seen in my life. No, you still do it.
Yeah. Wow. Yeah, like two weeks ago.
Wow. Wow. So I just want to ask a quick question. Yeah, go ahead. What's the difference between...
What you thought about that role? What was maybe a revelation? Like, man, I wasn't expecting that.
Good or bad? Like, I wasn't expecting that. Like, how much you really have to push people.
You know, I thought that there was an automatic, like, respect that comes with the title. That you're just like, oh, you're going to show up and you're just going to. And it's like, oh, that's a walk in the park.
It's easy being in that role. And then you realize, no, you. you you know and we have an incredible team that's not even to say that you know we have any issues in that regard but i'm just saying that for where we're going and i remember i'm telling you week one i i the thing for me is of course as the air traffic control december i've had my 2024 planned out you know like mid-october yeah yeah and then december 26th I remember you two calling like, oh, so we're thinking she's going to call. I'm like, wow. Take that whole plan, strip it away.
You know, just and I'm like, we got to start over from scratch. And so walking in, he sent me something. I haven't got to pull up the text message. He sent me, you know, the paper scratch.
Oh, yeah. You know what I'm saying? Come on. A couple numbers on it. Man, I missed those.
A couple numbers on it. And I was like, wow, OK, this is our first target. You know, we have to get X amount of people to do this, this, this and that.
And then, of course. all the pieces that go into it, you know, you got to follow up with people because there's an expectation that they may think, okay, this is what it is. Yeah.
But yeah, you, you get a bigger goal. So yeah, I would say definitely how much you got to push people and stay on top of them and follow up. And you know, how did that change you? Was it because you didn't think that? Like, so what was that?
Was that like, uh, like, Ooh, well, not naturally. I'm not someone who likes to bother. Okay. You know what I'm saying?
So like even Carl, you, I'm like, I don't want to. I don't want to, you know what I'm saying? Like, it's all good. Carl likes to bother. Yeah.
So Carl can understand that. Carl is a bother. So I'm thinking. Yeah, so you got to just, I just had to like, you know, get over that.
Like, no, you got to communicate. And honestly, that was probably the big piece too. It's like, oh, you, you, this is real communication. And over communicate, not just communicate.
Yeah. Like that idea of, oh, you know, meetings is overrated. It's like, well, how else are we going to communicate?
We're a virtual company. Right. Yeah.
You got to meet. You got to meet and communicate. So that was a big part of it. B? Man, the biggest thing that I didn't expect was the leverage that you guys have from the brand that you built over the past 20-something years.
I probably shouldn't say this. The first month that I was working as your agent, and we got an email come in. It was a gig for $100,000.
And they put in the thing, what's your budget? They put $100,000. And for whatever reason, I don't know if I was at an event or what was going on, I couldn't call them. And so I just emailed them back. hey, that works.
Like a hundred's great. What's the best name and email for the contract and invoice. And within five minutes, they send it back.
We close a six figure deal without speaking to a human over email. And I was, I stepped back and I thought about that because at first I always thought that being somebody's agent was going to be about sales, like Wolf of Wall Street style, right? Like I got to get on the phone and then we got to go through this whole process. I got to convince you.
And that taught me that, yeah, sure. Sales is a thing in any company, but what you guys have built is. a level of trust and credibility where they already know that the product is phenomenal. They already trust you. And so it made it so much easier on me. I didn't realize it was going to be that impactful.
What's the, what would you say is the like percentage, like 50, 50 sale versus. They already 80. It's already 80 percent is already done. That's good. We still get on the phone, like walk them through the process. I don't know, but I'm not on that process.
Yeah, I worked this ticket to that point with 80, 20. It used to be 28. I don't know what it was. I could have been at zero. I don't know.
We just know what the reality is now. And that's real, though, because I had somebody say to me. What would it take for me to get your, you know, like you can't do a gig. What would it take? You know, and I'm being real.
I don't know. I didn't know how to answer that. And I went to work on it. Like I literally went, I really start calling our people.
Yeah. It was like, Hey, I got this scenario here. Like scenario.
I need your help. Yeah. What is it?
I was like, yo, so I can't do it. They want like, cause I want to be able to call them and be honest about it. Yeah.
Yeah. You know what I'm saying? And it was that thing of. Oh, no, no, they good.
Boom, boom, boom. But they haven't built a brand. Tell them they need to build a brand. Meaning, we know what you do, but we don't know who you are.
And I was like, oh, that's deep. And so, one, I want to get into a conversation today about team. You know what I mean?
And, like, you know, this concept that we're going to be teaching on the challenge, right? Because, you know, we always hear, like, yeah, you can't do business with family. You know, like, that.
Business and family do not mix. Friends and business do not mix. And obviously, I think he and I probably have been the greatest example of defying that stereotype in terms of our relationship, and now we're hitting this 20-year mark. And man, I was just thinking, I'm a 90s, 2000 hip-hop baby, but I was on the plane, and I don't know if you saw Jim Jones and Cam'ron beefing now. And I'm just like, man, like, I grew up loving Dipset.
You know what I'm saying? Like, Dipset was dope to me, and now they fighting about, like, I started the pink, you know, furs, and I was the one who came up with the lingo, and you not even from Harlem. And, again, I'm not picking them or, you know, picking on them or nothing like that. But, obviously, Cam and Mase was separated for a while.
Now they back. But it's like when you look at the great duos of all times, most of them broke up, Shaq and Kobe. you know, Damon Hove and all of these things.
And as we talk about, you know, business and friends, I think that's why people say that, right? Like, eventually it's going to combust, right? And so with us and our relationship, having this 20 years and God willing, another 20 years, you know, I think that when you're starting a small business, yo, it's hard not to do business with friends and family, right? Like, let's be honest. That's who closest to you.
I'm just saying. So the reason that... Carl is not only a friend and in business with us, it's because Carl was a friend and he was available when we had no money.
And I was available when he didn't have any money. So who's going to work with you like that besides a family or friend? So it's almost like and so I want you guys to jump in on this.
But like, I want to help people who want to build a team because no man is an island. You're not going to be able to do it yourself. You are going to need someone.
And unless you got like crazy investors and startup capital where you can be like, all right, here's. A $75,000 salary tomorrow. Here's what you do. Here's where you start. You're going to look around and go, well, my brother knows how to do some legal stuff because he took a, you know what I mean?
And then guess what? That grows into what eventually becomes a company. I don't know that we actually, like, in the first 10 years, he formally hired anybody. I'm serious. It was like, oh, like, we're digging.
Somebody just came like, yo, that's my homie. Get a shovel. And then they got and then it's like, OK, cool. Now, that also led us with a lot of people, you know, but at the same time, that's who's available. Right.
And so I want to go most against this stereotype of you can't do business with family. You can't do business with friends and talk to people who are either starting their entrepreneurial journey or in the middle of it and aren't sure how to work with those personality dynamics. And how do we actually blend that together to make that a beautiful picture? I don't think you can, but I'm going to, yeah, I'm going to.
Organize. Yeah. You can't. All right.
Go for it, Moose. Go for it. Go for it, Moose.
Okay. Yeah. Okay. Well, I'm, yeah.
Go ahead. So I heard Magic just did a big thing that went viral. It's like you can't, you know what I'm saying? If you listen to it off the cuff.
Magic Johnson? Yeah, Magic Johnson. He just did this big. Oh, it went viral. What was it?
You can't, don't, like, almost like, to your point. Okay, yeah, yeah. Like, you can't hire, like, so if you listen to it, just listen to it, you hear you can't hire family.
That's what you would hear if you don't have a keen ear. And you're not. an owner listening to a phenomenal owner. Like Magic is, you know, Magic is a billionaire.
He's killing the game. So it's like I've been listening to him for a few years now on a lot of stuff he was saying. But what I heard Magic say. Yeah, no question.
What I heard him say was you can't hire because they're family or because they're your friends. That's what I heard. You can't hire somebody because they're your family. What I heard Magic say was. You have to hire people who are qualified and are experts.
So you get a person. Yeah, but again, and I want to challenge that thought, though, because I wasn't qualified or an expert to work with you. Yeah, but I wasn't.
That's what I like. You were. We didn't know that you were, which is why you stayed and other people didn't. Correct.
But I think it's such a deflating point to say, well, they're not qualified and they ain't this and they ain't that, so I can't. So. Okay, let me go get my cousin who already making $100,000, who's the only family member who is qualified. But I do believe when I look at you versus everybody else, you had the capacity. I had the character.
And the willingness to be. And I think what happens sometimes when you give family to his point, it's like I could just do whatever I want to do when I want to do it. You feel what I'm saying? Like I don't got to come to work because I'm family on time. Or I don't have to be responsible because I'm family.
And I think for you, you were crazy because we weren't there, but you were responsible. You feel me? You weren't like, we can do what we want to do when we want to do it. And I just think, to your point, if you can find family and friends or people you're close to who are also responsible to the vision and not saying it's just going to blow up on its own, I think that's the difference.
But I would much rather work with somebody whose family or friends And we can make this thing work, then work with somebody who I just got to give a check to. So I agree with you on that part. So I'm going to say, so it's, and I'm, let's go even finer distinction. What I'm hearing is they're qualified, but not necessarily they are an accountant already.
Yeah. It's no, you have the values, the character, the work ethic that we can build and grow together. I think like, that's how I would define it. Yeah, because none of us were ready to your point.
Right. Ain't nobody had nothing. I wasn't even ready for what you were talking about becoming an household name.
Absolutely not. And it's funny because as I am a household name, there's a responsibility that comes with it. So there's a responsibility that comes with somebody saying, can I take a picture with you and you late for your plane? There's a way to handle that. You on the flight and my man stopping you at first class and he going to the back, but he hollering.
It's like, you can't just sit there and act like you want to hear my man and you big time. You got to shut the whole plane down and just be like. You know, so I'm not saying I disagree, but I'm saying I get what Magic was saying in terms of that there has to be more than just family and friends.
There's another layer to it. And I think you had that that layer. It's just the conversation happens too late. That's that's the issue.
Like, I've always said that you are going to set yourself up for disappointment if you're not communicating expectations ahead of time. And so because we're family and I'm hearing like. when you said the thing about magic, I'm hearing fit versus favor.
So it's like, oh, we're family, so you're doing me a favor, I'm doing you a favor. No, I'm going to select based on fit, like proper fit. But aside from that, whether it's a favor or a fit, because you could get an expert, but if you're not communicating expectations, the standard, and really laying out what you want, how you want to function, building them inside a division, because I think that's something that you've naturally always done. He's allowed.
people to see themselves inside of the vision. So it's not like, oh, just come build the ET plane. It's like, oh, come take a look at how Carl's plane is actually the ET plane. And so you're like, oh, bet.
So building your plane is my plane. When he first got the house in Cali, I thought that was my house. I don't know how that happened. I don't know why you haven't been there yet. He's been there a few times.
I felt like that was my house too. And left this room like he felt like it was ours. I really did. I'm not even kidding. I'm like, whoa, I got to come back.
That's not healthy. But I just think that's the biggest mistake people make is that they don't know how to communicate. They don't know how to sit down and say, all right, let's draw the line of what is...
family and what is business. So when I make that switch on you, I don't catch you off guard, then you're emotional and hurt. And so naturally, you know what, I'm just going to do it on my own.
Well, it's going to take, heck, three, four, five times as long to do it on your own, because you didn't develop a simple soft skill that is communication, you know, learning how to fight. I love that one of the marriage jokes I got was like, oh, learn how to fight. Oh, that's good. That's a good word.
But it's the same thing in business or when you're trying to develop people, it's just come together. And have those conversations so that you grow together. And you just don't think to have them.
Yeah, absolutely. Because I'm going to be honest with you. There are people who have held me to the fire because we didn't have a certain conversation that I've never had to have with him.
So there's a level of responsibility. There's a level of a responsibility you have to have that I assume that everybody has. So there are things that people will say to me.
You ain't tell me that I ain't sell him that. Right. We never had that. Like we never had.
The only conversation we really ever had was don't let money. That was the only covenant we made. Don't let money.
separated but everything else if i didn't have the conversation with him he had already pursued it on his own so like he wasn't coming to me going he is your responsibility to tell me certain things it's funny because i have somebody in the company right now that's like it's hard to have a meeting with you i'm like oh ldh have one with me every tuesday at 11 o'clock so i'm saying i understand what you're saying i'm not gonna sit here and lie and say you're wrong but i can show you ldh who every single Tuesday at 11 o'clock has a call with me. And it's because he's not overthinking it. He's picking up the phone and calling. And he's made it his responsibility that every Tuesday.
He's like, I already know he ain't about having meetings that he don't want to meet. But it's not that he won't talk to you, but he's not going to initiate. And so it's funny to me when people go, man, it's hard to meet with you.
I'm like, oh, honestly, you might need to call LDH and figure out what his secret to success is. Because I'm in Dubai and he's still hitting me. And I told him I was going to Dubai.
But for some reason, he feels that there's no way to do certain things if I'm not communicating with E. So I'm going to be responsible for carving out a time, for calling E at that time. And I'm like, oh, I get how you're intimidated.
E don't want to talk. I don't want to talk to you every Tuesday. And I'm not putting no energy off that I do want to talk to you every Tuesday.
But my man is like, I'm taking the responsibility. And I'm saying every Tuesday I meet with my man. So I agree.
But I want people to understand the reason why it's hard. Because some people make the assumption, me being, and I'm not saying I'm right. But being the oldest child, somehow for me, I'm the person that is not saying my sister is going to eat at a, I'm like, yo, if I get a plate, my mom's not here, my dad's not here.
It's my responsibility. So then I go through life with this filter. that you've got to be responsible and everybody might not have been the first child or experienced the world like i experienced it or i don't know how he did as the middle child i still it's still to me it's like whoa that's different because most middle children have a different experience in life he he acts like and i'm not saying this as a diss to anybody but he he acts as if he's the oldest and it don't mean that nick don't act like that i don't know but he just for some reason always goes into a room and goes How can I boom, boom, boom.
Other people go in the room and ask how they support. So I think what makes us is I'm the oldest I'm used to. He rolls like that. So I don't have that. So I'm just saying to people like you got to figure out the why you don't communicate.
And then if you can fix it, you need to. But it's harder to communicate with family and friends in a way that because it's so much assumed that when you are a stranger, we don't assume nothing. I assume you don't know because I don't know you. and you assume and so we talk more sometimes with family that gets kind of and friends it gets kind of you know yeah so i want to get back to what moose said again because we teaching and shout out to everybody who's already in the challenge and those of you who need to be joining us on the challenge you need to be in here because we're building um you talked about fit verse favor and i think that's a dope way to look at it right um my problem is and again and everything we talk about here y'all know i don't want to do theory like i want to break it down to practicality here's the problem with The fit moves. Everybody's a fit at the start.
You know? Everybody's ready to run through a wall. Oh, let's do it.
They're excited. You know, they come in. They got ideas.
The camaraderie's good. The energy's good. It's crazy to me. Like I said, you look at most of the duos that we talked about that broke up.
They were the tightest when they were the brokest. Right. Before things, like, before the success actually came.
Yeah. Right? And the success.
and the money came and then they fell out but i think everybody starts with that energy of like yo i got this moose is in the process of leading out an incredible venture right everybody comes like yo this is it's great and then as soon as they start to feel aggrieved or as soon as they start to feel slighted or their position may not be and then that's where it starts to come so as we look at fit versus favor and working with specifically family and friends what should we be looking at for a fit that's a true fit and not something anybody can put on a face for me. No, no, I'm just saying, I don't even know if I shoot it. We can answer that up front.
No, I'm just saying, we've had people who came in, they're all about, die for y'all. What? My check late?
I'm out. You know what I'm saying? Conditional death.
Literal death. I'm just saying. What'd you guys do? I fired him.
No. No, I'm saying literally, what did y'all do? You know what I'm saying? Because I'm sure it wasn't always hot from the start.
I think for me and E, don't get me wrong, I always tell E there is a like definite like spiritual anointing on our relationship from the jump one in that he's 12 years older than me everybody thinks like oh see just homeboy just working behind the scenes stuff like that like it was always easier for me to play little brother because i was the little brother i don't know if another 42 year old me and him got together at 22 and i'm like yo you sweeter than me i'm just gonna set back i just don't think you I'm just telling you, he could be the same human, just my age. The way I was wired at that age in terms of just coming off football and stuff like that would have been like, now we both might go out together, but I'm not just going to be rolling, playing Scottie Pippen to you. So there wasn't, like I said, there was an element to that for us that I think was wired in my brain from the jump. He is the guy.
And that was okay with me because he was older than me and he had experience more and he had all of this. But I don't think that was enough to hold me as the two-man. I said it the other day when we were on the joint. I said what held me as the two-man was the character.
Like, I want everybody to understand this. Me being E's two-man to this day for 20 years has absolutely nothing to do with him speaking. Like, when I say nothing. No, no, no. He's a two-man.
Brandon's like, hold on, I thought I was a two-man. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm saying, yeah, yeah. Former.
Physically. Yeah. It has nothing to do with the speaking.
And it never has. Like, that's what draws people in, right? Yeah. But it has to be more than that.
Because if it was about the speaking, then I told you, I'm decent. Like, I think I might have just been like, okay, cool. I learned how to speak.
Now I'm going to just go off and get my own contracts, get my own brand, my own moves, and I'm going to be running my own thing over here. What kept me was the belief that I had in the belief that he had, if that makes sense. And so when you think about like when we talk about this kind of stuff and we're talking about our character and leading with that kind of stuff, people, you know, the famous line, I find my CJ and, you know, my famous line back.
You ain't no E.T. And what I mean by that is not you're not the greatest speaker in the world. I mean, you're not checking in on people like genuinely.
You don't. care about my family the way he cares about my family you don't really love my wife and kids like you know what i mean like you love them to the extent that i can do something for you you know and that's what you see with most people and i think they get that confused to your point earlier moose having a vision inside the vision he never looked at me and carl like yo y'all help me blow up and i'm gonna be no he told carl you you're gonna be living right across the street from me see you're gonna have what you want in life and so there was always this us thing and ease point I never looked at it like, oh, this is E's company. While E was the boss, for sure, I never looked at it as. For a small time frame. Yeah, no, no, no.
No, I'm still telling. You're still talking about small time frame. While E definitely was the leader, I'll say. That's a better word. That's a better word.
That's better. While E was definitely the leader, to your point, I never looked at it like, okay, now what? Like, I was always like, hey, let's go. Like.
I tell Carl all the time. That's why me and Carl, sometimes I call Carl and cuss him out. Because I'm like, I'm not sure if you got another plan for your kids eating besides this too.
So you better. And mostly his dealings with the outside world, right? And that's why when I deal with people the way I deal with them is because I'm so protective over this. You know, that's why it's a big deal to have you in and like running stuff.
You know what I'm saying? And like really making decisions and trusting you with that kind of stuff because we understood. And it took you.
years of being around and us seeing your character. We didn't know you had the skill set. There was a character set that both of you had to have in order to come into the inner circle.
So going back to the fit versus favor, I want to know, as somebody out there who's listening and like, yo, I got this great idea. I've started this. I started my LLC.
But now I need help. How do I find that fit? Yeah, and I think to your point, Moose, you really, man, bruh. Nikki, I know her as Nicole Hammond. She just became point de jour.
But she was on the call yesterday, and she was saying. That's why I was unfamiliar with that last name. Right, because she switched her name.
She just got married recently. Yeah, yeah, shout out to her. Bro, I promise y'all, she said something dope, so dope, and it was like I could tell it went over everybody's head. You know what I'm saying?
It was so simple. And she was like, add value. And you know, Kat's like, oh, add value.
Add value. And I was like, y'all didn't hear what she said. I said, I'm going to tell you why most of you will never blow up. Because, and I just, you know, got a wife that's just like, you know, Didi don't play. Like, Didi don't tell you what it is.
You're kidding. Yeah, right. And so.
So we've heard. So Didi does the layers. So it's like, okay, I'll tell you this.
And then once you learn that, then I'm going to tell you the next thing. So 2024. Didi's biggest thing was you're a narcissist. Like that was her biggest thing.
Like, yo, you're a narcissist. Like, and I was like, okay, cool. At first I was like, no, there's some other people that, you know, everybody say Trump is a narcissist. I was like, no, that can't be. But then when she broke it down, she was like, no, I don't mean what you think I mean.
Like, I don't mean you don't love people. Like, I don't mean that. I mean, when you think of something or you start something, you start with self in certain areas. So like, yeah, when it comes to this or this or that, yeah, you love people.
But it's like there are times where when I'm saying something to you, you hear how it affects you so much that you're not really here. Like you don't hear what I'm really saying. So you're trying to defend yourself.
You're trying to like, no, no, no. I'm not saying whatever. I'm saying you're a narcissist.
Like you're starting. Your starting point is you and you need to. And so I was like, that's dope.
You know what I'm saying? So I started teaching it. And so I was telling them, you don't understand what she's saying. She's not saying. add value she's saying overcome being a narcissist like overcome coming in the room and talking about what you want to talk about right overcome starting the conversation with you or you know what you want you feel i'm saying like don't do that like she literally said hey when you walk in the room ask a person how can i help you she's like yo this is crazy but as much as you know to do that still 90 of the people that come to me are coming to me with how i could blow them up and she was saying If you literally help somebody and you're serious about helping somebody, you're probably going to get more out of them by helping them than you're going to get out of asking them.
And so to your point, one of the things that you can do literally or one of the things that as a leader you could pay attention to is how much is a person really looking after you. And listen to me. I'm just being real, y'all. It's not about perfection.
I think. the majority of people are going to recognize they're narcissists. At some point, they're going to get to the point and go, oh, I see what you're doing. All I'm saying is when you get to that point and you see it's about you and how you could blow up, if you repent and go, oh, I see what I'm doing wrong. Let me get back centered to looking out for the team.
Look, I'm with Sam Cassell. You know, I'm with the Boston Celtics. I'm with Sam Cassell and me and Sam talking. And Sam said to me, I said, I've been with Sam for over 25, at least 25 years.
Jalen's 29. He was 45. Can we just give it up for the fact that he can just casually be like, I was with the Boston Celtics the other day and nobody even flinched. Yeah. We understand we was at Wright State.
Like, whoo! Wright State! He was like, where's that set? Oh, and I'm not going down. And I rocked that gear forever.
I rocked that gear forever. Shout out to Wright State. I was like, bro, we got to giggle Wright State.
He was like, Wright State? Where is that? I was like, I don't know. I got to Google it. Bro, I literally had like eight different hats.
Oh, bro. I remember the hood. He said, hey, go watch the Wright State TGIF.
If you want to see how. I don't even know what their gear was. Nike, Reebok.
We had baseball. They sent all kinds of stuff. Shout out to Wright State, man.
Baby steps. So I was talking to Sam Cassell, and because I've known him for so long, I was like, yo, be real with me, bro. I ain't here being big time.
You don't get the opportunity to be with the most winningest franchise ever. You know what I'm saying? So I was like, yo, what's the difference with being with the Celtics than the other teams you've been with?
Played for it and coached. And he was like, yo, bro, these two dudes, Brown, Tatum, he's like, neither one of them got an ego. He said, bro, I'm being real. People tell you that they coach a boy until you coach them.
He's like, everybody say they coach him. Wow. Until you start coaching them. He said, bro, these boys making this amount of money.
And it's public how much money they make. You know, he's like, they don't got no ego. A couple hundred mil. Yeah, he said, bro. Maybe 300 for Brown now, huh?
I ain't going to use the word he used, but he was like, bro, you could go on. You can say this to them and bro, they ain't going to flinch. They going to be like, give me more.
And he was like, that's why they, so. And so I just say that to say when this, how, you know, moves, cause you don't know, but what you do is everybody get a shot. And when you see people start to be about self and then you check it and they continue to be about self, it's like, okay, you got to go. and not on something we want you to go. There are people that, I promise you, we never wanted to leave.
Yeah, yeah. But what's happening is because you're about self. You're the person that if we get into war, you're going to take me or you're going to take Moose or you're going to take C or you're going to take Avery or you're going to take Jordan and you're going to let them get shot and killed. You feel what I'm saying?
Yeah. When the people start shooting, you're going to take them and use them as a shield. And as the shepherd, I can't let you take family and use them as a shield because you're so worried about you and yourself and your image that you're willing to kill somebody else to survive. So it's just like one of the things I know is like, yo, everybody going to be tested. Yeah.
And so when we get to that part, how are you going to respond to, yo, I was, I'm human. It gets, you know, when you feel desperate, when you feel like you in a corner, if you're immature, yeah, you try to protect yourself. But once you get mature and you realize really the only way to protect myself is to protect the squad, to protect the team.
For me, that's one way of knowing, okay, yeah, this person is qualified to go to the. To the ends of it. So to C's point though, E, you actually, and I like where you took it, like from a leadership perspective, I'm literally learning from you now because what he's saying is that I don't know from the beginning. I don't. And I'm willing to go either which way, but there are some checkpoints that give me hints, you know what I'm saying?
As to where it could go. And if based on your response to this checkpoint, now I'm in position to make an education. Because I was thinking about your question. You don't, I don't think you ever know. Yeah.
Bro, to your point, like, bro, we all. Because you're dealing with people. You're dealing with human beings, bro. What's Josh's shout out to Hatch? He always say, business is easy, people are hard.
People are hard. You know what I'm saying? It's the people. Like, I know what to do. Yeah.
It's the people. So I want to. Did you have something you wanted to throw on that B?
No, no. Well, I'll jump in real quick because I think as a leader, you can influence the way that your people react in a situation like that based on the example that you set. So I think it's like a two stage process.
You got to have something shiny externally to attract people. I've heard you say it before on stage, like if you were making twenty dollars an hour, you love E, but you'd love him. You can't do that forever. You can't make twenty dollars an hour. I'll come for the weekend.
Yeah. Yeah. And so I remember when I first got linked up with you, the first thing that I said was it wasn't just you that I saw succeeding.
I saw you see Carl Alex like there's just this tree of so many different people. So that got me attracted in the beginning. But when I became more ride or die was when we were at Oakwood that one time. And I don't know if you remember it. Those parents came up to you and they found their kid's suicide letter and you pulled up.
There's hundreds of people in the hallway, everybody trying to get a picture autograph. You pulled them into a utility closet with like mops and brooms on the wall. And you sat there and prayed with them, just the four of us. And you gave them your personal cell number after that.
And I was like, oh, it's the character that made you made me a better person in that moment. So that made me want to stick around no matter what. So that leadership changes the way that. We even react in a situation where you're trying.
I just think we're in such a dog-eat-dog world, you know, that people got their guards up and they come in with these, you know, like I got to get mine. And so, Carl, maybe you could speak to it from the other side of just being like the person who, if you're not careful, can get used and feel like you're not getting the value. You know what I'm saying? Like I know we've talked about that and you've had those moments where you feel like, okay, I'm going to come in and be the ultimate team player and then... Also finding the gap between that and like, okay, how do I get mine in this offense?
It's almost like you come on a team and you're like, yo, I'm down to do whatever. And then you're like, okay, but am I going to shoot ever? You know what I mean? Am I going to get my chance? You know what I'm saying?
Yeah, bro. And when I tell you this has been, bro, you talk about growth and discomfort. I'm just being honest, y'all. The last 10 years, see, growth and discomfort, I would say. And it's.
Number one, coming in with all green, you know, innocence, like, bro, I'm going to do whatever and meaning it with all my heart. I'm going to do whatever like I'm down. But there's a part of that that there's like, again, and in our early days, we didn't talk about anything.
You know what I'm saying? So just truthfully, I had no expectation. Even household name didn't mean anything the way it meant for you. Household name for me didn't mean anything was like we don't keep grinding. I'm.
blue collar i'm from everybody household right everybody household right so i'm just saying the understanding even in that communication meant something different right so as i'm going through this it's cool i'm grinding i'm working but then there's a process of elevation that happened that i never processed i only saw us grinding and working and from from when we talk about comparison we talked about this with adam a while back But we talked about comparison. Now I'm watching y'all grow and things happening, but yet I'm still here. And let me tell y'all, humanity is humanity. Now I'm looking at y'all like, y'all ain't looking out for me.
What's happening? Hey, the funniest thing, I don't remember if it was Moose or somebody. Like Carl been on the pod for years, the whole nine. And it was a few years back.
But anyway, like, you know, after the conference or something, it might be like me, Ian, Maul went and ate somewhere. He look up, Carl ain't nowhere to be found. And I think he might have been hanging with, I think it was Nick Rich or somebody. And Nick was like, yo, I had to ask Carl, yo, why the hell are you eating dinner with us? I was like, what?
And he was like, and I don't know, again, to your point of how you saw it, it wasn't that you wasn't invited. Of course, the table is yours. You were with us every day, but you didn't see yourself.
And I'm saying, and again, and that's what I'm saying. Now I'm at the point where I said growth and discomfort. Like, oh, Carl, you created that.
It wasn't them that y'all did. I created that because now I'm looking at the thing that, you know, that again, and I'm putting my heart into, and it's like, wait a minute. Like.
They ain't looking out for me. Again, I'm a human, y'all. So I'm seeing it from my perspective. Like, yo, he traveling.
He doing his thing. Seek right there. And it's going.
And it's like, where's Carl? Theoretically, he see what with me. Not like that. But I'm just saying.
We have a relationship. No, no, no, no. Hear what I'm saying.
I'm seeing it through my filter. I wish he would have been on the road. I wish he would have been on the road. It wasn't as glamorous as it looks, bro.
But I'm just saying, I want people to understand, for real, when you start seeing it through your filter, bro, you see it make up whatever you want. It's not our filter anymore. And I'm just saying, humanity is real.
So what happens is, being an introvert naturally, you got to bring all the pieces into it. I'm not communicating moves. I'm not saying, hey, fellas, not trying to be funny, but I feel a little left out. Like, what's...
Again, just that. And you guys got to understand, to your point, Carl, when we started, we were together every day. Every single day. The three of us were together every day. Literally.
All day. Every day. For a year.
And I thought we were still together because we lived next door to each other. No, no. And we was hanging out. Y'all was not.
That's why I used to be telling Carl, like, y'all Negroes live next door to each other. I'm in doggone Paris. Right.
And I'm just being real, though. So, again, for... And I'm... 100% honesty now.
We really trying to help people. Like, this is years of me holding this in and feeling that way. So now, watch this. I am such a victim, is the key word, right? There's nothing that I'm going to do to sabotage this.
But at the same time, I'm still looking like, where's the answer for Carl? Like, so I'm literally doing two things at once, which it ain't going to work. So I'm the easiest prayer. Both of y'all said this to me, like, yo, anybody trying to get into the circle, you the...
Like, bro, you opened the door for everybody. But it's me seeing it through my filter as well. Yo, I don't even know if this is for me no more.
Like, this is like, yo, they're doing their thing. I ain't connected. And, bro, you start thinking these thoughts. What exactly did you think I was doing? You know what was crazy?
No, I just want to know. It was cute. She was like, I was in Paris getting up, staying up in the middle of the night.
I was in hell. But, no, that part. But even then, but you got to think. Carl, let's be practical, right?
Yeah. Y'all were together because you were on the road with E when I left. When I left Michigan State and me and Candace went on the road, I saw E less than anybody, and y'all two were doing the verb stuff.
Y'all was in penthouses in Vegas. No, no, and I'll be honest. I wasn't in the mix.
I'll be honest. This is a little after that because we're still in grind mode. Nothing was happening yet.
And it's not even I can't even say that there's a thing that CJ did. Y'all relationship was always so tight. Even though I'm there again, y'all, human, like, humanity, like, man, they're so cool.
I don't know if I'm that cool. Just comparison. We're back to that again. So I'm just saying the human in me just, like, was winning at that time and not communicating.
Now, self-fulfilling prophecy. I'm not as close because they're talking all the time. So I'm going to just ease my way out.
Like, I don't want to mess the team up, see? So my way of doing that is like, yo, don't cause no chaos. Let... things keep going keep adding your value keep grinding and the christian in me is like god gonna work it out yeah and oh he will but that mean you gonna have to grow he gonna work it out so it was a process of watching that and again making mistakes over and over but um that's why i said for me it was so deep to hear you say that because now i understand from a different perspective oh that's why there was time that he could have cut me like yo carl i ain't trying to be funny there's some stuff that you're doing that like bruh like there's real moments of that you But I think you knew who I was way past all of that, even through my errors, even through the human mistakes that I'm making. He was like, oh, no, he is with us.
He's down for us. He just sees himself in a different place right now that once he fixes that, it's a wrap. So, again, y'all have heard me say this on the podcast before. I'm appreciative of your patience with me because I had to grow through that. And now I see it's like, wait a minute.
Let's deal with the fact. Yeah. And Moose, maybe you can talk about the communication styles being so different because I guess, you know, like when I be, and again, I want, make no bones about it.
Like I'm trying to help y'all out here who are in business and relationships and friends. Like Carl is family. Like this is like, we don't, we don't like, we can't separate that. Right. And so I like, again, back to the point when we started this conversation, you can't do business with family and friends.
Right. Like, so my wife might be working with them. You might be hearing this.
Like, these are going to be your first investors. These are going to be your first business partners. And my goal for you, as we have now hit this 20-year mark, is to figure out how to work.
There's not a soul on the planet that he and I would want to win in this environment more than you. I would never in my life. But, again, if we're not having those conversations, because I don't have those conversations, like I said, people would think, like, Me and Evie on the phone, he'd just be like, yo, C, man, I just love you, bro.
You know, like, you've done such a No, and I'm not being funny, but here's the thing. How many and I'm not being facetious. And I thought that's what we were doing.
No, no, no. How many times have you picked up the phone and been like, yo, C, thanks? I can probably count on one hand, and guess what?
Well, one and a half. Okay, one and a half. But look, here go the thing.
And they all probably had something to do with Jalen. oh no they didn't even had nothing to do with what's up blake they didn't have nothing to do with right business but why would you thank somebody for taking care of what's theirs all right nobody ever thanked me for uh for making trey take a bath hey thank you bro you made trey do his homework today thank you for that you wouldn't do that because you see it as yours so i always saw it as mine so i never looked for that from him so i never put that weight on but some kind of way we lost you in that you You never, you stopped thinking it was yours. And then when you stop thinking it's yours, then you start looking at us to do things to affirm what should be yours. Yeah, but that's why I said, and again, I ain't making no excuse for nobody. That's why I said, you know, it's almost like, man, how do you call it?
Like, you know, when something comes with the product, so like you might buy something that got batteries and they actually put the batteries with it. You know what I'm saying? So you still got to put the batteries in there. But some toys don't come with the battery that you got to buy.
Oh, I hate that. You know what I'm saying? Yeah.
Your mom forgot the AAA. Mom didn't get it. Now you got to wait until the next day.
You got to wait until the next day because it's closed on Christmas. You feel me? And I just say because of how I was born and when I was born, automatically the batteries came with it. I was born to an 18-year-old who was homeless.
You feel me? It was a whole bunch of Mom got to handle her business. And to some extent, I got to handle mine. And then I end up having, and listen to me, I was like the only child for about seven years. Then my sister came.
And so it was like, I was, bruh. Then you left at 16. And I left at 16, bruh. You had a good six months.
Bruh. Look, before I went to Oakwood, and probably beyond Oakwood, I had to be responsible. Bruh, that's what people be tripping on the homeless boy. Like, it's a lot of lessons in homelessness. Like you got to figure out how you going to eat.
Yeah. You feel me? Like you got to figure out how you going to brush your teeth, how you going to take a bath, where you going to brush. There's times where I couldn't even use the bathroom. It's not like I got a toilet.
So I got to even strategically think, yo, I go to my boy's crib, but how do you blow your boy's bathroom out? You know what I'm saying? Like, you can't blow the bathroom. It's part of courtesy flush. You feel me?
Oh, no, no, no, no. I wish I had that. Oh, yeah.
I'm not built like that. So I'm just saying. What does that mean?
We'll talk about it after. No, no, no. No, no. This is why Dee Dee always tell Brandon, we need two bathrooms.
Yeah. Yeah, this is why. Right? So I'm just saying, I don't even think those thoughts because my whole life has been, you got to take care of yourself. You feel me?
And so there are individuals. depending on how they're born, you know, it's like, hey, you know you can't be that forever. And this is why my son, we got into it because he said it even at the restaurant the other day. It was so crazy. He was like, yeah, my dad threw me to the wolves.
So he's talking about when I worked at the schools, they went to the schools that I worked at. So he would get into fights with kids, and he would think that it was my responsibility to bail him out because he was in. So he was literally pissed at me for years. You know what I'm saying? On some, you let them.
I was like, bro, between me and you, we should have communicated. Where I come from. That's called a Tuesday.
Bro. And a Wednesday and a Thursday. I grew up in Detroit, bro.
We went to a school where the boys in our neighborhood. Wayne. uh andre you know bro all of the all of the fellas like bro they would literally when we come home from school would grab us and like what do you what do you i forgot what they call plex suplex now uh full nelson bro they put us in the fullness and they would come and i'm talking about full blown not in our face but in our chest bro they would kill us and we all knew that they weren't trying to hurt us but they knew the dude around the block was going to do the same thing and so they were like we're prepared preparing y'all for the world so with my son he like why you let them i was like bro i didn't even know that was a problem like where i grew up that's a part of figure out how you get punched in the face and if i would have jumped in for you nobody would have ever had no respect for you so i had to let you take the blows so you could get respect on the block and you could learn how to fight you feel me and so i think see i don't know how you pulled it off i really don't as a middle child But I'm knocking everybody. Yeah, right.
We I'm just saying we came in the game like that. So I think that was another reason why we were so close is because like, bro, I literally look at some of my staff and I realize, OK, I got to do a better job. But they'll be like, I didn't know. And I was like, yo, where I grew, how I grew up.
If you don't know what's like, if you're not observant, you don't get a second chance on the block. Like my man shot me. That could be that. I know. You know, or this person was trying to steal from me.
And I didn't know. Like, I always had to have my eyes open in my environment and be whatever. So I just look at some staff members and go, well, you didn't tell me.
And I was like, yo, that's my bad because where I came from, nobody tells you. You have to figure it out on your own. It's like a nature versus, what's it called?
Nature versus nurture. Because, like, I've been big on this, and me and Doc actually talked about it on the Mastermind, the difference between standards and expectations. Right.
So most times when you get into business with friends and family, there's this expectation that I already know what you're going to do or what you're supposed to do. You're supposed to know who I am and how I there's that expectation. So check this out. It says an expectation is a belief or assumption about what might happen or what you hope others will do. Right.
It's often subjective, subjective and tied to future outcomes. Right. There's like a lot of emotions in this. It says expectations are external, flexible, influenced by emotions, circumstances, other actions. Yeah.
Like it's just a whole bunch of fluff. Like I have no idea what that means. That could be anything. I could be anything. Yeah.
Now, here's the cool thing about a standard. Right. It says a standard is a fixed, non-negotiable benchmark for behavior, performance or outcome. It is rooted in principles, values and discipline. Right.
Like and again, because it's uncomfortable, because it's uncomfortable, we avoid that. So, yeah, there is this like natural thing that some of us have. And, you know, I probably got to go back and correct my answer for what was the most difficult part of the first year. It's how I preach this idea of stepping into other people's worlds. Yeah.
I now had to do it for a lot of people. You know, I'm saying like forget the push thing, because the push thing was just a reflection of East standards. being now magnified to me or you don't say that. And I'm like, oh, shoot. Now I really got to get that from a lot of people because I can't be the only one to do it.
But how I had to step into Carl's world to get the best out of him. And we created something phenomenal for that more in 24. Right. My dynamic with you and Brandon and everybody. It was having to step into somebody else's world and rebuild a relationship.
Yeah. Yeah. It's difficult. And you know what's difficult about that? For me, what's been difficult about that, and I just had to like, my wife was like, yo, you got to grow up.
But some kind of way in my childhood, I got caught in this fair thing. I got caught up in this, like, this ain't fair. You know, and it's like, yo, of all that I do for y'all, none of y'all come in my world, but I got to come in your world. And travel and pay a million dollar tax bill.
You know what I'm saying? Like, I got to do all the compromising. 350 on the payroll. Bro, I'm just saying.
But I'm saying. I got to do all the compromising. And so I had to get to a point and my wife had to walk me through it.
Like, yo, you're doing a phenomenal work, but that it ain't fair. She's like, yo, I don't know where you got that from. Like nothing's nothing about this world is fair. But I'm telling you, I was stuck on it. Like, yo, I'm not mad at you, but I'm mad that you could talk about me, but you're not helping me. what I'm trying to do for you.
So it's like, yo, you talking about me, but you're not even helping me help you. And you don't even know what I'm going through. And you don't even care enough to ask me what I'm going through. Like, you don't understand the dynamics of my life and how...
90% of what I do, I don't even have to do. I can just speak and eat. I'm actually working and paying for people out of my speaking budget. And it's like, bro, all I got to do is speak. And I don't never got to worry about like you eat however you eat.
Like this is causing me more problems. This is more of a hassle for me. This is taking me away from my wife and my kids.
And you're asking, like you're complaining about something that I'm doing so that you can survive. And I'm not tripping on it. I'm just like. Why are we not talking?
Why are you talking in your head or why y'all talking to each other? But there's always that intimidation factor with you, right? But I'm saying, to me, that's why I was like, it ain't fair because I didn't create that. And to Brandon's point, I don't even act like that. Like, I can see if I was arrogant.
He never understands who he is. His perception of himself is literally like the dude working at Walmart. No, no, I told him that.
We had a conversation two days ago. He called me and was like, I say, yo, like. I know you like to work with the impoverished.
You know what I'm saying? You got your Mother Teresa spirit. I was like, yo, but there's some people that are higher level too that need you just as much.
And I was like, you know, and so you might want to check in on them. And he was like, bro, you talk to them. They good. And I was like, now from a business and branding, for sure, I got them.
From an interpersonal standpoint, I was like, I don't think you even understand the power that you wield with a phone call. with a text message, like unsolicited, like because of who you are, the feeling that people have, like when you do it, he sit on there, and y'all hit, you hit E on the DM IG, you got a 90% chance of getting something back. But when you sit there and take the two seconds to be like, what's up, this is ET, like people hold on to that stuff. Like, again, you can't see it, but other people see it. Like, I see it.
I know how the world. thinks of you. I know how other people look at you.
I know how much your energy and emotion and love for them and calling them and being there for them. I know how far it will go. Look at Carl. I'm laughing because you don't know this, but me and a couple of staff members have a cliche saying, the E effect.
Somebody talked to E and they called me. Bro, they own everything. They're calling me like, yo. I just talked to E and I was like, oh my God, the E effect.
Here we go. I asked a staff member blatantly. ruined some projects too ten thousand dollar bonus ten thousand dollar bonus that's nice or e say your name in the speech and it was like give me that speech all day i swear i was like 100 but but but again so for you e not being able to see the world yeah and and it's also the charm that you have right like it's the reason everybody loves you because you do move around like People still can't believe, like, yo, I saw E walk.
I thought it was E, but he was by himself walking through the airport. Couldn't have been him. I'm like, no, that was him.
It really was him. I tell people, like, no, that's him. That's him on the rental car bus.
Yeah, it is. How else am I supposed to get to my destination? Let me tell you something. They black Uber, and I'm like, bro, is that car safe? Y'all Uber everywhere y'all go, they're like $400.
Listen. The car cost me $76 for two days. Oh. And you overpaid. Brandon, same dude at 5 a.m.
No, listen. I was so mad, bro. I got my wife with me. I just want to get to the hotel.
We got the, first of all, the first shuttle left. us. So I told E, I said, man, we're just going to do what you and Diddy do, bro. We all landed on the same flight.
You know, it was a family experience. I was like, yo, this joker really got me on the transportation bus to go to the rental car spot to get a Honda Sonata to drive around Houston and tell me, in fact, like, bro, but again, it's part of the charm, but going back to what I'm saying, like, you have a power in this world that you probably, I know you understand it like when you're on stage and stuff like that, but just from a personal standpoint and a present standpoint, he was like, well, you, I was like, well, I get it every day. You know what I'm saying?
So I don't, I don't ever feel a void like, oh, but I'm like, I also get to talk to you every day, but there's individuals who haven't talked to you in four or five months who feel like they have a close relationship with you. And if you talk to them, it's in passing, but a unsolicited phone call could go a long way for their confidence. And I know that, trust me, I get it.
That's a lot of power. And I would say on a smaller level, obviously, I have some of that. And I think that's why I try not to be so visible because I don't want that responsibility.
Right. I used to tell even Carl that, like, Carl, don't be wanting things from me because I ain't got it. And I don't even know what you want.
And I don't like, like, don't want from me. No, listen. Don't want from me. Listen.
Oh, bro. Shout out to the brother I saw in the airport earlier. My man was like, yo, can we take a picture? I was like, shoot, for sure.
And by the way, I don't mind taking a picture. It makes me uncomfortable when you nervous. So now we both nervous because my man like, yo, I got to get my phone. And real quick, I had to ask my man, what's your name? He can't even remember his name.
He was like, uh, uh, uh. I was like, bruh. Now, again, I'm a triple Z-list celebrity. But if y'all watch this pod, you know what I'm saying? You probably know who I am.
But my man can't even get his stuff. And I'm like, again, that's a lot of power that comes from that. And being able to use that influence in a positive way and, you know, change people's lives with just literally a call or. So I'm like, bro, you eat.
I told you now I said, you don't even realize it. He come on stage now. And I promise you, I could go for 30 and be going crazy.
I know I'm getting bombs off. He come up there and say one thing. And it ain't even that sweet.
They falling out. Why is it not that sweet? Why is my stuff not deep? His stuff is deeper.
My stuff ain't deep. Just off the reedy like good morning. Hey, no, no, no.
You know this, bruh. Like, there'll be a scripture that he about to preach on. The Bible verse will say, but then.
He will be like, but then. Everybody will be like, oh. I'm like, he ain't saying that. It's the context in which I'm saying it. I got a PhD.
But then is saying I know how to use it. You just said, but then. But here's why, like I said, just being transparent, I had to overcome it's not fair. Because again, see, like, you need to call this person, You just calling the underdogs. Other people need it.
I'm like, bruh, it's not fair. By the way, I did say only to the extent that you had a capacity because I don't need you stressing out. So if it mean you can't talk to them, I understand. But my thing was, yo, you telling me don't be on the bus.
You telling me not to walk around. I am telling you that. But I'm saying it's not fair for me not to be me because of how you see me. Like now y'all asking me not to be myself because of how it affects you.
And so I got over it, but it was like, Didi, it's just not fair. Like, you're thinking I'm somebody. I never told you. I never walk around like I'm somebody.
Like, I don't do that. So the fact that you love the fact that I'm a celebrity, but I don't act like I'm a celebrity, that's still stuff you putting on me. And I'm like, bro, I just want to get on the bus.
I grew up in Detroit. We caught the bus, bro. Like, we not in New York. That's like telling somebody in New York, don't catch the cell.
That's how you been getting around your whole life. Oh, bro, I promise you. I'm going to give him a John Madden bus. We're going to get you a bus.
Yeah, we're going to get you a bus. People have to have one in every city because I got to say it. You got to put 60,000 pieces of luggage on it and a little handle, and you got to stand like this for 20 minutes riding to the bus. And so what he did was, I'm going to make you a household name. Yeah.
What he didn't do was us talk about the expectations. of that so he did do that for me but i'm left with the x i'm left with the responsibility for that all the time and again i'm not upset but it's just oh it's a lot i'm i'm eating and you see me a lot and it's like e i know you eating and i know you with your wife but but so it's like okay but then right and i gotta stop and i'm okay with stopping but it's like it's like if i don't do it the way you if i don't stop the way you want me to stop If I don't say what you want me to say, now I'm the worst motivational speaker in the world. Oh, yeah.
So now I have to be like, okay, Diddy, for real, I got to stop this and really lock in to what you want. I'm seeing you grab your phone, and instead of embarrassing you, I just say, yo, you want to take a picture? Because I know you want to take a picture.
So it's a whole thing. I do notice you ask that. I have to. Like he said, the nervous part will throw you off. So it's just like, hey, you got your phone on you?
Yeah. Let's take a pic. As a man, you ain't got to feel like I'm taking a pic with another man.
That's a lot, bro. I know y'all saw the pic, man, but huge shout out in that regard. I should say this publicly, man. Trey Young. My son Trey is obviously a huge Trey Young fan.
We live in Atlanta. It's the only other team I let him cheer for that's not the Pistons, the Lions, the Red Wings. Well, you raised him, man.
But he does love Trey Young. They got the same name. I bought him a jersey when he was young. And, you know, his birthday.
was the other day. And so took him to the Hawks game with a couple of his homies. And they waited afterwards. And, you know, I shot out the wheel, got it set up so that, you know, could meet the players. And they kind of told us, like, hey, they're going to come out this door, but the rest is up to you.
You know, like, they're not mandated to come take a picture or sign up or whatever. And all the players, really. I'm obviously highlighting Trey Young because that's my son Trey's favorite player.
But, man, super, super accommodating to all the kids, man. Signed balls for them. So good.
pics asked them how they were doing spent a little time with them so i definitely you hear horror stories about celebrities and athletes and dissing little kids and stuff like that i want to publicly thank trey young for you know just being incredible to the boys that's good and i didn't even use like the yo i'm et's right hand stuff because i know him and he know each other um i know you know his father and stuff like that i didn't have to be like yo what's up i'm cje because i know you don't know who i am but um You know, I just kind of let the boys do their thing, man. And all of the players, the Hawks'entire roster, let me say that, all of them signed the ball for the boys, took pictures, was super nice. Amen. So I want to say that, man, because we hear those horror stories. Yeah, man.
All right, we got a lot more to talk about, but I know we still got things to do. We got to keep it moving. I know y'all got flights to catch and things of that nature. We're going to keep going with this. Moose, tell them about the challenge.
We're going with the challenge right now. It's not too late to sign up and join E&I. The first ever challenge that we doing.
Let me tell you something. I told him. Listen, I got to get my shots up quick because let me tell you something. If you ever play with somebody who don't, now the opposite on the actual hoop court, he don't ever want to shoot.
Facts. When you play on the actual hoop court, he just want to pass and set picks. It's the greatest.
When you talk about speaking. When it comes to the mic. He put it up from half court.
Call me Brian. I'm putting up 50 attempts. I don't care how many I hit. I'm putting up 50. Hey, let me tell you something. So I do appreciate you letting me get, you know, just my few free throws in before you go.
mamba mentality. No, we had a call. I had a personal call with him. Oh, yeah. And I walked into it.
Oh, yeah. Okay, see, let's understand. This is your spot. This is your spot.
I gave him the expectations, Moose. When Moose said we was doing the challenge together, he called me and said, okay, now, by together, we don't mean 50-50. Hey, did he start the call with now number two? Listen to me, number two. Together don't mean 50-50.
It doesn't mean that you own it. You're going to be on the call. And you can contribute.
tribute but it needs to be limited so most tell them about it please yeah no man thrive in 2025 that's gonna be phenomenal i mean you know two incredible humans celebrating 20 years in business and and have broken conventional wisdom in doing so right so they they have mixed families in terms of you know bringing their families together spiritual lives you know really growing and being impacted as a result Yeah, exactly. My wife is on the weekend. I don't know.
What is my wife throughout the week? Because she worked with E2 and I don't get. Yeah. So I get that throughout the week. So I'm saying so everything that you have heard about how to do life.
Yeah. We have finally an example, a healthy example and not a perfect example, because, you know, you guys talked about some real stuff with so much more to uncover throughout the rest of this. Yeah, that. you to have a way so that you don't have to do it alone.
And so that's what Thriving 25 is about. It's a challenge for the entire month. Now, here's the cool part.
You get to do it behind E's guidance so that he can align you with God. It's essentially biblical principles. You don't have to worry about like, man, I know this is the worldly, but what up? No, it's coming from a guy who has been grounded in the word. He's going to essentially lay out that system for you in that regard.
And essentially for people who don't. Want to be on camera? You ain't even got to be on camera. You know what I'm saying?
Just plug in. Let the kiddos hear it in the morning, however you do it. And for an entire month? Yeah.
How much? Oh, yeah. I forgot to tell you. Free. Can't be moved.
Say it one more time for the people in the back. Yeah. Yeah. No, absolutely free, man. You can plug in with us literally for an entire 30 days for free.
Where do they go? Thrive. Thrive2025challenge.com.
Thrive2025challenge.com. Thrive2025challenge.com. Go sign up for free.
Right now, we talking about some real stuff on there, some relationship stuff, some business stuff, some interpersonal stuff. Listen, man, this is the type of stuff that, man, if you can get this part down, man, it's so crazy. Like everybody, you know, we were on the call the other day and I was just saying like, yo, if I look at everybody who blew up in our circle, like every single person, like this is the foundation. Like you have to have this.
I've never seen it work without it. Like, I've just never seen it work without it. And so this is the formula, man. And I appreciate you letting me, you know, get a couple shots up.
Well, I'm just going to say this. If you want to hear CJ, get there on time. Don't come late. Like, don't run up in that jungle three minutes late.
Yeah, no, no, no. Four minutes late. You might not hear it, my man. You want to get there on time.
Yeah, come on, get there early because I promise you. I told him, I said, see, I got a cadence. I got a speed. Yeah, yeah.
I can't have you throwing me off, so you come in the gym early. Get your shots out. Listen, I shoot one shot and get out the way.
You get two. You get two if you miss one. You can try it again the second time. Yeah, I get to air one. Shout out to the Patreon family, as always, man.
Shout out to Organifi, the Superfood Green Juice product, keeping this podcast powered up. Throughout our days, Organifi, O-R-G-A-N-I-F-I.com. Use the promo code SUCCESS to get 20% off. Appreciate y'all, man.
B, it was good having you. First time. White mall. You know what I'm saying? Hey, listen, mall.
You better come back in shape. Come on. B is over there.
I'm talking about you. Come on. Yeah, yeah.
I'm not trying to be funny, mall. It looked bigger because I know we sit next to each other. Maybe because he's close-close. No, it is.
I don't know, but he looks bigger, Ma. That's all I know. Ma about to have four trainers by next week. I don't know, Ma.
Motivation. I don't know, Ma. Ma about to kill himself. Oh, that's over.
About to kill himself. Ma about to get four. Ma about to get four trainers.
He already got a hip replacement. How many trainers you got? Nine.
One. Bicep replacement. Oh, he only got one trainer himself? Oh, Ma.
He only got his. That's it, Ma. I want to see if Ma can do a sitting flip on that new hip. If he can do the robot.
Robohip flip. I'm going to be super impressed, man. Love y'all, man.
Safe travels back to the crib. Appreciate y'all as always. We out of here. We love you.
We'll see you next week. I want you to focus on here right now. Don't you worry about when you get home.
You make that you concentrate on this opportunity. You don't worry about tomorrow. You concentrate on this opportunity with all your might, with all your soul, with all your heart.
Thank you so much for rocking with us as always, right? We don't take it lightly, guys. And we hope that we've provided transformation and not just information. We want you to become the best version of yourself.
All right, make sure you check out the show notes to access all the important links and get your product discounts. Now, one favor we're asking of you, do us this favor. Make sure you subscribe and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts.
We want to know your feedback on how we can serve you better. And if there's anyone that you think could benefit from listening to this show, please, I'm begging you, please share it with them. And remember, as E always says, if you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe, then you'll be successful.