Actually being successful or like moving out of our mom's basement or whatever
we put so much energy and time into the presentation
of not looking like that situation
instead of putting the energy and time into actually
finding a solution to that issue. And so at that point
it was like okay I've been putting a lot of time and effort
trying to pretend things are good
instead of actually trying to find solutions
and then, that's when I started to
do everything I needed to do to try to make money and just really...
when I say embrace it's not necessarily like
accept it for what it is it's almost like, "Okay, this is real
I need to figure this out."
Taking your surroundings you take in the people around you
you see how they're making money
and I just didn't like begging people for money.
And so I respected the guys that were like figuring out hustles
right? And so,
for instance, there was an Amaco right down the street from me
and so, I would go there and I would wash windshields and make money
just try to save up enough money to just be in a motel for the night
and I mean like the nastiest motel
but for me it was just
taking in my environment, seeing how other people hustled
how I can do it better.
Someone taught me how to play drums on buckets and things like that.
And so, you know, I just tried to do any type of hustle
that I could.
I just started to learn
how others were moving and kind of adapted throughout.
For me, it's...
it's opening your mind and opening yourself to people.
I think a lot of people
they are ignorant, they are.. Like rejecting change.
Travel
get out of your comfort zone,
meet people from all different types of backgrounds.
If you want to build a product or service or company
that you want to build at scale
and your friends are only the homies that you've been hanging out with since
you know, middle school.
Probably should meet some more people,
get to know them, travel the world.
You know, and even if you don't have the resources to travel
the internet, learn about different cultures, learn about different people.
You're at that computer you tell me what you want to do
I tell you, this is how you search
this is... this is how you find those resources.
Now you got to actually go and learn.
You have to be able to show people that there's other options
and that's what spreading seeds is all about.
Showing people that they can actually do something different.
There's one thing being homeless
but there's another thing having everything taken away from you.
I was literally living out of my car
and so, even though I was homeless
I was still trying to uphold the appearance of
everything being okay.
When that moment happened it was like, Whoa
this is rock bottom, because now
all my clothes are gone,
all the cool shoes, all the things that were material
umm that you know, I tried to fake it until I figured things out were gone.
Now and not only that
all the the the elements, so...
now rain and snow and all these things can get in the car.
So it was like mildewy and smelly and so I smelled, right!
And so for me in that moment I understood
that wow this is... I thought things were bad
but things are really really bad at this point.
And now I can't pretend anymore, I just have to really embrace this
I think a lot of times when we're going through things
we kind of try to figure out
how we're going to finesse our way into...
people not knowing that things, things are wrong
instead of just saying this is my life
this is real now.
You have like these brief moments of kind of peace
until like the next accident happens, right?
And that's just life in general.
You know it's never going to be complete smooth sailing.
One of the things that I’ve noticed about a lot of people
is that they let the hardships and the things that happen in their life
failure stop them from
like Aaliyah says, you know, "Dust yourself off and try again" right?
And for me, I’ve just never let
anything or anybody prevent me from achieving what I want to achieve
so I’ve always had this relentless mentality.
And if you say I can't do something
if I fail, if I you know, mess up
it just motivates me even more, I just become even more hungry
and so I’ve always just had this
you know, relentless mentality.
I don't take, you know, no for an answer,
I don't take failure or accept failure at all
and it's just always been kind of in my heart to not give up.
It's the rose that grows from concrete, right?
It's like no matter how terrible a situation is,
no matter how bad it is
there's still going to be a rose that grows from that concrete.
And I feel like I was that, right?
No matter what my situation was I was built for this.
I was not going to let myself fail
right! and I had that mentality
and I understand that
now, that I grew from that concrete I’m starting to plant my seeds
and there's more roses growing.
What's so special about the internet now is
really anything you want to do you can learn.
Like if you want to learn how to code, if you want to be a developer,
you want to build software, you want to build apps
you can literally go on YouTube and learn how to code.
And so, what I would tell that person is
what do you want to do?
Tell me anything, what do you want to do?
Right?
Now, there's resources and there's things online
that can help you build yourself into whatever that is.
So I think that- that kid at the end of the day
he has to have that kind of just,
"I got to make this happen"
right? Here's the thing - no one can teach you that.
At the end of the day, man, you really got to want it.
You got to really want it.
And I think the problem is is now with social media, before..
When I was growing up
I didn't see all these examples of people having cool cars
or doing cool stuff all the time like, right?
And now with social media I don't care if you're in like
you know,
in the middle of nowhere you can log on to Instagram
and see just this whole world of experiences and things.
The problem is, it's like,
"Oh well, these people have it so I should be able to have it."
and it's just like, man you don't see the work that goes behind this.
Man, I started my first marketing job at 14.
I’m 10 years into entrepreneurship.
It wasn't until the past few years
where I started really getting recognition for it, right?
And so people don't see all that it takes
to even get to that point and that's the problem.
And so, they think it's supposed to be this- this overnight thing
Oh, I started LLC give me money.
No, that's not how it works.
This is a marathon, this is not a sprint
right? You never know when that moment is going to happen in your life
where you find that passion or you figure it out.
The fun part is just trying a bunch of stuff
like when you get to a point where you can just try a bunch of stuff
it's like, Hey, sit down make a list
I’m interested in all these different things, right?
Okay, I’m interested in these top five things.
Now, how can I do something that
not only am I passionate about with one of these top five things
but also make at least enough money to just get by.
A lot of times the thing that's stopping us
from being the person that we truly want to be is ourselves.
It's usually ourselves.
And I think being able to identify
mental health, depression, anxiety, all these things that we're dealing with
and say that we want to make a change
and we humble ourselves to want to make that change
is one of the biggest barriers that one can break through.
I’m going to launch a much more successful business when I do launch it
and it's because I took the time to learn
and I just think that people are in such a rush
to have something
especially money, money is like, Oh, I got to get more money.
But it's like, if you launch something that's piss poor.
Even at a point where I had accomplished so many things
I almost did it, right?
We're not perfect.
I’m not perfect.
You know, I still mess up all the time, man.
Earlier today, like I was- came here at the wrong time, right?
So we- we mess up constantly
but it's- it's identifying that and saying, wait let me take a step back
and let me do this the right way.
I am inspired by helping people.
If I can make money too damn, that's cool too, right?
But the thing that really gets me out of bed right now is
my ability to help people.
I don't need any more money, I don't need any more material things
you know as well as I know that gets old, right?
And you know it feels good temporarily
but it doesn't really hold any weight or substance.
And so, the thing that
I feel like our legacy is
how do we affect as many people as possible
in the most genuine and impactful way, right?
And for me THAT is what drives me today.