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Baltimore to LA
144 Plays6 years ago
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Transcript
Introduction to Ben Anderson and Eric Bigger
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Speaker
Welcome to The Hustle with Ben Anderson, highlighting a series of inspirational success stories with celebrities, entrepreneurs, athletes, and industry-leading professionals.
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Speaker
Ben has learned and mastered the art of the hustle, which has allowed him to become a top 20 USA loan originator and the number one mortgage and real estate finance coach in America, who has closed more than $3 billion in real estate finance transactions.
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So sit back, listen, and learn with The Loan King about money and mortgage.
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Welcome to The Hustle with myself, your host, Ben Anderson.
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Got a great friend today.
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It's going to be a dynamic episode, Eric Bigger.
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Sometimes I sit with guests who have great stories, and then once in a while you get a great connection.
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So we're going really deep today.
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Any human being has to hear what we're dropping today.
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Welcome to the show, Eric.
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Hey, Ben.
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Thanks for having me, man.
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It's an honor to be here in front of you.
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Thank you.
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The hustle, we're here.
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You know, we're here and we're going to bring some truths to people who are looking to get themselves either going in life.
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They just want to hear motivational people.
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But, you know, I want to start with your story and how we met.
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Not that while ago, we were at the Combine.
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sharing a meal with some great people in this world.
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And you and I just clicked so much.
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I'm like, you know what?
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I gotta know more about this guy, his story.
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Because I've seen you before.
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I've seen you, the things you've done.
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But now I get to know you as a person.
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It's completely changed my mindset on the kind of people who I should be hanging around.
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So, you know, tell me a little bit about your background.
Eric's Baltimore Roots and NBA Aspirations
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Where you grew up, before we talk about the things you're doing, it's not always from the good old street to Beverly Hills, it's from the real street to Baltimore.
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Tell me about your background.
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Yeah, well, thank you for the introduction, man.
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I feel, yeah, honored, thank you.
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I'm from Baltimore City.
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If anybody ever seen the show The Wire, HBO, from years ago.
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It's a really tough environment.
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A lot of challenges, a lot of violence, a lot of drugs.
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And I grew up, you know, young kid, driven, motivated to be great, you know.
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I always wanted to play basketball.
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So my dream growing up was to play in the NBA.
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I worked out every day.
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I did everything I was supposed to do.
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I didn't get in trouble.
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I went to practice.
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But I just didn't have the support or motivation I needed from the people outside of me.
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Granted, the men in my family were in the streets.
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Right.
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Right.
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They were the kingpins of the streets.
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They ran the streets.
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They made a lot of money in the streets.
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So that was my male influence.
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My mom was there.
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She was a single mom.
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She did the best she could.
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She gave as much as she could, but emotionally I didn't get the love and attention and nurturing I needed from her to feel love and fulfilled on the inside.
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But I did well in school.
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It was a bookworm.
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I called myself a cool nerd.
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You were a studier, right?
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I was a studier.
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Love, knowledge, wisdom.
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Knowledge, wisdom.
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And...
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Yeah, so grew up, went to school, went to junior college, Howard Community College in Columbia, Maryland, and then I transferred to Hampton University, and I graduated in 2010.
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Fast forward from 2010, and now I got to LA in 2010, and been here nine
Transition from Baltimore to Los Angeles
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years, man.
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And you've been killing LA.
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Well, let's be clear before we get to that part.
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My struggles in LA has been real up until now.
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uh when i got here i had i booked a one-way ticket i remember like yesterday tell me about the mindset of someone that leaves because i'm from the inner city of oakland it's the other side of the country you're from inner city of baltimore most people that we know don't leave the city they don't like it's like i don't leave the city because i don't even have a car like or they don't leave the neighborhood or the neighborhood because they have a lack of exposure or they don't want to or they don't know how to i don't think they can
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So how did you get yourself to, how did you buy the mindset of someone that has enough hustle and belief in themselves to buy a one-way ticket out of their town?
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Man, you know what it was?
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I remember I had a moment when I was 15 years old.
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Like I said, the men in my family sold endless drugs, but they also got in trouble.
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And I was saying to myself, I know there's something more than just Baltimore, just negativity, drugs, killings, you know.
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Yeah, I played basketball, but I always knew there was something else.
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I just didn't know what it was.
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So when I graduated in 2010, my dad sat me down and said, son, I don't want you to be here in Baltimore.
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I think you should go to L.A.
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Granted, my dad really doesn't have those type of conversations with me.
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He was the provider, not the guide.
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It wasn't a normal conversation.
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Yeah, like, okay, dad.
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He always bought me all the sneakers, the video games.
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Always came to the basketball games, but never showed me how to ball.
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But still, dad, love him to death.
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Anyway, he sat me down.
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You should go to LA, son.
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I said, okay, cool.
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From that point on, I went to a friend's mom's house where she was giving me a graduation gift for graduating from college.
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Oh, Eric, you know, I'm proud of you, but I don't think you should stay here in Baltimore.
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I think you should go to Los Angeles.
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Okay.
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Two people.
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That's twice now.
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They don't even know each other.
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So I'll go to Hampton to clean up my apartment, Hampton University.
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And I applied for a job, LA Sports Marketing.
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Hey, two hours later after submission, they want to interview me.
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Third time's a charm.
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From there, you know, I booked a one-way ticket, got LA June 12th, and the rest was history.
Early Challenges and Resilience in LA
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And I had $1,000 to my name.
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So you just listened?
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I listened to my intuition, and I tell people the highest form of intelligence is intuition.
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That's beautiful, the highest form of intelligence is intuition.
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And it will lead you to your destiny, it will teach you how to hustle.
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So trust your gut, right?
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You gotta trust your gut.
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So how does someone out there right now who's dealing with a set of circumstances, whether it's taking that job leap or putting down that extra donut because I want to get in shape, or so much as asking someone out on a date.
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They get to the point where their intuition tells them they should do something,
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But then they don't have the ability to overcome that with their self-confidence.
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So it wasn't just intuition telling you.
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It was your belief in yourself that you could make it.
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Yeah.
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And I just knew something was greater.
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I think you can't be afraid of the unknown.
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You can't be afraid of change.
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I love that.
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And once you get to that understanding that nothing matters other than you going after what you believe.
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That's right.
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Because what are you standing on?
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I was standing on my beliefs.
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And my belief was, I got to be great.
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I want to do more than what's in front of me.
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I had dreams of planning an NBA that didn't work.
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So that doesn't mean my life stops or my dreams stop.
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So did you care about what other people in your hometown were saying?
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Like, why are you leaving?
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What are you doing going out there?
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You're not going to make it.
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You're going to fail.
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Because...
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It's enough to have belief, but those things have to creep in a little bit.
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Yeah, you know what's funny about my decision coming to LA?
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Remember, I said decision.
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To everybody else, it was a risk.
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They thought I was taking a risk, but in my mind, it wasn't a risk.
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It was as I was making a decision to go to LA as if I was going to grad school to LA.
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Like me picking another university to go to school to.
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So I didn't have the perception of risk on my mind.
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It didn't dawn on me until a year after being in LA like, oh snap, I've been in this town for a year.
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I'm 3,000 miles away from my family.
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What did I just do?
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And I was like, oh, that's why I... Because I would get bothered when people were like, are you coming back home?
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You sure?
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And I'm like, why do they keep asking me the same question?
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But I wasn't aware because I didn't have the perception they had.
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So they saw you as being risky.
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You saw it as like progression.
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Yes.
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Yes.
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So that kind of helped my development here in Los Angeles because I wasn't looking at it as, oh, you're taking a risk.
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How are you going to survive?
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How are you going to make it?
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That was not a question.
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So how did you make it?
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Because it wasn't like you had Uncle Daddy Warbucks paying for your way here.
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You got here with a thousand bucks.
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A thousand dollars.
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And I had to give $750 to a guy I met on Craigslist who was a limo driver.
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His name is Mustafa.
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No.
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And I slept on his couch for a year and paid him $500 a month.
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Talk about having to put yourself in a situation where you have to do or die.
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Do or die.
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Do or die.
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So you come out here after you pay for one month's rent.
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Yeah.
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You barely have enough money to eat now.
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Yes.
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And now what is it?
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Is it like okay now?
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Because you had a job kind of lined up.
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Well, I had a job coming to find out.
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I went on an interview and it was a flute.
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It was a fraud.
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I think the moment I opened my mouth, they were like,
From Sales to Acting: Following Intuition
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oh, we can't take advantage of this young, naive college guy.
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Speaker
Interesting.
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Speaker
And I looked them up on a better business bureau.
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They wasn't a credit, had all these complaints.
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I was like,
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but I'm thankful for them because they got me out here, right?
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They did.
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That's why everything that comes your way, whether it's a fraud or a scam or not, things don't come to you by accident.
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By accident.
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And so that didn't work out, so I had to really find a job.
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I was staying with my boy in West Hollywood for two weeks.
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Granted, him and his wife lived in an apartment in West Hollywood.
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And then from there, I was just using every number of contact I got from everybody from the family.
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That's crazy.
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And think about that.
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Any business that you're in, it's all about your contacts.
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So you were just like, okay, now I have to pull from what resources I have.
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I have to meet this guy.
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I have to find that guy.
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I'll make a connection somewhere.
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And I use every connection, and those things lead to my progression out here.
00:09:04
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And the hard part was I couldn't get a job nowhere.
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I graduated mega cum laude.
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I had a decent amount of grades, so I'm just thinking, I can get a job.
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I couldn't get a job nowhere.
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That's wild.
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I went to every high fashion store.
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I went to Fox, Sports News.
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I went to hotels.
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My first job, you want to know my first job in Los Angeles?
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With chic shoes.
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I was a salesman making $8 an hour with a college degree.
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Yeah.
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I worked at the sneaker store as a stock boy when I was 16.
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You know how humbling that was?
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So humbling.
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So what I realized was like, LA didn't care who I was or what I did in the past.
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The market don't care.
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The market doesn't care your last name.
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The market doesn't care your degree.
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The market is going to make everyone equal because you have to earn it at the end of the day.
00:09:48
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So I had to prove myself at 22 years old with getting paid minimum wage.
00:09:53
Speaker
What did you draw from in that moment of truth?
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Did you draw from the tough street to Baltimore?
00:09:57
Speaker
Was it your family's upbringing?
00:09:59
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Was it the fact that your family hustled in the streets and you knew that if they could hustle, you could hustle?
00:10:05
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It wasn't.
00:10:05
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I think hustle was just in my spirit.
00:10:07
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I couldn't even, I wasn't even thinking about hustle.
00:10:09
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I just, all I had, I had to do whatever it took.
00:10:11
Speaker
You were hustle.
00:10:11
Speaker
I was hustle.
00:10:12
Speaker
You were hustle.
00:10:13
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So I used all my resources.
00:10:15
Speaker
I had a job.
00:10:16
Speaker
So the one thing I will tell people listening right now, the thing that really altered my life and shifted my paradigm and changed me for the better,
00:10:24
Speaker
I was so hungry and so curious for knowledge.
00:10:27
Speaker
And what do I need to do?
00:10:28
Speaker
Like, I'm lost.
00:10:29
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I'm 22 years old in Los Angeles, California.
00:10:31
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Hungry for knowledge.
00:10:31
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That's amazing.
00:10:32
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Hungry for knowledge.
00:10:34
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And I started to read books.
00:10:36
Speaker
And I did well in school, but I was never really like, I got to read this book, got to read this book.
00:10:40
Speaker
So you used your 9 to 5 to pay your bills and your 5 to 9 to go get knowledge and better yourself.
00:10:47
Speaker
Yes.
00:10:48
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So there was two books.
00:10:50
Speaker
One book was Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill.
00:10:53
Speaker
Changed my life.
00:10:54
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There was a part in that book that was speaking directly to me as a college student and how I got in this real world and I didn't know what the hell was going on, but I thought I knew everything.
00:11:05
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From that book, I read The Secret.
00:11:07
Speaker
And with
Entrepreneurial Ventures and Personal Growth
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those two books together,
00:11:10
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my life started to change.
00:11:12
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Started manifesting opportunities, more money, and I was like, oh, things are really changing.
00:11:19
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Because I was applying myself in a different way.
00:11:22
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And I always say information changing situations.
00:11:24
Speaker
So let me get this right.
00:11:25
Speaker
You didn't grow two feet taller, did you?
00:11:27
Speaker
No.
00:11:28
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You didn't get like all of a sudden muscles popping out of your neck.
00:11:31
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Your mindset is what changed.
00:11:33
Speaker
My mindset.
00:11:33
Speaker
Your belief system in what you were doing was changing.
00:11:36
Speaker
And like literally if you're out there right now listening to this, you could change your mindset by flipping on a switch.
00:11:42
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Yes.
00:11:42
Speaker
And if you do that, everything will change for you.
00:11:44
Speaker
You can learn how to hustle.
00:11:46
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but turning your mind on to the right stuff is by having a reason to get out there and say i'm just gonna fight out do it i'm not i don't care yeah you were thirsty for knowledge you watered that thirst and then what happened from there and in this there are more books and then there was the tony robbins of the world who really
00:12:03
Speaker
sparked a fire under me Bob Proctor's Les Brown's and and then you know I was at you know she chooses the sneaker store for about a year from there so I was you know how sometimes the salesman is at the front of the store and like trying to get people to come in yes and at this time I was reading a secret and I was planning all the things in the secret and I had already read think and grow rich
00:12:23
Speaker
And so there was a recruiter from Amicrumpian Fitch.
00:12:26
Speaker
I was like, hmm, would you like to work at, you know, Amicrumpian Fitch as a manager?
00:12:32
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I'm like, what?
00:12:34
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So I took the interview a week later.
00:12:36
Speaker
Then they hired me.
00:12:38
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So...
00:12:39
Speaker
quit you sneak at you all you know what it gonna be a yeah my assistant manager so I was making like $15 an hour with benefits and insurance double up so I was like wow and then the funny thing is I was still cuz I was doing background acting you know at the time and now like cuz I was trying yeah so we were acting where did that did you always act as a kid
00:13:01
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Never, never.
00:13:02
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Acting was never a dream of mine, never something I wanted to do, never had passion for it.
00:13:06
Speaker
So how did you fall into your first?
00:13:07
Speaker
Well, when I got here to L.A., a friend who helped me find my apartment that I was staying in off of Craigslist, she said that you need to go do background acting.
00:13:15
Speaker
You need to sign up at Central Casting.
00:13:17
Speaker
And so honestly, the funny thing is my first ever job in Los Angeles was acting.
00:13:24
Speaker
I was getting paid as a stand in on a Zack and Cody show in Nickelodeon.
00:13:28
Speaker
And I was the Ron Williams.
00:13:29
Speaker
What are your family's you told him that?
00:13:32
Speaker
I mean they didn't say anything before they didn't really have that much say because I was such a good kid and I was very responsible they was just like okay if you need anything let me know or it was just more like I don't know I was different I was probably making like a hundred seventy five dollars a day so I was happy I worked three days make a little bit of money like oh I met the white Howard Kevin love like it was like yeah Derron Williams yes but
00:13:53
Speaker
So that happened in the process of me getting a job, the $8,000 job.
00:13:57
Speaker
I was still going on background acting.
00:14:00
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So around that time, I mean, not only getting the job at Amicrump and Fitch, prior to that, I was doing a background commercial, a documentary commercial for Jenny O Turkey Burger.
00:14:11
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You know, you come on and pass around the burgers, you're eating them, and I got interviewed.
00:14:15
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And then, little did you know, that part of the interview got chose for the commercial.
00:14:21
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So mind you, everything I was playing from the books, from the affirmations to attracting these things, and at like three months after me getting a job at Amicron Ben Fitch, I had got like five checks in the mail.
00:14:35
Speaker
Isn't that crazy?
00:14:36
Speaker
Residual checks from, I was doing background, but they bumped me up to SAG because they used my face and my voice.
00:14:42
Speaker
And I was just like, wow.
00:14:45
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This stuff really works.
00:14:47
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It really works.
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And so that's how that all happened.
00:14:51
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And then I'm like, I have this momentum.
00:14:53
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I'm working.
00:14:54
Speaker
I'm making a little bit more money.
00:14:55
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And then bought me a car.
00:14:57
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I'm like, I'm doing it, baby.
00:14:59
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Almost two years in.
00:15:00
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Yes, LA.
00:15:00
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Yes.
00:15:01
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And then...
00:15:05
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I stopped applying myself like I did before.
00:15:08
Speaker
I got comfortable.
00:15:09
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Got on the juice a little bit.
00:15:10
Speaker
Yeah, I got comfortable.
00:15:11
Speaker
I'm making a little bit of money.
00:15:13
Speaker
I got benefits.
00:15:15
Speaker
But I still had this entrepreneur spirit and wanted to do my own thing.
00:15:19
Speaker
So I had this idea.
00:15:20
Speaker
I was listening to Bob Proctor on YouTube.
00:15:24
Speaker
He was talking about intuition.
00:15:25
Speaker
Here we go back to intuition.
00:15:27
Speaker
And I got a thought.
00:15:29
Speaker
Oh, you know what?
00:15:29
Speaker
None of these life coaches or mentors or motivational gurus have an app.
00:15:35
Speaker
You know, I can create an app.
00:15:38
Speaker
I want to create a motivational app.
00:15:40
Speaker
So there you go.
00:15:41
Speaker
The epiphany came.
00:15:43
Speaker
I went and followed it.
00:15:44
Speaker
That was the moment.
00:15:45
Speaker
That was the moment.
00:15:46
Speaker
So at the time, I called my cousin back in Baltimore.
00:15:49
Speaker
He connected me with some guys in D.C.
00:15:51
Speaker
He's like, oh, we can build it out.
00:15:52
Speaker
We can do this.
00:15:53
Speaker
We can do that.
00:15:53
Speaker
I'm like, how much?
00:15:54
Speaker
They're like, oh, $1,500.
00:15:55
Speaker
I was like, I don't got that type of money.
00:15:58
Speaker
But he's like, well, you can put you on a payment plan.
00:15:59
Speaker
You pay $400 a month.
00:16:00
Speaker
So I'm like, okay.
00:16:02
Speaker
So my goal was once I created my app and got it up, I was going to quit Amicrombian Fitch.
00:16:08
Speaker
So I was at Amicrombian Fitch about 18 months.
00:16:12
Speaker
So Eric Bigger's Successful Living was the mobile app.
00:16:16
Speaker
So they completed it.
00:16:17
Speaker
It was done.
00:16:18
Speaker
You could reach out to me.
00:16:20
Speaker
I could put up quotes.
00:16:22
Speaker
But granted, I'm 24 years old.
00:16:24
Speaker
What do I know about marketing or putting myself out there?
00:16:27
Speaker
Who did I thought I was?
00:16:28
Speaker
I thought I was the guy.
00:16:29
Speaker
I haven't really done anything.
00:16:31
Speaker
You went for it.
00:16:31
Speaker
Yeah, I went for it.
00:16:32
Speaker
But it's like I had this app, but I had no substance to it and nobody to give it to.
00:16:38
Speaker
But remember, I quit my job.
00:16:41
Speaker
And at that time, in the process of me working at Amicron & Fitch, I was doing boot camps in North Hollywood Park for two years.
00:16:47
Speaker
For fitness, right?
00:16:47
Speaker
For fitness.
00:16:48
Speaker
So every Saturday, I would do a boot camp at 8.30 in the morning.
00:16:50
Speaker
It was called Rich Life Success Driven.
00:16:52
Speaker
That was the name.
00:16:53
Speaker
And then so I had that to kind of like feed off of.
00:16:56
Speaker
And I wasn't charging then.
00:16:57
Speaker
But from there, once I quit Amicron & Fitch and started this app, I got into one-on-one training.
00:17:03
Speaker
Personal training.
00:17:04
Speaker
Fitness training.
00:17:06
Speaker
And that kind of went on for like...
00:17:09
Speaker
A few months.
00:17:09
Speaker
That was your first true real entrepreneur thing.
00:17:11
Speaker
Yeah, I really took the risk.
00:17:13
Speaker
And man, I'll tell you, I was 24 on the app, launched, I was two and a half years in LA, 25 hits, probably one of the toughest years of my life.
Facing Financial Hardships and Mindset Shifts
00:17:23
Speaker
That was the first year I went to go work.
00:17:26
Speaker
And in my mind, I was like, I'm gonna be this entrepreneur, I'm gonna be this boss.
00:17:29
Speaker
I didn't have that mindset.
00:17:30
Speaker
It was just like, this is what I wanna do.
00:17:32
Speaker
I'm following in my gut.
00:17:34
Speaker
I wanna train people.
00:17:36
Speaker
And so I did it.
00:17:37
Speaker
I started charging my own prices.
00:17:38
Speaker
I didn't know anything about invoices and, you know, getting trainer insurance.
00:17:42
Speaker
I was just like, just.
00:17:43
Speaker
Hey, there's no class in college for being an entrepreneur.
00:17:46
Speaker
Right.
00:17:46
Speaker
And so I did that.
00:17:47
Speaker
And then that year was so, so tough.
00:17:51
Speaker
Honestly, the end of that year, 25 years old, I actually went back to Amicron and Fitch as a model.
00:17:59
Speaker
How humbling was that?
00:18:00
Speaker
That was probably so humbling.
00:18:01
Speaker
I went back as a model and I was folding clothes and I used to tell people to fold clothes.
00:18:05
Speaker
You know, it was like, I'm like, what am I doing wrong?
00:18:08
Speaker
Like, why am I in this position?
00:18:09
Speaker
Like,
00:18:10
Speaker
And I was like, okay.
00:18:13
Speaker
Then from there, I was just struggling hard to pay rent.
00:18:17
Speaker
And at this time, was your mindset any different?
00:18:19
Speaker
Was your belief system in yourself any different?
00:18:21
Speaker
My belief system was shaking.
00:18:23
Speaker
Because I had no hope.
00:18:24
Speaker
I remember that year.
00:18:26
Speaker
I tell her like yesterday.
00:18:27
Speaker
And I actually ran into this young lady in Chicago not too long ago.
00:18:32
Speaker
I was talking to this girl.
00:18:33
Speaker
She lived in the Bay.
00:18:35
Speaker
And she was coming up around Christmas to come see me.
00:18:41
Speaker
And I probably had $7 to my name.
00:18:44
Speaker
And at the time, I had one bedroom with a roommate.
00:18:48
Speaker
And he brought all his family in town.
00:18:50
Speaker
And they're staying at the place.
00:18:51
Speaker
It was a small place.
00:18:53
Speaker
I can't invite her over.
00:18:54
Speaker
And I'll never forget that moment.
00:18:57
Speaker
25 years ago, I think it was 2013, $7 in my bank account.
00:19:00
Speaker
I can't take her to get no food.
00:19:02
Speaker
I can't take her out.
00:19:04
Speaker
I was so low.
00:19:05
Speaker
And I'm like, man.
00:19:08
Speaker
And then so fast forward after that, I was just like, I need a job.
00:19:12
Speaker
I can't continue to do this.
00:19:13
Speaker
I can't live on a dream.
00:19:15
Speaker
Yeah.
00:19:15
Speaker
What are we doing?
00:19:16
Speaker
Yeah.
00:19:17
Speaker
So then I went.
00:19:18
Speaker
But the funny thing is crazy.
00:19:20
Speaker
This is what I tell people.
00:19:21
Speaker
We create our own reality based on what's inside of us, based on our perceptions.
00:19:25
Speaker
I totally believe that.
00:19:26
Speaker
I tell people, what you believe is real.
00:19:29
Speaker
But there's always things I always wanted to do.
00:19:31
Speaker
And some way, somehow, my life allows me to do it.
00:19:34
Speaker
Yes.
00:19:35
Speaker
Yes.
00:19:36
Speaker
When I was in college, I worked in the government.
00:19:38
Speaker
I always wanted to work in the government.
00:19:40
Speaker
When I came to L.A., I always wanted to work at a nightclub.
00:19:44
Speaker
I wanted to be the door guy.
00:19:46
Speaker
I don't know.
00:19:47
Speaker
I just wanted to work at a nightclub.
00:19:49
Speaker
So I got a job at a nightclub.
00:19:52
Speaker
I was the door guy.
00:19:54
Speaker
I was getting like 13, 25 an hour.
00:19:57
Speaker
I mean, it's better than nothing.
00:19:59
Speaker
So you're good.
00:19:59
Speaker
You're starting to get some paper.
00:20:00
Speaker
Yep.
00:20:01
Speaker
I'm getting some money.
00:20:02
Speaker
And so I'm doing that.
00:20:04
Speaker
And I said, I'm going to really learn this position and the owner.
00:20:10
Speaker
When I first got there, it was like, oh, this guy, the owner, he's mean, he's evil, he's an a-hole.
00:20:16
Speaker
And so I'm curious.
00:20:18
Speaker
I'm the guy.
00:20:18
Speaker
Who is this guy?
00:20:19
Speaker
Yeah, I'm the guy.
00:20:19
Speaker
The class is hard.
00:20:21
Speaker
I remember a teacher named Miss Armenti.
00:20:23
Speaker
She had an English class.
00:20:24
Speaker
She was hard.
00:20:24
Speaker
And I want to take her class.
00:20:25
Speaker
Yes.
00:20:26
Speaker
Let me see what this is about.
00:20:27
Speaker
The prettiest girl in school.
00:20:28
Speaker
Oh, man, you ain't going to get her.
00:20:29
Speaker
What?
00:20:30
Speaker
Watch me.
00:20:30
Speaker
I want to date her.
00:20:31
Speaker
Yes.
00:20:31
Speaker
So I was like, what is it about this Tom guy that everybody's intimidated by?
00:20:36
Speaker
So he came in, you know, we sat down.
00:20:38
Speaker
I'm like, and over the years, I was like, I see why the way he is.
00:20:42
Speaker
And so the guy is very successful.
00:20:44
Speaker
He actually builds homes.
00:20:46
Speaker
He's in construction, has his own construction business.
00:20:49
Speaker
It's a lot of money building mansions.
00:20:51
Speaker
Up in Pasadena, Echo Park.
00:20:55
Speaker
He's very successful.
00:20:57
Speaker
So the club is just something on the side.
00:21:00
Speaker
But I started to learn things from this man.
00:21:02
Speaker
And while I was working there those two years, I learned a lot about how he does his business.
00:21:06
Speaker
That's your thirst for knowledge again right there.
00:21:07
Speaker
Yeah.
00:21:08
Speaker
But we kind of built a great relationship.
00:21:10
Speaker
And he always believed in me.
00:21:13
Speaker
At the moments when I really didn't think someone should believe me or give me advice, he's like, whatever you need, you just let me know I got you.
00:21:21
Speaker
And I think those little moments from people that outside of you that you wasn't looking for, like it just always gave me confidence.
00:21:28
Speaker
So I worked for him at the club for like two and a half years.
00:21:32
Speaker
And in that process, I was doing Uber.
00:21:35
Speaker
I was doing Uber.
00:21:36
Speaker
I had signed up with Kangen Water because I had an alkaline water machine.
00:21:39
Speaker
So I was trying to sell water machines.
00:21:41
Speaker
So here I am, I'm 26 at this time.
00:21:45
Speaker
I'm selling water machines.
00:21:46
Speaker
I'm working at the nightclub and I'm doing Uber.
00:21:49
Speaker
Right.
00:21:50
Speaker
And I'm still fitting in personal training.
00:21:53
Speaker
Like I'm just trying to really figure it out.
00:21:55
Speaker
Whatever it takes.
00:21:56
Speaker
Whatever it takes, people.
00:21:57
Speaker
Whatever it takes.
00:21:58
Speaker
I'm really putting myself out there.
00:22:00
Speaker
I got to make this happen.
00:22:02
Speaker
Not complaining.
00:22:02
Speaker
Not getting down.
00:22:03
Speaker
Not getting down.
00:22:04
Speaker
It's really trying to figure it out.
00:22:05
Speaker
Trying to figure it out.
00:22:06
Speaker
And at this time, I'm still reading books.
00:22:07
Speaker
I'm still learning.
00:22:08
Speaker
I'm still earning this wisdom and this knowledge and trying to put it to test and understanding, studying life.
00:22:14
Speaker
And then, you know, I always get to a point in my life where I feel like if I mastered something, like working at the club, there's no more interest.
00:22:21
Speaker
I'm not stimulated anymore mentally.
00:22:23
Speaker
It doesn't get me going.
00:22:24
Speaker
There's no challenge.
00:22:26
Speaker
You need that chase.
00:22:27
Speaker
Yeah, you know, I need the chase.
00:22:28
Speaker
So I quit there.
00:22:30
Speaker
So I did Uber full time and still was training.
00:22:33
Speaker
I was like, hold up.
00:22:34
Speaker
I made double the money doing Uber and training for myself.
00:22:38
Speaker
And I did working at the club.
00:22:41
Speaker
This is kind of weird.
00:22:43
Speaker
It is.
00:22:43
Speaker
On your own schedule.
00:22:44
Speaker
On my own schedule.
00:22:45
Speaker
Whenever you want.
00:22:46
Speaker
I'm making double the money.
00:22:47
Speaker
Sitting in a car and not having to even move anywhere.
00:22:50
Speaker
What am I thinking?
00:22:51
Speaker
So I was doing that and just still getting knowledge.
00:22:55
Speaker
And so finally, the sacrifice of staying with a roommate for five years in one bedroom.
Symbolic Move to a New Apartment
00:23:03
Speaker
So I think I was like 27 going on 28.
00:23:04
Speaker
That's a lot of sacrifice.
00:23:06
Speaker
Yeah, buddy.
00:23:07
Speaker
You need to kind of get out of this scarcity mindset.
00:23:10
Speaker
You got to be a man.
00:23:12
Speaker
You're going to invite a young lady over.
00:23:13
Speaker
You're going to go in bed around.
00:23:15
Speaker
Oh, man, don't sacrifice.
00:23:16
Speaker
It's just that broke mentality.
00:23:17
Speaker
It is.
00:23:17
Speaker
Because, you know, you're trying to cut ends.
00:23:19
Speaker
It's time to grow up, level up.
00:23:23
Speaker
Yes.
00:23:24
Speaker
So this is how I know that what's for you is for you.
00:23:29
Speaker
so August 2016 2016 before I was going home to Baltimore to see my family for like eight days I had to look for apartment so it was a neighborhood you know miracle mile one bedroom there's like 1250 a month you only gotta put seven hundred dollars down oh my oh I can make that in a week like I was doing numbers over I'm making like a thousand a week like I was putting in yet work yep
00:23:54
Speaker
I go to Baltimore.
00:23:56
Speaker
I come back.
00:23:57
Speaker
I think I got back.
00:23:58
Speaker
I think I left on like the 16th, 17th of July.
00:24:01
Speaker
I got back like the 24th, 25th.
00:24:01
Speaker
Mind you, my Lisa, my old son.
00:24:04
Speaker
This is less than three years ago.
00:24:05
Speaker
Yeah.
00:24:06
Speaker
So we'll catch up because three years, you've done a lot in three years.
00:24:08
Speaker
Yeah.
00:24:08
Speaker
Three years ago, you were driving an Uber.
00:24:10
Speaker
I was driving an Uber.
00:24:10
Speaker
And you were getting your first apartment.
00:24:12
Speaker
Yeah.
00:24:12
Speaker
So people look if you're out there right now.
00:24:14
Speaker
Yeah.
00:24:14
Speaker
I mean, you hear the story in a minute of where of what you're doing, which is incredibly great.
00:24:19
Speaker
Yeah.
00:24:20
Speaker
So it belief belief patients patients go get it and go get it.
00:24:25
Speaker
And so I get back from Baltimore.
00:24:27
Speaker
I got about six or seven days before my lease.
00:24:30
Speaker
I got to be moved out of this old place in Corridge.
00:24:32
Speaker
I was one with his roommate in one bedroom.
00:24:35
Speaker
I get back, the lady's like, oh no, sorry, you didn't get it, and credit didn't go.
00:24:40
Speaker
Yeah, she's like, what?
00:24:43
Speaker
How could this be show?
00:24:45
Speaker
Very mad.
00:24:46
Speaker
Because I went home, I told my grandmother, I told my mother, like, I got my new spot.
00:24:49
Speaker
Expectations were so high.
00:24:51
Speaker
And I got back.
00:24:53
Speaker
So a friend of mine who ran the Olympics and had a lot of success in his life, was like, man, I think I need to help you find your spot.
00:25:00
Speaker
So we go to the spot next door.
00:25:02
Speaker
Now the spot next door is like...
00:25:04
Speaker
glass uh you know doorway you know ran this crazy high i mean staining steel wood floors brick in the back he's like e i think this your spot right here this is a bigger spot i was like man that's crazy i can't are you paying i can't he said listen you gotta do it i'm like what do you mean he said it won't make sense to you right now it will only make sense when you do it so the funny thing listen to this people
00:25:32
Speaker
I said, you know what?
00:25:34
Speaker
I'm just go ahead and apply for this.
00:25:35
Speaker
I asked my mom, she could cosign.
00:25:37
Speaker
I love that.
00:25:38
Speaker
I applied and like in two days, I get an email early in the morning and say, you got it.
00:25:45
Speaker
You got the apartment and you didn't need your mom to cosign.
00:25:48
Speaker
You got it on your own.
00:25:50
Speaker
I started crying.
00:25:51
Speaker
I couldn't believe it.
00:25:52
Speaker
I was like, I did it.
00:25:54
Speaker
What?
00:25:55
Speaker
I am paying almost $2,000 a month.
00:25:58
Speaker
Right.
00:25:59
Speaker
How am I going to do this?
00:26:01
Speaker
Figure it out.
00:26:02
Speaker
Figure it out.
00:26:02
Speaker
But the thing is, it wasn't meant for me to be in a cheaper apartment.
00:26:06
Speaker
That's right.
00:26:07
Speaker
I was supposed to be in a more expensive one.
00:26:08
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:26:09
Speaker
And I say, you know, dedicate that to where I was at and my vibration and my information and who I was at the time.
00:26:16
Speaker
You were setting a low frequency vibration.
00:26:18
Speaker
So of course you were going to get a low rent apartment.
00:26:21
Speaker
You raised your standards.
00:26:22
Speaker
Raised my standards and I got the apartment.
00:26:25
Speaker
So I get an apartment.
00:26:26
Speaker
Wow.
00:26:27
Speaker
Okay.
00:26:27
Speaker
There you got to pay this.
00:26:29
Speaker
Grand Uber helped out.
00:26:30
Speaker
Shouts out to Uber.
00:26:31
Speaker
You guys helped me out.
00:26:32
Speaker
I had a little bit of money in the account to kind of keep me going for a few months.
00:26:35
Speaker
Yep.
00:26:37
Speaker
But man, I was still grinding hard that year, 2016, to pay that rent.
00:26:42
Speaker
So there's a lady by the name of Jo Lay.
00:26:45
Speaker
She's like a spiritual advisor.
00:26:46
Speaker
And, you know, I was called her one day at the end of 2016.
00:26:49
Speaker
She's like, son, you're burning yourself out.
00:26:52
Speaker
You have nothing left in the tank.
00:26:53
Speaker
You need to sit down.
Eric's Casting Call for The Bachelorette
00:26:55
Speaker
You're trying to do everything, and you can do nothing.
00:26:58
Speaker
She was just giving me a real heart-to-heart and really checking me like, you got to figure something out.
00:27:06
Speaker
At the time, around that time, I had got a call from a friend.
00:27:10
Speaker
Well, not actually a call, a text message from the same girl who told me I should do background acting.
00:27:16
Speaker
She sent me a screenshot text message from
00:27:19
Speaker
of a Facebook picture of a casting for The Bachelorette.
00:27:23
Speaker
She said, would you want to do this?
00:27:24
Speaker
I'm like, yeah.
00:27:26
Speaker
But granted, people remember, I'm in a new vibration.
00:27:29
Speaker
I'm in a new apartment, a better apartment, a better environment.
00:27:32
Speaker
So how much time had gone by from your apartment to this text that you got?
00:27:36
Speaker
So it was from, I got an apartment August 2016.
00:27:40
Speaker
I probably got the text, I believe, late October, early November.
00:27:46
Speaker
So you're talking two months later.
00:27:48
Speaker
It was right around.
00:27:49
Speaker
Yeah, like 60 days, at least 60 days later.
00:27:51
Speaker
So she texted you about this casting call.
00:27:54
Speaker
Yeah.
00:27:55
Speaker
And you've been acting a little before, so you've been around casting calls, but nothing like The Bachelor.
00:27:59
Speaker
Yeah, nothing like The Bachelor, nothing like reality TV.
00:28:01
Speaker
I mean, the number one watched show in America.
00:28:03
Speaker
Right.
00:28:03
Speaker
I mean, come on, that's ridiculous.
00:28:05
Speaker
So I'm like, sure.
00:28:07
Speaker
So I go for the interview.
00:28:09
Speaker
They're asking me a lot of questions, and they're like, oh, you know what?
00:28:13
Speaker
We like you.
00:28:13
Speaker
We want to move you forward right away.
00:28:15
Speaker
I'm like, great.
00:28:16
Speaker
Do another interview.
00:28:17
Speaker
Cool.
00:28:18
Speaker
I submitted paperwork, everything.
00:28:21
Speaker
And then, no, first, hold on.
00:28:22
Speaker
I'm sorry.
00:28:23
Speaker
That's wrong.
00:28:23
Speaker
Before that, they had you do a lot of paperwork.
00:28:25
Speaker
It's very tedious.
00:28:26
Speaker
You got to do your paperwork.
00:28:27
Speaker
You got to submit photos.
00:28:29
Speaker
And I feel like it's a test to see if you really want this.
00:28:31
Speaker
You can do the job.
00:28:32
Speaker
Like, we had to submit 25 photos.
00:28:36
Speaker
Listen, people, 25 photos.
00:28:38
Speaker
The packet was like,
00:28:40
Speaker
College class or something you got to fill out all these for sure a test.
00:28:43
Speaker
Yeah, so I said okay This is your test.
00:28:46
Speaker
You're gonna do it So I did that and then I submitted everything I did all my work.
00:28:52
Speaker
I didn't hear from anybody So then that man I'm like it's the end of the year I'm kind of feeling down like man like I'm going nothing happened.
00:29:00
Speaker
Don't let me bad easy apartment rent
00:29:02
Speaker
Right.
00:29:02
Speaker
And so it's probably like the second, going into the second week of January, I get a call from a random number.
00:29:08
Speaker
I think I was just finishing doing Uber or just about to do Uber.
00:29:12
Speaker
One of the two.
00:29:13
Speaker
And it was somebody from a cast in ABC.
00:29:16
Speaker
We said, oh, we'd love to bring you in for an interview.
00:29:18
Speaker
I'm seeing you an email.
00:29:21
Speaker
And I'm like...
00:29:22
Speaker
What I mean, I was in my head.
00:29:25
Speaker
I've been waiting for you guys You know, it's kind of like a deal when it's pending.
00:29:30
Speaker
It's like can we close this out?
00:29:31
Speaker
You kind of forgot about it and then yeah, you were kind of had Accepted the fact that it wasn't gonna happen right and just at that moment is when it happened for you It happened for me.
00:29:40
Speaker
I went on that interview and it went great They moved me ahead and then I had a final interview
00:29:45
Speaker
Final interview, you take your test.
00:29:48
Speaker
It's like a 600-question test you take for your psychological.
00:29:52
Speaker
Psychological, yeah.
00:29:53
Speaker
Blood test, urine test.
00:29:55
Speaker
And then they put you in a room of like 20 producers.
00:29:59
Speaker
What was that like?
00:29:59
Speaker
You're just sitting in the front seat and they're checking you like,
00:30:02
Speaker
Boom, boom, so tell me about yourself.
00:30:04
Speaker
Give me a moment where you was in fear or you was in a relationship or someone did something you didn't like.
00:30:09
Speaker
And so me and the EP of the show, we got into it.
00:30:12
Speaker
Like, we was- Like, an argument-wise?
00:30:14
Speaker
Yeah, because I think he wanted me to commit to- So, there was a guy in the room.
00:30:20
Speaker
His name was Louie.
00:30:21
Speaker
Louie, by the way, I love that guy.
00:30:23
Speaker
He's the one who kind of, I get to It's Miracle Season, but anyway, he's the one who kind of pushed that to come out of me.
00:30:29
Speaker
But anyway, he loved Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles.
00:30:33
Speaker
I said, listen, it's horrible.
00:30:34
Speaker
It's disgusting.
00:30:35
Speaker
I'm from Baltimore.
00:30:36
Speaker
Like, my mom, my grandmother, King Cook.
00:30:39
Speaker
Yeah.
00:30:40
Speaker
And so the EP of the show, Alon, at the time, said, do you think he's wrong?
00:30:44
Speaker
I said, no, I don't think he's wrong.
00:30:46
Speaker
That's his perception.
00:30:46
Speaker
That's his truth.
00:30:48
Speaker
That's not what I feel.
00:30:49
Speaker
That's what he felt.
00:30:49
Speaker
I don't think he's wrong.
00:30:50
Speaker
That's the truth.
00:30:51
Speaker
Oh, bullshit.
00:30:53
Speaker
You know, that's what he was kind of calling.
00:30:54
Speaker
He was calling my bluff.
00:30:55
Speaker
Like, come on, how are you going to say you don't like it, but then he's not wrong?
00:30:57
Speaker
Right.
00:30:58
Speaker
You're BSing.
00:30:59
Speaker
They want you to call it like you saw it.
00:31:00
Speaker
Yeah, he was getting mad that I wasn't agreeing that his truth was wrong.
00:31:04
Speaker
I said, no, that's his truth for him.
00:31:06
Speaker
So I thought, oh man, I kind of messed up.
00:31:08
Speaker
I got into a big shot at the show.
00:31:10
Speaker
But he was like, we didn't like each other.
00:31:12
Speaker
He's like, I thought she was full of fluff.
00:31:14
Speaker
She was just this positive guy who didn't really want to own how you feel.
00:31:16
Speaker
And then I thought I messed up.
00:31:19
Speaker
And then, you know, next thing you know, yeah.
00:31:22
Speaker
You gotta get this, you need a seat, you need to pack this, you need to do that.
00:31:24
Speaker
So what was the moment like?
00:31:25
Speaker
Was it a phone call?
00:31:26
Speaker
Was it an email?
00:31:27
Speaker
It was just, so look, here it is.
00:31:28
Speaker
So listen, people.
00:31:29
Speaker
And where were you at?
00:31:30
Speaker
I want to hear about this.
00:31:31
Speaker
I was coming from Westlake.
00:31:32
Speaker
I was just finishing training at Proactive Sports.
00:31:35
Speaker
Shouts out to Ron Capretta.
00:31:36
Speaker
They trained a lot of professional athletes.
00:31:39
Speaker
Aaron Rodgers, Clay Matthews, Paul George, all these big time athletes, baseball guys.
00:31:44
Speaker
And I was going out there like three times a week just to train with these people.
00:31:48
Speaker
Anyway, I'm coming back from Westlake.
00:31:49
Speaker
I'm on a one-on-one.
00:31:50
Speaker
You know that ride from...
00:31:52
Speaker
Thousand notes, Westlake, all the way to downtown is incredible.
00:31:55
Speaker
It's just like an hour or some change.
00:31:57
Speaker
Yes.
00:31:58
Speaker
And the funny thing is I was in a car by myself.
00:32:00
Speaker
I was in a car by myself.
00:32:03
Speaker
I got the call and I looked at my phone and I was like, this got to be them.
00:32:07
Speaker
And they said, oh, yeah, can I speak to Mr. Bigger?
00:32:09
Speaker
I was like, yeah, this is him.
00:32:10
Speaker
Yeah, so this is, I think her name was Lacey.
00:32:13
Speaker
Lacey from Kassam, ABC, The Bachelorette.
00:32:16
Speaker
We just wanted to know if you decided if you wanted to go on a show or not.
00:32:19
Speaker
What do you think?
00:32:20
Speaker
And I like put the phone down.
00:32:23
Speaker
So I put the phone down like, oh my God, damn, I gotta make a decision.
00:32:27
Speaker
Damn.
00:32:28
Speaker
And I was like, yes, I want to do it.
00:32:30
Speaker
And she's like, okay, cool.
00:32:32
Speaker
I sent over some paperwork, get you up and started.
00:32:37
Speaker
When I hung up the phone, I was like, what did I just do?
00:32:40
Speaker
I just said yes.
00:32:41
Speaker
But there goes, I didn't know what was going to happen after because that's the unknown.
00:32:45
Speaker
What was the first thing you did once they told you that you were casted?
00:32:49
Speaker
I was just like, yes, but also like, I don't know.
00:32:52
Speaker
What did I just have myself up for?
00:32:53
Speaker
Yeah.
00:32:54
Speaker
But it was a moment.
00:32:55
Speaker
It was like, I know I had to say yes.
00:32:57
Speaker
Because like, are you going to do Uber and train people in your apartment when you know you got to pay rent in like forever?
00:33:03
Speaker
Like, what are you going to do?
00:33:05
Speaker
Granted, I didn't really know much about the show other than what's a love show.
00:33:09
Speaker
I didn't watch.
00:33:11
Speaker
I just...
00:33:12
Speaker
So I did it, and that year I was turning 29.
00:33:17
Speaker
So the show, I went on March 13th.
00:33:21
Speaker
So here's another thing about TV has been chasing me.
00:33:24
Speaker
I've never wanted to do TV.
00:33:26
Speaker
TV has been chasing me since I've been in Los Angeles.
00:33:30
Speaker
So I went on to The Bachelorette.
00:33:32
Speaker
My experience started March 13th, 2017.
00:33:33
Speaker
I turned 29 on March 9th, 2017.
00:33:39
Speaker
That weekend, I went on an audition.
00:33:41
Speaker
Hey, go back to audition.
00:33:42
Speaker
It was TV chasing me for Dave & Buster's.
00:33:45
Speaker
Dave & Buster's, I believe.
00:33:46
Speaker
It's like the arcade.
00:33:47
Speaker
Yes, Dave & Buster's.
Transformative Experience on The Bachelorette
00:33:49
Speaker
So, and then I had a callback on the 10th, which is the day after my birthday.
00:33:54
Speaker
And I kind of know when I'm in an audition, if I book it, I can feel the energy.
00:33:57
Speaker
And I had to dance.
00:33:58
Speaker
I was like, oh, they're asking me to dance in this callback with women?
00:34:01
Speaker
Like, oh, this is easy.
00:34:04
Speaker
I go on the call that.
00:34:06
Speaker
I get a call that Sunday.
00:34:07
Speaker
I'm like, agent, you booked it.
00:34:09
Speaker
You booked the commercial.
00:34:12
Speaker
The shoot day is Monday, March 13th.
00:34:17
Speaker
I'm going on ABC The Bachelorette on March 13th.
00:34:19
Speaker
I'm like, what are the chances?
00:34:23
Speaker
What is the universe?
00:34:24
Speaker
And mind you, I haven't booked a commercial from Jenny O. All that time.
00:34:28
Speaker
All that time.
00:34:29
Speaker
And the same day.
00:34:29
Speaker
And I had a new agent and everything.
00:34:31
Speaker
David Buster's and The Bachelor on the exact same day.
00:34:34
Speaker
And so here we go again, people.
00:34:35
Speaker
I had to make a decision.
00:34:38
Speaker
So I said, unfortunately, because I'm under contract, I told my agent,
00:34:42
Speaker
I can't do it.
00:34:43
Speaker
I can't do the commercial.
00:34:45
Speaker
I'm signed to go on the Bad Trap March 13th.
00:34:47
Speaker
And I was trying to figure out if I could do both at the same time, but I just couldn't because they had me the whole day.
00:34:53
Speaker
So that sucked.
00:34:54
Speaker
I was like,
00:34:55
Speaker
And I was non-union at the time.
00:34:57
Speaker
The money was decent, wasn't great, but still, that feels good to book something.
00:35:02
Speaker
You know, to have that momentum to go into a show.
00:35:04
Speaker
So I didn't do the job.
00:35:07
Speaker
And I went on a show.
00:35:09
Speaker
What was the show like?
00:35:10
Speaker
Tell me about the experience.
00:35:12
Speaker
Obviously, we all can watch it as fans.
00:35:15
Speaker
Watching how it looks.
00:35:17
Speaker
Produced, non-produced, fights, drama.
00:35:21
Speaker
What was the show like being on it and having a camera in your face all the time?
00:35:24
Speaker
I mean, it was life-changing for me, for one.
00:35:27
Speaker
Difficult at times.
00:35:29
Speaker
Very challenging emotionally.
00:35:32
Speaker
Mentally draining.
00:35:34
Speaker
Overwhelming.
00:35:36
Speaker
It was like life.
00:35:37
Speaker
It was all that.
00:35:38
Speaker
But it was so great.
00:35:39
Speaker
Because I discovered who I really was and what I really needed.
00:35:43
Speaker
And the funny thing is...
00:35:46
Speaker
They shocked me because that Monday, we wasn't supposed to see The Bachelorette until that Thursday of the week of March 13th.
00:35:54
Speaker
I was one of the four guys who went on national TV after the final rose to meet The Bachelorette for the first time.
00:36:00
Speaker
Oh, so you met her before you knew who she was.
00:36:02
Speaker
So granted, that's March 13th.
00:36:05
Speaker
I believe it was either March 8th, 7th, or 6th the week prior.
00:36:11
Speaker
I saw The Bachelorette in my gym training with another trainer.
00:36:16
Speaker
And I was like, because at the time I already got the call to who it was.
00:36:21
Speaker
I get out of my car and I go and I'm like, that's Rachel Lindsay.
00:36:25
Speaker
What the?
00:36:26
Speaker
This is kind of weird.
00:36:28
Speaker
Like what is she doing in my gym of all gyms?
00:36:30
Speaker
Of all gyms.
00:36:31
Speaker
I'm in North Hollywood at One Fitness.
00:36:33
Speaker
Yes.
00:36:34
Speaker
What is she doing there?
00:36:36
Speaker
So I go in there and I see and I call my boy.
00:36:37
Speaker
He's like, man, you got to say something to her.
00:36:40
Speaker
So she's training outside of the gym.
00:36:42
Speaker
She comes back in.
00:36:43
Speaker
So I give a high five like, Rachel, I see you training hard.
00:36:46
Speaker
She's like, I'm trying.
00:36:49
Speaker
And I looked at her.
00:36:50
Speaker
I looked in her eyes.
00:36:50
Speaker
I said, I see you soon.
00:36:52
Speaker
She's like, what?
00:36:53
Speaker
Look at it again like, I see you soon.
00:36:55
Speaker
And then from there, it was just like, OK.
00:36:59
Speaker
I let her know.
00:36:59
Speaker
She know what I mean when I said it the second time.
00:37:02
Speaker
And then I saw her again before the limo on TV.
00:37:07
Speaker
And if you remember the guy, Louie, I was talking about, who was watching me, was with me the whole time in my trail in Burbank before I went on stage.
00:37:16
Speaker
I was getting this, my intuition just kept talking to me like, it's a miracle season.
00:37:20
Speaker
It's a miracle season.
00:37:21
Speaker
I'm like, what's that?
00:37:22
Speaker
And I'm telling him, he's like, hey, bud, I think you should say that.
00:37:24
Speaker
You should say that when you go up there.
00:37:26
Speaker
I'm like, really?
00:37:26
Speaker
He's like, man, you keep saying it.
00:37:29
Speaker
But it was like a channel thought that just came to me.
00:37:32
Speaker
So I go on stage, I say, Rachel, it's a pleasure to meet you.
00:37:36
Speaker
You're from Dallas, I'm from Baltimore.
00:37:38
Speaker
What's meant to be will be.
00:37:41
Speaker
It's miracle season.
00:37:42
Speaker
I kind of said everything I wanted to say.
00:37:45
Speaker
Then we started dancing and the crowd went crazy.
00:37:48
Speaker
I felt like I hit a game winning shot.
00:37:50
Speaker
I got off the stage, I was like, yeah.
00:37:53
Speaker
But it was just like, what just happened?
00:37:56
Speaker
And then from there, this love journey began.
00:37:58
Speaker
And then I saw her that Thursday coming out of the limo.
00:38:01
Speaker
I'm like, why do I keep seeing you?
00:38:02
Speaker
She's like, I don't know, you tell me.
00:38:04
Speaker
And the thing is, the first question I asked her on that night was, I thought it was either, are you afraid of love?
00:38:14
Speaker
And then the producers stopped me.
00:38:17
Speaker
I was coming in with a deep question.
00:38:19
Speaker
To sing.
00:38:20
Speaker
Of course.
00:38:20
Speaker
Of course.
00:38:21
Speaker
You're Baltimore.
00:38:22
Speaker
Right.
00:38:22
Speaker
Right.
00:38:24
Speaker
And from there, it was just every week, you know, the first few days, it was kind of nerve wracking and it was kind of uncomfortable.
00:38:32
Speaker
You learn in the guys, but it was intimidating because everybody was like 6'3", 6'2", cut up, look good.
00:38:36
Speaker
How's it like with the guys in the house?
00:38:39
Speaker
Oh, man.
00:38:39
Speaker
I mean, it was great, but it was kind of intimidating because everybody kind of had their things together, which I really didn't.
00:38:45
Speaker
I probably look like I did I was fresh off of uber they're probably fresh out of salesforce or you know a law firm in a full order though but I mean everybody was cool everybody was great and we had some differences in the house with some men but it was good I mean it was me some lifelong friends and this whole experience but uh it was it was crazy
00:39:07
Speaker
So what was it like?
00:39:08
Speaker
Because you're recording the show before it even gets aired.
00:39:11
Speaker
Yeah, 10 weeks.
00:39:12
Speaker
So what is it like anticipation-wise?
00:39:14
Speaker
Because you hadn't seen the episodes on television yet.
00:39:17
Speaker
Knowing you filmed, knowing you knew the outcome probably.
00:39:20
Speaker
And is it anticipation?
00:39:21
Speaker
Is it telling your friends?
00:39:23
Speaker
Well, when you're in it, you don't know what's going to happen.
00:39:27
Speaker
You might be saying, oh, you're up to be interviewed next.
00:39:29
Speaker
Or you're going to see it.
00:39:30
Speaker
And it's like, it might take an hour or two hours.
00:39:34
Speaker
Or they might throw you in there like, oh, yeah, talk about this or talk about that.
00:39:38
Speaker
The fun thing for me, and it goes back to the thought of everything I always wanted to do, I always wound up doing.
00:39:45
Speaker
How?
00:39:45
Speaker
I don't know.
00:39:46
Speaker
It just happens.
00:39:47
Speaker
I always wanted to travel the world.
00:39:48
Speaker
That was the goal of mine.
00:39:49
Speaker
And you got to do it.
00:39:50
Speaker
I went to six countries on a show.
00:39:52
Speaker
That's crazy.
00:39:52
Speaker
Six countries.
00:39:53
Speaker
Went to Oslo, Norway, Copenhagen, Denmark, Sweden, Spain, Switzerland, France.
00:40:00
Speaker
What was your favorite vacation spot of those spots?
00:40:02
Speaker
Copenhagen, Denmark.
00:40:03
Speaker
Really?
00:40:03
Speaker
And that was my one-on-one date.
00:40:05
Speaker
Nice.
00:40:05
Speaker
That was just epic.
00:40:06
Speaker
What was it like there?
00:40:08
Speaker
It was just beautiful.
00:40:08
Speaker
It was kind of a mixture of New York and Chicago.
00:40:13
Speaker
It was like a city feel.
00:40:14
Speaker
It was nice.
00:40:15
Speaker
People were free.
00:40:16
Speaker
People were out eating, having a good time.
00:40:19
Speaker
It was great.
00:40:19
Speaker
I had a good time.
00:40:22
Speaker
It was fun.
00:40:23
Speaker
I got to get back.
00:40:25
Speaker
And then from there, that's when the momentum was like, all right, I'm in this thing.
00:40:30
Speaker
Because a lot of producers didn't think I would last that long, based on how I came in.
00:40:33
Speaker
You went, what, 8, 9, 10 weeks, something like that?
00:40:35
Speaker
I was at 10 weeks.
00:40:36
Speaker
I went to a final location.
00:40:37
Speaker
Yeah, so I was top three.
00:40:39
Speaker
I was first.
00:40:40
Speaker
What's it was it like to be top three?
00:40:42
Speaker
I mean, come on.
00:40:43
Speaker
People love this show.
00:40:44
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, you're downplaying it.
00:40:45
Speaker
Yeah, what's it like to be top three?
00:40:47
Speaker
Well, now that I know, because in the moment I didn't know what I'm saying, you probably unassuming, but now, right, you know, looking back, you were top three on the Bachelorette.
00:40:55
Speaker
Yeah, it would like to have been top three in the Bachelorette.
00:40:58
Speaker
It was like.
00:41:01
Speaker
I still can't describe it was just so surreal because it's like what is this I had grow a beard out on the show because I was clean face before it's like I was a little boy going in and I came up became a man on the outside of it because everything I went through I grew up that's why because you know you got a therapist on the show you're learning about yourself I fell in love for the first time is it really for real I mean because people will say it's not you can't really fall in love in 10 weeks but people say you can yes you can if I stop you from everything I
00:41:28
Speaker
That's right.
00:41:29
Speaker
Outside of you.
00:41:29
Speaker
You don't have no phone.
00:41:31
Speaker
You can't talk to no friends, no family.
00:41:33
Speaker
You can't go on social media.
00:41:34
Speaker
We're barely watching TV.
00:41:36
Speaker
And the only focus you have is the person.
00:41:39
Speaker
The Bachelorette at the time was Rachel Lindsay.
00:41:43
Speaker
You don't have no choice but to follow.
00:41:44
Speaker
And I learned that anybody can be the one.
00:41:47
Speaker
There's no just special.
00:41:49
Speaker
You spend enough time with someone, you do some crazy things together, like flying helicopters and you're on top of buildings.
00:41:56
Speaker
That's very profound.
00:41:56
Speaker
That's life right there.
00:41:57
Speaker
Because people think that I'm waiting for my one.
00:41:59
Speaker
But anyone who you give yourself to.
00:42:01
Speaker
Anybody can be the one.
00:42:03
Speaker
And that's what I learned.
00:42:04
Speaker
And you got to give people time.
00:42:06
Speaker
If we were outside of the show dating, on the first date, I probably would have never called her the next day just because I wasn't that into her.
00:42:11
Speaker
I think she was cool.
00:42:12
Speaker
I think she was great as a person.
00:42:14
Speaker
But I was like, ah.
00:42:15
Speaker
Took time.
00:42:15
Speaker
But over time, I'm like, I really like this girl.
00:42:18
Speaker
Like, who is this?
00:42:19
Speaker
And that could be true for, like, your life, your business, for whatever.
00:42:22
Speaker
If you commit enough time to something, you could fall in love with anything.
00:42:26
Speaker
Yes, you can.
00:42:27
Speaker
That is true.
00:42:28
Speaker
You hear that from Ben Anderson, the hustle.
00:42:30
Speaker
You can fall in love with anything.
00:42:31
Speaker
Time, timing.
00:42:32
Speaker
Trust the timing of your life.
00:42:34
Speaker
That's right.
00:42:34
Speaker
The time of my life was great.
00:42:36
Speaker
Also, I'm into astrology, so I was in the year of the Saturn return.
00:42:40
Speaker
Love that.
00:42:41
Speaker
I was getting ready for my 30s, so it was a challenging year.
00:42:43
Speaker
It was, I mean, plus you're about to be 30.
00:42:45
Speaker
Yeah.
00:42:46
Speaker
You came from a new entire country, basically.
00:42:48
Speaker
Yeah.
00:42:49
Speaker
To a whole entire new planet in Los Angeles.
00:42:52
Speaker
You do whatever you can to get by, get your own swanky apartment, wind up taking a random shot at this audition.
00:42:59
Speaker
You submit 30 pictures and you pass the test.
00:43:01
Speaker
You land on Rachel Lindsay's Bachelorette show.
00:43:04
Speaker
You're top three.
00:43:05
Speaker
It ends, and then what is life like?
Life After Reality TV and Broader Purpose
00:43:09
Speaker
Post-fame, stardom, people chasing you, saying,
00:43:13
Speaker
They're bigger.
00:43:14
Speaker
Then what happened after that?
00:43:16
Speaker
Man, it was just like mayhem.
00:43:18
Speaker
It was like, what is this?
00:43:20
Speaker
It was overwhelming, but fun and exciting.
00:43:24
Speaker
People running up on me taking photos, and TMZ got cameras in my face.
00:43:28
Speaker
I'm like, what going on?
00:43:31
Speaker
People in the car, they in stores put me on their phone.
00:43:35
Speaker
I'm like, we love you.
00:43:36
Speaker
You're just so positive.
00:43:38
Speaker
And we wanted you to win.
00:43:39
Speaker
I'm like, huh?
00:43:40
Speaker
What?
00:43:41
Speaker
It's just like so weird.
00:43:43
Speaker
Because you don't know what to anticipate or expect.
00:43:46
Speaker
You didn't have to drive.
00:43:47
Speaker
It wasn't like you went to Nebraska.
00:43:48
Speaker
You didn't leave Los Angeles and go to a different country.
00:43:51
Speaker
You just drove down the street back to your apartment.
00:43:54
Speaker
So what I did realize, I said, now I don't understand why TV was chasing me.
00:43:59
Speaker
I'm not on TV for the purpose of the episode or the TV show.
00:44:03
Speaker
I'm on TV because of who I am, what my energy brings to people and the impact it has on people.
00:44:09
Speaker
I had someone bring me to Toronto for an appearance and we did a contest where we would pick three random girls.
00:44:16
Speaker
We had dinner at STK, this whole experience.
00:44:20
Speaker
at the dinner table that day, that night, I was like, what is it that y'all seeing me?
00:44:23
Speaker
Like, what was it about my story?
00:44:25
Speaker
He's like, I don't know.
00:44:26
Speaker
He's just like, you're just so inspiring and your struggle and what you've been through and you're just so strong.
00:44:32
Speaker
And I'm like, for real?
00:44:33
Speaker
You're just attracted to your energy.
00:44:35
Speaker
Yeah.
00:44:35
Speaker
And I was like, you do have that.
00:44:37
Speaker
When I first met you, I was like, this guy,
00:44:38
Speaker
of all the people in the room that we're hanging out with, I'm like, this guy has some kind of kinetic energy about him.
00:44:44
Speaker
Whether it's inertia or something where you create positive vibes and things just kind of vibrate towards you a little bit.
00:44:52
Speaker
Yeah, and so I was like, I got a thought like,
00:44:55
Speaker
Now I don't know why I'm on TV because I'm from Baltimore and the kids and the youth and You know some I'm not doing that their best and they need somebody look up to you who are their leaders who do I have nephews it is your calling This is my calling so I really understood why I'm on TV and it's not for TV per se is for what he was gonna do for me to help people Understand what they can do for them.
00:45:15
Speaker
That's right based on what I go through and what I can give and
00:45:18
Speaker
So it was it was like the first year, you know, it's a lot of guest appearances.
00:45:22
Speaker
It's a lot of interviews traveled a lot post show.
00:45:27
Speaker
And then, you know, I get calls to do like Dancing with the Stars and Celebrity Family Feud.
00:45:33
Speaker
And I did Bachelor in Paradise.
00:45:35
Speaker
Then I did Winter Games.
00:45:36
Speaker
It's like, what is going on?
00:45:37
Speaker
Like, this is really happening.
00:45:39
Speaker
Yes.
00:45:41
Speaker
And with all that, I tell people dreams really come true.
00:45:47
Speaker
Dreams really come true from having my own podcast to public speaking to working with the radio station Power 106, working with mental health awareness, LA County Department of Mental Health, and just doing all these amazing things.
00:46:00
Speaker
And what I love is you had such a humongous, I mean, you couldn't have had a bigger platform.
00:46:04
Speaker
Yeah, ABC.
00:46:05
Speaker
I mean, it was the biggest platform ever.
00:46:07
Speaker
to go from someone not on a platform to on a platform without having to go through like years and years of working way up a ladder through the entertainment world.
00:46:15
Speaker
You kind of went from non-platform to platform very fast.
00:46:18
Speaker
And what you've done with the platform has been incredible.
00:46:21
Speaker
I want to talk a little bit about what you're doing today and how you give back to mental health and how you help inspire people and how you coach and how that vibration is now vibrating in other people.
00:46:30
Speaker
So talk about your business today.
00:46:32
Speaker
Well, people out there, you know, you still got to, you know, give attention and loyalty to what started you.
00:46:38
Speaker
And fitness, training.
00:46:40
Speaker
I still have clients.
00:46:41
Speaker
I have high-end clients.
00:46:42
Speaker
When I want to go to their homes and train them, I still do that.
00:46:45
Speaker
Auditioning.
00:46:46
Speaker
I just did an AT&T commercial not too long ago.
00:46:49
Speaker
thank god for that and saturday and then a new vibe about uh privacy and it's cool yeah um but right now um i'm partnering with uh it's a startup called be raw and be raw stands for r-a-w r-a-w so raw stands for resilient authentic willing and so what we're creating is a platform um for people
00:47:13
Speaker
Using you know your body mind and spirit to heal themselves through three modalities fitness Meditation and yoga and so I'm helping them create content to help people deal with their emotions stress anger fear Sadness worry and create workouts based on those emotions.
00:47:30
Speaker
You know about all those emotions.
00:47:31
Speaker
Yeah, I've been through them all Yes, shots out to the Pisces and I'm very emotional but uh so I have that and then I
00:47:42
Speaker
power 106 that's how the power 106. yes uh i have a always do this yeah partner i partner with them with the mental health awareness campaign and each month we're going to put on a emotional boot camp so we did our last our first one last weekend uh which was in culver city park and so we can probably try to hit all the districts in la cool and i'm once once a month i'm going to do a boot camp for people emotionally and just help them connect to themselves
00:48:09
Speaker
And it's still going to be fitness based, but have them think about things they don't think about and ask them questions, have them journal.
00:48:15
Speaker
How can we get behind that?
00:48:16
Speaker
How can we, how can, if someone right now is out there struggling and needs mental health, physical support, how do we get behind that or sign up for that movement?
Current Projects and Inspiring Others
00:48:24
Speaker
Well, so Power 106, so if you go to power106 slash emotion, there's a link in my bio on my Instagram at Eric Bigger.
00:48:30
Speaker
You go there and fill out the information and you can join a boot camp.
00:48:34
Speaker
With the B-Raw space, we're launching our app probably the end of July, but you can go to our page, join B-Raw, J-O-O-I-N, B-Raw, B-E-R-A-W.
00:48:45
Speaker
And you can just DM me, you know, hit me up.
00:48:47
Speaker
But right now, those are the two platforms where you can go and get information and have an understanding on where I'm going to be or how you can help yourself.
00:48:55
Speaker
Other than that, that's... The cool thing is you're just starting your ascent in your life.
00:49:01
Speaker
I mean, you've been through a lot, but I feel like you're just starting.
00:49:05
Speaker
Yeah, I'm just starting.
00:49:06
Speaker
I'm just getting started.
00:49:06
Speaker
And the world just didn't give the Bachelorette show to someone
00:49:10
Speaker
I feel like it gave it someone deserved it.
00:49:11
Speaker
Yeah.
00:49:12
Speaker
You used it for the right stuff and some people can use it for self promotion.
00:49:15
Speaker
Yeah.
00:49:15
Speaker
And the market dictates how that person is seen.
00:49:18
Speaker
Yeah.
00:49:18
Speaker
So the fact that you came off the show and people loved you and got behind you and kind of galvanized behind you shows the market gave the tools to the right person.
00:49:26
Speaker
Yeah, and I'm thankful for it, and it wasn't easy, but man, it was worth it.
00:49:29
Speaker
And I don't take anything for granted.
00:49:33
Speaker
There was a young rapper who got murdered not too long ago here in L.A., Nipsey Hussle, and he was a big inspiration to a lot of people, at least in the urban community.
00:49:42
Speaker
And he did Hustle & Motivate, the Marathon, and Victory Lap.
00:49:48
Speaker
He spoke those words in the universe.
00:49:50
Speaker
He did everything he wanted to do, and unfortunately, his life was taken from him, but...
00:49:54
Speaker
I just tell people, man, you know, if you got something inside of you, you got a gift, you got a thought, man, go for it.
00:50:00
Speaker
Go for it.
00:50:00
Speaker
And believe in it and don't let anything stop you, not even yourself.
00:50:04
Speaker
Because sometimes we'll let our thoughts, our bad thoughts, in the lies we tell ourselves to stop us.
00:50:09
Speaker
And you didn't stop yourself when you bought that one-way ticket?
00:50:12
Speaker
Yeah, I didn't.
00:50:13
Speaker
You didn't stop?
00:50:14
Speaker
I didn't stop.
00:50:14
Speaker
I wasn't coming back.
00:50:15
Speaker
I made a decision and I stand firm on that.
00:50:18
Speaker
And I think, Napoleon Hill, when you make a definite decision, I don't know the rest of it, and you stick to it, your life will change.
00:50:24
Speaker
And I was...
00:50:25
Speaker
Definitely about how I felt and what I wanted to do.
00:50:27
Speaker
I knew I was going to get in this space.
00:50:29
Speaker
I didn't know how.
00:50:30
Speaker
And I thought it was going to be basketball.
00:50:32
Speaker
Basketball was my dream, was my passion.
00:50:34
Speaker
But as I tell people, I didn't go, I didn't make it in the NBA, in the pros, but I went pro in life.
00:50:40
Speaker
That's right.
00:50:40
Speaker
I'm professional in life.
00:50:41
Speaker
So that's why I want to teach young men coming up that you don't have to just be an athlete.
00:50:45
Speaker
You can be a pro in life.
00:50:46
Speaker
It's real estate.
00:50:47
Speaker
You can ball in life.
00:50:48
Speaker
You hustle.
00:50:48
Speaker
You know the hustle.
00:50:49
Speaker
podcast with Ben Anderson.
00:50:51
Speaker
That's right, baby.
00:50:52
Speaker
So it's always to make life happen for yourself outside of what you were used to growing up.
00:50:58
Speaker
Well, I feel like we're family over this.
00:50:59
Speaker
Kind of sit down.
00:51:00
Speaker
We had a great time in Indianapolis, the Combine.
00:51:02
Speaker
I wanted to get you in here just so we could have time together because if we do this, we actually can hang out.
00:51:08
Speaker
Now we can spend time together beyond this and you're close.
00:51:11
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:51:12
Speaker
I can't wait to see where you go.
00:51:13
Speaker
I mean, you're a rising, shining star.
00:51:15
Speaker
Yeah, thank you.
00:51:16
Speaker
This whole industry, if you need someone to book that has real, true talent, that's going to treat that platform right, Eric Bigger is a man.
00:51:24
Speaker
So how can we follow your Instagram?
00:51:26
Speaker
So on Instagram, I'm just Eric Bigger, E-R-I-C, B-I-G-G-E-R.
00:51:30
Speaker
My Twitter is Eric underscore Bigger.
00:51:33
Speaker
And I am on Snapchat, eBigs, E-B-I-G-G-S-S.
00:51:37
Speaker
You can email me too if you want to book me, eBiggerinquiries.com.
00:51:40
Speaker
Oh, just message me on Instagram.
00:51:42
Speaker
It's all love.
00:51:43
Speaker
I love people.
00:51:43
Speaker
I love life.
00:51:44
Speaker
I love learning.
00:51:45
Speaker
I love evolving.
00:51:46
Speaker
And it's a we thing.
00:51:47
Speaker
It's not an I thing.
00:51:48
Speaker
And we can do this thing together.
00:51:49
Speaker
And we all need each other.
00:51:51
Speaker
So with that being said, it's a miracle season.
00:51:53
Speaker
Thank you, Ben Anderson.
00:51:54
Speaker
The Hustle Podcast was amazing and phenomenal.
00:51:57
Speaker
And we did it.
00:51:58
Speaker
You want a miracle?
00:51:59
Speaker
Book this man.
00:52:00
Speaker
There we go.
00:52:01
Speaker
You have the hustle, my friend.
00:52:02
Speaker
Thank you.
00:52:03
Speaker
Thank you.
00:52:03
Speaker
Thank you.
00:52:04
Speaker
I'll see you guys later.
00:52:04
Speaker
Appreciate it.
00:52:06
Speaker
Thanks for following us on The Hustle.
00:52:07
Speaker
To follow our story, check us out at benanderson.365 on Instagram and stay tuned for our next honored guest.