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The Vision Board Man: Inspiring Transformation: Kardell Sims Story · Nightmare Success In and Out

0:02
What happens when your worst fear becomes your reality?
0:05
Hi, I'm Brent Cassidy, welcome to the Nightmare Success In and
0:08
Out podcast where we explore how to overcome your fears and
0:12
nightmares that set yourself free.
0:14
We're going to be exploring this topic with guys that was in
0:16
Leavenworth with and others who survived their own nightmare.
0:21
These stories can be inspiring, sometimes sad.
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There's some humor, but hopefully you can come away with
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a nugget of something that'll help you knock down some of the
0:30
prisons you built up in your own mind.
0:34
All right, nightmare success and out listeners, we're back.
0:38
That's where you come to find out what happens when your worst
0:40
fear becomes your reality. How do you adapt, survive,
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overcome, set yourself free? I've got a great guest today.
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I've been excited to do this interview.
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I want to give a shout out to Aaron Smith because Aaron, who
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was on the show two or three episodes ago, connected me to my
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guest, Cardell Sims. And man, he's got such a great
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comeback story. And and by the way, don't forget
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to, you know, share, follow, subscribe, like, comment, do all
1:10
those things. But I want to.
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I was just telling him before we got on.
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I usually do like when I, when I'm doing the little research on
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the on the front end of having guests on it, you know, I've
1:23
write up my own stuff, but I got on Cardell's website.
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He's got a great website by the way.
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And I want to tell you a little bit about Cardell.
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Cardell Sims is a passionate advocate dedicated to help
1:35
informally incarcerated individuals rebuild their lives.
1:39
Despite facing tremendous adversity in his youth, he's
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overcome his past to become a leader in the re entry space.
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Growing up in poverty with strong influences of drug and
1:50
gangs, Cardell first became involved with the justice system
1:54
at age 15. He cycled in and out of
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incarceration during his early life.
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However, during his time in federal prison 5th prison trip,
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Cardell developed a vision for breaking free from recidivism.
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He created a blueprint for changing his life trajectory
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while still behind bars. After release, Cardell put this
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plan into action. He beat the odds by transforming
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himself through education, self improvement service.
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Today, he is the founder of On the Inside Re Entry Academy and
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uses his journey to inspire those facing similar struggles.
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As a national speaker, he's a seven time author, master
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certified empowerment coach and a re entry consultant.
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Cardell is dedicated to guiding others towards self improvement.
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Wow, I can't wait to jump in at all this.
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Success sent you Cardell Sims, Who is?
3:29
Welcome man, how you doing? Appreciate you hearing me man.
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I have been excited to interview ever since we got on the phone,
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and we're talking about all the stuff that you've been doing.
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I mean, really good stuff. You know, a lot of people talk,
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you know, and say, yeah, this needs to be done or that needs
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to be a man. You have gone in and taken
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action and gone deep in the throat of the prison and given
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these guys in the prison things they need, things they need to
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get out of prison so that they can hit the ground in a much
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better way than what tools they have otherwise.
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And and I I think it's guys like you that actually make the
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impact, make the change because you've got you've walked the
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walk, you've talked the talk and, and when you go in and you
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talk about your story and what you've done, it all becomes real
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to them and it's hope. You know it.
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The the idea of hope is such a big deal.
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But Cardell, tell me back because you when, when we were
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talking about your story, I mean, you had a tough childhood.
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I mean, you came from Bring Me back into the little Cardell's
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world growing up as a kid. I grew up, my mother was 16
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years old when she had me. I have an older sister that she
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had two weeks before 14th birthday.
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So the reality of me growing up was I had a you had a child
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raising two children. Raising child.
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And we stayed with our grandma, with my grandmother in the
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projects, my my mama's family, her a couple of her sisters and
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they family. So it was a lot of us in this
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project apartment in the court that I grew up in was called the
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nickname of it was called Killer Court.
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So that kind of. Tells you where you where you
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went outside to play. So, so that was, I mean, but to
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me that was, I guess as a little kid, it was just part of, of
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life. As I started getting off into
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the teenage years, I started branching off and getting
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involved in gangs. So by the time I was 15, I, I
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was full-fledged in the streets. I can, before I, even before I
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even get to the 15, I'd say probably about 11 to 12, started
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using drugs, smoking marijuana, drinking 40 ounces, you know,
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that's what it was back then. So that's when I really started
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engaging in there. So by the time I was 15, I
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caught my first case. It was attempted murder, first
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degree assault. The guy was four or five years
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older than me. But me and my, me and my friend,
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we, we really chased him down and beat him with a 2 by 4 and a
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crowbar. So this was my introduction into
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the justice system. 15 years old, attempted murder and man.
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What did they do with a 15 year old with attempted murder?
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So, so we were sitting in so we they was debating on whether or
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not because this is when being charged as an adult, it really
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first started coming in. So that that was a debate
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whether or not to be charged as adult as I said in juvenile
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detention center and fighting the case.
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But what happened was because I can play basketball pretty good,
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I had coaches coming to the court proceedings, talking to
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the prosecutor, the judge sharing, you know, the dynamics
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of my family, the household, things of that nature.
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My father wasn't nowhere in the picture.
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And so they explained it and the judge gave me a chance.
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He said, you know, we're going to put you in a foster home.
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He gave me stipulation to graduate.
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I had a 15 year backup and all I had to do was do to my last two
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years in high school and graduate.
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I was wanted to my this is right before my junior year to that I
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I was close. I was on the verge of dropping
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out. Basketball was what really kept
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me in school. All my friends maybe had already
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dropped out was in the game full-fledged selling crack and I
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was I was on that path. But I love to play basketball
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and that kept me in school. That is the only reason why I
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really went to school and so I got sent to 1 foster home.
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It just didn't work because the fossil home is in the
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neighborhood that they trying to pull me out of.
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Literally two houses from where we stay there's.
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So many guys, you know, Cardell, that are from foster care, that
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are in the prison system. Yeah.
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And so, yeah. So this is kind of like the
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gateway. And I had this mindset during
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all this time. I had this mindset that I was a
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product of my environment, that I belong in the environment that
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they was trying to pull me out of.
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And So what was going on is that foster home didn't work.
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They took me out of there. Coach, coach recognized it.
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My family tried to go down there and fight the foster parents.
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It was crazy. My friends just come sneaking me
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out. And coach, he was like, no, this
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ain't going to work. So they put, he put me in
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another foster home across town, way across town.
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And it was, you know, once a month I can go visit my mom
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that, you know, that that was really it of me going back to
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that side of the town. But at the same time, like I
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said, I had this mentality that I belong in that environment.
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So I end up graduating high school and what did I do?
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So as soon as I graduate, the very next day, I packed my stuff
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up and went right to go stay with my mom in in in the in the
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in the environment and do. You have any opportunities,
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Cardell with your basketball? At that time, Oh yeah.
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So yeah, yeah. So during this time, when I went
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back home, I had a basketball scholarship.
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So I had a junior scholar, junior college basketball
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scholarship right there at home. So I stayed at home.
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I probably would on my little back.
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I should have never did. But I ended up staying at home
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to play basketball, so I'm living a double life.
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So going to class, doing the basketball workouts, after all
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that's over with, I'm in the streets, gang banging, hanging
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out, selling drugs. Selling drugs is how I took care
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of myself in college. And so in between my freshman
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and sophomore year, I was getting heavily recruited and I
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end up signing a letter of intent to play with UNLV.
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Wow, running rebels. Running Rebels and so but that
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summer I called an assault case. So I go to the county jail for
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like a month fighting this assault case that charges end up
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getting dropped, but so did my scholarship to UNLV.
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So during my sophomore year, my junior college coach, like we,
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we got to get you away from home as far as possible.
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And so I end up going down to Georgia to play basketball,
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University of West Georgia on the, on the, on the scholarship
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as well. But when I got down there, I
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took the same mentality and the same mindset with me.
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So it was just a time that I was going to go into the hoods of
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Atlanta and the in the other areas of Georgia and, and just
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started hanging out. And so I lived, I was living the
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double life there to the point where some of the people I would
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sell drugs to, I'll be like, man, come here, go some tickets
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to the game, come out and watch me play at the college.
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And they were like, man, there's no way you're playing college
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basketball. All the stuff you out here doing
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and they're like, there's no way.
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And I'm like, I'm like, for real.
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I go to the college, come and they come watch me play.
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And I scored 2025 points, 10 rebounds.
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And they'd be like, oh man, you can really play basketball.
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So they look at. It was it weird for you,
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Cardell, in that world that you were living because you, I mean,
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you're living 2 lives, you know, because there's a lot of,
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there's a lot of dedication that goes into playing.
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I wasn't good enough to play in college, but I played a lot of
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basketball growing up. And you know, there's the team,
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you know, there's the effort, the dedication.
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You just work and work and work and, and put in all that time.
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Did it feel like that you were pulled in One Direction stronger
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than the other? Because I'm sure you had good
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friends that were on the team. You weren't involved in the
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stuff that you were. And they loved me, but they
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wouldn't. I was just pulled in that
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direction, like prom example, like everybody on the team or so
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some people had necklaces and might be like basketball chains
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or Nike sign the necklace. I had said thug life, you know
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what I'm saying? So that, but that was my
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mentality. So you know, and so I won't say
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what nothing pulling me that way.
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I was literally pushing myself in that direction.
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And so after my first year in Georgia, I catch a weed case, I
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get going to county jail down there, didn't get dropped off
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the team. Coaches called me in office,
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gave me a two week notice, we're going to drop on you in two
12:27
weeks. Basically giving me time to
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clear my system out and stuff like that.
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So I clean my system out and I end up getting back on the team.
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I never really was kicked off or just suspended and we got to my
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senior year. I'm doing the same thing.
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And after my last basketball game in the conference
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tournament, after we lost in the conference tournament and we
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didn't get selected for the the NCAA tournament, I dropped out
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of school and I was full-fledged into the streets.
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Like this is my opportunity to kind of get what I really wanted
13:00
to do. And people was looking at me
13:04
crazy because they knew my talent and they knew what I was
13:06
able to do on the basketball court.
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And they was wondering, like when people say you going to
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come to a fork in the road and you got to make a choice.
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I chose the streets over basketball.
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Wonder why? Because I mean, to play in
13:18
college basketball, there's a, you know, each level there's a
13:22
different talent. You know, there's some really
13:24
good high school players, but they don't make it to college.
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And then there's some really good college players, but they
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don't make it to the pros. What?
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What do you think taking a fork in the road, having as much
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talent as you had playing basketball, you were still drawn
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the other way. You think it was just your
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mentality that you. Didn't it was just my mentality?
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I was making money and it was just my mentality.
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Like I said, it was just something like I feel like I
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belong in an environment like this was life for me.
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That was your community. Yeah, basketball was cool, but
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you know, I was one of the type of players where, yeah, I
14:01
practice hard and stuff like that, but like, individual work
14:05
ethic, practicing, staying in after the gym, No, that wasn't
14:08
me. Soon as practice over, I got to
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get out of here because I got to get to the streets and handle
14:12
stuff. And so I think this is what it
14:15
was like. My mentality was you a street
14:18
person. I convinced myself that I
14:20
belonged in the streets and the streets was more important than
14:23
basketball. And then I was making money, so
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it was, yeah, it is somewhat easier to saying, you know, if,
14:33
if, if okay, forget the schooling now I ain't got to
14:35
worry about because basketball season is over there.
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For years. I'm not thinking I had offers to
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go like Norway. I want to go Norway and play a
14:44
couple. I back when they had IBIBDL and
14:47
CBA couple like I had tryouts, you know, I had a little agent
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with tapes, but I just wasn't the the dedication and the
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commitment it would to get to the next level.
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I wouldn't. Mindset wasn't.
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There for that. My mom said, yeah, My mom said
15:03
was I got to get this money. And so six months after that, I
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had caught my first drug case, trafficking drugs from Georgia
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to Missouri. And I sit six months in the
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county got me a good lawyer because of my college education.
15:17
I was giving probation. So I, I was released and I went
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right back to the block, hanging out with the gang selling drugs.
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I didn't try to do probation right.
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I came from an environment where the game was, oh, when you get
15:34
probation, then you you won't get three times to mess up three
15:37
times You drop dirty, then they going to send you to a 120
15:40
treatment in prison. Then you going to get out and
15:42
get put on probation again. Like that was a mentality
15:45
because I've seen others before me do it when I was in the
15:47
streets. So I already had a mindset, I'm
15:50
going to drop dirty, I'm going to end up doing the 120.
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And so I dropped dirty. Once they send me to a
15:57
outpatient, I dropped dirty again.
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I had to go do a 30 day inpatient because I dropped
16:01
dirty at the outpatient. So I had to go do a 30 day
16:03
inpatient. I went there on September 11th.
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The day of the twin tire attack was the day I was going into a
16:11
30 day inpatient treatment. Did that 30 days got out the
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same neighborhood same block dropped another dirty.
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I got sent to prison to do a 1/21/20 call back is what they
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called it. So you go do a 120 days in
16:27
treatment and if your your, your report is good, the judge called
16:31
you back and says you get to get the probation, start over and
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we'll try it again. If you don't call you back, you
16:37
go do your time. My probation back was seven
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years. But what happened was I had was
16:43
catching so many cases. Some of the cases came back up
16:47
while I was into treatment. So they took me from the
16:50
treatment. They took me from the treatment
16:53
to the county jail to fight these new charges and news
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cases. Were you addicted, Cardell?
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To the life most. Definitely the life, not really
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the drugs. You're not the drugs, the life.
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Lifestyle. That's what you're addicted to.
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Yeah, to me, the drugs are just part of the lifestyle.
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The weed, alcohol, the women, the mummy, the everything that
17:13
came with it. And so I would, while I'm I'm in
17:19
the county fighting discharge and I end up going to trial.
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This is how cocky I was like I'm I'm going to trial.
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I voted trial and I lost and they gave me an extra 12 years
17:29
running consecutively with the seven years that I already had
17:32
on probation. So I got a total of 19 years in
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the 1st place. First prison I go to, there
17:38
wasn't a treatment was Missouri State Penitentiary, the walls 23
17:44
years old with a 19 year sentence.
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When I walked in there, there was a sign written in red
17:49
letters on the wall said leave all.
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All was written in capital letters.
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Leave all your hopes and dreams behind.
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This is the first time I walked into a massive security prison.
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This the first thing that you see and that's what I did.
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I just jailed. I left all hopes and dreams of
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forget the basketball, forget trying to be a rapper, all of
18:10
that. Your mission is my mission was
18:12
to survive. That was my mentality.
18:14
Your mission is to make it out of here alive.
18:16
You're one of the worst prisons in the country.
18:18
They known for stabbings. The nickname is The bloodiest 48
18:22
Acres, The Walls. And so it's like, oh, luckily I
18:26
was only there for about a year because they was in the process
18:29
of closing down, so they switched me over.
18:32
So they sent thought. About making a museum now.
18:35
Yeah, it's a museum now. You go in there and and see it
18:38
and add everything. So they send us to a new prison
18:43
down in Lincoln. South Central Correctional
18:44
Center just opened up this one. When they went, Missouri went on
18:48
the spree of building a new prisons and they, the mistake
18:51
was they was training the guards, the newer guards for the
18:56
prison. They was training them with
18:58
lower level offenders. And they didn't understand that
19:01
there's a, there was a difference between how lower
19:03
level offenders act and how national security offenders.
19:07
Actually, there's a difference between somebody who got two
19:09
years, somebody who got five lives.
19:11
And so once they got once they got the employees, the the CE OS
19:17
trained, they took all the lower level offenders out, transferred
19:21
them and then brought all the Macs.
19:23
But to fill it up, they started letting people out the hole in
19:26
many different maximum securities around Missouri and
19:30
putting them on the yard and and they tried to run the yard like
19:34
a lower level. So it was all open.
19:35
So people was running the enemies.
19:37
People ain't seeing somebody might have stabbed somebody six
19:39
years ago. They running into them.
19:41
So it was stabbing left and right.
19:43
It was crazy. Guards was getting beat up.
19:46
Oh, hey man, it was it was like the 1st 18 months I was there.
19:51
We probably was on lockdown 15 months after 18 months, soon as
19:55
we get off lockdown, something happens.
19:57
We back on lockdown. When I went first went to
20:00
prison, you was able to order out of East Bay.
20:02
So when you order East Bay, you have Jordan zone, you can be
20:06
decked out and a lot of guards didn't like that.
20:08
So they implemented a rule on that.
20:10
So as soon as we got off lockdown, they told us that
20:12
rule. It was a big old riot.
20:14
Now we're on lie down again. So like I said, like the first
20:16
sixteen first year and a half, we probably locked down 15
20:19
months. And I'm not doing nothing with
20:21
my time, but I'm, I'm really gelling like I'm fighting
20:24
Stabbed. I got stabbed.
20:27
I'm yeah, I'm just doing everything, playing poker,
20:30
nothing about voting, rehabilitation.
20:33
Wise. Yeah, nothing about
20:36
rehabilitation was in my mind at all.
20:38
Just, you know, I'm in prison. I got a 19 year sentence.
20:41
You know, I, but what happened was I was likely on gear 4A
20:46
Senate bill passed to cut the mandatory minimum on the gun
20:50
charge was with one of the charges I had I lost in trial
20:54
cutting in half. So it put me up for immediate
20:56
parole. I went to the parole board.
20:59
It was the quickest pro here in history.
21:01
I always tell people this, it had to be the quickest.
21:03
The guard walked me to the parole here and said go on in.
21:08
I go in, he goes to the bathroom.
21:11
When I walk in there, the people say, Mr. Sims, you are part of
21:14
the problem. You got a few more years with us
21:17
and then what do you think about institutional behavior and drug
21:20
treatment? My criminality knew to take the
21:23
treatment because it give me an opportunity to get out early.
21:26
So I said I'll take the treatment.
21:27
That was my whole parole here. They said, all right.
21:30
I walked out. The guard came back from the
21:32
bathroom. He told me to go in.
21:33
I said, man, I ain't been in there.
21:34
He said, man, that's the fastest I ever seen somebody go in and
21:37
out for me. At that time, my mentality was
21:41
it wasn't enough to talk about. They told me I had some more
21:43
years with them and they asked him.
21:44
They told me I was part of the problem and they asked me about
21:48
the treatment. So that was it.
21:50
I got my answer back probably like 3-3 weeks 3-4 weeks later
21:54
and it was just what they said. I had a few more years with
21:57
them. They gave me a full year out
21:59
date and but what it did it dropped my custody level from
22:03
Max to to minimal. So I go from this level 5
22:06
maximum security to a minimal security prison and it was like
22:10
going from hell to heaven. I get there, they got pool
22:15
tables, punching back, they got everything and I'm to the point
22:19
I'm like why y'all got all this stuff in a prison?
22:22
They got a pool table. If something if I'm using the
22:25
maximum speed, I get something from going down.
22:27
Something goes down, somebody gets hit with that.
22:30
Swing your pool stick. They got real weights.
22:32
Somebody's going to be throwing these, slinging these blades.
22:34
And I'm like, what? What is it?
22:36
Who came up with this? But I'm not realizing because
22:45
opportunities, because I didn't have nobody sending me no money
22:49
or anything like that. My mother, she was probably
22:52
about, she had just started her recovery phase.
22:55
So during this time she's probably in her six or
22:57
seven-year recovery. And you know, just because
23:00
you're recovering and your addiction doesn't mean you don't
23:02
have any money. That don't automatically mean
23:05
you're going to have some money. And so I got a job on work
23:08
release working for the governor's mansion.
23:11
I made $9 a day. I was working at the governor's
23:14
mansion, which was the best job in prison, $9 a day, $9 a day in
23:19
prison is like a millionaire. Yeah, it's like you're a
23:24
millionaire. And so every day we wake up, I
23:28
wake up 6:00, go to the governor's mansion and we'd be
23:31
gone from 7:00 in the morning to probably like 5.
23:33
So that's what I really liked about it, that we wasn't at the
23:36
prison and we got to eat regular food that was at the governor's
23:39
mansion because it's probably 10 of us that worked out there on a
23:42
daily basis. They had three or four people
23:44
worked in the kitchen, so they in there cooking up, you know,
23:46
and stuff like that. So we eating real good.
23:48
I I was a lead pantry worker, so I had to make the governor's
23:51
coffee at. Matt Blunt was the governor at
23:53
the time. He was a young.
23:54
Man. Yeah, and so I learned how to
24:00
set tables because they used to have banquets.
24:02
So on a regular day, we go nine, we go from 7:00 to 5:00, do this
24:06
really cleaning up the governors mansion, probably do an hour
24:09
with the work. And then for the rest of the
24:10
day, we sitting on the, on the front porch of the government's
24:13
mansion in the downtown Jefferson City, watching state
24:16
employees and everybody go to work.
24:18
But in, in, in perennial prison. That's, that's, that's like the
24:21
best thing to have, you know? And so I was there and I was the
24:27
lead pantry worker. And so they used to host
24:29
banquets. So I used to have to set the
24:31
table just so I learned how to set tables for, for dinners and
24:34
stuff like that. I was there, I had that job for
24:38
about 6 months and they came and got me for treatment.
24:41
I was mad because I really like, I could have did that job.
24:44
I didn't even have to go to treatment.
24:45
I could do that job all the way until I got out for the next
24:48
three or four years I could have did that job.
24:51
And so I went to treatment and when I got the treatment, I was
24:58
running into people that I was locked up with in the massive
25:00
security. They put me in the parole
25:04
stipulated treatment and it was like everybody who has did a lot
25:09
of time was on their way home and we ran back into each other
25:12
in this treatment. And so the treatment was getting
25:14
ran like a, A level 5 prison. It wasn't, no, it wasn't no
25:18
therapeutic community at all. And the caseworkers and
25:22
counselors and them knew that. So they lined us all up, came in
25:25
there, fired everybody from there.
25:27
You have certain coordinated position and treatment.
25:30
So they fired everybody from their coordinated position.
25:33
Then they just started kicking people out left and right whom
25:36
you out here. And so you get kicked out of
25:37
treatment. You got to go through the rest
25:40
of your time to the condition release date.
25:42
And this is 2006. My condition, condition release
25:46
date was 2015. And so I'm like, I can't get
25:50
kicked out this treatment. And so we end up being on this
25:53
thing called tight house. We had to sit in a chair
25:56
straight up with our hands on the knees and stare at a brick
25:58
wall 7:00 in the morning, 5:00 PM while they while they went
26:03
through everybody's case criminal.
26:05
They reconcient and they was talking bad to us.
26:08
Went through that got out of treatment and went right back to
26:11
the same neighborhood, same block, same game started selling
26:15
the same drugs. I, I tried to get a little
26:18
moving job, but you know, right back to the same neighborhood,
26:22
same block, same game. But this time I get out in the
26:26
middle of a gang war. And so we actually in the war
26:32
with the the gang, that's this next street over.
26:37
So we got our street and then the next street over is the game
26:40
we won with only thing that separated us is an alleyway.
26:43
So we get out in the gang war. So people get shot.
26:47
Guy got killed. And because I wasn't the only
26:49
one for my block that was running out of prison, this
26:53
they, they violated us all for association.
26:55
They did anything they can to get us off the street because it
26:58
was getting crazy. So they violated, I got violated
27:00
for association, and they gave me a child support case.
27:06
So I go back to prison for a whole another year and a half.
27:09
I get out, go right back to the same neighborhood, same block,
27:14
but unbeknownst to me and everybody else is doing the time
27:18
the person got killed in the gang war.
27:20
The ATF and the federal government came into town, start
27:24
investigating, asking a lot of questions.
27:26
A lot of questions pointed back to our block, to our game.
27:29
And within two years, the federal government picked me and
27:32
31 other people up and they took us to the Kansas City, the
27:36
Western District of Federal, Charles Whitaker.
27:40
I know the name Charles Whitaker, Western District
27:43
Federal Courthouse. And I'm not 23 now, I'm 3435 and
27:50
I go. In.
27:53
First time I dealt with the federal system.
27:55
So I'm thinking to myself like, oh, they just picked me up.
27:59
But when they open up that federal holdover sale, when I
28:01
walked in there, I seen everybody that was on my block,
28:04
family, cousins, uncles, I mean everybody.
28:09
And then they took us all into the courtroom and handed us
28:12
indictment paper and they had the charges on there.
28:15
It was like six, it was like 6 indictments.
28:18
But we, we was all tied with each other.
28:21
People went out. Didn't know that was on that
28:23
diamond and things like that. And so I'm walking in there and
28:27
I'm not really, I'm not really tripping off the charges and the
28:30
time because I'll face this 1030 delight.
28:33
That was my normal thing every time I went to court.
28:36
That's what they started out with.
28:37
But I don't know how the Fed system goes.
28:40
I know how the state system goes.
28:41
I don't know how the Fed system goes.
28:43
But what caught my teaching was at the top of the paper was that
28:47
the United States of America versus.
28:48
Cardio that's the most intimidating thing you'll.
28:52
Ever see man Say what? Man, what?
28:54
I've seen that and that's and it kind of like froze me in all
28:58
thought process. Soon as I've seen it, everything
28:59
about me just froze and I'm and I couldn't keep my eyes off
29:03
that. And while I'm looking at it, I
29:07
only thing that came to my mind was I had to ask myself like,
29:09
why do you keep finding yourself in these situations?
29:13
I'm looking around the courtroom.
29:14
It's a new judge new prosecutor, a federal courtroom.
29:18
I'm looking at people that's on the case with me.
29:20
I'm going to call cases with these people with a beat cases
29:22
before and went to prison and together you know and I just
29:26
told myself I'm the reason why I keep finding myself in these
29:31
situations. And so from that point on right
29:34
right then and there I made a silence over to myself.
29:36
I didn't know how yeah that was my moment.
29:39
People say, what was your moment that United States of America
29:42
versus cardio CM that was actually seeing it and realizing
29:47
like, Oh, no, this is for real. This is this is the feds like we
29:51
you, you always hear the rappers and all this talk about the feds
29:54
like you really in the federal system.
29:56
And so I was just like whenever I get released, you know, this
29:59
was just the indictment. People don't know how the feds
30:02
were like you get the indictment here when you go in any
30:04
newspaper couple days, you would get the bond here.
30:07
So this is just indictments. I don't know what I'm really
30:10
facing how much time I'm going to get.
30:11
All I knew was I told myself I'm going to be better this the over
30:16
I mean myself, I'm going to be better when I get out of prison,
30:18
whatever that will be. Then I am standing there today.
30:22
So only thing I had while I was in the federal holdover down in
30:25
base county was books. You couldn't get nothing else
30:30
but books. So I quit reading the the urban
30:33
novels because I was used to reading the urban novels and
30:35
stuff like I quit reading. I put them down.
30:37
I started reading any and everything about knowledge
30:40
itself, science itself. One of the first books I read
30:43
was Smart Goals by Brian Tracy. Then I wrote another book,
30:48
Conscious, Subconscious, Super conscious.
30:51
I read The Seat of the Soul and that that book right there is by
30:54
Gary Zukav, one of them Oprah books.
30:57
And I read it and it had many different chapters of reverence
31:01
in, in the heart and all this, but the chapter that stood out
31:05
to me was intentions, how to be intentional through thought and,
31:10
and that would be intentional through your actions.
31:12
So I read that and I just started taking notes because I
31:15
could, I knew I couldn't take these books with me.
31:17
That's one of the things when you order the books, they got to
31:19
stay here. So I would just take the notes,
31:22
take notes, highlight, take notes.
31:24
And I built all these notes up. And so I was in the federal hold
31:28
over for 32 months waiting to get sent.
31:32
So I went my first. That's when I figured out, oh
31:34
man, this is how the feds work. It ain't like the state.
31:37
You ain't going to four court 4 court hearings in six months, I
31:40
wonder. What 32 months is 36 is three
31:44
years, so. Yeah, so I'm, I'm, I'm four
31:48
months short of three years that I spent in the federal holdover
31:51
waiting to get sentenced by the feds.
31:53
And because my judge, I was on the conspiracy, the judge I had,
31:58
we had one guy in our case, he went on the run.
32:00
So my judge, even though all of us have played out, my judge
32:05
didn't sentence us and said everybody that's on the case
32:08
docket pleads out. So we had to wait till they
32:11
catch this guy and get him in. Now he got to go through the
32:14
process, the bond, and then a year later getting the plea.
32:17
And so that's why I end up being there so long.
32:20
And so I end up getting sentenced to 77 months of
32:22
federal prison and they sent me to Leavenworth.
32:26
Leavenworth, United States, 77 months and.
32:30
He went to. Leavenworth 77 months.
32:34
Leavenworth USP, my numbers. You know how they do the they do
32:37
the point system and the Feds point system was way up there.
32:41
So they sent me the Leavenworth USP.
32:43
That's the place I got to walk around every day when I went to
32:46
the food warehouse and I was down at the camp, yeah.
32:50
And it was no different than the walls.
32:52
Honestly, it was no different. My last prison trip prison was
32:57
no different than my first prison, old prison I I.
33:01
Was 1879 the tier I was? Put into the tier, you know,
33:08
they had built the new units in Leavenworth USP.
33:11
They had the new units, but I was putting in the older unit
33:16
tiers. So as soon as I walk in as a
33:19
guy, you know, we are we going in there and there's all these
33:22
people standing at the door because it's not like in the
33:26
states. You yeah, it's not like the
33:28
state. When you walk in, you're walking
33:30
across the yard like in Leavenworth.
33:31
You going in this big old building, you're going to get
33:35
your stuff down there receiving. Then they're going to give me
33:37
your wing and not once are you going to go outside.
33:41
You're walking on yard. So you're going to go right to
33:43
the wing. So I go up on the you go.
33:46
And it's not like you walk into the bottom of the wing and then
33:50
you go up the stairs in the in the unit.
33:52
No, they have the stairs outside the unit to get to the wing.
33:56
So you're going up the steps, then you go through this door
33:59
and when you open the door. Everybody, let's stop, Cardell,
34:01
let's stop right there because I want to jump into that about how
34:04
what your world was and what you were thinking as you entered
34:08
that that doorway. Because before we do, I just
34:12
want to real quick recognize the Eimer's Success Podcast is
34:16
sponsored by the White Collar Support Group, the world's first
34:20
support group devoted to helping people navigate the white collar
34:24
criminal justice system. I'm a member of the White Collar
34:28
Support Group and I can tell you this is a bunch of people who
34:30
help each other through the criminal justice journey for
34:33
free, for free. Whether you're just starting
34:36
your journey or you've made it through the other side, this is
34:38
a great space for you. You can join us on Zoom Monday,
34:41
7:00 PM Eastern Time, 4:00 PM Pacific.
34:44
For information, go to prisoners.org.
34:46
That's prisoners.org. Start here.
34:48
OK, Cardell, I wanted to stop here 'cause I, I know that world
34:52
where you're going into, you're opening that door.
34:54
Tell walk us in. Because I've never seen this in
34:59
business. And usually when you go into a
35:01
unit, you going right into the unit, open the door.
35:04
So when you open the door, I'm like, man, what, what type of
35:07
setup is this? Why is the stairs on that on the
35:11
outside of the unit? Why not got to go up the stairs
35:14
on the outside the unit to get into the unit?
35:16
What's going on? And I didn't know that the unit
35:21
I was going to is normally is A5 tier unit.
35:26
So what they did was they separated and put a floor in
35:30
between the 2nd tier and the third tier.
35:32
So the bottom half of the unit was for the honor dorm people.
35:37
Top half of the unit was for the worst of the worst.
35:40
And so we walk in there and all you see is you see these people
35:45
just standing there and, you know, and it's not built like a
35:50
when I'm thinking a prison door, I'm thinking as soon as you go
35:52
through the door, you can see the whole door.
35:54
You can see everything from the front to the back, like, OK,
35:58
this wasn't how that built, not the.
36:00
So he walk in there, all you see is a brick wall and people
36:05
standing there. And then you got people saying
36:07
what's your number? What's your number?
36:09
Like, what's going on? What's your number?
36:10
And they look at my number like 0450.
36:13
Yeah. You with us?
36:13
You with us. You can't you can't can't see
36:15
the ain't you Western Missouri over five You with us.
36:18
And then we go around this little curve and I see one side
36:22
of the wing and I'm like, man, what is this?
36:27
Because the length of the wing is what got me.
36:31
It is probably about the size of a probably the longest a block.
36:37
And you can't see from where I from where I was standing in
36:40
front of you can't see all the way down to the end of the wing.
36:45
So I go up to the sale. I go in there, it's a white guy
36:51
in the sale. The guy that's walked to me,
36:54
he's like, no, that y'all can't, Y'all can't sell the white guy.
36:56
Like, no, you can't sell in here.
36:58
I'm like, but what's going on? So we go back down, the guy, the
37:04
spokesman for the car who was assigned to getting all the new
37:07
people in, we go, we got to go down and find you another sale.
37:11
We go down there. We tell the girl, he says, man,
37:13
he can't go in that cell right there.
37:14
The guard says, why? He says because there's a white
37:16
guy in there, you know, races don't mix.
37:19
And the guard said, well, go find him to sell.
37:21
I said, what, go find me. So then something like, oh, go
37:28
find me and sell like, you know, you not going to find the set
37:32
like so we walk around and they and we going and now he's he's
37:37
explaining the rules to me as we walking around trying to find
37:40
the sale. Like now we got to go get with
37:41
the the shot caller so we can figure out what sales that we
37:44
got open. And so as we walk by and we're
37:46
seeing people from 045 numbers, Oh man, where you from and stuff
37:50
like that. And they be like, you got any
37:52
sales? We got to sell open.
37:54
It's like, oh, we ain't got no sales open.
37:55
So they like we got to find in the sale.
37:58
So I'm like, man, what's going on in here?
38:00
And so he's breaking the rules down to me though, as we going
38:03
through. And so as we walk in, I'm
38:06
starting to see how this unit is built and is built in a, it's
38:13
kind of built like in a rectangle and you and you on one
38:17
side, you can't see the other side.
38:20
So you just walking around. And so they say, OK, this is
38:24
this is where we, this is our place where we sit and watch TV,
38:28
where we hang out there, play cards.
38:30
This Is Us. That's the, that's the Mexicans
38:32
right here. Don't step on their floor, don't
38:34
touch, don't even if you can stay away from here, don't even
38:37
do it. This is the, the, the, the
38:39
Christian area. This is the Aryan brothers.
38:41
And we did that every section. This is the, the, the, the gang
38:45
card. It's the Crips and Bloods area.
38:46
This is the, the folks, the GDS, this is the Muslim area.
38:49
And I'm like, what, what, what, what is everybody's in here
38:53
separating that? I'm like, what, what is going?
38:55
We all locked up. Why is it separated like that?
38:58
He's like, no, this is serious. You're like, man, this is
39:00
serious. So I'm like, oh man, what what?
39:03
What? I got myself in.
39:04
Then he's like, you gonna need your paperwork, like, huh, Like
39:09
yeah, you need to get your PSI, your transcription, all that in.
39:12
You're going to need that in. That's going to be a driver's
39:14
license. That's how you're going to move
39:15
around prison. Until you get that, you got to
39:17
stay in this wing. You can't really go out and do
39:19
nothing like that. You can't hang out.
39:21
Ain't nobody gonna hang out with you because they don't know if
39:23
you, if you told them somebody, if you're a sex offender or
39:25
what. Send me in.
39:27
Like, oh man. So I get on the phone, I call my
39:29
people, I tell them to send the paperwork in.
39:31
At the same time I'm telling them to send them notes, all the
39:34
notes and stuff I took. I tell them to send that in with
39:37
it. So once they come in, I get my
39:39
paperwork in. It was, it was official.
39:42
So I was able to move around the prison.
39:43
So I just got back to the normal routine that I was doing when I
39:48
was in the federal holdover at base county to read, going to
39:51
the library and I'm asking people in the car what type of
39:54
books they have, what type of business books, knowledge books
39:56
they have. And so that was my, that was my
39:59
daily regimen. I, I looked at what type of
40:01
programs was offered and they had the janitorial program.
40:06
So I took that because I was thinking to myself like I got to
40:08
get some type of skills. I got to pick up some type of
40:10
skills, some type of trade. So I took that.
40:13
I want to come out with many certificates that I could, so I
40:17
took the janitorial. As soon as I got done with that,
40:19
I took this class called Hotel Hospitality and Lounging and
40:25
Logic, and it was by the American Hotel and Logic
40:28
Institute down in Florida. It was a real I, I didn't really
40:32
know the impact and the importance of the, the class
40:35
until once I graduated. After that, I became a tutor.
40:39
There's this class called Constant Success, Man, you
40:42
should come and join it. And I went down there and, and
40:45
there was in this class, they taught me about affirmation and
40:49
vision board. So I put that into the resume it
40:57
already had and it just took off.
40:59
And so I started off with the affirmation.
41:01
I said this one affirmation. I am greater than the situation
41:06
that I'm in. I said that like six months
41:08
before I before I had faith in that.
41:10
And what I mean by that is before I knew for a fact that I
41:13
was greater than the situation that I was in up to that I, I
41:18
thought I was, but I just didn't.
41:20
You don't have no skills or nothing like that.
41:22
You know that this is, that's just a thought.
41:25
But once I started preparing myself like I, I realized I am
41:28
greater. Your mind actually does believe
41:30
what you tell it. You know, it's, it's that it's
41:33
that crazy thing that like that old Henry Ford quote, whether
41:36
you think you can or whether you think you can't, you're right.
41:39
But you telling yourself that over six months, your mind
41:42
regardless started believing that had to be true because you
41:45
kept telling your mind that. Yeah, and, and and then I
41:49
started carrying myself differently, even though I
41:52
already was. But it's like I got more, more
41:55
stricter. I got more discipline in my
41:57
regimen of what I was doing. So I took all my pictures off
42:00
the wall. That's what made me take all the
42:02
pictures that I had with my the rapping pictures I had doing
42:04
shows with these stars, the coins.
42:07
That's what made me taking like all this stuff don't mean
42:09
nothing. I need you to put a vision of
42:10
what your life's going to be like once you get out.
42:12
And I just built the vision board on my picture board.
42:15
I want to know, I want to be CEO.
42:17
I want to be a speaker. I knew I wanted to be an author
42:19
because somebody was telling me about the Amazon process.
42:22
I'm like, you mean tell me I can write a book in here, get out
42:25
and design the cover? Yeah.
42:27
That's inmate inspiration by the.
42:29
Way it's like, yeah. And so I'm like what?
42:36
So I just started. So I started setting a lot of
42:40
time throughout the day for certain things.
42:43
I work in the morning. By the time the afternoon came,
42:46
I will be spending time in the library studying on things that
42:50
was on my vision board. Like I didn't know how to start
42:52
no business. I didn't know about filling out
42:53
no business paperwork, but business structure.
42:55
So I would study, then I would have people send me in that
42:57
actual paperwork to start at LLC and I would practice on filling
43:01
it out every day. And so I get it down to AT and
43:05
then so once I got out, it become automatic.
43:08
And I did that with everything, studying speakers, how much
43:10
speakers made, how to do this and do that.
43:13
I got that's what I did. I just studied everything on my
43:15
vision board to where I knew it. And, and everything that you did
43:18
with that vision board, you started to conquer.
43:22
I mean, it became part of you and and that had to have been so
43:27
much of an escape for you, for your mind during time in prison.
43:33
Oh, yeah. It was like I was in a whole, it
43:34
was like I was in a whole another whole another world
43:37
because I wasn't called up in what was going on.
43:40
Only time they like in the car, like they really weren't too
43:44
concerned with me as long as I made it to the meetings, you
43:47
know, in the federal man, you got a meeting.
43:49
I don't know. We got 100 meet.
43:51
I don't know why we keep having all these meetings for, you
43:53
know, what's going on, you know, things like that.
43:56
But you know, I was aware of what was going on in the prison,
43:58
but I was more tuned into. One for the people down in the
44:01
Cayman Islands. Prepare myself with the.
44:03
Car is that sent me right around in the island with it's it's
44:06
people that you hang with in prison.
44:08
That's your car. Yeah, that's your car.
44:10
And, and and that and that tripped me out alone as well,
44:13
because I was like when they explained like that, it's the
44:16
car, I'm like, what? Like then you got the black car,
44:18
you got the white car, you got the car, you got the native car,
44:21
you got the Asian car being with in the cars, you got certain
44:26
cars with indigo. So like like the black car you
44:29
like. I was in Leavenworth, so Kansas
44:31
City. That was O44.
44:33
We were enough to have, you know, we were still Missouri.
44:40
Yeah, still Missouri. And so do you have like you have
44:44
Muslims in the black car, then you had gangs in the game car in
44:48
the black car. So his car was broken down in
44:51
many different sets. Even with the Mexicans, you had
44:53
the Northanos, the Serenos, the Tessa Mexicans.
44:57
Even with the whites, you had the white Christians, you had
45:00
the Aryan Brothers, you had the rednecks, you know, and I'm
45:03
just, and to myself, I'm thinking, why are we all
45:07
dividing each other like this and being oppressed at the same
45:11
time? Like it just didn't make sense
45:12
to me, you know, and then you. And so I'm like, man, I, I got
45:17
to make sure I'm really prepared when I walk out here.
45:19
You're getting really educated you you've gotten to the point
45:22
where you can fill out LLC and you're and you're, you know,
45:25
while you're asleep, you start getting close to the door and
45:30
you start I, I think everybody starts feeling a little weird in
45:33
federal time. When you get close to the door,
45:35
you know it's like you've unplugged.
45:38
You're in this world, you're going to the freedom world.
45:41
What was what was going through your mind knowing that you were
45:43
getting out? So me getting out, I wasn't
45:47
really too concerned. Reason why?
45:50
Because I had built enough confidence over accomplishing
45:56
the small things, learning about the LLC, studying these little
45:59
things, because I've set personal goals for myself while
46:02
I was incarcerated. Yeah.
46:04
And Cochran. So the confidence was there.
46:05
Like, I just got to go out here and put the work in.
46:08
My only fear was me getting close to the door.
46:11
And the court says we need you to go stab up the caseworker
46:15
because I I, I want what happened in, in, in, in the
46:18
messaging car got two months away from going home and they
46:22
sent him out to go stab up the unit manager.
46:25
Right. So I was just hoping, like, man,
46:28
I, I hope that that doesn't happen.
46:30
I don't get the one that that's chosen, but the crazy part is
46:33
the choir respected me enough and what I was doing and I had a
46:36
voice in the scene. You know he's on his own.
46:39
Path. Yeah, we know what you own.
46:42
But you'd earned that respect, too.
46:43
Yeah, we ain't going to put you in that situation.
46:45
And so that was my holy fears. I was hating it.
46:49
I was like, man, I hope I please don't Call My Name on me to come
46:55
home like that because I wouldn't have been able to do
46:57
it. I'm going to be honest with you.
46:58
I would walk, I would have walked myself to the hall.
47:02
Let's talk about what you've done is pretty incredible.
47:05
And and the other thing is, is that, you know, you go back into
47:09
the prisons all the time. I mean, you walked out and
47:12
you've walked back in, which is I?
47:15
Love it too, but I knew I was though that was I knew that
47:20
going out because I I Swatch guys come in on violation man
47:25
you can't never get off federal probation.
47:27
They follow you everywhere. I was riding down the street my
47:30
PO told me to pull over. They was behind me.
47:32
They always own, you know, I said, hear all these excuses
47:35
nice and tell guys when I walk out of here, I'm going to come
47:38
back in here and give you the game on how I made I'm like,
47:40
what? I'm going to come back and get
47:42
him on, on how I made it. You know, it's that was one of
47:45
the reason why I wanted to be a life coach.
47:47
That's why life coach was on my vision board and stuff like
47:49
that, being the speaker. And so when I walked out, all I
47:52
no money at all. All I had was for the new brown
47:56
legal folders. I still got them to this day,
47:58
the four brown legal folders of all the notes, all the plans,
48:02
all the goals and what I was going to do.
48:04
And I had that vision board. I went to the halfway house.
48:08
I knew I couldn't take no factory job.
48:11
I knew that if I took a factory job, that was a set up for
48:13
failure to me, because I'm ADHD, for one, I can't stay in the
48:17
factory and I will quit. If I quit, that was an excuse
48:20
for me to get back into the streets.
48:22
And so I saw that right now, what type of jobs will help me
48:25
become a better speaker. And when I went to the halfway
48:28
house, they handed me this paper and all that was on it was
48:30
factory jobs, except for one job, and it was a telemarketer
48:34
job. I got the bus pass.
48:37
I went to the job and I walked in.
48:38
There was a young black guy. He was like, man, you from the
48:41
halfway house? I was like, yeah, he was like my
48:44
brother in there. He was like, man, are you going
48:46
to show up for work? That's all I need to know.
48:48
I said, yeah, you had any paper? He said, read the script.
48:51
I read the script. He said come back tomorrow at 7,
48:53
you'll start. I'm like, OK, that's thing.
48:56
You know, each every person started setting things like, OK,
48:59
what's your goal for the day? How many you going to get?
49:02
It's my. Community, this is what I
49:04
belong. I'm like, OK, this is my type.
49:07
Affirmations and goals, this is my community.
49:10
And so I just strive to be the best telemarketer I can.
49:13
I set my goals for myself. One of the goals they used to
49:17
have was try to get an AMX card instead of a MasterCard.
49:21
And if you can get an AMX card, you get bigger points.
49:24
So I'm just trying to forget the AMX card.
49:26
And so from there they helped me become a better speaker.
49:30
So this was my, this is my routine.
49:32
Miles and a half without. I go to work 72, I'm leaving out
49:35
at 5 and get back like 334. Soon as I get back, they had a
49:39
little lunch ready. I eat, I would type up the books
49:42
that I wrote. I wrote 3 novels.
49:45
I've typed up three novels that I wrote.
49:47
And then I would, I took $10 a week out of my pay and I wasn't
49:51
making it. I probably was bringing home
49:52
$9080.80 to $9 a week. People say how, how do you do
49:56
that? Well, I got I made $11.00 an
49:59
hour, so 40 hour week that's 440.
50:03
Let's take taxes out. So we down about three, 2300.
50:06
I owe 700 in child support. So child support was taking half
50:10
of my check. Now we down 150.
50:12
Then I had state parole and probation fees.
50:15
I still even though I was on federal probation, I still was
50:18
on state probation and federal probation, I mean and, and state
50:21
parole. And so I had $60.00 fees on that
50:25
and fees for the feds. So I was down about like 60-70
50:29
to $80.00 a week. But I knew this coming out.
50:31
I already had all this written down.
50:32
I had the budget claim and everything.
50:34
So I already knew. But no fine, no Jordans or
50:37
nothing like that. Go on down to Walmart and get
50:39
you $10 sweats. Go get you some $20 shoes.
50:42
And no, make no difference how you look, you ain't, you ain't
50:44
here for the looks. You here to get your look.
50:46
This is the, the starting process and you got to trust the
50:49
process. So I, I took that $10 and I and
50:53
I rolled in $10 a week and pay for these life coaching courses
50:56
online. And so when I walked out the
50:59
halfway house four months later, I had the three books typed up,
51:02
I had one life coaching diploma and I had money saved up and I
51:07
had was able to give me a vehicle all.
51:10
Part of the plan. And so the from that, so when I
51:13
so from that point on, all part of the plan.
51:17
So when I, I knew I couldn't go back home.
51:20
So when I left the halfway house, I, I went home for a
51:24
square 2nd and the opportunity arose, arose for me to go
51:29
somewhere else and I took that opportunity.
51:33
During this time, I, I started working in marketing and
51:36
promoting for a home improvement company.
51:39
And what this job taught me, taught me two things in this job
51:41
taught me how to interact with people because I wasn't an
51:44
interact person coming out of prison.
51:46
Like, you know, you get that thing, you don't really want to
51:48
be bothered. And so that this job and I stand
51:51
in. I used to do home and garden
51:52
shows, corn shows, Sam's Club, Costco's, price choppers.
51:57
And I'll be standing as people leaving ask them, are they
52:01
interested in the home improvement products?
52:02
What's their next home improvement products?
52:04
So it taught me how to communicate people, but it
52:06
taught me the best lesson I learned and that was how to deal
52:10
with rejection. I heard no but.
52:12
You would have. Found that often times a day I
52:14
mean both. Of those things are really.
52:15
No, and I taught me the yeah and telemarketing as well.
52:21
And what with the telemarketing, for me it was more so perfecting
52:26
my speech, getting out of the hood talk, you know, learning
52:30
how to read the script, pronunciate my words and stuff
52:34
like that. And so like each job I got, I
52:37
took a lesson out of it. And So what I would do on the
52:41
weekends, I will host, I would like find a place to rent out
52:46
and I will host my own speaking engagement because about this
52:49
time, I'm still going to life coaching school.
52:52
So once six months later, I get this life coaching diploma,
52:55
master certified and family life coach.
52:57
As soon as I get that, I start my business, my coaching
53:01
business. And so then on the side while
53:05
I'm working on like my free time, I would cut grass or I
53:10
will rate leaves. Like I started off cutting grass
53:12
that was I had like 6 yards out because I wasn't trying to start
53:15
an online care company. I just know that was one of my
53:18
ways I can use to make extra money that I had written down
53:21
South. Six people every other week at
53:24
2530 dollars was suffice enough for me.
53:28
But I will host my own speaking engagements for free.
53:32
But I would sell my books. Remember I had three books typed
53:34
up, so I would sell my books. So people will come to the
53:37
speaking engagement even though they had to pay nothing.
53:39
They will buy books and T-shirts.
53:41
So I was making on the average, average customer order will
53:45
probably be like 95 bucks. So I might have 10 people come.
53:50
So I will make good money off the speaking game because from
53:53
them buying a book. And so once COVID hit, it messed
53:57
it took me out of the the stores doing the market because you
54:01
couldn't do that type of work at that time.
54:03
No more. Now I'll be trying to figure out
54:04
like, OK, what's my next move? And my mentor said I had a
54:08
mentor and he told me, he said, I, I need you to write a book
54:11
about your life. Man, you got a crazy life.
54:14
I want you to write a book about your life.
54:16
And I wrote the book and made the inspiration and I
54:19
pre-ordered and I have 400 pre-orders.
54:21
The book took off and it put me and what it did was put me where
54:26
I belong. Motivational Speakers
54:30
Opportunity Grant is part of the First Step, First Chance Act and
54:35
I got picked to be one of the speakers.
54:39
They paid, they paid me $1200 and they paid for the travel,
54:44
lodging, and food. I had to pay for nothing.
54:46
I did 7 institutions and while I was doing the institutions, I
54:51
was asking guys, what would you like to have in this prison if
54:55
you could? And they've like programs ran by
54:57
people like you that's been through it.
54:59
And so I started creating me, I started creating my own reentry
55:02
Academy on the inside Reentry Academy, because I knew that
55:06
reentry started on the inside, a prison in himself.
55:10
And so I created a personal development curriculum.
55:13
And I just started reaching out to prisons.
55:15
Like I got this program sharing my story.
55:17
And one of the prisons I reached out to happened to be one of the
55:19
prisons I was in in Missouri. And they was like, Oh no, we
55:23
want that in the prison. And so the thing about it, I had
55:27
built a virtual side for it as well.
55:29
So I was shopping to go physically in Missouri and
55:33
virtually all over the all over the country.
55:35
So I did my market research and everything and I, I realized
55:39
that Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and Snapchat wasn't my
55:43
powerhouses for the field that I was in.
55:47
So I went over to LinkedIn. This is where the wardens, the
55:51
re entry coordinators. And so because I had the content
55:55
already, all I came out of prison documented my whole
55:58
journey giving out information. So I had the content already on
56:02
my page. So all I had to do was just
56:04
connect with them. And then when they go look at me
56:06
out, they see what I'm about. And I built up a mass follow on
56:09
LinkedIn. And then I end up getting the
56:11
virtual side in a few prisons in Arizona.
56:14
And so then I just started running the programs.
56:16
But the thing about my program was I'll bring in like my six
56:20
month program. I'll bring in two formerly
56:23
incarcerated successful people every month.
56:27
So not only in my class do you get me who, who, who's been
56:31
through it, you're going to get two other people as well.
56:33
So once the six months Passover, you not seen 12 people who been
56:38
in the same shoes. You have came out and did some
56:41
great thing big impact. So for me, we you talking about
56:46
you saw more earlier how that was hope.
56:48
To me, it was bigger than hope. To me it was hope is like, man,
56:52
I, I, I, I can, I can possibly do that.
56:54
To me it was wrong. You can do that.
56:57
This is this is what you know, I need you to know that no matter
57:00
what, you get 20 years, you get 2 years.
57:03
You did five years. No matter what, you can come out
57:06
and do it because I'm bringing people in like like Aaron
57:09
Aaron's coming in, sharing his story, talking about how he got
57:12
into the trucking in the podcast.
57:14
Or I had another guy who come who made, who was famous on
57:18
Instagram for making his own clothing line inside of prison.
57:22
He got released and now he's doing great things with some
57:25
bringing these type of people in Wallow, this guy named Wallow
57:29
who who did 20 years now he's one of the top podcasters.
57:33
They got one of the top podcasting him and his cousin in
57:36
the game, $1,000,000 worth of game.
57:38
They like they sound like a A6 figure podcast check.
57:41
So I'm bringing these type of people in.
57:43
You seeing the results and I'm telling them like first thing I
57:45
do in my class is very first class we have is you making a
57:48
vision board. You ain't got no vision for
57:51
yourself. Then then you're going to be out
57:53
here crashing, you're going to run into the detours you're
57:56
going to give her, I need you to have a vision for yourself so
57:58
you can have a plan. And so I want, what I did was I
58:03
wanted to take that same field my program does, but I want to
58:07
take it across the country in one day workshops.
58:10
So 2023 I just reached out to people and said, look, man, I'm
58:13
going to go do some work. I like what you mean.
58:15
I said we ain't getting paid none of that.
58:17
We're going to come out of our pocket with it, but this is my
58:20
vision. My vision is to take five or six
58:22
people in as many prisons. We can do one full day
58:25
workshops. We're not going in there
58:27
speaking, we going in there to work.
58:29
I'm going to do the creative vision side.
58:30
So when I'm done with my eye on the workshop, they're going to
58:34
have a vision for six areas of their life with two goal steps.
58:38
That's going to start them off into working on manifest of that
58:42
vision using the smooth goal system.
58:45
Aaron came in, he did the entrepreneurship.
58:47
So when after he did the one hour on his workshop, when they
58:50
left out, they had an elevator pitch and they knew the five
58:54
things that they needed to do to as far as their paperwork when
58:58
it came to business. How to get your EIN number, what
59:01
type of business structure form where you go out to fit out the
59:04
business, a business structure form where you go out to get the
59:07
virtual address, where you go to get your business phone number.
59:10
And so they have that. Yeah.
59:12
So then we did job readiness, we did parenting, we did mental
59:15
health and Wellness. And then we did re entry
59:17
resources where we connected with the re entry resources in
59:20
that city or in that state and had them come in and get them
59:24
signed up for the resources that they may need and things like
59:28
that. So everybody that everybody that
59:31
went with me, we did 8 states over 20 something plus
59:35
workshops, grassroot, all, all, all on our own.
59:40
And it was it was a success. And so by this time I had wrote
59:45
two more books and I had created 44 workbooks.
59:49
And so I expanded my programs from just personal development.
59:53
Now we do entrepreneurship, we do sharing your story through
59:57
book writing or speaking. We do four ways to manifest your
1:00:01
vision. Well, they're great about this.
1:00:04
You know, you don't have to go look it up, Cardo, you did it.
1:00:08
You actually did it. And and I think that has such a
1:00:11
a huge difference, difference maker of of how people absorb
1:00:15
that information when you're telling it because they're going
1:00:19
to grab onto that and because you were where they were and now
1:00:23
you are where you are and you're telling them, here's the tools,
1:00:26
use these tools, use these tools.
1:00:29
I got to ask you, Cardo, because you know, yeah, it's incredible
1:00:34
what you did 'cause you you really transition transformed
1:00:40
that moment when it was United States of America versus Sims.
1:00:45
And from that moment forward, you changed your life.
1:00:49
You changed everything that you were doing in your life from it
1:00:52
was like a demarcation point. This forward for everybody
1:00:58
that's out there listening to this story because I think it's
1:01:01
really inspiring. I think people who are stuck,
1:01:04
you know, people that are blaming a bad job, bad marriage,
1:01:06
I've went to prison. I, you know, I've had bad
1:01:08
childhood, all those things. What do you think's your biggest
1:01:12
take away from everything that you've been through for those
1:01:15
out there? To don't let the limitations of
1:01:18
your background reduce the height of your potential.
1:01:22
You have to outgrow what you were born into.
1:01:25
And instead of making excuses like I I, I let them all the way
1:01:29
up. When you think about it, like I
1:01:30
let product of my environment mentality kill a lot of things
1:01:37
that I could have possibly done. That's about was, for example,
1:01:41
like you were talking earlier, how why did I take their fault?
1:01:43
Because I felt like I was a product of my environment and I
1:01:46
was I'm growing what I was born into.
1:01:48
I was letting that single thing keep me into what I was born
1:01:53
into and it was taking me in and out of prison.
1:01:56
So I had to realize that it was a, it was a certain thing that
1:02:00
happened that made me realize I wasn't a product of my
1:02:03
environment, 'cause I tell people it's, it's three things
1:02:05
that I did and locked in on when I was in prison.
1:02:08
One, I had to challenge some of my beliefs, those self beliefs,
1:02:12
the belief like I was a product of my environment.
1:02:15
I had to start prioritizing what I value because I had value the
1:02:20
streets. I put the streets over
1:02:21
everything, family, children, my freedom, everything.
1:02:26
So I had to realign them. I had to realign them.
1:02:29
I had to start prioritizing putting myself, God, family
1:02:32
first above all. And then I just started having
1:02:36
expectations for myself because all those other times I got out
1:02:38
of prison, I, I was just expected to go back to the
1:02:41
block. So once I started having
1:02:44
different expectations for myself, I started carrying
1:02:46
myself in a different way. Certain people can't be around
1:02:50
me. I didn't be around certain
1:02:51
people and things like that, but the product of my environment,
1:02:54
the product of my environment that meantime, he kept sitting
1:02:56
me back to prison. And So what I realized was I was
1:03:01
talking to my mom on the phone and she was telling me this girl
1:03:05
that I graduated high school with just started her own law
1:03:09
firm. And while that was important to
1:03:11
me and the product of my environment is because me and
1:03:14
this girl grew up next door to each other.
1:03:17
Her mother and her father was on crack.
1:03:20
Her grandmother raised her. My grandmother almost since
1:03:23
raised me. My grandmother used to walk over
1:03:25
to her grandmother house every day, Monday through Friday,
1:03:28
10:00 in the morning, 3:00 in the avenue, watch the soap
1:03:31
operas. I watched this girl dedicate
1:03:35
herself to her education. When she graduated high school,
1:03:39
she went to college. She got pregnant in first year
1:03:41
in college. She didn't give up.
1:03:43
She had a child she kept and she knew she wanted to be a lawyer.
1:03:46
I remember when we was teenager and she was saying this child
1:03:50
and that baby passed crib death. She didn't let him stop her.
1:03:54
She kept her eyes on the vision. And so it hit me like she came
1:03:59
from where I came from. Both her parents was on drugs
1:04:02
real bad. Not once did she sell drugs, not
1:04:05
once did she go to prison and none of that.
1:04:07
So how come I'm a part of my bomber and she's not?
1:04:11
Once I once I realized that, it hit me.
1:04:14
I am not a product of my environment.
1:04:17
I've been using this background to hold me back all the time.
1:04:21
There's limitations where I come from, these excuses to hold me
1:04:24
back. So that was the biggest thing
1:04:26
was don't let the limit. I love it.
1:04:28
That's a great example too, Cardo, great example.
1:04:31
I mean, that's you've given so many things today for people to
1:04:34
think about, to think, hey, I I can get there.
1:04:38
I can get there. And and that's so much of your
1:04:40
story is is it you not only talk about it, you give people the
1:04:44
tools and then you go in and you teach them the tools and and
1:04:47
man, I wish we could have and clone Cardell Sims just watch
1:04:52
you all over. Best way to get a hold of you
1:04:54
Cardell. Obviously.
1:04:55
Cardell sims.com. All social media outlet I am
1:05:00
Cordell Sims they reach out to me I I meant to a lot of people
1:05:06
I don't know I don't charge at all.
1:05:08
That's what but one of the things that a lot of guys come
1:05:13
out of prison love about me because they reach out to
1:05:15
certain people and the people say, yeah, accept the call.
1:05:18
Then when they go accept the call, it says in order to send
1:05:21
the call, you got to pay 129 for car station.
1:05:24
So man, I got a guy just hit me up out of and I'm in just
1:05:29
because I'm not in the state don't mean that I can't help you
1:05:32
out. Just I'm I got a passion helping
1:05:35
people. I live off this.
1:05:38
No doubt about that. And I, I'm just, man, I'm so
1:05:41
proud of what you've been able to do because you're, you're
1:05:44
such a great role model for these people to go back in and
1:05:47
do what you're doing, dedicating your time to do it.
1:05:50
And, and that vision board, man, it got you.
1:05:53
It got you where you wanted to go and.
1:05:55
Do what you want to do is the key to the law.
1:05:58
Oh, my telling everybody that's why I make it my first thing in
1:06:00
class to do. They said why we do that?
1:06:02
I said because if you want to go somewhere and you put out Google
1:06:07
Maps, you're not just going to open up Google Maps and just
1:06:10
tell you take and just let it take you anywhere.
1:06:12
The first thing you put in there is a destination.
1:06:15
Destination. Where you're going, so what's
1:06:16
your destination there is going to ask you your starting point,
1:06:19
your location, right where you at.
1:06:21
Then it's going to build out a map and that map is going to
1:06:23
show you three different routes to get there, how long it's
1:06:25
going to take you. It's going to show you the
1:06:26
detours at the police going around.
1:06:29
It's going to show you everything and you're able to
1:06:31
navigate and that's what your vision board is.
1:06:33
Your vision board is that destination and that map.
1:06:36
Man, that's a great, that's a great place to to leave it on
1:06:41
this show because that is, I think out of everything that
1:06:44
we've discussed, that's the biggest take away out of all of
1:06:48
it is that vision board. Once you locked into that
1:06:51
Cardell, everything changed your mind, everything and your
1:06:54
affirmations. You started believing it.
1:06:56
You started conquering. You got the confidence to do
1:06:58
whatever you could dream up to do.
1:07:02
And I want to say I want to thank Homestead Financial
1:07:05
letting me use this place here, the podcast room.
1:07:07
If you got any home mortgage needs, Greg Aftiev is your guy.
1:07:11
He is the guy that knows how to get all that done.
1:07:15
Go get, go get Cardell's book and he's got he's got multiple
1:07:20
books on that. I know he's got inmate
1:07:21
inspiration and other ones on there.
1:07:22
He's got his workbook. Go to Amazon, go to go to
1:07:25
Amazon, get my book. Nightmare success.
1:07:27
They're both over there. Don't forget to leave reviews on
1:07:31
Apple. It puts the show on steroids.
1:07:32
Share follow like all those good things. brentcassidy.com to go
1:07:36
to my website. That's where the Ty not a DYI
1:07:38
spell it wrong as I used to say when I was writing my people
1:07:42
back on core links. Stay strong.
1:07:44
I'll do the same. Cardell Sims man, thanks so much
1:07:47
for being on because your story is inspiring man.
1:07:50
Thanks for having me. All right, nightmare success in
1:07:55
and out.