Latest / Money And Wealth With John Hope Bryant / From the NFL to Financial Freedom with Arik Armstead

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From the NFL to Financial Freedom with Arik Armstead · Money And Wealth With John Hope Bryant

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Money and Wealth with John ho'bryant, a production
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: of the Black Effect Podcast Network and iHeartRadio. Hey Hey,
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: it's John Hobriant and this is the Money in Wealth
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  Speaker 1: podcast series, Season three on Black Effect Network on iHeartRadio.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you all for making this podcast one of the
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  Speaker 1: top one percent of all podcasts in the world on
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  Speaker 1: every continent, in top forty, top fifty of entrepreneurship podcasts
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  Speaker 1: in the United States on Apple specifically, and the chance
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: to really infect you with a new vision, a new
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  Speaker 1: mission of life changing information through our Ministry of Finance,
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  Speaker 1: quotation Ministry of Finance, our pullpit of hope. And today
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  Speaker 1: when I bring on guests once again, you know it's
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  Speaker 1: special and I am an honored today to bring on
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  Speaker 1: I believe my first NFL grade I had an NFL
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  Speaker 1: team owner, but I've never had I don't believe in
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  Speaker 1: NFL great yet.
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  Speaker 2: On the podcast.
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  Speaker 1: Eric Armsteed, who is Amazing, Originally drafted by San Francisco
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  Speaker 1: forty nine ers in their first round draft pick in
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  Speaker 1: twenty fifteen, seventeenth overall, signed by the Jacksonville Jaguars as
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  Speaker 1: an unrestricted free agent in twenty twenty four, named the
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  Speaker 1: NFL's twenty twenty four Walter.
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  Speaker 2: Payton Man of the Year. That is no small feat.
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  Speaker 1: He had sawt action in twenty twenty five and seventeen
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  Speaker 1: games and started eleven of them. He has performed with
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  Speaker 1: the forty nine ers, I mean the performances there are
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  Speaker 1: too many to mention. Played college collegiate at Oregon from
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: twenty twelve to twenty fourteen and posted a career high
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  Speaker 1: nine tackles and one fumble recovery in the College Football
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  Speaker 1: Playoff National Championships against Ohio State in twenty fourteen season.
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  Speaker 1: It goes on and goes on, go on, recorded to
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  Speaker 1: eighty seven total tackles. This is college now, I mean
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  Speaker 1: forty one of them solo. Like, the dude is huge.
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  Speaker 1: I mean in envision and in body and in intelligence.
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  Speaker 1: Ten tackles at four laws, four for sacks, two fumble recoveries,
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  Speaker 1: two passed.
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  Speaker 2: You know he's a bad brother.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, let me tell you about the personal part of
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  Speaker 1: him that I love. He and his wife, Melinda, who
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  Speaker 1: I met, have two daughters and a son. He's a
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  Speaker 1: son of Gus and Christa Armstead, and he has one
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  Speaker 1: brother and one sister. His brother armand Armstead played college
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  Speaker 1: football at USC right around the corner from where I
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  Speaker 1: grew up. Nineteen, he and Melinda founded the Armstead Academic Project,
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  Speaker 1: supporting students from low income families and Sacramento the California
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  Speaker 1: Bay Area in Jacksonville, Florida. He majored in general social
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  Speaker 1: science in Oregon. But I tell you he's got a really,
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  Speaker 1: really solid business brain. We'll get into that in a minute,
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  Speaker 1: and attended Pleasant Grove High School in Elk Grove, California.
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  Speaker 1: Now I met this bad brother. You have to look
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  Speaker 1: at at when you meet him. By the way, he's
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  Speaker 1: legito giant. I met him through my dear friend Jed York,
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  Speaker 1: who's the owner of the San Francisco forty nine ers now,
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  Speaker 1: and I.
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  Speaker 2: Met him at the Super Bowl this year.
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  Speaker 1: In Jed sweet, I'm saying all this to sort of
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  Speaker 1: layer on the obvious. There's not a lot of players
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  Speaker 1: formerly with the forty nine ers. He's not there anymore
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  Speaker 1: who get invited to the owner's suite the day of
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  Speaker 1: the biggest game of the year just to hang out.
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  Speaker 1: But Jed York made it very clear he didn't just
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  Speaker 1: like this man. He respected this man. He thought this
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  Speaker 1: man as I do is a good man and hit
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  Speaker 1: the impression that he gives you of integrity, of wisdom,
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  Speaker 1: of learning, how to listen, of being nosy and curious
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  Speaker 1: about all the right things, of trying to be a
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  Speaker 1: good father and a good man, and to give as
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  Speaker 1: much as he gets, and to be wicked smart.
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  Speaker 2: All that happens when you meet him.
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  Speaker 1: Ladies and gentlemen, join me in welcome me my new
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  Speaker 1: friend and the new Operation Hope Goodwill Ambassador Eric.
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  Speaker 2: And that's Eric with an A A R. I d Armstead.
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  Speaker 2: I'm you on the podcast, and I appreciate you.
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  Speaker 3: Thank you for the amazing intro and all the kind words.
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  Speaker 3: You know there there definitely is even before we met.
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  Speaker 3: There's definitely some some relational I don't know, some some
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  Speaker 3: work in the atmosphere. Because my mom is also from
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  Speaker 3: South Central She grew up in the Jungles before she
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  Speaker 3: moved to Sacramento.
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  Speaker 2: And uh, you know, my.
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  Speaker 3: Brother played at usc so La is a second home
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  Speaker 3: of ours, you know, a place that you find near
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  Speaker 3: and dear, and you know it was also us meeting
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  Speaker 3: was a little kidsman as well too, because I have
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  Speaker 3: been wanting to meet you for for quite some time.
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  Speaker 3: And I just so happened Super Bowl Sunday, I walk
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  Speaker 3: into Jed's Sweet and there there you are, and was
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  Speaker 3: able to meet you and introduce myself and you know,
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  Speaker 3: start our relationship. And I'm excited really to you know,
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  Speaker 3: joining in the fold. I think we think very similarly
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  Speaker 3: on a lot of things, and I'm excited to. I
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  Speaker 3: have been excited to learn more about Operation Hope and
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  Speaker 3: all the work that you in your organization is accomplishing,
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  Speaker 3: and I'm excited to join the Fold as well too,
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  Speaker 3: and and be a part of that change and helping
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  Speaker 3: the communities that need it the most, the disadvantage, the forgotten,
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  Speaker 3: the left behind, told a lot of for a lot
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  Speaker 3: of years, people have told people from these communities that,
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  Speaker 3: you know, their lives didn't matter and they they didn't
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  Speaker 3: have anything to offer to society. But you and I
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  Speaker 3: know that's not the case. All they need is is
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  Speaker 3: someone to pour into them and provide some opportunities and resources.
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  Speaker 3: And we know these these communities produce the most creative,
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  Speaker 3: brightest people in society, people that can do anything and
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  Speaker 3: overcome any adversity. So I'm excited to join in on
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  Speaker 3: the fold with you. And you know, share, share financial literacy,
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  Speaker 3: and preach these messages that are so important to our
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  Speaker 3: communities that we care about.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, and coincidence is God's way and remaining anonymous's and
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  Speaker 1: Andrew Young quote, are global spokesman that operation, and you're
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  Speaker 1: joining him as a ambassador, sort of following his way
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  Speaker 1: from the Second Reconstruction, which was a civil rights movement,
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  Speaker 1: to the third reconstruction, which is the ownership society and
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  Speaker 1: the opportunity society, a aspirational generation. And this book I
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  Speaker 1: just wrote, Capitalism for All, is really everything you just
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  Speaker 1: said about the potential from the bottom is. By the way,
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  Speaker 1: its top one hundred now on Amazon and top and
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  Speaker 1: number one in several categories already came out. And of
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: course I'm signed a copy and sending it to you
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  Speaker 1: buy one too, but I'll send you a copy.
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  Speaker 3: I'm a buy one and I need I need that.
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  Speaker 3: I'll buy one and I'll gift it and then I'll
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  Speaker 3: keep you. I'll keep your copy honored.
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  Speaker 1: And that book is unpacking not and it's not defending
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  Speaker 1: a current system that's ridiculous.
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  Speaker 2: It is uh because the latter does not going to
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  Speaker 2: the bottom.
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  Speaker 1: And those are the there are many of the top
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  Speaker 1: who don't deserve what they've gotten. They're just hanging around
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  Speaker 1: the right people in the right environments. But it is
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  Speaker 1: celebrating system that brought you and me into enlightenment, and
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  Speaker 1: in that suite at the forty nine ers that any
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  Speaker 1: person who works hard and does the right things and
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  Speaker 1: consistent at it can punch through all the barriers, go
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  Speaker 1: over around and through it and get to it, to
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  Speaker 1: that ownership promised land, that opportunity promised land, in spite
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  Speaker 1: of maybe the challenges, and to repair the system, to
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  Speaker 1: put the ladder to the bottom again so people can
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  Speaker 1: go from the bottom third, as you mentioned, to the
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  Speaker 1: middle class afford those tickets to go to NFL games
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  Speaker 1: and buy the plane tickets and the hotel rooms and
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  Speaker 1: be able to take care do that and plus the
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  Speaker 1: care of their families, and to come up to the top.
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  Speaker 2: And dream to be a you or me or better
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  Speaker 2: one of these days.
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  Speaker 1: So I think we're sitting in a moment in history,
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  Speaker 1: but history does not feel historic when you're sitting in it.
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  Speaker 1: It just feels like another day. I want to get
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  Speaker 1: doing the course of this podcast. I definitely want to
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  Speaker 1: get to the special sauce of your family because the
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  Speaker 1: guy I met in that suite doesn't just show up
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  Speaker 1: with that kind of confidence and self esteem that's poured
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  Speaker 1: into you from somewhere, that's nurtured and cultivated. The sense
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  Speaker 1: of quiet confidence you had when you got the power,
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  Speaker 1: you don't need to use it.
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  Speaker 2: You didn't need to flex. You didn't need to.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, clearly, you're like nine thousand feet tall and
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  Speaker 1: eight thousand feet wide. I mean, I question you have
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  Speaker 1: a commanding presence, but you had no need to accentuate
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  Speaker 1: that or to flex your chest. You didn't have a
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  Speaker 1: bunch of jewelry on not hating on folks with jewelry.
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  Speaker 1: You weren't floss and you were just there. And it
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  Speaker 1: was obvious when I met you that you were made
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  Speaker 1: of something special. I liked you from the moment I
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  Speaker 1: met you. And then when I said, I got an
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  Speaker 1: email from you, and I noticed the little things. The
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  Speaker 1: email address was a professional email address and just do
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  Speaker 1: a Yahoo or Gmail or some generic address. It was
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  Speaker 1: tied to your what I call your family office, but
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  Speaker 1: it was tied to your corporate platform. And you even
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  Speaker 1: had an assistant that was like properly structured in your
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  Speaker 1: organization that handled your workflow and schedule your appointments and
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  Speaker 1: help you.
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  Speaker 2: And that person was on the call with us briefly.
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  Speaker 1: And these things may sound like small things to people,
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  Speaker 1: but they are big things. That I built my organizations,
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  Speaker 1: all my organizations, I built them with institutions, the institution.
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  Speaker 2: Building in mind.
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  Speaker 1: I built them from day one, whether it's my nonprofits
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  Speaker 1: or my for profits, as if they were going to
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  Speaker 1: be something one day. And so everything I did was
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  Speaker 1: best in class in its structure from day one. And
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  Speaker 1: that's the way. That's one of the traits I've noticed
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  Speaker 1: about you, and a lot of people who are in
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  Speaker 1: your same position don't do any of that. They're just
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  Speaker 1: they just they just made some money, but they didn't grow.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, So I'm going to.
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  Speaker 1: Come back to the family piece and sort of how
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  Speaker 1: did you get here? Piece, But let's start this is
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  Speaker 1: called money and wealth. Let's get right into a basic question.
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  Speaker 1: You build a career at the highest level of professional sports.
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  Speaker 1: You're a gladiator, you're you're you're the highest level of
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  Speaker 1: one of the most one of the most valuable sports
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  Speaker 1: franchises in the world in the NFL, uh and and
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  Speaker 1: and and really anybody in the world would want to
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  Speaker 1: just to do that, just to play, and you now
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  Speaker 1: have this lustious career. But how is your relationship with
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  Speaker 1: money changed from your rookie year to now?
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  Speaker 3: Mm hmmm, My relationship with money has changed, I would
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  Speaker 3: say a lot.
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  Speaker 2: My rookie year. Obviously, I was broke. I was pre
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  Speaker 2: n I L. I wasn't getting I wasn't getting to
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  Speaker 2: know bad. Uh in college? Explain what n I L
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  Speaker 2: is for people?
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  Speaker 3: Yes, NI l's name, image and likeness, and uh uh
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  Speaker 3: it's a new rule that has allowed college players, which
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  Speaker 3: used to be amateur athletes, to benefit and make money
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  Speaker 3: off of their name, image and likeness. And my college
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  Speaker 3: sports has changed from not just oh I'm earning a
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  Speaker 3: scholarship to I'll have a scholarship and I'm earning money
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  Speaker 3: for you know, for playing in all sports. And so uh,
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  Speaker 3: this is a new rule that I didn't benefit from.
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  Speaker 3: You know, it wasn't around when I was in college.
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  Speaker 3: So college for for me was you know, it was
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  Speaker 3: a struggle. It was a struggle. Yeah, I was broke,
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  Speaker 3: and and I'm everything is relative, and I would say,
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  Speaker 3: you know, I was broke, but there was some of
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  Speaker 3: my my friends that were in much worse situations than
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  Speaker 3: even I was. Uh, I played with guys that have
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  Speaker 3: to had to send their grant or they're FASTA back
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  Speaker 3: home to their families to to be able to live.
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  Speaker 3: You know, I was fortunate enough not to have to
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  Speaker 3: do that.
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  Speaker 1: So the money they got from are attended for college,
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  Speaker 1: they had actually turn around and send that back to
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  Speaker 1: the household.
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  Speaker 3: Yep, they were sending they were sending their program or
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  Speaker 3: their FASTPA, their financial aid. You know we used to
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  Speaker 3: get We used to get like twelve hundred bucks every
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: three months or something like that. Guys would it would
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  Speaker 3: send money, you know, back home. So they're so that
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  Speaker 3: their their brothers and sisters and their their parents or
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  Speaker 3: their families or their moms make sure that they were good.
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  Speaker 3: And so yeah, I was fortunate enough not to have
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  Speaker 3: to go through that, but I still I still didn't
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  Speaker 3: have a dime to to my name. You know, after
• 13:54
  Speaker 3: you know, a couple hundred bucks a month, you got
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: to pay your rent and eat you know.
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  Speaker 2: Food and all that, and that was gone.
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  Speaker 1: So when I got drafted, it was it was a
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  Speaker 1: big shift obviously.
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  Speaker 2: From again to San Francisco, right.
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  Speaker 3: Yep, organ to Orgon to the San Francisco forty nine ers,
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  Speaker 3: which was a blessing because I'm from Sacramento and you know,
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  Speaker 3: the Beayer isn't too far away. So it was like
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  Speaker 3: being drafted to my hometown team.
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  Speaker 2: And uh, you know, life changed.
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  Speaker 3: First check I got was a three million dollars signing bonus,
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  Speaker 3: and my my first experience with with taxes hit very
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: shortly after that, after I read through, uh read through that.
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  Speaker 2: Paste of.
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  Speaker 3: You know, went from went from three million to one
• 14:44
  Speaker 3: point four.
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  Speaker 1: So, but first of all, so your first check, uh,
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  Speaker 1: some people don't know in the NFL, you may have
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: a thirty dollar contract multi year, but you're really only
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: guaranteed that signing bonus. And and you'll you'll correct me
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: if I'm wrong here the number of games you play
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  Speaker 1: or maybe that year for you. But if you get
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: injured or whatever cut whatever it is, Uh, they don't
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  Speaker 1: have to honor necessarily. Uh. I guess if you get injured,
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  Speaker 1: then the rest of that playing contract list does not
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: necessarily get paid.
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  Speaker 2: Is that right?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, contracts aren't fully guaranteed. I was fortunate enough to
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  Speaker 3: be a first round pick, so my rookie contract was
• 15:31
  Speaker 3: fully guaranteed.
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  Speaker 2: Love that, So it was it was a four year.
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  Speaker 3: It was for four years, essentially worth around nine million
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  Speaker 3: dollars right for four years, and that was my that
• 15:43
  Speaker 3: was my first contract. And the signing bonuses is something
• 15:48
  Speaker 3: you get up front, and so you know, you get
• 15:51
  Speaker 3: money up front and then what they lose your mind, Yeah,
• 15:55
  Speaker 3: what they pay you during the season isn't quite as
• 15:59
  Speaker 3: much because they gave that upfront money. So I mean
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  Speaker 3: my relationship definitely changed with money. You know, I was
• 16:05
  Speaker 3: an instant millionaire, you know, overnight, and it was a
• 16:11
  Speaker 3: huge blessing, huge opportunity. Was a little scary for sure,
• 16:19
  Speaker 3: never being in that situation before, and you know, I'm
• 16:23
  Speaker 3: kind of blessed also to to grow up just my age.
• 16:28
  Speaker 3: I landed in a spot you know, being drafted in
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  Speaker 3: twenty fifteen where I had and you've heard a bunch
• 16:36
  Speaker 3: of failure and other stories previously, and I would say
• 16:41
  Speaker 3: the generation before us, you know, definitely there was a
• 16:47
  Speaker 3: lot of a lot of scary things, you know, from
• 16:49
  Speaker 3: guys going broke and you know, guys actually being stole
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: from you know, where financial advisors. There was Ponzi schemes
• 16:59
  Speaker 3: and all types of stuff going on that were happening
• 17:02
  Speaker 3: to a lot of NFL players. So it was a
• 17:04
  Speaker 3: scary moment obviously a big blessing, but I immediately switched to.
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: Really preservation mode, to be honest. You know, I.
• 17:17
  Speaker 3: Early early in my career, my my financial advisor at
• 17:19
  Speaker 3: the time, you know, and having conversations. I was lucky
• 17:24
  Speaker 3: to have some good guidance early on. And you know,
• 17:28
  Speaker 3: my goal since entering the NFL, it was like, if
• 17:32
  Speaker 3: I can find a way to get five million in
• 17:34
  Speaker 3: my account, you know, that's two fifty a year that
• 17:40
  Speaker 3: you know, if I didn't want to work again, I
• 17:43
  Speaker 3: could live modestly off, you know too fifty a year.
• 17:46
  Speaker 3: And that was my whole initial goal.
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: So just for the audience, this is getting really great,
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: really quick. What he means by that is if you
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: can get five men in the bank from this contract
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: and not touch it. It's called principle. You make money
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: during the day, you bill wells in your sleep. So
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: he can take a modest return on that five million
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: dollars of five percent, which is a very reasonable number
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: to think about, and for the rest of his life
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: he doesn't touch it.
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: He'll get five percent.
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  Speaker 1: You can do You can do five percent almost in
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  Speaker 1: your sleep, and that's two hundred and fifty thousand dollars
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: of income passive income that it will pay his lifestyle
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: and for his family and education. If he wants to
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: be assertive and aggressive and thinks that his invested advisors
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: can do ten percent a little bit more risk, then
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: that's five hundred thousand potentially a year. But he was
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: really smart. He and I never had this conversation before.
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: I can already tell how bright he is. Is better
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: to underestimate and overperform than to overestimate and underperform.
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: You don't get your heart broken.
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: So five percent is his conservative number that he paid
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: of two fifty a year, which is really really smart.
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: And by the way, Eric, I want to go back
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: also to that tax hit you had, because I stepped
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: on your talking point there, uh, to make the point
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: about NFL contracts. When you got that first check, even
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: before you went to the five minute, you got that
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: first check, you were both excited and petrified.
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: So let's like, let's go back to that in a minute. Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: No, definitely definitely excited and scared. And you know it
• 19:23
  Speaker 3: was a rude awakening to learn about taxes. You know,
• 19:26
  Speaker 3: I heard of taxes. I'm from California, which you know
• 19:30
  Speaker 3: is is I don't know New York, New York and
• 19:32
  Speaker 3: Cali one or two most tax states, and so you know,
• 19:38
  Speaker 3: being from California, I wasn't I was a little bit aware,
• 19:41
  Speaker 3: but this is my first time in the situation. So
• 19:45
  Speaker 3: I learned very quickly that you know, not not to
• 19:49
  Speaker 3: count your eggs before before they hatch. The money that
• 19:54
  Speaker 3: you make is not the money that.
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: That you have.
• 19:56
  Speaker 3: And so that was a good lesson for me early
• 19:59
  Speaker 3: on to see that, you know, I'm I'm not really
• 20:04
  Speaker 3: I think the lesson early on was like, you're not
• 20:07
  Speaker 3: really set for life, and.
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: You know, you've got a lot more work to do.
• 20:13
  Speaker 3: You know, you you a lot of people think you
• 20:15
  Speaker 3: get drafted and it's like, oh, I'm good for life.
• 20:18
  Speaker 3: But I had I had some more I knew I
• 20:21
  Speaker 3: had some more work to do, and I had to
• 20:22
  Speaker 3: make some some good decisions and moving forward if I
• 20:27
  Speaker 3: wanted to truly have financial freedom, and I wasn't quite
• 20:30
  Speaker 3: there yet. I was a huge, huge blessing and a
• 20:34
  Speaker 3: huge jump start, but I still had to still had
• 20:37
  Speaker 3: to make some good decisions. And fortunately enough, you know,
• 20:42
  Speaker 3: I was able to make enough of those good decisions
• 20:45
  Speaker 3: and then fortunately, you know, for me, I was able
• 20:47
  Speaker 3: to get uh two more well two more contracts since then,
• 20:54
  Speaker 3: which you know have obviously elevated things for me.
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: But what what was the first thing in that rookie year.
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: I really didn't spurge. My rookie year.
• 21:04
  Speaker 3: I drove, I would say, in terms of like splurges.
• 21:10
  Speaker 3: I didn't have much of a wardrobe believe in college.
• 21:12
  Speaker 3: So I definitely you know, bought some clothes. You know,
• 21:15
  Speaker 3: I didn't want to like look crazy, you know, I
• 21:19
  Speaker 3: was kind of keeping up with the Joneses a little bit.
• 21:22
  Speaker 3: And in terms of that of you know, I gotta
• 21:25
  Speaker 3: I got, you know, I wanted to have something to
• 21:27
  Speaker 3: wear to game day, and but.
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: I didn't get a car or anything.
• 21:31
  Speaker 3: I got myself in a apartment in uh downtown San Jose.
• 21:36
  Speaker 3: I had a dream of you know, I always I
• 21:39
  Speaker 3: always like like high rises, and so I wanted to
• 21:42
  Speaker 3: get you know, like a high rise and not necessarily
• 21:46
  Speaker 3: a splurge, but you know, I got myself an apartment.
• 21:49
  Speaker 3: And then my rookie year, I did help my parents
• 21:54
  Speaker 3: with the down payment on a new house, something that
• 21:57
  Speaker 3: I was proud to proud.
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: To be able to do. And and you know they're
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: still in that.
• 22:03
  Speaker 3: House to this day, so beautiful, and that was a
• 22:05
  Speaker 3: problem for me and come together with my family to
• 22:10
  Speaker 3: to to do that was was great. And then my
• 22:14
  Speaker 3: rookie year, I drove my mom's camera, to be honest,
• 22:18
  Speaker 3: and I didn't get a car car for myself until
• 22:22
  Speaker 3: my second year in the NFL.
• 22:25
  Speaker 2: Uh. That was really kind of vision.
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: I wouldn't call it clothes a flex, not when you're
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: I would not call clothing a flex. I think that's
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: just quite rational. He would go job, get a job
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: at Taco Bail and go buy clothes. Get a job
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: at Walmart and go buy clothes. So you wouldn't go
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: some close and clothes with the NFL contract. That's pretty really,
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: that's pretty reasonable.
• 22:51
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it was pretty It was pretty reasonable. And I
• 22:53
  Speaker 3: didn't I didn't go too crazy my rookie year, Like
• 22:58
  Speaker 3: I said, you know, I I had you know, I
• 23:01
  Speaker 3: was making some pretty good decisions and trying to. I
• 23:05
  Speaker 3: think the main thing I learned early.
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: Which will help people, is that you know what you can.
• 23:14
  Speaker 3: Because you can buy something doesn't mean you can't afford
• 23:16
  Speaker 3: it long term. And I had to learn that, and
• 23:22
  Speaker 3: it's it's very it's very challenging. It is very hard too,
• 23:26
  Speaker 3: especially in the environment of being a professional athlete, because
• 23:30
  Speaker 3: you feel like you can buy something right, but you
• 23:34
  Speaker 3: need someone to tell you like, no, you can't afford it.
• 23:37
  Speaker 3: You can't afford it. Long term, you can buy it,
• 23:41
  Speaker 3: but you can't afford it.
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: And so.
• 23:44
  Speaker 3: Setting up your lifestyle that is sustainable early on is
• 23:49
  Speaker 3: the main thing that I will stress to younger athletes
• 23:54
  Speaker 3: and other other people or or in general who you
• 23:58
  Speaker 3: know come into some money. Is really looking at a
• 24:05
  Speaker 3: long term and living a lifestyle currently that you can
• 24:11
  Speaker 3: maintain long term, that you won't crash out and you
• 24:14
  Speaker 3: won't burn out. And that's really important to get started
• 24:19
  Speaker 3: is uh figuring what figuring out what that is, what
• 24:22
  Speaker 3: is sustainable and what you can.
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: Really afford long term, and making your lifestyle choices off that.
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: And I was by no means perfect. There was things
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: that uh, you know, I did, you know, spend a
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: little more on, and there was times where I was like, man,
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: I really want to do this, and I'm gonna.
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: Go ahead and do it.
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: But overall, I established a lifestyle that was sustainable long term,
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: and I chose my vices.
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: Uh, you can't have five vices you can't have.
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: You can't be a car guy, a jewelry guy, a
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: vacation guy, a like uh a club buying bottle service,
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: Like you can't have four or five things like Okay,
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: you like jewelry, cool, Like make jewelry.
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: Your vice or if you like.
• 25:25
  Speaker 3: If you like a car, if you like if you're
• 25:27
  Speaker 3: in the cars, make that your vice and then try
• 25:29
  Speaker 3: to be frugal in other areas. You can't go crazy
• 25:33
  Speaker 3: in four or five different different vices. And so that
• 25:37
  Speaker 3: also helped me too, where like I never really was
• 25:40
  Speaker 3: into jewelry.
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: I bought a chain once.
• 25:43
  Speaker 3: Just because like your your your what it had year
• 25:52
  Speaker 3: it's probably like year four of my career. I brought
• 25:54
  Speaker 3: one chain. It was it was like a diamonds tennis necklace,
• 25:58
  Speaker 3: and then I wore it for a little bit, ended
• 26:01
  Speaker 3: up turning into like a bracelet, uh in a in
• 26:04
  Speaker 3: a necklace from my wife. And yeah, so I never
• 26:08
  Speaker 3: I really wasn't in the jewelry.
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 26:11
  Speaker 3: I got out of like going out and spending early,
• 26:14
  Speaker 3: like vacationing was more fun than me.
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: So I do enjoy like.
• 26:19
  Speaker 3: Good experiences, so I don't mind spending on like travel
• 26:23
  Speaker 3: and vacation and like an actual experience. But yeah, some
• 26:27
  Speaker 3: of those decisions definitely helped me early on get off
• 26:29
  Speaker 3: to the get off to the right start.
• 26:32
  Speaker 2: So what scared the bajeeva's out of you?
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: That got you driving your mother's camera for the first
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: year and you didn't buy a car into the second
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: Something scared the pants off you. Something you saw, something
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: you witnessed, something you heard other players. What craziness did
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: you observe? Well, you're like, okay, no, I'm good.
• 26:53
  Speaker 3: It kind of happened organically because I started going out
• 26:58
  Speaker 3: to the Bay to work out, and you know, I
• 27:00
  Speaker 3: was coming from Sacramento, So my I started, I was
• 27:02
  Speaker 3: using my mom's car. I didn't go get anything for myself.
• 27:08
  Speaker 3: And then like towards the end of my rookie year,
• 27:11
  Speaker 3: so I did that for a while and then I
• 27:13
  Speaker 3: got a rental for a little bit. And then towards
• 27:16
  Speaker 3: the end of my rookie year, I was like, man,
• 27:18
  Speaker 3: let me see if I can get like a car
• 27:19
  Speaker 3: deal with one of these local dealerships to try to
• 27:23
  Speaker 3: not have to get a car. And I got with
• 27:26
  Speaker 3: some marketing people towards the end of my end of
• 27:28
  Speaker 3: my first year and they were able to get me
• 27:32
  Speaker 3: like a car deal with a local dash jeep in Reno, Nevada.
• 27:40
  Speaker 3: So I did a little commercial. I did a little
• 27:42
  Speaker 3: commercial for them, and they gave me. They gave me
• 27:44
  Speaker 3: a jeep chero key that I drove around for a
• 27:47
  Speaker 3: little bit.
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: Wait wait, slow down, hold on, wait a minute, wait
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: a minute, let's back this south. You really are a capitalists,
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: so hold on. You could have just gone on the
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: dnership like everybody else. And I'm sure that I'm sure
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: the team has people lined up to lease a car
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: for the answer car. I'm sure if broke Mortas brokers
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: and car brokers around, you could have just easily just said, okay, look,
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: I'm I got a decent credit score, got a great income.
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: I would just buy that car right there and finance
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: it for sixteen months.
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: Wain him in.
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: Hold on, you drove your mother's camera for a year.
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: Then when you decided to buy a car, you you
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: did a basically uh talent in trade deal.
• 28:27
  Speaker 3: Yeah, did a talent in trade. I did a commercial
• 28:29
  Speaker 3: for them, and they gave me a car for about
• 28:33
  Speaker 3: like six months. They gave me a jeep chair key.
• 28:37
  Speaker 3: Then they gave me a charger and then they came
• 28:41
  Speaker 3: and switched it out and gave me another car. So
• 28:45
  Speaker 3: and I really didn't know what I wanted at the time.
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: And then you know, after after about a year.
• 28:51
  Speaker 3: Year and a half, I found a car that I
• 28:55
  Speaker 3: was like, man, I actually do kind of like that.
• 28:58
  Speaker 3: And uh, that's when you know, I at least, at
• 29:01
  Speaker 3: least the S Class on some payments that you know,
• 29:05
  Speaker 3: we were you know, affordable for me and my budget.
• 29:08
  Speaker 3: And then I just start trading that out every year
• 29:12
  Speaker 3: every like three years and getting the new one and
• 29:14
  Speaker 3: just kept making you know, kept kept the payments going.
• 29:18
  Speaker 2: So while that was something I was in my budget,
• 29:23
  Speaker 2: why the least I'm fascinated with this whole conversation. Why
• 29:26
  Speaker 2: the least versus the purchase.
• 29:29
  Speaker 3: The least for me was I didn't want to give
• 29:33
  Speaker 3: them my cash, and like when they were like, yeah,
• 29:37
  Speaker 3: give us, they're like, give us, give us twenty thirty
• 29:40
  Speaker 3: thousand and then your payment will be X.
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: I'm like, man, I don't know that. Don't sound too
• 29:45
  Speaker 2: a feeling.
• 29:46
  Speaker 3: And then you know, I had a conversation with I
• 29:49
  Speaker 3: forgot who I had a conversation with, but you know,
• 29:52
  Speaker 3: a Mercedes S Class they're they're not a dime a dozen,
• 29:56
  Speaker 3: but you know there's a lot of them on the road.
• 29:58
  Speaker 3: You know, it's not a it's not a you know,
• 30:03
  Speaker 3: a really exclusive, you know, ultra luxury car, and so
• 30:07
  Speaker 3: you know, they make a new one every year, so
• 30:09
  Speaker 3: you know, I drive it off the lots.
• 30:11
  Speaker 2: I want to lose its value. You know.
• 30:13
  Speaker 3: The body style doesn't change. The body style changes every
• 30:16
  Speaker 3: seven years. So if I get if I get one
• 30:20
  Speaker 3: and least one, I can drive it, you know, for
• 30:23
  Speaker 3: two three years, and then just get the new one,
• 30:26
  Speaker 3: you know, and keep paying the same thing.
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: It's already factored into my budget. So I don't buy
• 30:33
  Speaker 2: new cars as a rule.
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: I buy previously owned vehicles. And if I was running
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: it through my business, if I was, if it was
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: a business expense, I'm not here enough in one place
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: to drive cars consistently on the street, and there's all
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: kinds of other issues about people don't want me driving.
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: But anyway, I would lease it and I would run
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: it through my business and write it off as a
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: proper business expense. But these are my cars. For that
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: I used my personal mostly personal enjoyment. So I buy them,
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: but I don't buy a new car for the exact
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: reason you just mentioned, and I let somebody else pay
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: for the depreciation. Every car got in my garage is
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: twenty five to fifty off retail value whatever it would
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: have cost, and they look brand new.
• 31:21
  Speaker 2: But I let somebody else pay for that depreciation.
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: So that's a really smart again, one of many decisions
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: you made that were really smart.
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: Are there any stories that you can share.
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: With the audience real quickly before we move on of
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: first year draft pick, rookie draft pick horror stories about
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: money that are instructive for the audience.
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: For myself or just situ not you click. I mean
• 31:52
  Speaker 2: it sounds like you're buying a turkey sandwich all sale,
• 31:54
  Speaker 2: was it? I got a funny story, actually not necessarily
• 31:58
  Speaker 2: a horror story.
• 32:00
  Speaker 3: So I get drafted, you know, me, Me and me
• 32:04
  Speaker 3: and the boys, we're gonna We're gonna go to Vegas
• 32:08
  Speaker 3: for for a trip.
• 32:10
  Speaker 2: It's uh.
• 32:11
  Speaker 3: I got drafted, you know, been to the NFL, been
• 32:14
  Speaker 3: on the team for a couple of months now, so
• 32:17
  Speaker 3: I'm like, man, let's let's let's let's go to Vegas.
• 32:20
  Speaker 2: So I invite.
• 32:22
  Speaker 3: I invite, you know, some of my friends from college
• 32:26
  Speaker 3: that are still at Oregon and and friends and we
• 32:30
  Speaker 3: go out to Vegas and I'm like, hey, you know
• 32:32
  Speaker 3: we're gonna we're gonna have fun. You know, I got y'all,
• 32:36
  Speaker 3: I'm gonna take care. I'm gonna take care of this trip.
• 32:38
  Speaker 3: I want to celebrate, you know, blah blah blah. So
• 32:41
  Speaker 3: we get to Vegas. I'm thinking I got everything set up.
• 32:45
  Speaker 3: We we you know, rooms and you know we're going out,
• 32:50
  Speaker 3: and then you know we're going out.
• 32:52
  Speaker 2: We get we get to.
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: The club and at this time, I didn't have a
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: credit card, which is another thing that.
• 33:01
  Speaker 2: Saved me a lot. I had a credit Union debit card.
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: Okay, and so this this is how I'm thinking that
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: I can that my credit Union in Las Vegas or
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: my credit Union in Sacramento is gonna let me swipe
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: my debit card for this this this this bottle service charge.
• 33:21
  Speaker 3: Right, So I got all my homies in Vegas. My
• 33:25
  Speaker 3: card is getting declined everywhere in my car, everywhere my
• 33:31
  Speaker 3: card is getting declined. So my my friends were all
• 33:35
  Speaker 3: looking at you like they didn't they didn't bring nothing
• 33:40
  Speaker 3: out yet because they charged the car before. I'm like, man,
• 33:45
  Speaker 3: So that was that was when I learned a lesson
• 33:47
  Speaker 3: as well too, of that, like, yeah, this this little
• 33:51
  Speaker 3: credit credit Union card.
• 33:52
  Speaker 2: Is not going to get me, uh where I need
• 33:55
  Speaker 2: to be.
• 33:56
  Speaker 3: So I had to get get some things straightened out
• 33:59
  Speaker 3: before I wanted to to make the next trip. Luckily,
• 34:02
  Speaker 3: we had an older friend with us and he took
• 34:06
  Speaker 3: care of it, and then you know, I got back
• 34:08
  Speaker 3: home and sent them the money for it.
• 34:10
  Speaker 2: But yeah, it was that was a rude awakening as
• 34:13
  Speaker 2: well too.
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: The credit Union card was from his old life when
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: he was broke, broke, and he needs to go get
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: that MX Platinum card or Black card or the Chase
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: card or whatever for his new life or what for
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: his new forty nine ers card for his new life,
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: and he hadn't transit, he hadn't transitioned properly.
• 34:31
  Speaker 2: For hosting. Again, without naming names, we're gonna move real
• 34:35
  Speaker 2: quickly here.
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: Is there any of your friends you can think of
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: who got drafted, who just made a horrible decision that
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: stuck with you?
• 34:44
  Speaker 3: Yeah, there was, there was definitely some some rough decisions,
• 34:47
  Speaker 3: not to name names, situations.
• 34:50
  Speaker 2: I've seen many of guys.
• 34:53
  Speaker 3: You know, removed from the NFL one or two years,
• 34:57
  Speaker 3: you know, calling asking for money which you know, I
• 35:00
  Speaker 3: got a lot of empathy for it because you know,
• 35:05
  Speaker 3: being in the environment, I see, I see how easy
• 35:07
  Speaker 3: it is to to get caught up. And you know,
• 35:10
  Speaker 3: people aren't in the environment wouldn't necessarily understand it. But
• 35:13
  Speaker 3: there's a reason why. You know, you know, athletes going broke,
• 35:18
  Speaker 3: Lottery winners go broke, So this isn't just the isolated
• 35:22
  Speaker 3: thing to athletes. But you know, I saw a guy.
• 35:30
  Speaker 3: It was a it was a rough family situation. Really
• 35:32
  Speaker 3: he uh, you know, he wanted to get a house,
• 35:37
  Speaker 3: you know, some spending problems, but he wanted to get
• 35:39
  Speaker 3: a house for himself.
• 35:40
  Speaker 2: And then he got a house for his.
• 35:42
  Speaker 3: People, and then they they they weren't paying, they weren't
• 35:48
  Speaker 3: paying the mortgage, and then that messed up his credit.
• 35:53
  Speaker 3: So he lost that house. He was back back, you know,
• 35:57
  Speaker 3: upside down on that house. Then he lost his house
• 36:00
  Speaker 3: for him, his wife and his his his family because
• 36:04
  Speaker 3: his credit shot up and he couldn't afford uh to
• 36:10
  Speaker 3: keep his house anymore for his own family shot up, right,
• 36:15
  Speaker 3: and we could, yeah, we couldn't afford it, couldn't afford
• 36:19
  Speaker 3: his own home, and you know, that was that was
• 36:23
  Speaker 3: a tough situation. To witness and this you know, this
• 36:27
  Speaker 3: particular player was you know, close to me, and you
• 36:30
  Speaker 3: know I tried to try to help, you know, help
• 36:33
  Speaker 3: out the best I could. But yeah, it's it's I
• 36:37
  Speaker 3: got a lot of empathy for it though, because.
• 36:41
  Speaker 2: You know, even just even just what I was speaking to.
• 36:43
  Speaker 3: Earlier, I don't think people realize I think, yes, and
• 36:48
  Speaker 3: if yes, we make good money, but this money has
• 36:53
  Speaker 3: to last you, you know, it's.
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: It's your life. Was not every everyone's not set for
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: life that uh.
• 37:02
  Speaker 3: And you know, me being a first round pick, you know,
• 37:06
  Speaker 3: if I wanted to live off of you know, to
• 37:10
  Speaker 3: two hundred thousand, it's hard to get if I wanted
• 37:14
  Speaker 3: to live off two fifty, it's hard to get five
• 37:16
  Speaker 3: million in in an in an account like that.
• 37:20
  Speaker 2: Is that's a hard thing to do. You know. It
• 37:23
  Speaker 2: took me. It took me five years to do that.
• 37:26
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and I was the first round pick and so
• 37:30
  Speaker 3: all of everyone's not as fortunate.
• 37:32
  Speaker 2: Uh.
• 37:33
  Speaker 3: And I was super fortunate to you know, get more
• 37:35
  Speaker 3: contracts after that and set myself up. But yeah, that's
• 37:41
  Speaker 3: why I have a lot of empathy and just seeing
• 37:44
  Speaker 3: what is what is possible to happen to to guys,
• 37:48
  Speaker 3: and how easy it is to fall into those traps
• 37:51
  Speaker 3: and a few bad decisions, a little overspending, you know,
• 37:56
  Speaker 3: a few few times, and it could it could be over.
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: So the story about your friend, and I'm glad I
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: asked you the question because this is the other side
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: of responsible.
• 38:08
  Speaker 2: Really.
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: Eric's example is the exception, not the rule. Seventy percent
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: of NFL players are bankrupt five years after retirement, not
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: picking on the NFL. About sixty five seventy percent of
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: NBA players bankrupt five years after retirement, not picking on
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: professional athletes. About seventy percent of lottery winners bankrupt five
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: years after they get the winning. So this is about
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: really financial literacy and not about income, Which is why
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: this conversation is so powerful because he's really been very responsible.
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: And I want to know where he got this from
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: in a second, but it's a very powerful lesson he's
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: already given you about harvesting resources and not wasting opportunities
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: and investing in your future day one, and setting yourself
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: up for life so that you can have a sustainable life,
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: and not trying to floss and impress somebody. Trying to
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: impress somebody you really don't want to be like, actually
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: the six Square Blocks celebrity.
• 39:06
  Speaker 2: Your friend.
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: Had a house for himself and had a house for
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: his people. Now his people, I assume he met his
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: boys from when he grew up.
• 39:15
  Speaker 3: Not his boys, it was it was some family members, okay,
• 39:20
  Speaker 3: but they didn't pay the bill.
• 39:21
  Speaker 2: No, all right, So there you go that nobody washes
• 39:25
  Speaker 2: rental cars. Good people.
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: You cannot take everybody with you. You love them, you
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: care about them, Give them some money, give them an education,
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: give them, give them a one off, but don't attach
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: their their life and net worth in their credit to
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: yours because they they they've.
• 39:41
  Speaker 2: Never been where you are. You're glad you're at the
• 39:43
  Speaker 2: top of your mark.
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: They're nice people, but they need to succeed on their
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: own in their relative space.
• 39:49
  Speaker 2: Let's go into mindset now. One more thing to add
• 39:53
  Speaker 2: to that.
• 39:55
  Speaker 3: Your life when you first get drafted you're twenty one,
• 39:58
  Speaker 3: twenty two, is not gonna be your life when you're
• 40:01
  Speaker 3: thirty years old.
• 40:04
  Speaker 2: Later in life. Like you're what what you feel? You know?
• 40:07
  Speaker 3: Your responsibility is like you may not have kids yet,
• 40:12
  Speaker 3: you may not be married yet, but your life is
• 40:17
  Speaker 3: gonna be completely different. Your responsibilities, you're you're what what
• 40:21
  Speaker 3: your financial responsibilities are going to be completely different. So
• 40:25
  Speaker 3: it's important to factor that in. As families and you're
• 40:29
  Speaker 3: and you're trying to help your family in the best
• 40:32
  Speaker 3: way you can, you have to factor in down the
• 40:34
  Speaker 3: line that your financial responsibilities are going to be completely different.
• 40:39
  Speaker 3: And that has to be an honest conversation when you're
• 40:42
  Speaker 3: trying to help your family, and your family has to
• 40:44
  Speaker 3: know that that like, look, I can help, but I
• 40:50
  Speaker 3: have to help in a certain way because if I
• 40:53
  Speaker 3: if I help in a in a bad way, you know,
• 40:56
  Speaker 3: I'm not gonna I'm not gonna be able to sustain
• 40:58
  Speaker 3: this for my own is for my own family that
• 41:03
  Speaker 3: I'm starting.
• 41:03
  Speaker 2: So that's that's another important thing as well.
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: And with all due respect, the people you're helping can't
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: come and help you. It's a I mean, you're you're
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: the top of the economic peer in your family probably,
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: so if you get in trouble, everybody's in trouble. So
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: we got to take the emotions out of the business decision.
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: Business is not personal. It's not emotional. You're tak picking
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: your vices before we get the mindset picking your vices.
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: It's a really smart I've never heard anybody describe it
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: that way. But you can't have five vices. You can't
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: have you really shouldn't have three. Pick one. And my vice,
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: I believe is cars automobiles, and I just in racing cars.
• 41:43
  Speaker 2: I race cars, and on the on.
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: Before this interview, I got a note from the mechanic
• 41:50
  Speaker 1: at the race shop at my primary race car. H
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: it is out of the blue. You know, the bill
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: is about forty percent of the original purchase price. The
• 42:01
  Speaker 1: bill the repair bill, uh, which is like out of
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: the blue. But it's a race car. And if you
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: can't afford that, you shouldn't have a race race cars
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: as your as one of your vices. Go pick something
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: else like basket weaving or something, or model cars.
• 42:19
  Speaker 2: But you got to know what.
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: You're getting into and be able to handle that plus
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: your primary responsibilities.
• 42:25
  Speaker 2: Your primary responsibilities come first.
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: If I got to think about other than being a
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: little frustrated, if I got to think about what that
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: guy told me, I should I should just sell the car.
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: Never got into it to begin with. I did think
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: about selling the car, selling the car for five minutes.
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: By the way, let's talk about let's talk about the
• 42:44
  Speaker 1: mindset you you have a certain way you think about life.
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: A lot of people earn money, but for but far
• 42:54
  Speaker 1: a few people know how to build lasting wealth. What
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: lessons have you learned, uh that helped you make that
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: shift in mindset? And then I'm in combine this with
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: another question. When you think about wealth, do you define
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: it only in dollars? Are also in terms of net worth, legacy,
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: family impact?
• 43:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah? In terms of mindset.
• 43:20
  Speaker 3: I have a growth mindset and I live by a mantra.
• 43:24
  Speaker 2: I call it stay hungry.
• 43:26
  Speaker 3: And people know my celebration on the field when I
• 43:31
  Speaker 3: get a sack, I rub my belly and letting everybody
• 43:34
  Speaker 3: know that I made a play.
• 43:35
  Speaker 2: But I'm not satisfied. I want more. I want more sacks,
• 43:38
  Speaker 2: I want.
• 43:38
  Speaker 3: More tackles, I want to eat more. But it's not
• 43:44
  Speaker 3: just a celebration or something that is for sports. It's
• 43:51
  Speaker 3: a mantra that I live by, meaning never being satisfied
• 43:54
  Speaker 3: where I'm at, and that is being willing to try
• 43:59
  Speaker 3: new things, learn new things, explore, just to just to
• 44:06
  Speaker 3: never be satisfied and be willing to give everything that's
• 44:11
  Speaker 3: inside me out to the world like it's never it's
• 44:15
  Speaker 3: never enough for me to.
• 44:18
  Speaker 2: Uh just be like Okay, I did that.
• 44:21
  Speaker 3: You know that it was good and that I'm gonna
• 44:23
  Speaker 3: just stay where I'm mad and I'm I'm cool, Like
• 44:25
  Speaker 3: I don't need to know. I don't need to know
• 44:28
  Speaker 3: more stuff. I don't need to acquire more knowledge. I
• 44:31
  Speaker 3: don't need to try other things. I just like what
• 44:33
  Speaker 3: I like. This is what I do. This Aeric barm said,
• 44:35
  Speaker 3: this is this is who I am, this is what
• 44:37
  Speaker 3: I'm good with, and i'ma just do this. And so
• 44:41
  Speaker 3: living by that mantra has allowed me to, you know,
• 44:46
  Speaker 3: be around some amazing people, have great influences, really educate
• 44:51
  Speaker 3: myself in different areas other than just just football. I've
• 44:56
  Speaker 3: always felt that I was bigger than just football, all
• 45:01
  Speaker 3: that I had more to offer to life in multiple spaces,
• 45:06
  Speaker 3: and really living with that growth mindset that it's never
• 45:13
  Speaker 3: enough just to be where you're at has allowed me
• 45:17
  Speaker 3: to open new doors and break barriers and you know,
• 45:22
  Speaker 3: do some really amazing things. And really, I feel like
• 45:28
  Speaker 3: I've been so blessed in my life.
• 45:29
  Speaker 2: God has.
• 45:33
  Speaker 3: Has been extremely gracious with everything that I've been afforded to,
• 45:39
  Speaker 3: and I feel like I would be doing myself God
• 45:43
  Speaker 3: and the world of disservice if I didn't steward what
• 45:47
  Speaker 3: I've been blessed with and let it all out, whether
• 45:51
  Speaker 3: that's on the football field, or whether that is how
• 45:55
  Speaker 3: I show up in my community, whether that's how I
• 45:58
  Speaker 3: entertain people on social media, and the ideas that I have,
• 46:02
  Speaker 3: whether that is uh business ideas I have and and
• 46:06
  Speaker 3: things I want to accomplish.
• 46:09
  Speaker 2: So I really.
• 46:11
  Speaker 3: And it's very important too that That's why I say,
• 46:17
  Speaker 3: you know, that's why I feel financial literacy and economic
• 46:22
  Speaker 3: mobility is so important, because you have to meet your
• 46:26
  Speaker 3: basic needs to be able to think this way. If
• 46:30
  Speaker 3: you're if you're just trying to get by and and
• 46:35
  Speaker 3: you know, trying to figure it out, it's hard to
• 46:38
  Speaker 3: have the comfortable to be comfortable to think this way.
• 46:41
  Speaker 3: To two, you know, think outside the box and try
• 46:46
  Speaker 3: new things, and if idea pops into your head, I'm
• 46:49
  Speaker 3: gonna least try to do it.
• 46:50
  Speaker 2: If it doesn't go nowhere cool. And so once I really.
• 46:54
  Speaker 3: Established myself in the NFL, I was allowed to start
• 46:58
  Speaker 3: thinking this way and and bet and be, you know,
• 47:01
  Speaker 3: and do more. Really, and so that's why I feel
• 47:06
  Speaker 3: like there's so much untapped potential and opportunity in society
• 47:12
  Speaker 3: because there's so many people that haven't been poured into
• 47:16
  Speaker 3: and they're just trying to get by. Their creative side
• 47:19
  Speaker 3: hasn't even been able to kick in. They're just trying
• 47:21
  Speaker 3: to just trying to survive. And once you once you
• 47:25
  Speaker 3: surpass just surviving, you can really start living and and
• 47:29
  Speaker 3: give amazing things to the world. And that's why I
• 47:33
  Speaker 3: feel economic mobility and financial literacy is so important because
• 47:38
  Speaker 3: you've got to take care of those basic needs first.
• 47:40
  Speaker 3: You gotta have you got to be able to eat,
• 47:42
  Speaker 3: you got to have a roof, you gotta be uh,
• 47:44
  Speaker 3: you got to be healthy. You have to check those
• 47:47
  Speaker 3: basic needs first before you can really start to give
• 47:52
  Speaker 3: amazing things to the world. But yeah, that's my mindset,
• 47:56
  Speaker 3: that's how I choose to live. And so now, failure
• 48:02
  Speaker 3: to me is is when when something pops in my
• 48:04
  Speaker 3: head and I don't act on it, that.
• 48:07
  Speaker 2: That's that's a failure.
• 48:08
  Speaker 3: It's it's not a failure if something pops in my
• 48:10
  Speaker 3: head and I try to do it, I put my
• 48:12
  Speaker 3: plan together and Okay, no one no one wanted to,
• 48:17
  Speaker 3: you know, partner with me on it. Cool, no one,
• 48:20
  Speaker 3: no one you know maybe thought my my Instagram rule. Uh,
• 48:25
  Speaker 3: you know was was funny or entertaining cool. It did,
• 48:29
  Speaker 3: it didn't, it didn't go viral cool. But that's not
• 48:33
  Speaker 3: a failure to me. Failure is when something pops in
• 48:36
  Speaker 3: my head, like, man, this is a way to in
• 48:40
  Speaker 3: anything in football, you know, and just in life in general.
• 48:45
  Speaker 3: Something pops up my head like this is something that
• 48:47
  Speaker 3: would be beneficial for someone, or this is something dope
• 48:50
  Speaker 3: that I like to do that I can offer to
• 48:52
  Speaker 3: the world, or this is a new way to do something.
• 48:57
  Speaker 3: If I just let that, if it just goes if
• 49:00
  Speaker 3: I if I don't act on it, that's a failure
• 49:03
  Speaker 3: to me at this stage in my life. And that's
• 49:05
  Speaker 3: how I decided to move, you know, moving forward.
• 49:11
  Speaker 1: It's fascinating listening to you because now your first moves
• 49:16
  Speaker 1: when I met you made perfect sense. When we when
• 49:21
  Speaker 1: I walked in the suite and jed you work was
• 49:24
  Speaker 1: there to my right, you were you were taking up
• 49:28
  Speaker 1: half the dang on sweet but you were there in
• 49:30
  Speaker 1: front of me, and you had this dress conservatively very
• 49:33
  Speaker 1: nice cream outfit, as I remember right in fact, I
• 49:36
  Speaker 1: was like.
• 49:36
  Speaker 2: What what do you get that I want to get?
• 49:38
  Speaker 1: I want to I want to just like that, but
• 49:39
  Speaker 1: I need like five sizes of smaller, and you get
• 49:42
  Speaker 1: your wife with you, and I shook your hand. My
• 49:46
  Speaker 1: hand disappeared in yours, and you instantly said, I've been
• 49:50
  Speaker 1: waiting to meet you, and you had you didn't know
• 49:55
  Speaker 1: we're going to meet. But you didn't let that moment
• 49:59
  Speaker 1: waste away. You where you were, and you didn't sit
• 50:02
  Speaker 1: there and talk about yourself whatever. You didn't waste that moment.
• 50:04
  Speaker 1: You were nosy, you were curious, you had questions, you
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: wanted answers. In case my sense that that was the
• 50:11
  Speaker 1: only moment we were going to have. You were going
• 50:13
  Speaker 1: to eat. You were hungry for knowledge, and you were
• 50:16
  Speaker 1: going to eat a full meal that day. And that
• 50:19
  Speaker 1: is a mark of a very successful person. I asked
• 50:23
  Speaker 1: Quincy Jones, how do you get so smart? God rest
• 50:25
  Speaker 1: his soul, he said, John, I'm just nosy as hell.
• 50:29
  Speaker 1: I want to know everything about everything. God gave it
• 50:31
  Speaker 1: his two ears in one mouth. So we listened twice
• 50:33
  Speaker 1: as much as we talked. That's the hunger on the
• 50:37
  Speaker 1: field and the desire for wisdom in your brain. I
• 50:41
  Speaker 1: think it's a harmmark for why you continue to be successful.
• 50:45
  Speaker 1: Not to settle. I don't settle. I mean part of
• 50:47
  Speaker 1: my frustrations with me is not ever enjoying the moments
• 50:53
  Speaker 1: per se, because I'm just always out. I'm always on
• 50:57
  Speaker 1: the field, hungry for what comes next, trying to help
• 51:02
  Speaker 1: our people. Let's we've had a great conversation. We probably
• 51:05
  Speaker 1: need to have another one because we're we're gonna running
• 51:09
  Speaker 1: out of time. But as we wrap this up, I
• 51:11
  Speaker 1: want two things from you. I want to know your
• 51:13
  Speaker 1: backstory of how you got here, because this doesn't just happen.
• 51:17
  Speaker 1: I need mothers, young mothers and fathers listening to this
• 51:21
  Speaker 1: to know how you were raised because somebody did this. Right,
• 51:24
  Speaker 1: Let's give a salute to your parents or uncles or
• 51:26
  Speaker 1: whoever did this or grandparents, and where'd you get this
• 51:28
  Speaker 1: financial literacy and lessons these basic sort of grounded knowledge
• 51:32
  Speaker 1: of the respect that you have in your bones. Where'd
• 51:35
  Speaker 1: that come from? And then wrap into that for those
• 51:38
  Speaker 1: who are listening to this. Most people are never going
• 51:39
  Speaker 1: to be in the NFL. But what lessons on financial literacy,
• 51:43
  Speaker 1: which I believe is a civil rights issue of this
• 51:45
  Speaker 1: generation and wealth creation and successful living applies to everybody.
• 51:52
  Speaker 1: I'm going to shut up now and let you just wrap.
• 51:59
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 52:00
  Speaker 3: Really, my backstory the youngest of four. Both my parents
• 52:06
  Speaker 3: grew up in the church. Uh, super blessed to have
• 52:11
  Speaker 3: the life that I did, and my parents, you know,
• 52:14
  Speaker 3: really poured into me. My mom, you know, used to
• 52:19
  Speaker 3: prophesy over me that I was going to be special
• 52:22
  Speaker 3: and that I was going to help people one day
• 52:24
  Speaker 3: and that I was going to She was telling me
• 52:27
  Speaker 3: all the time that I was different and special and uh,
• 52:31
  Speaker 3: never never forget that.
• 52:33
  Speaker 2: And then my.
• 52:34
  Speaker 3: Dad, my dad trained professional athletes. He was a basketball trainer,
• 52:42
  Speaker 3: and I had a number of good influences on me.
• 52:44
  Speaker 3: Like I I grew up in the gym, and so
• 52:47
  Speaker 3: what I what I do now is like nothing. It's
• 52:51
  Speaker 3: just like like working out is like okay, I I've
• 52:57
  Speaker 3: been going. I went to the gym three times a
• 52:59
  Speaker 3: day with my dad, training guys at eight and then
• 53:03
  Speaker 3: again at twelve, and then then again at night time,
• 53:06
  Speaker 3: and then going to the program where they all played
• 53:09
  Speaker 3: basketball and in games. And it's like working is nothing
• 53:12
  Speaker 3: to me. I've had plenty of examples of you know,
• 53:18
  Speaker 3: I really had some plenty of examples of you know,
• 53:21
  Speaker 3: if you do X, Y and z, uh, you know,
• 53:25
  Speaker 3: you're going to the likelihood of you being successful. It
• 53:27
  Speaker 3: is pretty high, and so my dreams were never never
• 53:31
  Speaker 3: unattainable to me.
• 53:33
  Speaker 2: I never.
• 53:35
  Speaker 3: I didn't really ever doubt that I was going to
• 53:36
  Speaker 3: be a professional athlete. I did play basketball growing up,
• 53:41
  Speaker 3: and I wanted to be the first person to play
• 53:42
  Speaker 3: in the NBA.
• 53:43
  Speaker 2: And the NFL. So that is one goal that I
• 53:46
  Speaker 2: haven't hit.
• 53:47
  Speaker 3: But besides, aren't you a little big for the NBA?
• 53:53
  Speaker 1: H I played? I played, I was on a team
• 53:55
  Speaker 1: in college. I was a pretty good player. In high school,
• 53:58
  Speaker 1: I was. I was probably in the basket wha.
• 54:00
  Speaker 3: I was ranked probably like top one hundred in my
• 54:03
  Speaker 3: class in high school.
• 54:06
  Speaker 2: But yeah, I definitely would have had to focus.
• 54:08
  Speaker 3: More, and it's uh, you know, I probably, yeah, I
• 54:12
  Speaker 3: would have to focus a little more. But with those
• 54:16
  Speaker 3: goals in mind, they didn't seem unattainable, and so I'm
• 54:19
  Speaker 3: not I'm not really shocked or surprised to be doing
• 54:22
  Speaker 3: what I'm doing now. And even when I was, I
• 54:25
  Speaker 3: can remember as far as back as in fifth grade,
• 54:27
  Speaker 3: I knew I wanted a wife, and I knew I
• 54:28
  Speaker 3: wanted to be able to provide and take care of
• 54:31
  Speaker 3: my family, and I wanted to be different than my classmates,
• 54:33
  Speaker 3: and you know that's what. I never smoked anything or
• 54:38
  Speaker 3: drank anything in my entire life, and I just always
• 54:41
  Speaker 3: wanted to be different and I wanted to be successful.
• 54:45
  Speaker 3: And so yeah, illed that all to my parents and
• 54:48
  Speaker 3: the influences that they put around me.
• 54:52
  Speaker 2: And so the the the power of.
• 54:54
  Speaker 3: Poring into your child is what I will share that message,
• 54:58
  Speaker 3: the power of porn into your child and speaking to
• 55:01
  Speaker 3: them and important and speaking life into them. How important
• 55:06
  Speaker 3: that is. It's a very important message for parents to
• 55:11
  Speaker 3: continue to do that. And well, what what was the.
• 55:16
  Speaker 2: Second part that I can wrap up with? Uh? Those
• 55:20
  Speaker 2: who are you've answered it in part?
• 55:22
  Speaker 1: Uh, in the way you were raised, it sort of
• 55:24
  Speaker 1: blends in by the way my mother told me she
• 55:26
  Speaker 1: loved me every day of my life also and told
• 55:29
  Speaker 1: me I was special also and I could do anything
• 55:32
  Speaker 1: I want to do with my life.
• 55:34
  Speaker 2: Also, and I it.
• 55:36
  Speaker 1: Doesn't surprise me at all that I am at the table,
• 55:40
  Speaker 1: uh making a difference. I didn't know I was gonna
• 55:42
  Speaker 1: make this kind of a difference or at these kinds
• 55:45
  Speaker 1: of tables.
• 55:46
  Speaker 2: But I knew I was going to be at somebody's table.
• 55:49
  Speaker 2: So I was just disciplined. And to me, it's not genius.
• 55:53
  Speaker 2: It's just renting to repeat.
• 55:55
  Speaker 1: As you work out three times a day physically, I
• 55:58
  Speaker 1: worked out three times a day mentally, and so as
• 56:03
  Speaker 1: you were talking, it spoke to me that this is
• 56:07
  Speaker 1: just what success looks like when you prepare well.
• 56:09
  Speaker 2: There's a book called.
• 56:10
  Speaker 1: The Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, and basically it says, if
• 56:16
  Speaker 1: you spend twenty hours is it ten hours a week
• 56:21
  Speaker 1: actually on anything? Well it you know, ten hours a
• 56:26
  Speaker 1: week to forty hours a week. But if you spend
• 56:27
  Speaker 1: at least ten hours a week beyond what you're doing
• 56:29
  Speaker 1: to make a living on anything, over time, you'll become
• 56:33
  Speaker 1: the NFL example of that in your chosen field. And
• 56:38
  Speaker 1: I just found that to be true. The second question
• 56:41
  Speaker 1: I asked you was those most people are not going
• 56:45
  Speaker 1: to be ever have a chance to be a pro
• 56:48
  Speaker 1: draft pick, first second, third draft pick, or any draft pick.
• 56:54
  Speaker 2: On an NFL team.
• 56:56
  Speaker 1: What tool skills, knowledges, knowledge sets or mindsets will work
• 57:02
  Speaker 1: for them in their life. They're a teacher somewhere, they
• 57:04
  Speaker 1: are police officers somewhere. They are a small business owner.
• 57:07
  Speaker 1: They are they're working an hourly job on the way,
• 57:10
  Speaker 1: they're trying to get a corporate job, they're in a
• 57:13
  Speaker 1: small town. What suggestions does Eric have to inspire the
• 57:18
  Speaker 1: average income earner UH to live their best version of
• 57:23
  Speaker 1: their life and even maybe to Bill.
• 57:25
  Speaker 3: Well, Well, first thing is, don't put me on a pedestal.
• 57:29
  Speaker 3: I'm no, I'm no greater than you. I'm simply a
• 57:33
  Speaker 3: human being that has been blessed and fortunate too. I
• 57:38
  Speaker 3: do have a cool job that people find cool and
• 57:44
  Speaker 3: not many people get to do it. But beyond that,
• 57:46
  Speaker 3: I'm just like you. And you know, I believe in humanity.
• 57:51
  Speaker 3: I believe that we're all more like than we are different.
• 57:55
  Speaker 3: And so, you know, having that mindset UH and thinking
• 58:02
  Speaker 3: through that scope of a message.
• 58:07
  Speaker 2: You know, for you would be that anything that is.
• 58:16
  Speaker 3: Anything that is worth attaining, anything that is worth acquiring,
• 58:22
  Speaker 3: anything that is worth anything of value, there's typically a
• 58:27
  Speaker 3: lot of hard work, dedication to sacrificed behind it, and
• 58:32
  Speaker 3: I would encourage people to UH and anything that you're
• 58:36
  Speaker 3: pursuing to put that at the forefront, that even if
• 58:43
  Speaker 3: it came easy to you, you're not gonna cherish it
• 58:46
  Speaker 3: as much as if you as if as the things
• 58:51
  Speaker 3: that happen for you.
• 58:54
  Speaker 2: That you sacrifice and worked hard for and.
• 58:59
  Speaker 3: So be willing to be willing to do that, be
• 59:02
  Speaker 3: willing to have that pain of discipline instead of that
• 59:08
  Speaker 3: pain of regret, and think and dream big and and
• 59:14
  Speaker 3: try to achieve anything that you put your mind to,
• 59:21
  Speaker 3: knowing that it's going to take a lot of hard
• 59:23
  Speaker 3: work and a lot of sacrifice, and being prepared for
• 59:27
  Speaker 3: being prepared for the moments, having a growth mindset, being
• 59:32
  Speaker 3: able to be prepared for the opportunities that you will
• 59:36
  Speaker 3: come into. And educating yourself is another is a very
• 59:43
  Speaker 3: important thing as well too. Two things on that you know,
• 59:51
  Speaker 3: grow Being in the Bay Area and on the forty
• 59:55
  Speaker 3: nine ers for so long, I've I had so many opportunities,
• 59:58
  Speaker 3: was in so many rooms and people talking about tech
• 1:00:03
  Speaker 3: and venture investing and all these things, and I'm like, man,
• 1:00:08
  Speaker 3: what are these people talking about? And honestly, I felt
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 3: like I felt like Kevin Hart on the four year
• 1:00:15
  Speaker 3: old version, like you're throwing all these big words at me,
• 1:00:19
  Speaker 3: so I'm gonna take him his disrespect.
• 1:00:24
  Speaker 2: But I didn't like that feeling.
• 1:00:27
  Speaker 3: I didn't like that feeling of man, I don't know
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 3: what these people's talking about. And so I took it
• 1:00:34
  Speaker 3: upon myself to educate myself. I had an opportunity to.
• 1:00:41
  Speaker 2: Don't. I don't think.
• 1:00:42
  Speaker 3: I don't Actually, I don't know who's done this in
• 1:00:46
  Speaker 3: NFL history. I'm practicing in San Francisco. During off season workouts,
• 1:00:53
  Speaker 3: there was a continuing education course on venture investing put
• 1:01:01
  Speaker 3: on by Marcus Colston, another former NFL player at Columbia
• 1:01:07
  Speaker 3: University in New York. I got done with practice. Now,
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 3: in retrospect, I probably could have found something a little closer,
• 1:01:17
  Speaker 3: like maybe Stanford. There's some good institutions there too, But
• 1:01:21
  Speaker 3: I wanted to go to an IVY League school. I
• 1:01:24
  Speaker 3: wanted to see I wanted to be on campus.
• 1:01:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah, So I practiced all week, and I flew to
• 1:01:32
  Speaker 1: New York for three day courses and I decided to
• 1:01:37
  Speaker 1: educate myself in in.
• 1:01:39
  Speaker 2: In those it was two it was two three day.
• 1:01:45
  Speaker 3: Like crash courses, and in those six days they were
• 1:01:49
  Speaker 3: about a month apart. And making that investment. Flying cross
• 1:01:54
  Speaker 3: country going to Columbia, my back was hurting on that plane,
• 1:02:00
  Speaker 3: but I was thirsty for the knowledge and the information.
• 1:02:04
  Speaker 3: It unlocked a whole new side for me. The rest
• 1:02:10
  Speaker 3: of my time in the Bay Area. Oh ROI and
• 1:02:17
  Speaker 3: stage C and yeah, I know what that is? Yeah,
• 1:02:20
  Speaker 3: I know what that is. Oh, oh okay, this is
• 1:02:22
  Speaker 3: what you're talking about, okay, and being able to have
• 1:02:28
  Speaker 3: And once I realized, like, man, this stuff isn't that complicated.
• 1:02:31
  Speaker 3: A lot of times stuff just they put abbreviations on
• 1:02:36
  Speaker 3: it to keep people excluded and make it feel like
• 1:02:39
  Speaker 3: it's more complicated than it really is. Right, And once
• 1:02:42
  Speaker 3: I decided to educate myself and have those conversations, it
• 1:02:45
  Speaker 3: just opened up my brain and completely new pathways. And
• 1:02:50
  Speaker 3: that's really when my thirst and hunger for knowledge and
• 1:02:54
  Speaker 3: information really began to shift. And that one decision led
• 1:03:02
  Speaker 3: to another opportunity, and then another opportunity, and then another opportunity,
• 1:03:07
  Speaker 3: and then another opportunity. I felt comfortable having the conversation,
• 1:03:11
  Speaker 3: which led to another opportunity. I made another connection, and
• 1:03:15
  Speaker 3: you know, eight nine years later, I'm sitting here, very confident,
• 1:03:21
  Speaker 3: very comfortable in any room, feeling like I can have
• 1:03:24
  Speaker 3: any conversation, and if I don't know something, I feel
• 1:03:27
  Speaker 3: very comfortable asking too, what is that? Tell me more
• 1:03:31
  Speaker 3: about that? So, educating yourself, being willing to work hard
• 1:03:38
  Speaker 3: and sacrifice and know that anything worth achieving is going
• 1:03:41
  Speaker 3: to come with that, you know, that's how I've decided
• 1:03:45
  Speaker 3: to try to progress and be successful and reach my
• 1:03:51
  Speaker 3: goals and my dreams and my aspirations. And you know,
• 1:03:56
  Speaker 3: hopefully that some of those messages, you know, you can
• 1:03:59
  Speaker 3: apply of your life as well too.
• 1:04:01
  Speaker 2: And yeah, I think.
• 1:04:04
  Speaker 3: At his core, that's that's what I've done to get
• 1:04:08
  Speaker 3: to the level that I'm at and still far far,
• 1:04:11
  Speaker 3: far far far away to go. Still a lot more
• 1:04:15
  Speaker 3: to do and a lot more to accomplish, and it's
• 1:04:17
  Speaker 3: gonna but it's gonna continue to take the same mindset
• 1:04:19
  Speaker 3: that I have and continue to push that forward.
• 1:04:22
  Speaker 1: So I'm so glad I follow my gun instinct. I'm
• 1:04:27
  Speaker 1: so glad that I bet on you. When we met,
• 1:04:31
  Speaker 1: I would tell you I meet a lot of so
• 1:04:34
  Speaker 1: called important people.
• 1:04:35
  Speaker 2: Every week.
• 1:04:38
  Speaker 1: I meet tons of NFL players, former NFL players, NBA players,
• 1:04:43
  Speaker 1: baseball players, et cetera.
• 1:04:44
  Speaker 2: Et cetera. I'm honored by that, honored.
• 1:04:48
  Speaker 1: Whenever they introduce themselves or I'm introduced to them, most
• 1:04:54
  Speaker 1: of them are forgettable. Not because they're not great people,
• 1:04:59
  Speaker 1: but it's not a I don't get a vibe or
• 1:05:02
  Speaker 1: I don't get a I don't get a feeling from them.
• 1:05:05
  Speaker 1: Oh my god, instantly. This person here is special beyond
• 1:05:09
  Speaker 1: their clear talent on the field. And I got that
• 1:05:13
  Speaker 1: feeling from you. Don't didn't know why. I got that
• 1:05:16
  Speaker 1: from somebody who says shares your last name. Tehran Armstead,
• 1:05:21
  Speaker 1: who in uh Dubai in the Middle East at an
• 1:05:28
  Speaker 1: off the grid summit that did not have a website
• 1:05:33
  Speaker 1: that we worked with. I think we're Him and I
• 1:05:35
  Speaker 1: were the only two African Americans there. And Uh, once
• 1:05:40
  Speaker 1: again very much like you, really good spirit, really really smart, nosy, curious, hungry.
• 1:05:48
  Speaker 2: And wanted to know everything about everything. Do you know, Tarron? Yep,
• 1:05:52
  Speaker 2: we're we call each other. We call each other.
• 1:05:54
  Speaker 3: Can I think we're distant cousins, But now I love
• 1:05:59
  Speaker 3: I loved Ron and played against them, and it's something
• 1:06:03
  Speaker 3: special about that Armstead name.
• 1:06:04
  Speaker 2: Man.
• 1:06:05
  Speaker 3: It's it's not too many of us, but the ones,
• 1:06:10
  Speaker 3: the ones that you do know about pretty.
• 1:06:14
  Speaker 1: They come with fire with both of you. I'm proud
• 1:06:16
  Speaker 1: to say we'll we'll be You'll be both. You'll be
• 1:06:18
  Speaker 1: joining Tehran as Hope Goodwill Ambassador. He also joins the
• 1:06:25
  Speaker 1: inaugural class. And you remind me of my friend Reggie Jackson. Uh,
• 1:06:30
  Speaker 1: you remind me of my friend Alex Rodriguez. They're not
• 1:06:34
  Speaker 1: just great on the field, they're really smart and and
• 1:06:39
  Speaker 1: part of you so successful is that you keep that
• 1:06:41
  Speaker 1: humility and that hunger going deep inside of you. I'm
• 1:06:45
  Speaker 1: glad that I did what I normally do, which is
• 1:06:48
  Speaker 1: to make a snap decision to go all in with somebody.
• 1:06:52
  Speaker 1: And I'm and you don't know this, but I made
• 1:06:54
  Speaker 1: that decision about you, and Uh, I'm honored to know you.
• 1:06:58
  Speaker 1: Thanks for being an inspiration to so many. You have
• 1:07:01
  Speaker 1: inspired people in this last hour on this podcast, I'm
• 1:07:03
  Speaker 1: sure it's going to go everywhere.
• 1:07:06
  Speaker 2: UH and UH.
• 1:07:08
  Speaker 1: And luckily, because we are now associated through the good
• 1:07:11
  Speaker 1: Will Ambassador program, I get to say uh, I don't
• 1:07:14
  Speaker 1: say goodbye.
• 1:07:15
  Speaker 2: I get to say see you later.
• 1:07:18
  Speaker 3: So, man, I I appreciate very humble by.
• 1:07:26
  Speaker 2: Your words. And you know, someone of your.
• 1:07:30
  Speaker 3: Stature thinking that highly of me in the short time
• 1:07:34
  Speaker 3: that we've known each other is is UH is truly amazing.
• 1:07:40
  Speaker 3: And I'm really excited, you know, I was really excited
• 1:07:45
  Speaker 3: to to meet you and be able to now be
• 1:07:48
  Speaker 3: able to work alongside of you.
• 1:07:51
  Speaker 2: And you know, I feel that this journey that.
• 1:07:57
  Speaker 3: We're going to go on Operation Hope and and then
• 1:07:59
  Speaker 3: that program. I'm really excited about the generational change that
• 1:08:06
  Speaker 3: we can we can create and the collective of minds
• 1:08:11
  Speaker 3: and brains. You know, your generation, my generation, generations underneath me.
• 1:08:18
  Speaker 3: And because financial literacy it doesn't have it doesn't have
• 1:08:23
  Speaker 3: an age attached to it. It's it's something that the
• 1:08:28
  Speaker 3: earlier that you can understand it and apply it, the
• 1:08:32
  Speaker 3: better off will all be. And so I'm really excited.
• 1:08:37
  Speaker 3: I can't wait to get to work. I know this
• 1:08:41
  Speaker 3: is going to be a meaningful partnership and group that's
• 1:08:45
  Speaker 3: going to accomplish a lot together.
• 1:08:46
  Speaker 2: And so I appreciate you.
• 1:08:48
  Speaker 3: And like you said, this isn't this is uh, We're
• 1:08:51
  Speaker 3: we're acquainted now, this isn't a one off podcast.
• 1:08:54
  Speaker 2: Have a lot of conversations and do a lot of
• 1:08:58
  Speaker 2: work together. So I'm really excited.
• 1:09:00
  Speaker 1: This is the third reconstruction actually, Eric, and it goes back.
• 1:09:04
  Speaker 1: I will end with my book which is out now,
• 1:09:06
  Speaker 1: Capitalism for All. This conversation confirms because we both come
• 1:09:10
  Speaker 1: from humble beginnings. You're on the playing field of professional sports.
• 1:09:14
  Speaker 1: I'm on the playing field of professional of business. And
• 1:09:19
  Speaker 1: I'd consider myself a professional athlete of the brain. But
• 1:09:23
  Speaker 1: We've gone from the bottom to the top of our game,
• 1:09:26
  Speaker 1: coming from completely two different walks of life, proving that
• 1:09:30
  Speaker 1: this system actually can work. It's imperfect, but it can
• 1:09:33
  Speaker 1: work for the least of these gods children if you
• 1:09:36
  Speaker 1: apply yourself and use the exact same business plan. If
• 1:09:39
  Speaker 1: you will that you've used for your life and I've
• 1:09:42
  Speaker 1: used for mine, which is hunger, discipline, authenticity, hustle, never
• 1:09:46
  Speaker 1: giving up, never giving in, keeping a strong team around you,
• 1:09:49
  Speaker 1: getting the toxicity out of your life, saying crystal laser
• 1:09:53
  Speaker 1: like focused. I want to thank Gus and Christa Armstead
• 1:09:58
  Speaker 1: who did a great job with you. I want to
• 1:10:01
  Speaker 1: thank Melinda, your wife, because they're behind every successful man
• 1:10:05
  Speaker 1: is an exhausted woman.
• 1:10:07
  Speaker 2: And thank my wife, Saiitra.
• 1:10:10
  Speaker 1: So until later, thank you very much for joining Money
• 1:10:15
  Speaker 1: and Well there, so welcome to the family tune.
• 1:10:19
  Speaker 2: I appreciate you, Thanks for having me Peace and life.
• 1:10:24
  Speaker 1: Money and Wealth with John O'Brien is a production of
• 1:10:26
  Speaker 1: the Black Effect Podcast Network. For more podcasts from the
• 1:10:29
  Speaker 1: Black Effect Podcast Network, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
• 1:10:34
  Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.