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From Prison to Profit: How Sean Martin Wrote His Future in a Prison Cell · Harder Than Life

• 0:00
  I was in a prison cell. I couldn't do a thing other than dream. And I did it without distraction. And little did I know at the time, that was the secret. Not being hindered by doubt. I did two years for Attempted Robbery, Second Degree. I proudly say that was the best thing that ever happened to me. Listen to somebody giving you advice that has done what you're trying to do. Because they better.
• 0:22
  And that was the biggest fear. It was always self-sabotage, this fear of success. Because I felt like I couldn't handle it. It wasn't necessarily as much as worthiness of receiving it, but holding onto it, belonging there. What's the difference between a seven-figure and an eight-figure entrepreneur? Mindset. What we resist persists. When you're out of the belief of scarcity,
• 0:47
  Everything just comes to you. The secret to having it all is knowing that you already do. Who cares about the f***ing process if you don't have the belief dialed in? Kid, I know this doesn't make sense now, but the sooner that you can care less about what people think about you, the better your life will become.
• 1:07
  Sean Martin ended up in a prison cell with a black and white composition notebook and nothing but time. Today, he is a husband, a father of two, and the founder of multiple seven- and eight-figure businesses in healthcare, marketing, and commercial real estate. Welcome to Heart of the Life, Sean Martin.
• 1:27
  Those of you that are watching and you tune in every single week, please smash that subscribe button. We are focused on growing that for you to get bigger and better guests. I appreciate it. It means the world to me and our team breathing into you. If you're watching this on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, subscribe on that platform.
• 1:50
  Welcome back to the Heart of Life show. I have my brother from another mother here who I recently met. So life really is always working out for you. The story you're going to hear today is very similar to mine. I was on his Real Mentors podcast. And today we're going to get deep. And my brother, Sean Martin, thanks for coming and making the trip. You're in person. My pleasure. It's the law of attraction, my friend.
• 2:12
  I was on your show and we got to know each other. So you wrote your entire future down in a prison cell. What was the very first thing you put on that page? I will weigh 220 pounds and have the physique of a men's fitness cover model. So basically you want to be me. I want to be you, just a little taller.
• 2:37
  You're an a**hole. That's the way to start the show, baby. This is probably the best fucking start I've ever had to a podcast. But that was... A little talk. That was... Bringing it back. Bringing it back. That was my first thing I wrote because I knew, even then...
• 2:54
  that the secret to success for me personally was anchoring the fitness at the gym. It was that conversation that I was having with myself that told me I was more. And I think I told you on my podcast, you know,
• 3:09
  food and eating unhealthily, because those were the options where I grew up, and what I was taught was not that good, food was really like a comfort for me. So, you know, I just had spurts in my life where I got in the gym, and it worked out nicely. I felt better. I looked better. Things in my life were better. So I had experience in the world that said that was the key for me, and I decided to make that the first priority. I lost a ton of weight in there as well.
• 3:37
  At your highest, what were you? 350. Not once, but twice. And multiple derivatives of 320. I mean, I've lost over a ton of weight with all the ups and downs in my life. This is the only part of our journeys that is different. For me, food was scarcity and it was fear. So when I grew up, we were on welfare and I used to literally get saltine crackers and
• 4:04
  And I would go to the store and I would steal a bag of chips and that was my dinner. Because my parents were alcoholics and they were calling all the time. So it's the only thing. But we take the same path after that. So why don't you, for the listeners that don't know who Sean Martin is, tell the story that you told me about how you went from prison to profit. And then we're going to get into each individual metric.
• 4:25
  Well, Sean Martin, husband, father, most importantly. I got one on the way of about to be three children. Of all the things I'll rifle off after that, that's the thing I'm most proudest of. So, you know, I grew up in a housing project in the 1980s, 1990s.
• 4:43
  Bronx, New York. So you're talking crack epidemic that wasn't met with the same reform and push for help as this recent opioid crisis. It was met with let's lock them up for 25 to life. So I grew up in that background, a lot of fatherless homes. Mine was fatherless, not for that reason, just because my mother was a single mom who immigrated here from the Dominican Republic at the age of 11. Education was a must in my house because she graduated from not only high school, but community and then four year college.
• 5:12
  all on time, not having spoke English when she got here. Wow. So that was a necessity. Like, I went to high school. I went to music and art high school. I went to the same community college my mother did, ironically enough. So much for generational progress. And then I went to four-year college. That's when I got my shit together. I spent my last two years in private school. So you're like, how the fuck, where the fuck does the prison come in here? So...
• 5:35
  You know, I can't. Wrong place at the wrong time. A little more than that. It was, I mean, it was a life, it was a lifetime of, I guess, confusion and not having a blueprint and making decisions without thoughts of what would happen as a result of these decisions down the line. And this is literally, Sean, where we started lining. Yeah. Because I didn't set out to be a drug dealer. You just didn't have anybody saying, hey, kid.
• 5:57
  What the f*** are you doing? This is not the right way. It was Johnny Law. So you start going that direction and you find that you're good at something. What's to stop you? The rules? No, I'm going to go investigate this thing that makes me feel good. It makes me money. So again, I say all that to say I'm up at college. I used to throw parties up there. So I mean, I did radio DJing in the college campus and I started throwing parties off campus and I stood for a couple years after graduating. So now I'm getting my chops
• 6:27
  with people. That's what I was really good at the whole time. Is it still in New York? No, well, I'm in New York, but I'm in upstate New York down in the college town, Ithaca College. So I come back home and I start taking various sales jobs. I mean, rank and file, bottom of the barrel sales jobs, knocking on doors, selling bulls**t,
• 6:44
  But I'm getting good because I've had a lifetime of sales calls through either telemarketing after school and high school. J.G. Wentworth reversed like annuity mortgages. I used to work for them. So I have the chops I've been building over the years just by always working.
• 7:00
  always going to school, always doing what I'm supposed to do, but always having one foot with a street knowledge of, ah, fuck the rules, they don't pertain to me. Again, a lot of clouded judgment, but I'm partying, I'm getting high, I'm drinking. I come back to New York, I'm doing sales jobs after college, and...
• 7:16
  I found a way to make some extra money. And that way wasn't necessarily legal. It started with me hustling knockoff clothes. So true religion jeans, Ed Hardy, Juicy Couture. You go to 28th Street, the African vendors would sell you the knockoff. You go uptown to the Bronx and you mark them up. So, I mean, I remember the first story I'd tell. I had 800 bucks.
• 7:38
  And it was around Christmas time. I recruit my little brother, free labor. I talk all about it in the book. We go down to 28th Street. I get ripped off. I overpay for everything. But I come up. I literally take a bunch of boxes in front of an old Navy on a main drag during Christmas season a few days before. So the stores are packed. Everybody's shopping. I just throw the boxes out on the street and I set up shop. Yeah.
• 7:59
  And it's not really illegally legal. So the cops come by and they're like, ah, get out of here. You know, move your stuff. Literally the only guy pulled over selling clothes. Like, I don't know what.
• 8:10
  Prompted me to take this $800, but I turned it into $4,500 within three days of going back and forth, back and forth. I found my hustle now. Right. But all the while, brother, remember, I'm college educated. I'm pretty, you know, pretty savvy. What was your degree in? Economics. Oh, economics. And an advertising public relations minor, ironically. So I definitely do the advertising public relations thing in my own way. But I've just never been a...
• 8:36
  I've never been a go with the flow kind of guy in terms of following what society tells me to do. Yeah, I mean, rules definitely did not pertain to me at one point in my life. And that's why I got in trouble. And I'll get to that. But I'm finding this hustle. And then that's when things get cloudy. Because now I'm a hustler. Or at least in my mind, I'm thinking I'm a hustler. And I'm good doing these legitimate things.
• 8:59
  Not so legal hustles, but then it starts to delve into, okay, you need drugs. I don't sell drugs, but I got somebody who does. I can connect you. I can make a few bucks. And now the lines are just, forget clouded. There's no lines. There's no lines anymore. So, I mean, I'm outside of a strip club selling Juicy Couture sweatsuits to some of the girls at 2 in the morning in the Bronx. This isn't, you know, we're not going to Scores in Manhattan. We're in the Bronx. Right.
• 9:22
  So, again, just anything that could go wrong, I mean, I'm pretty lucky to not have gotten myself into any craziness. But eventually, I do get into craziness. And I go out with some family members one night at a bar, become the mark for a robbery because I am pretty. I am way too well dressed and I'm flashing way too much money to be in this particular place.
• 9:43
  seedy place in the Bronx. Turned out to be a mark for robbery. It doesn't go that way by the grace of powers that wanted me to do something greater with my life. But we end up getting the upper hand and we become the aggressors. We become the robbers. So we take the law into our own hands. Violence ensued. Weapons withdrawn. People got hurt.
• 10:03
  people got in trouble. And there's a lot of people involved that I don't want to throw under the bus. So I don't get too much into the details, but it was just me being in a place I had absolutely no business being in. And I ended up having to do a two year bid. So I did two years for attempted robbery, second degree. You know, my co-defendants ended up doing a little bit longer because of their criminal records. And, you know, I proudly say that was the best thing that ever happened to me.
• 10:30
  The Heart of the Life Nation knows that I went to jail. I sold drugs flat out. We were importing 40, 50 pounds of weed. This is before 9-11, where we would just ship it in, and we would wrap it in cellophane and ship it in. And the person would take by a ticket, and you didn't have –
• 10:46
  It was back before 9-11, so you could let your suitcase fly without you. And we would just send a little meal. Crazy to think about it now, right? And we would spend hours, and we'd unwrap 50 pounds of weed and distribute it. And then we'd sell some cocaine, extra seaweed. It's not how it started out, man. I was just helping out a couple of people. It was out of necessity. It was simply...
• 11:05
  Okay, I have a college degree. I did what I was supposed to do, what my mother told me to do, what she did, what the American system tells you to do. And that was, okay, come home, you got a $27,000 a year job waiting for you. That was entry level back in 2000 when I graduated. Bro, I paid $27,000 to go to private school for the year. I came home and the job offers were around $27,000 to $35,000 a year. What? I made $12,000 my first job out of college.
• 11:34
  12,000. Are you that f***ing old? You just look that good, bro. I don't know. I'm really sorry. That was my salary. I made like 40, 50 grand. This is in Detroit, though, also. So it's relative to where you are. New York, obviously, is one of the most expensive places. But the point being is it's starting to not add up. And then, you know, I do that for a while and I do the jobs. But I knew people. And when I found a product that I could move that wasn't illegal necessarily and I could double my profit,
• 12:03
  On every item, if I threw $800, I got $1,600. $1,600 goes to $3,200. That's how I took $800 and made $45 in a week. And that money, it's all the... I remember the first drug deal that I did, I made $1,600 in one night. You were fucking set. And I was in college, and I'm like, $1,600? I'm set for the month.
• 12:26
  And then I'm like, it started off with only doing the big parties. And then it just got in little dime bags here and there. But talk to me because the moment I stepped into that jail cell and the thing closed.
• 12:40
  I started crying and I went, I made some stupid choices. Yeah. And that's when I, the first time I fully accepted all my decisions. There was twists and turns in mind, people testifying against me, police lying. But in the end, I was selling drugs. Yeah, yeah. It was me.
• 12:57
  And that moment. So talk to me about when you took responsibility. When you closed that prison or that jail cell phone. So, you know, I was a little older, so it didn't have that same effect on me, you know, where I broke down. But, you know, I'm not even going to lie. I was in bad shape going in. So I knew I was turning myself in. I was still getting high at the time. I went in high off my face. So, you know, I didn't come down for a couple days off the ecstasy or whatever that I was just...
• 13:23
  You know, love him back in the day. And anybody who's ever done that knows that that's a rough coming off. Imagine showing up. It steals all the freaking euphoria and all the endorphins out of your body. So I'm drained. And I remember sleeping for a good 36 hours on Rikers Island the first day or two. Just because I was just so depressed.
• 13:44
  Obviously, for where I was at, but then also you add into that the chemical component of what my body was going through. So I remember that very, very vividly, just being under the covers, crying as well, actually, but to myself because, you know.
• 14:00
  The reality set in. It didn't set in when the door hit, but it set in like that when I'm in the dorm with 50 other motherfuckers or 70, whatever. I think it's 50 back in the dorms. I don't remember. And yeah, a wake up call. But the real, real, like, you know, for anybody who's looking for that TV moment, that comes when you go upstate. So you do your time at Rikers Island, then they ship you upstate to do your bid. Upstate New York.
• 14:25
  And you go to a facility, I want to say it's Ulster or Mid-State, and think of a meat locker, like just a tiled huge room where you would imagine some pigs getting cut up and like that subway white tile at a meat, you know, like a butcher. And you walk through the flaps, the plastic flaps to get in the fridge. This was the shower for eight men that were getting processed. And now there's lines of eight at a time going in, butt naked.
• 14:56
  right, I want to say either before or after, no, it was after they shaved your head or before, I don't remember, and you're putting lice on your head. They give you a little cup of rinse, which is lice essentially, remover or whatever. Yeah, the life and remover. So that to me was just the most dehumanizing, still remember that vividly. How about the check? Oh, yeah, the check and the cough and the, yeah, that too, but I remember that as far as moments that stood out.
• 15:24
  Because we were in a f***ing meat locker. Just eight grown strangers taking a shower. Sean, for me, it was the second time I got busted for selling drugs. I needed to be locked up. I wasn't literally going to stuff. Probably out of control, yeah. I thought I was larger than life. The first one was a slap on the wrist. I got caught a pound of weed in my backpack. And I was like, what are they going to do to me? And they didn't. They didn't do nothing. And I didn't give them my lesson. I got violated on...
• 15:50
  parole, and I remember my PO telling me that. Mr. Martin, you think because you're smart and articulate, the rules don't apply to you. Looking back, boy, they were right. At the time, I wasn't trying to cop to it, but
• 16:05
  Yeah. That's the advice that I wish I would. Listen, my uncle, my dad died when I was young. My uncle tried to step in. I just wish I, listen to people that have experienced what you've experienced. If everybody would do, that's the best advice I can give to any of the Hotter Live Nation. Listen to somebody giving you advice that has done what you're trying to do. Because they've been there. Now, don't listen to idiots that haven't done it. Because there's a lot of those out there. You can learn a lot from a dummy. Yeah.
• 16:34
  I had certain things. But it's tough because people have to, right? You weren't willing to hear it until the second time. Some people never hear it. You know, even in this personal development coaching space that I'm in now, if I bring some of this information to people that aren't looking for it, they look at you like you got three f***ing heads. Like, what are you talking about? Inner peace and inner wealth. That's the most disappointing thing about this business. They're oblivious.
• 17:03
  Because they're not ready. Until you're ready, what do they say? When the student is ready, the teacher will appear. Because they're all around you. You just don't see them. Because your eyes, your ears, and your heart are not open to listen to the message. Because you think you got shit figured out. And that goes to everybody, man, woman, and child, that thinks they have shit figured out. My daughter, she's not hearing me. The noise is there. There's words coming out of my mouth, but it's literally Charlie Brown.
• 17:31
  wah wah wah wah and that's how the 8 year old hears their parents unfortunately that's how a lot of us adults walk around the world I have a 17 year old it's the same thing I had she messaged me yesterday she said dad can I leave for the rest of the day there's nothing but subs substitute teachers the rest of the day I said what do you think
• 17:50
  I said, every day isn't going to be rainbows and unicorns. Suck it up, buttercup. She goes, dad, can't you just at least be nice about it? And she's like, I did the right thing and I didn't lie. And I go, you want me to congratulate you for doing the right thing? Congratulations. Now get back to class. Yeah, go back to class. What part of your journey are you most ashamed of? And how did you get to the point to share that with everybody? I think the prison story was my biggest shame for years.
• 18:19
  For years and years, it was something that I would not touch. I had been paroled to the Bronx. I had built a successful life through my marketing prowess and built a successful medical supply business at this point. I built multiple seven and eight figure businesses.
• 18:37
  And I moved to a suburb in fucking, you know, Long Island, New York. That's 96% Caucasian. Full on sellout, bro. We're actually moving and it never felt like home because it was such a dramatic shift.
• 18:53
  from where we come from. So I guess it was like hiding, looking back, right? Like, I'm going to run as far away from that f***ing pastor mine as I can possibly run. And for years I didn't say anything until I went to this mastermind, and it was a boot camp style thing for three days, and they run you around the sand. And they do some physical component, but a lot of heart-centric stuff, team building with the brothers. It was only five or six of us, and, you know, you're letting all your garbage out.
• 19:23
  Because I had already been doing the work. I had already done my year at Tony Robbins Platinum. But this was like gritty. I just wanted to get through the mud. I just wanted to start realizing my greatest potential. And I knew that this whole story needed to be told. So even my book, the first transcript.
• 19:39
  It was nothing there about the prison. Oh, man. Nothing. And somebody's like, bro, you can't not tell the prison story. And I said, but I got a daughter. I got a wife. And I got a son. And I live in a neighborhood that's upper middle class. And it's 95% white. And what will people think of me? And I had this whole story that.
• 19:58
  that was made up in my head, that made me less than, especially if I told that story. And I come out of this boot camp, and the commitment I made there was, I'm going to go home and record a video and just do it. And I took my phone and a tripod and my little mic attachment that I had, and I just said, you know, I got a secret that I've been keeping. The video's out there. You know, 17, 16 years ago, I went to prison and da-da-da-da-da. It was the most freeing.
• 20:25
  thing ever. To really full circle, long story longer, answer your question, it was the decision to just say, hey, this was my past, this is what I've been through, but I'm here. And I walked in the gym the next day, and the people that had seen the video were more ingratiated to me, were...
• 20:49
  more interested in me. To the point now where certain people at the gym that I train at, which is in the suburbs, don't know my story. And when they find my social media page, they're completely, I've been treated differently. So I don't like that component of it.
• 21:05
  But I'm so proud that I actually had the courage to say, hey, this is the biggest thing I've ever f***ed up in my life. And you can use that to inspire people. And that's really been the blessing. No doubt. It's called From Prison to Profit. Get out and read it. It wouldn't be, the story wouldn't be there. It was from The Streets to Profit. It was originally From Streets to Suites. Ah!
• 21:31
  And then we went from prison to purpose, actually. Prison to purpose. But I like Prison to Profit. That might be part two. We're actually relaunching at the end of the year. What was the story you were telling yourself why you wouldn't want to tell the prison story? It has to do with the same thing I think most people feel, which is that they're not good enough.
• 21:49
  They're not worthy enough. It's like a kid that's been told that they're going to go to some Ivy League school all their life, right? And they've been built up and the parents have been building this up since junior high and, you know, whatever. So there's this belief that they can get in this school. Okay, so if they get in the school,
• 22:07
  They've always known that they had the ability to get into school, they've worked toward it, and they are ultimately rewarded. There's probably a donation involved in there and the parents, you know, help or whatever. But that's besides the point. I had no plans to go to any kind of college. So, to me...
• 22:27
  Just being there was already like a huge, huge victory, but I didn't know how to... Like, I just didn't know how to process any of the success. That's one of my hardest parts. Yeah, it's incremental, right? Your mind can see down the road, but it doesn't understand all the bumps, bruises, and things you have to learn to accept and take and pivot to because...
• 22:53
  Listen, more money, more problems. I want more money. Absolutely. New levels, new devils is what you use. You're going to take on new experiences that you're not familiar with and they're going to impact you in some way. And if you haven't done the inner work, those things start to show up and all the things you do.
• 23:10
  And you don't even realize it. And that was the biggest fear. It was always self-sabotage, this fear of success. Because I felt like I couldn't handle it. It wasn't necessarily as much as worthiness of receiving it, but holding on to it.
• 23:28
  belonging there. Yeah, you were with me last week when I gave my speech. That was the first time I gave that speech about fear and shame. And what is shame? It's not feeling worthy in your deepest soul. I walk around my neighborhood and I'm in...
• 23:47
  CEO role in Michigan. And I walk around and I'm like, how did I get here? And until very recently, I would knock it. And now I'm like, wait a minute. I worked my butt off to get here. And I'd never talk about it. So I didn't talk about the shame, and I didn't talk about the success. I just talked about the habits and structure and being harder than life.
• 24:11
  But being honored in the life of me means embracing that fear and that shame. And when I did that, that last speech, everybody came up to me. Now, was that crowd ready for the next one? A few. A few were. A few were ready, but there was a lot that they just couldn't see it. This is life, right? You move up. You get accustomed to it.
• 24:32
  And then most people stay at the comfortability. Maybe they make a little creep upward. But what we're trying to do is this. So we're trying to get all the way up. So we have to level out to get right to some extent before we can go further. We're growing like crazy in the podcast. He's like, I like where we're growing. And I was like, I want to go faster. He goes, why? It's because more people need it.
• 24:57
  And he says, okay. You've got to make sure your reasons are right. What are the people that you coach? What are you seeing in the marketplace? I shouldn't say the marketplace. What are you seeing the people that you coach and that are looking to be coached? What is their limiting belief?
• 25:12
  What do you like the heart of life nation needs to hear this? What are you seeing? They hear it from me all the time. What do you see? Above and beyond what you're going to see with entrepreneurs. And that's who I coach. I coach, you know, mid six figure entrepreneurs who are stuck. They're self-sabotaging. They are, you know, cyclically building the practice or building the business only to kind of come down or build incrementally. They're not.
• 25:36
  Living or building to their truest potential. And the reason is they're not looking inward. Yeah. Everybody thinks it's a spreadsheet or it's a marketing tactic or it's advertising or it's. I just explained to you how I had to grow into the skin that I've built for my life. And it does not take months.
• 25:55
  It does not take even years. It could take multiple years. It could take decades for some people to graduate into a new space where they're capable of being a seven-figure entrepreneur. Best scenario I ever had that I can explain this. I've been to the eight-figure space. And a buddy of mine who's been, you know, he's done very well. He's in the seven-figure. Well, what's the difference between a seven-figure and an eight-figure entrepreneur? Mindset.
• 26:24
  The mirror. And this is also a guy who argued a point with me. He says, you know, I don't believe in that, you know, that show me your friends, I'll show you your net worth. You show me your five friends, I'll show you your net worth belief system. And I said, well, maybe that's part of the problem. The problem is you're still hanging out with those same friends. You're still having those same conversations. You're still picking up tabs for those regular Joes to watch a basketball game.
• 26:50
  You are staying somewhere comfortable and you've given yourself the story that I'm staying here because I'm true to who I am. I'm true to who I am. That's how we do it. That's how we trick ourselves. We keep it real, right? We don't forget where we came from. So we hold on. We need to remember, but we need to just leave that in the rearview mirror and hold on to it in incremental chunks because of the fact that.
• 27:18
  It is so easy to forget, okay? I'll use one example. We're in Fort Lauderdale. The air show's going on. I just came from a friend's by the water, and we're sitting there on this fucking amazing balcony in this multimillion-dollar apartment, and we're looking at the air show, and these guys are testing the day early, right? So the jets are flying by. I'm like a little kid. I'm calling my son. I'm videotaped sending it to my wife. I'm like, this is awesome. And he's like, man, could you? And we were talking about something else.
• 27:45
  And he's like, yeah, could you imagine how it was like to be, you know, that guy or this guy? And I'm like, could you imagine what it's like to be us right now? Like, what the fuck? Be present. Be present. Like, you're sitting here just thinking about that memory that happened two hours ago. It caused up goosebumps for me because I learned to appreciate.
• 28:05
  Everything. And that's only because everything was taken from me. What we resist persists. A hundred percent. And I'm convinced now, having gone through it, that God just keeps sending you that lesson until you learn it. And it often comes across as a lie that we tell ourselves that we learned somewhere along the line. What was the lie that you had kept on to that you had to eventually say, that's an absolute lie? Yeah.
• 28:34
  To get you to the next level. So many things, brother. Right? What's one? So many. But I mean, listen, right? Everybody focuses on the four quadrants. I do money, mindset, movement, and mastery. So let's talk about the money.
• 28:47
  I was taught that money is the root of all evil. I was taught that, you know, people with lots of money had to do certain things to harm other people to get that money. Or they had to be selfish. That was the first thing I had to unlearn. How about this one? Because I just have to ask myself that question. What is it that you don't—were you taught that you don't trust anybody?
• 29:07
  I was taught not to trust anybody. Well, I think you and I had this discussion. I said, I trust everybody to be themselves, and I trust my ability to sniff people out. It's that simple. You have to earn my trust. And we've been in this situation where you meet people, and right off the bat, it's, oh, I love you, bro. I'm always like, ooh, weary with that word. Like, I don't throw that word around. So if we're too early on, I'm already like,
• 29:34
  Red flag. So am I treating you differently? No, I'm mature enough where I can treat you the same and be just me, but I'm keeping score. So everybody truly does start with 100 with me, but then over time, I'll see behaviors that say, all right.
• 29:51
  Something to watch out for. But, again, it takes a lot for you to eliminate yourself. Like, you got to be at a really low score with me. Eliminate yourself. Because I just understand that everybody's different. And I don't really, I try not to be judgmental. But maybe it doesn't line up with who I am. I jumped in there. So keep going down your money and mindset. Yeah, so money. I had to change my mindset around money. And that's really the biggest component. Money is truly an energy. There is an abundance of it. One of my mentors, Dean Graciosi, says, you know, air. Do you think about air?
• 30:21
  It's just there. It's in the air. I swear to you, brother, I don't know how I think about money the same way. I've got money problems right now. Don't keep me up at night because I just know and I believe in my ability to earn. And my mother was also one of those extremely generous people early on. And this is where I got the lesson.
• 30:40
  We could not get the two weeks to get to the check, but we had credit at the corner store because my mother always knew, all right, we need to count on people. We need to rely on people. So she always paid her debts. And, you know, it might be 50 or 60 or $100 sometimes. So when she got a check, 100 was already earmarked for the corner bodega grocery store to pay the bill that we owe because that carried us for the two weeks. We couldn't carry it. So generosity, living beyond your means sounds...
• 31:11
  Reckless. But to some extent, it's what made me abundant. It was the lack of discernment between the dangers of being broke. For some people, being broke is like scarcity. Growing up broke, but having a generous mom that was willing to give you her last $5 if you really needed it taught me to spend money.
• 31:35
  And it played right into the things I learned about money, just being an abundance mindset. And it's always, and again, this obviously is because I'm a capable person able to create money. So if you're working a job, don't listen to a word I just said, because the truth is you're trading your time for money. This is for entrepreneurs.
• 31:53
  who believe in themselves and they're confident enough to create something out of nothing. And that only comes with years and decades of practice. I just realized another lie is to tell myself that you have to work your butt off and grind, grind, grind. You got to be harder than life to be successful.
• 32:11
  And I learned that the hard way last year. Yeah. Well, I mean, money makes money. The people that I get to be around now, I was just thinking about that as I'm coming into your beautiful condo. And, you know, I was looking at the stats and, you know, there's only so many hundreds of thousands of millionaires. But in my world now, it seems more abundant. Yeah.
• 32:30
  Not everybody's doing well. You know why? Because I only go to places that are nice now. So the world seems a lot smaller. But I don't lose track of the fact that I had to drive through some schmuck to get here too. Because the majority of people are living to survive. But when you're out of that mindset, and that's what brings me to number two, mindset. When you're out of the belief of scarcity...
• 32:54
  Everything just comes to you. And if you're fortunate enough to change your mindset around this one simple concept, the secret to having it all is knowing that you already do. It simply means be happy with what you have right now, no matter how much you're struggling, and understand that it will get better.
• 33:12
  You've heard me say this a lot. A lot of people say, I'll see it when I believe it. Or I'll believe it when I see it. Yeah. And you'll see it when you believe it is the actual term. When you believe that it's yours. I love that better. It will come. It's exactly what you just said. And you're a Midwest boy, right? So you're from Missouri. You got to see it to believe it. I'm from Detroit, man. I know, but it's still the Midwest, though. The hood of the Midwest. You in Chicago, Southside takes the cake. I'd be remiss if I don't
• 33:43
  What binds us is doing the time is if a man is sitting in his cell tonight reading your book, what's the first sentence he needs to underline? Hmm. Geez. I'm never at a loss for words audience. If you follow my stuff or if you know me personally. Hmm.
• 34:10
  So many gems, man. I couldn't, I honestly couldn't do it justice. I couldn't tell you one thing that stands out. There's just so many things there. You know, the book is a collection of lessons, right? So I don't want to sum it up in terms of a quote. But, you know, we were talking about belief. And the most important thing that I was ever taught, and this was taught to me at a young age, and I shared it at the...
• 34:38
  the event the other day was, if you believe you can, you can. If you believe you can't, you can't. Either way, you're right. That has been it for me. Without that belief, and I think, you know, people overthink it. Who cares about the f***ing process if you don't have the belief
• 34:58
  Dialed in. And that belief has to be a lie, right? So essentially what we're doing is lying to ourselves until we make it real. So why not lie a big one? Yeah. In the positive way. And again, everybody overthinks it. And that's why I love to tell my story. I was in a prison cell. I couldn't do a thing other than dream. And I did it without distraction. And little did I know at the time that was the secret. Not being hindered by doubt.
• 35:26
  Sean, the one thing that I ask you the question and then I think about my answer because we're so similar. And I didn't process so much in my life until now. I get to do it right here live on the show. Yeah.
• 35:40
  The one thing I would tell somebody is what's the first step in any process? Admitting you. Admitting you did it. When I was in jail, it was everybody was a victim. Yeah. The first thing I would say is hold that mirror up. Look in the mirror. Look in the mirror.
• 35:56
  And be radically accountable. And I'm sure that there's. I'm sorry I haven't read the book yet. I didn't steal one from the thing. No, that's fine. That's fine. I signed them for them. I gave them a copy. I didn't want to take anybody's stuff. Because it was for all the guests. No, I'll order it like the regular people. And I'll read it. And then I'll do a whole thing. I'm reading the girl who you're going to see right next to Tanya's book. It's so interesting. But the one thing I would say is. It's to everybody. It's look in the mirror.
• 36:22
  And that's who you owe. You said something great. You said, you know, everybody's innocent in jail, right? Nobody did anything. Everybody's a blamer. If everybody had 15 seconds to take back, there'd be nobody in jail. And I think that's what is missed is that there are some bad people, but the majority of people there just made bad decisions or they might have made a string of bad decisions and choices. But...
• 36:51
  It was the culmination of probably one decision that if you have 15 seconds to take back, it would have changed everything. So in my case, the police officer lied. And that's the one lie. Surprise, surprise. Right, yeah. He's got a little loophole in his case. And I hung on that. That I, if that guy wouldn't have lied, I wouldn't be in jail. And I did that for seven years until one day I went, I was selling drugs.
• 37:19
  And I said, if I wasn't selling drugs, the lie wouldn't have mattered.
• 37:23
  And right then I released myself, I took back all the power. Everything changed. And that's why I asked that question, because there's something, that one little thing, one question you can ask yourself. And for me it was, what am I not believing about myself, that I need to sell drugs? I could have gone and got a legitimate job and got the same amount of money, but I just believed that to be cool I just had to roll with the punches. And that's how I got caught up.
• 37:51
  And I made a decision. And I, bro, there was a time, a point in time and place, because when we got arrested, it was all over CNN, because we raided several houses. It was a big operation. We were distributing weed to several college campuses. It was pretty big. And we could have gone bigger, but...
• 38:11
  We didn't think big enough. Thank God. Thank God. Have you learned your lesson, Mr. Siegel? Well, that was legal. Selling weed is legal. Now the corporations make the money. Yeah. So let's talk about your successful guy. You made some money. Tell people how you did it. Is it in the book? What's that? How'd you make money? So marketing. Marketing is my forte. It's hard to explain to people that...
• 38:40
  People skills is a superpower. I had a friend and colleague of mine say the most beautiful thing recently. He says, you know, some people collect watches. Some people collect cars. I collect people.
• 38:57
  And those relationships that come as a result of that have made me successful. That's what works for me. You know, some people are good with numbers. Some people are good with strategy. Others are good with, you know, other things. I'm good with something that is intangible. So it took me a very long time to appreciate it for what it was. But all of my success is due to my ability to connect with people
• 39:22
  and then get to know them at a human level and connect them with other people that they can do business with. So I'm a connector, glorified marketer. I have a sales background of rank and file sales, not corporate. I worked corporate for a little while, wasn't for me, too rigid. And then I went off. You don't say. I went off and did medical marketing for MRI facilities. So I was a donut boy. We'll go around, get the pad, flirt with the front desk girls.
• 39:50
  get them some donuts from Dunkin' Donuts, treat them to lunch every once in a while and get prescriptions as a result in the door. That's actually how I met my wife years ago. Was she one of the front desk girls? She was actually the referral coordinator. She was the back desk girl. And she was the one that had the power to send work. And it was funny. It was at a place that I had been to a million times, two blocks away, never sent me a case. They're like, oh yeah, the new girl, go meet her. Boom, instant lust at first sight.
• 40:18
  17 years and now three babies later and countless wins and growth. That's how we met. I was just dying late. I just realized I went to the Bronx to get a 4D scan about three years ago. I don't know where I went. I went to some shady place because they did AI.
• 40:37
  MRIs and immediately Got my results because I wanted to see 4d where everything was traveling and it was in the Bronx You make all you make money I do alright, so I did marketing and then eventually I was marketing um
• 40:56
  I was putting together events, professional events, connecting people in this space. And then I just decided after getting screwed over that I was going to go off on my own. And I took some money. I invested the equipment. I was marketing for the guy. I didn't know how to do it. I didn't know how to set up the equipment. I didn't know how to work it. I just knew how to market. So I had to learn all that. I had to hire partners. I had to hire people to drive and deliver and all that. And we built the business.
• 41:22
  In the space where I was previously marketing for someone else, I said, you know what? I can do this on my own. And I'll tell you, the biggest fear that most people have is the first step. Brother, I had that marketing plan, that business plan written down before I got violated on parole and went back for another five months. So we're talking, I already knew I was going to do this.
• 41:47
  Didn't have the balls to pull the trigger until that person owed me a large sum of money and decided to not pay me. And then I was like, I'm out of here. It's funny. God works in mysterious ways. Very mysterious ways. I always say, if you can sell, you're never going to be out of a job. And I'm going to tell you the single secret to sales. Give the people what they want. It's that easy. And if you can't, find somebody that can. Most people talk themselves out of making a sale. There you go. Because they are...
• 42:15
  morally opposed or they've created a story. I've seen it. I did it for years in sales. I was like, oh, I'm not a good salesman. The truth is I didn't believe in what I was selling at the time. Yeah, that's a doozy. Yeah, I couldn't do it. Like there are other people that could sell things that they don't believe in. I'm not one of them. What's the most expensive financial mistake you've made in your entrepreneurial career?
• 42:40
  So many. Pick one. Listen, I've had half a million dollar bad investments on handshakes that have went south. And I've been paid back in increments, but not at all. But I got no paperwork to go off. But by far the most expensive mistake that I ever made...
• 42:59
  was not investing in myself earlier. Oh, man. It was not getting sober earlier. It was not going to Tony Robbins Platinum earlier. Parents, if you have a child that is about to go to college, I implore you, I beg you to not listen to all the same advice that was given to you that may be panned out in your generation. It will not work for the future. You will be wasting $70,000, $50,000, $60,000 a year, maybe more,
• 43:27
  to send your kid to a college that will not prepare them for what's coming. Instead, send them to a mastermind. Send them to an educational program outside of the normal channels
• 43:38
  of the status quo because they will learn far more. In the year that I was a Tony Robbins Platt, going to just three events, I changed my life far greater than at any other point in my life. And that continues to this day. I spend hundreds of thousands of dollars every year in education and mastermind groups to be around
• 43:58
  The people that force me to level up. Right. I started my talk on if you don't deal with the stuff that's going on in your head, it will hold you back forever. And you learn that when you're around other people that go first. Like when you come out and you're a big boy and you start talking about, hey…
• 44:15
  Deal with the six inches between your ears. Most people don't get it because they haven't removed the chip from their shoulder. Nothing removes the chip from one shoulder like the feeling of success. So if that person has not found that success and leveled out,
• 44:32
  It's very hard to teach them that lesson. Either they're still chasing the success that they think will make them happy or whole, or they haven't gotten to a point of complacency at success that they're looking for something more. I think you misspoke. What you meant to say was nothing removes that chip on their shoulder like getting the success and then losing it.
• 44:55
  That's what it is. Because gaining the success, they still have that chip. See, I told you so. It's sabotaging it, going to jail, losing it. Then you start looking. Well, that's what I teach in my coaching program. But without losing it. Because...
• 45:12
  you will find a way to lose it. Yep. And especially if you got deep wounds. I'm not talking somebody who was raised in a somewhat stable environment, who found some financial success and they responsibly invested and put 10% away and set up a college fund. I like how your voice changed. I'm talking about a mother or a gal who,
• 45:31
  grinded their way to success because that pain and that fear and that feeling of less than that was beat into them by life or their parents or their irresponsible caretakers fueled them to the success. But deep down inside they still don't believe themselves to be worthy. So what do they do? They find a strip club or they find a hooker or they find a drug or they find a lifestyle that is going to piss it away.
• 45:59
  Or they find a car that's going to make them happy for a little. Or they find a girl. A toxic girl or a toxic bad boy. Anything starting to sound familiar? All of it. All of it. Because you do not deem yourself worthy of being the person that you care to be. You don't know what it looks like, what it feels like to live in that skin. And that's why I get around people that hold themselves to a higher standard.
• 46:23
  Because it wouldn't be long before I was getting called out if I started to let my life go down that path. They'd be like, what the f*** is wrong with you? What's going on? Because they'd be able to call you out on it. And that's why people that ask that question about, oh, you have five friends and show me who you are is bull****. That's why they're still there. Because nobody is of the level to call them out. They can still dibble dabble in the behaviors they know they need to get rid of.
• 46:49
  And stay comfortable. And nobody around there is going to question them because that's who they know you to be. In my entire life, Sean, I've always been the smallest guy in the room. Obviously. Well, until now, finally, 50. Smallest guy in the room. The brokest guy in the room. I used to be the youngest, but this is kind of what happens when you put yourself in rooms that are much bigger than you. You eventually become big. You become the elder, yeah.
• 47:19
  But I love that. Push me to no end. I love being the PR. I had to let go of all of my friends, of all of my colleagues. You're going to come up to the game next week that we're hosting, and you're going to see the smorgasbord of people that are there. And it's not necessarily about business. It's not necessarily about business.
• 47:38
  I don't want to hang out with some of the people. I've invited some people that I truly like in my business. They couldn't come. They couldn't make it, whatever, or people in the field. But like I don't feel called to just everything for me isn't about business. I've graduated from the people I did business with in some regards. And I've graduated from the people I grew up with for sure, my family. So success is a lonely place. And that's another reason people self-sabotage is because the more successful you become, the more you look around and you're by yourself.
• 48:06
  Or you're with unfamiliar new faces because the people that you started with, they just can't keep up. People don't like being alone with themselves. So heal that first. You just gave them ask class. If you can't be alone, I've said it a thousand times, stillness, silence, and solitude.
• 48:27
  If you can't be sit still, if you can't be silent, and you can't be alone, heal that, and everything will get better for you. My buddy today, we go to one of those cryo, red light, one of those all-in-one places, the wellness centers, and they had a float tank, sensory deprivation. And I've been in that before. He's like, ah, I did that for 10 minutes, and I got out. And the girl was like, don't ever do that again. And...
• 48:51
  You said he couldn't be, you know, people can't be alone with their thoughts. And I told him the same thing verbatim. I said, that's because you can't be alone with your crazy thoughts. And we laughed. But it's true. People rarely allow themselves the gift of sitting in silence without a phone or distraction. The gift. You're right. The gift. Oh, it don't feel like one at first. No.
• 49:12
  But once you sit there, if you force yourself past that needing to do something, you'll see how crazy the mind is and how your body is tied to it. Because you'll be like squirrely. Now you crave it. Squirrely. I crave it. Yeah. If I don't have some silence in my day, if I don't have solitude...
• 49:29
  I will just literally walk out of wherever I'm at and you'll just see me disappear. And I'll just go for a walk by myself. It flips the other side. I like in life to the gym. When you go to the gym, you rip your muscles. You don't want to go. You rip your muscles. You're sore and you get bigger.
• 49:47
  And that's what has to happen in our life. So we have to go do the thing that's so uncomfortable. I just came off of four months of the craziest, most intense therapy where I got shown the terrible me. And at one point, Brittany's like, what can I do? I'm 15 days straight of anxiety. What can I do? Nothing.
• 50:07
  Just going to sit in this. And I sat in it 15 days. And that was one. And then shame came. Every emotion that I had pushed down came out. And I just let it. And I'm proud to say I'm on the other side of it. There's a lot up to the surface, man.
• 50:21
  and people don't, they don't want to dig, again, it's not something that's rewarded. Or at least for you. Well, you and in these circles, but I'm talking about in society as a whole. Nobody rewards you for doing inner work or healing your inner child. Nobody in school ever teaches you how the shadow self is going to show up in your decision-making and your relationships and why you're going to sabotage because you're still showing up as the kid that didn't have certain needs met. Nobody's promoting that outside of these circles that we're in.
• 50:49
  And that's why we feel so called to do what we do, because we know how much it can help people get out of that same fucking miserable feeling that we all have. If you stripped away every business you've built, what is the part of you that would still be standing? My heart.
• 51:07
  Yeah. My heart. Wow. My heart, my heart. The biggest compliment I was ever played was paid to me recently at a Zenith Mastermind event. My sister, Sarit Weinstein, comes up to me during the lunch, and she goes, you know, because I had that interaction with John Maxwell that I shared with you in the group the other day at the event,
• 51:25
  And she goes, you know, when I see you, I don't even see a person. I just see a heart with legs. Oh, best compliment ever. And for a 6'3", 280-pound guy with a convicted felon, you know what I mean, attached to his name, to hear that compliment...
• 51:41
  was the ultimate compliment because at Tony Robbins date with destiny, I came to the ultimate conclusion after six days and 60 hours that the purpose of my life was to be a vessel of grace and kindness for everybody that I come in contact with and do good deeds for myself and others as often as possible. That was it. You know, you tell yourself, it's not about the money. You tell yourself I'm doing this for the right reasons.
• 52:09
  But when someone else comes up to you and validates with that comment, whereas some of the other people, I'm sure, have been like, well, what the hell is he doing in the room? Like, he's not here to build this kind of business or that kind of business. What's he doing in the room? I'm just happy to be there. I'm literally eavesdropping on what a life could look like.
• 52:30
  But now I get to take it back and go create the one that I can take bits and pieces from everybody that inspired me, knowingly and unknowingly, and build the life of my dreams. But now I know it exists and this is how it happens. And I can call that person to help me with that. Whereas before, you have an idea
• 52:48
  Right. What was winning when we grew up was Jordans and nice jeans and popping bottles. And you had a hot chick and you had a nice car. And that was winning. Now winning doesn't look anything like that. It's literally getting up in the morning, being happy with who you want without any back pain. And your kids love you and you're eating healthy and you're looking good. And the wins are just so dramatically different in terms of what they look like. You know, that's progress.
• 53:17
  If I still wanted the same thing I wanted 10 years ago, I wouldn't be making much progress. This next question is deep, brother. What does the Martin name need to mean in 50 years for you to feel like you actually won? Boom. Well, God willing, modern medicine. Maybe I haven't kicked the dust yet. And I'm still around at 97, getting to see the first of my...
• 53:43
  Maybe great grandchildren, if I can inspire my kids to have them earlier since I've waited so long to have kids. It looks like love. It looks like leading with your heart. Getting the money out of the way so that that's not the focus. When you come from poverty, money is the focus. We got to get money to get out of here, to get comfortable, to get the wins. But then you realize, oh, this isn't going to make me happy.
• 54:13
  But like Bedro said the other day, money doesn't make you happy, you haven't given enough of it away. So in a perfect world, the Martin Foundation is writing seven-figure checks.
• 54:26
  We're going to achieve this while my wife and I are still alive, doing it on stage together, and eventually our children doing it, and giving to charities from all walks and all causes to plant seeds of change and hope amongst all people. But in particular, my goal is to impact the lives of 10 million inner city youth through my Real Mentors program. Love it. I don't want to limit myself. Humanity is humanity, but that just calls my heart because I know people.
• 54:52
  that the numbers there statistically are unfortunately far inferior in terms of the ability to dig out of that hole. The numbers are just exponentially greater than some of our not-so-dark counterparts. So you quoted Bedros, I was quoting Siegel, and it's money doesn't make you happy, but happiness will make you money. Oh, yeah. If everything you built disappeared tomorrow, what would you start over with first?
• 55:22
  Other people's money. Other people's money for sure. I think knowing what I know now, you need other people to build. You need other people's money. You need other people's skill sets. So selling would be the first thing I would dial in. So if I limited it to vision, relationships, or discipline, which one?
• 55:51
  The discipline. Right? Hard. 100% the discipline. It's been the toughest challenge, not coming from a discipline background or a hard-nosed, get-up-and-do-it-anyway background, to build that.
• 56:08
  contentness, laziness is always knocking at the door because it wasn't a muscle that was built super early on, right? Again, we always want what we can't have, right? But would I be the same heart-centric person if I was built with discipline first? Probably not. So, again, we can't wish upon a star because you lean into one thing and you take away another. But discipline is the one thing that, yes...
• 56:33
  Admittedly, every day, at least once a day, I say, if I just had some better discipline around a couple of things,
• 56:40
  We'd be a lot further. There's this common saying this is everybody wants to be a gangster until a real gangster walks in. Everybody's a gangster until a real gangster walks in. I used to think I was disciplined until I know what I know now. No. And now it's like, oh, I'm disciplined. You see me. I don't know anything else. It's my life. It's my DNA. All right. We end most of these shows with rapid fire, and we're at that time. So one word to one sentence for these.
• 57:10
  best book you read inside prison The Alchemist Paolo Coelho I read that during the pandemic and I'm reading it I'm like is this thing going to go full circle how awesome is that just sorry just to steal the thunder he's searching for something he already has right inside you great freaking book sorry I ruined the rapid fire not at all first thing you bought when the first big check cleared
• 57:40
  More equipment. I was going to say, if you say Jordans, I'm going to kill you. No, more medical equipment. For the first year and a half, all we did was take every dollar we made and pump it into the business, max out the credit cards. So there was no splurging until later on. And until I bought a house, I always said I would never have a car that cost more than $50,000 parked in front of it. So I guess the first major purchase that I made would have been my Lincoln Navigator after I bought my home.
• 58:10
  I paid off all my debt. Yeah? All of it. You know that's like terrible practice, right? I know. Yeah, okay. It's a subconscious thing, right? We gotta get rid of this, because this is gonna free me. Well, I'll literally- You don't wanna be under anybody's tone. Keep in mind this one. My debt was credit cards, so it was- Oh, then yeah, yeah, yeah. I paid- 28%? Yeah.
• 58:29
  This is the worst rapid fire ever When you get the two of us together The engineer's like Are you guys gonna get into the questions Alright back to the Regularly scheduled program The Bronx or the boardroom The Bronx all day baby Mentor who shaped you most In one name Morning routine or night owl
• 58:54
  Morning. Hardest word to say, no sorry or help? No. F***. F***. If you had 60 seconds with your younger self, what is the one sentence? Kid, I know this doesn't make sense now, but the sooner that you can care less about what people think about you, the better your life will become.
• 59:23
  I know I'm not going to have to tell people to share this. There's going to be bleeps all over it. And I apologize. But this was as real and as hard of the life as you can get. Guys, please share this. Get out and read Sean's book. Follow his podcast. He's the real deal. He's going to be around for a long time. They say people are here for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. You, my brother, are going to be in my life for a lifetime. I love you. I'm really freaking grateful you are in my life. Until next week, guys, be harder than life.
• 59:51
  Please rate and share this podcast. I'm active on all social platforms and love to hear from my Segal supporters. Each and every episode is sponsored by my company, National Technology Management, the easiest and best IT company to do business with, delivering peace of mind with technology every day, even simplifying cybersecurity. Visit TrustNTM.com for more info. Until next week, be harder than life.