Latest / Nightmare Success In and Out / Sports Packages for the rich, addiction and prison- Darrin Landes

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Sports Packages for the rich, addiction and prison- Darrin Landes · Nightmare Success In and Out

• 0:01
  What happens when he works here? Becomes your reality.
• 0:04
  Hi? I'm Brent, Cassidy, welcome to
• 0:06
  the nightmare success. And Now podcast where we
• 0:08
  explore, how to overcome your fears.
• 0:10
  And Nightmares is set yourself free.
• 0:13
  We're going to be exploring this topic with guys that was in
• 0:15
  Leavenworth with and others who survived their own nightmare.
• 0:20
  These stories can be inspiring. Sometimes sad, there's some
• 0:24
  humor but hopefully you can come away with a nugget of something
• 0:27
  that will help you knock down some of the prisons.
• 0:29
  You It up in your own mind. Okay, folks, we are back member
• 0:37
  success in and out. You guys come here for what
• 0:40
  happens when your worst fear becomes your reality?
• 0:43
  Well, I've got a interesting guest today.
• 0:47
  I mean, we were just talking about this, it's Masters week.
• 0:50
  This guy was the guy that could get you Masters tickets.
• 0:53
  This guy is the guy that could get you, the Kentucky Derby
• 0:55
  tickets, he was in the ticket business, and then his World
• 0:59
  Cup. Went crazy.
• 1:01
  He got addicted. He was kind of running around
• 1:04
  with a rough crowd with the mob and other people that eventually
• 1:08
  led him to prison and and he lived through it and he's back,
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  and he's doing good things. So I can't wait to jump into
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  this before we do that, I want to give a shout-out to our show
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  deserve, Otto Plaza, direct to own the Brent, from Nightmare
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  success. Sent you.
• 2:10
  Okay, folks. Here we go.
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  Darren Landis, welcome. Thank you.
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  How are you doing, man? I'm good.
• 2:17
  I am good. Life is good.
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  Today, we were just catching up the last few minutes here, but
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  you've got a really interesting story.
• 2:26
  You even telling me your dad was Early on Yankees pitcher and
• 2:32
  you've got, you've been in the Sports World or Long Beach, my
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  whole life, your whole life. Can you walk us back a little
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  bit? Darren what?
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  So people can kind of get to know the Darren early on, what
• 2:44
  was, what was young Darren doing in the days?
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  So like I said, I grew up in a very athletic family.
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  So most of my Summers even winners were at a field or court
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  or whatever my sisters played Sports.
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  I played Sports and that was just our life, you know, I mean,
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  like I said, my father played professional baseball and what's
• 3:07
  it like as a kid when your dad is the guy that actually made it
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  all the way is it is that good or is that put extra pressure
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  on? You was that do well.
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  I think that for me I was very proud of it.
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  Yeah. You know, but it also caused a
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  lot of insecurity. Yeah, lot of fears because I
• 3:23
  felt like I had to measure up. Yeah, he I mean he was tough on
• 3:27
  me. Yeah, and they always coach me.
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  Hmm. So I was always the one that was
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  probably worked harder because you would put more pressure on
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  me and wanted me to succeed. Sure.
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  But I didn't have some of the god-given talents, he did.
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  Yeah, or did I work at it? Yeah, well, that's the thing.
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  I mean, the guys that really have the talent and work at it,
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  those are the guys that really make it because, you know, you
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  can, you can outwork somebody for a while.
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  But when you're, we're going to the pros of your plane D1, it's
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  a different world. Yeah.
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  What a great family. I mean I grew up in a very I was
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  call it middle and upper class middle upper class and suburbia.
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  Hmm. You know, I went to a private
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  high school and and I have no, I'm good.
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  My childhood, yeah, for sure. So after high school where did
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  you venture off to? So I was an average student in
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  high school. Yeah.
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  A lot of my friends were going to, you know, SMU and Vanderbilt
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  or fancy Stanford. Yeah.
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  And my first year with the Merrimack.
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  Yeah, which is a community college.
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  And for those down in the Cayman Islands, that's a little less
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  College here and st. Louis.
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  Right. And then I went to a university
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  at that time. It was called Southwest Missouri
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  State. But I wasn't a great student and
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  I did the whole. So After High School, like I'm
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  so you are an SMS guy. I was, yeah.
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  Well, my dad, that's where my dad played basketball.
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  I was really. Yeah, and then I'm addicted to
• 4:57
  Mexican. Aloha which?
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  Yeah and I only think Springfield people like him.
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  Some people like us, I was frequently but I went there for
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  a few years and so while the backup my dad was in the
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  Sporting Goods world. Yeah.
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  So he ran a chain of sporting good stores in the st.
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  Louis. And so, because of that
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  relationship is my very first job.
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  I even finish college, I went straight to work for Adidas.
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  Okay, and I was a sales rep. That sounds like a good job.
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  I was stoked. Wow.
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  Great, you know? And so I was in Kansas City had
• 5:32
  a lot of success professionally and so they transferring to
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  Dallas to take over the second biggest Market with Adidas.
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  Wow. And this is back in the day when
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  Adidas was kind of coming back from, yeah, Nike break up.
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  Yeah. So it's fun, but that's where
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  like the party and star. Sure.
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  It's where I kind of just a lot of dinners.
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  A lot of dinners, chasing the almighty dollar, you know,
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  trying to be successful and And just kind of created this whole
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  Persona of me that was insecure on the inside, but I had this
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  facade on the outside that I had it all together.
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  So what do you think the insecurity was at that time?
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  No question. It was from a way.
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  I was brought up with my dad. Yeah, of justice.
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  That inner ever child one to prove yourself.
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  Yeah. Never measuring up.
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  Yeah. You know and so and it carried
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  with me for a long time through life.
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  And yeah. So so you get into that world.
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  You're doing well with Adidas is, is there some stumble or is,
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  how does this, how does this world happen for you?
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  Well, the my tire in the sports world was basically, like you
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  said it was a lot of like being on the road.
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  Hmm. You know, I would get my car,
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  I'd be gone for two weeks, schlep, and shoes and clothes.
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  Yeah, throughout Texas and Oklahoma.
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  And so I would get bored. So I started drinking, you know,
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  I got to the point to where I was leery Poland.
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  Call the hotel and said, where's the closest bar?
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  Sure. And that's kind of where my
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  addiction to alcohol began. Hmm, I'd go back to Dallas and I
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  bought a boat, you know, life was good.
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  Yeah, sounds great. I thought, yeah, you know, did
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  you feel like at that time during that, that was just
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  normal. You know, I'm rolling into town.
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  I'm going to relax a little Escape here.
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  I'm heading to the bar. Didn't feel like you were
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  addicted. Oh, no.
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  The time I didn't, you know, No, alcoholism is a progressive
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  disease. Sure.
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  And so it just consistently got worse.
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  Yeah, so so you end up you you're going and doing Life's
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  good. You got the boat and then well
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  no, I mean some, I mean one in Dallas.
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  Yeah. And we end up getting married.
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  Yeah, and I was with still with Adidas of this time and Then I
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  took a job, kind of outside the sports world because she didn't
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  we were living in Missouri. Okay, she hated st.
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  Louis, I mean, literally perfect berries, she said to me, she
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  said to me, she said, I'll give it a year.
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  Okay. And we lived in Brentwood.
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  Yes, a suburb of st. Louis.
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  And she didn't say anything all year.
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  But the day that 365 days came up.
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  She said, I told you, I give you here.
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  We're moving, I hate this place. She was out of there.
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  She was out so we moved to Sarasota Florida.
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  Well that seems like that's a good plan.
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  Yeah, that's a good point. I like Sarasota.
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  So was this a job? Did you get a new job down there
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  or were you in? I was actually working for AT&T
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  at the time. I woke a senior sales director
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  for them. Okay.
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  And I kind of use them at the time to get transferred, got it?
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  Yeah, house with. Yeah.
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  Well, it's a big company. Yeah.
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  Yeah. How did you get into the ticket
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  Sports World then? So while I'm down there, I was a
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  member of a country club called TPC pristine Co which is a part
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  of the TPC Network and I live the country club life, my wife
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  played tennis, I was making pretty good money and through
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  that I met a really neat guy who had had some background in And
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  This World of Sports packages. Yeah, so just somebody I met at
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  the club. Yeah.
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  Okay so we actually started an amateur golf tour as what we did
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  at the time. This is pre 9/11.
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  Yeah. And the time we had just signed
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  on Tommy Bahama to be a sponsor of this amateur golf tour's big
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  deal that we have that we had visions of taking Nationwide.
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  Okay, 9/11 happens. They lost a bunch of people on
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  the fifth floor The first Tower. So here we are with this whole
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  concept but no sponsor. Yeah.
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  So luckily I had some friends that Anheuser-Busch and actually
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  in has a bush sponsored our tour and it was called the Michelob
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  Ultra tour. Another good sponsor.
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  Yeah. So we built this thing.
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  We were in 55 markets, have like, 7,000 members, and as a
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  bush, paid us over three million dollars a year to sponsor.
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  I mean, we had really built real deal.
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  Yeah. And it was amateur, it was all
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  amateur. Yeah.
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  Wow. So that was fun.
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  Yeah, that was all. But again, the drinking is still
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  going on my wife's a drinker. And and the reason I bring up
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  the drinking so much is because it's a big part of my story.
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  Yeah, back then and then where I am today.
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  Yeah. So so you get into that you're
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  in at the golf world, you're doing.
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  Well, you got a great sponsor. I'm going to the Masters in the
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  Masters. We were just talking about is
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  maybe the greatest sporting event.
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  Ticket to have. Yeah, I've been in.
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  It's just, it's just so much fun to be a part of that unique
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  event. So you did you did you see that
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  there was an Avenue from the Gulf into these?
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  Okay. So basically we have I want to
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  the Masters, a couple years in a row and we met some folks that
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  the basically live in Augusta. Yeah.
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  They read their houses out everybody.
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  Rinse their houses. Yeah, crazy.
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  And so we would we just formed Relationships.
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  And we started selling these packages to the members of our
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  golf tour, right? Yeah.
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  Almost like a prepackaged clientele.
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  Yeah. Yeah.
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  It was. They got no place to stay, you
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  know, the hotel or yeah. But ever tickets to the event
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  food drinks, all that stuff. So, That turned into.
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  It was kind of an arm of our business and we were doing
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  legitimate numbers for like the Kentucky Derby.
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  The Super Bowl the final four and it just kind of snowballed a
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  little bit and I am sure you would have repeat business.
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  Yeah. Mainly Fortune. 1000 companies.
• 11:53
  Sure what I want to take clients or yeah their staff.
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  Yeah so yeah makes sense. I mean things were good so you
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  get it. You get into that.
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  And you've got, I mean, it sounds like you were a great
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  entrepreneur or not, not afraid to take risk and, and going out
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  and getting what you needed to make it work.
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  I mean, it sounds like your head was spinning when he went to the
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  Masters. That oh my God, I can make
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  something out of this. Got all these golfers that are
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  part of my organization, I could prepackaged all this stuff, sell
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  it and then, oh my gosh, there's other stuff out here, Kentucky
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  Derby and whatever your personal life.
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  What's going on there? So by this time, my wife and I
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  were pretty much drinking every day.
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  I mean I think when we first got married we envision the white
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  picket fence life. Yeah, I'll be the coach and you
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  know, yeah, just Suburbia type family that never transpired.
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  So I think we were both alcoholics and our marriage was
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  more friends of just going out and partying.
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  Hmm. You know, and I was partying for
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  work and I was traveling and doing all this stuff and it just
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  wasn't Deuce of to a healthy marriage.
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  Hmm. So did you do you think that
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  that played into you getting deeper into your personal
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  nightmare? Oh no question.
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  Yeah, no question. Because at that time, you know,
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  I had already failed in my mind and already failed athletically.
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  I didn't advance but you didn't go pro.
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  I had kind of failed scholastically.
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  Yeah, I didn't finish college. Yeah.
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  I'm definitely the black sheep of my family, my sister's kind
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  of or more they finish college and they yeah they they did
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  things the way I guess the world tells you you're supposed to.
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  Yeah. They're amazed I'm.
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  But what's incredible is is you had had some great success you
• 13:46
  just didn't recognize it right professionally the yeah good.
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  Yeah. But there's the rest of my world
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  was kind of crumbling around me. Yeah.
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  And it just, it just progressed into something that So basically
• 14:00
  will tell us a little bit about yeah.
• 14:02
  While I'm in Dallas, I'm introduced to gambling.
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  Yeah, Sports gambling, sure. And which is legalized.
• 14:07
  Now basically what I'm right? Yeah.
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  I don't even do scratch offs these days but But I was
• 14:14
  introduced to that and, you know, when you're an addict you
• 14:17
  have this dopamine level in your brain, whether it's a you're
• 14:20
  getting in a buzz or winning five bucks on a football game.
• 14:23
  Sure. And so I became very quickly
• 14:28
  addicted to the thrill of winning.
• 14:29
  Yeah. Even though I lost a lot more
• 14:31
  than I want. Hmm.
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  And so that really, those two things between the drinking and
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  the gambling. I mean, it took me down a very
• 14:39
  dark Road and A lot of looking over my shoulder and we'll talk
• 14:45
  about that, but a lot of very bad business decisions.
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  Bad decisions with my marriage bad decisions, my family didn't
• 14:52
  really trust me the time. It was just it was pure chaos
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  and it was just trying to manage it all.
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  Did you feel you're saying in that now?
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  Did you feel that then? Oh, absolutely.
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  You felt it was crumbling around.
• 15:06
  Oh, yeah. You felt the stress.
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  I did. I mean there were times, I was
• 15:09
  like, you know, the world be better without me.
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  Yeah, that's deep. That's Dark.
• 15:13
  Yeah, it was a dark place in my life.
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  So I'm just so grateful for today.
• 15:20
  Yeah, because I mean I think once you survive that and you
• 15:25
  you don't take the darkest path of, you know, the permanent
• 15:30
  solution. That was a temporary problem.
• 15:33
  Walk is sin to how this transpired, your nightmare of
• 15:38
  what happened, what led you into having to stand in front of a
• 15:42
  judge? So when I was gambling, I was
• 15:46
  losing a lot of money. I mean hundreds of thousands and
• 15:52
  I was putting five thousand dollars on the coin flip of a
• 15:55
  football game and you know, just stuff that I look at now I'm
• 15:58
  like you are a complete moron for doing that but I got behind
• 16:04
  you know and this is back in the days of Craigslist.
• 16:07
  Yeah. And some of you may know what
• 16:09
  that is so I may not but because I had had some success And you
• 16:14
  know, sports package business, the internet was kind of new but
• 16:19
  people can Google my name and see that, oh, this is a
• 16:21
  legitimate legitimate, guys, been in the business.
• 16:23
  So that what I would do with this is how chaotic it was like,
• 16:27
  if I owed my bookie who was tied to the Mob, I was Chicago.
• 16:33
  If I owed him eight thousand dollars that week, I would
• 16:36
  literally just hop on Craigslist and say, I have Masters packages
• 16:39
  for sale and it was basically this robbed Peter to pay Paul
• 16:43
  scheme. Yeah.
• 16:44
  To keep you from getting your knees knocked in.
• 16:46
  Yeah. And and it and it was fine at
• 16:49
  first but then it's like trying to keep up, keep up with it.
• 16:53
  Can't. I mean it was a Bernie Madoff.
• 16:55
  Yeah. Small version of that.
• 16:57
  Yeah, of trying to constantly pay these guys off deal with my
• 17:01
  addiction to gambling. Yeah.
• 17:03
  Still drinking everyday. I mean it was so bad that the
• 17:06
  very end I would literally walk into this bar here in St.
• 17:09
  Louis yeah. They would open a 10 for me, 11,
• 17:13
  for the public. That's nice.
• 17:15
  It would invoice me. That of the month for my drinks.
• 17:17
  Yeah, have to pay. Yeah, but I would literally turn
• 17:21
  on the horse racing Sports and Keno on these things.
• 17:24
  And I sit there and I would just drink and gamble.
• 17:28
  Wow. And I would be getting messages
• 17:31
  from my book. He's in Chicago said, Hey
• 17:34
  where's my 12 Grand? Where's this?
• 17:35
  So I would get on animals top and just sell something to get
• 17:39
  them off my yeah. Yeah, I case.
• 17:41
  Yeah and that just snowballed like the cartoons.
• 17:45
  I did you have people contacting you saying.
• 17:47
  Hey where's my tickets? What's going on?
• 17:49
  Well I try to get creative with way, did this?
• 17:52
  Yeah. So I was selling stuff that the
• 17:54
  event was far in advance. Yeah.
• 17:57
  So I would sell like 2024 Masters tickets knowing that I'm
• 18:01
  not going to eat them, they're not going to need them tomorrow,
• 18:04
  right? And so, but eventually that
• 18:06
  caught up with me because That's why unfortunately the Masters
• 18:09
  happened exactly how or the Derby happened or whatever and
• 18:14
  well I probably had 30 40 people that I just I was playing this
• 18:19
  game with. Yeah and it really came to a
• 18:23
  head where I could not take the pressure anymore.
• 18:26
  I was at the bar drinking I was on my way to the casino and I
• 18:32
  was woke up by a park, ranger in a canoe or lake.
• 18:36
  And I just wanted to die. I'm a twisted.
• 18:38
  The pressure was so intense. Yeah.
• 18:41
  And I felt such shame and such guilt and my family was like,
• 18:45
  kind of standoffish. Yeah.
• 18:47
  And my friends, were he felt alone on an island basically.
• 18:51
  Yeah. And so I literally said God help
• 18:55
  me. And like, two days later I was
• 18:57
  on my way to rehab in Newport Beach, California.
• 19:00
  And that's where the transformation got good.
• 19:04
  But I also knew there were consequences of what had been
• 19:08
  going on. Then at that time did you have
• 19:10
  any indication at all? That anything was going on
• 19:13
  investigations or anything like that?
• 19:15
  Or was it? There was no nothing in your
• 19:18
  life that I knew it was coming, you did.
• 19:20
  Yeah, I knew I definitely knew that.
• 19:23
  There's no the ball. It was so big.
• 19:25
  There's no way it wouldn't no way, right?
• 19:28
  Because I had people companies calling me threatened to sue me.
• 19:31
  And yes, and I knew something was coming.
• 19:34
  Somebody could have say something to somebody.
• 19:35
  Oh yeah. But I also knew that I had a
• 19:38
  huge problem with my addiction that I needed to help it.
• 19:41
  Yeah. So, right, because you've the
• 19:44
  only way you can fix and go better is to be alive, right?
• 19:47
  Right. So you go to this rehab.
• 19:53
  It's always interesting talking to people that have gone through
• 19:56
  that process because when you know you have to want to do it
• 19:59
  because if you don't you don't grab onto.
• 20:01
  It sounds like you were ready. Just you're so worn out.
• 20:04
  Absolutely I was exhausted. Yeah.
• 20:06
  I was tired of being sick and tired.
• 20:09
  Yeah you know and so while I'm in rehab, how you probably been
• 20:12
  there a few months and my family kind of knew that something was
• 20:17
  coming down the pipe. And while I'm there, the FBI
• 20:20
  paid me a nice little visit at At the rehab, the rehab.
• 20:23
  Wow, yeah, wow. And so, by this point, I was
• 20:27
  probably a couple months sober. You know, when you get sober
• 20:30
  your mind kind of clears up and you have were astute thoughts.
• 20:34
  Yeah. And so they take me to this room
• 20:37
  and they got all these contracts of these packages that I have
• 20:39
  sold these people companies primarily And I stopped them.
• 20:45
  I mean it was like a big binder was all I ask.
• 20:57
  Is that you let me finish rehab. Wow.
• 21:02
  And they did, they did let you finish it.
• 21:04
  They said call us when you get back to st.
• 21:06
  Louis. So, that's what I did.
• 21:08
  I was out there in Southern California for six months, and
• 21:12
  that's where the transformation began.
• 21:14
  Yeah. It's also, when I knew I was
• 21:16
  facing time space and time. So you what was going through
• 21:22
  your mind? I mean, that's, that's a, that's
• 21:24
  a lot to think about. I mean, here I am.
• 21:26
  I'm finally getting back my, my brain, my, you know, I'm
• 21:30
  thinking clearly, after going through this blur of this life
• 21:35
  that you know, of gambling and drinking, Inking and all the
• 21:38
  things that we're going on and now you're, you're clear in your
• 21:41
  head and that clear had thought has to be thinking a man.
• 21:45
  The stuff that said, in front of me is scary.
• 21:48
  It is, but but I think honestly, by that point, I was so grateful
• 21:51
  to not be in the prison of my head.
• 21:54
  Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, we talked about that all
• 21:56
  the time on here. You know, everybody's got
• 21:58
  prisons, they built up in their own mind.
• 21:59
  And the question is, how do you knock him down, walk around it
• 22:03
  over it under it, whatever you do because if you can't get
• 22:06
  through that, That you institutionalize yourself and I
• 22:11
  knew it was going to suck. Yeah.
• 22:12
  And I didn't know exactly. I didn't really understand the
• 22:16
  legal system. I didn't understand.
• 22:17
  I was looking at 20 years. Yeah.
• 22:20
  Two years or you know, right? And I learned that quickly and I
• 22:25
  got home and I called them and my attorney began to work with
• 22:28
  them. And so I was originally
• 22:31
  sentenced to a year and a day, okay?
• 22:33
  So which is about eight months or so and that's why the people
• 22:36
  are like a day and Yeah, I explained to them that.
• 22:38
  That's how they work that back. So I was sent to Montgomery
• 22:43
  Alabama. Okay.
• 22:46
  And I was in a camp. Yeah, and I had a pretty crappy
• 22:50
  job there. I think that is where Jared
• 22:53
  kushner's dad was who is the son-in-law of trump that I think
• 22:58
  that's why he was so involved with first step back just
• 23:02
  because he's dead, I think what? Two years.
• 23:04
  Yeah, yeah. And in that prison in that camp.
• 23:07
  Beautiful was right on the golf course.
• 23:09
  And yeah, I mean, it was that a big track?
• 23:12
  And yeah, but, I mean, it was such a short time, but by this
• 23:14
  time, I was sober, I was feeling good.
• 23:16
  I was just looking forward to a new life.
• 23:18
  Yeah, you know, when I got out was what was it, like, entering
• 23:22
  that for you? Because you went through rehab,
• 23:25
  which would have been an experience in itself and then
• 23:28
  you go to prison and you're standing at the gate.
• 23:32
  And yeah, no wonder you're going in even though it's for a short
• 23:36
  amount of time. I mean What kind of thoughts do
• 23:38
  you have going through your head?
• 23:40
  I didn't get done with it. Yeah, give me started so I can
• 23:43
  get done. Get me started so I can get
• 23:45
  done. Yeah and really just kind of
• 23:50
  almost I don't want to say I was excited.
• 23:52
  I was in prison. Yeah to get that part of my life
• 23:55
  behind me and a fresh start. I get it.
• 23:57
  You know you hit you hit your Rock Bottom.
• 24:00
  Yeah. And this is your new beginning
• 24:02
  and part of your new beginning was walking through this prison
• 24:04
  right? Yeah.
• 24:05
  Right. But there's Or to the story.
• 24:08
  Yes, I know. Fortunately, that's that's why
• 24:11
  we have these shows, right? There's more to it that that
• 24:15
  right there is called a teaser. In fact, I think I'll take that
• 24:19
  as a clue to introduce our second sponsor because I want to
• 24:22
  hear the second part of this story.
• 24:25
  Aaron Duncan dotnet and he is a crisis management company.
• 24:33
  And, you know, this is something we could have used Aaron and we
• 24:36
  could have used Aaron Duncan. Dotnet.
• 24:38
  What do they do? What's Aaron ducking dotnet do.
• 24:40
  Their job is to make bad news. Go away, they're known as the
• 24:43
  trauma. Surgeons of brand Christ is
• 24:46
  Corporate scandals, high-profile, litigation legal
• 24:49
  investigation. Prosecution's what do they do?
• 24:53
  Well, they do crisis management crisis, communication media
• 24:55
  relations reputation management. Prison Consulting coaching.
• 25:00
  If you're on your way in Aaron, Duncan will help you get through
• 25:04
  that for a confidential. Regarding crisis a reputation
• 25:09
  management. Get ahold of Aaron W Duncan at
• 25:13
  gmail.com or text or phone, 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 5071, Aaron Duncan
• 25:20
  dotnet. Everybody needs a crisis
• 25:22
  manager. All right, so let's get back
• 25:26
  into this. So you get through your, your,
• 25:29
  your stent and and Alabama, you get out.
• 25:35
  So walk us into the The rest of the story.
• 25:39
  So as Darren most probably don't know, but when you go into
• 25:42
  prison you pretty much lose everything.
• 25:44
  Yes, you know, yes, almost yeah, strip down, starting over.
• 25:54
  Yeah. You know, even though I'm sober
• 25:56
  I was still starting life over it, 40-some 42 years old and it
• 26:00
  was and because I had a lot of context, With these companies
• 26:07
  and has your bushes. One of my biggest clients?
• 26:08
  Yeah, and they called me, they said, and by the way, is part of
• 26:13
  my sentencing. I can never enter into that
• 26:15
  world, right? That was part of your
• 26:17
  stipulations on your supervision, right?
• 26:20
  So which you probably had while I three-year probationary just
• 26:25
  probation. Okay, so they called me a good
• 26:29
  buddy of mine. I'm still friends with him today
• 26:31
  is like, I mean I need final four packages.
• 26:34
  I said I'm out of that. I Do it.
• 26:36
  Yada yada yada, but like I said, I was starting my life over.
• 26:40
  Yeah, he's like, we'll keep it on the down-low.
• 26:42
  No one will ever know. I said, so, My bad thinking
• 26:47
  said, you know what? Just one deal is not going to
• 26:49
  hurt ya. Because money.
• 26:51
  Yeah it'll allow me house? Yes flow and So I did that, and
• 26:56
  I went great, you know, and then I got another call and pretty
• 27:01
  soon. I find myself snack in the game
• 27:03
  back in the game. Yeah.
• 27:05
  And just trying to keep it on the down low and but these guys
• 27:09
  are getting tickets. Oh yeah.
• 27:11
  This is different. I just want to clear that you're
• 27:19
  not in the position. You wear them right?
• 27:20
  You're not paying people off the way.
• 27:22
  Yeah, right. I am paying restitution.
• 27:24
  Yeah. Yeah.
• 27:27
  Yeah, this guilt. I had this like voice in my head
• 27:36
  saying what you're doing is not right, the other side was trying
• 27:40
  to justify it well you were living on the edge because I
• 27:43
  mean you're dealing with the federal government and whether
• 27:46
  you think they're paying attention or not somehow some
• 27:48
  way it feels like they are watching.
• 27:52
  Oh yeah I still feel that way. Yes, absolutely.
• 27:55
  You PTSD. Yeah.
• 27:57
  And so I was talking to my spot, my a sponsored by this time I
• 28:03
  started going to AA. Yeah, I told him what I had been
• 28:07
  doing and he said, you know what you need to do, right?
• 28:09
  I said No, he said it's a program of rigorous honesty.
• 28:15
  Turn tell your probation officer.
• 28:17
  Hmm. My first reaction was, are you
• 28:20
  effing crazy? Yeah, you know, so I called her
• 28:25
  and I said, come talk to you went down to the courthouse, sat
• 28:27
  down with her told her. Well, and I, this is what she
• 28:32
  says. She said, I knew that.
• 28:35
  Wow. So, how did you know that?
• 28:36
  She's like, she's like, if I don't hear any from from the
• 28:38
  prosecutor, we're good. Don't do it anymore.
• 28:45
  And so a couple months goes by and three months goes by five
• 28:49
  months because I'm like, I'm in the clear.
• 28:50
  I'm not doing this anymore, Life is starting to get better.
• 28:53
  Yeah, and then I got a call from her and so I not only violated
• 29:00
  my probation, I picked up a new charge.
• 29:03
  Mmm. So what happened was?
• 29:07
  I went before the judge and I was re sentenced to two and a
• 29:11
  half years in Pensacola prism. So Two-time prison visit, hmm.
• 29:17
  And what it feel like I wasn't as nervous because I had already
• 29:26
  experienced it, right? You don't have that fear?
• 29:28
  No, but I just felt like the biggest failure.
• 29:31
  Yeah, whoo. They always got through the
• 29:35
  classes in prison. They're like the recidivist?
• 29:38
  Yeah, it is recidivism goes from them.
• 29:40
  We might as well throw that out there.
• 29:42
  It's 2/3 and three years and three fourths and five years.
• 29:45
  So you're Thomas 75 percent recidivism for that cycle,
• 29:51
  right? Which is a high number.
• 29:53
  So when I'm listening, In is the first time.
• 29:55
  Like what? No way.
• 29:56
  What? Idiot?
• 29:56
  Yeah. Who would do that.
• 29:58
  Exactly. So So I went back and I was
• 30:04
  says, to Pensacola my family had what are they thinking?
• 30:08
  I think, by this time they were disappointed in my decisions on
• 30:11
  the tickets and stuff like that, but I think they were pretty
• 30:14
  happy with over all my life. Yeah.
• 30:16
  In the fact that all is over. Yes, I was helping other people.
• 30:21
  Yeah, so I really had kind of Two Worlds going on.
• 30:24
  Where's your wife? In this scenario, we have been
• 30:26
  divorced. You guys got divorced.
• 30:28
  But prior to all this tired, all of it, okay?
• 30:31
  All right. So you it was a mess.
• 30:34
  Yeah, so you you you go back in your in Pensacola.
• 30:38
  Yep walk us through that. Well I wasn't cornhole Champion,
• 30:43
  that's fantastic. Yeah, no.
• 30:46
  It's a you know I really had a sweet gig and that I walked in
• 30:51
  and the first guy I met worked at the golf course on the Naval
• 30:54
  Base. Yeah.
• 30:55
  So I was assigned to go work on the golf course.
• 30:57
  Yeah I think you said I did. I worked at the Leavenworth.
• 31:01
  Golf. Course, my last year and a half
• 31:03
  and it was the best prison job anybody could ever have.
• 31:05
  It's the best, it's the best one you can get for sure.
• 31:09
  So we would literally hop in the van every morning.
• 31:11
  Go moti's and greens on Pensacola Bay.
• 31:13
  Yeah. Right next to the ocean.
• 31:15
  Yeah, and so, but you're still incarcerated.
• 31:19
  Yeah, it goes back to your mind thing.
• 31:22
  Yeah, I totally get that. Yeah, so I just did my time but
• 31:27
  I really think it was that, that was the moment that I said I
• 31:30
  cannot live in. You know, I everything's got to
• 31:35
  be black and white with me. Yeah, I can't afford to can't
• 31:38
  let people can't live in the gray.
• 31:40
  Oh you can't? Yeah, I had a guy on here, Sean
• 31:43
  Hayes. And he had a big bank here in
• 31:45
  town and his book that he wrote is called a great choice and he
• 31:51
  said he's you know, he's very very smart guy and and he lived
• 31:55
  in the gray. I think.
• 31:57
  Because some of it was is that there was the I don't know the
• 32:02
  race of the gray, you know, the, the, you know, that feeling that
• 32:06
  you get the adrenaline rush when you're in the gray, cuz you're
• 32:09
  outsmarting people. Yeah, but it's interesting.
• 32:12
  You say you could live in that gray had to be black or white.
• 32:15
  Yeah. And that's what happened.
• 32:17
  And so going to Pensacola. I think the second time around
• 32:21
  is, what changed my life? Yeah.
• 32:25
  I basically at that, which is interesting there because you
• 32:28
  had taken a step with rehab and you realized, okay.
• 32:31
  I'm I'm getting right. My mind's getting right.
• 32:34
  I'm getting off the addiction but you weren't all the way
• 32:37
  there. Yeah, you know.
• 32:39
  In recovery, we talked about half measures.
• 32:42
  Yeah and I think for me the first three or four years of
• 32:46
  being sober, I was half-assing it.
• 32:50
  Yeah. You know and it was at that
• 32:53
  point when I was in, as a colon that I did, you ever fall off?
• 32:56
  No. Never.
• 32:57
  So you really didn't have facet to that way.
• 32:59
  He's just you. Or black and white.
• 33:03
  Yeah, and I wasn't putting the work in and so In Pensacola I
• 33:09
  did that. And so when I got out of
• 33:10
  Pensacola I mean I was I was in the, I was happy.
• 33:15
  Yeah, you know, and I'm like, I'm never coming back there
• 33:18
  again and I won't just because the way I live my life today is
• 33:22
  that I live simply. I'm totally okay.
• 33:28
  And that interesting though because I think one of the
• 33:30
  things that I find when you go through the type of thing like
• 33:34
  this, you also find out that you don't need a lot to adapt and
• 33:39
  survive. I mean, when you get down,
• 33:41
  broken down to a plastic chair, a locker and a bunk bed, and
• 33:47
  that's your world. You can survive that and you can
• 33:50
  adapt to that. So, it does introduce you into a
• 33:53
  new thing in your life. Life of.
• 33:54
  Okay. What?
• 33:55
  What do I need to? Make myself feel good, right?
• 33:58
  And I used to put so much emphasis, you know, going to a
• 34:01
  private high school and living in the world that I lived in,
• 34:04
  huh? It was all about war.
• 34:06
  Yeah, bigger. Yeah, bigger houses, bigger
• 34:09
  cars. Go from a 5 series, 2007 suit.
• 34:12
  Yo, where you're right? I mean when you're in prison you
• 34:16
  are living simply amongst. I had 12 guys on my Cube.
• 34:21
  Yeah, we're live in five feet. Apart from me, right?
• 34:24
  And so, did that insecurity things start to shed?
• 34:28
  I think the insecurity thing really started getting better
• 34:30
  when I got sober. Yeah.
• 34:32
  Because through that, I went through a lot of therapy, right?
• 34:34
  And my relationship with my father today could not be
• 34:37
  better. We've both made our immense to
• 34:41
  one another. And you know, it's great.
• 34:47
  It's great today, I'm comfortable in my own skin.
• 34:50
  I think that that's a great feeling.
• 34:52
  Yeah. A lot of people want to get
• 34:54
  there to that. Yeah, so it's been a journey,
• 34:57
  but I think the biggest thing that I learned through the whole
• 35:00
  thing is that our mistakes. Don't Define who we are.
• 35:04
  No, there's a lot of really good people that have done, really
• 35:08
  stupid stuff. Yeah.
• 35:10
  And so, for so long, I held onto the shame and guilt.
• 35:14
  Out of, you know, convicted felon.
• 35:16
  Right? I'm not a big dumb guy, but I
• 35:18
  can't own a gun right now. There's certain things.
• 35:21
  I can't do that other people for the rest of your life.
• 35:23
  Well, being an ex-felon is a life sentence.
• 35:26
  Mean you choose to live in it and make the, you know, the
• 35:29
  world that you live in, but you have that basically tattooed on
• 35:34
  your and then how you, you know, I always say that you you're
• 35:40
  being an ex-felon it. If you go through this,
• 35:43
  everybody has that It has is an ex-felon how you choose to deal
• 35:47
  with. That is how you survive it.
• 35:49
  Well, I think, you know this as well as I do.
• 35:51
  There are there are two types of people that are locked up the
• 35:55
  one group of them will continue to do the same thing over and
• 35:59
  over right when they get out right and then the other people
• 36:01
  look at it and say wow I need to really change my ways.
• 36:05
  Yeah, you know yeah. And so what let me ask you this
• 36:10
  ad and when you when you know you're getting close to the
• 36:12
  door, you get getting ready to get out.
• 36:15
  What are you thinking? Like what do you think of your
• 36:18
  next steps are getting out because you're of clear mind,
• 36:21
  you know, you feel probably the best, you felt.
• 36:23
  Yeah, your life may be sure. What were you thinking?
• 36:27
  Your next steps were going to be heading out.
• 36:30
  So my faith is a big part of my life and it's a big part of my
• 36:33
  story and I really by this point had just literally said, God
• 36:39
  just guide me and Not my will yours.
• 36:46
  And I think what happened was was that things?
• 36:48
  Just kind of fell into place when I got home.
• 36:50
  Hmm. You know, I had a buddy that
• 36:52
  owns a big Restaurant Group here in St.
• 36:53
  Louis, and I went to work for them for a while.
• 36:56
  And, you know, I am in, currently I own a 3rd party
• 37:03
  seller on Amazon, which is cool. And, and this is when I was
• 37:07
  talking to either that what I find fascinating about your
• 37:10
  story, is that you did all these Things and you were really an
• 37:15
  incredible entrepreneur but you really weren't giving yourself
• 37:17
  credit for that because you something down to use it.
• 37:20
  I'm I'm not good enough but the things that you were able to put
• 37:23
  together the things that you were doing.
• 37:27
  We're smart entrepreneurial steps and you know I think what
• 37:31
  you're doing, you know. Now when you told me, you got
• 37:34
  the idea from a guy that was doing really well, which is I
• 37:37
  think one of the first steps, you know, find out somebody's
• 37:39
  getting it, right? And then do what they do and
• 37:42
  then you can get those results guy.
• 37:43
  Getting the answers to the test before the test.
• 37:47
  So I think it's interesting how you you took your world and you
• 37:53
  had people that believed, did you because you got into the
• 37:56
  restaurant business and did well.
• 37:58
  But then you were still looking for an opportunity and you took
• 38:03
  that opportunity by finding somebody that knew what they
• 38:05
  were doing. And now you've got a good going
• 38:07
  business. Yeah, and I think everybody's
• 38:10
  heard of Amazon, right? Right.
• 38:13
  No. It's been, it's been something
• 38:15
  that I never thought I would do. Yeah.
• 38:17
  You know, I never thought I'd be in the restaurant business.
• 38:18
  Yeah. Well, how did you like?
• 38:21
  Because you were kind of in the catering sales side of the Reds?
• 38:25
  Yes, did you like it? I did.
• 38:27
  Yeah, I liked it, but I think it's interesting.
• 38:30
  You would also doing like wine tasting stuff and here you are,
• 38:33
  as the guy. Yeah, it's not doing that.
• 38:36
  No, we were doing bourbon tations, wine tastings and stuff
• 38:38
  like that. And willpower, yeah, I think
• 38:41
  it's a lot of willpower but also I By this time I am so plugged
• 38:44
  into a, a yeah, I sober friends. Yeah you got strong Foundation.
• 38:48
  Have all these safety nets in place today.
• 38:51
  Yeah, that the second I start to deviate off course, they will
• 38:56
  swim big message though, they'll Darren on that having a good
• 38:59
  safety net. Having the support having a bad
• 39:03
  day. You can call somebody and say,
• 39:04
  hey, here's what I'm thinking, I know, it's nuts, but I feel like
• 39:07
  I'm taking this, right? And then you can have somebody
• 39:10
  that says, hey, no Darrin, you're on the right track.
• 39:12
  Don't get off. I'm blessed.
• 39:14
  I you know, I tell people today, I keep my circle very small
• 39:18
  today, my choice? Yeah, I don't care how many
• 39:21
  Facebook friends I have, ya, ever Instagram, friends or
• 39:24
  whatever. I know that I've got a core of
• 39:27
  people in my life that will do that type of stuff, and then
• 39:30
  we'll always be there, and I will be there for them.
• 39:33
  And it's, it's been a game changer for sure.
• 39:36
  I'm super close to my family again.
• 39:38
  I mean all the things I lost you've gathered back, it all.
• 39:43
  Back. Sometimes some of it took
• 39:46
  longer. Yeah, but it's all back and
• 39:49
  things are good. It's a good story, man.
• 39:52
  I like it. I always ask people this though
• 39:55
  you know, after because you went through a lot, I mean you know
• 40:01
  and through money and alcohol addiction and prison twice, you
• 40:07
  know, finding your way, you know, you know, finding the path
• 40:11
  that you said, you turned everything over to God.
• 40:13
  But Then you took the steps you need to take in the
• 40:16
  responsibility. What do you think your greatest
• 40:19
  takeaway through those whole experience you've been through?
• 40:24
  Boy. That I can walk away from the
• 40:30
  truth. You know where my core for me,
• 40:34
  that's God, but, but he doesn't walk away from me.
• 40:39
  Mmm-hmm, you know? I'm the one that lets go.
• 40:42
  I'm the one that chooses to do my own thing and think that I
• 40:45
  know, you know, the crazy thing about this whole thing is that I
• 40:49
  even in the midst of the chaos, I still felt like I had all the
• 40:51
  answers. Yeah, even though my life was a
• 40:54
  complete. Yeah mess.
• 40:57
  Right. But you thought you had the
• 40:58
  answers to Gets in the way of making sound decisions, that's
• 41:08
  when that's when the world gets kind of crazy.
• 41:10
  But I think when I really surrendered everything, yeah.
• 41:13
  Is when it all turns, you know, and realize that you know what
• 41:17
  my past is my past. Hopefully I can use my story to
• 41:20
  help others. Yeah.
• 41:22
  You know. No.
• 41:23
  I think you've got a powerful story.
• 41:25
  Yeah. And I think it's one of those
• 41:28
  stories where everybody likes a good comeback story.
• 41:32
  And you've you have that because you didn't give up on yourself.
• 41:36
  You know, you could have, I mean, I know where those dark
• 41:40
  hours happen and you requested your Creve Coeur lake and to
• 41:42
  society, you know? I could just be not here.
• 41:45
  Yeah. Thank God.
• 41:47
  You didn't do that. It's a dark place.
• 41:49
  Yeah, it is such a dark place. And those are so far removed
• 41:53
  from where I am today. Yeah.
• 41:55
  You probably don't even recognize those thoughts.
• 41:57
  Yeah, yeah. That's fantastic.
• 42:02
  So your your your business of how does that work though?
• 42:07
  With Amazon? So I you and I talked a little
• 42:09
  bit about this because you you more or less get product and
• 42:14
  product. Yeah.
• 42:15
  And then Amazon is, is your distributor to the world.
• 42:21
  People don't realize it, but the majority of items on Amazon are
• 42:24
  sold by a third-party. Yeah.
• 42:26
  Until I talked to you, I didn't really realize that.
• 42:28
  So I do things like I buy from wholesalers.
• 42:31
  Yeah, flows out. Yeah, like my one of my biggest
• 42:35
  wholesalers. He buys clothes out from Sam's.
• 42:38
  Yeah, Costco Target. Yeah.
• 42:40
  So I'll go get stuff at Pennies on the dollar listed on Amazon.
• 42:44
  Take my little cut. Mmm, but when you have, do you
• 42:47
  have to have a big warehouse for that?
• 42:49
  Oh yeah. To be big.
• 42:51
  Yeah, I've been doing this for two years and I would not change
• 42:55
  it for the world. It's been it's been awesome.
• 42:57
  You need to write a book. You know, I started one, you
• 43:00
  should be man. I'd read it.
• 43:03
  I mean, and you should speak because you got a great
• 43:05
  personality Darren and I think people would want to hear your
• 43:08
  voice out there because I think it would give them confidence
• 43:12
  that they could make it through. I really do if you guys haven't
• 43:16
  gotten a book lately, I wrote one, it's called nightmare
• 43:20
  success loyalty. I have to look here alone to
• 43:25
  betrayal Life Behind Bars adapting and finally Breaking
• 43:28
  Free. You can get that on Amazon and I
• 43:33
  love when we communicate every week, social media, the likes
• 43:37
  and the comments. Everybody is so fun.
• 43:42
  When you hit that follow button on Spotify, it's the bell and
• 43:46
  apple. It's the little three dots are
• 43:48
  three lines of there. That just drops down.
• 43:51
  You hit follow. And if you got time, I love it.
• 43:54
  When people leave reviews on Apple because it helps put like,
• 43:59
  on it goes on steroids. When I get reviews because it
• 44:03
  promotes the show anybody wants to know a little bit more brick,
• 44:07
  a c.com I spelled that wrong. It's where the T.
• 44:10
  Why even though I wanted to be Sean and David Cassidy was
• 44:13
  growing up but leave me a message.
• 44:15
  I love to go back and forth with people there and as I used to
• 44:19
  say when I was typing my e-mails back and forth when I was 11 or
• 44:24
  stay strong, I'll do the same Darren.
• 44:26
  Thanks so much for your message today, appreciate it nine more
• 44:30
  success in and out. You folks.