Latest / Nightmare Success In and Out / 10yrs in prison becomes LA Real Estate Guru- Danny Navarro
Transcript
- 0:01What happens when he works here? Becomes your reality.
- 0:04Hi. I'm Brent, Cassidy.
- 0:05Welcome to the nightmare success in and out podcast.
- 0:08But we explore a how to overcome your fears and Nightmares is set
- 0:11yourself free. We're going to be exploring this
- 0:14topic with guys that was in Leavenworth with and others who
- 0:17survived their own nightmare. These stories can be inspiring.
- 0:21Sometimes sad, there's some humor but hopefully you can come
- 0:25away with a nugget of something that will help you knock down
- 0:28some of the prisons you built. Up in your own mind.
- 0:33Alright. Nightmare.
- 0:34Success, listeners. We are back and I know you guys
- 0:38come here for the good stuff with the good people that have
- 0:40got great stories. You know, it's all about what
- 0:43happens when your worst fear becomes your reality.
- 0:45How do you adapt? How do you survive?
- 0:46How do you overcome and set yourself free?
- 0:49I've got that kind of guest today is name's Danny, Navarro.
- 0:54I guess if we were get a name, this it would be prison to real
- 0:58estate world. In this guy, ten years ago, came
- 1:02out and he was grew up in a tough neighborhood.
- 1:08Grew into really family and friends that were all around,
- 1:13you know, sixth grade. You know, he was pushed into the
- 1:16world of walking the streets and with the drug dealing and gangs
- 1:21and 18 years old. Danny is sentenced to a
- 1:26mandatory minimum of 10 years and then what Happens when he
- 1:30comes out. It's all about that.
- 1:31Inspiring stuff on mindset. You know.
- 1:33How do you overcome? How do you get what you want?
- 1:35How do you stay with it? How do you stay tenacious?
- 1:38We're going to get into all that and I'm excited to unpack this
- 1:42today, to hear this story. Before we do that, I want to
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- 2:41Brent, from Nightmare success since you.
- 2:43All right, folks, here we go. Danny, welcome in my man.
- 2:50Thank you for having me today. So I did a little bit this
- 2:56morning watching you on Prison professors in your stories.
- 3:00Just I don't know. It's kind of one of those
- 3:02stores, you know, everybody loves a good comeback, great
- 3:05comeback stories like you know, somebody gets knocked down and
- 3:09they fight and they get back up and then they make it and it's a
- 3:13really your stories as far as she probably be in, you know,
- 3:15one of those documentary things that they do on these streaming
- 3:18services. But Daddy, tell us a little bit
- 3:22about you know, you growing up and the and the world's you were
- 3:28living in growing up as a kid. What was this like for you?
- 3:37Mom, Dad. Kids siblings all that.
- 3:42Yeah, so everything came down comes down to environment,
- 3:46right? You know, I as early as a
- 3:53remember, my parents, you know, my dad used to work.
- 3:58My mom was always a hard worker and I want to say probably maybe
- 4:03that I can remember maybe 56 years old that.
- 4:08I re I recall my Dad being on drugs when maybe when I was
- 4:14aware, what crack was, will crack cocaine was and I used to
- 4:18see him smoking in the house. I didn't know what it was two
- 4:21years later. And and so I want to say that's
- 4:27when I started seeing a lot of different things going on at my
- 4:30house and in the environment that I was growing up in and you
- 4:36know, there's vivid memory that I remember I remember you know,
- 4:38my dad smoking crack me. He and buy me toys.
- 4:42Play while he was smoking crack and then, you know, months or
- 4:46years later, I don't know. I remember my mom and my dad
- 4:50fighting, and my mom, kicking my dad out, and pretty much.
- 4:53That was, that was the end of my parents.
- 4:57Oh, would you been then what happened?
- 4:59I think that was like, in fifth grade because I moved from one
- 5:03house to another house in fifth grade.
- 5:06And, and I want to say that was definitely a turning point for
- 5:10me. Yeah.
- 5:12It was a new, a different area. Different environment is same
- 5:15city, but just different area. And but for that fifth grade to
- 5:19sixth grade, that's when I started smoking weed drinking
- 5:23hanging out with with different groups of people and that's
- 5:29where it all began. So, your mom.
- 5:32That's interesting. Though is like your mom, your
- 5:35dad moves out? Your mom moves, did you, did you
- 5:39continue to have connections with your dad, or Or was that
- 5:42just a, it was a break that, you know, you went on with your life
- 5:46and he went on with his life and then how did your mom handle
- 5:51being a single mom with you guys.
- 5:54And I forget how many you have a sister and a younger sibling.
- 6:00At that time I only had my older sister and one younger brother.
- 6:06So when that my dad has been off and on and out of my life
- 6:12growing up, he was, you know, drinking, you know, alcoholic on
- 6:19drugs. You know, in, I need all the
- 6:21memories that I recall. He was in Rehab homes and my mom
- 6:26always was an amazing. You know is amazing mother to at
- 6:31least try to get my dad into our lives as much as I can, but it's
- 6:34just when somebody at that time is going through drugs and
- 6:37alcohol, and crime, you know, being around.
- 6:41There's kids is not the most priority at the moment.
- 6:43Yeah. And and, and my mom, you know,
- 6:49she she did the best that she possibly can to Support us.
- 6:55And she was just a hard-working lady that went to work in the
- 6:58morning, got off in the evening and we were just like, hey
- 7:02here's the food at the house and eat the meat, you know,
- 7:05microwave the food and and you know and then and that's how
- 7:10growing up was So I went to jail.
- 7:14Well Danny, was she aware? Because I sounds like she was
- 7:17working a lot and trying to keep you know, you guys clothed and
- 7:21fed and was there any indication to her that you were falling
- 7:25into this world? And sixth grade where you were
- 7:27running with the wrong people and getting into drugs to did?
- 7:32She did you guys ever talk about that?
- 7:34Or was that just kind of a separate?
- 7:36You lived your world and she was living hers and that you really
- 7:38didn't cross waves that way. Well, it started it starts
- 7:44small, right. First, you start, you know,
- 7:45your, I wasn't getting good grades in school.
- 7:48Yeah, you know, I then, I wouldn't show up to school and
- 7:51then, then maybe they caught me ditching and then and then, you
- 7:56know, then you have to go through Saturday school and
- 7:58right and so drastically. I started getting in trouble,
- 8:04more and more. And, and I feel is she became
- 8:10very maybe in Denial at some point and shed.
- 8:14And but I mean she was very strict with me to a point where
- 8:19I feel that she decided just to dislike.
- 8:21Hey, give up. You know, you can drink here at
- 8:23the house. You can smoke here at the house.
- 8:25I rather have you at the house versus in the streets.
- 8:28Yeah. But you know and it just got
- 8:31worse every single year from from fifth grade.
- 8:35So did you feel like in that world Danny that you had found
- 8:39like it was it a security piece for you?
- 8:43To be able to run with those people and be with that gang and
- 8:46did that feel like family? Did you feel like you were kind
- 8:48of in your place? Or did you feel like a an
- 8:51interloper, an outsider or what was in a teenager's brain?
- 8:55Like what's going on in your brain at that time?
- 8:59So, you know, we didn't know any better we were just you know we
- 9:03played Sports when we were young like I grew up around a group of
- 9:06guys maybe like 10 guys or maybe that we all went to middle
- 9:11school, we all went to elementary school together and
- 9:14then we went to middle school and we were all good kids.
- 9:19Yeah. But I as I look back, I remember
- 9:24you know, thumb didn't have their dad and others were dads
- 9:27were strict. If you know they're their
- 9:29parents were Stricker and and and we you know we played Sports
- 9:37and then we just started like getting into trouble year after
- 9:41year and and then like seventh eighth grade is when the gang
- 9:49stuff started getting. We started getting involved in
- 9:52the gangs and it was like we all grew up together and got it.
- 9:58To involved in this game environment all together and
- 10:02then throughout the years it just started getting trickling
- 10:06away. They you know one goes to jail,
- 10:08one goes to juvenile hall one, you know, it's getting sentenced
- 10:11to, you know, looking at a juvenile life and then you got,
- 10:15you know we I lost my first friend at 16 so it just started
- 10:20every year just Unis just started getting less and less.
- 10:24So did you feel like you know loses somebody at 16?
- 10:28I mean Did that, was it scary or me?
- 10:30I'm sure it was sad, but did seeing people go in and out of
- 10:33juvenile and that was that something that you were looking
- 10:36at saying, gosh, that's probably going to happen to me.
- 10:39Or did you think not? It's I'm going to be able to get
- 10:42away from this. Or did you are you saw that as
- 10:45your life? That was my life and I loved it.
- 10:49Yeah. II love being involved in the
- 10:51streets. I love being around the criminal
- 10:53activity. I didn't have any other
- 10:57environment so that's all I knew and I knew that I was going to
- 11:02go to jail at some point because that was that's what we do,
- 11:07right? So I always been hungry and
- 11:12vicious, it's just that I didn't know I didn't have the I didn't
- 11:17have the right people around me to give me the positive stuff to
- 11:20say, Hey, you know, go to school.
- 11:21Go to not, go to school, but maybe, you know, start a
- 11:23business, right? You know, repeat pull ups.
- 11:26It was all - bad environment that, you know, that that we
- 11:31were around that I was around one.
- 11:32Like you said Danny that was your environment.
- 11:34You didn't know anything else. And and those people were people
- 11:38that you're probably looking up to that people were thinking
- 11:40stair. Steps of becoming more powerful
- 11:43are getting in creating more wealth.
- 11:46'The, I mean, you know, probably, there was people that
- 11:48had money in that environment. I mean, I can see how all that
- 11:52happens. I I talked to a lot of different
- 11:54people on on this show that get into that world and it becomes
- 11:59very normalized. It's not like, oh boy, you know
- 12:03if I, you know, over here I went, you know, just sleep over
- 12:07at a friend's house and, you know, they had dinner and and
- 12:10went to a movie and they didn't you didn't see that.
- 12:12It was just, you were living a different whole different
- 12:15environment, whole different life, hold it.
- 12:16Current set of mentors, which is kind of more than interesting
- 12:21and fascinating about how you created a life for yourself.
- 12:25After everything happened to you in a bad way, but let's step
- 12:30into that, you're 18 years old. Now, you're on a world where
- 12:35something bad happens. You're treated as an adult.
- 12:38Can you walk us through how that nightmare came to you?
- 12:42Yeah. So I mean I was I was involved
- 12:46in drugs and selling drugs since I was like 15 or 14, I don't
- 12:51even know. And and then every year it just
- 12:53got worse with the severity of drugs, 16 17 18 and I didn't
- 13:00realize the type of people that I was around or the types of
- 13:07drugs that carry the sentences that we had.
- 13:10So I, you know, Really sort of stumbled upon people that were
- 13:15involved in in the amount of drugs that were being sold that
- 13:20we're at a federal level. Yeah.
- 13:22So I didn't know anything about a federal level.
- 13:24I didn't know anything about a federal prison like I go to
- 13:28jail. You know, I go away for two, you
- 13:30know, two years. I do have time I come back out
- 13:33we can do it again, not a big deal so I started getting
- 13:37involved in selling methamphetamine at like 16 and
- 13:42then it just a tad. First, I went to LA County jail
- 13:49and I did about 30 days and that felt like the end of the world,
- 13:52I bet. And and I am like, this is the
- 13:58worst. I never want to go out.
- 13:59I never want to get involved in prison.
- 14:01Again, our jail, all the the stuff that happens in there.
- 14:04And so, but while I was away, there was still a Federal
- 14:08indictment that was being, you know, It was still going,
- 14:12there's good. So I just came out and it's like
- 14:14really nothing changed because there was still a Federal
- 14:16indictment, I just disappeared for 30 days, okay?
- 14:19And I was involved with the guy that went to New York that we
- 14:25were selling them, some drugs and and he cooperated with the
- 14:30government. So when he came back he was
- 14:32already a confidential. You know, it's a CI and he was
- 14:36already working for the government.
- 14:37So when I came back, I got out of a Lake County jail and he we
- 14:41were Back in business, and before, you know, it within six
- 14:44or seven months that I got out like, in March by October.
- 14:48I was already facing 120 115, 15 years, in federal prison.
- 14:55And so, the day that this happens to a because I guess you
- 14:59might have, did you have any idea that you were being
- 15:01investigated that you had a CI? Did you have any, did you feel
- 15:04like there was a hot Trail on you?
- 15:05Or did you you totally taken by surprise?
- 15:09Everything was a joke to me, okay?
- 15:11I didn't realize how what I was doing here at that much time.
- 15:16I thought it was all fun and games I used to see them
- 15:20watching me and I used to follow them the DEA and I didn't
- 15:23realize that they were you know, that it was so severe and I mean
- 15:30I already knew they were watching I just didn't know.
- 15:32I didn't realize how serious it was and then October 14 2004 The
- 15:39DEA and ATF and the local police department raided my mom's house
- 15:46and I get, I would never forget that day when they came into my
- 15:50mom's house with rifles and put everyone in the ground and
- 15:54everyone's screaming. And all I remember is my mom,
- 15:57saying you got the wrong guy. Mmm, you got the wrong.
- 16:00You're looking for his dad. Yeah.
- 16:02And they're like no, we're looking for junior.
- 16:06And and that day changed my life that was that day was, you know,
- 16:12and it's just, you've been a, it's been that day was the
- 16:15biggest day, you know, that that changed my life.
- 16:17And I remember going outside, they handcuffed me and and I'm
- 16:23outside handcuffed in the da saying, hey, you know, you know,
- 16:26you're gonna do some time like no I'm not, he's like, you're
- 16:30going to do some time and he's like, you're not going home.
- 16:33You're looking at, you know, 10 to 15 years and I just laughed
- 16:36at Like, whatever, you know, still, I didn't know anything
- 16:40about the DEA to know anything about the feds, but you
- 16:43experienced a hell of a deal with people breaking in and your
- 16:47mom and the whole. I can't imagine how traumatic
- 16:49that would have. Been at that moment.
- 16:53And then your mom saying, they got the wrong guy.
- 16:55I just, that's something you see in the movies.
- 16:59So let's do this. Let's take a break here because
- 17:03I want to get back into after we do this quick break talk about
- 17:08what the next steps happened in your life and how that changed
- 17:10part of your life ends up going to prison.
- 17:14Our new spots are on the show is and this is a guy I could have
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- 18:40phone? 6-3, 6-2, 3-6 507.
- 18:44On Aaron Duncan dotnet. I could use that guy.
- 18:47I could use that guy Danny from it actually earned was on the
- 18:52show a few episodes back and he's done well for himself, but
- 18:57he really goes into the world and helps put because of his
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- 19:03celebrities to people that are in crisis or getting ready to go
- 19:07to prison. So he is a new sponsor on our
- 19:10show. Welcome Aaron, Duncan dotnet,
- 19:13Okay. So Annie, let's get back here.
- 19:18You get your taken away in the car, you think it's not a big
- 19:22deal. The guy tells you it is this is
- 19:25a big deal 10-15 years. What happens next?
- 19:32I go to downtown Los Angeles to Metropolitan Detention Center.
- 19:38They take me in, I'm seeing Marshalls.
- 19:42I'm like this is not like a Lee County, Jail's is totally
- 19:45different and it took about, I don't know about maybe 24 hours
- 19:51to finally get checked in. And at that time, I still was
- 19:57not sure because I if I recall it took me.
- 20:00A few weeks before I even got my first phone call and to see to
- 20:06get a rain to see the judge. Wow, so yeah I mean we I walk I
- 20:13walk in, they booked me, they put me in the holding cell, you
- 20:17know, we're not really allowed to use the phone and and I think
- 20:20like within 24 hours I hit the module and you know right away
- 20:25if it's you know who you run with right you know and and and
- 20:31You go with with your race, right and me be involved in in
- 20:37gangs and Mexican gangs. I mean we follow suit in there,
- 20:43there's no question but it felt like you know what it felt.
- 20:49It was normal because this was my life.
- 20:51I was around gangs I was around it.
- 20:53Was normal for me is just like it was just a new it was just
- 20:56different because I was now in jail.
- 20:59Yeah so when you get did you get a public defender or did you
- 21:04have an attorney that came to your defense?
- 21:06How did that all work for you? So I first had a public defender
- 21:12and one of individual that was on my case had someone from the
- 21:18same office and and so that was a conflict of interest so they
- 21:24appointed me not it was not the public.
- 21:30It was a it was the ones that do it for the pro bono.
- 21:34We're Goin with ya. So I ended up getting a A
- 21:38really, really good attorney that gave me a lot of great
- 21:44advice on prison and my sentence, because the public
- 21:50defender wanted to take this to trial, and I was all-in for
- 21:54taking it for Trot. I didn't understand that there
- 21:55was a 98% of it conviction rate in the federal, right?
- 21:59And I was like we're going, he's like, we're going to go on trial
- 22:02that you know, we're going to do this, we're gonna put your mom
- 22:03and I'm like, let's do it. And when I finally got appointed
- 22:07to the To the other attorney. She said you're freaking crazy.
- 22:11Yeah. You could be go away forever.
- 22:14Yeah. Yeah, you're no way we're going
- 22:17to trial. And I never forget.
- 22:21She's like, look it as a mom, I would tell you to cooperate, but
- 22:27as your attorney and working with the cases, I have worked
- 22:31with take your time. And that was really scary at 18
- 22:38years old, 18 years old. Looking at 120 months.
- 22:42Ten years is my life was over. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- 22:48Life was over. I'm like, I'm gonna come out
- 22:50when I'm 30, I'm going to be old dirty exactly at 18 years.
- 22:55Old already looks old. Exactly, exactly.
- 23:00So Daddy you get when you get in there and you get sentence Do
- 23:06you know that you're getting what what your sentence is going
- 23:09to be like when you're standing there?
- 23:13Is it already been worked out? Or is it holding your breath
- 23:15wondering? What the judge is going to say?
- 23:18So, I had since I went to LA County Jail prior to, I had a
- 23:22prior not for drug but I had a with regarding bath and cars.
- 23:30So I already had a history so that changed me on the bracket
- 23:35of the the charts. So it wasn't a first-time
- 23:39offender. So that 10 years was the
- 23:41mandatory minimum. So they wanted to give me 13
- 23:44years because due to my crime, my, my past and And it being
- 23:48that I was still on probation. I was in state probation and
- 23:51that I would just recently arrested.
- 23:54So it took about 14, maybe 15 months to finally get sentenced.
- 23:59And that whole 12 months, 15 months, you're in limbo.
- 24:03You don't know you go to court every 3-4 months, you go to
- 24:05court and then you they don't they say a few things.
- 24:09They said, hey come back in a few months.
- 24:11And, and that's how it was for, for the whole 1215 months.
- 24:17That's gotta sing like, it's got to seem like forever, Danny,
- 24:20because you're not at home, you're in, you're in jail which
- 24:23is one of the worst places to reside while you're waiting for
- 24:26something that's going to change your life in a you know it's not
- 24:31going to be in a good way but you just don't know how long
- 24:33it's going to be. So you're going down bouncing
- 24:36back and forth for that 15 months, they finally bring you
- 24:39in. What happens that day?
- 24:46so, I want to say that I already signed a plea agreement for 120
- 25:00months and and that was like a deal and and mocking you like
- 25:04I'm with these guys that are facing twenty Thirty forty fifty
- 25:07years so they're like take the 10 dude you got a deal take the
- 25:1010 it was it was really interesting because I was so
- 25:18young and not and I tried to get bail.
- 25:21I wasn't able to get bail. My mom didn't have a house at
- 25:24the time. No one wanted to put a house up
- 25:25to let me out. So this 1215 months that I was
- 25:28in there, I was prepping to do time.
- 25:31Yeah. And I was getting coached
- 25:34getting mentored right by these guys that that were prepping me
- 25:38to do my sentence. I just didn't realize that
- 25:41right, you know, and like you know, they were like, hey you're
- 25:45going to be young? They were Helping me get through
- 25:48this, you're going to be young, you're going to be, you're going
- 25:50to be, how does your whole life ahead of you?
- 25:52Right. Yeah.
- 25:53So I'm like, you know what? 10 years?
- 25:56Let's do it like, I'm like, you know what it is when I signed
- 25:59the agreement, you know. There was still in denial.
- 26:02Like maybe I can break the mandatory minimum, but what you
- 26:05can and at my attorney said, hey we're going to go in there.
- 26:08We're going to get you the 10 but you know they're just so you
- 26:10know there's a good chance that they can give you the higher
- 26:12scale of it, which is going to be 13 years. and, I get very
- 26:23emotional because, you know, it's a blessing to be where I'm
- 26:27at today in my life. Yeah. and I remember my mom
- 26:35cried, when I got sentence and everyone cried, And you know the
- 26:46judge gave me 120 months. Wow, felt like that, bro.
- 26:53And your I know that's such an emotional day to I you know,
- 26:58everybody who's experienced at that time to Anna, you've
- 27:03vividly can see it and feel it. And and yeah, it's my day was,
- 27:10you know, as a packed courtroom and three ring, binders for six
- 27:13people getting indicted and charged and sentenced in.
- 27:17It's just it takes your breath away, my wife tells me Me that
- 27:21she could hear the air coming out of me because, you know, I
- 27:25was like, my deal was from probation 025 and I got five and
- 27:32she maxed out. I think everybody except for one
- 27:35person and it just hits you like, you just feel it and
- 27:41there's no weather experience like it.
- 27:43I don't know that maybe there is, I haven't experienced
- 27:46another feeling like it and you know that your family you and I
- 27:49talked about this before we got On your, when you go to prison,
- 27:54your family goes to prison. They have to deal with the time
- 27:57that you do on the outside and you deal with the time on the
- 28:00inside. What happens after this day.
- 28:08I get I get sentence. I get a really quick minute
- 28:15speech to tell the judge and I remember the judge he, you know,
- 28:19he they had a nickname for him, let him go less, right?
- 28:22And then he didn't let me go, I didn't follow his nickname right
- 28:27and he gave me a speech. About how to do prison time.
- 28:33Hmm and how I was young and that I was going to get a second
- 28:40chance and that you were I was going to be young and that if I
- 28:43took the right steps that I would be able to do something
- 28:46when I got out. And it was a long speech that he
- 28:49gave me, but I was honestly after 16, you know, I don't
- 28:54know. I don't recall if it was 12 or
- 28:5615, 16 months, it took get sentence.
- 28:58I was relieved and I was happy to get sentenced.
- 29:01To do this time and start my journey and as crazy as it
- 29:07sounds, when you get back to the dorm you're like, hey, I'm I got
- 29:10censored. I'm ready to start this journey.
- 29:12Yeah, yeah, I think I think some of that Danny is you so worn out
- 29:18through the whole process and practice, you know, going to
- 29:22prison is better than being in County Jail.
- 29:25I mean, that's for sure. You know, that's so transitory.
- 29:28There's so many weird things that happen in County, not that
- 29:31weird things. Have been in prison but people
- 29:33are living there. That's their their life there
- 29:35and things and rules are different.
- 29:38What where did you what prison did you end up going to So, I
- 29:45first went to Victorville. Yeah.
- 29:48And and I stood there for about a month as that was at the time
- 29:55that was like a hub. So, first of all, I didn't know
- 29:57where I was going, right? We don't know.
- 30:00And I'm getting, I'm eight, you know, I'm 19 at the time and
- 30:05I'm, like, I'm around guys that are 50 60, and they're like, we
- 30:09just got back from Levin's where we just got back.
- 30:12We have to have the Black Box on them.
- 30:14They're doing double life. I don't like what the fuck Act
- 30:18is this? Yeah and my the guy that I was
- 30:21chained up with he did. He got 30 years for kidnapping
- 30:27and so I'm like where am I going to my first time at the?
- 30:30They maybe send me to the wrong place.
- 30:31Yeah we bought I go to Victorville.
- 30:34I didn't know at the time that it was just a holding facility.
- 30:36Yeah. So from there, sit there for
- 30:40about a month and then I got transferred over to Long block
- 30:45and and then from there, I stood there for about six months,
- 30:51because I was supposed to go to the low and then it was supposed
- 30:56to go to the camp of my points. Got all messed up, so they put
- 30:59me to the new rock, which was a medium at the time and they just
- 31:03made it. It went from a USP to a medium
- 31:06and then I got stuck. Tuck in there for, like, six
- 31:09months in the hole today, re-evaluated my points.
- 31:12So I was like, what? An entry it was.
- 31:17It was crazy. Because the guys, and the people
- 31:20that I was around, was like, holy fucking this, how this
- 31:23gonna be? Yeah, yeah.
- 31:26And and, you know, there was like, literally writes that just
- 31:30happened and it was just like, oh my God, and it felt like a
- 31:33movie like this kid. That's never going to get out.
- 31:36Yeah. Well, I mean, they call the
- 31:39mediums, the Gladiator schools because there's just enough
- 31:41going on that everybody can get hurt.
- 31:45And and you know it was just it was it was just crazy.
- 31:50How did you handle being in the hole for six months?
- 31:53I mean, I can't imagine that as an entry because I mentioned
- 31:59Aaron Duncan who's one of the sponsors of the show?
- 32:01He thought he was going to a camp parents dropped him off.
- 32:05They said he could bring in white tennis shoes, because he
- 32:07thought he's going to Camp. So he and and somehow his
- 32:09paperwork is messed up. And he ends up in a medium, they
- 32:12beat him beat him up over his shoes, and he ends up.
- 32:15And the whole for three months, his family doesn't hear from him
- 32:18for three months because they think he's at the camp.
- 32:20Did you? And those six months, did you
- 32:22talk to anybody Juiced? It was there any communication?
- 32:25I mean, your what's going on in your world when you get locked
- 32:28into that world? So I recall like being in this.
- 32:35And remember at the Lompoc media, they at that time, it was
- 32:38like, the old like prison for for the, the military or the
- 32:44service or something, right? So it was cold, it was over 100
- 32:47years. Old windows, were broken bars,
- 32:49it was extremely cold. And, you know, I mean, it was
- 32:56knowing now, it was all mine set.
- 32:59Yeah, to handle the day. Because the way I am out here is
- 33:04the way that I was in there, we worked.
- 33:08We know, we want the doors crack at for the more we got up in the
- 33:11morning and we crack. It was like how many people are
- 33:13going out? One or two?
- 33:14Well for us, we have to go out. No matter.
- 33:17What. If we don't go out, we're going
- 33:19to have some problems. With, you know, our, I'm going
- 33:23to have some problems if I don't go out by my own people.
- 33:25Yeah. So no matter if it was raining
- 33:27pouring out there, we're going out there and we're going to go
- 33:29out there and do some burpees. That's just routine.
- 33:33And I remember used to be scared I'm like I got to make sure I'm
- 33:37up because if I don't get out of this cell and go out, I'm going
- 33:40to get in trouble for not going out.
- 33:42Yeah. And and it was a routine, it
- 33:45was, I got out, we went out, we worked out, came back to the
- 33:49cell, I did my birdbath. We had our breakfast, we
- 33:53showered. We slept, we read.
- 33:55We did our showers at 3:00. So, it was all just a routine
- 33:59that I went through and, and, and, and, and you know, playing
- 34:04reading books, reading cards, you know, throwing stuff down
- 34:07the tears talking to guys in the tears, and it was just a routine
- 34:13that Had to build myself to have a really strong mindset to be in
- 34:18this cell for so long. You know, do you think that?
- 34:24I mean, one of the things I think so incredible.
- 34:27When you when you go through something like that is is really
- 34:30amazing. What you can adapt to what you
- 34:33truly can't adapt to you. Can, you know, you can adapt.
- 34:37You know, it's What you walked into, obviously you weren't
- 34:41expecting you fell into a routine and got yourself into
- 34:45the mindset that whatever happens.
- 34:46I'm just going to make this work because there's, you know, I
- 34:50always say there's two, there's two different people in prison.
- 34:53There's the ones that you're seeing trying to make it work
- 34:56and there was the ones that give up is really not anything in
- 34:59between in prison and you can see the ones that have given up
- 35:02and you can see the guys that are trying to make it work.
- 35:05Once you got out of that, that whole hold You know, for six
- 35:10months, how did you enter the prison world?
- 35:12Like what was your what strategies were you thinking
- 35:15Danny walking into the yard? Well, you know, I still really
- 35:21didn't know what to expect. Yeah, I didn't know what was
- 35:25coming. I didn't know.
- 35:26All I heard was stories and how to do prison time.
- 35:31And I remember, you know, I used to, you know, have like a lot of
- 35:35older guys that been in and out of the prison there.
- 35:37Just tell me he, you know, don't do drugs.
- 35:40You know, you stay clean. Don't don't drink.
- 35:42And just, you know, basically stick to your word, be a man of
- 35:45your word and just shut up. You know?
- 35:47Like, I just There were these guys that were coaching me how
- 35:51to do my prison time. So when I hit the yard, I really
- 35:55didn't know what to expect, you know, just to follow suit with
- 36:00your car, right? The the people that you're with
- 36:03but it became just a routine and you know, at some point it took
- 36:07me a while to get a job and then from a job it would work out
- 36:10job. Come back, you know, shower, you
- 36:13know and then I was just always constantly reading and I Had a
- 36:19program and I stick to this program for years.
- 36:23So that was your strategy. Get a good job.
- 36:26What kind of job did you have by the way?
- 36:29I had multiple jobs and meals working at the kitchen.
- 36:31I was sweeping I was cleaning the dorms.
- 36:34I mean every year was always different like it, it just
- 36:37depends on the season and the time of the job and one thing I
- 36:41thought about prison jobs is, if you could get a decent prison
- 36:43job, it definitely made the time go quicker.
- 36:46And you know, I worked in the Food Warehouse.
- 36:48So I felt like, you know, I come from a business world.
- 36:51So you know, I was the the clerk of the warehouse, you know, I
- 36:54had to keep inventory notes but it kind of made me.
- 36:58I got forklift certified. So I was thinking that I'm doing
- 37:00things that are keeping me engaged, you know, and like you
- 37:04said, working out but it's incredible.
- 37:06How you get into these routines. And the thing I think that's
- 37:09good and bad about routines is those routines?
- 37:12Truly become your well cuz those are the things that you do to
- 37:16get your time. But you get a little weird with
- 37:19a to you, like you don't sit in somebody's spot, you sent the
- 37:21same place, they're all those different weird things that
- 37:24happen in prison. Also, I think make I saw a lot
- 37:29of people become really fearful about getting out because they
- 37:31get even though they hate that comfort and that routine that
- 37:35becomes their, it's like it puts its arms around you.
- 37:39And and then the thing you become unfamiliar with is being
- 37:42on the outside. So it's a weird world because
- 37:46you don't want to lose yourself in prison.
- 37:47That was my fear. You know, I want to be Brent, I
- 37:50don't want to lose me but you also want to do things that help
- 37:54you get through your time and it sounds like to me that you kind
- 37:56of figure it out. But one thing I was thinking
- 37:59though Danny when because you were great gang-related on the
- 38:02outside, how did that work for you on the inside?
- 38:07Well, I mean, I ran with the the strenuous, you know, South sites
- 38:12is Outsiders. And I mean, that's there's no
- 38:16other choice. Yeah.
- 38:16I mean that's who we had a. That's was me.
- 38:19Yeah. And and and that's the people
- 38:24that I hung around. So it came with the stuff that
- 38:28happens, right? And there's a lot of stuff, a
- 38:33lot of stuff that happens and with the grace of God, I was
- 38:36able to dodge a lot of stuff because I would get somewhere
- 38:39and they were already locked down or and like I missed a lot
- 38:43of stuff that I'm so grateful for because there was guys that
- 38:48I would get to this, that I was going home tomorrow.
- 38:50I was going home this week and now I'm facing another 10 years
- 38:53and I'm like, what? The fuck.
- 38:55Yeah, that happens a lot. Exactly.
- 38:59And I was already prepared to come out.
- 39:02I'm going to do all my 10 years, there's no doubt in the going to
- 39:04do all my 10 years. I had to program myself to
- 39:10forget about the outside world. And, and that's like what, you
- 39:14know, what's good and bad because, like, I become a little
- 39:18bit too cold at time, because I'm just so, like, nothing
- 39:22bothers me. Nothing bothers me, and that
- 39:25Human Side. Sort of Of disappears.
- 39:28Yeah, but so programmed in this routine over act like the world,
- 39:32the outside world didn't matter to me.
- 39:35This is my world. This is my life right now.
- 39:37Yeah, it's there's a guy. I think these Devon West that
- 39:42what he was a athlete quarterback, went into prison
- 39:47was drug-related. And he talks about this older
- 39:52guy that had been in prison. He was having a hard time, he's
- 39:54getting in fights going to the hole and he said, man, you're
- 39:56just, you're Your time hard. He said this he said you got to
- 40:00think of prisoners that it's like a Boiling Pot of water.
- 40:03He said I put an egg in that water.
- 40:06He said, what happens Davis, why?
- 40:09I guess it gets hard, he said, yeah, you can't get hard in here
- 40:12because you lose yourself. He said, now I put you should I
- 40:17put a Coffee Bean or? No, I put a carrot and the
- 40:21watery. So what happens to he says it
- 40:23gets sought. He said he can't get soft
- 40:24because you got, you got to still maintain, you know, that
- 40:27At feel look that you have to have while you're in.
- 40:31He said I put the Coffee Bean and the water he says what
- 40:34happens and so I'm not I'm not following, he said the Coffee
- 40:40Bean changes the water not the water changes a or the care he
- 40:45said that's what you get to be in prison.
- 40:46You got to change the water. You got to be the change so you
- 40:49don't lose yourself and I think that's kind of interesting
- 40:52analogy because there's you get too hard what you're talking
- 40:56about. Danny and prism you Lose
- 40:57Yourself, you get soft and you can lose yourself to I get
- 41:02killed. So it's kind of a weird dynamic
- 41:05and prison of how you live in that world but become someone
- 41:09that can get through it. And it sounds like to me that
- 41:13you you figured out how to navigate the way that you were
- 41:18wanted to live that way. And the total amount of time
- 41:21that you spend in there was how long because I know you do 86%.
- 41:26If you have a good time, a little about eight years, a
- 41:30little over eight around there with and then at like eight and
- 41:33a half with the county time, like it's like around there.
- 41:35Yeah. Who like roughly around their
- 41:38little over eight, you know, and then eight and some months and
- 41:43then the halfway house and all that stuff, did you feel about
- 41:46Danny as you were going through? Did you feel like you were
- 41:49changing? Did you think that prison was
- 41:51changing you? How how did you live that life
- 41:54and that amount of time. It's a long time.
- 41:56I was I was 3 years. You did eight years.
- 42:00It's a lot more time. What?
- 42:01How did you move through it? So it took about close to two
- 42:07and a half to three years to decide.
- 42:08I wanted a change because I was still just drinking hanging out
- 42:12like we were young. So like you know, I'm like hang
- 42:15out after work and just like it felt like I was just in the
- 42:18streets to be honest with you because just hang out with the
- 42:22homies that, you know, after right and it took about two and
- 42:26a half years to say, I want to change and come out better than
- 42:30how I came in. And that day was Somebody gave
- 42:35me a book Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill.
- 42:39Yeah I was reading this novel ass like I don't even know what
- 42:43Nava was because like what are you reading?
- 42:45Stop reading this and I never forget this guy because this guy
- 42:49Billy from New York, changed my life and he goes stop reading
- 42:52that jump. Like what do you want me to read
- 42:54this? Call me read like and he's like,
- 42:56read this and then he was like after you read that book, I'll
- 43:00maybe give you another book and I'm like, okay?
- 43:03And then I read Read it and I was just like, what the heck?
- 43:06What is this? This is amazing.
- 43:08Yeah, Think and Grow it. And then from there, my, what
- 43:12was the biggest message you got out of that because that's one
- 43:14of my favorites. What did you what was you?
- 43:16After you read that? What were you thinking, Danny?
- 43:20Think and Grow Rich. It was all on my thoughts.
- 43:25Yes, pause on. You know what my thoughts were,
- 43:30and how to change my thoughts and that book, that was the
- 43:38biggest game changer. Because then from there, I
- 43:40wanted to read more and I just it's like I never I never even
- 43:44knew what that person ever read and then and then you throw me
- 43:47this book and I was just like, oh my God and I just wanted to
- 43:51read more than it went from Zig Ziglar Les Brown and these men
- 43:55to These Guys these personal development books, how me get
- 43:59through my sentence. Yeah Tony Robbins, yeah Zig
- 44:02Ziglar Les Brown helped me through his readings.
- 44:07Get through my time with the mindset that though and it was
- 44:11just you know, getting educated on all the good stuff, you know,
- 44:14getting educated and I was loving these books and I was
- 44:17reading, you know, constantly reading and growing Going.
- 44:20And then, you know, I learned about Tony Robbins and I'm like,
- 44:23who the hell is this guy? And, and then my reading
- 44:27material became different, and then my mindset became
- 44:31different. And then I wanted now, to be
- 44:35every now, every day was like, I want to be better than yesterday
- 44:38and I want to come out better than how I came in and that was
- 44:41my mission. Love it, love it.
- 44:43You know and they all those things really roll right around
- 44:46at people places and things. You know, if you if you change
- 44:49those three things The EU and that changes your mindset.
- 44:53You know, one of the, my favorite quotes on mindset is
- 44:56Henry, Ford it says, whether you think you can or think you
- 44:59can't, you are right. And it's just it's very cool
- 45:03that you read that book and it was a game-changer changed your
- 45:07life and then you just started, you know, basically vacuuming in
- 45:11everything else that was in there.
- 45:13So as you were living in their reading these things, did you
- 45:19hang around with different? If people did you do different
- 45:21things in there? What what happened in your
- 45:23world? I mean you you become close to
- 45:29people so you have, you know I mean you run around with a group
- 45:33of guys but they become your brother's become your friends.
- 45:37So I didn't stop hanging out with people it.
- 45:42I still just I feel hung out with people but it was to a
- 45:46minimum and I would hang out. Go read works.
- 45:50I just had to just do a lot of what you were and reading a lot.
- 45:55Yeah, exactly. And and I was just a, you know,
- 45:59stay busy throughout the day and and that's how I did the time.
- 46:07So Danny, when you got closer to the door, did you start thinking
- 46:12about, you know, you're reading all the greats, you know, for
- 46:15creating business? What did you start thinking?
- 46:19I'm going to do something when I get out, that's much different
- 46:22than one. I came in.
- 46:24Like, did you start Formulating in your mind, something's going
- 46:28to happen. I I did, but I didn't K-Ci, you
- 46:38know, I'm like well I'm going to open up a business or I want to
- 46:40do a business and I want to do this but I really didn't have
- 46:43like a business plan or like an actual business that I wanted
- 46:48but I don't have to read all this stuff you're like hey what
- 46:51you want to do certain things? But I remember a friend of mine
- 46:55in there he's like you should get into real estate and I'm
- 46:58like, well, what's Real Estate? Again, any, you know, we will be
- 47:02walking the yard and he'll be telling me.
- 47:03Yeah, you know, when I was out I was buying houses and then, you
- 47:06know, he was buying the houses of other drug money.
- 47:08So he would educate me on what a real estate agent was broker
- 47:12mortgage lender and I didn't know anything.
- 47:15I don't know what agent was. I didn't know what a broker was.
- 47:17I didn't know anything about real estate.
- 47:20So I'm like okay well that seems pretty cool.
- 47:23That sounds like real estate seems pretty good, everyone does
- 47:25Real Estate. So I'm like I want to get into
- 47:26real estate. So I still didn't know what type
- 47:29of Real Estate. I wanted to get into.
- 47:31Yeah I just said I'm going to give a real estate and and I my
- 47:34wife would you would you real estate?
- 47:37So, you finally get to that point after all this time,
- 47:41you're in there. Tell me about the day you walk
- 47:43out. So, all I wanted was a coffee.
- 47:56A Frappuccino from Starbucks. Okay, so my mom picked my mom
- 48:01picks me up at the at the bus station.
- 48:03I'm supposed to take the bus to the halfway house, so I had like
- 48:0612 hours to get there. My mom picks me up and then I'm
- 48:10so, you know, we I get like seven, you know, like 78 hours
- 48:13to mess around before I go to the halfway house and turn
- 48:16myself. And so I'm like, take me to I
- 48:20wanted a pizza and I wanted like a Pacino and I got like a
- 48:22caramel frappuccino and and that was the first place I went, when
- 48:26I got out, I wanted a nice coffee.
- 48:29And then from there, my mom took me to my house to our old house
- 48:34and I told her I did not want, I didn't want anyone there.
- 48:37I didn't want to see anybody and you know, Mom not knowing any
- 48:42better. And knowing what I know now is
- 48:45that I had a huge panic attack going back to the same house,
- 48:50seeing all these people. People seeing stuff in the house
- 48:53that didn't change seeing people, that just looked older
- 48:57and heavier and that we're growing up and I'm like, what
- 49:00the heck? It felt like a movie and I big
- 49:04big, big panic attack and I started just hyperventilating
- 49:08because I'm like, I don't want to be around anybody.
- 49:10And everybody was freaking out there like, what's wrong with
- 49:13them? Does he not want us here?
- 49:14Yeah, and it wasn't them. It was me.
- 49:17Yeah. I wasn't ready to see all those
- 49:20people. I didn't want to see all those
- 49:21people even though I love my family and everybody I didn't
- 49:23want to see anybody. Yeah.
- 49:26That's interesting. And, you know, the thing that I
- 49:29think about all of that is is that you desperately want out
- 49:33and there's nothing better about getting out.
- 49:34But it's so hard to adjust. I always say it's like jumping
- 49:39in a moving car. All these things have changed
- 49:41and everybody's looking at you or you the same.
- 49:44Is he different? Is he some kind of prison
- 49:46creature, you know, all these things that you're thinking in
- 49:48your head? You like, what am I going to do?
- 49:50How am I going to live? What are, what about?
- 49:51How I'm going to get a job? I got to go to the, I gotta go
- 49:53to this halfway house. I hope that, you know, All these
- 49:56things are just rushing all at once and you feel like
- 50:01everybody's looking at. Gosh he's got to be so happy.
- 50:03Absolutely, absolutely. But there's a thousand things
- 50:06going on in your head about how do I get back into life.
- 50:10Exactly. Exactly.
- 50:12And you mind you, I was so young.
- 50:15I didn't have an email. I didn't know how to email.
- 50:18I didn't know how to ride a bus. I didn't know how to text
- 50:20somebody. I never doubted that.
- 50:22All I was was I ran around the streets all day.
- 50:25I see. Old drugs.
- 50:26I and I partied. And that's all I did.
- 50:28I didn't know anything. So coming out was extremely hard
- 50:32because I was like a baby trying to learn how to do all this
- 50:36stuff. Yeah.
- 50:37It's like put a baby at high school level.
- 50:41Yeah, exactly it. And I didn't think about that
- 50:44though. That is really good point, you
- 50:45know, all the technology when you went in has advanced so far,
- 50:50you know, and that time period that you were in, you know,
- 50:53that. That was the time period where
- 50:54everything happened. And what was that?
- 50:57Like, getting back into that. It was very, very hard for me.
- 51:02Because I remember like people try.
- 51:06I didn't know how to dress. Yeah.
- 51:08I didn't know how to buy clothes.
- 51:10I, I didn't know how to sign up for an email.
- 51:14I didn't know how to do a resume.
- 51:18I never work. So, like as a man, like how do
- 51:21you upload a resume? I would, I would go to dinner
- 51:26with for. I didn't know how to order from
- 51:27the menu. People would take me out.
- 51:30I didn't know how to present myself at the restaurant because
- 51:33they're like, you have to have your, you know, like I didn't
- 51:36know what to do. Any of that people have to,
- 51:38like, teach me how to be, like normal, and, and it was very
- 51:45hard for me. And when I was in prison, I
- 51:48didn't understand why it was so easy to come back till I got out
- 51:54and I realized how easy it was to go back because it was so
- 51:59hard. Are doubt here and I would break
- 52:00down. I would, I would literally break
- 52:02down and cry because I was trying to get this shit together
- 52:05out here and nothing worked. Nothing worked.
- 52:08I think it's so good for people to hear that because it's such a
- 52:12Common Thread. And, you know, a lot of people
- 52:14who've been to prison, they think, you know, does anybody
- 52:16understand? And what you just said, Danny,
- 52:19that is those are the emotions and those are the feelings.
- 52:24I didn't know how to have a girlfriend.
- 52:26I didn't know how to date. Yeah.
- 52:28I don't know how to like anything.
- 52:30I was a baby. So, how did you?
- 52:34How did you start stepping into what you were?
- 52:37Who you are now? So, It's all environment.
- 52:43It comes back, we started with environment.
- 52:46It I met somebody, a good friend of mine to this day and mine.
- 52:53I didn't know about social media.
- 52:54I didn't know about Facebook, Instagram and I found somebody
- 53:01threw on Instagram, you know, Kevin Sturtevant from case, real
- 53:04estate out in Orange County, I found them on Instagram and he
- 53:09posted a photo of his dad that did federal time.
- 53:12So there was what a rapport sure.
- 53:14Hey, your dad did time? I did time.
- 53:17I'm I want to get in the business and he gave me a shot
- 53:22to work for him. Cool.
- 53:23And then from there, he just expose me so much stuff and
- 53:30people and seminars that I took the route to go into those
- 53:36different directions. And then, yeah, that's a lot
- 53:40easier said than done to you because all those things you
- 53:42were stepping into, you didn't know.
- 53:43I mean, those are the things, you know, we call this nightmare
- 53:48success because, you know, anything that you want, you have
- 53:50to step through your fears, your nightmares, to get to where you
- 53:53want to go. And that means, you're stepping
- 53:54out of your comfort zone, to kind of set yourself free, but
- 53:58it's not easy because everything that you were doing Danny, you
- 54:01found somebody that was a mentor, but you had to step into
- 54:05all the unknown. All the unknown.
- 54:09Exactly, exactly. And I didn't know how to dress,
- 54:13you said, you can't come here, like, you got it.
- 54:14Like, you know, you got to be like, for fashion on some well,
- 54:16like, you know, I didn't know, I didn't know how to tell, you
- 54:18know, how to do anything, it was so crazy, and it's not easy to
- 54:21get licensed as an ex-felon. How did you, how did you work,
- 54:25your world around that? So and it goes back to when I
- 54:30was a kid, I always had an ambition to do.
- 54:32You do something with my life? I just didn't have the
- 54:34direction. So now I had, you know, I'm 26
- 54:4027 at the time, I feel like I know so much from this material
- 54:44that I read, right? I'm like all right I can't do
- 54:46all this. I didn't know anything.
- 54:47I still don't know anything. Right.
- 54:49What so I'm hungry I'm driven I'm showing up to this, you
- 54:55know, to his office and working and I'm I'm being his assistant
- 55:00and I apply for my real estate license.
- 55:02And Well, they denied me. They said, no, you're on parole
- 55:09or probation probation and you have a felony.
- 55:13They said, just come back when you're done.
- 55:17I'm like when I'm done that's five years of probation, I'm
- 55:20doing. I did I did all five years.
- 55:23I didn't get any breaks. So I'm like, no.
- 55:26And then I would and and I would get tonight and then I would
- 55:30appeal and it was a lie. August. 15, 16 months fighting
- 55:39for my license. But this is where the mindset.
- 55:44This is where everything that I've been.
- 55:47That I was probably doing when I was a little kid.
- 55:49I just didn't know. I started visualizing.
- 55:51Yeah. And and visualizing house and to
- 55:55get this real estate license how it was going to happen, how it
- 55:58felt when you happen to experience the experience of
- 56:02happiness in it. Yeah.
- 56:03And I got a I went To the Department of real estate.
- 56:07They denied me, they interviewed me.
- 56:09And the most important thing is that they wanted to see that.
- 56:12I took a hundred percent responsibility for what I did.
- 56:17So I had to do an interview with them, then they come back and
- 56:20they and they give an approval for the commissioner and they
- 56:23say either, yes, or no. So, I went in front of a judge,
- 56:26the commissioner and, and it took me about maybe three or
- 56:31four hours, he asked me to walk me, walk him through my Life
- 56:37from when I just when I started doing crying to that day.
- 56:42Well and I remember going in and out and he's and I could I would
- 56:46be crying. I was getting emotional from the
- 56:48past it would say go get some water come back in.
- 56:53And I had to present my case. And then at the time like I'm
- 56:58getting stuff in the mail there like will represent you for like
- 57:01ten thousand dollars to fight your real estate license.
- 57:04I'm like details like where am I gonna get ten thousand dollars
- 57:06right? And I was I remember being
- 57:08stressed stressed out and then at some point I'm like, you know
- 57:12what? No one knows my story better
- 57:14than myself, exactly. so that took about 15 months and then
- 57:21when I went to the commissioner, I presented my case and And I
- 57:27took and I you know, showed him that I took responsibility and
- 57:31the lady, the, I don't know who you'd call it on the, on the
- 57:35other side, that what that would?
- 57:36Their job was to deny me. Yeah, she just said, hey, I
- 57:40Irene, I never forget. That is she's like, I wish you
- 57:44the best of luck. She didn't even, she wasn't even
- 57:46going to go against it so and every everything was a few
- 57:50months, everything was a waiting game.
- 57:53So after that day, I don't know about going to get my life.
- 57:57I didn't know, I still had a goal through him and they said,
- 58:00okay, we're going to mail you something.
- 58:01We'll let you know if you're going to get your license.
- 58:04So I just had faith and, you know, the blessings come from
- 58:08God and I just had faith and I just in my head visualize
- 58:12howling to get my license that my mom wasn't to call me that
- 58:15something came in the mail and that they're going to say that I
- 58:18got my real estate license. January 2015, I got my real
- 58:22estate license on federal probation.
- 58:24Wow. Wow.
- 58:26On federal probation, unheard of unheard of I'm heard of two
- 58:32years to three years into probation all about mindset that
- 58:37my real estate license. Yeah.
- 58:41Okay, so and that you but I mean, from reading about you
- 58:45Danny, you between then, and now you can you walk us through your
- 58:50world? Like what has happened with you?
- 58:53Is it, you can Google you and sees you you've really done well
- 58:57and the LA Market. What walk us through what's
- 59:00going on with you. So it it's been an 18 year
- 59:06Journey. Yeah.
- 59:09You're 37 38 now, right? I'm 37.
- 59:13Yeah, but I went through a lot of different stages because when
- 59:17I got out, what did I want to do?
- 59:18I wanted to party. Sure, I wanted to go out and
- 59:20hang out, I wanted a drink, I wanted to be and then I was 27
- 59:25out here in the physical world, but I was 18 in my absolutely
- 59:28sure. So, I went through different
- 59:31stages and how you do, anything, is how you do.
- 59:34One thing is how you do everything.
- 59:35So in order to be successful in real estate, I had to be
- 59:38successful. My purse.
- 59:39In life, right? So, it took me many years.
- 59:43It took me a really long time to clean up my, my, my crap to
- 59:49where I'm at today because I, you know, I would drink I would
- 59:53party and then I, if I was gonna do this the right way, but I was
- 59:58going to be successful in my life.
- 1:00:01I had to if God was going to bless me with the money, the
- 1:00:05find it, the maquette everything that he has blessed me with.
- 1:00:09I had I wasn't ready for it. And so like it took me years to
- 1:00:12be ready as a young man as a responsible young man to
- 1:00:20receive. Yeah. and Ed went, once I
- 1:00:27started grasping that I started just having huge growth in
- 1:00:35business, personal life from, you know, just regular real
- 1:00:40estate sales to now doing personal million dollar spread
- 1:00:46Investments. And it was all school like real
- 1:00:51estate was school for me. It's still school for me.
- 1:00:54I was learning from from investors.
- 1:00:57I was learning. Like it was it's just been so
- 1:01:00fun and amazing to be on this journey, you know, and to know
- 1:01:05about creating well then owning passive real estate like, know
- 1:01:10any of that. It's just insane.
- 1:01:14But you know the thing that's so cool about it.
- 1:01:16Danny is you you just kept stepping into learning and I'm
- 1:01:22sure when you did that and you got some a little bit of
- 1:01:24success. You know, that gave you more
- 1:01:26confidence and then you just kept taking those steps getting
- 1:01:30more confidence and you know where you are now.
- 1:01:33I mean it's you know I would have some success.
- 1:01:37Yeah. And then everything will go back
- 1:01:39to zero. Yeah.
- 1:01:41I would have some success and then all of a sudden the bank
- 1:01:43accounts empty. Yeah.
- 1:01:45And I went through that through roller coaster.
- 1:01:49Here's, you know, to I found an amazing wife.
- 1:01:55There you go. Yeah, be a faithful husband.
- 1:02:01And And that. And that's Why I'm here today
- 1:02:06because I have someone strong behind me but it's just, you
- 1:02:11know, I wasn't ready for all that wasn't ready for it.
- 1:02:14I wouldn't I would like do good but I wasn't really doing good.
- 1:02:17I was just making money partying and it's just like it was just
- 1:02:21all and you know, now I don't drink, I don't it's just like
- 1:02:24it's just we're four more so you just put it all together, you
- 1:02:29know? And it came to you and pieces.
- 1:02:30But the thing that I think is something that everybody can
- 1:02:33learn from is that a lot of people can have those success
- 1:02:38pieces that you're talking about and then they'll have a downturn
- 1:02:41and but they give up on it. You can't give up on it.
- 1:02:44You got to stay tenacious with it.
- 1:02:46And have the what you were talking about the mindset that
- 1:02:50I'm going to make this happen. I might have a setback but I'm
- 1:02:53not giving up on myself. What's what's happened with you?
- 1:02:57Danny reason why? Your story is so fascinating.
- 1:03:00Is that you could have given up on yourself with the 10-year
- 1:03:03sentence, you could be back The streets, living that life and
- 1:03:08that day that you came back, you would have just gotten back with
- 1:03:11everybody. And even though you were 27 and
- 1:03:16an 18 year old mine, you figured it out how to get out of that
- 1:03:20and and then who you are now and how you've been able to thrive
- 1:03:23as a business and a world that stuff I mean real estates not
- 1:03:27easy. I mean you know if it's just not
- 1:03:31especially if you don't have a big foundation of, you know, all
- 1:03:35These referrals and all the things that come with, that you
- 1:03:39started from scratch and entered that world and created your own
- 1:03:43little mini Empire of of what you had in your mind created and
- 1:03:47that's everybody like and I told you this before I get, there is
- 1:03:51so excited to talk to you. Is everybody loves a good
- 1:03:53comeback story because what it does is it gives everybody hope.
- 1:03:58Everybody has built up prisons in their own mind.
- 1:04:02The question is, how do you knock him down?
- 1:04:03How do you get through them? Because It's all relative.
- 1:04:07You know, everybody gets stuck. It's what you do when you get
- 1:04:10stuck and one of the things I think to is that you, when you
- 1:04:13were not even thinking, I'm not going to change.
- 1:04:16You started reading books where you saw change was possible.
- 1:04:20And, you know, possibilities is where the mind starts to imagine
- 1:04:24and grow is what whether that's hope or possibilities, or
- 1:04:28whatever that is, that's what fuels your mind and and I can
- 1:04:32just see it in your eyes. When you told you talk about it,
- 1:04:34I can just see See that you've got that whatever that is that
- 1:04:38intangible thing. You've attached yourself to it.
- 1:04:43Exactly. I created this person.
- 1:04:45Yes, and he was always there. I mean I'm sure you were a
- 1:04:49leader and person that people, you know, thought had thoughts
- 1:04:56of leadership and and and and smarts and all those different
- 1:05:01things. It's just that you've applied it
- 1:05:02in a way. Now, that is really rewarding.
- 1:05:05Exactly, exactly. So if you think about this
- 1:05:10Danny, I always ask people. This is, what do you think of
- 1:05:15everything that you've been through?
- 1:05:16Because you've been through so much and it's varied so much all
- 1:05:19through your life. What would be your biggest
- 1:05:23takeaway through your journey to the listeners out there?
- 1:05:28You nailed it right there and and I've been very discreet
- 1:05:33about my background because I'm in real estate and you have to
- 1:05:36be professional but I am who I am and I'm an honest guy.
- 1:05:43That has integrity and does things right way.
- 1:05:46So but you nailed it is you saying that I have to get out of
- 1:05:50myself and understand that this is not about me.
- 1:05:54This is about serving and this is about being a contribution to
- 1:05:57the the world to let everyone know that anything is possible.
- 1:06:00And not only that is that so many people out here are in
- 1:06:03prison in this world out here that they're stuck in their head
- 1:06:08and and the blessing that we able to give these people hope
- 1:06:13and Inspire them and know that anything is really possible out
- 1:06:17here. Yeah and you do that Danny
- 1:06:20there. Your story does that when we
- 1:06:21first talked on the phone that you told me that you felt like
- 1:06:25the timing was right and Worry like yours.
- 1:06:28There's no reason to stand away from it, your story of how
- 1:06:32you've made your world. The way it is is very inspiring,
- 1:06:38it's very inspiring for and this this this podcast goes into 200
- 1:06:43prisons on 700,000 tablets and that's why I'm so excited about
- 1:06:48with your story is is these guys that are listening to this on
- 1:06:51adobo platform, they hear this and say, okay, well maybe I
- 1:06:55don't catch that extra charge, you know?
- 1:06:58You know, the extra 10 years or five years or whatever, I can
- 1:07:00get out, I can make a difference.
- 1:07:02I need to get set and it's not going to be easy when I get out,
- 1:07:05but I can make it. And that's, that's, that's a big
- 1:07:07deal. It's a big deal.
- 1:07:09Your story makes a big deal. It's a big mix.
- 1:07:11It's a Difference Maker. And that's amazing.
- 1:07:14I didn't know that it goes into the prison because that would
- 1:07:18give so many people hope because It's hard, it's hard.
- 1:07:26Like, if I go back it was easy. But if I walk you through this,
- 1:07:30it was freaking hard. Yeah.
- 1:07:34And no to know if I was in that jail cell right now on that cell
- 1:07:39and I listen to myself and be like, man, I would have so much
- 1:07:44hope to know that there's a chance after this sentence,
- 1:07:48right? The light is the end of the
- 1:07:50tunnel is not a train. It's true.
- 1:07:52Hope. That's amazing.
- 1:07:55Yeah, well Danny, I love your story, I love that.
- 1:08:00You have picked this time in your life, to feel comfortable
- 1:08:05in sharing this story because I think it affects people, or they
- 1:08:08gone to prison, or they have gone to prison.
- 1:08:10People need to feel that. Whatever that is inside, that
- 1:08:14maybe I can do this, maybe I can make this happen.
- 1:08:17I love it for people out there. If you want to, I love it.
- 1:08:25When you go to Brick kasa.com, leave me a message reviews on
- 1:08:29Apple. Help promote the show, which
- 1:08:31always is great go to Apple and follow the show because then
- 1:08:34I'll just tell you, right? When the next one comes up, same
- 1:08:37way with Spotify, hit the Bell. If you're looking for a book out
- 1:08:42there, I wrote One, nightmare success, and get it on Amazon
- 1:08:44Barnes & Noble Walmart and and check out our sponsors Auto
- 1:08:52Plaza de Direct and Aaron Duncan dotnet as I used to say, when I
- 1:08:56was typing my messages. Back to my people out on the
- 1:09:00outside. Stay strong.
- 1:09:02And I'll do the same Dan into viral.
- 1:09:04Thank you so much, man. Appreciate your story today and
- 1:09:09I hope we can inspire a lot of people love it.
- 1:09:13Alright, folks, not measure success in and out.