Latest / Nightmare Success In and Out / From Foster Care to Forbes Magazine Ryan Stream
Transcript
- 0:00Fear comes to reality. How do you adapt, survive,
- 0:02overcome, and do I have a guy that lives the name of this
- 0:08program, Nightmare, Success. He's basically a guy that went
- 0:13from foster care homes to Forbes magazine, Ryan's Stream.
- 0:18I've been and I was just telling you this before I got on.
- 0:20I've been a big fan of his from afar.
- 0:22He's got an incredible story. He's an award-winning
- 0:25motivational speaker and he's a two time military veteran and a
- 0:30guy can pretty much do it all. I mean he can he can play the
- 0:33piano, you know blindfold them upside.
- 0:35It's crazy. He's got a book.
- 0:37It's called Conquer Your Colosseum.
- 0:39It's all about how to how to steps to create a winning
- 0:42personal and professional life. And he knows how to do that
- 0:46because he's had to walk through his own nightmares to get to
- 0:49where he is today. I'm talking about getting
- 0:51through a nightmare. He he's, you know, he talks
- 0:53about struggling, build strength, you know, from foster
- 0:56care. He struggled with mental health,
- 0:58PTSD, learning disability, depression, drug addiction to
- 1:01jail. And he made it out.
- 1:03He's he's made it out. I can't wait till I unpack all
- 1:08this with Ryan. Before we do that, I want to
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- 1:48Auto Plaza Direct. Tell them Brent from Nightmare
- 1:50Success sent you Ryan Stream. Welcome in my man.
- 1:55Thanks, man. Hey, now the personality is
- 1:57going to come out. Dude, I love doing these.
- 2:00I love hearing you've been doing this for many, many years.
- 2:02You just got a huge speaking engagement.
- 2:04I think your whole audience needs to know about that.
- 2:07You're going to be speaking in front of thousands of people,
- 2:09man. That is a highlight for sure.
- 2:12Thank you, Ryan. I appreciate that, man.
- 2:14You're very well coming from somebody who's done a lot of
- 2:16speaking and and you know if you go to anything and follow Ryan
- 2:23his Instagram account I I got I got tied into him the other
- 2:26night got hooked and looked into he was doing his rapping video
- 2:31and it's cool what he can do. Whether you want him to speak or
- 2:35whether you want him to sing. Whether you want to play pianos.
- 2:38Black guy can do just about anything.
- 2:40But I want to go back, right? Because it wasn't this you just
- 2:43didn't walk out of the bandbox and it was the Ryan Stream show
- 2:46you. You really lived through a
- 2:51childhood that people. It's almost like a movie.
- 2:56And there are movies, but you're tell us a little bit about your
- 2:59childhood and what you went through to get to where you are.
- 3:03Yeah man. Well, the video that you saw
- 3:05that you are talking about, it's a song about me going from
- 3:09homeless shelters, foster care to being adopted into a
- 3:13different culture, going to war, being a drug addict.
- 3:16That's just a very small glimpse of it.
- 3:18But in that video you heard that I forgave my parents.
- 3:23As soon as I forgave my parents, man, I went on a an attack,
- 3:27right? Everything I am afraid of, I'm
- 3:29going to attack. Now I have four businesses, 7
- 3:32incomes, almost a psychology degree with the learning
- 3:34disability. Seven years ago I was in a car
- 3:38going to kill myself, had no job, no income, no nothing.
- 3:42So just because I, you or anybody looks like life is
- 3:46perfect. It's not perfect.
- 3:47It is not perfect for anybody. And I learned that at a young
- 3:51age that life was just going to be hard for me.
- 3:53And at first, I thought that was the normal.
- 3:56But as I got older and I was able to put pieces together, I
- 3:59realized, Oh my gosh, this isn't normal.
- 4:02You see, my mom was raped twice by the age of 12 years old.
- 4:05Both of her parents died by the age of 12.
- 4:08So how could I blame my mom for anything?
- 4:11How could I? My mom took her life.
- 4:14She's no longer here. I don't know what it was.
- 4:17At a young age, Ryan, when that happened, right?
- 4:20It was, yeah. I was in the ninth grade when
- 4:22when sadly, she took her life. And you know, at first you're
- 4:25thinking, well, what did I do? Like like maybe could I could
- 4:28have done something different. But I never have judged my mom
- 4:31or never looked because I shouldn't.
- 4:33My mom hugged me. My mom loved me.
- 4:34My mom was there the best she could.
- 4:36But now that I'm actually studying mental health and
- 4:39seeing biologically, chemically, like how the brain and how we
- 4:42work, my mom was still the most terrible cards taken advantage
- 4:47by men when you're a child. Come on.
- 4:49Both parents dying at the age of 12 and then her hoping for
- 4:53somebody to save her friends. Well, she got mixed up with the
- 4:57wrong friends. I did that too.
- 4:59I can't judge. But then she met a man.
- 5:02I want to talk about that, Ryan, because your story where a lot
- 5:07of people would have made somebody just curl up in the
- 5:09fetal position and give up. And from what I understand from
- 5:13reading about it, you at a very young age you had brothers and
- 5:18you guys were separated through that process.
- 5:22How, how old were you when that happened when when you got
- 5:25separated and. And I don't know where you fall
- 5:27into the order Sibling. Yeah.
- 5:29Were you oldest? I was adopted.
- 5:31I was adopted in the second grade.
- 5:33My birthday's in June, so I'm six.
- 5:35I got two older brothers that are a year, one year older and a
- 5:39year older. So third grade, just second
- 5:41grade, 2nd grade to 4th grade. Excuse me?
- 5:43When we got adopted, yeah, man, it it was just hard.
- 5:48But you want to know what? When you're broke, when you're
- 5:50poor, when you see those things as a kid, that's that's normal.
- 5:53You know one thing people ask me about life or even about war.
- 5:57Was it scary? Well, yeah, it's scary.
- 5:59But we're so resilient. Humans are so resilient.
- 6:03We're like a freaking that lizard that could just attach to
- 6:05anything. And then you just you blend in.
- 6:07Like we are able to adapt. But people, they're afraid to
- 6:11adapt. They're afraid to change.
- 6:13And people say, well, how do you gain confidence?
- 6:15Like, how could I attack? And it's like, dude, you just
- 6:18have to do what scares you. We just talked about me buying a
- 6:21trucking company. I got.
- 6:22I don't even know how to do it, but I got to prove it well.
- 6:27In your teenage years, you were you weren't thinking, and I
- 6:33don't think you were thinking of the positive thoughts that you
- 6:36have now. You were trying to struggle.
- 6:37You're trying to get through when you hit those dark, when
- 6:42you hit those dark days and you and and you had the addiction
- 6:46and and you were going in and out of jail.
- 6:49What was going through your mind then?
- 6:53Man, you know, you don't think a lot of times.
- 6:55And that's what gets you in trouble.
- 6:56You don't have a plan. I didn't have a plan.
- 6:58I wasn't thinking. That's what got me in trouble.
- 7:00But let me put it in in the perfect puzzle pieces to make
- 7:04the perfect puzzle for you and your listeners.
- 7:08When I was in the second grade, I got adopted and there was a
- 7:10motivational speaker that came to my school.
- 7:12He was a musician and he spoke and said you can do whatever you
- 7:16want. I believed him.
- 7:19I went home and the people that adopted me, they had a piano.
- 7:21So I sat down and I adopted the piano and I started to create
- 7:25music. And I realized that it was the
- 7:27bridge between understanding and expressing my emotions.
- 7:30So I started to just create music.
- 7:33Well, later on I had a, you know, I had to.
- 7:35The kid that had to come to school early to read and early
- 7:38to write. I I didn't know how to.
- 7:39Learning was hard for me. Was it not AS?
- 7:42Far as the kids around you, were they tough on you with that or
- 7:46or were you able to get through that?
- 7:48I mean, sometimes kids can be really mean and and you know, at
- 7:53a certain age they don't even know what they're doing.
- 7:55They're just, that's just what they, you know, a grade school.
- 7:57I mean, how did you get, how did you work yourself through that?
- 8:00That's not easy. No, to add on to that, I'm only
- 8:035 foot four with my shoes on, so I'm a very short guy.
- 8:06So you know, they would light me up.
- 8:08But one thing I've always been was strong.
- 8:10I'm like a little bulldog. You mess with me, you're going
- 8:13to fight, right? I and I saw that as a little
- 8:15kid. So when somebody attacks, you
- 8:17attack. I just, you know what I mean?
- 8:19So if anybody did that, if I wasn't attacking, it was my
- 8:21brothers that were attacking. And I was always very good with
- 8:25words. That's my gift.
- 8:26I'm very witty. I could, you know, two kids were
- 8:29rapping and making fun of me. I walked up to both of them and
- 8:32started rapping and the whole school started laughing at them
- 8:34like that. I was just so witty and it was a
- 8:36gift. But you know, I got lost, man.
- 8:40I started hanging out with the wrong people.
- 8:42I turned to drugs and, you know, I got what?
- 8:45Was your age when that happened to you.
- 8:47I got into that. I was 17 years old when I
- 8:51started doing things I shouldn't do.
- 8:53My parents, they raised me to be good, like most parents would.
- 8:57Hopefully I was the homecoming king, winning talent finds.
- 9:01We started modeling for companies in high school, man.
- 9:05And I came from a town where there's 1900 people.
- 9:07So we'd go up to the city and you know, my brother, my older
- 9:10brother, he was taller and really good looking.
- 9:12And you know, we we all had the gift of gab.
- 9:15But it doesn't matter what goals, what dreams, what plans
- 9:19you have if you get away from those and you start hanging out
- 9:23with the wrong people. You know, I I was an honor
- 9:26graduate in the military at 17 years old.
- 9:29My plan was to go to the Special Forces.
- 9:31I was almost killed in the ninth grade with blood clots.
- 9:34I came back and broke this, the track record for a second time,
- 9:3812 years old, running up, running a 517 mile, you know,
- 9:41and that's before the. I mean, that was wild.
- 9:43I mean it. It sounds really unusual too,
- 9:46because it to have that success that you're talking about, but
- 9:49then to fall into the wrong crowd.
- 9:51Was it? Were you living like a double
- 9:53life with that? Because you know, you're not
- 9:55usually a homecoming king and hanging out with the wrong
- 9:57crowd. Yeah man, you know what?
- 10:00You know what they say. Whatever you feed, whatever side
- 10:03of your spirit or demon you feed, you're going to cater to,
- 10:07you know? So even if you're wanting to be
- 10:08good and doing good, if you're getting steered this way, well
- 10:11there, it's like a snowball effect.
- 10:13That grabbed me and then I started rolling.
- 10:15Then I started rolling, and by the age of 19 years old, I was
- 10:19sued twice, $30,000 in debt. I was homeless in my car, man.
- 10:26Assault on a police officer, you know.
- 10:29How do you come back from that dude?
- 10:30Like, it was hard. My best friend, I got addicted
- 10:33to drug. He's dead now, you know?
- 10:36So there's so much in my life, so much in my life.
- 10:40At that time period, you're in a dark space.
- 10:45You're going and you're homeless.
- 10:47You've got all these things, these demons that come around
- 10:51when and then and then I. What was the next step that
- 10:54happened after that? Well, man, you have to realize
- 10:58you want to change. When I'm looking around and all
- 11:00of us are going to jail. And you know what I mean?
- 11:02People are going to prison. And I was in a drug house where
- 11:05there was children, You know, I remember waking up one day and
- 11:09just walking out the front door. And even another time I was in
- 11:13my military uniform, man. And my Sergeant banged on the
- 11:17door and kicked me in the back and said, dude, what are you
- 11:19doing with your life? Like you're going to lose
- 11:22everything, man. And so there was a unit going to
- 11:25Afghanistan. And I knew the only way, the
- 11:28only way to change your life is to you got to cut people off.
- 11:32You got to escape. You got to, you got to change.
- 11:35And if you can change, change your hair, if you're shy, be
- 11:40loud, change you, you get to do that.
- 11:42It's your life. It's your character.
- 11:44So I did that. Did my friends hate me for it?
- 11:46Yeah. Dude.
- 11:47Nobody likes to see somebody have something good when they're
- 11:50sucking because of their choices.
- 11:53But there was a judge I had to go to 8 different courts, man. 8
- 11:57different courts. Hey, you know, I'm sorry.
- 11:59I please. There's a unit going to
- 12:01Afghanistan. I had one more court to go to
- 12:04and I said judge and I had a big fine.
- 12:07You know, I had a hit and run assault on a police officer, no
- 12:11insurance, no registration, suspended driver's license.
- 12:15And I just broke down in front of the judge.
- 12:17And I said, your honor, I'm, I'm lost.
- 12:20The only way I know how to get better is I have to, I have to
- 12:24change. You see at this time, my dad was
- 12:27a judge. My adapted, my adopted mom and
- 12:30dad were a teacher that actually taught me how to write my name
- 12:34before I was their son. And the police officer that
- 12:37adopted us knew my dad in jail. Crazy story.
- 12:42And I would call them in the middle of the night and say
- 12:46people's kill, they're here to kill me.
- 12:48And I was so high man. And the judge man, he walked off
- 12:56the stand and he hugged me and he said, you're going to learn
- 12:58more in Afghanistan than you're going to learn here.
- 13:01Five years ago, I spoke for that judges conference.
- 13:04So the world is amazing. And then I went to war, man.
- 13:08But you know sometimes, Ryan, with you saying that it is
- 13:12somebody and I've done a lot of these different interviews where
- 13:15there's a there's a one person that reaches out and and make
- 13:20that connection, that difference that happens.
- 13:23And that judge could have exactly gone the wrong way and
- 13:29and the the the, the thing that could have put you further in
- 13:33the ditch. And he must have seen something.
- 13:36Man, this this kid. Let's give him a break.
- 13:40We're going to send him to Afghanistan.
- 13:42Tell me about that. Tell me, tell me about, because
- 13:45going from the world that you just talked about drugs, going
- 13:50in out of jail and all those different things, and then you
- 13:53go into the the world of the military.
- 13:57What? What was that like for you at
- 14:00young age? You know, our mission was define
- 14:03bombs, man. And you know, there's a lot of
- 14:06military people, but everybody has a job, but there's only
- 14:11about 7% ish of the military that actually sees combat.
- 14:15And my mission was combat. It was define bombs that were
- 14:19placed in the route and we would have to go and get rid of them.
- 14:23And the first night in Afghanistan was August 28th,
- 14:272010, My very first night we were ambushed.
- 14:31You could find the story on on all the big outlet networks
- 14:35because it was one of the biggest ambushes in Afghanistan.
- 14:37It was on FOB Salerno, and there was multiple of the Taliban
- 14:43members in American uniforms that got on our little FOB and
- 14:47they were blowing themselves outside of the wire and the
- 14:49Apaches were firing all over the place.
- 14:51Now, war's not like that all the time.
- 14:54War's scary. War's hell, man.
- 14:58But, you know, I've also seen some pretty amazing things.
- 15:00I've seen humans cry, the strongest man man, the strongest
- 15:03people. I've seen him cry.
- 15:06I've seen the ones that people wouldn't think are that strong,
- 15:10become, you know, triumphant. But there was around 23 of the
- 15:1632 that I was with that was blown up and. 23 was the 32.
- 15:22Yep. And one was killed in my unit.
- 15:26It was hard, man. Yeah, Yeah, it was.
- 15:30What happened? I because, I mean, a lot of
- 15:32people don't get an opportunity to listen to somebody that was
- 15:34in that type of arena, that world in Afghanistan, because
- 15:39everybody read about it. It was a.
- 15:41Horrific long. War.
- 15:43I'll. I'll explain it.
- 15:47I'll explain war with two stories.
- 15:50You know the best gifts I've ever got.
- 15:52There was 3 when my brothers and I slept in a homeless shelter.
- 15:58We were hungry and there were two old men that gave us a box
- 16:03of raisins. #2 was the family that adopted me.
- 16:08When they adopted me, I got a brand new pair of clothes and a
- 16:11pair of light up shoes. The third gift or the third
- 16:16thing that changed my life. It happened in Afghanistan.
- 16:22You see, war is scary. Like I said, war is hell, man.
- 16:25You see. You see what people do to other
- 16:30people in the hopes of freedom for their side.
- 16:33And our side, you know, we were told that we couldn't get out
- 16:39and play with the kids. And I loved to play with the
- 16:41kids. But the Taliban started to strap
- 16:44bombs to the children's bodies. And when we would get out of the
- 16:48vehicle to feed the children in our province, the Taliban would
- 16:52blow up the children. So especially me, right?
- 16:56I had a little keyboard. I would play.
- 16:58I would rap, you know, I'd stand on top of the vehicle and I'd
- 17:00rap to the kids. I would dance.
- 17:03I I just, you know, I wanted to make the kids feel like the old
- 17:06man made me feel. My parents made me feel when
- 17:09they gave me the light up shoes. I wanted to do that for them.
- 17:12They said stream, especially you.
- 17:14And I got made fun of a lot because I was the singer, you
- 17:17know what I mean? I would rather hug than fight.
- 17:21And there was a little boy and his little sister that they came
- 17:25to our vehicle and there was nobody else around.
- 17:27I mean we were just ambushed. Recently I was in a bad mood.
- 17:30My vehicle got ambushed. I hit my head on the the door of
- 17:35the RGI mean I I just had had it with this place.
- 17:38One of our leaders was just killed.
- 17:41Like I did not want to deal with these kids anymore.
- 17:45And there was a little boy and little girl.
- 17:47They came up to our vehicle and they wanted food and candy.
- 17:50And my Sergeant said stream. Come on, man, it's not like you
- 17:53to yell at the kids. Just throw him a piece of candy.
- 17:56So finally I obeyed. I opened up the door.
- 17:58I threw out a piece of candy. And of course the older brother,
- 18:01he's probably about 10. The little sister was about 5.
- 18:04The boy out ran his little sister and grabbed the piece of
- 18:08candy. You know, over there we've seen
- 18:11little girls grab pieces of candy before, and everybody in
- 18:14the village beat the little girl because women have no rights in
- 18:19that country. But this little boy, he turned
- 18:22and gave that piece of candy to his little sister.
- 18:26And then we jumped out of the vehicle and we gave him as much
- 18:29food and candy as the little boy could carry and his little
- 18:32sister. And they ran home.
- 18:36But a couple hours later, only the little boy came back and he
- 18:42had something behind his back and he was getting closer to our
- 18:48vehicle and we yelled at the little boy to stop, please,
- 18:52please stop. And the little boy kept coming.
- 18:57So the gunner put the weapon on the child and fired, shooting a
- 19:01pin flare, which is a line of defense over the child's head.
- 19:06And the child got very scared and he stopped.
- 19:09But then he kept on coming. So I leaned up and I turned
- 19:13record on the camera. So when we took this, when we
- 19:17would have to take this little boy's life, it was documented.
- 19:21But as the little boy got close to our vehicle, we got the OK to
- 19:25fire. But then he stopped and the
- 19:28little boy showed me what was behind his back.
- 19:31It was an egg. An egg.
- 19:36The third best gift I've ever been given was an egg, and it
- 19:40was from that little boy. And he taught me something.
- 19:43No matter where you're at in the world, there is good wherever
- 19:46there is bad, and there is bad wherever there is good.
- 19:49Even if I'm in a war zone, even if you're at home from New York
- 19:52to LA to Texas, there's hard times and hardships everywhere.
- 19:57But you have to be the good. You see, everybody thinks of war
- 20:01as fighting and and conquering. And, yeah, yes, but I got to see
- 20:05a different side of it. I got to see the sad and
- 20:07vehicles full of bodies. But I also got to see things
- 20:10like that, where people help each other, where people love
- 20:15each other. You know, there was a guy, he
- 20:17was with us on mission and he was Afghani and the Taliban
- 20:21hated that the Afghanistan people would help us.
- 20:26Anyways, when the United States left Afghanistan, I hadn't
- 20:29talked to this guy since 2010. He messaged me on Instagram and
- 20:35Facebook. He said, Ryan, Ryan, do you
- 20:37Remember Me? Do you Remember Me?
- 20:39It's it's it's Zorro or AK, whatever we call them.
- 20:41I can't remember. And I said, holy crap dude,
- 20:43yeah, I remember you. And he showed me pictures of his
- 20:47mud houses. They don't have houses like we
- 20:49do of mud houses that the Taliban blew up.
- 20:52They're trying to kill him and his family because he was trying
- 20:57to help us. And now that the United States
- 20:58had left, they're killing all of those people that helped us.
- 21:03So I got on social media and I made a post and people donated
- 21:07money that saved that man and his seven children.
- 21:10We were able to get them out of that part of Afghanistan because
- 21:14of social media. So war is scary.
- 21:17War is hard. But I also got to see humanity
- 21:20at its best and humanity at its worst.
- 21:22I think both are a blessing. The experiences that I've been
- 21:26able to experience, you know, like it's not that I'm fearless.
- 21:32I'm scared. Heck man, I'm scared right now,
- 21:34starting all this stuff. Weights are heavy, but if you
- 21:38ever want to, don't you want to see what you're made of?
- 21:41Don't you guys just want to see, like, I'm going to be a rapper?
- 21:44Bam, I'm an award-winning rapper.
- 21:46I want to be a country singer. Bam, I'm, I'm proving to people
- 21:49I can do everything. I couldn't even read and write.
- 21:52I have a best. I have two books and a best
- 21:54seller. Like, come on, who's this idiot
- 21:57that failed out of four college four times and now I have one?
- 22:01How did you, how did you do that, Ryan?
- 22:03I read that. How did you do that 4?
- 22:07Times, I'll be honest with you, I'm I'm not very smart.
- 22:10I'm not very book smart. But most people that are ADHD or
- 22:14have those other disabilities, some might say those are
- 22:17actually your entrepreneurs. That's what I read and I started
- 22:19doing adaptively. It is a superpower.
- 22:24But as soon as I realized I wanted it like I want it, no, I
- 22:27want it. I'm going to go in that
- 22:29building, and I'm not leaving that building this time.
- 22:32And I'll tell you why. You want to know the real
- 22:33reason. There's two In 2017, I got fired
- 22:38from a job because I was a safety liability.
- 22:40I exited the military with mental health reasons.
- 22:44I had nothing. No job.
- 22:46PTSD, Brian, was that what you were dealing with?
- 22:50Just, yeah, the war fog of coming back home and.
- 22:55Waking up in the middle of the night searching for the enemy at
- 22:58my house. My wife and I was even talking
- 23:00yesterday and we got on the subject because I was just on
- 23:03the radio station here. And one of my old platoon
- 23:06leaders, the one that kicked me in the back in that story, he
- 23:09heard me on the radio and he was with the producers of the
- 23:12studio. And he's like, I heard Ryan
- 23:13Stream and wow, he's come a long ways.
- 23:16But I would disappear and I would leave at days at a time
- 23:21and go to. I was just foolish.
- 23:23My gosh, I know. You're married at the time.
- 23:27I was so, you know, I when. You went when you went away to
- 23:30Afghanistan. Were you married?
- 23:32Did you have kids at the time or were you?
- 23:35Married at the time, my second time that I went to war.
- 23:38I came home to an 8 month old baby and my wife that I met for
- 23:42the first time. You know, and that right.
- 23:45There's a traumatic experience. You go from a war zone where
- 23:48they're teaching you to fight and kill.
- 23:50And every day you're just, you don't know who's the enemy.
- 23:53So you're constantly just, you know what I mean?
- 23:55And then you come home and it's like I got to find a job.
- 23:58Oh my gosh, I'm married. I got a kid like I got married
- 24:03and then two months later was back at war.
- 24:06You know, we've been married for 11 years now.
- 24:08Thank goodness I have my wife. But there came a time where I
- 24:11was at the rock bottom of rock bottom.
- 24:14I had no job. I had nothing.
- 24:16And the only job I can get was the coal mine and people that I
- 24:20worked with. Oh man, he's an idiot.
- 24:22Oh, I can't believe they'd let him carry a weapon.
- 24:26So what has motivated me? I would be honest, and I would
- 24:30be not honest to say that hate motivates me and every person
- 24:36that's ever talked bad about here in Utah.
- 24:38I have music, awards, books, 13 million views.
- 24:42Just last year I've spoken to probably 200,000 students just
- 24:46in the state. They they have heard me and that
- 24:50guy that they called the dumbass and stupid.
- 24:54You know what I mean? One month I make more than they
- 24:56make in a year. Who's the stupid one?
- 24:58That's the attitude I used to have, and it was a foolish
- 25:01attitude to have, right? That's that's hate.
- 25:04That's not good. So instead of using all that
- 25:07hate to motivate me, I want to inspire people and I want to
- 25:11inspire them. Dude, leave the job.
- 25:14If I can do it, you can do it. I wasn't the smartest there and
- 25:18you know that well. Let's talk about back in school.
- 25:21What's that? Well let's talk about that
- 25:23because you at the time you were in the coal mine.
- 25:25But what was the trigger for you to get back into school and then
- 25:30to become believe that you had all these you know superpowers
- 25:34in you. What what was the what was the
- 25:37moment that made that happen for you?
- 25:39Because I've heard you speak and I've you you had you were at
- 25:44rock bottom a lot of people. I think there's two things that
- 25:48happened at rock bottom because I had I was at rock bottom too
- 25:51before I went to prison and I that at that moment I never want
- 25:54to go back to. But I think two things happened
- 25:57at rock bottom. One or two things.
- 25:58One, we believe it's the end and maybe you can't end it.
- 26:03Or two, it's a new beginning. And somehow, someway, you became
- 26:10a new beginning and started stepping out into what you
- 26:14wanted to be. What do you think was that?
- 26:17What do you think that was that that fire that was lit?
- 26:20Well, when I got fired from my job, I was on my way home and I
- 26:24had a plan to end my life. And I didn't.
- 26:27I'm here, you know, we could talk religion here.
- 26:30And I felt the angels and demons battle on my shoulders.
- 26:33I went to suicide prevention classes.
- 26:35My mom took her life. So I take that topic very
- 26:37serious. And I got to the duplex because
- 26:41we sold our house wanting to start an empire, right?
- 26:44And we lost it all, man. And my wife, she said, Ryan, I
- 26:48believe in you. That's why I married you.
- 26:52And she put her hands on my shoulder and she lifted me up
- 26:55and she says, you, you got this. So I said, man, this is the part
- 26:59I get emotional. Gosh Dang it.
- 27:02I would go to the workforce service place before they opened
- 27:08and I would stay there until they closed for weeks.
- 27:14You know, when you have no money coming in and nothing and your
- 27:17backs against the ropes, like you got to fight, like you got
- 27:21to fight. And everybody's scared, afraid
- 27:23to be at rock bottom. Rock bottom means you get to
- 27:25start over. But do you ever really start
- 27:27over? No, because you have experience.
- 27:30Well, what about if I go in the wrong direction?
- 27:31Good. You know what direction not to
- 27:33go next time. So I got a job in the coal mine,
- 27:37dude. And when I got into the coal
- 27:38mine, I was like, you're shitting me back in the coal
- 27:41mine. I worked in the coal mine right
- 27:43after high school. It's not a good job.
- 27:45It's scary. It's dangerous.
- 27:47It's cold. It sucks.
- 27:48You're blacker than black because the coal.
- 27:51And I remember going to the interview after calling them
- 27:54five times. Hey, I'm ready to come to work.
- 27:56Hey, I'm coming to work. You know what got me the job?
- 27:58I was consistent, and that's what they said.
- 28:00Dude, we weren't even hiring. But you kept calling because I
- 28:03had no choice. I had no choice.
- 28:06According to my resume, Yeah, I was in the military.
- 28:08Yes, I had a couple of things that I was working on that made
- 28:11me look really good. Never again did I want to put in
- 28:15for a job and not be the elite. So I got the job in the coal
- 28:19mine. And after I got the job, I
- 28:21remember going out to my car and saying why me?
- 28:24Like, I've served my country. I've done everything.
- 28:26I'm a good person. I'm kind, I'm nice.
- 28:29People need to realize that the door closes for you.
- 28:33It closes for you if you truly believe in God or the universe.
- 28:38Oh well, why would God do this? I believe God's son, Jesus
- 28:41Christ hung on the cross. So if anybody has it that bad,
- 28:46shouldn't it be God saying why me?
- 28:48I was just on my friend's podcast.
- 28:51He was waiting in St. George, UT for his family to
- 28:54come, and all of them got in a wreck and died.
- 28:55They all got killed. I saw that.
- 28:59Why him? Yeah.
- 29:01You know what I mean? Like, why US?
- 29:03Life is hard. Nobody's going to make it out
- 29:05alive. No, no.
- 29:06It's not easy for anybody. So when I was in the coal.
- 29:10Mine. I got to tell you, Ryan, I
- 29:11because you you're one of your favorite quotes, is one of my
- 29:15favorite quotes. And what you just said is, is
- 29:18what you live. But I just for those and it's a
- 29:22Rocky Balboa. And I'm just going to read the
- 29:24quote because it's just because you've lived this.
- 29:27And for those out there that are stuck or they're feeling sorry
- 29:31for themselves, this is something that should be a
- 29:33mantra of yours. And so let me tell you something
- 29:35you already know. The world ain't easy.
- 29:38Not all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very mean and nasty
- 29:42place. And I don't care how tough you
- 29:44are. It'll beat you down to your
- 29:47knees and keep you there permanently if you let it.
- 29:50You, me or nobody is going to get as hard as life.
- 29:54But it ain't about how hard you get hit.
- 29:56It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward, how
- 30:00much you can take and keep moving forward.
- 30:03That's how winning is done. And I I read that you talking
- 30:07about that as being one of your favorite quotes and and it's one
- 30:10that I always go back to because man if that doesn't explain
- 30:15everything. I mean just explain everything
- 30:20because you always have choices you always have choices and and
- 30:25yes life is unfair but you have to move on regardless because
- 30:30you you don't the other the alternative is awful.
- 30:34You end up in a ditch and homeless and and feeling sorry
- 30:37for yourself which you know you you being a victim or a survivor
- 30:42is is they're they're very different and and you blame and
- 30:46you point fingers and you can't fight.
- 30:48A survivor almost makes you feel different when you say that.
- 30:51It almost makes you sit up straighter when you say I'm a
- 30:53survivor because what it means is I'm going to walk through and
- 30:56what you just said, right I'm going to walk through whatever
- 30:59it is that scares me and get through it and that's when
- 31:03things happen. Yeah, you know, and if you look
- 31:06at life like an adventure, right?
- 31:10Dude, I want to see what I'm made of.
- 31:13You know what I mean? Like, am I smart enough to get
- 31:15the degree? Am I freaking smart enough to
- 31:17run the business? Am I smart?
- 31:18I'm going to figure it out. And if I can't figure it out,
- 31:20I'm going to find somebody that can.
- 31:23Like, everyone's looking at life like it's just so hard.
- 31:28And it is. But you want to know what?
- 31:29Be grateful. Be grateful.
- 31:33I went mountain biking with the dude that fell out of a tree,
- 31:36three kids and got paralyzed like that.
- 31:39Had to exit the military. His whole life changed and I
- 31:44made it up the mountain. Rode around the mountain and he
- 31:46went up and back the mountain for two hours straight, all the
- 31:49way to the top, all the way back with his arms.
- 31:52He says, man, I'm grateful they didn't take my arms too, you
- 31:55know. Again, it's things happen to you
- 31:59for you. So when I was in the coal mine,
- 32:01I started working a ton of overtime because, well, the
- 32:03money was OK Then I thought, you want to know I'm going to get
- 32:06back in school and I'm not leaving this place until I get a
- 32:09degree. 2020. I got my first degree.
- 32:12Then I said, you want to know what?
- 32:13Everybody with a psychology degree, they think they're smart
- 32:16as shit. Now you know what I mean?
- 32:17I'm going to go get one of those.
- 32:18So here I am, I'll be done hopefully in August.
- 32:21And then I was like, you want to know what that person's flipping
- 32:24houses and making money? I'm going to flip houses and
- 32:26make money. Bought 2 houses and flipped
- 32:29them. But adversity comes.
- 32:31The reason why I got out of the coal mine is I had three
- 32:33surgeries. My hand got smashed, my finger
- 32:35got amputated, my worker didn't show up, and I had to build the
- 32:39house. I had to go and build the inside
- 32:42of the house that a lady flooded that I could have profited
- 32:45$100,000. But instead, I felt sorry for
- 32:49the lady because she was a single mother with three kids
- 32:51and I saw my mother. So even when you help people,
- 32:55even when you're trying your best life still going to hit
- 32:58you. And sometimes it's just God
- 33:01telling you, I'm teaching you how to build.
- 33:04I am teaching you how to build. So I have a saying.
- 33:06I would like for all of you to adopt it.
- 33:08It's called Pack It On, Pack it On.
- 33:12I'm going to get my ass kicked, but one day I'm going to stand
- 33:14up. And I learned that when I was
- 33:16about in the 4th grade, I watched my older brother get his
- 33:21ass kicked and I didn't know who to cheer for, 'cause he always
- 33:25beat me up, you know what I mean?
- 33:27So I'm looking at Ray, the guy that just fought him, and I'm
- 33:30looking at my brother. And then my brother gets up
- 33:32again. And I said, Jesse, stay down.
- 33:36Dude, you just got freaking. The floor got mopped with you
- 33:40and he stood up again. He walked over to Ray and got
- 33:43his butt kicked again. My brother did that four times.
- 33:49On the 4th or 5th time, I'm not even exaggerating.
- 33:52My brother went to fight him and he said dude I'm done, you win.
- 33:58So when I was a little boy, I saw, holy cow, my brother got up
- 34:02over and over and over again. And finally the other guy said,
- 34:05whoa dude, they're going to get tired.
- 34:08Maybe they're going to be afraid to lose, or they're going to
- 34:11listen to this really close. Sometimes people will want to be
- 34:17around you or they will want to buy something from you because
- 34:21of the effort that you're putting in.
- 34:24It's not necessarily that they need it.
- 34:25Most people buy off emotion anyway, you know?
- 34:29So if you're just putting in the work and people see at first
- 34:32nobody celebrates a loser unless you like the losing team, right?
- 34:36I don't know why we like that stuff.
- 34:37But when people see that you're resilient and you have a smile
- 34:41on your face, that's the biggest key to my success.
- 34:43You said it, you know, before we even started, man, you got your
- 34:45butt kicked a lot. You know, I just barely started
- 34:49to win a little bit. But as soon as you win, well,
- 34:51adversity strikes, right? So we flipped the two houses,
- 34:55bought an ice cream franchise. That's not enough.
- 34:58Now what do I got to do? If I'm going to be in front of
- 34:59corporations, I got to build a winning corporation.
- 35:02OK, bam, trucking company. And here I am trying to figure
- 35:04it out. But when you have me on your
- 35:06podcast or somebody else has me on their podcast, I want to be
- 35:10the guy that actually does and knows how to do things, not just
- 35:14has a good story. So Ryan, when you you started
- 35:19building, going to school, getting back in, when did the
- 35:22speaking career take off for you?
- 35:27You know, in 2017, it was 2016. I got one speaking engagement.
- 35:33You know, I was calling around, hey, let me speak, let me speak.
- 35:35400 bucks. Whoa.
- 35:36I made $400.00 speaking for one hour.
- 35:41And then about, oh, the November came and it was veteran's day.
- 35:45And then I spoke at the high school for 8 minutes and the
- 35:48high school was silent. And then they erupted and and
- 35:54then I started coaching football.
- 35:56And then I started to read a lot.
- 35:57And then I started to what I read.
- 35:59I started to teach the team. And then we went to the state
- 36:02championship. And I just thought, Oh my gosh,
- 36:06I got something pretty special here.
- 36:08And I'm really short. And if people see a little guy
- 36:10succeed, there's just something that's cool about that.
- 36:13And I just started calling, hey, what's up?
- 36:16My name is Ryan Stream. I'm a motivational speaker.
- 36:19I would e-mail 1000 people a month.
- 36:21I'm not even kidding you. Not even kidding you.
- 36:24Nobody would write me back. So when people say, hey Ryan,
- 36:27how do I be a public speaker and I say, hey, you know, 5 grand,
- 36:29I'll tell you everything. Oh, I don't have that money,
- 36:31dude. I've spent 43,000 just last year
- 36:35figuring out the stuff that I know.
- 36:36Like it is a business and people don't like to treat it like a
- 36:39business. They want all the skills and all
- 36:42the answers right off the bat. So my speaking career picked up
- 36:462020. It collapsed.
- 36:48But here's where the door closed and went open and I was in the
- 36:53coal mine and it never affected my job.
- 36:55So why? Everybody else was downsizing
- 36:58and being cautious and being careful.
- 37:00I put money into my speaking business.
- 37:02I wrote my first book. I was going all in on my music
- 37:05videos and I started to go viral and win awards and and you know,
- 37:10it's just it for the two years I Yep.
- 37:15What the other people didn't see as an opportunity, you took that
- 37:17time and made it an opportunity. Yep.
- 37:19And everybody needs to realize life is going to happen to you.
- 37:24But it's your choice on how to react to it.
- 37:26You can cry, you could sit down. It's like when an ice storm
- 37:30comes, everyone sees an ice storm while the other people see
- 37:33a skating ring. You know what I mean?
- 37:35Like that's how you have to look at life like.
- 37:38Yeah well you and you talk about the five things that that the
- 37:42how to's can you share your your tools on that?
- 37:46Yeah, you know, so when I lost my job, when I exited the
- 37:49military, I had, I was about my rock bottom, right?
- 37:52A lot of times people don't even realize they're at rock bottom.
- 37:55Well, your life sucks. Your family doesn't like you.
- 37:57Like you're having troubles in your marriage.
- 37:59Like that's a rock bottom, right?
- 38:00Like we have rock bottoms all the time.
- 38:03And when people go for a job, they get self evaluated.
- 38:06When people go to the military, they get self evaluated.
- 38:09No matter where you're going. Before this podcast started, you
- 38:11self evaluated me, right? So why aren't we doing that to
- 38:15ourselves? Step number one is people need
- 38:19to be honest with themselves. The trucking company, everything
- 38:25I've built. I followed these five steps.
- 38:27Well, why'd you get into trucking?
- 38:29Well, I economically looked around Utah and I thought, man,
- 38:32a trucking company is killing it right now.
- 38:35OK, let me go to step #1A, self evaluation.
- 38:38OK. Ryan, do you know how to operate
- 38:40equipment? Well, yeah, I have a little bit
- 38:42of experience. Do you know how to drive a
- 38:44trailer? Yeah.
- 38:45Yeah, I've done that in the coal mine.
- 38:46Do you know how to run a business?
- 38:48Yeah, I got another business. OK All right.
- 38:50I could do those things. And then I started mapping it
- 38:53out, a plan, which is #4. But during yourself evaluation,
- 38:57you have to be honest with yourself.
- 38:58If you have to get naked and look in the mirror at yourself,
- 39:00if you're not happy, fix it. It's hard.
- 39:04It's so hard. But man, I don't want my kids to
- 39:10look at somebody else like a hero.
- 39:12I want to be their hero. I'm going to be your hero and
- 39:15I'm going to be your friends heroes.
- 39:16I'm going to be everybody's hero.
- 39:18That's how people need to be. You're your own hero, you're the
- 39:22leader in your life. So do the self evaluation and
- 39:26say what can I do and what can't I do?
- 39:30And change the I can't to I can. There you go.
- 39:34Step #2 is take accountability. If you are not where you want to
- 39:39be in life, it's your fault. It's your fault.
- 39:42Oh, it's not my fault. Yes, it is.
- 39:43It's your fault. You're talking to somebody that
- 39:45came from a homeless shelter. Suicide.
- 39:48War zones. Like there's.
- 39:49I wasn't raped. That's about the only thing that
- 39:52didn't happen to me. But I know people.
- 39:55What's that? I said you.
- 39:56Didn't have that happen. Yeah, yeah.
- 39:59But I know people that did, and they're making it just fine.
- 40:05So get help if you need help. And I needed help.
- 40:07I cried at the VA Medical Center.
- 40:09I took accountability and I said I am struggling.
- 40:12I don't know what to do. I don't even know how to make a
- 40:14plan. I am just going to lose my
- 40:16family. And after I got everything out,
- 40:19I wrote on a piece of paper, I am dumb.
- 40:22I am slow, right? Be truthful.
- 40:26I am short. I am insecure.
- 40:28I am not confident. And then I looked at it.
- 40:31I am stupid. How do I fix that?
- 40:33I go get a college degree. I'm not stupid.
- 40:36I am short. OK, I can't fix that.
- 40:38But I can be extremely fit. OK, OK, You see how I attacked?
- 40:43I wrote it down and I attacked. What makes me not confident?
- 40:47And I freaking crushed it all, Getting my butt kicked.
- 40:51You're not going to win just like that.
- 40:54And then when you do that, when you write it down at step three,
- 40:56believe in yourself. So I believed that it was
- 41:00possible. And if you don't write this
- 41:01stuff down, how are you going to change?
- 41:05Right. So I believed it was possible.
- 41:09And then I did this. I did this exact thing.
- 41:13I drew a line just like this. This is where I was.
- 41:18This is where I'm going. The first goal I had was
- 41:21$100,000. OK, at the time I got a job in
- 41:24the coal mine making 75,000. I mapped out what I needed to do
- 41:28to make $100,000 the very next year.
- 41:31Not only manifesting it, reading it, and working my butt off, I
- 41:34hit over $100,000 the year before.
- 41:38I was fired, suicidal, exited the military, had nothing.
- 41:43So step #4 is a plan. How do you make a plan?
- 41:47It's like a staircase step number one.
- 41:51OK, what is my goal? I want to write a book.
- 41:55OK, step number one, what do I need to do?
- 41:57You have to be so specific. I need to grab a piece of paper
- 42:01and a pen. Step #2, I need to sit down.
- 42:05Step #3, I need to write. That's something that war taught
- 42:08me. You have to be very cautious and
- 42:11very, very careful. And when you miss a step, that's
- 42:13when somebody could get killed. So after you make a plan, you
- 42:17need to take action. A lot of times people have the
- 42:20plan. You know, I was, I was speaking
- 42:21at a corporate event and I'm asking people, what's your goal?
- 42:24And the girl said, I want to be rich.
- 42:27I said, how are you going to be rich?
- 42:28I don't know. I'm just, I want to be rich.
- 42:30I said you're not going to be rich.
- 42:32And everybody looked at like, what?
- 42:33And I said she's not, She doesn't have a plan.
- 42:36She doesn't know what she's going to do.
- 42:37She doesn't even know what her five year goal is.
- 42:40How are you going to get rich if you don't have a plan?
- 42:43You're going to be like a boat that goes out into the ocean
- 42:46with no compass, no map, no sense of direction.
- 42:49You're going to get out into the world, into the ocean.
- 42:51You're going to go around in circles till everybody dies.
- 42:56It's we complicate things. I am an idiot and I'm not just
- 43:01saying that I didn't take my SAT's.
- 43:03I failed out of college, but as soon as I said you want to know
- 43:06what you have to be, I think it's safe to say greedy.
- 43:13Like my wife. And my plan is Hun.
- 43:17I will make sure we have everything I need, but you need
- 43:21me to love you, to communicate with you, to be affectionate.
- 43:25I could do that. And when I don't do that, you
- 43:27need to. You need to help me out because
- 43:28I get caught up in my own world. But I need this from you.
- 43:33I need you to take care of our children.
- 43:34I need you to do the homework I she has.
- 43:37We made a plan. This is her lane.
- 43:40This is my lane. And that road, each lane that
- 43:44we're on is going to lead us to where we want to go.
- 43:48And it hasn't. It's failed many, many times.
- 43:52But when it fails, we get back on course.
- 43:54Because you. Have a plan.
- 43:56Because we have a plan, and sometimes your plan changes.
- 43:59But guess what? Get back on plan, love.
- 44:01That what was the fifth thing? What's that?
- 44:06Was that what? Did we cover all?
- 44:08Yes, we got self evaluation, accountability, belief, making a
- 44:13plan and taking action. Taking action was the last one.
- 44:18That's such a big deal because a lot of people can sit around and
- 44:20talk about something until they take action.
- 44:22You never get started. Yeah, you know, let me say this
- 44:26because it's, you know, I could sound like I know everything and
- 44:30I don't. And I really hope people don't
- 44:31think that because I don't. This trucking company when I did
- 44:36the self evaluation and said OK, I can do this, I can do this.
- 44:40I went to CDL school and I failed.
- 44:43I failed the driving test. I'm not a freaking pro and this.
- 44:46Sticks, by the way. Yeah, it's not like a car, like
- 44:49it's totally different. So I had to pay $7500 because I
- 44:54kept failing and I had to pay for extra help.
- 44:57But before I got my driver's license, I called businesses and
- 45:03I said hello. My name is Ryan Stream.
- 45:05I am the owner of Patriot Ridge Trucking.
- 45:07I'm just looking for some contracts.
- 45:09I was closing 142 dollar hour contracts before I even had my
- 45:14driver's license, before I even knew how to get a truck, before
- 45:18I even knew where to go because I needed to know the money was
- 45:22going to be there. Yeah, you're already closing
- 45:25deals. And you know, that also reminds
- 45:28me of another quote with the Henry Ford quote.
- 45:30Whether you think you can or whether you think you can't,
- 45:32you're. Right.
- 45:33And and and what you just described there is that I mean
- 45:37you you thought you could and and and it's in that mindset can
- 45:41solve so many things because it doesn't mean you're going to
- 45:44have all the answers. It just means that you go and
- 45:45find the answers because you know what you're going to try to
- 45:48do and what you're taking action on.
- 45:50And that's that's why that's the secret sauce to the game.
- 45:54Yeah, you know, and a lot of people really, really want to
- 45:57help. They do.
- 45:58You know, if they're far advanced, they're not going to
- 46:02give away a lot. I've learned that, right?
- 46:04I've really learned that people want to help, but they don't
- 46:06want to give you all their gold. But I was listening to a podcast
- 46:10and people should read. It's like people and they say,
- 46:12hey, I want to be to the nbai want to make it to the NBA.
- 46:15That was my goal when I was a kid.
- 46:17My parents had me go shoot two shots every day.
- 46:19Oh, you too. Oh.
- 46:21Yeah, yeah. I was six.
- 46:22I was 6 foot one. And as an eighth grader, you
- 46:24never want to peak when you're in 8th grade at six foot one.
- 46:26I was like A7 footer in 8th grade.
- 46:29Oh man, see you. Thought you were going there for
- 46:31sure. Still 6 foot one.
- 46:35I so my parents had me shoot 200 shots every day.
- 46:39I didn't make it. But when these kids say, man, I
- 46:42want to be in the NBA two and I say how many shots do you shoot
- 46:45a day? They say, well, you know, I
- 46:47don't really know. You're not going to make it like
- 46:49I'm the guy. That's truthful.
- 46:51And I say what you need to do is you need to study the best.
- 46:54What did they Man, There is a map, a secret map, behind every
- 47:01successful person. If you want to be in the NBA,
- 47:05you need to study NBA players. Where did they go to school?
- 47:08How many shots did they shoot? When people learn stuff, they
- 47:11like to say stuff. Why is that?
- 47:14Well, because everybody likes to spread a good message and
- 47:17everybody likes to to speak something that they know.
- 47:22Right? We want to get it out there and
- 47:23show the world. So no matter what you want to
- 47:27do, if I wanted to be a speaker, I Google other speakers.
- 47:30What websites are they on? OK, who books them?
- 47:32OK, Where do they go? OK, where have they been?
- 47:35What conferences have they spoke at?
- 47:37You want to be a police officer? OK, start calling.
- 47:40Hey, what are you guys paying? Hey, talk to police officers.
- 47:42People are so afraid to ask, man.
- 47:45Yeah. I mean, a lot of people who are
- 47:47getting it right, they're willing to share because they're
- 47:49they're proud of the fact that they're getting it right.
- 47:52You. Got to humble yourself.
- 47:53You got to humble yourself knowing that you don't know it
- 47:56all and people will share that with you.
- 47:59You know, I, I, I. You remind me.
- 48:01Was when I went into the world of prison, Ryan.
- 48:04I know it was a place I thought I'd never be, but I looked
- 48:08around. I did.
- 48:10You know, a couple of things that you're talking about.
- 48:12One was sitting in my bed that night looking and thinking, Oh
- 48:17my God, I'm at the top bunk of Leavenworth prison.
- 48:20After six years of all this, what am I going to do?
- 48:22And I got out of pen and a piece of paper and started writing
- 48:25down goals I wanted to accomplish in prison because
- 48:27that's what made me feel like me again.
- 48:30Because I was going to not be prison Brent.
- 48:32I was going to be Brent And and those those things that you can
- 48:36do, it doesn't matter where you are.
- 48:37And then to humble yourself and look around and say, you know, I
- 48:40don't know anything about this, so look around.
- 48:42Oh, that guy's reading a book. I I like that guy's doing a
- 48:45workout, Tina. That guy's got a job that I
- 48:47like. Whether you're in prison or
- 48:49you're outside, the biggest thing that I found was, is being
- 48:52in prison and getting outside was that people are built into
- 48:56prisons in their own mind. And how do they knock those
- 49:00down? How do they knock down their own
- 49:01barriers? Because, you know, it's a bad
- 49:03job, bad marriage, bad childhood, whatever those things
- 49:06are, you either carry those with you and they're the barrier all
- 49:09the way through your life, or you figure out how to walk and
- 49:11knock them down. And that's why I think your
- 49:14story is so inspiring, right, is because each time you were hit,
- 49:20you got up and he kept knocking through things that made you
- 49:24feel uncomfortable. Like you're talking about this
- 49:26trucking company that's not making you feel comfortable,
- 49:28that's making you feel energized, that I've got to
- 49:30figure out how to do this thing. And that's that's a lot.
- 49:36Yeah, sometimes you think that you're you're in too deep, you
- 49:40know, But I'll tell and you already know this.
- 49:43You know, if you're not crying, if you're not laying awake at
- 49:47night, if there hasn't been moments where you've thought to
- 49:49yourself, how am I going to do this?
- 49:51You are not trying hard enough. You and you know you interview
- 49:57people all the time, Brent. You go, you're a speaker.
- 49:59You go to these events where there's 24 year old
- 50:02millionaires, 26 year old millionaires, 50 year old, Like
- 50:06what do they have that we don't? They had the plan and they took
- 50:11action. Everywhere I've been, they had a
- 50:15plan and they were not afraid to take action.
- 50:18And unless mom and dad gave them everything, that used to be my
- 50:21justification. Oh, mom and dad did that for
- 50:23their mom and dad. There's not a lot of moms and
- 50:26dads out there that you know what I mean?
- 50:28A lot of these successful kids have actually done it by
- 50:31themselves. They locked themselves in a room
- 50:33and figured it out. Yep, so true.
- 50:37I mean, it's. And I was wondering to think
- 50:41you're talking about mom and dad, did you with the streams
- 50:44that adopted you? Did you stay close to them
- 50:46throughout your whole where you are now to growing up and all
- 50:51that? Are they part of your life?
- 50:54Yeah, yeah. They're part of my life.
- 50:56I, you know, man, I love them. I am grateful for them.
- 51:04But I would be lying if I did not say that I didn't get what
- 51:09other people got, You know what I mean?
- 51:12There's a part of me that's missing, you know, where do I
- 51:16belong? Even though they adopted me, I
- 51:17got their last name. I get that.
- 51:20But I'm talking biologically and chemically.
- 51:23You don't think that? I wish that I had that.
- 51:27Yeah. I was just talking to my wife.
- 51:29I do. I don't.
- 51:29I hate the conversation because it's like, man, I wish I could
- 51:32hug my mom. I wish I could help my mom.
- 51:34I don't even know who my dad is, really.
- 51:36It ended up possibly being my uncle.
- 51:37I don't even know who my dad is. I got two people that say
- 51:41they're my dad, you know? So yeah, dude, it's kind of a
- 51:45conversation, honestly. A conversation I kind of stay
- 51:47away from because I am very appreciative.
- 51:50They adopted my whole family and raised 11 kids and they did the
- 51:54best they could. What I have disciplined the way
- 51:58they did. No, I don't.
- 52:01Am I grateful and are they angels in my life that I've been
- 52:05blessed with? Oh, yes.
- 52:07But I don't have the same relationship with my parents
- 52:09that other people have. I just, I didn't get that.
- 52:12And and they're, they got 11 kids and honestly, they're busy.
- 52:15No excuses. I'm going to be different to my
- 52:17kids, you know, Everybody's busy.
- 52:21Yeah. But yeah, man.
- 52:23You got to make it. You got to make your own way.
- 52:26I want to when we're we're talking here because I want to
- 52:28wrap this up Ryan on on a couple of thoughts years before we do.
- 52:32I want to recognize the White Collar support group.
- 52:36Nightmare Success Podcast is sponsored by the White Collar
- 52:39Support Group, the world's first support group devoted to people
- 52:42navigating the White Collar criminal defense system.
- 52:45I'm a member of the White Collar Support Group, and I can tell
- 52:47you this is a bunch of people who help each other through the
- 52:49criminal justice journey for free.
- 52:52Whether you're just starting your journey or you made it
- 52:54through to the other side, this is a great space for you.
- 52:57You can join us on Zoom Monday 7:00 PM Eastern Time, 4:00 PM
- 53:00Pacific. For information, go to
- 53:02prisoners.org. That's prisoners.org.
- 53:05Start here. So, Ryan, going to where this
- 53:10whole journey goes. What do you think is your
- 53:14biggest take away from this life that you've lived?
- 53:19Having a family, you know what I mean?
- 53:20That's success dude. That's success.
- 53:23It's not the money, it's not the awards, it's not the it's
- 53:26success is when your children want to come home and see you.
- 53:29You know, I speak in front of a lot of kids and I hope there's a
- 53:31lot of adults listening. It's not the kids responsibility
- 53:35to get a hold of the parent, it's the parents responsibility
- 53:37to get a hold of the kid. And if your kids aren't coming
- 53:40home, if your kids don't call you, then you want to know what
- 53:43you need to take it. Accountability.
- 53:45You need some change, some stuff because you're not truly
- 53:47successful if your own family doesn't want to be around you.
- 53:51And I think and what you said about your wife, she chose you.
- 53:55She said I believe in you and and then that.
- 53:59And I I have that too. I, I, I have a wife that should
- 54:03wear, you know a Cape like a superhero.
- 54:05And it's it means so much because if you don't have that,
- 54:08go find it because it's a really big deal to have that mate that
- 54:12believes in you because that's the fuel and the family that
- 54:16you're talking about, Ryan. It makes all the difference in
- 54:18the world. I love that.
- 54:20And you have to have that. And if there's a lot of parents
- 54:25that I'm talking to, one person, you know him and his wife are
- 54:27addicted to drugs and he's trying to get her off drugs.
- 54:30And I said, you want to know what?
- 54:31I'm not an advocate for divorce. I'm really not.
- 54:34But sometimes things don't go together.
- 54:36Life was not made for it to suck for everybody all the time.
- 54:41So everybody needs to have boundaries.
- 54:44This is what is acceptable in my house.
- 54:47Let me know what's acceptable to you.
- 54:48This is acceptable to me. And we could meet in the middle,
- 54:51but sometimes people aren't good for people.
- 54:54Sorry. If you're destroying your
- 54:56children and if that's affecting the way that they grow up.
- 54:59I don't think some of you need to be married, you know, and
- 55:02everybody's, let me, let me say this, Everybody's looking for a
- 55:05hero, right? You and I, we had our wives.
- 55:07Thank goodness. But there came a time, Brent,
- 55:10where you and I both realized we're the hero.
- 55:13You have to save yourself. Well, you know, it's scary.
- 55:17It is scary. It is scary.
- 55:19It is scary, but start being grateful.
- 55:22It is man. Golly.
- 55:24Oh buddy. Well, Ryan, man, I got to tell
- 55:27you, I I am so happy that we connected because I've been
- 55:32following your journey and it's just it's inspiring.
- 55:35The way you speak is inspiring. What you've done is inspiring.
- 55:40People want to get a hold of you.
- 55:41I know it's Ryan Stream live.com on your website, your your Ryan
- 55:46stream on Instagram, Where else? And go to your book on Amazon.
- 55:51Yeah, please. You know, just to have people
- 55:54Google, just Google Ryan Stream. I have multiple music videos,
- 55:58multiple things. Just check out the music videos.
- 56:02Yeah, dude, that's. Fine man.
- 56:05Yeah. They you know for those that are
- 56:07listening, I I'm driving Lambos to wrapping and right underneath
- 56:11helicopters to. But it's like well why do you do
- 56:14that? I do that because kids like to
- 56:16see that. But if you listen to the words
- 56:19they talk about resilience, leadership, kindness.
- 56:23Right. So everything I read.
- 56:26Yeah. Exactly.
- 56:27And music's the universal language, man and my Ted X talks
- 56:31coming out. It's coming out real soon.
- 56:34Yeah. When is when's that happening?
- 56:37When when's that Ted X is. And by the way, not just anybody
- 56:41get the Ted X talk just by the way they they're hard.
- 56:44It takes a lot of resilience to get and go through that process
- 56:49and and man, you deserve it, you you're going to give one hell of
- 56:52a Ted X talk. Well, I appreciate it.
- 56:55Thank you. Yeah.
- 56:56They if if anybody needs to learn anything, just go to Ted X
- 56:59because like you said, Brent, they just don't let anybody on.
- 57:02And I couldn't go on there and talk about my story.
- 57:06It's like, Ryan, you we, you know, there's a lot of people
- 57:08that are drug addicts, a lot of people that struggle.
- 57:09It's like, what could you teach us?
- 57:12So what I taught my talk is how music is powerful and how it's
- 57:18able to connect people. That was my speech and the video
- 57:22that you watched, it's going to be hopefully in the Ted X
- 57:25speech, but now I'm kind of having to sign different
- 57:28contracts with them and we're going through some loopholes.
- 57:31But you know, if I have been beneficial to anybody today,
- 57:35just take away those five steps. We all have a story.
- 57:39We all have challenges that we're going through.
- 57:41Those steps were steps that I've learned from reading other
- 57:45people's books, steps in the military, and steps that
- 57:48actually helped me, right? Like they actually have helped
- 57:53me. And if you do like anything that
- 57:55I've done, please go check out my music video.
- 57:57Show your kids. I mean, go check out their most
- 58:00recent one on Instagram. It's you don't have to Scroll
- 58:04down very far. It is so cool, so good.
- 58:07And I I was showing it to my wife Jill and she said, wow,
- 58:10you're having him on? I said, yeah, having him on.
- 58:14Awesome. Well, hey man, I appreciate.
- 58:17This. Yeah.
- 58:17And anybody. If you want to check out my
- 58:19book, go to go to Amazon right after you click on Ryan's.
- 58:23Go to Brent. Casting.
- 58:25Nightmare, Success. Love you guys.
- 58:27Give them reviews. That puts the show on steroids.
- 58:29Go to Apple. Give a review.
- 58:31If you like the show, go to brentcasting.com.
- 58:34I spell it wrong. It's Ty not ADY, as I used to
- 58:37say when I was writing my emails back and forth from Leavenworth.
- 58:39Stay strong. I'll do the same.
- 58:42Ryan Stream. You're the man.
- 58:43I appreciate it. Thanks man.
- 58:46Appreciate you. I'm your success in and out.