Episode 58: Why Confidence Is Your Greatest Asset | Derek D.B. Brown | Trainer, Entrepreneur & Veteran
Derek “D.B.” Brown is a personal trainer, fitness expert, business owner, entrepreneur, veteran, and new dad who proves that confidence is the foundation for success. Raised by his single mother, D.B. learned early the value of hard work, perseverance, and showing up with kindness and determination, lessons that still fuel his 14–15 hour workdays. From serving in the military and recovering from a combat injury to building multiple businesses, D.B. shares the mindset that’s carried him through every challenge: always think of yourself as a 10 and strive to be the best version of yourself. He talks about meeting his wife, becoming a father, and why helping people find their energy and motivation is his favorite part of the job. This is an episode about designing your life, chasing what you love, and never letting setbacks define you.
“Always think of yourself as a 10. Be ok with who you are. Always be looking for the better version of yourself and you’ll win.”
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Chapters
00:00 Meet D.B. Brown
03:30 Gauging Success by What You Put In
07:15 Growing Up in Cincinnati with a Powerful Mom
12:25 Military Service and Combat Injury
17:40 Moving to California with $2,300 to His Name
22:15 Building D.B. Fitness and Other Ventures
27:00 Lessons from His Mother on Work Ethic and Passion
31:26 Why He Never Stops
34:20 Always Think of Yourself as the Highest Version of You
39:15 How He Met His Wife and Built a Family
43:50 Balancing Multiple Businesses and Fatherhood
48:30 Books and Mentors Who Shaped His Path
53:10 Advice for Building Confidence and Going After Your Goals
A lot of people ask, part of my success, it's definitely my drive and my energy. Which I try to help others try to find theirs. So many people as just oh, I'm tired. And to me I'm just like, you gotta find it. We all got it. You gotta find it and once you do, it'll be uplifting.
That's DB and this is the Powerful Ladies podcast.
Hey guys, I'm your host, Kara Duffy, and this is The Powerful Ladies Podcast where I invite my favorite humans, the awesome, the up to something, and the extraordinary to come and share their story. I hope that you'll be left, entertained, inspired, and moved. To take action towards living your most powerful life today.
You guys have the pleasure of meeting the first powerful gentleman we've interviewed for the Powerful Ladies podcast. Derek Devy Brown is a personal trainer, fitness expert, business owner, entrepreneur, new dad, and an example of how you can rise from anything life throws at you. On this episode, we talk about what it means to be confident and to go after what you want in life.
The great story of how he met his wife, why his mother is the biggest influence in his life, and how being wounded in combat changed his appreciation for what a body can do. All that and so much more coming up. But first, if you're interested in discovering what possibilities and businesses are available for you to create and to live your most fulfilling life.
Please visit the powerful ladies.com/coaching and sign up for a free coaching consultation with me. There is no reason to wait another day to not be living your best life when you instead could be running at full speed towards your wildest dreams today.
I am very excited today to have DB on the podcast. You are our first solo male guest. Everyone else has been part of a power couple and when Jordan was asking me. Who are men that you would bring on the podcast, just them by themselves. When it's a powerful Ladies podcast, I'm like they're all gonna be the same rules.
They're awesome. They're up to something. They're creating their own life, they're paying it forward. They're inspiring and empowering other people, and they're all going to be, men that I know like value women and respect them and also wanna make them great. So I met you as a personal trainer.
You would come to DC and Quicksilver and you would kick our asses every Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Yes. Sometimes we would cry, sometimes we would laugh with you. But what I really wanna acknowledge you for are two things from that experience. One is I was in the best shape of my life since being a college athlete.
So what your system works and, actually, I guess it's three things. So then going to your bootcamp, it gave me a network of women at that office Yeah. That I didn't know was there. Yeah. And coming from the sports world before, like I went from Puma to working at DC I miss the athletic, like people who run every day environment.
Yeah. 'cause Puma and Adi, they have like huge gyms. And everyone works out and sport is just part of your life. And then to go to a place of action sports where it's a little bit more limiting who can participate. I miss that group. So finding a bunch of women who wanted to work out and run and talk and were up to things.
I was like, oh my gosh. Thank you. And the third thing before I let you start talking is I remember so distinctly like you sharing stories about some of the other companies you worked at and. The transformations you had seen for people who never thought it was possible and you were so touched to move, sharing that story with us that I like stayed with me forever.
Like how committed you are to not just giving people access to health and fitness, but changing their lives. And so I wanna say thank you for that. So how about we begin? You introduce who you are
Yes.
And what you're up to.
Thank you for having me. I appreciate that. I didn't know it was the first male.
That's exciting. Yeah. That just took my exciting level up to 1000. No pressure at all. Yes. Who all the listeners I am db that stands for? A lot of people like to know what that stands for. 'cause I, if I introduce myself and say I'm db they're like, what does it stand for? It's Derek Brown. I go by db, picked it up back in high school.
Let's see, I'm from Ohio. I've been here in California for 16 years. I now reside in Newport Beach. What else would you like to know? What else are we stepping into? You have
more than one company. Like you're not a personal trainer. Yes.
No. So yeah, as far as my companies DB Fitness, me being a personal trainer coach would be my first business that I have been involved with.
But I also have a promo business as well. And the promo business is working with alcohol brands or water brands, non-alcoholic brands, and we hire out brand ambassadors. And then the third business is gonna be like equipment financing.
Busy guy. But I love what I do and I'm passionate. I love being an entrepreneur.
That's my biggest drive is you get to you get to gauge your success by how much effort you put into something. Yeah, three businesses right now that are rocking and rolling keep me busy every single day, but I love to stay busy. I don't like to stay still. So it's a little bit about me.
We have that in common.
Yeah.
And you just became a brand new dad?
Yeah, absolutely. I am brand new dad. My baby boy Dalton his name is Dalton Scott Brown. So he could be a DB one day if he chooses to. He's, will he have a choice? I'm sorry?
Will he have a choice? No. He'll be
DB let's now he'll be DB too.
I was just I was trying to be nice about it, but no, I'll be calling him little baby DB as he's grown up and then hopefully he'll transition to DB himself and carry on the tradition. But he's yes, he's 36 days old. He's healthy, he's beautiful everything more than I could even imagined.
And we were talking earlier about how he's already changed my life and my lady's life and it's it's a joy. Even 36 days in. It's awesome. Yeah. Yeah.
And I think, following you as on social media and you are so good on which
platform.
Usually Instagram I'm
like, I think I'm different on each platform.
I have all you on Instagram. Yeah. And where you're great at doing videos and sharing like how hard you work yourself. Absolutely. Yeah. And also in that platform you've been sharing about your relationship and this this love you have now. Yeah. And this baby you have now. Yeah. And as being someone who cares about you, like seeing that happen.
I was like, yes. Like you are such a good human. Yeah. And if you wanna just give a little snapshot about you and your wife and the baby, like how did all this happen and has it caught you off guard? Yeah. How fast it happened and like how it transpired.
To start off with my lady so I guess most the listeners or yourself you can contest to relationships are hard.
Let's just step into it that way. And the dating world is hard and it's challenging slash annoying in a lot of work. I think I was at that point in my life as well. I was trying to date and trying to find the one, when you get to a certain age, you're just kinda like, all right, let me find the one and I want a family.
And you hit all these, these check boxes that you have in life. And that's where I was at. And it wasn't that I gave up on, on Love, but it was I try to say optimistic on what I was looking for. A partner in love and a family. But it's funny, I was actually, I go to sleep usually about 11 at night and I wake up at four 30.
That's usually my routine. And so I typically don't go out during the week.
And this particular day was a Tuesday. I had a couple of friends persuade me to go out on a Tu taco Tuesday. Yeah. You all know that. I go out on this Tuesday, we go to a cantina LA Vita Cantina Costa Mesa.
Great place by the way, if you haven't been. Check it out. Say Triangle Square. I just plugged you. You're welcome. So I go to this cantina and I'm with friends. I think it was like six 30, something like that. 6 37 o'clock at night. And we're all at the bar. There's 10 of us. And I see this beautiful essence of a woman in a red dress.
And we all noticed her. And all my friends are tapping me and we're like, Hey, did you see? Do you see her? And I'm like, Hey, you can't miss her. And it's funny how the story kind of goes together. She was actually sitting with a. And so what I did is I just kept looking at the body language between them both.
'cause they were sitting next to each other almost like they were together on a date. But I was like, you know what? Some, the body language isn't, Hey, we're here toge. It wasn't romantic.
Yeah.
So in my mind, I was like, they could just be friends or it's a really awkward first date. Either way I'm going in.
So my friends were all like, talking about her. Man, she's, she was so beautiful. It's like sometimes when a woman's so beautiful, you're intimidated as a man. You're like, if I go up to her, I'm gonna fumble my words. I don't know what to say to her. She's gonna say, Hey, no, fuck off. Get outta my face.
She's been hit all so many times. What are you gonna say different? So the guy was sitting there, and then I remember he got up to go to the bathroom. You are like, I'm in I'm going. And my friends were like, what if he comes back? I said, then he comes back and then I'll talk to him.
And I didn't care at that point. He got up. So I went in. I remember I had a drink in my hand and guys, this is my move, so I don't have game, but I did try this move. I had a glass in my hand. I walked up to our table, I put my glass on the table and I look over and I say, Hey, how you doing? That's my game.
I don't really have game. I just talked to somebody introduced. So I say, Hey, how you doing? She goes, I'm doing good. I said, awesome. I go how's your night been? I just did small talk, right? Uhhuh. And then I asked her name, that's my game. Is this, hello? What's your name? And then I kept going from there.
And then our conversation is picked up. And then I remember I asked, I go, the guy you're with is in that bathroom. I go, is that your boyfriend? She says, no. Soon as she said, no, I sat down. Cool. Game on.
But I wanna pause for a second. Yeah. And let everyone listening. 'cause we have some we do have male listeners.
Ah, awesome. And I love that we have male listeners that will send me like s. Messages. Yeah. Text or dms and be like, I'm a private listener. I don't let anyone know, but I listen to all your episodes, which I love. Yeah. Yeah. And but that's all you have to do as a guy. Yeah. To talk to a girl. Yeah. You just be
normal human.
Just be normal. Don't try to, Hey, you've been walking through or you're tired walking through my mind. Don't, it's so cheesy. I can't believe there's I hear it still at bars when I do go out or restaurants it's in. I'll hear some guy just try a line. It's just don't do it. Just say, Hey. Hi. How are you?
The one that still sticks out yourself in my mind. Is, you must be Gillette baby because you're the best a man can get. And I went,
excuse you. The douchie level was high. Oh, automatically walk away. Oh,
like the, yeah.
Put yourself in a friend zone just quickly. Maybe The no zone.
The hell. No zone. So hell no Zone.
Don't
do it guys. No, just introduce yourself. Be yourself. Even if that's awkward. Let her see who you are. If you're awkward, be awkward. If you're cool, be cool. But just introduce yourself, who, as who you are. She's gonna see it eventually anyway, so Yes, she is. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I sat down.
Boom, it took off. And to go back to that story, the guy did come back, guys, and I bought him a drink to make him feel comfortable because of course he came back and I told him I wasn't going anywhere. So I said, Hey, I introduced myself. I said, I'm db, can I buy you a drink? He said, yeah.
And then me and her continued chatting and to speed forward literally from that day, we have not been away from each other. And when I say that, I as a gentleman, I that day I asked her, I said, Hey, can I take you out to dinner or I can cook for you. You choose. I think most ladies will say, Hey, I want you to cook.
Let's see if this guy's got, so she went with Hey, yeah, cook for me. So she she came over. I think that was Tuesday. She came over. I wanna say Friday or Saturday of that week. Literally, I was trying to see her. Don't let too much time go between trying to, if you ask a lady out, make sure it's within a week's time.
That way she knows you're serious. So yeah, I think she came over that Friday or Saturday I cooked and I am a good cook, if I may say so myself. So I knew I had that hands down. I was like, oh, I got this. So I cooked for her and she hasn't left since literally no joke. Daisy love her. If you hear this I am making fun of you.
She hasn't left since I made dinner for her. And she literally had just moved into I think a place with her sister. Two weeks, a week or two weeks prior. She hadn't slept there yet. She came over to dinner with me, and when I say she hasn't left yet, she literally, left and like the next day got closed and toothbrush came back over 'cause she wanted to see, I wanted to see her.
She wanted to see me and shoot, almost two years later, now she hasn't left and we've been together ever since. And now we had a baby.
So romantic. So romantic, yes. It can't
happen. Fairytales are out there. Yes. Yeah. But you also
check on all the things that. Like that movie he's just thought that into you.
Yeah. Yeah.
It's true everyone. It's true. Yeah. There was no doubt that you were into her. Yeah. Yeah. You walked up to her, you said, I'm not leaving in Oh yeah. Come to dinner. Yeah. Yeah. There just wasn't any of that nonsense.
Yeah. The games. No games. Yeah. Yeah. There's games. Yes.
Who was the guy that she was with?
Patrick. It was her guy friend. That is a good question.
Oh, okay.
Patrick, her guy friend. Shout out to Patrick. Good guy. He let me crash the friend date, whatever was going on.
The hang out
and hang out. Yeah. Yeah. So shout out to him. We all hung out that day, the whole rest of the night. I was by her side and have been since, yeah. Yeah. Yep.
And that's a safe place for a woman to meet a guy too. When you have a guy friend with you. Yeah. Yeah. You feel protected. You feel it's okay. You've got, if this guy's crazy and boring, you've got some backup. It's like even better than meeting a guy with a bunch of girlfriends 'cause.
It's just different. Yeah. It's a different level. Yeah. And plus you're already getting vetted right away.
Yes, this is true. This is true. Yes. Yes. Or, it's different than doing a social media dating too. I've tried that. The Bumbles and other Jazzes.
Yeah. Yeah. I met Jesse on Tinder six years ago, so nothing wrong with
that.
Hey, so I've tried, I've done it all. What are those E harmonies out there? I've done the matches. I've done 'em all trying to find, the person, you gotta do what you gotta do.
And I think too, for someone like yourself who is very driven and ambitious, and when you want something, like you just make it happen.
Oh, absolutely. There's nothing between you and what you want. No,
absolutely not. And
I think it can be really hard in the dating space, like I have scared people away. Because I'm very direct and Yes you are. And focused, right? Yes.
You're
And so we're texting. Yeah. And they're like, we can keep texting forever.
I'm like, hell no. Yeah. I'm like, do you wanna meet this week? We can go get a drink. Yeah. Yeah. I'm gonna meet you and No in three seconds if in or out. Yeah. And they'd be like whoa. Calm down. I'm like, I don't have time for all this texting. What are you doing? Yeah. Yeah. What world do you live in?
We were like, we can just text for a while. It's fine.
Yeah. Yeah. And waste each other's time for a while. Talk,
And be chicken shits essentially. Yeah. Like you're hiding behind your phone. Yeah. Nope. Let's go.
Yeah.
So it's great though. It weeds people out.
Yes. Yes. Yeah. How is your relationship?
It's good. We just celebrated six years. Look at
that. Bingo bango.
Yep. And so we went to Vegas and we went and saw Mariah Carey.
Okay. Which
was technically on his bucket list, not mine.
Oh, goodness. All right. Hey I'm a Mariah. You saw a Mariah Carey. Yes. Yes. Yeah. I'm Mariah Carey fan. I've been following her since Dream lover.
Kidding me. Yeah. Uhhuh. Her voice is amazing.
Yes.
Her personal choices are her personal choices, but her voice is great.
Her voice is great. And she looks amazing.
Yeah. Yeah.
Like to see the Shakira and J-Lo Super Bowl halftime.
Yeah. Those two were my goodness gracious. Oh my goodness, man.
That, that was probably the best halftime show, Ivy. Yes. I think we, anybody who saw it agrees. The show is a show. They put on a show. Yeah. It was a mini concert. They performed two powerful black women, or just women in general. Which I love seeing and supporting each other.
That was big. 'cause they don't have to support each other. They could easily be like, I don't want to share the stage with her. But yeah, they shared the stage with each other and, it it had a very loud, strong message for everyone, especially probably, the female followers that they have or now have that are acquired after seeing
that even like everybody, like what I got out of that halftime show was. Holy shit. Whatever they're doing. I need some of that in my life. Yeah. Like I honestly, huge marketing opportunity for you right now. You wanna look like Shakira and J-Lo call me. That's all you gotta say. It's like when you do that research Yeah.
It's what's their lifestyle? Yeah. They work out every day. Yeah, absolutely. They have multiple personal trainers. Yes they do. Yes. They don't drink alcohol. Yeah. Like they're eating super clean. Yeah. Among everything else there too. It's attainable.
I think some people 'cause I had a lot of, clients, customers or whatever you want to say, Hey, can I get in JLo shape? It's possible. They, I think a lot of people think with celebrities they have these means that are unfeasible to them, but it is possible. Yes, the JLo probably have a trainer six, seven days a week. Yes, she probably does.
She has that, the liquid or the assets, the money to afford that. So she probably does. So it's not that you have to have a trainer six to seven days a week, but it's the discipline and consistency. So you have that's within you, that's your mindset. And then the food, you make your own food choices.
She's making her own food choices, she's making her own choices with alcohol and her lifestyle, you can do the same. Yeah. So my answer to somebody want to say, Hey, can you gimme a J-Lo body? I say, my, my rebuttal to that is, can you get yourself that uhhuh? I can give you the direction. You gotta, you have to follow it.
That's what it comes down to.
And as a personal trainer, is that the most frustrating thing you deal with? Knowing people are there and you're like, come on, meet me halfway. Yeah,
no, that's funny you even asked that. It is frustrating because oftentimes you have somebody when you meet them, they have a goal for themselves.
They seem very excited when they sit in front of you. They commit to it financially and with their time, but then sometimes it gets to a point where you want it more than they want for themselves. And that's frustrating. When you want to see them do well, you wanna see them grow, become a better person of themselves, but then you're fighting them every single day on it.
You're fighting them with their nutrition, you're fighting 'em like, Hey, did you do your cardio? And they're like, no. And you're literally fighting this grown adult on trying to better themselves. And that's frustrating because, ultimately, it's already hard staying in shape or getting in shape and getting that mindset to, to get involved with it. So that is challenging. Yes.
It's challenging for myself and the clients that I work with. Yeah. And we're not trying to change them physically or like from a confidence perspective. Maybe a little bit on the confidence part, but I wanna give myself credit right now because, okay,
go ahead.
This is what I'm gonna do. So I'm,
I wanna pat myself on the back real quick. Yeah. Alright. Go for
it. I'm proud of myself for being in the worst shape I've ever been in and still being like, I'm gonna invite my ex personal trainer on this show.
I was gonna ask, I was I know you were.
I was gonna ask, Hey, how we doing on our fitness? Yes. Are you consistent? You knew that was coming up. I knew it was. Yes, I
knew. I know. I, yes. You
are sitting in front of your ex trainer. Yes. You were.
Like, when we bumped into each other at the car wash, I was like, yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Deep
breath. He's gonna ask you a lot of questions you're not gonna wanna answer right now.
Oh, no. I try not to do that to people. Especially when find, when somebody finds out one of my professions, right? Yeah. They go, Hey, what do you do? I go, I own gyms and I'm a coach and trainer. You're like, damn, most people's faces. It's like one of those things when you meet somebody and they tell you what you do and they're like, oh, they're either gonna light up and all of a sudden they're gonna kill you with 30 questions.
Trust me, I get a lot where I'm like out somewhere socially just trying to enjoy myself, and then somebody all of a sudden is they feel like they're at a fitness consultation and they're like, Hey, can I ask you this? You're like, I'm just here socially, but I try not to judge somebody. Yeah. Or even do that, even though I've been doing it 16 years, so it's second nature when I do meet somebody that my brain is kinda, it goes there, if that makes sense.
Yeah. I'm like, okay, is this person working out? Are they healthy? What are they doing? Yeah. If I see a smoker. Oh, if I see a smoker and if you're still smoking, you shouldn't be. But there are still smokers out there. I think the first thing I, when I see a smoker, whether I interact with them or not, I just, I want them to stop.
'Cause I'm so into health and it's like the damaging effects that somebody's doing that they're still smoking. I just want to like, take it out of their hand. Yeah. And tell them like, that's how much that I still do when I see somebody doing something that they could prevent, some type of health scare or, health risk.
Yeah. Yeah. No, and I totally understand. Yeah. Because whenever somebody tells me they have a business I in, I can't help it in the, my head. I'm like, oh, are you doing this? Are you doing that? Are you not doing that? Like it's. I, it's the way that we help people, but it's also the way that we have to remember okay, I can't coach everyone all the time.
Yeah. I'm gonna sit on this. But I'm also teasing you as well, because I know you're never coming at it from a place of being mean. No. You really you're gonna ask me what I'm doing because you care and you wanna make sure that I'm not slacking off on myself.
Yeah. Don't get it wrong.
I am I am harsh, so to speak. My training and technique of training has always been probably scrutinized by some. And I'm aware of that, but I have always stayed the course as I'm ex-military. So yes, there is certain parts of my quality of coaching and training that is some people will considered militant.
Yes. That's, there you go. That's the word I'm looking for. Yeah. It's militant. Yeah. Sometimes I, I do, I sometimes I actually. Purposely try to get under somebody underneath somebody's skin. 'Cause I wanna see the base, what you're made of. Yeah. And I wanna see where you're at mentally.
And what I, it's almost like what you just said on trying to co I try to coach almost ev all my clients I'm gonna coach 'cause the first thing I need to happen with you in order for you to get into the base shape of your life.
Yeah.
You have to become mentally stronger. Yes. It's the mental toughness first and then the mindset, right?
Once you get that, everything else is gonna fall into place, right? So I need to find out somebody's mental toughness, so to speak, right? Yeah. So if they're not mentally in a good place, there's a reason why their health is suffering, because their mindset and their mental health isn't there.
So I want them to become mentally stronger. Yeah. And I know once that happens. Boom, it's gonna open the doors for everything else.
Something that I know has, that happens to me often working out if I'm really pushing it.
Whether I'm on a run or I'm lifting something that's really heavy or I'm doing an intense, hit type of workout.
Yeah. Or even getting like deep tissue massage. There are moments in, based on where I'm at in that moment in my life where I'm almost nervous to do the workout or do the thing. 'cause I know it's gonna cause a breakdown for a breakthrough. Like all the like the dam I've built to get through where I'm at right now, like crazy workload or intense deadline.
Yeah. I'm almost nervous to go do the workout. 'cause I know the only way for me to perform at the workout is to give him my all. And if I give him my all, that means I have to let go of all the emotions that I've been holding back.
Yeah. No, this is true.
Like I have broken down crying, like doing nothing wrong
with that.
Thank you. No,
I've probably seen all my. Clients cry, I think. Yeah.
Hold on. First of all, I don't want 'em to say I didn't make them cry, but crying is a part of Yes. Crying comes with the territory. I think a client asked me the other day, 'cause she had just cried. She goes, do most people cry in here?
And I go, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. And it's what you're saying, you're, when you work out, and particularly probably with me, I am gonna, you get broken down, you got so many other things going into life. And then. Somebody's pushing you to this level.
Yeah.
That, you're like, yeah, I'll go work out.
And then all of a sudden that workout becomes something more than what you thought it was gonna be, whether it being more intense or this hard, or whatever. Yes. But crying is not a bad thing. I think we probably put a bad perception on crying sometimes. Crying is needed to release a, an emotion that your body's kind of holding onto that you should release.
Yeah. I'm a big fan of crying, by the way. Cry. Cry. More guys. Cry more ladies cry more. It's okay.
Yeah.
So it's, that's cool that you cry sometimes and break down.
Yeah. I don't like it. I think
we do we, do you guys cry when you're driving? I think that's a, is that a thing? You ever, they say people while you're, you cry more in the car driving.
Yes. Cry. Yes. Yes. You never cried while you're driving.
I have, but it's always been tied to something really specific, dropping my parents off at the airport or 'cause sometimes the car is like a safe place where Yes. That's why I think people cry in the car. Yeah. If I'm gonna be so mad and if I just walk outta this meeting right now and get in my car, then I can cry.
Yeah. I
can't cry in front of you. You do a lot
of thinking in your car too, yeah. I think the car is one of the places, like you said, it's safe. So you do a lot of your own self therapy in the car. I was doing it on the way up here. Which is scary 'cause I remember half the time driving here and then other times
Yeah,
the car kind of drove itself on the way from Orange County to LA today.
But yeah, I do a lot of thinking in the car a lot. Yes. I get a lot of things done in the car. I love it.
No, it sometimes I have a little notebook in pen 'cause Okay, that's
dangerous.
I know you're at a red light, but I really need, do not take that
advice. No, we'll take that advice pen and paper for '
em.
Like Wow. But like audio, texting yourself an idea. Yeah. Oh my gosh. That's what it should be called.
Yeah.
Like I need a built-in like personal assistant Siri in, in the car more. Yeah. That can take notes.
Yeah. I'm sure there's some kind of technology out there that does that nowadays.
We got
everything. Please. Anyone who's listening that, that knows, let us know. Please let us know.
I'm sure you'll get some feedback on that one.
I would love to move into the powerful women who are in your life and how they've shaped you.
Oh yeah, absolutely. Oh, the first on the top of that list is gonna be my mother Uhhuh.
Oh. Hands down. Shout out to my mother. Her name is Donna. Hi, mom. Yeah, my mother. Is she also a db? I'm sorry. Sorry.
Is she also a db? She's
also a db.
Oh, what?
Oh, here we go. What's happening? That my family has a thing with ds. So what? My grandmother, my great-grandmother, my aunts, my little nieces, my sister, myself, my son, my wife.
We're all dbs. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I didn't break that tradition. Yeah. All of us have the first letter is DI know that sounds weird. It still happens, folks. We're out there strong. Yeah. So it's a tradition that it's one of those things probably that was probably at one point thought about to be funny.
But we carried it on strong. So I have I have seven little nieces, two nephews, all Ds. Yeah, my cousins are Ds. It just the bloodline of DS is thick. We almost ran outta names, but my son's got a cool name, Dalton. But yeah, my mom is on the top of that list. Wow. Where do we want to go into that?
She's my mentor, my rock, my motivation my inspiration. She's done so many things for me growing up and just to tap into that, I was raised by a single mother, which is my mother. My father wasn't really in the picture after the age of eight or nine. So definitely raised by my mother.
My values come from my work ethic comes from my mother. My passion is from her. And importance of kindness. I try as best for my mother and value of education, all these things, family, all these things come from her. I watched her do. Incredible things growing up selfishly and just her drive, she was a single mom.
So when you're a single mom, oftentimes you gotta work more than one job. 'Cause a lot of times people ask me, 'cause I'll do a 14, 15 hour day, I do those in my sleep.
And
people are like, wow. Even my lady, my wife Daisy, she watches me and I do it. I do it effortlessly because I saw somebody do it effortlessly.
So to me it's not a big deal. It's normal. No. If you love what you do also, it's it's not even really, it's one of those cliche things. It's not even work. It's I do, I love what all my businesses so much that it's not even work. So I can do those, those 13, 14, 15 hour days easily.
And usually the only reason I stop is 'cause I need to spend time with my family. I need to eat, shower, all those things. But all those attributes come from my mother. She really did a great job on setting the example and just leading by example and just setting the tone for so many things.
And I'm proud of her to this day of being able to raise a boy to a man, 'cause a lot of people are like a woman can't raise a man to a boy. Or a boy to a man. But I beg to differ because you're looking at one.
And if I may pat myself on the back, since we're doing that on this podcast, I am successful.
Kudos to mom. Yeah. So that's the, my mom man. I can't, I can go, I could do this whole podcast talking on her. What do you Yeah, she's,
sorry. No, go ahead. What do you think it was about either her support system or her approach, or her commitment where. She was in a situation that many women are in as a single mother.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And like you talked about, there are people who become a statistic and there are people who break through that. Break through
it. Yeah. So
What was it from her that she was like, no, we are not only breaking through this, we are like on the accelerator path. Yeah. I got
good questions. These are great.
You're welcome. I know those awesome. They're breakthrough questions. Great question. And yeah, the statistics on, especially if how we could talk about anything, a young black male where I'm from Cincinnati, Ohio, most of my friends, and I'm gonna go 60% dead in jail or, a close in job at this point.
And this is reality. That was my reality growing up, and I was probably more susceptive to probably failing than succeeding if it wasn't for my mother. Because on that question you asked, she refused to let that happen. Yeah. And I was not the ideal child growing up. I was the kid who detention.
Yeah. Saturday schools. Suspended from school. Expelled from school. Anything you can imagine like the trouble you can give to a parent, that was me, unfortunately, just because I think not having a dad in the house and. Being in an environment where certain things were happening around me that I didn't have probably the best friends around me or that were positive.
So it was super important that she was hard on me. Like with discipline, but I, over the top, she was just kind. She was, she didn't micro. Yeah. But it was more like that mother's love, where she was aware of what I was doing. And she always had my back though yeah. Even when I was wrong, I was right in her eyes.
She went to bat for me when times I was definitely wrong. Did something wrong. Did something illegal. She was there for me, supporting me and always tried to get me back on track, yeah. So she did a lot of things like, getting me involved with sports. Keeping me busy, supporting me like that.
So did I veer out the question by the way? I just rambled. I feel like I ran. No, you did great.
Alright, cool. You, I think also to give yourself some credit, right? Because I think that when we look at. What causes even just kids to go into a space where they're causing trouble. Yeah. Versus causing good.
For people who are born with the energy that you have and the curiosity that you have, and who you occur to me as. I imagine you were like this when you were younger. Yeah. So to have someone who has all this energy Yeah. And this momentum and it needs to be put some place. So what I hear, she was like, he's not a bad kid.
He's maybe bored. He's maybe getting distracted. Yeah. He's maybe not being like, entertained where he's at. Like he needs to be busy all the time. Yeah. For my sanity. For his sanity. No. Yeah.
You nailed it on the head. I just talked to my mother. What's today? Today? Sunday or Saturday? Sunday. Thank you very much.
Friday, I talked to her on Friday and when I called her, I was actually running. And she goes, what are you doing now? When you're running, breathing hard. Yeah. And I go, I'm running. She goes, man, oh man. She goes, my mom calls me Scott. My middle name is Scott. She goes, Scott, you never stop.
And I go, I don't know what that's like. I don't like to stop. I am always on what you just said. My energy is, and I take advantage of it, and it's a huge part of my success. I don't stop. So she's, she, I remember she goes she's, you've always been like that. She was like, you were like that as a little boy.
You were like that growing up. And like I said, it's a part of my success and my drive is that yes, I am always going and my energy is, as you see it is. Yeah. But as I, a lot of people ask, part of my success, as I keep telling you, it's my, it's definitely my drive and my energy which I try to help others try to find theirs, so many people, as are just like, oh, I'm tired, or, oh, I don't want to do it. And to me, I'm just like, you gotta find it, we all got it. You gotta find it. And once you do it'll be uplifting once you find some, so you gotta, you just gotta find that motivation.
Everybody's got it. I think some people struggle on finding their motivation 'cause they're maybe doing something they are not passionate about or don't like. Yeah. So that's hard to stay energetic when you're doing something you do not like to do
100%. And I think that there's the distinction of interested versus committed.
And that's where the change happens. I'm sure you see this with the, your clients that are success stories all the time. Yeah, you're interested in being healthy or losing weight or yeah. This new job, but are you really committed to it? Yeah. And then something I work with so many people on is finding what that thing is that you want, like from a business perspective or a career perspective, 'cause.
Why so many people are settling for all sorts of other things that isn't off the charts. Awesome.
Yeah.
And I don't get it.
Yeah. Are you talking about life or this work or everything? False? Yeah. Yeah.
Someone was asking me like, where do I rank myself? And I'm like, I say an eight right now because I'm not offering you yourself.
You're calling
yourself a eight. Yeah, I'm not working.
When I look at all the areas of life, there are some that I have abandoned. Like working out this past month for something else. Get on. I know tomorrow starts like a whole new revolution. Just how many times
have you said that?
Tomorrow starts, oh,
I'll start tomorrow.
No, I actually yell at people about that usually. So 100% you are right. Yeah. Yeah. But. I know that I'm not operating at my best in all the pockets. And to me, that just means there's a missing structure in place. To get them all aligned. And it's going to, it's going to ebb and flow at some capacity.
Yeah. Yeah. But it's like, what are my priorities? Like it's how I'm living my life, the game I'm playing. Yeah. And the results I'm getting are, they're aligned. There's no way for 'em to not be aligned. So if people who are playing the game of this is good enough, you're gonna have, this is good enough life.
Yeah. Yeah.
First what you said, you called yourself a eight. I'm gonna say call yourself a 10. Thank you. Anybody listening? Thank you. 'cause if you call yourself a 10, you'll start believing you are a 10. You'll perform like a 10. You will be a 10. So let's say that you're a 10 that's looking for a better version of yourself as a 10.
Yes.
Yeah. Yeah. I'm a 10. That one because me, if you ask me, I'm a 10. Plus or 10.5, 10.9 uhhuh, yeah, I think I think with mindset and I always fall back on that. I like that you said where you scale yourself on a eight to 10, always think of yourself as the highest 'cause that'll go a long way.
I think a lot of people play a lot of mind games with themselves and break themselves down.
Yeah.
Instead of building it up, I get it. They're doubtful themselves. They think they didn't do a good job and, they, whatever it is, they're like, oh, I'm not doing this enough.
I'm not, be happy with who you are. But always look for a better version of yourself. But stick, stay, start with being okay with yourself.
Yeah.
That's the first thing I always tell somebody. Be okay with who you are because that's who you are. And then, and just look for a better version of yourself and you're gonna win.
Do you remember the moment when you accepted yourself being awesome.
Since the day I was born.
Yeah.
Yeah. I did. And I hope that doesn't sound, whatever that sounds. No, I don't remember a point in time point in time where I didn't believe in myself and know that I was awesome.
Yeah.
No I truly believe in that.
And yeah, that is my answer to that since beginning of even remembering, I just remember my self-confidence. And it's funny you ask that. My, my lady Daisy will probably say, my ego needs a checking every now and then. But it is one of those things like, okay, is that cockiness or ego?
I think it's ego and confidence. And I would definitely say tapping back to my mom, she definitely fed. My ego and my confidence, she, rightfully, she probably would call me a king in her own way. And I, I'll probably do the same with my child. I will raise him with to brush his ego and his confidence and to have the king mentality or the queen mentality.
'cause my lady, I consider a queen 'cause she is so yeah, I think a healthy ego is appropriate in the aspect. So yeah, I would think that I've always had confidence in myself. I think that's where it starts. When you have confidence in yourself, then it's easy to do everything that you set your mind to.
How do you think you balance the gratitude for what you have and where you've gotten? Versus like it being a hundred percent self initiated or do you repeat that question? Sure. So I think a lot of ways to check ego is to, is coming from a place of gratitude and appreciation for what you have.
Yeah. So what does that balance look like for you and when do those moments show up? Or are you mostly I did this, it's all mine.
Shit, both. Hell yeah. This shit is mine. I did this.
Yeah. Sheesh. I think a huge part of my motivation is where I come from.
Growing up, yeah.
We didn't have a lot, I think one of the, if somebody was to ask, Hey, how was your childhood? My childhood was great. I never went without, I think in my childhood, I definitely saw, we saw hard times. I remember there was a point in time that me and my sister, my siblings and my mom were in a one bedroom apartment.
And I remember we were in a one bedroom apartment in the living room. We transitioned it we made it a another bedroom. We, I slept on the mattress, no box frame, just the mattress in the living room. My sister and my mom slept in the actual bedroom on a mattress, no box spring. And I remember so my bed was, like I said, in the living room and right next to my bed was a tv, it was a box tv.
I'm dating myself right now, a box tv. I don't even know. Some of you listeners even know what a box TV is, but it's a old school tv. It. The space was so tight and so limited. We put a microwave on top of that tv. We had box in there. It was this, and it was an apartment that was actually underground, if that makes sense.
So it was like, you know how there's a first level and then that New York style where? Basement apartment. Basement apartment. They don't have that a lot in California. I think it's against the Lars. Or they don't have basements. They don't have basements. There you go. I'm from the Midwest.
We have basements. So it was it was hard. We didn't have a lot. And that drives me to this day. And it's funny on that note, the box tv we did have, it didn't work. We used it almost as a
table.
I'm sorry, A table? A table. Yes. Thank you. We used it as a table. It actually didn't work.
So then eventually when my mom got enough money, we put a, that TV on top of the other one. 'cause we were u Does that make sense? Yes. We kept that one and used it as a table for another tv. Yeah. And I remember that TV. Even though it wasn't brand new, it had the rotary knob, the one you had to click.
Yeah. The knob was broken, so we had to use pliers to turn the volume in the channel, right?
And it's funny, leading to the story of success, I now have 20 TVs in my house, 2020 flat screen TVs, and I tell somebody that and they go. Why do you have so many TVs in your house? I tie it back into that story because I remember growing up, I was like, one day I'm gonna have as many TVs in my house as I want to.
This day I have 20 TVs in my house. And a lot of people think it's ridiculous, but to me it was something I was, you have a goal that you strive for in your head. And I told myself one day, I'm gonna have as many TVs as I want. So I put 'em everywhere now. Bathroom walk-in closet outside in my gym, in my house.
I have 'em everywhere. Just because at one point in time in my life we had one TV that barely were, it was black and white. And it just sucked. 'cause my friends had color tv, that nice ones. I'd go over to their house and it was like, they got video games playing on this big tv. I'm just like, wow, this is crazy.
So it's like my. My upbringing is motivation for me. And I try to stay humble from where I come from. Yeah. It's my driving catalyst to make sure I never get back there and that I stay focused and I do whatever I have to do to make sure I never get back to that place. Even though, like I said, my mom did great jobs.
She worked two jobs we never went without. We had, toys, bikes, all that good stuff. And eventually we did get outta that one bedroom apartment. I don't got, I don't want you guys thinking we stayed there forever. It was just a point in time where we had to because that's where her income level was at, but eventually she got us outta that.
But yeah my past is definitely a big motivator for me and pushes and drives me to make sure that it continued to strive for for greatness and to be a better version of myself.
You mentioned that you got into sports. Oh yeah. What sports were you playing growing up? T-Ball.
I started off in T-Ball.
Me too. Yeah. I started off in T-ball. My mom kept me involved with sports and I pat myself on my, on a back. Again, I am super athletic. There's probably not any I don't think this is a sport that I've tried that I'm typically not good at. Which is a gift I know. But I started off at T-Ball and I excelled in it, and I went all the way all the way collegiate with baseball.
But I played other sports, basketball basketball, baseball, football track karate, miss martial arts, tennis, everything. That I, anything that was active, I was about it. I just excelled at other sports more than others. But sports is, being sports and being active is. Something I've been doing since a very young age.
It's all I know, and I'll do that for my child as well. I think that's important to get your children involved early for that's their mindset and that's all they know.
Yeah.
You're promoting health and activity in the beginning that way when they become a young adult.
Second nature.
Yeah. I remember one of the biggest changes for me to handle was going from playing sports like four hours a day. Yeah. To not, I was like, one, what do I do? Like I had no homework. Yeah. And no guaranteed sports commitments. Yeah. Like when I started working as a professional, I'm like, yeah, wait a second.
I had all these hours I've never had before. Yeah. And I was so thankful that I was in Boston where they do such a great job of adult activities. Like people are running all the time. Yeah. You can, you I played softball, ultimate Frisbee soccer. Yeah. There's field hockey. I kept playing. There was like a, we'd meetup every Sunday and play super competitively in.
Because that's what I played in college and then Nice. I'm so thankful that was there. Yeah. And then I miss that. I miss my, I don't think my body knows what to do for not if I even work out for an hour, my body, it's like That's cute.
Yeah.
And I'm like, I don't have more time.
What? What?
Yeah. Yeah.
I don't wanna be up until 1:00 AM 'cause that's the only time I can find my three hours. But it was a shock of. Oh my gosh. What do you mean I don't get to play? Yeah. For three hours. Because back then it was always fun. Yeah, that's what I miss about it.
Adulting sucks sometimes, right?
It does. That's like when I had a corporate job. Yeah. I was like, this job gets in the way of my life.
Oh, it's corporate. Yeah. No, no squabbles or bad things to say about corporate America, but it is corporate America and there's, I don't know, I'm not a fan of corporate America, but I do support corporate America.
'cause a lot of my friends, clients, customers are in corporate America, but it's the hamster wheel effect and sometimes it's not the healthiest of things, corporate America. I don't know. You just gotta be, find your balance with corporate America.
It's true, but there's a lot of things that it's that corporate America could be doing better for its people.
Oh, absolutely.
Yeah. From sitting
down all day to Are you offering services?
The thing that's up. A awesome is that as I've been the corporate trainer for a lot of big corporations, all the way from Quicksilver, DC Oakley she what other ones?
A lot of 'em, I'm You're forgetting them. Vol? Yeah. All types of Speedo. Most of those organizations are promoting health and fitness. Or I wouldn't have been there or be there. So I think some of 'em are trying, which is good. But, yeah, I think there, there's certain things that probably need to be worked on in corporate America, like you said, sitting and just promoting more health.
I think once they realize that, which I think some have, the healthier somebody is physically the more productive they can be doing their job, yeah. It's just true. If you got somebody who's not active, not working out, and they're sitting at a desk all day, they're gonna get lethargic.
Their brain is not at the top. Yeah. Capacity, they're not performing as well. There's, I'm, I think there's studies that prove that, completely if somebody's healthier they're performing more at work way and they could probably do more hours of actual per productive work as well.
100%. Yeah. If food and your movement is in place, your emotional health, your mental health, your energy levels are all different.
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.
And you're also not trying to, I. I dunno, there's, when you're committed, like when I think about how efficient I've been at places where fitness was part of your day.
Yeah. You're probably doing only six hours of work. Yeah. I think I, and so effective,
I think I talked to a friend, I think people will actually, at corporate America probably only do four or five hours of work out of an eight hour day. I think when they I don't, I You, yes. You've been in it. So I think people, they do an hour lunch, they probably scramble around social media and other bullshit throughout the day.
So I think an actual workday for most people in corporate America, I always say five or six, like you were saying, it's not a lot. So I think
if you're working 70 hours, yeah. You're wasting a lot of time. Unless you're your own, like you are an ENT entrepreneur. Yeah.
Yeah. If you're an entrepreneur, work more.
But yeah. Yeah. I don't know. I dunno, what's your aspect on I think with corporate America, I think those who are successful perform like an entrepreneur who are in a corporate setting. I think that's how they get ahead, from the top CEOs that I know, or top dogs in, in corporate America, they run or work as if they are an entrepreneur and that's when, if you have that mindset because an entrepreneur's mindset is definitely a different beast, so to speak. Yes. I think that's a huge catalyst on success. If you have that mind, take ownership and whatever the hell you're doing, whatever you're doing, you're already doing it, so be great at it. So have that mindset, that entrepreneur mindset of this is mine, take ownership in it.
And then once you do that, you're pro, you're going to see more success. I know that for a fact.
Completely. Yeah. Yeah. I don't think people realize how powerful they are, which is where powerful ladies came from. Yeah. Powerful ladies. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. 'Cause I've always been the entrepreneur inside the corporate space.
Yeah. 'cause I was never supposed to be in, in the corporate
space.
My MBA's in entrepreneurship. Yeah. And I was like, and then I couldn't get a loan 'cause I'm like 22 and no collateral. Yeah. So I'm like, fine, I'll go work for people who make me travel around the world. That'll be fine.
Sucks.
We'll still.
Sucks. We'll make things and we'll travel and it'll be fun. Yeah. And it's still a youthful place. Yeah. And there's still so much dumb stuff that happen, like just the number of meetings. People have the excessive meetings and emails that no one ever needs.
Yeah. Excessive.
Yeah. And there's
corporate America has a meeting for a meeting let's have a one hour meeting before the meeting.
Yeah. Yeah. That, that, that's serious too, by the way. Yes.
Yeah. And there are ways to have very effective meetings. Yeah. Which I'm sure from your military background. Yeah. Like you show up, you delegate, it's done. Who's doing this? Out, in and out. It's five minutes. That's why they started doing the standup 10 minute meetings.
Yeah. If anyone can sit down. Oh, that's
awesome. You dude, I didn't know that. Yeah. I believe in the 15 minute meetings, some people get offended or they're like, Hey, I wanna set a meeting with you and go, Hey, I got a 15, 20 minute block. And they're like, is that enough time? I'm like, it is more than enough time.
The, I it is funny. I didn't know you did that, but yeah, I think a 15, 20 minute meeting is efficient enough to get in that my time is super valuable. Yes. And and I think other people's time is super valuable as well. So it's like a lot of things, if you're focused and you're prepared, 15, 20 minutes is enough time for a meeting.
Yeah. What are you doing in it otherwise?
Yeah. Exactly.
Yeah. 'Cause then also about homework and everything else you've got going on.
Yeah.
When you look at your journey, like you went from playing sports Yeah. And then military.
Yeah.
How did you end up in the military?
How did you choose that path, and how has it changed your life as a result?
Yeah. That's a great question. I was active with sports all the way through high school. I, matter of fact, I do know the time. It was sophomore end of sophomore year in high school. I was still kind getting in trouble in high school, still doing dumb shit. And a program came to our school called Junior, ROTC. And I remember my Sergeant gunnery at the time, walking through the hallways, and it's funny, we had a, you guys know pep rallies, right? I think they still have those for kids. Yeah, they have. Yes. They still did that.
I'm good. Good. We had a pep rally and they told us about this program. I probably wasn't paying attention, but they were like, Hey, we're gonna have this new program. It's called Junior RTC coming in, blah, blah, blah. I think that pep rally was like on a Friday and then Monday boom. I remember watching this gunnery sergeant walk through the hallways in his uniform.
This gentleman was dialed in sharp. To me, he pursued what a, a man or individual should look like and carry himself. Now remember I didn't have that male figure in my life and I was just pro, I was probably actually looking for it and didn't know it. When I saw him, I was like, whatever he's doing, I wanna be a part of that.
That was my mindset. So I signed up and I excelled through that program just because it was so much structure and discipline. And I needed more of it, even though I was in sports is a different type of discipline than than military kind of structure.
Yeah.
And so I just fell in love with the whole process and I got really close to the Sergeant Gunnery and, he kinda took me under his wing and he mentored me towards success and grooming me. And I think the end of my junior year, going into senior year, I had already made a choice that, yeah, I think I want to do this.
It was definitely against my mother's wishes. I am her youngest. And at that time, enlisting would be considered dangerous because we're at war.
This is the thing about the United States of America. The US we're always at war. It's just whether or not it's being publicized or
Yeah.
Shouted out on, the news we're always at Word. It doesn't, it just matters the scale. It's the scaling process. Oh, this is a big war.
I was thinking about enlisting during the Iraq kind of building of Iraq. But that's been going on for decades. And so it was a no-go for my mom, but there's always. There's ways around that, shocking
that you were looking for ways to do it anyway. Yeah. Shocking. He's
still gonna do something that's mischievous.
But I did wind up signing up. I think it was the best decision of my life. It's a huge part of who I am now, my character, my drive, my discipline, my focus, my mindset.
So yeah doing that was definitely something that helped form and shape who I am now. And it's helped me just my path to success and everything I do.
Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. And then while I was in there I did get hurt which wasn't ideal. It was scary. I was probably 20, I wasn't 21. I know that. 'cause I was stateside when I was 21. I got hurt and it was to my left arm and I'm left-handed. And I think when it happened it kinda, it def it was scary and almost just like one of those things I got hurt to the point where I'm left-handed, so I wasn't sure if I was gonna be able to use my arm again, right?
Because, are we allowed getting graphic on here? Yeah. I took shrapnel in my arm and I'm showing the ladies here, you can't see it, but I took shrapnel in my arm and it opened to my arm and it hit what's called the ulnar nerve in my arm. And when I got hit there was, I didn't feel it. You get no feeling. The ulnar nerve is the main nerve that goes from your pinky all the way up to your shoulder. So I didn't actually know I was hit or bleeding out, but my brother behind me tapped me and said, yo brown. I tapped my, he tapped my arm, I tapped my arm, I look at my arm, I folded up like that and a movie when I flipped it up up, sorry, blood that squared out.
And I literally, I didn't panic, but I think the first thing in my head was like a, I didn't feel it, so I was like, that's not my blood. I was like, where's it come from? And then when you see it coming from, you're like, okay, that's my blood, that's me. I'm bleeding. And so many things go through your head so quickly.
Human nature is, are you gonna die?
Yeah.
Am I gonna bleed out? Am I gonna be okay? Are they gonna, I think the second or like third or fourth, are they gonna amputate my heart? All these things are going in my head. I'm like, oh shit. This is real. I'm hurt. And then maybe fast tracking forward. The scariest thing, I think was when the med team came over and they started poking at my hand and I couldn't feel it.
I remember that feeling when you asked somebody. I remember he took a, an instrument and he was poking at my pinky and my index finger and my ring finger, and I couldn't feel it. He poked on my palm and I couldn't feel it. And he looks at me, he, and I remember the confidence in his eyes. He said, you're gonna be okay, even though there's probably 50 50.
I was like, 50 per chance. I'm, or 50 kind of. I didn't believe in 50%. I was like, all right, if he's telling me I'm gonna be okay, I'm gonna be okay. Or that's what he's supposed to tell me. Moving forward. Of course, as you see me in front of you my arm is fine. I wind up having a eight hour surgery.
And probably a four to five month recovery time on rehab with my arm.
And
what's funny about that? On what I do now, because at one point I thought I was gonna lose my arm. And then I was blessed with the fact that I had a great surgeon and I want to give him a shout out. Dr. Handler.
And his name is funny because he's a hand surgeon whose name is Dr. Handler. That shit's funny to me.
That brings me so much joy. What's that? Names like that when it's all aligned with your profession. Yeah, it makes me happy. It
just is crazy. He he was so confident. I remember when I talked to him, he had done so many surgeries, say so many things.
His, you remember how we talked about ego and confidence? His was. Self-confidence and ego. He goes, I'm gonna get you back to normal. Everything's gonna be fine. And I'm gonna go in and I'm gonna do this, and this. And you're gonna be all set.
Just what's up. He said your hard
road recovery's gonna be the rehab.
Fuck. He was not lying. The rehab on I had to learn how to, first of all, I had to learn how to use my right hand to do everything. I'm talking, like wiping my ass, brushing my teeth, feeding myself everything with my right hand. Cool thing about that. Now I can do everything with both hands.
It's fucking awesome. But the rehab was strenuous. You're literally, you're like a infant trying to learn how to use your arm again. And I'm talking all the way from picking up a piece of paper and this in my hand right now. I had to learn how to pick up a piece of paper from the table with my fingers.
It's like mind boggling holy shit, I can't pick up a piece of paper from the table with it. So that, that was scary. It was trying I remember so many times getting frustrated, right? Just being angry, pissed off, like that I couldn't use my arm. But now I sit here in front of you 16 years in the fitness industry a master trainer.
In damn good shape of my masay most so myself. And, it's just a blessing to, to go from that to now being one of my businesses being fitness. And, my, my left arm is actually stronger, even though it's my dominant arm. It's stronger than what it was before the accident because of all the the rehab and the strengthening conditioning that I did with it, that I'm now in this privileged position to do all these amazing things with my body, especially with my arm slash left arm. I rambled on where were we talking about how I ramble for a second.
The impact that the military had, the impact.
Yeah. So
that was the impact. It set up for success on just who I am. And I think, after I did that a big part of. Wanting to please my mother and also wanting to do it for myself is once I was able to get up and moving, was to educate myself. So that's when went to university of Cincinnati uc.
Actually my first school was Ohio State that I quickly got on academic probation and then went home back to Cincinnati and that's when I went to university of Cincinnati. But that's where I attended and I wanted to do that, like I said, for my mom. 'cause she values the education so much.
And then for myself too, because, education, if we're going into that subject, I'm not even sure how much time we have. College isn't for everybody. For some it isn't. I really never thought it was for me just because what, some colleges are teaching you to me is okay, we, let's focus on other things that are actually viable, like in life.
Useful. Yeah. My goodness. Like the shit they teach you in college, you're like, I don't even use that shit. The math requirements or some math is required and useful, but some of the subject lines, like half these kids get outta college, they can't balance a checkbook or they don't know how to, pay bills or disin they don't know how to do.
That's the shit that's like, how about we teach that? 'cause it's real life shit that they're gonna face. Instead of some of the requirements in college that unless it's your actually your path, like you're gonna be a mathematician or whatever, engineer, focus on different things.
So I got my education and then to, to to fast track from there I graduated wow. What was that? 2006. 2007. Yeah. 2006, 2007. And I remember telling my family and friends, I'm outta here. I wanted to get out of Ohio.
Yeah.
The Midwest is the Midwest. But I wanted bigger and better. Thanks for myself.
I saw the world, I saw different states, different countries, and I wanted to come to California. 'cause California is this badass. And there you can, there's more probability for success here. And that's what I did. I came out here and I came out here with, I remember I came out here with $2,300 to my name when I came out here.
And I landed in Costa Mesa. And it was scary, but I did it. And that's how the military kind of helped form where I'm at now. Yeah. Yeah.
Very cool. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
So when you look at showing up here with $2,300 Yeah. And where you're at now. There's a lot of people listening who are looking for like courage to take the leap to do their own thing.
Yeah. Or courage to start a start hustle. Scary. Yeah. You know what, obviously you've always been confident and you've always been someone who you know you can make things happen. Yeah. You want something, you get it done. Not everyone has that innate confidence. Yeah. So what, like what are a few real life things that happen?
Like it's not just like you showed up $2,300. Oh boom. I have my own fitness studio. Oh, boom. No, I have these clients. No. Like what's some of the real stuff that happened to get you. At least maybe even your first mark of success. 'cause there's been so many since then.
What helped me get there?
Yeah. What's an what was on the ground happening for you to hit your first marker of success from $2,300?
And not in
no apartment to,
yeah. So when I first came out here with that 2300 bucks, I had no job. I came out here in a I probably, I don't suggest doing that. Don't do that. Have a game plan. I just was unwell. I'm like, I'm coming out here. But I started working for corporate America.
How you said, you gotta get a job.
So
I started actually working corporate America. I think I got involved with Ghost Gym in 24 hours 24 Hour Fitness. And I built my clientele base from then. But I already knew in my back of my mind that I wanted to be I was already an entrepreneur, so Yeah.
When I came to California, I knew I had to kind. Restructure something or restructure things. So I went back into corporate America to build my pipeline, so to speak. Yep. So I did that for a little bit, probably for. Two or three years excelled in corporate America. There kinda the game, the mindset was to, okay, how do I get back on track on being my own boss and doing my own thing?
To anybody listening and yourself or whoever, I would suggest if you have a, an inclination of wanting to be an entrepreneur and your own boss, do it. Take your time, have some strategies, have a game plan. It's possible. And don't be scared. I it is scary taking that leap and getting out of the safe zone of corporate America, right?
Because that's why most people stay in it. It's a paycheck guaranteed. As an entrepreneur, nothing is guaranteed. And even when you're successful is still not gear rented. Yeah. And corporate America, for the most part, unless you get laid off or something drastic happens, it is safe.
You get a check every two weeks or every four weeks, like clockwork, and it's the same every two weeks or every four weeks. But, any risk worth having is gonna be a little scary, right? Any re but it'll always have reward. Any reward always has a risk, so to speak.
So I tell people, if you're thinking about it, do it. If it's scary, that means it's probably worth it. For the most part, just be be tactical, be smart, be patient. That's one thing. Most people, none of us, patience is something that all adults needs to work, need to work on.
So be patient and just believe in yourself and take that leap. If you're, that's what you're really, if your mindset is like you've been thinking about, Hey, I want to do this. Go for it. Yeah. Yeah. Go for it. Absolutely.
Who are the, they don't need to be female, but who are the people that have inspired you on your path as an entrepreneur?
Oh, so many. Yeah. The top of my, my, the chain would be a gentleman named John Binar.
He owns a law firm. It's still, he still has the law firm, but he is actually retired now. But he was definitely a mentor of mine just because he he was a client no longer a client.
Now he he moved out of state. He retired in Hawaii. Good for you, John.
Oh, yeah.
But he just took me almost as a, he had two girls, didn't have a boy.
So I think he took me like almost like a son. Yeah. And groomed me and gave me advice. And a lot of his advice was like, head on.
Now, some of the advice I probably resisted a little bit, as you don't wanna take care sometimes you're not too susceptive to taking advice, but I would take his for the most part. And it would be rewarding for me. This man gave me ideas, even to this day, my logo that I use for my gym.
He actually, that's his idea, my logo that I use to this day. And it actually cha the, just the logo that he suggested change the image of my gym. It's crazy. It's small stuff like that, that Twits. But super successful businessman in his practice. He. I think eventually he had three or four offices, sold it for millions.
Retired now. But was this so insightful on the knowledge he gave me and advice?
He's definitely one. You actually know one of them. Ted Lee.
Yeah.
I've known him for 15, 16 years now.
Yeah. Ted Lee I've literally had the privilege of watching him grow in those years. Just all the way from starting at Oakley.
He was a top executive at Oakley to then moving to Quicksilver, DC and now he's on the new adventures as well. He's al he's been a super big mentor for me and a person I look up to because he's a family man.
Yeah.
He's big on family and his kids and his wife, and. Just seeing that success again.
I didn't have that, so seeing somebody doing what you picture yourself wanting to do
Yeah.
Is awesome. 'cause you're like, you know what, that's what it looks like. That's what it feels like. It's awesome. I want that. I can achieve it. And so those are probably the top two that can, that pop to my head.
There's others of course, but those are my top two that probably stand out the most to me when it comes to like other individuals.
So of course, maintaining your own health and fitness is required for what you're doing.
Yeah. Yeah. Walking billboard,
right? Yeah.
Yeah.
And then you also, you have three businesses right now.
Yeah. What do you do to make sure that you're at the top of your game as a businessman and entrepreneur that's, beyond making sure that you are in the best shape possible. Like where does it fit into your world of like learning and mentorship? And I know that you're competitive in all those areas, so what do you putting in place to make sure that.
You are more than fitness 'cause it takes more to be an entrepreneur than that.
Yeah. I would think that I always try to work on my self development. Is the biggest thing. It's funny, I had a client who, again, he's been with me total probably 14 years, but he stopped and moved away and then came back.
He was able to see the db 13, 14 years ago to the DB now.
Yeah.
And he says, my goodness, have you grown?
Even to the fact sitting in front of you. Yeah. You've been able to see, hopefully you've seen growth. Yes, it's. Inner growth, self growth is what I'm working on. I, it, I think it's funny, as you get older, I think you're supposed to become a better version of yourself and you're supposed to want to grow and be and just better yourself as a individual.
And that's what I try to work on because I believe once you do that, everything else will become easier and fall into place. So every day I'm trying to make sure I treat others a better than maybe I did a week ago.
Yeah.
Four months ago, a year ago.
I'm trying to better my mindset with positivity.
We all got our shit going on in life as adult. And I don't want to try to paint the perfect picture of, oh, you own three businesses thing, things are great. No I live a lifestyle just like everybody else. I got bills and stress and other shit that goes on in life.
So I, I think I work on every day on just trying to better myself. Mindset is what I'm strong on. I think that's a huge part of my success and my driving force is making sure that my mind is right. And I know that might not sound like a lot and sound simplistic, but mindset just waking up soon as the alarm goes off I try to make sure that I go, boom.
Clockwork mindset positive. Go after whatever it is that you're set for today. So every day, especially now that I have a little boy, is just trying to be a better db a better me, a better individual, a better man. That's really what it comes down to. Now,
what are the specific things you do when you wake up to get into that mindset?
Are you writing like the three things you're gonna do that day, or three words?
Yeah, so I'm old school. I do a to-do list.
Yeah.
A lot of people go, Hey, you can do a to-do list on your phone. I do a pad.
Every day I have a to-do list. You're on my to-do list today. Yes. Yeah.
But I do a to-do list every day. I'm huge on whether it's on your phone, a wa, a chalk, a whiteboard, easy erase bar, whatever you wanna call it. I am a a advocate of visualization, right? Some people can do it in their head, like Oprah. She does a whiteboard in her head, but Oprah's on a different level that we all are striving for.
Yeah.
She's on a 12, so she gets, yeah. She
does a to-do list whiteboard in her head. Kudos to her. Tony Robinson is the same thing. I strive to get there, but I do a traditional on paper writing it down. My to-do list on what I'm doing every day. So when I wake up, the alarm goes off. I do have a very, I'm huge on structure and routine.
I think once you have routine and structure in place, it just makes everything else easier and everything else falls into place. Some people don't. Some people rush when they wake. They go, they're just like scrambling in the mornings. Or getting their day going. I think that's the worst way to start your day, because you're setting the precedent for your day.
Yes.
If you wake up in a rush with chaos, like with chaos, you're shaping the structure of your day. The rest of your day is gonna look like that. You're gonna feel like that. So when I wake up I typically wake up about an hour and 15 minutes before I even have to be somewhere.
Just
to kinda, I wake up IGI alarm goes off, I have a routine alarm goes off stout to shower.
I either shave for that day or I don't, I get outta the shower. I eat oatmeal every single day for the last. 20 years. I have oatmeal every morning. That's my routine. I'm not saying you have to do it but it will help. And then from there, I I watch news, whether it's on my phone or tv. I like the dogs.
I'm just very routine and structured. Yeah. I just, it's my comf, it's my comfy spot. It allows me to get set for my day. I'm a I'm an advocate and believer in getting prepared for your day, for you can have a productive day and a good day. 'Cause you deserve to have a good day every day.
I think, I think planning for your day, like I said, in a to-do list. And knowing what you're doing for the day.
Yeah.
Whether, even if it's your, oh I know I'm doing the same corporate nine to five, I'm doing still plan for it, yeah. Still plan for what you're doing different than what you did yesterday.
'cause every day is different.
I hear three important things in that. I hear that you take time to set yourself up or you're in charge of your day. Yeah. Before you let your space and your world be in charge Yeah. Of your day. I hear Jocko and discipline equals freedom.
Yeah.
And what that huge puts into place for people. Yeah. If you think that discipline,
I like that. What I think a lot of people put a negative image on discipline, but I love that you tied it in with discipline equals freedom. Because it really does with discipline, you'll it'll take sacrifice with discipline, but eventually what you just said, it will give you freedom in the long run.
Yeah.
And have you read that book yet? Yes. Okay, good. I was like, it's so good. And I, anyone that hasn't read it Yeah. I recommend listening to the audio 'cause you get to hear Jocko's voice. Yeah. Which is if you think of a Navy seal, Yeah. Yeah. He's the prototypical Navy seal from start to finish.
Yeah.
Yeah.
The other thing I hear is ties back to one of my other, like favorite books is the one thing and how they say your brain is at its best at the beginning of the day. And the first thing that, before 10 o'clock, you should do the things that matter to you to make your future better.
And what I hear is you get up, you take your time, you have a healthy breakfast, you're working out like before 10 o'clock, you've done everything that you need to take care of to make sure that your tomorrow is Yeah. Set up to be great. Yeah. And then after that you can take care of everyone else's stuff.
Yeah. But I really agree with you about how we feel so often that we're like waiting for something to happen, to have our life be great. If I had this, if I did that. People think if we have something, then we get to do something, then we get to be something. And the true power is in flipping that be someone and then take those actions and do it, and then you're gonna have it.
And I wish more people understood that starting with who you're being will give it to you versus waiting for it to show up. Yeah. Like it will never show up if you don't change who you're being and what you're putting into place and being responsible for, if you wanna be the hero of your own story, you gotta start acting like what a hero does.
Yeah. Act like a hero. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely.
Like you're be a 10, right?
Yeah. Be a 10. Yeah. Yeah. Have the mindset of a 10 and you'll, you're manifest that. Yeah. Manifestation. Yeah. Yeah.
Perfect. Yeah. So we ask everyone on the podcast where they put themselves on the powerful Lady scale.
Zero is average, everyday human, and 10 is like super powerful lady or gentleman in this case. Yeah. Where do first gentleman,
by the way, don't forget,
first gentleman, where do you put yourself today and where do you put yourself on average on that scale?
On today and then in general?
Yeah.
10 across the board please.
Judges 10. 10. 10.
Perfect. I thought that might be the answer, but I wanted to make sure we recorded it for Prosper. Absolutely. Yes.
Yes. Did you get that? Did you get the 10? Okay. All right. Yes.
And then what are you excited about for this year and like what you're up to next, and how can people support you and be a contribution to you?
Oh, how can my, my vision for 2020, I think is probably the biggest it's ever been.
A I'm a father now a husband an entrepreneur, a business owner a boss, all these things. But 2020s vision is large because I want to do so many great things within all my businesses. And, I think my first work is being a better version myself, a better man, and then being an awesome ass dad.
Yeah.
That's the, I didn't have that. And I had it for eight years in which I remember what, four or five of those. Because, so I wanna make sure that I concentrate on giving my little guy what I didn't have. So that's gonna be a huge part of who I am.
And Yeah. And this from now moving forward, so 2020, my first focus will be on being a dad. And then from there, just doing take, actually taking more risk in business. I'm pretty safe when it comes to the calculations and moves I make in business. I'd probably take a little more risk and try some different things within the businesses that I have now.
Yeah. Just because I wanna see some different growth than what I've done. So there's some riskier maneuvers I'm making, but I know they'll be rewarding. And I believe in every move I make, and I know that the outcome will be where I want it to be.
Very cool.
Yeah.
And if people are listening, they're like, okay, I love db.
I wanna work with him. I want to, one of these businesses. I think we have an opportunity. Yeah. So obviously people can can go online and they can become clients from a personal training perspective. Yeah. But you have other ways that people can get to work with you on a digital or physical space.
Yeah,
so I do personal one-on-one training. I do bootcamps. Those are all important, but I do online training as well. That's a great outlet for a lot of people who, a, aren't near me or the price point is better to do online training. It's, they're both effective. What it comes down to truthfully is.
How much you're putting into it. It doesn't matter if it's in person with me or online. You can be in, in person training. If you're not doing what I need you to do, you're not gonna see results.
Yeah.
So it's all about how much commitment you put into it. So yeah, you can reach out to me in person online all the platforms.
Social media, like Instagram, Facebook on there. It's pretty easy to find DB Fitness. And then my other businesses the other one's called xq Promo Agency again, easy to find on social media. We represent over 33 brands like Whitelaw, Heineken, Sapporo, Coors, you name it. That's a really cool business.
And then a third one is Reliant Capital Group. That's the one, it's a money business. It's equipment financing. So basically some people call it a hard money lender, but basically we sell money for for organization businesses that are looking for particularly doctors. We work with a lot of doctors.
If they're trying to buy like equipment that's $50,000 or 150, they typically finance and that's where we come in.
So yeah, those are the outlets. If you wanna support please reach out. But yeah, those are my three babies right now that I'm nursing, that I'm super excited about that I put in.
Effort every single day. Seven days a week. When you're an entrepreneur, there's no off switch, there's no such thing.
Yeah.
I work every day, every night. I just, it's funny, today's Sunday I worked last night. Till 10 30 on my laptop. Just because our promo business it's weather related.
It's warm now. So we're super busy coming up. We've been busy in February, super busy in March. So I worked last night. A lot of people were probably out partying, doing their thing on a Saturday, whatever movies I was at home working. And that's the life of the entrepreneur that you work when you need to.
Not when you want to.
I wanna say thank you so much for coming on. Oh no.
Thank you so much. Yeah, this is great. It was awesome.
I'm glad. And I love that you're an example of, someone who's out curating your life. Wanting to make an impact, wanting to pay it forward. And I'm glad that we get to prove that not just ladies are doing that too.
Yeah, no, thank you for having me. I'm excited. I'm the first guy on here and I'm setting the setting the what do you wanna say? Setting the bar. Yes you are.
No pressure. Future gentleman. I like pressure gentlemen.
Show 'em what you got ladies. Also setting the bar. Nah, this is awesome. Thank you so much for having me.
How great is db his energy, his perseverance, his commitment to making his life happen his way as much as he can control and getting better every day are all examples that I've encouraged. All of us, I'm including myself in this, to follow, be up to something you love. Design your life for your way. Have the confidence that you can do it.
And keep moving forward. And I'm pretty sure since all of you guys just met him on this podcast, you can foresee what a personality he is in real life. And if you agree, you can also encourage him to make his own show like we did to Support Connect, follow db, and tell him he should have his own podcast.
You can email him at db@dbfitnessoc.com and visit his website, db fitness oc.com and of course to see all the videos he was talking about that he posts all day. You can follow him on Instagram at db underscore fitness. I hope you've enjoyed this new episode of The Powerful Ladies Podcast. If you're a yes to powerful ladies and want to support us, you can.
Subscribe to this podcast anywhere you listen to podcasts. Make sure to give us a five star rating and leave a powerful review on Apple Podcasts. You can also be one of our Patreons for as little as $1 a month at patreon.com/powerful. Ladies, you can get access to exclusive content that we're making just for you.
Follow us on Instagram at Powerful Ladies, and be sure to subscribe to our YouTube page, and of course, visit our website, the powerful ladies.com for all the latest news details and updates. I'd like to thank our producer and audio engineer Jordan Duffy. Without her, this wouldn't be possible. You can follow her on Instagram at Jordan K.
Duffy. Thank you all so much for listening. We'll be back next week with a brand new episode. Until then, I hope we're taking on being powerful in your life. Go be awesome and up to something you love. This episode of The Powerful Ladies is Made Possible by our Patreon subscribers. Did you know that for as little as $1 a month, you can support this podcast?
You can send us love, tell us that you want more. You can support all of our events and all that we're doing in the world to fulfill on our full circle of empowerment. It starts at $1 a month. That's less than the coffee you're drinking a day, and there's so many more levels that give you more bonuses and fun things, and behind the scenes information.
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Created and hosted by Kara Duffy
Audio Engineering & Editing by Jordan Duffy
Production by Amanda Kass
Graphic design by Anna Olinova
Music by Joakim Karud
