The Few Will Hunt Show

“You are who you hunt with.” In this episode, Joey and Drew sit down with Curtis Graham, a triple OG of the Few Will Hunt community, a photographer, family man, and a blue-collar hustler who embodies the FWH lifestyle. Curt shares powerful lessons about leaving people better than you found them, learning from mistakes, and why work ethic and discipline matter more than natural talent. He talks about growing up in North Philly, his early grind working at McDonald's, and his transition into a trucking career. Curt also dives into his passion for Jiu-Jitsu and photography, reflecting on how the pandemic pushed him to pursue his creative side. Tune in to hear Curt’s wisdom on hustle, discipline, and how to chase your goals with intention.

The official podcast of Few Will Hunt, the world’s largest community of hard workers and Made in the USA apparel brand. Family-owned and operated and headquartered in Philadelphia. We’re on a mission to restore the dignity of hard work and help others live The Rules of The Few to strengthen ourselves and strengthen society. No entitlement or excuses are allowed here.

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Creators and Guests

Host
Drew Beech
Drew Beech is an entrepreneur and cofounder of Few Will Hunt. He spent several years in the sales and marketing industry, grossing over several million dollars in sales. But his love for the entrepreneurial journey and desire to escape the rate race started with his personal training business in college. Today, Drew leads the Few Will Hunt community alongside his cousin and cofounder, Joey in their mission to restore the dignity of hard work through the highest-quality American-made apparel.
Host
Joey Bowen
Joey Bowen is co-founder of Few Will Hunt.

What is The Few Will Hunt Show?

The official podcast of Few Will Hunt, the world’s largest community of hard workers and 100% Made in the USA apparel brand. We’re on a mission to restore the dignity of hard work and help others live The Rules of The Few to strengthen ourselves and strengthen society. No entitlement or excuses are allowed here.

Speaker 1:

So, Les Brown would always say he's got a quote. He says, the how is none of your business. Mhmm. Like, just get up and just do the work that's in front of

Speaker 2:

you.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. Just keep doing the work, and the how will come about. So it's kinda the same conversation you were having with your boy. Look. I don't know how I'm gonna get to this this place, and I don't even really know what this place is.

Speaker 1:

Right? Maybe it's a maybe it's a suburban and a house.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 1:

But I know that I'm just gonna keep working. Gonna see the work every day. I'm gonna do the work every day, and the house is gonna start to unfold. Yo.

Speaker 2:

Welcome to the Fuel Hunt Show.

Speaker 3:

What is going on, Eagles? I am your host today, Drew. Joined by my well, first of all, welcome to the Fuel Hunt Show.

Speaker 1:

Welcome to the Fuel Hunt Show, everybody.

Speaker 3:

Joined by my cousin and cofounder, Joey.

Speaker 1:

I still get to keep my job.

Speaker 3:

And also, triple OG of the FuHunt community.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. I like that.

Speaker 3:

Personal friend, great friend with that imparts wisdom on me daily. Photograph Fuqua photographer, family man, husband, father, leader, and someone to look up to. Mhmm. And also there's a blue collar man, we'll say.

Speaker 2:

Very blue collar man.

Speaker 3:

Living the Fuqua Hunt lifestyle. Yep. Curtis Graham, welcome to the Fuel Hunt Show.

Speaker 2:

What's up dawgs?

Speaker 1:

What's up? Good to have here.

Speaker 2:

How about time?

Speaker 1:

It's good to have you

Speaker 2:

here, man. I'm so used to having headphones on and hearing myself.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. I even

Speaker 2:

think that's little bit high. Go ahead. Me bring it down.

Speaker 3:

A podcast. Yeah? Yeah. More famous podcast.

Speaker 2:

Brady Bagg Show. Make sure y'all subscribe. Listen, as we move through Just plug, plug, Yes.

Speaker 3:

Potentially a more famous podcast than

Speaker 1:

we are. I think so, actually. We're trying. We're trying. More famous and probably better, actually.

Speaker 1:

True. Both both arenas. Kurt

Speaker 3:

doesn't know he misses calling as a as a podcaster and and a host.

Speaker 2:

I'm doing it. I'm I'm I'm Yeah.

Speaker 1:

Me tell you a little story. Two people that I went to high school with, right, ran into Kurt randomly over the past, like, three years or so. Right? Just randomly.

Speaker 2:

And I

Speaker 1:

don't I think they recognize you. You or you had Fuel Hunt on. Mhmm. And these people sent me DMs, they were like, I just met Kurt. And I'm like and they dude, like, the all the I could tell from the the the text.

Speaker 1:

They were just in they were just in awe and inspired. What a nice guy. So courteous.

Speaker 2:

Courtesy. Dude.

Speaker 1:

Courtesy, dude. So down to earth, like, raving about Kurt. So he's missed his calling. And I

Speaker 2:

think you were gonna

Speaker 3:

say Were they like were they like, and your partner, Drew,

Speaker 2:

Well, they don't know. I wish I knew you were talking about because yeah. One was met

Speaker 3:

when I told to Kurt.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. I think you you met her maybe on the playground or something.

Speaker 2:

Okay. Oh, yeah. I met him while I was at the playground with kids. I do remember meeting a guy, and he was his his neighbor, somebody was there, whatever. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

I do remember that, I don't know the other person. Yeah. I'm glad I got that feedback because like, I really do take that serious,

Speaker 3:

like,

Speaker 2:

that encounter. Mhmm. That's why I just did, when we did our pictures, I I always tell people, when I die, you're not gonna be able to find a picture, not smiling. I'm jovial, man. It's like, it comes to meeting people, I take that encounter as, hope this person remembered.

Speaker 2:

If it was just a second, it was just me holding the door.

Speaker 1:

Yep. Leave them better than your hope

Speaker 2:

they remember, like, you remember that, I guess, black dude. Dude. Leave him better than your Yeah. Was a

Speaker 3:

really big black nice dude. You know what mean?

Speaker 2:

So I think about that though, like for everybody, not just from like a racial standpoint, but just saying like for everybody, like every encounter you have, like be memorable. You know what mean?

Speaker 1:

For sure. For sure.

Speaker 2:

Or you'll forgotten. That's how I look at it.

Speaker 1:

I feel like you are you said jovial. I think that's a I think that's a good word to describe I

Speaker 2:

lean into it. I'm joking.

Speaker 1:

I think a lot of times when people meet somebody Mhmm. Like that that's jovial, they think, oh, well, this guy's got it, like, easy. Like, you know what I mean? I think people are inclined to think that, like, oh, he walks around that happy so so much that things just must be easy for him.

Speaker 2:

It's a choice. Yay. I think it's a choice to just live in the light. Right? Like like, live in it.

Speaker 2:

You know what I mean? Like, you can live in those clouds or you can live find that good spot. There's a good spot everywhere. It could be raining all over, but there is somewhere where you

Speaker 1:

can You might

Speaker 2:

in the eye. Right?

Speaker 1:

You might be in the eye

Speaker 2:

as Living the dog. Living the dog. Dog. Never and never ever, like, show people. You know what mean?

Speaker 2:

If you're having a hard times with it, like, sometimes I say fake it till you make it. That's how I look at it. You never know when I'm having a good day or a bad day. Fake it till you make it. Like like, you'll never know with my kids, with whatever, they don't know if we're doing good, bad, they'll never know.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. Because I'm always going to seem like and that's not a you're not suppressing it or nothing like that. It's just, I'm choosing to look strong until I feel strong. So that's how I am with every day I wake up. You don't know.

Speaker 2:

I'll just argue with my wife. Not arguing with me.

Speaker 3:

I'm trying to

Speaker 2:

get a motorcycle and then we just had this whole

Speaker 1:

Wait, you're trying

Speaker 2:

to get a motorcycle? Come on, man. It's it's it's the last

Speaker 1:

thing I really want. No.

Speaker 2:

No. I'm I had a sports bike back in the day. I'm going back to a cruiser

Speaker 3:

and Okay.

Speaker 2:

Come on, man. Relax. Get get on with your show. Get on with your show, man. Don't talk real personal.

Speaker 2:

Oh, man.

Speaker 3:

Good thing. Don't think Millie Mill listens a few on shows, so I'd be like

Speaker 2:

She gonna listen to this one.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. I know.

Speaker 2:

She is. She is. Yeah.

Speaker 1:

Well, in that case, I think it's a bad idea that you're getting a bike, Kurt.

Speaker 2:

You should not. I think you should throw that dream

Speaker 3:

in If I have list of things Kurt doesn't need in his life right now,

Speaker 2:

like, Nah, man. I'm mature. It's it's it's it's material thing, but it's something that I just I've been wanting back in my life or whatever. You work hard, man.

Speaker 1:

You work hard.

Speaker 2:

I I do. I do. It's it is a time and a place. She may be a little bit right, but at the same time, sometimes.

Speaker 3:

What I

Speaker 2:

would like Like a spell

Speaker 1:

on that. That was good.

Speaker 3:

What I would like for to come from this episode is some of the wisdom that Kurt imparts on me on a daily basis. Uh-huh. Like, Kurt is a year older than me.

Speaker 2:

For some reason You're year head.

Speaker 3:

But for some reason, we have conversations like he's my wise sage in life, and it makes me think about things from the perspective that I sometimes am lacking. So maybe the few now will be able to understand where some of my wisdom comes from. But, anyway

Speaker 1:

There you go.

Speaker 3:

I have a old soul, man.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. That That's what it comes from. Just old soul.

Speaker 3:

That's the truth.

Speaker 2:

Old soul and just wise people that I've encountered. Mhmm. You know what mean? My uncles, my grandmother, my mother. Yep.

Speaker 2:

You take the same things they given you and you just give it to others. It worked for me. Seemed like we cut from the same cloth. So it was like, I'm just passing off to you to see if it helps you because this thought process helped me.

Speaker 3:

So And I I was telling Joey before the show, like, lot of times, like, we just end up talking about things. And then other times, you'll call me and you'll be yeah. What do think about this?

Speaker 2:

Like, you

Speaker 3:

know I mean? So it it go it just goes back to rule number 11 of the few. Mhmm. Do you know what that is, Kurt? You are who you hunt with.

Speaker 1:

Actually, rule number 11 is for sure the dignity of hard work.

Speaker 3:

No. It's you are the hunt. You are you are

Speaker 2:

who you hunt Always thinks that I like like, one day a poster go up and we'll be talking that same day. He like, yeah. What'd you read the post from today? And I'd be like, no. Like, if

Speaker 1:

you got it, it's in me.

Speaker 2:

Right? If you don't got it, you don't got it.

Speaker 3:

You're like,

Speaker 2:

it's on me and it's in me. I don't need to know all the rules. In some way, they probably already exist in my own life.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. One or 11? You are your homemade.

Speaker 1:

My bad. My bad. I changed it. Yeah. Changed it.

Speaker 2:

Rules on here? 11.

Speaker 3:

Technically, 10.

Speaker 1:

Bonus. Yeah. Eleven's bonus. Going back to choices, though, you were saying it's a choice to be jovial and be happy to live in light instead of being burned by darkness. I think it's also a choice to absorb the wisdom that you come across from other people.

Speaker 1:

Because a lot of people, maybe they don't wanna hear it, or they just let it pass. They don't realize how much of a gift it is. So the fact that you're able to make that choice to absorb it, and then not only use it for yourself, but serve others with it and giving it to Drew Mhmm. Testament to, you know, to who you are.

Speaker 2:

You I'll probably say this, like, 10 times today, but, like, my mom would always say, like, you know, you're never too old to learn and never too young to teach. So and, you know, it just kinda puts you in that student spot a lot where it's like, it doesn't matter who you are, how much experience you got. Like, I'm always willing to be a student Yep. To something. I could be the more seasoned photographer in the room, but if I like this kid's work and whatever, like, show me what you know.

Speaker 2:

Like you know? So it was just like with anything, that life Mhmm. Just I tell everybody again, I've learned more from fools than I did from successful people. I've learned what to not to do in life just from looking at people make mistakes. My mom, drugs, stuff like that.

Speaker 2:

Like, know, she's she's open about it, whatever. But, you know, I never no drugs, never smoked weed, never did, went down that road because it's like I kinda just learned, like, that is just not a great path to go. My dad, streets. You get what I'm saying? Where it's like, not going to street rule, lost him half my childhood, you know what mean, to the streets and stuff like that.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. And, you just learn from fools more than you learn from successful people. So you have to be willing to get the lesson from wherever you can get it from. Yeah. Right?

Speaker 2:

And if you're open to that, it's kinda just You learn

Speaker 1:

a lot. This culture nowadays, everybody and it's important. It's important to have somebody that's further along, or it's important to have somebody that's living a life you wanna live in your circle. Like but everybody in this culture, they're looking for the coach, the mentor, the this, the that, when really they're overlooking a lot of lessons

Speaker 2:

Oh, yeah.

Speaker 1:

That are currently in their social circle. They're they're so and, you know, I'm not advocating for, like, keeping people that are teaching you the wrong lessons in your social circle too long. Mhmm. But, like, there are lessons there. Like, you know what I mean?

Speaker 1:

There's lessons to be learned.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. Think every everywhere everywhere there, there's a lesson to learn from. So I try to just stay open to that.

Speaker 3:

Well, you might not be a famous athlete or like Don't forget that. Oh my God. Dude, the only guy I've ever met that wears his, his high school. We FaceTime him one time. He is wearing his high school letter at 35 years old.

Speaker 2:

It's my smoker's jacket.

Speaker 3:

I'm like, dude, you gotta retire

Speaker 2:

the Sometimes

Speaker 1:

you have probably look good on them

Speaker 3:

still, Look.

Speaker 2:

We when we wanted to chip back in the day, we all knew. We said get it bigger because we're gonna be bigger men when we grow up. So now I'm I'm like in my my days where the jacket actually fits with a

Speaker 1:

hoodie. That's what I'm saying.

Speaker 3:

So yeah. I still have my leg, but it's hanging in my closet where each other

Speaker 2:

Did you win the championship? Your best response ever was some of us peak at high school. He said that to me. He was like, well, Kurt, some of us peak at high school.

Speaker 3:

Simon still wears his?

Speaker 2:

He has it. Simon got more chips than me. I think Simon got three rings, three three chips. Churchwatch High School is a shout out to the alumni.

Speaker 3:

Did you guys really get rings?

Speaker 2:

Hell yeah. They're like little cough drops. His probably better than mine. Mine was like the cough drop one. His was probably like a little bit more whatever.

Speaker 2:

But I'm almost sure Simon either got two or three jackets. What? Yeah, dawg. We set it up.

Speaker 1:

Is he smoking his too?

Speaker 2:

He might. He might. I'm I'm not sure. He hadn't even smoking it too long. It's cigars.

Speaker 2:

I'm a big cigar guy. Yeah. Like Koshana. Y'all ain't smoke a cigar on this show.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. I smoked Will.

Speaker 2:

Oh, you did? I was watching that. I did. Yeah. Did.

Speaker 1:

First one

Speaker 3:

I had,

Speaker 1:

like, ten

Speaker 2:

years Don't don't say that on ear. You don't know how

Speaker 3:

to wear it. Of us are built different. So

Speaker 2:

It's me and I will never mind.

Speaker 1:

We're we're only ten minutes in. Give him another ten minutes. There's never mind.

Speaker 2:

They're gonna disappear, and he's just gonna let him I'm not saying that story over. It's very No.

Speaker 3:

You're good. You're You're I'm not.

Speaker 2:

My bad.

Speaker 3:

Get serious. Get serious.

Speaker 2:

I'm not I'm being myself, man. I'm not I'm not about to be this this No. As you should.

Speaker 3:

As you I mean, coach John roasted the both of us.

Speaker 2:

Oh, no.

Speaker 3:

Oh, yeah.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. I got the light end of the stick. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

You got a heavy boy.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. I'm I'm no I'm no stranger to roast, but it's funny we talk a lot about Brady on this road. I'd like, being an athlete, but with the real athletes are you and Simon.

Speaker 2:

For a weird the ideal male body.

Speaker 3:

We should've yeah. The peak physique, dude. Alright. So can we go through a little bit of a journey of, like, like and I say successful in the sense of, like Mhmm. A family man, a hard worker, done the business thing.

Speaker 3:

I, obviously, photography is business. Like Mhmm. You've accomplished. While they may not be on the biggest stages or you can't say you're a Yeah. Entrepreneur or whatever, but, like, you're living the dream.

Speaker 3:

Like, in my in my eyes, like, like, the same as we are. Like, this is the dream. Like, we're doing what we love with who we love. We have wives and children that love us and and run up to us and give us hugs when we we come home every day.

Speaker 2:

Mhmm.

Speaker 3:

I would like to just go through the journey if we could of, little Kurt. I mean, I did Millie Mill posted a picture of them back in the day. Like, she looks the same as as the high school pictures. Yeah. And Kurt just like, fell off.

Speaker 3:

I don't know what happened.

Speaker 2:

I'm a truck driver.

Speaker 3:

And and I'm like, yeah. What happened? He's like, yeah. Million Mill is a

Speaker 2:

truck driver, bro. My God.

Speaker 3:

All right. So like, can you just bring us to the upbringing? Like, was it? And again, you're one of the best people I know. Like, not even not even.

Speaker 2:

Thank you, man. I

Speaker 3:

don't like to gas you up too much, but to be serious, you're a great guy. Great friend. In my opinion, great husband, father, whatever. Was it was the path to becoming that an easy one or better from your perspective, was it better than most? Like, can you take us through the journey of, like, how you become that person and how you even desire to be that person?

Speaker 3:

You know what I mean?

Speaker 2:

I have the typical, and I say typical because it's so common, inner city upbringing African American story for the most part. And and of the nineties at least. Right? So to put in perspective, everybody on my block was raised by their mother or their grandmother. There was one person who had their real dad.

Speaker 2:

Everybody else either had stepfathers or no fathers. And and I'm saying that just to let you know that that is typical. Right?

Speaker 3:

That's real. That's the

Speaker 2:

realest way I can put it. Like I'm from not too far from 20 Fifth in Allegheny's where I grew up. Eventually we moved to Oxford Circle. But I had the difference between my story and maybe some others is either the fact that I had thriving parents that tried and wanted better, knew better. My mom grew up in Mountain Area.

Speaker 2:

Patty LaBelle was literally grew up on my mom's block. She's from Philomena Street. That's right. Yep. Patty LaBelle had a big house on the corner.

Speaker 2:

My mom said she had so many toys. We would try to go in her yard. Really? Yep. Philomena Street.

Speaker 2:

Patty LaBelle from like Mount Airy uptown area somewhere. But my mom actually grew up like middle class. Her father was my grandfather passed away, got rest his soul, was a correctional officer. And her stepfather, who she lived with with my grandma, was a police officer. So they grew up very middle class in a thriving community.

Speaker 2:

Sure. So my mom knew better. Right? She's she's seen better. Right?

Speaker 2:

She just just when she began her own life, it took its course and you end up where you end up. Yeah. But where my memory starts, like, it's like 1994 or something like that. Ninety four, ninety five. We live in North Philly.

Speaker 2:

I got my mom. I got my brothers. And I got my stepdad who I don't I don't even call him stepdad. I'm saying that for a purpose of understanding. But I have my stepdad who is the father figure of my life, and that's where life is.

Speaker 2:

So we're we're a regular we're reg we're I say regular because that's that's common. We're a regular family on this block and

Speaker 1:

Yep.

Speaker 2:

Whatever. So but when it comes to like the lessons, the learning, like I'm just watching at this point, like I'm growing up. And when I say I can name things, but again, they're they're not they're not unique. They're normal. I'm talking about like shootouts and all that stuff.

Speaker 2:

Like it's normal in certain neighborhoods. It's normal. Drugs, roaches, like it's poverty. We're we're in poverty where I start. But it doesn't feel like it.

Speaker 2:

My mom has never been someone who makes it feel like we are down and out. Christmas was always lit. Right? You know, we ate dollar hoagies and all, you know what mean? Like we weren't the bummiest of bum kids or whatever.

Speaker 2:

We had the typical upbringing. You know what mean? So I don't glorify it. I don't care to whatever. I think if you know, you know, if you don't, maybe it's just a different side of America that or whatever that you can understand.

Speaker 2:

But that's where it kind of begins. I'm growing up there, but I'm watching my parents thrive. I watched my mom go from working at Elaine's bar, Pike Street bar, boom. Now she's working at Coastal Gas Station, boom. Now she's at Terminix.

Speaker 2:

Boom. Now she's at Comcast. I watched my dad go from working Sneaker Stadium, y'all probably remember that, it's back in the nineties, Sneaker Stadium to somewhere else, then boom, he's working at St. Joe's University as a security guard, right? So, I'm watching them thrive, I'm watching them work, I'm watching them making the best of what they, you know, got.

Speaker 2:

I'm learning people thriving, you know what mean? You're just watching. Yeah, Moving to you slowly. Growing. Surely, surely, surely, I had three brothers, had a stepbrother, used to come around a lot.

Speaker 2:

He lived in Vegas now, we don't got the best relationship like we used to, but it's my brother, you know what mean? We grew up like that. Yep. My biological father, like I he was a street guy. Street guy, committed an offense, went to jail, murder.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. I don't have my dad from '92 to '99. But, the person I look like, laugh like, walk like, talk like, but I got my grandmother, his mother. And, she really bridged the gap for us to like stay connected. So, that's who was taking us up to the prisons and doing all that stuff.

Speaker 2:

Right. But either way, that's my Was your

Speaker 1:

grandmother in your home with you?

Speaker 2:

My grandmother lived, no, she lived Stanton Avenue. Not too far away, but she lived on Stanton Avenue. Okay. And that's the reality. I got my grandparents.

Speaker 2:

I got my parents. To me, life is fine. Like, because you're looking around when you when you're in a situation like that, like, everybody's life kind of looks the same. Everybody looks everybody where's your dad? Or where's your locked up?

Speaker 2:

Dead? It's it's the same story. So it's nothing sometimes when I see things me and John was just talking about this last night, it's like, it's not that we cold or it's not that whatever, it's just like, I know real. I was like, some of the stuff you see people going through, it's not real. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Like, it's not nothing to really be bent out of shape. Like, your life wasn't that bad. You know what I mean? But and my and I'm not saying mine was either. I don't even like looking at as a crutch because I look at where I am now, I was like, you know what?

Speaker 2:

If I can do it, others can do it. But I also don't believe that if I can do it, everybody can do it. I think statistics and numbers are a thing. They're real, and everybody won't make it. That's the reality of like poverty in certain situations.

Speaker 2:

Not everybody will make it. That's why you have to separate yourself from the everybody. Yeah. You know what mean? You gotta do something different.

Speaker 2:

You want something different, do something different, right? Yeah. Yeah, for So, that's kind of where it kind of begins. But again, back to it, thriving, moving on up slowly but surely, jobs are getting better, commitments are getting better. And, I think one day, I'll never forget my mom came home.

Speaker 2:

My mom came home and the car battery got stolen for the last time and she was out on the block loud. We lived like, North Philly is like row home. So it's like every house is connected all the way down the street. And she was like, she on the block, Treba. She opened up, she go to start the car, can't figure it out.

Speaker 2:

And she like, that's it. Had enough of this.

Speaker 1:

She was

Speaker 2:

like, a year for this day, I'm out of here. Right? And literally, a year from that day, one day we woke up, my mom was just like, we moving. We're leaving. Moving up to Oxford Circle.

Speaker 2:

When I moved to that block, it was nothing but the fire marshal living on our block, Mr. Gardner.

Speaker 1:

North East.

Speaker 2:

Greater north it was the Great Northeast. And I couldn't well, like, we got up there. It was it was just blue collar. Septibus, miss Brandy, fire marshal, miss Dougherty, three other police officers. It was just thriving middle class people.

Speaker 3:

You're like, we're rich.

Speaker 2:

53,000 at house calls at that time. Right? It

Speaker 3:

was shit rich.

Speaker 2:

My mom had just got a new car right after we moved in. Like, it was like, I was like, yo, we really like out

Speaker 1:

there. We we It's so, crazy. We had I was at Castor And Erie. Yeah. So I lived there for up until third grade, and we had the same moment where our car got broken into three times for one week.

Speaker 1:

And I remember my my mom and my dad saying, that's it.

Speaker 2:

We out here, right?

Speaker 1:

We're out. Like, that's it. We're out. Like, it can't

Speaker 2:

It's a catalyst moment for you sometimes. That's it. Yep.

Speaker 1:

You know? And I I remember that moment and thinking, like, wait. Like, I was still getting beat up on the way to school, but still, like, it was kinda, like, my thing. Like Yeah. Picoli was around the corner, like, the rec center and everything.

Speaker 1:

And I I remember that moment, man. It was the same type of thing. We're out of here. Then shortly later, you know, a year later or so, we were out. And same thing, great Northeast.

Speaker 2:

Great Northeast, man. Because people don't know, man. We live in Philly. Like, when you live anywhere lower than Adams In The Boulevard, at least back in that time, man, you come up there to go to like Old Country Buffet. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. Was like a that was like it. You know what I mean?

Speaker 1:

It felt like a different world.

Speaker 2:

It did, bro. It did. All the shops, like Walmart was up there, Home Depot was up there. It was like, it was great, you know? So it was just, that's part of my wanting better.

Speaker 2:

Get to know better, seeing better, seeing my parents do better is like, maybe they couldn't take us all the way to the top, but they showed us like, if you work hard for it, if you, you know, dedicate yourself to that drive and that mission, like you can get there even if it seems realistic or not.

Speaker 1:

So,

Speaker 2:

that's part of the part that begins to make me. Summerdale, moved to Summerdale, Great. Everything goes well. I think the real start of grind, grit, get into it, it's like we graduate. And we've known since we were younger that like when we graduate, and this is this, again, this is nothing special.

Speaker 2:

This is very typical when especially like minorities or whatever. A lot of people get put out at like 18, man. 18, you got to go figure it out. You got to get out there and get to it. It seems like a I don't necessarily agree anymore because my life, my children's life is different.

Speaker 2:

But, the way that we grew up, it's like, you're either going be a statistic like a lot of other people who just grew, did nothing, lived at home with the parents and stuff like that, did nothing. Or it's like for us, it was like, yo, you gotta get out there. You have to start getting

Speaker 1:

to it. It's time.

Speaker 2:

Right? You gotta start getting to it. So I I even going back to playing football, man, I was I I remember I was playing football, doing well. I remember I got nominated for the all pub game and they was like, yo, you got all pub, this and blah, blah. I like, gonna play?

Speaker 2:

I said, I said, I gotta work. I'm working at Mickey D's. I gotta flip these burgers, baby. I can't take no day off from work. You know what I mean?

Speaker 2:

So I was like, I work. Get, you know, I move out in September. I'm, you know, I got to Now granted, it wasn't like homeless. It was where we lived in North Philly. My mom never got rid of that house.

Speaker 2:

And it was either you go to, which when I said my dad worked for St. Joe's, when he worked there for five years, we were actually able to go to St. Joe's University for free. But this is where it becomes a little whatever. You can have that opportunity, but if you're not prepared for opportunity, you won't be able to capitalize off of it.

Speaker 2:

Right? So even though three of my brothers, we all could have went to St. Joe's University for free. My dad wanted to be a state trooper. He actually sacrificed being a taking that

Speaker 1:

job to

Speaker 2:

secure our future. And sometimes I feel bad about it because like none of us went to college. It wasn't until one of my great uncles told one of my brothers, college isn't for everybody. He went to college. My my mom's side of the family, all all college.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Like every I'm talking about they are brilliant minds. Like my brilliant minds. Some of you may even know, I'm not even gonna drop their names. But brilliant minds on their side. And you may feel like college is like the way, but I agree with, because I talk to people who went to college.

Speaker 2:

Some people tell you like college is not it for everybody, depends on what you want to You know what mean? We were kind of like thinking like we were going to go to college and this and that. But then as you go through high school, I'm not even good at high school. Yeah. You know what mean?

Speaker 1:

You want

Speaker 2:

to cut in and like you want to say something?

Speaker 3:

I was going to say like, we were talking about that on the last episode with Pat Brady, but I, if I didn't have the parents I had, I would have not passed college. I would never finish college.

Speaker 1:

I tried to I tried to quit my first year.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. Like you had no drive for it, right?

Speaker 3:

I literally

Speaker 1:

I had I had the opportunity to take a job and like, I was kind of so my parents didn't push me out at 18. Mhmm. But my parents made sure that I was working. Working. Yeah.

Speaker 1:

I remember 11, 12 years old, like them being like, hey, look, like it's time to get a job. Mhmm. Like, had the opportunity to work in directory, actually answering phones at my parish. And they were like, you got a job now. And I'm thinking to myself, like, what?

Speaker 1:

Like, I gotta like, I always worked hard in school and stuff, but I had different vision. It's like, oh, do well in school, then you go to college, you do well. No. They had me working. You know what I mean?

Speaker 1:

Yeah. And they didn't push me out, but they had me working.

Speaker 3:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

So, you know, once I got to college, I was like,

Speaker 2:

this is Biggest waste of money I ever had.

Speaker 1:

I'm like, why am I doing this? And I tried to quit. My mom kept me in. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Thankfully. It it can be I feel like it can be of use if you can get it done and have it just on the back burner or in your back pocket, just in case it's something that you need to get to, great. Yeah. Do I think if you like I feel like my view is this, if it's not like lawyer, doctor, something. Don't go to be sports medicine or or was it

Speaker 3:

Sports management?

Speaker 2:

Not management, but like.

Speaker 3:

Well, that's what my wife, I mean,

Speaker 2:

it was like, there's like certain communications and stuff like, don't do something else. You're something generic. Million billion other people have too. Like, you're not, go do something super unique. That's how, that's what I would tell my kids.

Speaker 2:

You wanna go to college? Make sure you go for something where the, where the, the class is so small, not class, but the group of people that exist that are also You're coming

Speaker 1:

out with some kind of specialty.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, man. Yeah. Yep. Where it's gonna pay well or whatever. But like I said, that wasn't never in my mind.

Speaker 2:

Like it was an option, but I was like, again, I was like, I'm a jock. I'm begging for grades and Sure. Teachers are passing me for smokes and stuff. So I was like, yo, I was like, I'm not going to college. Like, I didn't even take the SAT in school.

Speaker 2:

Just and there was no my parents didn't go to college. They created the opportunity, but like, again, I had nobody really Sure. Like my mom is focused on like, you know, keeping us afloat and my dad focused on keeping us afloat in that neighborhood that we're in. You know, their jobs and

Speaker 1:

their jobs Well, they've they were like moving up. If you look at it like a ladder, like you said, they're, like, moving up rungs. Like Mhmm. You know, you take your eye off the top, you slide down those rungs. Yep.

Speaker 1:

So they're trying to just keep you on that rung.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. So home homework wasn't getting checked, report cards was coming in, like, every five months. You know mean?

Speaker 3:

I will say too, I mean, to you're one of the only people I know that's like married to their high school sweetheart. Like that's like

Speaker 2:

It's a it's it's it's a it's not common.

Speaker 3:

I don't It's

Speaker 2:

very some people can't even do relationships, but I'm getting to that. It's funny because like I said, when we moved when I moved out, like that's where my journey kind of begins.

Speaker 1:

So did you go so you went back to the

Speaker 2:

house that I grew up in because my parents was like, well, you know, you can't live here for free, but what we can do is you go live there. And we had a dirt cheap ramp. It was like Yeah. $200.

Speaker 1:

Just you or did

Speaker 2:

Me and Camilla Camilla came with me. Camilla came with Really? Yep. Yep. I'm not gonna go into her business, but Cardinal Sin.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. So she came with

Speaker 2:

Cardinal Sin. Cardinal Sin. You don't leave a house in her Her

Speaker 3:

parents were thrilled.

Speaker 2:

Cardinal Sin, bro. I don't wanna put, she could share her story one

Speaker 3:

day. She's

Speaker 2:

on the It was never supposed to be done, but I think her thing at the time was just like long distance ain't gonna work. It's either we in or we out. And like, there's nothing from that point that exists within me, like, without my wife. Like, my wife is like, that's my partner in crime. Everything I do, all my success.

Speaker 2:

I don't have success without my wife. I don't have Yeah. And, I'm not saying like I'm not somebody. What I'm saying is every step from that step that we took right there is together. It's together.

Speaker 2:

Everything we do. The jobs we took, the roles we took. Is a team. Like I had a team from there. Like I had a teammate.

Speaker 2:

Sure. And that made the journey, It's not that it made it easy, but it just I don't know how to explain that one. It just made

Speaker 3:

it. I say that to Amanda all the time. It's like, I cannot accomplish the things I've accomplished without you. Yeah. Like you give me that, like that foundation.

Speaker 3:

Like I feel like that about a lot of the successful men and entrepreneurs. I mean, they have a solid

Speaker 2:

You could try to look as macho as you want up here. You know what mean? Most of us, most successful men probably have a very good backbone as a wife or a partner by their side, whatever. But they may not always shine the light on it or whatever, but I'm proud of my wife. You know what mean?

Speaker 1:

Because it goes back to what we were talking about in the last episode of community too. It's no different. It's the same thing. You know, you had a community of one with you at the time. You know, it was you two and that's that.

Speaker 3:

And I'm forever grateful for that too. Like, not everyone, not every man gets that.

Speaker 1:

Oh, yeah. No.

Speaker 2:

I know, brother. Because I I look and I will say for anybody, like I said, even the people that I talk to now, I'm just like, that's one of the most important decisions you can make in your life. Who you choose to get down with, you know what I mean? And really go through life with. It's gonna change everything about that journey.

Speaker 2:

If you marry a liability, it's gonna be a pull.

Speaker 3:

It's gonna

Speaker 2:

be an extra weight. You know what mean? If you married whatever or marry or whatever y'all do these days, I'm a married guy. Y'all married Gus. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

You know what mean? With a whole bunch of other stuff going on out here. Yeah.

Speaker 1:

We know you're speaking to.

Speaker 2:

But yeah, that's one of the most important decisions you'll ever make in your life between the marriage and then between the children. Because it's a it's it changes. Oh, yeah. Being with somebody, you could, you know, you could still get out of that. The children change.

Speaker 2:

You know what mean? So that's a whole another conversation, but one of the most important things you can make in your life, like who you just choose to have children with and who you choose to marry. So really, really think long and hard on that before you just do something reckless and end up with somebody that, you know what I mean? That could

Speaker 3:

change I mean, the fact that you guys decided that at 18 is like crazy because I I mean, you guys grew up fast, obviously. I

Speaker 1:

was You you obviously graduated together and everything.

Speaker 2:

We graduated. She went to school. She went to Oh, really? College. She she kept she kept the traditions of what she should do with her cultures and and all that stuff.

Speaker 2:

Like, it's literally in the culture. Like, you go to school.

Speaker 3:

You know mean? Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

So she went to school and I jumped right in the working field, man. I jumped my first job. We were at Mickey D's together, me and my wife. Yeah. I laugh at it, but I'm so proud of it, man.

Speaker 2:

Sometimes I go to Mickey D's.

Speaker 3:

Should man. That's awesome. You don't go there. Not anymore.

Speaker 2:

Not anymore. Look. I slipped up. Look. Look.

Speaker 2:

No. No. Haven't been there. Can you have a way too much? Can you have When I used to go to Mickey D's more more than often, if I'm going to Mickey D's and I, see somebody or, like, dude, like, you're not having a good day, I'd wanting to tell them so bad.

Speaker 2:

Like, yo, it get greater later, dog. It get greater later. Just you being in here at that age when you could be doing so much more at 16, 17. Yep. Imagine I've been working at McDonald's since tenth grade.

Speaker 2:

My first job started in tenth grade, really thirteen, thirteen this summer going into a it wasn't tenth grade. I'm sorry. Was ninth grade. Fatim Brown got me my first job with Ms. Tracy.

Speaker 2:

Tracy Drew. I remember everybody on my journey too, man.

Speaker 3:

I'm them You're dropping names. I'm like,

Speaker 2:

damn, drop them off. Fatim Brown. He was the one who told me like, yeah, bro, she just hired me. Like, just ax her. With the ax her, Me, screw the job.

Speaker 2:

That's free Mickey D's every day. In high school, yeah.

Speaker 1:

I can work, I get her money, and I can eat.

Speaker 2:

Bro, back then they used to get used to get whatever you wanted for lunch. So you could get whatever you wanted. Now they kept it out.

Speaker 3:

McDonald's from, I do believe

Speaker 1:

They went back through the they went back through the registrars, dude. And they were like, man, this Kurt guy

Speaker 2:

hurt us. Crushing hurt. Gotta

Speaker 1:

change this. We gotta put a cap in place. This guy hurt us.

Speaker 3:

Yo. Kurt's Kurt's former Mickey D's, like, out of business now.

Speaker 2:

That's the one on Red Lion. Red Lion and Bluebird. Yeah. Red Lion and up.

Speaker 3:

That's a They're thriving.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, man. But, you know what mean? That that we that's where we started. So you

Speaker 3:

lived in North Philly and then moved

Speaker 2:

Up to Oxford?

Speaker 3:

Worked worked up at Mhmm. The red line, and you drive back down North Philly to live?

Speaker 2:

No. No. No. Yeah. They're in there.

Speaker 2:

So I oh, wait. And when I was living in Summerville, Oxford Circle area, I was working at McDonald's in high school.

Speaker 3:

Graduated high school.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. Yeah. Then after high school, I became an EMT. Oh, So I became an EMT. So we both became EMT.

Speaker 2:

She was EMT first.

Speaker 3:

Your last day in high school, you stopped at Mickey D's?

Speaker 2:

No. I think I worked like another year.

Speaker 3:

Okay. Okay.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. Worked like another year. And then, I'm sorry, did become an EMT. By 19 years old, I'm in a warehouse. I'm in a warehouse.

Speaker 2:

Like I'm the youngest kid in a warehouse. It's nothing but old dudes who was locked up, up Gradersford. And it's just like, I'm the youngest guy in this warehouse throwing cases at Cedar Farms. Yeah. So, it never since ninth grade, which I always tell people like, I've been, that's why we could joke about how my body feels tired.

Speaker 2:

I've been working hard since ninth In the summer times, again, my uncle Will, God rest his soul, but that's where my work ethic comes from. I remember my brother would tell me, he was like, you may not be talented in a lot of things, but one thing you have is legendary hustle. Between my dad being a street dude, which you can learn, like I said, you can learn something from everything, even the fools. Back in middle school, I'm selling candy. My dad used to give me oils to sell, Muslim oils and stuff like So, I'm selling oils.

Speaker 2:

Get to high school, like, I can't remember we were selling shirts. He always said like, this is America, you gotta sell something. You know what saying? He's not in the game no more. But, even when he came home, it didn't stop.

Speaker 2:

Like, can laugh at them dudes, whatever, but one thing they don't do is they don't work for people. My dad was a cab driver and on the side, he a typical Philly Aki boy. Like he got it out back in the day when it was DVDs, whatever. He decided to buy print machines and make shirts, everything.

Speaker 3:

Hustle. When it is a three way call with me, John, and Kurt, the first time the first time we had, like, coach John goes like, yo, Aki. Yeah. And I'm like, what half the time,

Speaker 2:

when it's

Speaker 3:

on those calls, they they they do talk about make fun of me and and make me realize, hey. I'm not Straight. Yeah. Straight. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

They're like, yo, Aki.

Speaker 3:

I'm like I'm like, what's up? I'm like, what's that? Like, I think he's like calling me a name. Yeah. So now I changed our group text to to Aki.

Speaker 2:

Aki is just like Muslim way to say brother. Yeah. Aki. When my dad

Speaker 3:

So I had to Google it.

Speaker 1:

So I had so I grew up in Philly, but Yeah. I didn't I didn't have really, like, how how do I even say this? Like any black excellence around me until

Speaker 2:

I wasn't invited to the cookout, Until

Speaker 1:

until hold on. Until I started working in a moving company.

Speaker 2:

Okay.

Speaker 3:

Because my

Speaker 1:

uncle got me a job at a moving company, one of the best jobs ever. Right? And on that truck, I worked with white dudes, black dudes, Muslim dudes, Catholics, alcoholics, sober dudes.

Speaker 2:

Mhmm.

Speaker 1:

You know, Christians, Dude, I worked with everybody.

Speaker 2:

That's great,

Speaker 1:

though. One of the most amazing times of my life. And that's where so, like, even when coach Sean was on, like, there was a couple instances where you're like, wow. What's going on here? Like, a lot of Yeah.

Speaker 1:

Like, what I know Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. From your like shoulders with other people just learning from the moving truck.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, man. I always said that. So I

Speaker 1:

had a I had, like, a big brother who lived off of, Stanton Ave.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

And he was way out Cliff Cliff West. Shout out Cliff West. He he used to like, he he called me he just called me Aki. He used to take me to, the, fuck, man. What's on, Stanton there?

Speaker 1:

I guess that's that's not Cheltenham Mall, is it?

Speaker 2:

It's Cheltenham Mall down that's not Stanton, but it's Cheltenham Mall not too far from

Speaker 3:

there.

Speaker 1:

Like, off Owl Owl Owl and Stanton?

Speaker 2:

Not sure. But the the only mall in that area is Yeah. Sheltenham, and then you got, the the Cedarbrook.

Speaker 1:

He used to take me in there.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. And he used to This is popcorn and

Speaker 1:

missus Fields? This is my and we used to go yeah. We used buy shoes, sneakers and shit. And he used to like, this is my nephew. And he used to introduce me to everybody.

Speaker 1:

Dude, it was amazing. It was one of the most amazing times of my life. So that's how I know what Aki is.

Speaker 3:

It's funny. A lot of times I say, like, Amanda Parker doesn't know what it's like. Like, girl, like, I grew up at Mayfair. Like, like, that was fucking Yeah. Like The way it went.

Speaker 3:

Now? Yeah. Now. But, like, you think it's, like, compared to where Amanda grew up, it's, like, different.

Speaker 2:

Where she from?

Speaker 3:

Like, Pine Valley.

Speaker 2:

Like Okay. Cool. Alright.

Speaker 3:

So but it's, like, I tell her stories of my, like, not hard, but, like, my version of life. And she's like, oh my god. Like, that's way different than what I did. Right. Mhmm.

Speaker 3:

And then I we sit on this podcast and be like, god, and and it's like, damn, I fucking, I had way different. Like I was, I was entitled.

Speaker 2:

And spoiled. That's the thing. I said, everybody has a story. It doesn't matter how rough mine was. Like you may, like I said, I know personally, I don't know if you shared it or not, but whatever, you know, I'm very transparent, but everybody has a rough.

Speaker 2:

I got all my parents. You know what I'm saying? So it's just like, imagine going through life like that.

Speaker 3:

True.

Speaker 2:

You know what mean? Where it's just like, well, yeah, you had that rough look. Lost my pop. Yep. Like I can't relate.

Speaker 2:

I can almost relate to that. Like I always share that story with you, but

Speaker 3:

it

Speaker 2:

doesn't mean like in some way everybody has a story. You know I'm saying? So everybody has somebody always

Speaker 3:

has a hard At one point, made fair was like a challenging Yeah. Like It's all I

Speaker 2:

got these.

Speaker 3:

It's all real.

Speaker 2:

Mayfair, Mayfair on the map now. It's looking bad in Mayfair. I have to

Speaker 3:

up once or twice, and it's like Hey.

Speaker 1:

I mean, it's all it's all relative, man. Yeah. Really, I think what what matters is, us all telling our stories from not from a place of, like, victimhood Yeah. But from a place of, like, communicating

Speaker 3:

that honey like, the honeymoon phase?

Speaker 2:

Quit you about the eggs because I feel like you

Speaker 3:

about the

Speaker 2:

eggs before I'm gone.

Speaker 3:

No. Fuck.

Speaker 1:

Or No. No. Again, I like this honeymoon thread that you're wearing. So you're

Speaker 3:

in your honeymoon phase. Right?

Speaker 2:

Yes. Yeah.

Speaker 3:

And then you're working at Mickey D's, then you you you move on up to to the to the EMT. So then the

Speaker 2:

warehouse I go to the warehouse.

Speaker 1:

But you gotta go to school to be at an EMT. Right?

Speaker 3:

So it was Mickey D's.

Speaker 2:

I'm not an EMT yet. I go to the warehouse. I'm I'm working at, this dude, Anthony, whatever, Greek guy, I forgot his name, Anthony. Went high school together.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

I've he came to the house one day and I was telling him asking about where he works. He works at Place Cedar Farms up here in Southampton Road.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

And he was like I was like, hey. You know what it dude, are they ever hiring? This and that. And he was like, yeah. I was like, what did he make?

Speaker 2:

He was like, $10. I said, $10? Making $7.15 at $6.50. 6 50 is minimum wage at the time. I'm like, dollars?

Speaker 2:

Yeah. Know what saying? I'm doing the numbers in my head.

Speaker 1:

Plus probably benefits.

Speaker 2:

Was like, benefits, 10. It was But he was like, it's overnight. I never worked overnight. And I didn't have a car yet or whatever. So I'm like $10.

Speaker 2:

I was like, bro, count me in. I walked there.

Speaker 1:

Count me in.

Speaker 2:

Walked there. Right. Count me in. So I talked to this dude, Mike. I go up there and this first time working for Greeks, man.

Speaker 2:

You never worked for Greek people, you don't know oppression, boy. Because all you hear is my locker, my locker. Don't even know if that's a bad word. It definitely was bad. This my locker.

Speaker 2:

This my locker. Stay in there running that joint crazy. You know? So I'm up at I'm up at I get in. I'm up at Cedar Farms working overnight, but still thriving.

Speaker 2:

I just jumped from $10.10 doll I mean, $6.50 to $10. I mean, that's

Speaker 1:

a that's a big come up for

Speaker 2:

where you're 40 hours a week? Yep. Do you

Speaker 1:

have benefits at McDonald's? Heck no. McDonald's can put

Speaker 2:

all the stuff they want on that wall, school program, this and that. Yeah. They running you for forty hours. And you ain't gonna have time to do none of that. No.

Speaker 2:

No. Think about it. If you had benefits McDonald's, but you're making now. Yeah, exactly. You're be making nothing.

Speaker 2:

You're make it like $4 an hour once they take all the stuff out your But in that day, shoot, $2.25 after two weeks was looking pretty good. You get what I'm saying? So did the Mickey D's thing, got up in the warehouse. And I was like, I'm in the real world. Like I didn't choose to go to school.

Speaker 2:

So I'm in the working field now. You know what mean? And you just

Speaker 3:

Do you have any kids yet?

Speaker 2:

I don't have no kids yet. Just me and Millie Mill. She's, she's working at a Walmart at the time. She's she's doing, she went from McDonald's to overnight Yep.

Speaker 1:

She's in, she's going to community college. She's working overnight too. Yep. And she's going to school doing it today.

Speaker 2:

Yep. And I'm

Speaker 3:

that is what you said. Legendary hustle. Like I was, took the words out of my head. I was going to say the next pause, like no one hustles harder than Kurt.

Speaker 2:

I'm I'm grinding. Am.

Speaker 3:

That is the truth. Like like I'm grinding. Behind what you see here, like, the dude probably just, like, worked overnight, didn't sleep, like, got up, like, got his kid ready for school. Like like, the dude literally hustles hard. Yeah.

Speaker 1:

For as long as we've known each other, like, I've known that you had that legendary hustle because I could feel it. Mhmm. And the crazy thing is I've only been in your wife's presence twice, I think. Yeah. Once at the dinner we had, and then once at I think it was Brie's wedding.

Speaker 1:

Mhmm. And I could feel from her too. Like, I I have a I have, like, a radar

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

For, like, hardworking people. Like sermon? I could yeah. Could feel it from her too. Yeah.

Speaker 3:

Also an a one realtor, I will to myself. Shout out. Yeah. Coming from experience.

Speaker 1:

Oh, shout out.

Speaker 2:

She did sell you a house. She

Speaker 3:

did? Yeah. She did. Told my house. Yes.

Speaker 3:

Was it Camilla sells Philly or Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. No. Camilla Camilla Lacheva. Look her

Speaker 1:

up. Better get

Speaker 2:

that right. You're right. We gotta edit this in. Dana edit this in. But, yeah, she she we we

Speaker 1:

So she's working overnight too.

Speaker 2:

She's working overnight. Somewhere in that time we get our first car and it was it was a game changer, man. Because now I can't remember who was dropping off who, I think I was dropping her off.

Speaker 3:

Oh my god.

Speaker 2:

Or she was dropping me up, whatever it was. Then I would get back to her job. I would sleep in the car. She'd get off. My boy would sleep in the car with me because he lived down.

Speaker 2:

We were catching a bus up to Southampton Road. Yeah. It's all the way back Southampton Road. Yep. And he was sleeping the car with me, with me.

Speaker 2:

He was sleeping the car too.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

And then when she get off, we would all drop back down. Yeah.

Speaker 1:

North Philly. Because that's I even by bus, that's a hike.

Speaker 2:

Oh, yes. What is it? Fourteen?

Speaker 1:

I mean, it's straight out of the Boulevard, but it's still

Speaker 3:

a hike.

Speaker 2:

Well, you gotta get to the boulevard first because we only had 20 Fifth and Allegheny. So it's the 60 to sub Yep. The 60 to sub It's a hike, dude. To Margaret or whatever it was. And then we catching the It's hike.

Speaker 2:

The train. You know? I mean, catching the the 14 up there from Frankfurt Terminal or wherever we got it from. Can't remember. I haven't been on something in so long.

Speaker 2:

Couldn't pay me to get on that shit now. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The stories you see on that, he likes

Speaker 1:

Yo. Different than it was back the day. Different than it was back in the day.

Speaker 3:

I cannot

Speaker 2:

imagine. No, I'd rather walk though, but you got Uber, so we good. But doing that, again, moving the needle. So just jumping McDonald's, get to this. Then somewhere she jumps off, becomes an EMT.

Speaker 2:

I'm still doing the warehouse thing. And we're like down here in North Philly, holding it down. Right. And then eventually I go do the EMT thing. So now we're, we're right here EMT ing.

Speaker 2:

With the EMT comes another ability to make another move. And I think that's what it is. As you grow, you gotta keep. Yep. You gotta keep.

Speaker 2:

It's gonna look tougher, it's gonna be harder, but we were down North Philly for like two years together. Yeah. By that time.

Speaker 3:

Oh, it was like, it felt this story felt like

Speaker 2:

five It's making moves. That's why said, it's a quick pop. It to me, it's reflecting like I'm the same way I was watching my parents.

Speaker 1:

Yep.

Speaker 2:

It's the same Same I get that hustle and I get that, you know, just ability to just go, go, go. Like you got to try and just keep moving up slowly but surely. But that's the same thing we're doing. We're just working, working, working. And working, y'all, one thing I will say is like working is enough.

Speaker 2:

Like, like obviously you probably don't want to work all your life for somebody and this and that, blah, blah. It may be your reality and I don't knock nobody, however you get it, you get it. Green is green no matter how you get it. Right? But it's to, it like, if you just work hard, it's enough because I will always tell my boy, Hafoosh, Chubby's Deli, best hoagie in Philadelphia.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. I will always tell Hafoosh, me and Hafoosh would talk at a young age about like, like how we gonna get to it. Like, we don't even know what get to it is, but how are we gonna get to this place we see ourselves, how's a big suburban Tahoe in the front? Like how, and we will always say, I was like, I would say Foose, don't know how we gonna get there, but I said, the hard work gonna pay off. I've been saying that since I was a kid.

Speaker 2:

And it wasn't until I read The Secret, at which I'm pretty sure most of us have read The Secret. John would always tell me, you gotta read The Secret. You gotta read The Secret. You gotta read the secret. I'm like, one day I finally was like, let me lock in with this book real quick.

Speaker 2:

And there was a part in that book where it said, you don't have to know, you don't have to see where you are trying to get to. You just basically have to keep your intentions on it. Keep your intentions on going, like chipping away at just getting to it, basically. Like it was saying, you don't always see the vision. You don't have to, but if you just work hard at it, you know what I'm saying?

Speaker 2:

So that like reassured me where it's just like, that's why I'm making progress between, I couldn't tell you, like my wife used to ask me at a young age, you know, women always so serious. Don't worry, you see yourself in five years.

Speaker 1:

No. You're gonna get out there after day and keep doing it.

Speaker 2:

I don't know. But, you know, and it's crazy part of it is, like I said, your words become you know what mean? Your thoughts become things. And my response will always be, I'd like, I don't know what I'm gonna do in this world, but what I did always see myself doing is taking care of my family. And like I said, their happiness has always been my happiness.

Speaker 2:

Was like, that's not taking care of my family, but it's just like, that's my happiness. Like, whatever I can make work for them, then that's okay with me. I just saw myself working hard and taking care of my family. And what did I become? A damn truck driver.

Speaker 2:

You know what I'm saying? At the end, but I'll get to it real quick how I got there. Again, we're we're back to the story. I know we're jumping all over the video.

Speaker 1:

That's good.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. We we're we're where were we at? We're at Walmart. Two quick things.

Speaker 1:

Two quick things. Never met this legendary hustle thing. I love I've never met someone that has legendary hustle

Speaker 2:

Mhmm.

Speaker 1:

That simultaneously will not hustle. Yeah. You Like, knock somebody's hustle. You know what I'm saying? Like, for example,

Speaker 3:

like He's doing you clap. Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. Like, guys that have your work ethic Yeah. You know, your father, you know, that have that legendary hustle, they will never hate on somebody that's

Speaker 2:

hustle. No.

Speaker 1:

No. Ever. So they have that legendary side, but they will never also they'll never knock

Speaker 2:

somebody else's hustle. For sure. For sure. Yeah. It's it's you you can't it's respect.

Speaker 2:

Yes. It doesn't matter how you get to legally, at least. I don't really agree with illegal Well, yeah. Of course. Of Legally.

Speaker 2:

You know what mean?

Speaker 1:

That's why when I see people out there that are, like, tearing people down, they have legitimate hustles, they're, like, making people better and whatever, and they come on and they're trying to tear people down for the hustle. I'm like I'm like, bro, you don't get it. No. Like, your work ethic does not even like, you can't even comprehend the work ethic here. So, like, this isn't even a conversation.

Speaker 2:

It's enough for everybody to eat out here. It's enough work if you want work, you'll find work. If if that's what you're looking for, you'll you'll find it. You know what mean? So it's just like, it's no excuses, but there's no need to.

Speaker 2:

There's no need to knock what else what somebody else is doing. If you don't know what to say, wish them best wish them the best.

Speaker 3:

You will never be judged, criticized, knocked down by someone out there doing more than you, only less. Mhmm. Yeah. And that's That's

Speaker 1:

for sure. Yeah. So that's the first thing I wanna call out. Second thing, really important. Like, I'm a big planner.

Speaker 1:

Mhmm. And, like, I I like to have a plan, and then, like, I'm big on the how Mhmm. Nowadays. Yeah. But when I was younger to get to this point, like and this is a Les Brown quote.

Speaker 1:

I don't do you guys know who Les Brown is?

Speaker 2:

Yeah. The dude my man. Well, the the famous one he got.

Speaker 1:

He's he's like an o o g motivational speaker, like self development, personal development guy. Mhmm. He Are

Speaker 3:

you Jim

Speaker 1:

At around the same time. He, like, studied Jim Rohn. He's still alive. Oh, yeah. So Les Brown would always say he's got a quote.

Speaker 1:

He says, the how is none of your business.

Speaker 2:

Mhmm.

Speaker 1:

Like, just get up and just do the work that's in front of you. Yeah. Just keep doing the work, and the how will come about. So it's kinda the same conversation you were having with your boy. Like, look, I don't know how I'm gonna get to this this place, and I don't even really know what this place is.

Speaker 1:

Right? Maybe it's a maybe it's a suburban and a house.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 1:

But I know that I'm just gonna keep working. Gonna see the work every day. I'm gonna do the work every day, and the how's gonna start to unfold. Yep. You know I mean?

Speaker 2:

That's it.

Speaker 1:

So there are two things that don't watch Les Brown.

Speaker 2:

It's legendary on Instagram.

Speaker 1:

Les Brown.

Speaker 2:

I will not quit until I until I win whatever it was.

Speaker 1:

He's got dad. He's got, make know your vitamin. Okay. But he's got a really crazy story, man. He was a DJ.

Speaker 1:

Okay. He was like a disc jockey. I believe it was in Florida. And the story of how he got his first on air gig is so wild. Yeah.

Speaker 1:

He like harassed the guy that owned the radio station for like a solid year. It could have been maybe three years. I don't know. One day, the disc jockey calls out sick. Mhmm.

Speaker 1:

And it just happened to be one of the days that he was harassing this guy again. Mhmm. The guy got so frustrated with him. He was like, you know what? Fine.

Speaker 1:

Come in. Yeah. I'll give you twenty minutes on the mic, blah blah blah blah. Les was, like, outside the studio at the time. He came in, and he had been rehearsing

Speaker 2:

Wow.

Speaker 1:

What he was gonna do. And this is back in the day when, like, the DJ Yeah. Yeah. The disc jockeys, when they took the mic, it was more like spoken word. Yeah.

Speaker 1:

You know? So he was had been rehearsing for so long. He got on, and he lit it on fire. And then that was the start of his his big thing. Les Brown, look him yeah.

Speaker 1:

Look him up. But he he always he says the howl is none of your business. I always I always felt that was powerful. It didn't really resonate with me.

Speaker 2:

Sometimes things don't if you're not at that level, like,

Speaker 1:

EMT. Exactly. Sometimes started to Yeah. And I looked you know, hindsight, you look in the rearview, you're like, Yeah. That made sense actually because I did that.

Speaker 1:

You know? But so back to the back to the story. EMT come up.

Speaker 2:

Oh, man. We we she jumps off. She becomes an EMT. Eventually, I jump off. I become an EMT.

Speaker 2:

Now it's like, oh, we a power couple at this time. We're just like, yo, we we we can get up on Were you on the boat? Were you

Speaker 1:

on the both on the same bus? Were you driving and shit?

Speaker 2:

I yo. You know, like, it's weird you would think because you're talking to somebody that's 35, and you ask about something that when he was 22, and they'd like, I don't even I don't even remember. Was that now we're at that age where it's like, damn. What was that? I gotta

Speaker 1:

access that.

Speaker 2:

I gotta access it.

Speaker 3:

That'd be a bad ass part of the story though, you guys are like, power

Speaker 1:

Same company. Same same company. No. No.

Speaker 2:

She was at Patriot. I was at this company called AmeriQuest.

Speaker 1:

Okay. You were on the

Speaker 2:

same I went to EMT school. She was already EMT ing. Yep. And jump out of EMT school. I'm calling places.

Speaker 2:

Can't find nothing. One day I saw this nice truck. It was nice. I was like, no way they hire me, but let me try. Right?

Speaker 2:

Yeah. Yeah. Called the number on the side. This lady Joanne picked up and I know I'm dropping, I'm dropping. You know why I drop Because it matters.

Speaker 1:

It does.

Speaker 2:

Because it,

Speaker 3:

because it, it, I'm like, oh yeah. I'm like faulty for dropping. It's like, how do you know the person picked

Speaker 2:

up names? Because I don't, because every, the same way I said to y'all earlier, every interaction I had with people, it's not that it's just, I wanted to be memorable to them, but I remember I'm grateful. You get what saying? Like, I'm I'm appreciative. Like, I don't Yeah.

Speaker 2:

I I appreciate everybody who helps me.

Speaker 3:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

You get I'm saying? Like like, I appreciate all my friends. I appreciate every I appreciate everything. Yeah. Everything, bro.

Speaker 2:

Like, I can't.

Speaker 3:

I agree.

Speaker 2:

I don't know. Like I, I just I'm grateful, bro. Like that's that's shit. That's why I said, you don't have to explain if you want to to me. You, I already know.

Speaker 2:

I know what the vibe is. I know what type of people. So you don't have to teach me. I already know because when you cut from a certain cloth, it's like, I get the type of cloth you cut from. That's why we still friends to the day.

Speaker 2:

Exactly. Because if we didn't align, I would would you say you got the biggest axe in the game? Mine's bigger. You know

Speaker 3:

I'm saying?

Speaker 2:

So that's how I get down. Whereas like the people that you see me with is like, I'm grateful for them. If if I'm not grateful for it, they're probably not with me anymore. So it was like in all things, grateful,

Speaker 3:

you know? Can you explain the biggest acts in the game thing, but just for

Speaker 2:

That that that mean when it's time to use it, I put it to use. It's not big for nothing. You know what I'm saying? Like when it's time to cut something off, like don't get it twisted. Like I said, I got, I got wisdom, but a lot of my wisdom comes from a Christian mother.

Speaker 2:

Know I mean? A lot of times when I'm talking to you, know you may not be whatever not to go into it, but just because something may not be for you doesn't mean it's not something good there that you can be useful for you. So Yeah. You don't have to be religious to understand that a scripture is good. You know what I'm saying?

Speaker 2:

So it's like sometimes where I'm giving you stuff like that, but it's like where every good and perfect thing comes from above or, you know, every bad fruit will be chopped down and thrown into the, like that's just like sometimes you gotta, or circumcising your heart and it's things in there that could work in real life, whether you believe in it or not. So when it comes to like making adjustments and cutting things off that aren't good for you, it's just, it comes with maturity. Like I said, I always go back to high school. Think about me French way out of high school. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

I had a big squad.

Speaker 3:

Right? I

Speaker 2:

had, I'm talking about we 20 deep. I remember one day my older brother, a couple years older than me, he's already through high school. He's probably just out or at the, yeah, he's like just out of high school, two years out high school, whatever. And he told me, he was like, yo, he said, all them boys you wet? He said, you gonna be lucky if you got, I think at the time he said, lucky if you have five more than likely you probably going to have three.

Speaker 2:

I'm down to zero.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

I'm down to maybe, I talked to maybe one ball that we went to middle school with my man, Tim. But other than that, it's a it's a sad reality that it's just like the it's just wasted time. Some relationships are so.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Not needed. You know what I mean? And they're not beneficial that. Yep. You know

Speaker 1:

I mean? So That's when the ax comes out.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. Gotta do what you gotta do because it's not helping you. If you hanging onto it, then it's not helping you, it's hurting you, you know?

Speaker 1:

One thing that you said that resonated with me was, and this is something I shared with Drew recently, growing up, like, I grew up Catholic, and, like, I worked in the rectory. I was an alderserver. I was almost a deacon. Like Catholic church hard, man.

Speaker 2:

I went there one day, people kept standing up, saying stuff, responding.

Speaker 1:

Was like, yeah. Was It's a little different. Yeah. It's little different.

Speaker 3:

I love that way about went to a Shiva once. Yeah. Like, Jewish people, that shit's great. You ever go to a Shiva? Said Shiva?

Speaker 1:

Said Shiva. Yeah.

Speaker 3:

But for Jewish

Speaker 2:

I grew Baptist. Like Baptist.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. But K. Millie Mill is Jewish. Right?

Speaker 2:

Millie Millie Millie Jewish. Yeah.

Speaker 3:

But, like, you ever said Shiva for anyone? No. It's fucking crazy. It's like a it's like a dance party. For real?

Speaker 3:

Yeah. It's crazy.

Speaker 1:

One thing that I've realized, like, you know, I've reconnected with my faith in, you know, past, like, year and a half

Speaker 3:

or so.

Speaker 1:

Like, one thing I've I've realized is I always looked at, like, the Bible as, like, a spiritual book.

Speaker 2:

Basic instructions before leaving Earth.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Of course.

Speaker 2:

That's the way we're looking at it. Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. But what I've realized is it's just as practical as it is spiritual.

Speaker 3:

Mhmm.

Speaker 1:

So, like, if you aren't there yet with your spirituality or your belief, there are practical lessons. You can read that like you would read a self development book. You can read you can actual actually gain practical lessons from it.

Speaker 2:

If you just went into it to just learn like I said, I I keep talking about fools. If you went to the Bible to just learn from all the fools of the Bible, you would Mhmm. Probably learn something. You know I mean? To to take back into your life.

Speaker 2:

But that's that's what the book is it's it's a story of a whole bunch of fools. That's like it was a lot of fools in there. You know what I'm saying? So it was like, you learn most from like them and their mistakes and their stubbornness and this and that. So, yeah, you don't have to be super churchy and religious for it, but there is some things in there that could really, really Yeah.

Speaker 2:

If you got nothing else to under you know, comprehend from, I guess, you know, you can learn things in there. And that's that's where a lot of my wisdom do come from, like my grandmother, my mother, but that's where they got it from. That's what they that's what they grew up on.

Speaker 1:

So And it's free it's it's free game. Yeah. Absolute free. It's free game. It's there.

Speaker 2:

Imagine calling the bible a free book of game. Right? It's no. It is, though. Think about

Speaker 1:

it. Think about it.

Speaker 2:

It. It's there. It is. Yo. You go

Speaker 1:

stay you go stay in a in a in a hotel. Book's there.

Speaker 2:

It's in the drawer. Did what is it? Gideon or something like that?

Speaker 1:

It's it's there, dude.

Speaker 2:

There's a there's a story behind why it's

Speaker 1:

You walk when you walk around Philly enough, you'll find somebody. They'll they'll give it to you for free. They'll give you the book for free. It's what I'm saying. It's free game.

Speaker 3:

It's the original free game.

Speaker 2:

Free game. Free Absolutely. I agree with that. That's fine. Alright.

Speaker 2:

So let's bring it back. So

Speaker 1:

you called the the nice the nice ambulance.

Speaker 2:

Oh, man. Got I got job and the jump with

Speaker 3:

All the phone call? Like, or or did you say come in for a job?

Speaker 2:

I just graduated from Star Academy and I'm looking for a job, blah blah. But I think part of it is my character, not acting, but just even How you show up. How I'm in this podcast, how I'm on my Instagram. This is how I am in real life.

Speaker 3:

I agree.

Speaker 2:

I'm not a tough guy. I'm not a bitch, but I'm not a do you know

Speaker 1:

I mean?

Speaker 2:

I don't try and be more macho. Know, I'm around fighters every day. I don't act. I'm a competitor. Dude, he's a ninja choke me before.

Speaker 2:

So we're we're not I think we rode before, but I'm not I'm not a I'm a competitor. I like competing. Like, I listen. I wrestle so much

Speaker 3:

so that he will step in the cage with guys who do this on a daily.

Speaker 2:

My man Cade is like two I'm I'm two and o o two against this guy.

Speaker 3:

Like You keep trying. And that's why I refuse to go to Marquettes for MMA practice because they say like, oh, like,

Speaker 2:

showing people like, yo, you could laugh. You could be, you don't have to be this. I get respect. I don't Nobody disrespects me because I don't really tolerate disrespect. You get what saying?

Speaker 2:

So it was like, there's a way to carry yourself where it's just, you don't have to be with people. I don't need to be. You know what saying? So

Speaker 3:

It's almost like the

Speaker 1:

You can be you and still Absolutely. You can be you and still maintain the boundaries that

Speaker 2:

you need.

Speaker 3:

And no ego. You don't need I

Speaker 2:

check my ego at the door. Any door, any threshold I walk in, my my ego is checked. Yeah. So and and when I don't, I go back and I reassess the situation like this is where I messed up at. You know what mean?

Speaker 2:

So that's just I think that's more about being a man. Always my favorite thing to tell people was just like, which I just told a kid at the gym the other day. I said there's more strength and restraint. You know what I'm saying? Like, some people think like lashing out is like showing you like, ah, you know, and I smacked this guy.

Speaker 2:

It's more strength like that video, that boxer arguing with the dude at the baseball game. Oh, that

Speaker 3:

was cool.

Speaker 2:

Know what mean?

Speaker 3:

That was

Speaker 2:

cool. Everybody who watched that walked away and said, yeah, that dude is lucky. And we wasn't talking about the do anything. You know what mean? So that's how I go through, life.

Speaker 2:

You know what mean? That's that's me. I forgot.

Speaker 3:

Well, I forgot. I just remember. I forgot speaking of violence to the verge, forgot to introduce Carter as a world renowned jiu jitsu practitioner.

Speaker 2:

I'm a retired blue belt. Yeah. I

Speaker 3:

forgot about that.

Speaker 2:

Retire retire. Yo. Was with it, bro. I was doing it. It was good.

Speaker 2:

I'm the good fight heavyweight champion.

Speaker 3:

Kurt, if I snuck good what good fight

Speaker 2:

heavyweight Good fight heavyweight champion 02/2018 or something like that.

Speaker 3:

Into the intro, you would've lost it, dude.

Speaker 2:

Oh, man. But, yeah, you just like I said, I'm I'm glad it's a great story on how I got started with that. Yeah. I don't know where if I could share it now or whatever, but, long story short, Simon was doing it first. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Simon was doing it. He got to jujitsu. And if you don't do jujitsu, you're like, yeah, yeah, that shit don't work. You know what mean?

Speaker 3:

Well, said, I'm always so jealous you guys got started earlier than I did, but it's like, it's even like Sean had to get me into it. You know

Speaker 2:

I mean? Yeah.

Speaker 3:

Especially at that time, like it wasn't so mainstream where it was like, you had to have someone doing it that was like, yo, come do this with me. Yeah. You know what

Speaker 2:

mean? Yeah. Matter of fact, we made a deal. We were talking. I was like, yo, I said, all right, look.

Speaker 2:

I said, I'll come down there. I said, I'm a put some work on you. If you can handle yourself, I said, I'll sign up for it too. Because I'm like, this is my brother-in-law. I'm like, I'll smash this guy.

Speaker 2:

Right? Really? Yeah. Yeah. And granted, like I said, I went down there.

Speaker 2:

I double, I football tackled him. Oh, Sean, Sean, we're on a threat. Me, Sean and Simon. Yeah. And we talking shit that night.

Speaker 2:

And I was like, yeah, anytime, blah, blah. He was like, let's go. I was like, let's go then. Sean was like, I got keys. He was like, I got keys to simplify.

Speaker 2:

We can go right now. It's like 07:30 at night. Random. Just random. Sean was like, I'll meet y'all over there.

Speaker 2:

We meet there like 08:00 or something like that. I pull up. Simon pulled up. Well, I got a video. I'll give it to I can use it as a reel.

Speaker 2:

I don't care. Yeah. I pulled up. Simon pull up and show open up the door. We go inside.

Speaker 2:

We we we get

Speaker 3:

our boys on FaceTime. Real quick. Simon's like, at this point, probably, I'm gonna fucking show. This. He's like, probably a little annoyed.

Speaker 3:

Or is he like He

Speaker 2:

he is confident. Yeah.

Speaker 1:

How confident's he been training?

Speaker 3:

But he's like, I'm gonna show this motherfucker.

Speaker 2:

He probably been training, like Ten low years. White belt, but he's he's probably

Speaker 3:

been training, like, a year or two maybe?

Speaker 1:

Okay. Yeah. So he's he's deep enough in that

Speaker 2:

he's he's going up. I don't know nothing about jujitsu, though.

Speaker 1:

I'm just

Speaker 3:

I'm just he's this dude's curve running his mouth. I'm fucking show this dude.

Speaker 1:

Two years in.

Speaker 2:

When you see the video, I'm in I'm in I'm probably cross fitting at this time.

Speaker 3:

Okay. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

I'm in shape. My arms are looking great. I'm skinny. I'm in shape. Right?

Speaker 2:

So I'm like, I will smash this guy. Like, I'm like, that's all I'm like, I will. Cause football, I was probably a better athlete than him in football. Cause I was, I'm older than Simon. Know I'm saying?

Speaker 2:

But as he got bigger and older and more mature and got some better strength and stuff, Like, then we became more competitive, especially with jujitsu where it was just like Sure. I I don't think I ever submitted something. And you

Speaker 3:

know, like even Roman Simon now, like he's it's a different

Speaker 2:

He actually smashed me

Speaker 3:

last time we rode, but

Speaker 2:

I heard I was already

Speaker 3:

out of shape. Yeah. He hurts, dude. Yeah.

Speaker 1:

But So you double leg him.

Speaker 2:

Oh, man. I go in there. So what's he do? I double leg him. I tackled him, like, maybe I probably got, like, two or three takedowns tackle.

Speaker 2:

They were they

Speaker 3:

were Everyone's going nuts. They're like, oh, yeah.

Speaker 2:

Showing you're showing in the back.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. Exactly.

Speaker 2:

So I'm like, alright. But I don't know how to finish.

Speaker 3:

I don't know

Speaker 2:

how to do nothing. To do. I'm just holding his wrist and whatever. Then he, remember he was up against the wall and he had his leg out like on the ground. So I was, I'm about to grab that leg, pick him up and dump him on his head.

Speaker 2:

And I went to grab that leg and I'm in a forward guillotine, like a guillotine. I'm like, oh shoot. You know what I mean? Like, yo, I'm stuck. Like, I don't know how to get out of it.

Speaker 2:

Somehow I get out of it. And like I said, it was all banner. Like we were playing or whatever.

Speaker 3:

I was just for the record, Simon did not finish?

Speaker 2:

No, I think it ended up being like a stalemate or technically it ticked down wild. I probably won, but I wasn't, it wasn't about me winning. I thought I would be able to just complete dominate him. What he learned from jujitsu at that time gave him enough athleticism experience and just understanding where he could defend himself against a much bigger person because Simon wasn't big, super big either. You know what mean?

Speaker 2:

Was still lifting probably like in shape or whatever. He's dead now.

Speaker 3:

I'm curious if Simon remembers it the same way that, like, if I if I do.

Speaker 1:

We're gonna

Speaker 2:

have to ask him. I don't lie. I'm just gonna tell his side.

Speaker 3:

Listen. I'll talk to him after this.

Speaker 2:

I got a video.

Speaker 1:

Who was taking the video, Sean?

Speaker 2:

We had it propped up. I think I propped up my phone because I thought I was about to get some highlights. You know what mean? So I'm just, I'm ready, you know? But whatever.

Speaker 2:

Was, I was impressed that me being a much bigger person, a lot more in shape prior at the time or whatever, that he was able to at least defend himself and whatever. So after that, signed up for grindhouse and I worked with James Booth. Yeah. Started working

Speaker 3:

with Why did sign up there than, grindhouse was closer

Speaker 2:

and it's so funny. I remember seeing James Booth at a tournament, Simon's first tournament. And I remember seeing that guy and I was like, damn, I was like, the tall dude, this and that. And I know nothing about them. I'm just looking at jujitsu guys like they nerds.

Speaker 2:

Right? Yeah. I know nothing about them. Like in my head, I'm like, I'll smack this guy. Like, I was like, this is this is Simon's like James Booth.

Speaker 2:

He's an animal. Yeah. I'm like, I will smack this guy. I was like, first day at Grand House. This is my professor.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. All right. We're doing the rules, whatever, blah, blah. New guy come over here, whatever. I'll never forget.

Speaker 2:

And he's going to probably share this once he sees this. This is my actual thought. He gets me, has his way. I'm on the ground wearing ghee. He grabs my ghee, he knee on bellies me, and he pulls the and I made this sound like this.

Speaker 2:

I said, and in my mind, I was like, he's racist. Oh my gosh. In my mind, I was like, I'm looking at him because he's smiling, he's looking down. Yeah. In my mind, I'm like, his braces he's gonna kill me.

Speaker 2:

He's faces.

Speaker 1:

Yo. That is not just the air leaving your body. That's the soul leaving your body too.

Speaker 2:

At that moment, had like, I was at his mercy, Did you

Speaker 1:

say it out loud? You did say,

Speaker 2:

he's racist.

Speaker 1:

Is it racist?

Speaker 2:

No. I told him later in life. I was like, yo, that day I was like, I thought you were like, like, I thought I messed up. I thought I signed up for something. I thought I was about to die, bro.

Speaker 2:

Like, I was like, I've never been like treated like this. You know what saying? Like nobody ever like, it's submission. That's the beauty in jujitsu. If you don't check your ego at the door, somebody gonna check it for you.

Speaker 2:

You know I'm saying? So it was like that day I learned, I am not the biggest, the baddest, because I have a great history of being super strong, super husky. Like I said, in school I was a football player. So I didn't get messed with much once I hit at least the highest levels of eighth grade, twelfth grade. I was an athlete.

Speaker 2:

I had a squad. I had football team. I had no problems in high school. Yeah. That's so coming out of high school, no problems at all.

Speaker 2:

Never got bullied, stuff like that. But when you get into Georgia Why'd

Speaker 1:

you come back for the second class? If first one was took your took the air out of you, your soul, and you learned everybody's racist.

Speaker 2:

Because I'm a competitor, bro. And when when somebody does something like that to you and and I've never got boof in any type of way. Like Yeah. It it you know how jujitsu go, like, it's just not happening. But I'm a competitor, you know what I'm saying?

Speaker 2:

So, when that happened, it was like, yo, I gotta figure out a way to like beat this And it's never happened to this day, but I beat up other people. And the reason I went with him is because his style is a little bit more big man, bully type style versus I don't really want to be on my back playing guard or something. It's not really my, I don't have the stamina for it. I don't, it's not really my, I want to be dominant, side control, top control. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2:

Which he's a guard player too, but the stuff that he teaches you from up top is like, I'm like, this fits more my style. Certain places that you go. Yep. And I'm knowing, I'm not being a chooch will be the word in cigar world. I don't know.

Speaker 2:

I'm not somebody who knows a lot about jujitsu. I'm just saying certain places that you go, you you It doesn't even look fun to you anymore. Sure. Because it's just so advanced. I don't want a leg lock.

Speaker 2:

Like I want to be a soccer troll and do Americanas and kimonos. So that's how I was looking at it at the time. But now if I was ever to get back into it, I would want the full knowledge of But I'd recommend everybody, like I said, I made it to blue belt. I think that's more than enough to have out in the regular world. But I do recommend it to because it changed the way I look at combat.

Speaker 2:

It changes the way I look with dealing with situations. Like, when you can control a person, it makes such a difference. You get what saying?

Speaker 1:

It changes the way you look at people, and it but more importantly, it changes the way you look at situations.

Speaker 2:

For sure.

Speaker 1:

How you how when you enter a situation Yeah. You see how it can go.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

And it changes how you behave in it. Yeah. Even before you start to like, as a man Yeah. Like, growing up, we're taught, like, size the guy up. Yeah.

Speaker 1:

Can you take this dude? Can you take even before your mind goes there when you're trained, you're thinking about the situation. Yeah. Like, okay. This can go this way.

Speaker 1:

It can go that way. Let me before I even get to the person.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. I feel like everybody has a story like that. I got, my first day, I got, I was like two ten, much heavier than I am now. Yeah. And I got, dude, I got triangled, almost got put to sleep by like a a 40 year old kid.

Speaker 1:

A hundred and forty pound kid.

Speaker 3:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

And I was like, I need to know this.

Speaker 2:

I need to know this.

Speaker 1:

Like, I'm competitive, but I am so curious. Yeah. That's one of my things. Yeah. And I was like, I need to know this.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. I need to know this. I need to know how this works.

Speaker 2:

That's true.

Speaker 3:

Alright. So I don't know how we even ended up.

Speaker 2:

That's cool. I got I got you. Yeah. Knew it would be like this today.

Speaker 3:

Alright. So Keep prepared. So you guys are EMTs. Mhmm. Joanne gave you the job.

Speaker 3:

I think that's where we left

Speaker 2:

off. I'm moving on up, dog. Jumped from $10 to $13.50. We in business. Right?

Speaker 2:

So at this point it's like a, and crazy. Was just talking about Are

Speaker 3:

there kids? Yeah.

Speaker 2:

No kids.

Speaker 3:

I feel like you've, as long as you've had, you're you know more of a young parent than We

Speaker 2:

know each other a lifestyle, but not the longest

Speaker 3:

of time. Yeah. Even a younger parent than I am.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. So like Yeah. We, we are moving up. We are, and this is all my wife at this point, her game plan. Like she, we were just talking about this just now in that debate of whatever we were having about the motorcycle, but, she's always had a plan like for her life.

Speaker 2:

Like, so we are literally operating off her brains at this point. Like we are just because, and she also was somebody who saw better. She, she kind of had it a little better. Right? So it was just like, in my mind, I'm like, getting to Summerville or Oxford Circle would be nice.

Speaker 2:

You know what I

Speaker 1:

mean? Yep.

Speaker 2:

Getting to Oxford Circle would be nice, but I don't know nothing really beyond that. I don't know about the Greater Northeast or nothing like that. So it was just, she's like in her mind, she's probably trying to get back to there and beyond. Like, she's seen her parents, you know, get get it here. Like, I'm I need to get back to there.

Speaker 2:

And then from there, we gotta go. Right? So in my mind, I'm like, alright, whatever. So

Speaker 3:

It's interesting. She was willing she must have really loved you because I hope to take a step. Look.

Speaker 1:

We got some proof that she did. So

Speaker 3:

It's interesting that she would take a step back willingly like that to

Speaker 2:

Yeah. I I I

Speaker 3:

don't know how many people that would that would, like, choose to go from comfortability living to When

Speaker 2:

I say I was petrified, I'm like, I'm like, we down in the trenches. Right? And we ain't got no car at first. So she gotta walk up the block. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Right? Pass all the cat calls. Yo white girl. Right? So like, she gotta go up the block to catch the 60, last at the top of 20 Fifth and Allegheny.

Speaker 2:

So I'm like, I just be like, yo, stay on your phone and don't get off the phone. Don't entertain nobody, don't say nothing to nobody, whatever. I'll never forget one of the like top dudes down there was trying to talk to her. It was so nerve wrecking, I had nothing to do but to call my pop and tell him what was going on. Like, yo, like, I don't know what I'm a do.

Speaker 2:

Like, what if he this and that? And my pop was just like, don't say none. If anything come out of like, just let me know. But nothing never came out. He just was like, he probably just see her and whatever, just trying.

Speaker 2:

You know what mean? So, whatever. Like, like it's just that, like, I'm like, it was, it was nerd because I'm like, know you're not from down here, which I don't think my wife came outside for two years, man. Like, but she was down for it till we got a Once we got a car, we was able to move around a little different, but everything was cool, bro. But we get, we become EMTs.

Speaker 2:

It's time to move. Like, it's time to get up out of there. We move all the way up to up Busselton and Philmont. What the hell is the part? Patoni Place.

Speaker 2:

Patoni Place Apartments. So, I'm like, dang, like we got our first apartment. Everything good, bro. Got our first apartment. We slinging the rent.

Speaker 2:

No kids, everything's good, man.

Speaker 3:

It's drain.

Speaker 2:

This is where I'm thriving. I'm trying to figure out like, well, what next? Like, she just got her I can't remember when she got a degree, she gets her degree. At some point, her parents open up businesses or whatever, a business. She starts working for her parents eventually.

Speaker 2:

Everything's going good on her end. Like, I gotta figure out something too because I'm, one, I'm not gonna be a burden. Two, like I wanna be an asset, right? So, my uncle, watched my uncle truck drive all his life. My uncle, you think I work hard?

Speaker 2:

My uncle's the hardest working person that I know. Both my uncles, that uncle and my uncle that passed away, my uncle Will did a construction and stuff like that. And that's like where I really, really Until you did some construction work, until you went out and mixed some concrete in a barrel with a guard, with a hoe, whatever that, you know what I mean? So until you did real hard work, you wouldn't understand, but that's what he did for a living the old school way though. You get what I'm saying?

Speaker 2:

So he taught me like, really like, just some of the etiquette of like doing certain things, whether it was like doing right by people when you do jobs. Sometimes you run across things after you accepted work and you want to double back and be like, you know what I mean? Hey, we ran into this. There's going be a little bit. You already honored a certain price and he still, he would just do it.

Speaker 2:

He would fix it. He would always say, Curt, you do right by people. You get I'm saying? So it's just like, that's what I try and do. I can honestly say with a good heart, like I got no enemies.

Speaker 2:

I got no enemies. I got nobody that can say I've, I've done them wrong. It doesn't like, if I did, if you see this speak up, but for the most part, do right by people, even if it means I'm taking a loss. Yep.

Speaker 3:

You know

Speaker 2:

I mean? Just to end it on, on, on the right way. I always try to do right by people. Yep. And that's just some of the things he taught me.

Speaker 2:

Don't you, you know, the job ain't done till it's done. You know, just certain things you saw with somebody who does construction and, you know, you go back into people work and you see that they, what do you call it? A jack leg job, and then you fix it anyway, even though that wasn't even part of the job, it's just you saw it when you opened up the frame and got to the core of those things. It's like, you see this, that beam supposed to be here. So it was just, he showed me like a work ethic where it's like, if you're going to do it, do it right.

Speaker 2:

You know I'm saying? If not, don't do it at all. You know? That's part of why I also, and you know that from just jobs. Like, when I send you mad stuff, like, just it's more than what you asked for, but it's like, yo, Marty, you want a job.

Speaker 2:

Let's just do it. I hope you find what you need in order to, you know, have the success that you're looking for through this content or whatever. So, that's why I do the things that I do at least with the photography and at my own job. When we do stuff in my own job, I don't half ass. People don't like working with me because I don't cut corners.

Speaker 2:

Yo, just leave them, leave them empty, like empty trays for jobs, whatever. I'm like, brother, that's that's part of the job. Yeah. It's gonna make our job a little harder today, but it's part of the job. Like, let's just do it.

Speaker 2:

Know what I mean?

Speaker 1:

Plus, you start letting, like, little little stuff like that slip Yeah. Before you know your character changes Yeah. As a person.

Speaker 2:

For sure.

Speaker 1:

You know what I mean?

Speaker 2:

And Yeah.

Speaker 1:

That ain't good.

Speaker 2:

Not, not, not the way to go, but to get back

Speaker 1:

on Yeah.

Speaker 2:

I'm I'm trucking. Like we, Steve, you want to moving on up, higher ground. Like I'm like, it's just, we, we, we going. Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

We are going, we're going. And, that's it. Like I'm I'm I'm trucking. I begin this trucking career, sacrifices. I jump over the road, toughest days of my life being over the road.

Speaker 2:

If you know a trucker and he's over the road, trust me. I don't care how that smile looks. I don't care how that, that is a, it's a tough job, brother. It's just tough to be I always say the only people that can relate are people in prisons and probably the military. Because it's a confined space that's mobile and you are away from home and you have no idea when you're coming back most times.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. Especially if you OTR, you don't know if it's a week, two weeks, three weeks.

Speaker 1:

Yep.

Speaker 2:

Sometimes there's a maximum, but sometimes, like I said, the first time I hit three weeks, remember I cried. Like I was like, this is the third week out? Like it's dudes that be out months. It's dudes that.

Speaker 1:

Yep.

Speaker 2:

It's a tough gig dog. The wheels, the

Speaker 1:

wheels gotta be moving for your The

Speaker 2:

wheels ain't turning you ain't earning. They say, you know what mean? And it's just, it's when I say tough, there were times I left the crib. Like, boy, like break down, like, like, cause it's hard to leave your family behind like Or, you know, like you, you, especially within the era of social media, get to see what everybody else does on a day to day.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

I've never seen a McDonald's was the last time I worked a eight hour day. You get what I'm saying? From the warehouse, it was ten hours. Trucking is twelve to fourteen hours, sixteen Now I don't even like to talk about the hours I work. You get what I'm saying?

Speaker 2:

But it's, it's, it's brutal, you know? It's, it's a great career. If you want to get to it, especially if you got no children, no family, it's just you. I would advise any man that can't figure out something to get it going. Trucking is the way to go.

Speaker 2:

It's like the classic blue collar, hardworking, like everybody grandfather was a trucker. Right? Yeah. But it's a very demanding. It's a sacrificial.

Speaker 2:

It just, it's a tough, tough job. If I could turn back the hands of Tom, I would not do it. You get I'm saying? Like, that's how tough it is because there's a reality that it's time or money. You get what I'm saying?

Speaker 2:

Like, if you got time, you probably don't got no money. If you got money, you probably don't got no time. And it's like trucking is like the worst of that. Like, it's like you, you got money, but you don't have no time. You know what I'm saying?

Speaker 2:

And you just wish you had the same type schedule like other people, you know? So, but it, but on the other hand, with the sacrifice, you are getting, you could do powerful things with just a trucking salary. Like I've spoke to you about certain numbers. You're like, yo, that's actually pretty It is. It can be solid.

Speaker 2:

I do food service. It's one of the hardest forms of trucking. So I make deliveries to I don't wanna say my job at parties, if you quote it, you quote it, but if not,

Speaker 1:

whatever. Because of perishables and and things

Speaker 2:

like Just the work. Like, it's in my mind. I'm like like, not that I feel like I'm a pass early, but I I do in my mind, say, was like, if I do this all my life, I'm gonna be jacked up. My body's gonna be Yeah. Jacked up, brother.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. And it is what it is, but I am working to figure things out and get into better position. But

Speaker 1:

I I I can I understand what you're talking about because like I said, my like you said, everybody's Married

Speaker 2:

by grandfather? My my grandfather

Speaker 1:

on my mom's side was, drove for Coca Cola his entire life. So, like, I seen of Yeah. I've seen some of that.

Speaker 2:

Yep. Long hours, no sleep, horrible sleep. So yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. So I I remember with him, like, half his body used to be tanned. Mhmm. The other half wasn't because he used to drive with, like, the Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 1:

The thing. Yeah. Yeah. When does photography enter the scene for you?

Speaker 2:

Pandemic. Okay. So I start jujitsu and stuff. I'm starting to learn people around town, whatever. I remember so it kinda starts remember, my journey starts with Brady.

Speaker 2:

Mhmm. I forgot where I meet Brady. I meet Brady in a regional fights. Like, Simon knew a whole bunch of guys from Fox Chase, whatever. Yep.

Speaker 2:

I I we used when I had hair. Yeah. We used to get cut by the same barber, our boy our boy, Mikey. Yeah. And it would be random days sometimes where I'd like, you getting into tonight?

Speaker 2:

I'm going to my man Sean Fight or my man Brady Fight. I heard it a couple times before I actually met him. And, I'm like, oh, alright. Whatever. So I don't know how I ended up going to his first fight, but I think it was I saw two of Sean's regional fights.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

I think Mikey was gone. I think he's had an extra ticket or something, whatever. Like, we were leaving on his bus from Fox Chase, whatever. So I'm in the MMA, like, I'm watching UFC. I'm in the MMA.

Speaker 2:

Like, I enjoy it. I'm a big boxing head because of the Floyd Mayweather era at that time, but we're watching MMA on the side because Mhmm. You got like Conor coming up and Sure. Johnny Bones and all that stuff. So it was like, I'm into And I'm into jujitsu as well.

Speaker 2:

So, cool. So I get with Simon, Mikey, we go to this fight. We go down on this bus to meet with all these crazy people from Fox Chase. Like, they're dying hard. Like, I'm like, this dude got a squad.

Speaker 2:

Like, they're like, and it was cool. Because they were all, they all grew up together or whatever, close knitted, this and that. And they're just like, die hard, bro. I'm like, oh, this is it. Right?

Speaker 2:

Like this is cool. You know what I mean? And I didn't know how promising his future was. I just, I didn't know really how you got into UFC or anything like that. Sure.

Speaker 2:

I just know about this dude and he's trying to get to this title and blah, blah, blah, cool. Go to the first fight and I believe I went to the second fight or no, or I either went to the second fight or I watched the second fight where he won the actual title. So Mhmm. Somewhere I meet Brady. I meet Brady on that first joint after congratulation, blah blah.

Speaker 2:

Then him and Simon start getting more close, so we're seeing each other more. Then he's coaching up at Grindhouse. I remember he was coaching up at Grindhouse a little bit, so now he's like coaching up there.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Simon and him are getting closer. Eventually, they become best friends. Simon's my brother-in-law, so he's doing whatever. However, we, I remember we were like going out getting pizza, stuff like that. The old Sean, when he would eat a slice of pizza now.

Speaker 2:

He locked in, right? But yeah, we were like hanging out and we began to get this relationship, So, I think it was like just the pandemic had just happened and no, before the pandemic, it was before the pandemic happened. At some point we start talking and, oh no, yeah. So the pandemic happens. The pandemic happens.

Speaker 2:

And if I always tell everybody, if you don't remember the pandemic, obviously you remember it, but the one thing you might look back on that time and regret is that was the first time in your life where you actually had time because life actually stopped. It was very, not important, but if you took advantage of it, it could have been a great moment. Yep. If you looked at it from the wrong perspective, you could have lived in like, are we going to do? I got laid off.

Speaker 2:

I remember I got furloughed, never even heard the word furlough before. Now I know. Right? So I was working at Dunkin Donuts. NDCP was the transportation company for Dunkin' Donuts.

Speaker 2:

And I'll never forget, we came in, it wasn't the work, they told everybody to come. I had just left my job for four years. I was working at McLean, another food service place. And my boy was over at Dunkin', sending me checks like, Yo, they work less over here, they getting paid more. He's sending me actual stuff.

Speaker 2:

I was like, I'm out. I was like, want some of that. Like, you're making great great bread. I leave when was the pandemic? In March?

Speaker 2:

I think it was March 20. March. Whatever it was. March 26. I leave March 26 or whatever it was within four days in Dunkin' Donuts.

Speaker 2:

It's like the twenty ninth and I am laid off. I am I am furloughed. And I was like, what the hell? Right? I'll never forget leaving the joint.

Speaker 2:

I was like, I got kids. I screamed it as I was walking out the door. And I get over there and they like, what were they saying? Oh, they had all these chairs out. It was like envelopes on the chair, this and that.

Speaker 2:

And they basically explained this to us like, Hey, like we don't know what's going on. Remember Dunkin Donuts, most of their stores are in New York City. New York City didn't have drive throughs. They were all storefronts. So that we didn't, that got rid of the stores.

Speaker 2:

We couldn't interact until they figured out what to do. So that's when they started creating like the blocking everything all, putting money in, sliding through that era, right? So that laid us off because we lost so much work. So I'm off, I'm off like nine weeks, bro, or whatever it was, nine weeks. I'm filing for unemployment first time in my life and whatever.

Speaker 2:

But what the time did in that, in that moment was it gave me time to think. I'll never forget the first day after we were declared, like shut down or whatever. I remember going out to my backyard and I went out there thinking I was going go knock down this old shed that we had. Everybody was, but I never forget going out to the back and all my neighbors were all back. I said, look at people.

Speaker 2:

I said, people are actually doing the things that they've been wanting to get around to because they ain't got nowhere to go.

Speaker 1:

So I was

Speaker 2:

like, that's what kind of made me realize like, yo, this is the, it may feel like we're locked in. This is free as we ever were in our lives. You've never been more free than that. When you think about it, you never had nothing to do. You never couldn't go to the market or couldn't do this or couldn't do that.

Speaker 2:

It's the free as we've ever been. But with freedom gave me time to think. That's what I thought. I was like, yo, what do I really like to do in life? Like, what do I enjoy?

Speaker 2:

Like, I'm like, couldn't think of it. I'm thinking like, what do I do? Like what do I, I used to buy GoPros and this and that. I was like, yo, okay. So I, when I had time to finally think of like, what brought me joy?

Speaker 2:

I brought every GoPro from hero one to hero five. Right? So I'm like, I'm like, yo, I like cameras. Like, I like camera like photography. And I'm like, and I like this jujitsu stuff they got going on.

Speaker 2:

And I know this guy that's like looking kind of promising. He just got announced that he's getting a, I think he's about to fight Court McGee or something like that coming up. And I remember calling Brady and I was like, yo, I was like, was like, y'all got this idea. I was like, dog, I was like, it looked like you're gonna be something special in this. And I was like, I'm thinking about Trump, Trump dog opened up all the $4.00 1 money.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. It was like no penalty. I Remember I've been working like a dog since whatever. So I got a nice fat chunk of bread in my $4.00 1. And I'm like, I'm thinking about making some sort of, you know, withdrawal.

Speaker 2:

I was like, I'm a pull some money. I'm thinking about getting all this camera equipment. I was like, I'm going to follow you throughout this process and just try and grow with you as you grow through the journey. I said, you're going to need a cameraman one day. And he was like, let's do it, dog.

Speaker 1:

Legendary hustle.

Speaker 2:

I pulled that money and I'm talking about, and this is where it kind of goes back to hard work and take you somewhere. I didn't know what I was doing. I was working hard. I got money. I'm I'm I'm young.

Speaker 2:

I got my I'm already out the apartment. I'm in my first house already in probably '20 whatever, however it was. Yeah. During the pandemic. But I'm like, I worked hard, I got to this point, I got this nice chunk of bread, I pulled a bread and I didn't have to start at the bottom.

Speaker 2:

I started at the very top. My first camera is a Sony A9, he knows, you know what I Like I started a Sony A9, I get the white lens, when you see any photographer with that white lens, he dropped heavy bread for that. You know what mean? Yeah. It's like a, and that day was a $2,500 lens or something like that.

Speaker 2:

So, I get that. I get the 19 inch MacBook. I get my $2,300.24 to 70. I get the Peter McKinnon book bag. I got everything.

Speaker 2:

I'm talking from the rip. You all can't think I don't know man. Okay. I don't know shit about this camera yet. You get what I'm saying?

Speaker 2:

I got Yeah. But if any photographer saw it, they probably think I was like the dude. Right? Yeah. But it's like, no, this is a reflection of my hard work.

Speaker 3:

They were like, yeah. He's picking a sky to ask for it.

Speaker 1:

It's I mean, look, it's a little

Speaker 2:

fake Pictures what? When I go back and look, them pictures was asked for having that type of equipment, bro. You know what mean? So I'm on Sony, I got stuff that people, when you get into the world of photography, that's why you really gotta respect it. That's why even though, like I know I gave my boys some good pictures over there because it's just, it's content, man.

Speaker 2:

When you see these people they're putting their all into it. Yep. They're making crazy investments, man. Like it's an expensive game. People always ask like, oh, how much you can't We don't even like to tell people that.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Yo, how much is that camera? Cause you're look at me crazy when I say this, this and this. Oh, that's $8. Yeah. You know I'm saying?

Speaker 2:

Cause it's just like a camera to you. To me, it's everything I had in my bank. You know what I'm saying? To try and get this. So Yep.

Speaker 2:

I grab that stuff. I start I get this stuff. I ship to Delaware, say some taxes. You know how many had an address in Delaware from say some taxes? And I'll never forget.

Speaker 2:

First day in the gym, I I I'm like, yo, I got everything. Yo, you training tomorrow, Brady? Like, come on. First day in the gym, I walk into the gym, Paul Felder, Eddie Alvarez, Brady, a couple of the region regional guys, Jeremiah Autumn dudes down there. And I'm like, oh shit.

Speaker 2:

Like, of course I'm starstruck. Like, man, that's really Eddie Alvarez. Mean, he's a champ. You know what I mean? It's a champ.

Speaker 2:

This and that. And right there is where like the journey begins with resources, getting to know people. Like I said, I know Paul, like I could text Paul. I could text Dean Tom. Like, you know, you get to just resources from the day that we walk in.

Speaker 2:

It really hasn't even begun. Do you get what I'm saying? So, we we get in there. I'm just learning my camera. Learning my camera, trying to create content, taking pictures.

Speaker 3:

Yep.

Speaker 2:

Giving him content now. He gets into the UFC. He wins his first fight. It's a journey now. It's just like just a journey.

Speaker 2:

Next week we leave for London. You know what mean? I know I just skipped a whole bunch of the story, but from there we we it's nonstop just trying to figure out a way to move the needle. You know I'm saying? And just, just trying to figure out a way to make this thing work.

Speaker 2:

And I don't know. I don't regret it. Like it's it's it's it's passion wise. It's like, I love it. What were you doing with the GoPros when you were buying them?

Speaker 2:

When we whether it was vacation. Just wanted to like go on

Speaker 1:

the

Speaker 2:

water with you know what mean? And I had a motorcycle at the time. So I

Speaker 1:

was getting

Speaker 2:

videos on the motorcycle and all that stuff. Know what So

Speaker 3:

The motorcycle really came full circle.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. It

Speaker 2:

did. But when I was young, I was on a sports bike. My first Sport bike. First bike was a CBR 11.

Speaker 3:

Well, I think it's funny we're talking about it now.

Speaker 2:

Oh, yeah. But I was young, dumb, couldn't couldn't

Speaker 1:

Were you at with the footage, vacation, bikes, bike life, were you editing it or anything? Or you posting it?

Speaker 2:

Probably running it through like a free face software that was creating it for me, but but it just was cool. Like, you gotta think we're in a different time now, but in that time

Speaker 1:

Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Speaker 2:

As these small cameras were coming out, these action cameras, you're like, yo, I'm really capturing me on a bike doing one fifty, one 60 or something like that. Like like, it was fun. It was like Oh. And it was affordable. You get what I'm saying?

Speaker 2:

Because those cameras were what? $2.99, 3 90 9 or something like that. So for a working person, it was an investment, but it was it was it was affordable, you know? So we I was doing that. And then, like I said, I get into this, and it's been nonstop ever since with the photography.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. At some point, I don't even know where I meet you guys at. We are We'll

Speaker 1:

definitely meet

Speaker 3:

you first. To talk about the doing the work and not worrying about the plan necessarily. Like, you've also so in the the content game and the camera game, like, you actually those people you came in and were Starstruck by, you've actually done work for. Now you went with Eddie to his last fight or

Speaker 2:

Biggest show of my

Speaker 3:

life. Yeah. Yeah. Like, you've done, like, just by happenstance of doing the work and trusting the process and trusting hard work Mhmm. You brought to life some of things that may have been just a dream at some point for you.

Speaker 2:

Mhmm. Yep. Agree.

Speaker 3:

Agree. I don't know where our first interaction was. I'm trying to think real quick and not waste too much time, but

Speaker 2:

I remember it was it wasn't to do the shoot. It was to shadow the shoot and help help them out. It it Is it this? No.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. No. It is. Is. It

Speaker 2:

is. It's this picture. This is this is

Speaker 1:

this is the one from Semper FIVE.

Speaker 3:

Yes. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

This is

Speaker 3:

my that's my first time

Speaker 2:

we boarded a aperture 300 d.

Speaker 3:

That was my first time meeting you.

Speaker 2:

Yep.

Speaker 3:

The first time because I, we had talked a little bit before, but, and then you had like, you know, excuse my truck or my car. I just got in an accident.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 3:

So that shoot was like, literally, it's funny.

Speaker 2:

That is that is actually right there.

Speaker 3:

Right? Something we do, like, on a daily basis now. Like, they were like, Amanda Mundy. Brianna. Yeah.

Speaker 3:

Like, Brianna, like, literally, like, it was like a %.

Speaker 2:

Brianna down the wrong path. She hated that shit.

Speaker 3:

Brianna is the definition of the core value. Do whatever it takes.

Speaker 1:

Listen. Like, two weeks ago, Drew was like, ah, you still got your camera, Brianna?

Speaker 2:

You still got your camera?

Speaker 1:

Like, he was kidding, but, like, he actually, like, wasn't kidding.

Speaker 3:

Brie needs a plaque.

Speaker 2:

Like came to my crib. I was, like, giving her lessons on how to, like, use Lightroom, and we were going with this

Speaker 3:

Well, I mean, to be

Speaker 2:

honest, Watch look.

Speaker 3:

The story behind that is Brianna, like, wasn't happy with the pictures we were getting from the guy that was doing our stuff before. And she was like, sure, I could fucking do this. Was buy me a camera.

Speaker 2:

Like, and

Speaker 3:

I bought her a we bought her a camera, like, with, all the money we had on the few on debit card. And like, it, like, paid off eventually. But that being said, like, it's funny how you evolve as a person in a company like this this shoot. Mhmm. We do in, like, it's a five minute conversation.

Speaker 3:

Mhmm. That was like a as a production production.

Speaker 1:

I remember because I think Julio was in the shoot too, and he had on the red rash, the red, the luck rash. Also,

Speaker 3:

I mean, that being said, some of the sickest photography of our I I love this picture.

Speaker 2:

You love it, Like

Speaker 3:

I remember the black guy was a big deal at the time because he

Speaker 1:

was like,

Speaker 2:

I don't know what you do with composition with a camera because it doesn't look like that in there. Like I saw the full. Yeah. Yeah. But with the flag, was like, yo, stand right here

Speaker 3:

and shoot up the But I think it's one the dopest pictures of Sean or in that, from that shoot.

Speaker 2:

And there he had that one. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. Yeah. I think the grittiness of Semper Fi too, like kind of like is showing like in that whole shoot.

Speaker 2:

Flags, all that stuff.

Speaker 3:

So yeah, that's why I met Kurt. And that was during I remember because, like, I I had just gotten over COVID, but moving in so we meet there, like, we're kinda just, like, We we we we connect. We connect. We connect. And we like

Speaker 1:

We had like

Speaker 3:

a deep talk that day. I was like, Dan, dude. Like, Kurt's like, man. Like and then from there, like, Kurt's all the work. They all been been about the work.

Speaker 3:

Like, definitely and I think this is maybe where we could take this that the, like, bring this in for landing, like, kinda take the ending of this podcast, but it's, like, doing whatever it takes to to make it work. You did try to make the photography thing, like, a full time, and you tried other entrepreneurial endeavors. Like, now

Speaker 2:

like yeah.

Speaker 3:

Like, there's like, never really just kinda, like like, mowing it in. You know what I mean? Just figuring it out the next step and and and the journey where you take where where you take your life at one point may not be the endpoint.

Speaker 1:

You know

Speaker 3:

what I mean? Like Mhmm. And it doesn't always work out the way you see it, but it always works out.

Speaker 2:

It does. Yeah. Just like I said, you just kinda just trust the process. Trust the process. Like I said, the main thing I can always say is just like I said, the hard work will take you somewhere.

Speaker 2:

Exactly. It's just, you just don't always know where it would take you, but is it going to take you somewhere? It's going take you somewhere good too. You know what mean? Somewhere, somewhere good.

Speaker 2:

You got to believe in it. I think that's the other part is believing that you can trust it, but then believing that trust that you're putting into it. You know what mean? Or else, whatever. But don't worry about the, don't count the days that just literally just keep your head down, keep swinging, chip away at it.

Speaker 2:

And you're going to get somewhere. Like I don't, I don't feel like, like I said, I tried the van thing and that was, that was brutal. That was brutal. You know I'm saying? I tried to get my own van and, but it was a, again, it was a learning process there.

Speaker 2:

Right? Where it was just like, I'll never forget. Called you at one point. I can't remember if you picked up. I think we talked about it after I missed the, you missed the call.

Speaker 3:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Because I was gonna ask you,

Speaker 3:

did you ever have

Speaker 2:

to borrow or something, Yeah. And I said, did you regret it? And you said no. Yeah. Because I had such an ego.

Speaker 2:

Like I don't like borrowing money. I remember we used have talks about, well, I do shoots. Yeah. And you said, yeah, pre ascend it or somebody send it on Monday or something like that. Monday come and then four or five days have passed or less, whatever, whatever it was.

Speaker 2:

It it just whatever. And I'll be like, like, dude, why do just ask for it? I was like, I do not ask for money. Like, if I owe that man, I pay that man. And it's not that you're thinking like that.

Speaker 2:

It's not like, it's just, yo, we got a lot of stuff going on over here. Yeah. It may have got mixed up in communication or the person that I assigned it to may have forgotten. But if you'd have told me, I would have got you to it, you know, the day that you told me. You know I'm saying?

Speaker 2:

But it's just like, I'm patient too where I'm like, nah, they'll think about it and they'll send it over. I'm never really in a bad, bad spot. Yeah. But it's also like, it's a gift and a curse. Cause it's just like, sometimes I want my money.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. But I'm not about

Speaker 3:

to ask

Speaker 2:

you for it because if you don't remember it, that's cool. Cause I'll never do nothing with you again.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. It'll just hate to hate you forever.

Speaker 1:

The van, the van was the, the car moving carrier.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Try to get in the cargo cargo van business or whatever.

Speaker 1:

Less than load.

Speaker 2:

Oh, man. It was it was it was But that was my first taste of like trying to be my own thing and like like entrepreneur. So I was It was a non passive income because I couldn't afford to quit and drive it myself. Yep. But I could afford to hire a driver.

Speaker 2:

When you did that, it was just like the stress of just like, is this dude gonna come to work? Is he gonna get there on time? Trying to pay that guy every week. Yep. Trying to make that van payment every month.

Speaker 2:

The insurance was crazy. Yep. It was just it was, I was on the wrong side of of of payroll. I'm paying this guy. I'm paying this guy first before the I'm like, I got no idea what I'm doing here.

Speaker 2:

But I will say I was making the payments. The driver was getting paid. You feel like you're failing, but if you it doesn't matter if you're breaking zero. Yeah. If you survived one month, you're a successful business person.

Speaker 2:

You gotta say, if you survived that next month, You're a successful business person. Yeah. Non successful people wouldn't survive, right? Exactly. So, it's like, may not feel promising, but you're like, nah.

Speaker 2:

And it's like, but I'm I'm I'm struggling, bro. I'm talking to John. I'm talking to Drew. Yeah. It's like, I'm hurting, dog.

Speaker 2:

I'm I'm I remember showing Brady wet and I'm drunk. I'm crying. I'm crying. John like, yo, like, you fine. Like it's gonna be all right, bro.

Speaker 2:

Like, I'm

Speaker 3:

like, man, you really, really talk me through this channel.

Speaker 2:

I'm I'm because we had a ball at his wedding, but I'm like, I'm like, oh man, like the van band and this and that. I'm I'm tore up. And it's just like, it's just so much pressure to do your own thing. Yeah. People think that's what they wanna get into, but some people would really it's not for everybody.

Speaker 3:

It was funny. And that I remember that

Speaker 2:

There's not.

Speaker 3:

Season of Kurt's life like it was yesterday, but it's like, even call me and John. I mean, John, dude, like, this is like it's just being in business for everybody in the business. Like, for like, like, this is it, dude. Like, you're like, this is welcome.

Speaker 2:

Yo, some people have the impression that somebody was saying on the phone the day, he like, yeah, you know, I'm trying to start my own thing. That's why I got my freedom and this and that, blah, blah. I said, I wasn't even driving the van myself. But with my off days, I had to be prepared to do whatever it took and everything. Like, it doesn't work like that.

Speaker 2:

People think you just go in business for yourself, but then it's good to go.

Speaker 3:

Amanda and I had this talk literally, like, yesterday, but she was like, do you ever get jealous of people that just kinda, like, clock in for a nine to five? And it's like, they literally live in a a state of bliss because you when you you don't worry about it, you just show up, do your job, and then you go home and you just worry about whatever you want worry about.

Speaker 1:

But at the end of the day, like the big problems aren't their problems.

Speaker 3:

Exactly. But everyone and I said to him, and I was like, I wouldn't trade what we do, both being entrepreneurs for that ever.

Speaker 1:

Mhmm.

Speaker 3:

Because one, I'm I prefer to have control of my life and what what I'm doing, where I was in my time, what I'm where I'm going. Like, you all you really choose your problems. You know what I mean? Like, whether it's, like, the small problems that as an employee that you perceive as big problems Mhmm. Or the actual big problems that are actually big problems.

Speaker 3:

So it's like what weight do you wanna take on? But either way, you're taking on weight.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. Yeah. The I say I've said it a thousand times on the show. I'm gonna say it again. Everybody looks to entrepreneurship as a solution.

Speaker 1:

Right? They go to it and they say, it's gonna solve my freedom issues, that I dislike my boss Mhmm. That I don't make enough money. Entrepreneurship is not a solution. It is the biggest problem that you will ever, ever welcome into your life.

Speaker 2:

You know what I got out of it? You want to know?

Speaker 3:

I know.

Speaker 2:

I got nothing. I got absolutely nothing out of it. Right? I lost the van. My driver totaled it.

Speaker 2:

Right? And then I lost one of my best friends. Right? Yeah. Because, you know, and not to go into that as too personal, but it's just like that I went into business with a friend, lost that.

Speaker 2:

You know I mean? I lost the van and I lost the down payment that I put $15 into that van from the rip. So it was just like, but what I gained, I gained confidence.

Speaker 3:

Knowledge.

Speaker 2:

Am I going to do, because now I may not have a van, but I live in a nice crib. I rent out two properties. You know I'm saying? I do photography on the side. I got a podcast that pays me, you know?

Speaker 2:

So it was just like, I got other things going for me. Maybe the van just wasn't it, but I got the lesson out of the van. I got like when people, I don't know how y'all feel because you guys are actually family, but it's just like, when they say like friends and business, friends, friends and business doesn't mix, it can, but you've really, really got to know that person to the core. I feel like, like if you know, if you ignored all the red flags about this person, if you watched him do other people dirty or do things, then he would do your ass dirty one day too. You know what saying?

Speaker 2:

So was like, you gotta be careful about what you choose or if that friend isn't worth losing, in my honest opinion or my I wouldn't.

Speaker 1:

That gotta

Speaker 3:

think the wise man wants to money and blood don't mix.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. Well, you gotta you gotta, also understand that it's like any other relationship. Mhmm. You gotta work

Speaker 2:

on it. Yeah. I take it every time. We're not gotta order them order them relationships once they're in

Speaker 1:

communicating, you know, which has happened throughout the journey. If we're not communicating and we're not being open and honest with each other and saying, like, look. I feel this way. I feel that way. You know, blah blah.

Speaker 1:

Not even about something even between us, just general circumstances. Then things can start to go wrong.

Speaker 3:

You know I mean? Biggest breakthroughs and best conversations happen when we were talking every single day. Yeah. Like, you think that'd be, like, too much. No.

Speaker 3:

But, like, having, like, few haunts started from Joey and I had like, talking on the phone every day on the ride. It was

Speaker 1:

literally a genesis.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. Yeah. Literally, we were driving from work that jobs that we didn't like. Yeah. And that's how we had the idea for the a global movement.

Speaker 2:

You know

Speaker 3:

what I mean? Like Yeah. But then again, even, like, my wife and I are do business together, it's like, I wouldn't have it any other way. So I mean, as do you. Like, you know what I mean?

Speaker 3:

Like, that's that's, like, the best business partner because, no one understands you better than them.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. Yeah. That's true.

Speaker 3:

So, I mean, I think life is only what you like, things in life like that are only what you make it what you make them out to be.

Speaker 2:

Yep. And everything and all all things you do, bro. Absolutely. For sure. For sure.

Speaker 3:

So you would not recommend entrepreneurship to a friend then, Jessica?

Speaker 2:

You gotta be true with yourself, man. I think that's just one thing about like, you gotta you gotta know. Like, do you have that I I just said it. I got a trainee tonight at work that I gotta train. And it was kinda just like, I was I I said, you're learn the game.

Speaker 2:

And once you learn the job, you'll be able to be real with yourself and understand, like, do you got that dog in you to really stay at this type? My job is hard, bro. So was like, do you got that dog in you to really you want big checks? It doesn't just come. Like, it comes from saying yes more than no.

Speaker 2:

You know what I mean? When them phone calls come in, like, where you just got back to the crib and they like, yo, you come back in, run with, Terrence and Steve, duh, duh, And you gotta drive or something like that. Yeah. Or we give you extra duh. You, if you think about how tired you are, you're gonna say no.

Speaker 2:

If you say, if I could just get there, I'll be able to push through. That's the difference. You get what I'm saying? So it's like, you gotta ask yourself, like, you that type? Like, you have a dog in you to get through rough days?

Speaker 2:

It's not, I didn't quit. My van got totaled. Now I'm not gonna lie. When the phone call came through, it felt like a weight was lifted. Knew the drone was fully covered, fully torqued.

Speaker 2:

I didn't do anything fishy for it to happen. Brother, I can't, I'm not gonna lie. That shit was so stressful.

Speaker 1:

I was like High power, man. At work. High power

Speaker 3:

at work.

Speaker 2:

Right? Was like, whatever. I didn't even,

Speaker 3:

My internal.

Speaker 2:

Like, no.

Speaker 3:

Oh my God.

Speaker 2:

No. No. Yeah. I mean, I had, but I was pleased about everything. It was just like, I never forget.

Speaker 2:

I was like, why do I feel relieved? I don't like that I felt relieved, but yeah. In that moment, I'm just like, all right, I can look back and laugh at it. Now I got a better understanding of what I'm getting into, but it also taught me to be daring. You know I'm saying?

Speaker 2:

My wife does real estate. So it was just like, maybe that could be our way. Like we already had two properties. I said, maybe we could just go through real estate, like try and figure out how to get more or just like go off our plane. I don't care if I'm a worker in the in the situation where it's like, we're we're working and all I gotta do is put in maximum effort working and we try and accomplish these things and save up bank and grab another property and get another tenant, whatever.

Speaker 2:

Then that's fine. It's still a form of business. It may not be like, but if I get enough of them shit, who can tell me anything? You know what I'm saying? I got 10 properties renting out.

Speaker 2:

Then it's different. But she's like, yeah, I could look at it that way. Or it's like, I can try to get into something. We always talk about a cigar lounge or something like get into something that you like, get into something that don't chase money. I do.

Speaker 2:

I'll tell you all the time. I don't do anything for money. Nothing. Money does not move a needle for me at all. I, I, there, there are times that people hit me up where they was like, what?

Speaker 2:

I would rather help somebody who thought my work was great and they wish they could have, you know, trying to figure something out, but they say, Hey, I just got like this budget. I know this prop. I love when people say something like, I know you probably won't accept this. You don't know what I'll accept. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

But I love your humility. You know I'm saying? Where it's just like, how about this? I'll do it for such and such.

Speaker 3:

I'll remember that next time we

Speaker 2:

only look. Yeah. Only

Speaker 3:

Kurt, I love your work.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. That's just our case here.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. The only the only way to really earn is is to learn first.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

And it sounds cliche until it's not. Mhmm. The best learnings come from losses. Yeah. It just is dude.

Speaker 2:

It is what it

Speaker 1:

is. I don't even like saying it is what it is. Mhmm. But it is what it is.

Speaker 2:

It is. Listen. What it is.

Speaker 1:

It's it's the truth.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

You know? And you have a bunch of people out here with the bosses make bosses and and

Speaker 2:

all this stuff.

Speaker 1:

It sounds cliche. Yeah. At the end of the day, the way to earn Yeah. Is to learn. And the best lessons you're gonna learn from when you lose.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. You guys, we probably could ask anybody out there. If you ask a story, you're gonna hear a loss in it. You're gonna hear something that was very pivotal or very, you know I mean? To their story where it's just like, all right, cool.

Speaker 2:

Like he got set back and he is what he did after that. Like, was he resilient? Did he you know what mean? Persevered through the adversity. You know what mean?

Speaker 2:

When you hear those type of stories, it's like, it makes you realize like, yo, it's okay to fail. Like, what do say? Fail forward?

Speaker 1:

Everybody's that's everybody's gonna get knocked backwards. What matters is the first step that you take forward after that.

Speaker 2:

After that.

Speaker 1:

That's literally the defining moment.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 1:

It's gonna be imperfect. Maybe you take a step forward and you trip forward and fall forward.

Speaker 2:

Hey, man.

Speaker 1:

But guess what?

Speaker 2:

You're moving in that direction. You're moving. Yeah. That's fact. Yeah.

Speaker 3:

So because I try like, Parker struggled as great as a kid is. He struggled with losing. Like, he just, like, hates losing. And I always like to tell him, like, he looks like Michael Jordan is, like, the best baseball player ever, obviously, as you should. And I'm like, how many like, Parker, how many

Speaker 1:

times Cut from high school.

Speaker 3:

I mean, how many times that you lost? Like, I literally have to explain to him. Like, even the greats, dude, like, in business and

Speaker 1:

Mhmm.

Speaker 3:

Athletics and whatever. Like, they've all lost so

Speaker 2:

many times. Nope. Nope. Nobody. I guess Floyd Mayweather on a professional standpoint, but in life I'm sure.

Speaker 2:

Like everywhere, it doesn't matter wherever it is. Life, wherever you may have, may be without blemish in this one area, but somewhere else.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

It exists.

Speaker 1:

You know

Speaker 2:

what I mean? That's like, because nobody's perfect in life. Like it just doesn't exist. So yeah, I would definitely say same thing. If he does struggle with the loss, would just say.

Speaker 3:

Stop being a bitch.

Speaker 1:

That doesn't seem like Kirk.

Speaker 2:

No, because my my middle daughter, she hate losing too. Like she run off, cry, this and that. You could tell them two things. Well, don't. That's one.

Speaker 2:

That's probably Michael Jordan probably tell you, well, don't lose. Well, don't. Yeah. Well, don't lose. Or it's like, you take that and it's wasted energy.

Speaker 2:

Bill Withers, man. Like, like what is wasted tears, it is. That'll make no flowers grow. You know what saying? That's how you gotta look at it where it's just do something better with that energy.

Speaker 2:

Crying. I tell my kids all day, every day crying doesn't solve nothing.

Speaker 3:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

All day, every day. It's like, when they cry, I'll like, even when we stopped to have the conversation and they stopped crying, I say, well, what did the crying get you? It didn't get you anything. You could have took that energy and did something else with it and made your next move your best move. Right?

Speaker 2:

But crying doesn't solve anything. I cry to, crying is like taking the soul to the laundromat. That's the only reason I use crying for. Yeah. Just if I want to like let pain and emotion out, I always tell people cry, dawg.

Speaker 2:

Like if

Speaker 3:

you gotta cry, cry.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. Just release.

Speaker 1:

You can

Speaker 2:

carry on. Release. Yeah. Release. Because I don't like, like I'm not depressed about losses and people that pass because I Funerals, this I'm balling.

Speaker 2:

I'm out of it.

Speaker 1:

But you're you're shedding the weight. You're releasing the weight so that you can step forward lighter.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. Yeah. But if you're crying for other things, to me, just, it don't make no sense. My soul. That's nice.

Speaker 2:

There's nothing like it. Nothing like it.

Speaker 3:

Alright. Well, do you have any any questions or thoughts for Kurt?

Speaker 1:

I don't I mean, I think we should probably have part two because I am I am interested in, Kurt, the dad, the father, stuff like that.

Speaker 3:

We'll come back to the lessons from Kurt Graham. Could be a whole segment. I know. Maybe we

Speaker 1:

can maybe we can show up on one of Kurt's shows, maybe.

Speaker 3:

Never got the invite.

Speaker 2:

Maybe I'll bring some MMA beds. Never invite. Yeah.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. This guy's got bigger biceps.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. What what within the when within the range comes back. Mhmm. We'll be on that one.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. That that will probably be a a a little a little better. Yeah. Because that's more conversation versus Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

The one we do.

Speaker 3:

I don't need be on the I don't need to be on

Speaker 2:

I on you would.

Speaker 3:

I know you would. I've already I've already

Speaker 2:

been roasting

Speaker 1:

trying to talk about personal development and and life is a blue belt.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. I

Speaker 3:

I don't need to be roasted.

Speaker 2:

Everybody skipped the sixteen thirty four. Yeah.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Exactly. Dude, talking way too much.

Speaker 3:

I've I've already taken the risk of having Kurt and coach Sean on podcast. Being on a podcast with Tom Brady would just be another.

Speaker 1:

I'll tell you.

Speaker 3:

When he's a legend on this show, but when

Speaker 2:

he it's

Speaker 3:

on this one day.

Speaker 1:

Two or four down. You get Sean and Simon on, then you're

Speaker 2:

in the

Speaker 1:

clear, dude.

Speaker 3:

No. No. Simon Simon me and Simon are cool.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. You

Speaker 2:

can get Simon on.

Speaker 3:

No. He he's he's he's on the list. I told I told him. Okay. Okay.

Speaker 2:

Okay. You can say.

Speaker 1:

That's just Sean.

Speaker 3:

Because I am.

Speaker 2:

Sean, you're going record here.

Speaker 3:

I mincemeat for that episode.

Speaker 2:

But shout out to the, to the, the boy, man. Cause he, he about to.

Speaker 3:

He brought us all together.

Speaker 2:

When I say fired up, I know you're trying end the show, but I just want I am fired up, dog. Same. Like, and people don't realize how how especially even just for my journey, man. I'm like, took a risk to really invest into just sticking around and and doing this. And it's like, when I say paying off, this time it was like, yo, can you get my credentials for the back and this and that, blah, blah.

Speaker 2:

This is like, here, talk to such and such and boom, here, keep this just in case. And it's like, it just shows like you really made a name for yourself. When you go to these places and like people may, they, they, they know your face now. They know that, oh, that's Sean's boy or whatever, blah, blah. But in a sense of just Philadelphia possibly, we're about to have a number one contender speaking into existence.

Speaker 2:

Going to win. Absolutely. And then it's just the thought of just bringing it back, bringing the title back here again. You know what And I'm I'm so upset. I had this hard drive.

Speaker 2:

We were talking in the car one time and he had said something. I said, this is gonna be a powerful clip when we get there. But he was like, you know, like I don't wanna be one of these guys that like move out of Philly and dah, dah, fight. Like when I'm the champion, I wanna be from Philadelphia, fighting out of Philadelphia. And he said, I remember he said that, and I, the hard drive broke, they could like inject the memory and put it on, sent it off and who loses it?

Speaker 2:

UPS. Probably me for not sending it the right way. I probably sent it like regular and they probably was like, ah. But I was like, damn, I needed to because I was like, I remember he said that. And I remember the chills I got when he said that.

Speaker 2:

Was like, dog, I was like and that was like the first time I started like seeing his mind. I was like, this guy lives, eats, sleeps the dream where it's just The vision. We sniffing it, man. We

Speaker 3:

right There's no way to get that clip clip. At Please.

Speaker 2:

I got

Speaker 3:

chills just right here.

Speaker 1:

Let tell you a story, man. Something how how long ago was that? A couple years?

Speaker 2:

It's been a while. Tried to go through UPS. They they never found it. It's probably just sitting on some random pile of some warehouse,

Speaker 1:

like Listen. Sometimes things have their way of finding their home, man.

Speaker 3:

No way.

Speaker 1:

You never know.

Speaker 2:

I don't know. They had all the Eddie stuff, all the just all the stuff from the beginning, prior Oath you watched. It was just a hard drive. I sent it off to get it replaced and fixed.

Speaker 1:

Well, you're listening, you got that hard drive. Yeah. Not even petty.

Speaker 2:

Is what it is.

Speaker 3:

I will say, just like you were saying actually in the beginning of the show, like, when you meet one of the fewer or or someone that embodies a few hunt mindset of what it means to be an Eagle. Mhmm. Like, you know, like, we didn't have to talk that much to know that we just, and that's why we're still in each other's lives to this day. Like, it's, what, seven, eight, like, seven years old. Like, that's that's, like

Speaker 1:

Mhmm.

Speaker 3:

In my book, a long friendship. Like Right.

Speaker 2:

For sure.

Speaker 3:

And I don't hate you. And when and not to guess Sean up too much. Like, when I met Sean, like, him and I did and I I believe he would say the same, but we connected on a different level because we understood each other. Like, obviously, not an athlete.

Speaker 2:

Right.

Speaker 3:

But he understands where I come from, what I was trying to do, and and I was locked in on my vision, what I was gonna create. Mhmm. And I think we had a mutual understanding that, like, hey. We're we might be on two different journeys, but come from the same cloth.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 3:

And no one, myself included, is more committed to where they're going than as from Brady. Like, he is my dude is locked in.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 3:

And no one will tell him he's not going to do what he wants to do.

Speaker 2:

He's one of those insanity. He's one of, like, Goggins locked in guys. Yeah. Or like, like guys who risk it all, lost it all. Like, you know what mean?

Speaker 2:

Like, there's nothing that's going to like stop him. Like, remember asking him, we were doing like something for Brooks or something like that. And, was just asking him couple of questions. I was like, is there like a voice in your head? And I just remember how he said it.

Speaker 2:

Like, it was almost like I hit like a nerve or like, like I'm speaking on a truth that he don't even talk about. He was like, like, I was like, it's a nagging, it's a drop. Know I'm saying? Where I was just like, don't know if I have something like that, that whatever. But for him it's like, it's a nuisance.

Speaker 2:

You know I'm saying? Like it eats at him. Like he has to get to it. Right? And that's what's going to get him to it.

Speaker 2:

That voice that Yep. I'm I gotta you know what I mean? To go and to

Speaker 3:

And to and to hear, like, he failure is not an option. Like, he I don't think that option of losing is even in his brain. You know what I mean? Like, that's what's amazing about it. Like, most some fighters or athletes might feel like, what if I lose?

Speaker 3:

Mhmm. Like, I just don't even think he sees it.

Speaker 2:

Like that. You never really you you never hear nobody

Speaker 3:

Exactly.

Speaker 2:

Hear him talk from that standpoint. Exactly. You should, though. You shouldn't go into something thinking you're gonna lose. You should go into something believing that you're gonna win.

Speaker 3:

Exactly. Oh, I see.

Speaker 2:

It's what you do. Like you said, it's what do after. If it happens, I'm I'm prepared for it. It happens, if something not that, but if something happens in my life where it forced me to fail or whatever, then cool. But I think that fear, that respectable fear of big, like I said, your dreams, your goals, they should scare you.

Speaker 2:

They should be that big that they do scare you. Everything I've done when I was trying to a police officer, all types of stuff. When I was prepared to take this run, it brought the stress you is the best you. I always say that you will never perform better than when you are under pressure. When you are under pressure, adrenaline, stuff like that, like I said, that is that is the best version of yourself.

Speaker 1:

It's the literally the the the meaning or the motive or the purpose behind stress to sharpen you. Yeah. That's what it is. Yeah. We just let it take the wheel.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. Yeah. No, you feed, you, you feed off that fear, those butterflies, all that stuff like that, that has been the best version of me to whether it was tests, physical fitness tests.

Speaker 3:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Like in anything, like, because I was so scared of failing that I prepared so well for it. And I still didn't know if I was gonna do it or not. But when I got out there, all the work you put in to get to that moment pays off, like right there in that So I stress you as the best. That's the only thing I can tell you.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. That that, the the story I told about Sean and the voice, it's a

Speaker 2:

call it

Speaker 1:

passenger. I

Speaker 2:

have it. You call it the passenger you say? Like, you ride along. It it drives them, man. Drives them.

Speaker 1:

You're you're road dog. You ride along. You're a passenger.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It makes you understand, like, why you could just keep keep going like that. And again, I don't think everyone has that, but when you have that, I think you are definitely on the brink of like insanity.

Speaker 2:

Like it drives you crazy and you have to reach it. You know what I mean? And I hope, I don't know what happens when you reach it. Now it doesn't keep, now I gotta be the best at it. Right.

Speaker 2:

So I don't, I do not know, but I'm just, I'm looking forward to seeing where it goes. I hope this goes absolutely well. Can't wait to be out there. I hope I delivered. If you don't follow Brady fight weeks, deliver a lot of his content during, during fight week.

Speaker 2:

Follow me, Kurt, see like, like, like the content from the fight weeks to me is just like, I put so much into just trying to tell a story of that week. Follow a few on hunt. Cause I'll be locking in with y'all too, doing content. So it's just like the cut weight, all that stuff. Like I just, I love, I just love all the emotion you get from that week.

Speaker 2:

So, I can't wait one more week. We out there. Yeah, it's like,

Speaker 1:

forward to Tell the community where to find you. Spell it out if you could.

Speaker 2:

You're I am underscore curt I c courtesy. It's a double entendre. I hate when people like, what is it curt IC or courtesy?

Speaker 1:

It's both. Like

Speaker 2:

it's both. But yeah, it also follow Marques MMA. Also do most of the content on that page. And yeah, I don't do Facebook. Nobody does Facebook.

Speaker 3:

Facebook is a slumber status.

Speaker 1:

I don't

Speaker 2:

know what Facebook is for nowadays. It's all the drama. Right? I was gonna say,

Speaker 1:

it's just

Speaker 2:

drama. Like, oh, out. And keep up with grandma. You know what I mean? But other than that, yeah.

Speaker 3:

Alright. Well, Kurt, thank you for being one of my closest friends and thank you for being one of the few.

Speaker 2:

My dog, man.

Speaker 3:

That being said, I leave the few with a reminder. Always choose hard work over handouts. Always choose effort over entitlement. And remember, no one owes you. No one owns you.

Speaker 3:

You're one of the few. Now let's hunt.

Speaker 2:

All that way you say it.