Speaker 1: 0:00

all right guys. Welcome to episode 13 of it's personal and entrepreneurs podcast. We got damien with us today, super stoked for you to be here. We appreciate you, uh coming on thanks for the invite um, we really like to start all our shows with being true to our name, which is it's personal. Thanks for the invite, louisiana. Um, you know, growing up in that city, it, it's, uh, it's interesting.

Speaker 2: 0:47

Let's just say that much. It's uh. It's a city. I personally would not raise children in Um and uh.

Speaker 2: 0:54

You know I grew up in very humble beginnings. You know I grew up in a I would say, a predominantly black area, uh, mixed with a lot of poor white folks. Back then we didn't look at color, we just looked at it. We were all poor. Yeah, that's one thing we had in common we were poor. Yeah, um, unlike today's day and age where everything is labels.

Speaker 2: 1:15

But you know, man, it was one of the best things that probably I ever could have experienced, because my mom and I grew up in it.

Speaker 2: 1:22

It was maybe a 700 square foot, half of a double, so it was like a shotgun house split in two, and growing up there I knew that early on in life that I wanted more than what we had, and I grew up in a family that was very, very religious people and people that had some disempowering belief systems, people that maybe had uh, uh, some, some uh, self-imposed limitations that they passed down through generations. They passed their limitations down to you right next. Yeah, yeah, and I early on, you know, because of um being good in sports and and and my parents taking me out of public school and putting me in the catholic school. I was around other kids that had families, that had money, yeah. So I knew right away what was possible where my mom would say you know, that's, you know, we can't get those jordans when I played basketball, because that's for those rich kids yeah or or you know, I remember coming here for the first time actually, and my mom saying, you know, I was like mom, I'm going to live there one day.

Speaker 2: 2:31

She's like, well, that's for those rich folks, you know, that was kind of like always the thing. It was like we can't have that, that's for them. Yeah, and I just never I had. I had a child. God, oh man. Yeah, I was a wreck at 17 years old, but but anyway, um, really good people growing up in a. So mom's side of the family, super poor. Dad's side of of the family is more of a middle class family. Parents were divorced. I think they divorced when I was two. I had really really amazing grandparents. All of my mom and dad were working. They were divorced. Although he wasn't very present early on in my life, he never missed a child support or anything like that, so he definitely supported the family that way. But, um, you know, I remember growing up missing that family element. Sure, you know I would look at other people in their families and going on vacations and we we just never did anything like that yeah.

Speaker 2: 3:40

So early on I think I really realized what I wanted. And now that I'm, you know, 44, looking back, and I could just remember as a child I was always a dreamer. I was always a kid who thought big and uh, you know, I think that that was a blessing. From my upbringing and experiencing on one side of the family, you know real poor conditions and scarcity.

Speaker 3: 4:08

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 4:09

Scarcity mindsets too. And you know, moving on through my high school years, I was a lost kid man. I was a kid who didn't really have a dad that was very present. He didn't really teach me much about being a man. My dad was kind of more uh, more of a ladies man, so he taught. The only thing he really taught me was you know how to pick how to do that.

Speaker 2: 4:31

And look, my dad and I have a great relationship today, you know, although you know completely different political views. Um, it's, uh, he's, he's present today and he is a good dad. Um, but early on I didn't have that solid male figure. So going through the different schools that I went through and all all that, I found myself doing a lot of people pleasing, a lot of uh, wanting approval from other people, and I kind of adapted to my environment. You know, when I was uh, you know, in my neighborhood, I was a little thug. When I went to high school where, you know it, it was a Catholic high school. A lot of the kids there like country music. I like country music, yeah, you became a chameleon.

Speaker 2: 5:11

Yeah, I was a chameleon and I was really good at it, yeah. So I never really knew who I was All through high school. I just I never knew, I never had an identity, that. I was always just kind of lost, yep.

Speaker 2: 5:29

And then a real unfortunate thing happened. My best friend was murdered right after we graduated high school, right in front of us, and that sent our entire friend group in a really downward spiral, landed me in a drug rehab at 18. I didn't really have a drug problem back then, but luckily my grandfather was a judge on my dad's side of the family and, because of what had happened, he said that if you go to a drug treatment facility, they're not going to take you out and put you in jail. So we did that, I complied and conformed all my way through, uh, the drug treatment facility at 18.

Speaker 2: 6:10

And it was tough because my best friend was just murdered. I had gotten in some trouble. I was just, I lost my zeal for life at that point. At that point, when you witness something like that, you um, or experience that level of trauma and it's like your best friend, yeah, and he was actually the strongest of all of our friends, yeah, our, our school was kind of known as the fighting school. Um, you know, in in in the city of new orleans, if anybody knows about holy cross high school or saint bernard parish, yeah, we're known as those white kids that can fight you know so how my best friend was murdered started with a fight and we were very you know, uh, we were known for fighting, so it was unfortunate that the things happened the way they happened.

Speaker 2: 7:01

But you know, I look back at everything in life as a learning experience and a blessing. But that right there set me on a downward spiral. Yeah, like immediately and um, a lot of drug use. From that point forward, uh, I walked onto a football team in college, um, and uh, could have easily got a scholarship but was never, never dealt with that underlying issue and that trauma of that. And because of that, uh, rather than excelling in football like I could have, I decided to choose the other route, which was partying, and, you know, got into some things that I probably shouldn't have got involved with and uh, just lived a party life. As a matter of fact, panama city uh, from the time I was 1920 to the time I was 35, I spent three months of my life here every year throwing every major party the city's ever seen for spring break, selling spring break. Yeah, my break.

Speaker 2: 8:05

Yeah, my best my best friend at the time, anthony loicano, and he still, to this day, does this. But, um, they have sunquest promotions at mtv. Beach bash was our concert, um, sponsored by mtv. Um, well, anthony's concert, um, we did all the ping parties, the, the, the, the phone parties, the, the, any kind of party you can think of the Panamaniac cards. So I spent Fred's, yeah, hammerhead, fred's, sharkies, yeah, all that, that, that, yeah, that was all of my body and me. Um, so, long story short, I was on a crash course man.

Speaker 3: 8:41

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 8:42

I didn't want to to live. I really didn't think that I valued life at all at that point in time, and it all started with that situation that I experienced when I was 18 and, um, you know, that led to a lot of drug use and a lot of alcohol use, to the time I was 35 actually, and then one day I just woke up after getting a DWI and I was just I'm done, can't do this anymore.

Speaker 1: 9:07

Yeah, you hit that point when you have that lifestyle.

Speaker 2: 9:09

I mean, if I told people the actual story of what the parties that I went to and the people that I hung out with and and you know I worked on movies for five years also. Um, after the 2008 crash, my stepdad was in the movie industry, for he just retired, actually in february. Most people wouldn't believe the story. I've lived a life, a party life, like no one else. Um, and you know there's some good experiences from there's. Also, you know there was some some uh, there was definitely uh, some consequences that came from that lifestyle.

Speaker 2: 9:44

At 35, as broken as anybody could possibly be, in a hotel room about to end my life, so things didn't really turn around and I didn't grow up really until I was 35. Yeah, and I remember there was a hotel room. This is after my fourth DWI. First and all throughout this this, there are situations where god was with me. I mean, there was a situation where I was actually shot at nine times and none of the bolts hit me from like six feet away. It was also the situation with the dwis, with none of the other judges knew about any of the other DWIs, so they never, ever charged me with anything more than a first on all first offense on all four of them, wow.

Speaker 2: 10:31

So, technically speaking, I should have went to prison for at least 10 years, or two, or three, or three or four. Yeah, Because of the DWIs. As a matter of fact, the day of my sentencing for the fourth one, which is where I actually woke up the judge now I was in rehab. When my attorney called me up he was like do you know an angel that you haven't introduced me to? I'm like why is that? He said they're going to plead you out on a first. He said so I need you to sign this power of attorney right now so I can plead you out. You're not going to get anything. I didn't even have a chance to negotiate on your behalf. They're just giving you a first. Take it, yeah, plea. So I did that. And then fast forward 10 months later, I'm in my first real job in sobriety. At this time, I was a general manager of an LA fitness in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Uh, at this time I was a general manager of an LA fitness in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Speaker 3: 11:25

Okay.

Speaker 2: 11:25

Yep, I actually took that gym from being. I think we were ranked 711 out of 800 and something gyms. I do remember 711 is the exact number. We were 711 out of how many gyms. They had 800 and something gyms in the country, so we were one of the worst. Within six months I turned it around to the top 50 gym. Within a year was in top 25. Heck.

Speaker 2: 11:43

I turned it around to the top 50 gym. Within a year I was in the top 25. Heck, yeah, and that was my first real test in sobriety. I was always a high producer and everything. A hustler. Yeah, I always had that hustle mentality. A lot of that had to do with my upbringing. One of the things that one of my probation officers taught me is that he goes people that and you know some of the activities you were doing. If you just take that energy you put into that stuff and put it into this, he said you're, you're one of the top performing people there is. So, early on, there was a probation officer that I had that was very instrumental in helping me see things differently and helping me take that energy I put into things that weren't serving me. It's the things that were serving me. So that was my real first test. But but um and uh. That was in uh, 2015 actually. So in 2015 went from um, uh turning that gym around to the executive vice president of that company.

Speaker 2: 12:44

Uh, la fitness happened to come to my sentence and date for that fourth DWI because they wanted to make sure that I wasn't going to go to jail. I was too valuable to the company at this point and I probably had 15 or so people show up for that sentence and date. Well, what do you know? They run a pretrial sentence and report that day and they find out about the other three DWIs. Now, at this time they can't charge me with a fourth. I've already pled out on a first and the judge says everybody who's with Mr Calais in my chambers right now, he said because he's going to get jail, I can't give him what he should get, but he's going to get some jail time.

Speaker 2: 13:21

At the time I think I was on house arrest for like three months. I think the max he could give me was like was like a 180 days or whatever it was, and at the time I think the remaining time was 21 days, was the max he can give me in jail. So he called everybody back in the office and he's like he's not walking. So y'all tell me and I wasn't in the room at this time. Yes, so y'all am, and I wasn't in the room at this time. Yes, so y'all, including my parents, the executive VP of sales for this company, and everybody had to tell the judge how much time he should give me. And I wasn't in that room. So I don't know who said what, but I remember him calling me into that office. He said son, he goes. You know, I always knew one thing I can tell you in all the stuff that I've been through and everything that I have experienced in life, I always remember there was something inside of me that knew that the answer was going to be Jesus Christ.

Speaker 1: 14:20

Always knew that. Yeah, it's like that, that quiet calling in the back of your head no matter what you're doing.

Speaker 2: 14:25

I always knew and he was always with me. I just didn't grab the hand. You know I didn't. It wasn't. I guess it just wasn't the right time at the time. So I ended up spending the 21 days in jail and prior to actually prior to this, actually, there was a moment I probably should have went there first. This is what I call my gift and desperation. This is actually prior to me even going through treatment, going to the courtroom and all this stuff. There was a moment where I almost ended my life. Actually, this is where everything changed for me.

Speaker 2: 15:02

I was in room 343 at the Ramada Hotel on Causeway South in New Orleans, louisiana, and I went to that hotel room to end my life and I remember being in that room and I had one night in a hotel room. My pastor at the time had paid for me to get one night in a hotel room and I needed a social security guard to get into rehab. I didn't have it. I didn't have a license, I didn't have a wallet, I didn't have a car, I didn't have a cell phone. That's how bad things were. That's how bad things had gotten for me. I had burned all the bridges you could possibly burn and there was nobody willing to help me, other than a few friends that I had who still to this day rock with me on everything that I do. And I'm very fortunate that those people were there for me back then. But I remember when I was in this hotel room and I was contemplating this, it was like the devil was on his shoulder. The angel was on his shoulder like do it, do it, do it. The other side's like no, you're not going to do that. And I just remember getting on the phone with my buddy, paul, and Paul's like man, when are you going to submit your will? And your way of decision-making and your thinking is flawed. When are you going to realize that? And he said in this situation, he said I need you to understand, I'm not your fucking friend. That's exactly how he said it. He said I love you, but I am not your friend right now. He said if you want what I have, which he is. So we're like 20 something years at a time.

Speaker 2: 16:30

Very successful construction business in New Orleans, a software developer which most construction companies on the Gulf Coast use his software for asset management to make sure that that, um, that they run uh, you know, lean operations. It's profitable, efficient. Yeah, he said, you're going to have to submit, man, he said. And if you want my help, he goes. I'll let you borrow my way of thinking. He said but your way of thinking ain't going to work. And he said until you submit your will. And he was a believer too. That's why I chose him as my sponsor back then, cause I knew that I wanted what he had. He said that you were going to have to submit. Man, he goes, cause your way doesn't work. And I was like okay, great, will you take me to the social security office so I can get a social security card? He said no, he said you got yourself in this situation. You need to get yourself out of this situation. And if you call anyone who's going to enable you to go get that social security card, you call mom, dad or anybody to drive you there. He said I'm done, I'm out, walk there. So that's. I'm like.

Speaker 2: 17:36

I collapse after this phone call. And I just remember I was like well, I don't even know what to do anymore. I can't do this anymore. I don't know what to do, I don't know what to think, I don't trust my thinking. I'm just complete submission at this moment. I try to get back to that complete submission every day, but that was the one moment in my life. I was just like, just go before me and show me, you know, the next person that I meet.

Speaker 2: 18:07

I go from that hotel room on my knees, crying, the most emotional I've ever been in my life. At this point I decided you know that I wasn't going to end it. I was just going to do what Paul told me to do. And I go, walk to the front desk of the hotel room and the lady's name was Michelle. She was the general manager of that hotel.

Speaker 2: 18:27

And the first words out of her mouth, when I locked the eyes with her, I was in tears. She was like honey, I don't know why, I'm getting ready to tell you what I'm telling you right now. She said but God's putting it in my spirit right now to tell you you're going to be okay. Like didn't even tell her anything. Yeah, just yeah. She said out of her mouth. God told me to tell you. And then come to find out the drug treatment facility I was trying to get into. Her brother had gotten sober there, wow. And actually Randy Gomez, you know, randy, randy owned it, wow. So that's how I know Randy was. I met him back then. That's crazy. So long story short of everything is that I always knew Christ had to be the answer, and I always knew that, um, I had to. I had to let somebody else think for me at that point.

Speaker 3: 19:19

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 19:20

I just my thinking and everything was flawed. So that's really where the story kind of began. And then the thing with LA Fitness happened, and then I go get a job with Vivint after that. Y'all know what Vivint is.

Speaker 2: 19:33

Yep, I was actually a rookie of the year for Vivint in 2015 it's a really cool company, yeah that's the security system in this office and the whole reason why I chose that because I was always really good in sales. I chose that particular position because I had never done door-to-door sales before and my mentor at the time to see what I got when I had gotten, when I had went into all this. I actually had a pretty successful career in mortgage from 2004 to 2008. I was a territory sales manager for a Fortune 500 mortgage company and 2008 was a Well, it was a crash. Yeah, I also had a. My first crash in my life was in 2008. It was my first personal crash, along with the market crash, yeah. The second one was when I got the 4TWI in 2015.

Speaker 2: 20:19

So, um, they didn't want me to go back into mortgages. Um, my mentors at the time and they said we want you to go do something that's really hard, something that you don't want to do because something that's not going to feed your ego. Because you go right back into mortgage, you're crushing. I was making 170k a year at 24 25 not bad back then. So, uh, they wanted me to do something. I was going to humble myself and knocking doors is one of the most humbling things you'll ever do, man, very true. So that year, uh, I I became the rookie of the year sold like 180 accounts that year. I just worked with them for one year but I was surrounded by a, a bunch of Mormon guys actually and, although that's not my faith, they're very good family people. They have very good values, they don't cuss, they don't drink, and I needed that at that stage of my life. Yeah, it was a perfect fit. Yeah, I'm actually still really good friends with those guys today. Um, so that's kind of where everything really started for me and that's where I really proved to myself that I could do this sober and that I can do this um with um with the help of the lord, and and, uh, and still, at this time, I'm still like, definitely one foot in, one foot, foot out. Yeah, the turn in my life didn't really happen until a couple years ago and it's kind of funny. You know.

Speaker 2: 21:42

Fast forward to where we're at right now. I currently have a real estate business with teams in 26 states and 2,300 realtors 10 of those states that we're in. We have the number one real estate team in those states that are in our organization, so 10 of the 26 states. So I've been very blessed with the skill set to attract leaders to our business, which, at the end of the day, is everything to do with my belief. When I believe in something, I can sell it. It's not like sales, just like everything that I've done.

Speaker 2: 22:20

I built an organization. I was one of the pioneers in the cannabis industry, also for CBD. That was really my biggest success prior to real estate was I built an organization of 17,000 distributors and the first CBD that ever, uh, shipped to all 50 states. Uh, we were even before charlotte's web was in existence. We were shipping out cbd.

Speaker 2: 22:43

So I saw a little girl who had, who had seizures, and um, I have seizures too and um, I saw her go from 400 seizures three to 400 seizures a day and almost like a dozen a month.

Speaker 2: 22:55

And when I saw that I was like I need to tell the world this. Just like when I was with the EXP prior to this and I love the EXP great company. It was my first company in real estate but when I saw LPT had basically a ground floor opportunity and had improved the model, I was like I wanted to be on the ground floor of this and after meeting with the founder and hearing his vision that he was going to willing to bet a hundred million dollars on money on himself. I was like, okay, I believe in this guy, anybody who's willing to bet a hundred million dollars on themselves and taking no investors. So I think for me the key has been doing things that I believe in, not just to sell. I can't just sell something to sell something, yeah. No, I agree with that. Most people don't even realize, but everybody's in sales, from the mom, the stay-at-home mom who's trying to convince their children to go to sleep at night, to everybody Every day. We're selling, we're all influencing something.

Speaker 2: 23:54

Yeah, exactly so for me it's just been. I think the key to my success has just been doing things that I believe in man and when it gets into me, then being able to transfer that energy to someone else and build an organization has just been kind of my skillset team building, which is really. It's not really real estate that fires me up, although I do love real estate. I love everything about it. It's more of the personal development side, helping people develop into their best potential. Yeah, and listen.

Speaker 1: 24:25

I can share in that to a degree because I think there's two different personality types that get into real estate. There's people that get into real estate that love that real estate process and they want to do it as much as possible and they absolutely love that interaction estate process and they want to do it as much as possible and they absolutely love that interaction with the client and the family, the search for the house. And I very early on I liked it. When I first got into it I would say I even loved it. But I'm the kind of person that with anything that I do, once I kind of get something down packed I want to move on to something.

Speaker 2: 24:56

A little bit it feels good helping that person get into their house or their investment property and, and you know, one of the things I I I made sure to emotionally connect to, especially in the market that we're in, think of the memories and moments that people are creating with the properties that we sold them. Yeah, absolutely, and then we're attached to that. That's why I stopped giving closing gifts, you know what I give now.

Speaker 1: 25:23

I give photography sessions. That's nice, that's actually, yeah, that's smart. So it's very smart.

Speaker 3: 25:25

I'm just not good at choosing gifts yeah, it's the hardest part. Yeah, because a lot of the time you set in love with like a family set up yeah, so a lot of the times when I give a gift, it's like, are they even gonna put it up or hang it or whatever?

Speaker 2: 25:34

I bought them or use it. Yeah, that's why I stopped and you're guessing what someone wants. I made a relationship with different photographers in different areas and now I just send families to go get you know how everybody gets the the white one hour yeah, yeah, the white photos in the sand.

Speaker 2: 25:46

And that's a great idea. It is because, again, I'm attached to their memories and moments. Yeah, that that huge picture on the wall. They're never gonna forget me. Yeah, because I arranged that Right.

Speaker 2: 25:57

And, and you know, one of the things I do pride myself in my real estate business while we're on a topic is, uh, I've done everything with literally no lead generation. Now, of course, I get some leads from the company, but as far as me, investing prior to that, yeah, my first year, I did 12 million in sales with literally sphere of influence. At 12 million in sales was literally sphere of influence. The biggest issue I see with new agents and this one's for the new agents out there, by the way stop joining real estate brokerages. You are launching a business.

Speaker 2: 26:27

Launch a real estate business, don't join a real estate company, and I think that's been the key to my success in everything that I've done. A lot of that's attributed to my experience in network marketing. I have a 15-year background in network marketing, which is the best school on the planet for entrepreneurship, if you ask me, is that they teach you how to launch a home-based business right, and really all network marketing is word-of-mouth marketing. You do it all day, every day. Right now, you're network marketing, maylin. Yeah, you're network marketing, maylin. Yeah, you're network marketing. Edg, that's your company, right? Yeah, yeah, I mean, I'm network marketing, tommy Bahama right now.

Speaker 2: 27:04

You don't even know, but all day long, whether you understand it or not, everything that you're doing you're network marketing a product, and I'm not getting paid from Tommy Bahama to do this. So what I did early on was I found a model that, wait, I can go ahead and share products and share things that I believe in to other people and get money from it. And I think one of the best things I ever did was get involved in network marketing, because it taught me about passive income. Which kind of leads me to the deal with real estate is that I see so many agents out there. We're very fortunate to be in rev share models. There are so many agents out there that are living transactional. Yeah, One of the things that I hear and one of the myths I wanted to spell real quick is a lot of people oh, you're in that MLM company. Well, let me just put you on notice here You're in an MLM.

Speaker 1: 27:54

Everyone is in real, is in real.

Speaker 2: 27:55

Everyone is the only thing is, you're one cog in your broker's mlm pyramid, okay, so uh, you don't have the same opportunity that?

Speaker 1: 28:04

your broker has it's like brokers and shareholders and you nothing. The only difference with ours is that are balking at the model that we're in.

Speaker 2: 28:13

They're in a pyramid scheme model. They don't have the same opportunity.

Speaker 1: 28:18

They're broker as well.

Speaker 1: 28:19

And the other thing, yeah, that we always say, whether it's, it's just so funny how how many people are actually uneducated and they just regurgitate things that they were told, which and whether whether it be exp or or lpt, the truth of the matter is that and we say this all the time is you have to sell real estate for that to work, 100%. For that to work, we have to actually provide the service for the business we're in, and you have to do it at a high level and a high volume. So no one's making money off of just signing someone up. We're making money off of signing people up that sell real estate. Then do it well.

Speaker 2: 28:57

Now, one of the things that brought me into real estate was my network marketing career. I got so sick and tired of people, just, you know, I, I, I built a team of 17,000 distributors and was on the advisory board of that company, made over a million dollars in that company and, um, I got sick and tired of me seeing it for other people in them. They, they just couldn't see it like I would see the potential in them and they would quit. You know, week, two weeks, yeah, a lot, yeah, they couldn't take that rejection and I was like it just blew my mind that I would waste time with these folks and they would just quit. So I was like, wait, I can go build a network inside of a industry with people that have licenses hungry, yeah, with people that actually have licenses that have to go to a school, that are a little bit committed, at least on the outset, yeah from having the license standpoint, yeah, there's a financial.

Speaker 2: 29:44

So for me it was. I got sick and tired of wasting time with people that would just quit on themselves, and that's what legitimately brought me into exp. And then when I came into exp, I was just like, wow, all right, yeah, I like this. And then when I came in the exp, I was just like, wow, all right, yeah, I like this. And then I saw that you know, the new model come out and, of course, went over to that. So, yeah, it's, it's just been.

Speaker 1: 30:04

I agree with what you're saying, though. Going back to what you said about launching a business, though, because even me, like when I first left corporate uh, you know, being a sales manager and having lots of employees and stuff I went and joined a brokerage. And having lots of employees and stuff, I went and joined a brokerage. And that mindset that goes along with that is that you're waiting for them to do something for you, and that's not how real estate works, and it took me a year and a half to kick my own ass into gear and start working for myself really, and move in that direction. But it really you have to come at it from that angle. If you're going to do well in real estate, you can't think of it as joining a broker. You have to launch a business.

Speaker 2: 30:41

So one of the things I was taught in network marketing was how to launch a business 90 days. We would, we would always do a 90 day run. In every company that I was in, we'd started off by launching whatever product or service you're in and doing a 90 day run and basically what it? What? What that looks like is is I always tell people this, and this is one thing that anybody who's worked with me hears me say over and over and over again divorce yourself from the outcome, marry the daily activity.

Speaker 2: 31:08

So when you launch a business okay, it's really not rocket science here what I did in, uh, my first year in exp was I I talked to 50 people a day for 90 days, whether it be through text message, messenger. Engaging in 50 conversations a day is what it was. Maybe I didn't talk to 50 people, but I made sure, sure. I made an outward uh, reach, yeah, I prospected, I started the conversation, yeah, yeah. And all I did at that point in time was I formed them, and formed them means I talked to them about their family, their occupation, their recreation, their motivation, and then I made sure somewhere in that conversation when I asked them well, how's the job going, or how's the family, or this or that they're going to reciprocate the conversation back to me, and then all I have it comes up naturally. Yeah, exactly, we form people naturally.

Speaker 1: 32:01

Yeah, it's just an acronym that I use. I think it's an old Amway acronym. To be honest with you it is.

Speaker 2: 32:06

It goes all the way back to Dexter Yeager yeah, so again, network marketing being the best school on the planet for entrepreneurship. What I'll tell you is this the thing that I did, though, is I didn't go into the conversation to talk about real estate ever, but one thing that I always plugged before that conversation was over with. When the conversation shifted back to me and they started asking me questions, I said hey, do you mind if I ask one favor of you? You know how I support everybody in my network's businesses. The one thing I can tell you guys, and the superpower that I have, is I am the biggest supporter of everybody's business that is in my friend's network. I just support, support, support. Even when they don't support me, I still support them.

Speaker 2: 32:46

Sometimes it's a little discouraging when you find out they didn't support you Absolutely. I always say listen, if you hear anybody even mention real estate, I want you to think about my name, and I want to make my name synonymous with real estate, because with you guys in all 50 states, you can technically do deals in all 50 states. Yeah, you referred out somebody else. We're in 26 states right now, so I'm making sure that I plant that one little statement there that, if you hear real estate. You think of me and you know you can trust me, so I'll make sure whatever referral you send me, I'll take care of it for you and tying that back into something Let me just finish this 50 contacts a day for the first 90 days is 4,500 contacts.

Speaker 2: 33:32

It's a lot of people. Yeah, and I think the first year I did 24 deals, 26 deals, and it was 12. No, I'm sorry. 10.2 million in sales, what I did my first year, not 12.2. I need to correct that.

Speaker 1: 33:46

Yeah, and and tying that back into what you were saying earlier about not using lead gen, I've I've kind of been all over the place no-transcript follow-up and cadence and work and convincing and chasing after um, to maybe get like a little bit of ROI on your time, when, if you just really double in real estate, I think if you just double down on what you're talking about, that outward prospecting and knowing who to talk to and when to talk to them, that's when your business really starts doing a lot better. I did buy realtorcom, I bought some realtorcom leads and I bought leads that work okay, but in the end nothing is going to beat the network.

Speaker 2: 34:46

Nothing's going to beat your sphere of influence in a referral-based business and nothing's going to beat content creation. Yeah, you, yeah, you know, becoming the mayor of your town Becoming a person of influence. Person of influence Exactly, that's exactly what it is, you know, sharing your story. One thing that I will say that I've done from the very beginning and this has a lot to do with my network marketing background.

Speaker 2: 35:08

The first live video I ever did was the day I drove myself to drug rehab and I told everybody live on camera that I was putting myself in rehab because I felt like a fraud. And I said you know, I've been living this double life. Yeah, and I put myself on blast man. I told everybody that when I came back, I was going to document a story and I was going to show everybody a story of a man who I just I knew how much potential I had, Wow, and I knew I was wasting all of that potential. So after that, I spent the whole year going through all the, everything that I went through. I came back and I started documenting it and now, for 10 years now, I've documented my story on social media and I'm willing to bet that just about every relationship that I have today, you know, and of today, you know, and of course you know a lot of these people from back home or whatever. But I have a pretty loyal following on social media and it's all because they've watched my story.

Speaker 1: 36:07

For a long time now.

Speaker 2: 36:08

Yes, that's it and it's and it's not. You know, I'm not some guy. The one thing I will tell you that I'm proud of myself is that when I meet people that have never met me before, they're like oh, you're the same guy, You're no different than the guy. I'm like yeah, that's me. Yeah, and that's the key. You have to be authentic and vulnerable. I think that if you're going to do social media in an effective manner, it can't be all pie in the sky, Can't be different than who you are. You can't just be out there celebrating all your wins, all your victories, and not showing any loss.

Speaker 3: 36:41

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 36:43

I had to take a bunch of L's man. That was kind of the precipice of us doing this. To be honest, as we get sick of you know there's people have a filtered social media side and what actually happened to get there social media side and what actually happened to get there. And we know, because we love talking to people and networking and hearing people's story, that 80 of it is the stuff that you don't talk. Yeah, it's the l's.

Speaker 2: 37:04

Yeah, you know I look back at it. You know a good friend made this uh suggestion to me early on. You know I was really concerned about a lot of people finding out about my past and it's like an asset, if you use it properly.

Speaker 2: 37:17

Yeah, especially when I co-founded the Cajun Navy. That was the single most important event that ever happened in my life. Actually, I can't believe. I haven't thought about that yet, but in 2015, six months into my sobriety, I accidentally sparked a movement called the Cajun Navy by doing a live video on Facebook Full transparency. The Cajun navy was a concept that was used during hurricane katrina, and anybody who was out rescuing people in a boat was called the cajun navy by the got it okay. So there was never an organized effort for for katrina was just anybody that was in a boat. The public called them the Cajun Navy. Yeah, In 2000, August 12th 2016 was the worst flood in American history.

Speaker 2: 38:04

It was in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and I was probably about a year a little bit over a year sober at the time. I had heard a rumor of a bunch of people going to a Home Depot on Corsi Boulevard in Baton Rouge to go out and rescue folks. At this time, I didn't even own a boat, yeah, and so we went to go over there, and again, this is my network marketing background popping in here. You know I had been doing live videos at the time for my businesses and stuff like that videos at the time for my businesses and stuff like that and I had met this gentleman in a parking lot who his name is Chris Clark and he had a kid, two children, actually four and five years old, and he couldn't get within eight miles of his kids because of the flood. He was crying his eyes out. He was like can you guys please help me get to my kids? So I said like will you tell that story on Facebook? I guarantee y'all find us some boats. And he's like yeah, well, that video within like 48 hours got 2 million views, Jeez, and I think to this day it's got like 20 something million views and my phone number was on that video, oh God. So imagine, like this is right, when Hillary and Trump are going at each other.

Speaker 2: 39:14

The flood was not getting any national coverage whatsoever and this video is going viral on social media and Trump are going at each other. The flood was not getting any national coverage whatsoever and this video is going viral on social media and my phone number's on there. So we got people saying, well, we're stuck here, we're stuck there. We got boats coming in from here. We got boats coming in from there. We were bringing these supplies. My phone was lighting up and a friend of mine, Keegan Lanier, out of Lafayette, Louisiana, said how can I help? And he was the at the time. He was I think he's now the executive vice president of the company. But you ever heard of the Walk-Ons franchise? Walk-ons, yes, yeah, yeah, yeah. So Keegan reached out to me. He's like what can I do to help? I'm like man.

Speaker 2: 39:58

I got all this information coming in on my right now and, and, uh, you know, darren james is actually just right around the time. I met darren james okay, it was right where his office was when this flood happened, so, uh, so we ended up, uh, getting my, my phone forwarded to keegan some kind of way. Somebody else did it and all the information was going to him and he funneled it into a facebook group that we named the Cajun Navy Gotcha.

Speaker 1: 40:17

To kind of coordinate an effort.

Speaker 2: 40:18

Yeah, we had admins and within like 48 hours, it was some group in Silicon Valley that created this GPS tracking app where people were calling in with addresses. We were able to populate it on. It was a whole effort that was happening behind the scenes that I was not a part of because I was in boats rescuing people. That was happening on social media inside of a Facebook group, and it was just a wonderful thing that came in and you know Cajun Navy just stands for you know it's just neighbors helping neighbors. If we went in the government for anything, man, there's so much red tape involved.

Speaker 2: 40:51

But that one specific thing right there, that one story that I told, which is one thing that I want you guys to get out of this, is like what story are you telling from your social media? Social media is a wonderful thing and when used properly, it is. We know it's full filled with a lot of drama, a lot of hate and a lot of division also, but you have the opportunity to not be that person and not buy into all that and share a story of positivity or story of hope, um, and be the light in the world. And then that's what I've tried to be for the last nine, 10 years is be somebody who's transparent, be somebody who's just being truly authentic and somebody who's living life on fire. And that's kind of me, man.

Speaker 2: 41:38

Yeah, I love it and then when, when I was in rehab and somebody who's living life on fire, that's kind of me man, yeah, I love it. And then when I was in rehab, actually they gave me the name Mr Carbady.

Speaker 1: 41:45

Yeah, I was going to ask where that came from.

Speaker 2: 41:46

So when I was in rehab, a lot of the guys that were there were gaming the system. They were there because their parents wanted them to be there. They were there to get out yeah, they were there because their PO had them there and I it's one of them. They were there to get out yeah, they were there because their pro po had them there and I I did like every assignment. I was like I did not talk to anybody in there because I just knew these people were gaming the system. I was, I put myself in there and there was nobody put me there other than myself. So when I was in there, I had the words carbadium tattooed on my wrist and, uh, I don't even remember who said it, but somebody's like you, like mr carpe diem, like you do everything, like you finish all the assignments, you do this, you do that, you're involved, you're answering questions, and I was like, huh, when I get out, I'm gonna call myself mr carpe diem.

Speaker 2: 42:28

It's good branding, yeah yeah, so it was just so. I just started using the hashtag mr carpe diem initially. Then it caught fire then. Then everybody started calling me that, yeah, that's solid, it's just, and what it represents is a man that's willing to take all out, massive action in all areas of his life. Hey, I don't always get it right Every day. I don't always get it right. You know. There's some days that I take an L. You know, I, I, I really like to, to live every day and be present and just try to win that day, and I do win the majority of my days, but there are some days I just I have an l yeah, we all do.

Speaker 2: 43:01

We all do yeah, 100 yeah so, uh, that's what it's all about, man.

Speaker 2: 43:06

It's just about a man who's willing and you can be the same, you know. It's a man who's willing to take a lot of massive action in all areas of his life and, at the same time, take inventory of himself in all areas of life, and I kind of break that down into four categories. It's my coach and mentor, sean Whalen, founder of Lions, not Sheep, which I was very fortunate to speak at the Lions Den Live two years ago, probably the biggest speaking engagement I ever had. He taught me a principle called core four, and core four breaks down to power, purpose, passion and production, and each day I look to make little deposits into each one categories powers your body, purposes is, uh, is, is your I'm sorry spirituality and mindset. Passion is relationships and production is, of course, is business, and that each one of those categories has their own disciplines in them. And if you make deposits into those things and you get one percent better in each of those categories every day, guess what? You get a w.

Speaker 1: 44:04

yeah, it's not rocket science no right, just like anything, longevity and consistency and effort all the way you. You can't not get to success in something if you do that, man.

Speaker 2: 44:14

One percent, james clear wrote a book on called the atomic.

Speaker 1: 44:17

Atomic changes have y'all ever heard of that book? I read atomic habits. That's what it is. Maybe it's atomic habits.

Speaker 2: 44:23

Yeah, yeah, I think so, yeah, so atomic habits by james clear, wonderful book. And you know how do you eat an elephant? You don't eat it with one bite. You eat one, one bite at a time, one small bite at a time. The same thing with your personal growth and personal development, any area of your life. You're getting better. You're not looking for radical change, just that one percent. Yeah, 100 every single day, and so I think so. So often people over complicate that, they over complicate things, and they may. They put themselves under unrealistic expectations too, and and then they get in this spiral of, well, I'm not improving, when actually they really I don't think most people realize how close they actually are.

Speaker 1: 45:00

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 45:01

And then they quit.

Speaker 1: 45:03

Well, I've always coached. You know, when I was was managing salespeople, or even at when I worked in dentistry and I I managed, you know, 20 dental practices. The thing I told everyone there that I managed was it was all about small wins. Each day, you know, like if we wake up and we see that we need to do this, this and this, it's going to be debilitating, but I know you can do this consistently all week or all month. And if you do neck, if we do this consistently all next week and next month, those small wins, 12 small wins in a year that's a big win.

Speaker 3: 45:43

And if we do that every year for the next three years, we're gonna end up way past here. Think about how much less stress that is too.

Speaker 1: 45:46

Yeah, I mean really, like I said, I mean it's setting the expectation, even for yourself, and even chris talks about a lot cumbie. I mean gamifying it right, turning it into something bite-sized. Turn it into a game you can play with yourself or the rest of your team, if it. If it's a game that's broken down granularly and you actually know what you need to do each day, to seize each day, it's easier to get to where you need to be.

Speaker 2: 46:05

Andy Frisella talks about the power list and I've actually adopted that in my life. There's 12 things that I got to accomplish every day from reading the Bible 10 pages a day, every day. Um, from you know, reading the bible 10 pages a day, reading a regular book 10 pages a day, you know, minimum of 45 minute, some type of a workout, whether I'm just walking for 45 yeah, just something to move some.

Speaker 2: 46:27

That's uh, 20 prospecting activities every single day, and prospecting for me is just conversations, yeah, talking to people. I don't wake up in the morning to do real estate. Yeah, yeah, yet our organization is probably responsible for about $2.5 billion of the $4.6 billion that LPT did last year. If you take the groups that we have in our group, I don't wake up to do any of it. I wake up, literally, live my life in such a way I call it my circle of life, and the time I wake up to the time I go home is my circle of life. And I live my life in such a way that business just happens.

Speaker 3: 47:01

Yeah, I don't wake up to be the realtor, or yeah you have to call, you have to follow up from 9 11.

Speaker 2: 47:07

I'm cold calling from 11 to 1 actually followed me in my life.

Speaker 1: 47:11

Dude, I live a pretty damn good life yeah, you have to learn how to attract business instead of chase business.

Speaker 2: 47:17

I just find some people that are just I'm looking at the way they're doing things, I'm just like so yeah, it's a.

Speaker 1: 47:25

It can be a glad, it can be a grind if you do it the wrong way.

Speaker 3: 47:28

Happiness before everything, yeah well, it's hard to see the small wins if you know the one win a week or the one win a day. If, if you're only focused on this one big picture and you set the limitation that I'm never going to get that big picture, you know, I remember all of my life.

Speaker 2: 47:42

I saw the way my mom was working and I saw the way a lot of the people in our family were working and although they're wonderful people, they were just not happy man.

Speaker 3: 47:51

Yeah, when they didn't, they couldn't see how to get the other way.

Speaker 2: 47:54

It's funny that all these people and my mom if she was sitting here today she would agree with me. They all said when are you going to get a real job?

Speaker 3: 48:01

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2: 48:02

When are you going to get a real job? Yeah, and I just never bought into that old way of thinking that I had to do it their way and the thing about it was that I wanted to just be happy. Yeah.

Speaker 3: 48:17

Have fun and happy.

Speaker 1: 48:17

yeah, have fun, and that's the definition of a real job, a w-2, I guess it's the. It's the belief.

Speaker 3: 48:21

I know, I know, but that's what I'm saying. I mean, that is that for them? Yes, is that the old was joining the union?

Speaker 2: 48:26

yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, and nothing against anybody in the union. Hey, that's what, that's your thing, that's your thing. But listen, that just never was my thing yeah, so we're.

Speaker 1: 48:35

We always like to kind of end on this. It's more of like a. It's a philosophical question to a degree. It could be personal, it could be professional, it could be a combination of the two things. We'll leave that to you, but it's one synthesized piece of advice that you would want to leave with people.

Speaker 2: 48:53

We call it a legacy question If today were it what is that legacy piece of advice you would want to leave to people? This is not a practice life.

Speaker 2: 49:12

You got one and I don't think that most people realize how powerful they are and if you truly identify in Christ the way that you know I know some people listening might not be a believer like I am, like you guys are but if you truly can identify that you're God's highest form of creation I mean he made us in the image of him how can you come from any place other than a place of strength? How can you live a life of scarcity? I don't, I can't comprehend that. I don't understand that. The second that I identified with that I just became a man on fire man.

Speaker 2: 49:49

So I guess what I'm trying to say here is realize that everything that you need, that you're looking for externally, that you're, you know, watching the videos, reading the books you already got everything you need right here. It's already inside of you. And if you can tap into that man and maybe that requires you getting a coach that can help you peel back the layers of the onion to find out what's preventing you from stepping into that power, back the layers of the onion to find out what's preventing you from stepping into that power you know what's preventing you from getting rid of those self-imposed limitations, those limiting beliefs. That's the only thing that's keeping you from achieving the lifestyle that you want to live and having a life that is just a life of somebody on fire and somebody living with purpose. Yeah, so I know that was not just one thing.

Speaker 1: 50:41

No, I mean, I agree. I mean, I think it's You're powerful beyond measure, yeah, and we. It's, it's not a practice, this is it. We got one life to live, so why? Sounds cliche, but it's true. Ozy around.

Speaker 2: 50:53

You know, I think about the think about this, think about all the people that are taking average action every day. Who wakes up saying, hey, I want to drive an average car today and hang around average people and I want to wear average clothes, make average money, eat at average restaurants and you know, average, average, average, average, average. Nobody wakes up and says that. Yet how many people are living average? A lot of those yeah, it's settling.

Speaker 1: 51:14

It's a complacency and a settling. Yeah, you have limited time here and I do feel called to to thrive. Personally, I feel like that. That is what we're called to do.

Speaker 2: 51:25

I just want to end with one thing because I earlier I said I wanted to plug this. You know, recently I did. I hired dave claire to be a mentor and coach for me. Yep, I mean, he's always been yeah, absolutely yeah Mentor and coach. But actually he spent a week at my house and we came up with my personal manifesto and my life's mission and what my values are, and it was a really wonderful, wonderful process. We're actually almost finished with. The fourth step is happening in the next week or so, but I've gotten very clear that real estate's not the end all be all for me. What is my life's mission? As I see it, there is a real problem with masculinity in the world today. There's a problem with men living far beneath their potential, and I want to help men that were broken like me, stand in their power and and heal back the layers of that onion. Yep, I really want to help a hundred thousand. My goal is to help a hundred thousand men.

Speaker 1: 52:36

I think you can do it. You have a platform to do it.

Speaker 2: 52:40

I think 100,000 might be undershooting, but it's inspiring and empowering 100,000 men to stand in their power. That's my mission.

Speaker 1: 52:49

That's awesome.

Speaker 2: 52:50

Thanks, Dave, for helping me.

Speaker 1: 52:53

Dave's awesome. We love Dave. Well, I appreciate you coming on. Damien Pleasure, as always, we really love you. Uh taking the time being vulnerable. It's what's all about, and we appreciate you guys for uh tuning in. We hope you guys check out our next episode, episode 14. That's it.