Episode Rerun: Unleashing Mental Resilience: The Entrepreneurial Game Plan with Former Pro Basketball Player Dre Baldwin
Episode Details
Transcript
In this inspiring rerun episode of From Adversity to Abundance, we revisit the incredible story of Dre Baldwin, a former professional basketball player turned entrepreneur and motivational speaker. Dre’s journey highlights the power of self-belief, personal development, and perseverance. From navigating the competitive world of sports to becoming a business coach and content creator, Dre’s story reminds us that with the right mindset, anything is possible.
Key Topics Discussed:- Mindset Transformation: How personal development shaped Dre’s approach to success.
- Turning Passion into Profit: Combining basketball skills and entrepreneurial ideas to build a thriving brand.
- Overcoming Adversity: Navigating setbacks and obstacles on his path to success.
- Content Creation: Leveraging online platforms to connect with an audience and build influence.
- Lessons from Books and Mentors: The pivotal role of self-education in his entrepreneurial journey.
- "Success begins in the mind." – Dre Baldwin shares how adopting a growth mindset helped him rise above challenges.
- "The best investment you can make is in yourself." – Dre emphasizes the transformative power of personal development.
- "Turn setbacks into setups for success." – Insights on using adversity as a stepping stone.
Connect with Dre Baldwin:
WEBSITE: https://workonyourgame.com
https://www.workonyourgameuniversity.com/
LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dreallday
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/WorkOnYourGameUniversity
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/drebaldwin
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/DreAllDay
YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/@DreB
TIKTOK: https://www.tiktok.com/@workonyourgame
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Join us for an inspiring conversation filled with practical tips and valuable insights to turn adversity into abundance!
Speaker 0
I really enjoyed this episode. We get the chance to chat with Dre Baldwin. Dre is a former professional basketball player, an author. He's published thirty three books. He's a business coach. It this is a very fun and lively and informative conversation. We walked through his story. We don't really focus specifically on one type of adversity necessarily. It's a very practical episode that I think you're gonna be able to relate to. Lots of ups and downs, a lot about team sports, and also kind of pivoting and listening to your customer and giving people what they want. He was, an international basketball player, used some of the downtime when his career slow slowed down a little bit to, put up content. He's been way ahead in the content, game. He's been putting out content for probably almost twenty years now. So definitely cutting edge in that space. Dre has a a big YouTube following. If you look up work on your game, he's got a big Instagram following. He's been a public speaker, author, business coach. He's done a lot of things. Talks a lot about mindset, a lot about, discipline, teamwork, consistency, showing up early, doing the right thing, and just, you know, a lot of keys to success in this one. Real I really enjoyed this one, and I know you're gonna get a lot out of it. Welcome to Speaker 1
From Adversity to Abundance, the go to podcast for real estate entrepreneurs seeking not just to thrive, but to conquer with resilience and mental sharpness. Each week, join us as we dive into the compelling world of real estate through the lens of mental fitness, where challenges transform into opportunities. Get ready to transform your mindset and expand your understanding of what it takes to succeed in real estate. Let's explore these stories of triumph and resilience together. Speaker 0
Welcome everybody to another episode of the from adversity to abundance podcast. I am your host, Jamie Bateman, and I'm thrilled today to have with us Dre Baldwin of Work on Your Game. Dre is a business coach and an entrepreneur, and I'm I'm we're gonna we're gonna have a lot of fun today. Former, professional athlete as well. Dre, how are you doing today? Speaker 2
I'm doing excellent, Jamie. I'm excited for this conversation. How are you? Oh, I'm Speaker 0
doing great as well. I'm also excited. This is gonna be fun. We were briefly chatting beforehand about team sports, and I'm, maybe I'll get to, you know, live some of the relive some of the glory days in this conversation. But it's not about me, though, Dre. It's it's about you and the listener. So for the listener, tell us who who you are today, what you're up to today. Speaker 2
Sure. So, Dre Baldwin, come from the city of Philadelphia. Now I'm based in Miami, Florida. Background in sports, played, as you said, play sports. Basketball was my sport. One year high school ball, walked on, played d three college ball. Nobody was recruiting me to play pro, so I'm basically, hustled and marketed and sold my way into playing pro basketball. I've had to a nine year career. Excuse me. It wasn't a perfect career because there were times where, you know, I wasn't sure when the phone was gonna ring again. And in those gaps, I started putting content on the Internet. I was the only gonna do that anyway, but I put content on the Internet before we were calling it content before that was a a cool thing to do. Started building audience through, putting basketball videos on YouTube. There was a point about halfway through my career where the phone wasn't ringing. I started creating, products to sell online, then that's how I became an entrepreneur because I started creating products specifically from my basketball, crazed audience. They just wanted more programs that could teach them how to do the stuff that I was doing in the videos that I was putting on social media that we were now calling it social media. And, that's how I became an entrepreneur. Kept playing ball for the another five years after that started. But at that time, players started asking questions about mindset because they just saw my approach was a little bit different than what they were used to. This guy puts videos out every day when again, this is before it was cool and normal to put content on the Internet every day. Now it's normal. But back then, that was not normal. So they just wanna know why I did it, or how do you get the confidence to perform in a game the way you do in practice, or how do you get the the mindsets keep trying when you face all these setbacks where you come from this very humble background as I just explained to you here, Jamie. Why'd you even keep the mind that you can make it as a pro athlete? You kept having all these, no reality telling you that you weren't gonna make it. And then, well, how do you get started even doing any of this stuff? If you wanna play ball overseas or you wanna be an entrepreneur or you wanna get known on the Internet, these are all things that now people were saying that, hey. There's a way that I can actually do this. How do I do it? So they just wanna know how to get started. So I started, basically in answering those questions, I created the framework that became work on your game, which I'm sure we'll talk about a lot here in this conversation. And Yeah. Kept playing ball till twenty fifteen. And by that point, I'd already been, as I already said, creating a bunch of stuff online. I had a nice little name online just from putting up basketball stuff. Then I was talking about mindset. I had already started writing books. I was, creating courses. So I already had that stuff kind of going by the time I stopped playing. So the normal athlete and when they stop playing, it's Yeah. They stop cold turkey, and they're starting to zero. Speaker 0
Absolutely. Yeah. Speaker 2
And so by the time I stopped, I was already doing all the stuff that I still do now. So Mhmm. It was a a little bit smoother transition for me because of that, and that's how we got here. Speaker 0
Yeah. I was like, absolutely. That's the one thing I've that that jumped out to me is, obviously, you know, you want your phone to ring. You wanna get that next that next job. You're not happy that you're sitting around waiting for the phone to ring, but sounds like in hindsight and and we'll we'll drill into this more later, but sounds like that adversity that you went through actually propelled you to be more ready for your post, basketball career, which is which is awesome. And I know Yeah. We have had, professional athletes on the show, who have done that cold turkey transition, and it can be it can be earth shattering. I mean, it can be that's you know, if your entire identity is wrapped up in in the sport, which I get. I mean, I I mean, it's it's very easy to do. But then all of a sudden, that's not who you are anymore. Man, who are you? Right? So sounds like you were I could tell you are a hustler, and it sounds like you had, you were setting yourself up for success no matter what. So that's awesome. I can't wait to to drill into that, especially the mindset piece. So let's jump back though further into your backstory, Dre. And, again, this is where I kind of leave it up to the guest as far as, you know, where you wanna start in your in your story because what we wanna do is kinda walk through from a younger age and walk back up through today and pull out and and focus on some of the the real adversity that you've been through and how you were able to overcome that adversity, how you're able to get through that adversity and get to, quote, unquote, abundance. And and the the goal here is for the listener, the entrepreneur out there to learn from your story, take lessons that, you know, that you've learned and, used in your own life, and maybe be able to skip some of the pain that that you've had to go through, but but still learn from your story and apply that in in their life. So let's jump back. Where do you wanna start, Dre? Speaker 2
Well, let's go to probably around the turn of the century. So this is around, two ninety nine, two thousand. Okay. And that's around that time. This is I I graduated high school in the year two thousand. So I'm forty one years of age today. Graduated high school in two thousand. And that was where I I used to always go to the bookstores. My mom is a big, she's in education, so she always been into reading. And she would always go to the bookstore, and this is before you buy books online. So you had to go to the store to if you wanted books. And I would always whenever I was with her, I would just wander to the sections that I like. So I'll go to the sports section. And also, at the time, they called it human psychology, and now they call it personal development. But they didn't have a personal development section back then. And that's when I stumbled across my favorite book, which is forty eight hours of power by Robert Greene. And that's really where I started to get into, that personal development even more because I was I was always into the psychology stuff. Like, how does the brain work and how does it affect our actions? But I didn't know there was a whole genre for it. And then the way that I really got introduced to it was a couple years later. It's about two thousand one, two thousand two. I'm on my college campus. I'm with the Penn State University Altoona campus is where I I went for basketball specifically. And there was this, bulletin board posting. And for those who don't know what that is, these people had the the one to announce something, you had to put it on a board. It wasn't digital. You had to actually put it up on a board. People walked past on campus, and it said make extra money in the in the summer and all of that. And this is before college athletes can make money off their name, image, and likeness. So you really couldn't make any money when you're a college athlete because you're going to school and playing a sport, you have no time. So I responded to this bulletin board posting, and this guy was in network marketing. And I didn't know what network marketing was, but he briefly explained the concept. And when I went back to Philly where I'm from that summer, I went to a couple hotel meetings for this network marketing company. And the reason why this matters is because in that meeting, two things happened. Number one, the man speaking from the stage was speaking about entrepreneurship and money and business in ways that I had never heard it explained. And at this point, I'm twenty one, twenty two years of age, and I'm in I'm majored in business. I have a business degree. And things that this guy was talking about in this hotel meeting, they did not teach at the college campus that I went to. And I'm like, the way these people are talking about money is completely different. Nobody's ever talked about it like this before. And I thought I was pretty smart. Right? That was number one. And number two, and what he was doing, a lot of what he was doing was just breaking your false beliefs about how you think money works and how you think business works and how you think are your options for making money. They're not just what you think they are. There's a lot of different ways to make money besides what you think you know. And that's what he was doing for half the people in the room. The other half of people in the room were already in the business, so they already heard this before. There's just no nodding their heads. And then the other half of it the other thing that I got from that meeting was at the end of it, he said, when you all leave, there's a table outside with some nice ladies sitting at the table. They're selling personal development books. Make sure you buy those books because in order to build your business, you gotta build yourself as a person. I never heard anybody say that before. Mhmm. And Yeah. Again, in that meeting, I it was just these groundbreaking ideas that as soon as I heard them, they made perfect sense to me. And that's how I knew there was a thing called personal development because he was mentioning these authors, Jim Rohn, Brian Tracy Mhmm. Tony Robbins, Zig Ziglar, and Polian Hill. I never heard of these people. And but he kept saying their names. And I did not buy the books when I left the meeting because I was a broke college kid. I barely had no money to get home from the media. But I went on eBay and this is before Amazon was a place to buy stuff. I went on eBay and I bought a couple of, pirated copies of a couple of books. So I bought two. I bought, they were ninety nine cents apiece. It was, I can go rich by Napoleon Hill. Mhmm. And it was risk that poor dad by Robert Kiyosaki. And I bought both of those books and all I got was a word document from the person who sold it to me. And I Nice. I read both of those books. And what Napoleon Hill's book taught me was that there's a way that you could consciously and intentionally alter the thoughts of your mind that will lead to alteration in the results of your life. And again, new idea to me. Secondly and that became pretty much what I do for a living. And secondly, it was Robert Kiyosaki. He took it even further than what I heard in that hotel meeting when it came to business and making money. I mean, and Rich Dad Poor Dad, the first two or three chapters of that book, he's taking everything that most people think they know about how money gets made. And he's stepping it Speaker 0
out the window. Speaker 2
Yeah. Breaking it into pieces and saying, okay, you know, there are people who make money in a way different way than this. Right? And when I read that book, I said, okay, When I get out of college, I knew I wanted to play basketball first. I said, I'm gonna play ball. But after basketball, I knew basketball would not last forever, especially since I was coming from a d three school. Who knows how long I'm even gonna get to play? But after basketball, what this guy's talking about, this is the direction that I'm going. I'm not gonna go and do the normal, get a job, work nine to five, live happily ever after. I'm not gonna do that. I'm gonna do what this guy's talking about. I didn't quite understand it then, but I knew that's what I was gonna do. So those two stories Yeah. That's really what set me on the path for where I'm at today. Speaker 0
Oh, that's that's fantastic. And you're absolutely right. I mean, it's I mean, you know, I'm familiar with those concepts now. You know? So so but at the time, when I was twenty one, twenty two, I had no idea. I I had no I yeah. That that would have been all foreign foreign to me as well. I mean, there's, Speaker 2
you Speaker 0
know, I think you said your mom was in, education. My my mother Yes. Was as well. And so this is not a slam on public school teachers or anything like that. The public school system, private school system, anything. But they do in general, it does not prepare you for making money as an entrepreneur or investing or thinking outside the box in any way, shape, or form. So, yeah, I love that. I mean, I do remember Rich Dad Poor Dad being a a mindset shift for me as well. Mhmm. Speaker 2
It Speaker 0
it's not so much to the how to, like you said. I mean, it's not really in the nut in the nuts and bolts of, you know, how to make money on investment property or something like that. Right. Cash flow quadrant and some of his other books get a little more detailed. But but it's that mindset shift of the paradigm shift. And I love the fact that at a pretty early age, you were you realized the value of investing in yourself. I mean, that's awesome. And you also were taking the long term view, because you you like you said, you knew basketball wasn't gonna wasn't gonna last forever. So okay. So so alright. You get this mindset shift, but you still decide, okay. This this is what I'm gonna work on kind of in the background, it sounds like, but I'm gonna pursue basketball. Yeah. So let's so how did that how did your basketball career go at that point? Speaker 2
Yeah. So, one thing you said there, Jamie, is that you won't slam the educational system. I will slam the educational system now. My mom is my mom is in the system. My sister's a professor as well. I'm not saying the people in the system. I'm slamming the system. Speaker 0
That's that's fair. Yeah. And, honestly, I don't think my mom listens to this anyway. So she should, though. Speaker 2
But Well, she didn't create the system. Speaker 0
She she's working. Absolutely. Speaker 2
Not on her. Absolutely. Speaker 0
You're right. Speaker 2
Anyways, not on my mom. Alright. So Absolutely. Yeah. So, the moving forward then, I kept that in the back of my mind with Kiyosaki. So I get out of school two thousand four. Didn't have a didn't get an offer to play pro immediately. I worked a couple of regular jobs. From that first year of graduating, I worked at Foot Locker as an assistant manager. I worked at a gym called Valley Total Fitness on memberships. Valley's out of business now. No. Not because of me. I sold a lot Speaker 0
of memberships. Speaker 2
Alright. So I I got pretty good commission checks. So in the summer of two thousand five, so I've been out of school for a year, I, saved up my money and went to this event called an exposure camp. You familiar with those, Jamie? Speaker 0
I've heard of the concept, but but, fill me in. Speaker 2
Okay. Exposure camp is like a job fair, but it's for athletes. Okay. Got it. So any athlete who thinks they're good enough to play at the next level, whatever that may be. Because nowadays, they have camps for, like, eighth graders. But back then, it was relatively new. It was usually for people who want to play pro. So these are destination events where you pay money. It's not free. You pay to attend this event, and then a bunch of athletes who think they're good enough to play at pro level whatever sport. We all come. We all pay. And we all basically play with and against each other for a couple of days to try to prove that we're good enough. Speaker 0
Sure. Yeah. We we had just real quickly in lacrosse. It wasn't for to go pro. But, you know, coming in in high school, we had couple camps you could go to, top two zero five, top star. Speaker 2
The the Speaker 0
goal was not to get better. The goal was to show that you're Speaker 2
good. Exactly. Right. So it was to raise your profile. Yep. Yeah. Same way they have AAU in high school. It's like that, but for pro and you had to pay for these. So the audience at these events are not just random people. There are some randoms, but mostly it's, agents, coaches, managers, scouts, team owners from all over the world. They come to these places on purpose looking for their next employees, basically. So I saved up two hundred fifty dollars in cash. That's how much it cost to go to the event. I had to save this money up just to get everybody a a Mhmm. Idea where I was at at this point. You know, still living in my parents' house, and I had to call the event ahead of time and ask them, can I pay you cash at the door? Because I don't have a credit card or a bank account at this point. Mhmm. Twenty three years of age. And they said, yeah. We'll take you could pay us in cash. They wouldn't take anybody's money. I later found out. They they said, I'll take more money. And I had to negotiate with my boss to get three days off. I need it off Friday, Saturday, Sunday. And you guys have worked in any kind of retail. Nobody gets the weekend off. Right? So I had to negotiate to get the weekend off. We run-in the car in Philly. The event was in Orlando. That's about a fifteen to nineteen hour drive. I don't remember the exact amount, but it was a long drive. We hopped out of the car nine AM Saturday morning, which happened to be the exact start time of the the camp. And, tell people I could get away with that at age twenty three. Couldn't do it now, but we did it. Speaker 0
Yeah. No no warm up. Speaker 2
Yeah. Exactly. Jump right out the car and start playing. That was completely fine. And I played pretty well at the event. Got a good scouting report, which is basically that was important because now I had a third party saying that this guy is he can play. And I got footage from that event. Now I did not get signed to a contract on the spot even though I played well. I had to be back at work Monday morning at Valley Total Fitness. So we hopped right back in that car, drove right back to show you this. I had to be back at work. And here's what I started doing, Jamie. I knew that for me to play pro, I knew I was probably not gonna play for the Knicks or the Lakers immediately. I was probably gonna go overseas, but I never even been overseas, let alone that I know anybody. So how am I gonna make that happen? So the Internet did exist at the time. It wasn't what it is now, but it existed. I'm on Google, and I started googling basketball agents. So anywhere that I saw a basketball agent, many of them had websites at this point. If they had a phone number, I called them. I was cold calling basketball agents in the summer of two thousand five. And I was just telling, hey. Here's who I am. Here's what I have. Because at this point, some people may be wondering, well, why don't you do this last year when you graduated? Well, now I had some collateral, has some proof. Mhmm. Sure. And now I'm calling them and saying, hey. I got the scouting report. I can send you the link to the scouting report. I got this footage. I called sixty basketball agents. Out of that sixty, twenty of them said, okay. Let me see what you got. Now mind you, the footage that I was sending them was not a link. The footage was on this thing called a VHS tape. You remember VHS? Speaker 0
Sure do. Speaker 2
Okay. So when you listen to this, ask your parents and Google it. Yes. I had a VHS tape, and I had a double decker VCR at home. Again, and those who don't know, that is Google it. And I would make copies of my my that master VHS tape because that was the footage. I couldn't give out the main the master footage. I made copies of the tape, and I would mail those out to the agents who asked to see it. So twenty agents asked to see the footage. I mailed those out on my own dime. Mind you, I just had to save up two hundred fifty dollars. So I'm mailing out these these tapes and bubble mailers to agents all over the world. Out of those twenty who I mailed it out to, one agent hit me back and said, alright. I'll represent you. He became my agent. And in August two thousand five, he called me and said, hey. I got a team in Lithuania. They're gonna do the deal. And it took about three days. It was done. And then I was on a plane. I was in Kalmus, Lithuania, and that's how I got my pro basketball career started. Speaker 0
Wow. That's awesome. And, yeah, you're definitely yeah. I mean, you you can tell you you hit an obstacle, and you figure out a way around it or way over it. I can I can tell that already for sure, which I think goes back to the the mindset investing in yourself, investing in that, positive mindset and and, self development? Okay. So you go to Lithuania. You don't know anybody there. I mean, that's I mean, I'm sure it's exciting, but it's probably pretty scary too at the at the same time. What's going through your mind at that at that point? Speaker 2
No. I was excited. I wasn't nervous at all because Gotcha. You gotta you gotta remember, Jamie, this is two thousand five, so we don't have the Internet that we have now didn't exist then. So we didn't have social media. So I had to I was looking up with Wayne on I was like, Google earthing, like, with Wayne. Where's that on the map? So you don't know anything about what's going on in other parts of the world. So I wasn't nervous at all. I was excited because I'm finally getting to do what I wanna do. Mhmm. And you gotta remember what what was I doing before this? I'm working at Valley Total Fitness, living in my parents' home. I I'm trying to get out of there. Right? And so I just that right there represented, like, all this stuff that I've been doing, it's it's working. Alright. This is this is success. Sure. Out of there. So this was I was excited more than anything. Just want to go over there and play. And that's how I that's how I started. And, again, this is the fall of two thousand and five. And what was your question? Speaker 0
Yeah. Just what's going through your mind at that point. And and, I mean, it sounds like you're just you're just excited to because it's for the new adventure and new opportunity. Right. And like you said, maybe well, you didn't say this, but ignorance is bliss. You don't know any of the downside of this rainy or where where you, you know, where you're headed, and and, it sounds like it's it's all hope and excitement at that point. But, so how does how do things progress career wise from there? Speaker 2
Well, that was yeah. That was the first place that I played, and then I I was back from there. Then I played for a traveling team in the USA. Then I was in after that, went to Mexico. From there, it was if I'm keeping this in chronological order, then I was in Montenegro, then Germany. And we're just going years and years here. Mhmm. So then after Germany, that's when I found myself my career was stalled out. That was the period where I told you I started creating the products. It was about two thousand between two thousand nine and two thousand eleven. That's when all the things that became who I am today got put in motion because Speaker 0
I see. Speaker 2
There was a period where my phone wasn't ringing, and I asked myself, okay. By By this point, I'm in my mid to late twenty. So I'm like, okay. This isn't this is cute when you're twenty three. It's not cute when you're twenty eight. Right? So now what do you you gotta actually do something. And that's when I started creating what became this whole work on your game brand because now I can make money. I can monetize what I was doing on the Internet, which again was a relatively new thing for the average person. Now there are some experts out there who've been doing it for decades, but I was pretty average person when it came to Internet knowledge. I was a I'm always been a big computer geek, but I didn't know ins and outs of selling stuff online, but I picked it up pretty quickly. I was an early adopter. And during that period, that's when, selling products happen. That's when I started using the phrase work on your game. That's when I started talking more mindset. That's when I started creating I started writing books. So all four of those things happen at the same time, and all four of those things are a big part of what I do today. Speaker 0
It's awesome. And you've written how many books at this point? Speaker 2
Officially thirty three. Speaker 0
Wow. So I I put one out, and quite honestly, it was based on the podcast content. It still was a good bit of work, but, man, that's, one book is is hard enough to get out. That's awesome. But so when you're just curious when you're at that point, when your basketball career was kind of, like, you know, on hold, if you will, or just, you know, drying up. I don't know. Speaker 2
Really good. Speaker 0
Dulled. There you go. Mhmm. Was that, were you dealing with injuries, or was it more just, hey. You're getting a lot you're getting a little bit older, losing a step, or what what was the reasoning for that? Speaker 2
None of the above. It's just nobody was calling. Got it. Just I was in my I was you would say these are this is like a prime year. So two thousand nine, I was twenty seven years of age. So Sure. Yeah. Yeah. This should be in my prime, though. Yeah. I'm like, yeah, I should be this should be the year everybody's calling, but nobody's calling. So Yeah. Sometimes in the in the athletic world, it's kinda like the, like the entertainment world. Like, you're in between, acting gigs and the show's not running. So you're working at Starbucks. Yeah. So there's Speaker 0
Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. And, I mean, you can't control everything. And and to and to be clear, I mean, we're talking, I remember playing at Gettysburg playing some pickup basketball with the guys, you know, who played on the team at Gettysburg. And, you know, the the team was average, you know, average d three team. I think they were pretty good, you know, but but when I played them, it was just like they were amazing. Like, so it's all relative. Like, this is we're talking you're playing at an elite level at that point. Like, so it's easy for us to say, like, oh, you you weren't getting picked up. I mean, it's like yeah. Right. You're still an excellent basketball player. But okay. So how so it sounds like you did do you had another stint, in basketball after that period when you okay. Speaker 2
How did that go? So that was so there was a period for about a year where nothing happened, basketball wise. And I wasn't well, I was still playing basketball, but I wasn't signed to a contract. And the thing is I started to get more known because at this point, we're talking two thousand nine, two thousand ten. So at this point now, the average person is now going to the Internet for things instead of to turn on the TV. That's when this period started to happen. This is when this this whole cultural shift began. This is when we start using phrases like content, social media. These were brand new terms, and I was pretty known in these places because I've been putting content out since two thousand five. So when people came on the Internet, if you looked up basketball in two thousand ten on the Internet, you know my name. Like, everybody knew my name because I had more content out than everybody put together. So at this point, the fact that I had videos on YouTube was more relevant. It was more important for my name than the fact that I've been a professional athlete, the YouTube videos. Mhmm. So that's what started happening at this time. So now I started monetizing it. Now YouTube allows you to make money off of ad revenue based on how many people watch your video. Now I have products that I was selling. All I did was put a video on YouTube. I would do a drill. Like, here's a how to dribble between your legs. If you want a whole program on how to dribble between your legs, go to this link right here. And I'm selling these programs. So at this point, Jamie, I'm like, okay. If my phone never rings, I never get another call to play overseas. I'm fine. I'll just do this. I'll just sell this stuff on Amazon. Then I remember telling someone at that time that what I'm doing here online is gonna be bigger than what I'm doing as a professional athlete. I could see that in two thousand nine. I knew that that was gonna be the case. And nowadays, you got athletes who come up playing in college, don't even try to play pro, and they just become famous on social media. And they make more money doing that than they ever would have made playing overseas Yeah. Because they wouldn't they wouldn't have been the same they wouldn't had the stature overseas, but on online, they're the guy. Right? So Yeah. That happens now. That's a big thing now. So that's what I was doing in two thousand ten. And then self publishing was a thing. That's another thing. Now you could publish your own books. You didn't have to sign with a publisher because I've always been a writer. I was writing before I was on YouTube. So I was blogging. That was the first thing I did on the Internet. So I've always been a big writer because I'm a big reader. And then when I saw self publishing was a thing, like, I could just write a book and I don't have to go through a publisher to get the deal. Okay. I'm gonna write books. So I wrote my first book. Only one of my books is a a narrative. My first book was a narrative. Just telling my story when I first started playing up through college. All the rest of my books are more of, like, professional development stuff. So that happened as well. And then, the phone did ring again. So I was in I went to Croatia. I went to Slovakia, and there's one other place that I'm not, remembering there over the next, few years. But then I started doing a whole lot of, brand deals with, companies, Gatorade, Wendy's, Nike, Jordan brand. So I started doing all these brand deals and things, and I'm like, I don't need to play overseas. I don't need to go back overseas. This I could just do this. I can make a whole career out of this. The unfortunate part for me was that all this stuff started popping off when I was now getting, like, thirty and up. So, man, I wish this happened when I was twenty two. I I could have milked this for a whole decade, but it became kinda on a tail end, the back end back half of my career. But the good news is, because I started talking oh, one more thing I do have to mention is two thousand ten. This is when the players are asking me a lot of questions about mindset just because they it's gotta start to get a feel for who I was. Alright. One year high school, d three ball. You're a oversee pro basketball player, but right now you're in Miami working out in the empty gym, but you keep practicing because you're waiting for the phone to ring. So he's the one to understand it. And that's when I said, alright. These players keep asking me about mindset. Why not just make some videos that are just about mindset? So I made this video. I remember two thousand ten. I said, alright. This is what I'm gonna do, guys. Because at this time, every video I put out was me on the court doing basketball actual basketball stuff. And every once in a while, we'll do a a narrative video, like a talking head video, but mostly it was on the court. I said, alright, this is what I'll do every Monday. I'm gonna put out this video, and I'm gonna just talk a little bit about mindset because so many of you keep asking me about it. And I'm a call this the weekly motivation. I'll put it out every Monday, and you all let me know. This is just on YouTube. Just let me know in the comments if you want me to do more videos like this. Because if y'all don't like it, it's cool. We'll just stick to the I'll show you how to do the the Kobe move. But if you want the mindset, then just, tell me you want this. And the response was overwhelming. They were like, Dre, yes. Give us the mindset, the mindset, the mindset. Because I think they could see. And I guess they want to know how to do the stuff, but they could tell just from the the little bit that they would when I would talk, because every once in a while, I'll make a video just explaining, well, here's what happened when I tried out for the high school team. Because I had a lot of my I knew exactly who my demographic was, thirteen to twenty four year old males who were aspiring basketball, but I knew exactly who they were. So many of them are trying out for high school and not making it. Trying out for college, not getting on the team. Their parents are telling them, why don't you give up basketball and get serious? So I knew exactly who they were. So they saw a guy who looked like he probably got the same thing said to him, but he kept going, and he made it. So they could see themselves in me. So I knew exactly what they needed. So when I started talking about the mindset stuff, they said, yeah. We want it. And they wanted it from me. It's not they wanted mindset. They wanted it from me because of who I was relative to who they were. Right? And they said been there. Speaker 0
You'd been there already. Speaker 2
Exactly. Exactly. They were they were me. They was just ten years younger than me. The same person. And they said, yeah. Keep doing it. So I just started doing this weekly motivation thing every Monday. Did the weekly motivation, Jamie, every Monday for four hundred Mondays in a row. And that became the foundation for who I am today. Many of my books are based off of something that I said in a weekly motivation video. My TED Talks are based on weekly motivation videos, my speaking, my coaching. All of this stuff is based off something that I said in one of those mindset videos somewhere across that four hundred weeks, which spans about eight years. And that's how I really started to establish myself as a guy who really knows the mindset. And this is where this was beneficial for me was because I'm on YouTube. Mind you, YouTube is not just basketball. It's just people. It's YouTube's TV. It's like cable TV. So now people who didn't play basketball started finding me because they would see that video every Monday. They wanna find them to do videos every Monday, that mindset video because there would be something like, how to be disciplined and show up every day, how to be confident in this time to perform. I I wasn't mentioning basketball in in the video. I was just talking about mindset for basketball. So people who didn't play ball started reaching out and saying, Drevo, I follow you because I don't even play ball. But that mindset thing Yeah. That applies to everybody. So I said, okay. When I get done playing ball, all I gotta do is just talk this mindset piece. The ball players can still follow this. Now all these people who don't play ball, they can follow it. So that's gonna be my next step. Speaker 0
Yeah. That's awesome. I mean, and and I love the fact that you you did start niche down, though. I mean, you were you've you had a very small focus. You you already said who your avatar was, thirteen to twenty four year old male, I think, something like that. But, which I think, you know, I hear from a lot of marketing people, you really need to have a very specific avatar, especially when you're starting out. Because if you're speaking to everyone, you're essentially speaking to no one. But you need that core group, this sort of ambassadors initially to say, like, he's talking to me. He's literally talking to me, and then they go out and tell everybody else about you. And then but you're but you're Yes. The the concepts are applicable across any field. So then you can just it just scales exponentially. That's awesome. So, I mean, what do you think is is your driving force, like, at that time, like but and now as well, I guess. But, you know, what is ultimately what because, clearly, you're a go getter. Right? You're I mean, you you you you're a driven driven guy, successful guy. You're gonna you're gonna win. You're gonna find a way to win. Why is that? What's what's what's driving what's the driver behind all this? Speaker 2
It's a great question, Jamie. And I think, the big thing for me is just I'm a competitor. So Yeah. I was always competing against not even to keep of course, in sports, you're competing against people, but I was competing against the circumstance. Mhmm. Because circumstance at first was, well, you just started playing ball. You're fourteen. That's kinda late. You're probably not gonna go anywhere. Sure. Now it's competing against, can you make the high school team? Then is, can you play in college? And then is, you play d three college. Alright. You're probably not going pro. Can you can I compete against that? Alright. Then I got on pro. Alright. Alright. I got one contract playing pro, but I saw a lot of guys with one contract who weren't really that good. So I'm like, I can't be grouped with these guys, so I gotta get a second contract. Alright. Can I get another one? Can I get another one? Can I keep this going? And then the Internet became a thing. Okay. Can I okay? Let me take these concepts that mister Kiyosaki was talking about. Let me see if I can apply them to the Internet. And I also read Tim Ferris' four hour work week where he kinda took the the digital approach to similar principles. And I said, alright. Can I apply this? Because, again, I'm always saying to myself, I'm not gonna do what I saw most of my college classmates doing. I knew I wasn't like them. I knew I was very different from them sitting in those lecture halls my last two years in college because we're all it's the same people you see in every class because we're all focused on our major. I'm like, I'm not like these people. I I'm not gonna I don't wanna go work somewhere. I I don't wanna do it. So, but I gotta do something. Right? The bill still gotta get paid. So Mhmm. How can I do this? And, again, my phone's not ringing from basketball. What can I do to make things happen? And that's why I I started going to the the Internet. So it was always just competing against the situation, and let's see how far I can take this. Working on what's the next thing? What's the next thing? What's the next thing? So that's been the biggest driver for me. Speaker 0
Awesome. Yeah. It's it's really cool. I mean yeah. So looking back at your sports career, not just professional, but even before that, I mean, what would you say other than what you've already said? What are a couple of kind of principles, that you've taken from your athletic career and and that you've applied to the rest of your life and others can apply as well? Speaker 2
Oh, easy. First one, show up every day to work. I mean, that one is Awesome. Yeah. That's that's etched in stone. So, that's the discipline piece. And that comes from people often ask me where does the discipline piece come from? Because I mean, I put up I put out content every single day for almost two decades, whether it's written audio or video. And, people ask me where does it come from? Well, I have I have to give credit to my parents who are not athletes. I'm six four, six feet four inches tall. My parents are, like, five seven and five eight. Alright. They're not basketball players, didn't play a sport. My dad's into sports. Like, he follows sports and has coached youth sports and all that, but he doesn't play. He's not a player. And but rather, Jamie, they got he went to work every day. Alright. Even when they didn't have, cars, they would take public transportation, jobs that I knew they weren't too excited to go to. These are jobs they Mhmm. I have to go to work. Now I get to go to work. Right? Those kind of jobs. Yeah. And, you know, my sister's a year older than me. It was just two of us two and my two parents. And I knew that they did it because they knew they had a responsibility to take care of their kids and book food and save more and pay the bills, and they never preached about it, never once spoke about it. They never said, hey. Be disciplined to go to work every day like us. They never said that. But, you have kids? Yeah. I Speaker 0
have two kids. Speaker 2
Yep. Okay. So we all know fourteen. Okay. Great. So we all know as parents that your kids follow what they see you doing, not what they hear you saying. Right? So when I got out on that, on that basketball court, I just took what I what was modeled for me at home, and I applied it on the basketball court even though I wasn't sure what was gonna work. And then it worked, and then I applied it to the next thing. Then I applied it to the next thing. And that discipline piece has, always been with me. It wasn't that great of a student. That was good enough. But and and the things I actually wanted to do, discipline's always been the number one thing. Speaker 0
Got it. That's that's really good. Yeah. So okay. So your your basketball career obviously came to an end. And then, what year was that? Twenty fifteen. Twenty fifteen. Okay. So in the last eight years, you've really been focused on, putting out content and and, I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, coaching, your books, and your businesses. How what's been the the kind of the from twenty fifteen through today, how has how have things progressed? Speaker 2
So twenty fifteen, by this point, I was starting to do because the first thing I was thinking when I was getting out of when I knew basketball was I was gonna stop playing because I didn't get pushed out. I I stopped playing. Was I was gonna do a professional speaking. That's the first thing I wanna do, professional speaking because I was doing all these videos on YouTube, and people just like the way that I would articulate and break stuff now. Mhmm. And they said, well, you sound like you could be a coach or a college professor or something like that. I said, our big professional speaking. So I went to a Toastmasters meeting, and somebody told me that somebody put me onto this concept that there are people out there who just go and stand on stages and talk for an hour, and they get paid. I didn't know that was a thing. So I said, let me go do that. So I my first idea was I was gonna get into that space. So I that's where I started doing the TED Talks and things like that. And I did do a good amount of speaking up until about twenty twenty when COVID happened, and then there were no events for a minute. And then everybody started doing Zoom. And I don't know. I I never liked doing events on Zoom. I like doing this on Zoom, but I never liked speaking on Zoom. So that's when I started I started focusing more on the coaching from twenty twenty till now. But during that whole period, it was, courses, the books. There was some coaching. You know, people would come to me and just ask me, do I do any coaching even when I wasn't even trying to sell coaching just because I was creating so much content. So Mhmm. It's always been that. And I was still selling the basketball program. So I did that from twenty fifteen to twenty twenty. I was speaking courses and, selling my products. Those are the main things. And then just ad revenue that was getting online. Then in twenty twenty, I dropped the speaking, didn't really focus on that anymore, and started focusing on coaching. So I still have the product, still got the books, and now just coaching. Speaker 0
Got it. And and it can tell you I mean, yeah, you wanna make money. Yeah. You wanna be successful yourself. Absolutely. I mean, that's you should. But but the flip side is you you clearly lead with adding value first, putting out content, putting, you know, putting a lot of free value out there. Free to the the consumer, you know, takes work for you, consistently. But all the other thing I wanna point out is clearly you you listen, and you've mentioned that a few times. You clearly took feedback from others as to what they're interested in and what they see in you, like, what you are actually good at. You know, so you're not just, like, full steam ahead. I'm gonna do whatever I wanna do. You're taking an input and applying that and pivoting and giving the people what they want, what they need. And what you've shown, you have been successful applying. So, yeah, I love I love all that. So now the coaching in the last few years, what does that what does that look like? Speaker 2
Well, it depends on who I'm talking to, depends on who I'm coaching. So I've always tried to keep my coaching, bespoke. So I know there are some coaches out there. They have a I was actually just talking about this yesterday and stuff I was recording there. Some coaches have a a straight line method. Like, okay. Mhmm. You wanna make ten thousand dollars a month selling courses, getting my program. That's exactly what we're gonna teach you. We're gonna teach you that. And then there are other coaches who is more they're more holistic. They're just a coach. Right? If if my style sounds like type person you would wanna talk to on a regular basis, and we get to know each other more intimately, and I can help you through different things, then I'll do that as well. So I actually I like both lanes. Mhmm. But I personally prefer working with, high level people who have, complex challenges because I get to get to know them on a more personal level, and I can even coach them personally. So this is not always in a group. So I have group options, but also, like, coach people personally where because in my experience, Jamie, when I'm talking to people who are at the USA, they're making at least two hundred fifty thousand dollars a year or more. Mhmm. Mhmm. They don't just need help with business. Alright? This is personal stuff. For sure. It's life stuff. It's spouse stuff. It's kids stuff. It's Yeah. How do I keep my body in shape? Because I'm at work all the time making all this money. Alright. How do I Speaker 0
Sure. Yeah. Speaker 2
Can can you help me just overall? I just need somebody to just talk to every couple weeks to just hold space for me so I can let this stuff out because everywhere else in my life, I'm the one that they talk to. And I said, who do I talk to? Right? So that's that's a a big thing that I like personally. If I had to pick this one type of client, that's the type of person I can work with. Speaker 0
Yeah. Makes sense. I I started working with a a business coach a few months ago, and he's been fantastic. Also former college athlete. And, and it's I I call him my business coach, but he he really is more of a life coach. Yeah. Exactly. It's so much more than just, you know, he he just started working on our businesses, my businesses. It's it's also it's everything. He's late lately, he's been my therapist as well. So but, it's it's I mean, being an entrepreneur can be you know, this is not a this is not a pity party, but it's it can be a a lonely space because you're if you are in charge of organizations, you're you're constantly just putting out fires. You're you're only dealing with problems. You know? And and you're kind of it's easy to find yourself on an island. So I think investing in a coach is absolutely paramount and and also surrounding yourself in, you know, community of other other like minded people. Got it. Yeah. So I I can only imagine you're you're adding a ton of value to the the people you're coaching. So, you ready for some rapid fire questions? Speaker 2
Yes. Speaker 0
Alright, Dre. What is one thing that people misunderstand about you? Speaker 2
It's a good question. One thing that people misunderstand about me. Speaker 0
That one usually gets a little bit of a pause. It's not quite as rapid fire. Yeah. Speaker 2
I'm not I don't know if people misunderstand anything about me. I think I'm pretty good at articulating exactly where I stand. So Sure. I think people go in go into what I'm actually sharing, then there's no confusion. So I don't think there's anything any one particular thing. Speaker 0
Sounds good. What would you say is one of your biggest failures, regrets, something you'd like to have a do over with, however you wanna frame it. Speaker 2
As a college athlete, I could have been more, what's the word? I guess, more disciplined when it came to with the within the team framework as far as practicing hard every day in team practice. I always did good doing stuff by myself. But with the team, I didn't always have the best effort, which led to me losing opportunities for playing time, and I could have been a better player in college because of that. I think the the light switch turned on when I got to the pros, but I could have been a better player in college even though it would not have affected my pro prospects, I don't think. I could have been a better player in college had I just had more discipline for what the team needed. Speaker 0
Got it. Alright. That's interesting. I can I can identify with that? If you could go back and give your eighteen year old self some advice, what would that be? Speaker 2
Again, some personal development as quickly as possible. Find out what it is. Get into it as quickly as possible. Get around the right other people who are positive and going somewhere, and learn to tap into the brains of other people. When you're looking to create success, you don't wanna do everything on your own. And, just invest in yourself. Investing yourself, using money to buy time. Speaker 0
Love that. So that's I'm gonna have to play that one again for myself. If you could have coffee with any historical figure, who would it be? Speaker 2
I don't drink coffee, but Speaker 0
I have glass of water. Water? Alright. Perfect. Speaker 2
Any historical figures? Just one person? Speaker 0
It doesn't have to be your favorite person ever. It's just somebody you'd like to spend have a conversation with. They could be still alive today or or not. Speaker 2
One person I'd have a conversation, but, man, I had to only pick one, I would go with, maybe Robert Greene, my favorite author. Okay. Speaker 0
Yeah. Great. If you were given ten million dollars tomorrow, Dre, what would you do with it? Speaker 2
Ten million dollars tomorrow. I would, probably hold the good amount of it. I'll take a million dollars and pay for any things that I need to pay for. I don't think I have more than a million dollars and, things need to be paid for. So I would probably try to hold a good amount of it, invest a good amount of it, and, yeah, just make sure everything's paid off. Everything should say zero. Every balance should be at zero. And, yeah, then I would just try to hold it. I think I would just sit. I think somebody said, if you ever get a big windfall of money, the one of the best things you could do is just sit and just experience the feeling of having it and not doing anything with it. So that's probably what I would do for maybe a couple months if I can control myself. I'd take a million dollars and play with it, but then the rest of Speaker 0
the day Hold the hold nine back. Got it. Right. What's the challenge that you're facing in your your career right now, your business? Qualified leads. Same time as every entrepreneur has. Speaker 2
So I'm always trying to I'm always looking for people who are good at I but I'll tell you this. Have you read, Benjamin Hardy and Dan Sullivan ten x's easier than two x? Speaker 0
I have read other books of his. I have not read Okay. That one. Speaker 2
Okay. So that's the Oh, Speaker 0
Dan Sullivan. Yes. I've read, I've read a couple of their books. Speaker 2
Yeah. Sullivan has, like, thirty. He's got a bunch of books. Yeah. But the two of them together, they've done a couple. Speaker 0
Who not how is one I've read. Speaker 2
Things I've not read the one. Speaker 0
Yeah. The gap in the game is another one. I've not read that. But, anyway Speaker 2
Yeah. So and it's ten x is easier than two x. And one of the things that they're talking about is how you can, you know, ten extra results instead of making incremental progress, make big progress. And it's about getting clear on and this is something I've been telling my audience even before I knew about their book, but they put it into they articulate in a way that I would not have thought of saying it. Mhmm. And Hardy does most of the writing for the book. It is it's a lot of it is about what you gotta drop. What do you gotta get rid of? Because if you're gonna make a big jump in your life, you gotta drop things. I'm I'm saying all that to say this. I know what things I should be doing or what things I shouldn't be doing. So Mhmm. Three things that I should be doing is conversations like this one Speaker 0
Mhmm. Speaker 2
Where I'm talking to one person, but we're talking to an audience or talking to an audience or, like, a coaching call or a sales call or, writing or making content. Those are either talking to an audience, talking to one person, or writing. Those are my three million dollar skills. Everything else, I should not be doing. I should be passing on to someone else. So I hate actually, I don't I am good at building sales phones. I can do it better than most people, but I don't want to build another sales phone because I'm not a behind the scenes guy. I'm a Speaker 0
Sure. Speaker 2
I'm a I'm a front front facing guy. Yeah. I don't want to, run ad campaigns. I hate setting up ad campaigns. So I am always looking. So your question was, what am I missing? Lead generation. So I'm always looking for people who are good at generating leads for people who sell stuff that is, like, you know, high ticket, like coaching and consulting. So I go to marketing conferences, and every other person I meet, they do that. So it's really just about, vetting and finding people, vetting them test out, see who's good at it. And I got a few, people that I got, pending right now that are gonna Mhmm. Generate leads for me. And if they can do what they say they can do, then that solves that problem. Speaker 0
Yeah. No. And it's a I think every entrepreneur has has a has that issue where it's not even shiny object necessarily. It's just you might be good at a lot of things, and so it's hard to say no. And it's hard to even if you might do the marketing piece, the funnel piece better than somebody else, what are you not doing? What are you not focused on? It's that opportunity cost. That's really big. So Exactly. Yeah. It's and and, look, every every business has challenges. So that's that's I appreciate you, sharing that. So in your opinion, what's one of the most important personality traits that somebody needs to be successful in in business? Something you haven't mentioned yet. You've already dropped so much knowledge. Speaker 2
Mental toughness. If someone's gonna be successful in in anything, business or anything else, it's mental toughness. Are you familiar with this, essay called, carry a letter to Garcia? Ever heard of it? No. Speaker 0
I have not heard of that. Speaker 2
So it's written by Albert Hubbard back in, I believe, eighteen ninety nine. And I didn't know about it either. But there's a guy named Dan Kennedy. You're familiar with Dan Kennedy? Yes. Yes. Okay. So I have a Dan Kennedy book of because his thing is he's not on the Internet. He doesn't have a cell phone. He's not an online guy. He wrote he would send faxes to people in his his, mastermind. And Yeah. He took all his faxes from, like, ten years straight. He put them into a book, and I'm reading the faxes. So in one of these faxes, he's talking about he said this. He says, hey. I need type of people who can carry a message to Garcia, and then he puts in parentheses. Look it up if you don't know what that means. I looked it up when I read it. It's only three pages long. And in that message, it that message is all about finding the type of people who you can just tell them to go get something done and they get it done. They don't have to ask you fifteen questions. They don't need you to hold their hand. They don't need you to lay out the whole plan of what to do. Just say get this done. They get it done. Alright. Done. And it'll be done. And you don't even need to know how they got it done. So mental toughness is about, do you have the mentality? If you do you have that type of mentality? If you're gonna be an entrepreneur, you must have that type of mentality because there's often no blueprint for doing what you're trying to do. Speaker 0
So true. Speaker 2
If you're gonna have people working for you, if you don't have that mentality, then you cannot demand it of them. And if you ask them I read the letter just yesterday from when we're recording this, Jamie. Mhmm. And I sent the link to my assistant, and I said, read this, and tomorrow we're gonna discuss it. And Awesome. We discussed it this morning. And she said, you know, it's funny, Jerry. When I read that article, it kinda reminded me of you. I what she was so it was a compliment that she was given to me. But and I told her, listen. This is this is kind of what I need you to be. I need you to be this type of person. I didn't hire you to be a robot because, listen, there's AI software that can replace you if all you're gonna be a robot. And I told her that. I told her it was AI software that can copy paste. I don't need you to copy paste. I need you to be human and go put things done when I need to get them done. So that's my instrumental service. Speaker 0
Yeah. That's great. And I'm glad you didn't have to send her the VHS tape. Speaker 2
Mhmm. Speaker 0
Send her a link. But, no, I said the same thing. I I have a a virtual assistant who does, some marketing, and and, I told her the other last week, you know, she said, well, I I said, why did we pick this clip? It it doesn't look very good, to be honest. Like, you know? And she said, well, that's the one that the software chose. And I said, the software works for us. We we, you know, we're we're in charge here. So Right. But, yes. So so you've already rattled off a a bunch of books. So talk about a couple of yours. Like, what what are one or two of your favorite books that you've written? Speaker 2
Well, my favorite probably would be my favorite would be my first one. It's called buy a game, and that was just me telling my story of basketball when I first came up. But to your audience, what I would suggest is my book, the third day, which is right here. Are we on video? Yes. Yep. I see it. Yeah. The third day is this book right here, the decision that separates the pros from the amateurs. This book is all about how do you show up and give your best effort when you least feel like it. So it's basically a sub subtopic of discipline, showing up and having a strategy and a structure for giving your best effort on the days when you don't really feel like being at work or being at the gym or answering those calls or whatever we had to do as an entrepreneur. It's always stuff you gotta, you know, feel like doing. And the key to of successful people is even on the days when they don't feel like going, they go. Like, I went to the gym this morning. I would never even think about not going to the gym. Alright. There are days I feel better, days Speaker 0
I feel worse. Speaker 2
Yeah. Exactly. There was never there's never a day I wouldn't go to the gym. There's never a day I wouldn't know record if I need to record or write if I need to write. Right? Because that's what I do. So there's it's not a question. It's just a matter of when am I gonna do it, not if I'm gonna do it. And that's what this book is all about. And I call it the third day because, you know, the first day when you start something, everybody's all excited and trying to show off. Everybody's there the first day. Second day, a little bit less excited, but people still show up. And by that third day, metaphorically, you got the regulars. Alright. The people who are gonna be serious. So Yeah. I don't know when this episode is gonna come out, but we all know in January, anybody goes to a gym, January Speaker 0
That's crazy. Speaker 2
Everybody's there. About Valentine's Day is back to the same people from last year. And that's what the third day is about. Third day is any moment in life when you realize that the thing you signed up for is not all fun and games. And the question is the decision that you make. Are you gonna keep showing up or are you not? That's what the third day is. The decision is not the occurrence because the occurrence happens everybody. The decision is not. So I give everybody a free copy of this book. Can I share how they can get it? Speaker 0
Yeah. Absolutely. Please do. Speaker 2
Yeah. Paperback, free copy paperback. Just go to third day book dot com. All we ask is to cover the shipping, and we'll ship this book physically to wherever you live anywhere in the United States international as well. So third day book dot com. Speaker 0
Fantastic. Yeah. Dre Baldwin, man, this has been this has been fantastic. What's one question that I have not asked that you wish I had? Speaker 2
It's a good one. But we didn't talk about all the the work on your game philosophy. So we didn't really talk about initiative, personal initiative, but you brought it up many times when you talk about the go getter and, about confidence. We didn't talk about that that much either. But discipline creates confidence. So if you can be disciplined, you're gonna be confident. And mental toughness, I consider that to be like the, the bodyguard for your confidence. It's like your security system. So we didn't talk about those things, but they kinda fit into what we talked about already. Speaker 0
Absolutely. I mean, I've heard, yeah, I mean, I think, you know, reps you gotta put in the reps. And if you don't have discipline, you're not gonna put in the reps. And you put in the reps, and that's what leads to confidence, like you said. Right. Well, putting the reps, it leads to competence, and then competence leads to confidence. They all kinda, play together. That's right. That's awesome. So, Dre, anything else you wanna add before we we sign off? Speaker 2
Just letting everybody know that, no matter what it is you do, we all have a game, whether you're a real estate maintenance man, a librarian, or entrepreneur athlete. And you need to understand what game you're in, learn the rules of the game, do the work so that you can work on your game, then you prepare. You get an opportunity. You perform. You produce results. You produce results. You get rewards. So that's the process for anybody and anything Speaker 0
you do. Yeah. I mean, we this has been a very, very, energy packed and and just refreshing episode, very practical, mindset based. You know, I know that you've you've personally been through a lot of adversity, along the way, a lot of ups and downs. And I I just think the listener's gonna be able to relate to a lot of this whether they were a basketball player or not. Like you said before, it relates to everybody. So, this this has been great. Where can our listeners find you online, Dre? Speaker 2
I'm on every social media platform actively, so we publish everywhere every single day. I'm probably most active on Instagram. Actually, I'm active on I'm most active on Instagram because I personally will use it. My assistant does a lot of the postings, but it's all my content. So Instagram is just my name at Dre Baldwin. I'm also pretty active on, x slash Twitter. My Twitter is just at Dre all day. That's where you can that's where I like to talk about, current events. So I like to get into interesting conversations over there on, on x. But besides that, I'm on every platform. Every single one I'm on there. Speaker 0
Fantastic. Yeah. Gary Baldwin, thank you so much, man. This has been this has been great. So thanks for spending your your time with us. We appreciate it. I appreciate the opportunity, Jamie. Thank you for sharing your platform. Absolutely. And to the listener, thank you for spending your most valuable resource with us, and that is your time. Thanks, everyone. Speaker 1
Thank you for joining us on From Adversity to Abundance. We hope today's episode has equipped you with valuable insights and practical advice to elevate your real estate journey. For more inspiring stories and resources, visit us at w w w dot adversity to abundance dot com. If this episode has inspired you, please share it with a friend who could also benefit from our conversation. Together, let's turn adversity into abundance. Until next time, keep building your mental fitness and your real estate empire. 
