What’s your backstory?
I went to prison by the time I was 19 and I did 4 years on a 7 year sentence. There were many adverse moments that played a key role in strengthening my character. I got out for about 2 years. I got promoted at a sales job on my 3rd day, then I got fired 2 days later for being a convicted felon.
Instead of searching for other opportunities, I became a raging alcoholic. I went back to prison, just 20 days before my twin sons were born. That was the worst pain I’ve ever felt. I always wanted to be the dad I didn’t have, and now I blew it. It was the best thing that could have ever happened to me because I made a decision right there that I was going to do my time and get out to become a responsible father, and be happy and successful. I didn’t know what happy and successful looked like at that point in my life and I didn’t know how I was going to do it, but I had powerful reasons why I had to figure it out.
I came home 8 months later and started grinding. I couldn’t find a job anywhere. I did network marketing for 2 years before I completely lost my passion for it. I didn’t know what it was when I started, so you couldn’t even scare me off with the word “pyramid scheme”. I created almost $2k a month residual income within my first 6 months. However, I lost my passion completely and left network marketing in 2017.
I struggled financially all of 2017 and a lot in 2018. I was trying to be a “life coach”. My messaging was horrible and I wasn’t solving a specific problem for a specific person. I was all over the place, and as a result, I didn’t make a single penny or help a single person as a coach.
I tried to collaborate with other entrepreneurs all the time, but nobody took me seriously. I was just some ex-convict turned entrepreneur afterthought that nobody gave the time of day to. Out of this frustration and pain of no one taking me seriously, I launched the Underdog Empowerment podcast and became a top 200 rated podcaster on iTunes in my first week. The next week I had Billy Gene Is Marketing on my show. It’s crazy because the week prior no one wanted to collaborate, than in a few days I started interviewing celebrities and everyone wanted to talk then.
Since then I’ve interviewed countless of celebrities, industry leaders, and power players on my show, built powerful relationships with a lot of these power players, I’ve spoke at the biggest and coolest events, made a bunch of money, and have helped a bunch of people do the same thing. I help entrepreneurs launch, grow, and monetize top rated podcasts on iTunes, in 5 weeks or less, guaranteed, while freeing up your time and sanity with our podcast production agency.
From over 5 years in prison to rubbing elbows with multi-millionaires every day and generating over $20k+ months as an entrepreneur, I truly get grossed out when people make excuses.
I know this is not an easy job. What drives you?
The fact that I did over 5 years in prison and that didn’t break me. The fact that there are weak people in this game winning. But more than anything else, my love for myself, family, and others.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? What lesson did you learn from them?
Mitch Miller. Before I paid him some money to help me, I used to fake on social media like most entrepreneurs. I’d hold back punches because I was afraid of ‘offending’ someone. He helped me unlock it and much more.
How do you push through your worst times?
Because I’ve literally wired myself to persist. After doing over 5 years in prison, there’s nothing entrepreneurship can do to break me, nothing. When things are going rough, I ask myself empowering questions like, “Have you made it through worse?”, “Are you a loser or are you a champion?”, “What’s the next best move you can make to bring you closer to your goal?”