Speaker 1: Good morning, good afternoon, good evening. You are listening to
Speaker 1: the Vitamin D Podcast. I'm your host, Dawn Day, and
Speaker 1: I'm here to help you become your best self. For
Speaker 1: those of you who may be joined us for the
Speaker 1: first time, I say welcome. I'm glad to have you
Speaker 1: on this journey of discovery with me as we shine
Speaker 1: light on new ways of being and thinking. Today, as
Speaker 1: we go into the fall, I'm thinking about the work
Speaker 1: it takes to get here. Think of a tree. Right now.
Speaker 1: There are trees all over the Northern hemisphere that are
Speaker 1: starting to transition from some of the fall to change
Speaker 1: into those beautiful fall colors that make the season such joy.
Speaker 1: But what is a tree? It's big, it's bold, It
Speaker 1: takes in the sun and puts out oxygen. But what
Speaker 1: did it take for the tree that towers one hundred
Speaker 1: plus feet above you to get that tall? It had
Speaker 1: to start somewhere, right, just like all of us. It
Speaker 1: started small, a little acorn in the ground, covered in
Speaker 1: at what just seems like dirt at first sight. But
Speaker 1: you realize that dirt and that fertilizer that doesn't smell
Speaker 1: too good. Terms and roots begin to go deep and
Speaker 1: the tree grows tall, just like you, just like me,
Speaker 1: just like everybody. See, whenever we start to chase our dreams,
Speaker 1: we may be small at the start and a bit uncomfortable,
Speaker 1: but with just the right fertilization and life a k
Speaker 1: Ain't Vitamin D, we take our dreams and aspirations to
Speaker 1: the next level. Just wait and you'll see which brings
Speaker 1: me to our guest today, Caman Kelly Came and Kelly
Speaker 1: is a nationally syndicated radio personality on Serious XMS, Heart
Speaker 1: and Soul, and he's also the voice for Paul one
Speaker 1: O five in New York, The Breakfast Club, ESPN Radio,
Speaker 1: Bounced TV, Monday Night Football, Hello Somebody. The list goes
Speaker 1: on and on, and he joins me to talk about
Speaker 1: his new book, From six Dollars an Hour to a
Speaker 1: Million Dollar Dream. Now. If you're a dreamer, an entrepreneur,
Speaker 1: or simply just want to be inspired for what's next
Speaker 1: to come in your life, you might want to check
Speaker 1: out this conversation. Came and talks about how you have
Speaker 1: to nurture your gift and how you pursued your dream.
Speaker 1: Look this wind, there's no joke and the process isn't easy,
Speaker 1: but you realize that your decisions determine your outcome. We
Speaker 1: discussed topics like knowing yourself. I wanted to take the
Speaker 1: ultimate risk and putting in the work. So without further ado,
Speaker 1: it's time but your dose a vitamin daymin dy right
Speaker 1: with me and get excited about salutations, greetings, greetings, came
Speaker 1: and callie. Hello, Hello, Hell, they will be one. How
Speaker 1: alt thou? I'm doing well. I was just sitting here
Speaker 1: when you said we was gonna be live. I was
Speaker 1: about to go, um cut my hair. I don't have
Speaker 1: time now. Yes, and by the looks, you have a
Speaker 1: lot to get rid of, you know, I see actually
Speaker 1: a little patch right there, like on the side by
Speaker 1: your ear. Not at ain't a patch. I got it
Speaker 1: toughed in. I just chucked it in for the day
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna get back to it later. What's going
Speaker 1: on with you? How you feeling? First off, let me
Speaker 1: say happy belated birthday. Oh cruel please, it's but it's
Speaker 1: about the time for my next birthday. You lady, listen,
Speaker 1: you can't be late when you on time, no matter
Speaker 1: no matter what. Okay, you know we're blessing that We're
Speaker 1: blessing this evolution around the Sun. We're blessing the birth
Speaker 1: of this conversation we're about to have about your new book,
Speaker 1: like this is this is an exciting time, came. I
Speaker 1: just want to make sure you know this for the
Speaker 1: happy Birthday greeting related so listen. Thank you for making
Speaker 1: time out of your busy schedule to talk to me
Speaker 1: about this gift that you have blessed every dreamer, entrepreneur,
Speaker 1: or somebody that is looking for a purpose. Thank you
Speaker 1: for inviting me. I appreciate the opportunity to speak about
Speaker 1: it and and this this gift that we're referring to,
Speaker 1: Mr Book and some titles from A six dollar an hour,
Speaker 1: from six dollars an hour, it's a million dollar dream, yes,
Speaker 1: law okay, man, man, you're a millionaire now see you
Speaker 1: can't be counting the money now you've said it right
Speaker 1: there in the title a million Are you a millionaire?
Speaker 1: It's a million dollar dree. I didn't say I was
Speaker 1: a millionaire, okay, because I was really excited. I was
Speaker 1: like wait, and I'm like I'm thinking of it. I'm
Speaker 1: looking at your catalog. You're voicing for Power one or
Speaker 1: five one. You just got Espen Radio and countless of
Speaker 1: other stations across the nation along with being a syndicated
Speaker 1: radio personality. I was like, you know, what, are you
Speaker 1: still voicing for Bounce TV as well? Yeah, I'm voiced
Speaker 1: for Bounced as well. So honestly speaking, I could definitely
Speaker 1: see how you could be a millionaire. Huh. So, honestly speaking,
Speaker 1: I can definitely see how you could be a millionaire.
Speaker 1: Now that I sit back and look at it, well,
Speaker 1: I'm blessed, I'll say that. Okay, So just real quick, okay,
Speaker 1: So whether or not you want to actually confirm about
Speaker 1: the millionaire part, the fact that you can even put
Speaker 1: that in the centence that your money can even keep
Speaker 1: up with a millionaire, what does it feel like? I
Speaker 1: was good? You know, I mean, I've always dreamed about
Speaker 1: being in this space because you know that that whole
Speaker 1: title actually sums up the entire journey that I went
Speaker 1: on to get to the point where I'm at. So
Speaker 1: six dollars an always representative of my real pay. That's
Speaker 1: what I was getting paid when I first started working
Speaker 1: out of college and major radio, major market radio, six
Speaker 1: dollars an hour. But the thing is I only got
Speaker 1: paid for four hours a day, but I worked all
Speaker 1: day well, you got paid twenty four dollars a day,
Speaker 1: twenty four dollars a day, and I had to pay
Speaker 1: taxes out of that money, so you like to dollars
Speaker 1: you walked away with. So it really it really dwindled down.
Speaker 1: You work every day. It was it was like it
Speaker 1: was a struggle. But you know, the thing is when
Speaker 1: you're passionate about something that you can see where you're going.
Speaker 1: I just needed a step in stone. So I knew
Speaker 1: it would turn into something if I put in the work.
Speaker 1: So if somebody to present me the opportunity, even if
Speaker 1: it was six dollars, because at first I was doing
Speaker 1: it for free, you know, so six dollars was a raise.
Speaker 1: And you know, I think that's how you really know
Speaker 1: when you love something, because it's like the money doesn't matter.
Speaker 1: You're so in the moment that every moment and it
Speaker 1: is just like that high that's you know, Yeah, you're right.
Speaker 1: I just enjoyed being around it. It It didn't matter whether
Speaker 1: I was getting paid, and nobody knew I wasn't getting paid.
Speaker 1: So by the time a position was offered to me,
Speaker 1: when they wrote the figure down on this little like
Speaker 1: the side of this newspaper, and showed it to me
Speaker 1: and I looked at us it what's that for? He said,
Speaker 1: for the year. I was like, what it was like
Speaker 1: six thousand and some our dollars that was in this figure.
Speaker 1: So it breaked. It broke down the six dollars an
Speaker 1: hour for four hours a day, meaning if they paid
Speaker 1: me for a full eight hour a day, I'd been
Speaker 1: making three dollars an hour. Wow. And don't will tell
Speaker 1: you the truth. It was a it was a real struggle,
Speaker 1: I mean, like for real, for real struggle, because you know,
Speaker 1: they always wanted you to be around, but you know,
Speaker 1: sometimes it was like am I gonna eat? Or am
Speaker 1: I gonna put some gas in the cars? I don't
Speaker 1: go to work? I mean, like for real, I looked
Speaker 1: at the ash traders when they were still putting ash
Speaker 1: trays and cars, trying to find some change because I
Speaker 1: ain't smoke, so threw much change in the ash tray.
Speaker 1: So some days I was in there looking trying to
Speaker 1: see if I can get me a gallon of gas. Stop. Stop.
Speaker 1: I think it's a standard story for people in radio,
Speaker 1: like especially because it's passionate career. You love it because
Speaker 1: I can recall when I would be at the radio
Speaker 1: station from five am, and I literally wouldn't leave to
Speaker 1: eight or nine, because, like you said, standing up there
Speaker 1: is how you got the gems, how you got the opportunities,
Speaker 1: how you got the experiences. So tell us how how
Speaker 1: was that for you? You came in there, you're making
Speaker 1: six dollars an hour? What were you doing? What was
Speaker 1: I doing? When you running the board? Where you're working
Speaker 1: in promotions? How did you even know that there was
Speaker 1: money to be made in radio when they showed you
Speaker 1: si dollars an hour? I'm surprised you didn't be like
Speaker 1: a bat out of hell and run for the hills.
Speaker 1: But you know what I didn't, I didn't know how
Speaker 1: much it was gonna pay. So so the way I
Speaker 1: started in radio in the first place, I was in
Speaker 1: a music group a buddy of my my buddy Corey.
Speaker 1: We were doing music together because my mom always wanted
Speaker 1: me to take music lessons. I wasn't really interested. She
Speaker 1: wanted me to play piano. But back then, you know,
Speaker 1: it was kind of taboo for a man to be
Speaker 1: playing the piano because it was all women that you saw.
Speaker 1: So I don't want to playing a piano. So we
Speaker 1: had a piano at homes. I actually taught myself how
Speaker 1: to play it, and then I started doing all the
Speaker 1: music and he was good with putting lyrics together. So
Speaker 1: that's how we formed this group. We ended up doing
Speaker 1: like cable TV and all kinds of stuff. We was
Speaker 1: doing performances and he calls the radio station. One day
Speaker 1: he called me. He said, about to be on the radio,
Speaker 1: about to be on the radio. So when I turned
Speaker 1: on the radio, I heard him rapping about the promotion
Speaker 1: that they were doing. What he who was on the air.
Speaker 1: He invited us to the radio station. So when I went,
Speaker 1: that's when I fell in love with I was like,
Speaker 1: oh my gosh, I gotta do this because already I
Speaker 1: already loved music. That's number one, and just to watch
Speaker 1: the magic happened behind the scenes. I was like, man,
Speaker 1: I gotta do this. And the production guy was like,
Speaker 1: he said, man, how old are you? I was like,
Speaker 1: I was in T grade. Voice is crazy because my
Speaker 1: voice had already changed by it and you know, like
Speaker 1: back then radio was like all about the voice. Not
Speaker 1: much now it's the personality because it's not the same
Speaker 1: animal as it used to be back in the day.
Speaker 1: So once I got bit by that bug. That's all
Speaker 1: I wanted to do. After that, I gotta do some radio.
Speaker 1: I gotta do radio, So I went. I ended up
Speaker 1: going to college and always kept that contact with the
Speaker 1: radio station. I did radio in college, and by the
Speaker 1: time I graduated, I was looking for a job. I
Speaker 1: couldn't find anything, because you know, it's one of those
Speaker 1: things where they tell you the proper things for you
Speaker 1: to do, or the things that we think you must do.
Speaker 1: You know, successful graduate, you go to college, then you
Speaker 1: come out and get a job that wasn't working out
Speaker 1: too well, you know, trying to get a job because
Speaker 1: there was really no experience and everybody always wants to
Speaker 1: know what have you done already instead of taking you
Speaker 1: on to try to mold you and seeing some type
Speaker 1: of potential, and you in the first place where they
Speaker 1: are willing to take a chance on you. So so
Speaker 1: fast forward a little bit. There was a job fair
Speaker 1: that this radio station was doing, and I was cool
Speaker 1: with the the receptionists. So she said, we're doing a
Speaker 1: job fair tomorrow. She said, come up and you can
Speaker 1: ride with us. So I get there, don I get
Speaker 1: there early. This is how I know, like God was
Speaker 1: in this plan right. So I get there early and
Speaker 1: they already gone. So I'm sitting in the parking like like, man,
Speaker 1: I donna drove all the way up here and I
Speaker 1: ain't what happened. So I was like, man, I'm already here.
Speaker 1: So I went to the front door. There was a
Speaker 1: security phone in the front of the build and I
Speaker 1: picked the phone up. Albid the one who invited me
Speaker 1: in the radio station, and I was in tenth grade.
Speaker 1: He was on the air, so they're coming out, come up,
Speaker 1: and I'm talking to him and I was telling him
Speaker 1: I was trying to find a job and all this thing.
Speaker 1: He said, well, I don't really have a job to
Speaker 1: give you, but you can certainly help me out. I
Speaker 1: can use some help around my show, like answering phones,
Speaker 1: take a request, stuff like that. Be a great way
Speaker 1: to get your foot back in the door. So that's
Speaker 1: what I started doing it. In the process, I was
Speaker 1: teaching school that was a substitute. They offered me a
Speaker 1: full time so I was like, nah, I take the
Speaker 1: substitute thing. That way, I can kind of control my
Speaker 1: schedule so I can go when I need to. So
Speaker 1: being at the radio station, they started to notice me around,
Speaker 1: you know, and they started asking questions like can you
Speaker 1: do this? And I was moving chairs and all kinds
Speaker 1: of stuff that I didn't necessarily want to do, but
Speaker 1: everything that you had to do so somebody can lay
Speaker 1: eyes on there exactly. So eventually people learned who I
Speaker 1: was so so and in that position came over one
Speaker 1: day when I came from school. I came in the
Speaker 1: studio and somebody was sitting in my chair. So there
Speaker 1: was an intern in there, and the intern coordinated come
Speaker 1: in and tell him to the position open in promotions.
Speaker 1: I suggest you go back there and drop your name.
Speaker 1: That's how you taught, right, couldn't whisper go back there
Speaker 1: and drop your name so you can try to get
Speaker 1: that job. So I heard it. I went to Now,
Speaker 1: mind you you won't believe this, but I grew up shy,
Speaker 1: and you were not shy. I was shot, like to
Speaker 1: the point where I wouldn't ask you to go to
Speaker 1: the bathroom, how to speak, I can't clean up later.
Speaker 1: It was like that kind of shot that this guy
Speaker 1: was kind of timid like. And I saw it because
Speaker 1: I've recognized the introvert, you know what I'm saying, Because
Speaker 1: I was like that. But I learned how to cope
Speaker 1: and how to deal with stuff. So I was like,
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna get nothing if I don't say nothing.
Speaker 1: So I went back there, hold on, wait a minute,
Speaker 1: say that again, because I think that is very important
Speaker 1: a journey of any dream or just existence of life.
Speaker 1: How closed mouths don't get fed. There you go, that's
Speaker 1: exactly what I was about to say. Old folks said
Speaker 1: it best closed I was, don't get fed. And that's it,
Speaker 1: you know, because because I know that was a part
Speaker 1: of my personality. But being shot wasn't getting me anything.
Speaker 1: Because you know, having a gift doesn't mean anything if
Speaker 1: nobody knows about it. This book right here done. It
Speaker 1: took me two years to finish this book. If I
Speaker 1: don't say anything about it, how people know exist same
Speaker 1: thing with your gift that's inside of you. So by
Speaker 1: me being shot, I realized things about me that I
Speaker 1: gotta overcome some of this stuff. And you're like, and
Speaker 1: I still suffer with it too. You know. I don't
Speaker 1: like small groups of people. I feel intimidated when I
Speaker 1: walk into everybody staring at me. But I learned how
Speaker 1: I have coping mechanisms that I used to overcome it.
Speaker 1: So I walk in the room, I cracked jokes. They
Speaker 1: start laughing. I feed off of their energy. Now that
Speaker 1: the moodest like to me. So that's the way that
Speaker 1: I deal with stuff. So the same thing with getting
Speaker 1: that job. I man, I'm getting this job. So they
Speaker 1: said tomorrow we're going on the streetead so I come
Speaker 1: from this who I'm fine, I see AM about to
Speaker 1: pull off. I said, wait, wait, wait. I jumped in
Speaker 1: with him. We went to the mall. I was and
Speaker 1: everybody's going, y'all doing something passing our stuff. And they
Speaker 1: let me call into the radio station because I knew
Speaker 1: I would get it if they just give me the opportunity.
Speaker 1: So that's when I came in and they said, we
Speaker 1: want to give you the job. I thought I was
Speaker 1: great to make me some money. Though I can't live.
Speaker 1: I thought it was gonna make a decent amount of
Speaker 1: money at least. So when I saw that figure, it
Speaker 1: was a little shocking, but I still kept telling myself,
Speaker 1: this is an opportunity that I can turn this into something.
Speaker 1: All I need is to step in stall. But once
Speaker 1: these opportunities are presented, what are you gonna do with it?
Speaker 1: About the money? To me, it wasn't all about the money.
Speaker 1: I think that's interesting when we talked like about a
Speaker 1: lot of entrepreneurs and just dreamers in general. I think
Speaker 1: one of the things that is like a block is
Speaker 1: that thinking about the money and my own thing is
Speaker 1: always like I may not have it all right now materialized,
Speaker 1: but it's coming, and that's what kind of energizes. But
Speaker 1: I'm just interested to know why do you feel like
Speaker 1: it's so very important to make sure that you say
Speaker 1: yes and seize every opportunity because you if you have
Speaker 1: a desire to do something, you can always turn that
Speaker 1: stepping stone into something bigger, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: And I kind of used the analogy with you know
Speaker 1: people when they say, man, it was just sunny. Now
Speaker 1: it was raining, but the rain had to start somewhere.
Speaker 1: It is justn't come out of anywhere like you expect,
Speaker 1: like you say, man, it rain came out of nowhere.
Speaker 1: Nor did came out of the clouds, the nimbus clouds
Speaker 1: that have been building up for a long long time
Speaker 1: and they were swelling and they was waiting for that
Speaker 1: moment to first. So it's the same thing with any
Speaker 1: kind of opportunity, and it's I love that analogy because
Speaker 1: I ask God, I'm just like I want my blessings
Speaker 1: to rain down on me, because it's like, you know,
Speaker 1: when you get that water in your right now, you
Speaker 1: know I took it a little left. I just think
Speaker 1: about that's what life and things start to grow, and
Speaker 1: honestly think about it. You know, if we think about
Speaker 1: our blessings are in this cloud and we keep putting
Speaker 1: in the work waiting for the season, can you imagine
Speaker 1: the abundance and the overflow. Nothing can exists without water,
Speaker 1: that's exactly. And speaking of water, there was I was
Speaker 1: reading through my book yesterday and there's this analogy because
Speaker 1: if you start doing something and you can give up,
Speaker 1: how much closer are you to your drink? You're not.
Speaker 1: You're not going to get any closer, So why not
Speaker 1: keep going? And then I used to talk about stagnation
Speaker 1: because stagnation ultimately ends up in death. You kill yourself
Speaker 1: if you stagnate, you die, right, because living things grow
Speaker 1: and they move and they change, right, And think about
Speaker 1: it like this, though, if somebody brought you some beautiful
Speaker 1: fresh flowers, they were sitting in the vase and you
Speaker 1: had some water in there, but they sat for a while,
Speaker 1: that water didn't have any movement, and it started to stagnate.
Speaker 1: When you take them flowers out of that water stinks,
Speaker 1: you can't drink it. It's not good for anything anymore
Speaker 1: because it's stagnated. And it's the same thing with your life.
Speaker 1: If you stagnate, you're not worth any value. You're not
Speaker 1: doing anything, You're not helping anybody. You know, like and I.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm a firm believer. I'm not on this
Speaker 1: journey just for myself. And we need to surround ourselves
Speaker 1: with people that can motivate us. And I talk about
Speaker 1: it all the time. A matter of fact, last night
Speaker 1: I was talking to UM. I was talking to r
Speaker 1: L from next Yes, step back it that's coming close,
Speaker 1: talking about his journey and a lot of times when
Speaker 1: you look at people, and I started to notice a pattern.
Speaker 1: A lot of times when you look at people and
Speaker 1: you deem them to be successful, you don't know what
Speaker 1: they're dealing with internally. That's why I success can be
Speaker 1: defined in so many different ways. It's not necessarily all
Speaker 1: about finances all the time. Success You say you wanted
Speaker 1: to be at home with your kids, so your job
Speaker 1: allows you two hours where you could be at home
Speaker 1: but your kids, and you can define that as being successful.
Speaker 1: I've achieved that goal of doing what I wanted to
Speaker 1: do for my family, So you know, I don't think
Speaker 1: we can always equate success to being finances. If the
Speaker 1: money comes, then cool, that's the bonus part of it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I look at I want my success to be just
Speaker 1: like peace. I just want to feel good. I want
Speaker 1: to do what I love. And I guess also with
Speaker 1: the freedom. But even as you were saying, like you
Speaker 1: have to put your dreams out there, came and we
Speaker 1: have to be honest. There's this thing of judgment that
Speaker 1: we all fear. And it's interesting and I say this
Speaker 1: to myself even as I say, like, you have to
Speaker 1: put yourself out there and you fail your way to success,
Speaker 1: you know, And as you talk about the stagnation, that
Speaker 1: procrastination will hit me because us I'm thinking about all
Speaker 1: my imperfection, everything that isn't right, somebody is not good
Speaker 1: enough or that whole perfect you know context, And just
Speaker 1: like how you were saying, like to get over that aspect,
Speaker 1: was it easy for you to just put yourself out there? No,
Speaker 1: it really wasn't. And you know, and and and that's
Speaker 1: part of my natural makeup and my personality and me.
Speaker 1: And there was a whole lot of stuff that I
Speaker 1: self sabotaged myself, hear myself out of being successful. I
Speaker 1: wanted it, but I think I was told no so
Speaker 1: much that I just expected people to tell me no.
Speaker 1: So if a yes came, I'm like, whoa, I'm not ready.
Speaker 1: And I give you a prime example. And you know,
Speaker 1: I got stories for days. So I'm talking to my
Speaker 1: my friend Keith Robinson, who was an actor, right, So
Speaker 1: I was telling him, I said, man, do you know
Speaker 1: I auditioned for a soap opera one time? Right? So
Speaker 1: I walked in the room. I'm nervous as hell, dressed
Speaker 1: to kill, though I've got my suit all right. And
Speaker 1: I walked in and they introduced me to the young
Speaker 1: lady that I'm gonna be reading the opposite of. And
Speaker 1: I said, I already know her, and everybody was like,
Speaker 1: you do, and I said yeah, I said, girl, you
Speaker 1: don't remember me. I went to kid of going with
Speaker 1: you looking at me like I don't know this fool.
Speaker 1: Like that's how everybody was looking at me, like I
Speaker 1: don't know this dude. But really, I was doing that
Speaker 1: for me because I was breaking the ice in the
Speaker 1: room so I could get comfortable with them. So then
Speaker 1: when I was like, I'm just playing with y'all, they
Speaker 1: fell out laughing and girls like as oh, oh my gosh.
Speaker 1: She was like, I didn't think you were Jewish, she said,
Speaker 1: because I went to school with all Jewish people, Like yeah,
Speaker 1: that was funny. Look, we started doing the read. They
Speaker 1: give me the script and I'm looking through the script
Speaker 1: and it was a part of their way at the
Speaker 1: fuss like like the hell with you? Like, and I'm
Speaker 1: in it right, And the lady was like, oh my god,
Speaker 1: that was great. Do it again. So I do it again,
Speaker 1: and she said do it one more time, just for
Speaker 1: just for giggles. So I do it again and she
Speaker 1: pulls me to the side to talk to me right,
Speaker 1: and she said, oh my gosh. She was like, you
Speaker 1: are really good. If you ever take an acting classes before,
Speaker 1: and I said nah, And she said you should really
Speaker 1: consider taking acting classes because it'll just enhance what you
Speaker 1: already have naturally. I said, okay. She's like, what your
Speaker 1: body looks like? That's where I work out twice a
Speaker 1: day and she and she made me take my suit
Speaker 1: jacket off, and she said, yeah, you're really toned. She said,
Speaker 1: you know what, I can't guarantee anything, but she said,
Speaker 1: if you come to l A. She said, you don't
Speaker 1: live here in l A, do you? And I said no?
Speaker 1: And she said, well, if you move to l A,
Speaker 1: I can almost guarantee that somebody will pick you up
Speaker 1: during pilot's season. And I said, shoot out, moved to
Speaker 1: l A right now, right, I'm talking trash right. He
Speaker 1: is cracking up, laughing at my jokes. I have no
Speaker 1: idea who this woman is. Right, So I leave the
Speaker 1: audition and I'm out in the hallway and the security
Speaker 1: dude say, hey, man, let me. I'll let you for
Speaker 1: a second. I said, what's up? He said, listen, I
Speaker 1: don't know what it is that you have. He said,
Speaker 1: but do you know who that lady was that she
Speaker 1: was talking to us? And I don't have any idea,
Speaker 1: he said, man, that woman is the head of NBC Daytime. Look,
Speaker 1: he said, I've worked with her for years and I
Speaker 1: never heard her laugh. He said, brother, you've got something special.
Speaker 1: I'm telling you. He said, you got something special, and
Speaker 1: and all of that stuff that I absorbed. I went
Speaker 1: home and spared myself to death. I was saying, I
Speaker 1: can't do that. I can't do that because you know,
Speaker 1: we're fearful of change. But only it's only a few
Speaker 1: people that can really put themselves out there that don't care,
Speaker 1: like I don't care what happened. I'm I'm gonna try.
Speaker 1: There's only a few of those. But it's a muscle
Speaker 1: to exercise, absolutely, absolutely, So you know, our fear of
Speaker 1: chain age helps hold us back, you know. And I'm
Speaker 1: gonna tell you something, and I write about this in
Speaker 1: the book as well. It's all about a network and
Speaker 1: this is what I was touching on before, and and
Speaker 1: people that can actually motivate you. You can't tell everybody
Speaker 1: your business because you're gonna have some secret haters. And
Speaker 1: that's another chapter in the book. Haters and naysayers that
Speaker 1: don't want to see you succeed for whatever reason, they
Speaker 1: may want to change places with you. I want to
Speaker 1: be where don is. I don't want to see her
Speaker 1: uh succeed over top of me. I want to get
Speaker 1: there first, you know. So you've got those people, and
Speaker 1: then you've got naysayers as well, nay sayers of people
Speaker 1: who don't necessarily hate you. They actually care about you,
Speaker 1: and they don't want you to get hurt. They don't
Speaker 1: want to see you get hurt. And I know Don
Speaker 1: wants to go on this journey. I know John Don
Speaker 1: wants to go out of the country, but I just
Speaker 1: don't want you to do that. I don't think that's
Speaker 1: a proper thing for you to do. That's the kind
Speaker 1: of things that you hear from naysayers. So you know,
Speaker 1: like and I listed my parents is being naysayers in
Speaker 1: the book. They care, but you know, like with the
Speaker 1: competition and the things that I wanted to do, they
Speaker 1: didn't necessarily see me fitting into that because listen and listen,
Speaker 1: and I don't mean this is not this to my parents.
Speaker 1: I love my folks to death. They have been very
Speaker 1: supportive of me, and even more so now that I've
Speaker 1: proven that I can actually do it, They're proud to death.
Speaker 1: And then I've heard the same story over and over again.
Speaker 1: Molly music. Molly said his job lovingly fired him because
Speaker 1: he was chasing his music dream. It stud had a
Speaker 1: scholarship to play football, and he said, I went home
Speaker 1: and I told my dad, look, I'm about to do
Speaker 1: this music. It says far like what you ain't feeling
Speaker 1: me around here sucking up my air with no music.
Speaker 1: You know, it's like people can't see your vision. They
Speaker 1: don't see what's internally inside of you. So let me
Speaker 1: ask you this, Do you tell people you're dream there?
Speaker 1: Because they say life and death are in the power
Speaker 1: of the time, you have to speak life of seen
Speaker 1: your dreams. You have to profess it. So like do
Speaker 1: you say something or not? Do you tell people about
Speaker 1: your dreams? It depends on who it is because and
Speaker 1: like I keep on getting off the off the subject,
Speaker 1: but building a network of people who actually understand we're
Speaker 1: going through, you know, And that for me happened to
Speaker 1: be my wife, Like this is the biggest blessing I've
Speaker 1: ever had. She was the one who was my cheer
Speaker 1: leader and pushing me into doing things. And when I
Speaker 1: had started doing voice overs and a lot of this
Speaker 1: stuff starts to feel like what they I felt like
Speaker 1: it was an accident. But look how I stumbled upon this.
Speaker 1: But really, when you started to look back at it,
Speaker 1: you see how life is really like a puzzle and
Speaker 1: all of those pieces start to fit together. Because this
Speaker 1: is I wanted to do for years and I went.
Speaker 1: I left my job and went to B E T.
Speaker 1: This is when um serious sex with XM sat like
Speaker 1: radio became a thing you and BT was doing a
Speaker 1: third party channel for XM, and I got hired to
Speaker 1: do that for me being there and we was meeting
Speaker 1: with creative services people on the TV side to find
Speaker 1: out what they had going on. So by sitting in
Speaker 1: those meetings, these people got to know me. Then they said,
Speaker 1: can you voice something for us? See what I'm saying
Speaker 1: being in at the right time, so there's an opportunity
Speaker 1: for something. And I taught myself how to use the
Speaker 1: software and put production together. So here I am doing
Speaker 1: all the B E T S radio commercials. I'm voicing them.
Speaker 1: I'm doing the production for him. That was a check.
Speaker 1: Next thing I know, I'm the voice of b ET.
Speaker 1: That was another check. Then BT had Digital Networks. I
Speaker 1: was the voice for that stuff too, so I had
Speaker 1: a retainer from that. And then the job folks up.
Speaker 1: I just got married, built the house, right, But I
Speaker 1: don't see none of that. I'm like, oh my god,
Speaker 1: I lost my job. Oh my god, just got married.
Speaker 1: I just got this house. What I'm are you going
Speaker 1: to do forgetting that I had started something new. I
Speaker 1: got these checks coming in from that, so my bills
Speaker 1: were never late. But watch how this fist together. Dog.
Speaker 1: So I don't have a full time job anymore, but
Speaker 1: I'm still working and it frees me up. So I
Speaker 1: started traveling from DC to New York every week, like
Speaker 1: two or three times a week. I ain't have enough
Speaker 1: money get on the trains. I was catching the bush.
Speaker 1: That was a nightmare. Who I know that story? Yes,
Speaker 1: I do, laying down in the seat like they sleep.
Speaker 1: Make come on, man. Uh. So I did this right,
Speaker 1: And I trained with one of the best voice over
Speaker 1: guys in the world in New York or US in
Speaker 1: New York. So he made me audition for him right,
Speaker 1: and the man's dude ain't gonna never call me. He
Speaker 1: called me the next day. He talked to me for
Speaker 1: like forty five minutes, he said. He said, Um, you
Speaker 1: have a great voice, he said, and I can tell
Speaker 1: you have a lot of potential. But you don't use
Speaker 1: your your tongue of your teeth when you speak. Hold
Speaker 1: your breath mm hmm. He said, do you ever realize
Speaker 1: you hold your breath? And I said, no, I didn't,
Speaker 1: But you know where that came from. He came from
Speaker 1: me doing a slow jam show. He said, all you
Speaker 1: need to do is talk. Your voice is already deep,
Speaker 1: but no jam show. This is what you do. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know we slow jam is on the red light
Speaker 1: specially you know that you you put on so yeah,
Speaker 1: and I started. It became a habit. So when he
Speaker 1: pointed it out, that's when I noticed it. Oh my god,
Speaker 1: I do hold my breath and let be out of
Speaker 1: breath when I talked. He said, all you need to
Speaker 1: do is really just open it, open your mouth and talk.
Speaker 1: And then he said, you're a great mimic because I
Speaker 1: would repeat everything that he said. He's man, you you
Speaker 1: got to potential to be one of the greatest in
Speaker 1: the business. So he said, I tell you what, I
Speaker 1: gotta class that I'm for me. He said, I blew
Speaker 1: my class out to work one on one with you. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so he worked one on one with me. But here
Speaker 1: here's the thing done. They keep in mind I had
Speaker 1: lost my job at the time when I met him,
Speaker 1: so of course this is gonna cost me something. So
Speaker 1: here's where my wife comes in. Did you sign them
Speaker 1: for your class yet? Nah, ain't done it yet. I
Speaker 1: gotta make sure stuff around he has taken care of first,
Speaker 1: and then I'll get to that extracurricular. My wife's always
Speaker 1: been disciplined with money. I spent everything that I had.
Speaker 1: She was like, I gotta check that I'm signing up.
Speaker 1: I said, no, no no, no, no, no, you don't gotta
Speaker 1: do that. Don't do that. She was like, no, this
Speaker 1: is an investment for us. And she gave me that
Speaker 1: that check and I signed up for that class, and
Speaker 1: you know, I got my voice over demos and stuff
Speaker 1: together and and this is and I went to a
Speaker 1: marketing class in New York. Right to do was like
Speaker 1: he said, man, he said, I'm gonna listen to your demo.
Speaker 1: We're gonna listen to everybody's demos. And he said, you know,
Speaker 1: just give me some time to get back to you
Speaker 1: because I'm really really busy and blah blah blah. So
Speaker 1: I'm like, okay, I ain't want to play my my
Speaker 1: demo in front of nobody because I ain't want nobody
Speaker 1: critique it. It took me for ever to put it
Speaker 1: together because I was I was critiquing in myself, like
Speaker 1: oh no, that ain't good. I wanna do that over
Speaker 1: let's do this over right here. Finally, I just had
Speaker 1: to give it to somebody and let them do it,
Speaker 1: because otherwise I wouldn't have never done it. So she says, um,
Speaker 1: So he calls. He actually called me the next day.
Speaker 1: He said, oh my god, Now mind few. He told
Speaker 1: me he's really really busy and call me, like, give
Speaker 1: him some time at least four weeks or so. He
Speaker 1: calls me the next day he said, oh my god,
Speaker 1: this demo is absolutely amazing. I mean from the graphics
Speaker 1: on the outside of it to what's on the inside.
Speaker 1: I mean, this is really really you could certainly work
Speaker 1: New York. You could certain work New York. Let's see
Speaker 1: what man. I kept playing that message over and over again,
Speaker 1: like no, dog, and you're serious. No, And that's where
Speaker 1: you start to start to denounce yourself when stuff really
Speaker 1: starts to happen, like no, this can't be. And I
Speaker 1: give you another scenario, and this is how crazy things
Speaker 1: that are. So all these years that I'm doing b
Speaker 1: ET stuff, I'm working in my own place, like so
Speaker 1: I don't really see people like that, you know. So
Speaker 1: fast forward, I get an agent signed a dumb buck
Speaker 1: wall in New York. So I do this audition, right.
Speaker 1: I did a bunch of auditions that day, and one
Speaker 1: particular audition that I was supposed to do had to
Speaker 1: be over the phone, and I kept forgetting the call.
Speaker 1: So the first night, I forget the call and I
Speaker 1: don't worry about a call tonight, and leave your audition
Speaker 1: on the phone. So like the voicemail, Yes, man, you're
Speaker 1: gonna be blown away watch this. So so they said,
Speaker 1: leave your audition on the phone. I do all these
Speaker 1: auditions to record them, and I'm geting ready go to sleep.
Speaker 1: About two o'clock in the morning, I forget. I said, oh,
Speaker 1: I gotta do that audition. So I grabbed the script
Speaker 1: and I grabbed the phone, and I kept hitting three
Speaker 1: to re record it, right, you know you hit three
Speaker 1: to listen to your message and rerecorded, So I kept it.
Speaker 1: That's it. Then I went, I'm sorry, this is the
Speaker 1: first thing that you have to hear earlier this morning,
Speaker 1: because that's that's marketing one oh one. Because nine times
Speaker 1: i'd attend if they're casting for somebody and me like,
Speaker 1: we want deep voice too, So everybody in the room
Speaker 1: gonna have a deep voice. So what's gonna make me
Speaker 1: stand out from everybody else. So that's when I'm like,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna say something in front about that. I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: this is the first thing you have to hear the morning.
Speaker 1: But and then I read the audition. I ended up
Speaker 1: getting the gig. What it was for TV Land. Yes,
Speaker 1: I started voicing everybody Loves Raymond promos for TV Land. Right,
Speaker 1: Oh my mind, you're done. This is the first time
Speaker 1: that I'm working outside of my own space. But I
Speaker 1: walk in, I'm looking the park, I'm green as I
Speaker 1: don't know what men is somebody in the studio you
Speaker 1: ain't gonna never know. I active professional. I went in.
Speaker 1: It was like, man, my boss loves your voice. After
Speaker 1: you finish reading these promos, can you do something for
Speaker 1: us if you have time. I'm thinking, man, I got
Speaker 1: all the time in the world, Like this promo gonna
Speaker 1: take us fifteen minutes to knockout. So so when we finish,
Speaker 1: do you have you How are you looking all time?
Speaker 1: I said, I'm good. What's your need? So they pulled
Speaker 1: this thing up on the screen, right, and I'm looking
Speaker 1: at the screen and it's a new show. They got
Speaker 1: Betty White and Valerie Burton Elly in a minute, right,
Speaker 1: So I'm looking at he said, do you think you
Speaker 1: could do? It? Was a scratch track on the dude,
Speaker 1: sound like I had to do to It's like in Cleveland.
Speaker 1: So that's the way scratch tracks sounded. Somebody that just
Speaker 1: putting their voice on it. What they think is folks
Speaker 1: sound like. So I'm like, yeah, I can knock that
Speaker 1: out for you. He said, cool, let me get your script.
Speaker 1: So I get the script and I jumped in the
Speaker 1: booths and start reading. So he said, oh man, it
Speaker 1: was awesome. He said, I'll call you the way he said,
Speaker 1: my boss nights and they want to use you. Should
Speaker 1: I call you? Should call your agent? That said, don't
Speaker 1: matter whatever, And he said, I call you either way,
Speaker 1: even if they don't use you. I said, cool, that's fine.
Speaker 1: So I left. I got a call the next day. Man,
Speaker 1: he loved you. So I did the whole egg campaign
Speaker 1: for Hide in Cleveland, which was like their number one,
Speaker 1: one of the biggest greatest shows that they ever had
Speaker 1: on it. I did the whole promo cap wh we
Speaker 1: did is that everything in this journey is this after
Speaker 1: you've kind of like beneficial and you have an agent
Speaker 1: or a manager, like where are you at that process,
Speaker 1: and I had an agent. By that, I had an agent,
Speaker 1: but you know, like I didn't start working right away.
Speaker 1: I did to be stuff for years. But you know,
Speaker 1: like all the auditions that I went on, I used
Speaker 1: to get frustrated, man like that, ain't land and nothing.
Speaker 1: But you know a lot of times when you think
Speaker 1: you're read and you're not always ready, and then when
Speaker 1: you start to look back and you said, Okay, I
Speaker 1: see I had to develop that skill right there so
Speaker 1: I could get to this point. Ain't no different than
Speaker 1: here's another story for you. Brian McKnight. Brian McKnight a
Speaker 1: record deal and he was nineteen. His first album may
Speaker 1: come out to he was twenty one. He had developing
Speaker 1: to do, you know, And a lot of times people
Speaker 1: as songwriters, if they don't live no life, they don't
Speaker 1: really have anything to write it. Oh, talk about it,
Speaker 1: think about it, you know what I mean? And you
Speaker 1: know what this makes me think of something I've read
Speaker 1: in your book You talked about and this is something
Speaker 1: that I'm working on, and I feel like anybody that's
Speaker 1: out there with a dream can probably attest to it
Speaker 1: as well. You talk about this moment, how you don't
Speaker 1: believe that you should work then live, but you should
Speaker 1: work and live. And just like you know, that whole
Speaker 1: notion of taking time. It's just like people tell me
Speaker 1: all the time. I want to motivate and inspire, but
Speaker 1: donn if you sit behind and you're working all day,
Speaker 1: you have to get a moment to live, to bring
Speaker 1: life into the drain, to have something to connect and
Speaker 1: to relate to. But I'm just curious with you were
Speaker 1: looking at the amount of success you have garnered thus far.
Speaker 1: How what do you mean a balance? Like I get
Speaker 1: it when people say you're not going to get eight
Speaker 1: hours a day. People are giving you accolades because you're
Speaker 1: producing with Hello, I had to produce and take time
Speaker 1: for it and in order for it to manifest to
Speaker 1: what you see. M hmm. Yeah. I mean there's there's
Speaker 1: a lot of work that goes into it. So the
Speaker 1: balance comes comes here. Now now watch watch what happened.
Speaker 1: And this is a prime example because and it goes
Speaker 1: back to my wife again. You know, I'm working every
Speaker 1: day and I'm coming home, I'm staying up doing beant
Speaker 1: stuff late at night. And we had our first child,
Speaker 1: so he was like all this stuff and I was
Speaker 1: working on another radio station when I left BANT so
Speaker 1: I was like, I'm drained, right. So there's a lady
Speaker 1: that worked at BT with me name miss Pat ms.
Speaker 1: Pat gave me a book to give to my wife
Speaker 1: called Choosing to Cheat, And I've referenced that book because
Speaker 1: what that talks about is that there's only twenty four
Speaker 1: hours in a day, and you've got all these things.
Speaker 1: Just like you said, it's all of these things that
Speaker 1: you gotta get done. But and it talks about all
Speaker 1: of these CEOs that may be traveling. You know, they're
Speaker 1: making all this money, but they got a family that's
Speaker 1: sitting at home that they're not spending any time with
Speaker 1: just because you've got all this money and stuff like
Speaker 1: who knows you? And then in the United States they
Speaker 1: talk about the stress level that most people carry because
Speaker 1: they work all the time. And then you look at
Speaker 1: other countries where they take a cs today, just break
Speaker 1: down and take a nap in the middle of the day.
Speaker 1: This stress level isn't the same, you know, So this
Speaker 1: book is talking about that very thing. It's only twenty
Speaker 1: four hours, which is not a lot of time. You
Speaker 1: still gotta sleep, you still got people that you gotta
Speaker 1: talk to and spend time with. So who are you
Speaker 1: going to cheat? It's basically what it's saying. So when
Speaker 1: you when you look, when you really look at it,
Speaker 1: And my wife would asked me this all the time,
Speaker 1: and I'll go to work and I started doing for it.
Speaker 1: So it she was like, I don't understand why you're
Speaker 1: still going to work every day. Like it doesn't make sense,
Speaker 1: you know, because the reality is I was making more
Speaker 1: money being at home than I was going to work
Speaker 1: every day. It caused you to put gas in the car,
Speaker 1: you find someone at the park, and every day I'm
Speaker 1: buying lunch and I'm gonna get me something out of
Speaker 1: the vendom machine. Let's just be clear. Okay, I like snacks. Okay,
Speaker 1: So it could if you really think about it. It's
Speaker 1: an expense to go to work. So then I had
Speaker 1: to pay more money because somebody watching my kids, you know,
Speaker 1: so I can have more time school and long enough.
Speaker 1: And then I got driving traffic to get back home
Speaker 1: pick everybody up, you know what I'm saying. So so
Speaker 1: so when she kept saying, I don't understand why you're
Speaker 1: still going to work every day, Like your life could
Speaker 1: be much more comfortable and what you're doing. I said, well,
Speaker 1: you know how many video still feeds my spirit. I
Speaker 1: still love what I do. I don't agree with everything
Speaker 1: that they do, but I mean, where else am I
Speaker 1: going to increase my network like this? The people that
Speaker 1: I meet, I'm talking to artists like these people are
Speaker 1: my friends now? So I said, you know, and then
Speaker 1: I started thinking about We was driving at church one day.
Speaker 1: She was driving, I was on the passenger's side, and
Speaker 1: she said this. She said, Man, I'm telling you, I
Speaker 1: really believe God wants to bless you holding on one
Speaker 1: and he can't bless you unless you let go because
Speaker 1: you gotta make room. Man. You know what's funny. You
Speaker 1: know a lot of times when people are close to you,
Speaker 1: you don't listen to them. It takes somebody else to
Speaker 1: give you the same message. And then you're like, oh,
Speaker 1: that's a confirmation right there. But even though I heard her,
Speaker 1: I didn't say anything right away. But I started like
Speaker 1: really thinking about that thing. And she would ask on
Speaker 1: a regular like how many stations do you need before
Speaker 1: you actually leave your job? So I a shout out
Speaker 1: of random number. I was like, if I got six,
Speaker 1: I would leave to mind you at my first radio station,
Speaker 1: and I never even thought about doing voice So was
Speaker 1: that radio? Because all I wanted to do was be
Speaker 1: on the radio. I didn't realize that was like even
Speaker 1: a thing not for me. I didn't think about it.
Speaker 1: So the first station I ended up getting was Power
Speaker 1: one O five point one in New York in the country.
Speaker 1: Hold on, wait a second. I read that, and what
Speaker 1: I thought was so interesting is the gentleman that actually
Speaker 1: connected you with that opportunity? Yeah, man, Quasi, Quasi actually
Speaker 1: put together my voice over demo. Yes, I was in
Speaker 1: New York. I was sitting there with my my good
Speaker 1: friend Carina, she's on air in Texas. But I was
Speaker 1: in the studio with Quasi and Quasi set there and
Speaker 1: I was like, you know, just like how you said
Speaker 1: the cheerleaders and what you said bout on your network
Speaker 1: with and that ultimately desermines your network, is that Quasi
Speaker 1: took time helped me curate my my whole demo, which
Speaker 1: actually is what I used to an agent out here
Speaker 1: in Los Angeles. I just thought that was a very
Speaker 1: good connection. Yeah. So you know, like and the way
Speaker 1: that I met Quasi was through somebody else that I
Speaker 1: befriended from serious ex named Brian Appleman. Is always looked
Speaker 1: out for me, really always, and you're like, and I
Speaker 1: still give him his props to this day. I mean,
Speaker 1: you are a good friend because you know, a lot
Speaker 1: of times people say they're gonna do something for you,
Speaker 1: but they never really do it. Bringing for you, girl,
Speaker 1: that's cliche. You ain, you're really saying, no prayer for
Speaker 1: me in most instances. And you when you hear songs
Speaker 1: about my grandmama pray for me, I gotta praying grandmother, right,
Speaker 1: that's what you're here. You for him to take that
Speaker 1: initiative to like introduce me to somebody and what it
Speaker 1: turned into. And you know about having a New York station, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, like a top rated New York station. People
Speaker 1: tend to compyicast, you know what I mean, what do
Speaker 1: we want to sound like that station? Right there? I
Speaker 1: started picking up other stations because I was associated with
Speaker 1: that station. I mean it was coming. I wasn't even
Speaker 1: advertising anything, and I would get emails. I picked up
Speaker 1: a station in Milwaukee. Then I picked up a station
Speaker 1: in El Paso. And this was like, oh, while I
Speaker 1: was on sick leave because I had herdia surgery. And
Speaker 1: then my last child was born while I was off,
Speaker 1: and I'm getting this stuff and I'm doing TV land
Speaker 1: at the same time. So this when stuff started really popping.
Speaker 1: So then I told my wife and I said, man,
Speaker 1: I said, this is gonna be it. In December, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna leave my job. So by the time I went
Speaker 1: back to work it was July. Man December became so fast.
Speaker 1: I got scared and I thought about like Red nigg
Speaker 1: and I was like, I ain't gonna do it. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna stay on this job because I felt like if
Speaker 1: I go in and I'm gonna tell them leave, they're
Speaker 1: gonna let me go right then and there. And it
Speaker 1: took me a long time to say it, so I
Speaker 1: was nervous, and I finally went in and at the
Speaker 1: conversation and they and instead of them saying well you
Speaker 1: could go ahead and roll, they was trying to work
Speaker 1: with me to figure out what we could do to
Speaker 1: keep me on the air. Talk about favor right, and
Speaker 1: and that's exactly what it is. So now I do both,
Speaker 1: but I do them out of my home. You know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. I still got my radio show and
Speaker 1: I can still, and here's what happened. And this is
Speaker 1: what really made me believe the thing that she said
Speaker 1: when he was going to church, when she said, I
Speaker 1: believe God wants to bless you, but you just keep
Speaker 1: holding on. So when I did let go, man, it
Speaker 1: was so many things that just opened up. Remind you,
Speaker 1: I started voice and bounced TV when they in their
Speaker 1: inception when they first hit the air, I was their voice.
Speaker 1: This contract was for six months at a contract so
Speaker 1: they said, you like we worked well together, it's to
Speaker 1: turn into a two year contract. So in that same period,
Speaker 1: I was voicing this narration for a crime show and
Speaker 1: I went to this lady studio to record it and
Speaker 1: she said, oh my god, your voice is amazing. And
Speaker 1: she said to make sure I get your contact information
Speaker 1: before you leave out of here. And I said, okay,
Speaker 1: that's cool, and she said no, no, a a matter of fact,
Speaker 1: give it to me now because I would hate for
Speaker 1: you to do the session and you walk out and
Speaker 1: I never have contact with you again. This lady, her
Speaker 1: name is Cheryl. I write about Sheryl in the book Too.
Speaker 1: Cheryl did what she said she was gonna do. I
Speaker 1: was about to go in Walmart one night, and I
Speaker 1: checked my email before I got out of the car,
Speaker 1: and I got an email from a lady from TV
Speaker 1: one and said she had listened to my demos and
Speaker 1: Cheryl had referred me to her, and she said, I
Speaker 1: think you'd be great for Unsung promos. Wow, everybody short notice,
Speaker 1: but I want to book you tomorrow. What all right?
Speaker 1: Wait the television show Unsung. Ye oh my gosh. Another connection. Okay,
Speaker 1: first in turning Get Serious x M or when it
Speaker 1: was excellent at the time. Then Quasi you know, helped
Speaker 1: us in different degrees with our voice over. And then
Speaker 1: you know, I used to work at the production company
Speaker 1: that actually produced the episodes for Unsong called a Smith. Hey, Cam,
Speaker 1: I'm just excited because if you're like a millionaire, that
Speaker 1: means I'm on the right track. That's awesome. Look, and
Speaker 1: then I end up getting the TV one thing. So
Speaker 1: I get hired to do the promos for Unseung, and
Speaker 1: then all the producers started hitting me up. So I'm
Speaker 1: doing and then I ended up being damn near the
Speaker 1: voice of TV one. Wow, it was the end of
Speaker 1: my contract with Bounce. Right, I get this email, I'm
Speaker 1: about to go at church one. Damn always check the
Speaker 1: email before I go in somewhere. It was like, quick question,
Speaker 1: are you the voice of TV one? Oh, I can
Speaker 1: tell this Arabia prop So I didn't respond right away
Speaker 1: and then um and I said, no, I'm not the
Speaker 1: voice of TV one. There's other voices. I just like
Speaker 1: I'm dominant, but I ain't the only voice that's on there.
Speaker 1: So they had a problem with the amount of work
Speaker 1: that I was doing for TV one. So here here's
Speaker 1: with a plastic amen from They offered me an exclusive contract,
Speaker 1: so you know, like if I got to leave this,
Speaker 1: then of course you gotta pay me for the money
Speaker 1: that I'm a miss so I don't need to see
Speaker 1: nothing else that That contract was hefty. It reminds me
Speaker 1: of this song. Don't be surprised when I ask you
Speaker 1: what a cash ship. It's in your pocket, it's in
Speaker 1: your account, Run me my money. Oh you know what,
Speaker 1: I felt like I got the money. I didn't even
Speaker 1: see it, but I felt through your excitement. Man, listen,
Speaker 1: I mean, it was so many things that were just
Speaker 1: opening up beyond that that it was. It was absolutely
Speaker 1: amazing to see things unfold. You know, when you just
Speaker 1: take a chance and and step out on faith. But
Speaker 1: you said yes, Cam And that's the thing that's so amazing.
Speaker 1: You said yes, you showed up and you were consistent
Speaker 1: and just reading your book, like first of all, I
Speaker 1: mean you talk about going from six dollars an hour
Speaker 1: to a million dollar drain. I can only imagine, like
Speaker 1: you said before, about the naysayers and the challenges. But
Speaker 1: it attests to the fact that when I think of
Speaker 1: you know, Ernest William or William Ernest Henley, and he
Speaker 1: talks about how you are the master of your faith,
Speaker 1: the captain of your soul. You have to really take
Speaker 1: initiative to take charge of your dreams and you can't
Speaker 1: lose sight. And you have to want your dreams as
Speaker 1: bad as you want to breathe, because you understand that
Speaker 1: is your why and you talk about that as well
Speaker 1: in the book. And you know, can you tell us
Speaker 1: just a little bit why it is so important to
Speaker 1: make sure that your dream aligns with your purpose? Oh
Speaker 1: my gosh, man, you just said it. You said it.
Speaker 1: You know where you said it. You know your your
Speaker 1: dream and your purpose line. You know, because when you
Speaker 1: really start to sit back and you think, like how
Speaker 1: am I going to help my family? How am I
Speaker 1: going to help people around me? Because I'm a firm
Speaker 1: believer don that we don't just get blessed to keep
Speaker 1: it to ourselves. And I tell you this all the time,
Speaker 1: even not some conversations, that there's no better seeing that
Speaker 1: you can do than to invest in another human life.
Speaker 1: So how is this gift that I have going to
Speaker 1: help somebody else? And then my subtitle on this book
Speaker 1: is the process. It isn't easy, but your decisions determine
Speaker 1: your outcome, you know, which is which is very important
Speaker 1: for you to keep in mind. Yes, there's some days
Speaker 1: that's frustrating. You know, I stay up late because I
Speaker 1: had so much stuff to do, but you know, like
Speaker 1: I make sure I go upstairs and I spend some
Speaker 1: time with my my family and you know, like in
Speaker 1: the kids of our virtual school now, so with opportunity
Speaker 1: because I'm home, like I don't have to find anybody
Speaker 1: else to come in. I'm here. If they need me,
Speaker 1: all they gotta do is text me and call me
Speaker 1: and head upstairs. So you know, like that's a blessing
Speaker 1: within itself. And you know, another thing that I say
Speaker 1: to you a lot of times, you know, when we
Speaker 1: try to fit situations and that you try to force
Speaker 1: them to fit. And an example, you know, for for
Speaker 1: a long time, you know though, I was great being
Speaker 1: on the radio for sometime, and I would look at
Speaker 1: other people like, dang man, they get all the opportunities,
Speaker 1: like people call them. Nobody was calling me like that,
Speaker 1: something like dang man, am I not that good? And
Speaker 1: then one day when things started to turn, somebody called
Speaker 1: me about doing an afternoon job. Right, man, I was
Speaker 1: trying my best to make that thing fit, but the
Speaker 1: hours were raw. It was three to seven. That's the
Speaker 1: most critical time in my house. Right, somebody need to
Speaker 1: be there. You gotta cooked dinner, kids gotta get bad,
Speaker 1: They got homework and got stuff to do. So you
Speaker 1: know a lot of people say, man, you can get
Speaker 1: somebody just hiring nanny or something. But I don't want
Speaker 1: somebody to do something that I'm supposed to be doing.
Speaker 1: And here's where it went crazy. So I took this
Speaker 1: some this workshop at church. Right, it was called fighting
Speaker 1: for your Family. We were fighting for And when I
Speaker 1: opened my Bible, those books, i mean those worksheets was
Speaker 1: in there, and I started to look at them like,
Speaker 1: oh my gosh, like all of these answers were in
Speaker 1: there about what I'm supposed to do. But here's with
Speaker 1: a confirmation really came. So I fixed dinner one night
Speaker 1: and I put it on the table. One of my
Speaker 1: kids like, Daddy, you're the best daddy in the world.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, ripped my heart. I turned around start crying.
Speaker 1: And that's what made me realize that, like, no, man,
Speaker 1: you can't chase everything certain things that are more important.
Speaker 1: Like I said, man, I has no in the world.
Speaker 1: I can hire somebody to come in here and do
Speaker 1: what I was supposed to be doing. And I had
Speaker 1: an attorney, And you're like, man, I love this woman
Speaker 1: so much because she wasn't all about the money. She
Speaker 1: cared about me as a human. So she was like, hey, man,
Speaker 1: she said, everything's not gonna fit. Everything's not gonna fit.
Speaker 1: She said, you know, your wife is proud of you
Speaker 1: for who you are and her being taken care of.
Speaker 1: It's not all about the money all the time. If
Speaker 1: you're not home, like, somebody got to fill it in
Speaker 1: the gap, you know what I mean. And and you're like,
Speaker 1: and I look at that as part of being success,
Speaker 1: just like I said, you know, like it doesn't always
Speaker 1: boil down to finances. Look what I'm able to do.
Speaker 1: You know, just because I took those steps of faith,
Speaker 1: I didn't know it was gonna work out like it did,
Speaker 1: but I tried. But see, here's the thing. It's interesting
Speaker 1: that you know, as individuals, we can't talk about having
Speaker 1: faith without it being exercised, because faith without the following
Speaker 1: following through his dead. And you know, and talking about faith,
Speaker 1: whether it's in a religious sense of spiritual sense, would
Speaker 1: have you because it's all to me intertwining the same message.
Speaker 1: If you know that things are working for your greater
Speaker 1: good and the best, and you have this vessel that
Speaker 1: you're gifted that you know if you stay aligned with it,
Speaker 1: it's gonna give you on overflow plus everyone around you.
Speaker 1: Why would you not take that chance? And just like
Speaker 1: how you talked about in the Book of I thought
Speaker 1: this the name of this chapter was so interesting and
Speaker 1: shifting because one, I love the fact of how how
Speaker 1: supportive your wife is and how she was of your
Speaker 1: dream and how she goes on the lines of being
Speaker 1: a cheerleader. But just in the sense when we talk
Speaker 1: about navigating through the process of how you have to
Speaker 1: lose to win, and because of that losing. You find
Speaker 1: out every way of not doing something. But then again,
Speaker 1: you know, you find out more when it comes down
Speaker 1: to your purpose and how it all just works out. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and then there's another story right there, Dog, you bring
Speaker 1: a story to remembrance. Just talk to Jimmy Jam last
Speaker 1: week and in that very chapter, because I was standing
Speaker 1: on Hollywood Boulevard having a conversation with this dude. Right. So,
Speaker 1: I don't know whether you know their story or not,
Speaker 1: but Jimmy jam and Terry Lewis they played, you know,
Speaker 1: behind Prince and the time and all of them. Yes, Prince,
Speaker 1: Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis a moon like. So they
Speaker 1: go to Atlanta to do some records for the S
Speaker 1: O S. Fan. They got caught in the snow. It
Speaker 1: couldn't get back to the tour. So Prince ended up
Speaker 1: firing them too. So I asked Jimmy, I said, Jimmy,
Speaker 1: was that the worst day of your life? Did you
Speaker 1: noticed was like a blessing in disguise. He was like, no,
Speaker 1: it was the worst day of my life. Fired from prints.
Speaker 1: But here's the thing. Those records that they've worked on
Speaker 1: became some huge records and it's solidified them as the producers. Man,
Speaker 1: these dudes got like forty some number one records in
Speaker 1: all genres. But do you think about it, It's kind
Speaker 1: of like it lines up with the story that I'm
Speaker 1: telling you about my life. You know, they lost here,
Speaker 1: but they won here, and they're like the most sought
Speaker 1: after producers even even in their sixties, like people, they're
Speaker 1: still doing records, you know what I'm saying. So if
Speaker 1: it hadn't have been for that, they would have never
Speaker 1: figured that out. And it's just like you said, it's
Speaker 1: just making room. And I'm in the transition right now,
Speaker 1: like you know, this weekend, I'm getting everything me out
Speaker 1: of my house so I can build, you know, start over,
Speaker 1: start a new because basically never made, you know, a
Speaker 1: point to make room and create the opportunities to have
Speaker 1: new And it's like, you know, we asked God, you
Speaker 1: asked the universe, you asked you know whomever to give
Speaker 1: you these blessings. But where are they going to fit?
Speaker 1: Because if you've got so much stuff stuff meaning stress,
Speaker 1: stuff meaning things in your own stuff that you have
Speaker 1: no business holding on, the stuff that you hear in
Speaker 1: somebody's ear, how could you listen. How could you hear?
Speaker 1: How can you you step into the space if everything
Speaker 1: is so tight and constricted? Yeah, yeah, you're right, you're right.
Speaker 1: You know, I deal with the same thing you like.
Speaker 1: And one of the things done that people always have
Speaker 1: to realize that you never arrived. There's always room for improvement.
Speaker 1: Oh you know when you said that, that reminds me.
Speaker 1: Um a good friend of mine. Uh, Louis T. Powell.
Speaker 1: He says life is a journey. You know. The ernie
Speaker 1: is the experience, and the experience is the journey. Mm hmm,
Speaker 1: very true. That's like Princeton, I love you, you know,
Speaker 1: what do you say? He said? I hate you because
Speaker 1: I love you, but I can't love you because I
Speaker 1: hate you. I love you, but I can't love you
Speaker 1: because I don't. God, that's deep, right there. I hate
Speaker 1: you because I love you, but I can't love you
Speaker 1: because I hate you. Right, he was deep. Let's just
Speaker 1: try to imagine what silence looks like, right right, No,
Speaker 1: that's amazing. I think, you know, you know, just talking
Speaker 1: about this, I think he gives a lot of opportunity. Again,
Speaker 1: and just if we're not clear, because I only name
Speaker 1: a couple of things, tell me all the things that
Speaker 1: you're doing, this voice all around in your career. Oh lord, um, oh,
Speaker 1: don't wait, take de brother. Hey, look, I'm scrolling through
Speaker 1: the book and Our Parents by Jimmy Jams story right there,
Speaker 1: a blessing in disguise. I'm sorry. Um yeah. So so recently, man,
Speaker 1: I was really excited about this. I get a message
Speaker 1: through my website and it was it was um in
Speaker 1: regard to ESPN. And of course I looked people up
Speaker 1: before I make contact with him, make sure it's legitimate.
Speaker 1: So I look up this gentleman. I said, okay, So
Speaker 1: I called him. We have a very brief conversation, and
Speaker 1: when I hang up the phone, he said, le's talk
Speaker 1: some time next week. So I called him back again,
Speaker 1: and I have made out some some notes or some
Speaker 1: questions that I wanted to ask, right, So I said,
Speaker 1: when you say ESPN? What he said he was looking
Speaker 1: for somebody to image ESPN Radio because he was about
Speaker 1: to revampiss thing. And I said, okay. So I said,
Speaker 1: when you say ESPN Radio, do you mean like a
Speaker 1: local ESPN of Phillips. No, no, no, no, no, man,
Speaker 1: I mean nationwide? All found it and some affiliates. God
Speaker 1: so I went, okay, like be bound the side. I'm
Speaker 1: like this, I'll pumping it up. Give me that kids
Speaker 1: show what I was saying. So so, you know, we
Speaker 1: worked on this deal for a minute, and I had
Speaker 1: conversations to We formed a friendship for this period of time.
Speaker 1: He says, Man, if we get this done, but it's
Speaker 1: a big history. So the deal ended up working out,
Speaker 1: and I'm now the voice, the national voice of ESPN
Speaker 1: Radio over the TV two some of the shows like
Speaker 1: on ESPN News and all that kind of stuff. So
Speaker 1: I actually turned on ESPN because I never hear stuff
Speaker 1: that I do, and I actually turned it on the
Speaker 1: other day and most of the time I'm just looking
Speaker 1: at news and I turned on ESPN. That's that's me,
Speaker 1: you know, like even after all these years, it still
Speaker 1: excites me to be able to hear something that I've done.
Speaker 1: You know. So do you remember where you were the
Speaker 1: first time you heard yourself, whether it was on television
Speaker 1: or like the video outside of you know, being on air. Um,
Speaker 1: I'm just curious one that felt like, you know, the
Speaker 1: first stuff that I heard was was b et stuff.
Speaker 1: I did their first celebration of gospel like for the
Speaker 1: radio and then when I got the course to the
Speaker 1: TV stuff, I would see it on TV and I
Speaker 1: was like, that's me right there, you know, So that
Speaker 1: was that was exciting and still exciting to this day.
Speaker 1: I don't think it ever gets older, tell you the
Speaker 1: true So I can just imagine what artists feel like
Speaker 1: when they hear that song or the radio for the
Speaker 1: first time. You know, that's how I feel. And then
Speaker 1: I was crying when I first heard my weekend segment. Mama, Okay,
Speaker 1: what else you got? So so then you know, like
Speaker 1: and from that, it's so crazy because I was I
Speaker 1: was sitting outside one day and this was just like
Speaker 1: a couple of weeks ago. It's like two weeks ago,
Speaker 1: and I see this email from another gentleman and said
Speaker 1: that possible voice work was the subject line, and it says,
Speaker 1: may have some possible voice work for you and m
Speaker 1: n F. Right, So I'm like, oh, so I don't
Speaker 1: know what m in and You're like, I've seen it.
Speaker 1: But of course, like looking at it in the email,
Speaker 1: I don't know what this is. So I google m
Speaker 1: n F and it comes up Monday Night Football. I'm saying,
Speaker 1: hold on dog, so you like, you know, can we
Speaker 1: have a conversation. What's a good number to reach you?
Speaker 1: As I emailed him back, he calls me about twenty
Speaker 1: minutes later and we talked and he said, man, I
Speaker 1: love your range. Of course, this comes from the ESPN gig.
Speaker 1: So this is how stuff like starts to snowball after
Speaker 1: a while, you know. And and this ESPN gig came
Speaker 1: from um an advertisement that I was running somewhere that
Speaker 1: I was about to take down. I said, ma, I
Speaker 1: ain't get no traction from this. I swear I was
Speaker 1: about to take it down. And then I get this
Speaker 1: call now but it's still up there though. Don't get
Speaker 1: his west in the look he says, um he said, yeah,
Speaker 1: he man, so I got this. We got this idea
Speaker 1: because we're changing the intros to Monday Night Football. We're
Speaker 1: using um, Hank Williams Jr. Is not song is not
Speaker 1: gonna be there anymore, he said. The little Richard the
Speaker 1: State let us use rip it up so on that
Speaker 1: a little Richard put out in the fifties and they
Speaker 1: got a fan out of Richmond that's playing behind the
Speaker 1: vocals and they're singing the backgrounds. He said, And I
Speaker 1: think your voice would be perfect for the intros. He said,
Speaker 1: you mind reading one for me? I said, now, I
Speaker 1: got you, no problem. It's I go in my studio
Speaker 1: and I cut it and send it back. He called
Speaker 1: back like he was a little hesitant. He said, I
Speaker 1: just say it whatever, whatever it is, Like, I want
Speaker 1: to work with you. I wanted to be right, so
Speaker 1: you know, if something right is, let me know, because
Speaker 1: I don't even want to come across like I'm Hollywood
Speaker 1: to nobody, because I ain't that. So he said, yeah,
Speaker 1: I think if we tried this way to be the nail,
Speaker 1: so I'd go back and then do it. I think
Speaker 1: I got what I need. So he said, I just
Speaker 1: gotta running up the poll to see if I can
Speaker 1: get approol. Hit me back and the next day say, man,
Speaker 1: congratulations you are the new voice of Monday Night Football.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, So I do all the intros from
Speaker 1: Monday Night Football. Now, wait, how does it go? You
Speaker 1: say something? I said, this was for the game, but
Speaker 1: New Orleans in the new Las Vegas Foklands. So I
Speaker 1: really like this. So keep in mind at first when
Speaker 1: you started talking about the one of it a Saturday
Speaker 1: Night Live and letter, because he said, you know, I
Speaker 1: wanted something like Saturday Night Live, so it's all the
Speaker 1: players and the graphics, and they got introduced all the
Speaker 1: star players in the piece that's playing that night, so
Speaker 1: somebody gets heard, and of course we gotta slapped the
Speaker 1: names out. The listener says, um, it's Monday Night Football
Speaker 1: in the Desert, featuring Drew Brees, Alvin Cumara, Derek Carr,
Speaker 1: Josh Jacobs and many more. It's prime time clash in
Speaker 1: Las Vegas. It's a prime time clash in Las Vegas. Wow,
Speaker 1: that's dope dopness dot com. Yeah. I think we ended
Speaker 1: up using this line as we open up the new
Speaker 1: stadium in style, because you know, Las Veleas got the
Speaker 1: new stadium. Really I just said, yeah, like I know,
Speaker 1: but no, I really don't know. They gotta stadium. So
Speaker 1: of course we had to nail that line as we
Speaker 1: open up the new stadium in style. Wow. Yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker 1: And I just think about, like, you know, you're talking
Speaker 1: about the trying, and you know, it's one thing to
Speaker 1: be excited about all what you're doing, but like you said,
Speaker 1: like that grind to get to that point, and how
Speaker 1: you said the countless years and at six dollars. I'm
Speaker 1: just glad because I'm not sure all the time people
Speaker 1: realize that, especially in today's society, and while we're in
Speaker 1: this whole society where you can really make yourself what
Speaker 1: you are by putting your content out there, it's just
Speaker 1: so important that you do. And you know, really pushed
Speaker 1: fear out the way. M hmm, because like you said,
Speaker 1: when you start there and show yourself, you give people
Speaker 1: the reason to want to invest in your acorn. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and then you know a lot of times, man, you know,
Speaker 1: it's easier said than done, but it does take, you know,
Speaker 1: it does take those people around you to push you
Speaker 1: when you get into those boxes to do it the
Speaker 1: day and we're gonna have that, you know, because it
Speaker 1: was it was frustrating for me, and in the very beginning,
Speaker 1: you know, it was it was very difficult in the
Speaker 1: beginning because you know, I wasn't making no money. It
Speaker 1: was a struggle, like every single day, and I was
Speaker 1: so frustrated that man, maybe I chose the wrong thing
Speaker 1: to do. And my dad used to tell me, he's
Speaker 1: the man. One day you're gonna look back at this
Speaker 1: and you're gonna laugh. And I said, what, shoot, I'd
Speaker 1: be glad when they get funny, because it ain't funny
Speaker 1: right now. But you know, like and like I said,
Speaker 1: and I said all the time, but these are stepping
Speaker 1: stones to get somewhere, and it's not easy while you're
Speaker 1: in it because it's a job. I can talk about
Speaker 1: like the worst jobs that ever experienced in my life,
Speaker 1: but I see where they were necessary for the journey,
Speaker 1: and you're like another thing they done. You know, people
Speaker 1: they always talk about looking backwards, and people say you shouldn't,
Speaker 1: but I think it's a good place to measure where
Speaker 1: you've come from if you look back. But if you've
Speaker 1: got to look backwards, say you gotta stay back there,
Speaker 1: then you don't need to look back. Man, I see
Speaker 1: where I came from, like this is where praising, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean, So you can look back for that.
Speaker 1: It's a it's a good measurement to see where you
Speaker 1: have come from. And then you know also even looking
Speaker 1: back to say maybe what I've been doing all this
Speaker 1: time is the wrong thing and my gift has been
Speaker 1: showing somewhere else, because you know, sometimes you know, I
Speaker 1: talk to people because they're always trying to encourage people
Speaker 1: to go after your dreams, keep yourself alive. Like you said,
Speaker 1: you're not dead yet live. But then people say, well,
Speaker 1: I'm too old right now, it's too late. Is it
Speaker 1: ever too late? No? No? And you know what this
Speaker 1: book says at all? When I wrote this, somebody asked
Speaker 1: me and said, what would be a good return on
Speaker 1: your investment? Excuse me? And I said, a return on
Speaker 1: my investment. It's for somebody to be inspired and actually
Speaker 1: take the initiative to do what they desire to do.
Speaker 1: And I don't think you're ever too old. I got
Speaker 1: a friend and I and you know, like he's been
Speaker 1: going through some some too bad times in his life,
Speaker 1: and you're like, he said, man, when I see the
Speaker 1: stuff that you're doing, he's, man, I'm so mad with
Speaker 1: myself that I didn't do stuff when I was younger.
Speaker 1: And I said, brother, we can't cry over that. That
Speaker 1: time it's gone. Like, what are you going to do
Speaker 1: with the time that you have now? Because time is valuable.
Speaker 1: If you sit all day and you don't do anything,
Speaker 1: you ain't put yourself no closer to what you want
Speaker 1: to do. You didn't do anything, and you know, and
Speaker 1: I think, like, don we have such a funk in
Speaker 1: the society that we live in right now because everything
Speaker 1: is on demand, and I blame that on on the
Speaker 1: technology that we have. And another thing I was telling
Speaker 1: r L yesterday, I said, people are dealing with so
Speaker 1: much anxiety because look how we're measuring our lives now.
Speaker 1: You're not talented unless you've got some numbers on your
Speaker 1: social media, Like the numbers outshadow your overshadows your gift
Speaker 1: because nobody wants to take a chance on you if
Speaker 1: you already built the following that, Oh yeah, let me
Speaker 1: see what you've got to offer. And you see it
Speaker 1: play out in so many different industries. I remember um
Speaker 1: Texas Chainsaw Massacre. They wanted to put trade songs in it,
Speaker 1: and people was like, no, we don't know who that is.
Speaker 1: So when they looked at his numbers, they was like,
Speaker 1: oh yeah, let's put trade songs in it. So they
Speaker 1: put him in that movie because of it. But they
Speaker 1: killed them like before the credit start rolling the course.
Speaker 1: But then you name what my point is. They used
Speaker 1: his name as a draw for people to come to
Speaker 1: the movies. That's all it is. Everything is a draw
Speaker 1: and let's see what you dolls numbers look like. They
Speaker 1: ain't even looking at what kind of talent you got.
Speaker 1: But here's the thing. Can I say this, I'm not
Speaker 1: completely upset with that, And I'll say why. I'm sure
Speaker 1: you've heard the quote that hard work speaks talent when
Speaker 1: talent doesn't want to work hard. I think this kind
Speaker 1: of similarly aligns to the fact that you gotta put
Speaker 1: your yourself out there. You gotta grind because you know
Speaker 1: you may not be the best at it right now.
Speaker 1: But what are you doing to market yourself to put
Speaker 1: yourself on the block? Right? I understand that, I understand that,
Speaker 1: But what I'm saying is, you know, like the anxiety
Speaker 1: comes in. Here's what I'm saying. If I posted a
Speaker 1: picture and only get five people to like it, does
Speaker 1: that mean? What's that mean? Exactly? When I fall apart
Speaker 1: because two people didn't like meny don't like my stuff,
Speaker 1: They just didn't see it. You gotta lot of competition
Speaker 1: that's out there, and then people are willing to wait
Speaker 1: to watch things grow. Oprah was gonna be as big
Speaker 1: as she is. Think about the dudes they used to
Speaker 1: stay over that treat her like ship and talk to
Speaker 1: her any kind of way, right right, That's what I'm
Speaker 1: saying like, you don't ever know. And that's that's another
Speaker 1: thing that I can say to you. We don't deserve
Speaker 1: to treat people any kind of way. It doesn't cost
Speaker 1: you anything to treat I don't care what somebody does.
Speaker 1: And I always say that because the people when I
Speaker 1: was going to work every day, the cleaning people at
Speaker 1: the job, was like, oh my god, you're so nice.
Speaker 1: You always talk to us. You smile like enough you man.
Speaker 1: And I said, you know, he said, everybody else walks
Speaker 1: around like that. He did his face like they me.
Speaker 1: But my thing is, you don't ever know. You might
Speaker 1: have to trade positions with them one day. Everybody don't
Speaker 1: always stay where they are now. People grow, they move on.
Speaker 1: What if you got to look at that dude, he
Speaker 1: got to give you a job one day just because
Speaker 1: he cleaning up. Now on me, he canna always clean up?
Speaker 1: Think about it, or take it even a step further.
Speaker 1: If you come in in one night and then and
Speaker 1: they're cleaning up and you fall out, they walk right
Speaker 1: over you your behind. I don't know that. He never
Speaker 1: speak to me down there. That's yes, your only source
Speaker 1: of help, But they leave you down there until you expire.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying. You just never know what
Speaker 1: contraffic you're gonna run into it in your life. And
Speaker 1: then also I think it's also making sure that you
Speaker 1: create that good energy, that vibration, because that's what you
Speaker 1: will attract even later on, whether it's with that person
Speaker 1: in the next Yeah, and you know, and that's that's
Speaker 1: very important, you know, because your your your your reputation
Speaker 1: is really all you have. And you're like, and I
Speaker 1: shared a story with you that I didn't particularly care for,
Speaker 1: you know, but you know to the way people treated me.
Speaker 1: But that's a man. Listen, you talk about me, but
Speaker 1: it's gonna do you more detriment because my reputation is solid.
Speaker 1: I haven't done any thing negative to anybody that I
Speaker 1: come in contact with. I sleep well at night, So
Speaker 1: you talk about me, it's gonna come back and bite you. Listen.
Speaker 1: I just came up with a quote of my head
Speaker 1: right now. Let me know if this works. This is
Speaker 1: my first time staying out loud. Are you ready? I'm ready?
Speaker 1: You keep talking, s h I T your teeth are
Speaker 1: going to rote out. You get it? Quote at Dawnde
Speaker 1: said it on the Vitamin D Podcast with came and Kelly,
Speaker 1: facts are all you keep talking s h. Your teeth
Speaker 1: don't fall out, you got Dodo in your mouth right
Speaker 1: and your brass thinking real bad. No, But that's amazing.
Speaker 1: I think that attested the fact of even you know
Speaker 1: not along with their hard work, along with the just
Speaker 1: straight up opportunity, and that of having the support of
Speaker 1: your wife. But that's something that I always admire about
Speaker 1: you because while I didn't have much interaction with you
Speaker 1: when I was in turning there, I knew of you
Speaker 1: and even the moment that you said hi. Even over
Speaker 1: the years when Brian, who was actually technical producer and
Speaker 1: produces the Vitamin D podcast, he would hit me up,
Speaker 1: and the fact that you know, he was like, well
Speaker 1: lay some vocals now maybe i'll do something with came.
Speaker 1: And it's just like wow, that was an honor, was
Speaker 1: a blessing, and it was never a thing. And so
Speaker 1: that's when I ran into you last year at the
Speaker 1: World Wide Radio stuffing, I was like, oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: and it was like nothing. And I appreciate that, No,
Speaker 1: that that really means a lot. Because I came in
Speaker 1: I inspired to do it how you're doing it, like
Speaker 1: you know, like you out here and you're making it happen.
Speaker 1: But more importantly, you are investing in lives, and like
Speaker 1: that is my sole purpose, you know, to speak life.
Speaker 1: And so when I came across your book and I'm
Speaker 1: like six dollars an hour to a million dollar Dream,
Speaker 1: all I could think is, like, man, who's about to
Speaker 1: be inspired by this? Because I know that Detroit girl
Speaker 1: sure was who just heard a voice on TV and
Speaker 1: knew that she liked speaking, didn't know where was gonna
Speaker 1: land to And look I'm talking to shoot, one of
Speaker 1: the prominent voiceover artists in the industry. Shoot, oh networks?
Speaker 1: What stopped playing with me? What? Huh uh? Say my name? Okay,
Speaker 1: I'll song. I know all crazy, So thank you so much.
Speaker 1: I just want to know. Is there anything else that
Speaker 1: you would like to tell someone as to why they
Speaker 1: should check out your book and what do you hope
Speaker 1: the book does for them? Well? I don't think I
Speaker 1: got no more, but you know the book is available
Speaker 1: on October two on Amazon to be available on Amazon
Speaker 1: dot Com October two. From six dollars an Hour to
Speaker 1: a Million Dollar Dream. And just remember this subtitle right here.
Speaker 1: The process isn't easy, but your decisions determine your outcome,
Speaker 1: and for all ages. It's for all ages. It doesn't
Speaker 1: matter how old you are. You're never too old to
Speaker 1: reach your dream. Please believe. I'm just wondering where can
Speaker 1: people follow you on social media? Oh well, I am
Speaker 1: on Instagram at came and cat that proper spelling because
Speaker 1: people were ease and ease and c A y m
Speaker 1: a n k e l l y c A y
Speaker 1: m a n k e l l y on Instagram
Speaker 1: and on Facebook. Twitter is at Kim and Kelly Show.
Speaker 1: And I understand you've got some things cooking up that
Speaker 1: you do on Instagram Live. I tell yourself a matter
Speaker 1: of fact, I do interviews on into Instagram Live every Tuesday,
Speaker 1: so invite guests on, and I've had a number of
Speaker 1: folks on inclusive. I gotta look at my wall, so
Speaker 1: Johnny Gil, Ralph tresvand Um Jimmy jam let us see
Speaker 1: r l um Gosh has been so many Wayne Brady
Speaker 1: shout out the Wayne Brady is for man Um stokely
Speaker 1: Will downy Gosh. It's been so I can't remember what
Speaker 1: I'm looking at the list, but it's been a love.
Speaker 1: Vant shout out to Von did you have Tank? Now,
Speaker 1: I haven't had a tank. Tank change his phone number.
Speaker 1: I can't call him. I'm Leo. Came on to Neo man,
Speaker 1: that was amazing. So basically everybody and their mama and
Speaker 1: their mama and so yeah, somebody like that. That's awesome.
Speaker 1: You gotta be looking around at my wall down, which
Speaker 1: is amazing. By the way, it's Donny's you know, it's amazing.
Speaker 1: How long? Um, I've been doing this? Now? How many years? Shoot? Man?
Speaker 1: You know I started from my beginning. My radio journey
Speaker 1: started in tenth grade. I was fifteen and forty eight.
Speaker 1: Now like thirty three, thirty three years? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, that's almost as long as I've been
Speaker 1: on this earth. That's amazing. It is. You know when
Speaker 1: people say you're legendary. Huh no, legendary. I don't really
Speaker 1: feel any different, you know. If yeah, I get old,
Speaker 1: I feel younger. Came in m hmm, okay, I don't
Speaker 1: know we're playing here. We're on the podcast Your Voice Forever,
Speaker 1: one of the number one stations in the country for
Speaker 1: a number one morning show. Uh, And I don't know.
Speaker 1: I guess maybe maybe you say us for the same
Speaker 1: because each part of the process, you know, you're growing.
Speaker 1: It's just a step. But I'll just say this, Yes
Speaker 1: you are legendary. Yes you are that man, that one
Speaker 1: in charge. You are shi nails, and you are a
Speaker 1: beacon of light. And you know they say give people
Speaker 1: to flow at flowers while they're still a live Thank
Speaker 1: you because you know it's those moments to know like
Speaker 1: I'm possible, because I look at your story and I'm like,
Speaker 1: Dann came into it, and I want to thank you
Speaker 1: because just even attest to the fact that I'm sure
Speaker 1: there's plenty of others, but just like when I think
Speaker 1: about Brian and how we started out and I had
Speaker 1: this program at X him and then he showed up
Speaker 1: and then you just invested on him and look at
Speaker 1: him like what m hmm, yo, Brian Freeland, check it out,
Speaker 1: gives more. He is the man, yo. So I just
Speaker 1: thank you so much, thank you for you. Just thank you, no,
Speaker 1: thank you because you're going places girl. In fact, when
Speaker 1: you finish up here, you go across street each Sunday. No,
Speaker 1: but for real, nough, don you know? And I tell
Speaker 1: you this all the time. I see like you have
Speaker 1: a huge potential and you know, I would advise you
Speaker 1: to just keep pushing and keep going because eventually you'll
Speaker 1: start to see things unfold and they may not look
Speaker 1: you know, sometimes look dark sometimes, but you sometimes look light.
Speaker 1: But you know, you always follow that light. You want
Speaker 1: to head towards that light because it's there. And like
Speaker 1: a lot of times, when you start to look and
Speaker 1: you start to get frustrated, tell yourself that God didn't
Speaker 1: bless me with this gift. A man, there's a purpose
Speaker 1: for it. And you know, like this is not on demand,
Speaker 1: so you can't just go hit the button and watch
Speaker 1: what you want to. It takes time. It takes time.
Speaker 1: So just to stay the course you know happen. Thanks
Speaker 1: again to Cayman Kelly for joining us on the Vitamin
Speaker 1: D Podcast to kick it and to talk about his
Speaker 1: new book, From Six Dollars an Hour to a Million
Speaker 1: Dollar Dream. The process isn't easy, but your decisions determine
Speaker 1: your outcome. Y'all. When I tell you that your dreams
Speaker 1: are in your grasp, I need you to believe me,
Speaker 1: not just for me, but for you. Is it hard
Speaker 1: out there? Yes, but most of the things that are
Speaker 1: stopping you from being to you that you want to
Speaker 1: be are within your control. Please, please, please don't skip
Speaker 1: out on what you feel in your heart is your
Speaker 1: calling just because it's hard. Right now, you just heard
Speaker 1: it from Cayman's mouth. You can go from working as
Speaker 1: a volunteer at the radio station to me the voice
Speaker 1: of the station, if you're willing to show up for
Speaker 1: yourself that is. And if you like to get a
Speaker 1: copy of Camus book, you can find it on his
Speaker 1: website at Cayman Kelly dot com. You can also find
Speaker 1: him at Cayman Kelly's Show on Twitter and Cayman Kelly
Speaker 1: on Instagram. And as always, you can catch us here
Speaker 1: on your phone every Monday with more inspiring conversations. And
Speaker 1: if you're looking to get even more Vitamin D in
Speaker 1: your life, you can follow me on all social media
Speaker 1: at Dawn day Speaks. That's Dawn d a i Speaks
Speaker 1: on all social media. Until next time, always remember you
Speaker 1: are your greatest asset.