April 12, 2024 • 62 mins
Ever wonder how relentless determination shapes not just careers, but lives and legacies? Welcome back to Building Billions, I'm Brandon Dawson and today I have with me NFL legend Ray Lewis!
In this episode, you'll hear the untold story of his journey from adversity to greatness. This isn't just a tale of sports triumph; it's a masterclass in cultivating resilience, finding purpose, and transforming communities.
Dive in as Ray covers:
- The pivotal role of work ethic and mindset in overcoming life's hurdles.
- How personal challenges and a lack of resources can fuel one's drive to succeed.
- Insights into creating impactful change within underserved communities.
- The essence of leadership, mentorship, and leaving a legacy that transcends sports.
Tune in and let's discover what it truly takes to elevate your mindset.
Like this podcast? Don't forget to leave a review and share it!
Support the show: http://cardoneventures.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
S1 (00:08):
Hey, everybody, it's Brandon Dawson. Welcome back to another episode
of Building Billions. Hey, look, today I have a spectacular guest.
This guy is a legend. Not just on the field,
but in life. And he's a dear friend of mine.
And we're going to be chopping it up today talking
about health and wealth. We're going to be talking about business.
(00:29):
We're going to be talking about all sorts of things.
So I'm very excited to introduce a dear friend of mine,
Ray Lewis, number 52, on this podcast, building billions of
Brandon Ray. Welcome to the show, brother.
S2 (00:41):
It's so good to see you. Always good to be
back then.
S1 (00:44):
You, you. Every time I see you. And every time
I'm with you. You're out conquering and building and developing.
And not just for you. You always have the same
purpose and.
S2 (00:56):
Intent.
S1 (00:57):
And. And that is creating value for other people's lives.
Talk about what drives you.
S2 (01:04):
Man, I think it's, um. It's the remembrance. Of where
I was and where I came from and what I
did not have. Which gave me my desire to never
give up. But a lot of people that came from
where I came from, they don't have that same desire.
(01:26):
But if you give them the opportunities, you may spark it.
And so me. Every day of life, I always reflect
back on when I started really feeling for other people. Mhm.
And so my, my feeling for other people family is easy. Right.
(01:46):
Because that's your duty. That's, that's just your job right.
My mom had me at 15 years old. I'm the
oldest of five with my mom, and I'm the oldest
of 15 with my entire mom and dad. And the
moment that I realized that you're the one. Nobody else
is going to do it. And I'm walking around and
(02:09):
this is why I am so big on imagination. Because
if you give a person an imagination, something that they
can image, that they can see it, then it's tangible
that I can touch it. And I never forget one
day I walked over through the side of town that
we weren't supposed to be on. Right. And, um, and
(02:32):
I saw clean grass and I was like, why can't
our grass be like that?
S1 (02:39):
Um, something as simple as green grass.
S2 (02:42):
Green grass. And I came back and I told my mom,
I said, mommy, like, why can't we have clean grass? Like.
And and the obvious answer was simple. We're broke. We
don't have nothing. So broke sometimes can be a situation.
But broke can't be a mentality. Um, right. So my
(03:05):
mentality immediately. Started to change the moment. She said, we're broke.
I said, how do we fix it now? You gotta think, right?
This is ten, 11 years old watching moms struggle day
in and day out. And I'm I'm the kid trying
to figure this out and watching my neighborhoods. So long
story short, man. Like, it's like, um, me helping. Helping
(03:27):
gives my heart rest. Like, I know you can make money, right?
I can do great deals. I can win football games,
lose football games, whatever. But when you when you change
someone's direction of their life. Then you know you found
your purpose. And that's where I think my past introduces me.
(03:51):
To my future, only to understand that my purpose is
the only reason that I exist.
S1 (03:57):
So you you literally, as a kid, you're like, I
have to change something. I and you always say at
the why game, right? Like why, why, why am I
stuck in this situation? What what what what do I
need to do to get out of it? Like that's
how you that's how I processed. I mean, I think
there's a certain commonality with people. Instead of just being like, oh,
I'm stuck there. Like, what do I need to do
(04:17):
next to get out and get through and do something different?
And that propelled you. Mhm. How old were you when
you realize I'm going to be a champion football player.
S2 (04:26):
It was in football we are I tell people this
all the time. You know football was it's a byproduct
that just came by. You know like my entire reason
for even starting to look up and pick my chest
up as a man is I just got tired of him.
(04:47):
My mom cried the night from being beaten. Um, I
was sick of it. I was like, what are we doing?
Like like, who does that? You know? And I'm like.
And I said to myself, I said, mom, I said, look,
you have a choice. You don't have to do this.
You know, and then that's the first time. And I
never forget, she said. I'll do anything for my kids.
And I clicked. Have you do anything for me, then
(05:11):
I'll do anything for us. And man this fire. Push ups,
sit ups. It's like when you say you missed your
workout this morning. My deck of cards. You can't miss
the workout. Mhm. They don't need a gym. You just
need work. Right. And that deck of cards forever changed
my life. And that deck of cards. I started doing
that deck of cards at ten years old. And I
(05:33):
ain't stopped that. I'm 48 because it keeps me grounded.
Every day people make excuses why I can't workout. I
don't have this equipment. I don't have that. I get
on the floor. I put a towel, that towel down,
grab my deck of cards, and I just ran through 300,
330 sit ups, 375 pushups. Quickly. Our pump done. Yeah,
(05:59):
that started at ten. That is what made me say
I don't I don't judge myself with nobody. Back then
I wasn't judging myself against nobody because I had nothing.
So there was that in the judge, right? I wore
the same pair of shoes for seven years with two
pair of jeans. So it's like I never had nothing
(06:19):
to judge off. So. My my, my standard was already set.
That nothing. Nothing. Nothing can tell me. I can't do
what I want to do. And man, I kicked it
off and. And every day of my life with my sons. Um,
(06:41):
I send them their workouts every day, and they're like, dad, like,
this is insane. I'm like, that's what life is. Mhm.
If you want to chase something, really make it insane.
A lot of people walk in the gym to walk
out of the gym. I walk in the gym to
not want to go back. So now it's a bigger decision.
And that decision over my, over the course of my
(07:01):
life is what is defined the way I see life.
One of the greatest things, one of the greatest. People
I think to sit with was like Kobe, right? When
me and Kobe had these conversations. It was scary. How
we looked at each other and saw it race totally different.
(07:25):
But the Mamba mentality. The no excuses mentality. That's a mindset.
And then it becomes a lifestyle. And once it becomes
a lifestyle, that's who you are.
S1 (07:38):
The level of intentionality.
S2 (07:42):
Oh, Brandon, I'm telling you, if you don't get up
every day and intentional about something you're following along the earth. Hey,
you got to get up, and you got to be
ready to move. Where people fail is people worry about
the vertical. The vertical goes always take care of itself,
even when you're gone. The one thing that I want
(08:03):
is you and we stop moving. So that's why health
for me is like number one. Right. 14 years old,
I walked in my grandmother's house. I was like, grandma,
I'm not eating no more fried food. I'm not eating
them drinking this Kool-Aid. I'm not doing all this stuff. Why?
Because at 14, my abs is so sick. Because I
was working every day, not because I. There's two types
(08:26):
of abs show abs and work abs. You see some
show abs that's like, you can't last 30s show me work, abs,
I tell you, I tell you, man, who put and work. Mhm. Right.
And so that mentality when I told my grandmother and
them she was like you're going to starve. Yeah. And
I was like okay I will starve. And I ate
(08:46):
a bag of candy every day for my food for years,
for years. Because I was so. Engaged into changing. My surroundings,
and the only way I was going to change him
that I started to really understand this, that a business
partner really helped me out with this. He said, I
(09:07):
don't think the goal is to change your surroundings. The
goal is to create something that you can get them
out of where they are. Right. Lions roam the Serengeti
12 miles or more. They don't stay in one area, right.
Because they're always hunting and they're hunt is to protect
(09:28):
the pride where my hunting protects the pride. But I
had to leave there. So how do you leave that?
You got to go to college. You got to get
out of there. You got to figure it out. So
me and Cole was like. What? And then he looked
at me and I looked at him and I was like, bro. Ah!
(09:50):
There's no weakness. None. And that's what I think the
development of. Of a legend. Legendary. It's the only thing
I'm chasing. And it's not legendary man's eyes. I want
to hear the good Lord say, well done, my good
and faithful servant. That's where I live. That's why I
(10:13):
get up every day.
S1 (10:13):
So when you think with all the things that that
you've been working on for the cause, we're going to
talk about inner city kids. We're going to be talking
about minority owned businesses. We're going to be talking about
health and the importance of it. We're going to be
talking about wealth and the significance of that, especially if
you're investing it back in the other the other elements.
What what was your moment where you're like, I need
(10:36):
to get out in order to go create impact. And
how did you like what was the start of, oh,
I can play football. Like, what was that starting process?
S2 (10:44):
Yeah. So, uh, so, so 1985, long story short, there's, uh,
these I always went to this park, right? And I
would stand on the gate, and I would just hold
on to the gate, and I would watch these practices
every day. I mean, brand, I would get out of
school and I would go over there, and my mom
(11:05):
was like, you better be on before that light comes on. Right?
That was the rule. And I would sit on this
gate and and just sit there for hours and watching
every practice, literally. Uh, B squad, C squad, this squad
a squad everybody. And then on Friday nights, um, there's this, um,
Lakeland High School at Bryant Stadium started playing every Friday night.
(11:28):
And one of my favorite players is this guy named
Willie Buford. They call him skeet. He's my he's my
best friend right now. Right. And I'm like, skeet. And
I asked him I said, I said one day, I've
never met skeet and I'm like, I miss skeet one day.
And so I jumped the gate and I remember he
was he was walking through and he was about to play,
(11:49):
I think, playing city, and he was walking through and
I was like, skeet. And this guy grabbed me and
he was like, no, you got to get out of here.
And I was like, I just want to meet. And
he was like, get on the other side of the gate.
And I was like, all right. The lumberjacks was practicing.
The first squad I played for a nice 85 and
(12:09):
there's two twins. Head and Biscuit was their name, and
biscuit came over to the gate and he asked me,
he said, why aren't you playing football? And I was like, oh,
I'd love to. He was like, really? So play? I said, no,
I can't. Um, my mom wouldn't allow that. I said,
(12:30):
first of all, how much it cost? He was like $15.
I said, we ain't got no $15. There's no way
I can ask my mom for $15. And then he
was like, let me talk to her. I was like,
absolutely not. You're not talking to my black mother who's
walking in with all the problems she got right now.
Absolutely not. And he was like, no, you really should
(12:51):
let me talk to her. And then so fast forward
a few weeks later. He ends up coming on to
the house and he, um, he says he walks in
and my mom was like. And he walks in and
my mom was like. I'm not talking to nobody. I
don't want to hear nothing. He ain't playing no sports.
(13:14):
And then I went out in the yard and I
started playing, um, football. And he came out and he says,
I got it. I said, well, he said, you're going
to be playing football. What? He was like, yeah, I'm
going to pay the $15 for you. Boom! A kick.
(13:34):
It kicked off. My mom made it to my entire
little league in high school career. My mom made it
to one game because my mom worked every day of
her life, you know? And, um. And I never forget
our 75 yard touchdown on a fake reverse fake. The
reverse swing. And I went 75 yards, and I ran
(13:56):
up to my mom, and I gave her the ball,
and the ref was like, oh, we're going to need that, son.
But I got the last Jersey, man. Like in 1985.
I have the last jerseys. You got to see these
pictures of it. It's epic. Of the jersey was so
tore up. It was so bad. And I was so
proud of it. I wore it every day, even when
(14:16):
at home. I never pulled it off. And that's when
my journey of of seeing this light, of saying, wow.
And then very early, you started to measure yourself as
a kid playing football. Oh, he's faster than me, but
he doesn't run to the ball every play. Wow. He's
(14:37):
stronger than me. But he won't do the necessary things
that he needs. And that started young. And from there,
this fire started to kick in to where I realized
that I may not be the most athletic, but I
don't know a person that's willing to give what I'm
willing to give. And that started young, and his taste
got in my mouth to where every day my mom,
(14:58):
I would come home. My mom was like, boy, you
going to hurt yourself? I used to be on the floor.
Josh push up pulls up just as I feel pain.
I used to just say, I hate pain, I hate pain,
I just get up. And then when I started to
get out of school and stuff, it turned into a
whole nother different thing because now you become. You become
(15:21):
a walking threat. And what you could do on the
football field. Mhm. And I became a problem early because
I figured out how to become a problem. Do the
opposite of what everybody else is doing. Nobody was doing
what I was doing. They didn't care. I was broke.
(15:42):
I ain't got none anyway. I ain't got nothing to
do but work. And every position that I've ever gotten.
This is the thing. Sometimes you work, you bust your butt,
you do all those things, and you're still not chosen.
I was that guy, a high school. I knew I was,
you know, sometimes better than most guys that was in
(16:03):
front of me but never got the chance. Somebody got hurt.
God broke his jaw three days before the first game,
and Coach Grady Maddox walks in and says, my role
was back this year, which is a free safety, is
Ray Lewis. And I was like, what? And I went
out there and I had like 23, 24 tackles.
S1 (16:25):
And that was the start.
S2 (16:26):
What? Because I was like, wow, what? I've watched everybody
else do. I'm now doing that. But my mentality and
why I'm doing it. Oh, man. Like I've always took
the mentality of a lion. Young. My mom used to
always say, why you watch all these shows with these animals? Mhm.
(16:49):
Because I wanted to see why a lion was the
king of the jungle. I never forget that. This old
man sit up under this tree. He one time stopped
and he said, you know what a lie is? The
king of the jungle. I said, I don't, sir. Mentality.
(17:10):
And I took it on early. And I challenge everybody
every day. And I lost miserably. People used to outrun
me all day. All day. Race me again. Race me again.
Race me again. Let's wrestle. Going to fight. Whatever. Whatever.
(17:31):
I'm gonna test you. I'm gonna test you because I
don't get tired. And that's when my football things start
to kick in. And I was like, wait a minute. Yeah.
And then, you know, I told my coach, I was like, coach, man,
you got to let me play offense, man. You gotta
let me touch the football. Like I'm telling, I'm a
bad boy. This football cannot be in the park. He's like,
(17:51):
it's different in the park. I said no, it's not.
It's the same guys chasing me. And then he started
letting me play running back. Then I started playing kickoff return,
punt return. And then I never left the field. I
was like, nobody believed in me, right? And so it
was crazy, man, because, like, coming up, it was hard
because my mom, you know, a few times, you know,
(18:13):
I had to give me away a few times because
she just went broke. She couldn't afford to feed me.
And so I live with my grandmother, stay with my
great grandmother. So I kind of shuffled around, live with
my uncle. So I was always I had one bag,
one pair of jeans, three t shirts and nothing else. Toothbrush.
And that was it. So every time they picked me up,
(18:33):
I had this one bag coach the next house, coach
the next house. And then all I, all I took
with me was nobody can ever take away my work ethic.
I don't care where I go. My cousins, who is
better than me, would never come in in the garage
with me now because they got to start positions. I didn't.
(18:55):
And so football was this was this platform. And I
saw the platform as an incredible opportunity to really get
to college. And then I get to my senior year
in college and I ain't got no. I ain't got
one scholarship offer, not one. And I'm like, I've outplayed
every one of these guys. Right. And it's like, so
(19:16):
football was like are like for me, it was so
iffy because it was like I was one I was 189.
I wasn't 260, right? Linebackers like that, I was I
was a safety my whole life. And the sport that
changed my life while I was playing football was wrestling
changed my whole perspective because it taught me one thing.
(19:39):
If you want to do something, do it. And you
walk on that mat. Ain't no excuses none. And I
walked out there the first year I went to state,
I placed fourth. I didn't have a clue what I
was doing. The year after that, this guy walks up
to me at the Polk County Invitational, and he hands
(20:00):
me a book from 1975, the year I was born,
and I open up the first page, and that was
my father is a pitcher with every record in the
entire book. Now. I wasn't raising my father. My father,
like at 33 years old. So it was really hard
(20:22):
for me, right? But I took this vengeance on in race.
A race in his name. I wanted to remove every
record he had. And now, if you go look in
a new book. I own every one of those records,
you know. So that was. Those are the things. And
then football, when I didn't have a scholarship. It broke
(20:42):
my heart. I played my last game against Jamie German,
who was the number one recruit in the nation from
Fort Myers, who played them in the last playoff game.
And my hometown and I had a stupid game. Just
stupid game. 24 tackles, 150 yards rushing, punt return. Oh, man.
I just went off, but they just had too much firepower.
Fell on my knees. I was crying because I didn't have.
(21:04):
My mom wasn't around. My dad wasn't around. Nobody. Like.
So I'm sitting on the field in the middle of
the field. I'm like, what's next? God used to promise me.
You told me. I've been praying. I've been. I'm you. Right?
And they say, you know, four days before signing day,
(21:26):
the universe of Miami was at that game seeing Jamie German.
They was at that game to see Jamie German play,
and Akio and, um, Denis Eriksson caught a glimpse of me.
That's why my motto in life. Tell my kids all
the time I tell everybody. You're always being watched. Yep.
Even when you don't think you are. Next thing you know.
(21:48):
Four days before signing day. I get a call? They
call it a high school. I walk in the principal's
office and everybody in the office is crying. I'm like,
why is everybody crying? That's what happened, right? Like what
just happened? And, uh, and my, my principal and Kojo
(22:09):
was both holding the papers together, and they said, University
of Miami. Just gave you a full ride scholarship. I
was like, what? But he was like, one problem. You
got to be in school in four days. And I'm like,
what the frick? I don't have money to get to school. No,
for the A's. My mom, I called my mom. I
(22:30):
was like, mom, I made it like I got a scholarship.
She was living in Tennessee at the time. And I said, mom,
I got a scholarship. Like, I made it. I'm telling you,
she was like, she's like, great job, son. I'm proud
of you. I was like, Pam. Okay. Simon needs some money, though.
I ain't got no money. She was like, look. I'm
(22:51):
going to put $20 worth of food stamps in the mail.
That's all I got. As a magician. I make it,
and I took $20 worth of food stamps. And I
went to my grandmother and I said, come on, would
you please drop me off to college? I ain't got
no gas for that. That's it. Come on. My grandma
was so crazy. I love her, too. She was so crazy.
(23:13):
I was like, I'm gonna please. Like, I'm going to college.
Like I'm trying to do something. And my granddaddy walked
in and he was like. Time to get up. We're
going to take this boy to college, drop this ball. And, uh,
she dropped me off the college man with $20 worth
of food stamps. And I saw something told the difference
when I got University of Miami, and I was like, oh, really?
(23:36):
Different world, different world, different world. So that's kind of
how the football thing and.
S1 (23:42):
So, so, so now it explains to me why you're
so committed. To all the inner city kids. Because if
that guy hadn't funded the 15 bucks for you.
S2 (23:54):
I'm one of those. Yeah, I'm one of those.
S1 (23:57):
Another choice because.
S2 (23:57):
I've had every opportunity to sell drugs. I've had crack
cocaine put in my hand. I walked into crack houses.
I went and crack houses with my aunts. And sat down.
And the doggone curve. Why? They're doing crap. Yeah. Yeah.
And then in the situations that I got my in
(24:19):
that town, situations that not only me but a lot
of athletes got themselves in. If you didn't have if
you ain't got no way out. That's why my passion
is so great to bring the right opportunities, the imagination.
If you if you give those communities just hope. Just
a little bit of hope. Clean grass. Clean grass forever
(24:43):
changed my life. I wanted to know, how does that
grass look so clean? He mows it a certain way. Wow.
All in one direction. Really? In a box. And the square.
I became the best lawn mower in the world. $10.
I move your old yard. I don't care how big
it is. And every kid has the same dream. But
the options are I can sell drugs really quickly. I
(25:07):
can turn into a gang member really quickly. Why gang
members feed me? They put a roof over my head
and they protect me. The only thing I would ever
say about gang life is the only difference of gang life.
And fortune 500 companies is they're selling their own product. Mhm.
Because everything else runs structurally the same way. But for
(25:28):
me it was like now to see the disasters in
our communities. No that's not that's not a choice. That's
a duty. And we don't follow that duty. Right. You're
going every community. You take Martin Luther King Street and
(25:49):
going every community. It's in the worst parts of the city. Ah.
And so years ago, man, when I started my foundation. Then,
then I started to realize, granted, that foundation is great.
It really is. I mean, it does a lot of
great things. You know, you feed a lot of people,
you bless a lot of people. Every year you have
(26:11):
your big foundation events. And if you really want to
do something. You got to give him much more than
just a few days of it. Mhm. You got to
feed him. You got the housing. You got to educate them.
And the biggest thing you got to do. You got
to mentor him. You got to teach him. They don't
(26:34):
know like a lot of athletes that came from these
types of neighborhoods. I guarantee you, has my exact same
story because I've talked to most of you. Same story.
So what made me different? I think my faith overrode everything.
(26:56):
I was crazy enough to trust that God was so
real when I had absolutely nothing. So then I said,
if I can teach that. So I started practicing it.
But I studied really bad so people didn't like to
hear from me. And then I started to go through
(27:18):
other things. Figure out a way to beat my stuttering.
So when I started watching television, I would recite when
somebody speaks. I will get close enough to tell my
mom and say, get away from that television, you're going
to go blind. And I used to sit in front
of the television and I used to just repeat words.
She said, don't do it. And I just float because
(27:39):
I always thought, mom, mom, mom. Right. And all of
these stories of of triumph or or or or trials.
As one reason I'm starting this other thing. I'm starting
right that we've been talking about my other show for
the two cards because everybody got a deck of cards story.
(28:03):
Remember when they didn't have it. These communities. The only
reason people don't invest in these communities because they're afraid
to go out into these communities. I'm not. I'm from there. I'm.
There's nothing that the streets can teach. Nothing that I
haven't lived. And that's why the passion for me to
(28:25):
go back and build. I imagination, opportunity, access. Because if
you give them that, everybody won't do it, but the
right ones will. Yeah.
S1 (28:38):
I mean and what drives you is you. You lay
awake at night thinking about all those little boys that
somebody needs to show up and try to convince mom
and be willing to invest a little bit into that
could change their whole life forever.
S2 (28:52):
I wish I could show you my phone right now.
This young kid, this young kid, he won't mind, but
this young kid. Chase. Right before my, um. Right before
my my son passed. Um, he called me. He got
in touch with me, his mom and his father. Had
(29:13):
killed himself. Mhm. Committed suicide in his house and, um.
And Chase, says 13 year old kid. So incredible. And
he's like, my daddy's gone. My father's gone. Mr. Lewis,
I don't know what to do. And I said, look,
(29:36):
I can't replace a father, but I can be daddy.
And every day of my life, chase texts me every day.
But Chase is the same story of hundreds. It's like Pedro.
Page of my son in LA. Peugeot parents gave him
(29:57):
up when he was 13 years old. He lived in
a friend closet for the next ten years and we met.
At a hotel in LA. He just ran up to me,
he says. Your videos changed my life. I said, really?
He said, yeah, because you didn't give up. He says,
(30:18):
I chain gang life. The next thing he said. Would
you be my father? I can never replace a father.
But I'll be a daddy. And now that son. That
son spent this past Christmas with me. Mm. That sun
(30:38):
shares these intimate things that these kids, a lot of
them are like that be. There are so many men
that were just there. Just surviving. They're in survival mode.
That's why gang life is so relevant for most of them.
Because it's survival. And my job, our job is how
(31:01):
do we get to them? How do we supply them
with the right education? If you don't have education, people
say education in the school. Education is not school, right?
Education is figuring out the things of life. How do
you work through life? And that's what keeps me up
every night because I got, I don't know, 50, 60
(31:26):
texts to get through just to keep these kids motivated.
You know, just to keep them. To not commit suicide.
Which we have one of the highest rates of suicide
rate from 20, from ages, from men, from ages 25
to 55. We had a 55% increase on suicides this
past year. So we're losing men. Right. And I truly
(31:50):
believe that the attack is on the man. Right. You
remove a male lion from a pride. The pride is
in jeopardy. You remove a man from the house? Families
in jeopardy. Mhm. You don't have to. I don't have to.
You know what that ask me. I live it and
I've lived it. I buried my son to stupid and
(32:11):
senseless stuff that all these cowards are creating drugs and
all this stuff. The kids are just trying them. Yeah.
It's like. You lose a child, perspective changes immediately. What
is my purpose? Why am I here? What do you
(32:35):
want me to do? We missed it. We missed it.
It's money. Man, I want to make it much money, man.
I'm going to have the biggest. I want the biggest
house in the world. I had all that. Every time
I move, I want somebody to have enough hope to
where they can get up every day and keep fighting.
(32:58):
Everything I do, every business I.
S1 (33:00):
Create when I see it, because you and I have
spent quite a bit of time together over the last
couple of years. I mean, you guys have made some
huge investments. Almost 1,000,000ft² in Ohio, where you can cycle
kids all around the world through there, give them skill sets,
uplevel their their belief about what's possible given the skill sets,
(33:21):
expose them to you and your friends and other people
who are contributing to their success. You and I are
working on some programs for Inner City to give those
kids tools and skill sets. Um, when you think about.
You know, when you think about that move, all of
a sudden you've gone through all that, you go to Miami.
S2 (33:44):
And.
S1 (33:44):
Now you go into the pros.
S2 (33:46):
Yeah.
S1 (33:46):
And you just conquer, like. Like you're a madman who's
on a mission to conquer.
S2 (33:52):
Yeah.
S1 (33:54):
If I would have met you back then. What what
what would we be talking about?
S2 (34:03):
I think it was simple. Um. I took all sports
and I took the game of football very early, and
I made it a one on one battle. And the
battle was not against nobody else. It was against myself.
And I said, at 17 years old, I may be
(34:25):
the greatest hurricane ever. Walker by the University of Miami.
I got to the Baltimore Ravens. I said, I'm telling
you this. I may be the greatest defensive player you've
ever seen in your life. He was like, what? Marvin
Lewis was like what Maxie was like once. I was like.
Trust me. You don't have to trust me. Let my
(34:48):
work show for itself. So if you'd have met me
back then, the only difference was now is that my
target is different. All right. My target then was I'm
dominating anybody that's going to play against me. And guess
what I'm going to lose. I love the war. Yeah.
Like dance with me. Like I like to dance, right?
(35:09):
Like what? God tells me he can block me. You
may get me, you may win. But I promise you
nine out of ten, I'm winning. Right. And now the
target change. The target is. Now take that same approach
where I once studied what Peyton Manning was going to do.
And when it was in two by two and the
mode back came in motion, like what was going to
(35:29):
change and that was the backside three by one screen
that was going to come. Right. It calculates that quick
because I'm because I'm so dialed in. And now. I
went from studying football numbers to studying street numbers. Yeah.
That our homicide rates in Baltimore is through the roof. Chicago.
(35:49):
Southside Chicago. You know, Liberty City, Miami. Um, Detroit. We
have we have places that's just horrific with crime. So
my numbers are different, my target is different.
S1 (36:04):
But the competitiveness, because it's never stopped. It's never stopped.
S2 (36:07):
And I realized, and this is why me and you
are here. Because I realized when I was playing football,
you asked me what? What's the difference then? And now
I could be great, but I can't win the Super
Bowl by myself. Mhm. You need a team. And now
this on this end, I need a team. I need
a real team that understands what the mission is. Right?
(36:31):
These inner city kids, they want hope. They want they
want the opportunity to be better. They do. They just
don't have them. So build it. Building the right team
is the most important thing for me, right? That's the
number one thing. I think the important thing is to
win the Super Bowl. You don't have to have everybody
(36:54):
to like you. But in that building, you got to
have the same vision. And this business that we're in now.
If you don't see it. The way I see it,
it's impossible to help my people. Yeah, yeah. So that's
why with with with.
S1 (37:12):
You being at the level of greatness. Who? Was your
peer that if you could sit down and spend any
time talking to him at any level. Who was your
most favorite, greatest person that you would talk to from
(37:32):
your perspective? Like who, who, who, who is that person
and who was that person to you?
S2 (37:38):
To many? Too many. Um. I mean, I can name
ones that are dead and gone and then I can
name ones that are still here. But I think it's
too many because. I was always looking for the father connection. Mhm.
I wanted, I wanted one day a man to walk
(38:01):
up and I wanted that man to be my father.
And I wanted my father to touch me and say,
I'm proud of you, son. I never got that. So
my whole life was to create that. So I created
that through coaches. Like what EJ Williams done for me,
my little league coach. Nobody could ever replace that. What
(38:25):
Ernest Jo done for me. It's my high school coach.
Nobody can replace that. But Stephen pulled down for me
as my wrestling coach. I used to stay after two
hours of wrestling practice. He know I'm going home? I
ain't gonna eat. Coach, you stop by and get me
a shrimp platter. Yeah. One meal, one meal every three days.
(38:51):
I make it are so. One of the men just
to give you somebody up front. I just saw him yesterday,
which is where I was. He, rod Woodson forever changed
my life. It's one thing to tell somebody not to
do something. It's another thing to travel with them and
(39:15):
show them why it's better to do it this way.
I was a young kid. A bunch of money ran
into it early. I'm in. I'm in Baltimore. I'm turning
into the king of the city. Right. We're losing. Who cares?
I am from Miami, so our mentality is different. I'm out.
(39:37):
DC clubs. Yeah. In back in the weight room every
morning at 6:00, Rod Woodson walks up. Once he came
in when we signed him and he was like, I
was like, man, you my you one of my all
time favorite, like all the time. So me and him
connected quick. And one Friday night on Saturday we were
(40:03):
sitting in the sauna and he was like, man, your
paw is leaking. Like, my goodness. Like, how did you
go that horror last night? And I was like, man,
we was up. We went to DC, we went, did this,
we did that. And he was like, and he asked
me a question. He said. What do you want to do?
(40:24):
I said honestly. I want to be the greatest football
player to ever play football. He was like, who says that?
And I said, me. He said, well, you gotta change
some stuff. I said, really? He said, yeah. He said,
meet me in the gym in the morning before training
(40:45):
camp at 6:00 am. I said, man, I mean, I
gotta get up at 430, 5:00, which means I can't
go out tonight before. And I'm like, I wasn't going
to go out anyway. That next Friday. He was like,
where are you going? I was like, man, we're going
to take this little trip to D.C.. He's like, I'm going.
(41:08):
He got in the car. We all rode to DC.
We got to DC at nine 11:00. Bruh. Let's get
back on this road. Man, we just got it. What
are you talking about, man? We fucked up, bro. Let's
get on this road. I've been back since. I understood quickly.
(41:36):
Talk to Myles Munroe forever changed my perspective about Kingdom principles. Doctor.
My husband has tragically died in a plane crash, but
the way I've studied him, every sermon of almost oh
my gosh, I don't know, not one sermon. And now
(41:57):
I share it with a group of men to where
we all share these sermons. And we all listen to
these sermons, and we break down these sermons. And after
we break down these sermons, we didn't get together and
we start to share these things. Doctor Myles Munroe forever
changed my life. Certain people in my life. Tunisia changed
my life. Like because I got, I got one on
(42:18):
ones with them. Like I wanted. What? What does it
mean to be great? What does it mean to be
a better man? Marvin Lewis. Wait. That man pushed me.
When the good book says iron sharpens iron. I get it,
because I thought that man hated me at one time.
(42:41):
But he saw what was in me. And I can
go on and on about. The people that I think
affected me and I know affected me. But my number
one person. Yeah. It's my mom. There's nothing. Nothing. No
(43:07):
person in the world. Can never display to me the
strength that she showed. And that's why every day of
my life, mom's gotta be taken care of. I just
moved there with me.
S1 (43:22):
I know we were talking about it last night. Now
you got your mom living with you.
S2 (43:25):
Yeah. And every day she's up. I said, mom, you
gotta get up. And now she's walking. Every day she's
counting her steps. Baby, I did 15,000 steps. I didn't
I was like, all right, we got work to do,
you know? But I mean, I think I became a
sponge b. I really did. I became a sponge because
I chose to become a sponge. I wanted to study history.
(43:49):
I wanted to know why Martin Luther King was fighting
to face 85. I wanted to know why. Why Afro-Americans
was always treated differently. I wanted to know. And now
that I know now that I'm still studying every day.
There's a way to change it. And I'm not here
to save everybody. I'm not even here to combat evil.
(44:12):
But I am here to promote good and share love.
And I think those things, man, I think even in
my plan days. Somebody. The question is always asked, what's
your greatest achievement? What's the greatest thing you've ever done?
And then one audience, they was like, it's gotta be
the Super Bowl. It has to be the first Super Bowl,
(44:34):
the second Super Bowl. I'm like, nah. My greatest achievement
in all of sports is that I was able to
teach a man. That is okay to keep going. So
my greatest, my greatest ability. And as this man that
(44:54):
was in the locker room. But when I go wherever
I go. Prisons. Who it's. Whatever. You know, God says
that when people see you, they they should see an
image of me. I pray every day. That his image
rubs off through me and.
S1 (45:15):
I see it because we're out working, we're going to
start hitting the streets together. Right. And and, uh, just
for the audience listening to this, we we've got an
inner city program that we're going to develop, uh, and
work on together. We've got the minority entrepreneurial program that
we're going to co-chair and work on together, and then, uh,
(45:39):
tax health and working with me on to Next Health.
And you brought doctors to US Group center that are
interested and excited to be a part of that. Um,
to you, it all ties together, right? The health, the wealth,
the wellness and and and that combination of all that
driving impact into your target, which is doing the same
(46:01):
thing for the right people that others did for you.
And showing people that opportunity in that light and in
and for that, when I see your commitment to that
and your movement towards that on a constant basis. If
you're a business owner and you're a minority owned business
owner and you're listening to this podcast right now and
(46:21):
you're thinking because, because realistically, there's. It'd be easy as
a small business owner to say I'm not getting help because. Mhm.
But the truth is, almost no small business owners getting
help no matter where they're from. Right. It's it's one
of the hardest things to do and it's one of
the hardest things to be. But already, if you're a
(46:43):
minority business owner, there's already certain things. Headwinds that you
have to deal with that are different than than some
other business owners. And you and I are working together
to identify those headwinds and to create tailwinds for those people.
Talk a little bit about what you're excited about when
it comes to us helping these minority business owners.
S2 (47:03):
You know. You know this. Let me tell you why
this is really good, right? So when you walk in
training camps, the people with the starting jobs. Everybody's excited about.
The people that should not excited about is your walk
ons free agents? Every entrepreneur struggles like a free agent struggles.
(47:29):
How do we figure it out? How do we get it?
Out of all of the people I spend time with,
I spend more time with free agents and walk ons
because if I can develop them, y'all don't think they're
going to help us. But you see how hard he
practiced against you in practice. Now, we just gave him
(47:50):
$1,500 to be here for six weeks. That an entrepreneur
is what thrives now, the next target. How do we
take those entrepreneurs and let that light come on? That's us.
It's exciting. It's the most exciting thing ever. When you.
(48:10):
When you can see your business. And trust me. I've
done a lot of business and I failed miserably. And many.
But the ones I accomplished, it's because of what I
had with me. And that's what I think for me.
Even when even when you talk to them, most of
(48:31):
them are just looking for direction. Mhm. Give me some direction.
And once you're able to direct them then you walk
them into a room where the room we just walked
out of. Yep. Right. The sponges pens and pads and
everybody's on the table. Right. It's like that's it. That's.
(48:51):
That's the exciting part. When I tell my partner friend
all the time, I'm like, bro, how do we change people?
Perspective about life, period. About business? How do you change
people's perspective in business? See, the locker room teaches a
different lesson. When you think about business. We can't walk
into complaining every day. You gotta get something done. Why?
(49:13):
Because if you don't get it done, somebody else is
going to get it done. Well, entrepreneur got to think
the exact same way somebody's going to do it. So
you have to do it. I tell my sons all
the time. Stop waiting for everybody else to do what
you need to do. You got to do some homework.
You got to do some research. You got to do
some reading. Right? Because once you give it to them,
(49:34):
they never leave you. Like, social media is the worst ever.
But social media from a collectability thing. Mhm. On how
people can reach out to you that you touch 20
years ago. One of the greatest stories ever about business entrepreneur.
(49:55):
It's homeless guy. He was always on the Baltimores Bridge
every day. And that's on. And on the way to
the game, it was one path. And. One day I'm
on the way to the game and I see him there,
(50:15):
and I know that they're using drugs and they're doing
all that stuff and they're struggling or whatever, and I
pull out $100. I usually get 10 or 20 whatever,
and I pull out $100, and he walks up to
me and his head is down because he's embarrassed. And
I say, look up. Look at me. And he looked
(50:41):
at me and he started shivering. No way. There's no
way Ray Lewis stopped to see me. I put out
the hundred. Like this. He grabbed it and I grabbed
his hand. I said, promise me. That you don't use
(51:05):
this for drugs. Promise me that you use this for
the right thing. That guy. Took that $100. Went to
one friend. He owns a church. He's a pastor now.
(51:28):
He's married. And has his own business and feels and
tells that story every other week in church. If you
give an entrepreneur the right direction. You give them the
accountability to say you can't. You can't do this because
I can give my money to somebody else. Most entrepreneurs
(51:51):
need to be taught like free agents. You have the
same opportunity. I know he's starting. Because that was my
story my whole life. Somebody in front of me. Entrepreneurs
must think as the boss. I stopped. I stopped being
attracted to players contracts. I got rid of, signed my
(52:15):
second deal. And that's like, we're going to make you
the highest paid defensive player ever. I was like, that's amazing. Great.
My agent was like, why are you not excited? Because
if he's paying me. I want to know where he
gets this money from. Who not? So as an entrepreneur,
(52:40):
you have to change the vision, because if you don't,
you're going to have the same problems that we fixed
that we that you guys fix right now. Yep. Right.
The everyday housekeeping problems you're going to have, unless you
change the vision. And most of the times that a
problem can remain a problem until you, until you actually
(53:00):
visualize it as an opportunity.
S1 (53:02):
100%. And every opportunity is the breakthrough to get to
the next level of success. I'm really super excited for
when you and I do our first minority owned business
program together. And trust me, everybody listening to this and watching. Uh,
it's coming and it's going to be unbelievable. We have
(53:23):
some big targets and big goals together. Now lastly, let's
talk a little bit about Ted health. Yeah. And your
enthusiasm and excitement of working together on taking that to
a global brand. And you are very health conscientious. You
have a massive, uh, routine that you work on on
a regular basis. Your commitment, your dedication to that. And
(53:46):
I can't believe my wife outed me saying I missed
my workout this morning, and then you threw it in
my face on my podcast first thing you said. So
I will pick that workout up before the end of
the day. But the point is, with health, what is
it that makes you excited about what we're doing there?
S2 (54:01):
It's the education behind it. To to have a map.
The book you just picked up in that room? Yeah. Well,
whether we need to expose it now or not. What?
That's the map. Now, if if every individual has that.
That's not really an excuse to eat bad. Right. There's
not an excuse to eat wrong. Like this. There's not.
(54:25):
But sometimes you can't even fault people. But what you
guys are doing with Ten Health is doing. It's who
I am. I live every freaking day to figure it
out now. I don't know all of the intricate words
around the doctors and this and know, but I do
know it makes me feel good. I know working my
(54:47):
butt off every day changes my life. I know it
gives me a lifespan much longer than expected. Right. Every
person in my family has died of cancer. I hate cancer.
Cancer also says, honor that temple. You got to honor
(55:08):
that temple. What you guys are doing. What we're about
to do, what the exciting part about health is in
all of the years that you can. Athletes. I don't
care who it is, individuals. They cannot go on a
bookshelf and grab their own DNA. Yep. As mind blowing. That, that.
(55:35):
That you guys are with. You guys are so far
ahead and where we should be, right? I mean, the, the,
the greater powers or whatever. We don't have that. Like
it always bothered me. Like why? Megastars. Some. Some support.
(55:57):
The lowest of fools. It bothers me. Like why fast
foods are the number one industries in the world. And
you know, it's killing you. I think ten says something different.
We want. Well, we don't want to fight with you.
(56:17):
We just want to tell you there's another alternative. And
I think the alternative and then you see people is
like seeing your body every day. Right. And you, one
of the biggest things I used to say, stop waiting
for the doctor to tell you who you are. Mhm.
You do homework on yourself? Right. I'm all positive. I
(56:41):
one of the rarest blood forms up. Right. So certain
things that you need. Right? I'm going to tell you,
like I gave a meet 20 years ago on the
last time I seen some beef report. Why not? That
it was great. Trust me. I ate it every other day.
(57:04):
But does it actually maximize what I'm trying to go
in life? I think if with what tennis health is doing.
If you give anybody the blueprint, then it's up to them.
It's like walking in training camp. Everybody gets the same playbook. Now,
(57:24):
who spends the most time with it? Because that's what
we give them. And that's why I think my correlation
with what you guys have and how the brands match.
I think it's because of what I can teach based
on what I've lived. I live this every day. I'm
the last athlete that's gonna get done playing the game
and walk around with a belly. Really, I ain't doing that.
(57:48):
I work too hard. If they're going to give up 30,
30 years of work. Oh, and then the biggest excuse is, oh,
I ain't playing no more. And there's life. And I
think from educating people the way you guys have eloquently
(58:12):
put it, it's a different thing, man. And. I just
wish more people was more conscious of not what they
look like, but what they feel like.
S3 (58:25):
Mhm.
S2 (58:26):
That's what I my greatest thing is like you're never
going to see me walk around with my shirt off
on Instagram. You know I don't need to show my
abs because there's two types of people people who want
to be seen and people who don't need to be seen.
People who work in who work on themselves. That's what
(58:47):
I think I got from the education that's in Excel.
I do give you give people a chance to work
on themselves. You got to read your own book. I
never forget my friend's head when he was back. He
was like, man, that big old book for one person.
Not think about this. Think about how many times you
see a big book and it's titled something and you're like, man,
I can't read that much. I can't read that book.
(59:08):
That's a big book. But imagine reading that book and
that's you.
S1 (59:13):
It's crazy.
S3 (59:14):
Crazy if you don't.
S2 (59:15):
Want to read that.
S3 (59:17):
The the in.
S2 (59:18):
Life or we can't help you. You know, it's like
it's like, give me that. Like I'm like a little kid.
I'm like, I was going to tell you, enough, man.
Let me get mine done ASAP.
S1 (59:27):
Yeah, well, we're doing it. We're good. Do we have
the kids here? If they do, let's get a couple
of them for these guys. Yeah. Look, you know, Ray, uh,
I know you've got to get to LA, and you
got a lot of stuff going on. Uh, you and
I are going to be doing quite a few things together, and. And, uh,
you're such a great example. And the intensity. I don't
(59:50):
know if you're listening to this or watching this, depending
on how you're how you're, uh, participating with here, with
us here on the beat Austin. Or if you're watching
this or you're listening to this, uh, building billions with Brandon.
I don't know if you can feel the intensity, but
I see the damn intensity in his eyes, and and
(01:00:10):
and this is the real guy. If he's going to
do something, he's going to do it with the greatest
amount of force and impact. And I promise you that
the things we're doing together, uh, you're going to start
hearing about it. We're going to want you to participate
with this because there's so many people that need guidance,
they need assistance, they need help, they need encouragement. Yeah,
(01:00:32):
they they just need somebody to show an interest for
some of them to inspire them to be greater tomorrow
than they are today, and to give them a little
bit of hope and wisdom in order to do it
the right way. And and this is something that I
am unbelievably excited to do with you. Um, and I
know we're going to impact millions of people. We're going
to have fun doing it. It's not just going to
(01:00:52):
be in the US. It'll be all over the world.
And some of these announcements that we're kind of giving
a hint on will start coming out over a short
period of time. And look, uh, the way that this
podcast and YouTube channel grows is by you sharing, liking, commenting. Um,
if you're somebody listening to this, you're like, man, whatever
these guys got going on, I want to be a
part of that. I want to support it. I want
(01:01:14):
to be a part of it. I want to contribute
to it. Leave a comment and my team will connect
with you and, uh, as we're rolling these programs out,
if you're a business owner, you need assistance. You need help.
Leave a comment. If you're an individual and you want
to help these kids, leave a comment. If you're somebody
who's got who's done well in life and you have
a little extra money and you want to sponsor or
support these kids through the aspire program, the other things
(01:01:36):
we have got. Leave a comment, get involved. It's as
simple as that, because one person can change many people's
lives and you hear raised story. There's multiple times where
people have given him the ability to become who he
is today, because he needed that influence in his life,
(01:01:57):
and we can do that for so many people.
S3 (01:01:59):
Yeah.
S1 (01:02:00):
Right. I love you, dude. You know, I love sitting
with you. I love spending time with you. And I'm
going to love creating change with you.
S2 (01:02:06):
We got a lot to do.
S1 (01:02:07):
A lot to do. And I know you're going to
push me to be.
S2 (01:02:11):
Oh, man, no other way. That's why you can't miss
out on my workouts. Be like you. You got. If
we're going to commit to it, we got to commit
to it. We got to live it. It's a lifestyle.
It's just a lifestyle. That's why we got to create
some decks of cards. Am I up? You out? Don't worry,
I cannot wait.
S1 (01:02:25):
Honestly, he can't wait. I love you, brother. Hey, if
you enjoyed this show, please leave a like. Please share it. Uh,
leave your comments if you want to participate. Like I said,
get involved. Thank you for joining me on another episode
of Building Billions with Ray Lewis, number 52 and Brandon Dawson.
Hey, everybody, it's Brandon Dawson. Welcome back to another episode
of Building Billions. Hey, look, today I have a spectacular guest.
This guy is a legend. Not just on the field,
but in life. And he's a dear friend of mine.
And we're going to be chopping it up today talking
about health and wealth. We're going to be talking about business.
(00:29):
We're going to be talking about all sorts of things.
So I'm very excited to introduce a dear friend of mine,
Ray Lewis, number 52, on this podcast, building billions of
Brandon Ray. Welcome to the show, brother.
S2 (00:41):
It's so good to see you. Always good to be
back then.
S1 (00:44):
You, you. Every time I see you. And every time
I'm with you. You're out conquering and building and developing.
And not just for you. You always have the same
purpose and.
S2 (00:56):
Intent.
S1 (00:57):
And. And that is creating value for other people's lives.
Talk about what drives you.
S2 (01:04):
Man, I think it's, um. It's the remembrance. Of where
I was and where I came from and what I
did not have. Which gave me my desire to never
give up. But a lot of people that came from
where I came from, they don't have that same desire.
(01:26):
But if you give them the opportunities, you may spark it.
And so me. Every day of life, I always reflect
back on when I started really feeling for other people. Mhm.
And so my, my feeling for other people family is easy. Right.
(01:46):
Because that's your duty. That's, that's just your job right.
My mom had me at 15 years old. I'm the
oldest of five with my mom, and I'm the oldest
of 15 with my entire mom and dad. And the
moment that I realized that you're the one. Nobody else
is going to do it. And I'm walking around and
(02:09):
this is why I am so big on imagination. Because
if you give a person an imagination, something that they
can image, that they can see it, then it's tangible
that I can touch it. And I never forget one
day I walked over through the side of town that
we weren't supposed to be on. Right. And, um, and
(02:32):
I saw clean grass and I was like, why can't
our grass be like that?
S1 (02:39):
Um, something as simple as green grass.
S2 (02:42):
Green grass. And I came back and I told my mom,
I said, mommy, like, why can't we have clean grass? Like.
And and the obvious answer was simple. We're broke. We
don't have nothing. So broke sometimes can be a situation.
But broke can't be a mentality. Um, right. So my
(03:05):
mentality immediately. Started to change the moment. She said, we're broke.
I said, how do we fix it now? You gotta think, right?
This is ten, 11 years old watching moms struggle day
in and day out. And I'm I'm the kid trying
to figure this out and watching my neighborhoods. So long
story short, man. Like, it's like, um, me helping. Helping
(03:27):
gives my heart rest. Like, I know you can make money, right?
I can do great deals. I can win football games,
lose football games, whatever. But when you when you change
someone's direction of their life. Then you know you found
your purpose. And that's where I think my past introduces me.
(03:51):
To my future, only to understand that my purpose is
the only reason that I exist.
S1 (03:57):
So you you literally, as a kid, you're like, I
have to change something. I and you always say at
the why game, right? Like why, why, why am I
stuck in this situation? What what what what do I
need to do to get out of it? Like that's
how you that's how I processed. I mean, I think
there's a certain commonality with people. Instead of just being like, oh,
I'm stuck there. Like, what do I need to do
(04:17):
next to get out and get through and do something different?
And that propelled you. Mhm. How old were you when
you realize I'm going to be a champion football player.
S2 (04:26):
It was in football we are I tell people this
all the time. You know football was it's a byproduct
that just came by. You know like my entire reason
for even starting to look up and pick my chest
up as a man is I just got tired of him.
(04:47):
My mom cried the night from being beaten. Um, I
was sick of it. I was like, what are we doing?
Like like, who does that? You know? And I'm like.
And I said to myself, I said, mom, I said, look,
you have a choice. You don't have to do this.
You know, and then that's the first time. And I
never forget, she said. I'll do anything for my kids.
And I clicked. Have you do anything for me, then
(05:11):
I'll do anything for us. And man this fire. Push ups,
sit ups. It's like when you say you missed your
workout this morning. My deck of cards. You can't miss
the workout. Mhm. They don't need a gym. You just
need work. Right. And that deck of cards forever changed
my life. And that deck of cards. I started doing
that deck of cards at ten years old. And I
(05:33):
ain't stopped that. I'm 48 because it keeps me grounded.
Every day people make excuses why I can't workout. I
don't have this equipment. I don't have that. I get
on the floor. I put a towel, that towel down,
grab my deck of cards, and I just ran through 300,
330 sit ups, 375 pushups. Quickly. Our pump done. Yeah,
(05:59):
that started at ten. That is what made me say
I don't I don't judge myself with nobody. Back then
I wasn't judging myself against nobody because I had nothing.
So there was that in the judge, right? I wore
the same pair of shoes for seven years with two
pair of jeans. So it's like I never had nothing
(06:19):
to judge off. So. My my, my standard was already set.
That nothing. Nothing. Nothing can tell me. I can't do
what I want to do. And man, I kicked it
off and. And every day of my life with my sons. Um,
(06:41):
I send them their workouts every day, and they're like, dad, like,
this is insane. I'm like, that's what life is. Mhm.
If you want to chase something, really make it insane.
A lot of people walk in the gym to walk
out of the gym. I walk in the gym to
not want to go back. So now it's a bigger decision.
And that decision over my, over the course of my
(07:01):
life is what is defined the way I see life.
One of the greatest things, one of the greatest. People
I think to sit with was like Kobe, right? When
me and Kobe had these conversations. It was scary. How
we looked at each other and saw it race totally different.
(07:25):
But the Mamba mentality. The no excuses mentality. That's a mindset.
And then it becomes a lifestyle. And once it becomes
a lifestyle, that's who you are.
S1 (07:38):
The level of intentionality.
S2 (07:42):
Oh, Brandon, I'm telling you, if you don't get up
every day and intentional about something you're following along the earth. Hey,
you got to get up, and you got to be
ready to move. Where people fail is people worry about
the vertical. The vertical goes always take care of itself,
even when you're gone. The one thing that I want
(08:03):
is you and we stop moving. So that's why health
for me is like number one. Right. 14 years old,
I walked in my grandmother's house. I was like, grandma,
I'm not eating no more fried food. I'm not eating
them drinking this Kool-Aid. I'm not doing all this stuff. Why?
Because at 14, my abs is so sick. Because I
was working every day, not because I. There's two types
(08:26):
of abs show abs and work abs. You see some
show abs that's like, you can't last 30s show me work, abs,
I tell you, I tell you, man, who put and work. Mhm. Right.
And so that mentality when I told my grandmother and
them she was like you're going to starve. Yeah. And
I was like okay I will starve. And I ate
(08:46):
a bag of candy every day for my food for years,
for years. Because I was so. Engaged into changing. My surroundings,
and the only way I was going to change him
that I started to really understand this, that a business
partner really helped me out with this. He said, I
(09:07):
don't think the goal is to change your surroundings. The
goal is to create something that you can get them
out of where they are. Right. Lions roam the Serengeti
12 miles or more. They don't stay in one area, right.
Because they're always hunting and they're hunt is to protect
(09:28):
the pride where my hunting protects the pride. But I
had to leave there. So how do you leave that?
You got to go to college. You got to get
out of there. You got to figure it out. So
me and Cole was like. What? And then he looked
at me and I looked at him and I was like, bro. Ah!
(09:50):
There's no weakness. None. And that's what I think the
development of. Of a legend. Legendary. It's the only thing
I'm chasing. And it's not legendary man's eyes. I want
to hear the good Lord say, well done, my good
and faithful servant. That's where I live. That's why I
(10:13):
get up every day.
S1 (10:13):
So when you think with all the things that that
you've been working on for the cause, we're going to
talk about inner city kids. We're going to be talking
about minority owned businesses. We're going to be talking about
health and the importance of it. We're going to be
talking about wealth and the significance of that, especially if
you're investing it back in the other the other elements.
What what was your moment where you're like, I need
(10:36):
to get out in order to go create impact. And
how did you like what was the start of, oh,
I can play football. Like, what was that starting process?
S2 (10:44):
Yeah. So, uh, so, so 1985, long story short, there's, uh,
these I always went to this park, right? And I
would stand on the gate, and I would just hold
on to the gate, and I would watch these practices
every day. I mean, brand, I would get out of
school and I would go over there, and my mom
(11:05):
was like, you better be on before that light comes on. Right?
That was the rule. And I would sit on this
gate and and just sit there for hours and watching
every practice, literally. Uh, B squad, C squad, this squad
a squad everybody. And then on Friday nights, um, there's this, um,
Lakeland High School at Bryant Stadium started playing every Friday night.
(11:28):
And one of my favorite players is this guy named
Willie Buford. They call him skeet. He's my he's my
best friend right now. Right. And I'm like, skeet. And
I asked him I said, I said one day, I've
never met skeet and I'm like, I miss skeet one day.
And so I jumped the gate and I remember he
was he was walking through and he was about to play,
(11:49):
I think, playing city, and he was walking through and
I was like, skeet. And this guy grabbed me and
he was like, no, you got to get out of here.
And I was like, I just want to meet. And
he was like, get on the other side of the gate.
And I was like, all right. The lumberjacks was practicing.
The first squad I played for a nice 85 and
(12:09):
there's two twins. Head and Biscuit was their name, and
biscuit came over to the gate and he asked me,
he said, why aren't you playing football? And I was like, oh,
I'd love to. He was like, really? So play? I said, no,
I can't. Um, my mom wouldn't allow that. I said,
(12:30):
first of all, how much it cost? He was like $15.
I said, we ain't got no $15. There's no way
I can ask my mom for $15. And then he
was like, let me talk to her. I was like,
absolutely not. You're not talking to my black mother who's
walking in with all the problems she got right now.
Absolutely not. And he was like, no, you really should
(12:51):
let me talk to her. And then so fast forward
a few weeks later. He ends up coming on to
the house and he, um, he says he walks in
and my mom was like. And he walks in and
my mom was like. I'm not talking to nobody. I
don't want to hear nothing. He ain't playing no sports.
(13:14):
And then I went out in the yard and I
started playing, um, football. And he came out and he says,
I got it. I said, well, he said, you're going
to be playing football. What? He was like, yeah, I'm
going to pay the $15 for you. Boom! A kick.
(13:34):
It kicked off. My mom made it to my entire
little league in high school career. My mom made it
to one game because my mom worked every day of
her life, you know? And, um. And I never forget
our 75 yard touchdown on a fake reverse fake. The
reverse swing. And I went 75 yards, and I ran
(13:56):
up to my mom, and I gave her the ball,
and the ref was like, oh, we're going to need that, son.
But I got the last Jersey, man. Like in 1985.
I have the last jerseys. You got to see these
pictures of it. It's epic. Of the jersey was so
tore up. It was so bad. And I was so
proud of it. I wore it every day, even when
(14:16):
at home. I never pulled it off. And that's when
my journey of of seeing this light, of saying, wow.
And then very early, you started to measure yourself as
a kid playing football. Oh, he's faster than me, but
he doesn't run to the ball every play. Wow. He's
(14:37):
stronger than me. But he won't do the necessary things
that he needs. And that started young. And from there,
this fire started to kick in to where I realized
that I may not be the most athletic, but I
don't know a person that's willing to give what I'm
willing to give. And that started young, and his taste
got in my mouth to where every day my mom,
(14:58):
I would come home. My mom was like, boy, you
going to hurt yourself? I used to be on the floor.
Josh push up pulls up just as I feel pain.
I used to just say, I hate pain, I hate pain,
I just get up. And then when I started to
get out of school and stuff, it turned into a
whole nother different thing because now you become. You become
(15:21):
a walking threat. And what you could do on the
football field. Mhm. And I became a problem early because
I figured out how to become a problem. Do the
opposite of what everybody else is doing. Nobody was doing
what I was doing. They didn't care. I was broke.
(15:42):
I ain't got none anyway. I ain't got nothing to
do but work. And every position that I've ever gotten.
This is the thing. Sometimes you work, you bust your butt,
you do all those things, and you're still not chosen.
I was that guy, a high school. I knew I was,
you know, sometimes better than most guys that was in
(16:03):
front of me but never got the chance. Somebody got hurt.
God broke his jaw three days before the first game,
and Coach Grady Maddox walks in and says, my role
was back this year, which is a free safety, is
Ray Lewis. And I was like, what? And I went
out there and I had like 23, 24 tackles.
S1 (16:25):
And that was the start.
S2 (16:26):
What? Because I was like, wow, what? I've watched everybody
else do. I'm now doing that. But my mentality and
why I'm doing it. Oh, man. Like I've always took
the mentality of a lion. Young. My mom used to
always say, why you watch all these shows with these animals? Mhm.
(16:49):
Because I wanted to see why a lion was the
king of the jungle. I never forget that. This old
man sit up under this tree. He one time stopped
and he said, you know what a lie is? The
king of the jungle. I said, I don't, sir. Mentality.
(17:10):
And I took it on early. And I challenge everybody
every day. And I lost miserably. People used to outrun
me all day. All day. Race me again. Race me again.
Race me again. Let's wrestle. Going to fight. Whatever. Whatever.
(17:31):
I'm gonna test you. I'm gonna test you because I
don't get tired. And that's when my football things start
to kick in. And I was like, wait a minute. Yeah.
And then, you know, I told my coach, I was like, coach, man,
you got to let me play offense, man. You gotta
let me touch the football. Like I'm telling, I'm a
bad boy. This football cannot be in the park. He's like,
(17:51):
it's different in the park. I said no, it's not.
It's the same guys chasing me. And then he started
letting me play running back. Then I started playing kickoff return,
punt return. And then I never left the field. I
was like, nobody believed in me, right? And so it
was crazy, man, because, like, coming up, it was hard
because my mom, you know, a few times, you know,
(18:13):
I had to give me away a few times because
she just went broke. She couldn't afford to feed me.
And so I live with my grandmother, stay with my
great grandmother. So I kind of shuffled around, live with
my uncle. So I was always I had one bag,
one pair of jeans, three t shirts and nothing else. Toothbrush.
And that was it. So every time they picked me up,
(18:33):
I had this one bag coach the next house, coach
the next house. And then all I, all I took
with me was nobody can ever take away my work ethic.
I don't care where I go. My cousins, who is
better than me, would never come in in the garage
with me now because they got to start positions. I didn't.
(18:55):
And so football was this was this platform. And I
saw the platform as an incredible opportunity to really get
to college. And then I get to my senior year
in college and I ain't got no. I ain't got
one scholarship offer, not one. And I'm like, I've outplayed
every one of these guys. Right. And it's like, so
(19:16):
football was like are like for me, it was so
iffy because it was like I was one I was 189.
I wasn't 260, right? Linebackers like that, I was I
was a safety my whole life. And the sport that
changed my life while I was playing football was wrestling
changed my whole perspective because it taught me one thing.
(19:39):
If you want to do something, do it. And you
walk on that mat. Ain't no excuses none. And I
walked out there the first year I went to state,
I placed fourth. I didn't have a clue what I
was doing. The year after that, this guy walks up
to me at the Polk County Invitational, and he hands
(20:00):
me a book from 1975, the year I was born,
and I open up the first page, and that was
my father is a pitcher with every record in the
entire book. Now. I wasn't raising my father. My father,
like at 33 years old. So it was really hard
(20:22):
for me, right? But I took this vengeance on in race.
A race in his name. I wanted to remove every
record he had. And now, if you go look in
a new book. I own every one of those records,
you know. So that was. Those are the things. And
then football, when I didn't have a scholarship. It broke
(20:42):
my heart. I played my last game against Jamie German,
who was the number one recruit in the nation from
Fort Myers, who played them in the last playoff game.
And my hometown and I had a stupid game. Just
stupid game. 24 tackles, 150 yards rushing, punt return. Oh, man.
I just went off, but they just had too much firepower.
Fell on my knees. I was crying because I didn't have.
(21:04):
My mom wasn't around. My dad wasn't around. Nobody. Like.
So I'm sitting on the field in the middle of
the field. I'm like, what's next? God used to promise me.
You told me. I've been praying. I've been. I'm you. Right?
And they say, you know, four days before signing day,
(21:26):
the universe of Miami was at that game seeing Jamie German.
They was at that game to see Jamie German play,
and Akio and, um, Denis Eriksson caught a glimpse of me.
That's why my motto in life. Tell my kids all
the time I tell everybody. You're always being watched. Yep.
Even when you don't think you are. Next thing you know.
(21:48):
Four days before signing day. I get a call? They
call it a high school. I walk in the principal's
office and everybody in the office is crying. I'm like,
why is everybody crying? That's what happened, right? Like what
just happened? And, uh, and my, my principal and Kojo
(22:09):
was both holding the papers together, and they said, University
of Miami. Just gave you a full ride scholarship. I
was like, what? But he was like, one problem. You
got to be in school in four days. And I'm like,
what the frick? I don't have money to get to school. No,
for the A's. My mom, I called my mom. I
(22:30):
was like, mom, I made it like I got a scholarship.
She was living in Tennessee at the time. And I said, mom,
I got a scholarship. Like, I made it. I'm telling you,
she was like, she's like, great job, son. I'm proud
of you. I was like, Pam. Okay. Simon needs some money, though.
I ain't got no money. She was like, look. I'm
(22:51):
going to put $20 worth of food stamps in the mail.
That's all I got. As a magician. I make it,
and I took $20 worth of food stamps. And I
went to my grandmother and I said, come on, would
you please drop me off to college? I ain't got
no gas for that. That's it. Come on. My grandma
was so crazy. I love her, too. She was so crazy.
(23:13):
I was like, I'm gonna please. Like, I'm going to college.
Like I'm trying to do something. And my granddaddy walked
in and he was like. Time to get up. We're
going to take this boy to college, drop this ball. And, uh,
she dropped me off the college man with $20 worth
of food stamps. And I saw something told the difference
when I got University of Miami, and I was like, oh, really?
(23:36):
Different world, different world, different world. So that's kind of
how the football thing and.
S1 (23:42):
So, so, so now it explains to me why you're
so committed. To all the inner city kids. Because if
that guy hadn't funded the 15 bucks for you.
S2 (23:54):
I'm one of those. Yeah, I'm one of those.
S1 (23:57):
Another choice because.
S2 (23:57):
I've had every opportunity to sell drugs. I've had crack
cocaine put in my hand. I walked into crack houses.
I went and crack houses with my aunts. And sat down.
And the doggone curve. Why? They're doing crap. Yeah. Yeah.
And then in the situations that I got my in
(24:19):
that town, situations that not only me but a lot
of athletes got themselves in. If you didn't have if
you ain't got no way out. That's why my passion
is so great to bring the right opportunities, the imagination.
If you if you give those communities just hope. Just
a little bit of hope. Clean grass. Clean grass forever
(24:43):
changed my life. I wanted to know, how does that
grass look so clean? He mows it a certain way. Wow.
All in one direction. Really? In a box. And the square.
I became the best lawn mower in the world. $10.
I move your old yard. I don't care how big
it is. And every kid has the same dream. But
the options are I can sell drugs really quickly. I
(25:07):
can turn into a gang member really quickly. Why gang
members feed me? They put a roof over my head
and they protect me. The only thing I would ever
say about gang life is the only difference of gang life.
And fortune 500 companies is they're selling their own product. Mhm.
Because everything else runs structurally the same way. But for
(25:28):
me it was like now to see the disasters in
our communities. No that's not that's not a choice. That's
a duty. And we don't follow that duty. Right. You're
going every community. You take Martin Luther King Street and
(25:49):
going every community. It's in the worst parts of the city. Ah.
And so years ago, man, when I started my foundation. Then,
then I started to realize, granted, that foundation is great.
It really is. I mean, it does a lot of
great things. You know, you feed a lot of people,
you bless a lot of people. Every year you have
(26:11):
your big foundation events. And if you really want to
do something. You got to give him much more than
just a few days of it. Mhm. You got to
feed him. You got the housing. You got to educate them.
And the biggest thing you got to do. You got
to mentor him. You got to teach him. They don't
(26:34):
know like a lot of athletes that came from these
types of neighborhoods. I guarantee you, has my exact same
story because I've talked to most of you. Same story.
So what made me different? I think my faith overrode everything.
(26:56):
I was crazy enough to trust that God was so
real when I had absolutely nothing. So then I said,
if I can teach that. So I started practicing it.
But I studied really bad so people didn't like to
hear from me. And then I started to go through
(27:18):
other things. Figure out a way to beat my stuttering.
So when I started watching television, I would recite when
somebody speaks. I will get close enough to tell my
mom and say, get away from that television, you're going
to go blind. And I used to sit in front
of the television and I used to just repeat words.
She said, don't do it. And I just float because
(27:39):
I always thought, mom, mom, mom. Right. And all of
these stories of of triumph or or or or trials.
As one reason I'm starting this other thing. I'm starting
right that we've been talking about my other show for
the two cards because everybody got a deck of cards story.
(28:03):
Remember when they didn't have it. These communities. The only
reason people don't invest in these communities because they're afraid
to go out into these communities. I'm not. I'm from there. I'm.
There's nothing that the streets can teach. Nothing that I
haven't lived. And that's why the passion for me to
(28:25):
go back and build. I imagination, opportunity, access. Because if
you give them that, everybody won't do it, but the
right ones will. Yeah.
S1 (28:38):
I mean and what drives you is you. You lay
awake at night thinking about all those little boys that
somebody needs to show up and try to convince mom
and be willing to invest a little bit into that
could change their whole life forever.
S2 (28:52):
I wish I could show you my phone right now.
This young kid, this young kid, he won't mind, but
this young kid. Chase. Right before my, um. Right before
my my son passed. Um, he called me. He got
in touch with me, his mom and his father. Had
(29:13):
killed himself. Mhm. Committed suicide in his house and, um.
And Chase, says 13 year old kid. So incredible. And
he's like, my daddy's gone. My father's gone. Mr. Lewis,
I don't know what to do. And I said, look,
(29:36):
I can't replace a father, but I can be daddy.
And every day of my life, chase texts me every day.
But Chase is the same story of hundreds. It's like Pedro.
Page of my son in LA. Peugeot parents gave him
(29:57):
up when he was 13 years old. He lived in
a friend closet for the next ten years and we met.
At a hotel in LA. He just ran up to me,
he says. Your videos changed my life. I said, really?
He said, yeah, because you didn't give up. He says,
(30:18):
I chain gang life. The next thing he said. Would
you be my father? I can never replace a father.
But I'll be a daddy. And now that son. That
son spent this past Christmas with me. Mm. That sun
(30:38):
shares these intimate things that these kids, a lot of
them are like that be. There are so many men
that were just there. Just surviving. They're in survival mode.
That's why gang life is so relevant for most of them.
Because it's survival. And my job, our job is how
(31:01):
do we get to them? How do we supply them
with the right education? If you don't have education, people
say education in the school. Education is not school, right?
Education is figuring out the things of life. How do
you work through life? And that's what keeps me up
every night because I got, I don't know, 50, 60
(31:26):
texts to get through just to keep these kids motivated.
You know, just to keep them. To not commit suicide.
Which we have one of the highest rates of suicide
rate from 20, from ages, from men, from ages 25
to 55. We had a 55% increase on suicides this
past year. So we're losing men. Right. And I truly
(31:50):
believe that the attack is on the man. Right. You
remove a male lion from a pride. The pride is
in jeopardy. You remove a man from the house? Families
in jeopardy. Mhm. You don't have to. I don't have to.
You know what that ask me. I live it and
I've lived it. I buried my son to stupid and
(32:11):
senseless stuff that all these cowards are creating drugs and
all this stuff. The kids are just trying them. Yeah.
It's like. You lose a child, perspective changes immediately. What
is my purpose? Why am I here? What do you
(32:35):
want me to do? We missed it. We missed it.
It's money. Man, I want to make it much money, man.
I'm going to have the biggest. I want the biggest
house in the world. I had all that. Every time
I move, I want somebody to have enough hope to
where they can get up every day and keep fighting.
(32:58):
Everything I do, every business I.
S1 (33:00):
Create when I see it, because you and I have
spent quite a bit of time together over the last
couple of years. I mean, you guys have made some
huge investments. Almost 1,000,000ft² in Ohio, where you can cycle
kids all around the world through there, give them skill sets,
uplevel their their belief about what's possible given the skill sets,
(33:21):
expose them to you and your friends and other people
who are contributing to their success. You and I are
working on some programs for Inner City to give those
kids tools and skill sets. Um, when you think about.
You know, when you think about that move, all of
a sudden you've gone through all that, you go to Miami.
S2 (33:44):
And.
S1 (33:44):
Now you go into the pros.
S2 (33:46):
Yeah.
S1 (33:46):
And you just conquer, like. Like you're a madman who's
on a mission to conquer.
S2 (33:52):
Yeah.
S1 (33:54):
If I would have met you back then. What what
what would we be talking about?
S2 (34:03):
I think it was simple. Um. I took all sports
and I took the game of football very early, and
I made it a one on one battle. And the
battle was not against nobody else. It was against myself.
And I said, at 17 years old, I may be
(34:25):
the greatest hurricane ever. Walker by the University of Miami.
I got to the Baltimore Ravens. I said, I'm telling
you this. I may be the greatest defensive player you've
ever seen in your life. He was like, what? Marvin
Lewis was like what Maxie was like once. I was like.
Trust me. You don't have to trust me. Let my
(34:48):
work show for itself. So if you'd have met me
back then, the only difference was now is that my
target is different. All right. My target then was I'm
dominating anybody that's going to play against me. And guess
what I'm going to lose. I love the war. Yeah.
Like dance with me. Like I like to dance, right?
(35:09):
Like what? God tells me he can block me. You
may get me, you may win. But I promise you
nine out of ten, I'm winning. Right. And now the
target change. The target is. Now take that same approach
where I once studied what Peyton Manning was going to do.
And when it was in two by two and the
mode back came in motion, like what was going to
(35:29):
change and that was the backside three by one screen
that was going to come. Right. It calculates that quick
because I'm because I'm so dialed in. And now. I
went from studying football numbers to studying street numbers. Yeah.
That our homicide rates in Baltimore is through the roof. Chicago.
(35:49):
Southside Chicago. You know, Liberty City, Miami. Um, Detroit. We
have we have places that's just horrific with crime. So
my numbers are different, my target is different.
S1 (36:04):
But the competitiveness, because it's never stopped. It's never stopped.
S2 (36:07):
And I realized, and this is why me and you
are here. Because I realized when I was playing football,
you asked me what? What's the difference then? And now
I could be great, but I can't win the Super
Bowl by myself. Mhm. You need a team. And now
this on this end, I need a team. I need
a real team that understands what the mission is. Right?
(36:31):
These inner city kids, they want hope. They want they
want the opportunity to be better. They do. They just
don't have them. So build it. Building the right team
is the most important thing for me, right? That's the
number one thing. I think the important thing is to
win the Super Bowl. You don't have to have everybody
(36:54):
to like you. But in that building, you got to
have the same vision. And this business that we're in now.
If you don't see it. The way I see it,
it's impossible to help my people. Yeah, yeah. So that's
why with with with.
S1 (37:12):
You being at the level of greatness. Who? Was your
peer that if you could sit down and spend any
time talking to him at any level. Who was your
most favorite, greatest person that you would talk to from
(37:32):
your perspective? Like who, who, who, who is that person
and who was that person to you?
S2 (37:38):
To many? Too many. Um. I mean, I can name
ones that are dead and gone and then I can
name ones that are still here. But I think it's
too many because. I was always looking for the father connection. Mhm.
I wanted, I wanted one day a man to walk
(38:01):
up and I wanted that man to be my father.
And I wanted my father to touch me and say,
I'm proud of you, son. I never got that. So
my whole life was to create that. So I created
that through coaches. Like what EJ Williams done for me,
my little league coach. Nobody could ever replace that. What
(38:25):
Ernest Jo done for me. It's my high school coach.
Nobody can replace that. But Stephen pulled down for me
as my wrestling coach. I used to stay after two
hours of wrestling practice. He know I'm going home? I
ain't gonna eat. Coach, you stop by and get me
a shrimp platter. Yeah. One meal, one meal every three days.
(38:51):
I make it are so. One of the men just
to give you somebody up front. I just saw him yesterday,
which is where I was. He, rod Woodson forever changed
my life. It's one thing to tell somebody not to
do something. It's another thing to travel with them and
(39:15):
show them why it's better to do it this way.
I was a young kid. A bunch of money ran
into it early. I'm in. I'm in Baltimore. I'm turning
into the king of the city. Right. We're losing. Who cares?
I am from Miami, so our mentality is different. I'm out.
(39:37):
DC clubs. Yeah. In back in the weight room every
morning at 6:00, Rod Woodson walks up. Once he came
in when we signed him and he was like, I
was like, man, you my you one of my all
time favorite, like all the time. So me and him
connected quick. And one Friday night on Saturday we were
(40:03):
sitting in the sauna and he was like, man, your
paw is leaking. Like, my goodness. Like, how did you
go that horror last night? And I was like, man,
we was up. We went to DC, we went, did this,
we did that. And he was like, and he asked
me a question. He said. What do you want to do?
(40:24):
I said honestly. I want to be the greatest football
player to ever play football. He was like, who says that?
And I said, me. He said, well, you gotta change
some stuff. I said, really? He said, yeah. He said,
meet me in the gym in the morning before training
(40:45):
camp at 6:00 am. I said, man, I mean, I
gotta get up at 430, 5:00, which means I can't
go out tonight before. And I'm like, I wasn't going
to go out anyway. That next Friday. He was like,
where are you going? I was like, man, we're going
to take this little trip to D.C.. He's like, I'm going.
(41:08):
He got in the car. We all rode to DC.
We got to DC at nine 11:00. Bruh. Let's get
back on this road. Man, we just got it. What
are you talking about, man? We fucked up, bro. Let's
get on this road. I've been back since. I understood quickly.
(41:36):
Talk to Myles Munroe forever changed my perspective about Kingdom principles. Doctor.
My husband has tragically died in a plane crash, but
the way I've studied him, every sermon of almost oh
my gosh, I don't know, not one sermon. And now
(41:57):
I share it with a group of men to where
we all share these sermons. And we all listen to
these sermons, and we break down these sermons. And after
we break down these sermons, we didn't get together and
we start to share these things. Doctor Myles Munroe forever
changed my life. Certain people in my life. Tunisia changed
my life. Like because I got, I got one on
(42:18):
ones with them. Like I wanted. What? What does it
mean to be great? What does it mean to be
a better man? Marvin Lewis. Wait. That man pushed me.
When the good book says iron sharpens iron. I get it,
because I thought that man hated me at one time.
(42:41):
But he saw what was in me. And I can
go on and on about. The people that I think
affected me and I know affected me. But my number
one person. Yeah. It's my mom. There's nothing. Nothing. No
(43:07):
person in the world. Can never display to me the
strength that she showed. And that's why every day of
my life, mom's gotta be taken care of. I just
moved there with me.
S1 (43:22):
I know we were talking about it last night. Now
you got your mom living with you.
S2 (43:25):
Yeah. And every day she's up. I said, mom, you
gotta get up. And now she's walking. Every day she's
counting her steps. Baby, I did 15,000 steps. I didn't
I was like, all right, we got work to do,
you know? But I mean, I think I became a
sponge b. I really did. I became a sponge because
I chose to become a sponge. I wanted to study history.
(43:49):
I wanted to know why Martin Luther King was fighting
to face 85. I wanted to know why. Why Afro-Americans
was always treated differently. I wanted to know. And now
that I know now that I'm still studying every day.
There's a way to change it. And I'm not here
to save everybody. I'm not even here to combat evil.
(44:12):
But I am here to promote good and share love.
And I think those things, man, I think even in
my plan days. Somebody. The question is always asked, what's
your greatest achievement? What's the greatest thing you've ever done?
And then one audience, they was like, it's gotta be
the Super Bowl. It has to be the first Super Bowl,
(44:34):
the second Super Bowl. I'm like, nah. My greatest achievement
in all of sports is that I was able to
teach a man. That is okay to keep going. So
my greatest, my greatest ability. And as this man that
(44:54):
was in the locker room. But when I go wherever
I go. Prisons. Who it's. Whatever. You know, God says
that when people see you, they they should see an
image of me. I pray every day. That his image
rubs off through me and.
S1 (45:15):
I see it because we're out working, we're going to
start hitting the streets together. Right. And and, uh, just
for the audience listening to this, we we've got an
inner city program that we're going to develop, uh, and
work on together. We've got the minority entrepreneurial program that
we're going to co-chair and work on together, and then, uh,
(45:39):
tax health and working with me on to Next Health.
And you brought doctors to US Group center that are
interested and excited to be a part of that. Um,
to you, it all ties together, right? The health, the wealth,
the wellness and and and that combination of all that
driving impact into your target, which is doing the same
(46:01):
thing for the right people that others did for you.
And showing people that opportunity in that light and in
and for that, when I see your commitment to that
and your movement towards that on a constant basis. If
you're a business owner and you're a minority owned business
owner and you're listening to this podcast right now and
(46:21):
you're thinking because, because realistically, there's. It'd be easy as
a small business owner to say I'm not getting help because. Mhm.
But the truth is, almost no small business owners getting
help no matter where they're from. Right. It's it's one
of the hardest things to do and it's one of
the hardest things to be. But already, if you're a
(46:43):
minority business owner, there's already certain things. Headwinds that you
have to deal with that are different than than some
other business owners. And you and I are working together
to identify those headwinds and to create tailwinds for those people.
Talk a little bit about what you're excited about when
it comes to us helping these minority business owners.
S2 (47:03):
You know. You know this. Let me tell you why
this is really good, right? So when you walk in
training camps, the people with the starting jobs. Everybody's excited about.
The people that should not excited about is your walk
ons free agents? Every entrepreneur struggles like a free agent struggles.
(47:29):
How do we figure it out? How do we get it?
Out of all of the people I spend time with,
I spend more time with free agents and walk ons
because if I can develop them, y'all don't think they're
going to help us. But you see how hard he
practiced against you in practice. Now, we just gave him
(47:50):
$1,500 to be here for six weeks. That an entrepreneur
is what thrives now, the next target. How do we
take those entrepreneurs and let that light come on? That's us.
It's exciting. It's the most exciting thing ever. When you.
(48:10):
When you can see your business. And trust me. I've
done a lot of business and I failed miserably. And many.
But the ones I accomplished, it's because of what I
had with me. And that's what I think for me.
Even when even when you talk to them, most of
(48:31):
them are just looking for direction. Mhm. Give me some direction.
And once you're able to direct them then you walk
them into a room where the room we just walked
out of. Yep. Right. The sponges pens and pads and
everybody's on the table. Right. It's like that's it. That's.
(48:51):
That's the exciting part. When I tell my partner friend
all the time, I'm like, bro, how do we change people?
Perspective about life, period. About business? How do you change
people's perspective in business? See, the locker room teaches a
different lesson. When you think about business. We can't walk
into complaining every day. You gotta get something done. Why?
(49:13):
Because if you don't get it done, somebody else is
going to get it done. Well, entrepreneur got to think
the exact same way somebody's going to do it. So
you have to do it. I tell my sons all
the time. Stop waiting for everybody else to do what
you need to do. You got to do some homework.
You got to do some research. You got to do
some reading. Right? Because once you give it to them,
(49:34):
they never leave you. Like, social media is the worst ever.
But social media from a collectability thing. Mhm. On how
people can reach out to you that you touch 20
years ago. One of the greatest stories ever about business entrepreneur.
(49:55):
It's homeless guy. He was always on the Baltimores Bridge
every day. And that's on. And on the way to
the game, it was one path. And. One day I'm
on the way to the game and I see him there,
(50:15):
and I know that they're using drugs and they're doing
all that stuff and they're struggling or whatever, and I
pull out $100. I usually get 10 or 20 whatever,
and I pull out $100, and he walks up to
me and his head is down because he's embarrassed. And
I say, look up. Look at me. And he looked
(50:41):
at me and he started shivering. No way. There's no
way Ray Lewis stopped to see me. I put out
the hundred. Like this. He grabbed it and I grabbed
his hand. I said, promise me. That you don't use
(51:05):
this for drugs. Promise me that you use this for
the right thing. That guy. Took that $100. Went to
one friend. He owns a church. He's a pastor now.
(51:28):
He's married. And has his own business and feels and
tells that story every other week in church. If you
give an entrepreneur the right direction. You give them the
accountability to say you can't. You can't do this because
I can give my money to somebody else. Most entrepreneurs
(51:51):
need to be taught like free agents. You have the
same opportunity. I know he's starting. Because that was my
story my whole life. Somebody in front of me. Entrepreneurs
must think as the boss. I stopped. I stopped being
attracted to players contracts. I got rid of, signed my
(52:15):
second deal. And that's like, we're going to make you
the highest paid defensive player ever. I was like, that's amazing. Great.
My agent was like, why are you not excited? Because
if he's paying me. I want to know where he
gets this money from. Who not? So as an entrepreneur,
(52:40):
you have to change the vision, because if you don't,
you're going to have the same problems that we fixed
that we that you guys fix right now. Yep. Right.
The everyday housekeeping problems you're going to have, unless you
change the vision. And most of the times that a
problem can remain a problem until you, until you actually
(53:00):
visualize it as an opportunity.
S1 (53:02):
100%. And every opportunity is the breakthrough to get to
the next level of success. I'm really super excited for
when you and I do our first minority owned business
program together. And trust me, everybody listening to this and watching. Uh,
it's coming and it's going to be unbelievable. We have
(53:23):
some big targets and big goals together. Now lastly, let's
talk a little bit about Ted health. Yeah. And your
enthusiasm and excitement of working together on taking that to
a global brand. And you are very health conscientious. You
have a massive, uh, routine that you work on on
a regular basis. Your commitment, your dedication to that. And
(53:46):
I can't believe my wife outed me saying I missed
my workout this morning, and then you threw it in
my face on my podcast first thing you said. So
I will pick that workout up before the end of
the day. But the point is, with health, what is
it that makes you excited about what we're doing there?
S2 (54:01):
It's the education behind it. To to have a map.
The book you just picked up in that room? Yeah. Well,
whether we need to expose it now or not. What?
That's the map. Now, if if every individual has that.
That's not really an excuse to eat bad. Right. There's
not an excuse to eat wrong. Like this. There's not.
(54:25):
But sometimes you can't even fault people. But what you
guys are doing with Ten Health is doing. It's who
I am. I live every freaking day to figure it
out now. I don't know all of the intricate words
around the doctors and this and know, but I do
know it makes me feel good. I know working my
(54:47):
butt off every day changes my life. I know it
gives me a lifespan much longer than expected. Right. Every
person in my family has died of cancer. I hate cancer.
Cancer also says, honor that temple. You got to honor
(55:08):
that temple. What you guys are doing. What we're about
to do, what the exciting part about health is in
all of the years that you can. Athletes. I don't
care who it is, individuals. They cannot go on a
bookshelf and grab their own DNA. Yep. As mind blowing. That, that.
(55:35):
That you guys are with. You guys are so far
ahead and where we should be, right? I mean, the, the,
the greater powers or whatever. We don't have that. Like
it always bothered me. Like why? Megastars. Some. Some support.
(55:57):
The lowest of fools. It bothers me. Like why fast
foods are the number one industries in the world. And
you know, it's killing you. I think ten says something different.
We want. Well, we don't want to fight with you.
(56:17):
We just want to tell you there's another alternative. And
I think the alternative and then you see people is
like seeing your body every day. Right. And you, one
of the biggest things I used to say, stop waiting
for the doctor to tell you who you are. Mhm.
You do homework on yourself? Right. I'm all positive. I
(56:41):
one of the rarest blood forms up. Right. So certain
things that you need. Right? I'm going to tell you,
like I gave a meet 20 years ago on the
last time I seen some beef report. Why not? That
it was great. Trust me. I ate it every other day.
(57:04):
But does it actually maximize what I'm trying to go
in life? I think if with what tennis health is doing.
If you give anybody the blueprint, then it's up to them.
It's like walking in training camp. Everybody gets the same playbook. Now,
(57:24):
who spends the most time with it? Because that's what
we give them. And that's why I think my correlation
with what you guys have and how the brands match.
I think it's because of what I can teach based
on what I've lived. I live this every day. I'm
the last athlete that's gonna get done playing the game
and walk around with a belly. Really, I ain't doing that.
(57:48):
I work too hard. If they're going to give up 30,
30 years of work. Oh, and then the biggest excuse is, oh,
I ain't playing no more. And there's life. And I
think from educating people the way you guys have eloquently
(58:12):
put it, it's a different thing, man. And. I just
wish more people was more conscious of not what they
look like, but what they feel like.
S3 (58:25):
Mhm.
S2 (58:26):
That's what I my greatest thing is like you're never
going to see me walk around with my shirt off
on Instagram. You know I don't need to show my
abs because there's two types of people people who want
to be seen and people who don't need to be seen.
People who work in who work on themselves. That's what
(58:47):
I think I got from the education that's in Excel.
I do give you give people a chance to work
on themselves. You got to read your own book. I
never forget my friend's head when he was back. He
was like, man, that big old book for one person.
Not think about this. Think about how many times you
see a big book and it's titled something and you're like, man,
I can't read that much. I can't read that book.
(59:08):
That's a big book. But imagine reading that book and
that's you.
S1 (59:13):
It's crazy.
S3 (59:14):
Crazy if you don't.
S2 (59:15):
Want to read that.
S3 (59:17):
The the in.
S2 (59:18):
Life or we can't help you. You know, it's like
it's like, give me that. Like I'm like a little kid.
I'm like, I was going to tell you, enough, man.
Let me get mine done ASAP.
S1 (59:27):
Yeah, well, we're doing it. We're good. Do we have
the kids here? If they do, let's get a couple
of them for these guys. Yeah. Look, you know, Ray, uh,
I know you've got to get to LA, and you
got a lot of stuff going on. Uh, you and
I are going to be doing quite a few things together, and. And, uh,
you're such a great example. And the intensity. I don't
(59:50):
know if you're listening to this or watching this, depending
on how you're how you're, uh, participating with here, with
us here on the beat Austin. Or if you're watching
this or you're listening to this, uh, building billions with Brandon.
I don't know if you can feel the intensity, but
I see the damn intensity in his eyes, and and
(01:00:10):
and this is the real guy. If he's going to
do something, he's going to do it with the greatest
amount of force and impact. And I promise you that
the things we're doing together, uh, you're going to start
hearing about it. We're going to want you to participate
with this because there's so many people that need guidance,
they need assistance, they need help, they need encouragement. Yeah,
(01:00:32):
they they just need somebody to show an interest for
some of them to inspire them to be greater tomorrow
than they are today, and to give them a little
bit of hope and wisdom in order to do it
the right way. And and this is something that I
am unbelievably excited to do with you. Um, and I
know we're going to impact millions of people. We're going
to have fun doing it. It's not just going to
(01:00:52):
be in the US. It'll be all over the world.
And some of these announcements that we're kind of giving
a hint on will start coming out over a short
period of time. And look, uh, the way that this
podcast and YouTube channel grows is by you sharing, liking, commenting. Um,
if you're somebody listening to this, you're like, man, whatever
these guys got going on, I want to be a
part of that. I want to support it. I want
(01:01:14):
to be a part of it. I want to contribute
to it. Leave a comment and my team will connect
with you and, uh, as we're rolling these programs out,
if you're a business owner, you need assistance. You need help.
Leave a comment. If you're an individual and you want
to help these kids, leave a comment. If you're somebody
who's got who's done well in life and you have
a little extra money and you want to sponsor or
support these kids through the aspire program, the other things
(01:01:36):
we have got. Leave a comment, get involved. It's as
simple as that, because one person can change many people's
lives and you hear raised story. There's multiple times where
people have given him the ability to become who he
is today, because he needed that influence in his life,
(01:01:57):
and we can do that for so many people.
S3 (01:01:59):
Yeah.
S1 (01:02:00):
Right. I love you, dude. You know, I love sitting
with you. I love spending time with you. And I'm
going to love creating change with you.
S2 (01:02:06):
We got a lot to do.
S1 (01:02:07):
A lot to do. And I know you're going to
push me to be.
S2 (01:02:11):
Oh, man, no other way. That's why you can't miss
out on my workouts. Be like you. You got. If
we're going to commit to it, we got to commit
to it. We got to live it. It's a lifestyle.
It's just a lifestyle. That's why we got to create
some decks of cards. Am I up? You out? Don't worry,
I cannot wait.
S1 (01:02:25):
Honestly, he can't wait. I love you, brother. Hey, if
you enjoyed this show, please leave a like. Please share it. Uh,
leave your comments if you want to participate. Like I said,
get involved. Thank you for joining me on another episode
of Building Billions with Ray Lewis, number 52 and Brandon Dawson.
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Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!