July 10, 2025 • 41 mins
This week, my guest on the Experience is author Nick Peck, discussing his book "Only Way Out." We also discuss his career as a journalist and our shared love for Kendrick Lamar.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
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Thank you. Music.
(01:14):
Welcome to the Delvin Cox Experience, the podcast which
each week I'm on a one man mission to you, not our coach to
diversity. I'm your host, Delvin Cox.
This week I have a special guestwith me.
I'll let him explain it. I'll let him give you a story.
We'll give this story in just a minute.
My boy Nick Peck. How you doing brother?
I'm doing great man, how you doing?
(01:34):
Good, good, good. As always, like to start the
podcast off at the five or five five questions 5 asks to get the
bar with him. Nick, Are you ready?
Let's do it. Question number one, if all of
the serial mascots got into one big brawl, who you got winning?
I'm going to go Tony the Tiger. I like it sports guy like he can
(01:59):
fight. Yeah, he got to go.
Big cats. Yeah, I got, I got a bunch of
big cats tatted on me. So I'm, I think I got to roll
the big cats. I think that's what I got to go
with. I like it.
I like the tats, man. I like the tats, so I just let
them roll into question #2 question number 2.
With all the tats you got, what was that one tat that you wanted
to get that you just didn't get?Probably I want to get a little
(02:22):
anchor face tattoo so that one Ihave I had I haven't gotten yet
but I've been dying to get it. I I was ordaining a wedding
earlier this summer and I I promised my friend's parents
that I wouldn't get a face tat until I finished ordaining the
wedding for them. So maybe soon, so they.
What you should have did was youshould have had like a a tattoo
artist on site as soon as you assoon as you finish I.
(02:45):
Love you. As soon as I close, as soon as I
close the script and the Bible and everything, let's go, let's
go. Give me that tie.
All right, question #3 Nick, what do you think is the dumbest
thing you think you've ever doneas a kid?
Dumbest thing I, I used to do this thing where I would roll my
socks down and I because I didn't like having long socks
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for some reason. I think I was maybe in fifth
grade, but I, they were like super thick.
They look, they, they just were balled up and it did not look
good. So I think that's probably the
dumbest thing I might have done off the top of my head.
So. So your parents used to buy
those long like 80s basketball players socks?
Yeah, and I didn't, I didn't like the way it looked with my
with my ones. So I was trying to roll them
(03:29):
down to make them look like. Some so you so you got to so be
clear. You got on some Jordan ones,
right? And your parents didn't think,
hey, let's get him the short socks that all the cool kids are
wearing. Man, man, no.
Reggie Miller ass long side thatgoes.
Up there Exactly. Nope, Nope.
(03:51):
Definitely didn't get the style and I I wasn't helping myself by
rolling them too much instead ofjust letting them slide down.
Yeah, I think he might have beenright on that one.
All right, question #4 if you can be anywhere in the world
right now, anywhere, where wouldyou want to be?
(04:13):
In the ocean, the Ocean's one ofmy favorite places in the world
and one of two places outside ofSan Francisco that feels like
true home to me. So just being in the water,
being an ocean, if I could be inthere right now, I like to surf
in those things, so I'm going. To absolutely be surfing.
Love it. Yeah, I would love it.
Just be in the water. No, I don't even, I don't even
(04:34):
be surfing right now. I just want to be in the water.
Just feel the presence of, you know, Mother Ocean.
What what what's What's a ocean?Atlantic.
Pacific. Pacific I'm a Cali kid, so we
I'm always I'm always on the. Other side.
No, Yeah, yeah, Pacific. I got some dope waves over there
though, like. We do it.
(04:56):
It gets, it's almost like skateboarding waves almost
because like out in Florida thattheir waves go more like just
more straight, you know, more and more aesthetic as where ours
are like you got to skateboard that thing all around.
Y'all, y'all waves look like, you know, saved by the bail and
stuff like on like on TV shows like Miami does not get that at
all. No, but you guys got the
(05:18):
aesthetic waves that like everybody like pictures when
they think of it, you know what I mean?
It's more like that. Cool question #5 Nick, zombie
apocalypse happens, let's say Walking Dead style, you know,
slow zombies. You know, it could be a little
smart, but it's a lot of them. You got to take 5 things between
the world to survive. What are you taking to survive?
(05:41):
I'm definitely going to take some kind of device that I could
use to like make good water because obviously my, my most
important thing to me always stay hydrated.
Then I'm probably going to bring, you know, I don't want to
say it, but I feel like you should say a gun, you know, like
just for protection, you know, from zombies and stuff like
(06:03):
that. Then I'm definitely going to
bring some something, you know, not sure what food, but some
kind of like food that can last me a bit, maybe like some beef
jerky or something like that that can kind of, you know,
prolong me as I'm trying to figure some things out.
And I'll bring probably a tarp would be the next thing to help
(06:23):
me build some kind of shelter orsomething like that.
And just have and then with thata tent.
It's how many things is that? That's four things.
That's 4. And then the last thing I'm
going to say, I'm going to bringmy Bible.
We got to have something to keepyou sane during some craziness
like that. And I think you.
Know. Give you some peace.
Give you some. Peace.
That makes a lot of sense. Yeah.
Just something to keep you calm because it's going to keep you
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rough. Yeah, exactly.
And there's no, I'm a big, big into meditation, that kind of
stuff, but I don't know how muchyou can be meditated in, you
know, mid zombie apocalypse. But I'm sure you can probably
get in some comfort in scriptures or something like
that during that time that. Makes sense.
Yeah, I like it. All right, for those who don't
know, tell us about yourself, Nick.
Yeah, so you know my name's NickPeck.
(07:08):
I'm a ex football player turned award-winning journalist and
Amazon best sign author. I just released my first book,
Only Way Out, available everywhere.
I actually got it right here. So go and check it out.
I. Need a copy of that, that looks
dope. But yeah, everything.
And yeah, so that's that's me. So let let me ask you, what made
(07:30):
you want to write a book for one?
Let's start with that. Let's start off that first part
of it. Yeah, so I kind of, you know,
skipped through my own like personal life starting up.
But like, you know, I grew up growing up.
I grew up in, you know, abusive,super alcoholic household.
And for me, football was my way out, as I mentioned.
So I used football, but. What I had to play for.
I played Upper Highway University is where I played my
(07:52):
football journey. You want to hear more?
My football journey is crazy in itself.
How I even ended up there. If you want to hear more about
that, I'm. Happy to get a little bit into
that, yeah. Yeah.
Because I'm quite sure this coincides with the book a little
bit. So let's get it out, yeah?
Yeah, yeah. So I initially, like I said, I
used football as my way out. I was a pretty heavily recruited
kid out of high school, committed to a school.
I won't name it for reasons you'll explain.
(08:13):
But on Sunday they they called me and said, hey, we gave away
your scholarship, someone else can you walk on?
And I'm like, no, like I can't go to college if I don't have a
full ride. So I went to junior college
after that because I called all the other schools that had
offers from and they're like. Let's let's go back.
For a second, yeah. They call you and they're like,
oops, we gave away your scholarship.
(08:34):
How do you do that? How do you just give away
someone scholarship? They just, you know, I think
what ended up happening is they had a kid that they there was
like they were deciding between 2:00 and they had already sent
me one, but that this one was just the guy that they ended up
wanting more. And you know, I just ended up
being the odd man out and then like I said, I started calling
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all the other schools I had offers from and then signing day
and they're like, we kind of already gave away all the
scholarships we have. So then I went junior college
and at the time I was like 325 lbs.
I was playing center and I was like, you know what, I'm kind of
tired of being, you know, 325 lbs.
So I lost about 120 ish pounds and then taught myself how to
long snap and then post start posting videos on Twitter and
(09:17):
then end up getting a full ride to do that at up rival
university like I said. And then you know got to do have
some pro opportunities after that.
But then now I'm chasing my truedream now being a journalist and
awesome. So and that kid that they gave
the scholarship to, Peyton Manning.
Yeah, you. Yeah, you.
You think right? You think, Yeah, sorry.
(09:39):
We can't. We can't give you the scholars
we gave you. What do you mean?
I I can't imagine that conversation.
You are, you are. You are a better man than.
Me hey, luckily, you know, for me, like I said, it was just my
my life situation. So I was like, you know, it was
just like, you know what, survive in advance time to
hustle somewhere else and we're going to figure it out one way
(09:59):
or another. And that's just kind of the way
I took it, you know, because it's like, you know, I was
already kind of taking so many blows in life already that it
just felt like, oh, here's another one.
I got to dodge and keep working.You know what I mean?
And then that inspired you to actually go out and lose weight.
Yeah, I was just, you know, I was tired of being 325 lbs.
I didn't start playing football until my freshman year high
school. I was all, I'm like 6, four.
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So I'm, you know, tall and lankykid most of my life.
But, you know, they wanted to play offensive line in high
school and so they start feedingme.
So the weight I was carrying just didn't feel natural
already. And I'm like, you know what, if
I'm going to keep chasing this football dream, I might as well
do it on the terms that I want to do it and, you know, feel
good and all those kind of things.
So yeah, we just kind of inspired me to do it.
(10:41):
I'm just like, hey, I'm going tolose 125 lbs.
Yeah, if you notice, that's not an easy thing to do.
No, no, I mean it wasn't easy. It definitely wasn't easy.
It was a grinding, it was a hustle, but you know, it just I
just felt like I needed to do it.
I don't know, I'm one of those people.
Like once I set my mind to it and just I just go at it and,
you know, kind of have this false belief in myself that I
(11:03):
can make anything happen. You know, might not be false
because you you making stuff happen.
It's. Kind of wild.
I appreciate it. I appreciate it.
I. Don't know if you like, I don't
know if you know this, but like when people who usually start
playing football in 9th grade don't get scholarships, like
that's not a common thing. Like, you know, football is hard
and people, like, play their whole lives and don't get in,
(11:25):
get anywhere near that. Like, I just thought in that
great. They were like, hey, we want to
give you a scholarship. Yeah.
It's kind of kind of good. I don't know.
It is good. I think, you know, I was just
motivated. You know, it's like kind of, you
know, going back to why I wrote the book, because the book
itself is like loosely based on my own life.
Basically covers this kid. His name is Jalen Pierre.
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He's growing up. He's a senior in high school,
kind of growing up, similar circumstances.
Me, you know, dealing with all kinds of things of poverty,
alcoholism, you know, mental health.
And then he also has a little brother.
And then he gets inspired one night, you know, watching TV and
sees a football player who uses his way out.
So then he starts decides, you know, a senior in high school,
he's going to start playing football for the first time.
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And, you know, he gets a full ride scholarship doing it.
And he goes to those experiences.
But then also dealing with, you know, dealing with, like I said,
alcoholism and mental health from the household and food
insecurity because you're growing up in poverty.
And then also, you know, the other things you deal with
growing in those situations of, you know, dealing with law
enforcement and gangs and those kind of things.
And of course there's a there's a love story, of course, there's
(12:27):
always a girl, you know, there'salways a girl in all stories.
So there's also a love story in it as well.
And so, but the book, like I said, go back to your original
question. What inspired me is, you know,
after I kind of officially hung up my cleats, my new journalism
and writing is what I always want to do with my life.
But, you know, I'm still kind oflooking for purpose.
So I was like, you know what, let me try to write a book and
just on what I know and then start doing it.
(12:49):
And I'm like, man, this feels like what I was like born to do.
And lo and behold, well, here weare.
Got signed a contract, became Amazon bestseller, and, you
know, just kind of right in the way.
That's dope. How did you even get into
journalism? Like like I said, you don't.
So far you have told me, hey, I played football, I'm a best
selling author and I'm also a journalist.
How does one go from a football player to journalist?
(13:11):
That's what you'll correlate. Yeah, no, I mean, not typically,
but, you know, it's just beat writing and journalism.
Like I grew up loving books and,you know, beat and, and all
writers, you know, like Anthony Bourdain and, you know, the
James Baldwin and these people of the world.
I was just like growing up as a kid, I loved their books and
loved the writing and loved all those kind of things.
So it's kind of inspired and writing in that sense.
(13:32):
I knew I wanted to do that. So I've kind of been a
journalist my whole life. Like I kind of remember being a
kid and I created my own newspaper around the
neighborhood. It was called News for Kids.
And I would go from door to doorand sell, you know, I'd write up
my own pieces and sell out thosekind of things.
So it's kind of just what I always wanted to do and then
leverage my football, you know, career to be able to get a
degree to do it. And then just kind of, you know,
(13:54):
as soon as I hung up the cleats.So I was like, I know I don't
want to do. I'm just kind of been hustling
doing that and been lucky enoughto win some awards doing it.
Yeah. So, So what kind of so those who
are curious, what kind of stories were you writing?
Like what? Let's see about somebody's
award-winning stories. Let's get.
Into that I specifically am AI cover the financial markets.
So traditional asset management is what I do, you know, so I'm
(14:15):
sit down and interviewing, you know, the CE OS and CI OS of
Vanguard and Black Rock and all the large asset managers and,
you know, breaking news on when they're doing things good and
when they're doing things bad and stuff like that.
So basically everything's stock market related, ETFs, mutual
funds, all those kind of things.Everything of that sign is what
I cover on a day-to-day basis. Feels like that's something very
(14:36):
important, especially nowadays, like, you know, almost
essential. Oh yeah, yeah, I love it.
That's why I kind of went into it, because it would have been
easy for me to go into sports reporting just because I had an
experience. But for me, and there's two
reasons why I didn't. One is I have friends that play
in the NFL or play in the NBA, and I feel like I just know too
(14:57):
much about them. Yeah, to.
And I would be able to like, youknow, leverage the information I
know to move myself forward. And that just wouldn't feel
right, you know what I mean? But, you know, I'm also a nerd.
And so, you know, I love nerdingout on these financial markets
and jumping into it and learningall about it and just stuff that
a lot of people don't typically know about, you know what I
mean? But yeah.
(15:17):
Well, let me ask you this. I think, I think in the law, I
think what you did was smart in terms of getting into financial
journalism because as of lately,let's say this last several
years, journalism on almost every scale has been under
attack, under scrutiny, under a big heavy microscope, whether
certain aspects, audiences are telling the truth or not.
(15:39):
I feel like when it comes to financial journalism, it's one
of those few things where numbers don't lie.
You know what I mean? You can't like you can.
You can face numbers all you want to, but the numbers are the
numbers. Exactly.
No. Then that's, that's, you know,
that's the reason I love it too,is because it's, you know, it,
the day starts when the markets are open and then the day closes
(16:00):
when the markets close, you knowwhat I mean?
So you do have a window that youhave to find stories within.
And like you said, numbers don'tlie, you know, but you know, as
a journalist, it is hard still, you know, it's still when you
say that's your, your career. A lot of people are like, oh,
you know, a journalist, those kind of things.
You a lot, you get a lot of, youknow, like push back, but you
know, that's like, as someone, it was me who's like, I'm like I
(16:20):
I meet him when I say like I'm atrue journalist, like nerd, like
I grew up wanting to do this. So it's like, for me, it's kind
of cool to be a young, you know,young man in this industry and
still trying to use, you know, leverage my ethics and my morals
to, you know, show that journalism can still be good
and, you know, it can still do good for, you know, the world
because it's been kind of, you know, under attack for sure
lately. Let me ask you a fun, silly
(16:42):
question. Yeah, as because I think all
kids have it when they at some point who was like that, the
first journalist that you kind of identify with that you liked
as a kid, as a young person. Actually, you know, it was like
I'm from Cali, Cali originally and you know, we, I used to go
to 49ers and Giants games and upin the Bay Area a lot.
And so the first, you know, journalists for me are a lot of
(17:03):
those sports journalists. And I, there was, and
specifically radio for me, radiojournalists.
I remember just being in the carand listening to radio
journalists. It was a guy, he still does it.
It's on KNBR in the Bay Area. His name's Brian Murphy.
And they would do a morning show.
And I just remember hearing that.
And I'm like, man, these people just get paid to talk and write
about sports because at the timethey were just journalists who
(17:25):
were talking mornings and then write stories in the afternoon.
And I was like, man, you can just get paid to like talk about
stuff that you were interested in.
And like, I'm like, this is crazy.
So I would say that's probably the first.
Yeah, I think it's really cool that now we have so many aspects
of journalism. When you have the analysts, you
have the like opinion artists and stuff like you have so many
things and so many fields that you can go in, like you said,
(17:45):
you do financial. I think it's really cool that
you have that many lanes and journalism that you can go into.
And I think what's even more deep about it is on your side of
things with financial side, it doesn't seem like it would get
exciting. But if you really look at
financial stuff in terms of likethe stock markets and it crashes
(18:06):
and it's super low, people losing money and all of a sudden
it goes way up and everybody's looking at a whole bunch of it.
It's a lot that goes into that. No, and it's, I mean, for me, I,
I mean, I still, my mind still gets blown when I'm talking, you
know, to the CE OS, CI OS of these companies like State
Street and Vanguard. And because they can, what
people don't realize is they control everybody's money in the
whole world for the most part. You know, they control trillions
(18:28):
and trillions of dollars and they know what's, you know,
going on in the world before, you know, some politicians know
what's going on just because people need to know what's going
on with their money and things like that.
And so it's crazy, you know, when I sit and have these
conversations and it blows my mind like how much influence
that really goes on. And, you know, these guys just
in women just look like, you know, normal everyday people
(18:50):
that aren't celebrities that, you know, if you weren't a
financial journalist, you would recognize on the street for the
most part. But they how much effect they
actually have on the, you know, greater landscape of the world
is interesting. Let me ask you this because I
think this is really interestingtopic.
Real quick, have there ever beena point in time when you're
doing journalism journalist stuff, you're interviewing
somebody for one of your articles and things like that
(19:12):
and they say something and you're like, oh, that's it.
That is going to be the story. That's going to be the thing
that's kind of going to stick inpeople's heads.
Oh, yeah. I mean, that's that's your
that's your job. And every single interview for
the most part is, you know, looking for those tidbits and
asking you all the right questions to get the right
information to break the news, the break stories.
(19:32):
And, you know, there's no betterfeeling as a journalist,
especially like me, when you work for a another, you know,
more niche publication, it's called with Intelligence.
And you know, you get some of the big dogs of, you know, the
Wall Street Journal, New York Times calling you like, where
did you get this information when you break a story?
So that I'd say that's, it's part of the gig though, is that
kind of thing, interview with people, talking to people and
they say something like, oh, boom.
(19:53):
And then, you know, you type it on that laptop as fast as you
can to get the story to your editor so you can be the first
one to break that news. So.
That's exciting. I feel like there's a little
parallel with that with podcasting and like when you're
interviewing somebody and you see their react when you ask
them questions and they're enjoying themselves, it's kind
of you kind of get that same magical feeling like, oh, I got
(20:14):
it. This is going to be interesting
because you're opening up and you're enjoying the experience.
And I feel like journalism is kind of the same way.
Would you get a story that you're passionate about and
you're kind of like you're deep into it.
Then you get that one thing like, oh, this is it.
This is. Oh, it's.
The one and you're like, man, I can't wait for this to get out.
You know, you just want to have it be out there.
And, and honestly, that's, I think, I think more journalist,
(20:35):
more athletes should become journalists for that reason,
because it's almost very competitive in that sense too,
where you want to be the first one to get to the story, you
know, And so it's I haven't beenable to like been missing, you
know, the competitive aspect of sports since like being done as
much because, you know, it wouldhave to be competitive every day
and there's deadlines you have to meet on top of it.
So it's you know, it's been nicein that sense too.
I'm. Gonna ask you 2 questions out
(20:56):
there. I think it's fun.
The first one is what's 1 story that you like this is going to
hit? And it was like wop wop wop.
On the flip side, what's more story you're like, I don't think
this is going to do great. And then it's like Nope, this
one didn't. Way better than I expected.
Honestly, it's like, so obviously I'm interviewing asset
managers and sometimes, you know, you think some of the big
(21:17):
names like a Black Rock. You do an interview like that,
you're like, oh, this for sure is going to be good.
You're gonna get a lot of information.
And then there's been times where I put out the story and it
hasn't get gotten as much, you know, interest.
And then I interview, you know, these smaller asset managers
that may have just opened a yearago and you know, they're doing
something, you know, normal, butyou know, they're just new.
And then all of a sudden it's, you know, thousands of people
(21:39):
are reading it or engaging with a LinkedIn post on it and stuff
like that. I think, I think it like most
content, you just never know what's actually going to hit and
what doesn't hit. But you know, that's why I just
appreciate the actual journey ofcreating and writing.
So it's like for me, it's like if it hits, if it doesn't, it
doesn't hit. I still got to, you know, get
paid to write, which is like a dream for me, you know?
(21:59):
Well, let's speak of the writing.
What was your process like writing your book?
Honestly, you know, I just won'tget up.
I'm a, I'm a early bird just because of, you know, working
one, being an athlete for so many years.
And then two, I work East Coast hours, even though I'm, I'm
currently in the South. So I have to, I, I have to start
(22:20):
early. And so I just got up at 4:00 AM
every day for about, I want to say like 3 months and just, you
know, I was in, like I said, I, when I write, was writing the
book, I was just in such a flow.It felt like I was meant to do.
So it wasn't really hard to justbust it out.
And I, you know, I think my first draft was like 303 pages
and I think we cut it down to 286 with my publisher and stuff.
(22:42):
But it took me about 3 months and I just 4:00 AM every day and
we just write a chapter and keepgoing and keep going.
So, so so far, you're writing this book, right?
This. Idea what would the kind of just
walk me through that whole concept of the idea of you
coming up with this idea becauseyou're based it loosely off
yourself. How did you come up with that
(23:05):
concept? How did you come up with the
characters and the people, all these people that you know?
Is it like just based on people you know, like how did you come
up with it and what and how? Because like my first thing is
this, a lot of people who want to write books don't know how to
get to stage 1 of that and don'tknow what it takes to get to the
till the from the the part of writing.
(23:26):
So the publishing tours on Amazon.
So how did you get from your writing to Amazon?
Well, first, so the answer first, the story itself.
So the story itself, obviously, like I said, it covers one year,
but it covers, you know, things I've been around, things I've
seen and all the people in it, you know, are loosely based on
(23:48):
people that have been in my life.
But obviously I've lived more than just one year.
So it's just kind of like a culmination of everything in one
year. And obviously there's more to it
in my own life, but it's just loosely based off of it for that
reason. And, and honestly, as far as you
know, develop, the first step for me is like, I always knew I
wanted to write a book. So I just like I, I kind of
always had ideas in my head of what I wanted stories to be and
(24:09):
stuff like that. And this was just like the first
one that I knew I wanted to be my first book because it was
kind of as that chapter of my life was closing itself of its,
I wanted that to be the first, you know, book before I headed
into a next chapter. And then the process itself.
Luckily, like I said, it's what I've always wanted to do.
And I already had experience as a journalist.
(24:30):
So I was like, I know my writingis at least good.
So I didn't deal with, you know,the imposter syndrome that some
people deal with, so to speak, just because I knew like I knew
I could write a good sentence and could write a good
paragraph. And, you know, like I said, I
just wrote it. And then I did my own research
of, you know, looking for publishers to work with.
(24:51):
And I did a bunch of meetings, talked to a bunch of agents, and
then ultimately, you know, foundthe publisher and got the deal
and contract that I wanted and just, yeah, just kind of
hustled, you know, I don't, I'm very, I'm very just, I set my
mind to something, kind of just go after it and, and just nerd
out on it and learn everything Ican to try to make it be as
successful as possible. That's dope.
(25:15):
Let me ask you this. Yeah, yeah.
Who was the first person you letread the book?
First person is my little sisteractually, and actually she we
have tattoos of each other's handwriting.
It says all of it. And then on the in the book is I
have a dedication page that saysall of it as well.
Just because we were growing up and you know, we say we were
(25:37):
having a hard day or something like that.
We'd look at each other, be like, what's wrong?
You know, and say we'd look at each other and be like all of
it, you know. So that's why I let her be the
first one because obviously it's, you know, she knew, she
she knew this part of my life and all the characters and those
kind of things. And I wanted her to realize that
I was dedicating it to her too, and the things that we went
(25:57):
through. So.
So what? What was her first impressions
of it? Did you give her the finished
product? Did you give her like draft 1?
No finished product. Finished product for sure.
I wanted to make sure that I, I was happy with it before I
shared it with anybody else because I'm a bit of a
perfectionist. So I was, you know, wanted to
make sure everything is good andready.
And yes, I mean, as far as I know, she's enjoyed it and loved
(26:21):
it and, you know, loved it. We had the dedicated, dedicated
page to, you know, our little thing in it as well.
So, yeah. So let me ask.
You this about this book? Are there any other inspirations
and things you kind of took fromthe kind of put up with your
story? Because, you know, it's a very
interesting, fascinating story, I think has a lot of layers to
(26:42):
it and feel like this is something that probably could be
on TVI. Appreciate that.
I appreciate that. Yeah.
I mean, like I said, all my inspirations have kind of been
all those other people I mentioned earlier, the
Bourdain's and those kind of things.
But you know, also, oddly enough, you know, like good kid,
Mad City by Kendrick Lamar is also something that this I took
(27:06):
inspiration with, you know, the way that he was a in that in
that album, he's able to, you know, describe like what it's
actually like to grow up in the areas he grew up in, those kind
of things. And you know, the lyrics he used
to that was, you know, use taking inspiration from there.
And I'm a Cali kid, so I'm a bigNipsey guy too.
And, you know, the way that Nipsey would be able to tell
stories and those kind of things.
(27:27):
So, you know, kind of leveraging, you know, the
nerdiness of me of, you know, the true journalists and writers
and taking and learning from them.
But then also, you know, the theCali kid and me and taking
inspiration from, you know, rappers and other artists, you
know, the way that they form their senses to tell stories and
stuff like that. Also, you know, helping me
formulate my story. Since you brought it up, only
(27:49):
because you brought it up, what is it like being a Cali kid now
seeing like what Tyler the Creator's doing, what Kendrick's
doing with all these West Coast rappers are doing?
Well, you know, there was an error because I feel like Cali
was this, it was this era where you had like Dre, Snoop, QNWA,
that was that classic era. Then you had an era where it was
(28:12):
kind of like E40, you know, and these other rappers that weren't
as big as the first era but werestill kind of dope.
Then you had this era. Where was it pop it like it was
before? But you didn't have, like, games
and people like that. And now you kind of have this
almost like renaissance where Kelly artists are back in
people, people out there in the streets getting mustard.
(28:35):
You know, Kendrick is doing his thing.
Yeah. Tyler, the Creator.
It's just so much like California love.
What is it like for you? Just seeing it again.
You know, I love it and you know, it's and especially for
like someone like Kendrick where, you know, I mean,
obviously growing up in Cali, weall saw his come up, you know,
we all seen it, you know, cuz hewas act, he's active.
He was active in the community always growing up, you know, in
(28:57):
those areas of, you know, in Southern California.
So it's like, you know, you know, of these guys.
And I think that's what's rare about Cali is like when you're
from Cali, you get to see the come up of these guys for real.
Because even though Cali's so big and spread out, everybody's
very like, it's kind of like living in any other place like
Texas or Florida and everyone's very like Cali pride, like
that's, you know, when they wantto see it.
(29:18):
So you know, like, I mean, we were listening to Kendrick's
mixtape before Kendrick was likewhat he is now, you know, like
those kind of things. And so it's been cool to see
their come up and you know, you got to love it.
I mean, I'm a Cali kid, even though I'm not living in Cali no
longer myself. It's, you know, I wrap Cali
everywhere I'm at, you know, andit's, I love seeing Cali do
good, whether it's in music, sports, whatever it is, I'm
(29:38):
always cheering on the Cali guysand girls.
So not not to get you in any trouble, but I got to ask, what
was it like for you as a Cali kid hearing the Drake song,
knowing how Kendrick is? It's like, oh, this guy's for
the kid comes. Well, I mean it's.
(29:58):
And I'm a Drake, I'm a Drake andKendrick fan.
But it's like you heard it like,oh, this might not turn out good
for. Hell, I mean, I think most
people forget, like Kendrick's been like destroying people
before. Like even control.
He was on control on Big Sean. People forget about that.
And he was calling out everybodyin the industry the back like
back then. It's a great song.
(30:19):
And I need to think on the song he called out Big Sean too, like
you know what I mean? So like he has and I think he
was just like featuring all the songs.
It wasn't even his. So it's like it's I think, you
know, as soon as I heard it, I was like, I mean, it's I'm
always Cali and you know, and Kendrick's a rapper where like
he's real too, you know what I mean?
Like his he's not fake. It's everything he speaks is
(30:40):
true. So it's like, you knew in the
lyric system, you know, I'm like, man, he's cooking.
You know he's cooking. So when you saw you were like,
oh, this is going to be a. Problem I'm like this, you know
the and like and like I said, the Cali pride like the the
support of it too. You know, it all start stems in
the Cali pride of like we're repping our boy like this is
(31:03):
our, you know, repping set people repping sets.
You know what I mean? Just like.
Let me ask you another fun question about this.
Were you up the night when everything went down?
When Drake dropped his diss song, then Kendrick dropped his
and then another one came out? It was not like insane night.
(31:23):
Oh, insane. And it was just crazy to watch
everyone's reaction. It was just like, oh, oh, you
know, it was like almost like a boxing matcher watching.
And then you saw the knockout punch and you're like, oh, this
is but I don't think anybody knew how long that knockout
punch was going to live on for. You know, I don't think, I don't
think anybody, even Kendrick himself, even Kendrick himself
probably had no clue that not like us was going to turn into
(31:45):
this like cultural phenomenon, you know?
Kind of crazy that happened, youknow?
Yeah, but Cali, Cali love it. You got to love it.
Dope, dope. So let me ask you this.
Put the book out, people can go by the book.
You were to make a movie of thisbook, what soundtrack would you
have to it? It's definitely going to be a
(32:09):
lot of Cali stuff, that's for sure, because that's what I'm
describing in the book. I mean, I like you got to have
some Dom Kennedy because he's he's the sound of like the true
what I'm describing in the book of that true, you know, like
Socal LA type vibe. Definitely got a good kid in mad
city. You got to have on there just
(32:29):
because of, you know, some of the experiences that are in the
book. You know, I think Kendrick talks
about only the album, you know, so there's those correlations of
that. Nipsey, you know, all the old
school heads too. You got to have like a Tupac in
there, a Dre, a Snoop, you know,Nate Dogg regulate, you know,
(32:51):
Warren G, you know, it's got to be the mix of the old school and
the new school because that's I mean, if you grow up in Cali,
you grow up on both, you know, you grow up 11 appreciate it
both. So that's what I would say.
You never thought about becominglike a music journalist when you
were going through your phase and like, I want to be a
journalist. That ain't cross your mind.
Oh, for sure, but it kind of almost similar to, you know,
sports is like I had too many homies that are also rappers or
(33:13):
you're nowhere in the game or producers or those kind of
things that like I don't for me,like being a journalist, you
kind of do have to hustle and bustle and, you know, use
information to get ahead. And I didn't want to have to,
you know, use relationships withfriends and peers.
And, you know, and I also like it being just being my job.
You know, I like when I can justgo turn on an album and enjoy it
and versus, you know, having to pay for it or, you know,
(33:35):
watching sports or playing sports versus, you know, it
having to be a job. So I can, you know, keep my
friends in the industry, friendsand not, you know, business
partners or associates or whatever you want to call it.
But then also I can just enjoy the things that I want to enjoy,
you know, let. Let me ask you because I think
this is since we got on this funtopic and I love.
This. Yeah, yeah.
But. Have you ever been around one of
(33:56):
these guys, these financial guys, and then they like start
talking about Kendrick or some hip hop stuff?
Oh, they you be they. Oh, yeah, they try like because
obviously you see me, I'm covering headed toe and taps and
like, I'm, you know, I'm a Cali kid at heart.
I'm wearing my ones, my dicky pants.
Like I'm not your traditional journalist when I'm going to
talk. And so most of the time they do
end up asking me those kind of questions because they know,
(34:18):
they, you know, they're not, youknow, they're normally not
talking about it, you know, for real.
So. Who is this Kendrick Lamar guy?
And I've had like, you know, go and put him on, like put him on
the old Kendrick like Section 80album and those kind of things.
Like you think what he's puttingout right now is the best.
Like you need to learn about back in the day, Kendrick when
he was just, you know, just a kid rapping, you know, and
(34:38):
growing up in Compton, you know,so definitely for sure.
But it's good, you know, it's good.
I feel like I get to kind of be a, for the these financial guys
a break, you know, from it's having to have such serious
conversation always. I can kind of, you know, talk
about more culture and stuff like that with them as well.
Yeah, and I get from you that you kind of grew up around the
(34:59):
culture a little bit too. So I think that that matters to
you because like I said, you grew up in slums, in the hood,
stuff like that. So.
Yeah, it's, you know how it is. It's you take pride in in people
who grew up in neighborhoods around you and all those things
and. Community and stuff like that
and you kind of get used to it. I feel like you just kind of
it's, it's still in you always. Always, even if.
(35:22):
You're like a guy. I'm a financial journalist.
I still. Yeah.
And I listen. And if I'm being honest, I think
it, you know, it also gives me an advantage in the space I'm in
too because like I said, I'm notyour traditional, you know,
journalist. I'm not, you know, going to, you
know, super, you know, white collar, you know, wearing all
those kind of things. I'm just unapologetic to myself
(35:43):
and I think that's kind of what helped me move and get more
information and get more inside scoops and those kind of things.
So for that reason, you know. Let me ask this then, who has
been your favorite person to theinterview so far?
Favorite person interview. I'm actually was this.
This is funny enough, but this guy last week actually for a
firm called Harbor, they're randomly they got in the call
(36:06):
and he was like, Hey, I went to like I said, I went to Upright
University, which is a small school in Iowa.
He hopped on. He was like, Hey, I was doing
some research on you and I saw that you went to Upper Highway
University. My dad played football there
back in the 50s and this whole and it's like, like I said, it's
a real small school real in the Midwest, like not too many
people. And so I would say that was my
favorite just because it was like, you know, caught me off
(36:28):
guard and I got, you got to hearthat you got to meet his dad
too. He had like brought, he had me
talk to his dad and stuff. So that was just such a cool
experience. You know, for me it was just to
have that my like almost 2 worlds collide in that sense.
That's really cool. Yeah.
That he just kind of looked it up and like y'all just had that
much in common. Yeah, yeah, I've topped my head.
(36:49):
So I can think of as, you know, been my favorite person.
But like I said, it is earlier in the conversation like it is
like it does trip you out when you're talking to the CE OS of,
you know, like the big guys you know.
Companies and your billionaires.Exactly.
And they're like, they're controlling like every person's
money. And it's just like, this is
insane. You know those things and still,
(37:11):
you know, feel sick to you or even like, you know, talking to
people who head up the SEC and those kind of things.
It's still crazy. I agree.
That's kind of that's kind of why that you kind of went from
this path, A football to journalism to author.
(37:33):
Yeah. That's dope.
Though I know, I know it's funnybecause like for me it's all
felt so natural. But like I said, it's just like,
for me, it's like what I wanted,you know, in my head.
But you know, when I talked, I've been doing like the media
tour things since the release ofmy book.
And it's like I I do have to take a step back sometimes and
realize like, man, that is it iskind of crazy transitions I've
made and the things I've accomplished so far and those
(37:54):
kind of things. So yeah.
Yeah, it's it's dope. It's dope that you've built this
legacy for yourself now. And I think it's really cool
that you have, like I said, you had your football career that
you met people on. You have this career that you
have in journalism that you met people on.
And now you have a book career that you're going to touch live
with because people are going toread your book, whether it's
1000, whether it's a million, whether it's 50,000, whether
(38:16):
it's doesn't matter how many people are going to people are
going to read your book, learn about your stories and probably
want to hear more about your stories.
So with me saying that, what is next for you in terms of your
writing career? Yeah, I mean, honestly, I, I
initially, I wrote the book. The book itself ends on a
cliffhanger. So I left it, you know, but it
(38:36):
was a cliffhanger where it's like, you can either end it
there or and, you know, and for a new book, and you mentioned
like people are reading the bookand I've been getting, you know,
letters and emails and InstagramDM messages from people like
I've never even met that. You're asking me like, no, you
can't leave this. We got to know what happens
next, you know, and so I think my next plan is to definitely,
(38:56):
you know, write a second book, you know, on this, the same
character, same story and move forward with that because, you
know, you kind of got to go withwhat the audience wants to.
I was kind of, you know, lookingforward to transitioning and
playing around with some other ideas in my head.
But, you know, I think it it's natural.
That makes the most sense. And because I've gotten, you
know, such a great feedback fromthis one, I think just kind of
(39:18):
keep rolling with this one and go from there.
But like I said, I plan on beingoff for the rest of my life, so
just keep writing the books and,you know, keep going from there.
When is the audiobook coming out?
That is a big aspect to it now. No, it is, it is I I've, you
know, I'm working with a few platforms right now talking to
figure out what I can do to get it get it on audio, audio
(39:38):
platform. Some people are like, oh, we
want you to read it, but you know, it would be easier to go
versus, you know, not having hiring someone else and going
through that process. So you know, business, business
conversations are going on to get it in the audio book form.
But for now just the paperback form is is doing well so.
That's good. That's amazing.
You know, I think you're doing amazing, man.
(40:01):
I think you I think what you're bringing to the platform is
great. I think the fact that you are a
Jack of all trades and it seemedlike a master of many.
That's dope. That's dope.
I appreciate it. I appreciate it, man.
I'm super, super grateful for the conversation too, man.
It's been really great. Like last but not least,
brother, if you can leave these people with who will listen to
(40:23):
you right now guest podcast withone thought, one thing that you
want to leave with, what would you leave?
Them with I would say just don'tquit.
I think that is what I would saybecause I think no matter what
great person you see that have accomplished anything in their
life and you know, they go through so many trials and
(40:45):
tribulations and so many different seasons of life.
But I think what separates the people who are great and
accomplish things they really want is they just don't quit
regardless of what's being thrown at them in life.
You know, whether it's you're dealing with trauma or drama or
whatever it may be, you know, just don't quit and keep chasing
those things once you find what it is that you truly want in
life. And so I would say that and,
(41:07):
and, and embrace the journey that you're on while you're not
quitting. You know, it's not always about
reaching the finish line. It's about just being grateful
and being on the the journey itself.
So yeah. I like it.
Thank you for coming on bro. Let them know where to find you
at. Yeah, like I mentioned,
nickpackauthor.com, you can findthe book.
It's also available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, anywhere else
(41:30):
you get your book. And then my Instagram.
I'm pretty active on there at Nick pack Author try to make it
real simple. But yeah, check out Only way
out. Check out the book.
Check out the book man, go get it everywhere.
Thank you guys for listening. As always Devin Cox friends, we
are out. Peace.
This podcast is sponsored by patreon.com/devil Cock
Experience. If you want more content,
including exclusive shows, make sure you go to patreon.com/devil
Cock Experience. Also, special shout out to
Patreon producer Douglas Mcgirt Johnson.
(00:20):
Thank you. Music.
(01:14):
Welcome to the Delvin Cox Experience, the podcast which
each week I'm on a one man mission to you, not our coach to
diversity. I'm your host, Delvin Cox.
This week I have a special guestwith me.
I'll let him explain it. I'll let him give you a story.
We'll give this story in just a minute.
My boy Nick Peck. How you doing brother?
I'm doing great man, how you doing?
(01:34):
Good, good, good. As always, like to start the
podcast off at the five or five five questions 5 asks to get the
bar with him. Nick, Are you ready?
Let's do it. Question number one, if all of
the serial mascots got into one big brawl, who you got winning?
I'm going to go Tony the Tiger. I like it sports guy like he can
(01:59):
fight. Yeah, he got to go.
Big cats. Yeah, I got, I got a bunch of
big cats tatted on me. So I'm, I think I got to roll
the big cats. I think that's what I got to go
with. I like it.
I like the tats, man. I like the tats, so I just let
them roll into question #2 question number 2.
With all the tats you got, what was that one tat that you wanted
to get that you just didn't get?Probably I want to get a little
(02:22):
anchor face tattoo so that one Ihave I had I haven't gotten yet
but I've been dying to get it. I I was ordaining a wedding
earlier this summer and I I promised my friend's parents
that I wouldn't get a face tat until I finished ordaining the
wedding for them. So maybe soon, so they.
What you should have did was youshould have had like a a tattoo
artist on site as soon as you assoon as you finish I.
(02:45):
Love you. As soon as I close, as soon as I
close the script and the Bible and everything, let's go, let's
go. Give me that tie.
All right, question #3 Nick, what do you think is the dumbest
thing you think you've ever doneas a kid?
Dumbest thing I, I used to do this thing where I would roll my
socks down and I because I didn't like having long socks
(03:09):
for some reason. I think I was maybe in fifth
grade, but I, they were like super thick.
They look, they, they just were balled up and it did not look
good. So I think that's probably the
dumbest thing I might have done off the top of my head.
So. So your parents used to buy
those long like 80s basketball players socks?
Yeah, and I didn't, I didn't like the way it looked with my
with my ones. So I was trying to roll them
(03:29):
down to make them look like. Some so you so you got to so be
clear. You got on some Jordan ones,
right? And your parents didn't think,
hey, let's get him the short socks that all the cool kids are
wearing. Man, man, no.
Reggie Miller ass long side thatgoes.
Up there Exactly. Nope, Nope.
(03:51):
Definitely didn't get the style and I I wasn't helping myself by
rolling them too much instead ofjust letting them slide down.
Yeah, I think he might have beenright on that one.
All right, question #4 if you can be anywhere in the world
right now, anywhere, where wouldyou want to be?
(04:13):
In the ocean, the Ocean's one ofmy favorite places in the world
and one of two places outside ofSan Francisco that feels like
true home to me. So just being in the water,
being an ocean, if I could be inthere right now, I like to surf
in those things, so I'm going. To absolutely be surfing.
Love it. Yeah, I would love it.
Just be in the water. No, I don't even, I don't even
(04:34):
be surfing right now. I just want to be in the water.
Just feel the presence of, you know, Mother Ocean.
What what what's What's a ocean?Atlantic.
Pacific. Pacific I'm a Cali kid, so we
I'm always I'm always on the. Other side.
No, Yeah, yeah, Pacific. I got some dope waves over there
though, like. We do it.
(04:56):
It gets, it's almost like skateboarding waves almost
because like out in Florida thattheir waves go more like just
more straight, you know, more and more aesthetic as where ours
are like you got to skateboard that thing all around.
Y'all, y'all waves look like, you know, saved by the bail and
stuff like on like on TV shows like Miami does not get that at
all. No, but you guys got the
(05:18):
aesthetic waves that like everybody like pictures when
they think of it, you know what I mean?
It's more like that. Cool question #5 Nick, zombie
apocalypse happens, let's say Walking Dead style, you know,
slow zombies. You know, it could be a little
smart, but it's a lot of them. You got to take 5 things between
the world to survive. What are you taking to survive?
(05:41):
I'm definitely going to take some kind of device that I could
use to like make good water because obviously my, my most
important thing to me always stay hydrated.
Then I'm probably going to bring, you know, I don't want to
say it, but I feel like you should say a gun, you know, like
just for protection, you know, from zombies and stuff like
(06:03):
that. Then I'm definitely going to
bring some something, you know, not sure what food, but some
kind of like food that can last me a bit, maybe like some beef
jerky or something like that that can kind of, you know,
prolong me as I'm trying to figure some things out.
And I'll bring probably a tarp would be the next thing to help
(06:23):
me build some kind of shelter orsomething like that.
And just have and then with thata tent.
It's how many things is that? That's four things.
That's 4. And then the last thing I'm
going to say, I'm going to bringmy Bible.
We got to have something to keepyou sane during some craziness
like that. And I think you.
Know. Give you some peace.
Give you some. Peace.
That makes a lot of sense. Yeah.
Just something to keep you calm because it's going to keep you
(06:45):
rough. Yeah, exactly.
And there's no, I'm a big, big into meditation, that kind of
stuff, but I don't know how muchyou can be meditated in, you
know, mid zombie apocalypse. But I'm sure you can probably
get in some comfort in scriptures or something like
that during that time that. Makes sense.
Yeah, I like it. All right, for those who don't
know, tell us about yourself, Nick.
Yeah, so you know my name's NickPeck.
(07:08):
I'm a ex football player turned award-winning journalist and
Amazon best sign author. I just released my first book,
Only Way Out, available everywhere.
I actually got it right here. So go and check it out.
I. Need a copy of that, that looks
dope. But yeah, everything.
And yeah, so that's that's me. So let let me ask you, what made
(07:30):
you want to write a book for one?
Let's start with that. Let's start off that first part
of it. Yeah, so I kind of, you know,
skipped through my own like personal life starting up.
But like, you know, I grew up growing up.
I grew up in, you know, abusive,super alcoholic household.
And for me, football was my way out, as I mentioned.
So I used football, but. What I had to play for.
I played Upper Highway University is where I played my
(07:52):
football journey. You want to hear more?
My football journey is crazy in itself.
How I even ended up there. If you want to hear more about
that, I'm. Happy to get a little bit into
that, yeah. Yeah.
Because I'm quite sure this coincides with the book a little
bit. So let's get it out, yeah?
Yeah, yeah. So I initially, like I said, I
used football as my way out. I was a pretty heavily recruited
kid out of high school, committed to a school.
I won't name it for reasons you'll explain.
(08:13):
But on Sunday they they called me and said, hey, we gave away
your scholarship, someone else can you walk on?
And I'm like, no, like I can't go to college if I don't have a
full ride. So I went to junior college
after that because I called all the other schools that had
offers from and they're like. Let's let's go back.
For a second, yeah. They call you and they're like,
oops, we gave away your scholarship.
(08:34):
How do you do that? How do you just give away
someone scholarship? They just, you know, I think
what ended up happening is they had a kid that they there was
like they were deciding between 2:00 and they had already sent
me one, but that this one was just the guy that they ended up
wanting more. And you know, I just ended up
being the odd man out and then like I said, I started calling
(08:55):
all the other schools I had offers from and then signing day
and they're like, we kind of already gave away all the
scholarships we have. So then I went junior college
and at the time I was like 325 lbs.
I was playing center and I was like, you know what, I'm kind of
tired of being, you know, 325 lbs.
So I lost about 120 ish pounds and then taught myself how to
long snap and then post start posting videos on Twitter and
(09:17):
then end up getting a full ride to do that at up rival
university like I said. And then you know got to do have
some pro opportunities after that.
But then now I'm chasing my truedream now being a journalist and
awesome. So and that kid that they gave
the scholarship to, Peyton Manning.
Yeah, you. Yeah, you.
You think right? You think, Yeah, sorry.
(09:39):
We can't. We can't give you the scholars
we gave you. What do you mean?
I I can't imagine that conversation.
You are, you are. You are a better man than.
Me hey, luckily, you know, for me, like I said, it was just my
my life situation. So I was like, you know, it was
just like, you know what, survive in advance time to
hustle somewhere else and we're going to figure it out one way
(09:59):
or another. And that's just kind of the way
I took it, you know, because it's like, you know, I was
already kind of taking so many blows in life already that it
just felt like, oh, here's another one.
I got to dodge and keep working.You know what I mean?
And then that inspired you to actually go out and lose weight.
Yeah, I was just, you know, I was tired of being 325 lbs.
I didn't start playing football until my freshman year high
school. I was all, I'm like 6, four.
(10:20):
So I'm, you know, tall and lankykid most of my life.
But, you know, they wanted to play offensive line in high
school and so they start feedingme.
So the weight I was carrying just didn't feel natural
already. And I'm like, you know what, if
I'm going to keep chasing this football dream, I might as well
do it on the terms that I want to do it and, you know, feel
good and all those kind of things.
So yeah, we just kind of inspired me to do it.
(10:41):
I'm just like, hey, I'm going tolose 125 lbs.
Yeah, if you notice, that's not an easy thing to do.
No, no, I mean it wasn't easy. It definitely wasn't easy.
It was a grinding, it was a hustle, but you know, it just I
just felt like I needed to do it.
I don't know, I'm one of those people.
Like once I set my mind to it and just I just go at it and,
you know, kind of have this false belief in myself that I
(11:03):
can make anything happen. You know, might not be false
because you you making stuff happen.
It's. Kind of wild.
I appreciate it. I appreciate it.
I. Don't know if you like, I don't
know if you know this, but like when people who usually start
playing football in 9th grade don't get scholarships, like
that's not a common thing. Like, you know, football is hard
and people, like, play their whole lives and don't get in,
(11:25):
get anywhere near that. Like, I just thought in that
great. They were like, hey, we want to
give you a scholarship. Yeah.
It's kind of kind of good. I don't know.
It is good. I think, you know, I was just
motivated. You know, it's like kind of, you
know, going back to why I wrote the book, because the book
itself is like loosely based on my own life.
Basically covers this kid. His name is Jalen Pierre.
(11:45):
He's growing up. He's a senior in high school,
kind of growing up, similar circumstances.
Me, you know, dealing with all kinds of things of poverty,
alcoholism, you know, mental health.
And then he also has a little brother.
And then he gets inspired one night, you know, watching TV and
sees a football player who uses his way out.
So then he starts decides, you know, a senior in high school,
he's going to start playing football for the first time.
(12:06):
And, you know, he gets a full ride scholarship doing it.
And he goes to those experiences.
But then also dealing with, you know, dealing with, like I said,
alcoholism and mental health from the household and food
insecurity because you're growing up in poverty.
And then also, you know, the other things you deal with
growing in those situations of, you know, dealing with law
enforcement and gangs and those kind of things.
And of course there's a there's a love story, of course, there's
(12:27):
always a girl, you know, there'salways a girl in all stories.
So there's also a love story in it as well.
And so, but the book, like I said, go back to your original
question. What inspired me is, you know,
after I kind of officially hung up my cleats, my new journalism
and writing is what I always want to do with my life.
But, you know, I'm still kind oflooking for purpose.
So I was like, you know what, let me try to write a book and
just on what I know and then start doing it.
(12:49):
And I'm like, man, this feels like what I was like born to do.
And lo and behold, well, here weare.
Got signed a contract, became Amazon bestseller, and, you
know, just kind of right in the way.
That's dope. How did you even get into
journalism? Like like I said, you don't.
So far you have told me, hey, I played football, I'm a best
selling author and I'm also a journalist.
How does one go from a football player to journalist?
(13:11):
That's what you'll correlate. Yeah, no, I mean, not typically,
but, you know, it's just beat writing and journalism.
Like I grew up loving books and,you know, beat and, and all
writers, you know, like Anthony Bourdain and, you know, the
James Baldwin and these people of the world.
I was just like growing up as a kid, I loved their books and
loved the writing and loved all those kind of things.
So it's kind of inspired and writing in that sense.
(13:32):
I knew I wanted to do that. So I've kind of been a
journalist my whole life. Like I kind of remember being a
kid and I created my own newspaper around the
neighborhood. It was called News for Kids.
And I would go from door to doorand sell, you know, I'd write up
my own pieces and sell out thosekind of things.
So it's kind of just what I always wanted to do and then
leverage my football, you know, career to be able to get a
degree to do it. And then just kind of, you know,
(13:54):
as soon as I hung up the cleats.So I was like, I know I don't
want to do. I'm just kind of been hustling
doing that and been lucky enoughto win some awards doing it.
Yeah. So, So what kind of so those who
are curious, what kind of stories were you writing?
Like what? Let's see about somebody's
award-winning stories. Let's get.
Into that I specifically am AI cover the financial markets.
So traditional asset management is what I do, you know, so I'm
(14:15):
sit down and interviewing, you know, the CE OS and CI OS of
Vanguard and Black Rock and all the large asset managers and,
you know, breaking news on when they're doing things good and
when they're doing things bad and stuff like that.
So basically everything's stock market related, ETFs, mutual
funds, all those kind of things.Everything of that sign is what
I cover on a day-to-day basis. Feels like that's something very
(14:36):
important, especially nowadays, like, you know, almost
essential. Oh yeah, yeah, I love it.
That's why I kind of went into it, because it would have been
easy for me to go into sports reporting just because I had an
experience. But for me, and there's two
reasons why I didn't. One is I have friends that play
in the NFL or play in the NBA, and I feel like I just know too
(14:57):
much about them. Yeah, to.
And I would be able to like, youknow, leverage the information I
know to move myself forward. And that just wouldn't feel
right, you know what I mean? But, you know, I'm also a nerd.
And so, you know, I love nerdingout on these financial markets
and jumping into it and learningall about it and just stuff that
a lot of people don't typically know about, you know what I
mean? But yeah.
(15:17):
Well, let me ask you this. I think, I think in the law, I
think what you did was smart in terms of getting into financial
journalism because as of lately,let's say this last several
years, journalism on almost every scale has been under
attack, under scrutiny, under a big heavy microscope, whether
certain aspects, audiences are telling the truth or not.
(15:39):
I feel like when it comes to financial journalism, it's one
of those few things where numbers don't lie.
You know what I mean? You can't like you can.
You can face numbers all you want to, but the numbers are the
numbers. Exactly.
No. Then that's, that's, you know,
that's the reason I love it too,is because it's, you know, it,
the day starts when the markets are open and then the day closes
(16:00):
when the markets close, you knowwhat I mean?
So you do have a window that youhave to find stories within.
And like you said, numbers don'tlie, you know, but you know, as
a journalist, it is hard still, you know, it's still when you
say that's your, your career. A lot of people are like, oh,
you know, a journalist, those kind of things.
You a lot, you get a lot of, youknow, like push back, but you
know, that's like, as someone, it was me who's like, I'm like I
(16:20):
I meet him when I say like I'm atrue journalist, like nerd, like
I grew up wanting to do this. So it's like, for me, it's kind
of cool to be a young, you know,young man in this industry and
still trying to use, you know, leverage my ethics and my morals
to, you know, show that journalism can still be good
and, you know, it can still do good for, you know, the world
because it's been kind of, you know, under attack for sure
lately. Let me ask you a fun, silly
(16:42):
question. Yeah, as because I think all
kids have it when they at some point who was like that, the
first journalist that you kind of identify with that you liked
as a kid, as a young person. Actually, you know, it was like
I'm from Cali, Cali originally and you know, we, I used to go
to 49ers and Giants games and upin the Bay Area a lot.
And so the first, you know, journalists for me are a lot of
(17:03):
those sports journalists. And I, there was, and
specifically radio for me, radiojournalists.
I remember just being in the carand listening to radio
journalists. It was a guy, he still does it.
It's on KNBR in the Bay Area. His name's Brian Murphy.
And they would do a morning show.
And I just remember hearing that.
And I'm like, man, these people just get paid to talk and write
about sports because at the timethey were just journalists who
(17:25):
were talking mornings and then write stories in the afternoon.
And I was like, man, you can just get paid to like talk about
stuff that you were interested in.
And like, I'm like, this is crazy.
So I would say that's probably the first.
Yeah, I think it's really cool that now we have so many aspects
of journalism. When you have the analysts, you
have the like opinion artists and stuff like you have so many
things and so many fields that you can go in, like you said,
(17:45):
you do financial. I think it's really cool that
you have that many lanes and journalism that you can go into.
And I think what's even more deep about it is on your side of
things with financial side, it doesn't seem like it would get
exciting. But if you really look at
financial stuff in terms of likethe stock markets and it crashes
(18:06):
and it's super low, people losing money and all of a sudden
it goes way up and everybody's looking at a whole bunch of it.
It's a lot that goes into that. No, and it's, I mean, for me, I,
I mean, I still, my mind still gets blown when I'm talking, you
know, to the CE OS, CI OS of these companies like State
Street and Vanguard. And because they can, what
people don't realize is they control everybody's money in the
whole world for the most part. You know, they control trillions
(18:28):
and trillions of dollars and they know what's, you know,
going on in the world before, you know, some politicians know
what's going on just because people need to know what's going
on with their money and things like that.
And so it's crazy, you know, when I sit and have these
conversations and it blows my mind like how much influence
that really goes on. And, you know, these guys just
in women just look like, you know, normal everyday people
(18:50):
that aren't celebrities that, you know, if you weren't a
financial journalist, you would recognize on the street for the
most part. But they how much effect they
actually have on the, you know, greater landscape of the world
is interesting. Let me ask you this because I
think this is really interestingtopic.
Real quick, have there ever beena point in time when you're
doing journalism journalist stuff, you're interviewing
somebody for one of your articles and things like that
(19:12):
and they say something and you're like, oh, that's it.
That is going to be the story. That's going to be the thing
that's kind of going to stick inpeople's heads.
Oh, yeah. I mean, that's that's your
that's your job. And every single interview for
the most part is, you know, looking for those tidbits and
asking you all the right questions to get the right
information to break the news, the break stories.
(19:32):
And, you know, there's no betterfeeling as a journalist,
especially like me, when you work for a another, you know,
more niche publication, it's called with Intelligence.
And you know, you get some of the big dogs of, you know, the
Wall Street Journal, New York Times calling you like, where
did you get this information when you break a story?
So that I'd say that's, it's part of the gig though, is that
kind of thing, interview with people, talking to people and
they say something like, oh, boom.
(19:53):
And then, you know, you type it on that laptop as fast as you
can to get the story to your editor so you can be the first
one to break that news. So.
That's exciting. I feel like there's a little
parallel with that with podcasting and like when you're
interviewing somebody and you see their react when you ask
them questions and they're enjoying themselves, it's kind
of you kind of get that same magical feeling like, oh, I got
(20:14):
it. This is going to be interesting
because you're opening up and you're enjoying the experience.
And I feel like journalism is kind of the same way.
Would you get a story that you're passionate about and
you're kind of like you're deep into it.
Then you get that one thing like, oh, this is it.
This is. Oh, it's.
The one and you're like, man, I can't wait for this to get out.
You know, you just want to have it be out there.
And, and honestly, that's, I think, I think more journalist,
(20:35):
more athletes should become journalists for that reason,
because it's almost very competitive in that sense too,
where you want to be the first one to get to the story, you
know, And so it's I haven't beenable to like been missing, you
know, the competitive aspect of sports since like being done as
much because, you know, it wouldhave to be competitive every day
and there's deadlines you have to meet on top of it.
So it's you know, it's been nicein that sense too.
I'm. Gonna ask you 2 questions out
(20:56):
there. I think it's fun.
The first one is what's 1 story that you like this is going to
hit? And it was like wop wop wop.
On the flip side, what's more story you're like, I don't think
this is going to do great. And then it's like Nope, this
one didn't. Way better than I expected.
Honestly, it's like, so obviously I'm interviewing asset
managers and sometimes, you know, you think some of the big
(21:17):
names like a Black Rock. You do an interview like that,
you're like, oh, this for sure is going to be good.
You're gonna get a lot of information.
And then there's been times where I put out the story and it
hasn't get gotten as much, you know, interest.
And then I interview, you know, these smaller asset managers
that may have just opened a yearago and you know, they're doing
something, you know, normal, butyou know, they're just new.
And then all of a sudden it's, you know, thousands of people
(21:39):
are reading it or engaging with a LinkedIn post on it and stuff
like that. I think, I think it like most
content, you just never know what's actually going to hit and
what doesn't hit. But you know, that's why I just
appreciate the actual journey ofcreating and writing.
So it's like for me, it's like if it hits, if it doesn't, it
doesn't hit. I still got to, you know, get
paid to write, which is like a dream for me, you know?
(21:59):
Well, let's speak of the writing.
What was your process like writing your book?
Honestly, you know, I just won'tget up.
I'm a, I'm a early bird just because of, you know, working
one, being an athlete for so many years.
And then two, I work East Coast hours, even though I'm, I'm
currently in the South. So I have to, I, I have to start
(22:20):
early. And so I just got up at 4:00 AM
every day for about, I want to say like 3 months and just, you
know, I was in, like I said, I, when I write, was writing the
book, I was just in such a flow.It felt like I was meant to do.
So it wasn't really hard to justbust it out.
And I, you know, I think my first draft was like 303 pages
and I think we cut it down to 286 with my publisher and stuff.
(22:42):
But it took me about 3 months and I just 4:00 AM every day and
we just write a chapter and keepgoing and keep going.
So, so so far, you're writing this book, right?
This. Idea what would the kind of just
walk me through that whole concept of the idea of you
coming up with this idea becauseyou're based it loosely off
yourself. How did you come up with that
(23:05):
concept? How did you come up with the
characters and the people, all these people that you know?
Is it like just based on people you know, like how did you come
up with it and what and how? Because like my first thing is
this, a lot of people who want to write books don't know how to
get to stage 1 of that and don'tknow what it takes to get to the
till the from the the part of writing.
(23:26):
So the publishing tours on Amazon.
So how did you get from your writing to Amazon?
Well, first, so the answer first, the story itself.
So the story itself, obviously, like I said, it covers one year,
but it covers, you know, things I've been around, things I've
seen and all the people in it, you know, are loosely based on
(23:48):
people that have been in my life.
But obviously I've lived more than just one year.
So it's just kind of like a culmination of everything in one
year. And obviously there's more to it
in my own life, but it's just loosely based off of it for that
reason. And, and honestly, as far as you
know, develop, the first step for me is like, I always knew I
wanted to write a book. So I just like I, I kind of
always had ideas in my head of what I wanted stories to be and
(24:09):
stuff like that. And this was just like the first
one that I knew I wanted to be my first book because it was
kind of as that chapter of my life was closing itself of its,
I wanted that to be the first, you know, book before I headed
into a next chapter. And then the process itself.
Luckily, like I said, it's what I've always wanted to do.
And I already had experience as a journalist.
(24:30):
So I was like, I know my writingis at least good.
So I didn't deal with, you know,the imposter syndrome that some
people deal with, so to speak, just because I knew like I knew
I could write a good sentence and could write a good
paragraph. And, you know, like I said, I
just wrote it. And then I did my own research
of, you know, looking for publishers to work with.
(24:51):
And I did a bunch of meetings, talked to a bunch of agents, and
then ultimately, you know, foundthe publisher and got the deal
and contract that I wanted and just, yeah, just kind of
hustled, you know, I don't, I'm very, I'm very just, I set my
mind to something, kind of just go after it and, and just nerd
out on it and learn everything Ican to try to make it be as
successful as possible. That's dope.
(25:15):
Let me ask you this. Yeah, yeah.
Who was the first person you letread the book?
First person is my little sisteractually, and actually she we
have tattoos of each other's handwriting.
It says all of it. And then on the in the book is I
have a dedication page that saysall of it as well.
Just because we were growing up and you know, we say we were
(25:37):
having a hard day or something like that.
We'd look at each other, be like, what's wrong?
You know, and say we'd look at each other and be like all of
it, you know. So that's why I let her be the
first one because obviously it's, you know, she knew, she
she knew this part of my life and all the characters and those
kind of things. And I wanted her to realize that
I was dedicating it to her too, and the things that we went
(25:57):
through. So.
So what? What was her first impressions
of it? Did you give her the finished
product? Did you give her like draft 1?
No finished product. Finished product for sure.
I wanted to make sure that I, I was happy with it before I
shared it with anybody else because I'm a bit of a
perfectionist. So I was, you know, wanted to
make sure everything is good andready.
And yes, I mean, as far as I know, she's enjoyed it and loved
(26:21):
it and, you know, loved it. We had the dedicated, dedicated
page to, you know, our little thing in it as well.
So, yeah. So let me ask.
You this about this book? Are there any other inspirations
and things you kind of took fromthe kind of put up with your
story? Because, you know, it's a very
interesting, fascinating story, I think has a lot of layers to
(26:42):
it and feel like this is something that probably could be
on TVI. Appreciate that.
I appreciate that. Yeah.
I mean, like I said, all my inspirations have kind of been
all those other people I mentioned earlier, the
Bourdain's and those kind of things.
But you know, also, oddly enough, you know, like good kid,
Mad City by Kendrick Lamar is also something that this I took
(27:06):
inspiration with, you know, the way that he was a in that in
that album, he's able to, you know, describe like what it's
actually like to grow up in the areas he grew up in, those kind
of things. And you know, the lyrics he used
to that was, you know, use taking inspiration from there.
And I'm a Cali kid, so I'm a bigNipsey guy too.
And, you know, the way that Nipsey would be able to tell
stories and those kind of things.
(27:27):
So, you know, kind of leveraging, you know, the
nerdiness of me of, you know, the true journalists and writers
and taking and learning from them.
But then also, you know, the theCali kid and me and taking
inspiration from, you know, rappers and other artists, you
know, the way that they form their senses to tell stories and
stuff like that. Also, you know, helping me
formulate my story. Since you brought it up, only
(27:49):
because you brought it up, what is it like being a Cali kid now
seeing like what Tyler the Creator's doing, what Kendrick's
doing with all these West Coast rappers are doing?
Well, you know, there was an error because I feel like Cali
was this, it was this era where you had like Dre, Snoop, QNWA,
that was that classic era. Then you had an era where it was
(28:12):
kind of like E40, you know, and these other rappers that weren't
as big as the first era but werestill kind of dope.
Then you had this era. Where was it pop it like it was
before? But you didn't have, like, games
and people like that. And now you kind of have this
almost like renaissance where Kelly artists are back in
people, people out there in the streets getting mustard.
(28:35):
You know, Kendrick is doing his thing.
Yeah. Tyler, the Creator.
It's just so much like California love.
What is it like for you? Just seeing it again.
You know, I love it and you know, it's and especially for
like someone like Kendrick where, you know, I mean,
obviously growing up in Cali, weall saw his come up, you know,
we all seen it, you know, cuz hewas act, he's active.
He was active in the community always growing up, you know, in
(28:57):
those areas of, you know, in Southern California.
So it's like, you know, you know, of these guys.
And I think that's what's rare about Cali is like when you're
from Cali, you get to see the come up of these guys for real.
Because even though Cali's so big and spread out, everybody's
very like, it's kind of like living in any other place like
Texas or Florida and everyone's very like Cali pride, like
that's, you know, when they wantto see it.
(29:18):
So you know, like, I mean, we were listening to Kendrick's
mixtape before Kendrick was likewhat he is now, you know, like
those kind of things. And so it's been cool to see
their come up and you know, you got to love it.
I mean, I'm a Cali kid, even though I'm not living in Cali no
longer myself. It's, you know, I wrap Cali
everywhere I'm at, you know, andit's, I love seeing Cali do
good, whether it's in music, sports, whatever it is, I'm
(29:38):
always cheering on the Cali guysand girls.
So not not to get you in any trouble, but I got to ask, what
was it like for you as a Cali kid hearing the Drake song,
knowing how Kendrick is? It's like, oh, this guy's for
the kid comes. Well, I mean it's.
(29:58):
And I'm a Drake, I'm a Drake andKendrick fan.
But it's like you heard it like,oh, this might not turn out good
for. Hell, I mean, I think most
people forget, like Kendrick's been like destroying people
before. Like even control.
He was on control on Big Sean. People forget about that.
And he was calling out everybodyin the industry the back like
back then. It's a great song.
(30:19):
And I need to think on the song he called out Big Sean too, like
you know what I mean? So like he has and I think he
was just like featuring all the songs.
It wasn't even his. So it's like it's I think, you
know, as soon as I heard it, I was like, I mean, it's I'm
always Cali and you know, and Kendrick's a rapper where like
he's real too, you know what I mean?
Like his he's not fake. It's everything he speaks is
(30:40):
true. So it's like, you knew in the
lyric system, you know, I'm like, man, he's cooking.
You know he's cooking. So when you saw you were like,
oh, this is going to be a. Problem I'm like this, you know
the and like and like I said, the Cali pride like the the
support of it too. You know, it all start stems in
the Cali pride of like we're repping our boy like this is
(31:03):
our, you know, repping set people repping sets.
You know what I mean? Just like.
Let me ask you another fun question about this.
Were you up the night when everything went down?
When Drake dropped his diss song, then Kendrick dropped his
and then another one came out? It was not like insane night.
(31:23):
Oh, insane. And it was just crazy to watch
everyone's reaction. It was just like, oh, oh, you
know, it was like almost like a boxing matcher watching.
And then you saw the knockout punch and you're like, oh, this
is but I don't think anybody knew how long that knockout
punch was going to live on for. You know, I don't think, I don't
think anybody, even Kendrick himself, even Kendrick himself
probably had no clue that not like us was going to turn into
(31:45):
this like cultural phenomenon, you know?
Kind of crazy that happened, youknow?
Yeah, but Cali, Cali love it. You got to love it.
Dope, dope. So let me ask you this.
Put the book out, people can go by the book.
You were to make a movie of thisbook, what soundtrack would you
have to it? It's definitely going to be a
(32:09):
lot of Cali stuff, that's for sure, because that's what I'm
describing in the book. I mean, I like you got to have
some Dom Kennedy because he's he's the sound of like the true
what I'm describing in the book of that true, you know, like
Socal LA type vibe. Definitely got a good kid in mad
city. You got to have on there just
(32:29):
because of, you know, some of the experiences that are in the
book. You know, I think Kendrick talks
about only the album, you know, so there's those correlations of
that. Nipsey, you know, all the old
school heads too. You got to have like a Tupac in
there, a Dre, a Snoop, you know,Nate Dogg regulate, you know,
(32:51):
Warren G, you know, it's got to be the mix of the old school and
the new school because that's I mean, if you grow up in Cali,
you grow up on both, you know, you grow up 11 appreciate it
both. So that's what I would say.
You never thought about becominglike a music journalist when you
were going through your phase and like, I want to be a
journalist. That ain't cross your mind.
Oh, for sure, but it kind of almost similar to, you know,
sports is like I had too many homies that are also rappers or
(33:13):
you're nowhere in the game or producers or those kind of
things that like I don't for me,like being a journalist, you
kind of do have to hustle and bustle and, you know, use
information to get ahead. And I didn't want to have to,
you know, use relationships withfriends and peers.
And, you know, and I also like it being just being my job.
You know, I like when I can justgo turn on an album and enjoy it
and versus, you know, having to pay for it or, you know,
(33:35):
watching sports or playing sports versus, you know, it
having to be a job. So I can, you know, keep my
friends in the industry, friendsand not, you know, business
partners or associates or whatever you want to call it.
But then also I can just enjoy the things that I want to enjoy,
you know, let. Let me ask you because I think
this is since we got on this funtopic and I love.
This. Yeah, yeah.
But. Have you ever been around one of
(33:56):
these guys, these financial guys, and then they like start
talking about Kendrick or some hip hop stuff?
Oh, they you be they. Oh, yeah, they try like because
obviously you see me, I'm covering headed toe and taps and
like, I'm, you know, I'm a Cali kid at heart.
I'm wearing my ones, my dicky pants.
Like I'm not your traditional journalist when I'm going to
talk. And so most of the time they do
end up asking me those kind of questions because they know,
(34:18):
they, you know, they're not, youknow, they're normally not
talking about it, you know, for real.
So. Who is this Kendrick Lamar guy?
And I've had like, you know, go and put him on, like put him on
the old Kendrick like Section 80album and those kind of things.
Like you think what he's puttingout right now is the best.
Like you need to learn about back in the day, Kendrick when
he was just, you know, just a kid rapping, you know, and
(34:38):
growing up in Compton, you know,so definitely for sure.
But it's good, you know, it's good.
I feel like I get to kind of be a, for the these financial guys
a break, you know, from it's having to have such serious
conversation always. I can kind of, you know, talk
about more culture and stuff like that with them as well.
Yeah, and I get from you that you kind of grew up around the
(34:59):
culture a little bit too. So I think that that matters to
you because like I said, you grew up in slums, in the hood,
stuff like that. So.
Yeah, it's, you know how it is. It's you take pride in in people
who grew up in neighborhoods around you and all those things
and. Community and stuff like that
and you kind of get used to it. I feel like you just kind of
it's, it's still in you always. Always, even if.
(35:22):
You're like a guy. I'm a financial journalist.
I still. Yeah.
And I listen. And if I'm being honest, I think
it, you know, it also gives me an advantage in the space I'm in
too because like I said, I'm notyour traditional, you know,
journalist. I'm not, you know, going to, you
know, super, you know, white collar, you know, wearing all
those kind of things. I'm just unapologetic to myself
(35:43):
and I think that's kind of what helped me move and get more
information and get more inside scoops and those kind of things.
So for that reason, you know. Let me ask this then, who has
been your favorite person to theinterview so far?
Favorite person interview. I'm actually was this.
This is funny enough, but this guy last week actually for a
firm called Harbor, they're randomly they got in the call
(36:06):
and he was like, Hey, I went to like I said, I went to Upright
University, which is a small school in Iowa.
He hopped on. He was like, Hey, I was doing
some research on you and I saw that you went to Upper Highway
University. My dad played football there
back in the 50s and this whole and it's like, like I said, it's
a real small school real in the Midwest, like not too many
people. And so I would say that was my
favorite just because it was like, you know, caught me off
(36:28):
guard and I got, you got to hearthat you got to meet his dad
too. He had like brought, he had me
talk to his dad and stuff. So that was just such a cool
experience. You know, for me it was just to
have that my like almost 2 worlds collide in that sense.
That's really cool. Yeah.
That he just kind of looked it up and like y'all just had that
much in common. Yeah, yeah, I've topped my head.
(36:49):
So I can think of as, you know, been my favorite person.
But like I said, it is earlier in the conversation like it is
like it does trip you out when you're talking to the CE OS of,
you know, like the big guys you know.
Companies and your billionaires.Exactly.
And they're like, they're controlling like every person's
money. And it's just like, this is
insane. You know those things and still,
(37:11):
you know, feel sick to you or even like, you know, talking to
people who head up the SEC and those kind of things.
It's still crazy. I agree.
That's kind of that's kind of why that you kind of went from
this path, A football to journalism to author.
(37:33):
Yeah. That's dope.
Though I know, I know it's funnybecause like for me it's all
felt so natural. But like I said, it's just like,
for me, it's like what I wanted,you know, in my head.
But you know, when I talked, I've been doing like the media
tour things since the release ofmy book.
And it's like I I do have to take a step back sometimes and
realize like, man, that is it iskind of crazy transitions I've
made and the things I've accomplished so far and those
(37:54):
kind of things. So yeah.
Yeah, it's it's dope. It's dope that you've built this
legacy for yourself now. And I think it's really cool
that you have, like I said, you had your football career that
you met people on. You have this career that you
have in journalism that you met people on.
And now you have a book career that you're going to touch live
with because people are going toread your book, whether it's
1000, whether it's a million, whether it's 50,000, whether
(38:16):
it's doesn't matter how many people are going to people are
going to read your book, learn about your stories and probably
want to hear more about your stories.
So with me saying that, what is next for you in terms of your
writing career? Yeah, I mean, honestly, I, I
initially, I wrote the book. The book itself ends on a
cliffhanger. So I left it, you know, but it
(38:36):
was a cliffhanger where it's like, you can either end it
there or and, you know, and for a new book, and you mentioned
like people are reading the bookand I've been getting, you know,
letters and emails and InstagramDM messages from people like
I've never even met that. You're asking me like, no, you
can't leave this. We got to know what happens
next, you know, and so I think my next plan is to definitely,
(38:56):
you know, write a second book, you know, on this, the same
character, same story and move forward with that because, you
know, you kind of got to go withwhat the audience wants to.
I was kind of, you know, lookingforward to transitioning and
playing around with some other ideas in my head.
But, you know, I think it it's natural.
That makes the most sense. And because I've gotten, you
know, such a great feedback fromthis one, I think just kind of
(39:18):
keep rolling with this one and go from there.
But like I said, I plan on beingoff for the rest of my life, so
just keep writing the books and,you know, keep going from there.
When is the audiobook coming out?
That is a big aspect to it now. No, it is, it is I I've, you
know, I'm working with a few platforms right now talking to
figure out what I can do to get it get it on audio, audio
(39:38):
platform. Some people are like, oh, we
want you to read it, but you know, it would be easier to go
versus, you know, not having hiring someone else and going
through that process. So you know, business, business
conversations are going on to get it in the audio book form.
But for now just the paperback form is is doing well so.
That's good. That's amazing.
You know, I think you're doing amazing, man.
(40:01):
I think you I think what you're bringing to the platform is
great. I think the fact that you are a
Jack of all trades and it seemedlike a master of many.
That's dope. That's dope.
I appreciate it. I appreciate it, man.
I'm super, super grateful for the conversation too, man.
It's been really great. Like last but not least,
brother, if you can leave these people with who will listen to
(40:23):
you right now guest podcast withone thought, one thing that you
want to leave with, what would you leave?
Them with I would say just don'tquit.
I think that is what I would saybecause I think no matter what
great person you see that have accomplished anything in their
life and you know, they go through so many trials and
(40:45):
tribulations and so many different seasons of life.
But I think what separates the people who are great and
accomplish things they really want is they just don't quit
regardless of what's being thrown at them in life.
You know, whether it's you're dealing with trauma or drama or
whatever it may be, you know, just don't quit and keep chasing
those things once you find what it is that you truly want in
life. And so I would say that and,
(41:07):
and, and embrace the journey that you're on while you're not
quitting. You know, it's not always about
reaching the finish line. It's about just being grateful
and being on the the journey itself.
So yeah. I like it.
Thank you for coming on bro. Let them know where to find you
at. Yeah, like I mentioned,
nickpackauthor.com, you can findthe book.
It's also available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, anywhere else
(41:30):
you get your book. And then my Instagram.
I'm pretty active on there at Nick pack Author try to make it
real simple. But yeah, check out Only way
out. Check out the book.
Check out the book man, go get it everywhere.
Thank you guys for listening. As always Devin Cox friends, we
are out. Peace.
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