079: How To Thrive Through the Eye of the Storm!

[00:01:02] Hey, what's going on everybody? David Noe with SpeakEasy HR presented by Payroll Partners. We are back for a brand new episode live on LinkedIn and YouTube. And I am thrilled to have this next guest on. It's getting hot. We just got off a holiday weekend, but I've got Marcus Ogden in the house today. How you doing today? What's going on, sir? How are you? Thanks for having me on, David. I appreciate your time today. It'll be a 30 minute episode so that we can fit this in.

[00:01:31] So, definitely want to dive into your topic that you're bringing to SpeakEasy HR. So, for those of you who are new to SpeakEasy HR, my name is David Noe. I'm the host, editor, producer, all of it in one. I've been doing this for about two years. It's been an amazing journey and get to meet people like Marcus and talk to people on all kinds of topics. So, we are, we're going to dive into your topic a little bit, but first, tell me a little about yourself. Your background is very fascinating. You played in the NFL.

[00:02:00] You were in the draft back in the early 2000s. Played with the Jags. Several teams in the NFL. So, go as far back as you want. What do you want people to know about Marcus Ogden? So, David, I was born in Washington, D.C. I went to Howard University where my dad went to school as well. He was also a bison. And it's kind of cool. I talk about like the bison mindset, the bison, like he thrived from the storm. I got that from Howard.

[00:02:27] Even though I didn't know at the time, it's been a huge part of my life and always will be going forward. So, again, you know, got drafted to the National Football League by the Jacksonville Jaguars. My rookie head coach was Jack Del Rio. Jack always talked about in order to be successful, you have to be your own CEO, your own chief executive officer. And Jack really drilled into our heads when I was a rookie in the National Football League.

[00:02:56] And I will never, ever forget it. So, from there, played with the Ravens, the Bills, the Titans. Had a great career. Got out of the NFL. I struggled for a little bit with addiction, gambling, nightlife. Lost my purpose. Lost a sense of direction. Then I got into construction. David built this massively successful construction company. Got to multiple eight figures a year at our height.

[00:03:22] And I ended up losing that company and all that I owned because my ego got bigger, David, than the good part of my soul. I made lots of mistakes. And I ended up losing everything from the monetary perspective. Got to Raleigh. Hit rock bottom. Was fired from two jobs in the same week. I got into speaking in September 2013 while I had my rock bottom moment. And I started speaking at that time.

[00:03:52] And I started, you know, like anybody's at the bottom. And for two and a half years, right, Dave? Not one paid job. Got my first paid job April 2016. Learned. Got coached. Developed. Met some great people. Great coaches. Great mentors. I then ended up meeting Mel Robbins in 2018. I was on her audio book, Kick Ass with Mel.

[00:04:17] And once I got coached by Mel and went to another program called NAFSA, National Athletic Professional Success Academy at Penn State, right, Dave? It turned everything around. So the last, you know, almost, I guess, eight years, we worked for over 90 Fortune 500 companies as a speaker.

[00:04:39] Over 20 Fortune 100, like New York Life, MetLife, you know, Intel, same a few, Home Depot, Amazon. And we're very grateful, very fortunate where we're at. But again, I'm a guy that's been at the top. I'm a guy that's been at the bottom. I've been uncut. I've been unfiltered. And I'm going to be authentic on this interview. Mini Airhorn for that. That's awesome. Thank you for sharing that. I'm so fascinated.

[00:05:09] When we first started talking and having you booked on this and started just learning about your background, I just, hats off to you for everything you've done. And just now sharing that. And so it's awesome, man. So I'm so thrilled to have you on here. So we're going to go through some questions. These are rapid fire questions. These are the five second answers to just kind of get warmed up before we get into your full topic. So one word that describes your mindset during your lowest point.

[00:05:40] Bison. Never, ever quit. What did losing everything teach you about yourself? Humility. How to be more humble. Yeah. What's harder to build? Discipline or belief? Oh, without a doubt, belief. Because discipline, you can start to show yourself stuff over time. But belief is like it takes a lot in your subconscious to truly tap into believing yourself no matter what.

[00:06:10] Discipline, you can see the results and keep going. That other part, man, if you don't see things or the way you want to see them or your view of yourself is distorted, man, it could be hard to build belief in yourself. NFL locker room lesson you still use today. How to be my own CEO from Jack Del Rio. And final one. What does thriving in the storm mean in three words? Never, ever quit. Woo.

[00:06:41] Man. You're on fire. Love it. That is awesome. Well, we are live on LinkedIn and YouTube. For those of you who are watching, thank you for spending part of your Monday with us coming off a holiday weekend. And, you know, just been great to, you know, have this opportunity to have guests on like you. So I'm just very grateful.

[00:07:03] And, you know, this topic that you brought today, you know, when you first told me what this topic was, I was like, you know what? I've not had anybody even remotely close to this topic. I get some people that have similar topics, but this one is so different and it is going to be something that I think everybody listening to this, whether it's live on demand in the future, will listen to and learn from. So hang tight. Just one minute sponsor.

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[00:08:50] We'd love to hear about your situation. See if we would be a good fit for you as a partner. So, Marcus, your top shelf topic, how to thrive through the eye of the storm. I know people outside, we had really bad storms the last couple of weeks here in Kentucky. My family in Michigan lost power for, I think, 12 to 18 hours over the weekend. So everyone's going through storms, weather. But tell me about this.

[00:09:16] You know, your story is one of the most powerful examples of resilience that I've really heard lately. So when you think about the eye of the storm, what was the exact moment everything changed for you? So for me, what happened is it changed when I got a phone call from the bank. It was December 23rd, 2012, Dave.

[00:09:41] The bank called me and they've been meeting for five hours, five long hours to decide that we're going to extend Caden Premier Enterprise, my construction company, more credit to save our company, or go ahead and call it in, take their losses, take one of the charges. They called me and then let us go and make us file a bankruptcy. They called me December 23rd around eight o'clock at night and said, Marcus, we've been meeting for five hours.

[00:10:09] We've decided to shut Caden Premier Enterprises down. And at that moment, I knew it was two days before Christmas. I knew come January 1st, 2013, I was going to lose everything monetarily that I owned, home, cars, cash, you name it. And I ended up moving from Baltimore down to Jacksonville. And that was the start of me getting my life back together.

[00:10:37] And again, that was my complete rock bottom moment. And I realized at that moment that the storm was coming. Here's the crazy thing, Dave. At that time, I literally had no idea how in the world I was going to get out of that storm. I had absolutely no idea. Hey, y'all, I'm Lee Cage Jr.

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[00:11:29] So you went from a multimillion dollar NFL career to losing everything in 90 days. You know what? What was the hardest truth you had to face in that season? That I was the one that put me there. That was so hard for me to face because I was blaming everybody else for the failure of my company, my business partner, the developer, the general contractor, my employees, everybody but Marcus Ogden.

[00:11:57] And what happened is when I had my rock bottom moment in September 2013 here in Raleigh as a custodian, somebody's trash and spoiled rotten nasty disgusting meat Dave got all over me. That made me wake up and say, Marcus, I have to start being more uncut, more unfiltered and be authentic that I was the one that put me here. And I'm going to change this.

[00:12:26] I'm the one that's got to do something about it. So, so most people talk about the success cycles, right? So can you break down your success cycle and you know how it helps people navigate, you know, the adversity? Sure. Great question, Dave. There are three keys to the success cycle. Ambition, drive hard work. Ambition, creating your blueprint. For your life.

[00:12:56] It's like your navigation system, your GPS. It is your framework. What do you want to do? And how do you plan on getting there? Drive, right? Being inspired over motivated. Motivation is short term. It will fade out. Dave, that's how I'm from a $25 million company to the next year bankrupt, broke and out. Because I was only doing it for the money.

[00:13:25] I was driven by motivation. I was driven by external moving factors. I was driven by financial gain. So it burned out and I tapped out. And then hard work. Focus on yourself and not the competition. Yes, know what the competition is doing. But don't spend your entire game focused solely on your competitors, right? Focus on you, right? You got to find that opponent inside of you.

[00:13:56] Look outside. Look internal. If you compete and you find your main opponent is you, you can always keep going to be the best version of you. If you're sitting there looking at your competitor all the time, what they're doing, what they're working on, you're not focusing on you and what you need to work on. So ambition, drive hard work. Ambition is your blueprint. Drive inspiration over motivation, hard work.

[00:14:26] Focus on yourself way more than the competition. So everybody fails, Marcus, at some point. Big, it's small. You know, failure happens. It's just what we are. We're not perfect. Humans are messy and people make bad decisions. So where do you think most people get it wrong about failure and rebuilding? They look at failure as the end all. Failure is one of the greatest lesson teaching items in life.

[00:14:55] Take me. I had a failing moment or a life learning lesson moment when I lost everything monetarily wise after my construction company folded. But who I am today, Dave, I'll never, ever be that person again. I'll never, ever get this massive ego. I'll never, ever look at people as objects to make money. I'll never, ever not value or appreciate our clients.

[00:15:26] I'll never, ever not be grateful or full of gratitude or humility or being humble. Because I know what happens on the other side of the street if you end up getting a big hand, a massive ego, a big attitude. This is saying, right? People, I love this. Do you pray for blessings or do you pray to be the blessing? And I pray to be the blessing. I want to help as many people as possible.

[00:15:52] One of my favorite Zig Ziglar quotes, who was again, Tony Robbins teacher is the more people you help get what they want. You usually end up getting what you want. Again, I also have the privilege of interviewing Dave, James Murray and his wife Melissa on our podcast, Get Authentic with Marcus Ogden. One of my favorite, favorite couples, just amazing people, just full of humility and kindness.

[00:16:21] But what they said, Melissa said, and then James backed up immediately. I love it. He said, he backed her up right away. When they stopped individually thinking of me and start thinking of the we perspective in their marriage, everything just went like this. And that's right. Stop thinking about me and make it we. It's everybody.

[00:16:47] It's your, it's your spouse, your business partner, your friends, your colleagues, make it the we perspective, not the me perspective. Just turn that upside down. Turn the M upside down. Now you got some. So you, you brought up your podcast, Marcus. So you've built a top one global, top, top 1% global podcast in under a year. Remarkable.

[00:17:14] So what did you do differently in storytelling and authenticity to get, get there? I stopped trying to always worry about what others thought. And I would have to guess that I knew which share the real, the law, the vulnerable. And once that happened, right, Dave, it took off. We hit top 1% in under a year. We're in the top half percent.

[00:17:40] Now we're averaging between 250 to as high, sometimes 500,000 per month and climbing. And we're just grateful and people love our show. And what happened is we made it be, sorry, be authentic, be genuine, be you. And that's what our show is about.

[00:18:01] It's great people like Murr and his wife, Melissa, coming on or people that are just in business or entrepreneurs or people that work in construction, day laborers. I don't care who you are. As long as you're going to be authentic, be genuine, be yourself, you fit our mold. And people absolutely are loving our show. For example, right, Dave, Murr and Melissa, they came on our podcast during their vacation.

[00:18:31] They were on vacation, my friend, and they stopped and took 30 minutes of their time to share with our audience their story, their wisdom, and they're both successful. Murr, of course, in Practical Jokers, Melissa has a very successful candle business, and they both were amazing on our show. That's awesome. That is awesome. Well, congrats on that. And I definitely suggest that for anybody that has not seen that.

[00:19:00] So get authentic with Marcus Ogden. Look it up. So now you teach communication, innovation and fundamentals. What is the most overlooked fundamental in business today that you see? People don't know how to communicate clearly with each other. And what happens is people think because they've said something, they've communicated effectively. That's not it.

[00:19:24] I tell people communication is when people you are speaking to can clearly understand you and can apply what you were saying. If you speak to somebody and they can't apply what you said, it's like you never spoke to them at all. And ladies and gentlemen, communication is the foundation of any successful venture. Personal, business, professional, doesn't matter.

[00:19:53] Communication is the conduit that connects us all. If people can't understand you, they can never apply what you are saying or you need them to do. Wow. So you played football growing up. It was a big part of your life. And now it potentially is something that, you know, on a day to day basis is not your full focus. So how did your identity shift? You know, when football was no longer part of your life?

[00:20:21] What I had to do, right? They had to find out who I was. I had to tap into my purpose. And what I found is I was much bigger than just an athlete that could play football inside the hashes. And I got into construction because I was really good at marketing. I was really good at helping people. I wanted to work on building and things of that nature. I went to a program, to the NFL. I learned a lot. So I had to really find my purpose.

[00:20:48] And so once I did that, that's when life got so much more fulfilled. Mm-hmm. So in today's world of AI, disruption and rapid change that we're seeing, what does it actually mean for a leader to thrive through the storm? The leader has to remember, no matter what we're doing with AI, all these other things, everything still needs human element and human touch to be successful. You're going to thrive through a storm.

[00:21:19] You as the individual or the people that you're serving who are part of your organization have to bring in their entire human element perspective to solve problems. AI is a form of intelligence. It's not wisdom. It's not experience. It's not full of stories. It is a form of intelligence, right? It's got, again, we have to give it information.

[00:21:46] So don't forget to bring that human element in what you are doing. That's everything. Absolutely. All right. I will leave you with this question, Marcus. So if you could go back to the version of yourself right before everything changed, what would you tell him in one sentence? Learn to listen to the trusted people in your circle.

[00:22:14] My, he was my estimator and one of my top people, Colin, said, Marcus, if we don't make a change, we will be out of business in the next 90 days. And I remember telling him, Colin, what are we talking about? We're on this big job. We're rolling. We got a new bank line of credit for a million dollars. We got an equipment line. This is probably around like August timeframe.

[00:22:44] Yeah. August, September timeframe. Yeah. So again, I was like, oh, yes. So October. Yeah. Right around September timeframe. I remember telling him this. I'm like, good. Don't worry about it. We're straight. He said, Marcus, we're borrowing from this one job and we're not paying other jobs and everything else we're doing. We're taking all of our money to fund this job and we're sucking everything else dry and we're not taking care of other things and we're falling behind in our billings and we're not going to make it.

[00:23:13] I said, Colin, oh, I got this. Don't you worry about it. Have a great weekend. Go home. I'll see you on Monday. Have a restful weekend. He comes in on Monday. He hands me his two week resignation papers. And that December, right? So that was September. So October, November, that December, we get a phone call from the bank that they're shutting us down. Colin was right on target.

[00:23:42] We called it Dave. In about 90 days, if you don't change, we're done. And I went from a $25 million company. What happened is Dave, I spent between two to $3 million on that project. Bank line, borrowed from a creditor, went to, you know, borrow from other jobs to pay that job. Didn't do all my other billings, you know, fell behind.

[00:24:11] We didn't put mad power on our other projects. I was just solely focused on one darn thing. And that one thing cost me everything. So I would tell my younger self, trust the people in your circle. If you don't, it's going to end up costing you everything. That's incredible. Thanks for sharing all that.

[00:24:39] That was just so interesting to hear. And I just try to imagine myself in those situations that you dealt with and how you overcome them. I mean, just it's incredible. So congratulations on everything you've accomplished and have gotten through. And now you get to help share that with other people and, you know, be authentic in your podcast and get to share your stories. And so thanks for your time today. This has been great, Marcus. I really wish we can stay in touch. You know, don't be a stranger.

[00:25:09] Let me know if I can be a resource to you. Same here. And hopefully we'll talk to you soon, my friend, and have a great rest of your day. You too, my friend. Thanks for having me on. Great show. Great questions. Great insight. And again, I want to thank you for having us. It was just sensational, my friend. All right. Take care. Take care, everybody. We'll be back in two weeks. See you later.