Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
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What I regret the most about losing my brother, for example, wasn't just the loss of him. When I look back now, it's like, oh my God, I lost three years. Three years of my life in sorrow. Yeah.

Welcome to Mick Unplugged, the number one podcast for self-improvement, leadership, and relentless growth. No fluff, no filters, just hard-hitting truths, unstoppable strategies, and the mindset shifts that separate the best from the rest. Ready to break limits? Let's go.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another exciting episode of Make Unplugged. And I'm excited to be in person, in studio with someone that I've looked up to forever. He doesn't know this. He's about to hear it for the first time on how he inspired me to really go deep in my podcast. We're talking to the former head leader. He told me he did everything timeshare. He was the timeshare guru, the ethical leader.

Time sharer. Time sharer. That's a very rare breed. My man, Mr. Beck Lover. Beck, how you doing, brother? Mick, nice to see you, brother. Good to see you, too. Welcome to the Big Apple. Long time coming. What's left of it. Long time coming, man. A couple big bites got taken out of it the last four years, but we're trying to put it back together. We're going to put it back together. I believe in us. God willing. I believe in us, man. So much I want to talk to you about, but I wanted to tell you, man, face-to-face, brother-to-brother,

You're one of the people that inspired me when I started the podcast to really be myself, because if there's anything about you, you're yourself unapologetically. And so I said, wait a second, this is my podcast. I can do what I want, talk about what I want with no repercussion.

And it was after listening to like 10, I binge listened to like 10 of your episodes. And I said, I can be me. It's okay. No one controls me on what I do. This is my voice. And I want to thank you to your face for giving me that. I mean, you sure you didn't? You listen to my episodes lately, you might turn it off and say this guy's out of his mind. But that's why I love you.

That's why I love you. Sometimes we got to be out of our mind. You're talking about the comeback team? Absolutely. When I used to interview? Yeah. We're going to launch season two soon, man. Yeah. I really miss that work. Yeah. You know, speaking of podcasting, right? Yeah. It's what brought me and you here. And when I started that show five years ago, almost six years ago, at the age of 30, what am I, minus seven, so 37 years old, I just walked away from a very lucrative career selling timeshare in New York City. Yeah.

And I wasn't happy in life. I wasn't happy with the work I was doing. I was happy with the money, but I wasn't happy personally. And when I started that show, I really, first of all, I didn't have any experience as a podcaster. I had no experience in production. I knew I could talk because to succeed in sales for 20 years, you got to be able to talk, right? If you can't talk, you're a starving salesperson. So I knew I had the ability to talk. I knew I had the ability to connect with people.

And I said, okay, I know I have the skill that's important for podcasting. The rest of the stuff, I'm going to learn how to do it. And I launched the comeback team with nothing, man, nothing. What gave me a little bit of morale in the beginning was the first season I went from, and this is where sales comes in. I'm telling anyone. I'm looking at the camera. I'm like,

I don't care if you don't want a career in sales. It is a skill you must learn in life. Absolutely. You have to learn. Yeah. Because you're going to have a very mediocre life if you don't. And what do I mean by that? It's not about trying to sell someone and do a hard sale. And it's just really learning how to listen, which I struggle with at times, right? Yeah.

and how to connect with people. And that's really what sales is in essence, right? Listening, understanding, looking for what they need might be on both sides. Like, what do I need from this person? What do they need from me? And is there a way we can connect? I mean, that's sales in essence, right? To not learn this skill of how to ask the right questions, when to ask, when to speak. It's not like if me and you both got the same words in a word bank, right? Let's say that we each got 100 words and they're the same exact 100 words. It's like chess. We both get the same pieces, right?

But how we play them can determine whether we're going to succeed or not or if you're going to make the sale or not or connect or not. Everybody's different. How they might react to words is different. Their humor is different, right? So you could say one thing that 100 people find funny, but this one person takes offense to it. So, you know, when we're communicating, these are things that, you know, a salesperson, I think, with time,

Through baptism and friday. There's a lot of people I pissed off, brother. Yeah. And not intentionally, you know. Especially in timeshifts, a very intimate meeting where you're going back and forth and back and forth. And, you know, people can get angry, man. Yeah. You know, and you're pushing them. It's high pressure. So, you would be foolish not to learn how to at least learn about the process of sales. Yeah. It's life-changing. Wholeheartedly. It really is. Wholeheartedly.

So I started the show and I convinced, I went from begging him to like just come on the show to, he actually ended up co-hosting for like the first season. Right, right. Was Arthur Nascarilla from The Sopranos. You've seen him in a lot of big movies. Copland with Stallone. And he was in Billions, which I love that show, but I don't like how it fizzled out. Yeah. You ever watch, I don't really watch a lot of TV. Yeah. But Billions was a show I love because it kind of brought on the whole New York dynamic, politics, the corruption, the blurring of the lines. Yeah.

I thought it was a very, very well put together show. Yeah. With Bobby Axwell and all that. And then he disappears with the plane, right? Yeah. So Arthur was on a lot of these big shows. And I met him smoking cigars and convinced him to come on. And then he's like, you know, I kind of like this. And then, you know, then 2019, everything closed. Yeah. So nothing else was going on. No. So he stuck around for a while because they weren't shooting. So it was like...

I truly believe this. Your destiny, yeah, there's free will, but some of it's written for you too. Meaning you got to take some steps, man, and then the rest, God opens the doors for you. There you go. But to hear what you're telling me now, I can't even believe that you even...

You got more followers than me, man. How the hell did I inspire you? Hey, but it's the God's honest truth, man. And I meant that from my soul. Were you on Clubhouse? No, not at all. I was a legend on there, so they threw me off. You know, that's the cycle with you, right? You get thrown out of everywhere.

Well, Clubhouse, you know, I think they got theirs, though. You know, I got thrown off not because of what I was saying, because I was allowing people to speak. Correct. And have open conversation and push back what was happening, you know, in 2019, which I did not agree with the way they handled things. And I felt there was a lot of shady things going on, which I think time has proven. If anyone has a half a brain can see that.

Something just wasn't right about the last five years of our lives, whether it's New York. The fact that Governor Cuomo, no offense, I don't know if people support him. My best friend was just with him yesterday. Would even entertain bringing this guy back. And I'm not here to get into politics. I hate it, but I also talk about it, but not on your show.

I can't believe this guy's even running. Did we forget why he stepped down? Like, whatever. And did we forget about, whatever. Leave that on the side. So for me, you know, to hear that come out of your mouth, man, and that's actually what kept me going. And what's weird, Mick, is I went from being a host of my own show that was kind of like no one really knew to now I'm the guest that everybody wants on their show, man, which is crazy. And even my followers were like,

Bro, we don't care about your guests. And I've had some big guests, man. I've had Rachel Ray. I've had Carole Baskin of Tiger King. I'm talking about when the show popped. I was like one of the first interviews she ever did. I've had Havoc of Mob, Deep Legend of Hip Hop. I mean, I love the guy. And I go from doing these interviews to everyone's like, man, we don't care about the guests. We just want to hear you rant. I mean, you want to hear me? Yes. They're like, yeah, we want to hear you, man. You inspire us. I'm like...

And I start getting emails from people. Because my first podcast really was about trying to inspire people to never give up, no matter what you've been through. I've been through a lot of, you know, listen, this is not a competition of who's had a more tragic life, right? Eventually, I don't care who you are. That's coming knocking one day.

You're going to lose something that's irreplaceable. Someone you love. That's only a matter of time. A mom, a dad, a brother, God forbid, a friend, whatever it is. If you're going through a great time in your life, it's only a matter of time before you

the darkness comes, the sadness comes. And sometimes it catches us off guard and a lot of people don't know how to handle it and they don't know how to get back up. And what do they do? They turn towards ways of numbing the pain. It carries over into their work life. So speaking of time show, when I was doing it, it's a very intense job. You're doing two to three presentations a day. You got 90 minutes to convince some person

who doesn't want to be there. - We got the free room to go to the timeshare. - The company has in essence bribed them to come and listen to you tell them why they need to spend between 30 and $120,000 in 90 minutes. Most people don't buy a car in that amount of time. That they want and that they're willing to spend more money on to buy. And what's the mindset of the customer in timeshare?

billboards on the way there. Do you own a timeshare? Are you looking to get rid of it? They put it on the radio. Do you own a timeshare? Are you trying to get out? Yeah, our timeshare sucked. And they had to be bribed, literally, made a really good offer to say, hey, you want to come spend two nights in New York City? We're only going to charge you $150 when the room rate's $700 or $500, but you're going to have to come and listen to Beckford an hour and a half. Okay, and they're coming in very standoffish, close. Listen, I'm just going to tell you right now,

Whatever you say, whatever you do, we ain't buying. Those were the easiest ones. They were like shooting ducks in a barrel. Okay, those clients would come in. I'm telling you, no matter what you say, no matter what you do, we're not buying nothing. I'm like, and I swear to God, Mick Hunt.

I swear to God, I would say, sir. And about 90 minutes when you're signing the paperwork, anybody. Damn, he was good. Right to their face, bro. You told me that I was that person. For those that don't know, I came to see Beck. I was a timeshare. It's like Beck, man, I'm not buying a damn thing, bro. I'm counting down 90 minutes. And Beck said, I'm gonna leave this paper right here. Eventually you're going to come back.

20 years later, I still have a timeshare. Do you? You've seen it in action, huh? Yes, sir. Now, there is a thin line, right? Pitching heat. Yeah. Sizzling too much. Flat out lying. And I've seen it in the industry. And that's why the industry is, it's really not the product's fault. The reason timeshare has such a bad reputation out there is because of all the dishonest salespeople.

Of misrepresenting what the product does just to get a sale. I'm happy in my entire career. And I worked for the big three, brother. I worked for Marriott, Hilton. Very short time period with Wyndham. And I'm happy that in my career that I did there, it wasn't long, about seven years in that world.

Never once did I have someone ever come back to me and say, you lied to us or you did this or a formal complaint. The only letter I ever got in my entire career in timeshare was the guy wanted a two bedroom. And in New York city, the units operated like two bedrooms, but they weren't. And I told them this and they saw it and they still purchase it. But he's like, nah, I changed my mind. It's not Beck's fault. That was the worst letter I ever got in my career. And one of the most high pressure letters.

environments you can be in. And as a salesperson in that world, the stress that a timeshare... This is what breaks a lot of them, brother. You're on a wheel, right? And it's called value per guest. So...

I see X amount of customers a month, I get a rank. And the higher my rank is, the more often I go out. The more often I go out, the more money I can make. So if I'm not closing, eventually I fall off the wheel. I'm dead. I'm done. I'm not earning a living. There's no salary. So it's a very intense process.

So you were considered good if you had like a value per guest. It means every time you shuck a hand, the company is making $3,000 to $4,000. That was considered good. Okay. I was averaging like $7,000 to $10,000, $12,000. Wow. $1,000 every time I shuck a hand. Okay. They didn't want me taking off. Right. But it came from being baptized out of fire also because what happened was I started with like 100 people. And within three months, there's only five of us left. Okay. That's how many people survive in that industry. Yeah. And...

There's a lot of corruption in that game. Really? The managers that control the industry because they have their team in there, their friends. They look at the new guys as expendable. Yeah. So they would do a lot of feeding. So like let's say a tour came in from Beverly Hills.

And then one came in from Bangladesh. It's not the stereotype, but just the amount of money someone's going to have from Bangladesh or Albania where my family comes from compared to Beverly Hills is night and day. So Beverly Hills comes off the elevator. They would give it to the people that were already there long before me.

Didn't matter how good I was. They were all boys. They were all in on it. Yeah. Okay? And they were giving me tours that most people couldn't close. And I got angry. That's like the Albanian in me. I wanted revenge. I said, you think you guys are going to eliminate me? No, I'm going to outsell all of you. Yeah. And that's what I did. Damn, Becca. I became unstoppable. Yes, sir. But the hardest part of my career wasn't that. It's that during that time period, I lost somebody.

So that's where I wanted to go, right? That was very close to. Let's talk about... It was devastating. Let's talk about tragedy and overcoming and what that's like because you still have mouths to feed, right? Like you've still got to go through it. And I think resiliency is one of the superpowers that you have. So let's talk about that, man. Having kids makes you a super person, I think. You know, if you're not putting your kids first as a parent, there's something wrong with you. Yeah.

As down as I was, and I was down, man. So I lost what I call my brother. And there's sick people out there that tried to even attack me publicly saying, he wasn't your brother. He's not your brother. He's your mom's brother.

This guy raised me. My mom's brother was only 10 years older than me. He was like my older brother. He took me everywhere. He was like my mentor. He paid for everything. This guy took me everywhere. He gave me the name Beck Lover. I literally have this name because of him. May he rest in peace. He gave me this name making fun of me.

because I was into hip hop when I was younger and I was rocking the MC Hammer stuff, you know, the big pants. And he sees me, he's like, yo, yo, Beck lover. And I like, I'm like, damn, I like, I swear to God, I was like fifth, sixth grade. I was like, I like the sound of that. So I was like, yeah, I saw some people call me Beck lover. He literally gave me that name and then became a nickname. Wow. And now the world knows me by it. So I was very close to this person and I lost him suddenly in a car accident, right? At the age of, he was 42. I was only 31. Okay. Yeah.

And it was devastating. I had been through horrible things in my life. I lost family in the Kosovo War in 1998. I lost about 28 people. Wow. Okay.

cousins and their cousins. And I spent every summer with them. And it was in the Republic of Kosovo, which at that time was a part of the former Yugoslavia, which erupted into war in the 90s. And you had Bosnia and Croatia and then Kosovo. And I lost a lot of people, man. So I know what it's like to get a phone call and find out 28 people that you love and care for, your family that you see every summer is wiped out. And that's a devastating thing to go through. I was underneath the World Trade Center when it got hit.

At the age of 19, I went to Pace University right here in downtown Manhattan. E-train, last stop, World Trade Center. So I know what it's like to come out thinking the world's, you know, going into the subway and the world's normal. And you come out 15 minutes later and you're like, did I just go through a portal? Like, did I just go through a time warp? Like, where the hell am I? Because it's snowing outside, but it's September. And it's not snow.

And I'm looking up and I see people start jumping off buildings, right? So that's how my day started at the age of 19. So I've seen a few things in my life. But putting that all together, losing Nicky for me was like atomic bomb, one of them in my life. It was the most difficult thing I've had to deal with because of how close and how important he was to me. And I couldn't picture life without this guy anymore because he was so important to me. Yeah.

And helped me shape a lot of my life. He gave me a lot. He's the one that always told me, what are you doing, man? People love you. You're wasting your talent. Why are you working? Go into Hollywood. I said, I only want to be an actor. He's like, dude, you belong in front of a camera. Yeah. What are you doing? People love you. You inspire people. You make them laugh. You make, like, people love you, man. Yeah.

And then, you know, losing him in, it just, it was devastating, brother. You know? So walk us through the steps of moving. So I was at work. Yeah. So, you know, I'm going to work in the morning. I take the ferry into the city. There's traffic in my town. There's never traffic like that. I'm like, what's going on? Somebody died on River Road. I'm like, who the hell dies on River Road? Make the story short. I'm going around my own brother, not even realizing it's him. That's him. Damn. I get to work.

And at this time, I worked for Hilton in the biggest hotel in New York, the Hilton on 54th or whatever it is right here on 6th Avenue. That's where Trump, the first time he won, he held his acceptance speech there. So...

I get up to the penthouse because that's where they would sell the units. And I get up there and then I see all my family calling me at the same time. I'm like, this is not good. Something bad is happening. The fact that my aunts are all calling me, they never even call me. Something's wrong. So I pick up to get to your uncle's house right now. I'm like, what do you mean? Just get to his house now.

I'm like, can you tell me why? They're like, I don't want to tell you over the phone. I'm like, okay. So I already know someone's dead. I'm praying at the time it's my grandmother maybe. But in my heart, I'm like, it's probably him, man. It can't be him. Make the story short, man. I'm like frenzied. I don't know where I'm going. I get downstairs. I'm trying to hail a cab. This is like before Uber really took over. And I make it back.

And, you know, I'm in the cab and then my other cousin calls me and says, hey, man, Nicky's gone. I said, dude, I just went crazy. Punching the roof nuts, the poor cab guy, man. He's like, brother, are you okay? I said, nah, man, I'm not. I said, I'm sorry, man. Just get me to the ferry, man. And I went back home. Years, Nicky. You know, people go through a hard time in life. Yeah. And I understand that.

Sometimes it's weeks. Sometimes it's months. Sometimes it's years. Brother, for you, sister, for you, it might be decades, but you never give up, man. That's it. You can't. And to say that I didn't feel like I had in some ways, I did. I felt like I did. I'm inside of a man cave now.

I was never an introvert. During this time period, I became fully introverted. It's crazy. It's like the complete opposite of who I am. That's how you know something's wrong with Beck. Right. This is a guy who will talk to anybody. Yeah. Anywhere, anytime, and now he doesn't even want to talk. And now, let alone, I got to go sell timeshare. And I used emotion as a weapon in sales. Yeah. I mean, I was lethal with it. And now I'm like, I go from being one of the top sales reps to I'm about to lose my job.

I'm literally 90 days in because you get three months in that. They give you three months to pick up and everyone felt bad. Everyone knew what had happened. They're like, this rock star, it's like, my manager just felt bad. Everyone felt bad for me. And they're like, shit, man, we're going to lose him. We're going to lose Cleo. We're going to lose him. And I'm on my last knees, man. And I remember that time, man. It was...

it was rough bro wow it was rough i couldn't control the emotion yeah so where i would try to get it out of my clients it was mine was coming out too much i'm the one crying on the table yeah i would make them listen and hard sales i'm sorry make them laugh make them cry either way they will buy the problem was i was the one crying so

It was crazy, man. And then, you know, something kind of came over me, man. I heard him. His voice is like, he always told me, never give up. Yeah. Eye of the tiger. He would always say that to me. Eye of the tiger. Nicky. I'm looking at my kids' pictures, and I don't know what happens, brother, but I go on a freaking rampage, bro. I broke, like, a sick record that month. So I'm on, like, final warning about to be fired. So, like, I sold a half a million dollars that month. I made, like, 50 racks. I saved my job. Yeah. Yeah.

And I came back out of the abyss, but I wasn't healed yet. But at least I had gotten back to the point where I could work. There was something therapeutic about work. I think a lot of times when people go through tragedy, they go into isolation. I think that's where you become devastated. It's okay to pull back for a little bit, but for not too long. Because if you do, you can go into a very dark hole. And it might be very hard to come back up. And I know because I kind of did that. So I think having the routine after tragedy...

as hard as it is to go to work and friends, like let your friends talk to you, man. You need people, man. We're social creatures. That isolation destroys us, man. Even these podcasts, like what you're doing right now, there might be one person listening to this right now that changes their life, Mickey. And the impact, you know it. I'm sure you get messages all the time.

To me, that's what kept me going throughout all of this. Always the thought of, I can't give up. So many people before me didn't give up. My family, I saw them after the war. They lost everything. People died. They didn't give up. How am I going to give up over this? How can I be the one that gives up? My grandfather, great-grandfather did 28 years in a communist prison.

He didn't give up. How am I going to give up? Yeah. Like shame on me if I give up because we're going to die anyway. That's it. And when you realize the great equalizer, like, hey, no matter what, we're all going to die. Every single one of us. So wherever they are, I'm going and we might as well go out swinging. And then that kind of breath, you know, and faith. I do have faith in the creator. That breath is kind of what...

What led to all of this, which is why we're here today. That's why I started the Comeback Team. Yeah. So for the listener or viewer right now that's going through something, whether it's tragedy, it could be divorce, it could be loss of job. That's another horrible one too, man. Divorce is devastating. I don't think people understand until they've been through it. It's devastating. Yeah. So for that person that's going through something right now, what's some advice you want to give them? You got to understand, these things are going to happen, man.

And you're not the only one going through them. And so many people have gone through them, are going through them, and will go through them. You're not here forever. You can't let this one or two events dictate the rest of your life. You know, having a purpose for life, man. Like really having a purpose. Like today when I, you know, came into the city...

You can see it in people's faces, man. You know, there's two types of people that wake up in the morning. There's the ones that look miserable. They're like, man, you can see them. They're at the bus stop. They're going to a job that they don't want to go to. Then you have the ones that seem a little bit more alive. And right. Yeah. And to me, I always said, those are the bosses. Those are the workers. Yeah. You know, having a purpose for life. It's not just about money, Mick. For money, I would have stayed working in Timeshift the rest of my life. I made a great living there. Yeah. I was not happy.

So until you find a purpose for your life, and if you can't find it for yourself, then find a purpose for other people, man. Give some meaning to your life, man. So when I said earlier, like my kids. So yeah, I'm going through tragedy and trauma. I'm like, but I put myself first.

My kids need me. I got to get through this. You got to have a why, right? Yeah. Like the greats say, like Les Brown and Eric Thomas. Yeah. You got to have a why. What is your purpose, man? Is it just to make money and then that's it? Like, okay, maybe you don't have kids. Like whose life can you make better? Yeah. Because if you're not, you're being selfish and maybe that's part of the reason why you're having a hard time. That's it.

Find a higher purpose, man. Life is so damn short. Fight for something, man. If you can't fight for yourself, fight for someone else. Exactly. It's kind of always been my approach with this type of stuff. Yeah, and you kind of just went to where I was going to ask you next because I talk about your because, that thing that's deeper than your why, like that real reason.

And it shifts over time, right? So if we were to say today for Beck Lover, man, what's your because? What's that thing that keeps you pushing and going through? So things have really transitioned in the last couple of years. So...

I never went into podcasting to really get political. It was actually the one subject matter that I was kind of avoiding. People would look at my content and I'm like, this guy's full of crap. No. Go look at my first season of my podcast. Then something happened in 2019 where I kind of got galvanized because I didn't like what was going on. And I'm not, just for the record, not Republican or Democrat. I believe it's an illusion.

If I was to be classified, yes, I'm someone that leads towards conservative values, family, and all that stuff, and business, and God, and blah, blah, blah. But I don't believe in ramming it down people's throats. Right. So I end up going on the Danny Jones podcast, huge podcast. Yep. And I'm there to talk about just random stuff. And somehow religion came up. And, you know, I am Caucasian, but I'm of the Muslim faith. Right. So I'm not stereotypically Muslim.

what you would classify and the ignorance that a lot of people have as what a Muslim would look like. They're usually someone with a huge beard and a turban around their head and they talk like this. So I've always, you know, I'm coming from an Albanian background and seeing what my family lived through during the occupation of Kosovo under the brutal Serbian regime under Milosevic.

And just knowing what it's like to see that and learning about it as an American, what happens to the African-American community here. I was always...

like inspired by these people who would push back against that type of evil. You know, as a child, I watched the movie Gandhi like 20 times. You know, the movie Gandhi. And just these social injustices that have existed have always spoken out against, but just never really publicly like on the internet. I went to protest my whole life against the Bosnian war, what was going on with my people and stuff like that, right? So...

Going on these shows, that came out of me. And it just broke the internet, brother. We're talking about billions of views. And I was going through one of the darkest times of my life. Another personal thing that I won't get into. Just because you went through one bad thing doesn't mean it's not going to come back again. Correct. Or something horrible is going to happen. Correct. Because it's just a matter of time, right? Yep.

And, you know, and make the story short, my phone's vibrating one day. I'm at a really low point right now. This is like a few years ago. My phone's going like, I'm like, what the hell's going on? Bro, you're everywhere, bro. What do you mean? Tyrese Gibson just posted you. I'm like, Tyrese? There you go. Baby boy?

Bella hadid this one that one every hour. I'm like what the hell is going on? Like I couldn't believe it myself. Yes went viral Yeah, now it's at the point where I literally go outside and I swear to God I get stopped all the time and I'm like ha I'm a mick hung on more followers than I do man only got 130 thought there's people with my face and my name I swear to God online to have way more followers there

Just using my name as crazy and I'm like I got 30,000 guys got like 180 like on tic-tac 180,000 followers on tic-tac my name all the contents mine. Yeah, why do I leave it up? Cuz he's clearly doing a better a better job of marketing me than I am I swear to God he's a better me than you know, and he was respectful He's like sir. I am making money with your contest a good you're doing better than I am He goes sir

I would like to give you half the money. I said, don't I don't want nothing. I said, the fact that you had respect and that you tagged my name, keep doing what you're doing. But there was one weirdo who was like literally trying to pretend like he's me. Like I gave him like, OK, you could post. But then I seem like my friends were right on me, not knowing that it's not me. Yeah. Same picture. Just a Beck dot lover. Not mine's Beck lover. This is Beck dot lover. Yeah.

They're like, I miss you. He's like, yeah, I miss you too. I said, listen, my man. I said, this is your first warning. I don't mind that you're doing what you're doing. But if you try to impersonate me or act like with people I know or even just people in general, we're going to have a problem. I'm going to strike the page. Okay, brother, I want this. Probably some guy from Pakistan or somewhere. I don't know. Of course. The way I'm picking on the Asians today. Mr. Humanist. But they know I love them.

They know I love them. Beck loves all. Beck loves all. So, yeah, man. You know, that's the whole thing. Starting where we started from the beginning of this. Starting a podcast. Not realizing what was going to happen. Having no experience. I had every reason not to. Family saying, you're stupid. What are you going through? A midlife crisis? Oh, you're making a fool of yourself. My mother, stop already. You're making a fool of us. Yeah. Okay? But you know what you want to do. There it is. We always, I knew this 10 years ago. Yeah.

And what did I do? I'm living my life for everyone else except for me. I know the gift that God gives everyone a gift. Most of us either A, are too stupid to realize what it is. B, too scared to operate on it. Or C, don't believe, man. So basically...

There's someone out there that you're listening to this and you make the best apple pie on earth. And you don't realize that that was the gift. It wasn't to be an amazing basketball player or a public speaker. It's that you literally make the best apple pie in the world. Babe, he's talking about you. Okay. My wife. And how does God tell you this?

Everyone tells you, "Hey, you know, what's her name?" - Marcy. - Marcy. Marcy, I love your apple pie. Please make us one. Marcy, for the holiday, can you make your pie? Hey, Marcy, my teacher is having a bake sale. Could you, you know, could we, can we... And that's your clues, man. That's your gift. - Yeah. - That if only you would realize that, "Hey, this is my gift."

Everyone has a gift. Some people, they use their looks. It is a gift. I think it's a gift and a curse at the same time. But I always knew I had a big mouth. Some of my teachers, if you look it up, it says in my yearbook, most likely to have his own talk show. I swear to God. They knew it in high school. Now imagine, they knew this in high school. And I didn't. And I didn't.

I always do. Yeah. And so do a lot of you. You know what your gift is, but you're too scared to go after it. You don't have to quit your job. There's so many ways to get somewhere. Yeah. You know? I can go with a plane. I can go with a boat. Right? It's the same thing in life. There's more than one way to get to the destination, but so many people just don't want to try, Mick. That's it. They don't want to try, brother. That's it. They don't want to try. They don't want to sacrifice watching soccer or football or whatever that's taking up Xbox. Yeah. Yeah.

And procrastination, man, is such a dream killer. That's my greatest regret now. Looking back at all of it, the tragedy, the success. What I regret the most about losing my brother, for example, wasn't just the loss of him. When I look back now, it's like, oh, my God, I lost three years.

Three years of my life in sorrow. Yeah. Someone gets divorced. It takes them five years to get back up. I get it, man. That heartache is serious to some people, man. Yeah. Some people are just heartless. They don't feel sure. Okay, next. Right. But.

The greatest regret, if you're young and you're listening to Mick's show right now, the greatest regret you will have in this life, I promise you, two, three of them. One, it's not going after it. Taking that risk. Yep. Okay? I've failed so many times, man. I don't even care anymore. I'm like numb to it. I laugh now. I'm like, okay, next. I've lost construction. I've lost plenty of companies in my life. I've also succeeded. But what I'm saying is not taking the risk.

not having the faith, because some of it you're going to have to go on faith. If I would have paid attention to what was happening in the beginning of my podcasting career, me and you would not be sitting here right now today. We would not have met this. Tyler in the other room wouldn't be here today. These relationships, I drove cross country. I met Rachel Ray. I'm going to her house in Italy. She's amazing. Just by knowing, hey, I think I have this gift, I'm going to take the risk. And everyone close to me

It's telling me I'm stupid. You're making a fool of yourself. You're an idiot. You're this, you're that. Meanwhile, I have strangers from all over the world saying, you really changed my life. I mean, what you said to me caught me off guard. But I mean, those types of messages are what kept me going. Even though there was no recognition, no money, nothing. And that's why I've never stopped. And I made a pact. I said, I will never stop. Because to save one life,

is as if you saved the whole world, Mick Hunt. Amen to that. Amen to that, man. So I love that. You got to take risks. You got to have faith. You got to keep going. And I'm going to go back to something you talked about at the beginning. Everybody, regardless of what you do, you've got to develop sell skills, right? Like someone asked me the other day, Mick, what's the greatest sell you've ever made? And I started laughing.

and they expected me to talk about a financial sell. I said, you know what? My kids are adults now. My kids are 27, 24, 23. The greatest sell that I make on a monthly basis

It's having them keep believing in me as their father. That is the greatest sell that I make because it's kids, right? I can tell my kids anything when they're nine, 10 years old, but when they can make their own decisions and have their own thoughts and honestly don't ever have to talk to you again, the fact that they do, that's the best I've ever made is being a great dad. I got three of myself too, man.

And it's difficult, you know, because, I mean, I don't know. I mean, in most households, it's the, Daddy, I love you. Then the hormones start kicking in. Yeah. Some bodily changes start happening. Yeah. Then it's the, I hate you, Dad. Yeah. We've all been there. And then it's the, life is so busy. Mm-hmm. And then it's the, damn, what my dad went through. And damn, what I put him through. Where you have this self-realization. You know, and that, I think, only happens once you become a parent. Yep. Yep.

I became very humble and mortal. I say I became mortal the day I became a father. There it is. I was never scared of anything. I was known as a nightlife guru, always out to four or five in the morning. I was always an amazing networker, by the way. And I think that's another thing that a lot of young people drop the ball on. Even though they have tools that we didn't have, and maybe it's done more online now, but...

knowing how to store those resources, man. You meet these people, you get a business call. Okay, maybe you're nowhere near that industry. This is a little nugget for your audience. This is so important, okay, when it comes to networking. You've seen me. You see, I know everybody. Absolutely. It's so important because you don't realize that, yeah, you're 18, you're 19, you're 20, you're in college. You haven't figured out your life yet. Some people don't figure it out until their 40s, man. I mean, it is what it is. When you meet these people, man, store the information.

Because you don't know. You might need it one day. So how would I do it? Here's a little shortcut. When you meet someone, take the contacts, write in the notes. I met Mick Hunt. Met him on 34th Street. We were at the Penn Bar. We had a drink. He told me he has three kids. They're 26, 27, 28. He has a podcast. He likes to talk about business. Write as much of that transaction you can remember. Now,

10 years from now, someone goes, man, you don't need podcasts? I go, let me check my phone. You go on your database. You hit podcasts. Mick Hunt pops up. Now, you might not have spoken to me. You only met me once. Right. You only met me once. Yeah. But I have the notes. Mick, I don't know if you remember me. My name's Beck. We hung out in New York. How's your son Jimmy doing? Jimmy. Damn, man. This guy must know me. If this guy... Now, Mick's going to feel stupid that he doesn't remember that he met me because I'm naming his wife, his kid. He likes... You still like to drink them...

Tequilas with the T-Dos. Yeah, yeah. How does he remember all this? So now I have proof that we've met before. We've connected. You're going to give me the benefit of the doubt. Absolutely. Storing this information. Don't be scared to talk to people. People are like jigsaw pieces, man. You meet the right one, it changes everything. That's it. And you meet the wrong one, it changes everything. So...

Be careful with what you do, but meet people, man. Talk to people. You got nothing to lose. Most people are not going to bite your head off. Right. You know, stop being scared. Mm-hmm. You know, I love meeting people. I've always loved meeting people, opening up relationships, just getting to, like, I've generally just always enjoyed meeting people. Yeah. Okay, maybe I'm extroverted, but, you know, I don't know. Listen, I think maybe the older you get, too, you know, a lot of people let you down and people just get bitter, but...

I think my greatest achievement is everything I've been through. And I've had more knives rammed in me, Mick, than a kitchen counter. Yes, sir. I swear to God, Mick. And always by people I help the most. Yep. Which is you can't be betrayed by people you don't know. You can't be betrayed by people you do know and that you cared about. That's right. That's why it's called betrayal. The thing I'm the most proud of, Mick, is that after all of that, I'm not bitter.

I kept that part of me, the part that still likes to help people and meet people. Because a lot of times, there's a lot of people that become hermits after that. They've been betrayed so many times, you can't blame them. I don't blame you. You're tired of like, okay, they're going to be like everyone else. Same thing in dating. I've tried with 20 different women, 20 different men. I'm done dating because there's no one good for me.

It's that mentality that limits so many people, not only in their relationships, but in business. I knocked on 20 doors, but try that 21st door, man. That's it. That 22nd door, the law of averages will kick in eventually. It always does. At some point. It might be the last 10 door knocks out of 100. Right. But people don't have the stamina, the drive, or the belief. And that's the world that we live in. The Easter Bunny generation.

That's it. Words of wisdom. My guy, Beck Lover, the guy that inspired me to truly just be me on the podcast, Mike Beck. Brother, I love you more than you know, man. Well, Mick, you know, I'm happy to have met you, man. Let's do dinner sometime and...

Where are you living at? I'm in South Carolina. But I'm up here a lot. I'm in the city quite a bit. Is Pedro looking for you? South of the border? Nah. You know what I'm talking about, right? I know. Those signs were... Everywhere. From beginning in D.C. When we dropped in, my dad was the kind who'd make us drive to Orlando. Everywhere, yeah. From New York to Orlando. Yeah.

I must say I enjoyed traveling through South Carolina. Those signs were very entertaining. Pedro was waiting for you. It's south of the border. I'm like, that. This Pedro guy is bigger than Mickey, man. In my mind as a kid, I'm seeing all the movies. But that's what you think. You're on the road for Disney World and you're like, south of the border. I made us spend one night there, man. That was not a fun night. Yeah. And he's not talking about Mexico, by the way. It's like a tourist trap. Literally, once you get past the North Carolina line into South Carolina, there's a spot called South of the Border, which

It's kind of fun. It's an amusement park. It's a fun little place. Yeah. They sell souvenirs and gifts and fireworks. And it's basically like a tourist trap, brother. No, it is. It's the greatest one ever. Yeah. It's not like. It is. It's the greatest one ever. South Carolinians never go there. Hey, everyone. Check out Mick Unplugged. It's your boy Beck Lover. And if you're looking for me, you can find me at B-E-K. That's B like boy, E like Edward, K like Kimberly. Beck Lover.

There it is. And for all the listeners and viewers, remember, your because is your superpower. Go unleash it. Love you, brother. That was really the truth, man? Yeah. Damn. I wouldn't lie. That's crazy.

Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Mick Unplugged. If today hits you hard, then imagine what's next. Be sure to subscribe, rate, and share this with someone who needs it. And most of all, make a plan and take action because the next level is already waiting for you. Have a great day.

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