PRISON Paperwork Checker | JD Delay
01:12:21 Share

This episode is brought to you by Shopify. Forget the frustration of picking commerce platforms when you switch your business to Shopify, the global commerce platform that supercharges your selling wherever you sell. With Shopify, you'll harness the same intuitive features, trusted apps, and powerful analytics used by the world's leading brands. Sign up today for your $1 per month trial period at shopify.com slash tech, all lowercase. That's shopify.com slash tech.

This episode is brought to you by Experian. Are you paying for subscriptions you don't use but can't find the time or energy to cancel them? Experian could cancel unwanted subscriptions for you, saving you an average of $270 per year and plenty of time. Download the Experian app. Results will vary. Not all subscriptions are eligible. Savings are not guaranteed. Paid membership with connected payment account required.

My name is Ian Bick, and you are tuned in to Locked In with Ian Bick. On this week's episode, I'm bringing back J.D. DeLay to focus on his story after prison and see how he became one of social media's biggest and rising stars. Thank you guys for watching. Appreciate all your support. And make sure you guys like, comment, subscribe, and share. And if you're listening on our audio streaming sites, to give us a review. Enjoy the show, guys.

JD DeLay, welcome back, this time with a shirt on. Your nips aren't staring at me. That was a little bit nerve-wracking. Really, really excited to have you back on the show today. Our first episode, I was a prison gang shot caller. If anyone listening and watching this right now hasn't checked it out, make sure they check it out. It really goes over JD's

you know, beginning to his story, his childhood and how he got in prison. And we spent a lot of time, you know, focusing on the crazy prison stories and the battles with addiction that everyone loves to hear about. Um,

We always joked and talked about that there needed to be a part two, so I'm happy we're doing this part two right now. And your episode was our top episode so far, almost 200,000 plays on YouTube and almost 10,000 downloads on the audio version. So super excited to have you back and kind of focus on a little bit more in depth today about your post-prison experience there.

But yeah, again, JD, thanks for coming on, man. I appreciate it. I'm excited to be back in. And I also appreciate that you let me wear a shirt this time. Now, the crimes, the last crimes, the last set of crimes you committed before you retired from the career criminal life landed you on house arrest. I want to focus on that house arrest aspect for you. What was that like being on house arrest?

Honestly, bro, I still live like I'm on house arrest. My life hasn't changed much. I was able to do a lot of things while on house arrest. I was allowed to go to 12-step meetings. I was allowed to do community outreach in my community. I was allowed to go to the gym and I was allowed to go to work. So those are the main things that I still do. My life has not changed that much. All that really has changed is that I don't have...

weekly check-ins as opposed to monthly check-ins. But house arrest can definitely present a lot of challenges for people if you're not ready to change your life. If that life still calls to you, if you think that you're going to sneak by with getting messed up and that they're not going to catch you, if you think that you're going to be able to divert from your program, it's just a matter of time before you get hemmed up. What were some of the challenges that you faced while on house arrest?

So, for me, I have a really good officer and I went in with the intention of changing my life because I had already been sober for a couple of years and I was working in the recovery field. I was doing a lot in my community. I literally would court liaison for treatment centers to go in and speak before judges on clients' behalves. So, I felt like I was already part of

To a certain extent, the system. So when I went in for my first meeting with my PO, I sat down with her and I said, hey, look, I don't view you as an op. You're not the opposition to me. I view you as an asset. I'm trying to change my life. I'm trying to establish relationships.

being an actual citizen. And that's not something that I've done much of in my life. So, you know, I look forward to working with you, which changed the tone of the relationship with my, my PO for the first time in my life, because I've spent plenty of time on probation. You know, for the first time I had a positive relationship with the PO, she saw my willingness, you know, literally this is the person who holds the keys to your freedom. All

All she has to do is a couple of pages of paperwork and you're going back to prison. Like that's my reality. So setting a proper tone with her started things off correctly. Now, at first I wasn't allowed to go to the gym, which for me is a no-go because the gym is such a part of my recovery, such a part of my mental health. So when I asked her about going to the gym, she said I would need a doctor's note. The only thing she can't override is what a judge says and what a doctor says. So,

I went to a chiropractor in Florida. Chiropractors are licensed MDs. I happen to know a chiropractor and he did an evaluation on me and wrote a note saying that it would be beneficial for me to be able to go to the gym. And she was like, all right, I see what you did there and allowed me to go six days a week. Do you think if you didn't have this mindset to genuinely change that it would have been easy for you to commit crimes or more crimes?

while you were on house arrest? - Well, look, here's the thing. So I went in to recovery with all these fraud charges hanging over my head and then the pandemic hit and everybody's wearing masks everywhere.

You know what I'm saying? Like people are going into banks and cashing checks, wearing masks. Everybody is able to conceal themselves a lot easier. And I just had everything that I had taken from me by the feds. And I don't do broke. Well, like I'll admit like 100%, like I do not live broke. Well, I like to have certain things and I'm accustomed to a certain quality of life. So I,

I had to get a job that was hard and it didn't pay much. And I really had to humble myself. It would have been easy at any point for me to slip back into the criminal lifestyle. I knew that I didn't want to use drugs. I knew that I would be freer in prison sober than I would be on the streets sober.

Slaved out to little bags of substances to like pills or crystal or powder. Like I would be more free behind bars sober than out in the real world slaving.

strung out so I didn't want to do that and I also had done this dance enough times to know that if I'm lying if I'm cheating if I'm committing crimes it's only a matter of time until I'm back out on those substances and that was not a road that I could walk down so it took a lot of discipline and it took changing literally everything about my life

The people that I hung out with, the circles that I was in, my locations, my people, places and things, all of that had to change. But the real change had to come from in here because you're never going to be able to avoid it all.

You know what I'm saying? Like there's, I moved from Oregon to Florida to try to get clean at one point. And I still ended up right back where I, where I started from. So I knew at this point that the change had to come from within. And that was the work that I started looking to do. And that's the work that's kept me in my recovery for almost four years now. Do you think the court system takes a gamble when they stick individuals on house arrest? Because it,

it could turn, it could have turned out with you very differently if you didn't have that mindset. 1000% they took a gamble. Like, so look, man, uh, I'm already a fugitive from the state of Oregon. So I've proved that I got rabbit in my blood and I've proved that I'm smart enough to understand what an extradition radius is. And I've proved that, uh, I was able to stay out of the hands of Oregon who was looking for me for charges for, you know, multiple years. Um,

I got caught with an ID printer. It's clear that I can change my identity at any given time. That's kind of a dangerous thing. I know how to do enough fraud related activities to be able to fund myself. I could have very easily disappeared and they would have had a very hard time finding me. I'm not saying that they wouldn't have, but I'm saying that I could have done a lot of damage to the community and whatever community I slipped into in the interim. And if I was a judge, that would weigh heavily on me.

That would be something that I would have to take into account. But I think that what I did with my turnaround, see, when I got busted, I was on pretrial, then COVID hit. And the judge right before COVID hit gave me my last bond reduction and put me on pretrial again.

under the pretext that I would go to treatment and that I would stay until treatment was completed. And he told me, we'll figure something out if you complete this treatment program, six months intensive treatment program that he wanted me to complete. So then COVID hit and

And it was almost 20 months that the in-person court appearances were shut down in the state of Florida. So I had all of that time to be able to prove myself. And I set out to prove myself to this judge because I knew what laid in the balance was my freedom. So by the time I got back in front of that judge,

I was a recovery coach, a peer support recovery specialist, a smart recovery facilitator. I graduated the six month treatment program. I had become a manager there. I was facilitating groups at an intensive out care treatment facility. And I had two friends.

outreach groups that I had built from the ground up, one that distributed Narcan and one that raised funds for people in early recovery who couldn't afford the mental health services that they needed because those were gaps I saw in my community.

I was the person that the news came to regularly if they needed to talk about the opioid crisis or the overdose epidemic that was happening in our area. So my lawyer was able to wheel out a TV and show the judge multiple times that I had been on the news saying,

advocating for recovery, advocating for positive change in our community. So I set out to prove myself and I really did. I mean, it's great that the world hears stories like this and like any law enforcement or criminal justice employees or anything like that, that are listening to that because it shows that there is success there.

That comes from giving certain leeway in that because there are those bad apples that do ruin it for other people. You hear they're out on bond or they get house arrest and then go commit a new crime. There are people like yourself that are actively trying to change. Now with house arrest, were you on an ankle monitor? What's the process like?

I was not on an ankle monitor at all whatsoever. Florida has a couple different forms of home confinement. One is called community control. That's a lower level. That's what they placed me on. The maximum amount of time that they can give you in the state of Florida is two years on home confinement. They gave me the maximum amount of time, but because I work so much and I'm in the community so much, they didn't,

Give me the ankle bracelet. And I'm really grateful. I didn't get the ankle monitor because I know a lot of my clients that were on the ankle monitor. They were giving a lot of people home confinement during this period of time. The jails were full. They were having a lot of COVID issues. A lot of people were receiving home confinement. If you didn't have a violent crime, there was a high probability you were going to get home confinement because

Um, and the, the technology is just bad. It's bad. Um, there were so many times that,

My clients would have their monitor going off saying they were out of area when they weren't and they'd have to call and they'd be freaked out. It's just a lot of added stress and I was blessed not to have that. No, I was on house arrest for a year after I got out and I had that prehistoric ankle monitor. Luckily, it wasn't the GPS one. It was just the one because the GPS one you have to plug in and charge throughout the day, which some of my friends are on.

But mine was radius activated. Like it would tell you when you're in, it was the frequency one, tell you when you're in, tell you when you're out of your zone. And I could leave, you know, to go to the gym certain hours. I would have to email a schedule, call the probation office like two times a week. It was just like this whole annoying system that wasn't designed for like modern technology. Um,

But the act of wearing the ankle monitor, it was mentally fucking draining. Like I would say even more so it had a mental toll on me more so than prison, prison itself. And there were times like, man, I just wish like I was back at the camp. I felt like I had more freedom in that sense. And being treated like a legit, you know, animal with like a tag on what were some of like the emotionally draining moments for you while on house arrest?

So I had to check in every single week and I had to fill out where I was going to be at for every hour of every day. And there's no real adjusting that unless it's like an unavoidable work situation. Um, but you know, life comes up, life happens. You know what I'm saying? Um,

I didn't like to be out of area at any given moment because I knew the judge had told me straight up that he would bury me if I came back before him with a violation. He would run me wild on my charges, which is, you know, he'd run me for all my charges back to back maximum sentencing. And my exposure on that was huge.

It was huge. So, you know, one day my dog gets loose. I'm in my underwear. I just opened the door for half a second. Dog gets out. I'm literally running down beach side out of area in my underwear, chasing my dog. Who's an idiot. I love him. I love my dog. He's an idiot running through traffic. It's not something where I could go put on pants because this dog is running in and out of like oncoming traffic. And I'm in my underwear running.

Do you know what I would do if I saw some dude maniacally running through traffic in his underwear? I would probably think that something is going on and somebody needed to call the police, right? Like that's what most normal people would do if they saw some dude running down the street in his underwear in the middle of the day. I'm really lucky that didn't happen. I'm really lucky that some lady stopped, got out, helped me wrangle my dog. You know, there were also times where like my kid called me at like,

four in the morning and said, Hey pops, I don't know where I am. I need help. Somebody needs to come get me. And I'm like, where are you? And he's like, I'm really drunk. No. Where are you? I don't know. There's a bunch of fucking sand. And I'm like, are you at the beach? Oh yeah. I'm like, okay, cool. We'll walk up to the street sign and

find out what street you're at and I'll send an Uber and bring you home. And he's like, I can't tell which way is the street. I'm like, it's one way dark and one way light. He's like, Oh yeah. Walk towards the light. You know what I'm saying? And, uh, so he, he's drunk. And sometimes, you know, when people are drunk, they get a little angry. He ends up hanging up on me and I'm like getting ready to go and look for him. And my wife is like, babe, you can't do this. Like, I know you're worried about your kid. You can't leave the house. Um,

Five minutes later, my PO calls me and she's in front of my house and she asked me to come out. You know, I had some, some serious moments where I really had to like judge and balance, uh,

What was going to be respecting my blessing and what wasn't because for me, house arrest was a blessing. And every time that I've disrespected my blessings, the universe has spanked me hard. Like, and I'm done with the tough lessons. I'd rather listen for the subtle whispers than learn the tough lessons because it always is exaggerated and it hurts. Now you met your wife, your current wife on, on house arrest, right?

I met her not while I was on house arrest. I, we got married while I was on house arrest. Um, I met my wife when I was a dude at a sober house with like six months clean, uh, you know, a terrible job, uh, no money to my name, not an apartment. I'm literally living in another room, sharing a room with another dude.

Uh, and, um, you know, I had scraped like six months together and, uh, I was the worst possible bet, the worst bet. And this woman saw something in me. Um, and I immediately gravitated towards her. There was like a connection that we couldn't explain. And, um, I told her right off rip, like we're going to get married. Um, and she was like, yeah, okay, cool. And, uh, that was the first date.

Well, you know, we hadn't even really like, so she lived a couple of towns over and I really couldn't go anywhere and she hadn't come to meet me yet. But I told her like very early on before we'd even met, I'm like, we're going to get married. This is going to happen. And, um, you know, then the first time we met, it was all the sparks, but there was like a connection that we couldn't really explain. Um, did it take some convincing? Yeah.

Not really. It flowed really naturally. So she looked past your past. Absolutely. So my wife had just gotten out of a 15 year abusive marriage. Um, and she, she's never been like substance dependent. She's never had that issue. You know, she has this weird superpower. She's like an X man. She can drink like a shot of whiskey and then not have any more.

I don't understand this. I don't contain that power. If I drink a shot of whiskey, I'm getting the bottle and then I'm going to sniff some weird stuff off a key and then I'm going to be off to the races and no breaks. But she doesn't have that. What she has is an eating disorder that she's in recovery for. So we're both in recovery. So we relate to each other on a profound level of, you know, recovering and healing from our traumas.

Without the liability of if she relapses a little bit in her recovery, is that going to mess me up or vice versa? You know what I'm saying? Like there's not that added risk that we're going to take each other out

If we have a slip up, but we can still hold each other accountable because we understand the premise of recovery. Now in this day and age, it's, it's hard to date just in general. You have fucking dating apps. You have all these things you have. If a girl's talking to one person or a guy's talking to another and they're talking to multiple people, it's even harder if you have a criminal record and you're labeled as that, you know, felon, obviously bad boys are in girls are attracted to the bad boy. But when you really get past that point, like the initial look,

it could be hard to bring someone with a criminal record home to a parent. And when girls are thinking, yeah, the bad boy is great for that one night hookup, but are they looking at these individuals as,

for a long-term relationship. And that's where like the struggles come in. What are, what are some challenges, you know, you think that are going on right now in the dating world with having like a criminal record? I get a lot of like comments and questions from guys saying they're struggling to find their person or, or the timing isn't right or this and that because of their, you know, criminal record. Stop trying to find someone else. Focus on yourself, fix your own house, fix your own house, build yourself up.

to where it's so undeniable that you don't have to answer questions. You know what I'm saying? I spent that six months before I met her

Not watching TV, not messing with social media, not playing video games. My PlayStation stayed on the shelf. I didn't touch the controller. I spent six months intensively trying to figure out why am I fucked up and how do I fix it? How do I bridge that gap between this train wreck of a human being that I've been and the man that I want to be? Because I have always known the man that I wanted to be and I could never fucking achieve it.

And now I'm 40 years old. I'm on pretrial. I might be going to prison. It's now or fucking never. It's sink or swim. So I spent six months just focusing on why I was broken, fixing my broken parts. And then when I was ready, I actually attracted the partner that was right for me.

Like it opened up the space when I cleared out all my bullshit and I healed some of my damage. It opened space for me to find the right person. I think people spend entirely too much time and effort trying to fill their holes with other people and not just becoming the best version of themselves that they can be. That shit will come.

When you're ready. And do you think the universe brought you your wife because you are ready to, you know, give out the love that, you know, you started to love yourself and you could start to reciprocate that to another person? 1000%. And I'm glad that I didn't meet her a day before I did.

Because if I would have met her before I did, I'd have fucked it up. I'd have hurt her. I'd have hurt me. Just like I'd done with every other relationship I've ever been in. I'm glad that this whole social media thing didn't happen before it did. Because I guarantee you I'd have fucked that up too. I mean, that's another aspect to this. It's hard to be out there on social media and then build a relationship with that. You know, like this episode, I told you we're going to get personal. You know, it's not like the glory...

stories about, you know, shot calling or paperwork, this and that. Like I want people to know that are listening. Like what makes JD tick the personal struggles of JD, the personal struggles in general, you know? So a lot of social media stars like yourself, aren't getting like that,

in-depth look they don't people our audience our viewers are only seeing what we put out there but they're not getting like the in-depth thing and i think it's like a it's a struggle for you know i know like someone like me it's a struggle to even like date in general because i'm out there i

I'm there's, you know, all these people looking at me and they're watching my things. And I think they have one view of me like, oh, you get all these girls or you have all these people sliding in and they don't get the chance to kind of like notice the real me. I can't even imagine what that's like for the other people that kind of go through that. But I'm glad you were able to find that person before you got big because it just so it adds another layer of difficulty to that to something that's already difficult to begin with for us.

Absolutely. Absolutely. And, you know, I can imagine that you are going to have to weigh out what anyone who's interested in you from this point on, what their intentions are and what they're really after with you and what they're actually seeing in you. But, you know, like that was a struggle that I had for a long time.

When I was using, because when I was using, you know, I always had money. I always had dope. I always had the cool toys. You know, uh, there were, there were certain things that made it so that I couldn't really trust the people around me or what their intentions were. And I don't see it any differently in the social media world. Um, but I met my partner. I met my wife at an absolute low point where I was humbled, right?

It was humiliating how broke, how, you know, completely down and far out I was materialistically, financially, but also in a really great space, spiritually, emotionally, as far as my well-being and where I was at in the turning point in my life. That was all that I had to offer. So I don't have to question what it is that she wants out of me.

She loves me for the person that I am, the human being that I've become through recovery. What do you say to like the woman or the man that meets an individual like yourself or meet someone like me who, you know, who's getting their lives together is in the rebuilding stage. And that person who hasn't been through our journeys is hesitant to move forward with us because of our past. What do you say to that person? I don't think that person would be right. If they've got hesitations like that,

then they probably don't understand things like, you know, the thing is with your case in like, you are an accidental criminal. Like, so it's hard for me when you lump me and you in the same category, because like, I knew what I was doing. I was dead guilty. I was strung out on drugs. This was 20 years of my bullshit. You know what I'm saying? And I honestly believe that you were just trying to navigate the

the deep end of the pool at 19, 18, 19 years old. You didn't know what you were doing was a crime. So if somebody has hesitations about somebody like you, I would say, fuck that person. To be honest, you know, like everybody makes mistakes. Like you made a mistake. I lived in my bullshit for two decades. So I think it's a completely different spectrum. I don't think you're comparing squares and circles here. Um,

You know, I can't imagine somebody looking at you and going, oh, no, no.

You bought a jet ski. I can't be with you. That just seems stupid to me. I wouldn't even put that person on my radar. Now, what was the conversation like with your wife when you're like, I have to do this house arrest bid? And she was just down for that? Like she rode with you through the whole thing? How'd she help you get through it? So here's the thing is that very early on, we talked and I told her, look, you know, I'm facing some charges and it might be really bad.

And I don't think she understood the full scope and like ramifications of it because I kept telling her I've got this, you know, and in my mind at that point, like I knew it was constructive possession. I knew how to talk my way out of it. I thought that I was going to be able to get off on all of this stuff.

By the same tactics that I'd gotten off of charges before, because I know the laws and I know ways around things and I was willing to lie in court. And it came to a point where my sponsor told me, dude, if you go in the courtroom and you lie to get off and then you try to build a life on that lie, where do you think that's going to end up?

And I was like, bro, like, I mean, there's literally years and years of my life hanging in the balance here. And he said, the consequences don't determine whether the truth is valid or not. You have to go be a man and take accountability for what the fuck you did, or you're going to end up back out there in the fucking gutter. Who do you want to be?

You have to decide right now who you want to be. So I had to go and tell my wife that, you know, this is a lot more serious than I may have led you to believe because I'm going to have to go and I'm going to have to plead guilty.

Like I'm going to have to throw myself at the court's mercy and hope for the best here. And she was like, that's crazy, but I support what you have to do. I'm like, I don't think you understand. Like you should probably break up with me because I'm probably going to prison. And she was like, yeah, I'm not going to do that. Like, I love you and I'll ride it out with you. And so she 100% walked out that entire time with me.

that I was on pretrial with not knowing what the outcome was going to be. And when I went into court, I had several witnesses. I think I had about eight witnesses. A lot of them were for treatment facilities and, you know, different recovery organizations within the community. And my wife spoke and she got up.

With total social anxiety, you know, this is a woman who had just been battered for 15 years and has problems going out in public. But she stood up in the courtroom and told the judge, your honor, I don't know the man that committed those charges. That's not the man that I know today. The man that I know today is sweet and he's gentle and he's kind and he's honest and he takes care of me and he takes care of my kids and we need him.

And if you put him away, you're not putting away the man who committed those crimes. You're putting away a man who fights for his community, who helps people in his community. And she started crying. And I think she was elemental in the judge's decision. I really do. Because here's this beautiful blonde soccer mom, you know what I'm saying? Crying her eyes out, talking about

The effect that I have on her and her life and her kids and the community. And I have no doubts that she would have rode out with me if I would have gone to prison. She had no problem riding out with me through house arrest. You better never let that fucking woman go. Oh, I absolutely will not. Ever. I absolutely will not. And I will say this. She rode out every day of house arrest with me like she was on house arrest, too.

Like she didn't go out. She didn't, you know, she didn't pursue things that I couldn't pursue with her. Um, she really wanted to be able to go in the gym and learn to use the gym equipment. Cause she had done a lot of home workouts, but she had never felt comfortable going to a gym alone. So we started going to the gym every single night and she literally lived like she was on house arrest.

for two years. Now, during your time on house arrest, you decide to jump into social media. What made you decide to do it? So the war in Ukraine happened, and I don't believe anything that I see on the news because I'm not

My IQ is higher than my credit score, so I'm just not going to go there, right? But I heard about TikTok. I'd known about TikTok, and I heard that there were people live broadcasting what was happening in the streets, and you can't fake that. You know what I'm saying? There's actual citizens in the streets filming while people are being shot and bombed, so

I jumped on TikTok and I started watching that because I wanted to see what was actually happening in the world. And then I decided to make a couple of videos. I just wanted to talk about recovery. I wanted to send my message of hope. And I figured that maybe, you know, a few people would see it. Maybe I would reach somebody. Maybe it would give them the motivation that they needed to see this dude who had been where I'd been and been through what I'd been through.

making it and living a different life. Um, well, it started kind of taking off. And then one night I was getting tattooed in my living room. Uh, we were blasting Limp Bizkit. Uh, I'm on house arrest in Daytona beach, uh, drinking a monster energy drink. You know, my tattoo artist is setting up the tattoo, uh,

And I just thought this is the most Florida thing that's ever happened, bro. And so I turned on the camera and I'm like, I said something like, uh, bro, if you're not in Florida on house arrest, drinking monster energy drink, getting tattooed in your living room to live biscuit, where are you at? And I was just like, this is the stupidest thing ever. I'm posting it immediately. My tattoo artist is in the background going, Oh,

right? Super Florida out, bro. Super. And, uh, next thing I know, it's like it like one and a half million views before I blink. That's crazy. And like Fred Durst from Limp Bizkit is commenting on it. Nothing, nowhere. Uh, one of my favorite artists is commenting on it. A little Aaron stitched it. I don't know if you know who little Aaron is. He's fire, bro. He ghost writes for so many relevant artists and his music is so dope. Uh,

And, um, it just took off. And the next thing I know, I'm like, oh, I've got, you know, 280,000 people following me on Tik TOK.

uh cool and you know video after video kept going viral um and one day i made one too many jokes about murking pedos uh i said that you know uh we're two months away from halloween now's a great time to start hanging pedos in your front yard because they'll look like zombie decorations by the time halloween gets here and tiktok was just done with my bullshit

And they permanently banned my account. And I tried appealing it. I hit up Colin. I had made friends with Colin Ray at this point. He hit me up. He's like, I love you. You're dope. I'm like, I love you. And so I'm like, Colin, how do I get my shit back? And he's like, well, here's an email. And if that doesn't work, I just start a new account. And I'm like, all right, fine. So I started my new account. And then a few months later, it was like almost double where that was at. It's just been...

It's just picked up steam. It's, it has a life of its own. And one day, um, you know, Jessica Kent was the first prison creator that I ever saw when I was at that sober house. Um, you know, I was a manager and I was watching like Insta reels one day and I found a video and this girl's like talking about giving birth in prison. And I'm like, Oh bro, that's brutal.

And I was like, she cool, man. Next thing I know, like she's hitting me up on Tik TOK. She's like, I love your content. I don't know why you're still on Tik TOK. Why aren't you on YouTube? You need to be on YouTube. And I'm like, okay, okay. I'll get on YouTube. And she's like, cool. She's like, this is what you do. Just be consistent. Just keep posting post post post, you know, shorts,

full length content. And I'll tell you what to do when you start to get traction. And, um,

Next thing I know, I'm breaking 100K and I've flown out to see you. I've flown out to see her. I've gotten to collaborate with some amazing, amazing creators. It's just taken on a life of its own. So you just went over the high points of your social media journey, which has all happened within the last year. What are some of the low points from your social media journey that the public doesn't see because it's not on social media? Yeah.

Um, you know, there's just like, there's a lot of, I don't take people's comments to heart about me, but like, you know, you, last time I was here, we, we talked about it. Um, I had a kid that died. Uh, one of my boys died in December. And when people say disgusting things about the passing of my child, when people say disgusting things about my friends, um,

It doesn't really bother me if people attack me, bro. I'm a piece of shit. Like, you know what I'm saying? I'm in recovery and I'm working to be better every single day, but like I've got hell of bad karma to pay off. So if people want to tell me I'm a piece of shit, I get it fam. I probably agree. You know what I'm saying? But when people come after the people that I care about, it really pisses me off. Like the dude who made the comment about you the other day and I fired off on him.

Um, that really gets to me other than that. It really, I haven't had any downsides. Um, you know, there's a lot of people that approach me in public and I'm super down with that. Like, I love that when people approach me in public, I get happy as shit, bro. I'm like a puppy dog. I'm like, cool. You know who I am? You want a hug? Like, what's up? Should we take selfies? You know, but some people are a little creepier than others. Like some people, uh, like I had a dude, like just

follow me into a gas station bathroom and stand behind me while I pee without saying anything to me. I wouldn't want to follow you. I'm like looking back at him with my junk in my hand and I'm like, and he just

And like that, he follows me into the store and I literally go and I pick up a glass bottle. I'm just thinking this dude's coming for me. Right. Cause I like, I'm doing the best that I can to be a healed human being, but I still have CPTSD. I've still been through some traumatic stuff and there's still half a gangster lurking in my head. So I've got this glass bottle. I'm ready to crack this dude right in his shit. And he goes, I love your shit, bro. I love your content. And I'm like,

Why didn't you say that in the first place, bro? I like hold up the bottle. I'm like, I was going to smash you in your face. And he's like, Oh, you know what I'm saying? So, uh, you know, I love it when people approach me, but please, uh, don't do it while I'm trying to pee. Can you talk about how draining social media can be? Like there are some days like,

It could be mentally draining to post. And unless you're like a full-time content creator, you don't understand that struggle. How do you get through those days and what's that feeling like for you? Here's the thing for me is like, I truly love what I do because I view each piece of content as,

As a way to reach people and hopefully have a positive effect on their day, whether I'm discouraging them from going to prison, whether I'm giving them a glimpse of hope and recovery, whatever the message underlying might be. I'm excited as shit. Every time I get to sit down and post what gets draining for me about it is when I think that my message is clear and there's people repeatedly that are just not getting it. And it makes me wonder like,

Am I glorifying prison? Does, does it really make people think that like prison is cool when I talk about, you know, like getting stabbed or, uh, you know, having to, you know, wash your clothes in a toilet. Like, is this really, y'all think this is cool? I can't help you with that. I don't know. Seek immediate help. If you really think that I'm glamorizing this shit. Um, the other period of time that was really hard for me was like after losing the kid,

after he passed it was really hard for me to collect my thoughts it was really hard for me to stay positive I'm still struggling with that there's still mornings where I hit the bathroom in the morning and I go in there and I just cry bro you know what I'm saying like I don't think I'm ever fully gonna be healed from from Alan passing and you know there's days where I don't feel like do

doing what I do. But every day I get up and I do what I do. And I get comments from people saying that I've made their day a little bit better. Is that what drives you? Is that what keeps you going? 1000% 1000% bro. Like if you see my DMS, like everybody knows I'm married, so I don't get crazy DMS. I appreciate that. Yeah. 1000% dog. Like I don't get people being disrespectful to my relationship. I'm

uh, or my wife, I think I've been pretty on the table about the fact that like, I don't know how everybody else is married. I'm married, married, you know what I'm saying? And like, I'm a loyal person and I'm an honest person. So, you know, if someone were to disrespect me,

My relationship by trying to pull some sneaky link behind my wife's back, like they're disrespecting me. You're saying that you think that I'm a disloyal piece of shit and I would do that, but I haven't had that happen. My DMS are full of people who are saying, Hey bro, this really helped me.

Like you just did this video and I really relate to this or, you know, like I just got three months clean and it's because you said this or this or this, like those are the types of things that keep me going on the days when I feel empty, bro, because we all have days when we're on an empty tank. You know what I'm saying? And you have to keep refilling yourself. And that's why I say that my, my platform, I don't like to call it a channel because

Because a channel is a very one-sided thing. It's just me spitting at you. I call it a community because on the days when I'm empty, I'll go read my comments and those fill me back up. And it gives me the enthusiasm. It gives me the strength. It gives me the positivity that I need to keep going. My channel is a community of

And I get as much from everybody else in that community as they could ever get from me. They just don't know it. So I keep telling them, no, you can't be a fan, but we can be friends or family. What's up? I'm your new big brother. Come here. That's what I love about our platforms because it's not like the hot model on Instagram. That's only posting herself in a bikini and showing all the highlights. Like our stuff was showing the vulnerable sides to us. We're talking about

Some stuff, we're talking about past traumas. You got on the podcast that first episode talking about how you were abused as a child. You're talking about losing your son and how you're coping with that. We don't see that in a lot of influencers nowadays anymore.

that unless they're going really in depth on like their own podcast or something, or it's in a documentary or a movie, they're just posting the highlights. So I think it's super important when you're building a platform, when you're building a community that you get in, in depth and have those discussions and let people know, like, cause they're going to hurt for you too. If you're hurting your, your community's hurting with you because they've grown to love you as an individual. And it's just like super important in that.

I would take that a step further and say that at least in my case, I have a responsibility to portray an accurate picture because I talk so much about recovery. If I just try to make it my life, a puff piece and like, everything's great all the fucking time. I'm doing a disservice to the people that I'm trying to help because I'm giving them an unrealistic expectation of what life is going to be.

If they follow the road that I'm trying to encourage them to follow, you know what I'm saying? The person who's strung out watching me, if I don't accurately let them know that, yeah, life's still going to suck. You're still going to have bad days. You're still going to go through shit. It's not going to all be roses. Like,

You're still going to have hard times. You're still going to have days where your mental health is fucked. Just taking the drugs away is not going to fix everything. You know what I'm saying? Then I'm literally setting them up for failure with unrealistic expectations. And also like,

There are plenty of people out there shooting the male bravado, bro. If somebody wants to go watch a prison creator, who's just going to talk about, you know, gang banging and stabbing and all that shit. That shit's cool, man. That shit's entertaining. And I'm not knocking the people who do that at all whatsoever. That's not me.

That's not what I'm here to do. I'm here to be transparent. I'm here to tell you the truth. And I'm here to talk about some real shit because the real shit to me is it's, it's the rehabilitation. It's the recovery. It's the daily struggle. It's the mental health. Um, and I'm not dialed bro. You know, I'm more dialed than I was, but I'm a work in progress. And I hope that I'm always a work in progress because the day that I feel like I'm perfect is

I'm probably stagnating and I'm probably headed in the wrong direction. Now, there's a lot of people that follow us that are just getting out of prison or maybe have completed their prison sentences before or even battling a case right now and are going through that process.

And they are interested in following our footsteps of getting on social media, sharing their story. What advice would you give to them? There's room for everybody. Your story gives you power. Your story has the power legitimately to help other people because there's so many people that are going to be able to relate to anybody's story. If you come and you're authentic and you're real with it, you will reach people. You will find your tribe of people who,

that are going to be able to enter into what you're doing. You know what I'm saying? Like, as long as you're being honest, as long as you're being real, and as long as you're coming with the right intention. And it's putting in the work though, too. I mean, it's hard work. It's, it's a grind. I mean, how many times are you posting a day? Cause I know me, like I'm posting four to six times a day on each platform across four or five platforms, no days off.

It's after midnight and I'm responding to comments. Like it's on my mind 24 seven, like building this brand and my platform. Like it's no days off. I couldn't even imagine taking a vacation right now, just like walking away from it. And I'm taking on more clients and I'm doing what I have to do. Like on my side time, I'm Ubering.

I'm doing whatever, literally whatever it takes to keep this dream alive because it's expensive to start something like this. Like when you get to the level that we're producing content at, what would you say to these individuals? Well,

Bro, you know what it is with me too, because like, you know, besides just this podcast and the past podcast, we're friends and I talk to you on an almost daily basis. Um, we have the same type of work ethic with it. You know, I post four to six times a day.

across multiple platforms I'm constantly trying to come up with like full length I do all my own editing you know what I'm saying I do all my own production and everything you have an amazing team and you're hitting an angle that I don't think anyone else is hitting in our genre and that's really awesome but you know for a lot of these people to get a start you don't need all that

Get a decent phone with a decent camera. I recommend iPhones. I started making content in my car. So you don't need to jump right into professional. It's just grabbing that phone and recording. And for so long, I was so afraid to do it. I didn't talk about prison for so long.

And I couldn't fathom like getting in front of my phone, like being on selfie mode because I didn't never really took selfies, you know, and just talking the camera like it. It could be it could be scary. It's a scary thought.

I hated it at first. And really the first videos that I ever made, the first content that I made was long before I had platforms to post it on. It was, uh, I did these recovery videos for dudes that were incarcerated. Um, you know, videos just talking to people about recovery, uh,

That were in jail because I couldn't go into the jail. And there were these people that were taking them in there and playing them for them. And, you know, I didn't get to see how they were received. I didn't know how to gauge, you know, if I was hitting my mark or anything, but I just kept making them. And it wasn't till recently that I posted a couple of them on YouTube and they were wildly well received by people on YouTube. But you don't need all the equipment like Wes Watson got to like over a million subs on YouTube or whatever he's got.

Uh, I'm not sure exactly where he's at, but like a friend of mine is friends with him. And she was like, dude, he still does all his shit on an iPhone. Um, you can just take your phone, learn some simple editing skills. And as long as your message is real, you will reach people. Now, a lot of people see and love and adore when content creators get together, like say me and you to collaborate. Can you explain like what that process is like?

Well, like, are you talking about with me and you? So like... Just in general, like whenever you're getting a collaboration, because we do get a lot of comments saying, collaborate with this person, collaborate with this person. Is it so simple where you could just call them up and say, hey, let's do a video? What's like the process behind that? Like, so do you guys have access to that person's personal phone number? Because...

I don't. Just because I'm a content creator doesn't mean that I do. And I do network pretty well. Like, I know a lot of the people in the game. But, you know, if you want to collaborate with somebody, you have to first be able to contact them. You have to be able to get a hold of them and everything. And me and you connected early on. I saw that video where you were talking about paying for protection.

And I was like, I like this dude, man. You know what I'm saying? This is the type of dude, if I saw him in prison, I would have taken him under my wing and I wouldn't have let anybody fuck with him because he's a good kid, you know? And so I stitched that video and me and you hit it off. But like, you know, for us to collaborate, we have to get together. You know, you have paid for my flights out here twice now.

Uh, you've made sure that I have a place to stay. Um, you know, Jessica Kent did the same thing. She flew me and my wife out to, uh, Chicago for us to be able to do that collaboration. There's, you know, you can do remote interviews, but like,

They never come off quite the same. And I have a lot of people hitting me up right now for remote interviews and everything. And I've only done a few. I'm very selective with them. It has to be something that I really think will...

present correctly because a remote interview done poorly is like a nightmare. Are some creators easier to collaborate with than others? And are there some that you won't collaborate with in general? You don't have to name names, but just overall. So like, I mean, especially, I don't know about all genres, but in our genre, you know, you've got a lot of people that are still involved in some messy shit and

And they may be less reliable. They may be all about getting together and doing something with you one day. And then you don't hear from them for four months. And then they pop up and they're saying the same thing they said four months before. Like, you know, I'm trying to work with people that have a positive message, that have a positive intention and that are trying to put stuff out that is going to help the people who follow them, that look up to them. I hate the term influencer. I

I prefer the term content creator, but like if you are an influencer, what the fuck are you influencing? What type of influence are you having? Cause that's important. That's heavy, man. You have a responsibility to the people that are looking to you and following you as to what you're putting out. Cause if you're leading people down a bad path,

That's fucked up. Now you, I'm glad you said that because you acknowledge that you now have this responsibility with this platform. Has your content changed since when you first started posting because you need to be wary of your responsibility? It has and it hasn't. It is refined a little bit. I have...

You know, I still use some colorful language sometimes, but I have kicked that back a lot. I think that something about telling the prison stories takes me back into a place sometimes where I get excited because I

You know, I'm not going to lie. There's a part of me that I still battle with that gets excited when I tell stories about violence. There's a part of me that gets excited when I talk about stories about high-speed chases. Now, cognitively and in my everyday life, I can't stand that person that I used to be. I can't. But it's really easy for me to get excited when telling those stories. So I have to rein that in. And I have to keep it

Up here and not let it get away from me before I can think about what I'm saying. You know, I don't ever want anything that I say to bring someone down as opposed to bring someone up. You know what I'm saying? What have been some mistakes you've made on social media that you hope others don't make if they're following down your path? Don't engage with the trolls directly. You know, if you have something to say, you know, say it.

But engaging with trolls directly... It encourages them... You know... Somebody who just comes and leaves... Like... Degrading or harmful comments... On somebody else's post... That person is hurting... And they're looking for some sort of attention... And they probably don't understand... The difference between negative and positive attention... So if you give it to them... You're just fueling their fire... To continue going out... And hurting people... You know... Other than that...

I would just say, be really careful what you say on social media in general. Like I haven't made a whole lot of statements on social media that I think would have a negative effect on my future. Because look at me, I'm on here admitting that I was a criminal, admitting that I was a drug addict, talking about my prison experiences. So people already have an understanding of who I used to be. So if somebody comes out and goes,

He used to be a scumbag. Everybody's going to be like, yeah, no shit, bro. But you know, young people, particularly young people should be very wary about what they put out on the internet. The internet is forever kids. And if you're on there being reckless, like it might affect you getting into college. It might affect you getting that job you want. It might affect so much of your life. You really need to be careful what you're putting out into the ether with the internet, because it can absolutely define your,

where you're able to go in the future. Now, I want to talk on the hateful comment aspect because...

It's so important, not only for creators to talk about it, but also for, you know, that middle school student that had one or two comments made about them online or had a photo posted of them and they're contemplating suicide or harming themselves or others because of some troll that, you know, called their face ugly or commented on their body type.

People like you and I get hundreds, if not thousands of hateful comments a week. And when I first got into this, I used to take each comment to heart because I cared a lot about what people were thinking of me. And that was something that was like stuck with me since like high school and schooling. And I quickly developed like really thick skin because if you don't, that shit can consume you. Like the amount of hate that,

That we get. And obviously there's more good than hate. There's a lot more people that are being positive. But when you have hundreds of thousands of followers and you have videos doing millions of views, there's going to be thousands of hateful comments that come with it. And you have to stay like mentally tough through that. And I just hope that that like individuals can see that. Like I get responses from friends and people that I just met. They're like, how do you like, how do you not let that get to you?

And to me, it's like, well, one, that boosts engagement. You need those hater comments to help rise the video. But two, you just have to stay mentally tough. And once you break that barrier of you're not going to let that shit get to you, then your mind becomes unbreakable in that aspect when you're getting that amount of hate. But I also know at the same time, it's not as easy for everyone to just

develop that thick skin like you and I have. There are creators out there that struggle getting those comments, you know, on a daily basis. Looking at it this way,

They came for Elise Myers, bro. They came for Mama Tot. They be talking crazy to Mama Tot, bro. If you talking crazy to Mama Tot, let me see you, bro. Let me catch you at it. I swear to God, that woman's one of the most wholesome people to ever grace Beyonce's internet. And they come crazy at her, talking crazy to her after her baby child died, man. Her kid got killed and they...

They terrorized and harassed Mama Tott. People were even showing up at her house. And that woman is wholesome. That woman is a beam of light in a dark universe. So if they'll come for her, trust and believe it's not about you. It's not about who you are. It's not about you being ugly or you lacking anything. It's about what they're missing on the inside. It's a them issue, 1,000%. There's always going to be haters. Use that shit as a motivator at the end of the day. Now, what would you say to the person that...

is unhappy in their career choice, is just unhappy in general and yearns for something more and wants to do something more, but is too afraid to maybe leave that partner, leave that job, leave whatever it is that is making them unhappy. What would you say to them? What would be your advice for them to take that risk to attempt to get something better? I don't know how many years you have

On this planet, I don't know how many years that I have. Life is too short to settle for less than what you put out into the universe. But a lot of people want more than they earn, more than they put out. You know what I'm saying? Like, I think happiness has more to do with having gratitude for what you have, appreciating what you have than in getting happiness.

financial gains than getting, you know, monetary things. But like, if you have a partner that, that doesn't treat you well, why, why, why waste your time with that? Cut that cord, get out. You know what I'm saying? If you have a job that doesn't appreciate you and it's not fulfilling, you know,

Find another job before you jump. You know what I'm saying? I love Gen Z. I love them, bro. They'll protest at the drop of a hat. You know what I'm saying? You do something to piss Gen Z off, they will show up at your house. They will be protesting. You know, if they don't like a job, bro, they'll sit there on the clock and find another job. Do it. Why do you have loyalty to a job that's not compensating you?

You know what I'm saying? Like definitely get out there and get it, but make sure that you're not chasing something that, uh, make sure that you're not chasing more than you're willing to work for because everybody seems to want more, but you gotta be willing to put in the work. Like I see so many people that feel like they deserve more than what they have, but they're not putting in the work to get themselves there.

Do you ever reflect on your past at all? Like, does it haunt you? Keep it, keep you up at all at night from just thinking about it, thinking about the mistakes, thinking about everything in your life that's brought you to where you're at now. I give that, I give that type of reflection, very minimal amounts of time. I know that it's not productive time that I sit around regretting what I did or agonizing over the damage that I've caused is time and energy that I could spend thinking

helping someone else, advancing myself, being a better person, building a better life for my family, doing work in my community. I think that that's kind of an empty type of space to fill and inhabit. And I think there's a better way for me to spend my time and energy. But are you mindful that it's there to use that as a motivator?

I mean, it's definitely like a mild, mild post in the rear view. You know what I'm saying? But I used to give it way too much energy, bro.

I used to agonize over trying to calculate the damage that I caused my community in Florida, my community in Oregon, my family, the time that I lost, all of the things that I screwed up. And if I focus on that, it's taking my eyes off the goal. Has anyone in your past life tried to reach out to you now that you're like rising on social media? You know, I have the same...

few friends that are tight and close with me that I've had since I was on house arrest that I've had since before when I was on pre-trial unfortunately it turns out that most of my friends that I was doing things with they didn't make it bro I got like one friend in prison one friend in recovery uh for my using days and everybody else is fucking dead Daytona is a graveyard for me

An absolute fucking graveyard. Everybody died from the fentanyl. It came through and it killed everyone. I have been to dozens of celebrations of life for people who all thought that they were just going to do one more.

Or who all thought that they would get one more chance to get back into recovery. Or who all thought that they would change next week and it didn't fucking happen. Does that shit like fuck you up mentally? Like when you think about that? 1000%. Because like I'll sit here and like I see bad shit happen all the time in the news. And I'll think about like traumatic experiences that happen to people. I'll interview people who have traumatic experiences. And literally like...

your life can change in a matter of seconds. And someone always has it worse than what you're going through. And like that shit, just like that screws with you. Like I always think about it. Like I always think I tell the guys, like I always think about like the John Romano story about, you know, how he went to prison, came out and then was brutally attacked. Like,

I don't know. Like that just, it just haunts me. And that wasn't even, that's not even something that happened to me. It's just like that concept of life and fate and everything that happens to each of us. Like it could happen to anyone. Here's the thing, bro, is that like, I know in my heart of hearts that a handful of the people that I have lost in my life were better people than me. And every once in a while, I'm just struck with this feeling like, why the fuck am I still alive? Like,

And this person isn't or this person isn't or this person isn't. It doesn't make sense to me. It doesn't register. I cannot make it compute. The math doesn't math on it. All I know is that for some reason, I'm still here. There's something that I still have to do.

And I'm going to keep moving forward every day in the best way possible. I'm going to be the best version of me that I can be. And I'm going to help as many people as I can possibly help. I'm going to keep refining my message. I'm going to keep shouting my message. I'm going to stay loud about things. Uh, you know, I'm going to speak out against, uh,

you know, I'm going to speak out against sexual assault. I'm going to speak out against racism. I'm going to speak for recovery. I'm going to speak for mental health. I'm going to break down the stigmas against men being open about their feelings and being able to talk about the things that are bothering them because we're losing so many men to suicide in this country right now. I'm going to speak out

Against the injustices that I see. And I'm going to speak about all of the beauty that I see in the world and the ways that people can engage in positive things. And I'm going to try to build a community based on that.

Things that are positive. I mean you found your purpose, you know And that's all anyone can hope to accomplish like finding their purpose I you know, I know I've grown so much in just like the last eight to ten months I was talking to Jesse and did an interview with Jesse he's like the amount of growth and the you're that you're able to tell your story Referring to my story in a different way than where I was at before like

What wakes me up is just like I have this purpose now of finishing what I started. And I feel like this is my redemption story to fix and make up for the past mistakes and get back to even and, you know, financially and just accomplish what everyone thought that I wasn't going to accomplish.

And like, that's like my purpose. And I'm changing people's lives in the process because I'm giving them hope that they can screw up and then come back even stronger and better. And now that I have this message, like nothing can put out that fire. Like that's why I'm training even harder now in the gym. I'm working even harder with the podcast. I'm always coming up with new ideas. Like I'm still continuously like taking that to the next level. And it's because of that purpose.

So I just think that's like super important and not everyone's able to find that like right away. Maybe they find it later on or they're struggling to find it, but just, you know, people need to know that they're gonna get to that point to make it happen. Aside from social media, you have,

a recovery coaching business? I have hardcore recovery coaching. Um, recovery coaching is like a one-on-one form of treatment. And, uh, my personal style of coaching is a little different than most people's. Most people will do like, I'm a alcoholics anonymous recovery coach or a narcotics anonymous recovery coach. Uh, even less people are like, I'm a smart recovery, uh,

recovery coach, I walked all of those pathways. I still have an active sponsor in AA, an active sponsor in NA. I still practice the tools and regularly use everything from smart recovery. I want to be able to walk people through whatever pathway to recovery they identify with and are the most comfortable with. I don't want to tell you what's going to work for you. I want to ask you, what are your goals? Where do you want to get to?

And then we'll figure out how you get there. Each person's recovery program should be individualized to their goals, their needs, their traumas, because none of us are the same. And until we stop trying to just make cookie cutter treatment for substance use disorder, that's not going to fit everybody until we try to stop trying to put people in these molds they don't fit into. We're going to keep losing people.

Um, another big part of it is that I offer personal training, um, because, you know, I only work with male clients personally. I'm not going to develop, um, the type of relationship I develop with people when I'm recovery coaching them with a female. I don't think it's appropriate. I'll find them a female recovery coach if they need help. Um, and

So, you know, a lot of guys for them, when they get into recovery, they've let their bodies go. They don't have really good self-esteem. Their confidence isn't there. You get them in the gym, you get them under some weight, you get them achieving, you get them hitting their goals, both, you know, mind, body and spirit. And they start to like the man that they see in the mirror, right?

physically and emotionally and spiritually and mentally. And that's where the real success comes. You see them start to hit all those goals and that's a holistic picture of recovery and wellness. What's it like to look at them, look into their eyes and see the pain that you once were enduring when you were trying to get clean, when you were battling addiction, that's gotta be, you know, pretty eyeopening and scary because you were sitting in that exact role not too long ago.

It's agonizing because I know the statistics and I don't like to view people as statistics. I say fuck statistics. Statistically, 2% of people are going to make it out long-term, you know, and that's over a really extended period of time. People that are hardcore addicts, people that were like me, the percentage they say is 2%. That's why I have 2% tatted on me. But I don't believe that that's necessary. I think that

What's necessary is finding the treatment that works for you and staying with that treatment until you start to have gaps over the long period of time. But I know looking into people's eyes, if I go and I'm like speaking at a detox or a treatment center or a recovery meeting, I know that statistically speaking, half of those people at least aren't going to be there the next year. They're going to be dead. And we're not even burying people anymore.

We just cremate them. They get a little urn of their ashes. You know, we don't have the resources with how many people are dying from this epidemic every single year to show them and their remains the proper respect. There in major cities, the morgues are so full that they've got FEMA refrigerator trucks outside the morgues filled with bodies. That's how it was for COVID too. Yeah, but way more people are dying from COVID

the overdoses, then we're dying from COVID. And if we can, you know, if individuals can listen to this and we can, you know, change a couple people's lives from listening to this, then...

you know, we're on that pathway to success. We could just change a couple lives every day. If you can just keep reaching those people and building that platform, you know, then we can start to, it's a big puddle to try to dry, but you get there one day at a time and you keep pushing. Absolutely. JD, thanks for coming back on Locked In, man. It's great to have you. We're not going to do a part three with you anytime soon, but when it does happen, you're taking that shirt off again.

All right, man. Well, I'll buy some abs in the meantime. Sounds good to me. Awesome, man. Guys, thank you for tuning in to Locked In with Ian Bick. Appreciate your support so, so, so much. We've been able to grow at a crazy rate and we wouldn't be here without you guys. We'll catch you on next week's episode.