Damon West, motivational speaker, explains to McElroy & Cubelic why you need to be a coffee bean when it comes to life
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All right, welcome back in. McElroy and Kubelik in the morning. Get to Damon West, keynote speaker, one of the most sought-after motivational speakers in America right now in Birmingham for the next few days and going to join us in just a few moments. First, I want to tell you about game day men's health. You guys have heard me talking about maybe lacking some energy. If you're on edge just a little bit, if you're not getting good sleep,

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provide different medications to be able to help you out there. Also, listen, this is a laid-back, no-stress environment, locker room field. Just head in there today and see what they can do for you. Or better yet, go to gamedaymenshealth.com, schedule that consultation that is free, and see how Game Day Men's Health can help you feel better. Let's go to the Buyer's Right hotline now. Welcome in Damon West, motivational speaker, author of Be a Coffee Bean. Damon, I want to start with just – let's start with that. Be a Coffee Bean, your background –

How we got to that point, how did you get to where you would even be in a position to become a motivational speaker? Man, Cole, first of all, thanks for having me on, brother. It's so exciting to be here with you this morning. And yeah, so let me just jump right in. It's kind of a crazy story because I grew up in this little town called Port Arthur, Texas, down right where Louisiana and Texas meet on the Gulf Coast.

Blue Carpet Town, good family, two-parent home, had everything going for me, star quarterback in high school, you know, and Friday Night Lights in Texas. It's a big deal. It's a real thing. Scholarship to play football at the University of North Texas. By the time I'm 20, I'm the starting quarterback for a Division I team in America.

But I came up to a fork in the road, Cole, and that was when we were playing Texas A&M in 96. I separated my shoulder and my career was over. And at this fork in the road in life, I took a wrong turn. It was around drugs. I got into, you know, the hardcore stuff, the cocaine, the ecstasy, the pills, because I couldn't deal with the disappointments of life.

But I went on to graduate college. I was a functional addict. Go off to work in the United States Congress. I worked for a guy running for president of the United States. And then in 2004, I was back in Dallas as a stockbroker for UBS, United Bank of Switzerland.

It was at that job as a broker that another broker introduced me to meth one day when he saw me sleeping at work. And then the wheels came off, Cole. Meth was a monster. I became instantly addicted. And, you know, within 18 months of that first hit, I was living on the streets of Dallas. I was homeless.

And then I became the quarterback all over again, Cole. This time it was a very bad team. This time I became the ringleader of a bunch of other meth addicts who were breaking into houses and committing crimes all over Dallas to feed their insatiable meth habits. But these are property crimes, Cole. I mean, so no one was ever physically hurt, thank God. You know, we never saw any of our victims. But I realized that I didn't just steal my victims' property. I stole their sense of security. And I'll tell you why I realized this.

July 30, 2008, Dallas SWAT takes me down in this dramatic SWAT team raid. I mean, there's guns everywhere and flashbang grenades going off. And a year after that arrest, it was 2009, May 18, 2009. I can tell you the date, Cole. A jury in Dallas, Texas, set to a six-day criminal trial, and the trial was for engaging organized criminal activity. It's a RICO case, and I'm the ringleader. I'm the boss, the quarterback.

And the jury sentenced me to life in prison that day on May 18, 2009. So there I was, Cole, in the holding facility in Dallas County Jail, getting ready to be shipped off to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, the Texas State Penitentiary System, to serve a life sentence in prison. And I run into this guy named Muhammad, this older black man, had been in and out of prison all of his life. But he shares with me one day the story of the coffee bean. He said, this is how you're going to survive prison and come back in some way your parents recognized you.

He told me, imagine life, prison, as a pot of boiling water. He said, you're going to have three choices how to respond to this pot of boiling water. He said, you can be like a carrot that becomes soft in the boiling water, an egg that becomes hardened by the boiling water. Or you can choose to be like a coffee bean, which changes the pot of boiling water into a pot of coffee. And he told me the coffee bean had the power to change the water because the power was inside the coffee bean.

Just like the power is inside of you. And Cole, I remember how I felt when I heard the story of the coffee bean because it crystallized my three choices, right? You can let life beat you down like the carrot. You can let it make you mad and angry like the egg, or you can choose to change the environment around you with the power inside you. It was the ultimate message that our world is created from the inside out, not the outside in.

So I took that message with me to prison, Cole, and I did. I transformed myself. And it would be a familiar place in prison that ended up earning my respect and eventually fitting in. It was on the rec yard, playing sports, right? So much in life comes back to sports, especially in my life it did. And after I'd earned my respect and started establishing myself inside that prison, I started becoming that coffee bean.

And the transformation, Cole, was so complete that in 2015, the Texas Parole Board comes to visit me. This guy that's living on one of the toughest prisons there is. I lived in a level five super max prison. I lived with the lifers, Cole, the hardest part of a prisoner is, one of the most dangerous prisons there is. And after seven years and three months, the parole board wanted to know if I could change the world from the outside the way I changed it on the inside. And they let me go on parole immediately.

Now, I wasn't free, and I'm not a free man to this day. I mean, I'm on parole until the year 2073. So I got a little more time left on parole in Texas.

But I'm a coffee bean, right? So it's like I'm making my way out in the world when I get out of prison in 2015. I'm trying to find places to go speak and share my story of the coffee bean because I know it's a powerful, transformative story, but there's not a lot of places for me to speak, Cole. I mean, let's be honest. If you go knock on the door of a high school and say, I just got out of prison, I want to talk to your kids, right? I mean, they'll chase you down the street. They chase me down the street.

In my parents' spare bedroom, which is where I lived the first two years I was out of prison, there was a mirror in there. For two years, Cole, I practiced my presentation in front of that mirror. I got in my reps. Another lesson I learned from sports, anything you want to be good at, you got to work hard at. You got to get in your reps. And so I got in my reps. Every day in front of that mirror, I practiced my presentation.

Getting myself ready for what I felt like was going to be the right opportunity. And, Cole, I really felt like the right opportunity for me to share my story was going to come in the world of college football because I played Division I college football, right? And I know I can get through to these athletes, but the problem is it's been 20 years since I took a snap. This is 2017, Cole. These coaches don't know me. I don't know them.

There is one football operations coach in college football that has brought me in at this point in 2017, a guy named Randy Ross. And I think Randy Ross plays a role in your story too, doesn't he? He does. He recruited me to Alabama, actually. He's my main recruiter at Alabama. I've known Randy a long time. Randy's a great guy, man. Randy was the first ops guy in America that believed in me, and he would call around and see if he could get coaches to bring me in. But I couldn't find a head coach that really just bought into me from one of these big schools. But all that changed eventually.

A buddy of mine on January 12, 2017, I've been out of prison for 14 months at this point. I live in Beaumont, Texas. My buddy is in Houston when he calls me. He works for KHOU. He's a photographer there. He calls me. He says, get down to Houston right now. He said, it's the Bear Bryant Coach of the Year Award. They're going to name the best college football coach in America. He said, the eight best coaches in America are in this room right now, the Toyota Center, Damon. I've got an extra press pass. I'll sneak you in.

So, man, I drive the 90 miles from Beaumont to Houston, Cole. I'm like practicing my elevator pitch of what I'm going to tell these coaches when I see them that night. And he sneaks me in the back door to the Oda Center, hands me a press pass. There I am, Cole. And these coaches are there, man. USC, Wisconsin, Penn State, P.J. Flex, they're all in the room. And I'm going up to every one of these coaches, and I'm shaking their hand, and I'm giving them a picture of why they should bring me to talk to their team.

And every single coach I meet that night, Cole, slammed the door in my face. They all told me no. It was a bloodbath, man. In one hour, I've been told no seven times by the eight coaches in the room. Cole, that's a no every eight minutes. Now I'm in the corner of Toyota Center. I'm licking my wounds. I'm feeling sorry for myself. And the voice in my head is screaming at me, go home. What are you doing here, Damon? You know, the voice in my head is calling me an imposter, Cole.

But I'm going to tell you something. A long time ago, I quit listening to myself.

because I realized at one point that the voice in my head was fear talking to me sometimes. And Cole, you don't want to listen to fear because fear is a liar. Fear tells you something's not true. So instead of listening to myself, I talk to myself. And that's what I'm doing that night in Houston, Texas. I'm pumping myself back up. I'm like, Damon, no, man, you survived prison. This isn't prison. And that last coach, he's going to have to tell you no to your face before you go home. But Cole, the last coach, it's

the hardest guy to get to in the room. Everybody wants a piece of this guy's time because this guy's team just beat Alabama, just knocked off Alabama two nights before for the national championship. Everybody's in line to talk to this guy.

But I'm relentless, and I'm the only one who's going to go after my dream the way I want to. So I stalked Dabo Sweeney around this room. And, Cole, let me really paint the scene for your listeners here, man. I look like a crazy person, man. I'm hiding behind fake plants trying to jump out in Dabo. I'm pushing people out of the way. I'm weaving in other people. And Dabo, I'm sure Dabo has seen me, and security has seen me too, but I finally get in front of Dabo.

I give him my best stuff for about 60 seconds, and I come up for air. And, like, Cole, I'm talking, like, 90 miles an hour to Dabo, and he's just – he's a little, like, wowed. He's like, man, hey, look. He's like, dude, you got a card on you, man. I gave him my card, and he took it from me, and he said, I'll check you out. He was gone. And, Cole, to be honest with you, man, it was a no. I mean, it looked like a no, felt like a no, but I felt good about that no because I left it all on the field that night. And that was one of the lessons I learned from sports. Leave it on the field. Give it your best effort.

Cole, I went home that night and slept like a baby. Forgot about that night. Four months later, the director of football operations at Clemson emails me. A guy named Mike Dooley. Mike Dooley's email said this. He said, hey, Damon, Coach Sweeney met you at an awards show in Houston. He'd love to have you come talk to the team. He said, do you have August 1st open?

Cool. I got every first open, man. I got nothing going on in 2017, brother. So August 1st, 2017, I get to go speak to the Clemson Tigers, the defending national champs of college football. And when I get done with my presentation that night, Dabo is in my face now. And I know y'all seen Dabo on TV, man. He's a very high energy guy, but he is as advertised and he is the same way in person.

And he's in my face that night. He's like, Damon, that's the most amazing story I've ever heard. I've never seen my players respond like that to a speaker story. He said, have you been to Alabama to talk to their football team? And I'm like, no, Davo. I've been to Clemson, but I haven't been anywhere like that, man. He said, well, I just texted Nick Saban from the back of the room. We'll see what happens tomorrow when this thing. The next day,

I land in Houston for my trip to Clemson. I turn my cell phone on. There's a voicemail and a text message from the director of football operations at the University of Alabama, a guy named Ellis Ponder, man. And I think you know Ellis as well, too. I do. Great guy. Great guy. Unbelievable guy. I love Ellis, man. But Ellis' message was like, hey, man, Dabo called Coach Saban. Coach Saban can't wait to hear your story. How does August 21st, 7.30 p.m. work for your calendar? Yeah.

I'm like, pretty good, man. I'll walk to Tuscaloosa if I have to to get there for that one. So just like that, Cole, Dabo Sweeney kicks open the biggest door to college football, and Dabo doesn't stop there, man. Kirby Smart calls, Lincoln Riley, Chip Kelly, Lane Kiffin, Ryan Day. I mean, every coach in America is bringing me in at this point, but the real big event happens one year after that presentation at Clemson. It was August of 2018.

i got a call out of the blue and it was from a guy named john gordon now cole john gordon is one of the biggest motivational speakers and authors in america this is the energy bus guy man this is this guy has spoken to more college and pro teams than anybody on the planet and i followed john on twitter for every day for my inspiration and i'm like john i know who you are how do you know who i am he said dabble is winning he said i just got done speaking to clemson's football team damon and dabble brought me office for 30 minutes to tell me your whole story

And John said, Damon, the world needs the coffee bean message, Damon. Let's deliver this message to the world. He said, will you write a book with me? We'll call it The Coffee Bean. And Cole, in the summer of 2019, exactly 10 years after our first year of the story, The Coffee Bean, in a jail cell in Dallas County, the book The Coffee Bean comes out.

Took the entire world by storm. It started in America. Best seller here for like six weeks. Gets a global publishing deal. Gets reprinted in every language in the world. And in 2020, a global pandemic hits. The whole world becomes a pot of boiling water. And so many people came to the coffee bean for their message, getting them through to it. And I can't even explain to you the trajectory of my life, but...

Everything in my life goes back to that one night in Houston, Texas, January 12, 2017, when I got those seven no's that night in the corner of the Toyota Center at the Bear Bryant Coach of the Year Award. But I stuck around. I fought through the negativity in my mind, the voice in my head of doubt, when I

When I stuck around to get that last no, which ended up being the biggest yes in my life with Dabo Sweeney, man. Dabo Sweeney changed my entire life. And, you know, without Dabo and college football, I wouldn't be where I am today. That's why I'm so excited every August, Cole. I get to go back to all these college football programs. I've got, you know, I've got a bunch of them coming up. Penn State, Oregon, Pittsburgh, North Carolina, South Carolina, Michigan.

Houston, North Texas. I've got a bunch of them coming up this August. But I really love going back to the Board of College Football Club. That's where I got my start. That's awesome. Damon West joining us on the Buyer's Right Hotline, one of the most sought-after motivational speakers in America right now. Take us back to prison, though, when that coffee bean philosophy was introduced to you. Did you have a lot of

You didn't immediately buy in. Surely this was something you kind of had to go back, think about. It had to take a few moments to hit you. What did it take for you to actually say, yes, this is the route that I'm going to go? I believe that I can sort of act as that. Yeah, I'll tell you when it happened. I finally had to surrender to this idea of control. And I think sometimes in life, a lot of times in life, people feel like they have a lot of control over a lot of things. When I figured out there were only four things I could control in life,

what I think, what I say, what I feel and what I do. That's when I started working on the things I could control and let God take care of the things that he controls. It's like knowing what's on your line and what's on God's line. Basically, it took me to surrender to this idea of control and

and once i did that the world started to open up for me because i found out that i could i could invest my time time is the most precious resource you have to go once it's gone it's gone for good and it's a great equalizer everybody has the same amount every day um but once i started working investing my time in the areas i could control i got to work on myself and that's when the big changes started happening but i wasn't an immediate buy-in of the coffee bean but i

But I saw that with my body language, having a positive body language, becoming a servant leader inside that prison, working on myself every day in three different areas, spiritually, mentally, physically, and letting go of my past. Because here's the thing. There's a reason why your windshield is bigger than your rearview mirror, Cole, you

You need a lot more room to look forward in life than you do look backwards. I let go of that past, and I started working on the present version of Damon. And then that's when this version of Damon became inside that prison, and I became a coffee bean, brother. I mean, for people out there listening that are struggling to take that step and make the next thing happen, whatever that is, becoming a coffee bean, just becoming better at whatever it is they choose to do in life, what's your advice to how you actually make that next step happen?

So here's a good practice tip that I use. I try to remember what the bad days look like, right? You have perspective in life. Everybody has this thing called perspective. Well, sometimes we forget how to use it or where to use it.

So identify what a bad day looks like, right? Let's go with some days that are universal for people. A job is lost. A bankruptcy happens. Someone dies. Something happens to one of your kids. Something happens to one of your pets. Maybe it's a bankruptcy. Maybe a marriage fails, you know? Those are bad days.

Most of your bad days aren't one of those bad days. It's like traffic, Cole. Sometimes you sit in traffic and the traffic bothers you, right? Other times you sit in traffic and the traffic doesn't bother you at all. Is it the traffic or is it you?

And the answer is that it's always you. It's always the way you see the world around you. And if it's you, if you can identify where it's you, that's the one thing you can control. That's the one thing you can fix. That's the one thing you can change. So I always tell people, try to figure out what's within you, what's holding you back, because that's what you can control.

Man, it's a really cool message. It's great stuff. Damon West joining us on the Buyer's Right Hotline. If folks are interested to have you be a speaker or just want more information on your book, how to be a part of what you're doing each and every day, how can they find you?

Man, look, my website, damonwest.org, D-A-M-O-N-W-S-T.org, that's the best place to find me for speaking. And I do a lot of corporate speaking now. I speak to school. Like, I'm here in Shelby County, Alabama, speaking to their entire school district, coming back in for the school year. Do a lot of sports teams. damonwest.org, D-A-M-O-N-W-S-T.org.

Social media, at DamonWest7 is Twitter and Instagram. And, you know, my books are anywhere books are sold on Amazon. Usually Amazon is the best place to go to get those. Absolutely. Damon, thanks for hopping on, man. We appreciate the time. Look forward to catching up with you again soon. Cole, thanks, brother. I appreciate the opportunity. And look, man, I want to come back into Birmingham, come in studio with you, tell the whole story. We would love that. We'd love to have you in. Best of luck. Enjoy your time in Birmingham. We'll catch up soon.

Thanks, brother. All right, there you go. Damon West, motivational speaker, joining us on the Pirate's Right Hotline, giving you a little motivational talk here on a Monday, heading into back to school. A lot more to get to, including hearing from Albin Moffitt's coordinator, Nick Sheridan, next, right here on Jocks 94.5. Catch up with all things McElroy and Kubrick in the morning by subscribing to the podcast. Mythically, he's grown. He's almost like a little bit bigger than...

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