How to Reinvent Yourself At Any Age | Rushion McDonald on Impact Theory

If you're about to make a change in your life, and you feel uncomfortable, that's the best feeling you can have. Because for the first time in your life, you're making a decision that's going to be best for you. And not what somebody told you to do. And that's when all bets are off, man. Because you're about to enter some some uncharted waters that's going to force you to challenge yourself to be perfect. And shoot for perfection is all good. You don't shoot for average. You shoot for perfection and you hit good or great, you're winning. Don't ever shoot for average. I just try to get people to understand, don't be average. Everybody, welcome to Impact Theory. Our goal with this show and company is to introduce you to the people and ideas that will help you actually execute on your dreams. Today's guest is a two-time Emmy Award-winning executive producer and the brand architect behind the Steve Harvey Media Empire. A long way from where he started as the middle child of nine kids growing up in the infamous Fifth Ward District in Houston, Texas. His father only had a third-grade education and his mother stopped after high school, but his drive for more pushed him forward got a degree in mathematics and ended up as an executive at IBM. Certain he was meant for something different, however, after 5 years he left his cushy job for the no-holds-barred world of stand-up comedy. He set big goals and really went after it and as a comic he won the titles of Showtime's Funniest Person in Texas for three consecutive years and made it all the way to the finals of Funniest Person in America where he lost only to the future legend Ellen DeGeneres. Realizing powerful behind the scenes as a creator and producer, he leapt at the chance to manage the then up-and-coming Steve Harvey, helping him go from opening act to the globally recognized brand that he is today. Their 10 years partners resulted in an unparalleled run of monster hits, including the number number syndicated Steve Harvey Morning Show, number one syndicated Steve Harvey talk show, and the number one syndicated Family Feud game show, as well as three consecutive number one New York Times best-selling books, and a pair of number one blockbuster movies. Since then, he's launched 3815, a new marketing company that has landed several of the world's most prestigious clients, including the Air National Guard. So, please help me in welcoming the award-winning baker and three-time NAACP Image Award winner, Rashad McDonald. OH, WOW. OH, MY GOD. THANK YOU. THANK YOU. Thank you. Thank you. I love that you ended on the baking part. You have to. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. have to say, was quite the curveball. Um one thing that you've taken advantage of in your career that's really been spectacular is um the opportunity to reinvent yourself, which I find so interesting. And you said, "In reinvention, you realize why people are so afraid to act. There's so many unknowns." Walk us through a You've done it so many times in your career. Like, what is the process of reinvention look like? I would tell you this, uh fear. I I I I feel that most people are staying at jobs or working things or even marriages or relationships cuz they fear change. Can I do better? Can I get a better opportunity? Will somebody hire me? Will somebody date me? Will somebody marry me? Will somebody want my kids that I have? That's a fear, and people don't want to make change. So, I don't just take it from just an entrepreneur standpoint. I take that conversation to the social behavior of people when they don't want to make adjustments because they've already told themselves they can't do it. And when you make adjustments, when you when you stop yourself first, really sad. Because let somebody else tell you what you cannot do. But, in the process of that, prepare for success. In other words, are you willing to put time in your next move? And a lot of people A lot of people say things like, "I'm not a morning person." I don't really know what that means. I really don't. I have 24 hours in the day. I try to take advantage of every hour. And I have certain rules that I initially tell people on a regular basis. If you want to start living a successful life, start locking into a consistent time that you should get up every day. Don't let it deviate. Don't If you say get up at 8:00, don't don't don't hit that snooze and get up at 8:30. I get up at 4:30. That's just my time. I'm not a happy guy getting up. But that's a goal I set. And I'm going to just tell you this honestly, if you're about to make a change in your life and you feel uncomfortable, that's the best feeling you can have. Because for the first time in your life, you're making a decision that's going to be best for you. And not what somebody told you to do. And that's when all bets are off, man. Because you're about to enter some some uncharted waters that's going to force you to challenge yourself to be perfect in so many ways. And shooting for perfection is all good. You don't shoot for average. Cuz you're not going to hit You're not going to hit all the time. If you shoot for perfection and you hit good or great, you're winning. Don't ever shoot for average. I just I just try to get people to understand don't be average. Walk us through the time when you were at IBM. It was so secure. I'm sure your family must have been over the moon that you got your degree. You're now in a huge company. There's a certain amount of safety. And you not only leave, you leave to be a stand-up comic, which is like the world's least thing ever. I always tell people that you have to make adjustments to achieve your goals. And if you're not really happy about where you at, well, guess what? This change is needed. Especially millennials. Some of the things that you're going to do in life is not tied to a check. Don't guide your life by how much you're going to be paid, but how much you get out of it. The opportunity. That's really key. Not how much you're getting paid, but how much you're going to get out of the opportunity. And a classic example is what I did at IBM. I sat there. He said, "Look, we've never kept anybody past and it was the fall. We never kept anybody past a semester." I said I said, "Never?" He said, "Sorry, Rashad. If you come here, come December, we got to let you go. Because I don't care how good you are." So, as soon as I came on board, I started creating a relationship with everybody at IBM. I went to them and I finally go, "Hey, what what do what you like to do?" He said, "I hate doing this." So, I started I had like 20 people that I was doing all their work. All their work. I mean, just if If they didn't want it, bring it to Rashad. I was doing it. I wasn't getting paid extra for this. I still had to do my other functions that I was hired to do as a part-timer and going to college. So, come by November, I started dropping hints that you know, I won't be able to keep this up. They were really, "Why?" I said, "Well, you know, IBM has this rule that you can only stay here for a semester." Well, I was there 2 and 1/2 years. And because I made a conscious effort to bring value to me. So, you're at IBM, you're you finally figured it out, you're working your way up, it's actually working, and then you decide that you're going to be a stand-up comic. You said you spent a year debating that decision. So, you leave IBM, super cushy, parents had to be over the moon proud that you were at IBM. You're afraid of disappointing them, but you do it, you find your own voice, you go, and now you're at some point you get to New York and you're living in a hovel. Yeah. So, how did you deal with moving backwards? Like, what were you telling yourself at that time? I'll tell you something. You know, um when I look at my life, um here's a guy which is going from a regular paycheck, s- to retirement, security, cuz at that time IBM had never laid off anybody in the history of that company. Right. Um to traveling from gig to gig for $75 for a meal. And that was my world, but that was my dream. Understand this is that if you're willing to pursue your dream, then your goals change and your and your level of sacrifice change. Was I afraid? Yes. Did Was I certain that was there Was I Was I certain there was certainty in what I was doing? No. But, also in the back of my mind, I'm going to tell you, I cheated a little bit. I said, I could always go back to IBM. I cheated myself. And then I finally after a year I went, "Stop cheating yourself." Why was it cheating yourself? Because when you want to do something in your life, you don't put options out there. You don't put a B plan. You know, you This is what you want to do. You commit to it. Well, how am I going to do stand-up and say I want to do stand-up, but I'm still thinking about going back to IBM? Those are two different lanes of activity. And frankly, I was not satisfied in that previous lane. So, why is that an option now? And so So, that's why I was cheating myself until I went, "This is what you want to do. Do it." And started performing on cruise ships. What what changed in that moment that's so powerful? Did you start working more? Like what happens in your actual tangible life when you make that decision? you, when I moved to New York, it's two There's two moves in New York I got to tell you about. First time I went to New York, cuz I moved to New York in '88. I was hot as a comic. I was I was being Rashon. And it And everybody thought I was a star. The guy I remember the guy at the Improv walked up to me and said, "You're the next one." And he said that I said, "Well, sorry, I work for IBM." He said, "You need to quit. You got it." And so, that was Rashon there. Okay, that was Rashon no holds barred. That was Rashon McDonald doing his own thing. Cut to '88. I go to New York. I walk on stage trying to be something I thought they wanted me to be. I thought they wanted me to be the next Eddie Murphy. I thought they wanted me to be the clean like Bill Cosby. So, I walked on stage and was rejected every time I was on stage because I was not. So, I would tell people, if you going to go down, go down being you. No question. And I want to go back to that moment. So, '88, we you have the realization that I'm not being myself, which I think a lot of people can relate to, but then how do you know, like how do you find what your real voice is and how do you get back to it? Okay, here's the deal about your real voice. First of all, it's usually tied to you you taking risk. You know, and I I I think I I I I don't want to jump around because upstairs when we were talking, I was telling you then 2016, I had to find my voice again. Right. And and that's at the highest level of my life, you know, when people could just Google me and say I'm a success. And so, know that And when you say reinvent in 2016, you're saying leave Steve Harvey and start your own thing. Absolutely. And that was a very powerful decision that I had to make in my life to say who is who is Rashad McDowell? Because as you become successful, people will have definitions of who you are and also proclaim your level success for what you should be accomplishing. So, back then, I was just a guy who just trying to make a check, man. I was just trying to be funny. Know that now. That those are simple standards. If you keep it simple, you can find your voice. And also know that you operate off short-term goals. When you don't know where you're going in life, do not look four years down the line. Do not look two years all year. You look next week, next month. You keep your goals short. And that way as you accomplish those goals, then you can start piling up little trophies, little moments to know that you're actually accomplishing something. You're actually climbing the steps to success. What people make the mistake in their goals, they put too many they put a they put a like say not so insurmountable goal, but a goal that doesn't allow them to qualify success quick enough. And so I always tell people, shorten your goal, shorten your window, and that's how you find your voice. You cannot find your voice if you're trying to if you just up and come to Hollywood to be a star. Okay, well, you might want to work at Home Depot first. You And then grab that check, get stable, and start creating relationships, start taking that acting class. See, those are goals that you can achieve. But if you come in to just to be a star in entertainment or you or you're going to college and you're trying to graduate in 4 years and you what you're going to do, it confuses people. That's why a lot of the today's millennials, they they see short-term success as a faster way of finding their voice versus a college degree. Especially when so much debt is promised to you when you get your college degree. Yeah. One of the things that I found really powerful about the story, um, is when you got really sick and your lung collapsed. Mhm. Walk me through that. Like, what did you take away from that? Cuz it seemed to like really clarify your direction, your intensity, and all of that. So when I was going through the whole process of trying to build Rushan McDonald and trying to trying to be a star, in 1990, my right lung collapsed while I was watching the LA Lakers basketball game. And the thing about youth is that we all feel we are immortal. You know, you feel you can heal yourself. So I thought I was having heartburn, but my right lung had collapsed. And so I went to a drugstore and I got me some Tums. So So So I'm in line and I I and I swear to you, I ate that whole pack of Tums before I paid for it. Okay? So I come back to my apartment and I and for the first time I I just spit on the ground and I saw blood. Wow. I said, "Oh, okay, this is this is a little bit beyond the heartburn here." So I walked upstairs, and when I walked upstairs, I lived on the second level, I could I could I couldn't catch my breath. And so, a friend of mine, he came by, he said, "What's wrong with Sean?" I said, "Man, I don't know what's going on here, but uh he said, "You you need to take you someplace?" Again, immortal arrogance. I said, "No, I'm cool." And so, I went to my apartment, um and so, I looked in the yellow pages to try to find a hospital, just someplace to go. I was going to drive myself to the hospital. And I and I saw this one place that says it's clinic was open. And so, I went to this um this clinic, and I walked to the second floor, and it was closed. So, by then, I'm really freaking out, because I'm not even catching my breath anymore. And I'm actually afraid that I may pass out. And so, when I came down the steps uh from the clinic, I was I was just standing on the sidewalk, and I went, I couldn't even utter words. And this guy was jogging by, he had a headset on. So, I'm assuming he thought I was actually saying words. He said, "Huh?" I said, "Hospital." "Huh?" I said, "Hospital." He said, "Right there, I see the sign. Uh you're right around the corner. Go up there and make a left, you're there." And so, I drove to Cedars-Sinai, and I um just parked any kind of way in the emergency, and I slowly walked, cuz I couldn't I couldn't I each step was a controlled step to get to the emergency. So, I get to the window, of course, they're asking for your insurance. And I gave my insurance card, and the and the and the person pushed me down, which is the biggest mistake they could have done for me. They they pushed me down in the chair. And so, all my weight was on my lung. And so, eventually, they put me in um in the emergency ward, and of course, they pushed me on my back. And the guy went and the doctor opened the They did an X-ray. Guy opened his guy's going to die. I always remember those words. Guy go, "If we don't operate on this guy right now, he's going to die." And so, they tried to deaden me, cuz they made the incision right here. They tried to deaden me, but it was cuz they had to do the surgery so fast. I actually did the surgery and I felt everything in the surgery. And so, and they got my arm my lung my lung reinflated. And I stayed in the hospital 30 days. And I always tell people it was a turning point for me in my life because it it it it let me truly understand how short life is. And also truly enabled me to understand the value of taking advantage of what life has given you to do. And that's why I always push people I always push people. I push myself. Because I know I've seen it. I've seen death. I've seen people children. I've seen adults. I've seen senior citizens. I've seen people who were happy one day and and weren't there the next day. And that was a very powerful point for me that when they did surgery on me, I have a scar on my back because they took my lung out and they had to uh fix it. It was a cyst on it. It wasn't pneumothorax. Thorax. It was a It was a cyst and they put it back in. So, I was in uh ICU for like a day. The very next day I would manage to look 36 in a scar on my back. This comedy competition called me while I was in the hospital. They said, "Hi, Rishan. We heard you're a very funny comedian. Um would you like to participate in this comedy competition?" Yeah. Yeah. I want to do that. You have to have eight minutes. And so, the only way I could stay on stage was I had to take my left arm and hold my stitches together like this so I could be able to talk for five consecutive minutes. Wow. I went on stage, killed. Killed and I killed and almost died because I walked off stage cuz you're in a club, you smoke. The worst place you want to take somebody who just had lung surgery is a nightclub. It's a comedy club where everybody's smoking. So, I came off the stage and I was coughing. I thought I was going to cough my lung right out of these stitches and then the the guy came out and said, "Man, you won." And so I won like three rounds. Next day I was on national TV and basically I was back in, man. I was I was rocking and rolling, man. I was I was on my way to stardom. And what's your takeaway from that in terms of like doing whatever it takes or Absolutely. Absolutely, you do whatever it takes, okay? Even if it risk your life. That's your dream. I made a decision that, look, this is what I want to do. Somebody's give me an opportunity, I'm going to take advantage of it. And that's what I was doing. That's crazy. How do you help people that reach out to you cuz a lot of people reach out to you for mentorship? How do you help them find the thing that they want that badly? I have a little quick theory I tell people, Tom, and it's this. A 40-hour work week is the best platform to design your career if you're an entrepreneur. If you say you want to do something, put it on a 8:00 to 5:00 schedule. Take a lunch break. And if you really committed to your life, I swear to you on that first day of work, probably about an hour, you're going to be done with your career cuz you hadn't put enough time in it. Now, you look at Reshad McDonald. I know how to do PDFs. I know how to do PowerPoints. I know how to do Excel. I know how to do accounting. I know how to do the press release. I know how to edit. I know All these things I had to learn in my 40-hour week. It wasn't just me going on stage and telling jokes. It wasn't just me writing scripts. It's It's It's writing sketches, going in at That's part of my 40-hour week. And what people don't do is they don't even put 40-hour 40 hours of work into their own career, but then they get mad when somebody ask them to put 40 hours of work so they can get paid. That's why I go back to that thing. The a job, a standard job, gives you the tools for you to be successful as an entrepreneur. It tells you you have to work a certain time period. When you're working a certain time period, you have to be committed to certain tasks each day. And you have to complete those tasks. You carry that same principle to your yourself as an entrepreneur. Very simple. And when I tell people, a general light bulb pops off. Then when they try to apply, it's exactly what I'm saying. After about an hour, they don't know what they're doing with their career because they've never in their lives sat down with a plan. And from that day moving forward, they will start understanding the value of how much work it takes to be successful in the chosen field that they've chosen to be successful in. And what do you say to people that say, "Okay, that's all right for somebody in their 20s or 30s, but you know, I'm in my 50s or 60s, it's too late for me." Stop. Please, I I can't stand that. I I I I hate people who say, "I'm I'm done." I'm 50, I'm done. I'm 60, I'm done. I'm Technology, come on now. Don't put a Please, don't put a limit on what you can do when you haven't even tried to do what you're capable of doing. See, somebody along the way told you you were supposed to retire, and at 65 you were supposed to get a check. And we like idiots decided that we should cash in our lives at those particular years. That's where we made that decision. And guess what? When you think like that, guess what? You dress like you're old. You walk like you're old. You talk like you're retired. Because somebody told you at this age you're supposed to throw in the towel. No. And with technology and social media, you can be what you want to be because I tell everybody that social media is your private press conference. What you put out there that day, everybody going to see it. If they like it, they'll let you know. If they don't, they'll let you know. Very true. Now, you've said that um you need people in your life that are going to tell you when your good is really only average. One, why is that powerful? And then two, how do you find those people? I'mma tell you something. You know, when I uh in in in working with Steve, cuz I really officially took over his career in 2000, he had just finished doing Original Kings of Comedy, and I did his first really big radio deal with Radio One in this market in 92.3 The Beat in LA, Los Angeles. And that's what I discovered that you got to have a team. And so, I built a team around him. And when I stopped managing him, I was trying to figure out who Rashad was by myself. And that's terrible, because you got to have people around you that tell you you're great, got to remind you you're special, got to remind you of who you are and what you've accomplished. Because as a general take is that as as you as you build your life, you kind of narrow your accomplishment. In fact, you kind of throw away your successes. And so, that's why it's important to have people in your life that that are there to pump you up, to tell you, "No, you've never done it that way like that before. You You're committed to a certain plan of opportunity. Rashad, you That's that You You shouldn't do it that way." You got to have a team to remind you of what you can do and what you've done. That's important. If you don't have a team and you trying to rock it by yourself, you're just going to be frustrated. And I kid you not, you will fail. You got to have relationships, not only personal relationships, but business relationships. What's the trait that you have you've cultivated that's allowed you to be so successful? Um I'm I'm from the inner city, man. You know, um and I'm not I I What What annoys me is that I'm that person that everybody says is is is unique and special. And that's sad, because I'm I'm only unique and special because you know me. I tell people on a regular basis is that my success is tied to you. Everybody in this room, my success is tied to because when they walk when I leave this room, I have a I've touched them in a cool way. I've made them think about something in their lives. That's the talent God gave me. And uh my wife gets annoyed at me because I walk in a room and I go and I can just and I and I can tell people exactly who they are within minutes and I can tell them what they should be doing with their lives. Now, it's up to you to make that decision. And so So, is that a gift or is it just a willingness to be honest with people about what they should be doing in their life? I say it's just a a willingness to be honest. If you're If you're doing this and you're not happy, stop. But when you're planning an exit plan, plan it. And also keep that financial income coming at a very as much as as long as you can, but you have to realize that one day when you wake up, Tom, that it has to be about you. It really has. It's not about who you're married to, it's not about who you're dating, it's not about your kids, it's about you. And if you realize that, you will be successful because if all your success is about being positive and that you're you're not driven by selfish mode or selfish gains, then everybody will win. That's incredible, man. Go I want to talk about the inner cities. So, I've worked in the inner city a lot and ironically, I worked with a kid whose name was Rashawn. Awesome. And I big brothered for him for eight and a half years and it was transformative in my life and then I end up later having a lot of employees that are in the inner cities, probably about a thousand of them. And I'm also obsessed with Jay-Z and so I'm looking at all this and and I'll I'll bring it together for you. I'm I'm looking at all this and I see okay, Jay-Z goes on to be extraordinary, most of these people will not and I realize that the the inner cities break most of the people that it touches. But every so often, it does something so magical to that person through hardship that they end up going on to be this just indomitable force. It's clearly what's happened to you. It's what's happened to a lot of people that have come out. But why? What cuz when I asked that question, you said, "I'm from the inner cities." As if that answered the question. And if somebody really understands it, it may. But what do you mean by that? Cuz you have to leave the hood to be successful. You cannot stay in the hood to win. But what did you learn in the inner cities? I I I didn't really learn anything. I just knew I had to get out. I know when I sat in front of a television, man, I just saw things that I didn't see when I walked out my front door. I lived in a I I was It was It was two parents and nine kids living in a one-bedroom shotgun house. If you don't know what a shotgun house is, you open the front door and you can shoot a gun out the back door and it don't hit anybody. So, I know exactly where I grew up in I knew I knew exactly the environment that I saw on TV was not around here. I I grew I I rode a city bus. I didn't see a black person till I got downtown. TV is amazing to me, man, because, you know, information is amazing. I think that if you give people in the inner city information, they will get out a lot faster. But what happens is if Every one of my friends that I hung out with, if we all stayed in the inner city, I would not be sitting here. I I went and worked for a Jewish deli, learned how to make sauerkraut, Reubens. You know, all these things were were shaping Rashad McDonald out of the inner city, you know, learning how to relate to people that weren't people in the hood, learning that there's a bigger scope of conversation that I had to gain. And so, but what I didn't leave I didn't lose was who Rashad McDonald is. See, you can you can you can leave and still be Rashad. I'm going to be Rashad now. You know, I'm I'm still going to be that guy. The dream is to really If I had to tell anybody something who's watching this show, is that um if you see it on TV, create a realization that you can actually be a part of that. And if you do that, it would change the way you look at things. When I When I was in high school, we used to drive around in um in the better neighborhoods, you know, and look at these big old lawns, and look at these big houses. And I would just realize and then my friends would say, "What you doing?" I said, "Because I'm going to I'm going to I want to know how my house is going to look." So, you and anybody watching this show, drive around. Start setting your goals. Because see, if you start setting your goals, then you have dreams. If you have dreams, then guess what? It brings on expectations. Those expectations can only be reached by proper planning. If you plan, you will win. I don't care. Yeah, you're going to have setbacks, but you got to plan. That's what You Everybody is supposed to do a certain thing, but they don't want to do it. But guess what? They don't have a plan. Set that plan in play. And I'm going to tell you something. When you start doing it, it's going to be rough. It going to be people It going to be people understand me. They going to tell you, "What are you doing? You're incapable of achieving that moment in your life." I've been told that a lot of times. I'm cool with that, too. I was told I was a fool for leaving IBM. Been told that I was a fool for moving to New York. I was a fool for moving to LA. I was a fool for managing Steve Harvey. I gave up a successful stand-up comedy career. I've been told I was a fool for stopping managing Steve Harvey. So, people will tell you you're a fool. I embrace that. Because that's what life is about. Challenging you to do something that people tell you not supposed to do. To that end, one thing I want to know, you talked a lot about the plan. I think that's so smart. I know there's no way to give somebody a plan cuz it'll be so specific to what they're doing. But, what is that process? How does somebody sit down? Is it like just writing out and saying this is my goal for a week, this is my goal for a month, this is 6 months? Um I know you you don't want people going out 5 6 years. What is the process? How do you create a plan? We First of all, you have to say what you want to do. Okay, then whether it's going to school or whether it's starting a business or getting in business with somebody. And it's a process. If you if you're starting a car If you if you're starting a business, go to a local SBA office. Okay? They have They have people down there that tell you what a business plan is all about. Now, if you if you want to be a writer, I always tell people that and you and you don't know There are people in this city or cities around this country who want to act, well, do table reads with them and videotape them cuz that's what they want. They want monologue reels. They want reels. And so, they're always laying. And so, you have to pick what you want to do. And I and and and I would tell you this, Tom, and I say this honestly with everybody, is that if you want to be successful, you have to write down why you want to be successful. Why? Why you want to be successful? Why? Because a lot of people might say I want to do it for money. I'm going to do it for passion. I want to do it for cause. That why will determine the steps that you have to put in place to be successful. Because if you going to do it for a passion or charity, I mean, you need to bring people on board to help you with that. If you doing it if you as I chose to be a stand-up comic, I had to hit the road. That was my plan. I couldn't stay in Houston and be famous. I had to go out there and and develop a brand and let people know cuz I was an opening act and I wanted to be a headliner. Only way I was going to be a headliner, I had to let people know I wasn't just funny in Houston, Texas. I was funny in New York. I was funny in Chicago. I was funny in Kansas City. I was funny in St. Louis. So, you have to build your brand. So, you have to just put steps in place to be successful. Now, because of social media, you have people who become instant stars through viral videos or become influencers. So, the steps have changed a little bit, but they're still tied to commitment. All those people who are who are who are socially successful are committed and they put work into it. They do. It's not People actually think you just put out a viral video and it's going to make you famous. It might make you famous, doesn't mean it's going to make you successful. No. No question. All right, before I ask my last question, tell these guys where they can find you online. Oh, you can find me My name is Rushawn McDonald, of course, and it's I'm not one of those the real Rushawn McDonald. I am Rushawn McDonald, the official Rushawn McDonald. It's just Rushawn McDonald. Rushawnmcdonald.com. I'm actually launching That's my primary website. I'm launching two additional websites next month. One called Baker's Spotlight. Cuz my baking is gotten so big. It was It was just a landing page or microsite of Rushawnmcdonald.com. So, that's going to be an official uh website next month. And then I'm also launching an official website moneymakingconversations.com. Because that has expanded and it's so big. So, now when you come to Rushawn McDonald, you know, cuz I would have baking pictures on there and I have suits pictures I have motivate It was like really crazy. Who is this guy? And so, when you come to Rushawn McDonald, you're just basically a Renaissance man's site. And from there, you'll be able to click and and share a real full baking experience, a really full informational and motivational experience. So, Rushawn McDonald, I'm a I'm I'm fan certified. I have almost 800 800,000 Facebook followers. Uh I have a course an Instagram account under Rushawn McDonald and a Twitter account under Rushawn McDonald. And under moneymakingconversations, I also have a Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter followers on The Money Making Conversation. So, I'm easy to follow. I'm a fan of helping people become successful, and that's what this show is all about. That's why I love it, and that's why I'm sitting here, because you understand the value of information. And we live in a world of information, and sharing it for free is important. Nah, totally agree. So, what's the impact that you want to have on the world? I'm having it now, because um I'm living my legacy. And my legacy is a really awakening to me. I but it's really funny doing my Money Making Conversation show, because uh I get to talk to people, and I didn't realize how impactful I have when I hear a La La Anthony call on my show, or Nick Cannon call on my show. It is it's just amazing when they tell me how I mentored them just naturally. And um it's really when I talk about the the impact that Steve Harvey and I made on daytime television, how we took and made the African-American experience I think acceptable, especially in the male genre. And um especially daytime, cuz we weren't supposed to make it. You know, Katie Couric was launched that year, Jeff Probst from the Survivor. They were supposed to be the ones that were supposed to be winners that year. Ricki Lake was that same year that we launched the talk show. Taking a Family Feud show when we launched it in 2010, the ratings were 1.7. Now it's the hottest game show. And to be instrumental in that marketing process, and just carrying my natural instinct. So, my next goal in life right now, and my legacy is to be how many people I can make successful. And I'm not I'm not trying to get a check on that. I I will tell people somehow in my life I'm going to get paid. And it's but I'm not going to use an approach of I'm doing something for you and you owe me something back to me. That can't work for me. So, that's my legacy. I love that, Rashad. Thank you so much for coming on the show. Amazing. Guys, his career is incredible. When you look at the number of people that he's been able to influence and the thing that I find just absolutely intoxicating about him is the reinvention, the way that he has over and over reinvented himself from seeing himself as coming from this, you know, impoverished area with um family that hadn't been as educated as he wanted to be, then going on and and getting a degree in mathematics and starting there and then becoming an executive at IBM only to reinvent himself again as a stand-up comic and then as a manager and then to have so much success as an executive producer and manager and then to leave that and start his own company. It is an incredible tale of reinvention, of never letting yourself get trapped in some caricature version of who you are, who other people think you are or who they want you to be or what they think success is, but instead to be true to your own voice, to nourish those talents, to pour yourself into that, to have the plan, to know what you want, to go after it. And he's done it time and time and time again and had success at every level. It's just it's absolutely incredible and I know that so many people struggle with that sense of oh, it's too late, it that moment has passed me by and to see him do this at 60 is just beyond inspiring. So, I hope that you guys will take as much away from this as I have and we hardly touched on the man is like a world-class baker. Literally, even I still don't understand. You've got to check it out, it's incredible. So, if you love something, get after it. All right, guys, if you haven't already, be sure to subscribe and until next time, my friends, be legendary. Take care. John, thank you so much. Hey everybody, thank you so much for watching and being a part of this community. If you haven't already, be sure to subscribe. You're going to get weekly videos on building a growth mindset, cultivating grit, and unlocking your full potential.