Video summary
Tony Gaston shares updates on his recent travels and personal projects while introducing a new initiative focused on helping individuals discover and live their true purpose. After returning from an interview in Atlanta with Big Bank ATL, he is heading to Miami to support his insurance agency and follow the journey of DaVon Mitchell, a basketball player whose story he is documenting for a future film. Beyond these logistical updates, Gaston emphasizes that this week marks a significant shift in his focus toward purpose, inviting viewers to witness him living out his mission openly. He encourages everyone to reflect on whether their current career aligns with their deeper calling, noting that while many hold respectable jobs in customer service, HR, or accounting, they must ask if these roles are intentionally changing lives or simply providing a paycheck.
Gaston challenges the common myth that one must quit their job to find purpose, explaining that purpose often does not come with a high salary initially but can be built through strategic community engagement and nonprofit structures like 501c3 organizations. He illustrates this with a vivid example of someone who moves from a disadvantaged background to financial success in a new country; instead of just enjoying their wealth, they can leverage their income to fund charitable projects by organizing coworkers for monthly donations. Through such grassroots fundraising, an individual could raise significant capital that allows them to pay themselves a living wage while directing the surplus toward tangible aid, such as providing shoes and clothes to those in need. This approach transforms personal success into a vehicle for systemic change without requiring the person to leave their current profession entirely.
To support this movement, Gaston is launching a dedicated "Purpose Community" that will operate year-round, featuring weekly sessions led by certified purpose coaches who are trained in his specific methodology known as the Purpose Art and Formula. The program is designed for individuals who have already demonstrated commitment through volunteering or studying his book, with an initial certification fee intended to ensure serious investment rather than casual participation. As the community grows, it aims to create a network of local trainers across major cities, enabling people to host their own seminars and build regional ecosystems even if they cannot travel to Gaston's main events in Tampa. This scalable model ensures that the message reaches diverse audiences while maintaining high standards for authenticity and integrity among its members.
Ultimately, Gaston stresses that becoming a purpose coach requires deep self-work, as it involves confronting mental health challenges, personality quirks, and past traumas to present oneself authentically without shame or apology. He warns that this path is not for everyone and will involve rigorous training, tough feedback, and a commitment to being unapologetically real in all interactions. The goal of this initiative is to cultivate the largest purpose movement in the world, empowering people to turn their pain into purpose and serve specific communities—whether helping children, the homeless, or the elderly—with the business acumen needed to sustain their efforts. By shifting mindsets and fostering close-knit connections, Gaston believes that anyone willing to invest in themselves can become a catalyst for change, ultimately leading others to uncover why they were born and how to live out their unique calling.
Read the full video transcript
Hey, hey, Tony Gaston's here popping in
now and I'm head to the house. Y'all got
to forgive me. And
I'm in my in my old school rat now. Old
classic. So y'all
forgive me if it be making a little
noise,
but wanted to hop on here cuz I'm just
got off the plane, did a podcast
interview in Atlanta and went well and
different demographic going into some
new territories and had a lot of fun.
a gentleman named Big Bank
ATL. Guessing if you in Atlanta or from
Atlanta, you'll know who that is. If
not, then you may not. But you'll get to
meet him soon cuz we did us a little
interview. Real cool, chill, calm
interview. No arguing, no yelling and
back and forth and all of that. It's
real good quality conversation.
And
made it back. And then now I got to get
the get down to Miami
because
building for the the insurance agency
and so trying to get a better deal for
my for my agents and work that out.
But then also one of my guys play down
there Miami Heat. So y'all will see me
put him in my story sometime. Follow
him.
follow his journey. Great inspiration,
especially if you got a son who play
basketball or just play a sport and want
to go pro. Uh DaVon Mitchell is his
name. Great guy. Working on a
documentary of his story right now and
just a great guy overall.
And so I to get down there. I may leave
the house in the middle of the night to
dry down and catch his training versus
flying.
But we will see.
But this week, you may see me post on
the community page as I'm really
thinking about purpose.
And you get to watch me live my purpose
out loud. But I also want to help you
live your purpose, whether that's quiet
or out loud, whichever way. But I I just
believe that
y'all got to give them tide now. Yawn.
I just believe that we created for more.
That is more in us. It's more to give.
It's more that
you're called to. And I know you may
have a job and you may love your job and
you may be fortunate to have a job in
your purpose, but if not, then you got
to start to ask yourself, is this all I
want from life?
Like
imagine doing customer service
or HR or
accounting or what have you. Like those
are all great jobs and respectable jobs,
but when you look at it, you have to ask
yourself in the industry that you're in
now, cuz in certain industries, those
jobs could be
those jobs could be jobs that are
could be jobs that are
intentional
and good jobs.
And you have to ask yourself like, okay,
is the industry that I'm in,
am I changing lives?
Am I changing lives? Is this what I'm
called to?
Is this what I'm supposed to be doing?
Is
is this purpose-based?
Is it helping anyone else in a real way?
And if the answer is no, then you're not
in your purpose yet.
And what I also want you to realize is
you don't have to leave your job to live
in your purpose because your purpose may
not pay. And that's that's the myth that
some people teach that it may not be
true for every form of purpose. Now,
there's ways that we can figure it out
and that's what I'll be doing in
the purpose community
because there are ways that we can
figure it out. But let me give you an
example. Let's say you are you're
called. Let's say you are from another
country
and you're from a small village and in
your village
it was you didn't have new shoes, you
didn't have a nice school, you didn't
have running water or what have you and
you move to a new country for
opportunity. You get an opportunity, you
get in a program, and now you're in this
new country and you make six figures,
100,000 plus,
and you you going to work and you
making money, you able to travel, you
able to shop, buy you some new shoes,
new clothes, but you thinking about your
village or you thinking about your
country, you're thinking about your
neighborhood. Even even if you say you
made it out of hood, you made it out the
projects, you made it off section 8,
whatever it may be. Just think about it
across the board. You know, don't don't
look at it so literal. And you may say,
well, I want to go back to my country,
to my village, to my hood, and I want to
provide shoes. I want to provide
clothes.
Well,
on on the onset
from the outside looking in that doesn't
make any money.
But here's what you got to realize
is
in purpose
we could take and create a 501c3.
So now when we create the 501c3, you
able to go to your co-workers cuz you
making good money. It could be 50,000
you making. Could be a 100,000, 150,000,
200,000, 280, 300. You making good
money. So you could go to your
co-workers
with your QR code on your flyer, on your
brochure about what you getting ready to
do. Guess what?
They all are going to donate. They're
going to donate. So now you raising,
let's say you get
your co-workers, they sign up at $100 a
month that they going to do.
Everybody tell somebody, you may end up
with
you may end up with 50 people at $100 a
month. That's $5,000 a month. That's
$60,000 a year.
Now, at that point, you may say, "Well,
I can't change the world with this
60,000."
But that's a start. You may say, "This
ain't enough for me to live off of and
do this what I'm trying to do." It's a
start. So, what happens is you take and
this car in express lane driving slow
like everybody like, "What going on with
you?" Like, "What you got going on? Got
us going 50 miles an hour.
And so you take and you keep building.
You keep building. You keep building.
Let's say you could raise 200,000.
Now you done raised 200,000. And maybe
in that it may be a grant. You may get a
grant or two. You get local companies to
donate. So now you hitting 200,000.
Well, guess what?
It's 100,000%
legal
for you to take a salary
in your nonprofit.
So let's say out that 200,000
you take and 40%.
20 40 60 80,000
is your salary.
So to live your purpose
fully
at 80,000 you need to raise 200,000
and now the other 120,000 goes to your
operations.
Now you think about this 120,000.
What can you do with that 120,000
school time
aund? Let's say you want to buy a pair
of shoes. That's
really now we talking with the village
and we talking about the village. You
might be getting a pair of shoes that's
worth $20. You getting them wholesale
from China or somewhere. $20. You get
five pair of shoes for $100. You got
$120,000 to deploy.
So, I ain't going to get too deep in the
weeds um on the purpose side of things.
We we grinding on the soloreneur as
well, but that's that's not necessarily
purpose-based. Solopreneur could be you
could just be selling t-shirts,
anything. So, that's why I'm creating
the purpose community. So, this Friday,
stay tuned. If you ready to tap into
purpose, if you feel like it's time to
go into your purpose, then get ready.
Get ready because this going to be one
of my last acts they will call it in the
in the stage plays or the whatever one
of the last communities that I create.
There may be a couple other communities
that I end up getting into like a men's
or husband's type of group or what have
you, but it may be down the line. But
for right now,
we focusing on purpose because love is
cool, relationship's cool,
entrepreneurship is cool, but what about
your purpose? What about the reason why
you were born, the reason you are here,
and turning pain into purpose. And now
think about that what I just told you.
Now, that 120,000 and it's from a real
example. this from a real life example
that I'm giving you. So, I don't be
talking on stuff just fluff from real
life example. And I'm be honest with
you, I have a client who was my client
way back in the day. She was 24 years
old running a nonprofit and she raised
$525,000
in one year for the nonprofit.
And the nonprofit budget was $394,000.
I remember it like yesterday because I
was in awe because she was 24 years old.
LSU graduate now. She went on from that
purpose right there to starting a
company that was more for profit and not
and it was kind of purpose because they
help people start their nonprofits.
And she was able to raise over $50
million for her company.
And I say that to say it's it's it's one
of those things to where anything is
possible.
And this and this a black woman out of
Baton Rouge, New Orleans area, you know,
and able to do this.
And so I say that to say it's possible
and you got to start thinking about it.
So with this right here,
I'm going to be working on the purpose
community. This going to be a year round
going forward thing. I'll have purpose
coaches, other purpose coaches leading
some of the sessions
and I'll be doing a session once a week
and then have over time
certifying other
purpose arc coaches who will be able to
lead
classes in the in the group and then
also do one-on- ons with with
individuals who may be in a place to
where you're not able to to invest in my
fee for one-on-one coaching. So, I'm
going to certify some other coaches in
this area. Make sure they fully know and
understand
the purpose art, the purpose formula.
Now, but guess what though? That's also
another level. That's a level of
teaching. So, that's not going to be
like a free thing that I'm just like
handpicking people. It will be people
who coaches who invest in themselves and
say, "Hey, I want to be a purpose
coach." And of course, not everybody
would be able to be um one of the
trainers or what have you cuz you only
got so many days in a week.
But but you never know. We we might have
a different session going every hour of
the day. You never know what it could
look like. But I'm going to be doing a
training. So for those of y'all who want
to also be
you've read the purpose art the book
which you'll get that in the community
also at the seminar but you read that
and you looked at the concepts and
you've been you've been the student
you've been the volunteer you've been
the servant
and now you're ready to be the teacher.
Um, then what I would say is start
putting up a few dollars for the
certification because the way this going
to work, the certification
is the same model to where you'll be a
certified
purpose art coach,
but be able to lead
seminars in your city, in your state
that I also promote to my audience.
So that the people that's in that state,
if they can't get to mine in Tampa, they
can go to yours in Charlotte or go to
yours in Houston or Dallas
and
be able to still learn and develop and
build with other individuals
and who are pursuing purpose and make
local connections. And so we will
eventually have all of those events
listed on the site being promoted every
day by me so that your event can sell.
And then of course it'll be on you to
invite churches and you know companies
and friends, family, give away some
tickets to kind of fill up some seats
and and that way if nobody buys a
ticket, you still got friends and family
in there who are learning and growing
and and you got some picture
opportunities to build your ecosystem as
a purpose coach. So, we definitely I'm
I'm going be working on that when I get
to sit down to be able to finish that,
but I'm also going to be doing that
live. And and listen, ideally
what this opportunity and these things
are for,
ideally it's going to be corporate
individuals who are nearing retirement
or who have, you know, made good money
and saved and invested or what have you
and they're ready for something new,
something different. people who maybe
lead trainings and
speak at the conferences for their
company and now can be a speaker and a
coach and a trainer. It's ideally going
to be for those individuals.
So, the certification
and the purpose coach certification with
the purpose art and the purpose formula
and the blueprint is your fingerprint
and all of those concepts that I created
being your background. you know what you
can lean on and you can expound upon it
and you may come up with your own
formula or you may be able to not not
well you won't be able to be under my
umbrella with your own formula but
you'll be able to expound you'll have
different life stories you'll have
different examples you'll have different
things that you able to share at your
seminar and this right here y'all know
how I am about my brand so it will be
very
intense and intentional on who is ready
to be a coach. And you will have to go
through training and you'll have to
learn some things and grow some things
and you'll have to hear some some tough
feedback
and and really get ready because the
thing about it is is a lot of us have
mental health issues. A lot of us have
personality disorders. A lot of us have
different things that we're not
diagnosed with and we have different
quirks. We have a different histories,
different biography, different
experiences. We we have these different
things and it shows up in how we present
ourselves. It shows up in how we talk,
how we
act around people, how we treat people.
And and it's not easy for humans to be
authentic. It's not easy. Authenticity
is a skill. You have to learn how to
connect with who you are and to be who
you are
unashamed, unapologetically.
And so like even right now me talking
while I'm driving and I'm being
authentic
and not yelling, not screaming, not
cursing, not talking down to nobody, not
lying, not gaslight, not manipulating,
and just really being centered and
connected with who I am and my message.
Not trying to talk proper, not trying to
talk hood or ghetto, just talking how I
talk, how the words come out, and just
being myself. That is a skill that you
have to develop. And I can help you to
the best of my ability. But it's a lot
of selfwork. So y'all stay tuned.
Especially for those of y'all who you've
been on that job, you ready for that
transition. I would love to have you as
one of the purpose coaches. The the
entry the the initial
certification is $2500. That's that's is
where it's going to start at. It's
eventually one day going to be $7500.
So it ain't going to be something to
where willy-nilly anybody and their mama
could get in. It's going to be very
tight fist, be very closeknit.
and we'll be working and building and I
have to take out the time with my
coaches too and my trainers to have a
call every week, every two weeks just to
stay on top of things and keep
developing and supporting each other and
encouraging each other and posting. And
so it'll probably be honestly one coach
per city. So I'll have an application
put up and you know one coach per major
city. So, if you want to be a coach, you
want to be a trainer, go ahead and get
your ducks in a row. It may be something
to where you say, "Hey, Tony, I'm broke
right now." Talk to your mom, talk to
your dad, talk to your brother, talk to
your sister. Create y'all a little
family pool cuz this will be an
opportunity
for you to be in purpose
and be able to start from scratch.
But hey, this Tony Gasson, God bless
you. Stay tuned. I'm going be touching
on these things and then come Friday,
I'm opening the community. Of course,
the purpose coaches and all trainers and
all of that. You have to be in the
community and be a part of that as a
member. Uh I'm no long I don't ever do
the thing to where people you just want
to come leech and you just want to come
be a star, you just want to come be a
teacher, but you don't want to be all
the way tapped in and invested yourself.
We ain't getting down like that. So
shift your mind, get your mind right,
and we are going to be the largest
purpose movement in the world. We're
going to be
leading people to purpose and living in
our purpose. And it's so many different
variations. And the goal is to have us a
event planner in there who can help us
plan the annual conference to
perfection.
But we got to figure out why we are
here. I know why I'm here. This what I'm
walking in and doing. But when I say we,
I mean you, us, of because even if it's
just in your city, helping the kids,
helping the homeless, helping the men,
helping the women, helping the boys,
helping the girls, helping the runaways,
helping the orphans, helping the
elderly, whoever it is that you're
called to serve. That's what we will
discover and uncover. And then I'll help
you get the framework and the business
sense and knowledge to be able to build
around it. But hey, this Tony Gasson.
God bless you. Keep your head up.