Self-made Man Explains How You Must Think to Win | Everette Taylor on Impact Theory

At the end of the day, man, you really got to want it. You got to really want it. And I think the problem is is now with social media, before [snorts] when I was growing up, I didn't see all these examples of people having cool cars or doing cool [ __ ] all the time, like, right? And now with social media, [music] I don't care if you're in like, you know, in the [ __ ] middle of nowhere, you can log on to Instagram [music] and see just this whole world of experiences and things. The problem is it's like, "Oh, well, these people have it, so I should be able to have it." And it's just like, man, you don't see [music] the work that goes behind this, man. I started my first marketing job at 14. I'm 10 years into entrepreneurship. It wasn't until the past few years where I started really getting recognition [music] for it, right? And so, people don't see all that it takes to even get to that point, and that's the problem. And so, they think it's supposed to be [music] this this overnight thing. It goes, "Oh, I started a LLC. Give me money." No, that's not how it works. [music] Hey, everybody. Welcome to Impact Theory. Today's guest went from homeless to building four multi-million dollar companies before the age of 30. He was named by The Root as one of the top 100 most influential African Americans, and in 2018 alone, he was named to Forbes 30 under 30 list. Grew his company Milicent by 40%. Grew his other company PopSocial by 600%. Landed on the cover of Cosign Magazine. Launched both ArtX and ETN Enterprises. Was a key partner in the launch of Zoe Saldana's media company Bese. Won the Power of Influence Award from BPRSL and was recognized by the city of Los Angeles for his achievements and influence on African-American culture. A truly extraordinary string of accomplishments for anyone, but really inspiring coming from someone who witnessed his first murder at the age of seven, was selling drugs by the age of 12, and was homeless by 17. His incredible rise out of hardship has been profiled by prestigious outlets like the BBC, and he's been called a marketing genius by both Forbes and Fortune. He's also a national brand ambassador for NASA's startup initiative, and he's worked as a digital influencer for some of the biggest brands on the planet, including Amazon, Google, Disney, Toyota, American Express, and many, many more. So, please help me in welcoming the serial entrepreneur and philanthropist who has proven it does not matter where you start. It only matters where you want to go. Everett Taylor. [applause] How you doing? I'm good, man. Thanks for having me. Yeah, thanks for being here. Welcome, welcome. I like the fit. Well, thank you, sir. Thank you very much, man. So, in watching your interviews, there's always high style going on. So, you know, you got to keep it crispy over here. Oh, yeah, man. I love it. I love it. So, a little birdie told me that relentless is your word. Yeah, I have it on my wrist right here. Nice. I actually have a retina painting with relentless as well, so Yes. It's kind of a mantra. That's that's amazing. The painting's really cool, by the way. Thank you. That word to me really does seem to sum up what you've accomplished. It's pretty extraordinary to go from homeless to where you've gotten today. Yeah. How has being relentless helped? What does that mean to you exactly? Yeah, so for me, um I think life is just a you know, have you seen the movie Deadpool? Of course. Of co- course. So, uh Deadpool in that movie, he says something about how you have like these brief moments of kind of peace until like the next accident happens, right? Um and that's just life in general. You know, it's never going to be complete smooth sailing. One of the things that I've noticed about a lot of people is that they let the hardships and the things that happen in their life, failure, stop them from, like Aleah says, you know, dust yourself off and try again, right? And for me, I've just never let anything or anybody prevent me from achieving what I want to achieve. So, I've always had this relentless mentality. And if you say I can't do something, if I fail, if I, you know, mess up, it just motivates me even more. I just become even more hungry. And so, I've always just had this, you know, relentless mentality. I don't take, you know, no for an answer. I don't take failure or accept failure at all. And it's just always been kind of in my heart to not give up. I love that. There was a moment in your story that you've referenced a few times that really made me think of this. I want to know what you did specifically. I want you to take us back to that moment. You're living in your car. Yeah. Somebody smashes your window. And this is back in Virginia, right? Back in Virginia, yeah. Yeah. Smash your window, take all your stuff, and now not only are you minus your stuff, but you have a hole in your window in the winter. Right. How did you react that moment? Well, okay. So, it was one thing being homeless, but there's another thing having everything taken away from you, right? So, you know, I worked throughout my teen years, so I had Jordans, I had like cool clothes, Rocawear, all this stuff that kids aren't wearing anymore, right? And um you know, for me, like I was literally living out of my car. And so, even though I was homeless, I was still trying to uphold the appearance of everything being okay. When that moment happened, it was like, "Whoa, this is rock bottom." Because now all my clothes are gone. All the cool shoes, all the things that were material um that, you know, I tried to fake it until I figured things out were gone now. And not only that, all the the the elements. So, now rain and snow and all these things can get in the car. So, it was like mildewy and smelly. And so, I smelled, right? And so, for me in that moment, I understood that wow, this is I thought things were bad, but things are really really bad at this point. And now I can't pretend anymore. I just have to really embrace this. I think a lot of times when we're going through things, we kind of try to figure out how we're going to finesse our way into people not knowing that things are things are wrong instead of just saying, "This is my life. This is real now." You know, and so now I had to go to school smelly. I couldn't front anymore. You know, it it wasn't just No Shave November. I didn't have fresh clothes and fresh kicks. And so, I really [snorts] just had to embrace it. I think for a while in the beginning, I really just tried to pretend for so long. And then at that moment, it was like, "No, this is this is real." Mhm. And so, when you say embrace it, what what do you mean first of all? And then second, how does embracing it help you? Is it that you're no longer spending emotional and intellectual cycles in something pointless? Or what does that look like? embracing it meaning means like, "Okay, I actually have to find a solution to this problem, right?" So, I think a lot of times in life, we try to kind of put band-aids on our problems or issues. And and instead of for instance, the Instagram era, right? Instead of actually being successful or like moving out of our mom's basement or whatever, we put so much energy and time into the presentation of not looking like that's the situation instead of putting the energy and time into actually finding a solution to that issue. And so, at that point, it was like, "Okay, I've been putting a lot of time and effort trying to pretend things are good instead of actually trying to find solutions. And then that's when I started to do everything I needed to do to try to make money and just really when I say embrace it's not necessarily like accept it for what it is. It's almost like okay, this is real. I need to figure this out. Yeah, I think that's really powerful. I was just talking the other day about something very similar about you have to first accept your reality. Accept the truth of where you are. And once you accept the truth of where you are, then you're not wasting the cycles on that. Then you can switch over into a solution-oriented mindset, which sounds like exactly what you were doing. So how did you begin to strategize your way out of that? You were I mean at that point pretty young. I don't think you'd ever done anything truly entrepreneurial. No. Um so without any role models to chase, like how did you begin to put those pieces together? Honestly, it was just learning from people on the street. Right? So you kind of take in your surroundings, you take in the people around you, you see how they're making money. And I just didn't like begging people for money. And so I respected the guys that were like figuring out hustles, right? And so for instance, there was a Amoco right down the street from me. And so I would go there and I would wash windshields and make money. Just try to save up enough money to just be in a motel for the night. And I mean like the nastiest motel, but for me it was just taking in my environment, seeing how other people hustle, how I can do it better. Um someone taught me how to play drums on buckets and things like that. And so, you know, I just tried to do any type of hustle that I could to to kind of make things happen. And you kind of learn like a lifestyle. Like oh, I'm going to school dirty. No, go to the gas station, go use the bathroom, use the soap in there, use the paper towels in there, clean yourself up. You figured out ways to kind of hustle. Like the way I discovered tech was that I used to go into the I never went to the library and I'm like, "Whoa, this place is open till 8:00 and it's warm and it has computers and internet? What?" Who never No one told me about this. And so, I just started to learn how others were moving and kind of adapted throughout. Mhm. It's really interesting and it's really interesting to watch you in retrospect begin to put the pieces together to be a voracious learner. Um and one thing that you've talked about learning from that is one of my favorite subjects ever is that and let's piss some people off here really fast. Drug dealers are extraordinary entrepreneurs. Right. And so, my wife and I have a philosophy. So, I talked about it in your intro. It doesn't matter where you start from. It just matters who you want to become, the price you're willing to pay to get there and I find that most people are not willing to pay the price of Right. really hustling, really figuring things out. Um but we put out on the street that we would hire people even if they had a criminal record. And so, we ended up having a line around the building for people who were trying to interview. This is back at Quest. And it was crazy, man. Some of the most extraordinary people that I met with criminal backgrounds, ex-gang members, former drug dealers. We had one guy that just told me straight-up like, "Oh, I was trying to get this job as a front for my drug money." And I was like, "That's actually really clever." I was kind of impressed. [laughter] And so, he and I ended up getting really close and and he's gone on to do extraordinary things. Um but when he was breaking down for me what a drug dealer has to do, to pay attention to like to know where the cameras in the neighborhood point, to know where the blind spots are, to know what undercover um cops are around based on the cars they drive and everything. I mean, it's just really extraordinary when he was talking to me about how he didn't call them employees, but like how he dealt with his crew and I was like, "Dude, I'm like, you're a better entrepreneur naturally than I am by far, but I've done more because I've taken a an approach that is far more scalable because essentially what you're selling is risk. But talk to me about that because you both learn from them, but didn't succumb. You didn't go back to it. So, I want to understand like how you begin to tease out knowledge from people that are very unconventional without just going, "Well, it's what I see, so it's what I'm going to do." Right. So, my supplier, that was the first COO that I ever met. Like, literally, like being a drug dealer is like being a chief operating officer. The things that they have to be aware of, the type of all the types of people that they're dealing with and things like that. And you you you got to realize that, you know, it's almost like a two-sided, you know, marketplace in the sense of like dealing with, you know, people who are supplying you with that, the person that's supplying you. Like, it's it's, you know, two different sides to it. And so, it's really impressive. And at the time, I didn't realize the things that I was kind of taking in and and and kind of learning. Um, you know, you have sales goals. You know, you have to learn people skills. You have to be able to discern, you know, different situations. I talk about my time being homeless and my time selling drugs. It's like, those are the times where I really developed my emotional intelligence. Because you you get to meet people from all different walks of life. People think the only people that were buying drugs were from the hood. Like, no. Like, it was like VCU students, Virginia Commonwealth University. Sorry, VCU. But like, college students, like, all different types of people were coming around and you would see like, you know, and you have to be able to discern for that. It's like, "Yo, this guy that looks like he's not shouldn't be in our neighborhood." Is this guy undercover cop? Is this guy college student? We had all different like methods to, you know, trying to figure those types of things out. Um, but for me, it provided a source of inspiration. And a lot of people feel uncomfortable with that. But, I grew up not having anything, you know? And so, to see these guys with the nice jewelry, the nice cars, the newest Jordans, and things like that. Not saying that they were spending their money on the right things, but it showed me that my family and a lot of people around me had just accepted a certain level of mediocrity that was generational. And so for me, I looked at them as wow, if you have the motivation to do something for yourself and make something of it. There's a lot of drug dealers. There's not a lot of drug dealers that are making real money, right? It takes a certain like, you know, je ne sais quoi, like, you know, to to get to a point where you become a boss, right? And so for me, it showed me how you can separate yourself from the pack and and really run things the way that it should be. Yeah. That sentence will go down in my memory as one of the most fascinating je ne sais quoi regarding uh drug dealers and what makes [laughter] But the thing is it's really true. And to your point about people get uncomfortable talking about it, I've never quite understood why. So my thing is learn from anyone that has something to teach you, and that was the thing that so uh it's hard to fear that which you love. So in in having so many employees that really were ride or die for um Lisa and I when we were building Quest, it was like you you just you really fall in love with who they are as people. And so and that's how I got to know so much about their real story, not the sort of PR story, but like really what what went down. Right. And in in loving them as much as we did for who they were, then we could really open ourselves to what that story is and to the some of the extraordinary beats and moments. And so that time coupled with um some big brothering that I had done for a kid in in um South Central Los Angeles really is why we did Impact Theory for the very reason that you said, you know, there's a lot of people that are in this, but there's very few people that really learn from what they're going through. And so I'm looking at these people, and it's their mindset that's holding them back. Right. And it that we weren't encountering incredibly smart people, we were, but the people that they had to model after weren't the right people. They weren't making the right moves. They weren't investing their money in an intelligent fashion, all of that, but it was all that they knew. And so, what I find really interesting is the inner city and poverty specifically break most of the people that that it touches. Right. But every now and then, you get an Everett Taylor who it seems to propel them forward. It's like they're fighting so hard against that thing that they overshoot. Um which is really interesting. So, how do you think of that beginning? Is it Is it something that you think has now really worked for you, or is it something that no, I'd be even farther ahead if I hadn't had that? It's the rose that grew from concrete, right? It's like no matter how terrible a situation is, no matter how bad it is, there's still going to be a rose that grows from that concrete, and I feel like I was that, right? No matter what my situation was, I was built for this. I was not going to let myself fail, right? And I have that mentality, and I understand that now that I grew from that concrete, I'm starting to plant my seeds, and there's more roses growing, right? And so, that's why it's so important to be on a show like this. It's important that you're doing what you're doing with Impact Theory because you know, we're planting seeds, man. We're planting seeds in places that people like, "Man, shit'll never grow here, right?" And we're like, "No, it can." You know, cuz there's a lot of people out there that have the heart, that have the talent, that have the ability. They just have to see that someone else can do it. And And that's, you know, that's important. Yeah, for sure. I always said that I think the next Einstein is going to be discovered somewhere in Compton, so where we were working at the time. And I was just like the problem is they don't believe they can do anything with their lives. And so our mission became those seeds, right? Like how do you plant those seeds? What is that? What is that mindset that you have that you can pass on? So if you knew, I mean you do know, so you've got this potential generation. They've got extraordinary things to offer, but most of them never will because they're not going to encounter the seed that you're going to give them. What is in that seed? Like if that kid is watching right now, he's in a library right now. What do you want that person to understand that will allow them to build your mindset? Right. I remember being in a library and I discovered Mark Zuckerberg and I've told this story um a hundred times. The part I haven't talked about often um and I don't know why is that when I discovered Mark Zuckerberg, yes, I was inspired to be an entrepreneur and be in tech, but I said I can't do that. I'm not some white kid from the northeast with a Harvard education. I can't do that. But you know who I discovered? Q. Rest in peace. Q from WorldStarHipHop. Now, however you may feel about WorldStar, right? Q was a guy that looked like me, from the hood, no formal education, no background in tech or the digital space, and he built this super viral profitable website. And at that moment I said, "Oh, I can do it, too." You have to be able to show people that there's other options and that's what spreading seeds is all about, showing people that they can actually do something different, you know? What do you think is your trait that is the most useful thing in terms of making you successful? The most useful thing um I think emotional intelligence. I think I have a god given ability to understand people. What makes them tick? What motivates them, you know, what they desire, how they feel about things, and it helps me build world-class products and world-class services, and it helps me understand what companies to build. You know, everyone asked me what is like my secret sauce of marketing. The whole thing with marketing is like you can teach anybody how to do SEO or do like an Instagram ad or whatever. What's that special What's that special sauce, right? What's that special thing? And I think it's my ability to truly understand people, right? Um, at their core. Um, that has helped me really be successful. All right, Mr. Understand People at Their Core. Since you just scared poor Jimmy back in, you know, hardship land, because you said that your talent is god given. There's nothing you can do about that. He's convinced that he has no god given talent. That he is just hopelessly average. Right. What do you think about skill acquisition? Are there things that people can learn? And if so, how do they go about it? Well, actually, I think emotional intelligence is something that you can work on. Okay. Right? So, for me, it's it's opening your mind and opening yourself to people. I think a lot of people, they are ignorant. They are like rejecting change. Travel. Get out of your comfort zone. Meet people from all different types of backgrounds. If you want to build a product or service or company that you want to build at scale, and your friends are only the homies that you've been hanging out with since, you know, middle school, probably should meet some more people. Get to know them. Travel the world, you know? And even if you don't have the resources to travel, the internet. Learn about different cultures. Learn about different people. All right. So, he's there in the library, sitting in front of the computer, ready to type into the prompt. What website does he go to? What does he search? Well, it depends on what you're what you're trying to work on. I think what's so special about the internet now is really anything you want to do you can learn. Like if you want to learn how to code, if you want to be a developer, you want to build software, you want to build apps, you can literally go on YouTube and learn how to code. And so what I would tell that person is what do you want to do? Tell me anything. What do you want to do? Right? Now there's resources and there's things online that can help you build yourself into whatever that is. So I think that that kid at the end of the day he has to have that kind of just I got to make this happen. Right? Here's the thing, no one can teach you that. No one can No one No one can go I can you know they say what? You can bring a horse to water but you can't make them drink it or whatever. I'm probably [ __ ] it up. But um but yeah, you can't do that. And that's the one thing I've learned through my time mentoring people, through giving people advice. I feel like we all have that friend that is always hitting us up for advice and they never [ __ ] takes our advice. It's annoying, right? And so at the end of the day that person has to take that last leap. You're at that computer, you tell me what you want to do, I tell you this is how you search, this is this is how you find those resources. Now you got to actually go and learn. Yeah, so one of the deepest um distresses that I have in my life is that I can't want it for people. Right. Um because there are people that I love very much that like you said they come seeking advice, you give them very clear instruction. Do this, you will get this result. Do that, you will get that result and you will end up here. And they never take that first step. Um either because like you said they're resistant to change or whatever, but they they never do. Right. Um I heard a an amazing phrase one time to your point about you can lead a horse to water but you can't make them drink and he said um don't worry about leading the horse to water or making them drink, just try try make them thirsty. Mhm. And I thought, well, that is really powerful. And so, then the question becomes, how do you make someone thirsty? And your life is a very intriguing glimpse into, I think, what the answer is here. You said once that you used to think what was driving you was a desire to get out of poverty and to take care of your family, but you said, I'm more driven now than ever, and I took care of my family a long time ago. So, what drives you? Why are you so thirsty now? You know, for me, it's it's interesting, uh because that it changes with time. I am inspired by helping people. If I can make money, too, damn, that's cool, too, right? But, the thing that really gets me out of bed right now is my ability to help people. I don't need any more money. I don't need any more material things. You know as well as I know, that [ __ ] gets old, right? And, um you know, it feels good temporarily, but it doesn't really hold any weight or substance. And so, the thing that I feel like our legacy is how do we affect as many people as possible in the most genuine and impactful way, right? And for me, that is what drives me today. Define impact in that scenario. Like, um in what way do you want to touch people? Well, it depends. You know, everything is everything is different. The The biggest thing that I want to do is help people get to their place of peace. Okay. Getting to their place of peace for a lot of people, financial freedom is a big part of that. I tell people all the time, money doesn't make you happy, but it sure as hell helps you find peace. Because if you're in a space where you're constantly worrying about money, how are you going to focus on what keeps you at peace, right? And so, for me, is really getting to that core of what people are passionate about, what brings them peace, and in financial freedom. Let's talk about passion for a second. I think that's really, really an interesting topic. I think there's a lot of misconceptions about what passions are, how they're created. What do you say to the kid that comes up to you and says, "I don't know what I want to do with my life. You're lucky because you have a passion, but I don't have a passion." Right. And I get this all the time and there's this sense of desperation. It's like talking to somebody who's drowning. Right. Um [snorts] what do you say to people in that position? I don't think you can just put so much pressure on yourself. I think like this is a marathon. This is not a sprint, right? You never know when that moment is going to happen in your life where you you find that passion or you figure it out. The fun part is just trying a bunch of stuff. Like when you get to a point where you could just try a bunch of stuff, it's like, "Hey, sit down, make a list. I'm interested in all these different things, right? Okay, I'm interested in these top five things. Now, how can I do something that not only am I passionate about with one of these top five things, but also make at least enough money to just get by? Now what I want to get into is you seem extraordinarily good at taking something that's sort of big and amorphous and putting some structure to it and then going step by step to figure out what you need. Right. I'm guessing the first time that you built tech was for that company. So how you approach learning? Like So to just frame the question a little bit. For me, I'm always trying to learn the vocabulary of the industry I'm going into so that when I read about it, which ultimately is my goal to go read and be well versed and just begin to sort of put shape to the thing. Um I I just write down the words that I don't know and I go look them up meticulously. I'm not trying to like finish an article or anything. I'm trying to learn the vocabulary. Right. Do you have sort of an entry-level step or a way that you think about you know, really getting a foothold? Yeah, you know, it's so interesting. I was recently thinking about how every company of mine has started and pretty much they all start the same way. Whether I consciously or subconsciously subconsciously do this, I immerse myself within the target audience of that product or service, right? I see a lot of people that want to try to do something and they don't talk to people. They're like, "Oh, I think this is cool." And so they just start working on it. And the best way to learn is from other people, especially the people that you're trying to serve these products or these services to, right? And so for me, like I said, consciously or subconsciously, I've always immersed myself into that target audience, that culture, those people, um, and learn from them. Have conversations with them. Find out what they hate, what they love, right? And that was extremely important. And when you start to immerse yourself within this, right? You're going to want to do more research. For like art, being a young black guy in the in the art space, [ __ ] doesn't happen, right? There's not There's not a lot of us. Like the youngest art collector that I know outside of myself is Jesse Williams on like Grey's Anatomy. He's 37, right? You know, so he's like eight eight years on me. So it's not a lot of people that I know. And I'm like, "Yo, why is that, right?" And so then I start to do my research and I start to learn why things are the way they are. So it's like, "Wow, I put myself in the space. I'm starting to identify problems. Now I want to research why these problems are problems and then figure out ways that I can tackle these problems, right? And so it's just like this step-by-step process. And then when I think I find a solution to those problems, I go back to that target audience and I start saying, "How do you guys feel about this? Or try this out. What do you think about this? It's such a collaborative experience. It's not just about you getting on the internet and just researching things. I think it's about talking to people and really bringing different, you know, minds into the mix. At the end of the day, man, you really got to want it. You got to really want it. And I think the problem is is now with social media before [snorts] when I was growing up, I didn't see all these examples of people having cool cars or doing cool [ __ ] all the time, like, right? And now with social media, I don't care if you're in like, you know, in the [ __ ] middle of nowhere, you can log on to Instagram and see just this whole world of experiences and things. The problem is it's like, oh, well, these people have it, so I should be able to have it. And it's just like, man, you don't see the work that goes behind this, man. I started my first marketing job before 18. I'm 10 years into entrepreneurship. It wasn't until the past few years where I started really getting recognition for it, right? And so, people don't see all that it takes to even get to that point. And that's the problem. And so, they think it's supposed to be this this overnight thing. They go, "Oh, I started LLC. Give me money." Right. No, that's not how it works. Can we talk about something else? Yeah. So, my thing with that is I actually love the I don't know what I'm doing and I have to figure this out. Like, that actual process. Right. And because of that, I'll win over and over and over because I can go into a new space and fall in love. Like, oh, oh, yeah, like, I guess now in this weird world, which I'm still not used to, people are paying attention to what I do. But, I just love the process of going in and figuring something out. Right. And if that's your mentality, if what you're trying to do is acquire skills so with that you are capable of something, like, I think people acquire skills to check a box. Right. like it was in high school or college you're going to be tested and you either pass or you fail. No, this is like you can add value to somebody's life and thusly build an app and and make a lot of money. Right. Um or you can't add value to people's lives because you don't have a skill set that's usable or desired, and you're stuck. But, if you love the very process, not like the thought of, "Oh, this is going to make a cool Instagram post." But, like if you love the the process, then then you've really got something. So, I've recently gone into the comic book market. Long story why, but I find myself in this place where historically I had a passion, but I didn't know anything about the industry. And it's there's half of it that plays to my strengths, and the other half that just is a succubus on my weekend my weaknesses. [laughter] And so, it's like, "Whoa, I really have to face every insecurity that I have, every lack of skill." It's like, "And I have to figure it out, or I have to outsource it to somebody, or whatever." And going into this side and being able to fall in love with that, and then I'm in a position where I can monetize my content, but I forget to even record the content cuz I'm so focused on learning. And if people could like I I do feel a little bad because when you grow up with something, it it occupies a part of your mind this is this is real. And because I grew up with I didn't get social media until I was like in my late 30s. So, it was like, "Eh, I didn't really It's not real to me. It's a tool." Right, it's a marketing tool. It's an ability to touch somebody's life. Like, all of that [ __ ] is amazing. But, I'm not thinking, "Oh, how's this going to make a cool post?" And I think that's a big shift that if people could make that, then they would just go about learning. Dude, you got to love it. You really got to love it. So, I got ahead of myself and and I had this idea for ArtX, which was formerly called Art Noir when I was going to launch it last summer. So, almost getting to a year year now. I was like, "Oh, I'm launching this in a couple weeks." It still hasn't like officially like we have like a community right now and all that, but it hasn't officially launched. Cuz you know what? I said to myself, I was like, "Dude, I don't know as much as I should." So, I took a step back, and I said, "I I'm so glad I did not launch that company then cuz you know, you get excited and all that and I know so I took a year of learning. I just took a year to learn. Just learn the space, get to know people, figure things out cuz even though I had been in the space for a little while I was more intentional about it. Before it was, "Okay, I'm just here cuz I love art and so I've been meeting these people and learning about this and this is what's needed." But then I said "No, I want to be intentional about doing this." And so I shifted my energy, I shifted my time, and I really got into it and it's also something that I love to do, right? And so yeah, did I miss out on revenue, did I miss out on, you know, making more money in 2018 and all this other stuff? Yeah, of course, yeah. But at the end of the day I'm going to launch a much more successful business when I do launch it. And it's because I took the time to learn. And I just think that people are in such a rush to have something, especially money. Money is like, "Ooh, I got to get more money." But it's like if you launch something that's piss-poor or shitty. Even at a point where I had accomplished so many things, I almost did it, right? We're not perfect. I'm not perfect. You know, I still [ __ ] up all the time, man. I [ __ ] up earlier today. Like I was came here at the wrong time, right? So we we mess up constantly, but it's it's identifying that and saying, "Wait, let me take a step back and let me do this the right way." You sent a tweet about that I think late last year and you talked about um basically that whole notion of you know, hey, if you don't know where something is going to go, you might be leaving money on the table, but you're better off leaving the money on the table and walking away knowing that you're not misrepresenting yourself and doing a bad job of it of of quoting the the tweet, but it was that idea. And I thought that's actually really powerful and that's a really important message to get out there. Like yes, you could grab the brass ring right now, um but it's probably going to end up being a lot smaller than what you could have accomplished if you'd been willing to take the step back, focus on something other than the money, focus on value, focus on knowledge. Uh and I thought that was a really really important message. Where can people find you online? Just my name, man. Everett, e v e r e t t e. Um it's that on Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat for you guys who still use it. And um yeah, man. Uh my website's everettaylor.com. Um yeah, man. Just reach out. I'm a pretty like personable person, so yeah. Normally I end the interview by asking what's the impact you want to have on the world, but I think you answered that with the peace answer. So I'll ask you something a little bit different. What's one change that people could make in their life that would have the biggest impact on improving their life? Confronting mental health. Oh, [ __ ] Like it's it's it's honestly been something that has absolutely changed my life. Now you got to go into detail. Oh, yeah, for sure. Um taking a few years back, I was VP of marketing of a company called Qualaroo. Um we had also um co-founded a company called Growth Hackers, and I was working on my marketing firm. So I'm juggling three companies. I'm working 20 hours a day, something crazy. I just wouldn't enjoy life at all. And I had gotten to this crazy deep depression. Like I hated myself. I didn't like my life. I got separated from my family because I was so focused. It's just like, you know, and it got to a point where I've never actually admitted this on camera. Um you ever like miss that call from your mom or you miss and then it turns into a week and then it turns into and then you start to feel this like anxiety because you know it's been so long since you talked to that person and it literally be like a month and I wouldn't have talked to my mom, you know, and it's it's because I [ __ ] I don't know what to say. Like I've literally been so stressed out and you just isolate yourself and I was in such an awful place and and it's juxtaposed by people singing your praises. It is the weirdest phenomenon in life when you're a public figure to have people saying how great you are and you [ __ ] feel awful. And it got to a breaking point where my work started to suffer. You know, my relationship started to to break and I just said, you know what? What is this? What what you know, I got to figure this out. I grew up in a place where depression was not I don't even know if I knew what the word depression was like outside of like the [ __ ] DMX album The Great Depression. Like I don't know if I ever really knew what depression was and um you know, it's taking me taking that initiative to like I need help. This is what I'm dealing with. This is what I'm feeling and I need to figure this out and it saved my life. I don't know what would have happened to me. Right? The thoughts that were crossing my mind, the ways that I was feeling and um I think a lot of times the thing that's stopping us from being the person that we truly want to be is ourselves. It's usually ourselves and I think being able to identify mental health, depression, anxiety, all these things that we're dealing with and say that we want to make a change and we humble ourselves to want to make that change is one of the biggest barriers that one can break through. Wow, man. That was really, really powerful. Thank you so much for sharing. be all somber at the end, but yeah. That was so perfect and you have no idea how much that drives me. Um I think that that it's a real, real issue and when I say that I'm terrified by the depression and anxiety and suicide that I see um it's it's really scary and I I always thought that my role in the public sphere was going to be the business guy. I always thought that I would help people build their businesses. And what I have become is the mindset guy, which I was me, mindset was a tool for me to get good at business. Um and now I'll be, you know, at an event or something and the I always use this example because it um it was so striking. Guys, big, yolked. Because of my background in fitness, I get a lot of um followers that are fitness. So he's probably 6'2", 230. I mean, just a big dude. And walking down the hall, grabs me, pulls me aside and he just bursts into tears and he's like, "I want to kill myself." Like first words. And I was just like, "Fuck." Like this is not the guy anybody would ever imagine is grappling with depression. Right. And and he is. And so, you know, having things like that happen over and over and over, um you really start to think about people have to talk about it. Right. You know what I mean? And so, I've certainly started being super open about my anxiety, which for a while was crippling. Right. Um cuz you're right. Like that's that's the breakthrough. Being able to talk about it, being able to confront it, not let it get somewhere cuz you're embarrassed, you know what I mean? It's It's Yeah, man. Thank you for everything. This is really really awesome. Yeah, of course, man. Guys, if you haven't already, be sure to subscribe. And until next time, my friends, be legendary. Take care. Hey, [applause] that's good. Thank you. That was amazing. Thank you, man. I appreciate it. As I started doing everything that I love, there was a surge of power, a surge of confidence. I wasn't insecure anymore because the emotion that had the most dominance in my thought process and in my heart process was actually being paid attention to.