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[MUSIC]
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>> Hello, everyone.
And welcome back to the Blazer Own Trail podcast.
For those listeners that have been here since the beginning,
you're going to see a very familiar face.
Actually, Marcus was on the show back in 2020.
Now, if he can tell us what episode number he was,
I'd be super impressed, but I don't know if he remembers that.
But let me just give you for those of you that don't know Marcus.
Former NFL athlete, almost six years, played in the league.
Built some businesses, lost some businesses.
Now he is speaking at a high level, coaching at a high level, consulting at a high level.
And by the way, has a top rated podcast called Get Authentic with Marcus.
Welcome back to the show, brother.
>> How you doing, Jordan?
This is having you on, brother?
>> Of course, of course.
I'm doing great.
It's beautiful here.
I'm down in Atlanta, as you know.
And you're, I believe, are you still up in North Carolina?
>> I'm up in Raleigh.
I've got a job in Atlanta, man.
In October, Roots per Change, the empowerment of young black men through education.
Doing that in October and downtown.
Very excited about that.
Looking to empower, you know, young men who look like me through education,
not just sports and things of that.
And it should get us, I mean, I was,
I'm putting it up to I'm like, I love sports.
But I want people, especially young men,
to start understanding there is more than just sports.
There's education.
You can use that to create the life that you want for yourself.
>> Yeah, and it's funny you bring that up because that was the title of the episode
we had you on was Life After the Grid Iron.
You know, because not too many, not enough people, as you know,
talk about life after the Grid Iron.
And there's a lot of people that aren't set up for success
and have to kind of fumble their way through figuring the things out the hard way.
And I love the fact that when you go into organizations,
your goal is like, how could we, how could we set these folks up for success
to create something that's sustainable.
So let's talk a little bit about, I know you've served so many clients all over the world.
Let's talk about some of the things you're focusing on in 2026
when it comes to your consulting work.
>> So right now, Jordan, we're doing a lot of keynote speaking.
We're doing a lot of like training around mindset and leadership
to help improve sales.
Matter of fact, right before our call, we had a great call it with Mass Mutual.
This is their anniversary.
And they're doing a big event in Boston for their East Coast Summit.
And we are speaking to their group of second-line leaders and recruiters.
So the recruiters, right, Jordan are recruiting the talent to Mass Mutual.
The second-line leaders are leading that talent that they are recruiting to Mass Mutual.
And the theme of the event when we're going to title our talk is a legacy of purpose
and a future of possibilities.
So we're going to talk about how you have purpose and you have passion,
you have legacy.
It allows you to create a future of possibilities that are endless.
And I'm so excited about that.
But again, we do a lot of speaking around that.
And we also Jordan have an app. And the app we can create for our individual customized clients.
It's an app with my business partner Nathan Poole.
And we're so excited about it because when it does write Nathan,
it can do like KPI tracking, leadership tracking.
It can have communication.
You can do virtual round tables.
You can do leadership training, sales training, mindset training,
all these things. And we can create customized dashboards for our clients.
So we've had several meetings already and people are loving it in that regard.
And then also we're doing a lot of like, like I said, sales training.
We're also doing like some like a content creation.
We were in Salt Lake City area in Linden, Utah,
the huge client doing a big national project around helping their producers
get better at sales through elevating their mindset tactics,
their leadership tactics, how to grow their pipeline, how to connect,
how to add value, how to stand out.
So we've been very fortunate, man.
Like people love what we're doing, speaking, coaching, consulting, workshops,
creating content for training, but also write what you mentioned.
We have our podcast get authentic with Marcus Ogden.
And that is in the top half percent most popular podcast worldwide,
where we interview people who have authentic, very interesting stories.
For example, we're going to be interviewing a guy Rob Spelling,
who actually is Tori Spelling's brother.
So his dad was the mogul hat like, you know,
say by the bell, the whole like movie industry candy guy.
And he actually left that life for a simple life.
And we're interviewing him on the show sometime in May.
So we've had on all kinds of people from David Archie Ladda.
We're interviewing Terry Fatter from America's Got Talent to Travis Payne to Oh God.
Sebastian Bach from Skid Row, like you name it man.
As long as you are business owners, business leaders,
as long as you want to be authentic and share.
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You're right about right.
Love it. Love it. And let's talk a little bit about the podcasting space.
You know, I now had this show for six years.
Your show now you've had it for a while.
You know, what would you say to what would you say to people that are business leaders
that are experts that are athletes that are authors?
And they don't have a podcast in 2026.
What would your message be to them?
The value knowing the value that your show has added to your business,
to your brand from a global reach standpoint.
You said it best right at the end, a global reach perspective.
If you are somebody that does not have a podcast,
can you be successful? Of course you can.
Absolutely you can.
But you create something like a podcast.
When it does, it allows you to stand out.
It allows you to invite people into your world,
your network, your ecosystem and you're giving them something of value.
You're not asking them for money or business or something like that.
You're saying, hey, I love your story.
I like your work ethic. I like your grind.
Please come on to our podcast and share your story with our audience.
When people hear that and feel that from you,
they're like, yes, let's absolutely do that.
That's exactly how I met one of our premier clients, Trucordia,
one of my great friends, Wesley,
who owns AVA agency virtual assistant,
which works in getting people that need virtual assistants
in the insurance space or the podcast space help.
Wesley knows Felix Morgan, the CEO of Trucordia.
And he said, hey, he's in a group test.
Hey, Felix, this is my great friend, Marcus.
I was on his podcast. It's globally ranked. He's awesome.
You should come on.
So then Felix said, absolutely, let's chat.
So we had a call. It was me, Felix,
and Leslie, who's one of his executives, she's amazing.
We got on the call. Felix couldn't make it.
So it was me and Leslie.
We had a great conversation, right, Jordan?
We said, we're going to get Felix booked on the podcast.
We got on the book.
And I said to her, oh, by the way, Leslie,
one of my good friends, Wesley and Chris,
told me you all bring in speakers for your events.
Tell me more.
And she said, oh, my God, Marcus, yes.
We're always doing events looking for speakers.
Please send me your information and let's circle back.
I send it in for me.
That was on a Wednesday by that, by that neck.
Too late. That following, like that same Friday, right?
She got an email, Marcus.
The team absolutely loves everything about your message.
You're speaking.
We want to hire you for one of our big events in February
and at the Phoenician in Scottsdale.
Awesome.
Did that job, Jordan?
And I crushed it from there.
They said, Marcus, that was amazing.
The team raved about you.
Let's do a project together at our corporate headquarters.
I said, awesome.
Did you know what I'm saying?
And now, boom, did that.
And now, Jordan, we're in the position to do a lot more.
more with them. But everybody, ladies and gentlemen, this amazing relationship with
Chucordia all started because my friend said, Marcus, you should have Felix Morgan as a guest
on your podcast without the podcast, Jordan. I don't meet Felix. I don't meet Chucordia
and, honestly, from a life enjoyment perspective and a business perspective, my life is not
as rich because Chucordia's people, they're not just clients anymore, man. They're friends.
Yeah, I love it. I love how the relationship came from a referral, right? Somebody that previously
had a good experience, referred somebody else. And I always tell clients all the time, I'm like,
you're literally one connection away from changing everything, you know, creating so much
opportunity, but you have to have the vehicle and the vehicle is the podcast. And so let's talk a
little bit about the business side of podcasting because I don't think enough people kind of share
information around it because, you know, when you first start a show, you know, you're pushing it
out on social media, you know, you're trying to talk about it, you know, everywhere you go. And it
takes a little bit for it to kind of take off to where now people want to sponsor you, now people
want to add you to networks. And then before you know it, everyone's trying to find you, everyone
wants to get on your, your message is inundated with guest pitches and things like that. So let's,
let's be real with people and talk a little bit about, you know, when you first started,
was it so much a revenue driver immediately or did it take some time to build it up? And then now that
you know what you know, if you kind of look back hindsight being 2020, how much value does it
actually add to the pipeline in your speaking, your coaching, all of that whole business?
Jordan, I'll say like this, ma'am. Looking at it, the podcast in the beginning, of course it did
not monetize. Of course, it did not bring meaning money. Of course, it took time and effort and
blood and sweat and tears and people not really wanting to come on as much or people not showing
up as much. Our pipeline, we're four years old. So I remember in the beginning, June of 2020,
we launched. It was not easy. We did not make any money. And then on top of that, Jordan,
I ended up filing for divorce the next month, July 2022, right? It's, it's, it's wild, right? And so
ladies and gentlemen, but I never gave up. I kept pushing. I kept trying to find better guests.
I started finding ways to market. I invested money into something. I wasn't making me money from.
I had to put the work in. I had to get a great, a better production, turns out I had a good
production person. And then what he did was he left. And then he went, independent. So I hired him
on his own. And our game went up because he could start calling the shots by himself. And he's been
amazed. I think it's been the whole time he's not been independent for the last couple of years.
And then it's amazing. He is five star. So I invested in him when he went independent,
right? You have to spend money to make money. And so now, Jordan, the podcast, I tell everybody,
my home, my beautiful dream home that I bought in 2023 by myself after filing for divorce,
after seven months, which is crazy, even say my beautiful car, my lifestyle. When I'm able to do,
there's no way possible that would be possible without the podcast now. Because the podcast makes
money through sponsorship now, through ad spin, monetization through ad spin. We make money through
consulting clients through speaking clients through coaching clients. I actually signed up to people
this week, to this week for sponsorship of the podcast, one pay 2500, the other pay 2500,
boom, right? If I didn't have the podcast, they're not going to spend money on it. And again,
ladies, gentlemen, it took us years to get to the point of the type of doubts that we have now.
And again, always trying to improve, like even now, we're putting out different thumbnails,
we're putting out different clips, we're creating different social. You name it. We're doing it.
And again, we never rest. We never sleep. Oh, like what we've done in the past. We can just take
a rest now. We had a great success a couple of weeks ago, a couple of months ago. Absolutely not.
Always trying to get better. So if you're listening to this and you're just starting out with your
podcast, I'll give you one piece of advice. Just keep going. Just keep after it. Because here's the
thing, I understand. And I'm making money right now. Check Jordan's been there. Soabai. You're
getting a lot of downloads. Check. Jordan's been there. Soabai. Guess don't show up. Check.
Jordan's been there. Soabai. But the thing is Jordan didn't stop. Look where he's at now.
Six years later, monetizing, growing a business. I'm four years in monetizing, growing a business,
blazing gentlemen, it's never going to be as easy as you want it to be. But not being easy doesn't
mean impossible. You have to keep pushing. The only way you lose in life is if you quit. If you don't
quit, you can always come out on top. Yeah, great advice. And here's the thing folks, you cannot
blaze a trail from the sidelines. So, you know, you have to get onto the court. And the court is
podcasting. I mean, if you look at Pat McAfee, the guy signed up with 140 million with an M,
deal. I mean, you can't tell me it's because he's that great. No, no, because he puts out great
content and they stay ahead of the curb and they're consistent and they're doing it and you just
look at what can be built over time and it's all about the reps. You got to put in the reps.
You heard markets. He said it cost us money. It costs money. It's the same with me. It's like it
costs you money in the beginning, but you learn and then you invest and then you tweak and then you
iterate. And I didn't ever hear you say, yeah, we're just going to go now and go on vacation and
let it and ride the wave. No, no, no, you have to consistently hone on your craft, your skill sets,
getting better. I love the fact that now you're integrating and doing content with clients,
right? Because if you could podcast on a screen, you just get a microphone and you go in person.
Now you're doing content in person. And that adds so much value that when people see interaction
in person together with somebody else, now they get associated with your brand. That creates
so much impact for the client. The new red bull dragonberry energizer is now at McDonald's made
with freeze dried dragon fruit and made to lock in the all new energizer now at McDonald's.
Jordan, so if you look at my post on LinkedIn from the studio at my client's office,
it's amazing. And I said in the caption, something big is brewing in Lyndon, Utah. And if you're
in the insurance space, you know the client, you know the industry, you know what's going on as
far as who they are. And they are number 16 in the country for largest commercial insurance brokerages.
And they're only getting bigger and they're only getting better because they have they have amazing
leadership from the CEO, the C suite all the way throughout the organization. Ladies and gentlemen,
this is the type of relationship that took years to build years because I ended up, it's funny,
right Jordan? It's all about podcasting, right? How did I get into the insurance space in the
first place? One of my great friends, Mick Hunt, Mick is an amazing guy. You know, do you know, Mick?
Yep. Mick Hunt is amazing. Just that as a vent in the greenville. Yep. Mick's amazing. So Mick and I
became friends because Mick was in Raleigh. He wanted to come on my podcast. I wanted to go on
his, well, then Mick introduced me to Chris Paradiso, who's amazing. And now we're best of friends.
And then from there, I met Wesley. I met Ryan. Hey, I could go, I know Ryan. Hey, like I could go
on and on and on. Well, again, all that started from a podcast, right? About three years ago.
And now those guys are some of my best friends. Ladies and gentlemen, without the podcast, without
having that way to connect with Mick, I would have had nothing to offer Mick. And I would have
came and said, give me give me give me give me give me hand out. I said, no, Mick, here, take my hand.
I didn't want anything back. I said, here, here's my hand. Please come onto my podcast and share
your amazing story with our audience. He did that. I met Chris, Ryan. And now, again, I met Wesley.
Now I met Felix and from I mean, I could go on and on and on. Like so much business,
George, I can really attest to even when I didn't have get all fencing back in like 2018,
one of my best friendships, business wife and personal came for me going on some ice podcast,
where I got a client from that that I met Buckingham strategic partners. I met a company called
Carson wealth group. And that my great friend still to this day, Jamie Hopkins, who's out of the
Pennsylvania Philadelphia area. Jamie now works for a USF S bank and Brent March Trust.
And we are great friends. We've been great friends since 2019 because
I met Cam through a client of mine, whom that client of mine heard about me from going
on his mentor's podcast, Mr. Mike Schneider.
So Mike had me on his podcast and Aaron Truito became my client.
Then Aaron introduced me to my friend Steve and Jamie and now here we are.
And that has a snowball into so many relationships, tunnets, but again, ladies and gentlemen,
none of these things happened overnight.
Out of the percent, here it one more time, four percent of sales happened after the fourth
touch point.
Most people come into that so desperate for the sale, they end up pushing people away.
People will buy when they're ready to buy, but you cannot push them or be aggressive because
you'll push them right away.
Yeah, that should be the goal and you know, your show is called Get Authentic.
So your messaging also has to be authentic, right?
And the way that you approach people, you hit it on the head earlier, you got to come
from a place of value, what value can I add to you?
How can I help you?
Is there anyone in my network that I can introduce you to?
And I know that a lot of people in your network, they've got ecosystems, they've got networks,
that it just continues to grow from there.
So let's talk a little bit about the workshops that you're doing when you're facilitating
these for clients.
These typically a half day workshop is just a full day workshop, does it depend on their
goals?
How do you structure that for a client?
So Joy, that's a great question.
The workshops are dependent upon what the client needs.
Some are half day, some are full day, some are, you know, and again, within the half day,
it's four hours, right?
Within a full day, it's seven to eight hours.
And is this depends on the client's needs, right?
So some clients want more like the mindset stuff we might do.
Some clients want more of like the leadership stuff that we do.
Some clients want a little bit of cognition of both.
So we're very fortunate, right, Joy, that we create proposals based off, you know, in
that regard.
What we do is we create proposals that are customized for the client, we present that
to the client.
And then from that token, the client will tell us what they like off the proposal, either
half day, full day, gives us more of this mindset stuff, a bit more of this leadership
stuff.
And please create that for us customized.
And that Jordan is our true, you know, shining star, that's our north star.
We don't give people something that's cookie cutter.
Every proposal that's created by our team is made specifically and individually for each
client it's presented to.
And people love that because we have this right, Jordan, they feel, wow, this was made
just for me.
And when they feel that man, it's all about you just doing what?
Executing on what they purchased from me.
Yeah, I love it.
You've essentially, you've built the bridge, right, and all they have to do is drive over
that bridge, get their people into the workshop and you're essentially hand delivering
exactly what they're trying to consume.
And so when you do that, it means that you're setting yourself up for success right in the
beginning, which is what I love that strategy.
So I'd love to talk about how the impact of AI on the podcasting space and I want to
talk about this from the positive lens.
What positive shifts or changes with the way that AI is growing?
Have you seen in the podcasting space for your show?
It is so much easier, so much more efficient, so much faster, saved, so much time using
AI for descriptions, for writing, for finding information, for putting things together,
for getting it over to my producer, for publishing, it really, I'm sorry by AI was not designed
to take your job.
AI is designed to work with you to help you better do your job.
That's what AI is all about.
It's a tool.
AI is a tool.
It is driven and utilized by people.
So we have to stop thinking about SkyNet Terminator 2.
This is not, this is real life, ladies and gentlemen.
I mentioned doing a keynote, right, Jordan, in June for professional insurance agents
of DC, Virginia North Carolina chapter.
It's our second job within 10 months, and it's on how to use AI to build your agency.
It's for insurance agency owners, we're doing a one hour keynote and a two hour workshop
on AI, and AI, it's everywhere.
OpenClaw, this, chat, G, P, T, that, like, the things like, I've got like pod prepper.
I mean, there's so many different things being built like, I did a speaking job joining
for Mass Mutual and February of this year, they brought in one of their big AI players
and guys that talk to the group about how AI is so important to start utilizing it on
the back end, on the back side for your business, ladies and gentlemen, don't be afraid of
something that you don't understand.
Don't be me in 2018, 24 months ago, Jordan.
I was so anti CRM's and workflows and sat GPT and so AI, I didn't want to touch it today
with our CRM, with our workflows being built through CRM done better and go high level
between our journeys, between our videos within side the journeys between our funnels,
between what we're doing SEO tied back to our website, tied back to our emails.
I don't know how you even got to this point without it.
Seriously, ladies and gentlemen, this is a guy who used to write things down on a freaking
poster board, poster board.
That's what I did.
I had this sale, this, I crossed it off, yeah, I got this, I got this video, yeah, cross
it like I was selling, I'm crossing things off, uh, ladies and gentlemen, I was a complete
dinosaur and I was so outdated and so out of touch with time and the reality of the
world.
And I'm telling you right now, I was afraid I was scared, I don't like this.
It's uncomfortable.
I don't want to change.
I don't want to do this.
I've been there.
I'm telling you, if you get out of your own way and open up right future of legacy creates
the future of legacy of purpose creates a future of possibilities.
I stopped telling myself, I can't do this, this is not for me and I opened up my mind.
I opened up my purpose, I opened up my value so I let other things in.
I wasn't, I didn't know, was scared of and the possibilities have been flowing endlessly
from new business to better business to easier ways of structure to systems.
Ladies and gentlemen, if you want to scale in any business or a system, if the systems
are built, then the business will never thrive.
So to answer your question, Jordan, 18 24 months ago, I was so anti AI, any type of like
you know, a system or software like, don't get away from me.
Today is every part of the integral, integral, intricacies, excuse me, of our business.
Absolutely.
Yeah, it's, it's not going anywhere and it's been around way longer than most people
actually know.
You know, I was in the training and development space for eight years and we were using it
back.
I think as early as like 2009, 2010, building our learning management system.
So what I love about it is just how fast it's evolving because you know, you turn around
in every half a day, there's four or five new tools that people are talking about and
I'm like, man, I just started using this one.
I'm not ready for this next one, but that's just how fast we're moving.
So one of the things I loved about what you said earlier is that you're creating custom
dashboards for clients.
Has that been able to increase speed wise because of the leverage of AI?
Absolutely.
My business partner Nathan and his team can get so much more done now because AI helps
them and we have AI, you know, but Marcus is in size of these different, you know, apps
in software and everything has been so much more expedite because of AI, the technology
piece.
And again, AI should be used with human element and human touch and you have human element
and human touch.
Combining it, there's absolutely nothing you can't get done, nothing.
So again, realize that you have it at your fingertips and if you're afraid, that's
okay.
Let's get some help.
Find somebody like a Jordan understands, don't call me because I'm not the guy, but find
someone that understands AI.
the eye, the technology piece and get them to assist you because when you can put into
your business, great things are going to happen. Trust me.
You know, I know a lot of people are going to go back. They're going to listen to episode
three, which was published on January 1st, 2020. So make sure you guys check that out.
We're going to put that link to that episode in the show notes. So they're going to learn
about your story in Journey and see that your journey, you know, wasn't easy. You know,
you had some, some big shoes to look up to from an older brother and then you, you fought
your way to get into the league and you spent almost six years and then you took that money
invested to a business and then you lost it all and you're sitting rock bottom outside
of a trash can like we're the heck like what's my life going to look like now. So you have
no shortage of fight in you. You've got no shortage of, hey, if this isn't work now, I'm
going to keep going. There's a lot of people that listen. We got listeners now in 90 countries.
We're so fortunate that millions of people listen to our show every single year. So the
listener out there that today they're facing that rock bottom. Maybe they just turned
this in. They just got an eviction notice on their door. They just got a bad diagnosis.
There's something impact in their world right now. Ladies and gentlemen, no matter how dark it seems, focus on the light, focus on the good
that you have in your life. We all have some form of good, some form of encouragement,
some form of passion, some form of inner circle, friends of the case may be, right? Learn
to focus on the good in your life. One of my favorite quotes, Aristotle in times of extreme
darkness, focus on the light. And this is where the light is you. If you're having struggles,
again, I went through darkness when I had got divorced November, 2022. I was forced to
move out of my marital home to a crappy apartment. And for about two months, I was down on
myself blue. And I remember it was January 15th, give or take a 2023. I told myself enough
is enough. Stop with the pity party. Stop feeling bad for yourself. It's time to give
all this couch out of this crappy, broken down apartment and get your life back on track.
And that's exactly what I did. I leaned into the podcast, into my network, into my connections.
I was able to then get myself together. And I bought my dream home from me and my daughter
in May of that year. So January 15th, 2023, I told myself enough is enough. A 15, 2023.
So what's that? February, March, four months later, four months later, I bought my dream
home by myself in the Royal North Carolina area. Ladies and gentlemen, when times get dark,
and I'll say it again, when times get dark, focus on the light that will drive you, carry
you, help you through anything you have going on in your life.
And it's going to really help us move forward. It develops grit and resilience and determination.
And so no matter what you're experiencing today, like Marcus said, if you focus on the
things that you're grateful for, the people in your world that you can send a text to,
a message to, you know, you're going to realize that you do have things to fight for.
And as long as you keep putting one foot in front of the other, you will eventually be
able to hit your goals just like Marcus did.
Go again, just keep going. Be a bison. Be bold, have integrity, be self-aware, take ownership,
never, ever quit under any circumstances, period.
That's it. Well, Marcus, it's been a pleasure having you on for round two. I know our listeners
are going to get value out of hearing all the amazing things you're up to. If an organization
that hears this or an individual goes back to their office and says, you know, we need
to bring Marcus in. Where's the best place for them to go?
Go to our website, www.Marcus, M-A-R-Q-U-E-S-O-D-O-G-D-E-N.com, or shoot me an email,
[email protected].
We would love to connect with you. We would love to hear from you. And again, thank you so
much, Jordan, and an amazing audience and be a group of people for having us on your show
to share our story and a little bit about what we do to help our client base.
Yes, sir. Pleasure having you on for round two. Everybody, make sure you run over to
the show notes. Go to the website, fill out that contact form. Marcus, thanks so much
for coming on the show again for round two. Any parting words for the audience?
Yeah, man. I'll say one of my favorite quotes. Smooth seas. Never made skilled sailors.
Franklin, Delano, Roosevelt. We learn how to become the best version of ourselves through
adversity, through chaos, and through obstacles. As long as we never take our out the prize,
as long as we don't lose focus, lose discipline, or lose drive, we can always get what we
want to get in life. So again, be very focused and understand, smooth seas. Love it. Smooth seas are only good for cruises
folks. So I love to quote my friend. Thanks for coming on the show again. Have an amazing
weekend.
That's a bother.
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