Locked In with Ian Bick - How My Brother's Incarceration and a Career-Ending Injury Transformed My Life | Aaron Parks

Episode Date: August 18, 2024

In this powerful episode, Aaron Parks shares the transformative story of how his brother's incarceration and a career-ending injury changed his life forever. Discover how these life-altering events led Aaron to a new path, providing insurance for individuals coming out of prison. Learn about the challenges, the triumphs, and the deep sense of purpose that drives his mission to support and protect those re-entering society. This is a must-watch for anyone interested in personal growth, resilience, and making a difference in the lives of others. Hosted, Executive Produced & Edited By Ian Bick: https://www.instagram.com/ian_bick/?hl=en https://ianbick.com/ Connect with Aaron Parks: https://parksinsured.com/who-is-aaron-parks/ Presented by Tyson 2.0 & Wooooo Energy: https://tyson20.com/ https://woooooenergy.com/ Powered by: Just Media House : https://www.justmediahouse.com/ Creative direction, design, assets, support by FWRD: https://www.fwrd.co Buy Merch: https://lockedinbrand.com Use code lockedin at checkout to get 20% off your order Timestamps: 00:00:00 - Affect of Incarceration on Families 00:03:43 - The Impact of Probation Violations 00:07:34 - The Impact of Incarceration on Families 00:11:17 - Standing up to the Bully 00:15:04 - The Moment That Changed Everything 00:19:00 - Overcoming Challenges in Football 00:23:20 - The Injury that Ended my Football Career 00:31:20 - Learning the Car Sales Industry 00:35:10 - Pursuing Dreams and Making a Difference 00:39:03 - Getting Free Health Insurance 00:42:34 - Free Health Insurance Plans 00:46:53 - Impact of Parks Insurance Agency 00:50:39 - Providing Medical Assistance in Correctional Systems 00:54:23 - The Importance of Health Insurance 00:58:18 - Insurance Coverage in Jail Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

How many discounts does USAA auto insurance offer? Too many to say here. Multi-vehicle discount. Safe driver discount. New vehicle discount. Storage discount. How many discounts will you stack up? Tap the banner or visit usa.com slash auto discounts. Restrictions apply. My brother was incarcerated when I was younger.

When I was about eight years old, he ended up going to prison. And, you know, at the time, I didn't realize, you know, how that would affect me long-term in my life and my, you know, trajectory. and all of those things. Well, you know, going to visit him all those times in prison, you know, seeing the conditions, of course, right, that you deal with. And then also having other family members besides him, I had a first cousin end up getting life in prison for murder. So about every weekend I felt like growing up, you know, from the age of eight to about

13, you know, we're going to visit a family member in prison. Where did you guys grow up? So I grew up in Rock Hill, South Carolina, very humble beginnings, very, you know, humble being, hey, we're poor. And, you know, it was tough. I'm the youngest of three. And it was definitely a journey because, you know, we didn't have a lot. But the great thing about growing up that way is that you don't know you don't have a lot, right? And so you appreciate things a little differently sometimes as someone that's had a little easier upbringing.

and my brothers, again, they were much, much older than me. My oldest brother, who we're talking about here that went to prison, was about 12 years older than me, and my other brother was about nine years older than me. And so just, you know, seeing him, you know, kind of also like a father figure in a way, go to prison, was kind of tough. I did have my mother and father in the home, and that was very helpful. But then after he came back home, right?

So he goes to prison when I was eight years old. We go all the prison visits. He comes back home and he's a different guy. You know, he is not the same. I think I probably will speak for you. It changes you and changes who you are, but he has a lot of health issues, a lot of things going on with him that he needed help with. My parents, luckily, fortunately for him, a great support system.

Mom and Dad did everything they could to give him what he needed to be successful, which unfortunately, most folks coming home from prison. prison in jail, don't get that. And he did, thankfully. But I didn't even know at the time how that would even affect my life, right? So here I am. I'm 13 years old. I see the stuff. I see him come out. I see him get back on his feet. But I don't truly grasp, you know, what's really, you know, what my life would end up being and where it would lead me and all of those things. Yeah, we always focus on the individuals that commit the crimes and are incarcerated themselves, little do we hear the perspectives of those who are affected directly from those individuals who are found in prison's actions.

It doesn't just affect that person because no one's ever just alone. It affects brothers, sisters, parents, the victims, if there are victims. Yes. So for you, as a younger brother, it has a tremendous impact. And a lot of people don't realize those effects. And I know some judges do consider the family and, and what? what that dynamic is when they're doing a sentencing. Right.

Because it is a huge part because him getting sentenced could throw you automatically into the same trouble that he got into because that was the path he was on and he's your older brother. Yeah, exactly. And you don't think about it, but it really affects you, which is another part of what we do and why it's so awesome is we get to ensure the families while the individual is incarcerated. Even if the individual has life, we can still ensure their family. and at least give their family some peace of mind on the outside in that regard and try to help alleviate some of that. But yes, you're right. It does affect you greatly. When did you first find out that your brother was in prison? And were you old enough to comprehend the actions? Yeah, I can remember, you know, it was a lot that kind of led up to it. He had gotten married. And that particular person was not the greatest of influences in his life.

and he ended up breaking into, actually funny enough, and you guys will laugh at the irony of this later in the podcast here when I tell you my story, but he broke into a car dealership and stole some radios. Well, he had never gotten in trouble before then, right? And so he got probation, but he kept violating the probation over and over and over and over again, right? And so I remember the shock of him initially going to jail

and the shock of how my parents reacted to it and wanting to get him out of there. And my dad feeling quite guilty, even though he wasn't obviously to one that did anything. But, you know, when your kid fails and your kid does something, you feel, you know, the weight of that. And it really affected my dad a lot. You know, he tried to hurry up and get him out as quickly as we could. We bonded him out. Got him probation. And he just kept doing the same things.

and eventually end up catching a five-year bid. Yeah, probation is a dangerous slope. It really is. Like, so many people are affected just by the probation violations, more so in, I would say, the state level than the federal level. But it's just so silly. It's tough. What exactly going on?

I actually just interviewed a probation officer a couple weeks ago and a former probation officer, and he just says the system is just designed for failure in that sense. Funny enough, my brother. ended up maxing out. He could have got out two years sooner. He stayed another two years so he wouldn't have to go back on probation. So it worked out for him. He's very successful today doing very well. Owns a detail company doing great. Do you ever look back and think that, you know, him going to prison set off your purpose in life? You know, at the time that it happened, right, I didn't know that. But when I went through the journey, right, of my story, I realized it at the end that, yeah, it did.

It actually changed my life. And it actually is the reason Parks Insurance Agency is in existence. What's that feeling like to have someone there one day and then gone the next? And someone that's still alive, they haven't died, but they're just physically not free in your life, especially if you have a close relationship with that person. Yeah, it was really hard. I really miss my brother a lot. I looked up to him a lot growing up in things because he's so much older than me. And it was really tough because, you know, you really missed a person on the birthdays, their birthday, you know, the holidays, the Mother's Day, the Father's Day, all those things that we have, Thanksgiving and Christmas and all that stuff.

You just, you really, that's when you miss them the most. and you just your heart goes out to them because what society sees as a convict, you know as your brother or your sister or your dad or your mom or whomever. And you know that person and you know their action is not who they are really. And so it's really hard because while they're inside, they don't have those substances. They don't have those things that will influence them while they're on the outside. And it just, it totally changes a person, right, from who they are to who they were to,

you know, somebody else, right? And so when they go to prison a lot of times, they end up reverting back to who you always knew. And so it's really hard to watch that person not be able to come and see you, not be able to be free, you know, and you worry about the things that they're going through. You know, as a kid, I didn't really understand how horrible prison really was. I'm actually thankful I didn't because it probably would have made things worse for me, knowing what he was going through.

Yeah, and that's a very interesting perspective because we see all the time on TV and even in TV shows and movies where someone, a family member, will do something horrific and commit some type of crime and that family standing besides them because they have those memories of them as not that evil or person that committed those acts. Like you see the parents of the perpetrator and the siblings, and stuff at court and being there to support them. And it kind of gives you that other look on it,

regardless of what they did to you. Yep, absolutely. And it's just, I've been in that seat, and it sucks. It really does. But, you know, it's, people don't think about that, right? There's so many more victims in a situation than just the person that became offended by whatever the crime was is also the family's doing that time with them. Did you ever get picked on because of his charges and found yourself having this stand-up for him?

Actually, it kind of leads into my story, right? Great. So let's get there. So I told you earlier, I grew up South Carolina, very humble beginnings. We didn't have a lot. Didn't know I didn't have a lot until I started going to school, funny enough. And so after he goes to, you know, gets in his trouble and all of that, I'd already been having trouble. you know, kind of leading up to that point, because I was a smaller kid.

I got picked on a lot. And in our community, unfortunately, if you don't have the Nikes, you don't have the, you know, the Jordans and all those things, and, you know, you're not cool. And, you know, I didn't have the nice shoes. I didn't have, I had the Walmart brand. I had the, you know, the clothes that were clean, but, you know, they were not the nicest designer clothes, you know. And kids really can be cruel. And I got picked on from, I would say, you know, really hard all the way from when he went to prison all the way up through to the time he actually got out, funny enough. And the reason being is I was small again, didn't have a lot of money, things like that.

And people just really took advantage of me. So when I was younger, for whatever reason, I've always had a really, really big heart. I've always been very caring, always been very long-suffering, kind, give you shirt off my back kind of a person. I think I kind of get that from my mom and dad. They're just, they're great people. But my grandmother raised 13 children by herself after her husband abandoned her. And so she never said a bad word about the guy.

So that just goes to show you to kind of people, you know, I come from. Well, so throughout all of that time, all the way up through middle, school. I'll fast forward through middle school. My brother is getting out of prison when I go to the ninth grade, okay, in high school. It's just so happened that coincided. I grew a foot in a summer. So I ended up at six foot two going into the ninth grade. I had been picked on the whole time, all of that. I'm telling you this because it all ties into what ends up happening. Well, I go into that ninth grade year, right? But I'm still that same scared kid. I'm, I'm I'm six foot two, but I'm still that scared kid that, you know, gets picked on all those things.

Well, one day it all changed. It's like, you know, a couple days into the school year, first couple days. I'm outside with a bully who is not to be named. But the guy bullied me my whole life, right, up to this point. And we're sitting there, we're bouncing a tennis ball, you know, off the wall. We're playing a little game, whatever. He's a bigger, big guy also. He's always real big.

it was my turn. You know, I had won whatever we were doing, and it was my turn. And there was a set of woods behind us. And so we were facing a wall, the school, bus slot there, woods over there. So I go, and he's like, you want this ball. I'm like, yeah, you know, it's my turn. And he turns around, throws it in the woods, and says, go fetch it, boy. So for the first time of my life, before, when he said the oi and the boy, I was already

swinging. Okay. I hit him right in the mouth. He falls. He bleeds on the concrete, gets up, runs to the principal and, you know, tells on me or whatever, right? And so, of course, I get in trouble, but I've never felt a feeling that good in my entire life because this is years of being bullied and picked on and all those things. And so I made a proclamation to myself. And this was really important in how and who it would end up becoming because that day I made a proclamation. to myself. I went home, all right? I looked in the mirror and I said to myself, Aaron, you don't ever forget who you are. You're that kind, that good guy, that guy that's going to give you the shirt off of his back. Don't ever forget that. But you're not going to take any more shit. Period. Point blank. Make that promise to myself, right? Well, that promise came with some consequences that year. I ended up, I went on to get into 13 more altercations that year.

And it was a rough year because all these kids were used to picking on me. And so they just had to find out the hard way. Well, you fast forward to the end of this year, end of that year. We end up moving. I mean, by the grace of God, we end up moving, okay? We move into the other high school district. It just so happens. Now the high school. I'm like, okay, well, it's a fresh start, right? Nobody really knows me because you know how high school is. You grow up with the same kids and all of that. So nobody really knows me on this side of town. They went to a different elementary school. They went to a different middle school. They don't know me. So I got a chance to reinvent myself, right? Of course, my parents are very disappointed in me thinking that I'm taking the same path that my brother took, right? Now, my brother never really fought in school and things like that. But, you know, they were thinking, okay, well,

He's fighting. He's, you know, doing all these things. So we go to register, all right, in the summertime. It's probably probably about a week before school. We go to register at the new high school. My mom takes me up there. I'm walking through the hallway, right? This kind of shorter white guy walks by older, older white guy with a belly. And he yells. Walk by, hey, who are you? I'm like, you know, I'm just like, oh, my God. Like, what is this guy yelling at me, right? Like, who is this guy? I said, I'm Aaron. You know, I'm kind of sheepish. I'm Aaron. Like, what is it? What did I do? Right? And he's like, you go to school here?

Like, yes, sir, I'm registering now. He said, why you ain't playing football? I said, well, I don't really want to play, right? Now, this guy's yelling at me. My mom is standing here, right? He switches, cadences, like, automatically. Goes to my mom, hey, Mrs. Parks, how you. Can we speak for a moment over here? And I'm like, like, what am I, chop liver over here? Like,

what is going on? So he goes, takes my mom, I can tell my mom is getting a little emotional. So I already know she's telling all my business. She's telling him, you know, this guy, you know, this kid is fighting and all these other things, right? So after they have their conversation, he walks by me and says, I'll see you later. And I'm thinking to myself, no, you won't, right? We register school. We get in the car. We go. And I'm thinking we're going home, right?

And we passed the road to go home. I'm like, Mom, where are we going? She said, we're going to the doctor. The doctor, I'm not sick. Like, are you sick? Like, what's going on here? Now, we're going to get you a physical. I said, a physical for what?

Oh, you're playing football. That's what you're going to do. You're going to play football. And I'm like, no. No. Now, meanwhile, okay, in the seventh and eighth grade, I played football and I was terrible. I got the shit kicked out of me. When I was in the seventh grade, seventh and eighth grade, I was terrible at it. I was scared of contact.

I don't know what idea I had in my head to play football at that time, but that's what I wanted to do. And I knew I didn't want to do it again, okay? And so my mom makes me go to get the physical, takes me back to the high school, and drops me off at the football field, okay? and they fit me for the equipment. And next thing I know, I'm down on the field, it's freaking 110 degrees probably outside in South Carolina in the summer. It's hot.

I don't want to be there. And all of a sudden, I go from being 6 foot 2 to 5 foot 1 all over again. So I am that scared kid, right? I'm just like, please don't put me in. Please don't put me in, right? First thing, first team drill. Hey, get in there. I'm like, oh, God.

You know, I don't want to be here, whatever. I line up. I'm playing defensive line. So for those, y'all football fans, y'all know, I'm playing defensive in, okay? So I put my hand in the dirt to play defensive in. And the offensive tackle is looking at me like, yeah, this is this is barbecue chicken right here. We're going to, we're going to make an example out of this kid. First thing, he drills me, like right in the chest, knocks me over and stands over the top of me

and spits in my face. That was the moment. That was the moment that changed literally everything in my life at that time. And I said, no. That's not going to happen.

So I get up. Coach is like, I can't believe this guy is huge, but he sucks. Let's get him out of here. He's like, get out of the drill, Parks. And I'm like, no. And he's like,

Parks, get out of the drill. No. I'm the coach. I told you to get your ass out of the drill. And I said, I want him. He said, okay, run it again. Simple enough. Football fans, again, you'll appreciate this.

It was a halfback dive. Okay? So the running backs running the ball right up the middle, right? I come off the ball so hard. I was so strong, guys. Like, you got to understand, I had country boy strength. I grew up, my dad, we worked in the yard. We held concrete.

We hauled concrete. We lay tile. We farmed. We did everything. So I had big boy muscles, okay? And so I picked this kid up off the ground. His cleats are dangling, and I throw him into the running back for the tackle. And the whole place went nuts.

Okay? The coaches went nuts. Like we found the guy. He is the man. Where has that been? That's unbelievable. I stand back over top of the kid, right? The same kid.

And I spit in his face. And I let him know that if he ever did that again, I would literally kill him. And I meant it. I meant what I said, you know. And so that changed everything. So here it is, right? I go from being picked on to being crapped on, horrible at a sport, not popular. Nobody likes me.

Whatever. To this new school. Now I'm the football star. I'm the captain on the football team alongside the quarterback. I'm doing my thing. Major program in South Carolina. I am on my way. And then this other dream started to develop, right?

So now nobody's picking at me anymore. I'm going to class. I have friends. I have all the things. So this other thing developed inside of me. I wanted to then provide the lifestyle for my mom, dad, my future wife, my future children that I never had. I wanted financial freedom for them.

I saw one way in front of me to get that done, and that was the National Football League. And many players from the high school I had played at had already gone to the National Football League. Many players at that high school have continued to go to the National Football League to this day. And so I felt very, very strongly

that I could be one of those guys because I was not just good, I was great. And so I felt really, really good, right? So I end up going to Wingate University. That's where I went to college at. And I end up playing there. And after three years, I end up declaring for the NFL draft. Okay.

And so at that time, I knew that coming from a smaller school, that my draft stock wasn't going to be very good. But again, football fans will appreciate this. I was 265 pounds and I was running a legit 4.38 40. That is really fast. For those of you who don't know it, that's really fast. And so, and I was jumping over 40 inches or 40 inch vertical, like 42 inches, bench pressing 225, 29 times. I knew all I had to do was get to the combine. So they have regional combines to win a bid to go to the national combine in Indianapolis. There's a regional combine in

Atlanta, Georgia. Okay. I got invited to that. I knew that if I ran anywhere near where I normally run or perform at anywhere near the level, that I would get the bid to the national combine that was going to then catapult me into a training camp invite, which would then catapult me in the opportunity to make a football team, right? So it's all in front of me.

I know I've got it. I know I got the measurables. I know that in my group of defensive ends that I was an incredible. incredible athlete. And so everything changed once again. So I train, train, train, I train for nine months for this, okay? Leave school. I focus on training. Training for nine months. The week before the combine, one week, it was my last tune up training, last one. After that, it was just going to be light stretching and light jogging until the day of performance. Okay. So I had a day set up for 1040s.

So I run 1040s. So I had run 1040s. And for whatever reason that day, I was not quite good enough to get the 4-3. I kept on running 4-4-1, 4-4-2, 4-4-1 over and over again, right? And in my mind, I'm like, man, I want to run that 4-3. That's what I've been running. That's what I'm used to running. That's what I'm going to run, right?

And so my brother is the one that's timing me. And he's like, hey, you know, you got your 10. You need to, you need to stop. Oh, no, bro. I'm going to run one more, man. I'm going to run one more. I got to get that for three, man. Like, I can't just leave.

It's kind of like the basketball court. We've all been there, right? You don't want to leave on a miss, right? You're shooting around and you're like, I got to stay here until I make one, right? And so I'm like, yeah, I just want to, you know, I just want to run. He's like, Aaron, I don't think you should do it, man. I think you're good. You just need to chill.

Like, you're good. I'm like, no, I'm going to run one more. He said, okay, fine. And so I run that one more. I got four, three, six, the fastest time I ever ran. But in the last step... My grandmother slept in a futon her whole life. Lived a 96, walked every day.

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Grade two, pull. So for those that have pulled a hamstring, it's like that. So it's not, it's not that, but it's like that. And it's bad. I mean, it's bad. I mean, I'm going to be on the shelf six months before it gets right. Damn near grade three. And so I can't go to the combine. I can't even go to the damn combine. And so I had one more shot to go, but I wasn't able to go then either. And so I just wasn't healthy. And so I didn't get another chance after that. And so I thought to myself, I'll rehab, I'll come back, I'll be fine. I rehabed. I came back. Could not get anyone to call me back. Had an agent and everything. Couldn't get another opportunity. And at that time, Ian, I had no idea. I'm like, what is wrong here? Because I am a highly spiritual person.

I believe in God. I believe in doing the right stuff, doing the right things, doing right by people. I did the thing Hulk Hogan did, said my prayers, eat my vitamins. I did all that stuff. And it just was not happening. And I could not figure out what did I do? I remember praying to God and saying, what did I do? Like, why are you not? I worked. I did all the things.

Like, why are you not giving me this? Right? And I remember thinking the most painful part of it, Ian, is that I had to let go of that dream, right? In my mind, at the time, all I could do was play football. I couldn't do it any other way. Because remember, I come from a family that there wasn't, we didn't, nobody owned businesses. Nobody, you know, nobody did those things, right?

And so there was no way, you know, I was going to be able to do this. So letting go of that was the hardest thing. I didn't want to let go of it to the point to where I got evicted from my home. It had nowhere to go. This was after college. You got your own place. Got my place. Living off student loans like an idiot.

Stupid. it. Lived off student loans. Like, oh, I'll pay them back when I get to the league, you know, kind of thing. Money runs out. Lose everything. And I mean everything. I'm talking, freezing in the house, no electricity, no hot water. I mean, just in squalor. Okay. And so I ended up getting a job at a car dealership. Funny enough, right? Full circle, right? Now, that's kind of funny. It is. So I ended up getting a job at a car dealership. Is it the same one? No, it's not same.

That would have been great. That would have been something there. But I ended up getting a job at this car dealership, right? And I ended up going and applying. I had to apply a bunch times. It was crazy. But they ended up finally feeling sorry for me and giving me a job, right? And so I get a job.

I have nothing, Ian. I mean nothing. I'm going there. I'm freezing my butt off. I don't have anything. But I did do enough eventually to get a roof over our head, all of those things, all of that, right? So I go, got a roof over my head, but that's about all I got is a roof. I mean, some day, most days I'm not able to eat, you know, and I'm just scraping and scrounging by. And I will tell you, in the midst of all of this, my manager felt sorry for me and gave me 20 bucks one time,

and I'll never forget it, went to cookout, man. And I'm telling you, that was the best damn burger to this day I've ever had in my life. I've been to cookout, and my ex-girlfriend used to live, I'd go to school, and where's that lacrosse limestone? Yes. So cookouts right over there. Yeah. Wow.

That's crazy. I went to the cookout, man. I got a little small drink, right? ate inside. This particular cookout, I had an inside in it. And it got me a burger, a little burger and fries. And, man, I'd use that 20 bucks and I ate for like five days. It was amazing.

But, you know, those moments are like when you are successful. like you think about, like the other day I was driving, I was like, I remember when I couldn't even put gas in my car. Like, I would ride it until empty. Yeah. Now I, you know, I fill it when it gets to like half a tank and it just, you literally have to struggle. If you want to become like an entrepreneur or any success in life, you've got to experience those failing moments. And it's so powerful how the things that really aren't meant for you. Like I'd put the blood, sweat, and tears into my old club and business and stuff.

and I was ready to die for that, you know. Yep. But it wasn't meant for me. That wasn't my purpose. Wasn't your path, man. Yeah, it wasn't the path. And you don't realize what's going on. But the funny part is so I go through all of that, right?

And one, I'm noticing that the guys at the dealership, you go to the dealership, you sell cars, all of that. And the guys at the dealership, certain ones are dressed nicer, right? And I'm always so like you do a deal, you take it to this guy that's got a nice shirt and a tie on. and those guys always going out to eat. They always got a nice car. They always got all this stuff. And I'm like, man, I want to, I want that. The finance managers, they do the loans, they do all the stuff.

But they make the money in a dealership. And I'm like, wow. Because they get the good salary too. Yes. And they get a piece, I think, of the loan, right? They do. They get a piece of that. They get a company car.

All of the things, man, all the things. And I'm like, man. And I'm sitting there most days not eating, watching them, you know, go to get lunch wherever. Oh, where are we going to eat lunch at today? And, you know, you can imagine me working and smelling that food and seeing it. It's really crazy. And so they're going out and going to lunch, doing all that stuff. And so I go to my manager and I'm like, hey, man, I want to do that.

And he says, oh, you're too stupid to do that. All you can do is sell cars. You just need to focus on that. I'm like, why am I too stupid? I mean, I wanted, you know, I could do this, you know. And so in my own mind, right, that will. So if I have a gift, okay, that God gave me, I ain't the smartest, you know, I'm not, I'm a big guy, but I ain't the biggest, I ain't the strongest, I'm not any of those things, I ain't the fastest, but I am the person that's got the most will that you've ever met. I have willpower, like beyond willpower.

And so for the first time since football, when he said I was too stupid, Will kicked in. I said, oh, no. No, I'm not. I'm going to show you what I am, right? And so little did I know, Ian, that that would end up taking me on a six-year journey. Right? It took me six years to finally break the door to.

down. And when I say I broke the door down, my friend, we ain't got time to go through it, but I broke the door down. It was a lot that I went through to get to that point. And so I finally got to finance, right? Finally, finally made it. Fast forward, right? And so I'm sitting there and I've made it. And my boss walks in the door, who didn't like me, the owner of the dealership forced me into that position up underneath this guy that didn't care for me. And there's a whole software system you got to run. This manual's about that thick. He drops the manual on the desk and says,

hey, I'm not teaching you anything. If you make a mistake, you're fired. Here's the manual. Good luck. You got a week. I'm like, what am I supposed to do with this? You know? Like, oh my goodness. It's like, well, I guess I better figure it out.

So I ended up, so the dealership closes, right? And then at night, the janitorial staff comes in, okay? And I hope we're past the statute of limitations here. Nobody tell anybody about this. But anyway, the janitor, the janitors come in at night, right? And the building is locked. And they didn't speak English, okay? They were all Spanish.

and there was no translator app. There was no such thing as translator app. So I had to figure out how to communicate with these guys. And so I got a friend, I got a friend, right, that knew Spanish. And we went up to the dealership, right? Get there. Hey, you know, pay you some money, let me in, you know, all of these things. And so they let me in.

And so for that week, I stayed there. till 3 a.m. Working, practicing, putting fake deals in, learning all the things I need to learn, right? And then I would go home, shower, and come back. So I just kept, so from 9 to 3, I was at the dealership learning. That's what it takes. That's what it takes, right?

And so I end up for three consecutive years, right? So they had no idea how I learned all of this stuff. But for three consecutive years, I was actually the number one ranked finance manager in the entire country. How do you get that ranking? And it was this particular manufacturer, it was Honda. How do you get this ranking? It's all based upon so when somebody comes in for a loan, you're selling them warranties, you're selling them gap insurance, you're selling them all the products, right? And you're sitting there, and the warranty penetration is how you're judged. I was somewhere in an 80 to 90% range every month. My host's competitor was about 40, 45%.

And so I won the trip after trip to Las Vegas because of my greatness in this particular program. And so I've made it, right? I've done the thing. I have children at this point. I've done all the things. But I still felt empty. You didn't have purpose yet. Didn't have purpose.

You were making money and sometimes the money doesn't equal purpose. Making $200 grand a year, man. Now, one thing I didn't have that I always wanted was I wanted to be there for my kids. I wanted to be there for, you know, their games and all of that. I did not have that because anybody that's been in the car business, which a lot of your listeners probably have been or still is in the car business, they are, it's hours. It's a lot of hours. They don't care. You're a number.

You're going to sit in that chair and you're going to produce or if you're going to be on the cell cars, you're going to sell cars. You're going to sell on that, sit on that lot and you're going to sell cars. And that's all you're going to do, right? And so, but I did have, you know, the money, did good, all of that, all those things. And so I felt empty. And you fast forward to 2019. It felt very empty. And I felt like, man, I'm not doing what I set out to do initially.

So when I went to college initially, I majored in business and religion. Religion. I've never heard this before. Okay. I was going to be a pastor. That's what I was going to do. That's what my mindset was going to be, right? And so when I got, end up getting married in college, and then I decided to, you know, go chase my dreams to be in the National Football League, I did not, I just went away from that, right?

But that same kid, the same kid that made that promise to himself, the same kid that was bullied and picked on, I still had that big heart. But I still, I wasn't doing anything with it. And so first I started, I said, okay, I want to do life insurance, right? So I want to make a difference that way because people need life insurance. So many people die without it, all these things, right? So I end up, I sit down with a client after I just started Parks Insurance Agency as a life insurance agency first. And I sit down with this particular client of mine. His name is Donald.

Donald is like, hey, man, I don't have the best credit. You know, can you help me? Yeah, sure. You know, helped him get along, got all of these things, all that. We became friends. He's like, man, I need life insurance. I know you mentioned you do life insurance. Sure.

So I did life insurance. He said, hey, man, I need health insurance. I said, I don't do that. I'm licensed in it, but I don't do it. And he's like, no, Aaron, I need health insurance. I'm like, man, it's kind of like one of those things, like where you say, yeah, I'll call you. But we all know. You ain't calling.

And I'm like, okay, sure, I'll do it, you know, whatever. I'm just trying to get the guy out of my hair. Ian, this guy called me six weeks straight. And I'm not kidding you. I'm talking about daily, every day. And I'm like, what is going on here? Like, why is this guy calling me? I'm thinking, does this guy, what's going on with this guy?

Is he like me or something? Like, what's up? Like, why is he calling me? And so I'll never forget it. It was a Friday. And I'm sitting in my office and I'm looking at ESPN like I typically do, right? At the time at the car dealership, that's what I did. When we didn't have time, you know, do nothing, watching sports, right?

He calls me, I'm like, hey, man, I'm busy. Okay, no problem. And then I hear that sound. I hang up. I hear the sound. The knock at the door. Look up. There he is.

Right? I'm like, are you serious? So you really come up here, really. So he sits down. There's a chair right there. He sits down. He says, hey, man, no worries. I'm going to sit here until you call Blue Cross Blue Shield.

I'm like, man, what is your deal? He said, Aaron, I need you to do what you said you were going to do. And I need you to call Blue Cross Blue Shield and help me. That's what I need you to do. I said, okay, man, fine. So finally, I do. And the Monday after Thanksgiving, all right? I meet Blue Cross Blue Shield representative.

I'm sure she doesn't mind me saying her name, Missy Ferguson People's, Blue Cross Blue Shield of South Carolina. We meet at a Camden Starbucks, right? And in that day, my life would change, and so far hundreds of thousands of lives have changed, soon to be millions of lives will change because of this meeting. We sit down. She's going over all the programs, right?

And I'm not like real excited about any of them. them because they're expensive, right? The average insurance policy is $1,000 if it's a month, if it's a good insurance plan, if it's, you know, $500 for a crappy one. It's about what it is, right? And she's telling me about all these great commissions, you know, you can get $300 if you sell a private plan, you can get $500 if you sell this type of plan. And I'm thinking to myself, Donald just had me waste time because this is not going to work for him, right? And we get ready to leave and she said, hey, there is one other program I forgot to tell you about, and I'm thinking myself, my God, how much more time am I going to spend with this lady talking about this

stuff, right? And she's like, you probably won't want to do it, but people can get free health insurance on this plan. It only pays $20 a month, though, so I don't know if you really want to do that. I'm like, what? What? Wait a minute. Stop.

Free health insurance? Like, what do you mean free health insurance? She said, oh, yeah, free health insurance. Oh, and by the way, people that are incarcerated coming out of jail and prison, they get it for free. No questions asked. So 85% of all Americans get it for free anyway, but the people that are just involved get it for free, period, coming out. And I said, nobody's doing this? She said no.

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But is this real health insurance? Yes. So when I started working for myself, I feel like I got cond invaded when I applied for these online things. Then I found out I'm in some church sharing insurance company. I'm like, I don't want this.

So now I pay 300 bucks for Blue Cross Blue Shield, Blue Cross Blue Shield. but it's a high deductible. Then I got my vision and then I got my dental. So it's about 360 a month for me. And I can tell you, Ian, after this podcast, my friend, you won't have to pay that any longer. So it's so it's legitimate.

So say, all right, so let me ask you this. I get hurt. I get on this insurance or I need to go to an urgent care. Is it covering that urgent care? Yes. Prescriptions. Yes. Yes.

Mental health, substance abuse, prescriptions, all of that. So the Blue Cross Blue Shield that you got now. Yeah, it's a base program. Same. Okay. It's the same exact plan. I can get you the same plan. But you can get the upgraded version of it. Yes.

The only difference is that the federal government is I can access to subsidy that's rightfully yours that you're supposed to get, that you don't know how to get to because you're not an insurance agent and you don't do this every single day. I can get it for you and you don't have to worry about it. Now, so this is the way that I, before I get back to the story, this is the way I'll explain it, right? a pipe breaks in your house. You can go on YouTube right now and figure out how to fix it, right? You can go to Lowe's. Okay, I see the guy on YouTube.

Okay, I need to do this. I need to put this screw here. And I need to put this on there and patch it and whatever, right? You could do that. But what if I told you, hey, Ian, instead of you doing that, what if I can get you the best plumber that's ever been? This guy has fixed more pipes than anybody in the whole entire United States of America. and you don't have to pay nothing for it.

What's you doing? You go into a hardware store, do it yourself, or you're going to let the guy that knows what the hell he's doing, do it? Let the guy that knows who's doing it. We've helped over 100,000 families. And there's no income limit. So you could be making a million and you could be making $5. And you can still participate in the program, yes.

Wow. So it's on a sliding scale, obviously. If you're making a bunch of money, you can afford more of a premium. But if you're not, right, you can't. afford it, it's going to shrink that premium down to nothing. So you are paying something for the premium. Depending on your situation. So up to $35,000 a year per person, notice I said per person. So if you got a household of two people making 70, you're still free. Okay, $35,000,

okay, in a household yearly, roughly, varies a little bit depending on where you live, right? You can get a free health insurance plan. Now, say someone like me is on their health insurance. right now. Can I drop mine and sign up with you today? Absolutely. And when does yours take effect? Do I have to wait till the first of the following month? First of the following month. So you could stay covered on yours. Okay. Now there is a lot of SCP special enrollment period things that that trigger. We can get into the semantics of that, but we could see, make sure you qualify for one of those. Almost every American does qualify for SCP. It's probably like five or six percent of America that doesn't. So, more likely you're going to be able to switch you off midstream.

And but dental and vision, I still pay separately. Yes, but we have that. So we have dental and vision, life, everything. And our dental and vision life, all of that stuff is at a much discounted rate. Okay. Interesting. And now where can people apply to get in touch with you for this? So www.

Parksinsured.com. Go on and click, apply now. Select the products that you want. Boom. Simple as that. That was a great ad read. Yeah. All right.

So back to your store. So back to the story, right? So she sits there. She's telling me this. And I go blank, Ian. It all came, it all came together. Now I understand why. Now I get it.

Now I understand why I needed to see my brother have the struggles. Now I understand why that my dream of the NFL didn't happen. Now I understand why I need to learn financing insurance in the car industry because finance is in there, right? And so it all came together in a moment and I knew then I would have to do something very uncomfortable. That I would have to go quit my job. Hardest decision you could ever make. Because I knew then. And God sent, I believe sent Donald.

to me and say, hey, knucklehead, stupid, hey, listen, I'm trying to show you something. Come here. Come do this. And so I left that Starbucks,

and I'm pretty sure Missy thought I was crazy, right? And I said to her, I said, you've just changed my life. And because of you, the lives of millions of people will be changed. I know she thought I was nuts.

But she smiled. She said, okay, all right. I said, you don't understand. I'm going to quit my job. I'm going to be the top agency in America. She's like, okay. And she's just like, this guy's freaking nuts.

I go, I quit my job. They thought I was kidding. They thought I had lost my mind. I remember going, calling my mom afterwards and my dad. And I said, hey, guys, I quit. To do what? I said, well, you know, I'm going to sell these insurance plans for 20 bucks. They're free.

Aaron, do you hear yourself? You have bills. You have a mortgage. You have this. You have that. And I said, I'll never forget it. I said, if I go down, I'm going down helping people. If I lose everything I got, I'm going to go down helping someone because this is why

I was born, October 31st, 1986, why I was born was for this purpose and this purpose alone. And I owe it to God to go out and give it everything I got. And if I fail, so be it. So be it. It's just stuff. This is bigger than that. And I didn't know. I didn't know what would happen, right?

and I started helping the people. I started signing people up, and I started getting letters and emails and phone calls. Hey, man, you saved my life. Hey, man, I got this surgery that I needed really badly. Hey, man, I was able to get in drug abuse treatment and turn my life around. Hey, man, hey man, hey man.

And I went and I went to all of the OCs that I could, DOC's being Department of Corrections. Everybody knows what that is on this podcast for sure to make sure that Parks Insurance Agency was in every possible DOC that it could be in. I'm currently partnered with Texas Department of Corrections. I'm very proud of that.

South Carolina Department of Corrections as well as South Dakota Department of Corrections and working on many, many more partnerships. And what we do is we offer this program to all of those individuals coming home and to their families, right? And so it changed my life. And I look up now, right?

It's been five years. I look up and we've helped over 100,000 families. We have affected change in this country. We are the only agency licensed in all 54 U.S. territories. So it doesn't matter where you are. We can help you. We can help your family. And not only can we help you with health insurance,

we can help you with all these other things, right? And so you don't really realize the impact of that until you actually get the letters. You actually get the emails. You actually get all of those things. And I'll tell you, before I close out, I'll tell you a sad story. And the reason why I'm going to tell you this sad story is because maybe somebody listening to this podcast can help us, right? Get to where we need to go. I've been working with a certain Department of Correction.

not going to call their name because I'm not going to do that. I don't want to piss anybody off, even though they probably deserve it. And this particular department of correction has been very resistant to me. Okay? They have been much more reliant on Medicaid. And what they don't realize is that we're here to work in lockstep with Medicaid, not to eliminate Medicaid, right? We want individuals who are disabled, who cannot work, all of those things.

to be on Medicaid. But we want these individuals that are coming home from incarceration that are trying to get back on their feet, that are trying to get a job to actually have real health insurance because if you don't, as soon as they get a job, in most cases, they're losing their Medicaid, right? And so now you're asking a guy who has, let's say they have Crohn's disease, right? That's not a disability per se, but it's a chronic condition, right? So now you're going to say you get out on parole, like most of them do, right? Probation. And the probation officer says you got to go get a job. As soon as he gets his job, he loses his Medicaid. So now he has no treatment for his Crohn's disease. And on his job, the insurance is $600 a month. And he only

makes $500 a week. So how the hell is he supposed to survive? Oh, and by the way, he has child support. So how is he supposed to, how are we supposed to do that? So why do we keep putting our people that are getting out of jail and incarceration? They've already had enough trouble, as it is. You're trying to get back on your feet. Why would you put them in an untowel? position. So our application is a dual application. So for those individuals who have a disability and belong on Medicaid, our application will allow them to be on Medicaid.

For those individuals who are trying to get on their feet and don't have a disability, trying to get a job, all those things, our application gives them major medical so that they can get themselves cleaned up, whether it be drug treatment, whether it be medicines, whether it be chronic conditions like Crohn's or any of those things, Hep C, all those things that you deal with heavily in a prison population. or the jail population, we can help them with that. And we can also assist their children that own child support. We can provide the health insurance for their spouses, their whole families, right?

And so this particular correctional system is really heavily reliant on Medicaid. It's bureaucracy, of course, right? It's optics. It's Medicaid expansion. It's all those things. And so with that being said, I have been begging this particular institutional system for the last five years. to partner with us, to allow us to help these individuals. We charge no money to the Department of Corrections.

In fact, we have offered assistance. I've offered out of my own pocket people that work for Parks Insurance. If their workers can't do it in the correctional facilities, I've offered workers to go into the facilities for them and do the work. So there's no excuse. There's no, none of that, right? And so the reason I'm here today with you, Ian, is because, all right, It gets tiring traveling all over the country because I do.

I see hotel rooms more than I see my own bed, okay? It is crazy for me, right? And so to give you an idea, I'm at home three days in July, if that gives you an idea of how crazy it is. Now, some of that travels with the children and all of that, but all in all, it's a lot to do with work. So I say all that to say, the reason I'm sitting here with you is I had a traumatic event happen at the beginning of

2023. Okay. And so I had gotten frustrated with the correctional systems. Okay. And I had really almost given up at this point, right? And so, you know, if they don't get it by now, I don't know what to tell you, you know, I'll do what I can, but I'm not, I'm tired of traveling. I'm tired of doing all this stuff.

I get this call. And I was expecting to call. call from this particular zip code or from this particular area code that called me. And so I answered it, which I normally don't, if I don't know the number, but I answered it and it was this lady. And she says, hey, is this park's insurance? I said, yes, it is. And she said, I have some questions about the gift program, giving insurance freely for transition, for those of you who don't know. And I said, sure, what's your questions? She starts asking me all these questions like you did. you know, is this major medical, is this Blue Cross, like, or is this Cigna, or is this Aetna, or what is this, right?

What is it cover? Does it cover urgent care? Does it cover ER visits? All these things. And we get to the end of the conversation, and the phone goes silent. And next day I know, I hear this lady sobbing. And I'm like, did I say something? Like, to get this lady to sob.

And this man comes on the phone, he said, hey, man, I'm sorry. And I said, what? Did I say something wrong or did I offend her? He said, no, we lost our son two days ago. I said, oh, man, I'm sorry, you know, to hear that you lost your son. And he says, yeah, and he got out of this particular correctional system that I told you about. And some of the facilities are using parks and some of them are not. So some of the facilities, the wardens are going rogue and doing it anyway.

And other facilities are waiting for the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, answer from on high, right? And he got out of one of those facilities that we weren't in. He got out, his stomach hurt. He went to the emergency room. So those of you on this podcast, listening to this podcast, can appreciate this because I know you've gone through it. He went to the emergency room.

He didn't have insurance. They would not give this man an MRI. They would not give him an x-ray. They sent him on him a follow up with his primary care physician, and he woke up dead the next morning because he bled to death internally. He said he wouldn't give him a damn MRI because he didn't have health insurance. Wow.

And I felt I went from being six foot two to about 10 inches tall because I knew that I could have saved him. She didn't have to cry. They didn't have to be any of that. I could have saved that guy. and I didn't do it and it hurts. And that's why I do what I do

because I don't want any more stories like that. How many people have to die before they get it? And it's emotional for me because I care. I care about the people that are coming home because you guys, nobody gives a shit about you, they just throw you away like you don't exist. And it's not right. And somebody has to fight.

Somebody. You can't go to the governor's office when you just got out of jail. You can't. You can't even go there if you're not even in jail. You can't. These people don't talk to you.

You don't have the audience. You don't have the opportunity. I can and I will and I will fight until I die to make sure every single person has the opportunity. I don't care if you sign up. I don't need you to sign up.

I just need you to sign up. I just need you to know. that you got a chance. That kid needed a chance. If somebody would have gave him a chance, he would have been covered and he would have been here today. And now he's dead because we want to rely on Medicaid. And it's just so frustrating. And at that moment, I made a commitment to myself. I had another mirror moment. I made a commitment to myself to do everything I could, even when it's uncomfortable, even when it's not fun, even when I don't feel like, you know, I don't feel like going to a hotel room, right, that I would fight for you guys, that I would fight for those people

who are forgotten about and crapped on in a society, that I would go out and make a difference because I believe in my heart that that's my mission. And that's why I live. That's why I breathe. And I will go to my grave fighting for the people that needed the most. Do you think that if your brother was never incarcerated when that woman brought up the inmate factor to you about health insurance that would never have clicked internally? No, it wouldn't have because I don't know if he would have made it. I don't know. He had things going on.

I don't know. It could have been him. And I just think back to him and to how he's a human. He's not. He's not the crime he committed. He's not. He's a human. We all make mistakes.

Everybody that's just involved or not, I could have been locked up several times. Trust me. for some of the crap I pulled over the years. Anyone could. Anybody could in society. For some of the crap that we pull. And we sit on a self-righteous soapbox because we happened to get lucky enough not to get caught.

It wasn't because we were smart, but it's just because we just didn't, we were lucky enough not to get caught doing whatever the hell it was we were doing. Exactly. So I don't look at y'all or anyone that's just involved as inmates. I look at you as people just like me.

Those hospital stories, I hate like the system ones because they're making so much money. Just like an ambulance, people in this country won't hop in an ambulance because they're afraid of it because of the money. I saw Biden just passing into law that hospital bills won't show up on your credit report, which is great. They should have done that a long time ago, just like they got rid of civil judgments, I think don't show up on your credit report anymore either. That's right. But that's just the amount, I see the medical, you don't know how many people I talk to where we're talking about credit. And they're like, yeah, I have shit credit because I have a medical bill that popped up from, you know, years ago.

Yeah, and they don't call you. Yeah, it just pops up. And so now, you know, that's our impact. And the last thing I'll leave you with is the jail program. So we now have a jail program. So this is news. This is news to you as well. So when we met initially, I was only talking about prison stuff.

I was only talking about releasing prison. We try to work with the jails before then, but their release system is not the same as prison. So when you're in prison, you know you got a release date. You know it ahead of time so you can prepare for it. Well, in jail, you may get released tomorrow or you might get released next year. You don't know, right, because it takes so long to adjudicate your charges. Well, now, okay, the government passed date at new law. law in the beginning of January.

It was a happy accident how I found out about it, which was nuts. I was sitting there, wow, that's what? That's real? So anyway, what we can do is if you go to jail, if a person goes to jail, okay, we can get them insured while they're awaiting trial. So they can have top-notch quality health care while they're awaiting trial. Some jail systems that we've worked with allow them to go to rehab while they're incarcerated. in jail waiting on charges to adjudicate.

Which will help their sentence if you go to rehab. Yes. Yes. Because most of the people can't get into the rehab unless it's a court-appointed one. Yep. And detoxing. So they got Vivitral shots now inside of the jail system to help with detoxing. And they have Narcan to help with detoxing and all those things, right? Our insurance covers all of that.

Wow. And so now we're partnering with the county jails and the sheriffs. And we're saving the county in the jail. millions of dollars a year, depending on the size of the jail, just in medicine, just in medicine, because our insurance covers all medicines, dialysis treatment, cancer, all of these things that a person, hep C in jail is huge. Ours covers hep C treatment. Right now, you can't get hep C treatment in jail if you don't have private insurance.

Now we have the solution for you. And so now we're partnering with jails across the country providing this while they're incarcerated until all charges are adjudicated. Incredible. It is a game changer. And the jails are excited about it because it's saving the money. The counties are excited because it's saving the money. But meanwhile, we're doing a hell of a lot of good because the main thing is we're helping

those guys and girls that are inside of there that have the substance abuse issues, that have the hep C, that have need endoscopy, but they can't go get a real doctor or they break their hand in a fight and they can't go get a real doctor. We can do all of those things. for them now. That's so awesome. Yeah. Well, Aaron, thank you so much for coming today on the show. It's been an absolute pleasure. I love your energy. Love your story. And I'm really excited for the listeners to hear about this program. And I hope they check you out. And because I'm certainly going to be using you. Yeah, absolutely. Come see me.