Mick Unplugged - Allen Williams | Allen Williams Journey: Financial Wisdom, Mentorship, Sports, and Military Insights

Episode Date: November 2, 2024

Welcome to another exciting episode of Mick Unplugged! Today, we have a special guest, Allen Williams—a Navy veteran turned systems test engineer at Lockheed Martin, community advocate, and financial literacy champion. Join Host Mick Hunt as they dive into a light-hearted sports rivalry, share key advice on daily learning and financial growth, and emphasize the importance of financial literacy with a mentor's guidance. Allen opens up about the profound impact of his mentor, Prince Dykes, on his networking and public speaking skills. Together, they discuss strategies for leaders to balance detailed processes with overarching goals and highlight the military's role in shaping discipline and adaptability. We also explore Allen's passion for mentoring others, his favorite sports teams, and the joys of his career transition. Tune in for a mix of personal anecdotes, practical advice, and a shared commitment to mental health and community involvement. And don’t miss the shout-outs to two incredible charitable organizations—the Global Children Financial Literacy Foundation and the Ricky Sapp Foundation. Get ready to be inspired and entertained in this episode of Mick Unplugged! Takeaways: Allen's journey from South Carolina to the Navy shaped his character. Discipline and adaptation are crucial skills learned in the military. Learning something new every day fosters personal development. Finding the right people in your circle can guide your path. Questions & Answers: Question: Mick Hunt: What are practical ways to learn something new daily and consistently make investments? Allen Williams: Dedicate 15 minutes daily to read or watch educational content. For investments, start small with automated savings or stock apps to build a habit.    2. Question: Mick Hunt: Why is a financial mentor important and how can you find one? Allen Williams: Mentors provide valuable guidance and accountability. Find one through networking at financial seminars, professional groups, or referrals from trusted contacts.   3. Question: Mick Hunt: What are effective strategies to manage stress and prioritize mental health? Allen Williams: Practice mindfulness, exercise, maintain work-life balance, schedule breaks, enjoy hobbies, and seek support from friends or a therapist. Sound Bites "Allen is one of the most brilliant people." "I wanted to see something else." "Discipline is key in the Navy."   Connect and Discover LinkedIn:           linkedin.com/in/hypermode2001 Instagram:        Instagram.com/allen_williams45 Facebook:         facebook.com/hypermode2001 Website:            allentwilliams.com                            Gcflf.org  (Global Children’s Financial Literacy Foundation)                           Therickysappfoundation.com X:                      hypermode2001See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Allen is one of the most brilliant, intelligent people that you will ever meet in life. You know, both of my parents, man, my dad, man, was a success in Orangeburg. I gained all my accolades from him. They had the Junior Olympic team. They had a bunch of athletes, man, like such as like the Terry guesses, Henry guesses, William Graham's. What would you say are the top two things that you learned about yourself that helped you with your retirement from the Navy? First of all, discipline, growing up early, taking responsibility early.

Second thing is adaptation because we learn to adapt to anything. What's the two things you should be doing daily? Learning something new every day and just investing in something. In something. Welcome to Mick Unplugged, where we ignite potential and fuel purpose. Get ready for raw insights, bold moves, and game-changing conversations. Buckle up. Here's Mick.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another exciting episode of Mick Unplugged. And today's guest is a highly distinguished individual who has achieved remarkable success both military and in the civilian sectors. After serving more than two decades in the U.S. Navy, his dedication and exemplary service and leadership earned him inclusion into the distinguishable Marquise's who's who. He is a man, he is a friend, he is a mentor, and he is someone that we're about to have so much fun with. Ladies and gentlemen, it is my honor to welcome my friend, the disciplined, the innovative, and the inspiring, Mr. Alan Williams. Alan, how are you doing today, brother?

Oh, man, with that intro, I am great, man. I love it, brother. I love it. Look, that's the last scripted thing we're going to do today because what I want to tell the listeners and viewers is this right here. All that intro was amazing, but Alan is also a fool. And if I could show you or record some of the late night conversations that we have, I would probably get kicked off the airway. So I'm not going to do that. But we might get into some of it. I just had to preface that because we don't know where this conversation is going. But I will start with this. And I mean this from my soul. Yes, sir. Alan is one of the most brilliant, intelligent people that you will ever meet in

life. So I do want to let the listeners and viewers know that. And Alan, you know how much I respect and love you, brother. So man, where do we even begin, dude? Oh, man. South Carolina, I guess. We are both South Carolinians. I know you easily, I'm from Orangeburg, so it's not too far. But yeah, man, grew up in Orangeburg, South Carolina. You know, both of my parents, man, my dad, man, was a success in Orangeburg, you know, with the police force, but also with the help in the community, you know, I gained all my accolades from him as me being by him as he was doing the Junior Olympic team with the late, great Orangeburg chef Papa Johnson. They had the Junior Olympic team. They had a bunch of athletes, man, like such as like the Terry guesses, Henry guesses, William Graham's.

Who else? I know I'm missing a lot, but just a few of the names, man, that ran on that track team went all over the United States, competed, broke records. So, you know, me seeing that lot you know in his accolades through his childhood and uh shelton has taught highly about you know my dad and stuff like that i think he did a documentary with uh wwe at one point my dad was on it i didn't realize it yo young young guy had hair serum but yeah just uh following his steps, you know, him helping kids and stuff like that. So, you know, did sports, played at Edelstow High, played Little League football in Orangeburg as well. You know, all a bunch of Little League teams there. From there, you know, after football, you know, I decided I wanted to, you know, get out.

You know, I wanted to see something else. So, you know, the navy guys came to the high school and they were talking this good old deal like yeah we went here so i like try this navy thing give it a shot so joined the navy in 2001 matter of fact it was the week after september 11th happened so it was crazy yeah so 2001 did my boot camp graduated graduated, went to A school in November in Virginia Beach, graduated from there, and I flew straight to deployment, man. I think I had like 10 days home. To come home, yeah, 10 days, and then I flew straight to deployment. So I flew into the action, which was very interesting.

Landed in Bahrain, then took a card onto a carrier, which was first-time experience. But yeah, man, after that, man, I traveled all over the world. Lived in three different countries. And then my last cent decided me that I could play pro football over there. So I did that for three years while I was serving. Met a lot of great people over there. And then came here to Colorado, retired, and had like a two-month hiatus, just a little break. And then Lockheed Martin hired me on as a CN test engineer and interrogator.

So I was blessed with that and continue to do that. But I also continue to help around the community here in in Denver the Denver Broncos Boys and Girls Club Global Children Literacy Foundation which kind of ambassador on that one of my good friends Prince Dice and a co-founder Chad Chadwick Davis founded a nonprofit which we give kids first-time shareholders of the S&P 500 Index Fund. So he has four book series. The kids have to read the books, do an essay, and he reads every essay. And coordinate the funds we have for donation.

It could be one kid or two kids, maybe three kids. So me being a part of that, I love it, giving back. I love helping the kids. I feel, you know, their model and what we need to do is kids need to have like something in their accounts when they graduate high school. But, you know, the hardest thing is making the parents believe because, you know, a lot of parents don't understand, you know, investing and stuff like that. So they're looking for, hey, $520 something dollars or worse to cash. But they don't know that. Hey, we just gave your kid the top 500 companies in the United States. So they can make money as they go in the years. If you keep adding on, if you keep putting in, you know, stuff like that.

So that's the hard part. But other than that, it's fun. I'm having a good time doing it with my job currently with Lockheed, having a great time, great company, very diverse company. Yeah. So that's a little bit about me. I love it, man. And there's so much I want to unplug and unpack right here. So let's talk about the Navy and the decision to go into the Navy. What was a couple of the deciding factors of, one, the military, and then specifically the Navy itself?

The guys, the recruiters coming in, you know, they were honest. I didn't have a recruiter that was, none of the recruiters was like telling me this, telling me that, just trying to get me in, but they were just honest. And I go to other recruiting offices such as, you know, Army, Marines, and other, you know, I can tell like, okay, this don't sound right. But, you know, the Navy was like very honest. Like, hey man, you're going to have some hard days. You're going to have some deployments.

You can work some hard hours. But I guarantee you this, man, it gets you out. You can see the world. You can have an education or you can get an education. You're getting paid every two weeks. The average kid don't get paid, especially in college,

but you can still go to college and still get paid. You know, we have TA assistants and all that stuff. So they would like just break it down in nitty gritty. And he was like, hey, look, if I were you, pick a job. You know what I'm saying? Like, if you really don't know, then you want to go undesignated. But I'm telling you like this here, like, you know, undesignated, you know, you'll be in a deck department. You're probably going to be doing a little bit of everything.

Probably going to be hard work, but you don't want to do that. So you want to come in here, have a job. So you want to do as good as on your ass valve as possible. I know because, you know, back then we all sit in the auditorium. We had to take an ass valve. But I retook mine, you know what I mean? So he was like, just all sit in the auditorium you had to take an as well but I retook mine you know I mean so he was like yo just get the best score pick a job try to get a job with a clearance if you can and then when I told him what I want to do he was like hey well this this rate right here does a little bit of everything but you know he's telling me what I don't qualify for and stuff like that so I was like cool so they were honest but you know, he's telling me what I don't qualify for and stuff like that. So I was like, cool. So they were honest.

But, you know, looking inside, like, you know, they do more traveling. They got me out, you know, to see something different, you know, instead of just staying back at home. But to see something different, man. So, you know, I signed myself up, you know, because I turned 18 and my mom, she was like, I'm not going to do it. So I was like, look, I'm signing myself up. Now my mom today is like, man, it's the best decision you ever made, man. She's like, so proud of you. Best decision. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, number one, thank you for your service. Appreciate it. And number two, so to my very close friends, my best buddies, Darren Vermoest, Army, Daniel Song, Marine. So I'm going to let both of them know, and I know they're listening to this podcast.

I'm going to let both of them know, hey, the Navy was authentic and transparent. And that's why Alan went there. Yeah. Don't get me wrong. I took the dinners from the other branches. Don't get me wrong. I wasn't that naive. You know, everybody made dinner.

I took it. There you go. There you go. There you go. And so then you're in the Navy, right? And you've had an amazing career in the Navy. What would you say are the top two things that you learned about yourself that helped you with your retirement from the Navy? Oh, man. First of all, discipline, because soon you go to boot camp in the Navy, they're going to gonna break you down and stuff so all mental discipline so a lot of mental and um just knowing yourself growing up growing up early taking responsibility early you know when you get certain ranks and stuff like that you get to get your own apartment so you know own stuff own know, whatever you're going to do. So it teaches you how to maintain and be

by yourself, hold your ground and just be a man or woman. Take on responsibilities, important responsibilities on your job, because a lot of those guys, man, we either monitor or we operate on million dollar equipment. So, you know, it teaches you, you know, that aspect. Second thing is, I want to say adaptation because we learn to adapt to anything that is put in front of us. So we get put in the fire, but we just got to figure it out. I know a lot of people, you know, it's a lot of bookworms that's in the military too, or they come in as bookworms, but at the end of the day, you know, they got to learn how to think, think on the school, think fast, and execute. So that's one thing, like, just adapting,

you know, change the transition, just change the scenery, change of learning a new thing, a new equipment. So that's that's the main thing, you know, that I'm grateful for. And I'm going to add a third one, networking, because I travel around. So we've met a lot of people everywhere I go, every country or whatever state, you know, networking. And military is very tight-knit. You know, it's a different community. A lot of people don't realize that. You know, you can tell, like, in the civilian sector, you know, but vice the military sector, like, we're just very close-knit.

You know somebody back at your first duty station, they're here visiting or they're just here on vacation. You find out they're here. Hey, you know, you just, hey, man, you know, and then it's like back to square one again. Hey, man, come over here, man. Let's go get lunch. Come to the house, you know, and we're very close-knit. Yeah.

And I will say this about you as my friend now. I would say networking is the skill that you have taken and have conquered and have mastered. Because, you know, in the entertainment world, right, you know, there's that thing six degrees of Kevin Bacon, right? So everybody's like six people away from Kevin Bacon. I'm going to say in the real world, everybody's like three degrees from Alan Williams. Like if I'm in a room, I guarantee you, if I'm in a room of 10 people, four people know Alan Williams or know somebody that knows him very well. And there's always a story about Alan that's going on. Right. So I would totally say that. And when I say it's something that you've mastered and I really mean this and I would say this for all the listeners and viewers as well too, right? Because Alan is the person who, he checks on his people, he checks on his friends, right? Like all the time. Like, you know, I was just on my anniversary,

right? And you're messaging me saying how things are going and giving me some advice. I'm going to use air quotes and just leave it at that for right now. Give me some advice, right? But that's what I love. And that's what the world needs is like sometimes you just genuinely have to check on people. And here's the other thing that I love about Alan when it comes to networking. If I'm like, hey, Alan, I see that you're connected to this person. Could you make an introduction? Alan doesn't just send an email or a DM.

Like you're going to get a phone call from Alan and then he's going to say, hold on one second. And then you click over, and the person that you were just talking about is on the other line, and Alan's done this amazing introduction. This literally happens two days a week with me and Alan, where it's like, hey, do you know that person? Or Alan will ask me, do you know this person? And next thing I know, I've either got a phone call with the person, or there's a meeting scheduled. And when I get to that meeting, the person knows my whole life story. And it's like, dude, like, how do you do that? And then you know, everybody, you know, needs, you know, a helping hand. So I've always been that person, like, if I don't withhold information, because, you know, information has been withhold for a long time, you know. So if I know it or if I can find out about it, I'm trying to make it happen. If I can't make it happen, then I'll let you know, hey, look, I tried this, I tried that, tried all my avenues, but it just couldn't happen.

You know, the reason why it's important is because people just be selfish a lot, you know, in this society today. So me and my girlfriend, Prince, we always say this back when we was growing up, me and you, Mick, Prince at that era, the world had less information. Right. So if you didn't go and find out or if you didn't know about it, you just didn't know. The world today has too much information so it can smother the brain. But you have to know which is what. Right. So it's so much information thrown at people. So if you got a person like myself or anybody else who's a networker that can guide you to say, hey, look, go this route or, hey, know this person or know that person, because you got all the information just fluttering in. Now, you don't know which way to gravitate. You'd be like, OK, should I go here? Should I go here? get what I'm saying? And a lot of these kids today, they got to have those people.

They got to find the right people to be in their circle, the right people that's growing with them or the right people that's guiding them in the right direction because so much information pouring in today. Right? So you got to have that. Hey, go here. Go here. I guarantee you, go here.

Yeah, this guy is knocking at your door, But look, I know this guy. Go here. So that's like the main thing I see like in society today. Too much information. I don't know where to go. But you got certain people that either been there, done that or know somebody who did this, done that. And they can guide you to say, hey, do this person. And maybe that person knows this person, that person, and that can connect all your blocks. Because now you're trying to get this person, but you got a person that, where are they? I talk to him every day. I talk to her every day. Totally. One of the things I appreciate the most about your man is that.

And so, again, I wanted to tell you thank you to your face. No problem. For that face. No problem. So now let's go into, you know, you're out of the Navy. You've got this position with Lockheed Martin where, you know, I'll let you briefly explain to the people what you're doing there. But but so much innovative things that you're doing, you know, a lot of things that you talk that you do that you probably can't talk about what's going on, but just do. I love the fact that you were not one of those people that retired from the military and was like, okay, I'm good. Or, you know, I can, I can take the benefits of retiring from the military because there are people that do that

and not saying that there's anything wrong with that. Yeah. Right. But you definitely took your skill and said, you know what, now that I'm here, I'm about to go 20 levels higher. So I'd love for you to talk a little bit about what you are doing at Lockheed Martin and why you find fulfillment in what you're doing there. First of all, you know, yeah, you know, I could have been one of those persons that come back to Florida and don't have to work. But, you know, I kind of wanted to give back, especially the kids that's coming in the military or just anybody else that's in. Because I know, you know, what type of company Lockheed is. You know, our major customers are the military. So me being from the customer and being in those seats before, I want to just pretty much give

back. And, you know, I was thankful for Lockheed for hiring me and put me in things that I can accomplish and give back to the military. So things, you know, that I usually do is, you know, I was on a program. I just recently got moved to a new program, but I was on a program and they needed me for a certain expertise. So they hired me on and my job was to learn the program and then basically travel to different sites, teach the operators the program and get them up to speed and make sure they're they're trained properly which you know that program was good but i moved to another program now and the thing about lockheed you know they don't care dude i like this company because they'll take a risk they don't care

you got the experience and they know that you came from the customer they want your point of view because you know what i, it's a lot of engineers and, you know, the language barrier is totally different and some stuff I'm still trying to learn. But, you know, military, we simple. Make it short, simple, and sweet. Less PowerPoints, more hands-on. Just tell them what it is. Tell us how to do it. Give us the basics. And if you got like a thick PowerPoint or if you got like a thick powerpoint or if you got like a document for the product hey make sure is is we can access it and we'll go back and look at it if we have problems in certain certain cells right so you know a lot of a lot of the

engineers they're lucky you know they they're readers. They want to explain everything. But I told them, look, can't explain everything. Explain the basics. Divide the positions. Whatever this position do, you explain this. Whatever this position do, you explain that. Eventually, they're going to have time to get together and learn each other's positions. Right.

So that's the kind of like I kind of bring to the table to get together and learn each other else positions right so that's the kind of like i kind of bring to the table too just uh hey approach it like this don't say it like that like learn that translation from engineering to human and uh i just i like it you know they they took a chance on me and i'm i'm grateful a lot the guys there, you know, and, you know, like the whole company, man, is very diverse. You know, one of the top leaders, Miss Stephanie Hill, she, you know, African-American woman. It is a lot of diversity in the company, but the way the company is going by, you know, getting retired military. I think, you know, you know, they got a lot of people that was prior right but the time they got out man the military has changed so much so if you haven't been in you

know in a minute you probably ain't gonna know like what's going on or what's these changes and stuff like that so but you get somebody who kind of just got out and they did it 20 years or whatever or 20 plus or 30 plus. You know, I think that's the route to go to break the barrier of them and the customer understanding why when they interact, everything is like now, now, now, go, go, go. And they want something to be done for the mission if it ain't everything but something that can lead that can work and then we give them that and then all of a sudden now we can work in the background okay we're gonna add this add that add that but give them something that's gonna make it work right then and there right and then as they're doing that we add on so you know a lot of people is picking that up now and realizing that and um yeah it's not just building just to build because you

got this cool product and it does this it does that but knowing your customers and knowing the mission and knowing what they need it for i have a machine to do everything but guess what if it don't fit the mission, it ain't going to work or make it fit the mission. And then you go hand out these. So, yeah,

it was a good thing. You know, they're trying to go towards that direction. But, you know, it's just got to, you know, get that language barrier,

get that translation. And that's, you know, where I come in and other folks that come in that has the same background as I am. And to be called an engineer, you know what I'm saying, which is good. Yeah, absolutely. I want to talk to the listeners and viewers that are leaders. I want to talk to you specifically right now, because Alan just brought out something that I think is critically important and is usually the biggest miss in leadership.

And that is being short, sweet, and to the point with direction. Right? Like so many times leaders are out to prove how smart they are or how detailed they are in a process. And I'm not saying the process shouldn't be detailed. It actually should be. Yeah. But how do you communicate that process?

Right? Like, give me the basics. Give me the reason, give me what the output should be. And then to your point, if there's a manual, great, give it to me. Show me the manual, show me where it's at. And when I need it, I'll go to the manual for certain things. I feel like where leaders go wrong is they start the opposite way. They start with the manual. And then when you give me all these details, then you say, but if you just do A, B, and C, you'll be good. And I'm like, well, damn it, why you do A, B, and C? So for leaders out there, it's really important that you understand. And this goes for coaches as well too, right? Leaders, coaches, and I don't care if it's sports coaches, if you're coaching business people, if you're coaching kids, whatever it is, short, sweet, to the point, give me

what the reason of why we're doing this, what the end result should be, and what specifically is my role in this said project or this said position. Exactly. That's the most critical thing. Everything else is learned because processes are always being improved. Processes are always going to change. If you get so granular in the process, all you're doing is showing people how to switch and do things over again, because I promise you step one to step two is going to change at some point. Tell me what the big picture is supposed to look like. Exactly. And that's the thing. It

comes back to too much information. If you smother the brain with someone, they're not going to retain it. So like I told them, a lot of the guys we're training and stuff like that or a lot of guys who are going to touch these equipment is not going to be guys

that's high in rank or whatever. It's going to be guys that's, you know, high in rank or whatever. It's going to be guys that's coming probably straight out of high school, 18, 19, 20 years old. And I said, you know, as I said, a lot of people join the military because they don't want to go to school. I'm just going to be real. They don't want to go to school, right?

And then once they get in the military, they develop a little discipline about themselves. Right. Their mindset a little changed. Their child mentality is gone now. Then I got broken down in boot camp, brung back up. And now, you know, they realize like, wow, you know, we are post 9-11, you know, GI Bill. Oh, I got TA I can use now, so I can actually go to school. I got these CLEP courses I can take. They fly instructors on deployment while we're here, you know what I'm saying, to CLEP a course, CLEP a math, CLEP a science. So, yeah, it's just now they find out these avenues and ways, all these certs you can get.

So they got all these avenues that they probably haven't even seen you get what i'm saying now they're exposed to it so now they'll take advantage you know while they're in go to school or they're you know they they're off of sea duty or whatever deployment so they're on the shore duty now a little easy little laid back so they can go to school and get their associates or they have enough schools within the military they got their associates already so now they need just a couple of credits for a bachelor so you get seen all these things now and you're taking on responsibility you're taking on challenges you're getting put in unusual situations and then you got to adapt and you got to

overcome. So yeah, you know, I tell them all the time, like, look, keep it short, brief, make the PowerPoints just basic. You know what I'm saying? Information. If you have a manual, if you have a big PowerPoint that describes the whole system, have it there where they can access it. You know, we know table of contents. We can look it up and say, okay, well, we don't know this. Okay, we look at the table of contents.

Okay, here. So it's got to be under here. Look it up. Oh, okay. Because eventually, they're going to train each other on each thing. I'm telling you, because it's like the norm, right?

You know, we're going to have to know a little bit about everybody else's position. So it's going to happen. But I always tell them, it's not us that right you know we're gonna have to know a little bit about everybody else's position so it's gonna happen but i always tell them it's not the us like they try to give them everything teach them to give them the raw the basics let's do this hands-on training let's show them what it what it does and then after that you know hey here's a book here's the powerpoint goes by each thing and then that's it. There it is. There it is. So let's go rapid fire with Alan Williams. You ready? Okay.

All right. Favorite college football team? Oh, Gamecocks, baby. No, I said your favorite college football team. Yeah, South Carolina Gamecocks. Your favorite college football team? My favorite college football team? Yeah. South Carolina college football team. Yeah. South Carolina?

Gamecocks. They don't play football there. So who's your favorite? Who's your favorite? Look, that other school up north, nah. Okay? No, I don't like them either. Like, I'm a North Carolina guy.

I know you're. Yeah, oh, my God. Yeah. And don't even talk about them. You know, like, I'm a North Carolina guy. I know you're, yeah. Oh, my God, yeah. And don't even talk about them, you know? No, no. So let's go there. Your favorite college basketball team, and why is it the University of North Carolina? It's not North Carolina.

Don't even try that. It's not North Carolina. Hey, listen. My college basketball team is the Gamecocks, man. The Gamecocks. this is not North Carolina how hey listen my college basketball team is the Gamecocks man

the Gamecocks the Lady Gamecocks are awesome I will give Dawn Staley and that crew and I'm being very serious like

yeah I love the Gamecocks I was a huge Dawn Staley fan when she was at UVA like Olympics like

Dawn Staley is she's no gender Dawn Staley is... No gender. Dawn Staley is one of my top five college basketball players ever. Oh, yeah. She was legit. I remember seeing her. She used to play for the Charlotte Stings, man. I was right there, sitting right behind

her mom. God bless her soul. Go, baby! She was running. Oh, man. She was something else, man. But her mentality is barred to none, man. She just magic. You get what I'm saying?

She's a people's person, first of all. She's a player's coach. You know what I mean? She going to coach you, and she going to guide you in the right direction and give you this and that. But you know, players coach,

you know, if you got a coach, they can approach you for anything. And I believe them girls can approach her with anything. I mean, any problems, like personal problems and Dawn, she'll just answer it or find the answer or

you know, it's just a good culture there, you know, and we need that in South Carolina. We definitely needed that and I hope I get, I'm thinking it's gravitating towards the men's basketball team too because they had a pretty good season. They're growing, young coach too,

so they're growing. And I didn't know the men's had a basketball program. I thought we had a women's basketball program and a men's tennis team and I didn't know there were any other sports. Listen, you remember B.J. Mackey. Don't let me trip. You remember B.J. Mackey.

He used to whip up on Terrell McIntyre and all them. So let me try. Or matter of fact. I'm not a Clemson guy. Oh yeah. Matter of fact, yeah. Antoine Jamre and all them. So why don't we try? Or matter of fact. I'm not a Clemson guy. Oh, yeah. But matter of fact, yeah. With Antoine Jamison and all them boys, just whip up on y'all. I forgot to let the listeners and viewers know,

Allen does lie sometimes. So don't believe anything about Antoine Jamison or Vince Carter or myself getting whipped up on. That ain't happening. Listen. That ain't happening. We just whip up on them boys, you know. And you know what?

I'm going to say that other teams up north, I remember a player with one of my good friends, Harold James, they beat you at Tar Heels. I remember. I got the clip. I sure do. I should play it. I should play it over here.

Because everybody's championship game. Everybody remembers the one time they beat North Carolina. I should play it over here. Because everybody's championship game. Everybody remembers the one time they beat North Carolina. No. I should play it over here. Oh, my God. Ladies and gentlemen, I need you to forgive Alan. Because, again, everybody remembers the one time they beat North Carolina. We beat people so many times.

We just, yeah, we own them. That's what we say. You guys beat us once. We own you all the other 900 times. That's all I'm saying. That's all I'm saying. All right. So back to rapid fire. What's two things that you want all listeners and viewers to incorporate in their daily lives today? What are two things that people should be doing? And I don't care who you are. What's the two things you should be doing daily?

So the two things you should be doing daily is learning something new every day and is investing in something, in something. I don't care if you don't know it. Find somebody that knows it. But investing in something because, you know, savings. Great. That could be emergency fund. But, you know, the way the economy and stuff is right now, you want to just invest in something that, pay yourself. How about that? Dude, I love that because my buddy Herman Dulce said literally the same thing. Yeah.

Everybody shouldn't own a business, but everybody should be an investor. Yeah. Right? Like everybody should be an investor. And I believe that that's true. I mean, I think financial literacy is something that we don't get enough of in the world today. And again, I don't care who you are, where you come from, how much money you have, how much money you don't have. If someone would have taught me financial literacy at an early age. Yes, sir. I would have been dangerous. I feel like I'm dangerous now.

Good Lord, I would have been dangerous. I feel like I'm dangerous now, but good lord, I would have been dangerous early if I would have understood financial literacy. So one of the things that I want to tell the listeners and viewers is this, is get a mentor because you should have multiple mentors, by the way. Exactly. But you should definitely have a mentor that is going to teach you and help you with understanding finances, how money is made and created, what's the good things to do with your money, the bad things to do with your money, how to get money if you feel like you can't. You should have a mentor that is going to teach you financial literacy. And again, I don't care who you are because the more wealth you start to accumulate, you need a mentor that has more than you.

So you always want to make sure that you're gaining mentors and gaining advice with the places that you're trying to go financially. Most definitely. You know, and shout out to Prince Dice, man. When I got here to Colorado, you know, checked in and everything and everybody was like, yeah, man, it's this guy, man. You know, he's like a little celebrity, man. You know, he wrote children's books and he's a big financial advisor. He has his own thing and his own firm. I was like, okay. I said, I wonder who this guy is.

So checking in and I'm coming in. I was like, I saw a guy walk down here and say, hey, what's going on, man? How you doing? How you doing? And start asking people questions just randomly. He just come on and ask me questions. So what did Jerome Powell say to them? What do you think entry rates are?

What do you think this top on doing? I'm looking. I said, oh, yeah, man. You a new guy? He said, yeah, man, I'm Prince. I said, oh, you the guy? He's like, yeah, man. I said, guy? He said, yeah, man, I'm Prince. I said, oh, you the guy? He's like, yeah, man. I said, man, I said, you like me?

He's like, yeah. He said, I said, and you coach? I said, man, where you from? He said, I'm from Waynesboro, Georgia. I said, what? I said, well, I'm from South Carolina. I said, oh, man. I said, I can relate to you.

And then ever since then, ever since then, Mesh, you know, every time he'll come, hey, you need to watch this. And then you come back tomorrow, you tell me what you think. You know, he just come in with random questions. He had to do it, you know. And, you know, some people, they look at him like he was like, huh, like, and laugh like he didn't know nothing or whatever. But he was humble.

He had like he knew it all. He just asked questions. And now look at him. You see what I'm saying? That man is doing everything in the book. Now you talk about a networker. That's a networker. And he always pick at me.

He called me like out a promoter or out a networker. And he always picked at me. He called me like out a promoter or out a networker. But, you know, he has a lot of network. You know what I mean? He you know, anything that I can bring to the table, I bring it. And then he put me in the same circle. Like, hey, look, you need to come on. Come on. Come here. You know what I'm saying? Introduce yourself. You know, like, I think the first thing I did a podcast, man, I was so, like, nervous and so this anxiety acting, you know, this. I wouldn't like in a picture i wouldn't smile i always had to look like this tough you know i wouldn't even smile or anything i wouldn't

or brother i wouldn't even talk to people like that you know what i'm saying but being around him and i always had these resources but just being around him man you know seeing him this talk going into a crowd speaking or just networking man yeah he taught me a lot of stuff you know, seeing him, this talk, going into a crowd, speaking, this networking, man. He taught me a lot of stuff, you know what I'm saying? So big shout out to him. You know, he don't know that he kind of like gravitated me towards this. But, yeah, he did because, you know, I seen somebody that I can relate to that is learning the same thing, learning investing. I mean, got his MBA while I was in the military. Got his, you know, all his accolades to do these type of stuff.

So, yeah, shout out to him, man. You know, he gave me the confidence of, like, hey, networking, introducing, just doing this and doing that. Always had it. And I used it sometimes, but not as much as I'm doing it now. There you go. Good stuff, man. Well, Allen, brother, I appreciate you more than you know, man.

This is dope. Yeah. We kept it PG. We didn't talk about some of the advice you give. We did. We did. But I want to ask you one question. Let's go.

Because I always ask people this. So how is your mental you one question. Let's go. Because, you know, I always ask people this. So how is your mental? Great question. I'm a huge mental health advocate, first and foremost. But my mental is good, man, because I make sure that I take time to untap, right? Not unplug, but untap, right? Like, yeah. And I say untap because when we talk about mental, we put pressure on ourselves, whether people want to admit it or not, you know, people are too tough. We put pressure on ourselves and we have stress that sometimes we don't know is stress or whatever. I make sure that I get time to just untap and relieve the pressure a little bit.

And so my mental is good. I put it on my calendar to do those things. And just like you, and this is one of the things that I got from you, I check in on other people because that also helps me. Knowing that my circle is okay. Yeah. And I know that that's why you asked too. Knowing that my circle is okay helps me be okay. Exactly. And that's why I call people, check on people who are just out of the blue. You know what I'm saying? I know they're busy, but I just call their phone if i see a message come back say hey i'm in a meeting okay they're good

or i'm doing this okay they're fine you know just to make sure they're good you know because mental is very important especially in anything that you do you got to use the mental aspect to make rash decisions you know and to make important decisions. So, yeah, man, I just had to ask that because I always just ask that, man. I just want to make sure everything is great. I know the podcast is doing great. I love the content. I love what you're doing. And like I told you, man, anybody, I'm bringing them because you started from down.

Now you're on the rise and you're right there. So, man, commend you. Proud of you. Especially a fellow South Carolinian showing showing kids and residents in South Carolina that, you know, people can come from small towns or, you know, situations and it's turned into magic. So appreciate it. That's right. Just following the footstep and examples that you set, man. And I appreciate you more than you know, to really quick, where can people find and follow you? What are your social handles? If you want to find me on Instagram, I'm Alan,

A L E N underscore Williams, W I L I A M S 45. I have my LinkedIn profile, Alan Williams. Also my Facebook, Alan Williams. And also a shout out to the Global Children's Financial Literacy Foundation. You can Google them. Please donate if you can. Those books, those proceeds go to children we give them you know first time shareholders of the S&P 500 index fund also shout out to my boy Ricky Sapp the Ricky Sapp foundation you can Google that as well he's doing big

things I know he's probably I think he's trying to do a a trunk of treat coming up and then giving away turkeys he's doing it different this year I think he's gonna like give away turkeys um he's doing it different this year i think he's gonna like give away turkeys that families that are in need and then also that money goes towards you know his children's book also it goes towards you know his football camps and uh things that he does

around the community he loves giving back yeah. Yeah. So those two foundations, man, Global Children's Financial Leadership Foundation and the Ricky South Foundation, go ahead and, you know, give a little something, donate. Nonprofits, both of them, and doing things in the community. And if you Google them, you can see what they do. You see what they achieve. Yeah. Love it. I'll make sure that we have links to all that in the show notes and description alan i appreciate you brother appreciate it man appreciate it bro all the listeners and viewers remember your because is your superpower go unleash it thank you for tuning in to Mick Unplugged.

Keep pushing your limits, embracing your purpose, and chasing greatness. Until next time, stay unstoppable.