Mick Unplugged - Daymond John: Why the Best Deals Are the Ones You Walk Away From

Episode Date: September 7, 2026

The most powerful move in business is not always saying yes. Sometimes it is knowing when to walk away. Daymond John joins Mick Hunt for a candid conversation about the decisions that shape a business and a life. The FUBU founder and Shark Tank investor explains why his deeper purpose is “because I should,” how mentors can save us from painful mistakes and why growing too quickly can quietly destroy what an entrepreneur worked to build. Daymond also opens up about his health journey after cancer and the discipline of making gradual, sustainable change. He shares how he thinks about investing through his “My Money, Homie” framework, why he supports artists without asking for anything in return and how a five-to-seven-person filter helps him decide what belongs on social media. This episode is a sharp, funny and personal masterclass in protecting your time, choosing the right people and refusing opportunities that no longer respect your value. Daymond’s message is clear: get narrow, go deep and keep the power to walk away. IN THIS EPISODE • Why Daymond’s deeper purpose is “because I should” • How dyslexia, business and cancer shaped his perspective • Why mentors and mistakes are the two great teachers • How scaling too fast can weaken a business • The difference between purpose-driven and return-driven investments • Why Daymond supports artists without asking for anything back • The five-to-seven-person filter behind his social media decisions • Why too many opportunities can become a liability • How walking away protects your value • Why a small, trusted inner circle can outperform a massive network CHAPTERS 00:00 Mentors or mistakes 01:38 Meet Daymond John 03:38 “Because I should” 06:04 What Daymond had to overcome 08:13 Fasting, discipline and gradual change 12:09 Cancer and the decision to study health 16:44 Why mentors matter 20:15 Don’t scale too fast 23:50 “My Money, Homie” and smarter investing 28:47 Supporting artists with no strings attached 33:16 The two-year-old turkey leg debate 35:29 Daymond’s five-to-seven-person filter 39:34 Drowning in opportunity 41:15 The power to walk away 41:30 Quick Five 43:39 Go narrow and deep 43:53 Leadership and what Daymond is building 46:22 Closing Connect with Daymond John: Website: daymondjohn.com Instagram: @thesharkdaymond LinkedIn: @daymondjohn YouTube: @TheSharkDaymond Facebook: @TheSharkDaymond FOLLOW MICK ON: Spotify: MickUnplugged Instagram: @mickunplugged  Facebook: @mickunpluggedYouTube:  @MickUnpluggedPodcast  LinkedIn: @mickhunt  Website:  MickHuntOfficial.com Website: howtobeagoodleader.com Website: Leadloudseries.com Apple: MickUnplugged #MickUnplugged #Leadership #Podcast #daymondjohn

Butcher Box makes dinner easy for me because I know I've always got great protein ready to go. Go to butcherbox.com slash Mick to get $20 off your first box plus your choice of free ribby, New York strip, or filet mignon in every box for a year with free shipping always. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to what I'm going to say is the most personal, the most guided episode of Mick Unplugged in the history of Mick Unplugged. In the history. In the history of Mick Unplugged. Growing up, most people wanted to be like Mike. I wanted to be like today's guest. The way he moved, the way he built, the way he made us realize that it's not how you start.

It's how you finish. Ladies and gentlemen, please join me and welcoming the man, the myth, the legend, my mentor, the people's shark. That's a comfortable. Mr. Damon John. Thank you, man. It's not uncomfortable. It's so serious on an intro, man. Because that's what you mean to me.

I appreciate it. Literally. You mean that much to me, too. Don't let me start intro on how good. where you are. Don't start lying. We don't, we don't have time for lies. But I mean, truly, when I was 16 was when I found out. How old you now? 17. All right. 47. Okay. So I have a nine years on you. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Nine years on you. Okay. Yeah. I'm sitting and I see this magazine and I see you and you're not an actor. You're not an athlete. You're not an entertainer. And I realize at that moment

that I could build businesses. At 16, I wanted to be an attorney, and I thought that's what I was going to be in life, was an attorney. Right. But when I saw you, I realized, okay, it's about owning and building business. It's about creating wealth.

And then I got to meet you many years later and see all the great things that you're doing. And so my first question, I asked, oh, my guess, this is, what's your because, that thing that's deeper than your why? Like, I'm sure your why is your family, your employees, but there's a reason they're your why.

And I don't think I've been ever asked, because. What's your because? So I guess my why, like you said, it would be family, but what? That's a good question. So I guess the because forces you to say, well, I'm doing this because. Right. Right. I've never heard that before.

I appreciate that. You absolutely guess that? Absolutely. My because is because I should. Now that, that, that, Because question makes you go deeper, right? Yeah. I should, because I've been given this opportunity by God,

I should because I've overcome so much. I should because other people aren't doing it the right way that, or more people should be doing this. And what is that, right? Alertness of things, empowering other people. I should because I'm setting the terms to the way I want to live. Not because I want more money. Because the more things you own, they own you.

Not because I want boats. I could buy a boat. I don't want boats. It's irritated. I don't want seven homes. I can Airbnb. Right? I don't want a staff of 200, 500,000 because somebody's going to be treated unfairly because

of their gender, their color, their creed, their lack of education, right? Because somebody else is going to want to take their credit and they're going to push them down. And these people sometimes are not going to be able to feel like they are a reward of what they've done personally or they didn't get there because they didn't do this. They're going to say it's the system. So, I mean, I think those are the things, those becausees are really powerful things, you know. I don't think I've ever been asked that before. Thank you.

I love it, man. I love it. So you talked about you've overcome things and not to make it personal or even to talk about all those. Maybe it's personal you want. I don't care. No, but it's what I've always appreciated about you from afar before I really got to even know you was life is never easy. Right? Even as business owners, as business leaders, we start the year off with an amazing plan. But by the third week of January, that plan is usually going out the door.

The hundred percent. And that's what life is like for you. So what are a couple of the things that you've overcome? And then I'm going to talk about the Lexus story. The what sort? The Lexus story. Overcome. Well, you know, well, what I have overcome. I want to make sure that I manage people's expectation. What I have overcome is nothing in comparison to those who made. be living in the Middle East right now. Those who may be living here who grew up with abusive parents or not enough food on the table. So what I've overcome is child's play comparison,

right? But I've overcome, you know, dodging the literal bullets and the figurative bullets in the community of not having the internet and these things and only trying, only seeing things like drug dealers around me and saying, well, that's, that's success. Because the people, in Queens, they got on the train in the morning, they went to the city to work. You didn't see them. There wasn't no social media showing them. They looked like just people in suits. Yeah. But they were doctors and lawyers. They were feeding their family. They went to the ideal toy factory where he used to be around our house. They were blue-collar workers. You didn't see them, right? So I dodged that concept of fast, life, easy money. Yeah. I dodged the concept once I started

of making money, what is you're supposed to do with it? Well, I'm supposed to buy houses, houses, cars, do drugs and, you know, be like some of the people we see today on the news, taking advantage of that power that they had because that power is addictive. It's a drug. Yeah. You know, I've overcome the not having a formal education, being dyslexic, walking in a room and people automatically doubting me or my perception that they already doubt me. It doesn't mean that they doubted me. Yeah. Yeah. My perception, oh, because I'm, because I'm I'm this. Every person could walk in the room and say, I'm this. Wealthy people walk in the room and say, well, you think I got it easy. Well, you know, I think all the trials and tribulations like we most of us have done, you know, finding that healthy balance, knowing your why and being very honest with you about your why.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I dig it. Cancer. There we go. You have on the shark Jevity shirt. One of the things that you've got me doing, is fasting. Look like you lost a couple pounds. More than a couple. I have been. I was surprised at how easy it is, but you told me, Mick, you're going to fail.

I'm surprised at how fast you. No, no joking. You're supposed to go intermittent fasting, intimate fasting, intimate fasting. We were sitting one night, and you were like, all right, I'm done eating for. How long did you, that one night, you stopped eating for how long?

40 hours, because that's what you told me to do. I didn't tell you to do 40. I was doing 40 hours. That same thing. You told me to do 40 hours. What were your mama saying? Somebody jump off the bridge. You're going to jump on the bridge.

What's wrong with you? You're supposed to slow into it. Yeah, but my mama didn't tell me to jump off the bridge, though. You told me 40 hours is what you did. And I said, I know, nobody do 40 hours right away because you're going to fail. You're going to get mad at yourself. You may not have the durance.

I mean, he's a very special individual. I'll get to him one day, maybe today. He's a very special guy. He built a little. a little bit different, a little, which is great. But he just went, yeah, basically, what do you say? You can only do two things. Two things at a time.

And so every time I talk to him, if he's like, yeah, I'm fasting, he's like, thank you. He just walked off. And he comes back. He'd come back fasted already. He's just off. But that's the great quality you have. Again, I focus on two things at a time. You said fast, so I did.

And then you said, oh, by the way, here's the way. some supplements you can take that'll help you do it. And then you gave me some blueprint. Like, just dream black coffee. I don't drink coffee, but I do, but now I do drink black coffee. It helps you do it. All the little things. So that version of you. Yeah. And you go in.

I'm the absolute opposite to you. I ease into things that in all perspective, right, but in fasting, you know, I usually thinking about a year, six months to a year to ease into things. So fasting. We'll get to this beautiful piece behind this. It took me about two years because it's a bigger concept art.

Shark Jevity. Yep. That took me many years. I'm the kind of person that, you know, it's almost like when I go shopping or not shopping, when I'm out and I see something I like, I don't buy it. I go home. If I can't stop thinking about it, maybe I'll buy it. Okay.

And it has to go, I have to stop, I can't stop thinking about it for a while. Wow. You seem to be able to just turn it on. Now, once that point gets the turn, it turns on, I'm on. But I'm on only because I tried to rip that thing apart or think about it a hundred different. Do I still like this? So I really like this. What am I doing on?

And once I'm on, that's it. No failure. Straight. Okay. I appreciate that. And I think for me, it's because of what you meant to me in my life that when you tell me something, I just, like, well, I please go, you're going to end up like in Guyana with Jim Jones, something like that.

If you tell me. Don't, whatever you do, don't, don't follow this advice. No, but, but Sharkey Jevity, man. It's one of the things that for the last three months, I've really been trying to dial into my wife won't let me do the, what is the, what is the, methaline blue?

Mm-hmm. Because you told her it's going to, like, stain everything. So I was on board until you said that, and now I can't do it. I don't want a problem

with the wife, man, because that's, that's the real boss. But what made you go in on your health and all the things that you've transformed, not just for you,

but the fact that you're sharing it with the world? I think that it took me a long time. So I had cancer, and I always tell the story, of I started to think two things. Start winding it down. Don't, you know, do I really want to fight all this stuff?

You know, I got great kids, great wife. You know, let me just start enjoying that time with them. And if it's five years, 10 years, you know, like most of us, man, I don't, you know, stick ahead in the sand. I don't, you know, I'll try to fight it, but, you know, there's nothing I can do. Yeah. If everybody can do something, why do all these people have cancer? Right.

That's what I. It's not this cancer. It's going to be that cancer. And then. I like anything. Like whether I started, you remember, I always tell people when you start a business and your body is your business, you got to just do more than anything else. You do your homework before anything.

And much time you can't in your homework. That doesn't cost you anything about time. Time, you're a valuable thing, 100%. But if it means anything to you, whatever you're going to do, then time is it. Whether it's time to understand your faith a little better, to understand this woman or this man, understand this child, right? So I started to look into it a little bit more. And thank God, technology was just coming around.

I'm starting to look at more feeds on my, you know, social. I'm starting to see people with real resolutions. We've always heard, you know, roots and this and that can solve. Anything created, something can solve it. But now we didn't have this 20 years ago. I'm seeing real people that have survived cancer. Yeah. Real people.

Like, and not one, not two. 40, 60. These people don't know each other. They're saying the same exact thing. Yeah. Wait a minute. There's something here. Now, add that to, I'm starting to see a bunch of other people say, this is killing you, this is killing you, this is killing you, showing real things how die number five is killing you, showing you things that we're realizing we're being tricked.

We're being, and then me being the shark gets, follow the money. I get it. Yeah. I get it. I'm going to put out something. I'm going to try to be healthy, but I'm seeing all these people who are unhealthy are eating it. Twinkie. Who am I to tell them what to eat? Yeah. Right? And by the way, government, let me make sure you're good. Right.

And let me sell more Twinkies. Yeah. If they want to eat healthy, don't buy a goddamn Plinky. I don't only use the Lord's name in vain, but when I say that, it was about people, you know, not taking care of them. So anyway, I started going down the bed, and I started to do the little things to make these all, all the changing in my life. And a lot of times we do these things, we take a pill and makes it feel better immediately.

But I started to see a slow change. And I just started feeling. good about it. Now, I have a partner. Let me tell you something about my wife. She's the worst person in my life and the best. So all at the same time. I'll tell you why she's the best. I was drinking a lot. Mm-hmm. I wife never and you know a person like me, a type personality, don't challenge me. Don't be like, yo, you better stop. Oh, you just gave me from me. I'll have a double. Right. She said, you don't ever got to stop. You just got to look what you're doing yourself and, and how is going to affect your little girl and in your family.

That's up to you. And I slowly stopped, right? And then I started saying, well, what are you doing? Because you've been talking to me about this, but what are you doing? And I started going down that path. And she was open to, here's what I'm doing. Do it at your speed if you want. You know?

They always have the right answers. They always have the right answers. They do. They always have the right answers. They do. It's just like you open to it. Yeah, yeah. What was it when we were with Chris Voss, evening with the shark? You said he gave you some advice or he told you something.

I went over Chris Voss, top negotiator, known for his FBI negotiations, hostage, very serious matters. Chris, how do I negotiate my wife? Amen, there's a difference between a terrorist and wife. Terrorists are actually open to a negotiation. My wife has used that against me since she brought that up. She's like, so you know there's no negotiation, whatever I say. My wife was in her, she was like, he's finally got somebody in his life with some sense. Absolutely, absolutely. So speaking of someone in your life, you wholeheartedly taught me the power of mentorship.

You know, we started with game changer meetings and then it just evolved into, hey, Damon, I need to pick your brain about this one thing. But I know that mentorship has meant a lot to you personally. When did you realize that for you to get to where you wanted to be that you needed mentors in your life? No, I realized that when I turned around and looked at where I was, it was because of mentors in my life, right? The saying is you will only learn by two things. Your mentors are your mistakes. Mentors can be in a book. Mentors, of course, could be our great, you know, underappreciated commodities.

in this country called the teacher, you know. And I just reflect on all the times that I have learned, my first mentor and all of my greatest is my mother. But I just learned that that's what, you know, and mentors usually are only going to tell you probably about three things. They're going to tell you in business it's going to be not to scale too quick, right?

Not to move too past. Mm-hmm. Right. In your life, not to scale too quick. Yeah. Learn the lesson, right? First step, second. Exactly.

They're going to also tell you to not to spread yourself too thin in business and in life. Don't have a million friends, you know? And then they're also going to say in business, same in life. Don't take in money too soon. Don't take in partners too soon. I don't care if you're a kid. I tell my daughter this and one of them did it the right way and one is in between about to do it the right way. I always tell kids

do not get married for from your 20s to your 30s. Now, some won't get married younger, no problem. I understand that. But the point is what I'm trying to say, and it makes them second, it makes them at least give it a good thought on if they're going to do it.

Why? Because up until your 20s, you're somebody's daughter, you're somebody's son, right? You're going to live to 100, hopefully. So for 80 years, you want to be somebody's wife, mother, you know, aunt, grandmother. Wow. Just get to know you for 10 years.

Wow. Now, that being said, if you find somebody a super quality, come up with them, no problem. They'll wait. And if that's the type of person that they would wait regardless, then if I get married, right? You know, no problem. But I'm really trying, you know, and what do you want to do then? Maybe travel the world, right? I don't care.

If you want to go and be a party, I don't go, say, say. save the swimming pigs in the Bahamas. But until you really know yourself, you're very comfortable with yourself. Now, if you're the kind of person who doesn't want to be around a lot of other people, I get it, but you want that freedom to discover yourself. Because there's too many marriages that down the road, somebody said, well, I was in a career like this because my parents told me to become a doctor. I hate being a doctor, but I would just rate, you know what I mean?

You want to be a lawyer? We were growing up, you need to be a lawyer or a doctor. I'm not sure if you would have been happy as a lawyer. Maybe, maybe not. Yeah. And so when I say that, I don't even know how I got to that. What was about mentors? Taking in a partner or taking in people, committing to something so much that you don't get to know yourself.

Yeah. I want to unpack something you just said, though. So people scale too fast or they think they want to scale quicker than they actually need to. So slow down. Talk to the business owner, the business leader, even the individual in their life. about what you mean by don't scale too fast. Okay, so if I'm talking on a person, don't scale too fast.

Well, if you have an opportunity to travel, you know, they'll scale your, don't change your life so fast. Okay. Slowly change you, right? You know, 20% of this exciting thing you want to do with this person, this place you want to go, make it 20%, and then it slowly moves 30, 40, right? You know, don't.

Yeah, gone. But in a business for sure, in a business, you don't want to scale too quick. Because, you know, when I started food by eight stores, I sold to New York. I could have sold to 12. I could have sold the 40 stores around the country. Well, before really technology came around, they always said that you need to have a business, especially in your local business.

You should have all of your eggs within five miles of each other. So you can easily, you know, utilize staff, travel, that are. Now all of a sudden, you get this one story. It's like somebody who wants a franchise. Now all of a sudden they got two franchises in California. point in some of the different rules, you're taking your eye off the ball. The scalability of having eight stores and 12 stores, you're not changing your life. Right. So if you're doing eight stores and every one of the stores doing $20,000 apiece, let's do an even number, $25,000 a piece.

All right, you're doing $200,000 out of the stores. And let's say you're making a 20% margin on $200,000. It's approximately $40,000. Okay. Going and adding another, eight stores around the country, they're not going to relate to more of a net than 40. Because now you're spending a lot of time and energy. It's eating up your initial eight. And it's expanding you a little bit, but what you're not doing,

you're really not figuring it out, instead of just concentrating on that eight. Yeah. I can say that when I was dating. I used to, I'm not a person who loves to date, you know, like one night stands and all that kind of wild stuff.

me, you know, when food blew up and in between my first marriage and my second, yeah, I was single. When I realized when I was dating a good amount of people, just seeing them, you know, all over the place, I realized I wasn't getting any quality time with anybody. Listen, I love a great meal. What I don't love is getting to the end of a long day and realizing I still have to figure out what's for dinner. That's where Butcher Box has been a win for me. I like knowing I can open the freezer, grab a great steak or some chicken, and already have the hardest part of dinner handled. It keeps me from making that last-minute take-out decision when I really want something good at home. Butcher Box delivers 100% grass-fed beef, organic

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Go to chime.com slash disclosures for detail. I'll spend more time fielding calls and da-da-da-da-da. I didn't get any quality time. When I started to just really say, you know what, I just want to, I don't want my little girls to see me with a lot of other people.

I never want them to think that there's something more important than them, this and this and that. Maybe just chis and that. chill, let me just even not talk to anybody. Yeah. Or let me just kind of concentrate on this small little,

you know, group, one or two people and if it worries out, I mean the great woman, right? Because I wasn't spread all over the place. Right? It's not about when you bring people in your life and business and everything else. It's not that the fact that, you know,

you want to change all that you start to change and you start to accept I want to concentrate on this business, just do this from my customer, I want to concentrate on my relationship, just to do this, you sought to become that person that you hopefully want to be. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. So I want to talk about one of the most brilliant pieces of advice you've ever given me. So the last few years, I've really been into investing, right?

I run businesses. And you said, you know, Mick, are you doing it from your heart when you're investing? Are you really concerned about MMH? And I was like, what the hell is MMH? And you were like, that's my money, homie. Talk to us about why that is so important for new investors, even season investors, that you get caught up in the story that sometimes you got to remember you're investing for a return most of the time.

Well, because, you know, investing is, and I'm the king of, like, if I had to give my own self-shark tank advice, I would have to change a lot of things. but I make a conscious effort of doing things where I'm doing it because I just want to do it as philanthropic in my field and then it becomes something great. When you're looking at it from your money, like what is it? You know, I don't want to be Kevin Illyrian.

Money doesn't lie. It's pretty simple. You know, and how are you, what are you really doing it for? If you want to do it for philanthropic reasons, fine. You want to do it because you want to give people an opportunity? That's great. I see a lot of athletes who, they go and do these great, what's it called charity fundraisers?

They spend a million dollars and bring a bunch of people out and they raise 700,000. Why just give the million dollars away, you know, to, you know, whatever, a hundred different charities, 10,000 apiece. And you still get the notoriety for wanting to be somebody for the community, but you didn't have to deal with traveling people from all around the country for whatever the event is. Right. It's, and then you write it off on taxes, right? You write off a certain amount, right?

because the government incentivized you to do that. So again, what are you doing actually for? What is your money actually? It's my money, homie. Like, have my money working for me. The idea of a generational wealth is that you have this business. Whatever it is. You put away money as much as you can.

First of all, the first thing to do is you try to take advantage of the legal tax codes so that first of all you don't pay as much than taxes because the government themselves say are foundations i give you an example i tell people all the time when covid happened and the covid bill passed you got a hundred percent right off if you supported a restaurant for a business meal okay you understand how that's working and people always get mad when i tell them this i have friends who did, they're decent businesses, $500,000 in business fields because they travel. If you went to, if you went to a hotel and you went downstairs, you put the meal in the restaurant, you had a big restaurant, you know, and you had it for 20 people, you put that

on a hotel card, right? That's a 50% right of because that goes underneath the hotel. If you just take out your credit card and put it down, that's 100% right off. Right? So let's say you spend $500,000 on that. So $100,000. you gave away $50,000 by just not moving one car to the next. Time's out by 20 things that happen a year from the tax code.

Wow. Right. So let's say you save an average of $200,000 a year due to tax codes. You didn't put that in your Bitcoin or your bonds or whatever the case is. And so after 10 years, thinks about what that is, compounding and various other things. That's only $200 on what you save. When I'm talking about what the business made. Yeah.

Right. If you think about your business, then that's what's supposed to happen, right? Then you obviously can go and you educate yourself. I know you know insurance. You go get long-term, you know, health life, right? So that, you know, by the time you're 70 years old, 80, if you want to go and get, you know, live in a retirement home,

it's not $300,000 a year because you pay it ahead of time and it's nothing to you. But $300,000 a year. If you saved, you know, you save $3 million, you only got a 10-year runway. You can't even hand down to your kids. So, again, it's all these financial things that you think about as my money, homie. What am I doing? Yeah, yeah. I love it.

I love it. I actually should probably get Hallel on here. You got me, Halel. He's a great attorney about asset protection about these type of things. I need to tell them personally, too. Yeah, yeah, for sure. Absolutely. And we'll get them on the show.

Yeah, you're part of the crew. I should have hit you up in a long time ago. All good. All good. I am the most colorblind person in the world. I can't even draw. I can't even draw stick figures either. I am colorblind.

Oh. Like red and green struggle, light blues and purples. Oh, you're like a dog. Pretty much. Pretty much. But you, sir, as we look at this amazing backdrop that we have here, have shark art. Yeah. One, let's give a shout out to the artist.

So this artist is the name Daniel Mazzoni. I believe it's a Canadian, I'm not sure, or Long Island. But anyway, let me tell you the story about this. This is a flag that was in 9-11. I believe it was either at a fire station or 9-11. They salvaged and they got the flag. If you look at the arms, the arms are actual uniforms from men who were at, you know, 9-11 from the Brownsville, fire department, and that other one right there. and it's, you know, the, you know, justice, right?

Mm-hmm. You look, there's some images down there, and it's glossed over, and it actually, when it hangs, it hangs with the overalls of the fireman outfit. It reminds of his 9-11, reminds of its justice, you know, reminds us of the people. And I think, you know, that artists, the reason why I do this stuff about art, I love the art, but artists, I think, are our last people with free speech. and it brings to light so many things of joy and pain and suffering our lives. But the reason why I wanted to highlight ours, especially, and thank you for putting this in back of us,

is because I realize there's so many other things that we can do is people that doesn't cost us anything. You know, if I like McCund, I know he's doing a lot, let me just tag them. You know, if I go a restaurant, a small restaurant, if you, if 200 people a day tagged the bodega, that they went to because they had a great sandwich. Just tagged it. Not just the sandwich, but tagging it. How high would their rating go on yelp and barrage of the things and change that family's life?

That's a hard struggling family. So what I did with this was I realized that I had backdrops, Damonjohn.com, I'm going to look boring. But a friend of mine said, hey, you know, artists, you know, if you're an actor, if you're a musician and you're an athlete, hopefully you get to the big stage, right? You get ABC, you get Netflix, you get NFL, NBA.

And if you don't get to that level, and if you get to that level, you have great management and all these people. If you don't get to that level, you may even work in the system. You may be an acting coach. You may be a nutritionist for the NFL. You may be a broadcaster.

You may be somebody who works on the team. Millions of positions. Artists will never have a position. Listen, I love a great meal. What I don't love is getting to the end of a long day and realizing I still have to figure out what's for dinner. That's where Butcher Box has been a win for me. I like knowing I can open the freezer, grab a great steak or some chicken, and already have the hardest part of dinner handled. It keeps me from making that last-minute takeout decision when I really want something good at home. Butcher Box delivers 100% grass-fed beef, organic chicken, wild-caught seafood, and more, all sourced to standards they can actually tell you about. They've already done the research and made the tough sourcing decisions, so all you have to do is decide what's for dinner. If you're looking for an easier way to get great meals on the table, give Butcher Box a try. Go to butcherbox.com slash Mick to get $20 off your first box, plus your choice of free rib-eye, New York.

York strip or filet mignon in every box for a year with free shipping always. That's butcherbox.com slash Mick. Again, that's butcherbox.com slash Mick. Be sure to use our link so they know we sent you. Here's something I wish somebody had told me earlier. Your money should work for you, not nickel and dime you with fees. That's why Chime caught my attention. Chime is changing the way people bank.

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Sign up now. It only takes a few minutes. Chime is a fintech, not a bank. Banking services and chime card provided by Chimes Bank Partners. Qualifying direct deposits required. Terms and limits apply. Go to chime.com slash disclosures for detail. And the addiction runs very high in art, the art community. And so even if you don't get to NFL, you may go get a job as a stockbroker or something else.

A artist, no matter what job they get, they're always going to create art. And if they ever get anywhere that somebody buys a piece, now they want them to die. Yes. So I said to myself, why don't I just start highlighting artists? And they will loan me a piece. I actually was sitting in here. I just saw randomly some other art up here. I'm going to highlight those pictures, post them, and that's it, man.

You know, hopefully. If we all did that, you never know, one or two artists or five or 20 or 100 go, hey, you know what, somebody picked up my piece. Hey, I got highlighted in the museum. Yeah. And that's it. You know, it doesn't cost us nothing. Again, you do so much for people.

Did you know that this was who you were destined to be? No, I'm an only child, and that's why I do so much. Okay. Because when everybody wanted to play with their brothers and sisters, I had to find a way to convince people to stay outside and play with me. Hey, I'll let you play with my baseball. You like Tonka trucks? I got three of them.

You know what I mean? Why'd you come home to my house? I got a twin brother. You ain't got no twin brother. Why don't you come on over and see? I got a dog. You want a grocery sandwich? I can cook.

So, you know, I was just trying to find friends. Speaking of cooking. I'm going back into all my memory bait now. So there was a conversation you posted on Instagram, I think, when you ate like a year old turkey leg or something from the freezer. Two. Two year old. Two year old.

Why? Why not? Why not? All right, let me break it down to everybody here. Like my wife, who was like, that's a leftover. Well, it wasn't a, it was a two-year-old leftover, though. That's a different. King crab season has not been open for four years.

So anybody here eating king crab legs? It's four years old. So I got to tell you something about food and all you people out there that's all prissy. Let me tell you something. You know that chicken, the nights that you go, oh, that chicken looks dated. Right before that chicken rots, you know what they do? What? They cook it.

And then they put it in this round rotister. You go, ooh, wow. I'll take that chicken right there. And right after that chicken that they cook before it gets old, they chop it up and put it in gravy and they put it in. So all of you people right now with worms, parasites, I promise you there is some person in the background of that food trying to make a profit.

And you're eating it like there. I don't eat leftovers. Again, I'm fine with leftovers. Somebody right now is running to the bathroom. I'm fine with leftovers, but two and four-year-old leftovers. I'm fine with leftovers, but two and four years old. That's called dry age. No.

As they put on your menu. No. Dry age. Jerky? No. I've never seen dry-age chicken on a menu, though. Or turkey legs. They left out the dry-age fart.

That's called jerky. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Yeah, I. All right. So you can be fastened for a week after this. I pretty much am. I pretty much am. I also want to let the viewers and listeners understand this because, again, you are my advice guru when I need something.

Because, again, I can only do two things max. But I was building social media. And I said, dammit, man, I'm struggling on the content that I put out. I don't know if it should be under this brand, that brand. I don't know who I'm talking to. And you said, Mick, you're doing it wrong. You should always talk to five to seven people.

And then you broke it down to me, the five or seven people that you do all your messaging for and you don't care about anything else. I thought that was the most profound thing. And it changed my whole social media strategy so much so that I know you normally charge for this. But can you tell the people the five to seven people? Yeah, sure. Sure. So I have to only live with myself. Is my social media the greatest for everybody?

No, not at all. I know people out there who are, I'm on, I'm going to see NBC 40 times a week, ABC, you know, I'll be on the view, I'll be on this and that. I got the same 1.2, 1.3, whatever, on each platform or LinkedIn is a little bit better. I'm not going to do anything unless I, unless, my, mine will only explode if another category or area I'm in, people discover me, and they just like what I'm bringing to that area. The same way that I was a fulbo guy, but all of a sudden you understand that you think I'm the fashion person, but then I, you see I understand the concept and the fundamentals of

business. Now the business audience find me. Actually, the fashion audience doesn't really check me. I'm cool with that. So I'll never explode or I won't explode past where I'm at. I've accepted that. And I don't want to. Because honestly, if I do something crazy out there and I explode, well, those people are short-stayed because I'm not going to do it again. Unless I turn it on there all the way and then I won't be happy with myself. So I'm pretty simple. You know, when I post something, you know, I post something that I'm a spiritual person

and I don't like to push my beliefs on anything, but would God appreciate what I'm posting or would he look at me as a negative way? Then the next thing is my family. Will my wife be at a grocery store and somebody say, you know, your husband? Post, it could be anything. It could be something that disrespect for the women, disrepective for religion, violence. Yeah.

Now let's get to number three. The people that I work with, my staff, my team, ABC. I don't want somebody call an ABC going, oh man, this guy's, I happen to like some stuff that may be off color, we all do. But ABC, they're gonna be like, is this your guy? You know, my staff, I don't want them say, I don't want somebody to say to them, is this the asshole you work for every day? This person said something that was misogynistic.

Are you crazy? You know, like, and then, you know, the next couple of people would be in their young kids or entrepreneurs who are looking up to me. And I shouldn't do anything that makes them feel like I'm letting them down. Yeah. And then the forward thinking ones are the ones who are checking for me. I want you to know who I am. Right.

So Chase, all these other people, all these big companies. This is what he's about. and the last but not least are the ones I want you to know why because this is what I'm not about. Don't come to me and you want me to do all this and that because if you see all this, then I'm a hypocrite if I take your deal. Yeah.

You know? Yeah. Amazing. Again, for everybody watching and listening, that strategy changed my life. And it's not even a strategy. It's just the way that I do things now. I'm not trying to please everybody,

but I also don't want to upset the people that matter the most to me. And so that really touched me. You know, you can be very, you know, I think people think that you have to be so hard one way or another. Like I was telling my staff the other day, I said, you know, we have a lot of opportunity out there. We can drown an opportunity. That's my biggest issue and my biggest shortcoming. I want to do a lot of things. Now, I understand that.

I know how to cut it all out of the way. But if I don't do a lot of things on my own side, well, I'm going to do it for Shartank anyway because that's my obligation. So why don't I have some of my vested interest in this kind of diversifying of the portfolio? However, don't wait around for deals that somebody's taking you, taking two, three weeks, six months, and they're just messing around. This needs to be a, yo, you want to do this or not? Yeah. Well, my lawyers are this and that. Well, then your lawyer is the boss, because let me, you know, then, then I'm working for that person. Yeah. Cut it. And so I said, I'd say because why should you cut it?

Well, they either don't value the opportunity. They don't have the money or the resources. They don't know what they should be doing. And at the end of the day, all of those people take a long time of these things. They're going to be the biggest pain in the ass when you get married. If somebody is very complicated on dating,

that was the best they could be. Yeah. Oh, now you're about to really see their ass. Yeah. Get out of it. It's okay. And you know when you get out of it? You know what happens?

Like I said before, you make room for a new opportunity. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Be willing to walk away. Walk away is the most powerful thing you can ever do in your life. And you at least leave with your dignity. You feel comfortable about the situation. And you go, it's not here because I've decided that it's not here.

I left everything on the field with them. I'm cool. There is. There it is. I know you're busy. I know you've been gracious with your time. I'm going to get you out of here on my quick five, five rapid fire question.

Sure. All right. From Queens, the greatest rapper from Queens is... Hello, Uncle Jay. Done deal. Done deal. The best athlete to come out of Queens is...

I wouldn't know. Kenny Anderson. Kenny Anderson, yeah, I know, I know Kenny. I know him all. I know Ron on the test. I know them all. I just don't know what the greatest athlete is Kenny Anderson. You think?

Yeah. There's no famous, like, like big, big. Big, I'm talking like, on the statue. No. No. Okay. They've got to be. Kenny Anderson.

It was the goat. No, Kenny's great. Kenny's great. I know so many of them, though, from Queens. Kenny Smith. Yeah. Kenny Anderson? A bunch of kinnies.

Mark Jackson? I know Mark, too. I know them all. I just got, yeah. I've known than heavy in the sports like that. I know. I know. Fermented pickles or fermented cabbage?

Pickles all day long. When you come off a fast, what's the first thing you eat? Alicado. You taught me that. I had to get used to it. I had to get used to. Yeah, you don't want anything heavy. Yep.

The best advice you've received in the last 12 months. The best advice I've received in the last 12 months. Ooh, good question. So many things. Good question. The best advice I'm seeing in the last 12 months. It's something I already knew, but it's, it's, it's cut more people off. Mm-hmm.

You know, after COVID, I think we're looking at what's going on with people mentally after COVID, with social, with AI come around. People are screwed up in the head. Yeah. And I think it's time to just cut as many as you can off and get narrow and deep, because we're gonna run around, we're gonna run into some really big issues. And I think you need that really tight unit of people when it gets dark, that you can rely on. You get having 100 people, you have an army of three,

You're invincible. Yeah. Yeah. You taught me that too. You taught me that too. For everybody listening or watching, what's one thing you want them to know that you have going on? You have coming up. Selfless, shameless plug for my mentor, Damon John right now.

Well, first of all, I want to talk about this, man. How to be a good leader. I want people to read that because that's important, you know, because, you know, leadership is important. Yeah. And when you learn this stuff, you learn a lot about yourself. Yeah. How to leave. What do I have going on?

So I have Shark Jevity where it is, you know, I'm just talking to people about biohacking and very, and biohacking fancy word for longevity. And why am I the expert in this? Because I'm the weakest person on the planet when it comes to food. And I have a horrible travel schedule. And I hope, I don't think I'm intimidating looking like a lot of these guys that I love and respect I get from, like scientists, like Gary Breck's body. I mean, guy looks like Superman, right? You get eight, ask for you, Dr. Aiman.

So what I do is that's the most important thing to me is to share with people the, you know, what longevity is how to slowly increase your ability to live longer. And the way I do it is by showing you my faults, showing you what I'm going through. And I always say if I'm putting a hundred different, and I'm probably putting 100 toxins, bad toxins in my body a day. We all are. If I can reduce that to 60, it has up. Yeah. I mean, if I can show people how to do that and then get people like you to say, hey, man, I'm going to start the fast.

You're going to go down your own rabbit hole of doing that. I highly doubt knowing you that you're going to ever go back. If you do it for a long period of time, you're going to start saying, this is part of my life. You would feel horrible going back. No, it is so easy the days that I'm not doing the 40 hours to do 18. Yeah. Like, I don't even think about it.

I don't even think about it anymore. It's like, oh, I'd again tomorrow if you fail. Right. And tomorrow, after that, eat a big ass piece of chocolate cake. Eat whatever you want and reset it on Monday and just try again. There you go. Right? That's it.

There you go. So that's what I think. So those are the two things. Oh, I said a bunch of things. So first of all, art on Shargevity. And then I'm still, you know, the person I have a lot of, I have a lot of partners on Sharthank. And I, hopefully, I'm the face. of entrepreneurship and show people

that if I could do it, everybody else could do it. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, this has been my mentor, the legend himself, Mr. Damon John. Thank you, brother. Appreciate it, man. Right here. In my head, there you go. You've been plugged into Mick Unplugged. Don't just listen and take action.

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