Sober Motivation: Sharing Sobriety Stories - Darren Prince hit rock bottom at the top of his career working with some of the most iconic athletes and celebrities in the world.

Episode Date: July 11, 2023

Darren Prince is the author of Aiming High which is the astonishing story of him being a sports and celebrity agent, who battled addiction while representing some of the most iconic figures in the world. After a drug overdose, many demoralizing nights, and mornings where he couldn’t get out of bed without a prescription in hand, Darren hit rock bottom at the top–and in the process discovered the true meaning of success. Darren celebrated 15 years sober just before recording this episode. This is Darren’s story on the sober motivation podcast. -------------- Follow Darren Prince on IG: https://www.instagram.com/agent_dp/ Aiming High Foundation: https://aiminghighfoundation.org/ Follower Sober Motivation on IG: https://www.instagram.com/sobermotivation/ More info on SoberLink: www.soberlink.com/recover Support the show here: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/sobermotivation

Welcome to Season 3 of the Suburmotivation podcast. Join me, Brad, each week is my guests and I share incredible, inspiring, and powerful sobriety stories. We are here to show sobriety as possible one story at a time. Let's go. Darren Prince is the author of Aiming High, which is the astonishing story of him being a sports and celebrity agent, who battled an addiction while representing some of the most iconic figures in the world.

After a drug overdose, many demoralizing nights and mornings, he couldn't get out of bed without a prescription in hand. Darren hit rock bottom at the top, and in the process discovered the true meaning of success. This is Darren's story on the Sober Motivation podcast. Getting sober is a lifestyle change, and sometimes a little technology can help. Imagine a breathalyzer that works like a habit tracker for sobriety.

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How's it going, everyone? Brad here. Look, thank you, as always, for so much support and love on the show. This one I'm extremely grateful for that Darren took the time to join us on the show. hope you enjoy it welcome back everyone to another episode of the sober motivation podcast today we've got a special guest darren prince with us how are you i'm good man thanks for having me brett yeah of course thank you so much for jumping on here i've been watching you from afar here for years and just everything that you've been able to do is just so motivating for me personally and

just incredible and the way you share your story so i can't wait for this all good hopefully we can get to a few people that's all that matters right that's right that's the truth. So what was it like for you growing up, Darren? You know, I had a great loving mother and father, a sister grew up in the upper middle class suburbs of living senior jersey. I had a lot of friends and you would have thought from the outside, everything was great. But I was always crippled with anxiety. I never felt comfortable with my own skin. I never felt cordoned. We know, we're all insecure, shy. I think also being verbally teased for being in small classrooms and I felt so separated. and different from my other friends.

I think that definitely did a number of my psychology and my self-esteem, myself, where it, which ultimately was the reason why, you know, drugs and alcohol and substance became so comforting to me. Yeah. I can relate with you like a ton on that for growing up. It was chaos and trying to fit in. And it was never anything that I excelled at. That's for sure.

When did the alcohol, the drugs and everything like that start for you? About 14, I was in sleepaway camp and had terrible stomach pains my night and I asked the counselor to take me in the infirmary and the nurse gave me this green liquid and a plastic off syrup and, you know, it takes a disgusting. I didn't know what she would give me. She said it would help pain and help me sleep, but walking across the soccer ball seal back to the bunk five minutes later, you know, my life changed forever. I felt like that green liquid finally introduced me to the world and I felt like super

man, while the inattic receives and insecurities went away. And when I got back to the bunk, I was the cool one, the talkative, the funny one, everything I wanted to be. And that's when I realized that green liquid just introduced the world to Darren Prince. And I did this for three weeks. Every night, even though I didn't have stomach pain, I would clean to the counter and the nurse and found out I was taking liquid demoral when my mom and dad came up for incitation day. And so they put a stop to that.

Wow. That's how it all got started then. Yeah, in 1984, you know. It wasn't in the middle of the opiate epidemic. I don't blame the nurse. I say when I speak all the time that, you know, I was at a dentist appointment a few months after that back in Jersey and he gave my mom these white pills. My wisdom teeth were pulled and I cannot know what they were, but I got that same effect that the Demerol gave me.

And after three days the pills were out, put on the crocodile tears and I'd lied to my mom. And I told her my tooth was killer. My chief was killer. We got to go back to dentists. There was no more pain. I just wanted more of those pills and found that they were actually on the bike at it. Yeah, then it definitely wasn't the awareness, the education that there is now for everything. But you were able to connect early on in 14 that that was like doing the trick.

That's exactly what it was that was helping you deal with those insecurities and everything. Yeah, no one's telling at that age too on top of it. I started a very successful baseball court mail order company at 14. So I was making money on top of the real money. No one's going to tell me I can't do this or don't do that. And even though my dad and mom kind of had an inclination of what was going on, I mean, I'm feeling on top of the world. Why would I not take these things that are helping me feel smarter, more bubbly or, you know,

more comfy. I've got my professional life together 10 years earlier than most people would even dream of it, 14 years old. So the matter what anybody was trying to tell me, I didn't want to hear it. Yeah. So people picked up on it then that, hey, maybe there was something going on. Then where'd you go from there? So this was your first couple of experiences with it.

You know, I think any sorts of drugs, alcohols, you know, for marijuana, eventually involved probably my around EAT, it was ecstasy and cocaine. But now my business is really exploding. You know, I'm making $3,400,000 a year of selling, buy-grade investment, sports cards, and, you know, bought my old condo, crazy expensive sports court, all the exterior stuff that came from that broken self-esteem where I wanted people to see that I arrived and I made it. That kid in the back of the room or that kid in the smallest classroom

that you said was never going to make it look at me now. All ego-driven behavior, which I think that disease of more when you're in it, it all honey goes together. And then I finally had some issues legally at 21. I was arrested four times in six months. possession, not to distribute, to give out, party with my friends. I didn't need funding or money. I had plenty of it.

But I wanted to be the life of the party. I wanted to be accepted by people. So my money and the drugs and the environment I was around was the way to buy friendships and bring a lot of people into my inner circle that I probably thought back then might not have been there. Maybe they would have been because I now all of a sudden turn from the slow, sort of awkward, one that he would have bet on to now the one that everybody wants to hang with. Yeah, and with the baseball cards.

What tipped you off with the baseball cards? I just always had a fascination with them from the time I was like eight or nine. And my friends, when they got more into dating, you know, they weren't kind of cool anymore. I basically took advantage to what everybody had and I would buy their collections for very little bit amounts of money. And I also studied in price guides back then. Most people have heard of Beckett. Before Beckett, there was a newspaper called CCP. current card price guide.

I mean, we get it once a week, and it was like the NASDAQ. And I was buying out from the time I was 12 years old. So I would study the old cards. And my friends didn't care about the old cards. I didn't know Mickey Mano was, really Mays, stay there, and Roberta Clemente, but somehow some of them got their hands on some from their grandfather. So I would trade for those dirty, older smelly cards.

I would give them the brand new, I'm adding at least Tony Gwyns, Wade Boggs, Roger Clemens, because they wanted the new popular. guys, the only thing was I was giving them cards that were worth maybe five or ten dollars and their cards were worth hundreds. Yeah, okay. Gotcha. Yeah, no, that's great.

So they were out bringing their girlfriends different places. They wanted some money and Darren was there with a little bit of cash or a good. I would pay off people out on a Friday night after sky. We got calls around town selling so needs 30 bucks or, you know, they're going here for the night. You know, it's like, cool. I was like, I would do whatever I had to do. I had four different jobs or I had extra cash lying around all the time from squeezing orange juice at a supermarket. I was a busboy. I worked at a

pizzeria and I delivered newspapers. So I always made sure that whatever it was and 30 bucks, I might be able to break it all down. And within a month after going real poor shows, I'd get, you know, 500 to a thousand out of it. And everybody was happy. So it didn't matter to them. They were happy. They got quick cash. Yeah, that's true. Is that how you would sell the baseball cards? Like, that was before eBay or was eBay? Yeah, the internet was anywhere around. So it was basically running ads in collector's digest, which I believe is still around. That was the Bible. There was also a magazine called Tough Stuff that was on the national news stand. But mostly it was hands on going to

conventions, networking, whether it was with different dealers, collectors. You run a lot of Wall Street guys that realize there's some serious value into looking at the right courts of leadership investment. So I would almost be like their broker, finding whatever they wanted. Yeah, the boots on the ground. I love that. How did things progress? throughout this, right? Because you bring up a lot of good things with the ego. I mean, that's a big driver and addiction. And things are going fairly well for you. But even knowing a little bit of your story, I think things, as far as your career and your business go, they get a heck of a lot better in some ways, right? But my professional life went for them. And slowly a bit

surely, my personal life was crumbling behind the scenes. I eventually felt the card company when I was 19, I started doing autograph signings, private autograph signings for biggest names in the world, Muhammad Ali, Joe Fasier, Cheppy Chase, Magic Johnson, and I developed relationships with the album, and I did that business for about three or four years, spending just such great, intimate quality time at them, and had a vision one day. I was with my dad. I got in some trouble unknowingly for selling some fraudulent autographs, and it was kind of like this turning point to me where I just kind of got out of the business and just left such a bad taste in my mouth. There were so many heaters.

And I took my dad with the last of my money. I was first time of my life. It was actually in bad financial trouble. I took on a fly fishing trip to Alaska. And he was very old school. You don't want me spending the money. But back then you would get paper tickets. You don't get a refund online.

So when I showed me to pay per tickets, I'm like, we're going. I don't really care of the hotels taking care of, you know, everything. The flights, the lodge. We have our own tour guide. And we went on the boat, he challenged me. He was always so inspirational, to me to what my next move was going to be. You know, I was like, I really want to be an agent,

be a pro athlete, I played college baseball. But I really think that I can do this. I could focus on the big stuff. But dad, I don't want to go to law school for eight years. And he dropped his fishing bowl. And in this middle of this gorgeous stream with all the eagles flying around. And I'll never forget it like yesterday.

It's like, life is about who you know, not what, you know, you don't need to go to law school. because you're so dialed in the biggest names in the world. Just speak to each and every one of them. I'd start with Magic first. He knew you just went through some problems. He's had problems.

These men and women that you represent, they all understand it. And that's what happened. A few weeks later, I was with Magic in Michigan. We had a big appearance at the Gibraltar flea market, which was one of the biggest in the country. I believe it's closed down by now. And in the hotel room, I started talking about my vision. He said to me, that he loves me,

He loves my family, that God has tested me, that God test great men and woman, and that if he's throwing lemons at me and I'm going to turn it into lemonade and that he was going to give me a shot to represent him for two years. But if I didn't use him to knock down every door to bring in all the celebrities that I can, he was going to fire him before these two years are up because life isn't about how successful he became. It's how successful he made everybody else around him. That was a domino effect.

And it was just incredible to hear that from a guy of his stature at 24 years old. He almost basically saying, explain my name as much as possible to build your brand and build your business. Yeah, wow, that's powerful. Did you feel a lot of pressure in that moment? Like, I've got the go ahead now. How do I ship up? I don't know if I felt pressure as more anxiety of not fully understanding what I was doing as an agent. Like the next week, I hired a publicist.

It was in the New York Post page six, which was TMZ before TMZ, that Magic Johnson signs with Super Agent Darren Prince, and I wrote about that in my book, Aming High. You know, my ego, I saw that. I was like, oh, this is amazing. Look at the recognition I'm getting. My dad called me over to the house because he heard he called my mom and how excited she was and my sister.

And he goes, come here. He goes, sit down in the office and want to talk to. So I sit down next dump. He goes, you see this? The super agent stuff pretty. He goes they're not calling you that because you're anybody special. You're my son, but you're nobody's special now, girl. Yeah, they're calling me that because Magic Johnson special.

You still got a lot to Bruce. And that kind of just really humbled me and I needed it in the moment because he's like, it's like, right, just like any other business, you've got to get out, you put yourself out there, you're going to make mistakes. But like I told you, you could make every mistake, make it one time, you don't make it again. So it's like, I got this. life lessons from my father in a very short moment. And, you know, there was a bunch of mistakes, of course,

made added the game a few years in. But eventually I just found my footing. And I just realized it's just another product that I was selling. But now it's people. Now it's icons. And back then they weren't even icons. A lot of them were active superstars. And they went to sports, it's entertainment, music, acting,

you know, Chevy Chase, Pamela Anderson. So it became, I think, fairly easy at a certain point. The point that wasn't easy was being in the limelight so much around, you know, some of the biggest power players and stars. Even though mine were typically, especially when they're talking about Ali and guys like magic and smoke and Joe, I mean, the kings of the kings, when I have other big stars coming over to them and wanting to talk to them and me, I wasn't comfortable all my skin to deal with it because the morality clause is I couldn't use illegal drugs anymore, but I played it.

you know, to all the doctors, but the physical elements I had from sciatic, I was getting a limited amount of oxygons and percocets and vicotives. And those became my best friends for whatever that wrong was, another 14 years. And at a certain point, what was someone's living to use turned out to using to live? And I don't know when they turned up it, but they turned. Yeah, no, that's so powerful. Just taking that all in. What was it like for you, though? So you had just had an endless supply from the doctors for you? Like, things got really bad. especially for that statement you said there. Man, it was so easy from any doctors, my local ones, if I was traveling,

they all just saw what I was doing, heard what I was doing. There was times I'd bring smoking Joe if he needed a doctor's appointment. You know, when he was up there and I'd feel like I'd bring him to my doctor in New Jersey or somebody would tell me, oh, like I'm the biggest Hulk Hogan fan to get Hulk on the phone with them. So I'm just doing things to just make people happy. but then at the back of my minds, I'm like, oh, this is just going to further be an insurance policy that all these doctors all up me.

They can't imagine in a million years that I got a problem. Yeah. When did you realize you had a problem? Was that from the beginning? Probably started around 2004, 2005, before a year before I got sober. I noticed that I wasn't working anymore. I was at an event. I believe it was Dallas, smoking Joe,

and it was some charity boxing event. And I went to get them ready. And I did my usual, I sniffed a handful of pills, made sure my nose look normal. I went to get them. And 30 minutes later, we're walking into this event, you know, with security around this and everything. And I can't feel that superpower, that little moment where I knew that I could take over. And I think from that point on, I was chasing it.

I can never get it back. Yeah. Like you built up a tolerance to it. I can relate to that in my story too. I don't think I was ever able to get that escape that I got the first time or maybe the first few times. I was never able to really find that again, that extreme euphoric thing from doing heroin or the pills or the oxycott and everything like that. I never found that again. I just found myself on a run just wanted so bad to everything just to go away.

And stuff did for a bit. But then, yeah, you hit that wall there. Yeah, it just became, I think, numbing at a certain point, not wanting to go into that. detox, but there's no more euphoria after a certain point. Yeah, it's just to kind of bring you up to like maybe quote unquote normal just to that's where function at. Exactly. And so you kept it going for a couple years. Yeah, I mean, I was living in hell for the next three years I would say at that point.

And I had an overdose in Las Vegas. After that, I called that was in 2007, I called an addiction psychiatrist, but I wasn't honest with him either. He put me on Suboxone and an opiate block. but I'm sniffing ambient at night. I'm on mood stabilizers, antidepressants, drinking a couple days a week, anxiety meds. I mean, it was just horrible. And my spiritual awakening came.

I just celebrated 15 years past Sunday. It was on July 1st, 2008, my uncle and his then girlfriend, Andrea, my uncle has since passed. He was in the rooms in and out for years. And she never met me before, but they came to visit. My mom in New Jersey. And for the first time of my life, I opened up to somebody. I had no idea why, but I felt it.

connection with her when she asked me if everything was okay and after i told her what's going on she pulled down sober going at her pocket that she just got the week earlier and said i'm in recovery you're an addict that your life's so manageable and it's at the end she's like do you realize none of this stuff means anything because you don't mean anything and i can help you though would you be wanting to do anything it takes and that kind of broke my soul like remember crying and i said yeah i said i'm wanted to do anything and it was that next day of july second 2008, Sunday night. I was living at the Caroline building in New York City, going for all the detox pains. And it added a gym trying to do anything I can distract myself. And my then wife,

I was panicking because obviously she saw me have multiple overdoses. And I called ankle still and Andre Up and said I can't do it. I'm calling the goddamn doctor to get whatever we only need to get. She grabbed the phone and said it's the goddamn disease talking. It's time to kick the shit out of this disease. It's been kicking yours since you were 14 years old and throw the F up. And I hung up the phone. I said, I can't. I'm not doing it. And after he was pushing me to go to a meeting, it happened in the bathroom because I locked myself and they're trying to find some more non-nerapiding anxiety pills to take the edge of and two bikers came out of one of the bottles. And, you know, we were pretty confident. We cleared out every medicine cabinet like Andrea told us to, but we missed these two. And,

you know, I fell on my knees and just screamed out to God for the first. time of my life, take the chains, obviously, take the money, take the notoriety. I need a single day of freedom. And I remember literally a guest friend. If you take me out of hell, I promise I will spend one day at a time, take another sale with me. And I had a Bill W. Light moment, you know, my right shoulder caught on fire, and I heard a voice say,

I've got urine ready. I stood up, flushed the pills. We wound up on the computer. Three minutes later, found a meeting in the upper 80s. There was no Uber back then. I flagged the taxi right away this gorgeous summer night, July 2nd, 2008, for whatever reason. And by the grace of God, I wanted to stay sober more than I wanted to get high on that date. Because when I walked to church basement, 150, 200 addicts and alcoholics who are once by hopeless state of mine,

I felt comfortable for the first time of my life. I put my hands up. I wasn't hiding anymore. I was vulnerable. I was transparent. I had gifted desperation. I said, I'm sick, I'm suffering, I'm suicidal, I need your guys' help. And that freedom that came off of me,

I just left my spirit, that broken soul, started to become whole. You know, these people told me that they would love me before I ever knew I'd love myself. And I became addicted and immersed into meetings because, you know, it wasn't the biggest celebrities on earth. It was these drunks and drug addicts that made me feel whole. So I then can go back.

that life and should them, my family, my friends, my colleagues, my loved ones. It is how you are now seeing that no one improved there. Nothing external. It's all a psychic change with the spiritual 12-step solution. And most importantly, you're going to see me really fly when I start giving this gift away to other people. Yeah, wow, that's so powerful. And huge congrats to on 15 years. I saw your cake. It looked incredible. What was it like for you to hear, like, that nothing mattered around you in that moment where your aunt, right, was like, none of this stuff matters. And that's, I'm thinking that's what you built a lot of your life on. Yeah, I mean, that was my whole identity. You know, and I say it right now, it's like,

I don't know many people that have to self-love, that inner peace, that happiness, that transparency and vulnerability on this earth that to and I don't expect many people to because I know the work I put in to attain that and to get that and what it makes me feel like to be that individual. I know most people live in an entire life, they probably can't have been accomplished half of this. But I had no choice because that ego had to get rough, that ego that false thinks of I'm so special, this whole super agent is all, no, I mean, at the end of the day, they're the ones that have all accomplished extraordinary he sees all of fame, worthy careers, championship, awards, everything most people dream about. And I just happened to be good guide to great networker and relationship builder that happened to

fit in and get in there at the right time to build and cultivate a relationship. So I think by her even saying that, like, in fact, I needed to hear it because, you know, I've said it on different interviews before. If I was to lose the business tomorrow, the only thing heartbreaking is, My work people are my family and my mom and my sister not having me take care of people. But nothing's going to change about me because I can look back and thank God for the life that he's given me and say what's next. I think it's a beautiful place to be for somebody like me because it took a lot of work to get there. And I got to do everything I can one day and a time to stay there.

And I think the more I give of myself, the blessings in turn have happens with the business. So selfishly, I can then focus on that to selflessly give away to other people, not just monetarily, but my foundation can scholarship people that need it. I've been working on getting a 16-year-old into an adolescent center for the past 48 hours. I got a random Instagram message from a gentleman in Houston, Texas a month ago. My foundation was able to scholarship him. You know, Patrick Johnson says it to me all the time because when you give without any design, or want to receive back. This is just the way God works.

And you do it because it's pure because it makes you feel good. And who would have thought? You know, I look back at it. That's what's giving me myself work. That's what's giving me my self-esteem. You know, to be part of this incredible sober army of spiritual brothers and sisters that I have touching the world each and every day with the biggest platforms is just unbelievable.

Well, Brandon Novak, Tim Wright, Chris Harris, Brock, Ryan, Hampton, and Jennifer Menace. I mean, you know, what we're able to deal with in a phone call to change somebody's life. It's better than the biggest business deal I could ever do in sports and entertainment market, period. I mean, it doesn't compare. Yeah, it's the fuel.

It's the fuel for you to be able to help. I heard this story, too, you had brought to the Jay Shetty podcast where somebody had saw you. And that was incredible. Yeah, there was, too. that was when I spoke at Oakshire Covery and the father. That one who still kept to talk about, but it was incredible where the father showed me his phone and said, because of you and your foundation, my girls are going to have a dad

and they're going to have a sober dad and they're going to have a life because of your foundation. And I am not going to waste this gift, Mr. Prince. You have my word. And I know to this day he's got over to your earth over. That's, wow. Did you ever think that that's how it would play out? When did you catch wind that this is how heavy you are going to go into helping other people? No, I mean, I think early on in recovery, I broke my anonymity about two years in.

On Facebook, my mom was a little disappointed and embarrassed. My dad was totally fine with it because he was always a more secure person within himself and very low-key and understood what I had to do to get there. And my dad also understood my business platform. And he just kept pushing his message, being vocal about it. He goes, I really think you're honest to something. And he didn't live for long enough to see me right aiming at, but I know, you know, he was a big part of it. You know, I know he's looking down when it came out.

I got so many signs from him. But Magic and I spoke about three, four weeks ago, Hulk Hogan. I spoke yesterday. And, you know, every time something comes up at my recovery journey, I get to talk to the real urban Johnson and the real terrible lay of what it means to them and how they've done everything and anything they possibly can to support my journey because it means so much more. It's life and debt. I'm not here doubly on how to become an agent and sports marketing. Like if somebody calls me and wants internship mentorship, I totally want to do that. But like I said, I mean, I'd feel like when I'm

able to take somebody out of the depths of hell and it's happened many of times, Jay Shetty, him and I which was blown away about the response and you still get messages. I literally feel like I could jump off the balcony and fly because God just is doing things for me and other people that I was unable to do for myself and these people are anybody to do for themselves. And he built this platform around me that I always thought was my calling. But that was just a byproduct to get me to be the person I am today. I said, I think it was on Homer, the Rockstarch podcast.

my boy, I think I said, you know, my tubes don't. And hopefully I make it to my mid-earth, late 80s or 90s, and I'm healthy. But when it's my time, I'd have totally finally finally found a day, a drug addict and substance abuser that went through hell, came out the other side, took this gift and sprinkled it across the world to help other people. I don't need anything about this. Some doubt everything I've accomplished in the agency gig is not going to really get there. But the lives that I've impacted and the generations that could be

change with mental health and substance abuse just by helping one along the way. That's my legacy. That's incredible. And you're doing exactly that. What would you say to somebody, Darren, if they're listening to the show here and they're struggling to get or stay sober? You've got to have the courage to ask for help. You know, the people look at it the wrong way.

There's such a stigma with alcoholism and substance abuse and drug addiction. And the stigma is we're not speaking up enough. The real strength is asking for help and telling somebody that you're struggling. that could maybe point you in the right direction and just open up because it's not going to end well. And the more you prolong it, you're just getting yourself into a deeper, deeper, deeper hole. Yeah. What do you think is the biggest barrier for people or maybe even in your own story for why you or why they struggled to reach out for so many years?

It's two things, obviously, few experience too. Number one, you're same. And number two, the pain of changing versus the pain of staying the same. is so much greater of making that change than it is to just stay in a space that you're comfortable and even though you're miserable. Yeah. So you wrote the book too, Aiming High. And that was incredible.

What was the response from people who checked it out? It was unbelievable. That was another thing. I didn't expect it. I thought it was kind of just this love story healing journey to myself. And four days into the release after October 1st, 2018, I picked that date because Ali and Frasier who were so new, here and dear to me. And that was the anniversary of Thrillo and Manila,

their iconic third fight. But, I mean, 40s in, the marketing firm is call on me. Go on Amazon. And I was like, what is there, probably? Go on Amazon. And it hit number one in Australia, Canada, England, and the USA for about, I think it was about 48 hours. It had like the number one badge next to that bestseller,

international bestseller. And I think they went into the second print, because, look, we just basically partnered with the self-offer sheet company. I didn't expect to blow three copies. They had to do a set in frame within a month. And before you know, it's in Barnes & Nobles and around the country. And I'm, you know, being asked to go there and speak and do Q&A, events and books on. It was a world with, yeah, but it was super exciting just not from an ego,

but just to see people face to face and tell me what Amy High did for them or their loved one and how it impacted their lives. All I did, you know, is speak to my amazing writer, Kristen David, and my publisher, Anna David, connects me with her. And I've always said she wrote the masterpiece. She wrote the page turner because I'm definitely not a writer of books. I can write things that are mature or not a book. It was incredible.

And it's still to this day. I mean, there's not a week that goes by where I don't get a messy. It's your book changed my life or your book saved so-and-so in my life. And as I said, that's legacy. That's it, right? there. I didn't get a message saying it's so cool. The story that you had about, you know, being with Baham and Ali and Joe Frazier and Ayni, it's always about something or somebody who's able to turn a bottom into the beginning. Wow, I love that bottom into a beginning. And it's

another form of service, right? I'm picking up on that that is so, so important to you to give back to help others. I mean, even a guy like you go on your Instagram page and you see these big time, I mean, the biggest entertainer that most of us have ever seen. And you still answer your messages and get back to people and not only myself, but other people too. Like, I think that that has just gone completely the opposite direction of how things used to be of the ego and now the humility of getting back to people and showing people love. Honestly, my page is so diluted down my social media from business.

Obviously, there's projects I need to promote. I know people love it and I love following that. But 75 to 80% of my posting is about recovery. It makes me happier. Yeah, that's incredible. I think the other comes from, like I said, the other could be a little egocentric and that's not really who I am. I mean, that guy could easily come out again and it's not a good Darren Prince. He's coming out.

Some real bad thoughts and character defects are coming out with them. You know, so it's easy for me to understand that. It's just the byproduct of where God wanted me to be, which is right here as a recovery advocate to the masses and being blessed to spread the message across the world. Yeah, incredible. One more question before we wrap up, if that's okay with you. What do you do on a daily basis to stay on track with your sobriety? I haven't been as assertive with in-person meetings since the pandemic. I still get to my Zoom meetings a lot. But I'm always speaking to people in recovery. When I'm on the road, I love going to meetings. That's always like my best time where I implemented into my schedule, whether it's in Tampa and New York, Miami. I love being a road meeting maker. but then I'm pretty religious with working out. Recently I started in a much cleaner diet and supplements that are making me feel better than ever.

And getting time with my dog is super important. My girlfriend, you know, whatever I got to do to just check out because the business life can't get crazy. But I don't stop. I mean, I worked all day on July 4th. Everybody else is out there party and going to barbecues and whatnot. I spent 10 hours in my bedroom on my iPhone and going on numbers and projects and proposals. and contracts, I know any other way. And it makes me happy.

So I'll take two, three vacations a year when I need them. That's always super important. I immerse myself into healthier addictions. And I think that works for me. Yeah, beautiful. I love that. One last thing before you wrap up, do you do any collecting of cards now?

I got back into it a couple years ago. Some of us for collecting, some of us, to create a side hustle. The market pulled back quite a bit with the economy in the past year. So it was a nice little run and it kind of brought me back to like deja vu on what it was like. I didn't hold on too much. I won't put out hundreds of thousands and I'm probably sitting on maybe 40, 50 grand words that I'm just like, let me just ride it out and see how these do.

But it was getting to a point when I talk about an addict. My girls, but till they, hey, Carl in my office. I mean, I'm getting 20, 30 packages sometimes today. I'm on eBay losing my mind, like just clicking, buying. I'm going to car shows again. And I was having the time in my life with that. And so a couple of my agents were all that happened. Like, are you serious with how busy we are at the agency?

I was like, you have no idea how much fun it is to go to a hard show, get a table, and just sit there and chop it up with collectors. First of that, they all know my past in the business. But then a lot of it kind of looped around into mental health and recovery. And I loved it. Talking about my book and talking about it in your, thank you for his service. So it had the best of everything. And I think a couple of those conventions when I was dealing them, I picked some leads for

trace marketing group business. So it was great. But like I said, unfortunately, with the economy right now, it definitely pulled back pretty big time, at least 50%. So I just don't have the time or the energy to put any focus or emphasis in it. So now I'm back to more the collecting type of guy. Yeah, no, I love that. I got a few when the buzz was booming and I still have them. And yeah, we'll wait for a brighter day ahead, man. It always turns around in that business. got to learn it as patterns, you know. Yeah, yeah, exactly. So, well, I appreciate you so much for taking the time to jump on here.

Thank you so much. Is there anything you would like to finish off with? Any message? That's it. I mean, if anybody's listening that's got a few bucks, aiming high foundation. org. We donate 100% of the proceeds to people in need of treatment. They care about the business side of thing.

It's not why I'm here, but it depends marketing proof.com and DMA or follow me on Instagram at Agent underscore DP. Yeah, beautiful. Thank you so much. Wow, what an incredible story, an incredible journey. I mean, Darren has definitely met some of the biggest sports and entertainment people that many of us have connected with over our lives. And wow, what an incredible journey just to kind of pull himself out.

It's always interesting hearing those stories where people were at the top. Like, I think it's hard to get out of both spots. But, I mean, you're getting a lot of mixed messages. is if you're at the top of your game and you're just crushing it in other areas of your life. And then you have this one big secret that's really bringing you down. But you're not going to be willing to listen to anyone around you because so much is going so well.

So definitely a tough spot to get out of. And I'm huge congrats to Darren on 15 years. Be sure if you enjoyed this episode to send them a message. Show them your love. Thank you for being on the episode. And everybody, thank you as always for your kind messages, for you downloading the episodes. And if you haven't left a review yet,

please do that. And I'll see you on the next one.