Determined Society with Shawn French | Adversity & Mindset - From NFL Star to Youth Savior: Marlin Jackson’s Mission to Heal Trauma

Episode Date: April 21, 2025

Super Bowl champion Marlin Jackson opens up about surviving childhood trauma, picking off Tom Brady in the AFC Championship, and why he created a tech-driven movement to save kids in underserved schools. In this powerful conversation with Shawn French, Marlin shares how he turned pain into purpose, and how emotional intelligence, faith, and fatherhood are fueling the next generation.If this episode moved you, subscribe now and share it with someone who needs to hear it, whether it’s a parent, coach, educator, or young person navigating adversity. Let’s build a more determined world together. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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I confirmed it. A whole society determined. What's up everybody? Welcome back to another episode. I am your host, Sean French. Before I introduce today's amazing guest, please go to YouTube, hit subscribe, Spotify the same, and Apple. Follow us on social media at The Determined Society and at the Sean French. Today I have an amazing guest. He's a Super Bowl champion. He's a first round draft pick, number 29 to be exact. 29th pick overall, the Indianapolis Colts. Pick Tom Brady off for interception in the championship game. to take the Colts to the Super Bowl and ended up winning it. He is from Sharon, Pennsylvania. He's doing amazing things as an entrepreneur now for the community and the education system in America. Marlon Jackson, welcome to the show.

John, thank you for having me. I appreciate the opportunity. Dude, likewise, man. It's great sitting here with you, and we are having some amazing off-the-air conversations just about family, kids, school, just everything. Life. Life.

Life. It is happening, huh? And it doesn't stop. It just keeps on coming. we just have to choose how we respond, but make sure we keep moving. See, there's a big difference between reaction and response, right?

And like when you said, we have to choose how we respond. Now, there's a lot of times where I react to things, and then I go back, I'm like, oh, my God, I completely screwed that one up. But, you know, that's a big thing, right? It's like, we're all going through stuff. We're all going through life.

We're all struggling with kids doing their class work, forgetting shit. And, you know, we're hoping it doesn't cause the next fight with the missiles. can make it difficult to stay in executive function to stay at the top of your brain. Yeah. Right.

It gets you in that middle of the brain, that amygdala, and you get very emotional. Yeah. But that's part of the work that I do on the entrepreneurial side is that decision making is that executive function and really just trying to make sure I model it in my everyday life. Dude,

it's, that's tough, because no, because things happen, like you mentioned that it happens. That's right. It's just core of your mind. And you have to find that way to switch into, that executive position to make those decisions to get your business to run.

Exactly, exactly. And it is challenging, but at the same time, we have to realize that it is possible, but it starts with awareness. A lot of us aren't even aware because in our education system, it's not a part of the teaching that teach you the power of decision-making of consequence of how your brain works. But the more that we start to introduce that concept earlier, the more we empower youth to be able to do so.

Oh, the ideas that we have to make the education much stronger. We don't teach children how to think. We teach them how to take tests, you know, and to judge their worth based on what level they're at, how they scored on the state test, et cetera. So before we get into all that, though, why don't you give the audience a peek behind Marlon Jackson as a youth? Yeah, yeah, a peek behind Marlon Jackson as a youth growing up in Sharon, Pennsylvania, born in Youngstown, Ohio. you know, a When did making plans get this complicated?

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And it was unresolved, never healed, never given the attention that it needed. Yeah. So when we talk about decision making, her decision making was not in the best place. And she turned to drugs to be able to cope and did not have the ability within to make better decisions. And that caused a lot of unfortunate circumstances for our family, you know, where you don't have food. Your lights are cut off. You lose power, you lose water. Basic needs not being met.

And even the most fundamental when you think about, you know, a parent and a child is the nurturing, the care, the loving, it was missing in our household, and we didn't see positive relationships modeled. And it's difficult to grow up in a world where self-identity is a big issue. But it's a lot easier to find your identity when you have people around you every day that model what a healthy identity is. But then when you have it the other way, as I did, you're lost and you're easily led us straight. And lots of times I was easily led astray, right? And, you know, my brother was in the streets.

And, you know, he endured, I would say, more trauma in terms of some of the things that he witnessed and that he saw. And what we all were individually experiencing caused us to be in that survival mode. And lots of times when you're in survival mode, you don't think about the younger sibling. No, right?

Like, you know, I got to go out here. I got to get it. I got to make some money. I got to dress myself. I got to make sure I'm fresh. I'm good. I got to make sure I'm taking care of myself. And it becomes kind of an individual mentality and not a family mentality.

So just explaining just in terms of how the decisions of one person as the matriarch of our family really trickled down to the rest of us and impacted who we were. See, that's what's tough, right? And I want the audience really key in on this. If you're watching, watch this, if you're listening and listen. Every person has a certain amount of trauma that they deal with within their life. I don't care who you are. Your life could look perfect on the outside, but there's some type of trauma. And if that trauma is not dealt with, it is passed along to other members of a family or maybe even a spouse, right?

The thing that I heard you say that resonated most, right, was, you know, my mom had some unresolved trauma. and it caused her decision making to be X, Y, Z, thus my decision making, my brother's decision making. You know, it helps me find some empathy for my parents right now in this moment because I look at things for face value sometimes, right? Like, okay, this is what I'm getting from, excuse me, this is what I've got from my mom and my dad,

but this is what I want, but I never took it a step further, be like, okay, but why is it not there? What did they go through? And I think that's important to understand human beings. Because it's root causes, right? You know, which like so, so much in our society, we want to look at the surface. Right. But it takes a little bit more sympathy, empathy, and then overall work to be able to pause

and think, there's a reason why they're behaving this way. Yeah. Like underneath every single behavior of every child, of every adult, of every human being, there is some experience that impacted psychologically and emotionally who they are that then turns into the behavior that you see. I struggle with that, not believing it in the moment, right? I mean, dude, we're married men. Yeah, but that's the reality.

You're talking about the reality. Yeah, right, exactly. No, no, totally. No, what I'm saying is, like, I'm with you. I'm tracking. But, you know, like, how do you, right? Because this is something I'm asking you, right, is how do you in the moment, right? Because we all have, like you said, everybody has reasons why they're reacting a certain

way, right? and how do we, as the person receiving that action, kind of filter down and stay in a point where we can actually respond instead of react? Sometimes it's like, I believe I say it's about pausing. Like, do I need to step away right now from this conversation? Do I need to go for a walk to be able to compose myself instead of being swept up in the emotion?

Now, I'm going to say this is not things that I do all the time. Right, right, right. Sometimes I do that lion or that tiger, you know. You'll come out. You'll come out. Yeah. We'll come out. You know, but even in those times, like, I'm reflective.

Like, you know, and when I sit with their thoughts, I'm like, oh, man, you could have did this better. Like, and I may circle, circle back. But then it's what tools do you have in your toolbox to be able to cope in the moment, right? Yeah. And that is where, like, how are you preparing yourself? what type of habits do you have that allow you to have the automatic response in the moment?

Right. You know, because that's what, as athletes, a lot of how we're, how we're conditioned is we're creatures of habit. Like, you know, you baseball, you know, what position is you playing? I was a catcher. Catcher?

Oh, I mean, I mean, just get blocking past balls, having the flexibility to be nimble, making that throw down, down the second base, and being able to get it off, get it off quick. You had to rep that over and over and over and over again. Yeah. So then when you get in that moment, you just automatically respond. So it's the same thing when it comes to our behavior as human beings. It's just what are we doing to condition ourselves to have the habits, to have the emotional response that we would like to?

Very good, man. And I appreciate that. When you go back to growing up, right? You're talking about certain decisions and kind of how you operated out in the world and society at school and everything. You were a football player, right? But how did some of those things with your mom impact you and kind of the things that you did, you know, out there in the streets sharing Pennsylvania? So I was a follower. Okay. And the thing that I mentioned about our household is that I wasn't the only one. So my friends, they were, they were the same in the same boat.

Like their mom was maybe strung out. Their dad wasn't around. And then we all had another, you know, set of peers that we looked up to. And a lot of them, my brother, they were, they were in. gangs. They were in the streets, right? Okay. You know, um, they, they, they were in altercations. They were, you know, in scuffles. So like, you see that and that becomes your model. Okay. Right. Of when there's conflict, right, how we handle conflict. Well, we, we, we hand it aggressively. Yeah, sure. Like, and we handle it directly, you know, and then just, um, looking for

guidance and not finding it, you, you turn to each other. And none of us know which way to go. But we all had a desire to, you know, we didn't, I desire. I'm thinking about desire. We didn't know what to feel. So it led to some poor decision making in terms of, you know, altercations and things that I've been in on the streets and, you know, being extra. Yeah. Where there's a fight. But I take it to another level and I vandalize somebody's property. Okay. Right. You know, vandalized the car, kicking the windshield.

Like, not things that I'm proud of. Sure, of course. You know, we, Bradd knows Farrell PA is the town right, you know, next door to share. And it's a rival. And it was a lot of our hood versus their, versus their hood. And, you know, there was one time I remember, you know, this was after I had moved out of the house and I was living with another family member. But I, but I knew where my brother's gun was at. in my mom's house

and, you know, everybody was getting together for this big altercation, you know, we're like 11, 12, 11 or 12. 12. Okay.

And think about that, you think about your son right now. Man. So when I think about my son, this is stuff I think about it. So that hit me hard right there. Like, you know, and I'm,

and my friends have guns, you know, I go to get my brother's gun and it wasn't, it wasn't in a place that I knew it to be, which was a great thing. But I say I'll listen to fast forward to, you know, we're walking around looking for them.

We think that they're looking for us. We don't find them, but we get stopped by the cops, right? And I had a book bag. And you know what I did? I took all the guns and I put them in my book bag. Oh, shit. So, like, the cops stop us and they're talking to us, and I can hear the clanks in my book bag. Right.

And he spoke to us, but then he kept it moving. It was on his way. That's something that I didn't even think about. about the consequence. Right. Like when I willingly say, like, I'm put them all in my bag, put them in my bag, and I put it on my, on my back. I'm not thinking about if he goes in this bag,

what is he going to find? Right. What are they going to do? Uh-huh. Right? You know, and even in the situation where I kicked in this, this windshield of this car, I didn't think anything about a consequence. Like, you know, I was in the moment reacting.

Right. And I was reacting in a way that I was conditioned very aggressively, like overly aggressive, you know, doing the most. Because like so often, like, we want to please our peers. Sure. And I, you know, I had some timidness in me. But then in that, I would go over the top to try to cover that up. Get it. Like, I'm going to just, so they don't even know, I don't have no, I have no fear.

I'm going to be the loudest. I'm going to be the one that's out. I'm going to do the most. Yeah, right? Yeah. You know, which can lead to a lot of negative things occurring. But this is when I even saying this, I always think about God and like the grace that he gave me. Because in any either of these situations, I didn't get in trouble.

Right. Like, you know, I don't know how in either situation. I know in one situation somebody didn't tell on me, right, you know. Yeah. And that person had the heat for that. His name was Bubba. Okay. Right.

You know. but, you know, things like that and when I remember and I think back, and I have a lot of things that I think back on of like, ooh, God, like, thank you. And that's part of why I know my purpose, like is. It's like, you know, he gave me that grace for a reason to come out of that situation because I should have been in juvie, right?

I should have been locked up for those. Could have been a lot worse. And it could have been a lot worse, bro. Like, to your point, like, you don't think of those consequences, right? Like, I'm listening to the story. You're talking about getting in trouble and someone telling you. I'm thinking like, what if a gunfight broke out?

You're dead. Yeah. And that, so then that's the thing, when you don't learn your lessons, sometimes they circle back around. Right. So then that almost came back to get me in college. Okay. Okay.

Right. And I know we'll get into that. But I was in a situation, in the altercation, the person that I'm into it with pulls out the gun and starts firing. Oh, shit. Right. You know. This is when you were at Michigan.

This is at Michigan. Two of my teammates were shot. Oh, shit. One was shot in the back. We ended up getting him into the vehicle to the hospital. I still remember the bubble on his back where the bullet was at. Another teammate Carl Diggs from Warren, Ohio, was shot in the leg. But this was the person where, like, you know, I socked him.

He's down the ground. I'm getting ready to go hit him again, and he turns, and he starts firing. Right? And you're running. All you hear is just the shots going. And you're flinching and flinching and flinching. I'm wondering, did I get hit? Did I get hit?

And then you see your teammate, your peer on the ground. It's like, you know, it's stuff like that, man, that, you know, having those experiences, I've gotten getting goosebumps right now. Yeah. You know, it makes me really thankful for life. And it's a part of what, like, fuels me, you know, like on my mission, you know, for kids and communities because we just, even that, this was like a, 17 year old that this that this happened with right that didn't that didn't have guidance um

that lacked decision making skills and he was doing what he was taught to do confrontation right it's conditioning it's conditioning that's what it is from the environment right from the environment what all you guys at that point in your life are looking for leadership you know so yes it's it's yeah okay i was a follower cool but like everyone's a follower at some point right we all follow our parents And if that's not available, you go try to find other inspiration to follow, right? So it's just a classic example of wanting leadership. And I'm just like listening to this. And I'm like, damn, like, how selfish can I be?

And this is what I mean by that. When I'm 11, I'm not worried about things like that. I'm worried about my parents dropping me off with a little league field in time so I can play pickle with my teammates and eat Grand Slamburger with cheese and throw the pickles around. Yep, that's my son. That's my son today. That's their life now, right? That's their life now where there's somebody on the other side of the United States of America at 11 years old doing these things.

And it's like, I just wonder, I'm like, man, like, we need to be able to get outside of ourselves and understand there's life going on around us and that people are in other positions. And how can we help? Because it's perspective and reality, right? You know, that's as we look out on someone else's world, it's our perspective. Yeah. they're in it, it's their reality. And, you know, you don't have all the details when you're on the outside looking in. And it is, it's hard to be sympathetic.

It's hard to be empathetic because you know what you know. Yeah, yeah. You know your reality. But that's where it's important that I share and others share because a lot of times people look at me or sometimes they hear me speaking. I'm like, oh, you didn't, what? Adversity? Like, you come from a broken household? Well, you speak like you speak will.

What does that happen? What does it happen? Exactly. Like, well, I have some knowledge. Yeah. You know, I've learned a lot how to carry myself. But yes, that was my reality. And that's a part of who I was.

And even a part of that person is still with me. I just have more self-control. Sure, of course. Right? You know, then I had at that time. And I have a better understanding of my identity and who I am. Right. So I'm not going to fly off the handle, even though the reality is that that emotion

may bubble up in me when confrontation arises. I just know how to tame them and calm them down a little bit now. Right, right. How did your experience growing up as an 11-year-old in that environment and in the streets and, you know, potential, you know, gang fights with a neighboring town, how does that help you become the dad that you are now and the husband that you are now? Because I'd have to say, that's deep, man, but that right there, like, think about that. Those three beautiful kids I just met.

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Yeah, I mean, it's, I get to be everything that. I never had. Come on. Like every single day. And it starts with my wife and I, you know, to be a kid that didn't have a loving, nurturing mother where I don't remember hugs, kisses, there wasn't no story times. It wasn't warm and fuzzy. It was me after a night of drinking, the throw up, getting a throw up bucket, cleaning her,

cleaning her up. Like, you're sorry, man, you're getting me, dude. That's, um, sorry, keep going. No, but it's, you know, it's, it's a reality of like, in yearning for it. Mm-hmm. And like when, and that's when in my, in my spouse, like, I knew her background and where she came from and I knew that she was what I needed, right? The stability. Yeah.

And I heard her brad said it is the neck. Like, you know, um, you know, she's been that for me, but then that trickles down to our, to our children. and what they see modeled in love. And sometimes what they see modeled in conflict, but in conflict resolution. Okay. Right. I know.

And then it's, you know, all the hugs and kisses that I didn't get, I give. Oh, come on. Yeah. Like, you know. How do they receive them? Oh, just loving. Love it. Okay.

They are open. I haven't got to that point yet where they're like, no, but dad, you're doing it. Like, yo. You do that. You're doing too much. But it's high school. Yeah, which I know, I know that time is coming. I know, man.

Which is why I just cherish these moments now. Yeah. But I keep it real with them. Right, right. Like, they know, they hear the real. Okay, good. You know it. And they know all of me.

Okay. You know. I think it's important, right? It is. It's important so that they really, truly understand where you came from and also to appreciate what they have in you and in their life now. Exactly. Exactly.

Because it can be hard for them because they're so well cared for. Yeah. Yeah. And they're cared for very, very well. which can, it could create some complacency in life. But I, you know, I want them to be hungry and I want them to be appreciative and I want them to have gratitude.

And even that, that's just, you know, mantras and things like daily. So, like, as we, I take them to school, my two youngest and get other one off on the bus. But every morning, before we get out of the car, treat people the way you want to be treated. Ever is how you learn. Take your time with your work.

Care about your work. right yeah man like you know um keep your hands to yourself pick up after yourself focus when it's time to focus learn when it's time to learn right don't just say these things do them yeah and then for my oldest one be you because because middle school that's when yeah that's when it gets real everything is pulling everything is new and you're trying to figure out who you are mm-hmm that's when the trouble That's when that trouble starts, right? You know? But that's why we have the opportunity to pour into them.

Right. And that's why I value, like, I'm going to pour everything that I got into you. Like, this is my reason for being. Do you ever, because, you know, I kind of grew up, I didn't grow up in the same type of environment, right? But, you know, I have a mom, my mom and my biological father split when I was two, right? So I grew up first nine years of my life without a father figure. and then finally got one, right? But I also, like for me, if I,

when I feel like I disappoint my children, that's the hardest part for me, like of my day. So, like, I can get dad guilt, man. Have you ever dealt with anything like that? Yeah, yeah. I think that is the reality of being a human being. Okay.

Of being a parent, of being a dad. It's the things that we don't, we think they're unique to us, but everybody is going through the same things. Then when you talk about it, you find commonalities. You know, amongst yourself, like, experiencing like you did, you let them down. Or sometimes how I responded to this situation. I want to take it back.

And, you know, husband guilt as well. You know, but all those things are that is us and the empathy within us, knocking on, tapping on our shoulder. Like, hey, you could have did, you could have did it better there. Like, are you thinking about how you communicated that, how you relayed that message? you know. Feel that. The fact that we think about it though, that is the positive part.

Because some people may not even stop and think about it. They just continue to go on and perpetuate that behavior. Yeah. The fact that you can take a moment to pause and reflect on it, that means you care. It's funny because I've always been real on the show, right? I'm always authentic and talk about my life as much as I possibly can without exposing too much. Yeah, yeah. That moment happened for me this morning.

You know, you talk about husband guilt. Like, you know, I did my part in something. She did her part in something. something, but it was this complete massive miscommunication. It's like, you know, at the time, I'm like, I ain't coming off as I'm right. I'm righteous. Like, how dare you? But as I'm driving down here and the, and the temper starts to kind of come down a little bit, Sean, what could you have done better in that? What could you have done better in that situation? I think ultimately, that is the important thing about life and relationships and just as, you know, now being an entrepreneur,

as you know, it's like, how can I get better in that moment? Like how, you know, because we're never going to be 100% on. We're never going to be perfect. But I'll take the Sean today over the Sean I was eight years ago, no problem. But I still feel it, man. It's, man, like, I really could have done better. And the root of it, you say, was miscommunication.

Yeah. But then part of the resolution was de-escalation, your drive. Yeah. Right? Yeah. You know, but it's identifying. Where are those points? And this is across the board.

Like, we're talking about family, but this is in business. Yep. Like in the office, what your, what your peers, miscommunication leads to tension. And underlying tension makes things fall apart. I think also, too, to that point is, like, I was joking about something and it escalated, but I wasn't reading the room.

Right? So I think that we have to all do a really good job of reading the room. Like, where's this person at? What are they going through right now? If I say this, no matter what my intentions are, how's it going to pop off? Yep. Right?

And I just think that in that moment, I didn't do a good job of it. And that's, you know, I'm hearing you, I'm thinking about the work that we do. And, you know, that's self-awareness. That's social awareness. Like, can you read the room? Which is, we're talking about emotional intelligence.

Yep. Like, how well can you read the room that pairs around for you, pick up the data points, and then proceed accordingly, right? And then the self-awareness to manage myself, to rein myself in here in a situation, because, okay, this is what I intended, but this is how it may come off. So then we can pause and catch. ourselves from, you know. It's a great point, man. It's a great point because I, it's so funny because I can fail at it so many times, but I pride myself in the fact that my emotional intelligence

level, my EQ is so high on my intelligence level. I don't know where it's at, but I also feel in the world now, in the world we live in now, emotional intelligence far surpasses IQ. Yep. And it's needed more now than ever with social media. The divisiveness in the world right, right now. Oh, come on, man. You know, emotional intelligence is, is, is, uh, such a power. Right. To be able to have.

And even, you know, in, in, in business and entrepreneurship, obviously you have to have intelligence. You have to find the right people. But when like leading emotional intelligence is, uh, is a very strong indicator of success. Yeah. Like in, and, uh, being able to lead and have people respond to you and to be able to follow you. No, you have to have those emotional intelligence traits to be able to be able to lead.

Well, you have to know how to communicate a thought, right? You can feel a certain way and have a certain emotion, but it's how we bring it across, whether it's to our family, to our employees, to the rest of our leadership team is like, hey, you know, this is where we're at and how can you craft the conversation so that everybody feels open to be able to speak and not feel attacked. Yeah, you're right. And that's that's that's that's the hard part because people, you know, can be difficult, you know, because we are all, we are all a mixed bag of emotions and experiences. Sure.

That are coming together as one to achieve a common goal, you know, and you have to value and recognize the whole person, right? And, and their perspective, their background, their ideas, their thoughts, what they add to the pot. because that, you know, feeling of value makes people want to give more. Right. And it makes them feel the sense of belonging. And when people feel belonging,

they show up in a very impactful way. Like, you don't have to try to pull it out of them. They'll just give it. Yeah. Yeah. I think it's too. It's like it's the competitive spirit, right? Everybody wants to win.

Like, everybody wants to do a great job. And communicating that and being on the same wavelength is super important, right? And it's important in entrepreneurship. And then even as, you know, your career in the NFL, like you, I mean, you want to talk about a mixed bag? Yeah. A team? Talk about that locker room, man.

Like a lot of different individuals, you know, very decorated career, obviously went to the Super Bowl 1-1. Talk about that a little bit. Yeah. But that's the, I mean, I feel like it's one of the places where I learned the most in life was the Indianapolis Coast University of Michigan. high school on a certain level, but University of Michigan and then the Colts where I was more mature from just life and growing.

And the players that I had the opportunity to be around, so many Hall of Famers. Peyton Manning. And when I think about Peyton, I think about his mentality as a leader, his work ethic, you know, he was obviously one of the most talented players, but he worked the hardest. Okay.

And the thing is, when your best players work the hardest, there's no excuse for anybody else. Come on. Like, it raises the bar to another level. It raises the standard, and it's set there. Yeah. And it's not about it coming down to where you are. You have to go up and meet him. You better get up there.

And it's easy to do so because you see the results. Like, that's the part. You see the Pro Bowls. You see the touchdowns. You see the completion percentage. Like, you see the wins. So that automatically, that's the data that you need to know, like, this works. Yeah, absolutely.

So as a young guy coming into that locker room, I mainly was like, I knew I'm going to win a Super Bowl someday. And you did. And I did. And I did in a year or two. But it starts with leaders like Peyton. And even with him, he was empowered by Tony Dungey. who had an entirely different approach to, I would say, working with his staff and leading his player, where it was rooted in respect.

Yes. Which is kind of different. I'm sure you, I'm not sure how much you've experienced respect from a coach in baseball. No, not degrading you to get the point through, but actually, you know, empowering you. you, like, you know, like a man, young man, right, coming to you and having an open door, you know, being accountable, listening to your, to your thoughts and your ideas, right? That's wild. You know?

Yeah. It is, and it is. But you know what it did? You didn't want to let them down. No. So you know how poor and that is like being a leader where your players or your colleagues, they don't want to let you down. Yeah.

So they give to you willingly, which is, which is, that is a winning culture. And that's what I, that's one of the things I learned the most. Michigan and the coach, how,

what does a winning culture consist of? And it's buy in from the leadership. It's great leaders, but it's as coaches, but it's all, it's the players. The players lead. The players embody the,

the characteristics, the traits that we harp on every single day, the goals. It's all very obvious. You can see. and you see the results in it all. Yeah, I think it's important for the audience to really dig into that, whether you're an entrepreneur, you know, a parent, or even if you're a coach in a team.

Like, I think it's so easy to lead with the heavy hand and to get after somebody, right, and tell them the way it is. But when we really peel back the onion, right, people want respect and people want to be heard and they want, they want collaboration. And Tony Dungey was ahead of a time. Yeah. Because still no one's really doing it. Who's doing it?

Not like him. Not like him. Not like him. Like, dude, even Samman didn't. No. Hell no. Same is a whole. Hell no.

Hell no. It's a own other beast. But like right there. But you can honestly say like college football wise, go. Like, yeah. Goate. Different approaches. Different approaches, right?

Very systematic. One hair out of place that janitor better care as much as a starting quarterback. Right. Everybody had to be on the same page. So he created systems and that's where they stayed. But like with Tony Dunjee, like that's a great point. Like, you know, that makes it. I feel easier to play for, easier to work for,

because you're not on that, you know, year two, you're going, you're going into the championship game that you end up winning and winning the Super Bowl. It's much more comfortable to do your job when you know the man is actually for you instead of, yeah. It empowers you because I remember being in a meeting and our defensive corner was Ron, Ron Meeks, and I made the play, but I,

I didn't make it in the manner in which I was taught. Okay. Like, I saw something else. I had, I had another key that allowed me to be able to process and make the play. So, like, he was kind of calling me out about it. But then Tony stood up for me as like, well, it looks like Marlon just saw something different than what was taught. What was that?

And he made, and he made the play. It was, I think, I believe it was a read when I was at, I was at, I'll play nickel. Okay. Nickel is a interior corner that covers, like, the third, third, receiver almost like a hybrid between a safety cornerback and a line back. Okay. Where you have to play the run sometimes. So just in terms of, it's hard of remember the exact breakdown of the play.

But I'm sure I was reading something with the offensive line and I triggered really quickly and I was able to go and make the play. Okay. Where it may not been exactly how my coach taught me, but I saw something different, which that's the type of player that I was. I wasn't a robot. Right. Like I got to the point where I would pick up my own keys and my own cues.

That would allow me to make some plays quicker than others would be able to do some. It's instinctual, right? Exactly. And it's trained instinct from watching, from watching tape. And not just saying, you know, when it's this formation or when it's third down, it's going to be a screen. But I could tell how to run and back stepped. Okay.

This is how we stepped that it was a screen. And sometimes I would react faster than everybody, everybody else would because I just looked a little bit more deeply and I saw another, another indicator. True student, right? It's so funny because, like, I watch this and I know it's kind of a funny parallel, but did you ever watch All-American on Netflix? Oh, yeah, yeah, my. So Spencer James, when he's, the very first episode, talk about feet.

He's looking at feet. I didn't know that was a thing. So if his foot was going to do a certain thing when he lined up, he knew where the play was going. Yeah, that's a real thing. As a wide receiver. And then even, so like, you know, in teaching my, I teach my youngest son plays football. Just even people think you read the quarterback's eyes.

Like more you read their shoulders. Okay. Like the shoulders is going to be the true indicator of the direction and where the ball is going, right? As a DB, I'm not necessarily looking his eyes because even with Tom Brady in that moment when I picked him off, his eyes were looking one way. But I trained myself to understand that when he looks one way,

he automatically blindly turns and throws the other direction. He wants to try to move. The defense, right? You know, but all of that is just being a student. Right. And looking at the data, but in the data, finding that indicator that's going to allow you to be able to make a play. It's amazing. So that specific play, when you picked off Tom Brady to win that AFC championship, to go to the Super Bowl,

given everything in your childhood that you went through and your moments at Michigan, that moment right there. Explain what that meant. Oh, man, it's legendary. Yeah, man. And I don't brag. I don't boast. You know, I'm humble, but confident. But that moment is legendary.

And I only say that because of the response I continue to feel across the Colts Nation and football fans in general. Like, it only grew. I feel like it only continues to grow. Marlon, I didn't know you then. I remember exactly where I was sitting when you picked that. And that's where I hear a lot of that. And I hear there's a lot of people that tell me how they felt. Yes.

In the moment. Which is that that always tells me like that's the emotion of the moment is what connects people and what makes them remember. And that's what makes it such a powerful moment that united people is that everybody remembers where they were, how they felt. And we were all on one accord. Right. And, you know, that to me is awesome. you know and um it's something that i didn't have at michigan but i'm thankful i was able to have like a signature let's just speak at that word man the signature moment yeah that moment man is i was

sitting at my friend jolly airhart's couch i remember it we wanted we wanted the coastal went so badly and then you pick that pass up i'm like it's it's over now yeah they're going to win it now and that's and even like that's even i look at that play as a microcosm of like success That's when I, when I, there's, there's a story behind it in terms of like the preparation, like of that season. I dropped a number of interceptions that season. Okay. Similar to that.

Where it was boom. Right there. Hit me in the, hit me in the hands. But I, when I had those other incidents, my coach had me get on a jugs machine every day. Yep. Yeah. After practice. Every day after practice.

Because I understood the route concepts, I saw that formation and I had an idea of what was coming. That's wild. Because I watched Tom Brady over and over again, and I understood how he liked to attack cover two, looking one way to move the defense here, and then blindly firing the other way. Soon as the ball was snapped, he looked opposite. I knew he was coming back to me.

Which all of that, it prepares you for a moment with a split-second decision. And then even when you see me slide, I knew, I remember the previous, week, the San Diego Chargers were playing the New England Patriots for opportunity to advance to the AFC championship. Marlon McCree picks off Tom Brady, the final minutes of the game, same way that I did, but he kept running.

He was stripped of the football by Troy Brown. They recover, they go down, they score, they're coming to Indianapolis. Troy Brown. So like just all of those things fee a split-second decision. I think it's important for, you know, athletes or parents of athletes or anybody listening really truly. It's not about the technical skills. I mean, those are important. You have to be able to act.

But the mind, like, if you are not giving everything you have in the film room or whatever that proverbial film room is for you, then what are you even doing? You got a study. Yes. And even like the thing about baseball, like every play, a baseball player in my, I didn't play on a high level like you, but just working with my kids. I see what's your plan on this play? here's a scenario, here's what the runners are, first and third. Where are you going to go? If this ball comes to me, where am I going with it?

Dude. Like, before the play starts, you have to, you have to have already thought about that so that you can react in the moment and make the right play. It's so hard for me to coach Little League and watch baseball because there could be two outs and we have a new batter up. Bases are empty. And the first two pitches to that hitter with two outs are balls. I already know what's going to happen three plays from now. like it's hard because I know he's going to walk him. Then I know there's going to be a passball or a stolen base.

And then I know there's going to be a base hit. And then we just gave up a run with two outs. Yeah. So like that part of it is because of studying over and over again the trends within baseball. You know if there's a two out walk. You're screwed. Like it's just like they always say every inning, lean lady, every inning. Get the first guy out.

Yeah. If you don't get that first guy out, then the percentages of you getting out of that inning without giving up a run are very slim, right? And so to your point, like, guys, we got to be studying these things. We have to know. So, okay, so that happens. And then you go to that big moment in the Super Bowl. Yeah, yeah. I mean, that's a dream come true to have the opportunity to go to Miami, Florida. The one thing I remember about that, that's, I think about, like, the preparation and getting ready to go down there. Peyton Manning, where we're having kind of our departure meeting, where we're We're talking about the plans, and they, Bill Polly and Tony Dungey,

they say that family can be on the player's floor. You know, like, it's okay, you know, to have family on the floor. And Peyton stops and gets them like, nope, we're not going to do that. So this is the GM spoke. Yeah. The head coach spoke. And then Peyton. Peyton says, no, we're not going to do that.

There's not going to be any family on a player's floor. So when you're taking the back when you hear that. but then when you get there and you get within the week and you see how big of a distraction that could have been. But it rubbed a lot of people the wrong way in the moment.

And I only said that because it was like he was fearless in his conviction as a leader. And he actually went against the grain and spoke out after the coaches had already said what it was going to be. But it ended up being the right thing. It allowed us to be able to focus

on the preparation for the game. And then ultimately to be able to go out there, you know, and win in the fashion that we did against the Chicago Bears, it was an awesome, awesome moment. Awesome moment for Indianapolis, for our team, for me individually.

Leaders have foresight to see things before it happens, right? Yes. And again, what everybody needs to do in big moments is quiet the noise as much as they possibly can. That's right. You know, as much as we love our families and everything like that, like it can get noisy, especially in that moment, right?

Yeah. You need to be able to lock. in. That's right. Because that dog in you to win a Super Bowl, you need that there. And you can't get caught up in, there's a lot of hoopla at the Super Bowl.

It's all the media, it's all the parties. It's all the hanging out. It's all the extra stuff around, around the gang that you got to block it out. Maybe the first day, second day, maybe you enjoy a little bit of that.

But then it's back to our normal regular schedule program. And let's lock in. And let's prepare. to be successful. Yeah, man. Right? Because that's the thing is like preparation. And anything, preparation is key.

And you have to be on point. You have to be dialed in. It's that laser focus where you have to be unshakable. That tunnel vision. Yeah. You know, that tunnel vision where the eye, they say the eye on the prize, right? You know, and I believe in that. And sometimes I can have a little bit too much tunnel vision.

But, dude, you're taught you're preaching the choir right now, man. You truly are. It's funny. Like, you, I don't watch many horse races. But when you do, they have blinders on. Why do they have blinders on? They can only see what's in front of them. That's right.

And that's what we need to do in sports. So we need to do entrepreneurship sometimes. But there is a disconnect. Like you need to be able to be open and kind of open up your peripherals for family and things of that. Exactly. Exactly. So, okay, so, you know, I want to paint a picture here.

The upbringing and sharing, all right, everything you went through in your childhood, you know, carrying the firearms in your backpack. You're hearing the clank. You got the police there to Michigan in that fight. getting to play for an amazing program like the Wolverines, and then going to the Colts and being able to be led by Tony Dungey, Peyton Manning, picking Tom Brady off, and all of a sudden that blue and white confetti flies.

Yeah. All these moments in your life were there for a purpose. It wasn't about winning a Super Bowl. It wasn't about any of that long term. God had a purpose for you to impact the world by way of education and giving back to the youth. Can you help me in telling the story of your foundation to the audience that the Marlon Jackson that was formed and created throughout his whole life is now giving back and helping education?

Yeah. So it's been 18 years since we started this. The same as the interception. So after that interception is when I started the Fight for Life Foundation. And starting the organization to help my younger self, right? understanding what it's like to grow up, single parent household, lack of role models around, poor decision making, started fight for life to empower youth with their decision making, to develop healthy habits, and then evolve to understand that it all starts for me in school,

especially when it's underserved communities, because underserved communities a lot of times, there's dysfunction in the household. So if I want to have an opportunity to understand the power of decision making, to understand the power of positive, supportive relationships, my school has to fill this gap. Because if my school doesn't fill this gap, I'm going to fall victim to my circumstance, right? You know, which is the reality that has so many faces on the day-to-day basis.

So Fight for Life was created to intervene, right? And to intervene in a way that it's evolved to a digital space through software as a service, creating a small space to pause and process the experiences and circumstances of our life. And to be able to build awareness, but relay the need of information that needs support to educators in real time. and then through the engagement, being able to understand what may be stopping a student from showing up to school. What may be stopping a student from learning in the classroom? Or what does a student do extremely, extremely well? And doing it in a manner that lines all the data up to drive decision-making for educators within the school system.

You know, it's hard to teach consequences sometimes and to make it tangible. But through a game of five strategy is exactly what we do, you know, where students can earn points for making positive decisions. Educators can reinforce everything that they want to see in relation to academic performance, not just a letter grade, which is the outcome, but how do you apply yourself to your academics? Where are you falling short with how you apply yourself to your academics? Or how do you actually treat your peers, right? Having metrics that help them understand, here are the expectations on how we treat our peers, of how we treat our educators. And then when we're not meeting those standards, we're being sacked. We're losing points.

And they can see it in their activity, right? But then we can, through our research around absenteeism, we can clearly see that students that have relational issues when it comes to peer relationships, they are more at risk for absenteeism or poor academic. performance. And that's a part of the technology, whereas it's three domains of our, of our technology. It's behavior supports. It's social emotional wellness. There's communications tools, and then there's high-level data analytics. But all of those tools together are spread out across the day to be a part of the routines of students within the school, the opportunity for intentional breaks, the ability to be able to report. safety or wellness needs, you know, and then on the other end is for those educators or those

parents to be informed of what is going on with my child, having all the data to drive the decision making, right? But then having an algorithm that automatically sorts and categorizes students in the categories of risk, which helps educators. When you think about data collection from our observation to how I document to how I evaluate, we streamline that at process to make it very easy, which can be very time-consuming, right? And then empowering educators when it comes to classroom management, you know, because the ratios between students and educators makes it difficult. If it's one of me, 25 of them. And even more so, if I'm a school counselor or a school social worker, maybe one of me and maybe 600 of them. Exactly. So if you don't have

tools and you don't have resources, a lot of students fall through the cracks, you know. And we have embedded ourselves within the school structure. And it's not just a technology. It's a relationship. Sure. Where we've created our proven process, right? A proven process from the point of discovery, right? Lead generation.

Finding alignment to partnership. We're going to come together and sign this contract. Now we're going to onboard you with our implementation specials. We're going to then begin a training process that may help you understand. We're going to put together your implementation plan. Then we're going to monitor your implementation plan and support you with your implementation plan. We're going to have these check-in points with Fidelity check-ins, data dive sessions, at a glance reports, ultimately to report impact or impact reporting.

But it's through that how we are a part of the school culture and climate. And the interactions that are occurring every day were a kid like myself. When I was in third grade, my mom came home. mom was missing end up being locked up for boot from boosting for stealing from the store got to go and live with my grandma nobody at school knew right so i had a lot of behavioral issues that school year but nobody actually had a conversation with me to say hey what's going on yeah see that what i'm loving about this uh SaaS program right is the fact that it's not just support for the students it's the support for the teachers it's support for administration and all

the support within the school to where there's indicators and data to point to this is where this child's struggling. This is where that child's struggling. So it's a collaboration effect of how do we get these kids through? Because one of the hardest things as a teacher that teachers deal with, and I know so because I did use to teach, is not understanding what that child is going through. And how can I craft this conversation of like, I think this kid's high. Or this kid, this kid is falling asleep in my class. That's a flag in our system. Right. So that's a flag. where a student can throw a flag if they overhear something, or if they see something,

or the educator can throw a flag. And what that flag does is send a text message to that school counselor or and it shows up in a concerning response queue. So when I can manage, I can see all of the concerning responses across a day and they're tiered out. Tier one, low risk, tier two, moderate, tier three, high. So then it directs me in terms of where do I need to give my attention immediately.

It's genius because that is the, I mean, just even at the time when I was a teacher, and a coach, I tended to lead my classroom like the baseball coach, right? Like, hey, wake up, get out of my class. I don't know what's going on with that person. I don't know what's going on with her or him, right? This is great. So how many school districts?

How many schools are you guys in? What does that look like right now? So right now we have 11 school partners. That is a mix of public schools and charter schools in Indianapolis area. and we have three summer learning partners as well. Nice. So a total of 14 and getting ready to increase in looking to go up here to 20 sites for the next school year. But what you were saying there, like as a coach and taking out the same approach.

But so what we do is when students show up, they take our check-in assessment, right? It's the first thing is how students start their day. So that's their bell work. It's their bell work. It's going to assess my attitude. It's going to assess my plan for the day. it's going to assess my emotional state and it's going to assess my stress level.

And then obviously this is setting the tone for me mentally, but then it's relaying anything that is concerning to my teacher in real time. So then now you would have had that information to know that there was an altercation in the household last night, right? Or I didn't have any breakfast this morning. So that just changes how you engage.

You meet them where they are because you're informed. And then what that does is it solidifies a relationship where they're meeting me where I am. They see all of me. So now I feel value, which then leads to belonging. But I think it's also super right. And it's so great because that can, like you said,

build a relationship with the student and the teacher. Right now the teacher can see real time what's bothering this student. And they can handle it kind of one-on-one. It's not call out. It's not anything other than, hey, how can I help you with this? The one thing that, do schools ever push back on like, well, what if the child's not being honest, right? What if, yeah. So how do you guys

work through that? Because let's say they're probably like, I don't want to say that I didn't eat because they might want to protect the parents, right? Or, you know, my mom's in jail or my dad got arrested last night. How do you guys work through those types of situations? So even the false reports have impact. Because sometimes the, I didn't, I didn't eat. It was, I didn't like what my parents made for dinner over the weekend, but you know what still occurs, a conversation. And then they sit there with the counselor and they just converse. So the student still feels seen and heard, but then it's the educator just informing them. It's like, hey, you know, when we make these reports, we got to make sure that they're valid, that they're accurate. But sometimes the student just wants to talk.

Yeah. Like, so that's what, and what I hear from going to schools is that they just really wanted to talk. Like, they needed somebody to talk to. Yeah. Like, the report wasn't accurate, but it still led to a, to dialogue between them and I. Do you guys ever come across, like if a student says, no, everything's fine, everything's great, but their actions are showing differently. Does that

also flag in the system to, like, maybe there needs to be a conversation between the student, the teacher, or potentially the counselor? Yeah, I mean, you'll, you'll see it in the data. Okay. In terms of if they're, they're reporting a zero to the three, low, low stress.

or if they're reporting, excited, happy, I'm okay, right? But they're showing up. They're having emotional outbursts, right? It's all documented when you pull their data summarization. Okay. You can see in the data, which then leads to you, actually, it will bring you in, right, to wanting to have more of a conversation because you realize that there's a disconnect between the data set with the social,

emotional, and then the behavior data. It's not lining up. But what it does is just it gives you the information to see, to tangibly have it in front of you to actually point out the discrepancy that may exist. I love it, man. I love it. It's important. Like I, like, so you're in 11 schools and you're looking to go to 20.

Is that what you said? Yes, this school year, 20. All in the Indianapolis area. Are you looking to expand nationwide? We are looking. We are actively looking at expand nationwide. You know, but like with that is, uh, capacity. Yeah, of course. Right. Not wanting to do too much too fast and then mess with the quality

smart of the service offering. But at the same time, we are trying to stretch it. Like we are still bumping up against those barriers, right, to stress tests what we do. And then just understanding that as we grow, we have to create, build more efficiency into the technology in terms of like this past year, we put the entire onboarding work. into the technology to make it, we're holding your hand, taking you step by step. Yeah. Going to do the same thing with our implementation as well. Because it's hard to have a technological product, understand the features, but then put

together the plan to how am I going to actually execute this across a school day. Absolutely. You know, there needs to be guidance there as well. We started to execute on that work as well. I just think it's an interesting thing because, again, like, I can't stress it enough. excuse me, my wife teaches at a prep school, right? And you would think that nothing's going on, right? Because it costs $30,000 a year to go to that school.

Like, dude, stuff happens, man. And I'm like looking at just even in Florida, in Lee County, this, this software would fix a lot of shit. With anxiety, doesn't belong to a zip code. It doesn't belong to a race. It doesn't belong to a gender. Come on. Anxiety, stress, pressure. It comes in different shapes, forms, sizes, right? It looks different. It sure does. Somebody may be the test, the upcoming SAT. Somebody may be food out. It might be

crowned in my community. But the feeling that people feel is their reality. So how can you help people cope and manage their reality? Yeah. Right. And how can we inform our education? and our counselors and drive their decision making around who needs what? Different problems like anxiety, right? It's the same stuff. So a lot of times you'll see kids at, you know, privilege schools like this, like, what if I don't get in, oh, what if I don't get in Princeton? Oh my gosh, I got it.

But the feeling's still the same. Exactly. And it still can, it can lead to self-harm. Sure. It can lead, it can lead a number of depression. Drug use. All of the same indicators, right? You know, it's just a different route.

Yeah, man. And it's all, you have to get to the root of the problem to really address these issues. And all we're doing is saying, let's catch these things upstream. Yep. Because as they flow downstream, it's more of a detriment to society in a number of different ways. You know, and it's all about being pro. We say proactive. Yep.

And it's not being reactive, but it's being responsive to the needs of students and of educators. Because educators are over, you've been in a profession, overlooked, overworked, Overwork, underpaid. Yeah. Undervalued. Thinkless job, by the way. Like in some communities and some societies, like teachers are, they're just bashed, right? And some and some are looked at like you listen to your teacher.

It is a hard line for a teacher to walk, right? I mean, it's tough. Like you said, undervalued. It's a thinkless job. It is. You know? And I would also say being a student is a thinkless job, right? And a lot of times just being a kid in society is very, very difficult.

difficult, right? It is. Because, I mean, sometimes we've, kids, kids have feelings, kids have opinions, kids have thoughts. But sometimes we kind of

push those things to the side. Yeah. Where we have to empower you to use their voice. We say advocating for quality in life, which may look different, right,

across the board for different, for different people in different communities. But, you know, that's what we're doing. And not stopping there, where the technology is kind of like that step one

or where step two is our be a blessing. where we have educator supports, we have student supports, we have family supports. So like through the software, we identify special sites where we do monthly field trips

for the students, provide those enriching experiences and opportunities. We're looking at adding educator mental health supports. So being that go between a mental health provider and the educators that are in our schools to help them when they're feeling overwhelmed,

to connect them seamlessly to those additional service. And if a family, they're experiencing some sort of loss, financial distress, and there are times of need being able to provide some additional support. But the technology kind of acts as a sensor to direct us to what are the high-need schools? We're the high-need families. We're the high-need educators. So you know where to focus on. So you know where to focus on them.

And then so for us, we want to scale our technology not to exit, right, and to sell a company. but to fuel and feed more of that be a blessing work, the social impact work, support students, support educators, support families through the scale of licensing technology. When it comes to what your family eats and drinks, you know your choices matter. You're the expert because you know what fits your life.

And getting it right starts with good information. That's why America's beverage companies are sharing more information about our ingredients at good to know facts.org. No spin, no judgments, just the facts straight from the experts for more than 140 beverage ingredients. Visit good to know facts.org. The big underlying current here, right, to me, and I could be completely wrong, right? But when I listen to all this, and when we talked about, you mentioned society is divided

right now, there's a massive division going on. this type of service and this type of collaboration can teach kids to see like in each other and understand that they can work together. And if we can fix it at that route, then when they grow up, we're not as divided as society. To me, I see it as a, yes, there's the overarching purpose of this, but then there's so much, there's so much more. There's so much more at stake and there's so much there. one with society when it comes

of technology and AI and, you know, fear of like AI taking over and when you think systems, not thinking about the system on its own, but it's a system with people where the system creates efficiency for people. Right. The system helps inform

people. It helps collect the information. It helps line the information up. So like our goal is ultimately, like, the same way as with our cell phones, right? Where all dependent upon what your habits are on your phone, dictates the type of ads that you see. All depended upon the data that's input in building dreams,

the dictates the type of supports you receive. Right, right. Where we can use AI, we can use technology in a way to support educators, right, to stay in the profession and create efficiency with how they meet needs so they can get more out of the literacy and the mathematics and the science. The teachers don't have it.

They can't really impact the children, right? So that AI, that out. that algorithm helps them do their job more effectively. It's not replacing them. It's assisting. It's an enhancement. Exactly. And that's what it's needed. Over the last 18 years how have you seen this evolved, man? Like

oh, as I imagine it wasn't easy level of determination. It's not easy now and it never has been but you know this has grown. There's been so many people involved along the way. You know, I've been the constant right. The entirety

of this. But this is grown from starting off with a football camp, right? So you kind of start close to home with what you know. Absolutely. Started with the football camp. Started introducing field trips. I get hurt in 2007. Those are your Achilles, right?

It was my first ACL, my right ACL. At that same time, I finished my college education online while I'm training in Arizona. And I do psychology and sociology class. I really become intentional and very aware of the impact of environment on psyche, on mind. So it starts to make me go deeper and I start to put together a curriculum. I find out from professors at I.U. Kelly School of Business, what you created, this is called social, emotional learning. So from there, getting into after-school programs, getting into after-school programs, getting into our first schools in 2013.

After a couple of years operating in schools, doing a research study on the impact of our programming. In the findings of that, it was hard to have fidelity, oversight of implementation because it was a consumable product. It was difficult for data collection

and for data analysis because everything, you had to take it from a sheet, put it in a sprayer sheet, you had to do all of these steps. So decided to say, I need to start to convert this to technology. Started at Salesforce Coding for Kindness,

which is a one-day hackathon, started to work on the ideation of converting from consumable to technology. And 2018, partner with a company called fretless, and this is ironic. It was called fretless, but they caused a lot of problems.

That's irony at its best. They caused a lot of problems where we launched the one. 1.0, but it failed flat. And we lost a couple of school clients. Come back, I get with the right, 2019, I get with the right tech developer. And we build out 2.0 version of building dreams.

We regain those clients that we lost. And then we are on a path that we're on now, being in these 11 schools, free summer learning sites, and then a ton of leads to propel us forward into the future and grow and make an impact. and we've been a DCS prevention provider of the year in Indiana. We've won international research awards.

And I think that was 2022, 2023 for our research papers on absenteeism. To where we've have international interest from folks and, I want to say Denmark, around implementing our software as a service around absenteeism. there as well. I love it, man. And for the audience, paying attention to this, you hear his journey with the company,

right? You heard all the bumps and bruises. Success is not a straight line. Everybody likes to think about, I got to wait and start until I have everything. You started with what you had. And it wasn't a straight,

you know, hockey stick up. It was success, then a plateau, then a fall. And then there was a lot of this. Like, how important is determination and moving forward when you're going through something like

because the audience needs to hear that. It is about the determination and determination as you explore. Like, and I think it's like having that frame of mind that I am exploring and I'm, I am iterating and accepting that I'm going to feel

but when I feel, there's going to be a lesson to learn and having a vision and being anchored in that vision so that when you have the adversity, you have the determination to push forward. And, you know, relentless effort, relentless effort. And almost on the border of obsession. Yeah. Yeah. With like, the vision that's been given to me, what I've seen, like, I'm going to chase it down.

Yeah, man. Like, you know, and then paying attention to the indicators that tell you to keep pushing forward, right? Because you get, you discourage, you do get discouraged. And a part, part of you, knowing that it's only part of you, not all of you, may feel like it may be a feeling of wanting to throw in a towel, but understanding that it's just, it's just a feeling. You're picking my every thought, dude, like literally. And I think it's because we're a lot of like in this, right? It's like, when we are building something and there's this level of determination, obsession to continue to go, how many times I sat somebody I'm like, it's time to throw on the freaking towel? Like, You know, I just, I can't do this on my own anymore.

But, but there was something in me. There was something in me that said, you know what, Sean? Blind faith. Just keep going. Release the next episode. Next episode. And now I have amazing partners, amazing production team, amazing photographer, amazing, just support and gas.

And it's because I pushed. It's because that thing inside me says like, no, man, you ain't done. You may think you are. But like, that's what you went through. And that's what the, the difficulties in the moments, it's refining. It's like, it's, it's preparing because where you were at that time, it wasn't where you needed to be to be able to sustain where you are. Sure.

Right. And it, the best refining is through the experience. Because of the lessons, I thought they stick with you so much more. Like, you know, it becomes embedded in your, in your spirit and your soul, you know. And ultimately, I think that's what God, he knows what needs to be. really, really sold into us. Yeah. Like, and he uses these experiences of life to be able to do his work of refining and embedding

all of the tenacity, like all of the grace and the grit that we're going to need to push through when everything around us, around us tells us no. Even when the people in our life question, why are you doing this? Yep, yep. you know that something's been spoken to you and you don't you you hear it and you feel it yeah that's a purpose right it is a it is a purpose that is that is rooted in all the experiences that they didn't have which is why you got to be confident in that is like he gave me these experiences for a reason yeah like and he continues to teach me for a reason and understand that it's okay

that you don't get it but you haven't had the experience to get it yeah you know and being okay with that. It's crazy, man. There's times on the journey, and I don't know if you felt like this because, you know, I have a wife and I have a family too. But did you ever feel alone? Yes. I mean, dude, like... And our spouses may not want to hear that. That may hurt a little bit. We're going to hear that, but

that is just the reality of it. And it's not, and I just say, like, it's not their fault. It's just human nature. It's like, because you're not in it. Like, you're a part of it. Sure. But you're not in it. There's a massive difference. It is a massive.

So they don't, you know, when the new lead comes or, you know, the next opportunity, they weren't aware of that. So, you know, they're more like, okay, what's next? We've been doing this for a long time. But, you know, I've been doing this a long time and I've been learning because it's like so, so early on it was so much about the product, right? Whereas like, okay, you get the product. The product is good.

The product is important. But what about the actual business structure? Like, you got a product here. But do you have a business to grow the product, the reach of the product? Do you have an organizational culture to create belonging within your staff? What is the soul of the organization is what our board director says that Fight for Life? The soul of the organization, our core values, how we do the work, the metrics in which we hold ourselves to a standard. Yep.

Right. There is so much that we can learn along the way, and it's hard as an entrepreneur, you know, whereas it's you a lot of the time. And you have to wear so many hats, and you're doing what you have to do, you know. It's not what you necessarily want to do, but you're doing what is needed for the time being

until you find the right people. And through all of that, you've got to believe and you've got to push forward. You know, why? And then as you find those right people, you free up more of your time. You get in the space where you're supposed to be. And then, you know, you create the system.

You create the processes. Yeah. Right. And the processes create efficiency. So good, man. Like there's so many lessons here for the audience to pick up and listen. As we land the plane, if you could look into that camera and give the audience your best piece of advice through everything that they're going on right now, whether it's a sports

journey, a marital journey, a parenthood, or even. just entrepreneurship. Like what what would what's a best piece of advice you would give? Um, one, I would say that have faith. Um, you know, there, there's a, whatever you believe in, there's a higher power, there's a God, there's a calling. There's a purpose for, for every painful moment that we encounter in life. And it's, and I believe it's about having a growth mindset, right? Not having that fixed mindset. That growth mindset sees opportunity in all experiences the good and the bad and the indifferent. But that growth mindset is what pushes you through,

what carries you through, is what allows you to be graceful with others, understand that there is nothing perfect. We are all a work in progress. And, you know, if we're striving to reach anything to strive for self-actualization, like this vision of who I am and who I can be, in life and then to go after it relentlessly and to find the people that will help push you

towards that self-actualization that are meant to be a part of that vision. My drop. Thank you, brother. Thank you so much for coming here to Florida with your family, seeing us and sitting here for a good amount of time telling your story about your foundation, everything, man. It's truly impactful. I love every minute of it. Thank you so much, dude. Thank you for the opportunity. This is an opportunity, and I appreciate it. Appreciate it. Absolutely, man. So you guys heard it best. There's so many amazing moments within this episode with Marlon Jackson that I need you to do me a favor. I need you to share this episode with someone that you know love and trust that we get the most out of the story. It may be even a youth that's going through some things that he went to he went through as a child. Or maybe it's a parent that's going through some stuff or an entrepreneur or an athlete. Doesn't matter. Share this episode with someone you know love and trust until next time, stay determined. I put in no fatanum. I'll be working.

Just know I'm a go for mine because I earned it. They watch and I know it's time. I confirmed it. A whole society determined. Determis and show. And Doug. Here we have the Limu

Emu in its natural habitat helping people customize their car insurance and save hundreds with Liberty Mutual. Fascinating. It's accompanied by his natural ally, Doug. Uh, Limu, is that guy with the binoculars watching us?

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