Wake Up to Wealth - Building Success Through Struggle: Brandon Brittingham on Real Estate, Integrity, and Wealth - Champ Talk with Branden Hudson
Episode Date: April 9, 2025In episode 36 of Wake Up to Wealth, Brandon Brittingham joined Champ Talk with Branden Hudson to discuss his early struggles during the 2008 market crash, the hurdles of building a career without soci...al media or digital marketing, and the key moments that defined his journey.Tune in for valuable advice and inspiration for anyone looking to thrive in the world of real estate. SOCIAL MEDIA LINKSBrandon BrittinghamInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/mailboxmoneyb/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brandon.brittingham.1/Branden HudsonInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/sbymmaandfitness/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100009946059940LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/branden-hudson-a425326a/WEBSITESBrandon Brittingham: https://www.brandonsbrain.org/homeBranden Hudson: https://brandenhudson.com/branden-hudsonSBY MMA and Fitness: https://sbymmafitness.com/Champ Talk: https://www.youtube.com/@brandenhudson
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This is Wake Up To Wealth, a podcast dedicated to helping you change the way you think about
wealth.
And now, here's your host, Brandon Brittingham.
Welcome to Champ Talk with Brandon Hudson.
I am your host, Brandon Hudson, and we are back with another episode.
Real quick, guys, if you get value out of this episode,
you like it, you know somebody that would,
please like, comment, share, send it to them.
Give us a rating or some sort of review
so that we have an opportunity to kind of get
in front of more people and let everybody see this,
because that's how we kind of get our visibility
and get seen.
This episode of Champ Talk with Brandon Hudson
is brought to you by the Maryland and Delaware
group of EXP Realty.
Listen, if you guys are looking to get into real estate,
looking to join EXP, join our team,
doesn't matter if you're here locally or wherever,
message me, let's have a conversation.
Love to kind of show you what we do
and how we do it very well.
And that's a beautiful segue into my guest
that I have the honor to bring on is
Mr. Maryland Delaware group himself Brandon Brittingham. How you doing brother? Good brother. Thank you. Thanks. I appreciate you inviting me on today
Absolutely. So real quick. I'm gonna get not that not most people listen don't know but I'm gonna give you a little you know quick introduction
Brandon has been in real estate for a little bit over 20 years. He's
Um, Brandon has been in real estate for a little bit over 20 years.
He's, um, won all of the awards, been the who is who, if you know him, if you look him up, got a, uh, top five, sometimes number one, sometimes number three podcasts,
you know, wake up the wealth, um, on Spotify coaches, Apple, Spotify too, but
Apple's the big play.
Okay.
Apple, excuse me.
Um, all over the place, man, if you've seen the social media, you see my social media, you know, we big play. Okay, Apple, excuse me. All over the place, man.
If you've seen the social media, you've seen my social media, you know, we've been working
together for almost five years now.
That spawned from the last time I had him on Champ Talk, which was a totally different
version of the both of us.
And just the immense amount of growth and it's kind of one of them situations where
like you know, you're paying your dues, you're paying your know, you're paying your dues, you're paying your dues,
you're paying your dues, you're paying your dues,
and all of a sudden that spick, it just turns on
and just lights up.
And I think in the past five years,
at least from my perspective,
that's what I've really seen with where your growth is,
you know, with the impact you've had on the country,
the real estate industry and so forth.
So, you know, without getting into all that,
you can look up all that,
but that's kind of the introductory of who he is. industry and so forth. So, you know, without getting into all that, you can look up all that,
but that's kind of the introductory of who he is.
What I wanted to get you on here today was,
is talk about some of the stuff that like really pushed you
to do some of those things and go so hard.
You know, from the outside perspective, you know,
they might see the videos, they might see the Lambo,
they might see some of the jewels and all that stuff and think that real estate's easier, think that investing's easy and stuff
like that.
Being an entrepreneur is easy.
Yeah.
Yeah.
What, I want to go way back, right?
Way back from when you first started.
When you first started real estate, it was roughly around the 08 crash and that time
frame and we didn't have social media.
We didn't have any kind of digital marketing
or anything like that.
We had a phone book and a room.
What was it in those early days that pushed you
to kind of make the choice and just saying
something's gotta change in real estate?
So I think a couple things.
I think a lot of people know this.
I was initially in the fashion industry
and I started my first business when I was initially in the fashion industry and I started my
first business when I was about 18 years old. I worked for these guys that own
stuff all over the country. I worked for them in their stores in New York and
then I worked for them in stores in Philly and all the stores that I ran
were the most profitable because they were you you know, urban gear, Jordans,
things like that. And, you know, I was at the age of, I knew kind of what was trendy in the streets
and what, you know, all the kids were wearing and what was popular. And then, um,
there's big baggy white tees.
Yeah. Yeah. God's sake. So I'll look at pictures of myself back then. I'm like, what the heck?
I'd look like I'm wearing a dress.
And so I went on vacation to Miami and I was like, man,
there's money down here, but they don't have access.
Is this before like the internet, like marketing, Amazon.
I don't even know if, you know,
somebody could fact check me on this.
I don't know if Amazon existed in the way, maybe it did.
He was probably in that garage.
Yeah.
Did you see the picture?
They were selling books.
Um, the, you know, online digital, well, online retail wasn't huge then.
Right.
Um, it was still very, very much brick and mortar.
So yeah.
So I convinced these guys that I was partners with, we opened a store in Miami and then
we opened a store in the Keys.
And so, you know, we catered to a younger demographic and then outside of the dope boys,
right, you know, my biggest buyers were rich kids.
And sometimes their dad or mom would come in
and the wealthiest people that I met in my stores
were all in real estate.
And so then I proceeded to,
I opened up a men's suit store.
And again, back then,
this is the competitive advantage of prior to the internet, I had
some good connections where I had connections in Italy.
You could come in and get tailored up.
We'd send your stuff to Italy, get you a really, really cool suit that you couldn't get anywhere.
Now you can freaking do the shit with your phone, get tailored, and they send it right
to your doorstop.
But back then you couldn't.
And so then, you know, I'd have guys come in, drop two, three, four grand.
And I mean, dude, this is 20, 20 plus years ago. I mean, $4,000 for a suit back then was unheard of.
Right.
Um, and I mean, you really had to be wealthy.
And so.
And you were doing this in Florida.
Yeah.
Yup.
And then we expanded, we had stuff all over the country, um, Vegas, New York,
and then, um, you know, to, to kind of round that out, that started to get me
very intrigued in the real estate.
And then I saw, um, the changes that were coming in the digital, the digital
landscape, and so I sold all my stores.
in the digital landscape and so I sold all my stores. Because I was like, if I'm Nike or if I'm Jordan
and I put my stuff online and I could sell direct
to the consumer, why do we need brick and mortar anymore?
Or why would I not just open my own brick and mortar?
So I kind of saw the writing on the wall
and then I was like, there's so many people,
you know I was young and I was making really good money
and I was like, there's so many people that are so far I was young and I was making really good money. And I was like, there's so many people that are so far ahead
on the internet thing, rather than try to figure that out,
I sold all my stuff and I said,
I'm gonna get into real estate, right?
And so, but my intention was only to get into real estate
to be an investor.
I had nothing to do with ever being an agent.
Now I came from, you know, I knew a bunch of my customers.
I had a bunch of celebrity customers. So back then too, you couldn't go in Versace or Gucci
and you were six foot eight defensive linemen and buy anything. Right. Right. So, um,
Shadow Dapper Dan was, was close with Dapper Dan. He used to custom make, uh,
The Dapper Dan. The Dapper Dan. Yeah. Harlem dapper Dan.
Look him up.
Used to get really cool stuff from him,
get stuff custom made.
And then, you know, we had agreements
with some of the big houses
where I could get stuff custom made.
So I had a lot of celebrity clients.
So the point I'm making is I came from this very intimate,
you know, someone comes in and gets tailored for a suit.
You know, you kind of get to know them,
you get to know what they want, you know, that kind of thing. You got to, if I'm selling you a $ comes in gets tailored for a suit, you know, you kind of get to know them You get to know what they want, you know that kind of thing
You got it
You know if I'm if I'm selling you a four thousand our tailored suit there has to be a high level of customer service, right?
their relationship. Yeah for better and so
So I sold my stores. I took the money and I started buying
investment real estate and
Man not to paint everybody in real estate with the, with
the same brush, but you've seen it and we talk about all the time, you know, the
first couple of transactions I had, I was like, if this is considered good, then I
need to be doing this because they, the people that I dealt with in my first
couple of transactions, it was terrible.
And this is on just the investment side, correct?
Yeah.
I was just trying to buy a couple of properties and it was just like, man, this is
horrible. This is just, it was a terrible interaction. And so then I got my license
and, you know, I came from, you know, even though the internet was not big then, we were just
learning about it from a sales and marketing standpoint.
But I had sales and marketing pretty dialed in because that's where my stores were so
successful. And I was like, dude, they don't market, they don't sell, they don't work.
And again, not everybody's the same. I'm just saying this was my experience coming into
real estate and the office that I worked in. And so then that's when I was like, man, I could really do some damage even as an agent,
even though I had not gotten in it to be an agent
because I was just like, the playing field is archaic.
And so we can paint a better picture.
The timing of this was, you know,
not what real estate is today.
You know, this was a very, here's a phone book,
good luck kid.
No training
There's no training and support. Yeah. Yeah. So like you're literally you get your license
You're sold on this idea that real estate is the way this the way to wealth
Yeah, you're probably if I'm not mistaken because this is what I've seen and on the recruiting side is
You know, you're sold all these promises and all these I do this
Yeah, do you that and then shit and then when you got into the office that you were at,
what the landscape and, you know, I know,
but for our listeners, what was the landscape like?
What was the office like?
Did you have your own office?
You know?
They throw you in a pit and basically there's no training
and no support, no nothing.
And it's just basically like good luck.
It's like a call center type of setup.
Yeah, hopefully you survive.
Yeah.
And then you quickly saw how, you know what I mean,
where you could, I guess, utilize your relationship
businesses and customer service, your relationship skills
and your customer service skills in high-end fashion,
urban fashion stores across the country into,
hey, I'm gonna deal with somebody's largest transaction
of the house.
We're gonna go ahead and be more of a concierge to them
and take care of our clients and market as well.
What was the time, the pivot, the moment that stuff shifted for you in those early days
of your career that kind of catapulted you to the direction you went into now?
Yeah.
So I think it is the journey that every entrepreneur has is
It was actually the breaking point of when I wanted to quit
So, um, you know if you're listening to this a lot of times you're closer than you think
And the the pain that you're willing to take and tolerate is directly tied to how successful you're gonna be
So the first year that I had in real estate, if you're listening to this
and you're starting out in any business, I don't give a shit what the internet says or what social
media says your first year, you are going to get your fucking ass kicked. You're probably going to
lose money. You're probably going to lose sleep. You're going gonna have a shit ton of stress. It's just statistically, everything is,
the odds are against you.
You're trying to learn so much in the first year
while trying to make a living.
And so I'll tell you guys, my first year,
I made $18,000 in real estate.
Couldn't afford to pay my bills, right?
This is coming from, I was making hundreds
of thousands of dollars a year
doing what I was doing prior, right?
And having fun.
And having fun.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And probably a little too much.
But so, you know, to be honest with you, I had not felt that level of failure and I
needed to, right?
And it sucked, but I needed to.
And I remember coming home and having a conversation with my girlfriend and she was like, dude,
as long as I've known you, you've never quit at anything.
And she's like, you're better than, and again, not to compare myself against somebody else,
but she's like, you're better than everybody else in that office as far as your willingness
to work, your willingness to serve the customer, your knowledge of sales and marketing.
She's like, it's just gonna take you time.
And I know this is, not to cut you off,
but I know this is coming from not a space of,
hey, I'm your boo boo, let me pump you up,
but I know how hard she works.
No, she's savage.
Yeah, so this is coming from an observation.
No, and it was like, yo, get your fucking sad fate,
like stop being a fucking bitch.
Like, I'm gonna, you know, the man that I know is not a bitch
You're savage find the fucking savage right? I love that man cuz you know and I know you're in the middle something but dude
You know my gym story and everybody knows that I was at the other another gym and supposed to buy it got fired
Did the walk of shame came home with the sad face and my savage wife at girlfriend at the time
It's probably the best thing that ever happened to you.
Yep. She was like, did you not, that's not the Brandon Hudson I know.
Yeah.
And then ultimately here we are and then she went in my studio.
So, but anyway, that was your breaking point, right?
Yeah, same. And so, you know, again, I think that, you know, I say this a lot on
stage, the dramas and the traumas that we go through the classroom for us to teach
other people how to go through it.
I believe there's certain people in this world that are chosen ones
and more shit's going to get put on you. Look, if you choose, I don't know what the statistic is,
but if you choose to be a business owner and you're a business owner that is successful,
you're in the minority. Right? So, understand how hard that is. Right. And that's what a lot of people miss.
And, uh, I think a lot of things too, you know, I think the, the big misconception
and where people kind of fuck up and fall down is like, um, you know, they
think it's going to be easy and the first sign of things being hard, they, they
just, they tap the fuck out, uh, because most human beings want to be comfortable and I get that.
But if you want to do anything as substance, um, or anything great in your
life, like it's going to be difficult and it's going to be hard.
And I think that, um, that was a great lesson for me because the other
thing is it doesn't stop.
So like, once you reach one, one level of success and you're like, man, we made it.
Right.
We got to this mountain top.
Well, now it's another one.
Well, guess what?
Your problems got three to four to five times harder.
Just the proportion of money that you make is exponentially more but the shit gets harder
Yeah, it gets way harder. So it's never like it's gonna be easy. It's um, the problems are way more
There's way more stakes it. Yeah, like I'm fascinated with people who are successful like, you know, Elon Musk
You know some of the soundbites whether you love them or hate them, you know
he was talking about you know, one of the times at Tesla,
they were up against it.
Companies about to be bankrupt.
And he's like, dude, I fucking slept in the office.
He's like, I worked fucking 100 hours a week.
I did. And look, everybody has a different level of that.
But I'm just saying, I mean, that's the richest guy in the world.
You know, he's always either the richest guy or fighting to be the richest guy
in the world.
Again, not all about money, but at the end of the
day, if you want to do anything special or of substance in your life, it's going
to be difficult. It's going to be hard.
So that, that leads me into that second year, you know, you, you got humbled the
first year, you know, a lot of people don't know that a lot of people think it
was, you know, whatever. And then that second year, you know, you, you, you
pulled your bootstraps up, you know what I mean? You went to work. What was that? You went through these pains and
things like that. You know, um, what, what was that? What you're like, you know,
what, how many, I mean, I know the long out, you slept in an office, right?
Yeah. So, um, so, oh wait, so,
oh wait, so Oh nine did really well.
And then 2010, the guy who had brought me in real estate
and my business partner,
somebody that was like a big brother to me,
committed suicide.
And we were still kinda in the recession.
And so my point is, just going back to the same thing,
here we go, I see some light,
I start to do really, really well,
and then my business partner
that I own a bunch of shit with kills himself, right?
And-
And you guys weren't just business partners.
You were friends.
No, dude, he was like my brother.
And so again, here I am again, like, you know,
and so I will tell you another pivot right there.
And thank God I learned this early.
Is instead of being the, you know,
instead of letting shit spin out of control, you know,
maybe go into a substance abuse or, or doing stupid shit.
Um, I just was like, man, I cannot be the victim.
Right.
And I don't know.
Obviously I believe in a higher power.
I know you do too.
I don't, I didn't know what the lesson was at
the time. Do you know what I mean? I know it now. But at the time I didn't know it. But I just looked
at it like, as hard as this is to swallow, there's a lesson in this. And I got one or two choices.
The one choice is I can take all the things that he taught me and gave me and honor his legacy
and become way more successful
where I can go the opposite direction
and let it destroy me
and crawl into the cave of depression
and oh, why me and this and that.
And I'm not saying I didn't grieve
because I did for a long time and it still fucks with me.
But at the same time, I chose not to be a victim. But at the same time I chose not to be a victim and in any situation I choose not to be a
victim. Yeah I could I can see the the level and of how that affected you just
the minute you started talking about the choice that you had to make from going
through victimhood or you know honoring his legacy your whole facial expression
change the whole demeanor change Obviously that was something deeper and there was then surface level and there was a lot, it wasn't just, you know, the passing,
but there was also, there was responsibilities that were left in your lap and there was duties that left in your lap.
And it was a battle. And then you went on to...
Can I, let me say something on that.
Man, I will tell you, man, I was having this,
Let me say something on that. Man I will tell you, man I was having this, like it's now, it is so apparent to me, and
like this is millions of dollars, like millions, like this is, if you're listening to this,
like listen to what I'm about to say.
Relationship capital is worth so much more than you trying to win on a deal or take or so.
I was left with a lot of responsibilities.
We owned a bunch of real estate.
We had a bunch of debt.
Shit was really bad.
I could have filed bankruptcy.
I could have said, fuck you to the banks.
I could have said, fuck you to people.
Some of it wasn't even yours to my understanding.
And so, so I didn't, right?
And it was the most expensive thing I've ever done has kept my word, right.
Cost me the most fucked up money of anything.
But, um, so, so now those relationships, right.
I can borrow money from any bank.
I can get any bank president on the phone.
Um, there's relationships that I formed in that where they saw my character of he's
not running from the problem and everybody else is, and he's not willing to go back
on his word and there's so many situations in life now where I've done that over and
over again, where maybe, maybe I didn't get the better end of the deal cause I
stayed in integrity or I did what I said I was going to do better end of the deal because I stayed in integrity
or I did what I said I was gonna do.
But in the long run, I fucking like 100x'd
because that relationship paid me forever.
Do you know what I mean?
Absolutely.
And man, people fuck this up all the time.
They're so short-sighted and they don't play the long game
and they try to get into a relationship and take
and they don't understand. And me and you were talking about get into a relationship and take, and they don't understand.
Me and you were talking about this the other day.
Look, at the top of the mountain,
there's only so much room,
and look, we're already here, motherfucker.
And so you're trying to come up here
and you want some fucking bullshit
of stealing, lying, cheating, whatever,
we're not gonna let you in the club.
Like, it's just not gonna happen.
And that's where people fuck up.
They don't understand the relationship capital of what a long-term relationship
can pay you and where you can grow and make money with people who you trust.
And look, somebody might be whatever at a company today, right?
And you fuck them and they become the CEO or they they become a CEO of somebody you gotta do business with.
Or they become the gatekeeper of somebody.
And here's the thing, you don't even think about it
or it's off your radar and then all,
and it's happened so many times in my life.
Somebody burnt the bridge with me
and then they gotta come back and try to cross it.
And I don't give them a fucking pass.
Do you know what I mean? Not not once but on the flip side?
Right, and you've experienced that
Every major brand in real estate I can get I can get the CEO on the phone
Just about every major company in the United States that is related to shit that I do
I have relationship with the person who owns it. I can get them on the phone. They'd show up for a webinar
They'd show up for a webinar.
They'd show up to speak for me.
Anything, because it's reciprocal.
We do shit without asking for anything in return.
That's relationship capital.
I want to unpack that real quick,
because I want our listeners and viewers
to fucking hear what you just said.
This was in 2010, 2011.
This was in the 08 crisis.
Where everybody could easily and had,
I mean I don't want to say had the right, but had the option and was a viable option to say,
hey, this is too much for me, I'm tapping out,
I'm filing bankruptcy, I'm not paying you,
I can't pay you, the burden's too much.
And what you chose to do is you chose to sit here
and honor those commitments, pay your dues,
pay people off, keep your integrity, keep your word,
not even knowing what was on the other side of that.
Just knowing what you had to go home and sleep
and face at nighttime.
And knowing that the next day when you wake up tomorrow,
you know what the community, you know what your peers,
you know what the people around you would say about you,
regardless if you tapped out or not,
which so many people do.
And you're so right, so many people lose the importance
and lose their nearsighted on the fact of,
dude, if I just help so many people and keep my word
and do the right thing, it will pay off in the end
because I will have to cross some path, some road,
some way, shape, or form. I will have to see somebody again that
Well, you think you you think you won't you will hundred percent and another thing on keeping your word
Which is really it frustrates me sometimes is
The thing it like somebody thinks well
I said I call you a five and then I did,
like it's, it starts there.
The little shit.
The, like, if you, if you don't keep your word over certain things, um, how you do one
thing is how you do everything.
It shows up in other areas of your life and your word and your integrity is everything.
And if you discount it, fuck dude, you, you, you will, you might get far enough for a
certain period of time, but it won't last
Yeah, it's short term
Short term money. Yeah, that's that that's that's definitely gonna be a real that's gonna pop up
You're gonna hear that again because that shit is is is a golden nugget like I'll tell you so many times bro
like somebody will reach out to me, right and
They'll hey, man
I want to coach with you blah blah blah and then not, Hey man, I want to coach with you, blah, blah, blah.
And then not honor their word or I want to invest with you.
And I like, I don't, I'm not petty.
I don't go out of my way, but then I've seen this happen.
They pop up and they want to get in a mastermind that I've run or something
else and I'm like, Nope, they're not one of us.
They didn't keep their word.
And look, here's the thing.
It's not even about the money.
Like just say, hey man, I don't have the money
or this is not convenient or this or whatever.
Just, you know, then I'll respect you.
But don't give somebody your word and then backtrack.
That's just not, that's not how you do shit.
That's not how you do business.
And I've witnessed you have and see that
and experience that on many different levels, you know,
and that is a core value of yours.
It's like, dude, keep your fucking word.
And you're not alone.
Like you said, the people sitting at the top of the mountain
all feel that way.
And here's the thing,
the people that have kept their word with me
have made millions of dollars with me.
Funny how that works, right?
So it's like, so it's like the people that,
you burnt your bridge,
let's say it was over a $20,000 coaching deal.
Yeah, right. Not a lot of money, right?
But you burnt the bridge over $20,000 coaching deal that potentially you can end up being my business partner.
I got multiple coaching clients of mine who'd been my business partner. You made millions of dollars together made millions of dollars.
You know built companies worth eight figures, right?
Bought fucking shit together, you know,
sat courtside of games together, like you,
and here's the thing, I won't give you a second chance.
Ever.
I know that's how you are.
Yeah, it's to the gym space too.
A lot of guys and gals ask me, why do I, you know,
push my coaches to build their own brands?
You know, they're like, they'll leave you one day.
Well, just because they leave you
doesn't necessarily mean it has to be on bad terms.
No, 100%.
It doesn't mean we can't collab in the future.
We can't do anything else.
It's just everybody has that stigma of, you know, it's us versus them and it never works
out.
100%.
Moving forward, I want to talk about this and I want to touch on it because this is
one of the most impressive and horrible things you had to go through.
But there was a time
where you know you had found yourself knocking on desk door yeah and you were
in the trenches of business you were you know I don't know all the details but
shit was flying around you left and right can you talk about that a little
bit and what happened there and you know what I mean Yeah, so I had multiple autoimmune diseases disorders, which I still, I'm around it, but
I still have shit that I still have to live a certain way as far as eating, working out,
you know, that kind of thing.
I don't drink alcohol.
You know what I mean?
I prioritize sleep.
Like the thing is people will see my social media and be like, man, you're a grinder, you're this, you're that.
And yeah, that is definitely true.
But I also set my life up years ago
to be able to live the life I wanna live now, right?
But yeah, dude, it was fucking wild, man.
I mean, I woke up, you know,
was in the best physical shape of my life.
And after a workout one night and I work up in the morning, I couldn't walk.
And I got to the hospital and they said, you're about 18, 16 to 18 minutes between
comp, you would have been a complete liver and kidney failure.
You probably would have died.
Like you literally probably would have died.
And they didn't know, they, you know, at, at the time, like when I was in the hospital, they were like,
oh, we don't know if you're ever going to walk again.
We don't know.
We don't know.
Like we don't know.
And so it was fucking scary.
It was, it was wild.
And again, so the cool thing about that, there's nothing cool about it, but going back to the thing I dealt with with Marshall
is I had adopted that mentality of not being a victim.
Do you know what I mean?
And so as crazy as this sounds,
the amount of clarity and focus I got out of that situation,
dude, it made me a fucking monster.
The martial situation or the?
Well, well, the, the, the health situation,
the health situation.
Because the, I had never, as human beings,
I don't, I don't think we understand or grasp time very well.
Meaning how much time you have, how much time I have.
I'd agree to that.
Right? So there's a clock running right now that you and I can't see. Right? And we don't know.
Number of might get called tomorrow. Might get called tonight. You know,
might be, we might live to a hundred. Do you know what I mean? And so I never understood
time through that lens until I dealt with that. And so I remember sitting, I was sitting in the hospital,
you know, and you know, number one,
we didn't know if I was gonna walk again.
We didn't know if I was gonna,
just it was a lot of, a lot of shit.
And it is a, it's a humbling experience
when you're facing your own mortality.
And I just remember being in the hospital
and I just said, you know,
I know I can get through this number one, but when I do, I'm going to fucking leave it on the
field every day, right? I'm not going to hang out with motherfuckers I don't want to hang out with.
I'm not going to do shit in my life I don't want to do. I'm going to live how I want. I'm going to
enjoy my life on my terms. And I'm not gonna, I am not gonna waste time anymore.
And up until that point in my life,
I didn't look at it through that lens.
And again, that's why I'm not gonna give you a second chance.
I don't believe that I have time to, right?
I believe my time is spent in walking in my purpose
and doing, and having relationships,
I wanna have a relationship with somebody like you versus some fuck motherfucker
that's on some bullshit. And so
when you when you hear the you know, you're only as strong as your mindset that's real because they were like you ain't getting out
of here anytime soon and
I was like, well, what do I got to do to get out of here? And then like you got to walk from the back
No, I couldn't physically walk walk. I had lost motor function below my legs. Couldn't physically walk and then I was pissing black.
Yeah, yeah it was. What was that? I was in rhabdomyolysis which was, but it was caused by
underlying autoimmune conditions that we didn't know at the time, right?
And completely separate, not to go down the rabbit hole,
but I will just tell you guys from dealing with this, our medical system,
and nothing against people that are trying to do the best they can
in our medical system, our medical system is fucked up. If you're going through any major thing,
do your own research, be your own advocate, Because I cured and healed myself myself. Right? Um, I had to research it and
figure it out myself. And, um, to this day, look, we're shooting this in brain and gym
after I just got done working out for an hour. I was told that I could never physically work
out again because of my condition. With the side effect that I could die from one workout.
And if anybody goes back on your social media and looks back four years, five years, I mean
you've done a completely complete transformation and then that just didn't go with your, you
know, the appearance.
But I mean the way that you eat, I mean you had a freaking meal today that you know what
I mean was prepared, ready to go on time. It's remarkable. I wanted to and by the E. I mean you had a freaking meal today that you know what I mean was prepared ready to go on time. It's remarkable. I wanted to and by the way I'm like.
Hey let me go back to that really quick. So again, because this is so important.
So I'm sitting in the hospital and I'm dealing with all that and again that's a very easy place for you to be victimhood.
And look, I was like, the only way that I beat this shit that they're telling me is if I beat it mentally.
If I beat it mentally, then I can beat it physically.
Damn right you can.
Do you know what I mean?
Will yourself to heal.
And so, you know, and so I was sitting there.
And I mean, like, if you're listening to this and you're sitting in the worst situation you've ever been in, I've been there more
than one time.
Right?
Like, more than once.
And look, don't get me wrong.
Was I emotional?
Absolutely.
You know what I mean?
Was I scared that I was going to die?
Absolutely.
But the other side of that was there's so many people that depended on me, my family,
you know, all that shit.
And I was just like, man, I can't,
like for the people around you,
if you're any type of level of success
or you wanna be successful,
the people around you look at you for inspiration,
look at you for leadership.
And I was like, man, my family can't see me give up, right?
And well, and the other thing, you know,
I was super close to my grandparents
and I was like, dude, I damn sure ain't gonna die
before my grandparents, right?
Cause it would devastate them.
So mentally, like, I don't know to this day how I did it,
but I walked the fuck up out of that hospital
in a couple of days, right?
And they still to this day don't,
they were like, we don't understand.
Like we don't understand how you did this.
And I was like, I don't give a fuck.
You told me if I can walk, I'm out.
I can walk, I'm out of this motherfucker.
Cause again, our medical system,
and look, don't get me wrong, they saved my life.
Like there was a doctor, he unfortunately
is not alive anymore, by the name of Dr. Iggy, he saved
my fucking life. Right? He saved my life. And no question about it, he saved my life.
And the medical, the medical field is flawed, but it's also, it's, it's a necessary, there's
some good people in it. Yeah. But the heat, what I'm hearing you say is, is your absolute
mindset and the preparation leading up to that moment of saying,
I'm not going to fucking die before my grandparents.
I'm going to walk out of this fucking hospital.
You willed yourself to heal.
And here's the thing. I was like, if I'm going to die, I don't want to die in this motherfucker.
Fuck no.
So let me the fuck out.
So that's an incredible story, dude.
And why I ask these questions, you know what I mean?
Because, you know, I know and a lot of you know,
but everybody knows how successful you've become and you're on your way to
because you're always climbing another mountain, you know, and these stories,
you know, your friends, your family, people care and know you.
They they know about these stories. You know what I mean? But
the the lining of the way the things that you had to go through and you did,
you know, you went from making very good money,
having a good life, living in fucking Miami,
going across the country, to humbling yourself,
making $18,000 in a field that, you know what I mean,
you had massive uncertainty in.
You willed your way through that,
and you sat here and you said
you weren't gonna be a victim there.
You said you were gonna be a victor.
You went through, got busy, started working,
and then you go through the crisis of your
business partner, your friend, with his passing.
You decided that day you weren't going to be a victim.
You willed your way through that.
You made a choice that day to be, hold your values in place, your integrity in place,
and then you get sick.
And these are just the big things.
There's millions and countless things that have been popping up and hitting you and striking
you in the knees throughout the course.
But these things are where most people in the quest to success, most people that want
to be successful, they will use those moments to define them as why they can't.
And you use those moments to define you as why you will.
And you overcame the adversity and all those moments prepared you to get into the next phase
and the next season of your life and where that was going.
And I want our people to hear like how important it is
that when you do have these moments,
these fucking impossible odds,
human beings are resilient as fuck.
We can get through some impossible things,
some incredible things with our minds
and with our determination
and the lack of victimhood, right?
So that pushes us into the now, right?
And one of the things that I really admire and I think is incredible about you, Brandon,
is, and you know this, I've told you your face, I don't give a fuck about your money.
I don't give a fuck about the shit you do.
I respect what you've accomplished, but the character, the human that you are, right?
You know, I've told people when I was,
we did the podcast last time
and you have this ability to spot talent
and you've said this on stage about me
and you said, hey, I'm gonna get this guy,
I want this guy to work for our organization.
And I didn't know nothing about it and here we are.
And quickly I knew that your culture
and that office was where I needed to be
because it aligned with me and the things I was doing.
I was already in leadership space,
but then for a solid year I was like,
this can't be, you know, most people aren't like this, right?
Most people aren't who they say they are.
There's always a hidden clause,
there's always something behind.
I looked for the chink in your armor,
looked at the chink in Rich's armor, your partner.
I was waiting for the curtain to fall,
and it never happened.
And it just, in that year, year and a half,
I just, you got more buy-in from me,
and more buy-in from me,
and the things you said applied and helped.
And there were so many great things come.
But then, someone who's been through
the things that you've been through, right?
You have this incredible ability to predict the future.
You have this incredible ability to be very efficient, right?
And you have this incredible ability to connect pieces
and people with relationship building and things like that.
There's a whole other side of you that I've seen
that really is why I love you so much, man, is your heart.
I've seen you do some incredible things,
and I know you probably don't want me to talk about this,
but you said everything was good to go,
but I've seen you do some things, man,
that no one has to fucking do
when it comes to the people you care about.
Yeah.
You know, you-
Well, I think to that, I think again,
a couple things.
I don't, you know, we don't, we don't go out and talk about it
because I think, you know, you do it, you do it because you care, not because you want
the publicity.
Absolutely.
And I think it goes back to again, as crazy as this sounds, having a near death experience
was one of the best things that ever happened to me because it's, it goes back to the give
the people the flowers while they're alive.
The people that you really care about, um, and that are special in your life.
You know what I mean?
Like where, where, where I was faced with where, you know, I had, when Marshall committed
suicide when I was young, then I almost died shortly after that.
Um, I just looked at the lens of time very differently.
So it's like, if I really care about this person, and by the way, if you're listening to this,
people that work for you, that give a shit about your organization, they give a shit about you,
they go above and beyond, that is very rare. So when you find those motherfuckers, you keep them
and you take care of them and actually care about them. That's where it stems from of, you know, what if this person means a lot to me and my organization,
but they never got to experience really how much that I did care about them.
It would devastate me if something happened to them and they didn't know.
So my thing is it's always like, oh, we got to wait for a special occasion or we got to wait for
this. We got to wait for that.
Like if somebody that is rocking with you and they're loyal, it's so rare.
You should reward them because there's a handful of people in your life you're going to experience like that.
Right.
It's going to be very few and far between.
And so for me, that's kind of where it's that's kind of where it stems from is because it's so weird because this duality of like, if I'm competing with you, I want to burn your
fucking village down.
And like, if I'm on the other end of the deal, I want the best end of the deal.
But then it's from the standpoint of it's for the people I care about in my family and
the people that I'm leading.
But that that's, it's a timing thing, man.
We, we, none of us know. It's,
it's like, if you're listening to this, right, I think there's 168 hours in a week, 160, 168 hours.
But like, if, if I came to you tomorrow and I said, Hey, um, you got 168 hours left,
you would probably spend your week different. And then the other thing too, back to the hospital thing,
is I know this is gonna sound fucking weird,
but I was thinking when I was in the hospital,
I was like at the time, I was financially secure
and I was in a good spot.
But I was like thinking one night, I'm like,
man, what if tomorrow's my last day?
I was like, I would trade everything I'm like, man, what if tomorrow's my last day? I was like, I would trade everything
just to have one more, right?
And then I was thinking, like, if someone came in and said,
I can give you this drink to give you an extra day,
but I'm not gonna tell you what day you get back, right?
And then I go back to a day where I fucked around
and wasted time and hung out with somebody
I didn't wanna do, you know, want to, or hang out with a fucking dipshit or, you know what I'm saying?
Like, you know, and so, and so then I started, I started, I just started looking at it through
that lens and it's like, you don't know how much time you have.
You don't know the people around you, how much time they have.
So why, you know, why not
let them know that you care about them and take care of them and then just leave it on
the fucking field, man. Like leave it on the field every day because, you know, I mean,
I can say to you wholeheartedly, I want to live a long life, but I'm at a point in my
life where like a lot of the shit that I've wanted to do I've accomplished it
I've taken care of the people around me
I wanted to take care of and I know I'll leave it on the field every day and I mean that's a pretty
That's a piece of mine money can't buy. Yes, sir
I wish we had an hour because I mean this feels like this podcast flew by and
I only think that we scratch the surface, but we don't. So I'd be remiss if I didn't ask a couple of quick questions.
One of the questions I want to ask is because if you chose,
and I don't mean to be in your business and put it out there,
but if you chose to not have to work,
because you fucking still, every day,
you're still the first one there, last one to leave.
So guys and gals on our team, you hear me say that.
Weekends, holidays.
Weekends, holidays. We met last Sunday. You know, we met last Sunday.
I mean, this is how you do it, right?
You know your purpose.
You know your space of genius.
And you live it out.
But if you wanted to, and I'm not saying you could afford to live the life that you do
today, but if you wanted to, you could choose not to work as hard as you do now.
Oh, 100%.
I certainly could work a lot less.
So why?
At this point, why and what is it all for?
So, that's a couple of things, right? I think, you know, it's funny. Go back to Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos.
Like, if you take the richest people in the world, they freedom, meaning once you get to basic needs met, right.
You can afford the house you want, you can afford the car you want, you can go on vacations, you got money in the bank.
Like you have that level of comfortability.
Like you have that level of comfortability. Um, that's where if you're lucky enough to get there, that's where most people will stop. Right. And, and, but there's not, and listen, there's nothing
wrong with that because everybody's different. But what I'm saying is, is that for me,
it was about money to a point, which was basic needs. Beyond that It is, I believe my purpose is obviously, I believe I've been given
a gift to speak on stage, right?
And so that's part of it.
And, um, part of speaking on stage is being in the trenches every day and
having a real shit to share with people.
And I also believe that part of my purpose is to develop as many human
beings as I can to be successful.
Um, and I really like building shit.
It's fun.
It's exciting to me.
Um, and to be quite honest with you, the more challenging it is, uh, the better.
I don't, I don't know how to do anything else.
Yeah.
Right.
And I don't, and again, this is just the way that I'm wired.
Like I'll go on vacation and I'm out for two or three days, man.
And I need to get punched in the face again.
Like I need to get back in the ring.
Really very bad to work.
Um, and again, that might not sound cool to you, but the, here's the thing that I
think a lot of people don't know or understand.
You're not walking in your purpose.
So you don't have that same level of love and commitment.
And it could be anything you could want to do a dog rescue.
You could want to be a fighter, whatever it is.
A lot of people are floundering because they're not walking in their purpose.
I know what mine is.
Do you know what I mean?
And the money becomes a by-product of it and how we keep score.
But, um, you know, I get to do a lot of really cool shit.
You know what I mean? And I get to do a lot of really cool shit every day.
I get to meet and be busy in business and relationships with a lot of really cool people.
And,
you know, if you're a builder, you never want to stop building and there's
always another mountain to climb.
So that that's kind of, and, and again, I, I think the competitive side in me.
Um, the competitive side in me is also the, all the people over the years that told
me I was crazy or you can't do this.
And again, if you're listening to this, I think this is cool.
This is something you should understand.
If you want to be really successful and you're passionate about something,
there's going to be a long time where you're going to be misunderstood.
You're going to be lonely.
You're going to be alienated.
And then those motherfuckers going to ask you for a job.
Do you know what I mean? And
if you want to do anything of any significance,
like you're just gonna be misunderstood man, and people are gonna think you're crazy.
They're gonna say if you're repeatedly being told your idea sucks, you probably onto something.
Do you know what I mean? And you should never let someone else's limitation of where they can't grow to affect your ability
because that's just their own inadequacies, you know, projecting on you.
And so I think part of it too is also the challenge of proving people wrong.
You know what I mean?
And you know, I don't know.
It's just to me, it is coming from a poor
family that didn't have anything, breaking the generational wealth curse of our family
and then just not having a ceiling. And it's like, well, what can we do next? How many
more lives can we impact? How many more people can we make wealthy? Um, how much more cool
shit can we do? And that's the shit that is, that's what's exciting,
that's what gets me up out of bed every day.
That's awesome, that's awesome, that's a great answer, man.
Wrapping up, you know, we would be foolish
if we didn't put an elevator pitch or a shameless plug
or some sort of, you know, we're on EXP now.
Been with EXP for half a year, over half a year now,
it's been a great venture, over half a year now.
It's been a great venture, maybe not even that long.
September.
And you're not even, you know,
you're not even selling real estate.
Like a lot of people have the misconception
that you're selling real estate.
Like you're way beyond that,
been beyond that for quite some time.
And by the way, if you are,
there's nothing wrong with that, that's where I started.
Yeah, I mean, we're talking about two decades in the game.
You know, we're talking about an innovator here, right?
And where I'm getting at is, is now, you know,
you're raising money, you're investing money,
you're speaking on stages,
you're coaching the best of the best.
I witnessed this, people don't know
and realize it around here, but I've watched
and I see who the rooms that you speak in,
the people you're next to, the people you're coaching,
you know, these are other moguls and other people,
real big people that are around you that are getting knowledge and stuff like that
you provide. Um, but you're raising capital, you know what I mean?
Constantly deploying capital constantly. We've got a lot of silos over there.
You know, um, where can they find you? What, what, what can they, you know,
anybody listen to this and wants to potentially is interested or something like
that. Where would it
wake up to wealth podcasts? A lot of good stuff there. Be mentioned, um mentioned we've hit number one a few times leapfrog and Dave Ramsey.
And I don't have a $10 million budget a year.
We've done it on a shoestring budget mailbox money be on Instagram.
Brandon Brittingham on Facebook.
That's where you can find me. Awesome. Awesome.
Well, man, listen, dude, and I'm not saying this
for any other reason, because you know how I am,
I'll tell you fucking straight up, dude.
I just love you, man.
Love you too, brother.
I think that God puts people in our lives for a reason,
and I think that we've crossed paths.
Hold on, we got no Diddy, by the way.
No Diddy, yeah, Paul's right.
But I think that God, or whoever you pray to,
whatever you're into, that's who I connect with,
put people in our lives,
and you've left a big impact on my life,
and it's been more of the example
and the ability to hold fast on that example that you said.
Hey, you just made me think of something.
The other thing too, when you said-
This guy can't even take his flowers, you know?
He's so good.
No, no, no, no. I love it.
You got me in the mode of thinking.
I love it though. It's so impressive.
What you just said is
the other thing, the why, is
I say to myself
a lot, my internal conversation.
Which, by the way, the conversation
you have with yourself is the most important one.
Yes, sir. Every day. But one of
the things
that I say to myself a lot, and I didn't always know or understand this, you know what I mean?
I came to it. But I've been given a lot of these gifts to be the example, right? So that's
important to me, just based on like what you said. When you ask why, well, do I need to be in the
office at eight o'clock on a Sunday morning?
I don't.
But if someone else shows up at that time and sees me there, then they're going to
say, man, I'm off.
I got a Lambo fucking Bentley fucking range in the fucking warehouse.
And he's here eight o'clock.
It's not material.
I'm just saying, you know what I mean?
And then they see it and then they see, man, he's goes and crush the stages, but he has a coach to teach him how to beg.
All these things, man, brain is so fucking busy. He still shows up, goes to the gym. He still eats clean.
He's still drinking water. He's not going out. He's not drinking.
By me being the example,
then that also impacts everybody else.
And that's why I can't stop.
100%.
And that's the thing, man, that I've learned so much,
you know, rocking with you.
And you've done a lot for me,
and that's great, greatly appreciated.
And I hope I reciprocate that.
But more importantly, man,
it's the example that you've set.
It's the efficiency that you are and your word, man.
It's just, it's cool to see from our hometown and, and, you know, peers and traveling
amongst different circles, that level of integrity and that level example.
And, uh, you know, I'm just excited for what you got to come and excited
for what you always unpacking you.
We've got announcements coming up this week and next month.
And I mean, there's always something new.
It's a wild ride.
We're getting ready.
It really is.
But this exciting ride.
Damn right it is.
Well, thank you for being on here, brother.
You guys know the links. Check him out. Mailbox money. Be on Instagram.
Wake up to wealth. You know, like and subscribe. Listen to it.
You know, he's got a book out on Amazon Prime or Amazon on Amazon.
You know what I mean? That you can get. There's so many things this guy's
check him out on social media. Man, he's he's he's a fire you want to be next to.
But that'll do it with this episode of
Champ Talk with Brandon Hudson.
Guys, again, if you've gotten value out of this,
please comment, like, subscribe, leave a review,
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and thank you guys for tuning in.
What are you doing today to become a champion?
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