Voice of Change: Ron Speakman's Fight for the Voiceless - I Will Not Lose Podcast - #0056

Transcript

[00:00:08.270] Good morning, good evening, good night, good afternoon.
[00:00:10.850] Don't give me copyright flag, though.
[00:00:14.740] No, no, no, you can cut this out.
[00:00:19.290] I sounded like a zombie.
[00:00:21.390] Oh.
[00:00:21.810] Just.
[00:00:24.190] Yeah, in order to grow, you got to have like some kind of goals.
[00:00:27.310] Good morning, good evening, good night, good afternoon.
[00:00:35.160] Whatever time you're listening in, wherever you're listening from,
[00:00:38.220] you could have been anywhere in the world, but you're here right now.
[00:00:42.050] Let's take a moment to be present and recognize that it's now, right now.
[00:00:46.870] Whether you're right now is working, running, driving, flying, recording a podcast.
[00:00:51.930] Be thankful we're alive, baby.
[00:00:54.270] Failure can be frightening.
[00:00:55.650] However, as Winston Churchill reminds us, success is all about going from failure to
[00:00:59.630] failure without losing enthusiasm.
[00:01:02.670] This is I Will Not Lose podcast where we prove everything is learned from failure.
[00:01:06.330] We must recognize it as one step closer to success.
[00:01:09.250] I have a man who has gone through tons of trials and tribulations in his story of perseverance.
[00:01:15.310] So I wanted to have him on and share his story as well as his creations that he's done.
[00:01:20.790] We've got Mr. Ron Speakman, host of the FedUp podcast, almost 35,000 downloads, and he's
[00:01:27.230] been doing it less than a year.
[00:01:28.990] 2,000 of those downloads came in the past week.
[00:01:31.370] So this is the official announcement.
[00:01:34.510] This was all organic growth.
[00:01:36.650] This was all just creating it, hard work, and creating good content.
[00:01:40.470] So we're going to get to know the man behind the mic.
[00:01:43.610] Tune in.
[00:01:44.130] hey it's good to be here tone thank you for having me yeah bro yes sir man i see you're
[00:01:49.570] doing your thing too keep going man yeah yeah man perseverance no matter what you're doing it
[00:01:55.830] whether your endeavors are uh podcasting or even just at your job you know so we'll get a little
[00:02:02.490] bit into the fed up podcast but i wanted to go back and get the story of you fed up is built on
[00:02:08.930] a lot of principles you know yes absolutely um main principles are structure discipline
[00:02:15.830] and accountability you hear me talk a lot about those things uh but that's that's not just for
[00:02:21.610] the podcast i think that's three important principles for us all as human beings to have
[00:02:26.330] uh without structure discipline and accountability i don't think none of us can be shit within our
[00:02:31.290] lives whether it be personal or professional that makes sense yeah so go on structure a little bit
[00:02:36.870] what does that mean for you? Structure means for me is having a routine, but also having the
[00:02:44.010] adaptability to improvise with that routine. Cause sometimes you have stuff that comes in
[00:02:49.570] and you can't control. However, you can control what you can control and that's how you act,
[00:02:53.830] how you react, whatever the case is. So, but have tried to have a routine business wise or
[00:03:00.030] for your personal life. Yeah, no, I can relate with that a hundred percent. When I started
[00:03:05.350] switching my routine up i make a personal routine for myself even being an entrepreneur you know
[00:03:10.070] there's things i do every day at the same time and that helps a lot and that you you got to be
[00:03:16.710] disciplined it's crazy because those tie right into each other you know if you're not disciplined
[00:03:21.670] you can't have structure i mean i think mike tyson said it best discipline is doing something
[00:03:26.230] that you hate to do but do it like you love it point blank and don't forget about consistency
[00:03:31.170] too, right? Discipline and structure will kind of help give you that consistency. That's why I
[00:03:36.330] talk about consistency because that'll play out on its own if you have discipline, structure,
[00:03:41.090] and accountability. Makes sense. That accountability thing, that's a big one for
[00:03:46.010] a lot of people. Everybody, I don't even want to say just claims to be the victim, but a lot of
[00:03:52.370] people don't look at what their part was in a problem. Like even if you allow a problem to
[00:03:59.230] happened to you is your fault for allowing it sometimes. Absolutely. 100%. And let's not forget
[00:04:05.530] about the uncomfortable conversations that we all have to have. To first recognize there's a problem
[00:04:09.990] going on, you have to have those uncomfortable conversations with others or even with yourself
[00:04:14.090] for that matter, to recognize there's a problem before you can actually bring a solution to the
[00:04:19.010] table. Oh yeah, man. Oh yeah. So these three principles, were you always that way? Was that
[00:04:26.050] instilled in you early or where did that come from i think that was always with me i just didn't know
[00:04:31.610] it at that time at that time as a kid growing up um you know when you go through things as a kid you
[00:04:36.750] you just do things you don't take it you don't when we look back in hindsight we're like ah
[00:04:41.550] that's why i did that that's why i acted the way i acted right but we don't we do when we do things
[00:04:46.550] as kids i don't think we realize what we're doing positive or negative right and so we get older and
[00:04:51.740] And then when we reflect on that, that's when we see the positive or negative that happened.
[00:04:57.020] There you go, man.
[00:04:58.060] Yeah.
[00:04:58.320] That reflection is a huge part.
[00:05:00.000] It's got to be a huge part.
[00:05:00.940] Without it, we can't grow.
[00:05:02.740] Yeah, man.
[00:05:04.110] So take us back to the beginning.
[00:05:07.370] You know, when did you really start on the path to instill this mentality?
[00:05:11.810] I mean, you have somewhat of a structure that's given to you by school and things like that when you're a kid.
[00:05:18.510] And then once you leave that, you know what I mean?
[00:05:21.590] Like, where'd you go from there?
[00:05:24.490] So for me, it was, I've been through stuff through the time I was born to seven years
[00:05:29.750] of age that no child should have experienced.
[00:05:33.370] And this is no way by any means a pity party, any kind of thing.
[00:05:36.710] Listen, I don't have no regrets in my life whatsoever, but what happened to me is what
[00:05:42.090] it is.
[00:05:43.070] We talk about turning negatives into positives.
[00:05:46.470] And again, I think I did that a lot growing up as some of us do without knowing it until
[00:05:51.450] later on we get in life um like for instance i mean i grew up in the foster care system uh before
[00:05:57.990] i even got to that point you know uh my real parents we we were poorest of the poor right uh
[00:06:04.430] public housing i didn't we didn't even have that just times where i can look back and remember when
[00:06:09.810] i was actually living under a tent uh for those of you familiar in allentown uh by parkettes right
[00:06:15.390] there used to be that spot right there that they fenced off i remember being in that spot once in
[00:06:19.690] a while as well um before well before obviously that was uh fenced off and stuff but just from
[00:06:26.370] those hard times not knowing when your next meal is going to come from uh eating out garbage cans
[00:06:31.450] um wearing the same clothes over and over obviously your hygiene takes a hit right um
[00:06:37.650] so i i had to endure a lot even i mean physical abuse mental abuse um there's a lot of stuff that
[00:06:45.460] played out that I overcame and endured, you know what I'm saying? So that made me who I was back
[00:06:52.300] then without even knowing it because I had to do what I had to do. And then, you know, growing up,
[00:06:57.040] obviously, you know, a lot of fights, a lot of, you know, I was pretty much the minority where
[00:07:01.740] I grew up. So there was obviously a lot of fist fighting, had to become headstrong right away.
[00:07:06.900] I think that's another key part. I think people are too sensitive today, you know,
[00:07:12.540] people are too passive aggressive as well
[00:07:15.400] we mentioned about talking about
[00:07:17.400] problems and issues
[00:07:18.600] that's what adults do we talk about problems
[00:07:21.940] you know what I'm saying if you feel some type
[00:07:24.060] of way because someone called you out on your shit
[00:07:25.580] that seems like a self confidence issue
[00:07:28.280] at that point maybe you need to do some
[00:07:30.060] self reflecting and see where
[00:07:32.020] you can grow where you can mature at
[00:07:33.660] don't be mad because someone's trying to help you get to that point
[00:07:36.140] and that was part
[00:07:38.180] of my problem growing up as well I took
[00:07:40.080] it the wrong way now I
[00:07:41.760] i take it like a grain of salt but uh you gotta recognize there's a problem before you can fix it
[00:07:47.160] man but um yeah well kudos to you man i'll just stop right there man i appreciate it well done
[00:07:55.440] well done to be able to come out of that create a beautiful family beautiful legacy you know so
[00:08:02.800] you were um you know as i was listening to we'll get into the work that i helped with uh with fed
[00:08:08.400] up but so listening to the first episode you explained some things that you had to do with
[00:08:13.100] the youth your um yes so i i helped run a boot camps for adjudicated youth uh from all over the
[00:08:20.160] country and let me tell you one of the most humbling experiences i ever had um naturally
[00:08:25.020] i've been through everything in the book i mean we didn't cover a lot here but i didn't if you
[00:08:29.860] want to that's fine too i have no problem talking about it but uh i actually went to the police
[00:08:34.000] Academy. I graduated the 83rd class in Allentown. I could never get on any police agency. I couldn't
[00:08:43.490] get on any department. I was third or second place a couple of times. I could never crack
[00:08:49.230] the top list. So I was like, you know what? I still want to do something. So I already had my
[00:08:53.010] bachelor's. I'm sorry, my associate's degree. So I was going to get my bachelor's and I went into
[00:08:58.750] criminal justice side of things on the the juvenile side um and when we had people from
[00:09:05.200] like baltimore philly very few here in allentown um but i mean from all over the country virginia
[00:09:13.240] so it was very it was rewarding but yet humbling for me man because i could relate to a lot of
[00:09:18.560] their problems that's probably what made me great at doing what i did you know and i always joke
[00:09:24.720] around when i see one one of them every now and then if i'm out in their city uh because it does
[00:09:29.700] happen you will run into people eventually um and i i believe that listen you got to treat people
[00:09:36.530] fairly man i don't hold grudges but at the same time someone may hold a grudge against you if you
[00:09:40.990] don't have their best interests at heart you know and i don't for i don't know about you or anybody
[00:09:45.550] else out there but for me i think it's important not to have to look over your shoulder constantly
[00:09:49.410] yeah you know so that feels great it feels great um but i mean are you gonna make everybody happy
[00:09:55.830] no you're not gonna it's just but again that comes down to the factor of control what you can not
[00:10:00.550] what you can't someone doesn't like you that's not your problem control what you can which is
[00:10:04.870] your actions your attitude right have an attitude of being you know have an attitude of gratitude
[00:10:09.390] and help those around you um and i think they realize that i mean we always joked over there
[00:10:15.750] where i'm going to ask you this question what's a greater motivator fear or respect
[00:10:19.780] oh that's a tough one yeah that's a tough one i mean i go towards respect i go towards earning
[00:10:27.220] respect so i guess i'd have to lean towards that one i don't know if i'm doing it wrong but there
[00:10:32.800] is no right or wrong answers what you what you what you or the audience out there thinks so
[00:10:36.620] i would choose respect too but and take it to just if you had a job working with adjudicated
[00:10:44.700] of youth right i always ask some of the kids and they would say fear i would ask some of the
[00:10:50.680] employees their fear of respect people will go respect so me i think fear and that aspect was
[00:10:57.540] a greater motivator let me explain for them yeah that makes sense explain it's not in a negative
[00:11:02.340] way right i don't want people to get the wrong impression um but you can have people respect you
[00:11:08.480] yet there's a fear there that if i fuck up i'm going to be held accountable ron they call me s
[00:11:14.060] s is gonna hold me accountable for if i mess up here right that's what i mean by fear is a greater
[00:11:19.120] motivator in that aspect but fear and respect can also be one of the same right so it all depends
[00:11:25.900] on what situation you're in what the circumstance is uh to lean towards either side of the fence
[00:11:31.940] there with that but um it was both rewarding and humbling for me and so many stories man
[00:11:38.420] so many stories um but yeah that's what structure discipline and accountability i tied that in with
[00:11:46.140] that as well and we had the camp rules and then i would actually have three rules myself for
[00:11:53.220] everybody because i would have the new kids come in the new clients come in i hate using that word
[00:11:58.000] they're young men yeah yeah yeah right young men are coming in here who made a mistake
[00:12:02.360] they're not bad people they made a mistake like we all make um so yeah we would come in and i
[00:12:08.000] explain the rules to them and and uh but now here's my three rules and uh i being again being
[00:12:15.250] through everything i kind of knew what kind of what they were dealing with because i get to read
[00:12:19.630] the case files coming in i had the intake with them get to know them better they get to know me
[00:12:24.550] better and um and listen i want to say this real quick kids ain't stupid young men these young men
[00:12:31.190] are not stupid they know within the first 30 seconds of you being with you around you whether
[00:12:37.070] you open your mouth or not if if you're a real one or not you understand if they're gonna get
[00:12:41.970] over on you or gonna be like yo i gotta check myself i gotta watch myself with this guy you
[00:12:45.890] know what i mean they're not dumb so let's give them all the credit in the world people think like
[00:12:50.570] they have no you know they're dumb or whatever the case is they're not dumb they're they observe
[00:12:55.790] their surroundings they're coming from a surrounding where they gotta watch regardless
[00:12:59.190] these inner city youth are coming in here you know so give them the respect because if not
[00:13:03.970] they're going to see right through you be who you are they're going to see right through you if
[00:13:07.450] you're not but um i would have them come in and i would explain everything to them and uh it was
[00:13:12.970] funny it got to the point where when they one would be discharged leaving they would be like
[00:13:18.700] in philly for instance and they would be sitting there getting discharged another client would be
[00:13:23.640] another young man would be coming in and he would cross paths and i would get brought up oh you're
[00:13:28.880] going to this place oh hey oh my man s you lost my old head you know watching him you know this
[00:13:32.860] and that. So they kind of knew about me to the point where when they got there, they already
[00:13:36.920] knew who I was. So it was pretty cool to watch that grow and unfold, um, the impact that I've
[00:13:42.860] made. Um, are there some out there who didn't like me? I'm sure there are, but for the most part,
[00:13:48.660] um, it was nothing but love and respect, you know, cause I treated them like,
[00:13:52.780] I treat them like young men. I didn't treat them like a client or a little kid. I, we addressed
[00:13:58.810] everybody as sir you understand that's a respect issue right especially our youth today i feel like
[00:14:05.090] there's no more respect today you know yeah and you can't i'm not going to sit there point the
[00:14:09.550] finger at parenting we don't know the situations behind each of these young men's lives you know
[00:14:13.850] but treating what respect and i mean the biggest thing is you you'll most likely get the same in
[00:14:20.220] return you know but you also gotta remember they're young men they're not as mature they
[00:14:24.600] didn't level up to where you're at so you also gotta keep that in mind so but one of my rules
[00:14:29.200] was um because i understand we're gonna what if you have a bad phone call that day right we have
[00:14:36.490] to keep that in mind as as adults so when i tell them one of my rules was because i would know all
[00:14:43.780] the spots off camera on the facility so i said listen if there's an issue you call me okay i
[00:14:50.960] don't care if you're in a different place on the facility you can tell whoever you're around that
[00:14:55.480] you want to talk to us i would take them to one of these spots i call my office right off camera
[00:15:02.220] right and instead of them hitting somebody else and causing them an extended sentence or going
[00:15:08.300] off in the wrong person the wrong staff member i welcomed it and again it's not a negative thing
[00:15:13.980] it's a positive thing because i understand that that bad phone call might have had an effect on
[00:15:19.640] you right your your homie back home might have just got killed whatever the case is i understand
[00:15:25.540] things that happen you can't process those feelings those emotions as a grown man can
[00:15:30.040] sometimes right and listen some grown men out there some of y'all at worse than some of these
[00:15:34.420] young men i'm just saying um but that's what that's one of my rules and that's why i did that
[00:15:39.340] because i'm better equipped to deal with that stuff i understand it more but and i've had kids
[00:15:44.880] young men swing on me and we got physical with it. But it gave them an opportunity to
[00:15:51.710] get that frustration out. And that's what I wanted. And then after that, we processed,
[00:15:57.510] we talked about what happened. Again, that reflection we talked about earlier.
[00:16:02.050] I think that's a key component to, again, leveling up, maturing, understanding your
[00:16:07.410] weaknesses or strengths. What can I do better in? If I'm in that same position, how can I
[00:16:12.010] you know, react better the next time I'm in that position. That's why we, we, we call it
[00:16:16.670] processing. Right. Um, but I feel that's important because that's, that's reflection, but that was
[00:16:21.370] just an example of one of the rules. And, uh, it's, it's pretty amazing how you can overcome
[00:16:27.450] so much in your own personal life. Um, like I did and, uh, turn that around and put that to good
[00:16:34.010] use. Um, you have to, I mean, are you going to reach everybody? No, you're not. It's not your
[00:16:40.910] job to reach everybody though like there's there's people this podcast reaches there's someone
[00:16:46.230] listening in right now that's like man you know i can really relate with what he's saying then
[00:16:50.830] there's somebody that might go in and be like ah you know why be like you said too sensitive
[00:16:55.230] yeah there's two sensitive people that listen to the podcast there are you know but guess what
[00:17:00.090] they're listening yeah no everybody takes something and then you get your one little
[00:17:05.070] area you got to give back to what matters i had uh wesley morris i don't know if you got a chance
[00:17:09.850] to check that episode out. I didn't check it out yet. I apologize. No, it's fine. He went back to,
[00:17:15.030] I mean, long story short, he drove his bike 470 miles to South Carolina to speak to donors of
[00:17:21.670] at-risk youth to a program. So to speak to the kids, to speak to the donors, and it's like-
[00:17:27.410] I'm going to have to check that out now. Yeah. You have to give back in your way.
[00:17:33.510] Let's just say, even if you had a million dollars, you can't donate to every single
[00:17:38.550] charity and say, I want to fix everything. But if, you know, let's say cancer runs in your family
[00:17:44.930] and that's something near and dear, you know, you lost someone, God forbid, it makes sense why you
[00:17:50.270] would put your money, your efforts there, you know, so 100% super kudos. So now you took the
[00:17:55.610] structure, discipline, accountability, and you moved towards a career in a federal career.
[00:18:02.830] So I went from there. I went back to school. I had my daughter, she was born actually in 2012.
[00:18:08.170] So I was working full-time, going to school full-time and then watching my daughter till
[00:18:13.630] about 12, 1230.
[00:18:14.850] And then I take her to daycare and then I would go to work.
[00:18:17.870] So it was a lot on my plate.
[00:18:19.970] But if you want to do something, if you want to be great, if you want to level up, if you
[00:18:25.560] want a better life, it requires sacrifice.
[00:18:28.580] I had to sacrifice going out.
[00:18:30.500] I had to sacrifice time with my friends.
[00:18:32.660] And I'm really, and looking back at it, I don't think I really sacrificed because my
[00:18:38.040] friends knew what i was doing so we whenever time we had we kicked it you know i mean but they knew
[00:18:44.860] i was grinding so but um yeah that structure discipline accountability man that comes from
[00:18:50.580] a long line of obstacles i mean you know your podcast is called i will not lose and ironically
[00:18:56.260] that was my attitude back then i ain't gonna lose you ain't gonna keep me down and you gotta have
[00:19:00.540] that mentality whether you know it or not i promise you eventually if you keep going you're
[00:19:05.700] gonna eventually realize that that is your attitude um case in point man when someone
[00:19:11.760] told me i couldn't do something because i wasn't always the strongest or the biggest or the fastest
[00:19:15.840] right but i had i'm all heart baby you know what i'm saying you ain't kicking me down uh yeah you
[00:19:21.660] know um for those of you out there uh tony and i had a little uh uh exhibition if you will
[00:19:29.260] and that was that was a good time man throwing around some jujitsu and wrestling moves with
[00:19:34.860] some boxing yeah so it was it was kind of yeah that was a fun time we it was a walk walk through
[00:19:41.740] guys okay i'm just gonna leave it at that for those of you who watch me trying to target me
[00:19:44.960] it was a walk through um those of you watching it don't understand that more but uh no and for
[00:19:52.240] for my old heads that still love to compete we were on the phone the next day like oh man my
[00:19:56.980] back just yeah yeah well we walked it through and we still heard what's going on guys um that's good
[00:20:03.100] them but uh it's it's you gotta have that mindset and be having all heart it's it's a it's a mindset
[00:20:11.890] that's all it is you know i hate to use this because i think it's so corny but it's the rocky
[00:20:15.970] thing you know i'm saying you know what what do they say uh it's not about how many times you get
[00:20:21.270] knocked down it's about can you get back up right somewhere along those lines and there's no such
[00:20:26.290] thing as an l for me i'm sorry there's not what i referred an l that everybody else would refer to
[00:20:32.220] I refer to that as a teaching moment.
[00:20:35.650] You can even say a mistake, but regardless, whatever way you call it, you learn from that
[00:20:40.970] and you apply just kind of like how I was explaining how I process with these young
[00:20:45.350] men when I work with them, I process with myself, you know, and I value my rude, my
[00:20:54.350] upfront, my blunt friends, because they check me when I need to be checked.
[00:20:59.370] And I need that.
[00:21:00.510] We all need that.
[00:21:01.510] so if you guys out there have a friend that is very outspoken cherish that man you hold on to
[00:21:08.070] that friend male or female it don't matter if you're lucky you got both right because sometimes
[00:21:12.010] you need a female point of view in certain things yeah yeah now i'm not talking about relationships
[00:21:16.050] you know even though that may help but having that real person by your side is important man
[00:21:22.830] and i and also i want to i want to say that if you're big on family like i am today if it wasn't
[00:21:28.210] for my daughter i wouldn't be here today 100 she changed me i was i was a wild man back then crazy
[00:21:34.130] but seeing her born um was the proudest moment in my life and when i cut that cord and she gave me
[00:21:40.990] that smile right out the gate that was it for me like it it i don't want to say it softened me up
[00:21:48.790] but it was reality check like it's not about me no more this is what it's about my daughter
[00:21:53.390] this is my legacy um and i gotta give to her what i've everything i've gone through and learned
[00:22:00.910] i gotta instill in her and i said i gotta be honest man 11 years she's a spinning image of
[00:22:06.530] me but the best qualities of me when i was younger and even now yeah um and i gotta there's a saying
[00:22:12.350] that um i am better i prepare today while others do nothing so i am better prepared when others
[00:22:20.230] start preparing. If you ask her just the first two words, she will finish that term. She will
[00:22:24.770] finish that sentence for you. So I'm glad that's instilled in her. And it's very important to me
[00:22:30.880] that for her to realize that, because if you don't know, a lot of us, we don't, we don't know
[00:22:34.860] our full potential. And sometimes you got to put yourself in uncomfortable positions to, to level
[00:22:42.820] up, right. To be the best version of yourself. You got to challenge yourself. Otherwise, where
[00:22:48.340] you going in life professionally or personally it doesn't matter um but yeah that ties back to
[00:22:55.230] structure discipline and accountability as well right because being uncomfortable is a teaching
[00:23:00.870] moment right for all for all of us no matter what you're in and i think i kind of got off track
[00:23:05.390] there so i apologize tony but i think we're talking about structure discipline and accountability
[00:23:09.470] there and uh having the heart right um to overcome any obstacle thrown like thrown that's thrown your
[00:23:16.230] way and people out there you sell yourself short too many times when you give up there should be
[00:23:23.020] no quit in you period uh keep pressing forward no matter how tough it gets um i can't tell you
[00:23:28.860] how many times i've hit rock bottom in my lifetime numerous times whether i knew it or didn't know
[00:23:34.960] it at that time um but you gotta be willing to keep going take the punches roll with the punches
[00:23:41.550] right slip jab move dance right what muhammad ali say foot like a butterfly sting like a bee
[00:23:47.650] that's it baby you gotta come back bring it back man don't let life smack the shit out of you like
[00:23:52.730] get back up keep fighting enjoy the journey is what i'm saying right that's all i preach man
[00:23:58.410] that's all i preach all the time i mean i don't like to i don't like to get to the end like the
[00:24:03.790] i'm so like uh gary v talks about the clouds and the dirt and like there's the part that people
[00:24:10.980] see that's the clouds that's the you flying on the plane to the convention and having fun and
[00:24:15.860] doing stuff like that you know they see you fly to clearwater florida but then they don't see
[00:24:20.080] in the basement cutting clips like yeah trying to make sure that this is going to hit by the
[00:24:25.960] deadline and making sure you have a consistent schedule it's like uh that's the dirt that grind
[00:24:32.260] yeah i get so addicted to the dirt this is why i know i'm going to be fine because i
[00:24:37.420] will grind you know what i mean and just like what i appreciate it about you is fast forward
[00:24:44.140] when we worked on the podcast and getting everything started you're like i gotta learn
[00:24:49.180] this stuff yeah you know what i mean i can't have the first thing you said to me was i need a whole
[00:24:54.320] team and i was like you know you're gonna get there yeah but it's hard you know it's hard
[00:25:00.940] you gotta start and pave the way and you being a natural leader somebody's gonna come on to
[00:25:07.320] it and help and want to take it right to the next level and you start filling in those pieces and go
[00:25:12.380] from there but absolutely you know um it was uh it was really interesting that that heart and just
[00:25:21.120] what what my point what i was getting at is my first impression of you like all right i'm gonna
[00:25:26.160] go and learn now fast forward we've known each other for a few months now yeah maybe going on a
[00:25:31.480] year but you figure um we've you've learned so much like you produce this podcast all on your
[00:25:42.300] own all the growth is organic you manage a facebook community you're printing shirts you're
[00:25:47.120] going out and flying and meeting with sponsors you know what i mean like you you do what a lot
[00:25:52.820] of people want to check off a lot of people want to be podcasters they want to live that podcast
[00:25:59.020] life you know and they want their voice to be heard you've been able to amass 30 40 i mean
[00:26:06.360] you could fill an arena if you took everybody who's downloaded a podcast and not even the people
[00:26:12.680] that's just downloads there's people that listen to it you could fill an arena right and have
[00:26:17.760] everyone sitting in there listening to you speak man do you ever take a second to just reflect like
[00:26:22.300] i know it's all about grinding and i don't but do you ever take a break and kind of like
[00:26:27.420] reflect on it? I do once in a while. It's funny you said that. That's a good way of putting that.
[00:26:34.040] And you're right. That's a lot of people that we could do something like that. And I was actually,
[00:26:39.360] I have a five-year plan written down at home. So if everybody listened, I think it's important.
[00:26:43.020] I know you do this. You have checkoffs. I have a five-year plan. And in that five-year plan,
[00:26:47.880] I have short-term and long-term goals. And as I go along, because I'm sure you notice,
[00:26:52.240] the most important factor if you're going to podcast is just take action you're not going
[00:26:59.270] to have it perfect up front if you're trying to be perfect you're never going to launch
[00:27:02.730] just just just fucking launch get it done and then learn as you go that's the most important thing
[00:27:08.850] i'm still learning and and twisting and and and adapting to where this journey is taking me
[00:27:16.010] um the people will speak the people will tell you what they like what they don't like
[00:27:21.090] you're not going to please everybody and cater to every single one of your listeners out there
[00:27:26.190] and that's okay just do it but yeah i do reflect and i part of my thing on my five-year plan
[00:27:31.650] is i want to have a convention i want to have a fed up convention when we have guest speakers
[00:27:38.550] right it's going to be great it's like our own quote-unquote ted talk but for yeah and for the
[00:27:44.170] nation uh for my listeners out there i refer them to as fed up nation it just kind of grew into that
[00:27:49.870] I didn't start with that in mind.
[00:27:51.830] Before we get to the convention, go on that for a little bit.
[00:27:54.030] Tell the listeners what FedUp is, how you came to put it together.
[00:27:57.650] We didn't get to your career as a federal employee, but.
[00:28:01.650] So when I left the running boot camps and stuff for adjudicated youth.
[00:28:08.500] And listen, I don't know if you guys know, but shout out to Hassan Batts.
[00:28:13.480] Promising neighborhoods.
[00:28:14.600] him and i worked together for a little bit before he finishes uh his doctorate and everything and
[00:28:20.120] started going with that project shout out to mr batsman i appreciate you much love and respect
[00:28:25.140] out to you keep doing your thing and gun violence here now in town man um keep doing your thing
[00:28:31.080] bass i love you man but uh yeah after i left there i applied with the united states postal
[00:28:36.460] service out of shits and giggles i didn't think i'd get accepted i was like whatever
[00:28:39.700] they they they hired me i got in the intake i take the score i got a call and yeah i started in
[00:28:46.840] 2015 so fast forward um i got injured on a job tore my rotator uh my short head bicep
[00:28:58.350] and my uh my labrum so i tore those three didn't know it at the time worked through the holidays
[00:29:05.430] that was in actually 2020, I got injured. So I believe it was July 2nd of 2020. If I got that
[00:29:13.740] date wrong, I apologize, but it's definitely July, 2020 work through the holidays. And all this
[00:29:21.330] ironically is what opened up my eyes and why I started fed up because when I got injured on a
[00:29:28.030] job, that's when shit started changing for me. We talk about people being passive aggressive and
[00:29:33.000] how we have canceled culture today, right? And how society has grown into what it is today.
[00:29:38.440] I think we digressed. We didn't progress. I think we took a step backwards.
[00:29:42.820] So when I got hurt and I got back into limited duty, I was being targeted, I was being retaliated
[00:29:49.340] against. And this is where that wisdom and that maturity and that leveling up comes into play.
[00:29:56.010] If I didn't go through everything I went through up to that point, I wouldn't have been as equipped
[00:30:00.230] and ready to deal with what I was about ready to go through. And that was being targeted,
[00:30:03.770] retaliated against, whether it be from coworkers, even management, the agency. It's a very toxic
[00:30:11.410] and hostile workplace, even before you get injured. But when you get injured, it's twice as
[00:30:15.490] bad. I think you and your audience knows I'm pretty much an outspoken person by now. I had
[00:30:22.370] to check myself because I knew I had a federal disability put in. So I had to watch because
[00:30:29.750] obviously if I get fired and now we're in a different territory here, right? So I had to
[00:30:33.430] watch. So I felt like I was being censored in a way. And that was rough for me to handle because
[00:30:38.650] that's not me. That's not in my nature. It's not my character. If I have a problem with you,
[00:30:43.130] if you got a problem with me, let's handle it. And listen, I'm not saying let's go out on the
[00:30:47.950] dock and have a fist fight. Now, if it gets to that and you cross that line, you better be
[00:30:51.910] prepared because I'm not going to let you lay hands on me. But if you want to talk about something,
[00:30:56.530] let's talk about it. You understand? And that was the biggest thing for me was to be censored like
[00:31:01.570] that. But in going through everything that I did and shutting my mouth and just taking it,
[00:31:08.930] I documented everything. Great report writing skills that came to me. I guess I kind of had
[00:31:14.350] that. I was always a good writer. I spoke well for the most part, but I knew documenting everything
[00:31:21.400] would have been important. And I had a two and a half year file of everything and it was going to
[00:31:26.500] go somewhere then i got my acceptance for my disability so i had naturally i didn't follow
[00:31:33.090] through in those two and a half years i let it be and i let it rock and i carried on my life i got
[00:31:37.870] i removed myself from that toxic and hostile environment i won you know i yeah i will not
[00:31:44.090] lose brother that's it you know but um it was it was and i'll do honesty and going through that
[00:31:50.720] which was a tough time for me some people might have handled that better and that's fine but for
[00:31:55.780] me it was tough because i don't it's hard for me to not stand up for myself not even that you can't
[00:32:02.740] defend yourself i'm talking verbally obviously like attacks on your character absolutely you
[00:32:08.620] had to shut up because you deal with a lot of passive aggressive people so when you're a type
[00:32:13.060] a personality like we are right and you go and hey you must go out on a dog i want to talk to
[00:32:18.400] you real quick meaning i'm trying to remove you from the audience the co-workers and the workroom
[00:32:22.560] for. And I want to get to the bottom. What's your problem? You got a problem with me? Let's talk it
[00:32:26.000] out. If you don't like me, listen, all good, brother. Keep it moving. But I'm not going to
[00:32:30.660] let you sit here and bad mouth me like this. But even in doing something like that, they'll flip
[00:32:36.620] it and, hey, you want to go outside? What's that translate to? You want to swing? You want to go
[00:32:42.160] blows? You got to go fist a cup. So you got to watch yourself because these passive aggressive
[00:32:47.880] of people treat you as an aggressor. So it was a double-edged sword for me. But it was humbling
[00:32:53.100] because I needed that. I'm a true, firm believer. I know where everybody stands on their faith
[00:32:57.520] and on their religion. I'm not going to make this about religion. Whatever or whomever you believe
[00:33:02.640] in, that's great. But for me, it taught me that you don't always, number one, have to be right.
[00:33:13.070] And you don't always, again, it comes down to control what you can and don't worry about what
[00:33:17.670] you know, but you can't control. And I learned that going through those tough times. And I think
[00:33:22.850] God put me through those tough times to, you know, to teach me that. But yeah, that's kind of led
[00:33:29.150] into the podcast because I was going through, I went months without pay when you're injured on a
[00:33:33.290] job. And you're going to remember the federal sector is a bit different from the state. So
[00:33:37.150] OWCP, Department of Labor, it's a long process. And I think it's set up to make, it's for us to
[00:33:45.620] fail and for us to quit and give up it's very tenacious and tedious stuff very tedious very
[00:33:52.180] long and without without going too much off the cuff here but uh the toxic and hostile work
[00:33:59.830] environments is one thing but now you have federal code of uh code of federal regulation cfrs right
[00:34:05.990] it's federal law when management breaks this law and they're not held accountable but the minute
[00:34:12.370] we step out of line we're retaliated against we're disciplined the chips are stacked against us
[00:34:19.320] right people are scared to speak up they're scared to report an injury why because they're scared
[00:34:25.080] being retaliated against or they're going to get fired fuck that you report that injury i mean
[00:34:31.000] you're you're you're doing it for for those of you that don't know like a letter carrier which is
[00:34:36.060] what i was a city letter carrier not a lot there's not a lot of professional athletes that would do
[00:34:40.400] that job. Our job, and I'm not just saying this for, hey, be nice to your mailman, but just
[00:34:47.020] to give the public a better understanding of what we do as letter carriers. Some of us walk 10 to
[00:34:53.780] 13 miles every single day, lifting, bending, stooping, simple grasping, fine manipulation,
[00:34:59.480] climbing steps thousands of times a day, from casing our mail to delivering it, whatever the
[00:35:04.740] cases you add that up over a couple years that's a lot that's a lot that's we put in work just as
[00:35:12.980] much and if not more than some professional athletes and there's some professional athletes
[00:35:17.020] who would tell you the same like they they wouldn't do our jobs for that reason and um that's
[00:35:21.840] not to take away anything from them they're in great shape but so are mailman our hearts are
[00:35:27.500] great you know i'm saying uh when i say hearts i mean medically health wise right yeah um because
[00:35:32.680] Some of us can be assholes at times.
[00:35:36.240] But in saying that, when you get injured on the job, it's just causes a headache.
[00:35:41.180] There's a reason why I always say the most painful thing isn't an injury.
[00:35:44.060] It's the process of going through that injury.
[00:35:46.300] That's the most painful thing.
[00:35:48.000] So I created FedUp, this platform, because the amount of shit that we got to deal with
[00:35:56.350] and the people are scared to speak up.
[00:35:58.590] I wanted to give the people a voice.
[00:36:00.210] I wanted to give the people a platform.
[00:36:01.890] When I say the people, I mean all federal employees.
[00:36:04.970] I'm postal.
[00:36:06.090] I'm retired from the Postal Service, but it comes down to we all deal with somewhat similar
[00:36:11.490] issues when it comes to work injuries.
[00:36:13.770] But I do believe the Postal Service is the worst federal agency out there.
[00:36:18.610] So my platform, FedUp, it's a podcast that's for federal employees by federal employees
[00:36:24.630] hosted by me, a retired federal employee.
[00:36:27.450] You know, whether you're fed up with the mistreatment from your agency or management,
[00:36:30.670] um the misrepresentation or lack thereof from your federal union and that can be at a national
[00:36:37.050] or local level right um and basically the unjust and broken system whether it be the department
[00:36:43.850] of labor or agency as a whole uh that we deal with on the constant regular i mentioned the
[00:36:49.150] toxic and hostility of toxic and hostile work environments earlier that's a key component
[00:36:54.110] but there's also what's happening out there is there's a lot of there's a lot of collusion
[00:36:59.230] and corruption um being happening that's happening between these entities these organizations if you
[00:37:06.230] will and agencies without saying too much because i don't want to get into some legal obligations
[00:37:12.320] here so we'll call it alleged right um there's a lot of stuff out there that that's happens that
[00:37:17.300] our own members don't know about federal employees are aware of for let alone the general public
[00:37:23.740] right so that's why i do what i do to give the people a voice to help them get them options for
[00:37:30.640] their particular situation i've been helping federal employees for about four years now give
[00:37:35.860] or take so when i started the podcast last july it's like this is fun to me i enjoy doing this
[00:37:42.680] so that's what led me to start the podcast and it's i would have never expected it to be where
[00:37:48.640] were at today you talk about being humbled again once again i'm feeling humbled when when it's a
[00:37:53.980] very thankless job to do what i do or for anybody out there that does what i do just maybe not on
[00:38:00.400] the extent of what i'm doing or on my platform who still advocates for federal employees i applaud
[00:38:06.880] you keep doing it we need more people like you we're too divided you know there's a reason why
[00:38:10.980] i say united we stand but divided we fall you need to make something without getting political
[00:38:15.780] here because i can't stand politics fuck politics man um it's it's it's political a lot of this
[00:38:22.810] shit is political and the only way you're going to change anything whether it's that or something
[00:38:25.970] else in your in your agency uh for yourself in your own office because of management you have
[00:38:33.090] to be on the same page stop throwing each other on the bus if you see something write a fucking
[00:38:37.570] witness statement for for an employee right you're not ratting on somebody you're not snitching what's
[00:38:42.630] that got to do with anything? Because I guarantee you when that wrongful, unethical, or even
[00:38:47.650] illegal, that's right, even illegal at times, when those wrongdoings happen to you as a person,
[00:38:53.910] you're going to be sitting there in the dark looking for help as well. Or how come you saw
[00:38:58.370] this? Can you write me a witness statement? Another person is going to say no. So witness
[00:39:02.450] statements are huge for us. That's why I say that. So it's important that we all band together
[00:39:07.410] and uh you know fight the toxic and hostile work environments that we do man but that's
[00:39:14.510] that's why fed up is here man i believe that i'm the not me first of all when you say you'll never
[00:39:20.530] hear me say i it's about we and it's pretty much me that does the editing the recording
[00:39:25.770] uh mike mike fox shout out to mike fox he was my editing guy early on but it was too much for him
[00:39:31.830] so i again i had to learn everything and do it myself so he can have the peace of mind because
[00:39:36.910] he had his own podcast stuff going on so i didn't want him to be to feel that pressure that's why i
[00:39:42.010] learned but it's just me doing everything you know how it is and it's very it's a thankless job
[00:39:49.360] like i said but when i get the text messages the phone calls the emails the facebook messengers
[00:39:54.860] from people all over this country thanking me for their particular situation hey i got this
[00:40:00.340] approved thank you so much hey you helped me with this you know thank you so much that's fire it's
[00:40:04.920] rewarding yeah man it motivates me more to keep doing what i do because i guarantee you you feel
[00:40:10.240] like this sometimes you like you get it i don't want to say a funk but you're like ah i got so
[00:40:14.200] much to do today bro damn you know every single day every single morning yeah i'm not gonna lie
[00:40:20.220] yep but what keeps you going what keeps me going uh a couple of things i i list everything out
[00:40:27.800] um i do i actually schedule breaks i'm so bad at taking breaks i schedule like okay on this
[00:40:34.740] night i'm not going to do anything but decompress or whatever and then i usually end up using that
[00:40:40.800] time to write lists for what i'm going to do but honestly i really believe that boredom is the
[00:40:46.840] devil's playground or what do they say idle hands the devil work i don't answer the devil's workshop
[00:40:52.260] that something like that it might as well be that's me to a t like okay anytime in my life
[00:40:59.220] when i've been you know i've been unemployed there's been times when design work has been down
[00:41:04.280] but I'm a mess for myself when I have structure when I have stuff to do when I lay my head down
[00:41:11.420] on the pillow at the end of the night and think okay I didn't get everything done but the list
[00:41:15.900] was insurmountable and I got through that and I'm gonna wake up the next morning I'll be up at
[00:41:21.640] 4 35 cutting clips for a few hours before I go to work like it's it's I don't know what it is
[00:41:31.550] inside of me, but like shit just has to look good. It has to be right. And that's not even
[00:41:36.630] being a perfectionist. You know what I mean? Like you could rush something and still have it look
[00:41:40.270] good and you can take just as long and have something look just as good. But I care a lot
[00:41:46.370] about integrity. I care a lot about reputation. You know, my wife, shout out to my wife, Nika,
[00:41:51.850] she's a huge hard worker. She's a, she's a teacher in the Allentown school district, but
[00:41:58.610] um shout out to all the teachers out there yes my sister included um there's a ton of work that goes
[00:42:07.090] on with it so she'll be working late i'll be working late and i don't know you know then we
[00:42:13.730] got driven kids so it's uh it's just the way we're wired like you said type a personality i'm just
[00:42:20.450] not okay with mediocrity right i'm not okay with like now breaks are one thing when you have to
[00:42:26.690] to take a break. But if you have stuff to do and you're wasting time or scrolling social or
[00:42:32.250] something like that, you got to nip that in the bud. You got to be accountable, like you said,
[00:42:37.330] and realize, okay, I'm not doing something. That's why the lists are so important.
[00:42:42.890] Absolutely.
[00:42:43.450] You can see what you got done. It's very easy to get a lot done and feel like you got nothing done.
[00:42:49.290] But the little stuff, okay, pay this bill, make sure you do this, call this person, do that. You
[00:42:54.370] You know what I mean?
[00:42:54.690] Even sometimes in our own follow-ups, I haven't been the best with that.
[00:42:57.590] So I make sure I write it down.
[00:42:59.090] Like, okay, Thursday, I'm going to follow up with Ron, see if we're still good for Friday.
[00:43:03.350] Like, you know, and then next thing you know, you're productive.
[00:43:06.830] You don't even realize it.
[00:43:07.930] I still feel like I'm putting as much effort as I did a year, year and a half ago when it was taking me three times as long to cut an episode.
[00:43:16.650] I feel like I'm still putting the same amount of effort, but little pieces got easier, got cleaner and stuff like that.
[00:43:22.870] new technologies come out and you just kind of stay up on it brother that's one that's one area
[00:43:27.550] you you're ahead of me and you're excelling in i what's that you are you are the man when it comes
[00:43:32.170] to all that stuff man let me just say that i'm still learning and for me this is foreign knowledge
[00:43:36.630] so um thank you for all you're doing for all you help me with and yeah i appreciate you and all i'm
[00:43:42.650] gonna help you with like exactly there's there's plenty of stuff going on we gotta we gotta talk
[00:43:46.930] after the podcast there's things we could do for each show and stuff like that but
[00:43:52.270] definitely check out fed up it's on all streaming platforms it's an audio only podcast so you're not
[00:43:58.550] going to find it on youtube just yet but it's a whole movement shout out to the facebook community
[00:44:03.970] uh fed up is it just fed up on facebook it's just fed up on facebook the podcast is fed up with ron
[00:44:09.910] speakman got you yeah make sure they check that out is there any uh how else can people find you
[00:44:16.650] you just wanted to check the podcast out do you have any social so i'm still learning that took
[00:44:21.130] me a little bit to learn uh facebook on the professional side of things right yeah so i i'll
[00:44:26.550] be on tiktok and instagram twitter well x now whatever the hell they call it um we're going
[00:44:33.010] to be growing in that aspect i'm going to rely on you to help me with that as well yeah we'll do it
[00:44:37.930] and and again for any any any podcast platform out there spotify um googlecast which ain't even
[00:44:46.530] google no more it's something else now um apple podcast i'm on pod b that's my main main uh
[00:44:52.850] platform but i'm on every platform out there pocket cast uh castro i mean these are players
[00:44:59.490] is a player fm it might be a player or something like that just type in your favorite app and that
[00:45:05.990] you listen podcast on and you should find it so i know i was getting hits off geo savan for a while
[00:45:11.790] It's like an Indian podcast network.
[00:45:15.490] So, yeah, no, you got to get yourself out there.
[00:45:18.630] And that's what I think is so crazy.
[00:45:20.410] A couple of things I want to say in closing.
[00:45:22.570] I respect you so much for not just laying down when problems occur and not only overcoming
[00:45:28.910] the problems, but then going back and saying, I'm going to help fix that problem.
[00:45:33.410] Yeah.
[00:45:33.750] That's insane.
[00:45:34.810] That's crazy.
[00:45:35.470] You not only did it with the youth, you're doing it now with the podcast.
[00:45:39.910] Who knows where it comes from there?
[00:45:41.550] so i really i really respect that i appreciate that man absolutely i and i the same amount of
[00:45:47.950] love is for you as well because if it wasn't for you early on um i wouldn't have been so quick to
[00:45:54.190] the launch you know i eventually would have launched but not as quick without you being
[00:45:58.410] there by my side so i appreciate you and to anybody out there who's thinking about starting
[00:46:03.370] a podcast just do it man you're gonna there's no such thing as a perfect plan let alone even if you
[00:46:10.270] had a plan forget about being perfect your shit's gonna change so much just roll with it um that's
[00:46:16.670] why i was laughing when you were like because i remember you had like 10 episodes before you
[00:46:20.930] dropped i did i had them all recorded and ironically the first intro episode which is
[00:46:26.730] about me a little bit about me i go a little bit more in depth than what i did here not too much
[00:46:31.430] it's more generalized um but i also talk about why i created fed up and then i go into toxic
[00:46:36.250] and hostile work environments that episode the intro episode wasn't recorded until after like
[00:46:41.710] that 10th episode um because i knew it had to drop it had to be fire had to have a great
[00:46:46.230] introduction yeah so i was like you know what i'm gonna talk about me because in doing so
[00:46:51.310] if anybody out there is looking to do a podcast such as like i'm doing where you're i don't want
[00:46:57.700] to say taking on the man but you get what i'm saying right yeah uh you're you're taking up a
[00:47:01.920] fight any kind of fight power whatever if you're gonna have anybody come at you target you for
[00:47:07.780] anything because it's standing up and fighting for the rights of others i highly recommend you
[00:47:14.830] talk about yourself talk about yourself i did that intro episode the way i did because listen
[00:47:20.750] we all have mistakes in our lives that we've made but no one's perfect right so i figured if i put
[00:47:28.850] that out there it's kind of like the old m&m battle this is ironic you know you know i'm
[00:47:33.610] caucasian i'm talking about a caucasian rapper here this is this has nothing to do with that but
[00:47:37.810] um uh the movie um a mile yeah yeah tell them all about yourself exactly tell these people
[00:47:45.050] something they don't know about me exactly so i thought i'd put that in there because i i am
[00:47:50.830] being targeted against there's people out there who don't like me and who have a power in whatever
[00:47:56.370] position they're in who can cause problems for me. And I'm not looking for any problems. Don't
[00:48:02.050] start nothing. There won't be nothing. But I wanted to be proactive. So that's my whole point
[00:48:05.890] of saying that was anybody out there, are you going to do a platform like I'm doing?
[00:48:09.750] Think about that. Put yourself out there. Are you going to have people out there say this,
[00:48:14.670] say that? Yeah, it comes with the territory, man. Don't respond. Again, control what you can,
[00:48:18.950] not what you can't. Because guess what? They active. They watching you. I don't care if
[00:48:25.090] you're not going to say something bad about me. I mean, obviously I want, I'm here for all love
[00:48:29.510] and the right intentions. Uh, and for the most part, I'm getting that love back, but for all
[00:48:34.350] the haters out there and the people who are literally targeting me, that's why I started
[00:48:38.970] that episode. So, um, I just thought I'd share that with the people out there who might want
[00:48:42.870] to start the same kind of platform that I'm doing. So think about it, take action, put yourself out
[00:48:47.530] there and make it harder for them to say shit about you. People are going to follow in your
[00:48:53.800] footsteps there's gonna be other there's gonna be other content off the same concept there's
[00:48:58.740] gonna be seven fed up minis you know but you're always gonna be leading the way with that stuff
[00:49:03.760] and yeah even if even if you don't say somebody comes with a bigger budget and they see money
[00:49:09.280] in getting people to listen first off the people will read right through it yeah your show's
[00:49:14.060] authentic has been from the start and will continue to be so even sponsorship's not going
[00:49:18.920] change that that'll that'll be dope man i'm excited to see the influence you drop um this
[00:49:24.620] is gonna drop hopefully before july 20th we got a few minutes left before time is up what do you
[00:49:30.500] think about uh mike tyson jake paul uh i'll watch but i'm not listen i i'm with mike tyson all day
[00:49:37.940] man i think jake paul's a fool man uh tyson can still cause damage yeah so you just going based
[00:49:47.500] off that because it's iron mike no no he still has it he's still a killer 57 yeah yeah he's still
[00:49:55.580] a killer and if you watch that i'm sure jones yeah listen he held back on a couple of those blows
[00:50:00.880] and a couple times he didn't even throw the blow he he would man he would have hurt roy jones i
[00:50:05.400] love roy jones those are my two favorite fighters right there roy and obviously mike tyson um
[00:50:10.600] mike still has it now it's just about if if he can take it like he used to right i'm sure they'll
[00:50:16.810] have something like you mentioned earlier like a uh uh headshots or something like that yeah like
[00:50:21.930] a knockout clause or something like that where and i don't know man first off what i what i have
[00:50:27.870] to say about it i think it's amazing that jake has brought so much attention and conversation
[00:50:33.970] around the sport of boxing which let's be honest was dying it's classic yeah but how many fighters
[00:50:40.490] are actually you know how many times does canelo fight how many times are you having these big
[00:50:45.750] epic moments right but yet you have a ton of belts and this is no disrespect my family comes
[00:50:52.540] from boxing but you have so many different belts and so anytime you turn on the tv on a saturday
[00:50:58.380] there's a title fight going on it's insane but yet fighters aren't getting the purse that
[00:51:04.500] you know mike's gonna get for this yeah he's gonna get the bag for this and so it's it's
[00:51:11.030] interesting because of the fact that you don't know if they have these clauses or back ends or
[00:51:15.850] what the paperwork looks like you know you just have to look at it as for what it is you know
[00:51:21.030] it's entertainment like i said it's almost like wwf but it has me excited i mean it's better than
[00:51:27.290] him fighting someone else like uh yeah i don't know about the greatest event in boxing history
[00:51:33.590] but who knows man who knows it can't end bad because if jake it knocks out everybody's gonna
[00:51:41.430] to go nuts if tyson gets knocked out everyone's going even if it just goes to this decision yeah
[00:51:47.330] yeah i mean i don't think people want to see that but who knows man we'll see if it's scripted this
[00:51:52.150] is i'm going to try to air this right before so we can do our predictions so we could be wrong all
[00:51:57.070] the way either way um if i'm not a gambling man but if i were betting i'd probably put my money
[00:52:03.690] on jake yeah and i'm gonna go mike you put money on mike but i want to be clear here the way boxing
[00:52:10.050] has been going yeah i'm not a betting man no more let's just say that yeah i feel like the
[00:52:16.630] scales are tilted they did the outcomes already isn't that the only sport you could bet on
[00:52:20.530] yourself i mean there's other stuff you can bet on right i mean it's legal you could like bet on
[00:52:25.230] i guess gambling i don't know like i'm totally not a gambler but yeah i mean i'm not either i
[00:52:30.010] stay away from that stuff i like my money in my pocket where that's where it's at you know i might
[00:52:33.390] make a bet with you or somebody you know a friend or something but no i've been to the casino and
[00:52:37.950] i'll put like the the where you could spend five cents for a slot or whatever or something like
[00:52:42.450] that and yeah and i've heard people that are like oh they play cards because there's more
[00:52:46.450] like i i love probability i love the idea of probability but knowing what i know about
[00:52:52.550] probability you ain't winning yeah exactly gambling but can i say one more thing about uh
[00:52:58.750] the podcast yeah we can go over an hour we're at 55 55 ironically it feels like i was here 20
[00:53:03.950] minutes bro i know um i just want to say to the public out there um that the fed up podcast is
[00:53:11.330] i want to make the public aware of what's going on because i feel like it's important i always
[00:53:16.270] ask three questions usually at the end of my interviews with certain guests from all over
[00:53:21.190] um and that's to make anybody who has a position of power in society whatever position may be a
[00:53:29.230] political news reporter, a politician, um, you know, wherever you're, you're, you're Congress
[00:53:34.770] or Senate, um, governor, whatever you are, that type of position, and you can help us make the
[00:53:41.850] change. And you're listening, actually listened to Tony's podcast, which is great, by the way.
[00:53:47.130] Um, I want you to understand that my intentions, our intentions are to get the public support
[00:53:55.260] for what's going on behind the scenes. We have carriers going months, sometimes even years
[00:54:01.540] without pay. They're losing their homes. They're losing their jobs. They're going homeless,
[00:54:06.420] right? And some even take their lives. Naturally, you can see why that's important to me just from
[00:54:10.460] my upbringing and how I was raised and everything I've been through. So it's personal for me also
[00:54:14.760] because I've been through it. If I didn't have that fighting spirit, I wouldn't have made it
[00:54:18.660] through to be honest with you. But there's a lot of people who don't have that. And that's why I
[00:54:22.780] do what I do for those who can't voice their opinions, who can't speak up, who are scared
[00:54:27.860] to, but we need your help.
[00:54:29.920] We need the public support and we also need those in power to help us.
[00:54:36.680] We need, again, it comes down to recognize there's a problem you have to first talk about
[00:54:41.780] and get uncomfortable talking about these things.
[00:54:45.220] Do these things happen in other, like in state jobs and other private sector?
[00:54:50.100] Sure.
[00:54:50.800] But the totality of what's happening, it's at a larger scale when you're in a federal agency with a federal union as a federal employee.
[00:54:58.720] Because at the end of the day, they're breaking federal law, management, your agency.
[00:55:06.110] Eventually, I'm a big firm believer in karma.
[00:55:09.330] And what you put out there will eventually come back to you.
[00:55:12.890] But that's all I wanted to say was this is the purpose of FedUp going public.
[00:55:17.750] Because right now, it's just on federal employees.
[00:55:20.540] all over this country. And, you know, FBI, bank examiners, IRS, post office, TSA, we deal with
[00:55:28.800] some of the same problems, some more than others, but the biggest similar problem is the on-the-job
[00:55:33.100] work injuries. But postal service, something needs to be done, you know, and I talk a lot.
[00:55:39.820] You'll hear me if you ever, if you listen to my episodes to FedUp, it's not just Department
[00:55:45.420] Labor and OWCP. It's our agency. It's our own union. Without saying it too much, I'll let you
[00:55:51.830] guys check it out yourselves, but we need your help. That's all I want to say. We need the public
[00:55:56.070] support to help push and to lobby for this change, if you will, right? Again, I'm not a political
[00:56:01.690] person. I'm sitting here saying lobby and lobbyists, and I can't believe I'm saying it,
[00:56:06.110] but we need the help and we need the support. If you look back to the great postal strike in 1970,
[00:56:11.510] that was huge. We're not allowed to strike. And I don't want to talk about striking and freak
[00:56:17.200] anybody out. It's in article 18 of our contract. We can't strike. It's federal law. It's a felony.
[00:56:26.040] Do you think that stopped the strikers of the great postal strike in 1970 who,
[00:56:31.260] without that strike, we wouldn't have collective bargaining today the way it is in our unions?
[00:56:36.200] That was big for us. But again, being that we're divided a lot, we need to solidify
[00:56:42.130] our solidarity and and unionize but we need your help we need we need your help need your support
[00:56:48.170] and that's why i want to go public with this um if you want to know more if you have questions
[00:56:53.730] for me you can reach me at one dot fed up dot podcast at gmail.com reach out but we need your
[00:57:00.070] support please like follow share the podcast join facebook page fed up we just need your support man
[00:57:07.500] i know that's a mouthful i apologize man but i just wanted to be clear on why
[00:57:10.740] we need your help because there's a lot to to make change on so well hopefully this falls on
[00:57:19.100] the right ears man i hope so i hope so and real quick i just want to give a shout out to my
[00:57:24.380] sponsors if i can uh dr robert custin from fed hurt um if you're a federal employee and you get
[00:57:31.640] injured on a job he has multiple locations across this country including puerto rico
[00:57:35.500] you can actually go to his website www.forfedhurt.com again that's www.forfedhurt.com
[00:57:46.700] look up the location if he's around you and give him a call just check him out and also
[00:57:52.940] uh out there my barber um five-star barbers they're on uh allentown they're in allentown
[00:58:00.840] on Tillman Street, West Tillman Street out there by the Domino's out there by right before
[00:58:07.640] P.J.
[00:58:08.020] Willinghans.
[00:58:08.880] But a shout out to them and Dr. Robert Custon from FedHurt.
[00:58:13.320] So but yeah, just had to give them a shout out.
[00:58:16.340] I appreciate y'all and stay tuned for more for more episodes coming soon.
[00:58:22.300] So thank you for listening to another episode of I Will Not Lose Podcast.
[00:58:28.480] To support the show, visit IWillNotLosePodcast.com.
[00:58:32.720] You can subscribe to your favorite podcast player, share the episode link, leave a comment.
[00:58:38.160] Your contribution is greatly appreciated.
[00:58:40.940] And if you're listening in and can't see the QR code for donation, go to TOTheDesigner.com
[00:58:46.600] slash links, and there's instructions to donate up there.
[00:58:50.400] Thanks so much.