Eric Thomas - The Hip-Hop Preacher

Full transcript: Eric Thomas on London Real

5:59 This is London Real. I am Brian Rose. With me today is Mr. Sully Breaks, who is a spoken word artist. You would have seen him on this show a couple months ago.

6:06 His episode is called Change Through Verse. He’s racked up about four million views on YouTube with his videos, Why I Hate School but Love Education and The America Can’t Dream. You got a new video out. What’s that called? I will not let an exam result decide my fate.

6:20 Okay, that’s cool too. Yeah, that’s very good. Yeah, I know, so let’s definitely check his stuff out. You’ve been featured in the Washington Huffington Post. You’ve spoken at over 100 universities, right?

6:31 That’s crazy, all right. And with us today is the hip-hop preacher himself, Mr. Eric Thomas. You might have first seen him in his video when you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe. If you haven’t seen that video, you must be from another planet.

6:45 I don’t watch that. I was asking, I was talking to like, Grandma’s I was talking to like French people people from Africa Spain. I was like you heard of this Oh, yeah. Yeah, I heard that guy. So I don’t know that thing went viral in a weird way Yeah, I don’t know. I didn’t have anything to do with it So I don’t know I went viral well because like I asked people from all walks of life, you know Not just any type of person. They’re like, yeah. Yeah, I know him and then I was like, wow I didn’t realize so you had a big impact with that. Um Just speaks through when you see the video the voices comes to you. I mean, yeah There’s something powerful about it, but Eric is a motivational speaker and educator author activist and minister as well I salute okay, and I’ve been watching your videos on YouTube man I get excited just watching you you got this some series called TG. I am absolutely just thank God It’s Monday Just trying to get folks to you know see just a different perspective see going to work is you asked for it I mean you signed up So you might as well put a hundred and twenty percent in it and I guarantee you if you look at it differently differently, you’ll get a different result from it.

7:48 I was thinking only you would come up with the title, thank God it’s my name. Absolutely, absolutely. That’s like some Eric Thomas brand. Absolutely, absolutely. Yeah, no, I was watching that and watching your coming to London video, but anyways, welcome to London.

8:01 Man, good to be here, guys. I really appreciate it. Man, phenomenal experience. You know, it’s one thing to be here, but my family’s here, my wife, my son, my daughter, my kids will never be able to say I didn’t do anything. You know, I brought you to London at 17 and 15.

8:18 My mother’s here, my mother-in-law. I think I just met your mother outside. Outside, yep. So I don’t know if London’s ready for her because she’s here. And about 17 of us came from the team.

8:28 So phenomenal experience, man. I just wanted everybody to feel it, to see it. And I knew London would change them. So it’s just phenomenal being here. I was on the London Eye, you know, and I had a little VIP with a group of people there.

8:42 And it’s just like, the fact that people would even want to come and see me and spend time with me is unbelievable. You know, I was thinking about, I have different co-hosts on the show and I was trying to think, who can handle Eric Thomas? Absolutely. Because I was telling Sully earlier, and you know, Sully’s the only Englishman in the room, you know, I’m from the States, but I’m ripping, I’m proud, I’m gonna say I’m ripping. But I was just thinking, you know, I mean, I have a little experience with people who speak as passionately as you I’m from America, but over here, I don’t think in Europe and in England. I don’t think they’ve ever met anyone like you Oh, they wait till they get a little They just need to get a little bit in it and everybody will be doing it once I leave How you finding the reception over here? It’s awesome. You know, it’s awesome. I don’t know if it’s because of the videos Because you know, we have a Close-knit history together. I’m not sure what it is. But I mean, man, it has been overwhelming and just to see you know I’m over the pond and to see that you know a guy told me all the way from Detroit you’re making a difference in my life you know so it has been phenomenal I mean they’ve just treated us first class from the time we landed to now and so one of my one of the my staff members he’s like I’m moving in love get them pounds up yeah it’s not cheap over here absolutely the American

10:03 Currency can’t hang so yeah yeah but so far man has been phenomenal okay and you’re giving a talk this weekend as well with the mermaid, right? Absolutely. I’ve been doing a few smaller events, little intimate stuff, really trying to speak to a group and make sure that we impact the group. But the big show, of course, is on Saturday. We’ve got a couple of shows, and I think Sunday we’re doing some stuff as well.

10:26 So it’s been a packed schedule, man. Okay. You know, for people that don’t know a whole lot about you, I was just wondering if you could just give us a quick, kind of, where you started to where you are right now. I know you were a high school dropout. He had some days homeless in Detroit and then I I was watching a video of Eric and he said he had a vision When you were 17, I think and he said something else and he said for success only one person has to believe That’s it. That’s one of the many things and I was wondering if you could explain. Yeah, what happened when you were 17 You know, my story is no different than a lot of people, you know, Drake said it best started from the bottom You know, we’re in London, you know, so So unfortunately my mom was a teeny mom, wasn’t married, had me at 18 years old, and it was just me and mom’s for a while, moved to Detroit, she married, her husband adopted me, I wasn’t really feeling my man like that, wasn’t feeling the relationship, and so just a downward spiral, didn’t take school serious, didn’t take life serious, and I ended up at 16 so rebellious, So angry with my mom that I eventually got kicked out the house, I’m living in abandoned buildings, eating out of trash cans, hanging with the wrong group, just going the wrong way man.

11:43 And one day I was like, man, I want better, I can’t, I’m looking at guys on the block, you either end up in jail or you’re dead, you don’t retire from the life that we were living. And I was like, this can’t, it’s not for me man, I gotta be able to do something better. So I made my move, I got in a different environment, I started going to church, started dating this young lady who really held me accountable, she’s like I’m going to college and I’m not dating a high school dropout, so I ended up getting my GED going to college and for real, a lot of people didn’t believe in me, your mom came from nothing, your daddy wasn’t in your life, you didn’t do well in school, so there’s a journey for that type of person.

12:25 I was like, hey, not for me, I’m going to be somebody, and although people didn’t I always say you sometimes when you’re running a company when you first start a company You got to be the CEO the CFO You know you got to be the administrative assistant the male male clerk. You got to do everything You know mail man you got to do it all and so from my personal life I became that person for me. I want everybody here this now. There are hundreds of people Maybe even thousand. I don’t know who believed in me, but it all happened because I believed in myself So once you invest in yourself people are willing to invest in you and I get tired sometimes, you know kids call me Mr. Thomas. I had his business or I have this idea. I want you to invest, you know, three three three thousand pounds I’m like, that’s your journey. That’s your vision You have to invest in it more than anybody else and when you do that Then you’ll get other people to support you. So that’s just what I believe you got to believe in yourself before anybody else is gonna Buy into your vision I agree with that 100%, I mean, even with what I do, like he said, I’ve got like almost 4 million views, but prior to that, there’s 100 videos on my channel which nobody watched, you know what I mean?

13:38 So yeah, it’s true. I’ve been there. So you’ve got to put in that, so you just believing in yourself ultimately does reap the rewards. Absolutely. I can identify with that totally, man.

13:46 Yeah, I don’t know if I have 4 million hits, so that’s impressive, yeah. No, I’ve been there too. I mean, this is the 92nd episode of London Real, started this on a whim, everyone said We’re crazy and first people said it’s too long and now they say it’s too short And like you were saying I was watching another video you and it’s like when you get the check in the mail all of a sudden People are like, oh what you’re doing is really Once we started getting views and subscribers and getting people on they’re like, oh, they’re not so crazy Yeah, and again, that’s that that’s the reality that your reality is reality That’s reality. So I tell people, you know, I’m not just in London. I’m here with my son this is a reality like son I need you to see what your father is doing and I don’t want you to do what I’m doing but I want you to see all the work I put in you know all the videos all the stuff I do for free I want you to see it my wife was with me in Vegas you know and we couldn’t go it took us an hour and 15 to get to a restaurant you know people wanted to sign want me to sign autographs people you know wanted to take pictures and my wife is like whoa I was with you when you were and my wife didn’t really and I love my wife you know this respect but you know my wife is about having a full-time job so in the beginning she was like what’s what is this dream how are you gonna get paid how we’re gonna take care of our family kids have asthma how they gonna get in America

15:05 For insurance you know health insurance in order to you know you know go to the hospital and I just told my wife like look I don’t care who believes in me this is a reality you know and so with each video with each check with each signature with each whatever we do that becomes reality so I want my kids to walk in it I want them to you know fly first class and see that whatever it is they want to do they don’t need anybody support they just need to know if they could see it in their mind eventually will manifest you know into the physical realm do you draw power from all the people you bring with you or is this like a celebration and I thank you I mean you’re rolling 17 deep that’s it That’s that’s an entourage. Oh, yeah, man. That’s the family. Oh, no, I draw inspiration man from every person that comments You know, it’s tough. You’re looking at a camera talking to a camera. You’re not talking to a human being. It’s a camera You’re not in a live audience where you get that feet So in my mind, I’m thinking about each person that I’m talking to and I’m looking at the camera like you people say all the time Like Eric, I felt like you were talking to me I was talking to you, that’s exactly who I was talking to.

16:12 So in my mind, I envision, you know, this young entrepreneur who’s out here trying to make it happen and you’re hitting roadblocks. You know, but you know you got a gift. Break’s got a gift. You know that it’s creativity, it’s innovation, it’s something that people have never heard before. And so every now and then you might get discouraged.

16:30 So I wanna be that guy that motivates you because you’re motivating thousands. I wanna motivate you because you are in a relationship. you do have a wife, you do have children, you are getting up and going to the same job, you do have a vision that nobody’s believing in. And so I wanna be your cheerleader, like I wanna pump you up, I wanna, and so I draw from all the different people, all the stories I’ve heard, you know, what I want to accomplish in people’s lives, and so that energy comes from within, but it’s every tweet, it’s every post, it’s every phone call, it’s every signature I sign, I’m signing signatures and asking questions and listening to my, like who am I signing this to?

17:10 Who are you? Or who do you want me to sign this to? Who are they? And so that’s the inspiration that I pull that allows me to do what I do and keep doing what I do. How do you, how do you get in your zone and relax?

17:21 A bunch of people asked us like, how does he sleep? You know, how does he, how do you ever kind of cool down? Or do you not need to cool down? It’s easy, don’t sleep in it, it’s easy, don’t sleep. I’ll be real, man.

17:31 It has to be, you know, me and my wife were family on vacation and my wife has to like, look, give me your phone, you know, cut the computer off, you know, and I have to go into that, all right, your family gives so much of you that this is the time for you, you know, you gotta pour it back into them, you know, but you have to literally force me. I mean, we got in, as soon as we got in, I’m doing interview after interview after interview. They’re like, E.T., did you eat?

17:58 Like, no, this is my food. Like, give me the next interview. All right, in an hour, or give me the next one, 30 minutes, they’re like, how do you do it? And it’s because I wasted so much time in my life. I wasn’t using my gift.

18:10 I was being rebellious. I was a disobedient. I was getting in trouble with the law. And I was one of those kids that literally I was going to be a statistic. And so now I’m in London.

18:20 How do you sleep when you have the opportunity? I’m only going to be here seven days. So I have to get as much done as I can in seven days. Why? Because if I do what I’m supposed to do in the seven, the next time is 30.

18:33 But if I don’t take advantage of each opportunity, then I may never come back to London. But I want my kids not only to visit London once, I want them to say, hey dad, we’re out of school. I know you got work in London, so let’s go hang out in the summer in London. Like, I don’t want you to taste success once and then you go back to being who you are. I want London to be a reality.

18:55 It wasn’t a visit. I want you to come shop in London. You haven’t shop here yet. You haven’t taken a class here. You haven’t met the people.

19:02 You haven’t been immersed in the culture, you’re just visiting London. The next time, I want you to learn from London. So every interview I do, it’s got to be hot, because it’s got to be, we want more of ET. And that’s just kind of how I think, 86,400 seconds in a day, each one represents an opportunity, and I have to take advantage of each one, why? Because each one creates another one.

19:29 And so these moments are so, and that’s why I’m so pumped and so hyped because you only get so much time in a day, you only live for so long, and I want to make each moment memorable. You’re all about success and trying to get people to be successful. And do you think in America especially that people are, are kids pressured too much to be successful and get that money and do that, or do you think it’s not enough? Yeah, I think they’re pressured too much to get money and not be successful.

19:56 You know, for me, success is I’ve been married 23 years. I was in my children’s life, I know my gift, I know my purpose, I’m passionate. Money follows because when you have a service that you can provide for people that is genuine, that’s unique, that’s special and that’s needed, like it really helps. You don’t have a problem with people making an investment in themselves. I mean, that’s what I see myself as, like people are not buying anything when they get Eric Thomas.

20:26 They’re doing is invested in themselves so they want to be motivated so that a football team may bring me in to speak they’re not asking me to come here because I’m not saying that they don’t care about Eric Thomas but they didn’t bring me in for Eric Thomas they brought me in because they felt like you’re gonna give us that edge that advantage we need to win that World Cup you know or to win you know the Super Bowl or whatever it is so for me people are making an investment in themselves so success is being the best that I could And it’s not what you say because you don’t know that I have three before more gears. You’re comparing me to the other Motivational speakers. So to me success is living your life to the fullest Is mother Teresa not successful because she wasn’t considered to be a billionaire Like I think she’s one of the most successful human being to me Gandhi was successful month. The king was successful He was only a pastor at a church, you know, like he wasn’t this business tycoon So for me success is saying you’re going to do something and doing it saying you’re going to be somebody and be in that person Every single day every single moment no matter what the circumstances what a situation is So I think we need to pressure people to be successful be who you are and break. That’s what I love You’re talking about education versus going to school too many people are forced to go to school

21:43 But I want to learn you should want to learn so what you don’t get a degree So what you don’t get a the kill got all aids. Does that mean his life is richer because he memorized But you know because he was able to retain information Longer than me or he has some trick that I couldn’t retain information No, it doesn’t mean that so for me We’ve got to make this shift from making money to being successful because successful people in my determination They will make money but people who make money aren’t necessarily successful people And you say you hate average people. I hate average.

22:17 I hate average. And you said good is worse than average, right? Yeah. Because it’s a facade. Okay.

22:25 I mean, when you think you’re getting something, like that’s like getting an imitation Louie or imitation Gucci, it looks so much like the real thing. I mean, it looks just like the real thing. It’s in the, they got it in the store. It’s got all the strappings and everything looks exactly the same, but it wasn’t manufactured by the real company. inferior product and that’s what good is. Good has this image at least with average you know what you get. You know it’s not real but there are people who are literally in I don’t know about in London but there are people in America who paid for what they thought was authentic because it looked so real. I mean it looked like this is the real deal and now to discover that they got beat that that that watch that they got wasn’t a real Rolex you know that that diamond ring that they got wasn’t real but it looks so much and so good looks So close to great some of the characteristics are are so the traits are so close But it’s not and so that’s why I hate good because it looks like great is not but average man average people You know, they don’t serve my food properly, you know, they don’t pick me up when they said they were gonna pick me up You know, they say eight but they meant nine, you know And I tell people the reason why I’m so aggravated is because you know for real honestly This may sound weird to you guys in the studio But if you if you burn down my house as much as it may, you know be like, oh you burned out my house

23:45 I can buy another and you they can actually my grandmother’s house was burned down about five years ago And we grew up in that home. Listen to me guys. They redid the house. It looks exactly like the house We grew up in it’s not the house, but it looks exactly like the house You could take my money out the bank guys and I could get a couple more engagement and I can put that money back Once you take time from me, I can never get that back again I can never get yesterday back, I can’t get a second back in 2012, I can’t get it back.

24:15 So I take time so serious because it’s the only commodity that once is spent, you can never regain it. And so average people don’t understand the importance of time. And so that’s what aggravates me is that while you’re being average, you’re dragging me into your reality when that’s not my world. And I don’t want to live in that world. So I like to hang with great people because they get it, you know, and people who are good Transitioning the great they’re not stuck in great. They get it. They understand my passion They understand I was with I was it is it Edgar Edgar Davis yesterday

24:55 And it’s a wonderful conversation because we both get it We’re going back and forth and back and forth and he’s like Eric I don’t understand some of these guys that play now. They don’t have a drive They’re not hungry and it’s because they don’t see that opportunities Have to be seized you have to and so that’s why I have a problem with average and good they frustrate me because They’re facade they look to be a certain thing But in reality, it’s not what it appears they say that you’re the average of the five people that you spend absolutely You believe that I do. Yeah, that’s why I spent as much time alone as I can And what about the average people, do you edit them out of your life?

25:40 Are you ruthless? I mean, if someone’s just not coming up to par, are you just like, I can’t hang with you anymore? Yeah, you know, and again, I see it this way, guys. I see it as you have your inner circle, you know, to me, your sanctum. Those are the people who you’re with every day, all day.

25:54 Those are the people that have access to your phone, they’re calling you, you know, you see that number, you answer that. These are the people that you work with, that you travel with. individuals I cannot allow them to be average. Now there are average people who I associate with because it my attempt is to help you you know to reach a level of consciousness that that you realize I’m not where I need to be and I need to transform. So those are people that you know on my terms I’ll spend time with you. I’ll recommend a book or you can call me and I’ll give you five minute conversation so it’s not like I don’t have contact with them but when I’m choosing a restaurant like literally guys and I’m not I mean this may sound weird to some people but there are times when I fly home and I only have two hours to be with my family I’ve got to get on another flight or I’ve got to drive somewhere I’ve got an interview so those two hours are not about dinner it’s about spending time with my family so if I go to a restaurant and you waste you take hours giving me my food you know you don’t get it that I’m not coming That’s to say they eat. I’m coming to spend time with my family. We don’t have time to go home cook the whole night And so for me, it’s it’s it’s this thing of I go to the restaurants and I asked for the same server the guys who I know When I come in they’re like, oh, mr. Thomas We know your wife likes the fettuccine with the chicken and your daughter wants the spaghetti and the vegetarian lasagna

27:19 We remember you you want ranch you want and they and I and I’m willing to pay more more because they get it, like this is an experience for you, this is a memory with your family, you know, and they’re not distracting you or taking time away. I went to a restaurant the other day, you know, and a girl comes, she said, what’s your drink order? I’m like, I’m good. We all want water, but we know what we want to eat. And she’s like, okay, well give me a minute, I forgot my pen.

27:42 I’m thinking you forgot your pen. You are a waiter. Come on, you’re a waiter, that’s what waiters do, they serve. So why don’t you have a pad in there? Because in her mind, she’s like, I’ve done this a million times, drink oil.

27:54 We just start with drink oil. And I’m like, I’m beyond drink. I didn’t come here to drink. I came to eat. We know what we want.

28:00 Come back. My wife orders. I’m so sorry. We don’t have the corn with that. I’m like, you don’t have the corn with it.

28:08 As you’re buying corn, as you’re buying corn, you don’t know that corn is running out, you know? And so she brought me some replacement coleslaw, which was sour, you know what I’m thinking? Come on, guys. Of course, not my wife is not doing what? We’re not talking family talk.

28:24 My wife’s attention now is on the fact that she didn’t get what she wanted. She’s eating something that’s not good. And so it’s distracted us from coming together. Whereas a superb service is so seamless that you can stay focused on what you’re focused on. And I mean, you did a wonderful job.

28:40 When we got here, phones off, you know, make sure this is the, all right, mics there, chairs, why are you doing that? Because you’re setting an atmosphere so that once we get started, We’re not interrupted, our flow is not interrupted. And average people don’t think like that. They don’t think about the flow, that if we’re talking and the phone rings, it will interrupt. Yes, we can start all over again, but we might not be able to start over with that ethos, that passion, that same spirit that we had.

29:07 So that’s why I have a problem with average people, because they live in a different world and nothing is important, where there’s no sense of urgency to them. Did you used to be a waiter? I once was a waiter, and I was one of the best. You waited where? It was like, and we have a branch called Marks and Spencers, but I wasn’t one of the best.

29:23 I’ll be honest with you, but I was definitely a waiter. But even what you’re saying about average people, especially when you come from environments like inner city London, for instance, you find that it’s crucial that you hang around with people who can be detrimental to your success. It can be the difference between life and death, you know what I mean? So it’s like, you know, it sounds cruel, but you have no other option but to cut those people out of your life because that’s the difference between you, maybe at a later date providing for your family or not, you know what I mean?

29:47 So I can kind of, I can definitely relate to you on that subject. Absolutely. You get it. And you said it best, you said life or death. And at the end of the day, that’s what it is, life or death.

29:59 Professionally. Which spills over to other areas of your life. I mean, I’m with my whole family. I was able to either budget so much and then pay for other tickets because I am so serious. And it’s funny when I got here, people are like, you really like that, like, you got here like, they’re thinking like, when I, you know, it was funny yesterday, they were like, you were as advertised, and I’m like, no, this is me, this is who I am, I’m not playing, when we met outside, I’m looking at, where do we start, let’s go, I’m looking to get into it, so, and we just left an hour documentary, my mom and I, took us about 30, 40 to get here, and hey, you wouldn’t have known that I just left doing a documentary, because it’s over, that opportunity is over.

30:45 And if I was to say, well, that opportunity was great and I’m still living in that moment, I wouldn’t be able to nail this moment and what this opportunity is going to do for me, for real, we’ll talk again years from now about how being at this particular form, at this particular time with the sun, I might add, with the sun shining outside, how this is going to leverage my career and give me more exposure that I’ve been blessed to be on this show. Some of the exposure that I’m going to have after this hour, I would’ve never had before. So, I get one shot, one moment, and I’ve got to capture it.

31:22 Yeah, he was ready to go. I met him on the sidewalk, and I don’t know, you thought I was a fan, or what? I don’t know what he thought, I’m like, hey, who’s the God, let’s go! Do you ever meet somebody, and can you tell in the first 10 seconds whether you can help him or not? Absolutely. Really?

31:36 Absolutely. The questions, people, Lauren Hill said, you know, you gotta ask the right questions. And there are people who call me, and I get so frustrated because it’s like, I can’t, a young lady called me about two weeks ago. And so I say, hello, she calls my personal number. I get my personal number out.

31:56 And so she said, I can’t believe it. I said, you can’t believe what? She said, I can’t believe this is ET. I said, I gave you my number. Why can’t you believe it’s ET?

32:05 She said, well, I’m thinking, you know, based on your status, I’m going to get your clerk, or I’m going to get a voicemail. And I’m like, no, you’re talking to ET, how can I help you? And I know she thought I was probably rude, but I realized I can’t help her because she’s starstruck. So you’re not calling me because you want to elevate your game, you want to go to the next level. No disrespect to those of you who are listening, but I don’t do groupies.

32:30 I mean, I’m not, I don’t have an ego. I don’t have a self-esteem problem. I’m no better than any other human. We all have to wake up in the morning, get dressed, go out and do what we do. So I said to her, do me a huge favor.

32:41 Either call me back when you have a question, or please don’t call me back again because you’re wasting my time. So people who come to me and say, yo, ET, like for real, what, of all your research, all your studying, all your traveling, give me the five secrets that you gained from all of this traveling that’s helped you take your game to the next level. Bye, this guy, serious. I can help this guy right here. Like, he is reflective, he’s thought about it before he called me.

33:09 You know, I’m not saying that there’s some people, you know, who call maybe the first 10 seconds, like, I can’t, you know, I’m shocked that you literally answered your phone. Because for real, so many, and this is an American term, but we say, you know, people are hot dog, you know, they’re hot dogging, they think they’re big time. And so I’m sure that when people call me, they are kind of the first 10 seconds, this guy’s really answering the phone. But I know I can’t help you when you’re on the streets, there’s this look in your eye.

33:30 Hunger has a look, you know, drive has a look. It, you know, even if I was here, you wouldn’t even know I wasn’t from London because the way I walk, I walk like I’ve been here before. I don’t walk lost, you know, I don’t walk like I don’t have any place to go. I came to London with a specific purpose, an assignment that I’m here to get something done. So yes, there’s a look, there’s this alertness, this detail, this attention that people have their body language that lets me know, yeah, I can’t help her or I can’t help this guy.

34:03 But there are other people I look at and it’s like, yep, you were just like, you saw a ghost, you know what I’m saying? And like I said, I’ve met celebrities, but when I meet celebrities, there are people like, oh man, I wish I, and I know this is not going to happen, but I wish I could meet Adele, you know, because that drive that she has, I feed off of that drive. You know, 21 was all about we’re gonna take, we’re gonna take this opportunity called pain, failure, disappointment, and we’re gonna turn it into a Grammy.

34:34 You know, we’re gonna go in that studio and I’m just gonna let it all out. You know, so she took, for real, for real, there are people who go through what Adele went through and they commit suicide. Or they start drinking and become addicted to something to get away from that pain. And so she took her pain and used her pain to make her great. You know, so yes, there are people who I can just look at I can’t tell, I can’t help this guy.

34:55 You’re blocking it, talking about how you’re the worst celebrity ever. Absolutely. Absolutely. It’s quite funny actually. Yeah, absolutely.

35:02 And I’ll be honest with you, some of the CEOs in America, you know, some guys who are, you know, millionaires, they’re coming to me like, Eric, you got to, you got to do better. Like this whole, you know, you go into a room before the show starts, like you got to wait for the build up, you know what I’m saying? You got to let them say your name and do this big intro and then you come out, you know, like you’re taking away that, that, that, that glamour thing, you know, You know, you can’t sign every book some books You don’t sign some books you sign to give it this it’s not common field, you know You can’t do a video every Monday or maybe do three minutes and then you send them to this blog where they can They can get his prescription or membership and they can sign it’s like you’re becoming too common, you know You’re just walking up the street. They’re seeing you at the malls. They’re taking pictures with you You know, you know, you’re not sitting in first-class. I’m like first class cost too much It was only in our fight like you’re sitting in the back with people and you’re having a conversation It was funny on my way here from Detroit It was a guy from London who had gone to the States to Chicago for some marketing things like ET I’ve got a ticket to your show Like well when we get on the plane can we talk I’m like no doubt so I’m in the back We’re talking and Stewart is like I can’t have you guys, you know sitting here talking like you guys gotta sit down

36:14 And so I mean we’re just kicking and he’s like I can’t believe I’m with you. You saved my marriage you saved my career. I can’t believe I’m literally talking to you. And I’m like, why can’t you? We’re on the same plane. We paid for the same plane. And when we get off, he’s following me through the airport and we’re talking. I give him my number. He’s calling. He’s like, let’s do English breakfast together. I’m like, I love it. So I am one of the worst celebrities because I just don’t buy into the hype. I truly believe for real. We’re all humans. We all have a gift. And some of us have been courageous enough to follow it. And some of us haven’t been courageous enough to to follow our dreams.

36:48 Talk to me about haters. I mean, Sully’s putting out videos on a regular basis saying things like, well, the America can’t dream, or, you know, I hate school but love education. You know, you get a lot of counterpoints, people that are coming at you saying, you know, wait, university has a purpose. I think you might be heading to the BBC later to talk to people about that. I get hate all the time from London Real.

37:08 And you said something like, don’t totally dismiss your haters. No, no, no. And this is what I love about my haters. And I just believe you can get something out of everything. I think everything teaches.

37:21 If you’re with a three-month-old, if you pay attention, they’re teaching you something. I mean, it’s something you can get out of watching. This three-month-old that’s not concerned about time. He’s not on the etiquette thing. I mean, he’s just living free.

37:36 And so for me, the one thing I love about my haters is they give me a perspective that my mother doesn’t give me. My mom loves me so much. I think, you know, there are times where, you know, she may want to correct me and she’s like, I don’t want to hurt his self-esteem, you know, or my wife, you know, may not say a certain thing because she’s like, I’m not 100% sure, I’m not in the field, maybe I shouldn’t say that, but I find that my haters say what’s on their mind, you know, and sometimes what they say is real, you know, that there are some adjustments that I need to make, you know, now, I don’t take their hate and allow it to tear me down, but there are things that they say, you know, about me, I’ll never forget this one guy who was hating on me was talking about how I had four or five jobs, you know, he’s like he’s doing this and he’s doing that he’s doing that and I thought about it one day I was like okay what is he saying now take away that he’s not making his dreams become a reality and he’s jealous about the fact that I’m fearless that I’m going out here and I’m trying it but there was some validation in what he was saying and that if you’re doing too much and you don’t have a solid focus you may not be getting the most out of your life and I was like you You know what, this guy’s, he’s telling the truth.

38:43 And so I started to narrow my focus and I quit my job at Michigan State and start doing free. Thank God it’s money. And I’m traveling across. So the dude was right. There were a couple of things that I was doing that was really taking me away from going from good to great.

38:57 The job was, you know, my wife loved the stability. She loved the 401k, the health plan. You know, I was getting a steady check. You know, my wife loved that. You know, but when I left that job, that job did not allow me to come to London because I can only take off for so many weeks.

39:13 I only had so much time off. So, honestly, nobody else was courageous enough to say, this guy’s got four or five jobs, but this guy, he’s doing too much. I sat down one day and said, you know what, he might be right. And then what I love about my haters as well is that I know they don’t want me to succeed. So there are times, honestly, when I’m thinking about sleeping in, I’m like, my haters would love this.

39:36 Or making an error, I’m on the road, and I’m thinking about maybe doing something I don’t have no business doing and I’m thinking, how would my hater like to see this in the newspaper? They take this and laminate this and put this on the wall. Put this on the wall, they probably start their own blog and start their own radio show and just talk about I told you, I told you so, I told you he wasn’t the father you thought he was or the husband you thought he was or I told you he didn’t have the integrity that you think that he has and so those are the two ways that I use my haters to push me to a place where my loved ones and trust me, My loved ones have supported me in ways I can’t even imagine, but my haters have given me that extra, that edge, that advantage that I know that they’re always in the backdrop waiting for me to make a mistake.

40:21 They’re waiting for me to fall. They’re waiting for me to come out with a video that doesn’t represent the videos I’ve done before. They’re waiting, and so I’m going to keep them waiting. I’m going to keep them waiting. So when you talk about hate, talk to me.

40:34 I haven’t had the chance to hear some of the stuff that you mentioned about the way you frame it. Talk to me about that. Oh, in terms of like, but I’ll kind of view it the same way you do in terms of people write a lot of negative stuff because what I’m saying, it doesn’t exactly go for the status quo. You know what I mean? If I’m telling people learn to educate yourself, you can educate yourself and there’s more you can gain out of school than what they put on a piece of paper, that grade they put on the paper.

40:57 There’s a lot of people who have ended up in positions in their life that they may not be happy with and because of that, they feel they have to address it in an ignorant But like you say, I always see that everyone’s entitled to an opinion and like I say to my friend I put a video up and my friend would be like to me Oh, it’s got lots of likes and I say no I need dislikes because my most successful videos are the ones with the most dislikes on Them so that you need you need you need that kind of you you know I mean and like at the end of the day I don’t mind you can be entitled to opinion as long as it’s not ignorance is that that it’s like affecting other people You can insult me all at once if I’ve got like my girlfriend in the video and you’re you’re saying old ugly girl That’s ignorance. That’s that’s nothing to do with the content You know what I mean?

41:34 But aside from that, you need, like you said, you need those cadence to go forward, definitely. Absolutely. You know, when you work out, you know, you don’t gain muscle from lifting feathers. You gain muscle when you lift weight. And what happens is it literally tears the muscle up.

41:51 And when you rest, you build a muscle. So if you’re accustomed to lifting 100 pounds, you can’t keep lifting 100 pounds and see results. You have to add. what my haters do is they give me that pressure that I need to tear me down, to rebuild me so that my muscles, whether it’s professionally or personally or whatever it is, spiritually, they build me in ways that, for real, my family doesn’t put that same amount of pressure on me. I love them, they love me, but they don’t challenge me in a way that my haters do.

42:23 My haters make me think. Think before you talk. You’re about to say something. How How could this be ammunition? Word this properly because if you word it improperly, even though that wasn’t your intent, they could take that thing and run with it.

42:36 So for real, I love my haters because they give me a perspective that nobody else in this world gives me. And I know that they know I’m in London right now. So I’m kind of wondering what’s going on in my mind right now. I bet most people would think you didn’t have haters, you know? Oh man, so many, man.

42:52 That’s crazy. I will say this to you, because my content is so strong, and because it’s not narcissistic in a way, it really is about helping other people. I’ve noticed that when people get on and say negative things, that the community belays them. So they’re a little bit more apprehensive about getting on because the common guy, people that they know, it’s like, yo, how dare you disrespect the person that’s not charging us, that’s putting out this motivation.

43:22 So I find that I have haters, but they’re in their own little community talking. They’re not brave enough, generally, to come out and say how they feel. So, but trust me, somehow word gets back. What people are saying, but I love it. And for real, it really motivates me and challenges me to think about what I do and what I say.

43:46 And sometimes everybody needs that positive pressure. And I see it as positive pressure. Yeah, you definitely need it, like, honestly, the fact of it is that honesty is there, you know what I mean? Oh, it’s great. There is that honesty.

43:59 It’s only insecurity that makes you not look into it, you know what I mean? Absolutely. I guess you could thank Twitter and YouTube because we didn’t have that kind of anonymous criticism. Absolutely. 200 years ago.

44:08 I guess you didn’t have it, right? Yeah. Man, it’s hard to thank them sometimes. But I find if you get a little, a few painful comments, I’m like, whatever. But if you get the same people saying the same thing, like 20, 30, 40 times, then you’re like, maybe there’s something going on here, you know, for real.

44:20 I’ve got to check. I’ve got to look into it, I’ve got to look into it, absolutely, and you said it, you’ve got to be courageous enough to be able to look at yourself and say everything about me is not solid. Or there are always room for improvement, yeah. What do you want to be in like five, ten years? Are you trying to be completely, I guess, ubiquitous, be like known all over the world or do you have like other goals in mind for you, for the ET brand, for everything?

44:46 I think for the ET brand, man, this may sound crazy, but we’re doing exactly what we want to do. I get that feeling and people get that feeling. For people, media is so important that you will be known everywhere. I’ll be honest with you. I was in Vegas eating with my wife and a group came up to me and I saw them looking at me and I’m like, put my head down.

45:11 And not that I’m mine, but when I’m with my wife sometimes, my wife is very private. She’s an only child. So she doesn’t really, she doesn’t get me a lot. So when she’s with me, she kind of just wants to be alone. And a group came up to me, I saw them, and they kept going back and forth like, are we going to go talk to this guy?

45:28 And eventually they come up to me, Mr. Thomas, we apologize. We know what you’re with your wife eating, but you said it, no opportunities wasted. And I’m like, absolutely. You know?

45:37 Do people quote you back? Yeah, they just quote me back. So I’m taking pics with these guys, man. So sometimes being known has its disadvantages, you know, because when I’m with my family and they want to get the private time, you know, but I respect my supporters. They’re like, yo, this is an opportunity of a lifetime.

45:52 So there is that dichotomy, you know, that makes it challenging, but I’m doing exactly what I want to do. The only thing I like about the media attention and, you know, et cetera, is that the reach is expanded and people need this type of inspiration. You know, being a positive, you know, artist yourself, you know, with spoken word, people need positive. Like when you look at what you do and how many other people are out there doing what you do, the number is small, but when you think about how many people are maybe using the spoken word for something negative, the numbers are bigger.

46:23 So the only thing I would like to do is inspire more, not necessarily ET to hip-hop breaches, but I want to inspire more people who are motivational and inspirational in nature to do what they’ve been called to do and not get caught up in status quo. So I think that’s it for me, I would like to die knowing that for real, the inspiration that Mother Teresa gave the world, that Martin Luther King gave the world, that Gandhi gave the world, I’m talking about the world, these people weren’t limited to a certain demographic or a certain race or gender or age, these people inspired people all over the world and I would like to go down in history as one of the individuals in this era that was was responsible for pushing people toward greatness and heightening people’s sense of awareness.

47:12 Like, Eric, I could be doing more. I’m not doing everything. I could be a better husband. I could mop the floor better. I could be a better server.

47:19 I truly believe, and I could be wrong, that a part of the downfall of the economy is that people are going to work and not working with a spirit of excellence. And so you start making inferior products and you start doing things from an inferior nature and you reap that, you know? And so for me, I just wanna go down history as this guy motivated as many people as he could possibly motivate and he changed the course of their life and maybe even a course of history by using his gift.

47:45 You got a talk on New Year’s Eve I think where you said, we’re not in a recession. He said something like, you know, we’re just not at the time where people are giving you free money anymore. Absolutely. What did you mean by that? I agree.

47:56 There was a time, you know, there was a time, man, I’m from Detroit. So Ford, Jim, and Chrysler, and we know that Henry Ford, they say, at least in another part of the world they say he was the first to design you know the car and when he first started I mean people were taking pride in the fact that wow we’ve created something I mean think about it guys people were on horses or walking so with a car you can get from one part of wherever you live in the world to another part of the world and you’re talking about in the hours driving and then the Wright brothers come out with a plane so now I can get from Detroit to London in seven and a half hours because these guys had this dream, and then there were individuals after the Wright Brothers who kept perfecting the dream, evolving the dream, like if you’ve ever been, I was in Egypt, we flew first class, it was a bed.

48:45 Like, the Wright Brothers never thought that there would be a bed on a plane, you know? And so there was a time because of these genius men and women, these dedicated men and women, that they created industry. And you didn’t have the dream, you could live off another man’s dream. So Ford put us in a position where you could just go to work and do what he dreamed of and make good money. But after years and years, you know, a decade, decades of making good money, you know, people were like, hey, this money is going to be here.

49:17 This industry is going to be here. So whether we go to work excited or not, they’re, listen to me, man, and I mean, this is deep for me because I’m from Detroit. But most people don’t know that Detroit, Henry Ford created the middle class America. He was either poor or rich. He created the middle class America where a person without a great education could go get a job and make good money.

49:43 And so after years and years of this, it became a part of the American culture to be middle class. It didn’t exist before and when it didn’t exist, people were so excited about it. But as the years progressed, people started taking it for granted. And I tell people all the time, Eric, why is your marriage so great? I don’t take my wife, thank you for cooking.

50:01 Some people think, oh, you’re supposed to. I say thank you after 20 something years because I’m as grateful for the first meal you cook as I am for this meal. Thank you for working. Thank you for taking care of my children. You know, thank you for believing in my dreams.

50:13 And so I think what happens sometimes people get content that they’re hungry when they don’t have it. And when they get it, they forget what got them there. So people start going to work and stop forgetting. You took the job as a server. Why aren’t you serving me?

50:27 Like you took the job. But now you don’t want to do it, why? Because you’re trying to make money and you’re not trying to be faithful or be committed to what you said you would do, which is why I have so much passion. So every TGI I do, I’m trying to be better than the last one. I don’t care what somebody thinks about him, that you’re not making money.

50:46 I put my signature on everything I do. It speaks volumes about who I am as a person. So, unfortunately, for Jim Chrysler, inferior products, Honda came on the scene, you know what I’m saying? Other car industries came on the scene, they start, why did they come on the scene? Because they made a better product that didn’t break down after the warranty was over.

51:05 That was better gas mileage. So people start to buy those vehicles. I mean, like it or not, it’s a fact. This is what happened. And so eventually the car industry is not what it used to be.

51:16 So I say, you know, the days of people having these great dreams and people, just thousands of people working to make those dreams come out, it doesn’t exist anymore. But are people still in need? Yes, ETD Hip Hop Preacher came on YouTube, used a free social media to inspire the world and it turned into what it is right now. That I’m traveling across the country and people are making investments in me and my company to work for Corporate America. Now I work for NBA, NFL, et cetera.

51:44 I’m doing voiceovers for sports. I created whatever it is that I currently have. I don’t even know how to define my reality, but I created it. And I didn’t create it by standing in the bed all day. I didn’t create it by blaming people, and pointing fingers at what’s not working.

52:03 And I said, what’s not working, and what can I do to fix it? Not, this person is the blame, the government is the blame, this industry is the blame. No, Eric Thomas, what can you do to make the world better? And I took responsibility for it, and I’m saying that I’m reaping the benefits for that. So that’s what I mean by, No, there’s not as many free jobs as they were before where you can come to work and not really work and still get a paycheck.

52:26 That doesn’t exist as much as it used to, maybe, I don’t know, 30, 40 years ago. Okay, what do you think of that? I think it’s an interesting point, because there’s an opposite argument whereby when you are traveling, like I said, I was a waiter, but I wasn’t the greatest waiter, but it wasn’t because I knew that I didn’t want to be a waiter for long, do you understand? But I definitely agree that if someone makes a commitment, It’s what I say to people, a lot of people say to me, oh, you’re doing what you wanna do, I don’t wanna be in school anymore.

52:53 I said, okay, do you know what else you wanna do? And a lot of people say no, and I said, well, if you don’t know what you’re gonna do, make sure you work very hard in school because people want that in between, the middle ground. Whereas if you’re gonna commit to being a waiter, if you’re gonna go nine to five, not working anything else, I believe you should commit to being the best waiter. If you’re gonna commit to being in school, make sure you commit to being the best student.

53:11 If you’re gonna commit to being a spoken word artist, like I make sure you commit to be the best, that’s what I feel. A lot of people want the middle ground whereby they don’t want to do the hard part, but they just want to relax in the middle without all the commitment. And I think that kind of resonates with what you’re saying in that sense. Yeah, and again, my thing is whatever you do, because it speaks of who you are, don’t do it if you’re not going to do it great.

53:33 Why waste my time? If people say, Mr. Thomas, I love what you’re doing, I want to intern for you. You want to intern for me because what you can get from interning for me. But what about what am I going to get?

53:45 If I hire you, what am I going to get? It’s not fair, it’s called mutualism. What am I going to get? You’re a leech sucking off with me. What am I going to get if you work with me?

53:55 Now, if you’re going to work with me and you’re gonna have the same passion I have and what I do in terms of speaking, and you’re gonna do that with your artwork, or you’re gonna do that designing t-shirts for me, then definitely, but it’s not fair for you to take a job because you’re trying to get from that job to where you’re trying to get, and you’re gonna give that owner, you’re gonna have work for that owner. You’re not gonna show up when you’re supposed to show up. You’re gonna be a different person on Monday than you’re gonna be on Friday.

54:25 Like, it’s not fair for me to invest in you, but you don’t invest in me. So my thing is, if you don’t plan on being a waiter and being a good waiter, then don’t do it. Because when I pay $30, $40 for that meal, I want the best meal. I think it’s only fair. You want a tip from me, but you don’t wanna work.

54:42 Like people expect tips, but they don’t want to serve. And I think it’s equal. You serve me, and I will tip people. I tip anyway, because I just believe in the law of attraction. You reap what you sow.

54:52 But if you want a 20% tip, can I get a 20% service? Don’t give me 8% service, but you want 20% tip. I just don’t think it’s fair. We don’t have that kind of incentive here, isn’t it? In the UK, there’s no tipping system.

55:05 My girlfriend said she went to Vegas, and she goes, she had to tip everyone, the bus driver, the waiter. But in here, because no one has an incentive, and they know they’re gonna get the same payback at the end of the year. No, you would never, like, it’s ready. You get that enthusiasm, you know? It’s only when you find people who’ve come from unfortunate situations in other countries and stuff who will come to this country and they see the opportunity and they’ll take that job and take it as like, you know, their life.

55:26 It’s rare, but it’s rare you kind of get that service. You might not find that quick, quick, quick hustle American service here, but you might find it at some places. So you might. And if you don’t find it, it’s good. You know, again, I always say it’s about learning.

55:38 So when you come to a culture that’s not quick, fast in a hurry, you respect that culture and you understand why they’re doing it. Because I moved to the south for years because it was a slower pace than up north. So when I come here, trust me, I’m constantly moving. I don’t have a problem going to a restaurant and it takes an hour because that’s an hour that I get to spend with my wife. Now I’m not at home and it’s a different culture but and that’s why I say wherever you go, you can learn because there’s a reason why the culture does what it does.

56:11 And so many times people try to fit their culture into a culture, instead of going to that culture and valuing it and learning as much as they can, you know, and adopting what they find good here, you know, and taking it back and making it a part of their lives. Now, travel’s so important. You learn about yourself when you travel. That’s what I find, I’ve been to a lot of places, Japan, I remember I was in Brazil, walking down the sidewalk in Rio on the beach, And I was like, goddamn, these people are moving slow.

56:36 I was like, get out of my way, get out of my way. And then I was like, what the hell am I doing? Chill, look at me, chill out, chill out. I’m the problem. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

56:45 Learn from these people. They know how to relax. You don’t. That’s right, that’s right. So yeah, you will learn a few things.

56:51 Now you move down to the South and then you’re a minister as well. Do those things come at the same time or are they very separate? In terms of me moving to the South and becoming a minister. Yeah, yeah. I think so. I went to a school that was religious in nature. And so for me, being in that environment, I didn’t grow up in church. I didn’t grow up with any faith or any religious belief.

57:17 And I had a lot of respect for it. While I may not consider myself to be the most religious person, when I look at Gandhi, when I look at Mother Teresa, when I look at Martin Luther King Jr., one of the things that I noticed is that they had a belief system. While they They all had different belief systems. There was this belief system that kind of guided their practice, you know, and was almost, in a sense, like accountability. You know, if you’re a Martin Luther King, you can only do X, Y, and Z, I’m sure, in his faith.

57:44 Gandhi and his faith, he fasted a lot. That was a part of what he believed. He believed in a simple life, you know, as a Hindu. He didn’t believe in being extravagant. Mother Teresa believed that she should serve.

57:55 You know, so I picked up that, man, this thing is, I like this. This is an accountability that I didn’t have growing up, you know, and something to lean toward or believe in that took me to a whole new level. And so I wouldn’t consider myself like a traditionalist, if you will, but definitely a minister. I definitely tell young people, you know, I believe in doing unto others as you would have them do unto you. You know, I believe in that kind of stuff.

58:19 I believe in serving, you know, giving, which is why I do TGIM for free, you know. So I believe my faith has helped to shape me to be a better person than I was prior to having faith. It kind of creates that natural kind of police, which you wouldn’t have on yourself in there. Absolutely. Absolutely.

58:35 I mean, I’m away from my wife, away from my children, but there’s this, like he said, this, I like the term, the spiritual police, if you will. You know, I was with a guy, on our way here, he was like, you know, we were going to pile up in the car. He’s like, we can’t do that here. I’m like, we can’t pile up in the car. He’s like, yeah, if we pile up in the car, I want to get points.

58:52 You want to get 12 points, and if you get 12 points, you lose your license. And I mean, he’s like, serious. Like, I’m like, oh, okay. when I go home I need to respect the authority a little bit more. You know but back at home I mean even if you get pulled over you know everybody say something to you or you might get a ticket but you’re not you’re not going to get any points you know because it was packed in you know people were packed in but it was that sense of there’s the high authority that I would love to pile up the car y’all do back at home but here you know you can get a lot of trouble for that whereas I don’t think if there was a point system he may have we probably would have been in the car if it wouldn’t have been a point. If it was only our safety, you probably would have followed up.

59:28 And so again, it is this sense that there’s this higher authority, not necessarily policing you in a bad way, but sharing with you that, hey, here are some things that you need to do that could better your life. And so I embraced that. I made that a part of my life. And everywhere I go, I share with young people. Not that you have to believe what Eric Thomas believes, because what works for me may not work for you, but it’s definitely working for me.

59:52 Me. My mother will tell you who I was as a teenager and who I am as an adult. This person of faith has literally made me accountable to the world. It made me fall in love with people who I generally, the way I came up in Detroit, and for those of you who haven’t been to the States, it is a very, it can be a very racist place at times. There are people who, as you mentioned, who are very mature now in the States and have progressed tremendously over the last 40, 50 years, but there are still some people who are in darkness.

1:00:20 And so the way I would have handled a person in darkness at 18 is not the way I would do it now. I really feel sorry for people. I pity people who cannot expand their worldview, who’ve not traveled, who’ve not been outside of their community and don’t know that there’s a bigger world than the little world that they live in. Granted, there’s some great things about their world, but it’s a bigger world. So my faith has really helped shape who I am and changed me as a person.

1:00:46 You mentioned Adele like she made that beautiful album, but it came from so much pain so much pain I mean like so do you think all great art including you know ET comes from a pain? I don’t think it comes from pain, but I think pain can potentially spark something in you and And allow you to focus in a way that you can’t and the reason why I say that is because how many people have been Through pain, but everybody’s not a deal. Everybody hasn’t used their pain. So I think pain is a motivator, you know pain is an inspirator it has a way of bringing the best out of you but there are other people who haven’t gone who come from wealth and want has some they have something in them that says to them they want to continue this legacy that they want to keep this legacy going and they haven’t been through what Adele or myself have been through but they were able to turn that switch on not necessarily with pain or poverty but they were able to use their privilege that affluent background they had to say I want this forever so whatever I have to do I’m gonna click this great button on this you know I wanted as bad as I want to breathe this hunger that I don’t want to live like that or I don’t want there to be a gap between what my father and mother set up for me and what I’m gonna set up for my children so I think pain can be but again some people use pain, become addicts. Some people use it to bring bodily harm upon themselves. Some people

1:02:15 Use it as an excuse, you know, to withdraw from the world. So I don’t think pain itself is a motivator, but in the hands of the right person, pain can be something that pushes us toward greatness. Yeah. It can be super powerful. Yes, it can be super powerful.

1:02:29 I agree. Because as an artist myself, obviously, what I find is the key to art is you tap into an emotion in it. And what I find is a lot of people were able to use pain because pain is the only emotion you don’t get to filter if you know I mean like you can be happy you can choose to be happy how happy you want to be but when pain comes sometimes it comes from an external source and you can’t control that so that’s you being in touch of a very very raw emotion and like you said only a few people can channel that but I think that’s one of the few emotions which you can’t filter and when you do are connected with it it brings out so much within you you know I mean absolutely I love it yeah I’m gonna say it better you want to avoid it but you really need to be with that pain sometimes and just feel what it’s like and that way you remember later and I mean again I know you know just looking at you you believe in taking care of yourself and let’s be honest you know I don’t know that I like water as much as I like you know other beverages but I know at the end of the day what drinking pop is going to do you know for my health for my body I’m getting older I understand that I need water you know my kids what’s that juice you’re drinking it’s it’s got kale and spinach and all kind of stuff in it and it may I may not taste the best, but I do know in the long run what it’s going to do.

1:03:37 Every push-up that I do, I’m not doing push-ups like, oh, I love it. This is the greatest feeling I’ve ever had. But I understand that it’s necessary, and I think it’s the same thing. We shouldn’t run from pain. We should embrace it, because if we look at it as something negative, we will not use it or we won’t take advantage of it.

1:03:56 We will try to dismiss it or ignore it, but we really need to embrace it. chance we get to be in pain. I remember being, you know, a young man and not wanting to cry. And now when I speak, if it comes, I let it go. I don’t hold it anymore. But there was a time where I remember talking to my biological father for the first time I was 25 and we were in the room alone. We were in a church building and I’ll never forget. I was so angry and I was so hurt and he’d asked me a question and I wanted to just be myself and cry and say, you weren’t there for me, you abandoned me, you hurt me.

1:04:34 But I wasn’t mature enough at that point to want to be vulnerable in front of this man. And so I, like a crocodile, I held those tears. They came out of my eyes, my eyelid, there was water, you know, and a water duct, but I wouldn’t let him drop. I refused to let him see me vulnerable. I refused to let him know I cared about him and that I wanted a relationship with him and that I wanted to tell him I loved him.

1:04:58 But I couldn’t, I wasn’t mature enough to do it. And so now I’m mature enough when the feelings come, I don’t care where I am, I let them go. Because if I bottle them up, I’m gonna hurt. But if I let it out, I’ll be free. And so with pain, when I see pain coming, I don’t try to push it to the side, I don’t try to rush through the process, I feel it.

1:05:19 Because once it’s over, I can use that energy. And I can’t tell the story, But there was a guy yesterday who came to the VIP dinner and he was with the London Eye with me. And I’ve never seen a grown man this emotional, but he had gone through a lot of stuff in his life, even some legal challenges. And he said at his most vulnerable moment, he listened to the mixtape, I use my pain to push me to greatness. And he said he came out a new man after listening to that because he put his pain in perspective and he used it to elevate his life, you know, and not let it devastate his life.

1:05:58 And I’m thinking, wow. When I first had the opportunity to do that TGIM, I remember like, Arab, do you wanna be vulnerable? Do you wanna really talk about? And I said, go for it. And I went for it.

1:06:10 And some guy heard it, who’s a DJ, and put music to it and said, look, I don’t mean to be disrespectful to your experience, but I wanna put some music behind it and I want you to hear it. And when I heard it, I thought, man, this is the most powerful thing I’ve ever done in my life. And it wasn’t done intentionally. It was done through the most horrific professional experience that I had ever had. And I shared it with the world.

1:06:33 So yeah, I think pain is powerful and that it can be and should be at all costs used to elevate us to another level of our lives. Along that same line, do you think we have a saying on this show, what we said go to where the fear is. And I was just, it’s different than pain, but is that something you think about or you tell your people about- I mean, it’s the edge. Don’t we all want to edge? Are we all looking for some type of advantage?

1:06:56 I mean, as I listen to you, and I haven’t had the privilege today, but I’ll listen to more of your stuff. But even as I sit here in a room with you, the way you frame things, you know what I’m saying? That’s what makes you unique. The way you frame words, nobody’s thinking of it like that. So you had to go to a place where most people aren’t going to say things that you knew would capture their attention.

1:07:20 But there’s this sense of anxiety because you’re not saying the average. You are stepping up beyond mediocrity and you’re saying things that gets their attention at the same time and stuff that they weren’t willing to say. So yeah, the edge is in the fear. If you do what everybody else is doing, you’re not going to fear. Most people are running from it, but if you go to fear, you automatically become what the average person can’t become because they’re afraid to go there.

1:07:46 And that’s how you grow fast is by going to the fear. quick, death, or life. When you go to fear, you either become alive or you die. There’s no middle ground, you know the fear. Definitely, I used to title it, I used to say it’s the black hole, isn’t it?

1:08:05 And I used to say that physically in my head and I say, do I wanna go there? Cause I can come up with a brilliant idea and I think this is amazing, people love it. But I say, but if I take it there, it’s gonna be even better. But if I take it there, it might never come back, you know what I mean? So you always like, if you go there, That’s a danger zone because people might not respond to it, you know what I mean?

1:08:20 But that is where the beauty of the art is always created when you go into that place where no one is willing to go. And do what no one is willing to do, absolutely, absolutely. I saw you giving a talk to UFC fighter Anthony Pettis, I’m a big fan of him and he fights at one, I was going to go fight at one 45 pounds and you give talks to like major league sports teams and I’m just wondering what, I mean, you’re walking into these elite, the elite athletes, you’re a big Michael Jordan fan.

1:08:49 I was thinking to myself, what would Eric Thomas have said to Michael Jordan, back in the day, and you’re walking into these guys on the top to the top of their games, and what do you think of when you walk in there as far as how do you approach that versus say a big mermaid show where you got more different kinds of people, and what was your most memorable one? You’re definitely focused like that. And I’m gonna say Pettus, and I’m only gonna say Pettus because there was this rumor out that, you know, he had a real slight chance to win.

1:09:19 And there were people who were thinking, you know, like, because he had lost a major fight, you know, maybe, you know, two or three fights, you know, before. Yeah, so people were like, you know, this kid is good, but he’s not ready. He’s not mature. He’s a choker, if you will. And his proponent, Cowboy Cerrone, is no joke.

1:09:35 Yeah, no joke whatsoever. You know, so in my mind, I’m thinking, What’s Pedda’s thinking, you know, beyond the glit and the glimmer, you know what I’m saying, beyond all of the, you know, the hoorah he’s at, United Center, you speak of MJ, and we walk in, that’s MJ’s house. So we’re in MJ’s house, and I’ve got to stay focused like Edo, focus on that right now, you know, because that’s big for me, that I went from this kid who was homeless in a high school dropout to I’m in this, this form now, this arena, and this kid wants me to walk out.

1:10:06 I’m thinking in my mind, what is he thinking? What is he thinking? Not the good stuff, but what is his fear? What is his black hole? And what do I say to this kid to get him to look beyond all of that interstate focus?

1:10:20 Because if he could be who he is, he can win this thing. I mean, physicality, he has it. He’s got some phenomenal moves. Like he’s doing some stuff that nobody else is doing. Right, right.

1:10:33 And if I could get him to be him and not get caught up in this fight, who he’s fighting, what’s at stake. If I could get him to be who, and that’s the only reason I went in the ring, because I believe in this kid. I don’t go into somebody, like my name is on the line here. If he loses or people are like, oh, ET, maybe he’s not that deep of a motivator. So it’s important to me.

1:10:55 I put my name on the line, put my character on the line, put my future, my career on the line. So I’m going in there and I’m thinking like, what’s on this kid’s mind? So I had a chance to meet up with him and practice, work out with him and get in his world, and talk to him before the big fight. I’m talking to everybody that knows him and I’m like, what makes this kid click? What’s his why?

1:11:15 And if I can make him focus on his why and not focus on anything else, he’s gonna go in here and murder this dude. So it’s crazy because once this dude on his team fights the fight before and gets murdered. I mean, I cut blood all over the place. They got to stop the fight. Was he on the mat that day when you spoke to him?

1:11:35 Was he in the same room? He was in the room, but I only spoke to Pettus really that day, but he was still a part of the team. So I’m like, oh, I hope Pettus is going to watch the dicks. I’m hoping your ass not like, what in the world is going on? So I’m just in the room with Ant, he’s playing the music and I’m in his head, I’m looking at him.

1:11:55 And I believe that when you get to the level that these guys are on, you have to be be able to say what you’re saying and use words only when necessary. I mean, this is a different level. So I’m not going to hear just blabbing and just talking and be talking. These guys need to stay focused. So I want to use as least words as possible, you know, and so I’m thinking, got to keep this kid focused.

1:12:19 I got to remind him of who he is and why he’s here. And we walk into the rink, I’m talking about, you can feel the energy and I’m walking And people like, E.T. is with Pat, E.T., what up? And I’m like, Pettis, it’s Pettis. You walked out with him?

1:12:34 Yeah, I walked out, I walked out with him. You know, and you know, he goes in the ring, I go back, I can’t, I can’t, I don’t, I can’t watch him. So I go back in with his little brother. You didn’t watch him? Yeah, and we watch it from TV.

1:12:46 I can’t be in there, I can’t be in there. And I’m talking about, you remember the fight? He goes in there, and in two minutes, he murders the Duke, in two minutes he murders him, And I’m like, yeah! So, yeah, when you go in there, man, I’ve got some stuff I’m doing with the NFL this year. And what do you say to everybody who’s great?

1:13:04 Everybody’s on the same level. Everybody, and so you gotta get inside the person, you gotta see what they’re going through, and then you gotta use where they are to help them to get to that next level. And so it’s a challenge for me. I’ve gotta grow so much. But then the mermaid, you’re talking about 600 people from all different walks of life.

1:13:22 It’s huge, I’ve been in that space. You know, it’s just, it’s so different. And so now you have to come in and become all things to all people. And again, you got to narrow it all. What does this population need to hear?

1:13:33 And so that’s why this is so important, these interviews and meeting you and feeling London and hearing what’s going on in London, getting a pulse of London. So when I go in, literally, you’re gonna think at the mermaid, you’re gonna think I’m from London because I’m gonna spend so much time with the people and listening. This isn’t the time to talk. In preparation is the time to listen as many voices, to hear as many hearts, to hear as many cries and many dreams and visions as possible.

1:14:02 And then boom, it’s gonna allow me to get in that room and become this culture. I’m gonna have to give up the American thing for a couple hours. It’s just, if you saw his fight with, I mean, his talk with Pettis, it was a different Eric Thomas. You know, it was the intimate. You were really talking about the specifics of his training.

1:14:19 You’re like, look, you all train hard. You all know you train hard. What’s the difference in this fight? it’s gonna be who wants it more. And yeah, it was, yeah, powerful stuff.

1:14:26 I didn’t realize you walked out with him. I saw that picture whether you were afterwards. And I was like, oh. We walked in together, yeah, yeah, yeah. That is heavy stuff.

1:14:34 You know, there’s a couple more questions and we’re gonna let you roll because you’ve got places to be. I only have to be here right now. I like that, I like that. You know, one of the things you said is that sometimes you’re not giving things. Sometimes you have to go out there and take it.

1:14:48 And you said, like, physically take it. And you’re a positive guy with a positive message. But there’s something that’s quite rough about that kind of thing. Absolutely. I look at my career, and no recruiters, no motivational speakers, no life coaches came to the west side of Detroit and said, hey, guys, we’re going to give you an opportunity.

1:15:10 My father wasn’t in my life, so maybe he was supposed to be that guy who came and said, Eric, you can be special. You’ve got to give. You’re talented. You’re a leader. You’re going to be somebody.

1:15:19 I’m going to put you in the car. I’m going to take you to college. I’m gonna take you to go get your license. Like, I’m gonna take you to see the world. I didn’t have my father.

1:15:27 My biological father was not in my life. So maybe, maybe I am speaking out of turn. Maybe, maybe there are things that are given to you. But in my world, that person who was supposed to do that, he wasn’t there. And so I knew, you know, for people who watch Eight Mile, you know, they see the movie Eight Mile.

1:15:44 You know, it is a street called Eight Mile. I grew up on Eight Mile. But Eight Mile’s not about a street. It’s about the divide between the rich and the poor. It’s about, if you grew up on this side of eight mile, you were part of the working class or poor.

1:15:56 You grew up on the other side of eight mile, nine mile, 10 mile, 11 mile, 12 mile. That’s where the rich people lived. And so as a kid, we looked on the other side of what life looked like and nobody over there was coming to mentor us over on this side. Nobody was inviting us to come to their fancy dinners and their parties and the country clubs. We didn’t get to do golf.

1:16:18 We weren’t exposed to that world. And so I knew if you want that, you’re gonna have to get up and you’re gonna have to go over there and you’re gonna have to say, I deserve it and I’m willing to do whatever it takes. I don’t want any handouts. I never forget we were on welfare when my wife and I first got married and she graduated from school. She got a registered nurse degree and she took our check and she took it back to the welfare department.

1:16:44 I said, what are you doing? We haven’t made it yet. She said, we don’t need this anymore. And I was like, wow. And my wife was saying to me, we’re going to get this new world.

1:16:57 We don’t need this anymore. It got us through college. It did what it was supposed to do. It’s a new life now. And so for me, there are people who will never get, they will never have, they’ll never come to London, they’ll never see my children like, dad, the big band looks different in the real world.

1:17:14 That’s the parliament right there. Dad, look at these cars. We saw these, somebody said when we were in the car, London looks just like it does on TV. There’s some kid who will never get that not because he doesn’t deserve to be here, but he’s waiting on somebody to give it to him. And if you’re waiting, depending on where you come from, you may be waiting for the rest of your life.

1:17:34 So there are some things that yes, you can have it, you can be it, you can do it. But I got on TGIM, nobody, nobody gave me this platform. We bought a camera, you know what I’m saying? we use the equipment at the school. Nobody, we signed up, we put our stuff up online.

1:17:52 Nobody gave us this chance. Nobody said, take it. Now, we’re grateful for the dreamer who came up with Twitter. We’re grateful for the dreamer who came up with Facebook. We love those guys, you know?

1:18:05 They make, matter of fact, one of them made, he made the 100 most influential people in Time Magazine, you know? So we’re grateful for him. But I don’t think he did Twitter or Facebook, specifically with Eric Thomas and mine. Here’s an opportunity. If you want it, sign up and make it happen.

1:18:22 And that’s what we did. So that’s what I mean. Sometimes you have to be aggressive. Sometimes you have to create your own luck. I always tell people luck is for leprechauns and I’m like, you know what I’m saying?

1:18:34 So I’m sure, hey, some leprechaun has got a lot of luck, but I’m not green. So if I’m sitting here waiting for luck to happen, it’s not gonna happen, but I can create my own luck. That’s exactly what we did. And am I suggesting that you can pull yourself up by your own bootstraps, that a man can live on an island? No man is an island.

1:18:52 But I’m saying, when I invested in myself, other people begin to invest in me. And that term succeed as much as you wanna breathe. When did you come up with that and did you know it was gonna resonate so much with people? I say this all the time, and I mean this with all humility, I did not even do the video for the video to come out. I didn’t record it.

1:19:13 Yeah, it doesn’t look professional. Yeah, it doesn’t look professional. I didn’t record it. Some guy needed B-roll for his thesis. He was finished in school, he did a documentary on me, and was like, Eric, the documentary was too clean, you know, it just looked staged, like I just need…

1:19:30 So where can I get B-roll? I said, well, I speak every Tuesday at this platform, you can come. And as a matter of fact, this week, I’ll be there, I’m going to be talking, it’s like, good, B-roll, put a mic on me. I never seen a mic in my life. I never spoke with a mic.

1:19:42 I put the mic on I spoke. What was this five years? This was your five six years ago And guess what? He never used the b-roll He never used it. So he gave it to us. He didn’t even give it to us He had it, you know Wherever they save on computer or whatever he had it on some file a good friend of mine said, you know what Eric?

1:20:05 Two years ago you did this phenomenal message. I think every freshman that enrolls in Michigan State. They need to hear it every freshman in this program, they need to hear it. So let’s put it up on something called YouTube. I said, what?

1:20:20 I said, okay, put it up. I don’t have a problem. We put some music behind it, which is not illegal. At that time, put some music behind it. We put it up.

1:20:27 I promise you it was there for about two and a half, three years, 100 or two hits here and there. I quit my job at Michigan State University to go out that fear to do this thing full time. and I promise you, two weeks after I quit my job and began this free work, it went viral. Oh, wow. You know, I just, I don’t really throw up to you in it, but it’s like, I got fired from my job as well, isn’t it?

1:20:54 Because I got fired in December from my job and it’s like, for the reason, because I did something on YouTube, but obviously that same time is when I released the video, why I hate school but love education. The same week I got fired, that’s the same week that that video just went viral. You know what I mean? always say to people it’s because in my mind and on my wall I had written that this is going to happen you understand so that was just the universe taking me away from one opportunity to put me into the one but when he just said that it’s kind of like I’ve got goosebumps because it’s crazy because it’s exactly the same scenario you know I mean the same week I was sitting there and they’re telling me I’m losing my job and the video is like I walk out and there’s like the videos on 150,000 views then next week later it’s on 1.5 million views you know I mean so when he just said that I had to interrupt him because just because Was it a similarity situation in there?

1:21:38 And the rest is history, right? But again, I took advantage of an opportunity as I began to see it like you grow. I began to put out a series of videos because I saw this as an opportunity. Apparently they like something about the message. I don’t know what I did, you know?

1:21:53 And then Giovanni did the video and that’s the young man, the football player. He put it up just for the NFL to see it. Somebody stole it off of Vimeo and they put it up and his went viral. So I had a year or two of mines going viral, and then his went viral, and then after that, there was the LeBron James, DeWayne, Wade, Kobe Bryant. Mayweather, Mayweather, Mayweather, everybody took their take on it.

1:22:18 Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you go on and on and on, and everybody’s doing it, and before you know it, I can’t go anywhere in the States, and people are not recognized. That’s the guy right there, and from there, I did voiceovers for NBA. Y’all seen the NBA one? This year, I’ve already done it, but it won’t come out until next year. I’m doing voiceovers for the Detroit Pistons, where I live.

1:22:37 And the audio book is coming out. I heard it the other day. Phenomenal stuff. Are you doing all the voice? I do all the voice.

1:22:46 I love that. I hate it when authors don’t do the whole voice. I did the whole voice. The only part about it, and this is why it’s taking so long, because the engineer that’s doing it is great. And he’s like, Eric, your voice, he was like, I’m loving.

1:23:02 He said, it’s like a full orchestra, you know, you’re leading out and I’m just behind you and to it. And I heard chapters one and two the other day and it blew my mind, like wow, I mean I was emotionally, it’s like I had never heard the story before, but the sound effects and what he does, if this guy, if this collaboration doesn’t get a Grammy, something’s wrong with the committee. Something’s wrong, I’m just putting it out here, something’s wrong with the committee If it doesn’t get a Grammy. Well, what do you what do you say to that 20 year old that’s listening to us right now?

1:23:35 Oh, actually, I want to get both of you guys. Yeah, he said 20 self. So yeah, how are you 24? 24 so he could really answer this. Yeah, maybe you could answer it. Well, both of you guys What do you say to the 20 year old that’s listening to us and and is like, all right, you know What should I do? I mean like if there’s one thing you can tell them, you know That just one thing cuz I think it’s hard for us humans to make all these changes at once I’m gonna go on a diet and stop smoking and go back to school But if there’s one thing they could do differently if they want it to change their life and get to their goals I don’t know what you would say and what you would say You 24 so start us off Like I said I’ll see this question before in there I just think I just think the most important thing is like you said like he said is believing in yourself You know, I mean once once you believe in yourself and what you do everything else Comes into focus like if you go to work on Monday, you know You’re going to work because you need 500 pounds and add them up to buy a new pair of equipment that’s going to help me take you where you want to be. If you go, if you know, if you get on the bus, you know, I’m travelling to a destination which has helped me where I’m going to be. If you have a sleepless night, you know, that sleepless night is investing in where I want to be and that’s what I found. And once I found that, obviously those people

1:24:42 Around me who helped me to be who I wanted to be, but once I found that, as soon as I believed in myself, everything became a perspective. Now everything you do has a motive, it has an intention. Even if you’re in school, you know what I mean, you have an intention, I want to get my degree so I can do this, but then I know what I want to do, you know what I mean? And I think that is more important than anything. Don’t wait for someone else to believe in you.

1:25:03 A lot of artists, especially when you’re like a musician or whatever, you make the best album ever and you wait for someone to come and sign you. You start sending it to like companies. But in this era, especially when stuff like YouTube is available and Twitter and stuff like that, all you need is self-belief and determination. And that’s all I can give anyone. Whenever someone asks me, I say, if you want to do something, just believe that you can do it and aspire towards it.

1:25:24 And the younger generation. Look at this. Absolutely. That’s why I want him to go first because I think that’s important. What I would say now, looking back, because I was in my 20s and I was the guy, I started when I was 20 years old.

1:25:40 People think I’m an overnight success, but really the internet has given me exposure, but I’ve been doing this work forever. I would say to young people, just in hindsight, looking back now, be informed, for real, Do take the first step, number one. Don’t overanalyze, and I think that’s what some people do. They overanalyze. As kids, in the States, my cousins, the females, they did double dutch.

1:26:06 And double dutch is, when that rope, you got two ropes and they’re going around, you just gotta jump in. Like, you can’t, you know, you just gotta jump in. The rope, it will never be a convenient time to jump in the rope. Because it’s up and down, up and down, up and down. It’s never stable.

1:26:21 It’s up and down. up one’s down one’s up one down and you just got to find that right moment where you get in I’d say just take the first step I mean the worst thing you can do when you take the first step is realize that wasn’t the right step to take but the worst thing to do is to be like a squirrel and you’re just in the middle of the road going back and forth and back and forth and so I would say but as you’re taking those steps get counsel as you’re taking those steps you know learn get a journal write down be strategic like Don’t just blindly go into something. Do your homework.

1:26:55 Do your research. You know, we put up videos every Monday. Why? Because it’s the beginning of the week. We’re very intentional and deliberate.

1:27:01 Yup, still very passionate guy. I’m still motivational, inspirational. But we make sure that we put it up, not on Friday. Who’s watching videos Friday and five o’clock? Nobody.

1:27:12 When we ask people to support us, buy our book or a t-shirt, we don’t do it every day. Why? We don’t want people to think that’s what we’re about. We’re not trying to saturate the market. with our product.

1:27:23 But at the same time, we really have a book that we think can change people’s lives. So when do we say it? On Fridays, we say it every other Friday, payday. So we’re very strategic. We’re not trying to oversaturate you.

1:27:34 We’re not saying you have to buy a book so you don’t see us pushing it. 30 days out of the month, you might hear us three or four days. But we know that this book is changing people’s lives because people are telling us it’s changing lives. So we wanna be balanced. So I would just say, Be intentional and deliberate about every step is what you said.

1:27:53 You don’t go to school not to get a degree. You’re not wasting time. And then I would say this, whatever you do, man, if you expect people to support you, it better be good. It better be good. If you’re doing the spoken word, it better be good.

1:28:06 If you’re speaking, it better be good. If you’re playing football, you better be the best. You better control that ball. You better, you kick with the left, control with the right. Like you better be able to be ambidextrous, go both ways.

1:28:18 You better be able to use your head. Why? Because that’s what the greats are doing. So whatever you do, don’t think you’re gonna put forth half effort and get maximum reward. Maximum effort, maximum reward.

1:28:30 And the thing that bothers me about this generation, they want more than any generation has ever wanted, but they don’t love work the way the generations of old love work. You have to put the work in. Don’t fool yourself. You are not going to be successful by luck. You’re gonna put in as many hours as the other dude did to be successful.

1:28:47 There’s no shortcuts, there are no easy paths to get to success. All roads lead through hard work. So if you don’t like to work hard, then you might wanna cut back on some of your little dreams and some of your goals. But if you dream big, you better work even harder. Amen.

1:29:06 Careful. I’m gonna kill that. I don’t know what else to say, man, that’s crazy. How do people get your book? How do they get in touch with you?

1:29:11 How do they stay up and know when you’re talking? All that good stuff. Yeah, well if they wanna stay with me, they gotta be positive. If you’re looking for me and you want to attract me in your life, you got to be great at what you do. But our website…

1:29:24 Well, let me just say this, because there are a lot of people who are not technologically savvy, so if you go to Google and just put in Eric Thomas, everything is going to come up for you. But for those of you who know what you’re doing a little bit, you’ve got etinspires.com on SR website. You’ve got the app, ET to Hip Hop Preacher, listen to me, it’s a free app. So there’s no risk involved. So if you’ve got an iPhone or you’re dealing with whatever, I don’t know what the other thing is.

1:29:50 Android. Android. Okay, Android. If you have an Android, you can go to the marketplace and ET the hip-hop preacher. It’s free material.

1:29:58 You can listen to the stuff every day. Twitter, I’m constantly upgrading, informing people through my Twitter. And again, my schedule is not really out there like that because I do so many private engagements. But through the website, there is the schedule. You can look the schedule up and you can buy all of our material.

1:30:15 To me. The second book is coming out in about three or four months. Greatness is upon you. I’m telling you, I’ve grown, sort of, it’s going to a whole other level. But if you haven’t gotten The Secrets to Success yet, it’s real easy. If you don’t want to spend a lot of money and you’ve got an iPad or, you know, you have a tablet or whatever, not even $7, you can get the book. But the hard copy you can get through us and you can get an autograph through ET Inspires. But definitely stay in touch. You can sit in the background with us. You don’t have to pay. You can get a whole lot of inspiration for free. You don’t have to pay money. But there are people who are like, Eric, I want to get the stuff you do privately. You can go to iTunes and put in my name. And there are a lot of private messages that I have up for 99 Cent, et cetera. So go to iTunes as well, CD Baby. And we have some unreleased stuff that’s there.

1:31:03 Fantastic. And Sully, what’s the best way ever there for them to see your stuff? Likewise, isn’t it? If you just go and Google, just type in Sully Breaks or the YouTube channels predominantly where I keep most of the work in it, so if you just go on YouTube Sully Breezy, S-U-L-I-B-R-W-E-Z-Y, because I did it a long time ago, yeah, but if you just go and change it now, you can’t change it, but if you just go onto the YouTube and if you just, everything just kind of fills in with Sully Breaks, or the YouTube, oh S-U-L-I-B-E-A-K-S, that’s Sully Breaks, and the YouTube is S-U-L-I-B-R-W-E-Z-Y, Z, Z guys, Z, like that, No, no, no, no, no, it’s sad in London.

1:31:43 Yeah, yeah. No, no, I’m saying, so why people who are listening, follow me, they’ll know. Oh, the YouTube, yeah, YouTube. YouTube.com, of course, like Sully. Yeah, Z.

1:31:52 Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because my people back at home were like, oh, what was that last thing you said? Oh, Z. S-U-L-I-B-E-Z-Y-L. Because I want you guys to follow, so make sure you, if you’re following me, look him up, guys, please.

1:32:05 Please. Yeah, I know, this is epic. Like, you know, I prepared for this interview and I got to watch a bunch of your videos and I got inspired just preparing, you know? It’s crazy. Usually, I got to watch some scientists talking about some crazy shit and my girlfriend’s like, you know, what do you think?

1:32:22 I’m like, I don’t know, but I’m excited. So I have to thank you for that. I appreciate it. You know, I thought as Sully was one of the first people I thought of to join us today and I just think, man, I just think this is like an epic moment and I’m really curious, know what happens in five years, maybe we’ll all meet back here in 2018. And you know we do a featured artist on our TGIM, so I’m definitely looking to get, what he feels is his best piece and we definitely want to expose our people in his face to his information.

1:32:54 I called Sully up on Tuesday and I was like, you heard it, I’m coming to you, I was like but you made my day. Likewise, now I’m getting informed and I have a lot of youth that follow me, so I’m going sneak and give him some content like, hey, can you say this for me and make it sweet? Absolutely. That’s excellent. I can’t wait to see the 29-year-old Sully, the 47, or 8-year-old you.

1:33:16 The same with me. Maybe we’ll meet back here in five years, see what happens. Hopefully, man. Go do a little. I think this is an epic meeting, so thanks so much for coming.

1:33:24 Thanks for having us. It’s a real pleasure. If you’re listening to us on iTunes and you want to see Eric Thomas himself, we’re on YouTube at Channel London Real TV, we’re on Twitter at the same handle, we’re on Facebook and our website is londonreal.tv. Come join us, all our content’s free and we just feature in super cool people with good messages every week, man. Super cool, alright.

1:33:44 Yeah, so it’s a lot of fun. Best of luck. Not that you need it this weekend at the mermaid. I need a whole bunch of it. Yeah, and that’s cool, man.

1:33:51 I need a whole bunch of it. It’s good to have you in London, man. I think the world needs more of you. Amen. Well, thanks to you, they just got more of me.

1:33:58 Fantastic. Alright, peace to you both. Thanks a lot, guys. Thanks, man.