In this show, Chirag Sagar Presents Mission Matters: Dialogue with Celebrity and Sports Agent, Darren Prince to highlight battle with addiction
Darren Prince, International Best Selling author of his memoir Aiming High, is a prominent sports and celebrity agent and global advocate for addiction/mental health recovery. Through his agency, Prince Marketing Group, he represents
icons such as Magic Johnson, Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Jerry West, Dominique Wilkins, Chevy Chase, Charlie Sheen, Denise Richards, Carmen Electra, and many others as well as having worked with the late Smokin’ Joe Frazier, Muhammad Ali and Evel Knievel.
As a leading authority in this space, Darren Prince’s insights have been featured in WSJ, NYT, Tucker Carlson, “On Purpose” podcast with Jay Shetty, Extra TV, Dr. OZ and many other top media outlets. Darren has experienced what life is like in the celebrity world but also seen the dark reality of addiction through his own personal struggle with opiates. With over 14 years of sobriety, it’s now Darren’s mission to help others avoid and break free from addiction and mental health struggles. He had a God awakening on July 2, 2008, and believes in a spiritual higher power and that anyone can turn their bottom into a new beginning. Prince started his 501(c)3 Aiming High Foundation where 100% of the proceeds provide treatment for those suffering. He has become a highly sought-after speaker on addiction recovery and mental health. He specializes in helping high functioning addicts and at-risk executives to identify and avoid the pitfalls of addiction and working with teens on self-esteem and self-worth. He also is a consultant to Banyan Treatment Center which has 15 locations spread across the United States.
Show Notes:
- Darren’s mission to help others avoid and break free from addiction and mental health struggles.
- Darren’s background and how he battled mental health issues, depression, anxiety, substance abuse, and alcoholism
- Darren explained his book called “Aiming High”
- Being a consultant to Banyan Treatment Center
- Being the founder of Aiming High Foundation
Mission Matters Authors Attended:
- Chirag Sagar
- Adam Torres
- Darren Prince
- Mark Weithorn
Follow Adam on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/askadamtorres/ for up-to-date information on book releases and tour schedules.
Full Unedited Transcript
Welcome everyone to another exciting week of our Mission Matters Twitter spaces. Every week we put together this dialogue conversation where we bring on a celebrity and influencer, a thought leader, an ex. Expert, an entrepreneur, investor of some sort. and so this week we have a celebrity agent and sports agent, Darren Prince.
Many of his clients range from Magic Johnson to several, many different influencers celebrities. The who’s who of the. We’ll go down the list and I’ll do a proper intro to Darren, but for those of you that are tuning in and listening for the first time, mission Matters is a media platform focused on the needs of entrepreneurs, executives, experts.
We. Highlight and amplify their stories. And the way we go about doing this is through our media channels, but on the backend, we’re a book publishing company, a podcast agency, a PR agency, and also digital marketing agency. And so we have many of our clients and our guests and our podcasters and our book authors that join us once a week to tune into these conversations.
and so you know, we want to make sure that we continue to provide value to everyone that listen. To who we are and what we do. And so this week you know just to kind of chime in Darren here is going to be highlighting his background and so with that just of some simple housekeeping rules.
Just make sure you say your name right as you’re about speak, just because when we turn this into a podcast content or any other forms of content, people will know who you are and what you’re, you know, what you’re about. So just make sure you say your And then also just make sure that audio’s muted. Just so there’s no background music or background noise that’s coming. You know, , when it’s playing in the background or when someone’s talking.
Let me get right to it. So I’ll do a proper intro for Darren. So Darren Prince is an international bestselling author of his memoir, aiming High. He’s a prominent sports agent. And celebrity agent and Blue Global advocate for addiction mental health recovery through his agency, prince Marketing Group.
He represents icons such as Magic Johnson, Hulk Hogan, Rick Flair, Jerry West, Dominique Wilkins, Chevy Chase, Charlie Sheen, Denise Richards, Carmen Elektra, and many others, as well as having worked with the late smoking Joe Frazier, Muhammad Ali, and Ivo Kvo as the leading authority in this space. Prince’s insights have been featured in Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Tucker Carlson On Purpose Podcast with Jay Shatty and expert tv, Dr.
Roz among many other top media outlets. Darin has experienced what life is like in the celebrity world, but also seen the dark reality of addiction through his own personal struggle with opioids, with over 14 years of sob. It’s now Darren’s mission to help others avoid and break free from addiction and mental health struggles.
He had a God awakening on July 2nd, 2008, and believes in a spiritual higher power that, and that anyone can turn their bottom into a new beginning. Prince started his 5 0 1 aiming high foundation where a hundred percent of the proceeds provide treatment for those suffering. He has become a highly sought after speaker on addiction recovery and mental.
He specializes in helping high-functioning a addicts and at-risk executives to identify and avoid the pitfalls of addiction and working with teens on self-esteem and self-worth. He also is a consultant to the Bondian Treatment Center, which has 15 locations spread across the us. So with that Adam, take the lead and let’s get this dialogue on the way.
All right. Thank you Sag and man, Darren. Great to connect with you. I know we’ve worked with each other in the past, and I’ll tell you as we, as we continue to support your mission, it’s really become a, a lot of our mission over here as well, and getting the message out about, about your book Aiming High, of course, what you’re doing.
we’ve authored a book together which we’re definitely promoting. Quite a bit. And I guess just to get us kicked off here, man, I just wanna say welcome. It’s been, I know you are everywhere. Every time I open Twitter ins or Instagram, I see a new event you’re at. I see something you’re doing on behalf of either your clients or promoting your mission.
How do you do it? Darren . I take really good care of myself and that’s the most important thing. You know, as I’m getting older, I just have to find a good balance for You know, to stay spiritual and on the beam as much as possible with this gift that I have of recovery, you know, the climber alwayss in high demand.
And it’s just, it, you just gotta find it, make it work. And I, I think I put myself first selfishly so I could be selfless to other people. Yeah. That’s awesome. I, I do wanna start off with, with aiming high, we’ll touch a little bit on the book that you wrote with us as well. But I wanna start off with aiming high for those that haven’t read yet or heard of it yet.
And this is really your story and what I find well meant. One of the things I find very interesting about this is that like you go pretty deep into your store and you share a lot of things that maybe others wouldn’t be willing to share, but really for the benefit of others. , talk a little bit about that process that went into like creating that work.
I mean, for me it was easy. You know I think anybody that experiences any sort of obstacles and challenges and break story and comes out on the other side, I, you know, believe it’s like your, your service you know, your debt of gratitude is to pay it back. And I think after. Attained one year of recovery, sobriety.
I started being more vocal on Facebook. I know my mom wasn’t unhappy about it. , my dad was a big supporter of it. And had, I had a lot of practice with it years and years before. So the book was more just like another form of therapy where I just let it all out there, you know, I held nothing back because to me it was about just getting a one person mm-hmm.
And I know we got to a heck of a lot more than. and I think I’ve said it so many times, and you and I have spoken with interviews with each other and offline that,
you don’t find out anything about yourself when you’re on top of life. When life is great, it’s easy to be happy, joyous, and free.
, you learn about it through the adversities and the struggles, and I believe that. , those are the moments that define us, and I just wanted to, you know, show others out there suffering from mental health, depression, anxiety, substance abuse, alcoholism, whatever it might be, that there’s a way out.
Hmm. As you’ve, you know, you’ve traveled as you have you, you’ve continued to carry the flag of this message. What has been one of the maybe more unexpected things that’s happened along the way as you’ve been out here promoting the book and really just spreading your message? Like, has anything happened that you’re just like, man, I wasn’t expecting that.
Yeah, I mean, I. It was about a day before I got a call to go to the White House, maybe a few weeks after the book came out in 18. And I was at a school kind of in the Long Island area, about 3000 kids, and I shared the story on Jay Shetty. And my favorite part isn’t my keynote, it’s opening up to the audience and this kind of like bigger, kind of awkward, heavyset kid put his hands up and he is looking down at the ground.
He, he’s asking me the question and he is like, Mr. Prince. I really liked your message and I’m here to tell on myself because I’m drinking and I’ve been taking pills outta my mom’s medicine cabinets, and I’m getting really violently angry and I’m not happy with the person I’m becoming, and I don’t want to become like you did.
and obviously, I mean, I’ve just blown away you know, for somebody like that to open up. And I said, young man, I said, the only two words I have at this moment I wish I had the courage and the strength to ask for help at your age and to stand up in front of thousands of kids in this auditorium.
Mm-hmm. Is the most admirable thing you could ever do. because you don’t want to be that person that has put a substance in your system. Just didn’t fit in. So when we were done, he came up to the podium. I gave him a book, took a picture with him, had a few words with him, and the next morning I got a call from the principal and the guidance council that said he too had a severe learning disability, which was the background of my story and always feeling insecure and not worthy of, of friends, and uncomfortable my own skin.
He too lost his father recently. Yours was over a year ago. His was within the past six months, and his mother called us this morning and said he has never read a book. Mm-hmm. . And she woke him up that morning to go to school and he was on like the last three pages of aiming high. Mm-hmm. with his clothes on from the night before.
Wow. , what an amazing story. And so as you see the way it’s affecting people’s lives, and of course different people are gonna take different things from the book, but as the author, like, what are some of the takeaways that you hope somebody gets and they, you know, they walk away with? You know, that I think it doesn’t matter if you’re from Park Avenue or Park Bench or Yale to jail, that the disease.
And mental health, you know, everybody’s up for grabs. It doesn’t discriminate because I wrote that book, the majority of the journey. I was on top of the top of the mountaintop, you know, from the biggest agents to some of the biggest stars on the planet and, and wanted to kill myself the last years, every single day.
You know, my opiate addiction got so bad with the, the painkillers that, you know, fortunately I had the funds. Otherwise I would’ve probably gone. Heroin or something, but I was chopping ’em up and snorting them just because I knew no other way for them to give me some little bit of sense of balance and relief.
That’s how bad it got. . Mm. And so as you’ve kind of on the path to recover as you got to this next stage in your life, like your career. Like it didn’t stop, like as you’re going, and I, and I think about this cuz every time we talk I kind of look at this from a different angle and I always, like, every time I leave one of our conversations I’m like, ah, one more thing I wish I would’ve asked him.
And I’m just curious. So in this transition period, like you still like. I’m sure you had some downtime, but like, you didn’t stop your business. Like you didn’t stop, like what was next? Like how was it kind of going through that, to that, to that next stage of just, you know, functioning and continue your business and continuing to work on behalf of your clients and otherwise like, like what was that like?
You know, I tell anybody that. Looking to recover from whatever sort of trauma or whatever struggles that it’s always about. People, places, and things. I avoided certain people, avoided certain places and things that I did, and I kind of just marinated in the world to recovery and, and I knew one day at a time.
Eventually became week, became a month, and slowly but surely, as I did the road work within myself and the healing and the 12 steps, I started feeling a little bit more comfortable to go out there once ine evening events. Evening dinners, but I slowly started putting myself back out there. Where I was able to be present for the first time in my life and be comfortable with my own skin and the times that I wasn’t, I told my office I’d rather feel comfortable than accepted.
I’m not that important a a and whether it’s Magic or Hulk or Chevy Chase or Rodman, anybody at that time, you know, they all understood it and my other team of agents and executive assistants, they would just step it up and I’d still be working the deals behind the scenes, but I knew that nothing. to this day could ever come before my recovery.
If I’m that uncomfortable, if somebody’s bringing that bad energy into my life, they’re gonna get me way quicker over their way of living than I am to my spiritual way of life. And, and nobody’s worth that, and no situation is ever worth that. . Mm. And now one of the things that you wrote about in the book that we author together is really talking about the power, relationships and personal relationships.
Like, so that methodology, I mean, that wasn’t something that I feel like if you hadn’t been that person and, and a lot of, obviously a lot of credit to your clients your support staff and everybody else that helped you along that way to keep, you know, to keep business functioning as well, but, , I feel like your ideals on that personal, on the personal side of like relationships and like cultivating those, like that was something that you had like pretty much from the beginning.
Is that, is that right? Yeah. I mean, I tell people I wasn’t a bad person. Mm-hmm. , I was a sick person. Mm-hmm. was a big difference. You know, my clients knew that I was always a good guy. I was just dealing with my own personal demons and struggles and Magic and Hulk were probably the only two clients that.
About a year, a year and a half before I got sober, cuz I opened up to both of ’em about how bad it was getting and they weren’t turning on their back on me. They weren’t not supporting me. You know, magic, you know, did say, you know, God forbid, I don’t want something to happen to you and we don’t want it affecting all the business we have going.
You have too much to live for. And his brother, Larry’s a dear friend of mine’s family, he’s his spiritual brother too. He’s got over 30 years in recovery himself. And you know, to know that he experienced it within the Johnson family with his brother, you know, that’s all I, I needed to, hear, to know that, hey, I’ve got the support, I’ve got the love.
I gotta figure out a way to do this. But, you know, even then, it probably took me, like I said, maybe a year, year and a half after that intense call with magic to finally get it together. Hmm. Talk about like relationships and how you kind of approach those in business and, and really just in life.
Cause I feel like you have a, a pretty unique perspective on. I mean, if we talk with my celebrities, I treat ’em like normal people. Magic’s father, unfortunately passed away yesterday, last night. It’s all over the news. Yeah. My first phone call earlier this morning was to him and you know, send flowers to the Johnson family.
And, you know, Hulk and I spoke last Friday for an hour and probably 55 minutes was about life, that he’s in this great place. You know, Rick Flair and him every Thanksgiving. They’re the first Texas I get, and you know, Chevy Chase, I mean, you know, Carmen Electric’s father passed away a few weeks ago. We spoke, we texted.
Every time I see Denise Richards, we laughed that we’re both the queers. We have such a love and a bond for each other. Jerry West was here yesterday for three hours. He is recovering from some surgery that he had and he is not completely himself. And I call him every day to check on him. I call the wife.
I mean no different than any other friend. And you know, when it comes to business, I think I’m the same way with corporate clients. I’m not that guy that’s always gonna call you for business. I’m gonna call you just to check up and see how you’re doing, how the wife or the girlfriend is, the kids are brother, sister, you know, has business overall.
And I think when. Just ramming that down somebody’s throat. It’s not authentic. If it’s meant to be, it’s gonna be meant to be, but if you go at it from a position of strength on your personal relationship, people do business with people they love as individuals. Mm-hmm. . And so as you’re on this with Prince Marketing Group, I guess I shouldn’t, I shouldn’t assume that everybody knows what you’re doing there.
So you’re obviously you’re representing top talent as an agent. I’m curious, so as you’re on in this next phase of your life, obviously books are doing great and you’re, you’re still, I mean, I see you all over the place, so I know you. . Well, like, like what’s, as you’re growing and continuing to grow, like what’s on the horizon for this?
Like what’s on, on your roadmap? Like what’s important today? Well, my most important is recovering, getting out there and always speaking, you know? Mm-hmm. probably over 200 keynotes over the past four and a half years since aiming highs come out. Now we’ve got mission matters together, which has given me another.
You know, raising money from F Foundation, working for Banning Treatment Center, bridge Therapeutics, some on the commercial Board of Advisory. And they’re in the process of potential FDA approval on an incredible new detox drug that it helps addicts and people that are struggling to transition into getting clean and sober and it’s way better than suboxone or methadone.
And, you know, I wanna use my platform to spread the word on that.
So the foundation and Scholarshipping people is, Always a passion of mine. And then as far as Prince Marketing Group, it’s kind of taken a life on its own. I didn’t write aiming high to do anything to build pmg. I just think it’s made me more relatable with to so many people that just by default the business has grown exponentially.
And if you follow me on Instagram is such as a few weeks ago we had the privilege of working with conference and now we’re gonna have the ability to bring him opportu. No, man, that’s a great story. And I love when somebody goes out there with the heart and the mind to you know, to do good.
Do something like that. and then some, you know, things just come, I feel like the universe just gives you something sometimes, . Yeah, I know. I, and I know at some point, you know, we’ve had, you know, some substantial in, you know, investors coming to us and . You know, I’m getting older and probably, you know, as long as it’s the right partner, the right fit for growth in an exit, you know, we’ll, probably keep that on the table over the next few years.
And you know, I think where I can, yeah, as an advisor, but you know, my life is so much more rewarding when it comes to recovery. let’s spend some time talking about the foundation. I know you mentioned it, sag mentioned of course, in the opening. I mean, tell us a little bit more about it.
I think when the book started really taking off, I didn’t write it to make money. It was almost like I had another sign from God that this was a launching pad because I’ve been in the audience you know, doing q and as with the audience speaking, and I would see. , the luck, a desperation of so many people’s eyes that were struggling.
That really opened up to me for the first time, and I always wanted to be like, Hey, I would love to give you the opportunity right now if you’re ready to scholarship you. And that’s when the idea came. I go, how amazing would this be if somebody’s lights come on from some God-given words that came outta my mouth, and I can tell them right then and there, go home, I’m gonna send my assistant with you, pack a.
Because we’re gonna put you on a plane or put you in a car and get you into a treatment center this evening mm-hmm. and start you on getting the life that you deserve. Wow. what an accomplishment there, but I feel like When it thinks about, when you think about when somebody creates, whether it’s a book or something else, like the philanthropic component of it is kind of many times not at the forefront, but just the fact that you started out the book in the first place, not making money, obviously, or not to make money, but then you, you, you pivoted to make it into something that could benefit others.
I mean, It’s awesome. So with the foundation, what are the plans going forward like you, as you continue to grow it and as you continue to to expand? Yeah. I mean it’s whatever I can do to do events you know, and, and forego my keynote fees to, you know, utilize those resources to scholarship people and any more events, you know, there’ll probably be a big one this year.
We don’t know if it’s gonna be in New York or la. We’ve done a couple in Miami. Where, you know, I get the support of my celebrity clients. You know, several of ’em show up and it’s just amazing because I think it’s also between the service work that I do and the respect that I’ve gotten on a personal level for my clients, I think, you know, that’s built that self-esteem, that self-worth from, you know, doing a steamable acts that I was always looking.
And here I had this glorious career, but I, I was still broken. I never felt worthy of any of the success and I was numbing just to be comfortable in the environment and now to, Be able to just show up as me. And you know, even Jay Shetty is a dear friend and texting with them last week, and I’m gone with my girlfriend Nicolette tonight.
And my boy Craig and John Brank are the biggest music entertainment lawyer ever. And you know, Jay’s got us going backstage to see him after we’re sitting up in the front row. And like the old me would’ve been getting high off those fumes. And now I’m like, no, I. Got a gift and a connection with Jay, and we both have it and I deserve to be into that environment because, you know, I wouldn’t be surprised if somebody sees me in the audience.
Somebody saw me on the podcast and that’s not coming from an egotistical place. It’s, there could be a gift that night waiting in that theater. that’s needing to speak to me so I can take them to the other side. I made a commitment to God on July 2nd, 2008, broken on my knees, shaking, crying, trembling that if he took me outta hell, I’ll spend one day at a time taking another Z with me.
And coming up on July 2nd, I’ve done that for almost 15 years. Wow. So, wow. First off, it’s commendable. it’s a great story and I am curious as you, as you inspire others, and you kind of does it rub off like that thought process and that idea, whether it be in in recovery or otherwise, like to inspire others to tell their story as well.
Like, have you noticed that? Absolutely. I mean, I was with a buddy of mine on Saturday. Never met him in person. Mega, mega successful finance guy, investor, you know, worth hundreds of millions. And I just opened up at the Beverly Hills Hotel a little bit deeper about my story, and all of a sudden he started telling me his and said, look, I’ve never told anybody this, and.
This guy’s worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Young guy in his early forties, and we left and it was like nothing could have gone wrong that day. Nothing. He’s like, brother, you got a spiritual brother for life. And it wasn’t somebody in recovery. He had his own healing to deal with and his own trauma and childhood stuff.
And I mean, he’s like, I’m coming around to being more vocal about my story and talking about it and, and you know, you really cemented it for me today. it’s the greatest feeling in the world. Vulnerability. No, absolutely. I love it. and that’s one of the big things that we really work hard on here at Mission Matters.
Just our whole team is really just, you know, whether, whatever the story be like I think that everybody has a story in them or they have something to share, some gift sometimes it can be a hardship and you’ve taken maybe what was perceived as a hardship earlier and you, you really just turned it and made it into.
A blessing that helps others, in my opinion at least. And, you know, everybody to me has a story. And whether they’re, you know, a celebrity agent like yourself or, you know, working with huge clients or whether their local business owner that’s a pillar in their community.
My main thing is I think people need to, to share their story so that, you know, others can benefit from it as well. Mm-hmm. . . So I normally I normally, you know, ask questions for, this isn’t quite the, the podcast style interview I normally ask questions for first, you know, 30 minutes or so. Then I, I do like to get everybody else involved so that it’s more of a round table and I don’t, I don’t hog the microphone for the whole time.
So if mark Charag If anybody wants to ask Darren any questions? Now’s your time. , Hey yeah. I always love asking questions. Thank you Darren, the pleasure to meeting you. My name is Mark Whitehorn. I’m with tech companies showcase websites outta Miami Beach. Good to meet you.
Good to meet you. Fascinating story. Fascinating. The people that you surround yourself with these, this, the creme de la creme, you know. Thank you. So I talk to people in the entertainment industry, in, in Hollywood. And you know, it’s going through a, a major shift right now. I mean, you know, COVID, everyone was watching Hulu and stuff like that, and now they’re losing members and they’re cutting back on production and productions aren’t happening.
And now you have a whole group of people production entertainers in, in LA that are just. And it’s gotta be driving them crazy. And I’m sure you’re talking to a lot of them. What do you tell these people? Well, ironically, we got the best fear we’ve ever had during the Pandemic for Prince Marketing Group and the CIAs and the William Morrison and all those big, big agencies.
You know, they were kind of handcuffed because there was no production and movie sets and commercials, and because of technology. We didn’t skip a beat because of Zoom and social media and explaining to iconic celebrities and mega superstars that you can literally sit in your home, hold up a product and do an informal endorsement, and pop it up on your Instagram or your Twitter.
So I, think, you know, some of it’s coming back. I, I know the budgets have been trimmed because eventually, maybe midway towards the end of the pandemic they realized there were other ways to you know, get your product out there. And obviously all these other streaming platforms. and it works.
I mean, let’s face it, I think everybody being stuck at home, everyone wanted to see was content on tv. And, you know, working with Rodman for so many years, when we did, and Scotty Pippen, everybody saw that with last dance it was a game changer in the docu space. And, and, and now that, that’s the red hot thing, now we’re documentaries, right?
An all time high. You know, it’s interesting because aside from that, I had so many big time agent friends that were just struggling mentally because, you know, if they’re in that world then they don’t have anything to stimulate them on any given day. So that was another gift as well on the business front.
I was able to explain to them, look, this is what we’re doing. You know, let us have access to pitching your people, bring you opportunities, and you’ll slowly see there’s another world out there to transition and pivot. And it worked for a lot. You know, you, you hear someone like Bob Iger who who gets up and speaks and he talks about they lost like two and a half million subscribers to Disney Plus and they’re laying off like 3% of their workforce.
That really has to be demoralizing to an entire industry. When someone like that gets up and speaks. Yeah, I mean, but again, I think he’s had enough experience as well with highs and lows, and it’s a matter of pivoting. It’s a matter of what you need to do to reel back in part of that market share or whatever.
Percentage of that audience that you need to at least for attain so you can get back to like you know, not treading water anymore. and I know enough in the industry that I’ve done that and unfortunately it’s still a, you know, a competitive space. There was a lot of you know, I think platforms that came out that nobody expected, and all of a sudden some of the others became extinct and they lost.
Whatever market share they, you know, they did. But the bottom line is if they’re going somewhere else, well, others were innovative enough to think about it. They’re not fully losing all the subscribers. A lot of people are using other platforms or they’re going to other areas of interest. And I had to change my mindset cuz during the pandemic, you know, I just turned 50 a month before.
and thinking, look, the old, the old school mindset doesn’t work. I need to surround myself with younger Bengalis in the space to teach me on what is new on the cutting edge, because I didn’t want the business to take a hit. There’s only so many reruns of Mary Tyler La Mar that you can watch. Exactly. Now, Seinfeld, we could watch all day.
Yes. You know? Yes. Curb your enthusiasm. There’s certain ones that have. , you know, friends, I know for a lot of people Charlie Sheen’s, a Klein, I know how big two and a half men are is, you know, so but you’re right. I mean , a lot of the older stuff, it doesn’t have that appeal anymore. You know, a lot of that demographic is either, you know, too old, not here or, or it’s just not of interest anymore.
Yeah. The industry’s definitely gotta evolve. I mean, people are out in the streets again, they’re eating at restaurants. Yep. So if they’re doing that, there’s others that have found a way to survive and thrive. Yeah. Thank you. It’s great talking to you. Thank you. Here. Hey Darren. Wondering what is in store?
, what do you see next on your horizon over the next several years? I mean, I just think you know, like I said, recovery and helping others is always you know, first priority. But you know, what I do is, the agent life is, you know, we’re just always active with business opportunities.
Today was just an insane day. We have a huge project being announced with Hulk. St. I I started getting back in with Pamela Anderson. Now it’s been years since I connected with her and her team, cuz she’s red hot right now from her documentary. There’ll be, you know, a lot of exciting projects for her.
Magic and Larry Bird are always like, next level different things that are going on. What’s old is new again. and I think that’s what’s so great about representing cultural iconic figures. So the business we’re just in a, an amazing place and I, I can’t even believe it. At 53, like I said, just a few weeks ago I had the ability to work with Tom Brady Now, Opportunity and the blessing to bring him and his, his team, you know the same sort of situations that I’ve, you know, brought around magic and Hulk and Bird and Joe Montana and Ali and Frazier when they were alive.
It’s it’s just truly unbelievable. I mean, magic was so proud when I told him, and he’s like, Hey, I don’t think you realize this, but you give back so much. Not because you want it to come back, but that’s how God.
What religion are you Jewish? But I’ll tell you, I don’t wanna say I went away from my faith. I told my mom and dad a couple years into my recovery. I don’t know per se that I lost my belief in God. At a certain point when I was in my own hell I know he didn’t give up on on me.
I might’ve given up on him, but really if somebody asked me that question, I could tell you I feel I’m much more spiritual than anything because I remember growing up in Temple and run a lot of Catholic friends, and I always believe that religion is afraid is for those that are afraid of going to hell.
And I believe the spiritual ones are the ones that have.
That’s interesting. You know, Jews don’t believe in hell. I am part of the tribe. Thank you. Yep. I’ve heard that too. But I also know a lot that have been there. I know a lot that haven’t made it out.
Well, you could be on earth and in hell at the same time and in prison, you know? Yeah. In your own mind. You know, I lived it. Passover is coming up, and that’s all about freedom from slavery. And it doesn’t have to be physical slavery. It could be mental slavery. Mental emotional, of course. And that’s what the whole story is all about.
It’s a journey from being entrapped in whatever to becoming a free person. A hundred percent. I met with my rabbi probably four or five years ago, and In Florida him and his wife, Sheila Rabbi, cast in very near and dear to me. And, you know, he just loved everything about where I, you know, where I landed and what I believe in and what I’m doing.
And you know, he’s like, luck. You’ve had a, some extraordinary circumstances and extraordinary life and whatever somebody believes in, whatever that power might be, that’s greater than themselves. to restore them to sanity, like it adds with you that’s what matters, that you’re living your purposeful life.
So do you go to Temple every week? No, I probably go once a year now, like on the high Holy Days that’s about it. I do pray every night. It’s not from a religious standpoint, it’s thanking my God for another day of this incredible. and allowing me to be a voice for him to help others. Well, it’s also a form of meditation.
A hundred percent. I feel disconnected when I don’t do it right. it is definitely introspective. , and Adam, when you repurpose this and, send it out, I’ll tell people don’t ever Pray for the health, happiness. Yeah. And pay for people that you know that are suffering. Cuz I’ve never once been believed me.
There’s a lot of big business deals that were going sideways and I need dis deal on that. Mm-hmm. I don’t believe that’s what he ever wants to hear. You know, always try to find a way to stay in, gratitude and, and pray for others that are really, really,
Hmm, man. Well, I am enjoying this conversation, Darren and Mark. I’m sitting here listening to you too, and I’m like, yeah, this is this is good stuff. It’s is gonna I am excited to repurpose this, by the way, Darren. Cause I think this is going to help a lot of people. For sure. . as you’re talking about something?
I, I was kind of making some notes and I’m just curious, so as you were going through that, the market was changing entertainment and obviously your clients are, you know, huge. But I’m curious if there was any lessons or takeaways, you know, for the, you know, the business owner, the other person that maybe you kind of picked up along the way when you were talking, when you were talking about things like how.
things moved to social media and you, you had to now survive and or not survive, but, but kind of upskill your skillset and surround yourself with individuals that were, you know, in line with that and what was going on in the times. Like, anything that you kind of learned a along that path that you were like, oh, okay.
Like that, that applies to maybe the, the broader spectrum where maybe somebody isn’t, you know what I mean? A celebrity on social. I mean, I just think coming from like an old s schoola marketing, like we never had social media. My girlfriend turned 26 and I laughed like it’s the, there’s a problem with their Instagram or their page gets taken down for the day and just so many individuals that are fully dependent on it.
But, you know, with that being said, You know, from a business standpoint, I, I see the real time results and I’m, I’m understanding it because it’s an incredibly cost effective way compared to. The traditional way of doing business like we used to with, you know, all the Super Bowl ads and you know, big ad buys and big spends and, you know, to be able to, I think, just be in the middle of entrepreneurship for 30, what’s it been, 36 years, 37 years of my life and have made and lost millions twice and came back.
I just think, you know, being open-minded and knowing I don’t know everything, you gotta surround yourself with talented people that. Stay in your lane and, and listen to others that have a resume that you might not, because, you know, again, , I lost my ego when I got sober. You know, I don’t, you know, , I know I don’t know everything.
I know a lot of people. I’ve worked with a lot of great people, but times have changed. and in my generation, you know, the baseball cards is what, you know, gave me my start and there was huge money. Now it’s sneakerheads, now it’s influencers. Mm-hmm. . And you just have to pay attention to it. Yeah, I totally agree.
I was at this the concept’s called Selfie Pop. I mean, a lot of other people that know a lot more about social media probably know about that way more so than I did and fashionable when I went to, so it’s this big. This big old mansion in Hollywood Hills, and you see all of these young individuals and these creators just creating content and, and collaborating with each other.
and I thought about you when I was there cause I was like, man, this is probably, I was trying to think about like your career, and I’m thinking about like the way that individuals collaborated in the past versus now. Their openness and their, like all these, some of these, I mean, I think one of the people in the house, like one of their, I forgot his name, but I think one of their He’s the father of like the number four person on TikTok in terms of size of audience.
And he has this huge audience too. And I was like, wow. To see collaborators come in and take pictures and, you know, and hang out with each other and make meaningful connections to me, I was just like, wow. This is like the renaissance of of like what’s possible as people get together. Now, obviously there’s some, I’m sure there’s a other side to that story too.
But to me, I just saw like a lot of hope, like a lot of hope and a lot of possibility and potential for people to work with each other for, for a greater good. A a hundred percent. And I think that’s what it’s about. Back in the day with us, it was you know, gorilla marketing? Mm-hmm. and just like meetups and going to networking events and not that that.
Not that, still not big. Yeah. But you know, you take two collaborators from different walks of life that have two different demographics and they can legitimately shoot a 30 to 62nd video and, you know, gain, you know, hundreds of thousands of followers, collect that data and really just, you know, increase their, brand tremendously.
Like we never had anything like that when I was growing up in the. . Yeah. So now as we think, you know, if, media compounds and all of this data and everything that we’re doing, and you know, for those that are really paying attention to me, the possibility, especially for just business owners and new concepts and new new ways of doing business, I feel like as it evolves, there’s obviously gonna be a lot more opportunity just in the marketplace for what we’re doing.
And then for this particular, , I guess, area and people that are of that mindset in, in cities or otherwise that have these you know, have, have some, have the resource to be able to do certain things. I’m like, man, this is gonna be interesting. So as we go into this, this next phase of whatever that looks like, I think the, the cool part is that the.
the part of that playing field has been leveled. You know, or once upon a time you had to have a, you had to be a celebrity or you had to, you know, be on top or have a studio behind you or something else. Now that we have a phone and you can do some things, and if you’re creative and if you, you get out there and you do the work, I mean, look at what was that Mr.
B story? And like all his years of hard work on YouTube to do what he’s done, it’s like, what, how does, how’s that even possible? But to me it’s just, there’s just so much hope. exactly. it’s just a completely different world. There’s more, you know, demographic wise of teens to 25 year olds that have built up eight and nine figured net worth than any time in our history.
Blows my mind, man. I’m like, what? You see this new platform? And you’re like, come on. That’s amazing, . Yeah, I’m, I’m ruined broke. But it blows my mind. I’m like, wow, that’s amazing. and I’m with Gary V as a good friend of mine. Like I agree. I mean, school’s not for everybody. If a parent mm-hmm. has a kid that’s struggling, why give them a pass to go to college for four years and spend hundreds of thousands of dollars?
You’re better off sitting down with a business consulting firm and finding something they’re passionate about because, you know, all you’re gonna do is waste four years of their life. And you know, if, you know they’re not focused or not in it, they could always go back to college and get the educat.
the degree that they’re looking for. But there’s, you know, they could do things so turnkey and so quick nowadays. It’s unbelievable. Yeah. Amen. Well, Darren and I’ll just open up any, last questions. I know you had a stop, so I, I don’t wanna keep you over. Any last question? We probably have time for one more if somebody wants to get one in there.
If not, no, big deal. But I’ll, unless Rob close it, but I don’t wanna take it to the end. All right. I think we’re pretty good. Well, Darren Haman, always great speaking with you. I’m, excited for get to do it again every time I learn something new about you and about your journey, and to me it’s just, it’s inspiring.
, I’d love to bring you on the show Charag, if you want to give us the give us the sign off. All good, and thanks again Darren. Thanks guys. Thanks so much Darren. Thanks for all Mark. Absolutely. So thank you everyone. You know, this was an amazing conversation with Darren. Of course, this will be shared across all of our platforms.
We’ll be sharing it on our matters website through my newsletter like we normally do. Tune in next week. We’re gonna have another exciting episode at 4:00 PM p s t per usual. And other than that, thanks everyone.
Awesome. Thanks guys. Thanks guys. Thank you. Thanks. Have a great evening. Take care.
