Ep 17 - No One Is Going to Save You

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What's going on everyone, Welcome to another edition of Confessions of a Native Son, I'm your host Mike Steadman. I'm a Marine Corps Veteran, Entrepreneur, and Aspiring author, who enjoys thought-provoking and engaging dialogue about race, culture, and business. In this raw and unedited episode, my Co-Producer, Mike Loyd, joins the show to rant with me for a bit. One thing we've both learned in our entrepreneurial journeys is that "no one is going to save you." Mike and I share how we came to this conclusion, and how we're using it to fuel our success. As always thanks for sharing your time with us and I hope you enjoy the show.

Confessions of a Native Son - Ep.13 "Always Faithful"

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Pre Show: What's going on everyone, Welcome to another edition of Confessions of a Native Son, I'm your host Mike Steadman. I'm a Marine Corps Veteran, Entrepreneur, and Aspiring author, who enjoys thought-provoking and engaging dialogue about race, culture, and business.

• In this episode, I open up about my first year in the Marine Corps, and the challenges I faced as a young black officer. I share details about my performance, living and working in what felt like an all-white world, and the humiliation I felt. This was the hardest episode I've recorded yet. Sharing this aspect of my life brought back a lot of negative memories and feelings that I've tried to push past. My hope is that by opening and sharing my experience, I'm able to foster an open dialogue about race and culture in the military. As always, thanks for sharing your time with me and I hope you enjoy the show. 

Introduction:  What's up everybody, Welcome to another edition of Confessions of a Native Son. Thank you for joining us again. 

• Podcasting on a Monday afternoon from my apartment

• Reflection on Last Week's Episode

• Marine Corps Times Article "The Marine Corps: Always faithful — to white men"

• Confession: "I was relieved in Combat. In the summer of 2012, after almost 6 months in combat, I lost command of men. It was one of the lowest points of my life, and to be completely honest, I'm still embarrassed by it. I had an extremely rocky Marine Corps career, which heavily contradicts all the success I've had outside the military. 

Sponsors: 

• Dope Coffee: A lifestyle brand that pairs urban Black Culture with innovative product offerings in the coffee industry. We are not a coffee brand for Black people. We are a coffee brand that seeks to elevate Black culture through a lifestyle of premium coffee and candid conversation.

• IRONBOUND Boxing: a fitness brand that utilizes the wellness benefits of boxing to transform communities, individuals, and corporate teams, helping them realize their fullest potential. Proceeds from our services fund free amateur boxing programs for inner-city youth and young adults. 

Theme: Always Faith

• Topic 1: Why I Joined the Marine Corps

  • The Poster

  • Brandon Barrett

  • The Toughness

• Topic 2: The Reality

  • TBS

  • IOC

  • Afghanistan

• Topic 2: Black Man in A White World

  • Lack of Confidence

  • Second Guessing

  • Floyd Mayweather

Conclusion: Closing remarks. 

CTA: Be sure to subscribe and support the podcast by giving us 5 stars and leaving a review on iTunes. Also, forward this show to anyone in your network who you feel identifies with the subject matter. 

Order some dope coffee at www.realdopecoffee.com, we've got to start supporting our own businesses. We're actually in the midst of a funding raising round.  we've raised $45,000 of our $107K target! We're excited about this investment round and I highly encourage all my friends and family to make an investment in us. You can invest for as little as 250.00.  Also, be sure to donate at www.Ironboundboxing.org,  every donation allows us to support free amateur boxing programs for youth and young adults in low-income communities. Boxing is wellness, and thats why we're providing free workouts for the community. Between our corporate clients and free classes, we're running upwards of 15 classes a week. You can donate to support the cause at IRONBOUNDBoxing.org, also if you are part of a remote team looking for some fun employee engagement, we'd love to host a class for you.  

Message me on Linkedin or shoot me an email at Mike@weareironbound.com, Special shoutout to my Co-Producer Mike Loyd and the team from the Gifted Sounds Network. Rooting for everybody black. 

Until next time, peace, love, and have a great rest of your week.

Confessions of a Native Son - Ep.12 "Taking the Big Leap"

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What's going on everyone, Welcome to another edition of Confessions of a Native Son, I'm your host Mike Steadman. I'm a Marine Corps Veteran, Entrepreneur, and Aspiring author, who enjoys thought-provoking and engaging dialogue about race, culture, and business.

In this episode, I discuss Author Gay Hendrick's book, "The Big Leap: Conquer Your Hidden Fear and Take Life to the Next Level." I came across the book last year, thanks to my business Coach Bill Watkins, from the Lion's Pride, and it's has been instrumental in my personal & professional growth. I'm currently going through the book for the fourth time, as I continue to take my own Big Leaps with IRONBOUND Boxing and Dope Coffee. The book made me self-aware of my upper-limit problem, the self-doubt, self-sabotage, and insecurity that emerges every time I dare to step into my greatness. I open up about my personal limiting beliefs, the Stories I tell myself, and the other mental demons I battle on a daily basis. My hope is that opening up about my struggles, you're able to find some self-awareness in your own life. As always, thanks again for sharing your time with me and I hope you enjoy the show.

SHOW NOTES

Introduction:  What's up everybody, Welcome to another edition of Confessions of a Native Son. Thank you for joining us again. 

• Podcasting on a Sunday evening from my apartment in Newark, NJ. 

• Echoing Green Update

• Confession: "I think there's something fundamentally flawed with me." The biggest and most widely-shared fear is that many of us feel there is something fundamentally wrong with us and that we’re undeserving of great success and happiness. This fear causes us to hold ourselves back from fulfilling our ultimate potential because we feel we inherently don’t deserve it.

Sponsors: 

• Dope Coffee: A lifestyle brand that pairs urban Black Culture with innovative product offerings in the coffee industry. We are not a coffee brand for Black people. We are a coffee brand that seeks to elevate Black culture through a lifestyle of premium coffee and candid conversation.

• IRONBOUND Boxing: a fitness brand committed to sharing our love, passion, and appreciation for boxing within companies, organizations, and low-income communities. As a social enterprise, we proudly dedicate a significant percentage of our proceeds, to fund free boxing programs for inner-city youth and young adults.

Theme: Taking the Big Leap

• Topic 1: The Book

  • Overview

  • The Upper Limit Problem

    • Each of us has an inner thermostat setting that determines how much love, success, and
      creativity we allow ourselves to enjoy. When we exceed our inner thermostat setting, we will
      often do something to sabotage ourselves, causing us to drop back into the old, familiar zone
      where we feel secure 

    • Unfortunately, our thermostat setting usually gets programmed in early childhood, before we can think for ourselves. Once programmed, our Upper Limit thermostat setting holds us back from enjoying all the love, financial abundance, and creativity that’s rightfully ours. It keeps us in our Zone of Competence or at best our Zone of Excellence. It prevents us from living in the ultimate destination of the journey—our Zone of Genius.

  • The Zones

    • Incompetence

    • Competence

    • Excellence

    • Genius

• Topic 2: The Stories I Tell Myself-I’m not smart enough, good enough, or qualified enough to build a multimillion-dollar business. 
  -I’m not smart enough to go to or graduate from an elite business school.
  -I can’t build a successful business from the ground up and maintain a meaningful relationship.
  -I can’t relate with my family.