Left for Dead, Raised by Hustle: How to Win When Life Breaks You! Feat. Tiki Davis

From the Streets to the Boardroom: How Tiki Davis Turned Pain into Power Some people get knocked down and never recover. Others get knocked down, rise up, and change the game. My brother Tiki Davis is one of the rare ones who took every single setback—poverty, injustice, incarceration—and turned it into the fuel that built his empire. And in this conversation, we go deep into the truth about what it really takes to rise when the odds are stacked against you. Tiki’s story isn’t just about going from nothing to something—it’s about the man he had to become in the process. We talk about his early years in the roughest parts of West Texas, the moment he found himself behind bars, and the choice he made to rewrite his own future. He opens up about the mentors who poured into him, the faith that kept him moving, and the grit it took to rebuild a life from scratch when everyone counted him out. What hits you when you hear Tiki speak is that this isn’t theory—this is lived experience. We talk about what it’s like to carry the weight of your past into every room, and how to turn that weight into the thing that makes you unshakable. Tiki shares the mindset shifts that helped him transform his identity, build multiple businesses, and become a force for change in his community. If you’ve ever felt written off, if you’ve been told you’re too far gone, or if life has hit you harder than you think you can stand—this episode is proof that your story is not over. Tiki’s life is a reminder that pain is a classroom, faith is a compass, and resilience is a choice you get to make every single day. Key Takeaways: How to turn your past struggles into the foundation for future success The moment Tiki decided to rewrite his story and walk a new path The role of faith and mentorship in overcoming impossible odds How to use pain as fuel instead of letting it become your prison Why your identity—not your circumstances—defines your destiny The mindset shifts that can turn a setback into a setup for greatness Your circumstances don’t get the final say—you do. Listen now, and let this story light a fire in you. — Max Out. 👉 SUBSCRIBE TO ED'S YOUTUBE CHANNEL NOW 👈 → → → CONNECT WITH ED MYLETT ON SOCIAL MEDIA: ← ← ← ➡️ INSTAGRAM ➡️FACEBOOK ➡️ LINKEDIN ➡️ X ➡️ WEBSITE Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Ed Mylett?

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• 0:45Ed Mylett?

  Over 20 years in business, over $12 billion deployed to small business across America. Stop letting bank delays slow down your momentum. Head to cardiff.co/ed. That's cardiff.co/ed. Cardiff.co. Real growth, fast funding. Cardiff, borrow better.

• 1:03Speaker 01

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• 1:36Ed Mylett?

  This is the Ed Meyer Show.

• 1:40Ed Mylett?

  Welcome back to the show, everybody. So a while back, maybe about a year ago, I heard a story from my friend John Gordon about a man's life. And I made a mental note at that time. I said, "That story's going to be told on my show, and millions of people are going to hear it because millions of people need to hear this story." And it's going to grip you. It's going to bring you in right away in the beginning of this interview. And I don't think you're ever going to forget it. And I think the lessons you're going to learn from this man about that story are going to change your life. And so I actually asked him to come in person today because I wanted to feel the story, man to man, heart to heart, face to face. And so my guest today was stabbed in the neck when he was nine years old. Locked up in jail when he was 18, actually in jail, as I understand, the same time as his

• 2:25Ed Mylett?

  mother. I'm gonna let you tell the story, but my guest today is the very jacked up with a schmedium shirt on, just getting XL shirt on. Tiki Davis, welcome to the show.

• 2:36Speaker 02

  Man, I'm glad to be here. Thank you, Ed.

• 2:38Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, it's so good to have you. All right, let's, let's go all the way back. You're here because of a story, well, multiple stories in your life, but take us back to your upbringing, because I think a lot of people, why do I want you on? A lot of people going through something right now in their life, or a hardship, or a trauma that they think is pretty significant, and they don't know the path out. You do, because you've made the path out, and yours is dramatic.

• 3:01Speaker 02

  Right.

• 3:02Ed Mylett?

  So, should we start at nine? Is that about the right place to start?

• 3:05Speaker 02

  Yeah, we can start it now. Let's start a little bit before that.

• 3:07Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 3:07Speaker 02

  Let's set it up to stage and see why I got stabbed in the neck.

• 3:10Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 3:11Speaker 02

  So, 12 years old, this young girl was having sex. Her father found out she was having sex. So, he said, if you're gonna have sex, you might as well get paid for it. So, her father turned her into a prostitute. As she got older, she was 16, 17, working at a hospital in Amarillo, Texas, and she was having sex. Her main customer was the head physician at the hospital. Then, she was also having unprotected sex with a pimp named Ramsey. This young girl gets pregnant. She's hoping the baby's her pimp's, because she's in love with this guy. He's a tall, black guy with an Afro. But she has the baby, the physician delivers the baby. The baby comes out, half-black,

• 3:52Speaker 02

  half-white. So, now, the request my mom has with this physician, tie my tubes. I don't want to have any more kids.

• 4:01Ed Mylett?

  So, this lady that you're describing is your mom, and you are that half-black, half-white baby?

• 4:06Speaker 02

  No, that's my brother.

• 4:08Ed Mylett?

  Okay, all right. But it is your mom?

• 4:10Speaker 02

  It is my mom.

• 4:10Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 4:11Speaker 02

  So, but she doesn't want to have any more kids. So, the guy ties her tubes, fires her from the hospital, hoped to never see her again.

• 4:18Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 4:18Speaker 02

  So, she goes straight back to work as a prostitute.

• 4:22Ed Mylett?

  Wow.

• 4:22Speaker 02

  The guy that's my father, he's in jail, in prison, serving seven years. So, when my dad gets out of prison, he finds out that his girlfriend that he had, has had a baby, and not only had a baby, it's a white baby.

• 4:34Ed Mylett?

  Oh, my gosh.

• 4:34Speaker 02

  Now, he's jealous, and he's begging her to have a kid for him. And she says, Frank, I can't have any more kids. My tubes are tied. And so he begs and begs her to untie her tubes.

• 4:46Ed Mylett?

  Whoa.

• 4:47Speaker 02

  And she said, I don't want any kids, but she does anyway, has a baby. Two months after I'm delivered, she calls my dad and says, come get your son. I didn't want no more kids, you did.

• 4:58Ed Mylett?

  Oh, my gosh. See, I didn't know this part of the story.

• 5:01Speaker 02

  Right.

• 5:02Ed Mylett?

  Oh, my gosh.

• 5:02Speaker 02

  So my dad.

• 5:04Ed Mylett?

  Wow.

• 5:05Speaker 02

  Twenty-five years old, he comes to Andrew, Texas, picks me up, takes me to his mother, because he doesn't know how to raise a kid. And my grandmother, Hattie Ward, takes me in, open arms, not because she loved me so much. She had a debt to pay to her own son, because she gave him away at birth.

• 5:25Ed Mylett?

  What did you just, you talk about generational trauma in a family.

• 5:30Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 5:30Ed Mylett?

  Okay, just piece it together. Brother's born, half-black, half-white.

• 5:34Speaker 02

  Right.

• 5:34Ed Mylett?

  Mom's a prostitute.

• 5:35Speaker 02

  Right.

• 5:35Ed Mylett?

  Turns out, it's not the pimp, it's the doctor.

• 5:37Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 5:38Ed Mylett?

  Then dad, who's in prison, gets out of prison.

• 5:41Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 5:42Ed Mylett?

  Says, I want a kid. She unties her tubes, doesn't want to.

• 5:45Speaker 02

  Uh huh.

• 5:45Ed Mylett?

  You, you're born.

• 5:46Speaker 02

  Right.

• 5:47Ed Mylett?

  She gives you away within two months. I'm not laughing, I'm just blown away.

• 5:51Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 5:51Ed Mylett?

  Two months, and then your dad can't raise a kid, so you go to your grandmother. Your grandmother only does this because she gave your dad away.

• 5:59Speaker 02

  Right. Yeah, true story. I can't make this up.

• 6:02Ed Mylett?

  Wow.

• 6:03Speaker 02

  So now I live with my grandmother from two months old to three years old. And guess who comes looking for me at three years old?

• 6:11Ed Mylett?

  Mom or dad?

• 6:11Speaker 02

  Mom.

• 6:12Ed Mylett?

  Mom, okay.

• 6:13Speaker 02

  So she comes to look for me, because back in early eighties, when you went to the welfare office, you gotta have proof of your kids.

• 6:22Speaker 02

  So mama needed proof of her two kids to get this check. And my brother was given to her mother. So she ain't raised any of her kids. They've been two different places. So now it gets tricky. So she comes to Artesia, New Mexico, where I was living with my grandmother, to pick me up. She's one of her dates, she had married this guy named Murphy Young, pulls up in this yellow Lincoln, cloth seats in the back, right? And she sits me, and I knew she was my mom. For some reason, I knew that was my mom. Even though I never met her, but I was like, that's my mama. But check this out, it gets weirder. She gets me, sits me in the backseat, and she looks over there and says, there's your brother.

• 6:58Ed Mylett?

  Oh my god.

• 6:59Speaker 02

  First time I seen a white person.

• 7:00Ed Mylett?

  Oh my god. So your brother visually looks more white than black?

• 7:04Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 7:05Ed Mylett?

  Which makes sense that you're not the mixed baby because you don't.

• 7:07Speaker 02

  No, right.

• 7:08Ed Mylett?

  Hello, my lad. Yeah.

• 7:09Speaker 02

  Yeah, and so that's how I met my brother.

• 7:11Ed Mylett?

  Wow.

• 7:11Speaker 02

  And then we go to Odessa, Texas, and that's when my life starts spiraling out of control because now I'm living with mama.

• 7:18Ed Mylett?

  Was grandma, uh, just curious, those years when you were the grandma, was she a loving grandmother?

• 7:22Speaker 02

  Yeah, oh yeah, oh, she was a great man. Addy, like, that's why I love breakfast. You know, that's my favorite meal of the day is breakfast because she used to make me oatmeal, quinoa weeds, biscuits, uh, eggs. And that good old grandma smell and you know, and I loved her till she passed away about 10 years ago at 84.

• 7:39Ed Mylett?

  Wow. You have a, you're a grown man, but you almost have a, uh, anyone ever tell you this before, you're a strong man, he's gigantic, you guys, but you almost have a, the spirit in the face of a, a little boy still. You ever heard that before?

• 7:51Speaker 02

  I get that. I had to put these braces back on my teeth. One of my teeth was getting crooked.

• 7:54Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 7:54Speaker 02

  So I had them when I was 34. I'm 46 now.

• 7:57Ed Mylett?

  You look so young. I wonder if you're some, like, you didn't have a childhood, so God's gonna make you look like a young person for the rest of your life. That's one of the blessings of this horror story so far. Okay, so now, you now are with your brother and your mom.

• 8:10Speaker 02

  Right.

• 8:11Ed Mylett?

  And we're not even to the nine-year-old incident yet.

• 8:13Speaker 02

  No, no, no. So we're, we're growing up in the projects and now, once mom gets the benefits, she sends us back with grandma.

• 8:20Ed Mylett?

  Wow.

• 8:21Speaker 02

  And so now, me and my brother always grew up thinking that my grandma loved him more and mom loved me more. Why? Because we were kids, we didn't understand really what was going on. So my brother had lived with my grandma his whole life. So she had the means to take care of him. But when I came on, I was extra. I was another mouth to feed. So me and my brother would overhear conversations, my grandmother, my mom arguing about money. And my grandma would say to my mom, hey, I got enough for Kevin. I don't have enough for Tiki. And so my mom would always come and bring money for me and not my brother, bring clothes for me and not my brother because he was already taken care of.

• 8:59Ed Mylett?

  Oh gosh, that's horrible.

• 9:00Speaker 02

  You see what I'm saying? So me and my brother was thinking, hey, my mom loves me and my brother was thinking, mom don't love him because I'm white or something.

• 9:07Ed Mylett?

  Wow. And by the way, I'm just piecing something together. So you were living with this brother, not knowing he was your brother until she tells you in the back of the car? Is that right?

• 9:15Speaker 02

  No, I wasn't living with my brother because we were at two different homes. I was in New Mexico with my dad's mom. He was living in Odessa with my mom's mom.

• 9:23Ed Mylett?

  This is a different grandmother?

• 9:24Speaker 02

  Yeah, different grandmother.

• 9:24Ed Mylett?

  Oh my gosh.

• 9:25Speaker 02

  So when, when I meet my first white person is my brother in the backseat.

• 9:30Ed Mylett?

  Oh my gosh.

• 9:30Speaker 02

  And that's the first time we met. He's five, I'm three.

• 9:33Ed Mylett?

  Oh my gosh. Okay. So, okay. One of the crazier story. And by the way, when I introduced you, I knew about 60% of this story and it was already one of the best stories I've ever heard in my life. When I say best, it's best because of who's sitting in front of me now.

• 9:45Speaker 02

  Right, right.

• 9:45Ed Mylett?

  I certainly would never want someone to go through that, but you are proof that you can transcend your environment. You can overcome your circumstances. You are living proof of this and we're going to talk about some of those keys and strategies. By the way, everybody should know this. Tiki is an inspirational motivational speaker as well.

• 10:01Speaker 02

  Right.

• 10:02Ed Mylett?

  These stories on stage even come to a life in a different way than what we're doing right now. So I want to make sure that at the end, when I send you to find him, that you guys know that he does this as well. Cause it is, it's, it's going to be a movie. We're already talking about that, but I get the movie on my show first, which is really cool. So, okay. Probably let's get to what happens at nine because that's the beginning of the story. I knew, I didn't even know any of this.

• 10:23Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 10:24Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 10:24Speaker 02

  And so my mom's a prostitute. That's her means, you know, to a job. And other than being a prostitute, the only job I knew my mom had, she'd ring the bell for the Salvation Army. I had it for Walmart, Home Goods, things like that. So mom got sloppy one night with this date.

• 10:42Speaker 02

  And we only have one key to the house, so I, I went home that night. It was dark. My mom and aunt had robbed this guy, a Hispanic man. So I'm laying in bed, getting ready for bed. I hear footsteps coming down the hallway. I'm not afraid. But it's this Hispanic guy comes and asks, where's your mama? And I'm looking, I don't know where she is. She's in the flats, and the flats was where all the black people hung out. And then before I know it, he says, she stole my money. And I'm thinking, okay. And then he wrapped a bandana around my neck.

• 11:12Ed Mylett?

  Oh my gosh.

• 11:12Speaker 02

  Strangling me, you know, left to right. I'm this little.

• 11:16Ed Mylett?

  You're a little boy.

• 11:17Speaker 02

  Yeah, I'm nine years old. He's strangling me. And then he finally lets me go. And then he stabbed me in the neck with a screwdriver. Then he puts a pillow over my face, Ed, start beating me, beating me, beating me, beating me. And only reason I was able to survive is because I, I decided to fight for my life, but the only reason I did is because my mom used to give me a whooping. And I would run from her. So that's the only way I was able to escape this guy. So I slide down the wall, roll up under the bed. So he's moving the bed left to right, flipping it over, but I'm stuck up under the bed. Because my mom would give me whoopings and that's where I would go. So nobody could get me from up under that bed. And so I'm fighting for my life. I'm bleeding. I don't even know my life's in danger, really. I just know this man's attacking me.

• 11:59Ed Mylett?

  Gosh.

• 12:00Speaker 02

  And only thing that I remember, because everybody said, Tiki, do you remember what the guy looked like? Yeah, I do. I remember the bottom of his blue jeans and his snake skin boots.

• 12:07Ed Mylett?

  Because you're looking at it from under the bed.

• 12:08Speaker 02

  Under the bed. And then finally the guy panics and run away, think I'm gonna die or whatever. And when I hear the back door slams, I decide to get up. I roll from up under the bed and my mom used to have this hatchet on the stairs in the projects and for a defense mechanism. And it was right there. And I'm thinking to myself, I'm glad he didn't find that. And I'm holding my neck, I'm bleeding.

• 12:30Ed Mylett?

  Oh my gosh.

• 12:31Speaker 02

  My brother's next door, uh, playing Atari video games. I will go over there and knock on the door. The lady name was Linda Fay. And she had an old drunk uncle named HL. And my brother and him answer the door. And I walk in and I fall in my brother's arm, bleeding to death everywhere. And everybody in the hood is screaming, ah, you know, everybody screaming and they think that my mom's ways caught up to her and I got murdered.

• 12:55Ed Mylett?

  Oh my gosh. Okay, I have to pause here for a second.

• 12:59Speaker 02

  Mm-hmm.

• 13:00Ed Mylett?

  Maybe this is the most compelling story I've ever had said right here in front of me on the show. I don't want to say anything about other guests, because we've had some great stories, but this is a, this is a wow. Okay, so what happened? So you're bleeding, are you bleeding to death?

• 13:13Speaker 02

  Yeah, I'm bleeding to death. I'm bleeding to death. They called the ambulance and this old guy named H.L., he worked at Old Death America, he was a newspaper guy, and he says, "Put a Band-Aid on it." He was drunk. So anyway, they called the ambulance. It is crazy, just like the movie. They got me on a stretcher, and this is, this is the most realest thing that ever really happened in my life, that, that I'm true. I never snitched on my mom. So I'm on the stretcher, police is there, my mom rose up on the scene, because they told I got murdered, but she wanted to come see for herself. I'm on the stretcher, getting in the ambulance, my mom runs up, she don't say, "Are you okay, baby?" Nothing. She said, "Don't tell them nothing."

• 13:51Speaker 02

  She says, "Don't tell them nothing."

• 13:54Speaker 02

  And so I kept that in my head.

• 13:55Ed Mylett?

  Whoa.

• 13:56Speaker 02

  So now, we go to the hospital. I don't know if I'm gonna die or nothing, but whatever my mom said, code of the streets, "Don't snitch, don't say nothing," it was in the back of my head. So it's the detective named Detective Price. After they bandaged me up a couple of days later, he comes and say, "Boy, what happened? What happened?" I said, "Man, somebody tried to break in our house and rob us." And he goes, "Nobody robs the projects." But I just said, "Hey, that's it." And so for three or four days, no one showed up but that detective. Fourth day, mama shows up.

• 14:26Ed Mylett?

  Wait, your mother didn't come visit you?

• 14:28Speaker 02

  No, because she thought I was gonna break or whatever.

• 14:30Ed Mylett?

  Oh, she's gonna get arrested if she shows up, because you've told the story?

• 14:33Speaker 02

  Right. So now, I'm, I'm, I'm there, and then she shows up, and she comes in, and she sits on the edge of the, the, the bed, and she's crying, "Oh, oh, baby, I'm so sorry." And now, me, being a little boy, start comforting the mom. Mama, don't cry. It's gonna be okay. And mama said, "I'm so sorry, babe, I'm so sorry." And in my heart, I forgave my mama in that moment. I never held a grudge. And so, after that time, I want to know why my mom was crying. So I got up, and she said, "Baby, look." And I looked in the mirror, and my head. Was about four or five times the normal head of a nine year old boy.

• 15:16Speaker 02

  Nods and bruises, my eyes, the pupils. It was, you could see the black where the white was, it was red. Like all blush, I completely no white. And I remember when I got out of the hospital, I couldn't go to school anymore. I was in the second grade, so all my second grade, uh, I just barely found this out a few months ago. A girl, her name is Keisha Robinson. She was my neighbor in the project and she was also in my class. And she said that everybody in my class, second grade class, thought I had died.

• 15:45Ed Mylett?

  My gosh.

• 15:46Speaker 02

  Cause I didn't go to school for a few months because I was so jacked up. And I remember that, that eye doctor, when we went to that specialist, the eye doctor told my mom, she says, I never seen an eye condition this bad. If the medication don't work where his eyes clear up, we're gonna have to scrape his eyeballs.

• 16:02Ed Mylett?

  Oh my gosh.

• 16:03Speaker 02

  So I was a little boy thinking about, oh, my eyeball scraped.

• 16:06Ed Mylett?

  This may sound really weird, but like I'm sitting here with this grown jacked man. I like wanna, I wanna just like hug this little boy, like it's just, it's staggering what you're describing right now. The other thing that I, strikes me as I'm listening to you is like, God made this articulate, brilliant, intellectually gifted, uh, amazing storytelling young boy who's going through this

• 16:29Speaker 02

  Right.

• 16:29Ed Mylett?

  trauma, like on the other side of pain. By the way, and the pain hasn't ended yet, guys, we're, we're just getting started.

• 16:35Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 16:35Ed Mylett?

  The pain, there's this, this amazing human being.

• 16:39Speaker 02

  Right.

• 16:39Ed Mylett?

  And that anybody listening to this, like whatever you're going through compared to what? By the way, and the other thing I think of is, there's some other little boy right now somewhere, going through the same type scenario that how, how many people need our help? You know what I mean? I think about that, all the people going through something like what you're describing, which the way that I was raised, this isn't even fathomable, right? And I thought I had it bad with a drug addict dad and alcoholic dad in a safe home.

• 17:07Speaker 02

  Right.

• 17:08Ed Mylett?

  Where we had food on the table.

• 17:09Speaker 02

  Right.

• 17:10Ed Mylett?

  My mother was not a, doing any of the things your mom was doing and there was love. He had no love. It just, I just stepped back for a second and go, my gosh. This episode is sponsored by Ro. A lot of people assume GLP-1's cost a fortune, and that assumption keeps them from even looking into treatment. Ro helps people find a more affordable path to FDA-approved GLP-1 treatment. Ro wants to help people lose weight. That's why they have more affordable GLP-1 options, whether you're paying with insurance or cash. Ro's free insurance checker makes it easy to see if you're covered for GLP-1 injections. Just submit your insurance card and Ro handles the rest. No paperwork, no waiting on hold, no confusing phone calls. And if insurance doesn't cover treatment, there are still options.

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• 19:24Ed Mylett?

  So this, these injuries are pretty significant.

• 19:27Speaker 02

  Right.

• 19:28Ed Mylett?

  You eventually heal and recover from this, but let's just be real. You've now grown up with programming and patterns and an environment that is not set up.

• 19:37Speaker 02

  Right.

• 19:38Ed Mylett?

  For a young man to make good decisions up until adulthood.

• 19:42Speaker 02

  To be honest with you, the reason I became the successful entrepreneur, that's all I know.

• 19:46Ed Mylett?

  Millionaire, everybody.

• 19:47Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah. We did that 12 years ago.

• 19:49Ed Mylett?

  Yep.

• 19:50Speaker 02

  So the thing about me making money, like I tell everybody, it's not arrogant, it's not a cocky, it's just I, all I had was me. My life basically been locked out by all purposes. So at 12 years old, I think that's the last time I ever asked for money. I was selling candy door to door at 12 years old because, and this is another thing, how I ended up in the boys home. I'm selling candy door to door and I used to save my money at home. I'm living with mom at this time. We're living in an apartment somewhere else.

• 20:21Ed Mylett?

  She's still in the same occupation?

• 20:23Speaker 02

  Occupation, same thing, robbing, stealing, drugging. She just is, she's three years later. We get evicted from that first project because HUD says, once you have a police involved, domestic violence, you get kicked out of the program. So we're living somewhere else. So what I would do every day, I would sell candies door to door for this thing called West Texas Teens. And for every box of candy I sell, I get a dollar bill. So I would sell 25 after football practice, after school. And I used to stash the money at home. So one day I come home, I think I had $380 saved up at 12 years old. I come home, I'm putting some more in my stash, mama hit me. She hit me for my whole 380 and I'm sick. And because she was asking me for money that days early and I'm like, no, I'm saving for my school.

• 21:08Speaker 02

  Cause I wouldn't give her any. And then I go around the corner, her and her friends are drinking, having a party with my money. So I went around there and this is the only time I ever really kind of cussed at my mom. I said, did you steal my F-ing money? And she goes, nah, what are you talking about? She denied it. And I just hid around the corner and this lady that was drinking a beer part of it. She said, did you take that boy's money? She goes, yeah, I took it, but he ain't gonna talk to me like that. I'm his money. I got a hundred left. I was gonna give it to him. Then I just went back around and I said, you know what, mom? I said, mama, man, go on and keep it. I'm gonna go get some more. So from that day on, I would carry my money in my pocket, like to school. So now I would go, I'm in the seventh grade at Crockett Junior High. I would take my money to school and I would flash it sometime or get something.

• 21:52Speaker 02

  And they're like, dang, Tiki, what are you doing? And I said, I sell candy. Made it to the principal.

• 21:58Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, I think it's a different candy.

• 21:59Speaker 02

  Right. You're a hundred percent correct. So they called me to the principal's office. I'm already on juvenile probation. Understand, I had my probation officer, his name is Gary Speed. So I go to the, I mean, to the principal's office. They said, Tiki, what are you doing with all this money? I said, I sell candy after school. They said, who's your pusher? I said, he's a guy named Eddie. They says, okay. So they called my probation officer. They come in, we have this meeting. They said, Tiki, what are you doing with all this money? And I said, Gary, he was my probation. I said, I don't know if you know it or not. I said, how many days in a week it is? He says, it's seven. I said, I'm by myself for five. So I need this money to take care of myself and I gotta bring it to school. If I leave it at home, mama's gonna steal it. They wait till after school. They said, when do your pusher pick you up? I said, he picks us up after school in his little van.

• 22:44Speaker 02

  So after school, they wait for the guy to pick us up and they ambush his van. And they open up all the boxes and it was candy. So Gary, my probation officer, he says, Tiki, you can't live like this. You can't sell candy. You can't do this. He said, what do you think about the boys' home? I said, what boys' home? He said, it's Buckner Group home. He says, you don't have to sell candy. You get an eight dollar allowance. You get your own room with some other boys. You can't live like this. You wanna go in? And I said, yeah, let's go in. And that's when my life started to change, when I went into the boys' home.

• 23:18Ed Mylett?

  Brother, okay. This is bananas. I have, by the way, my first career out of college is I worked in a group home.

• 23:25Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 23:25Ed Mylett?

  I worked at McKinley Home for Boys and that changed my life being with those boys.

• 23:29Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 23:30Ed Mylett?

  And stories, yours is the most extreme.

• 23:32Speaker 02

  Right.

• 23:33Ed Mylett?

  But stories like that, having boys in my home whose own fathers had sexually assaulted them or father and uncle and, you know, seeing what these young boys had gone through in their life and just thinking the chances.

• 23:47Speaker 02

  Right.

• 23:47Ed Mylett?

  From there, if they don't start learning new patterns, new decisions, new thoughts of their lives, not repeating, because you know what I was thinking the whole time you were describing your mom? I don't know, you, I'm sure you've thought about it. What happened to your mom when she was a little girl? Do you know what I mean? Like, like what caused her to turn into what she ultimately turned into? Have you ever given any consideration to that?

• 24:07Speaker 02

  Here's the deal. A lot of people, when I shared the story, I just really started sharing it like six, seven years ago when I got into the speaking.

• 24:13Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 24:14Speaker 02

  I love my mom unconditionally like no other. I never loved anybody like I love my mom, but my daughter and my granddaughter now. Like my mom, she was my number one. I loved her to the end. And I'll get into that a little later on in the story, but she had a rough life.

• 24:30Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, she had to have.

• 24:31Speaker 02

  But, but check this out. The grandmother I was telling you about, I didn't really want to confuse the story.

• 24:35Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 24:36Speaker 02

  But my mom had five siblings and her birth mother gave her and her five siblings and only kept the sixth kid because he was a boy and she was in love with the man. So my mom's birth mother gave five of my mom's siblings and herself away.

• 24:50Ed Mylett?

  Away. So this sort of starts to kind of explain your mother's trauma.

• 24:54Speaker 02

  Right.

• 24:54Ed Mylett?

  And in every family, I always say, there's the one where it stops.

• 24:58Speaker 02

  Right.

• 24:58Ed Mylett?

  And they become the one that changes everything. Clearly you're the one in your family. I mean, that obviously, I just want to acknowledge you, brother. Like everyone waits for the rest of this, but like what you've turned into, multimillionaire, speak around the world, unbelievable book coming out called The Tiki Fact that you can preorder, by the way, right now.

• 25:14Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 25:15Ed Mylett?

  But just, it's just. Incredible. And we're gonna talk about some of the strategies in a minute, everybody. But the story actually isn't done. What did you get? I'm curious. What did you get at the group home? That so helped you, I guess, short term compared to what you weren't getting in your own home?

• 25:30Speaker 02

  Well, Ed, at 12 years old, that was the first time that I knew when I went to school, all our belongings weren't gonna be sitting on the side of the street. So what I got from the group home was stability. First time I knew I was gonna have three meals a day. I knew I was gonna get $8 at the end of the week because I stayed out of trouble. I knew I was gonna be able to play video games. I knew I was gonna get the hang with the other kids and I didn't have the stress of a grown man. I was just gonna have the ability to live normal. And so that's what I got from the group home was stability.

• 26:01Ed Mylett?

  Did anything in the group home? When I was running, when I worked in the group home, everyone that's actually worked in it years. It sounds like you were in one like what I was into, like a pretty significant one.

• 26:10Ed Mylett?

  One of the things I used to worry about with my boys, this is nothing to do with your story. I'm just curious.

• 26:14Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah.

• 26:15Ed Mylett?

  Was there was always a boy that was the alpha in the group home? And every once in a while, he was the one who kind of corrupted or messed up the other little boy. So it wasn't their family anymore. It was this alpha who, like in our group home, frankly, some of the sexual assaults that would take place was from this, I know it was name, I won't say, but like one boy that was in there would almost hurt the other boys in there. Did you ever have to defend yourself against, was there like a dude in there? Or was it just a, you got blessed that this was a good group of dudes you ended up with?

• 26:45Speaker 02

  Yeah, it was a good group of guys. If anybody was the alpha, it was me.

• 26:49Ed Mylett?

  It was you.

• 26:49Speaker 02

  I was always the leader and then it was always like a rivalry. You know, I was always bumping head with the other guy that wanted to be aligned. Like you in the jungle, I'm aligned, you aligned, let's see a mano a mano. So it was a guy named Rodrick Luke from Lubbock.

• 27:02Ed Mylett?

  Your name recognition is incredible, by the way, of your life.

• 27:05Speaker 02

  Yeah. And so, so Rodrick, me and him would go back at it because I was eighth grade. He was ninth grade and I was the new boy in, so everybody kind of liked him. But when I came in, I had that thing when you walk in a room, it's called command presence.

• 27:16Ed Mylett?

  That's right.

• 27:17Speaker 02

  And when people say, I don't know who that guy is, but he's somebody. And so I've always had that even as a young boy to a man to whatever. When he walks in a room or you walk on stage, oh, that's him.

• 27:26Ed Mylett?

  You definitely have that, right? I walked in the studio. He was here before me, guys.

• 27:30Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 27:30Ed Mylett?

  And right away. I mean, and it's not your guns. It's not your physicality. It's your presence.

• 27:34Speaker 02

  Yeah, and that's what I've always had. And you know, sometime it helps me. Sometime I put a target on my back.

• 27:40Ed Mylett?

  Yep. Yeah, and sometimes it's intimidating and off putting to certain people, too.

• 27:43Speaker 02

  Right.

• 27:44Ed Mylett?

  Okay, so things go good in the group home, but then you're locked up at eighteen.

• 27:47Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 27:48Ed Mylett?

  So what turned? What happened? Because everyone, and then is it accurate that your mom was incarcerated at the same time?

• 27:53Speaker 02

  Yeah, yes, yes.

• 27:54Ed Mylett?

  Not in the same place?

• 27:55Speaker 02

  Same place.

• 27:55Ed Mylett?

  Oh, my God. Come on. You end up incarcerated in the same facility as your mother?

• 28:02Speaker 02

  Yes. So here it is at seventeen.

• 28:05Ed Mylett?

  The story is amazing.

• 28:07Speaker 02

  Yeah, so at seventeen, I'm finally trying to live this dream of being a football star at my local high school. And that was all over as quick as it started because I was accused of a crime.

• 28:17Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 28:17Speaker 02

  And I go to jail.

• 28:18Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 28:19Speaker 02

  But I'm at the county jail.

• 28:20Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, you're being held.

• 28:21Speaker 02

  Yeah, so when I go in there, everybody wants a visitor, right?

• 28:24Ed Mylett?

  Yep.

• 28:25Speaker 02

  But my visitor was my mama. And so the sheriff and the powers that be knew my mama and knew me.

• 28:32Speaker 02

  And so instead of waiting on the visitor, they took me right to her.

• 28:35Ed Mylett?

  They did. Okay.

• 28:36Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 28:37Ed Mylett?

  That's just, bro, I don't even know how to explain this. I don't even know. Can you, as you tell it, like, is there a part of you that's like outside your body almost right now? Like, I can't even believe this is my story.

• 28:48Speaker 02

  No, now hindsight, like I said, like when people, you're proofreading the book, you know, with the editor. And when I, when I dive back into it, it's hard for me to read my own story again because now I don't live that life anymore. And I'm like, dang, how did I make it?

• 29:02Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 29:03Speaker 02

  Because when you look back and you see all the trauma and everything, because when you're going through it, it's just normal.

• 29:08Ed Mylett?

  Right.

• 29:08Speaker 02

  Because you don't know nothing different.

• 29:09Ed Mylett?

  Mm hmm.

• 29:10Speaker 02

  And so when I go in and visit my mom, and I never shared it, I'm sharing it on your, your, your, your stage right now.

• 29:15Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 29:15Speaker 02

  When my mom, when I went in, I asked my mom, I'm like, Mom, you know, I didn't do what they said I did. She says, boy, do you got AIDS?

• 29:24Speaker 02

  She asked me if I had AIDS.

• 29:25Ed Mylett?

  Really?

• 29:26Speaker 02

  Because she thought being around white women or white people, you could get AIDS.

• 29:31Ed Mylett?

  Oh, my God.

• 29:31Speaker 02

  And I was like, no, Mom, I don't have AIDS. I, I didn't, I didn't do nothing. And she says, well, I love you, son. And she couldn't really help me because she was on her way to prison for murder.

• 29:45Speaker 02

  Yeah, so she went to prison for murder. I was going in there for what I was charged for. She went to prison for murder. And so before she caught the chain to go to prison for murder, we had that conversation. And that's the last time I ever seen her.

• 30:02Ed Mylett?

  Tiki. I've been doing this a long time. I've been speechless like three times ever on the show.

• 30:09Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 30:10Ed Mylett?

  I didn't know that.

• 30:11Speaker 02

  Yeah, oh, it gets, it gets worse.

• 30:13Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 30:14Speaker 02

  So, we had that conversation. She hugs me, I say, I love you, mom. She said, I love you too. But she's thirty seven, I'm seventeen. She can't really compensate to help me because she's dealing with her own life. She goes to prison. I get out of jail. Uh, bond out. Uh, my football career is wiped away because I have to start my senior year at the alternative school.

• 30:36Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 30:37Speaker 02

  So, this whole dream, I'm watching someone else score my touchdowns. I'm waiting, you know, I see their name in the paper and I'm hurt by this. And then soon as football season over, I go back to my high school. When basketball season, I'm like an outcast. I was this big star and everybody's looking at me like, man, what happened, Tiki? What happened? And then I go to school for about a month, then I go to court. When I go to court, my lawyer tell me, Tiki, they're offering you five years in prison. Five years, I'm eighteen now. Five years in prison. He says, but I think if we go to court and they see all the evidence and they see that young lady and see what she looks like, ain't nobody gonna send you to prison. And so we go into the courtroom. Court's supposed to start at nine o'clock.

• 31:21Speaker 02

  Nine fifteen, nine thirty, nine forty-five. Nobody shows up but the judge and us. Nine forty-five, nine fifty-five, the prosecutor and the alleged victim mom shows up, falls out in the courtroom drunk.

• 31:37Speaker 02

  Oh my gosh. And so at that time, boo, mistrial. And then, but then that lady started screaming, so the judge called us to the back. And the lawyer that I had, they says, okay, let's give him deferred adjudication probation for ten years. And the judge said, if you stay out of trouble for ten years, this goes away like it never happened. That's the best deal we can have. And then the, the girl's mom screamed, I want him to go to prison. And he goes, alright, I'll send him to prison for a hundred and twenty days. And then, when you get out, you do your probation. Then my lawyer said, no, we can't do that. If he goes to prison, he's an ex-con, so that deferred probation don't work. Then he goes, you're right. So judge said, you go to jail for six months. So in the middle of my senior year, I went to jail for six months. Jail, not prison.

• 32:21Speaker 02

  I never been to prison, I just went to jail. And so, the, the people in the community kinda knew I got a raw deal. So this is why, like, God has always came in my life, like earth angels and helped me. So at this particular time, I would have school every day at the jail. The teachers would come, they would bring in my work, and I would do school. And I did that for six months, and then I got out, and I would tell all those inmates and other people and the jailers, because I always had this confidence, I said, man, when I get out here, I'm going to college. When I get out here, I'm going to the NFL, and they would laugh, they say, Tiki, no one's getting out of here. I said, I'm different. But, the reason I'm sitting on your show today, I just didn't say I was different, I had to prove. Prove it. So I receive a call, on the other end, it's my mom.

• 33:05Speaker 02

  And I haven't spoke to her for seven years, since I was that young boy, and we had that conversation. And, everybody knew I wasn't going to the NFL anymore, except my mom, because I wasn't playing football. So I had to break the news to her. And I said, I got some good news and some bad news, she said, well, give it to me. I said, well, the bad news is I don't play football anymore, I'm not going to the pros. She says, that's not so bad, what's the good news? I said, well, mom, I'm gonna be the first person to graduate college. I graduate with my degree in May, and she says, I'm excited. She says, I also have some good news, I said, what is it? She says, I just made parole, and I'm gonna be there. And she, I said, when do you get out? She says, I get out January the sixth. I need you to pick me up in San Angelo, Texas with a wetsuit.

• 33:47Speaker 02

  And she says, lastly, son, I need you to send me forty dollars. She says, because I'm working in the kitchen and my feet have swelled up so much, I can't bend over and tie my shoes. So I need the Velcro snap shoes. And I said, yes, ma'am. And she says, the next thing, I need forty dollars for my medical report. When I get out, I need some help. I'm a little sick. I said, yes, ma'am. And she says, lastly, son, before I hang up, I need you to expect the call from the warden. She'll let me know where the property's delivered and stuff like that. And I said, yes, ma'am. And make sure everything's on schedule for me. And I said, yes, ma'am. And so, just like clockwork, I'm in East Eleventh in Odessa, and I get a call from the warden of the prison. And it's a female warden. And she says, this is Tiki Davis. I said, yes.

• 34:32Speaker 02

  She says, I just want to let you know that Karen has expired. I said, I know. She said, you're gonna be calling. I know her time's up. I know it expired. She says, son, you don't understand. What do you want to do about burial arrangements? So, on January the sixth, instead of picking up my mom from a bus station, I was in Huntsville, Texas, having a funeral. At that time, I felt like I was invincible. My mom was an invincible person, but at that time, I really felt like I could die for the first time. Because my mom passed away. And I didn't really understand. I, I just didn't know how to process your mom dying. And I hadn't seen her in so long, so I wasn't really missing her presence, but I just knew I was never gonna see her again.

• 35:15Speaker 02

  So when she was in prison, it was always a thought in my mind that I would see her again. But when I seen her and I went down there and I identified the body, she was two hundred and eighty pounds, real black, real dark, and I couldn't recognize her. And, uh, when I finally knew it was her, I looked at her hand where she used to shoot drugs. She had this whip, and I knew it was her. And I fell out and I cried, man, and it hurt me real bad because she had died. And I felt like I was gonna die because she died. And that's the kinda, last time I seen her. We had a funeral the next day.

• 35:56Speaker 02

  And, uh, the prisoners at Huntsville, they made a makeshift casket, and she's buried at the Huntsville graveyard. And that's, that's pretty much it, man. And I remember we're doing the funeral and some of the inmates was carrying her to her grave. I remember taking out, running, and I pushed one of the inmates out the way and I carried my mom to her grave. Me and three other pallbearers, which were lifers at Huntsville. I was, I hadn't graduated yet. I was in my senior year of college and I wasn't going to graduate till May. She had passed away in January, December 31st of 2001. When I graduated with my bachelor's degree, I stayed in school because I couldn't get, I couldn't find work. And so I ended up working on my master's degree.

• 36:41Ed Mylett?

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• 37:24Ed Mylett?

  So find your next fall favorites at Quince. Download the Quince app for app exclusive offers or go to quince.com/ed for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. Now available in Canada and the UK too. That's Q U I N C E dot com slash ed. So you know, I've been trying to take my health and my morning routine to the next level. And I used to do a whole bunch of different stuff, tons of different supplements. And then I found all in one in a drink with IM8. IM8 is the way to simplify your supplement routine finally, once and for all. 16 supplements replaced 90 ingredients across nine major organ systems in one drink.

• 38:03Ed Mylett?

  You can have all these supplements for $2.61 a day. I've changed my mornings, the whole IM8 routine has changed my mornings. I feel great and I bring energy to the entire day. Go to IM8health.com/Ed10 right now, or click the link in the description and use code ED10 for a free welcome kit, five free travel sachets plus 10% off your order. That's code ED10 at IM8health.com/Ed10. Code ED10 at IM8health.com/Ed10. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Tell them what happened, by the way, I'm gonna give you guys the post now, what his life's turned into. And then he said earlier, how did I become this?

• 38:48Ed Mylett?

  But he actually has how he became it. So then we're gonna talk about some of the strategies and the patterns and tactics that you could be taking to change your life as well. And this is an extreme story, but just tell them, give them, that was all the before, I guess. We'll call it the before.

• 39:03Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 39:03Ed Mylett?

  What's happened over the next 20 years of your life, 20, 25 years later? Just give them an idea of where you sit today.

• 39:09Speaker 02

  Okay, so where I sit today, I'm a two-time college graduate. I went to school, got my bachelor's, my master's in '03 and '05. Started in the oil business. So where I'm from, oil is big. So my first job, I started as a field engineer in 2007, making $13 an hour with two degrees. So I worked for that company for about three years and I learned everything. And I became the most requested engineer in the Permian Basin, whereas there's not a lot of black engineers. And this, this independent number one oil man in the world, Clayton Williams Jr. in Midland, Texas, he gave me an opportunity to consult on his wells.

• 39:48Speaker 02

  And within a five-year period, I took that $13 an hour to over a million dollars a year he was paying me.

• 39:55Ed Mylett?

  Wow.

• 39:56Speaker 02

  And not only was the best, I became the best engineer in the world. So the consultants at that time, when I first started at, they were making $400 a day. When I stopped, I was making thirty two hundred dollars a day, every single day.

• 40:09Ed Mylett?

  A day.

• 40:09Speaker 02

  Every single day for eight years. You see, that's how I made my money.

• 40:15Ed Mylett?

  Yep. And so now you're, by that time, you're now a millionaire.

• 40:18Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 40:18Ed Mylett?

  Then you've invested and multiplied that money many, many times.

• 40:22Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 40:22Ed Mylett?

  So the, the fast forward becomes this, you basically go from being in jail with your mom, who then goes away to prison for, for, you haven't seen her since.

• 40:30Speaker 02

  Right, nope.

• 40:31Ed Mylett?

  For murder. You end up turning that into a thirteen dollar an hour job into becoming a multimillionaire. And by the way, a really sought after speaker, author, and a movie coming out about his life. So if he can do all that, by the way, how did he do it? So we're going to talk about that because we've got some time. I want to go through the, some of the stuff that you recommend in the book because you do know how you did it.

• 40:48Speaker 02

  Right.

• 40:49Ed Mylett?

  And there's things that you, you talk about in the book. Let's get into these Tiki Factor principles because I think that's the bedrock of what's happened here in your life.

• 40:56Speaker 02

  Okay, so when I'm on stage, as you know, I travel, I'm the Tiki Factor. And after I share that crazy story, how did you overcome that adversity? How do we do it in our life? I'm glad you asked. So my name is spelled T I K I. The T stands for total commitment. I challenge that person to make a total commitment to your life, your hopes and your dreams. The next thing is the I, imagination, live from your imagination and not your history because none of us are our history. The next thing is K, kindred spirits. The people around us affect us, depending on who they are and what they do is going to affect us in that type of way. And the last I, is invest in yourself. Those are the Tiki Factors principles of life, and if you apply them to your life, you'll win. And you can't win today's game.

• 41:40Ed Mylett?

  I totally agree with you. I have a whole chapter in my book on imagination versus history. And I say the people that are the most successful and the happiest operator of their imaginations, that is outstanding.

• 41:48Speaker 02

  And so those are my principles, and that's what I leave every talk with.

• 41:52Ed Mylett?

  One of the things that happens when you grow up the way you did is you develop belief systems that don't serve you. Belief systems about people, belief systems about how to get ahead, belief systems against what is stacked in your favor or against you. We just, we form beliefs when we're young.

• 42:06Speaker 02

  Absolutely.

• 42:07Ed Mylett?

  You're in an environment that just fed you almost nothing that would be good about beliefs to have, about how to treat other people, about love, about all that stuff.

• 42:14Speaker 02

  Right.

• 42:14Ed Mylett?

  And in the book. There's a, there's a part of the book where you talk about developing a core belief.

• 42:20Speaker 02

  Right.

• 42:20Ed Mylett?

  Right? And this is something most people, it's invisible to most people. Most people don't know you have a core belief. Primer, Tony Robbins at his events refers to it like as a primary question you ask yourself. But you have a global belief about yourself or life that dictates most of the terms of your life. And for many of you listening to it right now, it's invisible and you're oblivious to it. Just starting to ask yourself what your belief actually is, is a really powerful question. But what do you mean by that in the book when you say that, developing a core belief?

• 42:50Speaker 02

  Well, it's like for a guy like me, my core belief was believing in myself. Like you have.

• 42:58Ed Mylett?

  But why would you? There was no, no evidence you should. I mean, your mom didn't want you, your dad didn't want you, your grandmas pretty much didn't want you. Right? You're like, how do you do that?

• 43:07Speaker 02

  It's like an old Baptist preacher, I had to bring my own amens. So the core belief was I could sneak up on people because nobody was paying attention. And I got into the rooms that I wasn't supposed to get in because no one was paying attention and I was developing myself. I was studying the game, just the speaking. I studied everybody even before I jumped in. And I knew I could do it. I knew there was room for me. I didn't hate on nobody. All I said was me too. Me too. You got a great story, but me too. And I knew it was room for me because I, I studied everybody. So my core belief was basically believing in myself. That's basically like that total commitment. I made that total commitment to myself and I knew because a lot of times people always come up to me now, once you're successful, they, they, they ask you, how did you do it?

• 43:53Speaker 02

  So I was always getting that. I'm like, man, and I would just give it away for free. But I, I didn't know. So you know, when you were chosen, everybody like, man, I see you doing good. So right before my eyes, I started maturing, not just as a. As a person, but as a man, just as an influencer, when you didn't even know, you weren't even trying to be this, you were just walking in your gift and it made room for you. And so my core belief was just being myself, but doing the work.

• 44:19Ed Mylett?

  What would you say to somebody who doesn't? And like their parents didn't really, I always say this, you know, a great parent not only just loves their kids, because that's kind of like basic, you didn't even have that.

• 44:28Speaker 02

  Right.

• 44:29Ed Mylett?

  But most kids get love from mom or dad or both. What most kids don't get from mom or dad, because the parents aren't conscious of it, is belief.

• 44:38Speaker 02

  Right.

• 44:38Ed Mylett?

  I believe in you. I believe in you. I believe in you. That's a totally different level. So most people, that belief they have is the absence of belief in themselves. What would you say to somebody who's listening to this? They certainly, almost no one listening to this had it as hard as you did.

• 44:52Speaker 02

  Right.

• 44:52Ed Mylett?

  They might have had it difficult in their version and in their world, that's trauma.

• 44:56Speaker 02

  Right.

• 44:56Ed Mylett?

  But, but the fact of the matter is, and by the way, I'm sure there's tons of micro stories that happen day to day.

• 45:01Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 45:02Ed Mylett?

  That we, we'd be on a nine hour podcast, we're just giving the highlights.

• 45:05Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 45:05Ed Mylett?

  But what would you, someone's listening, go, hey, that sounded good. I don't believe in myself. What would you say to that person to begin to build the, the first step towards developing that belief?

• 45:14Speaker 02

  My advice would be you gotta believe in yourself. Nobody else will. And success is measured in time. So you're not going to get to the pot of gold overnight. So it's going to take some small steps, small steps, small steps to eventually get there. And focus on your dream, but the destination takes time. So what I would say is just look at what you want, try to win small battles day by day.

• 45:37Ed Mylett?

  That is the key.

• 45:38Speaker 02

  Yeah, small wins to get there. And that's what I used to do, small wins.

• 45:41Ed Mylett?

  Yep.

• 45:42Speaker 02

  Small wins.

• 45:43Ed Mylett?

  I always say, keep the promises you make to yourself.

• 45:45Speaker 02

  Right.

• 45:45Ed Mylett?

  The first win is if you're going to get in the gym in the morning, get in the gym. You're going to drink a gallon of water, drink the gallon of water. You're going to make 10 phone calls a day, make one, I always say the power of one more as well. But the fact of the matter is, is like, if you go from no belief to tons of belief is not a switch of the fingers.

• 45:59Speaker 02

  Right.

• 45:59Ed Mylett?

  Right? Now, in my case, I would also say that if you believe you have a loving God in heaven, who made you in his image and likeness, that's a huge advantage right out of the gate. Because he didn't make you to be average or ordinary, but you gotta do the things every single day. In the book, he actually says, I made my first million by betting on myself.

• 46:13Speaker 02

  Right.

• 46:14Ed Mylett?

  Somehow though, you've taken, and it's a topic I want to ask you about. You've taken pain and truly made it like a purpose thing in your life.

• 46:23Speaker 02

  Right.

• 46:24Ed Mylett?

  So, because I think in life, I say this often, you're most qualified to help the people you used to be.

• 46:29Speaker 02

  Right.

• 46:30Ed Mylett?

  Boy, if people are in pain, they haven't had a level of pain like you've had.

• 46:34Speaker 02

  Right.

• 46:34Ed Mylett?

  What does that mean, turning your purpose into pain?

• 46:37Speaker 02

  Well, you turn your purpose into pain by growing through it. Like the nine-year-old boy with the screwdriver neck, that's not who I was. That's who I was, that's not who I am today. So I didn't live there. Because if I would have lived there and made excuses, like it's something in my book when I says, if you're looking for a story about a victim, you come to the wrong place. I never had a victim mentality. I was like, this is what happened to me, let's keep on moving. You know, and a lot of times, my life was so bad, people would make excuses for me and my brother for us not to be successful. I remember one time I got this award, a man of the year award, and in the same city. And I'm up there giving a talk or a speech or accepting it.

• 47:19Speaker 02

  And I told him, I said, I never ever want to be the man of the year, I just want to be a good man. I just want to be a good man. So if I came to a level for accolades or success or whatever, that was never my goal. I just wanted an opportunity to get in the game of life. So my purpose was just trying to be a good man. And my whole life was trying to fight this frame or trying to prove that I wasn't this. And I just kept on working and stacking one good day after the next.

• 47:51Speaker 01

  This episode is brought to you by Michelob Ultra. Good times mean competitions between you and your friends. Like seeing who can throw some pigskin the farthest or rush the field the fastest. Winner gets an ultra. Because it's not just a superior light beer, it's also giving fans superior access to their favorite sporting events. Superior is worth playing for. Visit michelobultra.com/superioraccess to enter. Enjoy responsibly. Copyright 2026 Anheuser-Busch InBev Michelob Ultra Beer, St. Louis, Missouri.

• 48:20Ed Mylett?

  Is part of it also, you're just sort of a hustler?

• 48:23Speaker 02

  Oh yeah, very much so.

• 48:25Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 48:25Speaker 02

  Very much so.

• 48:26Ed Mylett?

  Like I think you just learn, I mean, when you're hustling to sell a box of candy bars so you got food, that you hope your mom doesn't steal.

• 48:34Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 48:34Ed Mylett?

  I think what happened is all through, all of that trauma was like you learned to scrape and to hustle. I think grit, like that thing, it's like one of the most under-talked about things. Like you can have all these mindset things in the world. Do you outwork everybody? Do you out hustle everybody? Like, are you always, you know, when I'm training my UFC fighters?

• 48:54Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 48:55Ed Mylett?

  First thing I always ask them about the other guy or the other woman, by the way, I work with some women as well on their mental games. I'll say, let's just start out before, I want to know one thing about the opponent and they know what I mean. Is this one a dog or not?

• 49:06Speaker 02

  Right.

• 49:07Ed Mylett?

  If they're a dog, if they have some dog in them, you're in for a fight with a junkyard dog, that's different than fighting somebody who's just skilled. Somebody's got that dog in them, like they're gonna fight you through the p- the great fighters don't just, you know, dole out punishment. They can absorb it and keep hitting you with false punishment.

• 49:23Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 49:23Ed Mylett?

  That's gotta be an element of your stuff.

• 49:25Speaker 02

  Yeah, like, I don't feel like, you know, a lot of times when I was getting into the speaking world, I felt like, man, I could be one of the best in the world and people say, hey, can you be like such and such, such and such? I says, they're the best telling their story. I'm the best telling mine.

• 49:37Ed Mylett?

  And you are, by the way.

• 49:38Speaker 02

  You know, I'm the best telling mine. And so like you have the power of one, right? I have a quote that I use all the time. I'm not trying to be the best. I'm trying to be the only. The reason the world stopped when Kobe Bryant died, not because he was the best, it's because he was the only. It's a different to the standard. What's your standard? So that's when I tell people I'm the best in the world, it's because I'm the best in the world doing Tiki Davis. My standard is different because I went through more than you. I says, man, tell me somebody else that did this, that came from where I came from, made a million in five different areas.

• 50:11Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, that's bananas. And also, I want to talk about that victim, that where you came from thing. Here's what I think over time, like I have nowhere near, like to compare our stories would be a truly gigantic disservice to your story.

• 50:24Speaker 02

  Right.

• 50:25Ed Mylett?

  But it wasn't an advantage to have an alcoholic dad or a drug addict dad. Like, that wasn't an advantage, that was a disadvantage. Or to, if you're born in a marginalized area or socioeconomically, or maybe you don't look like the right race in somebody else's mind, whatever that thing is.

• 50:41Speaker 02

  Right.

• 50:42Ed Mylett?

  Not having a victim mentality isn't not acknowledging that the deck stacked against you. It's acknowledging it. The deck is stacked against me.

• 50:49Speaker 02

  Right.

• 50:49Ed Mylett?

  But it's not using that as an excuse not to win. I think some people think, well, wait a minute, don't tell me I'm not a victim. I am a victim. Well, yeah, you are. You clearly were a victim of your upbringing. Like, your mom victimized you, your grandmother, your dad, like, you certainly had these things happen. The difference of not having a victim mentality is not carrying that through your life as an excuse. It's not a lack of acknowledgement of the setback or that you weren't born on first base. It's acknowledging it, but not using it as a reason not to win, right?

• 51:20Speaker 02

  And a lot of people use that. Like, my brother. The white kid, you know, he's been to prison five years, I mean, five times.

• 51:28Ed Mylett?

  I was gonna ask you about your brother.

• 51:29Speaker 02

  Yeah, so man, we're like night and day.

• 51:31Ed Mylett?

  Really?

• 51:32Speaker 02

  Like night and day. He just got out of prison several months ago. He lives at one of my properties. And he's not really doing much with his life, and I try to encourage him, help him out, but he hasn't got it yet.

• 51:44Ed Mylett?

  I think the the the shift is exactly what we just talked about. You can have like an alcoholic family, for example. You can have three or four kids grow up in the exact same house, exact same parents, exact same situation. One or two turn out and have a great life and are successful, one or two don't. It's how they process what's happened to them. Do they use it as a leverage? They use it as a chip on their shoulder? They use it as something to build strength, or they use it as an excuse to will? Because if you're looking for an excuse in life, almost everybody can find a valid one.

• 52:12Speaker 02

  Right.

• 52:13Ed Mylett?

  Oh, now you really, you have like sixty.

• 52:16Speaker 02

  Right.

• 52:16Ed Mylett?

  Right? But everybody's got one, right? And so if you're looking for an excuse, like if you're looking for a door out of the room of success.

• 52:24Speaker 02

  Right.

• 52:24Ed Mylett?

  You're looking for a window or a door out, you could probably find one.

• 52:27Speaker 02

  Right.

• 52:27Ed Mylett?

  There's probably a story you could tell that feels good, it seems reasonable, it's justified, but you're still gonna be out of the room of success. Or happiness, or faith, or bliss. So you'd be really careful justifying your own story to fail.

• 52:40Speaker 02

  Right. I hate excuses.

• 52:43Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 52:43Speaker 02

  I want to be around winners. I want to be around high achievers, not because I became that, but that was my mentality way before I got it. Like when I was eighteen, my first job was washing cars, making two hundred and fifty dollars a week for two and a half years, until that guy sent me to college.

• 52:57Ed Mylett?

  You're a hustler.

• 52:58Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 52:59Ed Mylett?

  Now, what I what I just hear is like, like, I learned to scrape. I've never, to to eat and survive, you've learned it. And you took that into something multimillionaire, like, there was a shift moment, though, right? You talk about that in the book. There's a shift moment. What was that for you?

• 53:14Speaker 02

  It was several. It was just like, uh. Like I can't live here in this moment like it was like times that I was gonna do different things like just imagine graduating college and no one would hire you. So it was a moment in my mind that like my cousins all back home sold drugs and they were telling me to come. So the guys that were in high school with me, they're cartel now. They took over and they used to always tell me like Tiki, we'll give you all the drugs you sell to the blacks. And I was that close to doing it, Ed. I'm in graduate school. I'm out of money because I can't ask the guy that sent me to college for more money. He paid my undergrad. Now I can't say I can't find work, pay for grad school. So I'm just going to school scraping

• 53:55Speaker 02

  by, living off financial aid. And so the feminist movie in Odessa, Friday Night Lights. Yep. And I'm getting a haircut at the local barbershop and they're looking for Booby Miles. And this guy from Houston Chronicle and I go into the barbershop, that presence, this Tiki. And I tell this guy, what you looking for Booby Miles for? I was better than him. And the guy bust the whole barbershop busted out laughing. And then the guy says, man, no one was better than Booby Miles. I said, well, you're not from Odessa. There was a lot of guys better than him. And then he says, all right, if you're so good, whatever your name is, Tiki Davis, go out there to the stadium. They're looking for extras to play this role in this movie, right? So I said, all right. So I went out there. I got hired as an extra. That's awesome. So after a few days, I became Derek Luke Stanton, the character that was playing Booby Miles. Yep.

• 54:39Speaker 02

  And so, but I'm only making a hundred dollars a day, Ed. Hmm. And so I got Tuesday, Thursday night school. So I'm driving back and forth for three weeks to night school and the only money that I'm making off the movie is for gas. So I'm praying to God. I'm like, after my fourth week, it is the, I think, I'm praying to God. I'm like, man, if I don't get something, then I'm gonna have to come back and get these drugs. Yeah. So this is the turning point. This is the shift moment you're asking about. So I'm driving. I got this 735 BMW that I bought myself, but the guy that sent me to college, he owned a dealership. So you know, a luxury car is the maintenance. Yep. So I got free maintenance on that, but I'm driving. Everybody think I got money, but I'm broke. Yeah.

• 55:22Speaker 02

  And I'm, I'm, I'm thinking about selling this dope, right? And I'm praying to God in my car. It's a two and a half hour drive from college to Midland, Texas. And then I go to the set that day and the director, Peter Burke, the guy that produces Baller and all this. So I go to Peter and I said, I'm mad at him because I've been doing all this extra with Permian. So this day, he wants us to be Dallas Carter, all these black bodies. So I pull Peter and I said, say, man, how you gonna, how you gonna have us put on this Dallas Carter? I've been doing all this extra work in Permian. He goes, well, he said, if you want a shot in this movie, just go put that stuff on. I'll get you something. So I'm one of those guys. If you tell me something,

• 56:04Speaker 02

  you better do it. And he didn't really know me. I didn't know him. And I was like, hey, I'm Tiki. I want to be a movie star. And like, oh, yeah, go get dressed, right? So I go in the locker room. I put on the clothes. I get dressed and we go in the room. You got all F Division One, Texas, A and M, Oklahoma, all these big guys. We're all in this room together. And so Peter Burke said, who's the craziest guy in here to get a football team hype? So I said, all right, I ran to the front. I said, Peter, you told me outside that you're gonna get me in the movie. He said, I didn't tell you shit. He punked me out in front of everybody. So now I'm, I'm crying inside. You know, you've been embarrassed. So I go to the back room. It's all these guys, egos, testosterone. Everybody's

• 56:48Speaker 02

  So I go to the back and another guy goes and he starts screaming, ah. Peter Burke punks him out. He says, that's 30% what I'm looking for. Another guy goes, he cusses and then Peter Burke says, I'm trying to make a PG 13 movie. I can't have all that profanity. In the back, this Tiki Davis is back there crying inside. So when he punks out the other guy, I'm mad. So I run back to the front. I told you I can do it. He said, let me see what you got, Tiki. I go, let's go, baby. Let's go. Don't be afraid to get your name in the paper. And organically, that energy transferred to the whole room. Everybody went crazy. And then Peter Burke says, cut. You're signed to the movie. Come on. So that's how I made it to Hollywood.

• 57:29Ed Mylett?

  Come on, you guys.

• 57:30Speaker 02

  So I went from a thousand dollars, I mean, not a thousand dollars, a hundred dollars a day to seven thousand a week. And so that day on Friday, they had to cut me a seven thing. So that was the shift moment.

• 57:41Ed Mylett?

  Oh, brother.

• 57:42Speaker 02

  That was the shift moment. And from that day on, and check this out. So I'm big in real estate, just like you.

• 57:47Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 57:48Speaker 02

  My office, that office out now.

• 57:50Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 57:51Speaker 02

  I was able to buy that first property at 25 with the Friday Night Lights money.

• 57:55Ed Mylett?

  Oh, brother. This is the best. You have the best stories. This is the best stories and the best storyteller.

• 57:59Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 57:59Ed Mylett?

  And by the way, I'm hoping, I'm hoping that people listening to this, this is their shift moment, listening to you. Let me ask you one last question, because you mentioned this about praying to God.

• 58:08Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 58:09Ed Mylett?

  So I'm just going, wow, like even my producer, Stephen is like so chill all the time.

• 58:16Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 58:16Ed Mylett?

  Like, we're not chill right now.

• 58:18Speaker 02

  Me and Steve got same haircut.

• 58:19Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, you do. Yeah, you do. You could be brothers, actually. Let me ask you this last. How important has been your intuition or faith, since you've referenced it a couple of times, like that intuition to run to the front? Right? That intuition to, you know, to go to the group home.

• 58:34Speaker 02

  Right.

• 58:34Ed Mylett?

  Right? So how much has intuition and faith played a role in all of this?

• 58:37Speaker 02

  I've always had a strong discernment.

• 58:39Ed Mylett?

  Yep.

• 58:40Speaker 02

  I can read people.

• 58:41Ed Mylett?

  Mm hmm.

• 58:41Speaker 02

  And it's like a gut feeling, either right or wrong. I always, I always knew it. So my faith is, I'm gonna make it regardless of, because a lot of times, it was a friend of mine, she asked me one day, she says, Tiki, do you ever feel like God left you? And I said, it's never one time in my life. So I've always felt, okay, whatever, whatever the circumstances is, I, I just felt like whatever it's gonna be, I have to get through it. So I ain't never been shaken or wavered. I never pointed the finger, even when I've been in the darkest place, I never questioned God, ever. Not one time, because some reason or not, even though I went through that, but I, I felt like every year I was the best

• 59:27Speaker 02

  at my age level. So when I look back in my community, if I was 12, I was the best 12 year old. If I was 15, I was the best 15 year old. If I was 18, I was the best 18 year old. Now I'm 46, I'm the best 46 year old where I'm from. And so I kept on elevating. My life.

• 59:45Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 59:46Speaker 02

  You know, and like, another thing is like, like, like, like, how do I get modern day? So last year, uh, at my college, I graduated Soul Rock State University, right?

• 59:55Ed Mylett?

  Yep.

• 59:56Speaker 02

  I was the first African American to go into the Hall of Fame as the distinguished along in a hundred and three years. And guys that's in the Hall of Fame that you know, what's the name? Um, uh, what's that? Uh, Bonanzas, uh, Dan Blocker?

• 1:00:11Ed Mylett?

  Oh, yeah. Okay.

• 1:00:12Speaker 02

  Big blocker. He's in there as a distinguished, you know, some of those guys. And, and I was just looking back because I didn't know when I went in, I would start looking at the list. And I was like, man, I'm the first black.

• 1:00:22Ed Mylett?

  Wow.

• 1:00:22Speaker 02

  And that, that's history.

• 1:00:24Ed Mylett?

  It is. I'm just picturing this. Uh, it's weird. It's all coming together for me at the end.

• 1:00:29Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:00:29Ed Mylett?

  But I'm like, I'm picturing this little boy, hey, I don't want you. Go with your grandmother. Hey, uh, that's your brother. Then I'm picturing that little boy peeking out and recognizing those jeans and those boots where he's been stabbed and gonna be bleeding out and he's under that bed hiding from the man trying to murder him because his mom ripped him off and he was a John and she was a prostitute.

• 1:00:48Speaker 02

  Right.

• 1:00:48Ed Mylett?

  And then I'm picturing you in jail and seeing that last conversation with your mom till right now to first African American into that Hall of Fame.

• 1:00:56Speaker 02

  Right.

• 1:00:56Ed Mylett?

  Like multi, multi millionaire, published speaker. It's just like, it's, it's one of the most remarkable stories of all time, bro. And by the way, on top of it, you're unbelievable at telling it.

• 1:01:05Speaker 02

  Right.

• 1:01:06Ed Mylett?

  Like when you speak, I see visual pictures.

• 1:01:08Speaker 02

  Right.

• 1:01:09Ed Mylett?

  Which is what a great communicator does. I just want to tell you something.

• 1:01:12Speaker 02

  Mm hmm.

• 1:01:12Ed Mylett?

  I'm honored and thrilled that you came here today.

• 1:01:15Speaker 02

  Man, I'm honored to sit here.

• 1:01:16Ed Mylett?

  Yeah. Well, uh, li- listen to me.

• 1:01:18Speaker 02

  Mm hmm.

• 1:01:18Ed Mylett?

  You have done something for millions of people today that nobody else could do.

• 1:01:23Speaker 02

  Right.

• 1:01:24Ed Mylett?

  Because of what you've gone through, who you've become, what you're becoming, the lessons, the stories. I could just promise you, you're, by the way, your world's about to change right now. I tell you, when this is out, your world's even going to go to another whole level. So Tiki, last thing is this, where do they find you? Where should they go find you so they can stay in contact with you?

• 1:01:41Speaker 02

  Uh, you can go to my website, tiki davis.com. You can find me on Instagram, Tiki Factor.

• 1:01:46Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 1:01:47Speaker 02

  And Facebook, Tiki Davis.

• 1:01:48Ed Mylett?

  And Tiki is T I K I, everybody, just so you all know. Thank you for today.

• 1:01:52Speaker 02

  Man, thank you for having me.

• 1:01:54Ed Mylett?

  It was an honor. It was, it was, it was like this flew. I feel like we've been here 15 minutes.

• 1:01:57Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:01:58Ed Mylett?

  All right, everybody. I don't know what to say. You, you know what I'm talking about. You're going to share this. If someone wants to hear a story and go on a journey for an hour that'll change their life, this has been the one. So God bless you all. Max out your life.

• 1:02:13Ed Mylett?

  This is the Ed and Marlon Show.