The Alimond Show
Welcome to The Alimond Show --join us as we share our entrepreneurial guests' stories, uncover their secrets to success, and explore the unique paths they've taken to build thriving businesses in our community.
In each episode, our host, Aliyah Dastour, sits down with a diverse group of local business owners, from the corner cafe to the boutique shop, from tech startups to family-run enterprises. We peel back the curtain to reveal the trials, triumphs, and transformational moments that have shaped their entrepreneurial journey.
Discover the passion, perseverance, and innovative thinking that fuels these businesses, as well as the challenges they've overcome along the way. Whether you're a budding entrepreneur seeking inspiration or simply a curious listener interested in the stories behind your favorite local spots, The Alimond Show has something for everyone.
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The Alimond Show
Jeffrey Young (Backpack Jeff) - Transforming Adversity into Empowerment Through Poetry and Storytelling
Have you ever felt captivated by a story so powerful that it resonates with your own life's journey? Jeffrey Young, our guest this week, is a storyteller and poet who has transformed his life's toughest moments into a beacon of hope for young people. With a heart for empowering the next generation through spoken word and poetry, Jeff's story is a testament to the indomitable human spirit. He reveals how, after grappling with financial woes and homelessness, he emerged with a master's degree and a mission to teach essential life skills through his craft.
Picture yourself at a crossroads, where every challenge is a puzzle to be solved, and every setback, a lesson in disguise. This narrative rings true for Jeff, who shares his intimate account of survival and self-betterment. Imagine juggling three jobs, parenthood, and academics, only to face the looming shadow of joblessness. Yet, it's through these trials that Jeff sculpted a philosophy of life as a series of problems waiting for solutions. His journey offers a powerful blueprint for resilience and relentless self-improvement, guiding listeners to view their own hardships as catalysts for success.
As we explore the fabric of personal triumph, Jeff opens up about the Winner's Circle meetups, where entrepreneurs forge their paths through shared goals and mutual support. From his own unwinding rituals to his aspirations of leaving his nine-to-five, Jeff's approach to achieving personal and financial goals is as strategic as it is inspiring. He believes that we pen our own histories and defines success not by wealth or accolades, but by the joy we find and the kindness we spread. Join us for an episode that will inspire you to author your own story of success, one where challenges are merely stepping stones to a future you design.
My name is Jeff Young. My stage name is Backpack Jeff. I always say you may forget the Jeff, but you'll never forget the backpack, and I am a speaker as well as a poet, and so, basically, what I do is I partner with schools, organizations, in order to provide impactful and empowering speeches that inspire youth and in a way that helps motivate them to be more creative as well as live their dreams.
Speaker 2:I love that. Can you tell me a little bit about those topics that you get into, especially with the troubled youth, and how it helps them?
Speaker 1:Yeah, sure. So a couple of topics that I speak on a lot is social emotional learning as well as conflict resolution skills, and these are skills that are transferable in personal and in professional life, and so when I think about social emotional learning, I basically tell my life story and how social emotional learning skills have helped me throughout my journey. Learning about self-awareness, self-management, social skills, responsible decision-making, as well as relationship skills have all been a catalyst into being able to help me to grow my business. And then, in regards to teaching conflict resolution skills, emotional awareness, effective communication and problem solving, slash critical thinking skills have played a huge part in me growing as a businessman, as a leader, as a husband, as a father, as a friend, and so what I do is I teach those skills to youth in unique ways.
Speaker 1:So I use the arts, the art of storytelling as well as the art of poetry, because in that, what I've found is that students and youth, they learn better through storytelling, they learn better through art and they learn better through humor, and so anytime I can use humor, I can use storytelling and I can use creative writing, put it all together and be able to teach and impact the youth. It makes them, it forces them to kind of open their eyes and open their ears, because I'm being taught something that's important in a different way than I've ever expected it to be taught.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, that is so cool. Tell me a little bit about your journey, like how did you get to this point? Were you always into creative writing and being a public speaker?
Speaker 1:You know what I was not. I didn't find this gift until 25 years old, and I think I'm glad I didn't find this gift until 25 years old, because I feel like if I had found it earlier, I probably wouldn't have done the right thing with it. And so the time it was absolutely amazing. It was a time in my life where I had just lost my house and my job the same exact day, june 4th 2014. I then got into the insurance business, and in the insurance business, you work on flat commission, and so during that time, I had to stay motivated, I had to stay inspired, and so what I would do to stay motivated and inspired was I would listen to speakers. I would listen to Dr Eric Thomas, I would listen to Les Brown, zig Ziglar, jim Rohn, tony Robbins, gary Vee, bob Proctor. I'm listening to all of these guys and I'm just listening to them. Pour into me, pour into me. Pour into me because you've got to get an insurance.
Speaker 1:We work on law of averages, law of large numbers, and you get. You get 80 no's before you get that one. Yes, you know, and so the statistics show that you're usually going to get about 90 nos and only about 10 yeses out of a hundred. And so during that time, you have to stay motivated, you have to stay inspired. And so, in order to stay motivated, inspired, I'm listening to these stories.
Speaker 1:And then, all of a sudden, it dawns on me hey, I've got a story, just like that. I wonder if I can tell my story. And then I hear how much these guys are making per hour to speak and I'm like I can. I know I can do this. And so my very first speaking engagement, I jump off the ledge. I said you know what? I'm going to rent out a theater. I was making really good money in the insurance business. I rented out a theater, an 800 seat theater. I say to myself I'm going to sell tickets, I'm going to sell tickets, I'm going to sell tickets. Only 30 people showed up in a room full of 800.
Speaker 1:Hey, that's something 30 people so 15 of them were given away Because they were church choir members and they were supposed to open up for me. And I don't know if you've been inside of an 800 seat theater with only 30 people and they're all spread out all over the place. Oh man, so it looks like no one is there and I didn't even believe I had 30 people that was in the audience because it looked like there was so few people. And so I still have that speech on YouTube. I remember being up there speaking on the stage, and, even though I was disappointed at the turnout, it still felt like I was home, and so I told myself I was going to do it again and I was going to continue to do it. And so I continue to do it.
Speaker 1:And then a mentor of mine he's not a mentor that I can call directly, but he's one that that mentors me from a distance he said that in order to get paid speaking, you have to do it for free for three years, for free for three years. And so I did it for free for three years. I taught my six keys to success at a GED program for three years, and I taught that and I helped GED students to pass their GED tests through confidence building and through goal setting, essentially. And so that's kind of like what my journey has been. And so, after about six years or so of doing it and getting paid very little, the last two to three years have been really, really good for me because I started to learn the business of speaking and not just the speaking part. And same way, with my poetry, I've learned the business of poetry and not just the poetry part. So I fell in love with the art. Now I'm falling in love with the business part too.
Speaker 2:That is amazing. I love that you were like helping these kids with their GED and motivating them. That's so awesome.
Speaker 1:I'm saying that because I got my GED, so I appreciate you for doing that. Thank you.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. And how are you marketing yourself? How are you getting the word out there about what you do? Are you big on social media? Are you going out in public and just like handing out cards, or what are you doing?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so social media is definitely a tool because it helps us to reach a broader audience, but for me, it's not the only tool. I use a couple of different strategies that I teach in my uh, in my coaching program. Um, I believe that all of the events that you want to be booked for are already out there. Your name just isn't on the flyer yet. So I use event brand, I use Google, I use meetup and I use Facebook events in order to find the events that I desire to get in front of, and so, for me, it's not about getting paid right away. I think the upfront money is not the money that I'm looking for. I'm always looking for the on the back end money, and so here's what I do.
Speaker 1:So I go on Eventbrite, I find the event, I send them a message that just says hey, my name is Backpack Jeff. I'm a poet or speaker in the area who is building a name for themselves. I would love to add value to your event with some inspiration or an inspirational poem. Here's a link, and I would like to donate my time doing this. And here's a link to some of the video that I've done before in the past. Now, the first link would be a YouTube video to basically a testimonial a one-minute testimonial of people saying how great Backpack Jeff is. Now, after someone watches that, chances are they're going to say, ok, well, now I have to see this for myself, I have to see a poem, I have to see a speech. The next video will be a clip of a speech or a poem or something basically something that's going to resonate with what their event is, and after that they would usually call me back and say or they would email me back and say hey, we would love for you to come.
Speaker 1:What I've learned is that people who go to events also throw events, and so if you want to get in front of people who throw events, the best way to do it, like Gary Vee says, is to steal attention. So you need to go there. You need to do an amazing job. Once you do an amazing job, people in the audience are going to go hey, I've got an event coming up on such and such day. Can you come to mine too? The best part is is that they don't know that you're there for free. They don't know that you're there for free. They think that the person who's throwing this event hired you to do this event, because that person isn't going to say hey. Coming up next to the stage, I've got this free poet who chose to donate his time.
Speaker 2:He doesn't want to get paid for it.
Speaker 1:His name is Backpack Jeff. They're not going to do that, they're just going to say here's Backpack Jeff. You're going to do is how you go. This, this is how you get new people. And then now what I've noticed is that, because I've done such a great job that time, if it's an annual event, they had that event every single year. Now they message me and they say, hey, can you come back? We'll pay you this time. Hey, can you come back, we'll pay you this time. And I have about I have about 10 to 15 annual events that I've gotten this way that actually pay me now because I reached out to them, and so that's pretty much. That's that's how I do. Uh, that's how I do all of my all of my marketing all of my networking.
Speaker 1:Yeah, 100%. If there's ever an opportunity, I make sure that I go into go into it looking for another opportunity. My saying is there's always more opportunities within every opportunity. You just got to find the opportunity within the opportunity.
Speaker 2:That is awesome. I love that. You made it sound so easy, but clearly I know how things work. Sometimes it's not and you kind of got to like get some doors closed on you, but you made it sound like you're like you know what Never give up on your dreams and keep trying.
Speaker 1:For sure.
Speaker 2:Persevering, you know.
Speaker 1:For sure.
Speaker 2:So that is amazing. What do you like to do in in your free time, when you're not dedicating your time and helping other people, helping them with their success? What do you like to do I?
Speaker 1:like to spend time with my children. I have an eight month old. Is he eight months? He's not nine months. I have an eight month old. I love to spend time with my son and I have a 12 year old daughter. I love to spend time with her. I love to date my wife. She's in the film industry, so I love to go to as many film things as we possibly can. I also love to play video games. It's a great stress release for me. So Call of Duty, me and my friends. We have a great group chat. We're in the war zone as often as possible, so we thoroughly enjoy that time. But then also I like to find ways to be creative. So I like to find creative things that inspire me. So instrumentals, you know, sometimes cleaning can inspire me. And then listening to other poets I love to do that as well. So poets are the people who inspire me to continue to write.
Speaker 2:Amazing. Have you ever thought about writing a book? Or do you even have a book? Yes, I feel like you should definitely veer into that avenue.
Speaker 1:Yes, so my book will actually be coming out this year. I told myself on my birthday this is my birthday gift to myself that my book will be out this year, september the 14th, and it's called WMD A Poetic Life Story, and WMD traditionally stands for Weapon of Mass Destruction, but for me it stands for Wis, for wisdom of mass distribution, and it's basically talking about how life has distributed lessons to me over the course of my life and the lessons that I've taken from those, uh, from those different trials, uh, that I've experienced in my life, and how I've turned them into lessons and how I've turned them into wisdom, uh. So, yes, that will be out September the 14th.
Speaker 2:Amazing. And do you have a title yet, or you can't say it?
Speaker 1:yet Yep, wmd, a poetic life story.
Speaker 2:I'm sorry, I totally like sorry about that, um, and then will people be able to buy this, like on Amazon, or particularly only on your website, or how will that work?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so it'll be. It'll be on Amazon, it'll be on the Barnes and Noble, it'll be also on my website. I would, and I would prefer they get it from my website, because that way it's easier for us to build a connection and build a relationship. But it'll also be in in in libraries. So I have a really good connection with the DC library, public libraries as well as Prince.
Speaker 1:George's County Public Libraries. My aunt is a lieutenant at Martin Luther King, and then my cousin she actually runs the libraries in Prince George's County. Wow, that could have been more perfect for me, right? So, um, I'm just, I'm ready now, um, to to talk about this part of my life and to, you know, give more directions, and I want this book to be like one of those books that can be read as inspiration for other people as they're going through their life.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much for sharing that.
Speaker 1:Thank you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and now I want to talk a little bit about your story, because you're a motivational speaker, public speaker. Tell me a little bit about what your struggles have been, and just so we get an idea, because you're always saying like, I want to tell my story, I can do that. I want to know what that story is was.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely so. In college. My first struggle came in college. My first big life struggle came in college, where I was forced to take a year off after my sophomore year because of financial problems. I find myself in a situation that a lot of youths find themselves in, where your parents aren't rich enough to pay for your school, but they're not poor enough to where they can get it all funded by grants and by completing your financial aid, and my grades weren't good enough to get any type of scholarship money, and so I found myself like right in the middle, and so I had to make a choice at that moment, and it was deciding between whether or not I wanted to go home or whether or not I wanted to continue on. And so I decided to continue on, and I worked three jobs.
Speaker 1:I was a full time student, worked three jobs to put myself through school, I was a two sport athlete, and then, my senior year, I was also a father, and so I was able to, I was able to work all of those different things out and still complete my degree, and then, a couple of years later, I decided that, as I was listening to the speakers, I said to myself I need more information. They kept, they kept harping on this more information, more information, more information. And then I said to myself I've got to get more information. And so I decided to go back to school, but graduating with a 2.2 grade point average from undergraduate, you're probably not going to get into any master's programs. By the grace of God, I was able to get into a master's program and I finished my master's in conflict resolution with a 3.7 grade point average, and before that, that's when I lost my house and my job.
Speaker 1:At the same exact time where I'm forced to sleep in my car now, where I'm sleeping outside of hotels, it's wintertime, I'm turning my car on for 10 minutes, I'm blasting the heat, and I got to wake up every single hour just so that I can get the heat and absorb the heat. I sleep outside of hotels. I have continental breakfast. I go in with my suitcase and my luggage and I act like I left my luggage in the car. And I look at my watch because I know the people at the front desk are watching me and I'm like do I have time to go to the room or should I eat? You know, I'm just going to go eat, and so I go in and I eat a free continental breakfast and then I go towards the elevator, because the elevator is always around the corner from the reception desk. So I go towards the elevator and then I just go out the back door, go into my car, I go to the YMCA, I work out, I go and get a shower, and this is how I had to live for a couple of months and then I went back.
Speaker 1:I got my degree, I came back to the DC Maryland area. Things were going extremely well. Then I ended up getting fired from my job, and so what this taught me about life is that life looks a lot like this and your problems don't get any smaller, you just get bigger. You know, within in life you're always going to have problems. Life is nothing but one big problem after another that we have to continue to solve, and you just get better at solving problems. They don't get any easier. And so just a lot of those different trials and tribulations, and now you know I'm finding myself on the other end, to where a lot of things that once were seen as problems they're no longer seen as problems, because I've built up enough knowledge and tolerance and information to where now I can handle things a lot easier.
Speaker 2:Wow, holy moly. You never really know somebody's story until you ask right, that's crazy. Well, I'm so glad that you took all of that experience and those hard times that you went through and decided to, you know, share that with people and help motivate them.
Speaker 2:Meaning like, hey, like you may be going through the roughest time in your life right now, but there is hope. You just got to keep going and not give up, because that it's so much easier said than done. I know like when my friends ask me for advice, I'm always like do this, do that. But then when it comes time for me and I'm in it, I'm like, oh my god, like you know.
Speaker 2:So that's great that you have such a positive outlook, because there have been people that I have known, and even sometimes myself, where you go through so many things and maybe sometimes you don't have the most positive outlook. So I'm so happy that you were able to take that experience and those hardships and be a positive person in the world and want to help and spread that.
Speaker 1:So thank you you.
Speaker 1:It happened because. So I got into reading when I got into the insurance business and I started reading all of these different books and I started listening to these guys and these women's stories and I started to see that a lot of their stories they they're very similar in the sense of they all started from somewhere, dealt with extreme trials and tribulations, got a little bit of success, and then dealt with extreme trials and tribulations again. The difference was was that they kept going, and so I learned that there's only two ways to fail in life is to don't do anything or don't do enough. So, regardless of where you are, if you keep going, there's going to be better on the other side. We're all meant to live in abundance. I think the issue is is that a lot of us stop reading our book or stop writing our book of life and we decide to close it, and we decide to go and pick up someone else's book and live vicariously through their lives because they're in such a beautiful place, as opposed to continuing to write our own story.
Speaker 2:Well said, I agree. I mean, I relate to that so much, so that is amazing, thank you. And what made you I know like what you went through, like you could speak to like all ages, but what made you decide, like you know what, I want to talk to the youth. I want to help them out as opposed to like I mean, you still can talk to all kinds of demographics of people, but what was something that really drew you Like you know what I want to talk to you?
Speaker 1:Yeah, they were to me.
Speaker 1:They're the ones that need to, that need the most help, and, growing up, when I grew up, we've always heard you know, you all are the leaders of our generation, you all are the leaders, and so they were talking to us at that time, saying that we were the leaders of the next generation, and that's what I believe for the, for the youth right now.
Speaker 1:They're the leaders of the of the next generation and they're the ones who need it, and so what I desire to do is I desire for the youth to be able to break barriers and close the economic wealth gaps that are out here, so that they can have more opportunities, regardless of what their circumstances are, regardless of what the conditions of their home are, regardless of the situation that they grew up in in terms of having parents, not having parents, single parent homes or anything like that. I want to give them the information and the resources that they need in order to live their life abundantly and live the life that they designed for themselves, because there's no life or lifestyle that's unattainable, and I truly believe that and if you have the right information, you have the right resources in order to make that happen, you can 100% make that happen, and so my goal is to convince the youth that they deserve what they deserve.
Speaker 2:Absolutely Love that, and do you have any upcoming events where people can catch you at that you want to talk about?
Speaker 1:Yeah. So every first Saturday at my office in Atlanta, maryland, I have a it's called the winner's circle, where winners write history, losers become a part of the story, where we write our own history, as opposed to allowing someone else to write write us into their story, because I guarantee they're not going to write the ending to our lives the way we would want them to be written. And so we meet every first uh, every first Saturday from 2 PM to 12 PM at my office in Lanham, and it's free, it's just an. It's an. It's a time for like-minded people to get together, for entrepreneurs to get together, to learn from each other and to grow with each other.
Speaker 1:My goal is for this uh, for this meetup, to be action oriented. I think there's a lot of um social meetups for entrepreneurs but I want this to be action oriented. I want this to be goal driven. I want us to. I want you to leave knowing what your next step is after you leave this event. So that's my event that I do every single month, and then every first Saturday and then every third Saturday. What I do is I do some sort of entrepreneur training. So this third Saturday, I'm doing a social media masterclass and talking about how we can use AI in order to make social media easier for us.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. I love that so much. You're so busy.
Speaker 1:You're just like giving, giving, giving.
Speaker 2:What do you do to unwind? Like you know, you've got to have boundaries sometimes, because it seems like you're always giving. What do you do to help you center yourself again and just take time for yourself?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so so I practice the piano. I love practicing the piano. I think that is something that calms me. I love, I love just being alone and I love thinking and I love imagining. I think I feel like I exist in today, but in my mind I'm always thinking about what my future life like. I live in my future, but I exist in today, but in my mind I'm always thinking about what my future life like. I live in my future but I exist in today, and so, um, it helps me to imagine. I love. I love to relax.
Speaker 1:My, my wife has really taught me how to relax, uh, the importance of relaxing, so, uh, so, every month, I get one day where I can do absolutely nothing, like I don't have to do anything. I can literally sleep in the bed all day. I don't have to take care of the kid, I don't have to take care of the dog, I don't have to do anything. That one day is for me to do whatever it is that I want, and so I get that day every month. And then every 13th week, I also take some time to vacation. To make sure that I'm during this time, I've worked my butt off from week one through week 12. And then in that 13th week I basically just take that time to relax for myself.
Speaker 2:I love how structured you are, Like on the 13th week, the first Saturday of this month like I love that.
Speaker 1:So I read this book, the 12 Week Year. I would certainly recommend it it's by James Clear to anybody. The 12 Week Year and basically he talked about, instead of planning out your life and everything, 12 months. Plan out your life in 12 weeks and so get a lot done during the 12 weeks. Make smaller goals that ultimately lead to your bigger goals, accomplish them in a 12-week time span, rest for a week and plan for the next 12 weeks.
Speaker 1:And he said that same feeling that you get at the end of the year where you're like, man, I can't wait until next year comes. I can't wait till next year comes. He said imagine having that four times a year. How motivated you would be to get things done. And I said, well, that's a great, I'm going to try that. And so this is my first. This second quarter is my first time actually doing it. And so now I'm like OK, this, this, this has been working for me like crazy, because my goal in these 12 weeks was I want to have all of my curriculums done. I get all my curriculums done in these 12 weeks. I get the rest of my 13th week. I get to do nothing.
Speaker 2:Perfect.
Speaker 1:And I get to plan for my next 12 weeks and what that looks like.
Speaker 2:I love that for you. Good for you. Thank you and now, speaking of planning it like that, where do you see yourself in the next five years?
Speaker 1:Or how are you thinking about it, or what's to come. Yeah, so in the next five years, the first thing that is on my bucket list is to quit my nine to five job, and which I don't. I don't have to uh, I don't work it as often as I um, as I have to um now, but it's to quit. So this is my last year working for somebody else. I told everyone that in 2024, this is my last year working for somebody else. Uh, so that's my first thing on my bucket list.
Speaker 1:And then the next thing on my bucket list is going to be having my curriculums and at least five school districts in the Maryland area. That's teaching social emotional learning, that's teaching conflict resolution, that's teaching how to create a winning culture and that's teaching leadership skills to the youth. I want to be in five school districts with these curriculums, whether that's going to be me teaching them or whether that's going to be me providing the curriculum for them to teach them, and in it we also have a component of financial literacy as well as academia, because that's something that needs to be in every curriculum. So those are the two big goals that I have over the next five years. I want to see myself as a millionaire in the next five years.
Speaker 2:It's manifested for you.
Speaker 1:Yes, absolutely Manifesting. In the next five years. I want to see myself as a millionaire, um, in the next five years. I want to retire my wife, um. I told her she has until 35. After 35, you're only working because you want to work now. Because you have to work, um, because I want her to focus more on her screenwriting, movies and her plays. She has a great talent for it. She's in a great mentor group that is teaching her a lot and she's learning a lot from it, and I think if she had more time just to hone in on those skills as opposed to going to work, I think she would do some phenomenal things.
Speaker 2:That's so sweet. Shout out, wifey, I love your goals. Thank you, oh my goodness. That's so sweet. Shout out, wifey, I love your goals. Thank you, oh my goodness.
Speaker 1:That's so sweet. Shout out Wifey Say her name Ambria Young.
Speaker 2:I love you Perfect, and now my last question for you is if you could leave our listeners with one piece of advice or message, anything that's in your heart or in your mind, what would that message be?
Speaker 1:My message everywhere I go is winners write history. Losers become a part of the story. Please don't allow someone to write you into their story. They're not gonna write your life the way that you would like it to be written. Now, everyone's success doesn't look the same, so you don't have to be a professional speaker, you don't have to be an entrepreneur, but make sure that whatever you're doing is something that you desire to do and something that makes you happy. That's what success is. You doing what it is that you love to do, regardless of how much it pays, regardless of what anyone says about it. That's the for me, that's the true definition of success. Success, for me, is measured in the number of people you bless, not what you're able to obtain. So bless as many people as you possibly can, because karma good karma always comes back around and you will always, always, always be rewarded in public for the things that you practice in private.
Speaker 2:Man, that's some powerful stuff there.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much.
Speaker 2:So much to think about Well, thank you so much for being on the show and sharing your wisdom and your story with us.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate you all.