The Journey to Freedom Podcast
Journey to Freedom serves as an exclusive extension of the Living Boldly with Purpose podcast series—a platform that inspires powerful transformation and growth. Journey freedom is a podcast hosted by Brian E. Arnold. The Journey to Freedom is an our best life blueprint exclusively designed for black men where we create a foundational freedom plan. There are five pillars: Identity, Trust, Finances, Health and Faith.
The Journey to Freedom Podcast
This Man Turned Failure Into $350M in Deals and Kept His Soul From Brooklyn Streets to Business Elite: Dr. Glenn Toby
Want to build legacy, wealth, and power without selling your soul? Go to www.brianearnold.com and start your journey toward freedom, ownership, and impact.
What happens when you grow up homeless at 8 but refuse to play by the streets' rules? When the system fails you, do you break or build? He chose purpose over fast money, strategy over shortcuts, and proved there's a way out—without losing who you are. From rap pioneer to managing LL Cool J and closing $350M in deals, this story isn’t about hype—it’s about hard truth, vision, and real freedom.
What happens when a child who experienced homelessness at age eight refuses to let circumstances dictate his destiny? This is Dr. Glenn Toby's remarkable journey from Brooklyn streets to business elite offers profound lessons on resilience, identity, and success.
Growing up in Queens during the cocaine and crack era, Tobey witnessed firsthand how the drug economy devastated his community. Instead of following that path, he channeled his energy into music, becoming one of hip-hop's pioneers before commercial success transformed the genre. His career evolved from performing as "Mr. Sweetie G" to managing LL Cool J during the Mr. Smith album, discovering talents like Positive K and David Banner, and eventually entering sports management where his team facilitated $350 million in business across the NFL, NBA, and boxing.
Throughout our conversation, Toby shares wisdom that transcends conventional success advice. "Failure is an ingredient to victory," he explains. "You can't win without a loss." This perspective reframes setbacks as essential components of achievement rather than evidence of personal inadequacy. Perhaps most powerfully, he articulates a philosophy of radical self-ownership: "I'm the president of my house, I am the master of my destiny, I am the Lord of my land. I enact and carry out the legislative process of my life."
The episode delves deep into money relationships, distinguishing between being "rich" (having plenty) and achieving true "wealth" (creating sustainable systems). Tobey offers practical advice on health maintenance, emphasizing prevention and actively managing healthcare relationships. His insights on the changing dynamics of the nuclear family reveal how traditional wisdom transmission has been disrupted, creating challenges for younger generations seeking guidance.
Now leading both The Book Bank Foundation (a literacy non-profit helping "the lost, the lonely, and the forgotten") and consulting businesses focused on wealth principles, Toby embodies his philosophy: "I want to die greater than I've lived." His story reminds us that with the right mindset, values, and community support, we can overcome any obstacle to create lives of purpose and impact.
Connect with Dr. Glenn Toby at glenntoby.com or through his foundation at thebookbankfoundation.org. Be part of Journey to Freedom's mission to showcase success stories that inspire and motivate by subscribing to our podcast wherever you listen.
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Failure is an ingredient to victory. You can't win without a loss. Most of the times we want the loss to be on the other side and win 100% of the time when we're doing things. So 100% of the times I want to win, 100% of the time I want the other guy to lose. That's not a real victory. That's not a champion. Champions are able to sustain losses, overcome their limits by partnering, by having systemic solutions, by having understanding, by working with people, being patient, by being humble to observe and to be willing to share.
Speaker 2:All right, welcome to another edition. This is a special edition. This is, I guess, an edition that I have been waiting for for a long time, and so this is the Journey to Freedom podcast. I'm Dr B, I'm your host and I just I get so excited every time I get to do a podcast with somebody who is doing something, somebody who is moving forward, somebody who is making a difference, somebody who is willing to not only just try to make money for themselves, but somebody who is saying I want to be out there, I want to work on making other people's lives better. You know, dr Glenn and I were talking right before the podcast and I asked him what are you most excited about? And the answer I got back was not only the correct answer, but the answer that I want you to have, because it's the answer where I get to serve and help people. And I don't know if you know this, dr Glenn, but Journey to Freedom was created because I went to a seminar. This guy named David Horsak, this guy who has done all this research on trust and what it means to trust and how important trust is, in fact, he's going to be on my podcast tomorrow, but you know, I went to the seminar and there's four or 500 people that are in the room and I look around the room and there's like 30 people in the room and I'm going. This information is so important, this information is so needed. It's back with research, it's back with, you know, years and years of him putting together all these things, but my community is not being able to access it. And I'm like, well, why? And I'm thinking why? And so because we don't know, because we haven't had experiences, we are not in circles with the men and women that are in this room and so, therefore, we're not being invited. You know it was. It happened to be that the gentleman who invited me to it was David Horsager's roommate in college and they stay a lot together and so I was able to get into this and they he did have some folks of color that were up on stage and that were talking, and a Super Bowl champion, a colonel from the Navy that was doing some amazing things.
Speaker 2:But I came back and I said, how do I get this into my community? And it started out the journey to freedom. And it started out okay, is there a coaching program where I can find black folks that are stuck. And I said I just want to do with folks of color. And then I started praying about it and then God told me no, I need you to do this with black men. And I'm saying but God, black men, that's hard, that's not going to be easy. And he said that's what I want you to do. And I said I'm going to be obedient, I'm going to do it, I'm going to start out, and that's what began the journey with the podcast that I put together.
Speaker 2:I said I can't just do you know people tell me, well, just do one episode a week, do one episode a month. I said one episode a month. I'm not going to get to know folks. So last year, in 2024, I said I'm going to do 100 black men in 2024. And I ended up doing 105. And then I said this year I'm going to do another 100, if not more. And then I said this year I'm going to do another 100, if not more. And then that's going to get me, you know, and now I'm over.
Speaker 2:About 170 is where we're at as we're talking today, and I'm going to keep going, because the more that I do, the more that I realize how important it is that we not only see all the folks that look like us, but and I didn't think that was important I said this is important to be able to see other people who are doing the same thing that we're doing. And then I started talking to people, and one of the themes in this podcast has been I was able to do it because I saw somebody else doing something similar. I even said to myself I went to that seminar, right, I said I don't need to see people, but I counted how many people were there that looked like me. So that's all me right there. I think it's a difference. So that indicated to me that, even though I say it's not important, it truly is important, and so thank you for being on today. I thank you for sharing your story today, and I've asked him, I've asked Dr Glenn, to tell his story, you know, because when we hear story, we say I can identify with that, or oh, that never happened to me and that's why I'm so blessed, or I need to get my butt going, you know, and so, whatever it is, I love hearing story.
Speaker 2:We're going to chop it up after that. We're going to have some fun talking maybe about the pillars, maybe about some other stuff, but I want to start out with story, because I think that's the most important part of what we do. So the floor is yours. Thank you for being on. Thank you for being part of this. The floor, let's go.
Speaker 1:Thank you. Thank you for including me, doc. You're doing a great job. This thing's blowing up. I'm proud to be here, thank you, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 2:So how did your life begin? What happened?
Speaker 1:Well, I was born in Brooklyn, raised in Queens. I experienced youth homelessness really early. At the age of eight Came home. All of our belongings and property was in the street. My mother had a tough time at work. She refused to assist him or boss or anybody to compromise her. So it led to us bouncing around, my brother Randall and I, my grandmother and we stayed with relatives and, obviously, government assistance and programs to help us get through tough times.
Speaker 1:Seventh grade I get to Queens Village, hollis, where people know Run DMC in Queens. Queens gets the money. And I became a student because we came up in a household full of love, grace, wisdom, understanding and love. Even during our toughest times we lacked for nothing but we struggled. We were never compromised, we were never harmed and that gave us a fair amount of confidence and ability and education to compete. We competed from seventh grade all the way through, finishing up through high school at that time. But I became a rapper.
Speaker 1:I was one of the pioneers in Queens, one of the first rappers before hip-hop became commercialized. I was called Mr Sweetie G. I had a record underground, critically acclaimed record called the Place to Be. From there. There uh joined mike and dave and was recording with and uh traveling with people like uh crash crew, grandmaster flash, curtis blow grandmaster kaz, of course the great djs such as infinity machine, the disco twins understand inside for sounds, all these other rap or um uh pioneers who were there with me. From there I got the? Uh honor of managing ll cool j. I was invited to join charles fisher and brian the tour to manage l cool j during the period of uh the mr smith album, which you see behind us right there um in the house with quincy jones and uh the fugu deal was there.
Speaker 1:I went on to discover uh positive k. I produced and uh co-wrote his first record. I'm getting paid. Uh managed him with my brother randall from there went on to discover uh david banner, the rapper, the actor. Um I got him his record deal and helped developed his band, his group, which was called crooked letters.
Speaker 1:I worked with saigon, went into the acting space and obviously everybody from uh jason mitchell with um straight out of compton the shy and so many other things, got to manage him, go manage him with cory. And then uh we went through and got into the sports world. Uh, in the sports world um with alonzo shames. We did about 350 million dollars in business nfl, nba and, of course, uh boxing. Uh represented um world championship boxers went on to sell that company and um, I did assanti's um 61 million dollar deal with our team, did Asante's $61 million deal with our team and now I'm currently in the space of finance and economics as an advisor with a consulting company and I'm working with RCP Capital, with biotech, and we're doing venture capital and working on a day-to-day basis to make the world better as a serial entrepreneur and things like that.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh. Now one of the things let me put myself back on here One of the things that you know as you were telling your story and you're growing up and you know what your mom had to do and the things that she had to go through. I didn't hear in there anything about a dad or a father Maybe kind of just share with us a little bit about how that situation progressed and who helped you in the community while you were growing up.
Speaker 1:So yeah, my father wasn't in my life. My father was a gentleman that was well off, not always a gentleman, tough guy. So I was without a dad but I had my uncle. God bless him. And my uncle was a guiding force in the male image. But much of leadership and the constructs of manhood, especially coming as a black man, was from TV shows, movies, books that I would read Ralph Ellison's Invisible man. I reflected and tied into that heavily. I was a heavy, voracious reader. And of course you know I came back from Queens. You know Southside Queens Supreme Team, the Furtado Brothers, carly, pappy, mason.
Speaker 1:I wasn't a drug dealer, but the economy. We benefited from the drug trade because there was so much money in the 80s. So I decided not to go that route. You know the street ministry and I was looking at the calling of the streets, that ministry. Some people were called to death, some were called to grace, some were called to money, some were called to education. I was called to, through the creative platforms and education, a world of entrepreneurism and working in entertainment and communications. That became my pathway out of the struggle and economic, the limited economic opportunities and the thing, the perils that the drugs did to our community. Oh my gosh, yeah, the hood superstars. And I was able to construct and create what I wanted for myself through looking at these heroes that failed and the heroes that succeeded Gotcha.
Speaker 2:You know one of the things that I was able to interview not too long ago Ronnie DeVoe you know and coming from some of the same neighborhoods and you know part of New Edition and you know they were. They were kids, you were a little bit older to the time when they were kids, but at the same time you know he really talked about the different communities within New York and knowing exactly you know where you could be and be OK where you shouldn't be. But then he just said there was a big community that did what they could to take care of their youth and I'm assuming that a lot of your, your rap and the things, things that you rapped about, came from the community and what you knew. Maybe kind of talk about that a little bit of how it inspired you and you were able to move forward without getting involved with being a dealer and that kind of stuff, absolutely so.
Speaker 1:For me it was easy. We went from. I think the cocaine era was crazy. When crack hit America and more specifically when it hit Queens, brooklyn, the five boroughs, I saw how much money was being made so fast. I couldn't fathom the amount of money that was being made. I couldn't understand the traction. But I looked at children getting addicted. I looked at pregnant women being given drugs. I saw the lines that were outside of the crack spots and I knew these were merchants of death, not necessarily that I connotated or attached it to the brothers as doing it, but I knew the system of it where one person was getting all the victory for some work they weren't doing.
Speaker 1:I saw the spirit of the drug dealer where it was all me, me, me, I, I and everybody was ending up in the same spirit and the same mindset. And I loved community because I was so connected to my community. In different times I was collected, you know, from the wealth of my community when I became older and I saw people making money and helping out to poverty at its lowest and most extreme levels and I knew I wanted absolutely nothing to do with it. You know, music allowed me to be just as fly as the next guy. Music allowed me to drive the same cars, to have a voice that was not compromised or controlled.
Speaker 1:So I realized that the pathway you know, sometimes you got to go through hell to get to heaven. But I wasn't willing to sell my soul, I wasn't willing to be compromised, I wasn't going to have a boss, I wasn't checking in like the gangs checked in and I just figured I'd take the slow path. I mean, oftentimes some of the drug dealers' monies end up in the clubs. I mean guys were buying the bottles or rolling and balling out of control, buying the jewelry, paying tickets to come see us and these celebrities. So I just did what it was, but I managed. My pocket and my heart and my soul were different. I didn't connect them. One had nothing to do with the other.
Speaker 2:Did your mom make you go to church? Was the church, community, a part of your youth and growing up? Well, the community is no matter what, but was that part of your existence and what you had to do, or was it not?
Speaker 1:yeah, the spiritual part was, you know, my family was faith-based. You know a baptist upbringing, my mother's from georgia. Father was from mississippi, although he wasn't there, but my roots are southern and I looked at the system. I realized that religion and the constructs of you know, having something bigger than you, greater than you. I believed in god every way, but after I continued to learn, I said to myself I I would rather walk like Jesus than talk like Jesus. And it wasn't about the label, it was about being able. I looked at you know whether it's.
Speaker 1:Islam, whether it's Judaism, whether it's Buddhism, whether it's Catholicism or the Baptist upbringing, catholicism or the Baptist upbringing and all of the reading, the seating, the teaching and the reaching and the preaching means nothing if you're not finishing right.
Speaker 2:Amen, I love it and the reason I'm asking you these questions and I think you know this is because I really want to speak to identity and the identity that we hold for ourselves in order to move forward and being a serial entrepreneur and being able to, you know, continue in all these different circles and to do well and to be successful.
Speaker 2:A lot of folks that will watch this will look at it and go. Well, you know, I keep running into roadblocks, I keep running into things. I'm saying, well, your identity isn't matching the person that you're trying to be, so you're living in this other identity than trying to do the stuff over here. How can you tell me, or how can you explain, how you were able to recreate yourself, create that identity of belief that if I do this it's going to work, instead of the I do this it's going to? I mean, failure is part of it, but you go into it thinking, hey, I don't go into this thing, it's going to fail to start out, but so many people that I work with, so many people that I talk to, that's exactly, I'll try, but it's going to fail. So kind of talk about your identity through this whole process here.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So to me, failure is an ingredient to victory. You can't win without a loss. Most of the times we want the loss to be on the other side and win 100% of the time when we're doing things. So 100% of the times I want to win, 100% of the time I want the other guy to lose. That's not a real victory, that's not a champion. Champions are able to sustain losses, overcome their limits by partnering, by having systemic solutions, by having understanding, by working with people, being patient, by being humble to observe and to be willing to share.
Speaker 1:So I realized that there's some core components to us as human beings, whether it's a bad temper, whether it is a humorous spirit, a forgiving spirit, whether you're a great storyteller, whether you're able to be completely quiet under duress. So I believe that epigenetics, which means things are passed down from our ancestors, it is proven genetically that some of us are more available and open to certain types of thinking. Some of us are more open and prone to certain type of diseases or to certain behavioral processes. So meaning processes means this guy loses his temper and the majority of the time when he loses the temper, nobody may know it, because he's picking up from his mother's side who's really quiet. There could be some guy that's really quiet and he's extremely violent. There are people that are prone to alcoholism or they have the way they express themselves, facial expressions, physical traits that are passed on. Expressions, physical traits that are passed on. Someone's dad is an amazing athlete. Somebody's mother is a great storyteller or is a leader in some respect.
Speaker 1:I started saying I want to pick from some of the stories that I've heard from my ancestors and, more closely, my family, my mother, my father, my brother, my sister, and even on an environmental level. I could look at somebody across the street. One of the guys that was, you know, he just couldn't control himself, ended up getting 20 to life, complete life. I would always lose his temper. I would study that behavior. I'd see the guy that was so quiet that ended up becoming a medical doctor or becoming a superstar in my neighborhood. So I think one of the ways is self-control and identifying characteristics, personification, meaning I'm looking at what everybody else is doing. How do I interpret that? How am I managing it? Because I govern my life. I can write the book of my life by measuring the chapter and going line by line or paragraph by paragraph.
Speaker 2:How did you get me? Because you're saying I can do this and there's so many folks that believe they can't. What do you think? And I believe in epigenetics and I believe, you know, a hundred percent in you. Know we have purposes and God put us on this planet for whatever the reason is, and it's our job to find that and fulfill that. But at the same time it seems like some of our culture just ingrains in us that we can't and somehow you came of it. It was because you had a series of small victories. Was it because your mom just kept saying hey, I believe in you. What are some of the things that you can, I guess, reach back to and say in your life, these were some pivotal. Maybe it was people that just showed up that said you can do this. What to you? What is that? What does that look like?
Speaker 1:I think you know the people can show up. You have to show up for yourself.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, my grandmother used to call, used to say hello, precious angel from heaven, or hello, these endearing words that she'd say. And I remember connecting to those words, not knowing if I'm that valuable or I didn't look over my shoulder when she said it, but she said it enough that I thought something. I was special to her. That was my whole world. My grandmother was like God to me. You know my mother. My grandmother was over my mother and she was guiding my mother and working with my mother through all her challenges, even when things were great. But it begins with the nuclear family. I was born rich.
Speaker 2:We just didn't have any money.
Speaker 1:You know, I didn't miss anything. I didn't even miss a day's food until a meal, until we were homeless, and then we skipped a few, but we get them back on the end. So it's about the nuclear family. It's about the nuclear family. What's missing now is the mothers and fathers are not able to reach back and bring their grandparents or their uncles or their granduncles their other leaders are not apparently prepared to compromise the things that need to be done. Does that mean a church is going to take less ties in and they got to do fundraisers themselves? Does that mean that the father that's trying to become rich, whether he's studying every day, driving an Uber, working two jobs to become an attorney, if he's at Harvard, or if he's a street pharmacist, whatever this person's doing, how much attention is being given to the children? So the nuclear family has changed so much that we don't have that resource, that pure place we could pull from.
Speaker 1:When the grandmother would just say those things of wisdom. She didn't want any fame, she didn't want power, she didn't care what was going on television. She didn't care about anything except God and her family moving forward. That has changed so much. Now the grandparents are listening to the same music a lot of times. A lot of times they're competing for the same attention in the same space. A lot of times they're competing for the same attention in the same space A lot of times they need a healing, a revealing, and they need salvation more than the child themselves and they're competing for the grace of God or the grace of good. And there's no resource of purity, there's no holistic safe space that a child can go back to their mother or their father and have a hard discussion. The father might be dead, he might be in prison, the mother may be absent. In spirit that they can't have this conversation. That is the connection that cures the ailing, losing, dying seed that's gonna bear the fruit that comes from our ancestors. It's that nuclear family.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh, you just hit it. I mean how much I've been talking about. I took a group of men, you know, as a part of the journey of freedom, down to Alabama at the beginning of the year, first part of January, and so we could connect to. This is what our past looks like. I was able to take a few of my sons down there for the first time. I'm from Denver, so I haven't spent a whole lot of time in the South.
Speaker 2:You know, I went last year and we went on this tour and we're going through and I'm like this is what family looked like. This is what it looked like in the 30s and 40s and 50s, all the 60s. All these things were going wrong and yet our families were strong and I came out of there saying we have to create something for the nuclear family. That isn't changing from what's happening right now. You know I'm telling my sons who have my grandkids that how important it is Like you know who gets up in the morning and says precious angel to your daughters, who is it Like I make sure every single week. You know, I call.
Speaker 2:I have eight children and 16 grandkids now, so every Sunday I send a thing because I'm not with them, right? I'm not, you know, they're not all in Colorado, so I'm in California and I say I just call the A-Tribe kids. My last name's Arnold. So we call the A-Tribe kids and literally this last session that I'm doing with them, whether I call them, we play games over on on uh, uh, what is it? Zoom, or whatever, or I send them out messages about their heritage, and so this now I'm going through all 16 and I'm talking about their name, and so I said you know, this week was Zoe. Zoe, your name is beautiful. Let me speak over you, let me pray over you, let me put this into you that you are from greatness. And if I don't do it right, because, like you said, how many grandparents are out there just doing, you know, competing with their kids? And they're out there.
Speaker 1:Oh.
Speaker 2:I can't wait till they get out of my house. What do you mean? Wait till they get out of your house? I can't wait till I spend more time with them, where I get to feed into them, where I get to nourish their thought process. Why they're young, right? Because once they hit the teen, my oldest grandchild is 14. And so she's getting it from me, but she probably don't want it as much as she's getting it from me, right? Okay?
Speaker 1:It'll be there, though. It'll be in the reservoir, and that's the key brother, the reservoir, what is saved up, what is held up, that reservoir is where we draw from, and if everybody's chasing money and chasing tomorrow and just chasing legacy, there'll be nothing to draw from.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and when you think about our neighborhoods and people, you know no-transcript. Ranked in basketball. At nine years old, I'm like what does that mean? Ranked by who? Ranked by the people that you're paying to say you're ranked?
Speaker 1:It's amazing you say that, doc, because I have a company. It's called the Winner's Circle. It's a sports agency. My partner, rakim Vic, and I we go across the country. We're dealing with students from high school level all the way through college to the pros, because NIL name, image and likeness is exploding on the scene. Now these kids are about to get money revenue that's coming from the television revenue. We've seen kids that are going in at 150 to 250 000 from NIL money from University that within a year to two years many of them are transferring inside the portal and earning as much as a million dollars. Everything that we're doing is tied to a spiritual base because the average athlete is broken for years. The average student athlete is going in and the attrition rates that turn these people back to nothing and nowhere don't matter. So to your point, I only mentioned that because at the Winter Circle we're dealing student athletes not just on the academics but making sure that they're moving somewhere. But you made another point.
Speaker 1:People talk about the game of basketball, football, boxing, track. What about the mind game? The mind game? Who's coaching that game? Who's coaching that game? Who's controlling what are the rules? On a macro and a microeconomic level games are played. They call it the stock market. But if you look at the stock market, if you look at other markets, historical markets that are not, you know, public markets, they're private markets. Whether it's hedge funds, whether it's venture capital space that I'm playing in that's completely monetized, but it's not shown who's coaching that five-year-old to get in the game of life and the game of money and the game of spirit.
Speaker 2:Oh, my goodness, I'm so glad that you're doing that, because that's the part that's missing, right? The parents get so caught up in what it could be and all but and forget, wait a minute. Yeah, your kid's a good athlete right now, and that might. But they're thinking that's my ticket, you know, into a better life, like I'm living my life through my child. Instead of, instead of exposing my child to experiences Like right now, with with my, my, my kids, I'm like what's wrong with chess club? What's wrong with financial club? Will we play the name game? I want their minds to be so exposed to so many things. If they happen to be a great athlete great, you have the genetics to be able to do that. It's been passed down. Go for it, knock yourself out. But when that first check comes, you know it's been passed down. Go for it, knock yourself out. But when that first check comes especially with the NIL right when that first check comes now, you know what to do with it because we've been talking about it. We've been playing cashflow. You know Robert Kiyosaki's cashflow game for 15 years. It's just so amazing that parents aren't thinking through that One of the things that you said and this kind of goes along with this is you said that I wanted to compete, I wanted to win, but then also that means you have to lose.
Speaker 2:And I want to talk about that for a little bit, because now that I'm older, I think about, yeah, in athletics that's what I always wanted to do, I wanted to be the best that I could possibly be, and you know. But at the same time I'm like isn't there enough abundance that we can share this wealth? And we doesn't, because just because I win doesn't mean you have to lose. Why can't we both win? And how have you been able to do that through your businesses and through the things? Winner's circle sounds like something that's just like that, but you know, does it do people? I mean, I don't think that was a new thought. I mean that's kind of yeah, how's your thought process in abundance?
Speaker 1:Well, you know. So you know, in music, as a rapper, when I was Mr Sweetie, I was a battle rapper. I'm one of the first guys that put singing and rapping together and it was aggressive. From that aggression, music goes right into the sports, competing on the chart positions and selling tickets. And then I went in the sports industry, which was brutally, brutally competitive. My thesis was to take the creativity of the music business and merge it with the structure and discipline of sports.
Speaker 1:But I realized when you overcome a challenge and when you're able to be victorious, you have to look over your back. You have to keep dignity. You can't just kill everybody in the village and then take over the land. This should be rules of engagement and war. So you want to make sure that when you're winning, that person can come back to the table. You can come back to the table and a sustained win means sometimes you don't.
Speaker 1:Some losses are actually sustained wins. Some wins are sustained losses. You may have won today, but the market conditions can change tomorrow. That person that you were supervising can end up in another company that needs a contract. We've got to keep the constructs and we have to think about being respectful, empathetic, intelligent and using emotional intelligence as well as critical thinking. You got to think on both sides, you know. So if I win and I'm victorious, and the person that's working or laboring for me or with me, how do I make sure that they're not going to alienate or turn against me? So there has to be decency, humanity, respect and you got to keep things open to be able to negotiate. You don't want to to cut off the air. If you cut that air off, you cut that rope off, there's no connectivity and you won't know what's going on outside of your sphere.
Speaker 2:I love how you put that, because there's the respect that goes in. And one of the things that I can remember about athletics is I still rooted for the person that was. You know, let's say, I'm track because I was a 400 hurler, right. I can remember there was a chance where I got to run against Edwin Moses, right. And so I remember, you know, watching his back. Well, I wanted to win, but God didn't give me that talent to win in those races. Right, he's the greatest, one of the greatest I've ever lived. But every chance I get, I still want to root for him. I still want him to win, I still want him to be great. And when we think about relationships and associations and the people that you are around, if you give up those relationships because you're trying to beat the guy down or you're trying to be disrespectful, or I got to win at all costs and so I have to take from you in order for me to win, then you lose those relationships that can propel you forward.
Speaker 1:Talk to me a little bit about your relationships and how you cultivated them over the years, because you don't get to where you're at with bad relationships, where you stepped on people, yeah Well, it was failing hard, and failing hard means it has such an impact that you're forced to make a change. You know, some people have light. Their losses are limited. These limited losses you've seen it with people that are recidivist uh, incarceration is one of them. A guy gets into a situation. His attorney beats the case, there's no learning.
Speaker 1:Uh, the guy that's stuck in being unethical or you know, is in situations where he's not managing and monitoring or editing behavior. So you have to be open to being so critical on yourself that you're tired of the results that you're getting. Someone else may not force you to do better, because your partner is supplying you with maybe it's resources, maybe it's materials, maybe it's distribution finance. Someone can actually provide you with everything you need to be successful, but you're not getting the net result that you want because no one's helping you. Nobody's telling you hey, you know what, we know. You're in this business where you pick up waste and you're dumping some stuff in the water. I read about it in the newspaper. Or I know you're not doing this right. Or, hey, some of your employees called and I see that you're having a labor struggle doing this right? Or hey, some of your employees called and I see that you're having a labor struggle If you don't keep an open relationship for people to tell you or if someone doesn't choose to tell you they don't care.
Speaker 1:You have to be intuitive and in touch. You have to have discernment to know that. You need to have the discretion to check yourself and it's not always in money. Sometimes, looking at KPIs and what the results are, they're not based on how much you make, they're not based on what you're doing, but it's based on your customers. How happy are your customers? How happy are your strategic partners? Do people that you venture with come back and go crazy because you bring value? If you're not aware of that, you could end up finding out how ineffective or effective you are when it's too late up finding out how ineffective or effective you are when it's too late, when you think of it.
Speaker 2:You said the word failing hard. Can you give us an example of what that means, because I think some people think they fail hard when it's just something that is so simple? You haven't failed yet your life isn't know. Give me an example of what that might have been like. I agree.
Speaker 1:I think failing hard is when you walk away from it. You could make all the money there is and people on your team have suffered. Maybe somebody had a bad experience making the money, someone wasn't treated right, there's litigation. The community is affected in a way. You got this big contract, you made all the money money and so many people don't feel this equitable exchange. Well, you should go home and have a hard time sleeping. You should have a hard time when your spirit is awakened in the morning to step into the new shoes, the new pants, the new role, the new life that is afforded or taken from you, that part of your life that you lost. It should be so hard pressed on you that it makes it difficult to breathe. It makes it difficult to take that phone call, difficult to read what they're saying and doing. Failing hard is like hearing from God.
Speaker 2:Thank you for that, because that's so important, because I think, well, I know, you know, for me, until you've fallen, and you've fallen in a way where you feel like that and it is hard to breathe, you don't really kind. They would, you know, because it might be the way they got planned in a way or the way you know, but you thought that they would. They don't go that way. Now you have to move forward or you have to do kind of this thing to do it. What are some of the things that you do in your personal development or your personal thought process, or how you're able to get through those times when it feels like there are no time?
Speaker 1:able to get through those times when it feels like there are no times. Well, generally you know, if it's just on a regular business level where there's exchange and then things you can't control because you have workers, employees or market conditions that change. But sometimes a fall from grace will lead you to your place, the greatest hardships. It shakes you to the core of your soul. Maybe you're in a lawsuit and somebody's talking about ethics or they're coming at you in a way that's just not right. It's not true. Unfair business practices, just great ideas that don't work out, you know, and if your ego's in it, you'll think you're falling from grace, but you're not. It's grace that allows you to fail, it's the will of God not the want of man.
Speaker 2:Oh, my gosh, when you think about moving forward and the things that allow you to pick yourself up, there's so many people who, and let's jump into our race and being a Black man in America, and let's just let's jump into our race and being a black man in America, and we want to give outside conditions or outside things to so much weight that they're the reasons that we are failing or the reasons we believe that we can't move on. You know and I'm not saying this has been a country that has been pro, pro African-American or pro black or, you know, for the last 40, pro-men, for that matter, Black men. How have you been able to walk yourself through as being a Black man, knowing, hey, these are outside conditions or outside contributors compared to my inside desire and ability to move forward?
Speaker 1:40 acres. I won't take it. I got all that I need. A matter of fact, I'm not concerned about those people with greed. I just got to lay down, stay down, pray down, do what I do. I'm not really that concerned about DEI. None of that stuff that you knew would never come back. You know, it was promised to the ancestors. But I say I don't know, I like to do what was best. I'm not concerned what they're doing in the east or the west.
Speaker 1:I'm the teacher and the master. I give myself a test and I always show up. I increase the peace and I come down like a beast and I'm the master of my house. I think like a master and I think like a slave. No one's going to tell me how to behave. What I do is I stack them, dollars down and I start to save. And guess what? I'm living in a crazy place. I'm not in a cave, and then when you see me win, the crowd will wave. Guess what? I'm kind of clean, but I still need to shave. I think about this, brother, because it's all up to me.
Speaker 2:I'm going to break it down with righteousness, ethics and decree. You've definitely thought about it. Thank you, that was amazing. Oh, so where does that song I mean that rap come from Top of my head?
Speaker 1:I just made that up, I'm just having some fun. I'm just having some fun with my brother talking about some amazing philosophical. We're getting into philosophy, spirit, economics. It's rare that we have this exchange. I'm just trying to say to people you know, when the president was elected 46, 47, 45,. I'm the president of my house, I am the master of my destiny, I am the Lord of my land. I enact and carry out the legislative process of my life, so I'm not really voting on anybody. I go and I vote.
Speaker 2:I'm not a member of a party, because there's nothing to party about.
Speaker 2:I'm at work it's so important because some, some of the community I went, I was down at the state capital the other day and I was testifying and doing some stuff there, but there's just this belief that somehow the person who got elected, or you know, like you said, the last however many presidents, and that's going to affect my ability to move forward. Maybe talk about that a little bit, because you just said I'm the master of my house, I'm the master of my thing, I'm the one who does and decides my legislation. How do people get away from that mindset that somehow we're still controlled by our electorate or by the folks that are around us?
Speaker 1:Well, you know people are operating on the decree. You got to think of your birth rights, our inalienable rights, our human rights, our spiritual rights are not confirmed or controlled by anybody.
Speaker 1:You know, people are looking for reparations, people are fighting about what people have taken away. I think I work so hard and I'm in touch with the supreme elements of my existence. I try to reframe them every day, try to become better every day, learning. We're just so responsible for ourselves, man. I mean, we're the most resilient people. We have been able to survive so many things, creators of culture, people that have loved and forgiven people who have done so many wrong things to us. An open society, our collective consciousness is what will rule and fuel the future. For tomorrow, there's nothing to borrow, no sorrow.
Speaker 2:We think about a relationship with money and the flow of money in and out of our lives and so many folks get stuck because there's so much emphasis on the thought of that relationship that they have. That is maybe a positive one, maybe not a positive one, maybe I can't. Maybe I can't. How have you been able because I know money's flown in and out of your life lots of money you know at times and you know you talked about being homeless at other times as an adult it's probably floated it out pretty quickly Talk about the relationship of money and how you view money and why that has been helpful in your life.
Speaker 1:I mean, most people look at money like a lottery ticket or like a dream where they're going to do this one thing that's going to change everything and they won't have to work anymore, like the fantasy of retirement or being so wealthy they'll never work again. Well, money is really an amazing magnetic, kinetic relationship with economics. There's rich. Rich is when you're counting something and you have a fullness of it. And then there's wealth. Wealth is systemic. It is a system that's practiced, that moves itself. It becomes a living entity and an element. It is a thought process. It is how you wake up, how you go to sleep. In between, it is the responsibility of things that have value, how you respect the value. And, I think, foremost, what people don't get is they don't see that economics. If you're looking to be an entrepreneur, if you're looking for wealth, if you're looking for not just a sustainable life but one that's legacy and that moves on, you have to see it that you only get up to bat a certain amount of times. The same way, when you're on the basketball court or tennis court, or if you're in a debate, if you're an attorney, you have a certain amount of hours or days that you're going to be heard by the jury or by the referee or the clock. We only have a certain amount of time to get it right. We have to save, save, save, invest, invest, invest. Like it's our last day on our last dollar. Invest like it's our last day on our last dollar. The clock is ticking. Nothing's permanent.
Speaker 1:People are looking for a rushed, fast process. They want gourmet cooking using a microwave oven. They want to AI things to get an answer that's not delivered from the source. It is coming from a source and it's replicated. 's all the basics, man, the only way to get rich and stay rich is to stay with the basics. You cannot cheat time. You cannot get by the human principles. You cannot con or pretend with numbers. Numbers are where they are. It's constructs and deliverable systems that bring the money. It. It's not getting the money. People would con the money, scam the money, drug dealers robbing a bank, conning people whatever people are doing, you cannot beat the science of money. There's some basic principles that have to stay in place in order for the money to grow or for you to have a seed to sow.
Speaker 2:I'm so glad you brought up time, because that was going to be the next thing and the way that we spend our time and the things that we should be spending our time on. I think it's skewed a lot. I love entertainment. You're an entertainer. I think entertainment is so. I love entertainment. You're an entertainer.
Speaker 2:I think entertainment is so important, but sometimes we sacrifice it for educating ourselves and moving ourselves forward. We can go watch I can go watch a Super Bowl game. I can go love who Patrick Mahomes is and enjoy Heard and say these are amazing men who are doing stuff, but sometimes I find people who know more about the stats of those two men than they know about their kids, their life. They don't spend any time reading a book, like you said you did. They don't spend any time being around people that are moving forward. They're being entertained all the time and sometimes I think it's just a distraction from learning what they already do. So when you think about time and that we only have a limited amount, where do you think is the best place to spend your time during your days?
Speaker 1:Take some time for yourself, whether you wake up or when you go to sleep. In between, have some quiet time. Hear the voice of the Father, hear God's voice. If you're not hearing it, then you got to go dig deeper and put more into that. If you're not hearing it, then you got to go digger, dig deeper and put more into that. If you're having confusion, you know you need it even more, so maybe you got to shut everything down, quiet those inner voices, find out what shoulder's talking and say the devil and the angels on each side. Who's talking? What's the difference between these two and this one? Right here, right in here. So I think it's important to take that time.
Speaker 1:And money is okay, but human capital is worth more than currency. Currency flows your way. It goes up and down. There's ebbs and flows, but solid relationships. I would rather lose a million dollars with someone I love than to make a million dollars with someone I hate. I have that option. Some people think they don't have the option, so they're involved in getting money that doesn't belong to them, money that came too fast, or free money, and free things cost more. They do.
Speaker 2:And so, like, would you think of, like the time on spinning? Are there books, or is there like one or two books, or just you know? How do you find out? How do you educate yourself? I mean, there's YouTube and there's everything else. How do you spend some of your time becoming better?
Speaker 1:Now with you know I love the podcast world because not only do you get to read the book that the so if you have your favorite author, you're reading a book, you can get to read the book that the so if you have your favorite author, you're reading a book um, you cannot just read the book. Now you can hear what the author is saying. They have. Audio books were a lot easier. There's lectures. There's so much moving media. There's youtube, university, which is amazing.
Speaker 1:You take in volumes of information, films, movies, taking notes, people take notes. You take so many notes from all the books you're reading. You'll end up writing one, like I did, which is the asian power lead, which is a book that I wrote on indigo river publishing, which is an amazing story. I want you people to check it out. It is a novel and I wrote it on another culture and it's about a as gentleman. It's fictitious, but it is suspense. It is a fun book and it has some principles in there about humanity, about ethics, about moneymaking. And it's small, it's a fast, short read and it's online at theasianpowerleaguecom. Pick it up.
Speaker 2:I love it. No, that is so perfect, and I want you to talk about that some more here in a second. The last part of the questions that I want to ask you and then ask you. What I missed is your health. You know they say that the average Black man lives to 72 years old is what our average is, and it's because of some of our diet, it's because of the way that we go through life. What are some things that you do to make sure you're going to be around here for a little bit?
Speaker 1:Well, funny enough, I walk a mile to three miles every single day. I make sure I get my 100 push-ups in every day. Every day you got to keep moving, you know, especially for my brothers and sisters that are over 30 years old. At 30, 30 guarantees 30 sets in stone your 40s, with the exception of genetics and environmental causality.
Speaker 2:If you're living in a space that's more prone to has cancerous conditions or you're in an
Speaker 1:unhealthy work, environment, occupational hazards, and then in your 50s, you know, based on genetics. You got to put your life in to preserving your life. People just are working every day and they're not in the preservation of health. The best defense is a good offense. So you have to be proactive in protecting yourself. Preventive measures, those doctor's visits I practice it seriously. I go at my doctors the way I go at a good menu. Or if you had a million dollars and went on a shopping spree, if you were going on an amazing vacation. You're buying that card. That's the way you have to treat the health thing. You got to look at it like a la carte entree. I want the best of everything. You want the best chef. Look for the best doctors, build relationships with them. Don't just go on and let the doctor tell you everything. Ask them a million questions, follow up, get in that portal, challenge your insurance companies, your health insurance companies. See what benefits you have.
Speaker 2:Yeah, told me. He says I need you to take it's pre-diabetes, I need you to take metformin. I said this is a carcinogenic that I've read about. That's not going to my body. Well, it's been a wonder drug for some people. I'm like well, it's not going to be a wonder drug for me. If you want me, if you're going to keep telling me to take this drug that I know is going to hurt me, then our relationship is over, because there's a whole lot of doctors out here that I can talk to. They're going to give me the right path, and you're just trying to put a bandaid on something because you don't know me.
Speaker 2:We just met, you know to be able to say I appreciate that you saying that, Well, we had about six or seven more minutes left. What did I not talk about that? You want to make sure that we talk about that. You know, I want to know the things you're doing and get websites and all the things and how to get access to stuff. So I want you to tell us that. But I, if there's something I didn't talk about, that I wanted you to uh, this has been so fun. I'm not loving this great.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, I'm honored to be here. I mean the work that you're doing. You know that people don't know for you viewers and listeners who are listening to this podcast. This man is out there in the community. I've watched him get verbally attacked and people giving him a hard time when he comes to town hall meetings or empowers other politicians. He teaches differently. You know, doc, the way you have so many different platforms and the way you connect with people. I think it's amazing you have superstars that come on this. I honored to be here. You have some of the most uh, famous recording artists, thought leaders, teachers, movie stars, so I'm honored to be here.
Speaker 1:Um I, as my work continues, I've always said I want to die greater than I've lived. Um, I have a lot of things that I teach and share. I have a foundation called the book bank institute, which is a part of the book bank foundation and um. You can learn more about the book bank foundation at the bbforg or the bookbankfoundationorg, and it is a not-for-profit foundation that's been around for over close to 30 years 29 years, going on 30 and it is a literacy foundation. We are educating people, helping the lost, the lonely and the forgotten, using platforms and using different modalities to guide and help people and, I think, lastly, my profit business, which is teaching wealth principles as we consult the wealthy, the wise and people who are moving forward in all types of space. So that is Dr Glenn Tobey, g-l-e-n-n-t-o-b-ycom, and I'm, on all things, social as Glenn Tobey, g-l-e-n-n-t-o-b-y or Dr the same.
Speaker 2:I love it. I love it so we can get a hold of you. Give me something as we begin to close, because I love where you just came out of your mind and you came, but give us something that could inspire us to move forward and stop us from just thinking, overthinking, about all the things that could happen, that all the things that we decide in our mind, that we try to control, that probably will never happen and yet we stop from doing the most important thing, like you said, relationships. You know the most important thing with being around you know, I guess, relationship being around the right people, you know, following the right pathway. So give us something. You know, a couple of minutes of just your thought process. Open up and just hit us with something amazing.
Speaker 1:Well, you know, doc, you said something about you know, people wanting success, living in other communities, buying in other communities, wanting your kids to go to different schools, the trials and channels on a spiritual level, if it's a worship house, if it's a synagogue or a church or a masjid that you go to, or a temple, or if it's family gatherings, other people.
Speaker 1:You work with partners. You guys are making a ton of money, you have an amazing relationship that's thriving and working with your children, your girlfriend, your wife or whatever. You need to have a holistic space that you house your universe, your thoughts. Where do you put your prayers and your pain? You need to have a place of solace. You need to have a shrine, a throne of your own. Take a moment if you can't find it every day. Take a second if you can't find it every second.
Speaker 1:And what I generally do, I tune in because I'm playing on something called the Global Dance Party on Freshest FM every Saturday night, and I play the most amazing music R&B, soul, hip-hop, classics and you know what I'm playing music, the gift of song. I take a minute out playing music for people to listen to, and I think the gift of song is a good place to be. Some of you might like reading books, some of you might like taking a quiet walk, playing sports, even if it's just, you know, meditating and being quiet. Heal yourselves. People, house your soul, pull your spirit and put it in something that is sanctimonious, that is protected, that has measure, that you rule and ride by.
Speaker 1:And I invite you to join me on Saturday nights on Freshest FM. Google it, it's on every platform, freshestfmcom. Or go to theglobaldancepartycom, check me out. I'm playing music to heal myself. You know you reach back and hear the music of the ancestors, the vibration of the universe. Heal yourselves not through music, but through meditation, music and modalities for the mission of the Most High God that he wants us to be purpose-filled, wow.
Speaker 2:Well, there you have it, dr Glenn Tobey. Thank you for being on the show. Thank you for sharing these insights. I hope, as you're listening, you're going to go back and watch this. This is not one of those podcasts where you can go oh, I think I got everything, because I promise you, after the third time you're listening to this, you're going to go oh, that's what he was talking about, oh, that's what he said. And so hit the subscribe button, hit the notification button. I try to bring you the best of the best.
Speaker 2:Folks that are moving forward, folks that are taking their lives and saying I want my life not to be what it is, just for me, but I want to influence others in a way that's going to make their lives better as well. And if we do that together, we do that enough. We are going to change lives from people all over the world. We're going to change communities. We're going to end up being coming to people that we've dreamed of being our whole lives, and so you're a part of it. I can't wait to talk to you. I can't wait to have conversations, because we need to get into these deep conversations, because we don't spend enough time talking about the things that truly matter, and I think today, dr Toby, we did that together, you and I, and it was phenomenal, and so thank you for being part of this podcast. I believe you're God's greatest gift. He loves you, if you allow him to, and I can't wait to see you on the next one that we do. You guys have an amazing, incredible day. Talk to you soon.