Recovery, Mindset, And Making Media Matter

We sit down with Marcus Williams to map his 90-day plan, refine his podcast mission, and turn a powerful recovery story into a repeatable system. The talk blends honest reflection with practical steps for audio-first creation, automation, and sustainable consistency.

• mission of Taking Another Path and who it serves
• reflection, repair, rebuild, re-emerge framework
• lessons from incarceration and recovery mentorship
• why story outranks gear and budgets
• audio-first strategy with simple video capture
• building a 90-day visibility plan and ecosystem
• monetization goals through clarity and value
• accountability, coaching, and done-with-you support
• how to connect with Marcus and follow the journey

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

It's the spotlight show where creators come to be seen, be heard, and be remembered. I'm in the process of turning the system on. But a system don't mean nothing without the people. Without the stories. I got somebody in the building who is represents exactly that, what the Thorn City era is built for, this new era. My guy Marcus Williams, how you doing, brother?

SPEAKER_00 0:17

Yeah, I'm good, man. It's a pleasure to be here this evening, man. Yeah, you're part of the spotlight show, man. Oh, yeah, yeah, for sure. I'm digging the whole setup you got right here. I'm digging a whole little system you run right here.

Welcome And Why This Matters

SPEAKER_01 0:28

Oh, right on, brother. Yeah. Man, this ain't content, it's uh it's alignment, it's about timing, and this is what happens when someone sees the shift and the moves. Let's see. Marcus is the first person to reach out. You were the first person to reach out after I relaunched the new direction of Thorn City. So he reached out before anybody else. And so that makes this episode kind of special a little bit, brother. I appreciate you.

SPEAKER_00 0:55

Yes, sir, man. Yes, like I said, it's an honor to be here, and I'm definitely looking forward to whatever the future holds for us. I'm definitely on board with the new movement. You know what I'm saying? I appreciate the fact that you allowed me to be one of the first guests here. Man, I'm definitely looking forward to see what the future looks like moving forward.

SPEAKER_01 1:13

Nice. So, like I said, he tapped in early, he saw the shift, he saw the vision, and he reached out before anybody else did. And so Marcus has already been through the onboarding calls, the discovery, the conversations. When he said he, like he just said, just here, he said he's on board. So this is Marcus's first time seeing the studio and actually seeing what I'm doing over here in person, and our actually our first time meeting in person.

SPEAKER_00 1:36

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 1:37

So we're locking in on his creator journey, his visibility plan, and trying to figure out what his next 90 days look like. Tell me about tell me about your podcast. I see you got your shirt on. That's always dope.

Marcus Joins The New Direction

SPEAKER_00 1:49

Yeah, I definitely want to just bring my my apparel, my merch out, man, just to highlight what my movement is about. My podcast is called Taking Another Path. And it's geared towards adopting a mindset shift for brothers that have been justice impacted and people that has been dealing with any substance abuse struggles. My target audience is those people that's actually went through those different uh hurdles in their lives. I'm a recovery mentor right now. That's my occupation, and that's the field that I've stepped into. So I wanted to make sure that my content and my platform really speaks to that particular genre and just trying to move forward with that particular movement right there. Man, a mindset shook, man, checking another path.

Taking Another Path: Mission And Audience

SPEAKER_01 2:29

Man, that's dope because that's how I got into my whole entrepreneurial journey. Like I think I told you before helping out my best friend, Third Twin. He's in the recovery field right now. He's I think he's coming up on 10 years clean, man. So I'm proud of my bro. He done quit everything, he quit cigarettes, he equipped the pills, the alcohol, the weed, everything. I think his only advice now is coffee.

unknown 2:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:48

Hey, y'all still in coffee stuff. Yeah, myself.

SPEAKER_01 2:51

That caffeine, man. So yeah, shout out to my guy, Third Twin. So, what shifted in you? What made you reach out to me when you seen the Thorn City post I was posting?

SPEAKER_00 2:59

Actually, man, after I had been started following you on different platforms, and I seen how professional your setup was and how polished it was, right? So I'm a person that I'm just now stepping into this space, trying to get educated, you know what I'm saying, on the on all the different components of it. And I felt like when I was watching you and seeing how you like you how you had your thing set up, I liked the way it was set up. And I deal with just listening to some of the things that you were saying on there on your podcast and your platform, it resonated with me and to the point where I felt like it's somebody that I wouldn't mind aligning myself with and trying to become maybe a student of the game. Since I know that you have some history in this particular arena. So I just felt, man, I could become a student of the game, man, gather as many jewels I can get from you, and I'll get on with my journey as well, man. And also stay connected to you. You know what I'm saying? Like I say, man, if you don't have somebody that can show you the blueprint, and then you'll be pat searching in the dark, and it'd be hard for you to find out where you're trying to get to.

SPEAKER_01 3:56

That's dope, man. I really appreciate that. So now that you've gone through the onboarding process, what part of some of the stuff I was explaining to you that I'm doing right now, what hit hardest to you and make you say, yeah, man, this is where I need to be?

Why Marcus Reached Out

SPEAKER_00 4:08

Man, the whole concept about the ecosystem. You know what I'm saying? How to automate your system and being able to set things on autopilot, being able just to set things up, set the flagship up to the point where you can scale. And like I said, I'm trying to not only get my message out, but also get into the monetization aspect of things. I want to be able to possibly maybe moving forward, maybe give me some sponsorships or some things that can really not only just help me, but help other people. And I need money to do that. So I'm looking to get into the space of being able to monetize my content as well.

SPEAKER_01 4:41

That's dope, man. So yeah, that's exactly why I built the system for people like that. So when you picture a consistent, visible version of Marcus Williams 90 days from now, what does that look like?

Ecosystems, Automation, And Monetization

SPEAKER_00 4:51

Man, once I get the necessary information, being able to have a complete setup and just being able to use everything that I learned from you as a launching pad to be able to take another path, really literally take another path. You know what I'm saying? Right now, I've taken another path in in mindset, but I want to be able to take another path also in in all of my solid steps as well.

SPEAKER_01 5:12

That's dope. So when you think about taking another path, what responsibility do you feel to your story, your past, and the people who need to hear you?

Defining The Next 90 Days

SPEAKER_00 5:22

Yeah, actually, with taking another path, my whole thing is for us to be able to reflect, go back, reflect, see where we went wrong, and see how we can get back focused. If you have some uh some slip-ups in your past, once you reflect and look at how some of the things you may have really stepped with, just being able to get focused, man, and get on track and be able to move forward with whatever it is your life goals are.

SPEAKER_01 5:43

That's what it's about. So looking back at your journey, what do you feel has held you back the most?

SPEAKER_00 5:49

In terms of what, in terms of this right here or just in life in general?

SPEAKER_01 5:53

Both in life in general and and what you're trying to do with your platform.

Responsibility To Story And Community

Hard Truths: Self-Sabotage To Self-Work

SPEAKER_00 5:56

Yeah. I think the the things that kind of held me back was really myself. You know what I'm saying? Because sometimes we become our own self-enemy. We self- it could be self-sabotage, some of the circle of people we hang with, some of the actions we partake in, and just some of the things that hindered us, you know, our growth and development in general. So I think that with myself, I was I I got caught up in early on from a type, man, from a young tyke. I've been involved in the criminal justice system, I've been involved in criminal behavior. So once I was able to really sit down, because I did do a very long stint in prison. My last stint I did 15 years. So once I was able to sit down and really, you know what I'm saying, gather myself and know that I've made some some real bad mistakes that at that time I felt like damn, it's gonna be hard for me to get back from these things, right? But then once I started doing the deep work on myself and start coming to a point of awareness and start just thinking about the things that I did do wrong, now I figure out, okay, how did I start digging myself out of this hole and start moving forward?

Tools Vs Message: Start With Audio

SPEAKER_01 6:55

Yeah, that's crazy. As a kid, let's see, I think when I was in seventh grade, my parents made me stop hanging out with all the friends I grew up with because my neighborhood was shifting into all the guys I grew up with. They all became involved in gangs. And then one of the biggest notorious gangs in Portland. And so when I got into seventh grade, my parents said, Yeah, you can't hang out with them no more. Seventh grade, getting ready to go into eighth grade. And of course, I didn't stop right away. I still snuck back and hug up with my guys. But once I got to high school, none of them went to the same school I went to. And so I was I didn't have no choice but to stop hanging out with them. But looking back now, I see why they told me to do that and why they made that choice for me. My best friend when I was in grade school, now he got killed. When I was in a fresh my freshman year, he got killed. Yeah. And then my best friend in middle school, he's in jail for murder. Right. Man, that's crazy how I could have gone down that path so easily, too, if I didn't have both my parents, and they were just like, no, no, no, you ain't doing that, brother. Yeah, no, I get where you're coming from, man. So now you're sitting here in the Thorn City studio, man, seeing how everything I got going in real time. What pieces do you feel you were missing before?

SPEAKER_00 8:03

How can I help you the most? I think the pieces that I've been missing is just like maybe some of the technical, the mechanics, right? The equipment, uh, the way things are set up. And man, I think that just you being already seasoned in the whole being able to set it up and knowing how to put the put those systems in motion. I think that me just being able to get that information from you in the next 90 days and making sure that I'm plugging all the pieces up the right way. And I'm not just searching in the dark trying to plug up, you know what I'm saying? Because everything with this system, I see this a plug and play right here. So I feel with your guidance and some of the things that you can show me, you know, hands-on, because I'm a hands-on type of individual. I get hands-on with you, man, and I'll be able to work these pieces just like you, Louis, bitch.

SPEAKER_01 8:47

Yeah, no, that's tight. But I'm gonna tell you, especially when you start now, it's not necessarily about having all these tips and tools. I got all these tools because I got into the game with somebody, and this is what we was doing. But when you're getting started, you really just want to get started. You start with what you got, even if it's just your phone. Because it is, it's podcasting, and a lot of people get caught up now because it's getting heavy into the video. So people get caught up in the video production side of things. But when we talk about podcasting, podcasting is an audio platform. Yeah, video is just an extra cherry on the top. Right now, you want to capture your video, but you don't want to get caught in the video production and trying to produce this big old extravagant video production like some of these big people are doing because they have big budgets and they got big teams behind them. But this is me by myself right now, and so I set up a system where I'm able to operate it all by myself. Exactly. It's still a little tricky doing it by yourself, but you really want to capture your message, the message, what you're talking about. Those is what the people is going to buy into, is what you're teaching them. And so you really you can do that without video, but you want video. So if even if it's capturing it on your phone, like I said, it's really about getting started and just doing it and work with what you got. Expensive cameras and lenses and roll casters and switchers. If that ain't in your budget, that ain't in your budget. But that don't mean you can't start doing your podcast because none of that has to do with the message you're trying to give out to the people. You know what I'm saying? So yeah, just get started and be consistent. Do what you can do. If that's one episode a week, if that's one episode a month, if that's one episode every other week, do what you know you can do so you don't get overwhelmed. And that's why people quit. They say the average podcaster don't make it past 10 episodes. Because once they get started, they realize how much work it is, and they try and put too much on their plate before they're ready for it all. And so that's part of what I've been doing with my reband is is down in the back. Even though I got cameras in the big setup, it's not done as professionally as it was when I had my partner operating the cameras who has a video production background. But that's okay. I'm just worried about capturing creating audio and then capture the video because you do want to capture the video. People are visual, and so that's the thing. So take another path, podcast. Break that down for people and what made you really want to start that podcast.

Beyond Justice: Many Ways To Pivot

SPEAKER_00 11:02

Taking another path is, like I said, it speaks to people who have had some missteps in their lives and has actually come to that aha point in their life where they feel like, you know, they're ready to do something different. And it just doesn't speak to people in necessarily the criminal element. You know what I'm saying? You can be working in a job and you feel like this job right here was just something they was able to get me by at that time, but now it's time for me to take another path. You know what I'm saying? You might be in a relationship and the relationship might be stifled, or you feel like, you know, this right here, I can do better. Because some people literally feel like they can do better in all spheres of life. So taking another path, it doesn't just speak to the criminal element, but because I come out of that particular lifestyle, and that was the journey that took me on another path, was trying to break away from that. I feel like that right there spoke to the trajectory that my life was on. But taking another path speaks to, like I say, different areas of life. And I feel like me being able to get that message out in the right way, it'll resonate with people.

SPEAKER_01 12:01

Yep. No, it's a power, powerful story. Have you recorded any podcast episodes?

SPEAKER_00 12:06

I've just been doing like off my phone. Like I'm on TikTok right now, Facebook, Instagram, you know what I'm saying? When it comes down to recording, yeah, I've recorded, but it's just been off my phone, like he was just saying a minute ago, how you could just jump in front of the camera and start recording. And that's what I've been doing. Man, I've just been capturing my content just by way of my phone and just posting up my videos. But I try to stay consistent at least once a week, just make sure that I stay consistent with that and knowing that if I lose that momentum, then chances are, yeah, I might take another path. You know what I'm saying? So that's not the goal. The goal is to take another path and actually have a pathway for people to follow my journey, you know what I'm saying? And me being able to walk into a whole different uh place in my life and help people get there too. But yeah, I've just been staying consistent with just capturing videos on my phone right now.

SPEAKER_01 12:53

There you go, man. That's the story. You gotta start somewhere. Yeah. Do you have any episode ideas of stuff you want to talk about?

Consistency With Simple Gear

SPEAKER_00 12:58

One of the biggest things right now that I'm really keying in on is reflection. You know what I'm saying? Being able to reflect is my whole philosophy is to reflect, repair, rebuild, and then re-emerge. You know what I'm saying? Re-emerge through a whole new mindset. So the episodes will be dialed in on uh reflection. Right now, that would be my whole thing. Right now, is just I'm working on my reflection right now.

Reflection To Re-Emerge

SPEAKER_01 13:20

Yeah, I definitely had to reflect on where I was at and what I was going through and where I wanted to go before I started my rebranding. Before I got into this space. So yeah, you definitely always got to do some self-reflection. Exactly. There's nothing wrong with reflecting and trying to figure out what you done good, what you done bad, and how can you move forward in a positive good direction and improve, yeah, like you said. Man, so with your schedule and the way you operate, do you feel like you work better when someone is walking down the plane with you or trying to figure out your own?

SPEAKER_00 13:52

It depends on what mindset I'm. If I'm if I'm at a point where sometimes when I get to a point where I feel like I'm it's hard for me to untangle the knot, then I like to just key in on it myself, give me a directive, and then let me figure it out. But sometimes when you need that hands of that, somebody to walk side by side with like I say, I work in the recovery, I'm a recovery mentor, so my whole job is to walk with people side by side where they're trying to stay on their path of recovery. So I know that if somebody walking side by side with you and giving you that mentorship, it actually helps.

SPEAKER_01 14:24

Man. So, man, based on everything we've covered, sounds like you're ready to get started, brother. Most definitely. Yeah. So let me ask you this. When you go home tonight, what's the first move you feel you're ready to make to get this all activated and going?

SPEAKER_00 14:36

I'm gonna go back over things that we talked about. I think last week we had the conversation. So I'm gonna go back and look at some of the outlines that you had, the way that you had things structured in that way, because I like to go on the off a blueprint. So once I go back and look at the structured material that you sent me, I'll then I'll be able to figure out exactly, you know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_01 14:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:54

How, when, and where I'm gonna take my next steps.

Coaching Style And Side-By-Side Support

SPEAKER_01 14:56

Man, man, I love hearing that, man. So based on everything you describe, it it definitely sounds like we want to do the done with you where we work together hand in hand, step to step, go by everything, you know what I'm saying? And that's perfect. Like I told you before, I've been building out my processes and systems, and so I gotta figure out how basically how to ride the bike. I built the bike, now I gotta find out how you ride the bike. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, most definitely. And so it's perfect because it's some stuff I want to do actually for myself. And then there's another show I got uh done for you, and so it'll be some stuff that I'll be able to go through while I'm building that one out and build yours at the same time with you. Okay, you know what I'm saying? So it works out. So y'all heard it first here, man. My guy Marcus Williams, he's stepping into the Thorn City ecosystem. We're gonna get his next 90 days mapped out, and so it's gonna be different. So I'm proud of you if you're taking a step, brother.

SPEAKER_00 15:45

Man, thank you. Like I say, man, it's an honor to even be sitting on the on the couch with you. We I just been at following you on TikTok and trying to tap in with you. Tap tap.

SPEAKER_01 15:53

Tap down. Tap in on the tap in. Yeah, but yeah, but now that I done tapped in, so now you're all saying we locked and loaded for sure. That's it, man. So yeah, tonight was all about alignment and commitment and building from the inside out. And so, Marcus, like I said, welcome to the Thorn City, my guy. But before we get out of here, how can the people follow you and connect with your movement?

Done-With-You Plan And Buildout

SPEAKER_00 16:12

Okay, so you can dial in with me on TikTok and Instagram, Taking Another Path Podcast. Those two platforms right there, you can catch me on that. And then on Facebook, you can just go befriend me on Lavelle Williams. That's my Facebook handle. But it's all taking another path. That's my brand and that's my movement.

SPEAKER_01 16:31

Nice, that's dope, man. Like you said, man, tap in on the tap in, like my bro season will say. Tell a friend to tell a friend, comment, share, subscribe, all that good stuff at the Thorn City Spotlight platform. Why are you there? Make sure you visit ThornCity Syndicate.com. I got my new website, it's live, it's remodeled, it's running. Grab your free digital report card and serious visibility stands. That'll get you inside the Thorn City ecosystem. This is the Thorn City Spotlight Show, where creators come to build, be seen, be heard, and be remembered.