Know Your Why, Know Your Way: Ruthie Bolton’s Championship Mindset

In this episode, I sit down with Ruthie Bolton—WNBA All-Star, two-time Olympic gold medalist, author, and one of the most powerful voices on resilience you’ll ever hear.

But this conversation isn’t about basketball.

It’s about what happens when doors close… and you decide to find a window anyway.

Ruthie shares the mindset that carried her from rejection to the Olympic stage—and how that same mindset applies to business, leadership, and life. From paying her own way to tryouts to redefining failure, her story is a masterclass in grit, faith, and going all in.

This is a conversation for anyone who’s ever questioned themselves, faced rejection, or wondered if they’re really built for what they’re chasing.

Because as Ruthie says:
 “When you know your why, you know your way. When you lose your why, you lose your way.”

💡 WHY IT MATTERS

Most people don’t fail because they aren’t capable.
 They fail because they hesitate.

This episode reframes:

•  Fear as fuel 
•  Rejection as redirection 
•  And adversity as preparation 

Whether you’re building a business, chasing a dream, or navigating a tough season—this is the mindset shift that changes everything.

🎯 CHAPTERS

00:00 – “When You Know Your Why…”
Ruthie opens with the philosophy that defines her life and success.

02:00 – The Power of “Game Time” Energy
Why urgency, intention, and mindset are everything in business and life.

05:00 – The Fence Story (Mental Barriers Explained)
A childhood moment that becomes a lifelong lesson in overcoming fear.

09:00 – Good vs. Elite: What Separates the Best
Why talent isn’t enough—and what it really takes to level up.

12:30 – Rejection, Doubt, and Paying Her Own Way
The defining moment: no invitation, no support… and still showing up.

15:00 – Making the Team Against All Odds
How grit and preparation beat expectations—and changed her trajectory.

18:30 – Turning Pain Into Power
From adversity and personal struggle to purpose and impact.

22:00 – Facing Your Weaknesses Head-On
Why growth only happens when you stop avoiding what you’re bad at.

26:00 – From Athlete to Author & Speaker
How Ruthie discovered her voice and began impacting others.

31:00 – Defining Success (It’s Not What You Think)
Why true success is about impact, not accolades.

34:00 – Advice for Entrepreneurs: Go All In
Practical mindset shifts for anyone building something of their own.

41:00 – Final Message: You Are Built for This
A powerful closing reminder to stop waiting—and start moving.

Thank you so much for listening. I hope you found this episode valuable. To learn more about Phoong Law, visit: https://phoonglaw.com

To follow Anh on social media: 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/phoonglaw

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/phoonglaw/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/phoong-law/about/?viewAsMember=true

X: https://x.com/phoonglawcorp

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GoAllIn-c1u

Go All In is recorded at Phoong Law Studio and produced by Hear Me Now Studio

Transcript

Ruthie Bolton: [00:00:00] When you know your why, you know your way. When you lose your why, you lose your way.

Anh Phoong: Welcome to Go all in the podcast for the underdog entrepreneurs who didn't wait for permission and didn't quit when things got hard. I'm Anne Fong, and each month I sit down with founders risk takers and underdogs. So talk about what it really takes to beat the odds in business. Welcome to Go All In, beating the Odds Against Business.

We have Miss Ruthie Bolton. Yes. WNBA all star two time gold Olympian champion. Yes. Mother Survivor. I mean author. 

Ruthie Bolton: You know, it, it, listen, I'm all in. Yeah, I'm all in. That's why when you asked me about [00:01:00] coming out, I was so excited because that title all in embodies me and my life and, and just the short time I'm getting to meet you, just like all in.

You know, iron sharpens iron, so I'm excited to be here and to rub show with someone. Amazing. 

Anh Phoong: You are the first guest, so I am honored. Thank you. 

Ruthie Bolton: I gotta do what's. Whistle whistle blowing that one, 

Anh Phoong: that whistle is why I was like, she needs to be on the first episode. Okay. Let's, let's talk about this whistle real quick.

It's so important, 

Ruthie Bolton: you know, it is being intentional. I feel like game time is like, game time to be the best version of me. Like it's, it's a sense of urgency. Mm-hmm. And, and I, and I always say like, it's game time. I blow the whistle and I remember when we met, we said, game time, let's go. So it's like, what time is it game time.

What time is it? Game time. I blow the whistle. We cheer because. I feel like that's the essence of life. You gotta celebrate life, you gotta be intentional. And it's like in basketball, there's a thing where you sit back in a zone. No, we full court press. 

Anh Phoong: Mm-hmm. 

Ruthie Bolton: I have you in my phone that's full blast. Full blast.

Like all, all in it. I love it. Like you just intentionality. So the whistle means a lot to me. 

Anh Phoong: The [00:02:00] whistle and hearing it definitely does like bring up the energy and like, you know, not just like in basketball and business, in, in everything then needs, you have to walk in with the right energy, the right energy.

That whistle and the blow and like, you know, what time is it? Game time. It's game time. Let's go, let's go build the business. Let's go get those clients. Let's go make the sale. That's it. 

Ruthie Bolton: It's like, it's like, like stop the excuses. 

Anh Phoong: Yes. 

Ruthie Bolton: Find a way. It's pushing you forward. It's a sense, Hey, let's do this. It's game time.

Let's do this. You know, it's a fourth quarter. Yes. You know, we, Hey, we may be down by 10 mm-hmm. With, with five minutes after goal, but we gonna win. And that's the mentality. Love that. That's, you have to have that winning mentality. If it's gonna happen, if you walk out and say, we've lost we down by 10.

What you tell yourself, probably what's gonna happen, we're gonna lose and you're probably gonna lose. Even in life and businesses. So you have to talk yourself. Come on, you got this. I tell my daughter, she played basketball. I say, you gotta talk yourself out of a funk. Say, you know what, hey, you know I missed my last three shop.

I'm gonna make the four. Come on Ruth. You got this. Hope, you got this. So you have to tell yourself. 

Anh Phoong: Absolutely. 

Ruthie Bolton: And you have to impose your will. That's another [00:03:00] this, this will me to impose your will. It 

Anh Phoong: does. Absolutely. So can you tell us a little bit about your journey to becoming, you know, the. WNBA All star and, and Olympian, like just a quick little background how you thought 

Ruthie Bolton: there, you know, a little background.

You know what, I would be remiss if I didn't say I was a 16 or 20 children. 

Anh Phoong: Mm-hmm. 

Ruthie Bolton: The 16, I'm glad 

Anh Phoong: of 2016 or 20. You guys hear that? 

Ruthie Bolton: Yeah. 16 or 20. So I'm glad my mom and dad didn't stop at 15. You know, the Bible said be fruitful, multiply. So they did. So they'll come. My twin brother and I, I was born first one minute, and so growing from a, growing up in a family of 2012 girls, eight boys, and my father was a minister and he taught us about principles.

He said, if you taking life with you just a few principles, you won't need a suitcase full of ruse. 

Anh Phoong: Yeah. 

Ruthie Bolton: If you taking life with you just a few principles, you won't need a suitcase full of ruse and those principles that I live by, that I'm living by today. Faith, my faith is my faith and what I believe in.

My attitude, which is my mindset, how I approach every situations. And third one is character. [00:04:00] It is decisions that we make. So those are the principles that I live by. So living them on under that, with my father and my mom and dad, he had to have discipline. He had to have those things. Raising 20 children.

So growing up in that family household, my preacher kid, my dad was very disciplined. He had a standard, like if it was wrong to say certain things on a Monday, it was wrong on Tuesday. Like he was so consistent. So all those things. Was embedded into me, and I would hear it over and over again. So growing up in a family, on every door in the house on one door was green, yellow, orange.

It was this quote that life or 10% of what happens to you, but in 90% how you respond to it. 

Anh Phoong: Ooh, 

Ruthie Bolton: I love that one. He came home and he didn't see it like on the living room door. Like dad, it's the same quote. What's the big deal? It is a big deal. 'cause I want you to see it. I want you to do more than just memorize it.

Mm-hmm. Because daughter, you gonna need it. And he would call me daughter most of the time because he comes in my way. He say, you gonna need this in life. Mm-hmm. And so on every door. So living amongst that with consistency. Mm-hmm. And my dad constantly reminded me, [00:05:00] really gave me an amazing foundation.

Growing up in that family, being outside, we lived on 17 acres and so I would jump fence, climb trees, and I love being more outdoors than I did inside. 

Anh Phoong: Mm-hmm. I love that. Let's take that, that quote that your dad taught you at such a young age. So life is 10% about what happens to you and 90% about what you do about it.

Yes. And your attitude. Right. So can, can we, can you gimme an example of how you used that in your career and business moving forward? 

Ruthie Bolton: Yes. You know what, I, I have to share this early stage in my life. What I used was, I would say, I'm gonna tell you the jump of the fence story. I, I was, you know, like, I love being outdoors and we used to jump into that sport, climb trees, jump over pu of water, and we, and I was pretty athletic and I remember this one particular day.

We got ready to jump this one fence so we all be together. It was a chicken fence, and as I ran to jump this fence, I got stuck like, oh my God, I can't do it. Like they was leaving me. I was the [00:06:00] last one. Okay, I got it. And that's every time I ran up to that fence, it's got higher and higher in my mind. I'm like, oh my goodness.

So I started getting anxious, like, okay, I got this. Take a deep breath. I got it. Take a deep breath. And I start to run. I proceed to run, to jump the fence, and I try to jump. It's still like our fear. I became handcuffed with fear and they were leaving me. They said, come on. I'm like, no, no, I got this. Listen Ann, I pondered with that fence for like 10 or 15 minutes.

Anh Phoong: Mm-hmm. 

Ruthie Bolton: They were already done. I'm like, they said, what's wrong? I said, I don't know. So they said, we gotta wait till tomorrow because the street light came on Uhhuh and we had five minutes to be in the house. 

Anh Phoong: Mm-hmm. 

Ruthie Bolton: I remember that night inside like, man, I don't know why I can't jump this fence. 

Anh Phoong: Mm-hmm.

Ruthie Bolton: And my brother said, don't worry about it. You can just pick up. We know you can do it. I said, no, I gotta do it. That next morning before anybody got up, I said, I got this. I got this. I tiptoe everybody because in a big house we, a lot of people slept on the floor. Mm-hmm. I made sure I went outside and I didn't wanna wake anybody up, me in that fence.

I said, I got this. Took a deep breath. I said, I got this. [00:07:00] I started to run and I put everything I had in it. I jumped. I jumped, I leaped over the fence and I made it. I ended up on my back and I celebrated that moment. 

Anh Phoong: Yeah. 

Ruthie Bolton: Now, why did I celebrate? Moment is because I had accomplished this. It may seem small.

Listen, the cameras wasn't there. ESPN wasn't there. The NCA committee wasn't there. The Olympic committee wasn't there. That moment was me in that fence. 

Jeff Holden: Mm-hmm. 

Ruthie Bolton: And I celebrated because I had done something. I saw myself on the other side of it. So to answer your question, my mindset is that I want this.

Yes. I don't, no excuses. I'm going to, I'm going to get over this fence. Mm-hmm. The mindset is that I got this and what I had to get over the obstacle because sometime in life. We focus on the obstacle and we don't see ourselves on the other side. Yes. So I had to shift my mindset. Absolutely. When you shift the mindset, you shift the atmosphere.

Anh Phoong: Absolutely. I think that a lot of, you know, business entrepreneurs and leaders, there is that obstacle and it looks a little bit different for everybody. Yes. Right. But there's that fence and you have to get over it. I get over the bit and you [00:08:00] celebrate that. I celebrate that. There's so much of a mental aspect of it.

The fence could have been short too. 

Ruthie Bolton: Yes. 

Anh Phoong: It's just, if your mind sees it as you can't do it, then you ain't gonna 

Ruthie Bolton: do it. Do it. But you gotta self talk and tell yourself, I got this, all the noise clutter, and look at what I can control. I got this, I've done it before. Mm-hmm. Not in a dangerous situation if I didn't think, you know, I knew I could do it, but my mind.

Mm-hmm. And I feel like I went through that to prepare me for things later in life. Mm-hmm. Because a lot of people ask me, what is that grid? What is that? What make you, I said, because I had to figure it out myself. 

Anh Phoong: Yes. 

Ruthie Bolton: There was no peer pressure to do it. 

Jeff Holden: Mm-hmm. 

Ruthie Bolton: I did it. I said, I got this. So I dug deep within myself.

Mm-hmm. And I found, I tapped into my why. Mm-hmm. And I found, I said, I'm, I'm doing this. 

Anh Phoong: Yeah. 

Ruthie Bolton: And I saw on the other side of, so that moment meant so much to me and I celebrated. 

Anh Phoong: I bet. I love that story. Mm-hmm. I wanna talk to you about, okay, so you competed two time Gold Olympian. 

Ruthie Bolton: Yes. 

Anh Phoong: What is the difference between being good?

And elite, like top tier, like where, where's the line? And, and how do you get [00:09:00] from there? 

Ruthie Bolton: The, the difference between being good and elite, because I go and I talk to a lot of athletes that made it to the national, made it to Colorado Springs, which is where they train. And I remember speaking to a group, I said, the fact that you all here, they spent five, six months finding the top athletes in high school.

Mm-hmm. The top athletes in college. 'cause I've talked to Bro Gru, I've spoken to Bro Gru, and I said, the fact that you good, you hear you good, but what sets you apart is what you do with this opportunity. Mm-hmm. Is when opportunities meet grit and ready. I said, what do you do? It's 75 of you all. They only got like 20 spots when I did it, it was 175.

They only had 24. I said, I, what is it gonna separate me first I gotta show up. And two, I gotta, I gotta go out there and I gotta have a mindset. It's like, you, you, it's, it is almost like, almost like a. You gotta be a little bit crazy, but good. Crazy. 

Jeff Holden: Mm-hmm. 

Ruthie Bolton: It, I set you apart, like, you know what? I can be good enough just showing up at the gym, shooting, you know, an hour in the morning time.

But what about when you go at lunch, when you go after school, you're like, man, that's crazy. Don't take all that. No, it take all of [00:10:00] that in inside. So you, it's the mindset. It is. When you realize like, I gotta go higher. I can't just set up for just comfortable. Like, I step outside the box. I stepped outside the box many times, which separated me from just being good and being on the next level.

You gotta do things like. People look at you like, serious? You doing that? Yeah, I'm doing that. Because you gotta do things that that's ordinary. You gotta do things that like make people say, man, you going to the next level. Like when I got ready to go to Auburn, I couldn't fly in a private jet. 

Anh Phoong: Mm-hmm. 

Ruthie Bolton: But in order for me to get there, I had to ride a bus for 10 hours.

Anh Phoong: Oh wow. 

Ruthie Bolton: Many people said, don't go. They know who they want. They, they don't want you. And I felt like it was unfair. But you know what, hey, when you know your why, you know your way. When you lose your why, you lose your way. And so that's what separate is that I'm gonna own up to my why. If I have to low crawl to the finish line, I'm going, and that's the mindset.

Hey, if, if I, 'cause you can always make excuses. Yeah, yeah. They said this, say this, but I want this. I go to sleep thinking about it. I wake [00:11:00] up thinking about it. I'm going to do this. I'm gonna get on that bus and I'm gonna ride at Auburn. And if it take 10 hours to get there, that's what I want and I'm gonna do it.

Anh Phoong: So the podcast is called Go All In. 

Ruthie Bolton: Yeah. 

Anh Phoong: I love it. And so riding the bus for 10 hours is you going All in. Right. 

Ruthie Bolton: Going all in. That's why when I, the title it, it literally, it fits, it embodies my life, my career, all in. Mm-hmm. It doesn't matter what you say, I'm not gonna let you dictate my future. Mm-hmm.

I'm going all in. I'm getting on this bus. Even though there were tears in my eyes, I dealt with some fears. You know, I feel good. There's a great decision and I think about, man, what am I doing? 

Jeff Holden: Mm-hmm. 

Ruthie Bolton: I questioned myself, but I stayed the course. 

Jeff Holden: Yes. 

Ruthie Bolton: I stayed on that bus ride. Matter of fact, I didn't even get off at the, at four and a half, like four and a half hours, we stopped for fool, I ain't even get off.

I was scared I was gonna get left. Wow. I'm like, I'm all here. I'm sitting on this bus. I was so hungry when I got to Auburn, but I got there. 'cause coach, I'm all in because there's a saying. Don't put all your eggs in one basket. 

Anh Phoong: Mm-hmm. 

Ruthie Bolton: But guess what, Ann, if you got one basket, what are you saving 'em for?

Anh Phoong: Yes. 

Ruthie Bolton: All in. Don't put every egg I got [00:12:00] in this one basket, I'm all in. And that's what I did on that bus. I was all in. 

Anh Phoong: Wow. Can you share with us some more, some of more of the adversity and, and and challenges where you did have to continue to go all in? I mean, I'm sure it wasn't easy. 

Ruthie Bolton: Yeah. 

Anh Phoong: Can you share some 

Ruthie Bolton: more?

It wasn't easy because even after college, when I got to college, and I don't know if you know what Jerry curls are. I had a bad shot and a bad Jira curl, which is one of the reasons why coaches didn't recruit me. I didn't have the pretty game. I was a gritty player. A lot of things I did didn't show up on stat sheet.

So people that listening, that know sports, you know, the points didn't show up, the rebounds didn't show up. But what I, what me was, grit, determination, leadership, resilience, those things. Now, after college, I was getting ready for the national team trials, and I have to paint this picture. I hope the audience can, can, can follow me.

That I wanted to play for the national team. I didn't get invited. It was crazy. Like you, you went to the championship game, the final four, even though we lost, but you were averaging, you know, you were one of the top scoring leaders, like, how could they not invite you? [00:13:00] And I failed some kind of way. I'm like, you know what?

I gotta prove myself again. I felt like I had to earn a. They spent five months and they picked the top 50 players in the country. You gotta be kidding me, that you didn't look at my stats and thought that I had done enough. 

Anh Phoong: Yeah, 

Ruthie Bolton: the rejection felt horrible. Once again, it reminded me of the Auburn experience.

I was like, man, so I remember having a conversation with my father. I said, dad, what should I do? He said, Hey, what'd I say? It doesn't matter what people think about you. It don't have to be true. What you think about me. Don't put anything on my record. When you all in, you're going defy s you're going to, I'm, I I'm about to prove myself to you.

Yeah. So sure enough, I paid my own way to go to trials. 

Anh Phoong: Wow. 

Ruthie Bolton: That was like unheard of, like, you should get invited. Why go? They know who they want, but they invite 50, they're gonna choose 20, I would say 24 players after 50 top 50 players. They're saying, my dad said if a door closed, get through a window.

Anh Phoong: Ooh. I like 

Ruthie Bolton: that. That door closed, but that window was, they said we're gonna have another 125. [00:14:00] He said, but you gotta pay your way to come. 

Anh Phoong: Wow. Okay. 

Ruthie Bolton: So I was crazy enough to believe, okay, I gotta show up. 

Anh Phoong: Mm-hmm. 

Ruthie Bolton: I paid my way to go to Colorado Springs. You 

Anh Phoong: went through that window? 

Ruthie Bolton: A hundred. I went through that window.

Still with a bad J curl in a bad shot. 175 athletes, they only gonna choose 50. Most people like, oh, you know what? Don't waste your time. But I wanted something. I said, I'm all in. If I want to one day be an Olympian, I gotta be all in. Yes. Show up nine sessions and in three days. 

Jeff Holden: Wow. 

Ruthie Bolton: That's when they did morning, afternoon.

And nice in Colorado Springs. The altitude was crazy. I'm talking, I can't hardly breathe, but I was training. I got better every session. They said, no, it's no way. After the ninth session, and listen, 175 athletes out in front of me, I'm one of those athletes, they gave this big speech. Thank you all for coming, but y'all all work so hard, but we only have, you know, 24 spots.

So please don't get discouraged. Come back. If you made a team, your name will be highlighted outside on the door. I'm sitting there exhausted [00:15:00] Ian, like, I don't know if I made it, but I'm just happy I showed up. Yeah. But I felt like I worked my butt out, but sure enough, let me borrow this. 

Anh Phoong: Mm-hmm. 

Ruthie Bolton: Sure enough.

I go outside Anne on the door. No way. Alice, Ruth, Bo two. I see my name highlighted. 

Anh Phoong: Oh my gosh. 

Ruthie Bolton: I'm like, oh my goodness. I went there and I took somebody's spot and I made it top 24. Wow. It was not supposed to happen. Had I not been all in and believe it or not, I was the only player on my team that made it.

Wow. They said, the committee was like, no way. We don't have you. Nowhere on our radar. How do you come in here and shine like you did? 

Anh Phoong: Ah, 

Ruthie Bolton: grit, resilience, knowing my why and being all in pretty much. And that story, I know that I tried to tell the shortest I could. Mm-hmm. But at the moment, and I started to realize like, you know what?

Faith, attitude and character embodies all of that. And that I had to show up for myself. I had to defy gravity. I had to just like do stuff that looked crazy to people on the outside. But that moment was a, it changed my whole [00:16:00] landscape of my national team. Like what? So I was invited the following year and the rest is history.

Is that, but it took me going through the fire, Ann, 

Anh Phoong: yes. 

Ruthie Bolton: That went through that thing with like the rejection. It feel like, why am I having to go through this? This path because I should have been invited. But that's what things are like. Even people in business, sometimes you might get fired from a job, so time you might not get the things you want, like mm-hmm.

I knew this door should have opened. Mm-hmm. The final window. 

Anh Phoong: Find a window. Window to get through window. Find a window. Window. I love that. 

Ruthie Bolton: Find a window to get through. 'cause you deserve it. 

Anh Phoong: Because I think that a lot of times we have an idea, we have a plan, we have a business plan, how there's steps and things that we need you to get there.

So if one door closes, it's like, do you just give up? Right. And then you have to evaluate, well maybe I didn't want it bad enough. 

Ruthie Bolton: That's right. 

Anh Phoong: And then you, you, you look yourself in the eye, in the mirror and figure out like, hey, well this door closed. Am at a point where, okay, move on. You know, bad idea.

You know, maybe I should have a new goal or career. But [00:17:00] then if you want it bad enough and you look yourself in the mirror, yes. You know, find that window. That's 

Ruthie Bolton: why do it. You don't if you choose not. When I say that, I wanna be clear. Now, there's sometimes you work your butt off and stuff don't happen.

Anh Phoong: Right? 

Ruthie Bolton: But let it be your decision. Don't let circumstances keep you from what people say. Well doubt you, but if you go to sleep thinking about it, you wake up thinking about it. Don't be afraid to fail. 

Anh Phoong: Yes, 

Ruthie Bolton: you miss a hundred percent of shots. You don't take. So if you feeling in your gut, like, I feel it. I feel it.

Anh Phoong: You miss a hundred percent of the shots that you don't take, don't take Ruthie. I'm telling you. See, this is why you had to be the first person because everything you're saying, and I know that you're a basketball all star, but like this applies in business, this applies in leadership in anything that you want to do.

It's so important because a hundred percent of the shots you don't make, you don't, I mean, it just 

Ruthie Bolton: makes sense. You gotta take those shots. You gotta crash and burn because you can always wonder what if, and I remember my father said this before I got on that bus. He said, you don't have to play basketball, he said, but what will you think about?

What will you do? 10 years down the road when if you [00:18:00] didn't play basketball, who would you blame? I said, are these colleges? He said, no, you give your power away when you blame circumstances. Like, you know, Auburn didn't give me a scholarship. Uh, Ole Miss didn't give me a scholarship. Different school, but no, you know what, in this situation can I control?

You've been dealt a really tough stack of cars, but what can I ba, what can I control in the settings? 

Jeff Holden: Yes. 

Ruthie Bolton: So when you are faced with challenges, sometimes you will walk away and that's your prerogative. I chose to say no. I chose to just say this one, this wasn't for me, but let it be because your decision, don't let someone say.

You know, you don't believe in me. Okay. Watch me work. 

Anh Phoong: That's very powerful because I, I relate back to the time when someone told me no. 

Ruthie Bolton: Oh my 

Anh Phoong: goodness. And that was when I was trying to go to law school and he told me I wasn't good enough. I would never make it and was going to write my future. Oh my goodness.

And, and I was like, I, I in a second, you know, I had to reevaluate. Yes. And I was like, do I really wanna become a lawyer? Am I gonna put the effort in and am I gonna let this person take my dreams away from me? Yes. [00:19:00] And after, you know, thinking and going back and forth, I was like, Nope. You don't get to dictate.

Ruthie Bolton: That's right. 

Anh Phoong: How, you know what life, I'm mean. You might be an obstacle. Mm-hmm. You may be, you know, a fence that I have to jump. You may be that closed door, but I found another window and that's how I started, you know, my career in law school. I, I would, I going to be a lawyer. That journey I knew I wanted it, so I went all in and, and did everything, 

Ruthie Bolton: you know.

And the thing about it, the fact that he challenged you, the professor, because when you think about it, when he said no, the rejection, you failed. And you had to go and examine yourself and say, you know what? What is my why? Like, do I really want it? Or I'm just going through the motion. Because when you know your why, you know your way.

When you lose your why, you lose your way. You had to question your why and you said, I want this. And that's why, to me, it all makes sense. Now, Anne, the things you've done, the milestones that just, you are huge and everybody here know you, you, it just, but to me, that's the story that, that, that resonate with me, that give me chills because.

You know, it's like I could just see you just like you looking like, no, I want it. And I could feel the emotion. You might have had to share some tears. 

Anh Phoong: Mm-hmm. [00:20:00] 

Ruthie Bolton: Did some tears like, oh, I did hurt. 

Anh Phoong: Yeah. Yeah. 

Ruthie Bolton: Like, but you went, you found to me one of my books is tied of pain to power. You turn your pain to power.

Anh Phoong: Yes. 

Ruthie Bolton: You turn your pain to power. 'cause you know what? I'm not gonna let what you said. Yeah. It, it just, it forced me to reevaluate. Mm-hmm. But I want this and to me mm-hmm. That's, that's a champion in you. 

Anh Phoong: Oh, thank you. 

Ruthie Bolton: That's what make you a champion. You chose this. Okay. That's what you say, but I'm gonna rise above it.

Mm-hmm. And that's what you did. And you came back and I think you made a little bit, what do you make on your test score 

Anh Phoong: 27% 

Ruthie Bolton: that deserve that Deserve a, that was like, that was game time stuff. 

Anh Phoong: It was that exactly what it was. It was time to show up. 

Ruthie Bolton: Yeah. 

Anh Phoong: And are you gonna show up 

Ruthie Bolton: well and your grit and your resilience, it just like, listen, don't wear a hundred pound wet.

But uh, but you just got that resilience in that fight, you know? 

Anh Phoong: And I think that that's a lot about what it takes to, uh, you know, be a high achie achiever To be a successful is. You can't just have a big dream or want something big. You gotta back it up. 

Ruthie Bolton: You got, 

Anh Phoong: yeah. Right. So like, in, in [00:21:00] life and like in business and in creating a business of starting a, a new idea, starting in real estate, starting, you know, your professional career, whatever it might be, you have to dream big, right?

You, you go for the dream, but then you gotta follow through and actually you gotta 

Ruthie Bolton: follow through. It is 

Anh Phoong: do the work. 

Ruthie Bolton: Do the work. 

Right. 

Anh Phoong: So some people aren't ready for that. 

Ruthie Bolton: It is. And that's what the thing about it, when I, when I, when I made it with the national team, my, the coach said, your resilience, your grit made it.

But she said, you gotta work on your shot. Like mm-hmm. I, I put myself in a great situation because his hard work meets opportunity, but I still had to work on my shot. I had to get up at an am, run the track. I had to before practice, you know, make 150 shots, not just shoot, but make after two hour practice, I had to make another 300.

Wow. So I couldn't just say, I wanna be a champion, I wanna make this and just go through the motion, like I had to put in the work. Mm-hmm. And so being able to. Put in that work and start to see results. I would watch film, some practices I would watch, man, I look horrible in practice or man, what kind of game would it, I look at my shot, I'm [00:22:00] going out shooting two for 12, that's not good.

And I'm like, I know why I missed my shot after I watched film. 'cause I leaned to my left and then I sometime, I didn't want to be reminded of my bad game, but I would watch film anyway because I met myself. Mm-hmm. So to be all in and whatever you do, you gotta be true to yourself. You gotta look at your weaknesses.

I need to work on these weaknesses. And I got, I, I know my strength, but what my weakness? Don't be afraid of your weakness. Don't get so, and if someone acknowledge your weakness or bring 'em out, you gotta be coachable. 

Anh Phoong: I love that. I, I have a story to relate to that. Yes. So in law school, I, we had to take a constitutional law class, and at that time I feared it.

I hated it. Mm-hmm. It was the thing that I felt like was going to be my worst subject, and I had that attitude towards it. Mm-hmm. I was like, oh, it's going to con law. It's terrible. And then I had to kind of reframe it. 

Jeff Holden: Mm-hmm. 

Anh Phoong: And I had to almost trick myself into believing I love this course, I love this course.

Yes. And guess what? One of my favorite courses of all time Serious. And, and so I think it's easy to be comfortable in [00:23:00] what you're good at. 

Ruthie Bolton: Yes. 

Anh Phoong: And very hard to work on your weaknesses. I think that's the hardest thing, uh, for any kind of leader, entrepreneur, is to Yes. What are you weak at? And then do the work to make yourself better.

Ruthie Bolton: And don't be afraid. I don't care what kind of business you own, what you've done, say, you know what, yeah, I need to work. I need to work on my people skills. 

Anh Phoong: Yes, 

Ruthie Bolton: whatever you need to do, face it. And don't be afraid because this thing about. It's, it's, to me, a weakness is that, I feel like another word for, it's just, I'm just trying to be a better, I'm trying to be the best version of me.

And so when I would want, when I would shooting my shots, I had a terrible shot, like straight. But you know what? If I wanted to win, 

Anh Phoong: mm-hmm. 

Ruthie Bolton: If I wanted to win, if I wanted to be a better me, I had to go through the fire, I had to work, put in the work, and at times I had to, and she said, listen. Okay. Anybody, if you are here training for the Olympics, who are so many other people wanna be here?

Oh yeah. The fact that you are, you gotta put in the work. So I was excited about, I said, yeah, I'm gonna put in the work 'cause I wanna. I wanna be a champion. I wanna be better for my teammates. I wanna be a teammate. I wanna be, I wanna help my team win. Mm-hmm. So she said, [00:24:00] your defense is great, but we need for you to make some shots.

You are gonna be in the game 'cause of your defense. Yes. But now we need you to knock down some shots. So she said, I don't know what happened to you in college. And this was late for me. Mm-hmm. 

Jeff Holden: I 

Ruthie Bolton: was a late bloomer. She said, yeah, I want you to be, you gonna be one of the best shooters in the country. I'm thinking like, okay.

Alright. I trusted her guidance. I put in the work. Sure enough, I hit some big shout down the stretch and they called me Instant offense. 

Anh Phoong: Instant offense. 

Ruthie Bolton: Instant offense. Because I came off the bench and when she called my name, I came off the bench and I was ready. I was ready to do what I need to do, and she said, Ruthie, I can trust you in my foxhole.

Anh Phoong: Wow. That's amazing. Mm-hmm. I wanna talk about some of your books because you're an author and I believe you have written four books 

Ruthie Bolton: I've written. Okay. I, I've written Ride of a Lifetime. Our pain, the power sent with purpose. 12 sisters. 12 stories. 12 challenges. 12 victories. 

Anh Phoong: Mm-hmm. 

Ruthie Bolton: And then I've written two journals Journey with me.

Oh 

Anh Phoong: yes. 

Ruthie Bolton: Be bold affirmation. And I'm currently writing a book, a [00:25:00] animated book for kids as we speak, called Gold Medal Moments. And the gold medal moments is not me, it's, it's really a flexion. So that the kids can see themselves, that all the things that I learned in my journey, I get to share with them.

And it talks a lot my, about my dad and our relationship. Mm-hmm. The things he taught me, you know, by flex I did a lot of flexing in there when I was, uh, I felt like I was super, uh, superwoman when I was young, like a Wonder woman. 

Anh Phoong: Yes. 

Ruthie Bolton: I had a little tank top on with a little star on it. Wow. And I felt so empowered with it on Do 

Anh Phoong: you have a picture of that?

Ruthie Bolton: Yes. 

Anh Phoong: Of you. I wanna feed that. 

Ruthie Bolton: I gotta, I wanna show you. Listen, I'm just flexing my little muscles and I just felt so like, I felt like superwoman. Mm-hmm. And, and believe it. I was a third grade. My teacher said, you gotta start wearing that shirt because it was a boy cut. And I did not tell my parents no, I'm wearing my shirt.

'cause I feel like Wonder Woman. 

Anh Phoong: Yes. 

Ruthie Bolton: It, it empowered me to wear my little Oh yeah. I'll show it to you. 

Anh Phoong: Yes. I can't wait to see that. What inspired you to start writing? Okay. How you go from, you know, athlete and you transition and what was that like? Like, 

Ruthie Bolton: you know what, how, and believe it or not, I know how we set dreams and goals.

I was not this little girl saying one day I'm gonna play professional basketball, then I'm gonna come over [00:26:00] as to speaker. Listen, I hated speaking in college. Mm-hmm. I was willing to almost fail a class to speak in front of, like, I was so shy. I felt like I didn't have much to say. So when I went through adversity, tore my ACL, then lost my father.

Mm-hmm. I found my purpose. I found my purpose through the pain that I went through. Mm-hmm. And so when I started speaking a literal on, going away on crushes, like sharing my story, I found through the belly of my pain, I started to just find my true self. And so I was speaking, going out, speaking for the Monarchs and speaking for the King's organization.

And people kept asking me like, you have book? I was like, A book? Mm-hmm. Like, who wanna hear? You know? No. Like, I wanna, I wanna hear more about the fence story. I wanna bottle up that message about forgiveness, that message about, uh, resilience. And so I was like, you know what, maybe I should. So really, I was almost like pushed to it to start writing a book.

That first book was The Ride of a Lifetime. When I tell that story about the bus ride, they like, man, I can learn so much from that. Like, what made you, that took a lot of guts to get on that bus. Yes. With no schools want you, the school, you, you riding a bus to [00:27:00] school telling you you're not going to play until your junior year like that is nothing encouragement.

I bet. But you still showed up so. I said, yeah, I, they want to know more. So I said, let me write a book on about resilience facing the fire, you know? And so I did. And then after I did that book, 

Anh Phoong: another one 

Ruthie Bolton: came to my, my mother one came from, I went through, at ary, I went through domestic violence. Yes. And it was a tough place.

Like you went through this and Oh my goodness, and you paid the best basketball going through this, like how do you do that? 

Anh Phoong: Yeah. 

Ruthie Bolton: Understanding. Turning my pain to power and being validated on the court with my teammates, like at home. I didn't, I couldn't control that, but I control what I did and my teammates validated me.

They didn't even know what was going on, but my teammates reminded me. So I talked about, so I wrote this book From Pain to Power. I did a tour speaking to the WNBA teams. I did, I went to a lot of colleges speaking, and then I did another book, uh, sent with purpose discovering my purpose, uh, discovering, uh, God's calling in every season of my life.

We go through seasons. We go through up and down. 

Anh Phoong: Mm-hmm. [00:28:00] 

Ruthie Bolton: But understanding, and in every season of our life, there's something to learn. When I had to move back to Mississippi, I said, you know what? I never thought I would move back to Mississippi. I live out in California, you know? But I said, Lord, what is it that you want me to learn right now in this season?

Grow? So I started understand. I started learning like I need to be present with myself. Don't worry about all the glamorous of the lights. Just grow where you are. Be a parent to your kids. So to my children. So that's what I did. So that all sent with purpose. And then one in the book now with my sisters, 12 sisters.

12 challenges. 12 triumphs. Because I wanted to share this journey with my sisters. I'm like, they like I don't have who wanna hear what I gotta say? 

Anh Phoong: I love that about you. I love that so much. 'cause you have 12 sisters and you, you wanna share the dream with them. You're all about. It's not just about you.

You know, your team, your sisterhood. Like, I, I love that. 

Ruthie Bolton: That's what it is. It's a sisterhood. And you know what Anne? It's giving other women permission to share their story, to use their voice, because all of my sisters, we've been through different paths in our journey, but [00:29:00] as they were sharing their story, they started to like, not just like, just soar, not just fly, but soar.

And as you remove layers as you write. Share your story. You remove layers of gear. Mm-hmm. Resentment, I'm not good enough. And now all of a sudden you are like, I'm, I'm meeting myself. Yeah. Because all these different things, camouflages who you are, the fear, I'm not good enough. I'm unworthy. So that's what this last book has done with my sisters.

It given them permission to write their own book. Like some, it's like, oh, I wanna do more than just a chapter. And that's what that book has done. 

Anh Phoong: It's so much of, you know, speaks to me, women empowerment, our, our Purple promise. 

Ruthie Bolton: Oh my 

Anh Phoong: goodness. Um, about just really uplifting each other. And that's just like who you are by nature.

This is not just about Ms. Ruth Bolton is how it 

Ruthie Bolton: is not 

Anh Phoong: else can I lift up. 

Ruthie Bolton: And that's what MVP is most valuable player. That's what Champion is, is making other people around you better? Yes. I want my sister to know. I want them to hear from some of the things they've gone through because. Once I did my book, I didn't realize how unhealed I was because all these different layers was falling off.

I'm not good enough to shame unworthy [00:30:00] and I just started to soar. And so, and that's why, you know, just what you are doing with Purple Promise. That's why I was so excited to be on that panel with the girls. It's like I got so many like stories of these little girls saying, I remember doing the autograph for a little girl.

She was like, not even 10. She said, I really enjoy hearing you speak. She said, I don't want an autograph. I just wanna tell you that you, you are. You, uh, empowered me. Mm-hmm. And she said, you, uh, saved my life. I'm like, you 10 years old, how did that save your life? And she just, like she said, because the things you shared with me.

And so these are the things that I feel like that writing these book does. And, and yes. And just what you've done with purple problems, giving these kids permission to just. Those kids will never remember that those girls had the purple promise. Yes. And I love the fact that your vision mm-hmm. You know, instead of just, you know, you supporting the kings and, and sponsoring, you're like, I want this to make an impact.

Anh Phoong: Yes. 

Ruthie Bolton: I want a, i I feel like that's a three point play. 

Anh Phoong: Yes. Play 

Ruthie Bolton: in basketball, three, three point play, and, and you create a three point play. And by giving these kids. Giving these girls an opportunity to shine and grow [00:31:00] and, and, and like, I, I admire you for that. 

Anh Phoong: Thank you. You know, one of the questions we're asked, and I'll say it now just because it was such a great question, I, I thought, was how do you define success?

Like, what is success like, so in different, everyone has a different definition. What is success for you? 

Ruthie Bolton: Oh, man. Success for me is, you know, I want to be, use this platform that God has given me to impact, empower. Success to me is seeing, I was at, uh, I think a boys and girls club, and I, I spoke to the girl.

We did like a little clinic. And the girl, you know, we, I always do a little moment called be the best. You like a talent who, who could sing, who would dance? And oh, I do what I do. The elementary kids are down for it. This girl sung, her voice was crazy. I'm like, oh my goodness. How do you think? And, and this girl had never said anything.

They said she will not participate. But this girl said I wanted to sing because you made me believe I could sing. And I want the whole world to watch. That to me as success, that I can use basketball as a platform to give back to these young girls, empower [00:32:00] them to empower a woman that says, by hearing your story, by you writing this book, you made me believe.

Now I wanna write my own book. 

Jeff Holden: Mm-hmm. 

Ruthie Bolton: Like, those are the things. That's what success is not monetary. It's given, it's, it's a ripple effect. Like when you drop something in the water. And it ripple, face it, touch other lives. That is what success is. That's what being a champion is. It's not just doing what I do and making people around me better.

And to me, at the end of the day, there's a quote that I love. It says to the world, you might be one person. To one person, you might be the world. That's success. 

Anh Phoong: Oh my gosh. I love it. That's so good. You have so many. Great, I'm gonna steal them from you. And I'll always say like, Ruthie Bolton said, 

Ruthie Bolton: but, but that's, you know what, and, and, and being around people that's like-minded.

I know. We met. It's just like we connected like right away. I know. 

Anh Phoong: And 

Ruthie Bolton: I think we know what success means. We know what it means to empower, and to me, I love meeting people. Like I travel the world over the country 

Anh Phoong: Yes. 

Ruthie Bolton: To different countries. I, I feel like that's what success is too, is being able to. It's to make a person believe everybody has a soul.[00:33:00] 

Everybody has a manifesto. Mm-hmm. It's, it's to remind you to tap into your why. It's like, I want you to know why you create, why you were created, why you exist. Because every, a lot of people wake up, they don't know they purpose. 

Anh Phoong: Yes. 

Ruthie Bolton: Your purpose. 

Anh Phoong: And I think that's what a lot of people, they have goals and dreams and desires, and even in business.

You can't just have something that's empty. Yes. Like say, you know, you have this desire to open up a franchise or to start a law firm, or whatever it is your purpose has to be. And how do you say, what was the quote? 

Ruthie Bolton: If you know your why, you know your 

Anh Phoong: way. Know your you. If you know your why, you know your way, 

Ruthie Bolton: way.

If you lose your why, you lose your way. 

Anh Phoong: I really feel that like if your why isn't strong enough, 

Ruthie Bolton: that's right. Oh, you would, you 

Anh Phoong: lose your way. You, 

Ruthie Bolton: you gonna walk away, you'll let everything interfere. You, you'll let everything derail you. 

Anh Phoong: Correct. 

Ruthie Bolton: You'll let any and everything. Oh, someone talking about me, they said this never worked and you'll believe it.

Anh Phoong: Mm-hmm. 

Ruthie Bolton: Yes. When you know your why, you know your way, it would shape your belief system. 

Anh Phoong: So the what, what kind of advice would you give for people [00:34:00] who wanna start up a business, uh, be an entrepreneur? What is like some of the core advice that you would give? 

Ruthie Bolton: The core advice for someone that wanna start a business is that, like we just say, you gotta know your why.

You gotta write things down. You gotta sort of see what it, it looks like. You gotta like, like in sports, you have to sort of see a play before it happens. You have to go out there and see like how you gonna defend, you prepare in advance. Like you watch them, you prepare and say, I gotta, it's almost like it's a military term.

Like you gotta sort of think like the enemy thing. You gotta think, you gotta look at risk. You gotta look at things that could derail you and, and, and evaluate. Yes. Say, you know what? Okay. But I'm willing to go the distance and you'll prepare in advance. I always think before a game, like, what if I'm shooting bad?

Or what if I, if my defense is not working, how would I change that? So I think about before it happens. So you gotta think about things, you gotta prepare, you gotta do your research and you gotta write things down and you gotta set, I would say goals and look at, you know what, I want this. And you gotta know what your why is in doing it.

And you gotta tell yourself what are [00:35:00] the, what are the challenges? And when you embrace that. So, but I'm ready. I'm ready for it all. If I'm playing basketball, if a team going into the zone, I'm ready. If a team try to do a boxing one on me, I'm ready. If a team do a 1, 3, 1 on me, I'm ready. Love that. So you prepare your mind and you anticipate mm-hmm.

In, in the military, I was first lieutenant in the army. There's nine elements of war. One of the most impactful one is the element of surprise. 

Anh Phoong: Yeah. 

Ruthie Bolton: You don't wanna be surprised if you're surprised. So you wanna prepare and not let that surprise so you don't get ambushed. Different things. 

Anh Phoong: Yes. And so when we talk about going all in 

Ruthie Bolton: Uhhuh, 

Anh Phoong: what kind of advice would you give to people who are straddling and like they want to, but then they're afraid and then they kind of straddle that line of, should I, I'm scared, and maybe retreat and then visit again six months later or, 

Ruthie Bolton: yeah.

You know what, sometime that fear is a good fear. It make you think about really like what are the consequences? What if I fail? But then you come to a point where. I've crossed out [00:36:00] all the things that could keep me from doing it, and now I'm going all in. Yeah. When you get to a point, like when I got got ready to jump over that fence, I was all in when I got on that bus.

At this point, it is like I'm all in. When I pay my way to go to trials, I'm all in. When you make your mind up to go all in, don't look back. Okay. And you gonna embrace whatever it is, and you might actually. We call. I don't say, well, you fail when you don't try. You might have to reevaluate things. Say, you know what, but I'm ready.

You know, I might have to revisit something in six months, but this is what I want. You think about your story when you went, you know, it is like I'm all in, like I, you know, you probably was a little bit scared, like, but you still go and I'm sure even my journey in basketball. Things are always going the way I want, but when I told myself and when I committed to being all in, it made everything easier.

So go all in, have your mindset, write it down and commit to it and repeat it every day. Oh yes. Have some principles about what it is. And you were, you read something or rep repeat your manifesto for your business. Mm-hmm. Read it every day. Mm-hmm. You are about to read it with tears in your eyes. You may have to read it.[00:37:00] 

Like, man, but this is, I want, and you write it down. You tell, talk to self-talk. 

Anh Phoong: It's your self-talk. 

Ruthie Bolton: Self-talk, baby self-talk. Or you could say, or you could say, dream big. 

Anh Phoong: Woo. 

Ruthie Bolton: If you want it, you can do it. Dream big. Pour your heart into it. If it were dreaming about you might as well. If it were dreaming about you might as well dream big.

Dream big. Maybe get a whistle too. Lord Whistle, when you get. 

Anh Phoong: We are giving away whistles. That's what I'm gonna do. Hey, I seriously love the whistle. I cannot tell you enough how much that whistle that energy brings. I, I, seriously, I'm gonna, you 

Ruthie Bolton: know, I'm gonna do another thing too, and this may seem like it, it is weird, but if you flex.

There's a study done at Stanford because I thought I would be silly. It is something that I started doing, but I looked it up. There's a study done that if you do positive motions with your [00:38:00] body, it empowers you. It does something in your, in your metabolism, your energy, and it make you feel better. Like your hands up in the air.

Yes. Flex doing this. So if you going through something tough, flex upon me. 

Anh Phoong: Okay 

Ruthie Bolton: baby. What, what, what? 

Anh Phoong: That is great advice. 'cause I do, there definitely is truth to that because when I just, even going like this, it's like. Let's go, let's go, let's world. I hear the whistle is like, let's go, let's, let's go.

Conquer the world, 

Ruthie Bolton: let's go conquer the world. 

Anh Phoong: And a lot of just success in general is really having the mindset there. And everything else is, if you don't have that mindset, 

Ruthie Bolton: forget about it. And that what make this great because you're not someone just doing this because you woke up with a silver spoon in your mouth.

Mm-hmm. You woke up and everything was fabulous, but you've had to go through, and to me, the fact that you want to do this podcast to give back and to share with the other side, I wanna tell you I got the playbook and I wanna share with you Yes. On how to succeed. To me, that's embol. As a champion, you wanna win, but you want everybody else to win too.

Anh Phoong: Yes. 

Ruthie Bolton: I heard you on the interview saying, when you were talking about, you say, I'm not really like, I love to compete, but I'm not competing, trying to like, it's all about me. Mm-hmm. [00:39:00] I want other people to win too. Yes. And, and that's more than one way to win. So to me, I, I admire you, you know, you're beautiful, your energy and that and how we met.

Mm-hmm. To me, how we organically met and I almost didn't do that event because it was, I had to go to something else and I didn't have much time. I said sometime less. It's more. 

Anh Phoong: Yes. Yes. 

Ruthie Bolton: And I showed up because I, I knew the importance. It was a fundraiser for For the 

Anh Phoong: girl? 

Ruthie Bolton: Yeah. For the girls. Mm-hmm. And I said, you know what?

I gotta at least show up. Yes. Because I'm gonna be in the area sometime less is more about me showing up. I got a chance to meet you and you got a chance to organic organically. See me, hear me just a little bit. And I got a chance to hear you. 

Anh Phoong: I don't know if you know this though. I, I got invited to that event last minute Too 

Ruthie Bolton: serious.

Anh Phoong: And, and I wasn't supposed to go either. And I was like, you know what? I was like, it was to support the girls. I was like, I really wanna show up, even if it's just for a little bit. And that, you know, and that's, that's how we met. That's, that's why you're here today, right? 

Ruthie Bolton: We showed up and we, we were motivated by mission driven.

Anh Phoong: Yes. 

Ruthie Bolton: And our conscience spoke to us. He like, you know what? I know I need to be there. And I've been knowing Mike for a [00:40:00] long time and he said, I really want you there even for a minute. I just want them to see your face. I said, Mike, I'm there. And to me that's what it mean to go all in when you, all in in your purpose.

Mm-hmm. When that, when that's something that nudges you. And just forces you like, you know what I, it puts, I'm doing it. I, I'm, I'm all in, I'm showing up. And that's what, and I'm so glad 'cause I got a chance to meet you. Yes. And I heard, I had heard so many amazing things about you, and I finally meet you and you are living up to Anne.

Oh my gosh. You're living up, you're living up to the champion you are. Thank you. All in. You're, you know what? And just what you doing. Even if you, I think about this, even if your ha, even if your passion was. E even if you was a florist and you love flowers. Yes. Or even if you were, you know, animal lover, whatever, whatever it is, your manifesto, you still just who you are and what you've done, but the fact that you, that you love working with girls and women, and that's something because you, it comes from something where it's, it's, it's, it moves you.

Yes. And, and that, and that's that to me, knowing your wild, that is huge because you, you know, you just give the king money to do whatever, but the fact that you said, no, I want this to be impact. Yes. To me, that right there, that is the hook. [00:41:00] And that's what like, so you know what, Hey. What make you who you are.

Yeah. Because you did it. There was a purpose behind it, and you had it, you was intentional about it. To me, that's, that's a whistleblower. 

Anh Phoong: Thank you so much. This has been so amazing, Ruthie. Just kind of to close it up and wrap it up, is there anything that you wanna say to people out there that maybe struggling, maybe facing some adversity that little girls out there, any, any last remark or closing minds that you wanna say that we haven't discussed?

Ruthie Bolton: Yeah. You know, I, I say. I know adversity hits everyone you know for adversity and make you bitter or make you better. I 

Anh Phoong: just, it makes you bitter 

Ruthie Bolton: a better, a 

Anh Phoong: better 

Ruthie Bolton: I chose for to make me better. You let it make you better. And I want everyone that listening, you know, young girl mom, entrepreneurship, uh, business.

Adversity. You look at it and it's a military term, you saute it and say, you know what? You might as well get out my way. Get out my way. I'm coming strong, and let that fuel you. Yes, let that hard time fuel you. Let that adversity fuel you [00:42:00] because you your success. The championing you something great is waiting.

And what's so unique about knowing your why and all in, because as you walk into that, as you run into that 

Anh Phoong: mm-hmm. 

Ruthie Bolton: Other people watching you, you giving them permission to do the same. 

Anh Phoong: Mm-hmm. 

Ruthie Bolton: You know, when I, people come up to me and say, you know what, you know, I know your basketball stuff. You've been great.

But what I love about you is your resilience. I know you've gone through a lot and, and I said, but that's what really, because I always say when I speak to a group, if all you can remember me as is a basketball player, then I fail you. Everyone listening, and when you, when you listen to this, if you, it is the only thing you can remember is that I played basketball, then I fail because this is bigger than a basketball story.

This is bigger than shooting a three point shot. It's about faith over fear. It's about resilience, it's about going all in, and it's about knowing your why. And that's what I want you to know. That you are built for this. You are built for this. It's game time. Ooh, don't quit. Hey, you know what? Get you a whistle.

Anh Phoong: Get you whistle 

Ruthie Bolton: and it's game time. You got this. And we'll rally for you. Yes. And everybody that [00:43:00] watching, we are cheering for you. So you got this. And a 

Anh Phoong: seriously, it is game time. So go all in. 

Ruthie Bolton: Go all in 

Anh Phoong: game time. 

Ruthie Bolton: Go all in, baby. Yeah, go play. Yes, baby. 

Anh Phoong: Oh my God, I love it. Okay, so we're going to play a game.

Okay? It's called Go All In or Fold. 

Ruthie Bolton: Okay? 

Anh Phoong: And I'm gonna show you a series of pictures and just instantly you're gonna tell me if you, is this something you gonna go all in? Meaning? Yeah. Or fold like, no, not for me. Okay. So we're gonna start off with a little quirky funny one, wearing Crocs in Public. Go All In or Fold.

Miss Ruthie. You look like you wanna fold on that fold? 

Ruthie Bolton: Yeah, because I'm, because I never know when I'm gonna start running and, and, and, and I see kids trying to play ball with Crocs. My, yeah. But no, no, not for me. 

Anh Phoong: No fold. Okay. We're gonna fold on that. Okay. So. The next one is chat, GPT to write your professional emails.

Go all [00:44:00] in or fold. 

Ruthie Bolton: I'm sort of torn between because I think sometimes when you, when you limit with time, I think it's, it's, you gotta be wise to use resources. But I'll go in, but I still always gonna edit. I'm gonna look at it myself, but it might help me out a little bit. So I'm sort of torn in between.

Yeah, but I maybe I, I think I'm a. 

Anh Phoong: You going in? You're not folding it. 

Ruthie Bolton: I'm not folding. I'm going in. 

Anh Phoong: Okay. 

Ruthie Bolton: I'm going in. I'm just being smart and I'm a man. 

Anh Phoong: I need 

Ruthie Bolton: to, yeah, yeah, yeah. 

Anh Phoong: You're cautiously going all in. Okay, so no photo for this, but just the concept of trying to change the American work week to a three day weekend.

You wanna go all in that or fold? 

Ruthie Bolton: All in all in, 

Anh Phoong: let's get 

Ruthie Bolton: you work hard and take those days off. Yeah, 

Anh Phoong: we need our rest days. Okay. 

Ruthie Bolton: Yeah, we need our rest days, man. Yes. 

Anh Phoong: And then this last one is, uh, using TikTok. People are using TikTok to search for advice like medicine or, or legal advice. No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Uhuh, we folding on that? 

Ruthie Bolton: No, CH BT is, what's it? That's good enough. Nah, TikTok and TikTok, I'm not saying some things are [00:45:00] good, but Nah, I'm good. I'm good with that. 

Anh Phoong: Love it. Well, miss Ruthie Bolton, thank you so much for being our guest today. You're welcome. Our first guest ever on the go All in podcast.

Thank you. It's game time. It's game time, 

Ruthie Bolton: baby. Let's go. Yeah. Oh, oh yeah. Blake, you Uhhuh. Thank you so much. 

Anh Phoong: If this conversation resonated with you, please leave a review and take a second to subscribe so you don't miss future episodes. And if you know someone who's building something of their own, share this with them.

It might be exactly what they need to hear right now. I'm Ann Fong. Thanks for listening To Go All In. Beating The Odds In Business.

Jeff Holden: Go All In. Beating The Odds In Business was recorded at Fong Law Studio and produced by Hear Me Now Studio.