Writing, Resilience, and Rebirth – Ahmard Vital on Faith, Adversity, and Empowering the Next Generation

Brad Minus: Welcome back to another episode of Life-Changing Challengers. Hey everybody. I am super excited 'cause you are in for a treat. I have Ahmard Vital with us today. He is a coach, he's a ministry leader. He is a speaker. He is an author. The guy has done it all and he has special keynote programs that literally play to the scope of this podcast.

From motivation to innovation, waking up a winner, I'm more than enough, a brand new you, three ways to brand of value. I am telling you just the titles of those WIC keynotes, just like I am fired up to be talking to Ahmard Vital today. So Ahmard Vital, how you doing today? 

Ahmard Vital: Brad, I'm great. Thank you 

Brad Minus: oh, I appreciate it more than you know, but I need to know something. Ahmard Vital, can you tell me a little bit about your childhood? The compliment of your family, where you grew up, and what was it like to be Ahmard Vital as a kid? 

Ahmard Vital: You know, man, that's a question that is interesting and takes you all the way back I'm a young man who came from a small town in Texas called New Kaney, Texas.

Born to a man and a woman who brought me into this world. By the age of 11, there was a divorce that happened and then I joined another family. My mother remarried and things were great. I was born to, Bernadette, Melvin and Bernadette Moore.

And then I was born, I came into. Bernadette and Harry Al. So that's why the name Amma Be Tall is there because at the age of 11, mother got remarried and I took on his last name 'cause he raised me through my formidable years. Beautiful home, obviously, you know, a little bit of, of, you know, chaotic situations.

Obviously divorce usually happens because of something like that. But you know, I was a young man who I always say I learned how to walk and then I learned how to write soon after. I've been a young man who's kept a pen in his hand his whole life, and that goes on until today. I wrote my first book at 11.

I was writing for major newspapers by the time I was 14. I was the editor of my high school magazine, a high school, newspaper. And so at the core, while you said, I'm a speaker, I'm a coach, I'm a consultant. I do work in the ministry, but everything starts with a pen in my hand. So at my core writing is my first love.

I always say the greatest gift God could ever give me outside of the Bible was a pen. And the ability to write. I went to college at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacodoches, Texas, where I majored in journalism. I came outta Stephen F. Austin, started working for more newspapers, and then I came around that time when they started this thing called internet blogging, and I jumped in on the front end of that when it came to, sports.

I did college football recruiting analyst for Fox Sports and. Fox four Southwest and a lot of different organizations. Got my first break with a magazine called Sooners Illustrated. That's for the University of Oklahoma, which of course has a strong tie to me since I am a Texas guy, but my first big break came from that and I love the Sooner fans over there.

And I love my teams in Texas as well. But Brad really at my core, I'm a writer. It's evolved into so many other things. But at the core of everything, I'm a small town Texas guy who had a dream. And for the most part, I believe I've lived out a lot of that dream. I feel like I'm sort of in the middle of it, ready for that next step, that next season.

Going into my forties right now. And so I'm loving life and I'm loving all the things I'm involved with right now. As for my childhood, it was good, right? It had its ups and downs, but those ups and downs is what made me who I am tonight. It made me the guy who likes to go out and hustle, the guy who doesn't have one thing going on, has multiple lines of income.

And so those things are important to me because it was the struggle. Through the separation of family, through the losses, through playing sports and so many different things that that builds me to who I am now. So when we're faced with inflation, we're caused with these uncomfortable things that's going on in our society, which, you know, you and I of the age where we've been through about six, seven, or 10 of these in our lifetime.

We're built to face challenges and, and your podcast obviously focuses a lot on that. And there's so many different ways to, to get through this, but know that you cannot grow in any kinda way until you face that struggle head on. And I faced the many of 'em, and I'm grateful for every single one of them 

Brad Minus: That is a great way to open the show.

Ahmard Vital. Let me tell you a couple quick questions just so people can get kind of a feel, brothers or sisters. 

Ahmard Vital: I do, I have two younger brothers and I have an older sister. And of course my mother and father took in quite a few others who, I guess you could consider them my brothers as well, because they took in some foster kids, after I'd already left the house.

But they took them in, in a way that wasn't like through the state. They were with a state sponsored family, and as soon as the money stopped, the state sponsored family put them out. My family took them in. So you can imagine a home with two school teachers. That's not a lot of resources.

Yeah. But there's four adult young adult men in the house on a school teacher's salary. So do the math on that. But that's just the way my parents were. That altruistic mindset has carried on through me as well. 

Brad Minus: You still pretty close with your family? 

Ahmard Vital: The man who raised me vitol, he died the night after my 33rd birthday. But the two people who actually bought me into this world, my biological father and my biological mother are still alive. And, I keep in touch with them, pretty frequently. And my two younger brothers who are now in their thirties, I keep in touch with them as well.

I have a sister who's five years older than me, and we chatted up on occasion. She's kind of one of those head down. Getting the business or whatever. So we catch each other when I can, but there's all love there. And so, I'm grateful for all of those in my life.

Brad Minus: Would you say that a normal thing for you and your family is, was like dinner was, did you find yourself around the dinner table like most nights of the week? 

Ahmard Vital: No. No. I will be completely transparent and honest that that was not something that was, a custom in our home. Which was one of the first things when I bought this home at the age of 29, 1 of the first pieces of furniture I bought was a dining room table, and I didn't care what the dynamics of whatever family I put together.

We were going to sit down and eat at a table, even if it was a family of one, which was just me. I wanted to set a new culture of eating dinner at the table, in my home. 

Brad Minus: That's, I usually ask that question when I can't get enough, of a person's picture of what they went through with growing up.

So I asked that question a lot just to find out what nuclear family was like. And it sounded like you were pretty much in a nuclear family. You had a mom and a stepdad and a dad. I asked that question to get a feel for what was it like going around the house and just fantastic that you recognized that growing up and you decided that was how it was.

I grew up, you were home for dinner, and especially you never missed Sunday. You know, like I could be, you know, I could have missed dinner because of study group or you know, sports or whatever. You know, I might have missed it or you know, I was at, you know, martial arts practice or something and you know, I might have missed dinner and have to get a plate rewarmed, right?

But that was rare. No way did my father allow me to miss Sunday dinner. Sunday dinner was family time, and that was it. So, so no, but I, I definitely impressed the fact that you decided that that was gonna be very, very important in your, in your family. That's great. I do the same thing 

so you did mention sports. You said pen and you were writing, so you did play some sports in and outta high school organized. 

Ahmard Vital: Oh yeah. I started running summer track when I was 10 years old, so I learned the essence of adversity very early on. And obviously your podcast is about challenges and going through those things, and I always tell the story where really my character was built from.

I was a pretty good track runner. I ran track here in humble Texas. With a summer track team. I was a guy who probably meddled most of the time. But every once in a while, you get across from that guy like I was around the time when there was a, he ended up playing in the NFLA guy named David Boston.

And he and I were on the same relay team, but if we raced each other, he was two years older than me and he was just, he was a beast. I mean, he ended up, you know, again, playing in the NFL played at Ohio State as a true freshman. So you can do the math on all of that. But I would run summer track, starting at the age of 10.

I remember one meet, maybe this wasn't my day, and I remember running a hundred meter dash and I crossed the line in fifth place. Now, for your audience who doesn't know, you get a medal for first, second, and third place. From fourth through sixth. They give you a green, purple and an orange ribbon.

So my ribbon was purple. Mind you, I've crossed the tape. There's no joy in crossing fifth place, and I was hurt to my soul, like, I'm used to meddling. Whatever happened, I don't know what happened. Who knows? All I remember is that Ride Home taught me more than any motivational course I probably could have ever taken in my life.

I was in the car and I am crying. I'm mad. I got tears and sweat mixed together, running down my forehead, and I'm sitting in the backseat of the car. My father's driving the car. My mother's in the passenger seat, and she sees me just losing it back there. She turns around and she wants to console me.

And my father gave her this look like, no. And he let me. On a 30 minute drive home deal with that loss at 10 years old. And I didn't realize at the time what that meant, but she was going to come and hold me and, and tell me everything was gonna be okay. And my father was like, oh no.

You need to know what this feel like. I want you to feel every ounce of that pain. So that you know when we show up tomorrow for practice and the day after and every day following that, that you will know what it feels like to cross a line losing a race. And there's no way you're gonna run from it because you are the only one responsible for how you compete on the field.

And it, that didn't hit me until I was in my thirties. I was like, man, my dad was brutal. But then again. Would I have bought a house at the age of 29 if I didn't have that work ethic? Would I have not been working at major newspapers early on in my career? Would I have not elevated, through the fox ranks?

Had I not faced that adversity at 10 years old when I could have cried in the corner and let my mother hug me and go buy me ice cream? Instead, he said, no, let him walk back to his room and feel whatever, shame, guilt, and discomfort he needs to be able to be a better and functioning human being. And I loved that.

That was my first, that was my early sports experiences. Thus probably was the reason why I made the Varsity Track team as a freshman. Mm-hmm. I walked away from high school with five school records. Wow. I was, I started on varsity, on varsity football as a sophomore at Cornerback. Could that have been?

Because my father made me run against eighth graders when I was like a kid. Could that be maybe So, I would like to believe it was because of all of those things. And so I don't look for pain. I just know it's coming and say, bring it. That's kind of where I'm at now. 

New milestone I'm going through. And it's interesting, Brad, that you and I connected for this podcast at this time in my life because I'm going through a real purging moment right now. You know, life comes in seasons. And I realize that the business that I've created, I've outgrown it, yet I haven't implemented the new growth into all the plans I'm doing going forward.

So I'm sort of going through a rebuild right now, I'm a businessman. That rebuilding birth part of the business is painful because you need self-reflection and you have to look at yourself and say, I've done some things that aren't beneficial for the bottom line.

I've done some things that may have hampered the business. Maybe it's time to just start this over and simplify this thing and say, what is the thing for which you stand for? Who am I? What do I represent? Whom do I serve? Where's the revenue coming from? What new mindset am I going to take on all these things?

I realized I was taught very early on when I was young. But now it's time to implement that and reintroduce myself, possibly to myself and to the audience with whom I serve. 

Brad Minus: It's interesting that you say that. One thing is that you and I have something in common 

I think I was about the same age. I don't have a fricking athletic bone in my body. Everything that I've done, I've built and I've done like you. I got a work ethic. It's very interesting that you said that because it reminded me of the same situation it was a city festival and they had a bunch of activities for kids and one of them was a race just a straight up race. And I think there was like two versions of it or something. There was like two different distances and I ran the first one my dad, always said, I had an imagination and sometimes I'd get caught in my imagination. And also was a big fan of superheroes and the bionic man I ran the first race and, didn't really care. I wasn't competitive. I came out smiling and he's like, what was that?

I'm like, what do you mean? He goes, you just dancing around. You look like you're playing the bionic man out there. What, what is that? Don't you wanna win? And I was like, he says, you gotta try, you gotta put everything out there and show, just show me what you got. When you come out of there and you've put everything out on the line, you're gonna feel much better.

He says you're gonna feel a difference. So he says, go out there and try to win this thing. And I didn't know what working was at the time. And like I said, I must have been nine or 10. And I went out there and I went balls to the wall for my dad, you know, and I went nuts.

And yeah, I didn't win, but he came back out, me and he goes, that's what I'm talking about. That's what working is. And from then on, it was like if I was playing soccer. Every single day I was out juggling the ball, hitting the ball against the fence, whatever. I was playing baseball. 

I had a pitchback. 

Ahmard Vital: Oh yeah, 

Brad Minus: I'd be up there with the pitchback. I didn't catch very well. I could throw, but I couldn't catch very well. So that thing would go everywhere and I had to learn to catch it. And then I, when I finally got into distance running later on in life, that's the way it was.

It was just like, get stick and start really putting the pedal to the metal and knowing that if you didn't do your best. You weren't doing anything for yourself if you didn't put everything on the line, if you didn't tow the line one of my coaches says, you don't go to a race and not tow the line.

Towing the line. Meaning you're, if you're gonna race, you race. If you're not gonna race, you're not gonna race. And that's a little bit against some of my philosophy because I've got some, of my clients that no, I, because there's so many five Ks and 10 Ks and stuff, I'm like, no, go out and run the 5K as a training race.

Do it as this at this pace to make sure, you know, I don't have them toe the line. But I do have them do something. And there was with a specific goal in mind. So it's a little bit different. But yeah, I'm right along with you on that one. But that you felt like that was a big turning point in your life.

So when you did, go to sports in high school, you went to track in high school too. You had records, right? 

Ahmard Vital: Yes. I left new Kaney with the 200, the long jump, the triple jump, and the four by 100 meter relay record.

I think two or three of them got beaten, the next year. 'cause there was a young man behind me who was bigger, stronger, and faster and just, I knew he would get it 'cause he was right there kind of on the heels of me and I always say I was a good solid runner, but I didn't have a future in track.

And so I mainly did track to keep me in shape for football. I did play college football for, for a year and a half, before tearing up my ankle. But we won conference on the way out and it just got to where only for a year and a 

Brad Minus: half 

Ahmard Vital: my I just wasn't able to afford to be able to 

Brad Minus: we're kind of like your, yeah.

Like, yeah, I was, and then I 

Ahmard Vital: tore my ankle up and fixed all of that 

Brad Minus: so you played for a year and a half? Why? 

Ahmard Vital: Well, for one, I didn't go to college on a scholarship. 

Brad Minus: Mm-hmm. 

Ahmard Vital: Walked onto the team. Yeah, Steven. In 1998 28 guys tried out for the team, and two of us made it.

So I was one of the two. I was probably number on the depth chart. So obviously you don't get to travel. But I was on the team. I did get a conference championship ring and you know, I did my thing and I mean, the fact if the numbers are 28 tryout and two make it, I think I'm in pretty good company.

Absolutely. 

Well, it was good. But it just came down to the idea that, I wasn't on scholarship obviously, because I walked on and they just didn't have any more funds for me. I was in the house with two school teachers, so I needed to be able to work, to be able to pay for school and I didn't wanna put too much burden on them.

And so I went to work, immediately after that and ended up getting a degree a couple of years later I think everything worked out, for me. 

Brad Minus: By far it worked out. But you know, when someone sits there and tells me that, Hey, I didn't have a scholarship and I walked on, and then you say you only did it for, and you only had, well, a year and a half.

So that's what, a season and a half or two seasons. 

Ahmard Vital: Played the 1999 season. I was in, I came into off season in 98. I played the 99 season. But going into that next year, I went through that. I was going through that off season, but they didn't have any. Money for me from a financial standpoint.

So basically I would be playing football, but without a scholarship. And I needed that time that I'd be devoting to football. 'cause I mean, college football is a very heavy commitment and I love making that commitment. But at the same time, I didn't need to be calling home too much more for funds.

So I went to work. I had like three jobs within the next semester. That's just a matter of how I do things because I always feel like as long as I have the ability, the strength, the skills, and the hustle. Why not? I'm in my twenties.

Brad Minus: Yeah. 

Ahmard Vital: What else do you have going on? If all you are is a student, what are you, if you're not studying, then what are you doing? And so I'll be honest, I prioritize working more over school. That's what took me so long to get out of there. But. I do believe that the work ethic that I learned from hustling through college absolutely benefited me when I graduated because when I graduated from college, I took a pay cut to go work at a community newspaper.

And when I mean a pay cut, I mean a substantial pay cut. As a college student, I was rich. I was working two or three jobs. I was working at the most popular sports bar in Nacodoches folding money. Folding money every week. It was great. And then I leave there and go work at a professional newspaper for 10 an hour.

Yeah. This would've been what, 2004? 

Brad Minus: Yeah. 

Ahmard Vital: Calling my father and I was like, guess what? They just offered me 10 an hour. Guess what your son's not doing taking this job. And my father was on the phone with me. He said, you're going to take that job. I was like, no, I'm not. He is like, you're going to take that job and you're going to stay there for one year.

He's like, you're gonna learn to live at 10 an hour, he said, because if you can learn to live at 10 an hour, you'll never be broke again, and you need to work somewhere for a full year so that you can show on your resume that there's some stability and you want to stay somewhere and show that you're loyal to a company for at least one year.

Brad Minus: That's great advice. When I got out of the military, I was a contractor. You take on a contract and that contract is stated, you know, one to three months or, maybe two years or maybe 90 days or maybe a year and a half.

But it's set, you know that you're gonna work that amount. And I liked it because I got to learn a bunch of new technologies. I got to learn all new stuff. But when I decided that I wanted to be a full-time I'm like, all right, now I wanna set roots. I wanna get a 401k going.

I wanna do what I wanna do. And he says, they're like, well, looking at this, it looks like you can't hold a job. And I explained it. I'm like, no, no, no. I took contracts for a reason so I could be as valuable as I am right now for someone like you.

And they're like, well, to us it's like, you like to move around and you like to do all this stuff. So how do we know that you're gonna be here for more than a year? And that hurt. That hurt. So, I get where your dad was going. It makes sense. But look what it did man. You walked outta there and then you went right to the, did you go right from there to Fox or you went there to Sooner?

Ahmard Vital: Well, it's funny, I was there, at a small community newspaper. I covered four high schools and there was a couple of high schools I focused on a little bit more than others 'cause they were the bigger high schools than they were the more successful high schools. And there was a family at those.

Schools because my articles were consistent, two or three a week, front page, ready to go. And the way I used to cover sports was, you know, you have your stars, but I would always find sort of the unsung heroes within the group. And I would show them love in my articles.

And one of those students was the family who ended up seeing that I had some talent with writing. And they were like, you know. We see the work you're doing and we want to start a company and we wanna bring you on and do this. And so I was like, okay. 

Do you remember when. It would've been probably like the early two thousands when video was coming from off of camcorders and becoming digitized to put online. This would've been the early years of YouTube, when you had to sit at a computer and watch these things?

Well, we had put together like one of the first digital newspapers for high school sports in the city of Houston. I was sort of running this whole thing it was an online newspaper. We had videos, we were sending out video crews. We would wait eight hours while tape for getting broken down into digital and all those things.

We also started a company to help young men get college scholarships for football and for sports. I was the VP of all of this. So mind you, I remember I told you that I was making 10 an hour at that place. They brought me on to work over there with them, and I remember the man offered me, now I worked my tail off for this.

He offered me $36,000. Now, at that time in my life, $36,000 is the biggest numbers I had ever seen in my life up to that point. You know, I worked at sports bars. I'm working, like you said, contract work, hustling, but that was the first time I went and I was making money to where I could literally put some aside and not pull over, you know, 20 bucks a paycheck.

And so I did that work with them for about five years or so. But then from there, that's what led me to Fox because I was covering so many different, and one of these days, I'm going to sit down and really break down how all that came to pass. But man, I can just tell that the hand of God was just moving me through that.

And as idiotic as I was, he was still kind of carrying me through that and saying, go here, listen here, do this, do this. And then. It just ended up being to the point where I started seeing opportunities after opportunity because I was taking on the advice that my fathers was giving me through life.

Spend less than you make, treat people well. If you do a deal with someone, if anybody comes out feeling like they're short, don't go through with it. Just these basic morale type of ways live the best life you can and give it all away keep your head down and do honest work. Go beyond what your boss asked for you to do, and make sure that he looks well in what you're doing, and make sure that he's benefiting from your labor, when you win, you give the credit to everybody else.

When you're defeated, you take all of that and all of those little things that I've kept over time and I was like, wait a minute. This is some of the greatest wisdom I've ever received, and that is the foundation of how I move to this day. It didn't dawn on me that, I've been hearing it since I was eight years old, until you get punched in the face a couple of times as an adult, you realize like, wait a minute, what my dad told me at 11, it's still useful now in my forties.

When we're talking about adversity. It's just going back to the core beliefs that, your dad told you in the backyard when your dad said, Hey, go out there and compete. Go out there and compete to win. What he was telling you is like, Hey, don't just go in to just finish.

Just don't go in with the intention of winning and if you don't, let's analyze why you didn't and push towards a win for next time. Right? That's what he was giving you. The foundational pillars. As my father's did, and, it's a beautiful thing when it all comes together and you realize that then you get older and realize, I got this, the stakes are higher, but you know what it takes to do it.

It's just a matter of are you gonna have the discipline and the boldness to just step in and do it? 

Brad Minus: Exactly. You know that. If even if you fail, right, which I don't believe in failure 'cause a failure is a lesson. But if you know that you did everything you possibly could to win, you did everything you possibly could to be successful, then you can walk out with your head held high.

Now walking out with your held held high doesn't mean you don't learn from it. It means the next time you're gonna win. So that's kind of how I was brought up. 'cause my dad was, you know, he was brutal, you know? He was like, you wimp, he's like, you are better than this.

He goes, and he goes, and I don't yell at you because I just like to yell and hear myself talk. I yell at you because I know you've got more. And my problem is that it's not gonna show itself until you believe you've got more. And that's how I was brought up.

And then. When it finally sunk in, all of a sudden grades went up. I was doing better, in soccer and all this other stuff until, I started realizing it. So I totally get it. So you spent some time at Fox and became pretty successful there. What happened after Fox?

Ahmard Vital: Well, we were rocking man. We were rocking 'cause it was Fox four Southwest and, scout.com. And we were, our competition was rivals. And around that time, 2, 4 7 was coming on board. And a couple of other, college football recruiting analyst sites. And we were doing really, really well.

Then I think some bad money management went on at levels like above my bosses, 

Brad Minus: right. 

Ahmard Vital: And the ship just fell apart and we all. Went our own ways, I still keep in touch with a lot of those guys and all the OGs of that world. They've all, reintroduced themselves as new companies and rebranded I still have the edge for it. I still do some work here and there with a brother of mine, at, Dave Campbell's, Texas football. It's one of the biggest football magazines here in the state of Texas. They call it the Bible of Texas football.

It's been around, I think since the sixties. And, I got a guy who works over there with them, as the editor. A lot of my colleagues are over there. And I love them and I still go through and do some things with them. But obviously during that time was when I wrote my first book, awaken the Baller within, after I had a complete meltdown.

After I moved into this very house I'm in right now, I had a meltdown within two weeks of moving into it. Relationship just went completely bad. And it was like, you know, especially for the guys, you know, you're kind of vetting, which one of the ladies, which one of your girlfriends you're going to take to that next level.

The one you're like, okay, I think this is the one. You kind of put your eggs in that basket and say she's it. And then right around the time when you're about to make that next step, she's like, yeah, this isn't for me. And you're just like, wait a minute. Like for the first time I did everything right and this is what happens.

You know, maybe some guys out there can relate to that. I had a total meltdown from that. And I remember I broke down in the room that's right here to the right of me, here in the office, and I just remembered, what am I doing? Like, I just bought a house. I got a great car. I'm working at Fox.

I'm got a great job, awesome hustle. Like, I mean, I'm 29 years old and I just purchased a house and I'm sitting here depressed and in the spare bedroom of this house, and I didn't know what to do with myself. And I just remember that I just felt like the whole world was crashing in on me. And I remember that night, I went about three or four days not eating.

I remember sitting in a room in the fetal position and making a deal with God and I said, you know, I'm not really doing so well with this thing called life. Maybe I'll try your way out and see if that'll work better. 'cause I don't have the answers and maybe, you can show me something. So if you wake me up tomorrow, I'll try your way.

And I remember, of course, he woke me up. And went on a whole new journey. I went on a spiritual and personal development tour. Reading every book I can get my hand on, you know, this is with the Think and Grow Rich as a Man Thinketh. Obviously the Bible came into that, inspired Destiny.

I mean, it was just so many and, a onslaught of all of these different things. And I hired a spiritual advisor, like a mentor to kind of work me through these things. And I just kind of came through all of this, but you gotta remember, Brad, I was still a sports writer, 

Brad Minus: But 

Ahmard Vital: I'm taking on all this new personal and spiritual development and I don't know what, like how does that correlate with sports? And so I wrote Awaken the Baller Within in the same way, sort of. Then Napoleon Hill wrote, thinking Grow Rich. He interviewed a bunch of successful people and said, here's the blueprint for how to be successful.

And so I wrote a book where I interviewed. College football players, top college football players on what it takes to be successful from a mental standpoint. They have all the physical talents, but I'm talking about from a mental standpoint. And so I interviewed, you know, close to a hundred guys on hey.

What do you do in the locker room before you go out to the field? What do you do during the off season? What's the things that drives you? What do you do in school? How do you set the example? How do you get others to lead you? 

And so, waking the baller within takes. Four quarters of a football game and breaks down four quarters of how you are supposed to think about every aspect of the game. And what it ends up being is, and a lot of parents who bought the book, they would buy it for their kids. It's using football only as a metaphor, but the book is about how to deal with life.

But just talking about it in jock language. I was a jock who didn't like to read, so I wrote a book for people who don't like to read, but it's official. There's not a chapter more than like 10, 12 pages. Right. And it's all, big print. It's short chapters. Like you can read this in the locker room in between 

Brad Minus: quarters.

Ahmard Vital: And so that was kind of like the first breakout. That was my first published book. Man, we sold, I think I sold close to a thousand copies of that. And I was, you know, doing like the rappers do when they moved their mix tapes. I was selling books outta my trunk, right? Just, hey, hey, $10 come get you one $15.

Then I put together a motivational CD to go with it. So that was kind of the starter for me to jump into this new world. And of course I became a speaker because I went to my mentor and said, I got this book. You know, how do I sell it? And he is like, you know, most people who write books, they speak.

So let me try that out. And so I remember there's a coach, he's still at the same school. I said, he, he bought 80 copies of my book. And I was like, coach, guess what? You buy 80 copies. I'll come speak to your team. And I was the first keynote I ever did that was connected to my book.

My first paid keynote. Was in East Texas in a town called Tyler. Most people might know Tyler because that's where Earl Campbell grew up. 

Brad Minus: Right. 

Ahmard Vital: But one of our coaches out there, he was, he was from Tyler, but he was working in Houston and he used to run a football camp down there.

And he said, I really want you to come out and speak at my football camp. And he's like, you know, he's like, what do you charged to speak? And I was like, man, I don't even know, and he was like, well, I can offer you $300. And I'm like. Okay, and he paid me a deposit of 150 bucks.

So this is how this works. You get a deposit for your work, and then they pay you the rest of it when you get there. I remember getting there and he's got this camp, he's been promoting it, and I get there and on my way up he said, Amud, you probably shouldn't come. I didn't think I got enough people registered to get you worthwhile for coming here.

And I was like, man, I'm on the road. I'm on my way there. So whoever's there, I'm going to speak to them. Brad, there were two middle school guys who showed up to the camp. There were more coaches there than campers, but I look back at that as such a pivotal moment in my speaking career.

My first paid keynote was in a park with two young men sitting at a park bench with about nine coaches circled around them. I'm giving them the game right there. So my first paid keynote was in a park in Tyler, Texas to two young men.

I look back at that and say, I've spoken in arenas, I've spoken in churches that hold hundreds, I've spoken to thousands, I've spoken overseas, I've taught seminars overseas, and it started from. A football camp with two students on a park bench in East Texas. Hey man, we all have to come from somewhere and we all have to look at those moments that really humble us and let us know like, what are we really doing here?

Are you in it just for the numbers? Are you in it for the impact? I look at that moment looking at those two young men, and I still to this day, don't know who they are, but all I know is that I'm sitting up there getting paid to speak. 

And knowing that I built a company from that moment there and knowing that how am I too good for any situation to speak at? I'm not bigger than the game. I'm not bigger than, the clients I serve. I'm not bigger than anyone who books me. I'm not bigger than the man who I go do service with, who's a vagrant on the side of the road and needs, $3 to go get a sandwich.

I'm not bigger than him. I'm not bigger than any parts of this because I know that I was taught the level of altruism. I was taught humility. I was taught sacrifice. I was taught to treat everyone, even the least of these, at a better level than treating people in a way that. You're not looking to get a return from them.

You're doing what you're doing for them because it's the right thing to do at this time in your life and for no other reason other than that, right? And so I look back at that time and saying like, man, from two guys to thousands, what better story is there than for me to always know that I don't matter the size?

I will be there to show up if you call for me to speak in your venue, regardless of the circumstances. 

Brad Minus: I have been speaking at, podcast conventions, for the like six, seven years and yeah, sometimes you get there and you know what, 'cause it's a big convention, so it's a breakout room, right?

Ahmard Vital: Yeah. 

Brad Minus: First couple of breakout rooms. Nobody knew really, who knew I was there. I was like two, three people in the audience. But I got me, I got a microphone, I got a deck that's up there. I know what I'm talking about and I know that I can help them. And that was it. By the time, you know, fifth or sixth one came around the, the place was packed.

So I get it. And I love speaking as well. I don't get to do it as much as you do, but I enjoy it. What I really enjoy is the energy that you get back from the audience. You can really feel it when you've got them, whether it be something technical or something spiritual.

You could know what's going on in there, whether they're getting it or not. And I feed off that. I just absolutely feed off that. So awaken the ball baller within that. What a fricking title. I love that title, man. I'd like that. I just saw that. So where did I am More than enough? Where did that come from?

Ahmard Vital: What you'll find is, I think every book I've ever written came from like a total meltdown. I am More Than Enough was built on the night after my father died the night after my 33rd birthday. I am more than enough was birthed in the parking lot of the hospital from which he died.

Night after my birthday, my phone's in the other room. I came in and I found five voicemails on my phone and my mom screaming saying that your father's dying. You were talking about kind of the spiritual side of things at that time. I had joined kind of a new religion of sorts and I really believed that I had a lot of things figured out and I believe that if I proclaim it, if I prayed for it, it's happening because I said so.

That's it. And arrogantly, I drove to the hospital saying, my father's gonna be alive. That is, until I got there, in reality, hit me and I'm looking over at my father and for the first time I truly believed he did not know I was right there in front of him and it was really happening.

Awaken the baller within was just published. The publisher sends you your author copies and I had his copy that had just come in. That's weekend before my birthday was on Tuesday. He died basically Wednesday night. That weekend I was going to take his copy to the house. We were gonna sit down in the backyard, father and son, crack a cold one and talk about the book.

My first published book with my father. That never happened because 

Brad Minus: yeah, 

Ahmard Vital: he died three days before that was supposed to happen. And that broke me. That broke me in ways that I, I can never believe, and I just remember when. Time came because there was that time when you walk in and the nurses are like, Hey, you know, here's the percentages and this is what's going to go on.

And I remember when it came the time when my faith was checked in, in real time, and I really wanted to believe he was gonna walk away from this. And she was like, the only thing keeping him alive is the machine. And my mom couldn't make the call and. I said, turn the machine off and let my father fight.

My father's not a man who wants to be alive based on manmade things in a machine. If it's God's will for him, for this to be it, let's do it. And lo and behold, Brad, my father was alive for four and a half hours, so he fought, but it was his time circling around his bed, looking at all of my family.

My mom's freaking out saying, what are we supposed to do? My sister's over there pacing my other brother's upset. I got another brother sitting along the wall and he's just, he's a stone. I don't know if he's hurt, if he's, I don't know what he's doing. He's just mute and not saying a word and like a deer in headlights.

And here it is. I'm now the man of the house and I ain't ready. So after I was able to walk out from all of the family, I needed time to myself. And I just remember going into the parking lot and I'm screaming at God in the parking lot.

And I was just like, I only asked you for one thing. Just one thing. You couldn't do that for me. Did you not hear me? I'm losing it out there in the parking lot, screaming at my Heavenly Father. I've lost my mind. I just remember after I had that total temper tantrum, I just remember the calm, stealing, still small voice speaking to me and my, and God spoke to me that night and said, you know, I did do, as you asked, you said that your father, you want your father to walk out of the hospital, and he is, but he's walking out with the essence of you.

He's giving you everything you needed. He gave you the work ethic, he gave you the advice the. Determination. It gave you all of these great attributes. Now, why don't you just basically be quiet and go out there and be the man your heavenly father and your earthly father called you to be and get your life together?

And that whole story ended up being the backdrop of I'm more than enough because what I was arguing with God about was saying that. With my father leaving, I'm not enough to finish this thing called life because he was my moral barometer. He was retired at the time and anytime I needed to call him, whether it was business, whether it was spirituality, whether it was relationships, my father always answered the phone and he always had the right answer, 

he had the answers that I needed in life, and I'm like, okay, he's gone. How am I supposed to do life if I can't call on the one person who I know can gimme the answers? God comforted me saying it. Now it's time for you to go out and be that man who he's already poured into you all this time.

He's given you everything you need. So now go out and do that. And so I am more than enough. You just need to step into that and realize what's already been put in you. And looking at yourself in the mirror and saying that I am a winner. I am this, but also being able to look and say, Hey, there's some stars I have that I haven't worked through, and this is my blind spots.

So what do I need to do? I need to get good people around me who can encourage me and empower me. Pour into me and let me know where I'm missing the mark on this, where I'm not seeing things clearly. So I go through those three steps. And so I'm more than enough is the idea that with God and with the people, God places around you in your life.

You are more than enough to be able to go out and do what you're doing. Your biggest critic, your biggest cheerleader, your biggest problem is in the mirror you.

And so once you step out of that and just step into this new, glorious way and say, Hey, I have some blind spots. I have some shortcomings, but you know what? This is what I do have. I have a guy named Brad over here who can help me with this. Joseph can help me with this, my aunt can help me with this. And then bring all these things together, meaning you have the resources already available to you.

Brad Minus: You know, what I've found is that after you've gone through things like you have, and what you are doing now is the fact that, so you, like I said, it takes a village.

You said that you got this person, this person, this person. Now you become that person for somebody else. You become that person for another organization, for another group. And that's what you're doing by continuing to speak, and to make people better. So I admire you.

And that was probably the most powerful story we've had here on life changing challengers. And it is, yeah, I just, the emotion that came outta your, it was just raw. It was perfect. It was amazing. I so much appreciate it, Ahmard Vital. Listen, everybody you need to go to, Ahmard Vital.com. That's A-H-M-A-R-D-V-I-T-A l.com. Go check that out. You can go check out his, he's got, numerous videos on here of his keynotes and you're gonna be inspired by that. He's got his books, he's got his speaking. GI Bigs, speaking gigs are on here. Testimonials. Hire 'em for your, for your next, if you own a corporation, you know, have, have 'em come out and, and talk to your people.

I'm telling you, this is. You know, the site itself is beautiful and you can check it out, but the resources on it are second to none. So you really gotta take that in. Are you active on any socials? 

Ahmard Vital: Yes, I'm on, I'm on, I'm on Instagram and I'm on YouTube and a little bit on Twitter.

There's been some family adversities going on. Mom's had some issues as well as dad, and I've sort of stepped into those roles, so I have taken a little bit of time away from those things.

I am still speaking. Some things are getting updated at the proper time. A new version of me is going to come out in some months, but if somebody needs to reach out to me and just connect with me right now, I'll be transparent and open with 'em and tell 'em exactly what's going on right now.

But I am still available to speak. I've been working in a lot of schools. We just got back from Idaho, got back from Amarillo, and, headed back to Colorado here. Shortly to do some work out there. Another podcast network, that's going on out there, doing some great and amazing things with entrepreneurs and really working with men.

I specifically work a lot with young men who are making that transition out of high school into college, college, into the real world. We're doing a lot of mentorship and obviously, you know, me working with the church, I have two mission trips coming up this year, that we're going embody and take in.

But yes, I'm definitely open. I got some open dates coming up in a month. So if somebody's looking for a speaker to come in, just hit me up directly. I'll get you in touch, with my manager. We'll get you booked and, you know, we'll look out for you, especially if you mention, Brad in his podcast here.

We'll look out for you, get you some coaching sessions in, especially if you have some young people in your house. You absolutely will have my attention there. Wherever city or state we're in, we'll sit down with your family and not only break bread with you, but, but listen to and hearing what's going on in your young people's lives.

If we don't look to empower the next generation, we have no future. I have devoted probably 20% of my week, to the empowering of young people. Brad, you can definitely send out that message to all your people and say, Hey, if there's some young people out there.

Hey, send 'em my way. We'll do a 30 45 minute, discovery session with them and see what's going on. Let's unpack some things and let's get them back to being productive. Especially my fellows out there. I want my fellows to be productive. I want my fellows to be leaders and I want my fellows to be good fathers, be good husbands, and just contributing to the overall American fabric we have here.

I want us to get back to that strength. 

Brad Minus: That's awesome. I am a, high school track coach as well. We may get you out here to Tampa and get you back on the track and, have you go against some of our 100 sprinters and see how you do now, 

Ahmard Vital: that before, after I'm booked to speak to the track team because I believe that should happen afterwards.

Brad Minus: No, no, no. That'd be great. I work for a Catholic high school, so it's right up your alley. You probably have a great time with these guys, but there's definitely some guys out there that are lost. That could probably, I could probably use it.

So, there's a contact section on his website. I guess I can fill that out. And all of his, socials are at the top of that as well. We'll also include them in the show notes. This has been amazing and I wanted to get more into a lot of the stuff that you're doing out with young men but you ended on such a fricking powerful story.

I don't know if I wanted to go any further. We might have to do a part two, and talk a little bit more. I definitely do appreciate, remember again, ma vial.com. Check that out. If you're watching this on YouTube, hit that, like that, subscribe, and, hit that bell.

So you always know when we're dropping another episode. If you're listening on Apple or on Spotify, leave us a review. The feedback will just make this. Podcast better and make it evolve. And that's what we're all about here, is evolving, taking everything to the next level.

So, but I appreciate you, Ahmard Vital, thank you so much for coming out and speaking with us. And for the rest of you, for Ahmard Vital and for myself, thank you for listening and we'll see you in the next one.