Pro Mindset® Podcast

Overcoming Failure. Why Mindset Matters with Marques Ogden

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Marques Ogden shares his journey from a professional athlete to a successful business coach and speaker. Ogden discusses the valuable lessons he learned as an offensive tackle and center with the Buffalo Bills, Jacksonville Jaguars, Tennessee Titans, and the Baltimore Ravens while including the importance of being proactive, teamwork, and the consequences of ego. Join Marques and Craig while they discuss failures in business and emphasize the need for authenticity, taking initiative to get the results your heart desires. It is all about helping others succeed by sharing your failures because networking is essential for growth. Discover the significance of mindset, taking action, and the steps to rebuild after hitting rock bottom.

Episode Takeaways:
● Authenticity is being who you are in the moment.
● Take the initiative and get results by believing in yourself.
● Help others succeed by sharing your failures because networking is essential for growth.

Ogden is a three-time best-selling author and the host of the podcast “Get Authentic with Marques Ogden.” The importance of believing in oneself, effective communication's impact, and authenticity's role in storytelling. Ogden emphasizes the significance of leadership as serving a greater cause and reflects on the lessons learned from his NFL experience, particularly in handling adversity.

Follow up with Marques Ogden below!
Marques’s Website: https://marquesogden.com/

Buy his book on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Sleepless-Nights-NFL-BUSINESSFAMILY/dp/1939670055

If you are interested in a FREE resource, “10 Things to Treat Yourself to Year-End Success,” please email Craig.ProMindset@gmail.com and ask for this free resource by name. 

@jaguars @buffalobills @titans @ravens #Promindset #Podcast #Teamwork #Entrepreneurship #Failure #Personalgrowth #Coaching #Business #Resilience #MarquesOgden #Leadership #KeynoteSpeaking #PersonalDevelopment #Authenticity #EmployeeEmpowerment #NFL #Success #Speaking #BaltimoreRavens #TennesseeTitans #BuffaloBills #JacksonvilleJaguars

CRAIG DOMANN (00:

11) Hey, welcome everybody to Pro Mindset podcast. This is your host, Craig Domann We have a former NFL athlete and a successful business coach, entrepreneur, keynote speaker, author on our show today. His name is Marcus Ogden. Marcus, welcome to Pro Mindset.

Marques Ogden (00:

30) How you doing, Craig? Thanks for having me on, my friend.

CRAIG DOMANN (00:

33) All right, my man, we're going to get rocking real quick here. You were an NFL guy. So share with everybody. You're like, like when you meet somebody, how big are you? I know you're big man.

Marques Ogden (00:

46) Yeah, I'm 6'5 and a half, 275 pounds.

CRAIG DOMANN (00:

49) Okay, so when people see you at the grocery store people see you at the airport people sit by you in an airplane They go. man, what sports you play who to play for? So, what do you tell them?

Marques Ogden (00:

57) Of course. I said I played at Howard University and I say that I played the National Football League. I was drafted by the Jacksonville Jaguars, played for the Baltimore Ravens, Buffalo Bills, and I finished off my career with the Tennessee Titans. So it's always a nice way to kind of get people to understand, you know, what I'm about, who I am, and then what I've done in my career, well, the early part of my life, I said my early career that I did in the National Football League.

CRAIG DOMANN (01:

25) Okay, so everybody that plays in the NFL has a different experience. Yes, they all get to wear uniforms. They all get to get paid. They all get to hang out in locker room. They all go through training camps. They'll develop some friendships. They all go through some adversity. They all have the heat of the training camp trying to make the 53. They all have that going on. What is your two or three takeaways that you the either the wisdom you gained while you were in the league that is paying dividends today.

Marques Ogden (01:

59) Three things, love this. Number one, from Jack Del Rio, be your own CEO. Be your own chief executive officer. Don't. wait for other people to do what you can do. For example, I just got an email from my accounting office saying we need W9s from people by the 10th of December. I said I could give this to my external manager, have her do it, but like I won't talk to her till Monday. could take a little bit more time. I said I can do this myself. I'm waiting to be on your awesome podcast. I created a little email that I out to everybody on the list. I then texted out, emailed it out. I told my accounting office, I've done it. Since I get them in, I'll forward them over to you. Bam, done. So be your own CEO. I remember from Jack telling us, don't wait for people to do what you can do. And the second thing I learned, you can either make excuses or you can get results. You can't have both. Jack told us I was a rookie, you can either make the Jack to Bill Jaguar's gentlemen, or you can make excuses. You can't have both. And I learned that and that's really helped me in my career today as a speaker, coach, consultant. And the third thing I learned from football is the power of teamwork. As a former offensive lineman, right Craig? It is five, sometimes six guys, tight end included, working together to protect the quarterback, the running back, and the guys on offense. If you don't do your job, somebody can get hurt. And that's like, I treat that in Business when I don't show up for my clients or I don't show up for a podcast, know People can get hurt maybe not in a physical sense They can like hurt their day or hurt their brand or not come across. It's like we really care about them So those things I learned in the National Football League have paid huge dividends today in my work as a speaker coach Consultant brand ambassador, of course also a podcast host as well

CRAIG DOMANN (04:

01) Okay. I was just thinking on a football field, what is everybody looking at?

Marques Ogden (04:

07) Everybody's looking at each other. I mean, you're looking to your teammate to push you through in challenging times. And I tell people what breaks down people's mindsets, challenges, extremely hard challenges. And the way to get over that, right, Craig, is break them down into small, actionable steps.

CRAIG DOMANN (04:

28) Well, here's where I was going with this Marcus. There's no wrong answer Everybody's looking at the ball There's only five guys on a football field at any given time that are not looking at the ball Every defensive player can see the ball Every offensive player once the ball snap can't the offensive linemen are the only five guys on the field that can't see the ball So the one thing that's unique about offensive linemen is they have to do their job

Marques Ogden (04:

39) you Mm-hmm.

CRAIG DOMANN (04:

57) without getting the attention that you get when you have the ball in your hands. In fact, the only time you get attention is when you don't do your job.

Marques Ogden (05:

00) Correct. Correct.

CRAIG DOMANN (05:

07) The only time the coaches yell at you is when you don't do your job All right, so the the offensive linemen are the bread and butter of an offense, but they don't get the recognition and they don't get the glory They they're the ones that they call it in the trenches for a reason because you're in the trenches And so I was just talking to a former NFL offensive line coach last night. He's a dear friend of mine and we were talking about the challenges of coaches and how difficult it is to

Marques Ogden (05:

10) Correct.

CRAIG DOMANN (05:

37) like as a coach to build up your players. And he was talking about, he's an offense former 27 year offensive line coach. And it's like, he's like guys, once you get to the league, you start getting paid, you get drafted, you get these, these privileges you want, you want a little bit of sunshine, as an offensive lineman, you don't get it. Right.

Marques Ogden (05:

55). He's right. I mean, it's a thankless job. I was just talking to a client, well, a potential client that's now gonna become a client. It was a sales call with this organization. And the guy loved what I was talking about. I said, you know, I said, Tony, as a former offensive lineman, I have no ego. I put my hard hat on. It is a thankless job. So now that you see I can be part of the team, I'm gonna be so easy to work with. If agree to a fee, great. This fee, great. Do your job, show up, great. It's all about doing what you say you're gonna do when you say you're gonna do it. And being an office of alignment, if you don't have that mentality, you won't have a job. Because end of the day, it's not a, why receive a prima donna position, running back, scoring touchdown, quarterbacks throwing the football. all those type of things. is a, your body beat up to keep other guys upright and keep them standing so they can do their job to score the touchdown. Without you protecting your area and your people, the offense doesn't move.

CRAIG DOMANN (07:

11) Amen. Okay, so Marcus, podcast, you do all these things. What is your message today to businesses, to your listeners, to your audience that you can take what you learned in the NFL and maybe there's different vibrations and iterations of your message that in 2024, this is your message. What's your message today?

Marques Ogden (07:

37) Our message is to help people succeed in life where we failed so they cannot make or hopefully don't make the same mistakes that I did in my construction company. with my ego when I got a massive ego and lost it all in my business to, know, I got so inflated, right? I write Craig around things that don't matter, right? You know, money, fame, I literally lost sight of the attributes that who I am. I lost sight of discipline. I lost sight of perseverance. I lost sight of grit. And because I lost sight of those things, I got blinded by money. and fame, it cost me everything. So our mission today is to help people succeed in life where we failed by sharing our true authentic story, the good, the bad, and the ugly.

CRAIG DOMANN (08:

37) Okay, so being authentic is critical, but let me ask you something. Every hero Seems to have a valley. I mean they they're a hero for a reason sometimes they they've overcome and bounced back How can people what are the what are the markers for people to recognize that they're slipping into that situation Like when you were your ego was was was front and center and you you you lost it all Along the way. What were the markers that you can help people see so they can? pump the brakes and not hit the bottom.

Marques Ogden (09:

10) The number one thing I can tell people is when you stop listening to people, especially your trusted team, when you lose sight of psychologically, having a safe environment for your people to express themselves without fear of being judged or being ridiculed. If you are not doing that, Craig, you are destined to fail. That's what happened to me. One of my trusted team members, my estimator, Colin, tried to warn me in the summer of 2012 that we were heading for disaster. And as a result of this, right, Craig? He talked. I heard him, but I didn't really listen to him. It went in one ear out the other. And because of that, I didn't really listen to him. I took him for granted. I said, Colin, don't worry about them. We got this lot of credit. We're this, we're this, we're this. We're gonna be fine. Come back on Monday. Let's get back to work. Don't worry about it. He came in that following Monday. He handed me his two-week resignation papers. Like he said, within six months, Craig, we were done. We were finished. Our doors closed because we were robbing Peter to pay Paul. A job we were doing was sucking up all our cash. And then I had such a huge ego that I said, well, they're going to take care of us. They're going to pay us back. And there was nothing signed for them to do that. And because of that, right, Craig, I said, well, we're the minority contractor. it didn't mean a dag on thing. And next thing you know, off to another job. And then within six months, I'm bankrupt, broke, almost homeless, home foreclosed on, and had to leave Baltimore like a thief in the night. And I left Baltimore and I moved to Raleigh, North Carolina with $400 to my name, didn't know anybody, didn't have any resources, didn't have anybody I could lean on, but I lost everything. So if you're listening to this awesome podcast, if you are not listening to your team, you are heading towards doom. So get a hold of it now.

CRAIG DOMANN (11:

28) call it your pit crew. Your pit crew are the people that that you trust, that you seek counsel from, and a variety of different places in your life. And so if you don't listen to your trusted advisors, I mean, honestly, why do you have them?

Marques Ogden (11:

42) Correct. And that I was wasting payroll, Craig. And today in our company, our team can tell me absolutely anything. Like I said, when I got that from my accountant, Marcus said, well, no, no, you're gonna send this off to Jaslyn. She's got other things to take care of. You're gonna do it. You're gonna text people, email people, hey, give me a W9 needed by this date. Boom, like that's a job for you to do, right? So that's also part of it. Being a leader. doesn't mean you can always delegate everything. Delegate what you know you can't do or shouldn't do. Again, but I could do that task, right Craig? I could send those information, those emails out to people. And so I did. And now here we are on the podcast, it's done. Now it's just waiting for people to get it back to me. And this is as a leader leaning on again, your attributes. What you know you should do and discipline. is one of the biggest attributes, either you have it or you don't. And I can't coach anybody to do what they need to do. I can tell you what you should do, but I can't make you physically get up, go to the gym and workout. I can't make you do what has to be done to grow your abyss. I can't do that. I can tell you what to do, but you gotta have an insight to do it for yourself.

CRAIG DOMANN (13:

04) Okay, think back to that time when you're bopping down I-95, heading down to Raleigh, and you're in the start over mode. Do over, don't want to do the same thing I did. A lot of things pinging in your mind about how you want to be different, you want to show up different, you don't want what happened to happen. You don't want to be...

Marques Ogden (13:

26) you

CRAIG DOMANN (13:

27) You don't want to be insane and do the same thing again. What is the best first step a person can do if they're listening and they're in a situation where they just hit rock bottom?

Marques Ogden (13:

40) First thing you need to do, figure out what type of craft you can do that you know you have that fire to do, but you also have the talent to do. And that's what I didn't do. I worked different jobs. to survive, which was fine, right? You get back into survival mode, I get it. But when I found speaking and I got into it, you know why I stunk in the beginning? I knew inside of me, Attributes wise, if I could just get through the sleepless nights, the dark days, the long days, it would work out. And that's what I did. So if you're listening to this podcast, figure out what is your talent or your craft and perfect that. Then from there, from what you know what you wanna do, what you're good at, step two, get to your network and tell them what you are doing. So right now for us, right Craig? We're getting so much positive traction in the insurance industry. I spoke at a job in Vegas in October, we did phenomenal. And now we're having, I'm going to another job in Georgia, doing one in Memphis. Had a call with a guy yesterday about me doing a job in January for him in Orlando. Another guy was on these big national boards of the big I was just one of the largest associates for insurance, PIA, like all these things, right? But again, I have a lot of trusted people in my network, right Craig? That are in insurance, either owners, were owners, big shots on boards, whatever, right Craig? So I'm. Now I'm leaning on them and how I help them, I refer them to people in my network. So it's all about leaning on your network. Once you know what you want to do, then after that step three, take the action and get in the game. Get on the field. You cannot win by standing on the sidelines. You can't win. You got to get around. You're a and so am I. saying I wanna have a podcast, I'm gonna do a podcast, that's not doing it. You gotta say I wanna do a podcast, I'm gonna start working here, I'm gonna find some guests, let's get in the game. Don't wait. So again, what's your craft? Talk to your inner circle, your network, take action.

CRAIG DOMANN (16:

04) Okay, let's talk about taking action. I'm lost. I'm in that place where I just hit rock bottom. I know what my passion is. I know what my talents are. I do have a network. I'm ready to take action. But I don't know where to start. Where do I start?

Marques Ogden (16:

21) Start by making the phone call to your network. Pick up the phone and call somebody. That's how we got into speaking on a larger scale, right, Craig? I started speaking September, 2013. I told my network, because I trained a lot of young athletes in football, they were high school student athletes. I told all their parents, if you know anybody looking for a speaker, Just please, I'm doing it for free. I'm trying to get some exposure. Please just let me know. My first ever client, Dave Nisbiski, I coached his boys, Alex and Aiden. Alex is now married. Aiden just got engaged about a month ago. So excited for them both. They were my first ever one-on-one clients. Dave Nisbiski gave me my first ever non-paid Fortune 500 speaking opportunity with NetApp. If I would have never told Dave what I wanted to do and took action, he would have never known I had more ambition outside just coaching his sons or coaching student athletes. If you don't pick up the phone, if you don't call people, then what happens is they have no idea. If they don't know, they can't help you.

CRAIG DOMANN (17:

43) Amen. Amen. So pick up that phone and call somebody.

Marques Ogden (17:

47) Amen. it. If they don't know, they can't help. It's like if you don't market your business, can anybody hire you? Right? How can anybody hire you if they don't know you exist? It's not possible.

CRAIG DOMANN (18:

01) Okay, so this is about Pro Mindset, or my podcast is Pro Mindset. Yours is about mindset. There's a lot of different flavors of mindset. What is Marcus Ogden's flavor of mindset? How do you coach people on mindset?

Marques Ogden (18:

06) Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I coach people to understand mindset is training your mind. Again, training your mind to believe what your heart knows is achievable. It's like in business, right Craig? You have to have emotion blocks. You have to have logic blocks. You can't have a business that's logical with no emotion. You can't have a business that's all full of emotion, but no logic. It won't work. And so what happens is you have to train your mind to believe what you know in your heart is achievable. And then at that point, you have to have attributes over skill sets. Attributes are what we are born with. Discipline, grit, tenacity, adaptability. Skills are what we are taught. Again, skills are what we are taught, but... Attributes like grit, tenacity, adaptability, determination are critical for long-term success. If you have great skills, but you are not strong attribute-wise, you will at some point burn out, which is exactly how I lost my construction company. When my skills diminished, my attributes were already checked out, because I didn't want to be there. So as soon as my skills came down, down, down, down, my attributes, right, Craig, to do were already down here. So as soon as I hit adversity, lost my people, right, lost all my money, right, what did I do? I folded. Speaking, I always believed I could do this. First two and a half years, right, Craig, not one paid job, not one. Got my first paid job, I said, I can do this. And then it started to come. slowly the logic. And now we have systems and we have people and we've got capital and we've got programs, but it didn't come overnight. So again, for mindset, your attributes, your inner strength has to be greater than the external job you do on the outside.

CRAIG DOMANN (20:

34) you know any of this stuff when you were playing football? Okay, so let's go back to college going into the NFL with the Jacksonville Jaguars. If you would have known what you know today, we don't have a crystal ball, but we can at least theorize on what it might have looked like. How different would your NFL experience have been and why?

Marques Ogden (20:

37) Absolutely not. So much different. Because after my rookie year, I hit a wall where I felt my O-line coach was not liking me. And instead of going and talking to him like a man, sitting down and working through it, I chose the easy way out and I asked to be traded to Baltimore and I got my wish. Unfortunately, when I got to Baltimore, things were good. the line coach left who loved me. And then new coaches came in, then I had to go to Buckeye. It started that whole thing of going to different teams because every time I was on a team, the coach that loved me was not there the next year. So I got caught in a lot of the coaching recycle. And if I just would have said to my O-line coach, Paul Boutreaux, who was my rookie O-line coach, and I told him that when I saw him at the combine 2016, I apologized to him for not coming to him and saying, coach, I wish I would have done this, this and this, and just talk to you about what I should have done better. And I didn't have the mindset to do that, because I was so used to getting my way in college. I had never faced adversity like that in football. And so instead of like getting in and digging into my ass, I to say, I'm going to be disciplined. I'm going to work harder. I'm going to really figure this out. I said, This isn't working, man. Let's just get out of here. And I just went off to Baltimore. But that would have been great if I would have had the same coaches. But then the next year, new coaches came in. So I get shipped out. Go to Buffalo. Love it. Great. Awesome. Losing season. Coach gets fired. New coaches come in. It goes again. Got to Tennessee. I was doing great, but my dad passed away. I wasn't the same player. So if I would have just been a man and said, Coach Boudreaux, what could I have done better to serve you and get more playing time and do? I I did my honors for Roque, but how could I have done better? If I'd have had that mentality, right Craig? My whole career would have been so much different.

CRAIG DOMANN (23:

03) I agree. I agree. And one thing I can tell you is that there is a strong need by players to want to be liked by their coaches and the coaches, you know, they they love their players. But if you don't do what if you don't perform at a level that they need you to perform, they just tell the front office, hey, we need a new guy. And so you guys are as a player, you're always expendable.

Marques Ogden (23:

25) Right? Always.

CRAIG DOMANN (23:

29) Okay, that's why 50 % of first-rounders get cut within a couple years because they don't perform up to expectations and they thought it was just going to happen sometimes. And then they say, know, they're onto team number two and three and four or out of the league. One of the things I think is really important for mindset is that like even with yours, it's about your inner strength and it's about your skills. So you got to develop both. If you can strengthen and develop your intangibles, you know, whether it's willpower, persistence, grit, all those things, you're going to show up differently. And if you improve your skills, whatever you whatever you do, a volleyball player, you're a banker, it doesn't matter. You will show up differently. But here's where it gets corrupted. It's when your circumstances don't align with your vision.

Marques Ogden (24:

18) I don't have it. Mm-hmm.

CRAIG DOMANN (24:

28) And when you show up in the locker room as an athlete and they call the ones and you don't get to go out. Maybe they're calling twos, second team and you don't get to go out. All of a sudden, those guys typically start thinking about how can I get out? instead of how can I improve all the aspects of my game and my person so that it can beat them out.

Marques Ogden (24:

50) Okay.

CRAIG DOMANN (24:

53) And in representing NFL guys for 33 years, I've seen this what you did is very normal. You weren't and not you were not abnormal. You were just a normal guy. And when things aren't going the way you were hoping to go, you just kind of like I got to go. And then your agents like, bro, man, they're not they're not loving you, man. They're not respecting you. They're not giving you an opportunity. You're not getting reps. It's not a fair competition. You got you got it. We got to we got to move on. When in fact, that's when you got to pump the brakes and say. Maybe I need to look in the mirror and figure out what how I can show up differently. So the coach looks at me different

Marques Ogden (25:

27) That's 100 % correct. And I really wish I would have taken that approach as a 23 year old second year veteran who was doing well, but didn't hit full stride because I got my own way.

CRAIG DOMANN (25:

42) Okay, so you were in Jacksonville in what year? 2022, 2023?

Marques Ogden (25:

46) 2003 and 2003, 2004.

CRAIG DOMANN (25:

49) That's what I meant. 2003, not 2023. When were you in Baltimore?

Marques Ogden (25:

52) Yeah, 2000 to 2004, 2004 to 2006.

CRAIG DOMANN (25:

59) Gotcha, gotcha. One of my clients came into Baltimore, I think in 2005, Chris Chester from Oklahoma. Yeah, offensive lineman. He was, I think, a second rounder. So it's like I was, very familiar with what was going on with Coach Harbaugh back in the day. know, Ray was the guy. I mean, you had some tremendous personalities on that team.

Marques Ogden (26:

07) yeah, of course, Officer Lyman, yep. Yep. Yep.

CRAIG DOMANN (26:

26) Unfortunately, most of them were on defense.

Marques Ogden (26:

28) And my brother was on offense. My brother Jamal Lewis. And then we had Todd Heap. And yeah, on defense was Ed, was Ray Lewis, was Maika Kimmel- out too, Terrell Suggs. Yeah, we had some really good dogs on defense.

CRAIG DOMANN (26:

51) So your brother was Jonathan? Okay, yeah, he was a monster. He was like 6'8", big dude. It was like the defensive end had to go around the city block to find the quarterback.

Marques Ogden (26:

52) Correct. 69 through 75, yep. They did not, they did not bow, they did not bow well.

CRAIG DOMANN (27:

08) Who was he drafted with? Was he drafted with? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, but there was two guys in his draft class that gone to the Hall of Fame. Who was the other one? It was Ray. So he and Ray were drafted in the same draft.

Marques Ogden (27:

10) Ravens, Baltimore. Yeah, Ray Lewis. Yep, and they both were deemed horrible picks by the media. We don't need a left tackle. We don't need an undersized linebacker that has no, that has no sideline to sideline speed.

CRAIG DOMANN (27:

28) No. Yeah, so Ozzy Newsome was tremendous at picking talent and one of the best, one of the best ever. So, okay, getting back to you. So when you're out on this speaker trail, there's two ways to look at a keynote. One is your message and two is your impact. What is the impact that you desire? What's the takeaway you desire for the people, for the butts in the seats that are listening to you communicate?

Marques Ogden (27:

38) the best.

CRAIG DOMANN (28:

03) What are you giving them that they can take with them after you fly home?

Marques Ogden (28:

07) Action steps, mindset, how to be better by focusing, locking in attacking, leadership, how to be a better leader by being innovative, relating to people, making sense of things, being a visionary, culture, how to build the right team. through psychologically safe environments and inclusivity. Though diversity equity inclusion, how to have an organization where people aren't just talking the talk, but they're walking the walk. Mel Robbins, who was my mentor, I met her in 2018, one of the most successful keynote speakers, taught me how to be an inspirational keynote speaker, tell a story with action steps. Once I learned that, Craig, That's why I like to read, listen to audio books, take content away, put it into our talks, know, listen to different experts like Jack Canfield and Tony Robbins, know, Patrick Badaven, listen to his book right now, choose your enemies wisely. That's where I got the whole emotion block and logic blocks of business, making all these things go into your story with your flavor and putting in things that give the audience. steps to walk away with.

CRAIG DOMANN (29:

25) Okay. I am sure you've got a framework that you use to, you you tailor your message to the people you've talked to, but you've got this framework that is your culture, your fundamental, your fundamental process. What are like the three action steps that people that are listening to this podcast can go, man, that applies to me. What are those three things?

Marques Ogden (29:

48) So step one is that you have to believe in yourself. That's number one, right? Your heart and your mind have to align, okay? That's number one. Number two, you have to speak good about yourself, right? The election happened yesterday. Our new president, Donald Trump, whether you like him or not, that's how it is. But don't sit there and say, my life's over because he's in the Oval Office or da da da da, right? You need to speak good to yourself. Will we have any president? Okay. How can I do more? I deserve happiness. I deserve success. The biggest culprit of most people is themselves. So speak good to yourself. Okay. And number three, any and all circumstances, sorry, circumstances, focus, lock in, attack. When it comes to what you want in life, you gotta focus on what you want. Once you understand what you want, have to lock in on your target. And once you do, attack and take action. It's everything. It is vital. So those are three things. So have your heart and your mind aligned, okay? That's huge. Make sure that you are constantly speaking good about yourself. And three, when you know what you want in life, Focus on it, lock in on it, and then attack. Don't sit around and don't wait.

CRAIG DOMANN (31:

16) I'm ready to go.

Marques Ogden (31:

18) And that's how I live my life. And that's what I'm all about. And that's how I tell audience, these are things you can take away, practical, but at the same time, some things that you don't even think about, high level, that you can apply with simplicity in your everyday life.

CRAIG DOMANN (31:

33) That's great. That's great. What is one of the things that you do that you're mindful about when you go on stage? So I'm going to, you were a performer when you were an athlete, when you were an NFL player, but you're also a performer when you're on stage. You're also a performer when you're hosting your own podcast. You're also a performer when you're on a sales discovery call with a potential client. whether it's for coaching or speaking or whatever it might be, how do you put your game face on? How do you get ready so that you can be your best when it matters the most?

Marques Ogden (32:

11) I remember why and where I started. I started at the bottom. I started when I had a dream of becoming a speaker, right? I had a dream with no plan. I wanna become a speaker. was sitting on that curb crying my eyes out in September, 2013. Pour me, why me, pour me. And that gets me fired up and ready to go moving forward. Patrick B. Davis book is called, Choose Your Enemy Wisely. And my enemy is Marcus Ogden of 2012 and 2013. I was so arrogant that lost everything. So I get myself fired up by remembering where I started, how I got to the bottom, and that I never ever want to go back there by not delivering a high value product every time I step on stage. You're only as good as your last speech as a speaker. That's it. And so I spoke in Vegas, it went so well, the doors had been opening. If I went to Vegas and I bombed it, these doors I had between doing something in Georgia, to the big I, to the national PIA, to all these people maybe going to Orlando, doing something in Memphis, all these other doors would never ever open. They would just stay shut. So I always remember why I do what I do. where I started and how I got to the bottom when I had to get myself off that curb, dust myself off and get back in the game of life.

CRAIG DOMANN (33:

48) How do you handle it when you're in the middle of a speech and if you're normal, which you seem pretty normal to me, you have a random thought. Like maybe something like, hey, I'm not doing great. This might not be good enough. The audience is not responding the way I was hoping they respond. Too many people are looking at their phones. Too many people are distracted. You care too much what the audience thinks in the first place. How do you... How do you adjust midstream when you're in your performance, when things don't go perfect? Maybe there's a technical difficulty, maybe there's something else that goes on. You get the drift. How do you adjust? Because now what you thought about before the speech, you thought about it, you were motivated, you ran on stage, you're ready to go. You were fired up, but now you're in it. and the proverbial shit hits the fan, how do you handle it then?

Marques Ogden (34:

49) What I do is I look at or I try to find someone that I can tell is really enjoying it and then I tune everybody else out and I focus on that individual. and act like I'm talking to them one-on-one. And what happens at that moment, right, Craig? I then get a sense of, okay, now I know someone's liking it, so keep doing what they're liking, and hopefully, people around them will start to feel the same way. And that's how I dig in. And also what I do, right, Craig, if I'm struggling, I will tap into more stories. Stories are the art of performing and what we do as speakers. So if you're ever struggling as a speaker or, and I've done it in the past too, where you have to dig into more stories, the stories will carry you through to the finish line and beyond. But you have to be honest with yourself and say, I need to do a better job at this to get things moving the way and where you want them to move.

CRAIG DOMANN (35:

53) That's what I do too, in terms of focusing on one person. And when you focus on one person, you really, because at the end of the day, the people need to attach to the concepts that you speak about that apply to them. Not everything you talk about is going to apply to everybody the same way. And a lot of things we talk about is not going to hit with everybody in there.

Marques Ogden (36:

13) Yep. Nope. Correct.

CRAIG DOMANN (36:

23) But if you can be genuine, inspirational, motivational, impactful, relevant, all those things, for one person, we already know we're all wired the same. Other people are going to tap in too. Right? One of the things that I talk about is creating a performance bubble. So when you create a performance bubble before you step on stage, everything that's for you is in it.

Marques Ogden (36:

40) Mm-hmm.

CRAIG DOMANN (36:

52) your headspace everything that's not fears doubts what happened the last time expectations distractions noise other things you got to worry but catching a flight afterwards whatever it might be that doesn't get to come in and then I've got this system where because I'm human I'm gonna hit I'm gonna have my my pocket voice is gonna say something to me in the middle speech like hey man

Marques Ogden (37:

06) Okay.

CRAIG DOMANN (37:

18) Maybe you need to be more funny. Maybe you need to be more this maybe let it less of this I just I just send it out I regulate my mental state because I know it's coming so different than competing in sports your middle of a play or in between play you have a you have a self-deprecating thought like hey, maybe he's just better than me He just whipped your ass for a sack It would be very normal to go. Maybe he's better No, no, no No, we ain't worried about him Do your job. I'm going to focus on doing my job. Quarterbacks get paid too. So if you get beat, he's not supposed to stand there like a statue. But you got to do your job. So that's one of the things that I do to answer the same question I asked you.

Marques Ogden (38:

06) I love it.

CRAIG DOMANN (38:

08) So, okay. Let's talk about leadership. What's leadership mean to you?

Marques Ogden (38:

11) Leadership is serving a cause that is greater than yourself. So I think people like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Mother Teresa, Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, individuals that served people and served a cause greater than themselves.

CRAIG DOMANN (38:

29) Okay, let's pretend, let's make this very, I love that, and it's so true, so true. But let's pretend like you're in the eighth grade, you're sophomore in high school and you're the point guard or you're the quarterback of your team and the coach is telling you, dude, I need you be a leader. How does that show up for them in those situations?

Marques Ogden (38:

53) It's doing the action. It's not trying to get others to do things. You get others to do things by the actions you do. Actions speak louder than words. Don't talk about it. Be about it. I can tell my clients, you hire me. I'm not just telling you how to speak because I've read it in the book or I've gone to a John Maxwell event or I've gone to a Tony Robbins seminar. No, no, no, no. I'm teaching you how to speak because I've done it and I'm doing it. Same thing with podcasting, business coaching, consulting, getting sponsors for your podcast, you name it. I've done it. If I'm coaching people in it, I've done it and or I am doing it. And that's where people need to say, wow, this is a guy I can work with and I can be around.

CRAIG DOMANN (39:

42) I'm taking notes, man. Okay. What's what? Let's go back to speaking. What's one of the biggest mistakes speakers make?

Marques Ogden (39:

51) is speaking about something and it doesn't resonate with the topic you were hired for. That's what I did for NetApp. My first fortune 500 job I did, I thought I crushed it. I found from Dave and speaking that hired me that I didn't do a good job. I had great energy, great passion, wrong subject matter. As a speaker, you need to keep your stories and keep what you're speaking about into alignment with the topic you were hired for. If you don't do that, you're going to be seen as a speaker who cannot stay on task. And a speaker that can't stay on task is going to be a very non-booked speaker.

CRAIG DOMANN (40:

34) So how many different speeches do you have or do you try to have a pretty narrow audience?

Marques Ogden (40:

42) can do many. Leadership, culture enhancement, diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging, mindset, believing in yourself, success, how to connect with people, authenticity creates victory. Because all I do is I wrap my life story, but I focus my storytelling around stories that fit that topic. And people absolutely love it. which is why we are getting booked a lot because we've learned how to take the story and the action steps and align them with the theme of our clients' events.

CRAIG DOMANN (41:

23) Okay, I'm gonna give you a chance to practice and demonstrate. Let's talk about authenticity. What story would you share in your life that shows authenticity and that can make an impact on your audience?

Marques Ogden (41:

38) So starting my podcast, the second podcast, Get Authentic with Marcus Ogden. I really didn't want to do it. I was with another podcaster. had the 11 Market Show, did pretty well, rose in the global rankings, but we had some disagreements. So we parted ways. My good friend, longtime NFL quarterback, Gus Farah, It took them four times for him to get me to say yes to starting another podcast. Authentically, I only did it because Gus is such a good individual. said, well, if Gus is asking this many times, I'm gonna do it because Gus is such a great guy. Best thing I ever did, because what I learned is authenticity is being who you are in the moment, knowing that the moment's going to change. And because of that, I wasn't the same person I was with Lab. I was happy. I could do my own show. could get my own guests. I could control the interview, what to ask, what not to ask, all these things. And then I started to love it again. And authentically, I went after amazing people who were gonna share amazing stories. And once that kicked in, bam, the show took off like a rocket ship. So again, authentically, I did not wanna do my second show, but Gus, on the fourth time I said yes, and authentically, best thing I ever done, and Gus Ferant knows this, Gus is the only person, he can call me, he can text me, whatever, whatever Gus needs from me, it doesn't matter what it is, I'll get it done like that. It doesn't matter what it is, because without Gus Ferant, I can tell you right now, Craig, where I'm at, my home, my lifestyle, what we're building, there's no freaking way. I love speaking. It's amazing, but it's not as consistent, right? I'm not Tony Robbins yet or Eric Tomlinson, guys. I don't have the consistency like that. The podcast has brought us in speaking jobs, coaching opportunities, sponsorships, larger brand. Without it, authentically, our brand is way further down. in this game of what we do in this industry. So without Gus, my life is completely different.

CRAIG DOMANN (44:

04) Okay, so I recruited Gus when he was at Tulsa many many moons ago and he was a head of Trent Green and I think he got that concussion hitting his head against the wall and gave Trent the opportunity, opened the door for Trent to be marketable even you know even come to the Rams before he went to the Chiefs but yeah Gus is a good guy I think he lives up in Denver.

Marques Ogden (44:

15) He did. No, he lives in Pittsburgh. Yep, he's he's from.

CRAIG DOMANN (44:

30) he's in Pittsburgh. Okay. What's Gus doing now?

Marques Ogden (44:

34) Gus is with Alumni Media, which helps to bring retired athletes together to do podcasts or networking or marketing or events. And Gus is just the best of the best.

CRAIG DOMANN (44:

47) That's super duper, super duper. Okay. Let's do a different story. What story would you wrap around the concept of helping our client, helping my employees be their best? I just want them to step in, step into their worth. know, God creates everybody with lots of gifts and talents. I just want you to, I just want you to exercise what you got.

Marques Ogden (45:

11) When I told my external manager, Jaslin, who who started working with us, was 19, she's now 21. I'm gonna, I am promoting you to my external manager, my project manager, cause you've done great things for us the last two years and your track record speaks for itself. I want you to help run and lead Danny and Abby to build up our marketing and our sales structure and process and procedures, handle media intakes and see if it's a good fit for us, handle scheduling, run our podcast to a well-oiled machine, make sure we have good systems in place for our tools and AI and all the types of different softwares we use. And Jaslyn now is our full-time external and project manager. She started out as a part-time virtual assistant, and now she is the second, like she's like a top person in our organization. It's Dawn, Jaslyn, George, and Jaslyn is 21 years old, and she came as a part-time virtual assistant, and over the years grew into a great role in the company, and I trust her now to do almost anything everything business related because she has built that trust and I give her, we call that embracing dynamic support nation. Get your ego out of the way and let people that are smarter and more capable take the lead and you support them and them driving the bus.

CRAIG DOMANN (46:

48) I it. like it. Okay. Marcus, you're full of full of knowledge, man. got a lot of knowledge. Okay, so you have any kids?

Marques Ogden (47:

01) I have a 20 year old stepdaughter and I divorced her mom, not her, and I have a 10 year old daughter.

CRAIG DOMANN (47:

07) Gotcha. Either of your girls played sports or play sports?

Marques Ogden (47:

12) Yep, Farrah, not Ava, love her to death, but not Ava, my oldest. My youngest Farrah, basketball, volleyball, softball, she loves swim, she loves sports, yes.

CRAIG DOMANN (47:

23) Okay, so she's 10 Okay, so 10 years old is when? youth coaches want to treat them like pros and make sure they focus just on one sport for 12 months and Get burnt out before they're 14. How do you as a dad who played in the league? Who's got brother and other people? I'm sure that have played how do you? Protect your daughter and also support her so that she can maybe if she so chooses Have an opportunity to play college sports

Marques Ogden (47:

53) Do just like our dad did with us. Whatever she wants to play, support her, take her to practices, cheer her on, go to games. I am a super involved dad. And we got that from our father. Our father never pressured us to play sports. any of that. So I take exactly the same way our father raised us and I raised my daughter the exact same way. Whatever she wants to play, if it's for fun, travel, competitive, not so competitive, doesn't matter. If she's great at it, awesome she's not. If she wants to play, that's great too. And just support her in every way possible. And because of that, she enjoys everything she plays and she's always excited to have her dad. be there to watch her play in her games.

CRAIG DOMANN (48:

42) That's awesome. That's awesome. This might be the last question I got for you, boss. I want to reconnect your NFL experience with your journey today. What are you so thankful for that happened in the league that people on the outside, maybe and maybe maybe even you and that version of you back then didn't like it, but it was something that was good for you because of how it shows up now. or how you show up now.

Marques Ogden (49:

12) I'm thankful that I ended up getting release traded sent off to Baltimore from Jacksonville because I asked for it and it was something that really now in my life realized that I was the one that caused all this to happen. And without that accountability and that ownership Where I'm at as a speaker today, hitting the adversity, the obstacle. I mean, we know this was one of the craziest elections I've ever seen. People weren't spending money. They weren't doing anything. Now people are gonna probably spend money again, thank God, but nobody was doing anything, right? So people weren't hiring speaker, you name it. So it was about getting through adversity. And because of how I did such a poor job handling, the situation in Jacksonville and being sent out there, sent off to Baltimore, that taught me and teaches me till this day how to handle adversity. If I don't get hired for a job, that's okay, next job. I don't get that contract, that's okay, keep pushing. And that's how I live my life now. But without that lesson learned, that hard lesson learned, right Craig? I would not be built for tough to get through to now. obstacles, today the way I do.

CRAIG DOMANN (50:

39) Absolutely. Marcus, there might be somebody listening that wants to check you out. There'll be some information in the show notes, but where can people find you?

Marques Ogden (50:

45) Sir. They can go to our app. We have the Marcus Ogden app. M-A-R-Q-U-E-S-O-G-D-E-N. And you can go right to your app store. Download it. It's completely free. Check us out, connect with us, or go to our website. www.marcusogden.com or shoot me an email. Marcus at marcusogden.com.

CRAIG DOMANN (51:

12) Amen. And if they want to buy a book.

Marques Ogden (51:

14) Yeah, they could buy right on our website or go to Amazon and type in either Sleepless Nights, the NFL, a Business and a Family, or they can go and type in the Success Cycle and it pops right up. You can get either book on Amazon and or Audible.

CRAIG DOMANN (51:

32) Okay, I can't let you go here now. What's a success cycle?

Marques Ogden (51:

36) Three keys to success, ambition, drive, hard work. Be ambitious to know what you have a purpose in life, drive, be inspired over motivated, hard work, focus on yourself and not the competition.

CRAIG DOMANN (51:

51) I like it. Well, I want to thank you for being on Pro Mindset today. I want to thank everybody for listening to our podcast today. Look forward to seeing you guys next week. Everybody go out and have an awesome day.