From Wall Street Dreams to NFL Triumphs, The Inspiring Journey of Marques Ogden on ‘Get Authentic With Marques Show’

Pamela Bardhi: Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Underdog podcast. Today I have an incredible guest here with me. Marques, how are you, my friend?

Marques Ogden: I’m doing well, Pam, how are you today, ma’am?

Pamela Bardhi: I am doing beautiful, I know you’re down there close to Raleigh, North Carolina, which is beautiful. And I’m up here a little bit north here in Boston. You know, it’s beautiful weather outside.

Marques Ogden: Life is good anytime. It’s Friday, you know, weather’s nice, things are moving and shaking. You know, you have your girl, your kids doing well, my daughter’s doing well. Things are going well. Work wise, business wise, it’s always good.

Pamela Bardhi: It’s always good. Man, I am so excited to talk to you today and hear your story and really dig deep. Because what I read up about you, I’m like, man, it’s all about authenticity. I’m looking at your shirt and it says no, which means next opportunity. Like, I can’t wait to hear your story and hear the mindset and hear all the magic that you’re working on. But, you know, before we get into all that magic. You know, I always like to reel it back a bit because there’s always an origination point at all these things. And it’s funny to see how life plays out throughout the years, right?

As a kid, Marques wanted to be an investment banker

So, as a kid, Marques, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Marques Ogden: So, as a kid, I actually wanted to be an investment banker. I wanted to work on Wall street because our dad was the first African American bank manager. Of the Federal Home Loans bank of New York in their DC office. When I went to Howard University, I was studying, first, biology. Because I wanted to make my grandmother happy and become a doctor, but that didn’t work out very well. Then I told my grandmother, I think I broke her heart. But she came around and I said, I wanna be a business major, I wanna be financed. I wanted to work on Wall Street, and I want to follow my dad. You know, he didn’t work on Wall street, he worked in a. He worked downtown Washington, DC, about maybe two or so blocks from the White House.

So I was around that my whole life. The White House, all the monuments, the cherry blossoms, the memorials to, like, the old epic grill. Like, I grew up in that environment my entire life, right from Burford, time went off to the NFL. So I wanted to be like my dad and follow his footsteps and become an investment banker. And I studied finance at Howard, I actually worked as an intern at Merrill lynch and their DC office. My boss, Al Cobrand was head of the blue chip stocks and bonds division for their office in downtown 21st. Katief actually was not that far from my elementary school. I went to elementary school, middle school, high school and college, all in Washington, DC. Again, growing up, I wanted to be an investment banker and I wanted to work on Wall street.

Pamela Bardhi: That is so badass, I love that, I love that. Marques, Wall street, like, you went straight forward. Every time I think of Wall Street, I’ve always, my favorite thing is that the statue with the little girl and the bull. That one is like my most favorite thing. I love that, and kudos to your dad. That is so badass. Like he just paved the way. And to see that, you know, there’s something to be said about having parents that trailblaze. Because I feel like it gives you this mentality that, like, you can just not be stopped. You know, you just have.

Marques Ogden: Absolutely. I mean, our mom left us when I was eight and our parents got divorced. But I, in that time, before she left, she was one of the first African American lawyers for the DC government. She worked for DCRA in downtown Washington, and then our dad worked at the federal Homeless bank of New York. In their DC office in downtown Washington, DC as well. So again, both our parents were trailblazers in that regard, which gave us a good ability as young men. To start out with high hopes, high aspirations, high dreams, to do what we wanted to do. That we thought was going to be the best for us to move forward in our life. And not just sports related, but business and life related, absolutely.

Pamela Bardhi: Kudos to them. That is incredibly amazing, and like I said, there’s something to be said about that. Because I feel like when you see those models, it’s like, what can’t you do, right? It’s like, my mom did it, my dad did it. Like, how can I not do it? So that’s incredible growing up, because I know that you had a few pivots in your world. Would love to hear kind of the journey through, like wanting to be an investment banker as a kid. And kind of like walking me through like your high school and beyond middle, wherever you want to take it.

Marques Ogden: Yeah, so again, I went to Stevens Elementary School in downtown Washington. Left there, went to St. John’s College, high school. They had a middle school at the time. So I was 7th grade through 12th grade at St. John’s in northwest Washington, DC. Started playing football as a freshman in high school, started on JD as a freshman, sophomore. With a starter on varsity as a junior and a senior. Unfortunately for me at that time, though, I was doing well. But I hadn’t really developed my football prowess, abilities fully and capably. And as a result of that, it just did not allow me to play at a high level. I wasn’t sure if I was gonna get an opportunity to play college football.

But Howard University, Howard University saw something in me that I didn’t see in myself. My dad was a Howard University bison graduate himself, played football for them in the late sixties, early seventies. So I was able to get a full scholarship from Howard University to play football for the bison. Between my last year, between the summer, between my last year of graduating from high school. And my first year into college, I grew about three inches, I got to college, about six foot, 6300 pounds. I red shirt in my first year at Howard, my second year was my red shirt. Freshman year, I ended up becoming a starter at right tackle. We had all seniors on the offensive line, and I was the only, under class, when I was a freshman.

So I was a four year starter at Howard, and I was set to go and work on Wall street. When I left, I had a job from Merrill lynch up in New York at one of their offices. Again on Wall street, doing investment banking, working with their stocks, bonds, like that was my path, right? Going to take the licensing, all that stuff. Well, the NFL came calling, and I got drafted to the National Football League by the Jacksonville Jaguars. My rookie head coach was Jack Del Rio, who was a former player himself, a badass himself. He was a linebacker at USC, and a linebacker with the Minnesota Vikings. Was a great guy, was a great players coach. And I’ll tell your audience exactly what Jack told us when I was a 22 year old rookie.

If you want to be successful in life, be your own CEO. Jack said, if I have to tell you what to do, where to go, where to be, be early, stay late. As a rookie or period on this football team, you won’t have a job for long. So the best thing that ever happened to me was going to the Jaguars, playing under Jack del Rio. My great coaches there, great teammates there, had a six year NFL career. Then from there transitioned after about six months of hardship. Alcohol abuse, painkiller abuse, drug abuse, obsessive women, dating, nightlife, gambling, all these things. And I finally got myself together, and then I started my construction company, Kden Premier Enterprises.

Pamela Bardhi: Oh, my God, there is so much to unpack there, Marques. My God, I, oh, my. That’s a lot. You set the intention that you wanted to work at Wall street and be in investment banking as a kid. And, like, look at it. It was all lined up for you, right? Then you got this opportunity with the NFL, which is amazing, basically. I absolutely love what he said about being your own CEO. Like, if I have to tell you what to do, like, you’re already. Either you got it or you don’t. Right? Champions got it or you don’t.

Marques Ogden: Like, you know, it’s that simple.

Pamela Bardhi: You got, like, What was it? Was it Drake’s line? That’s one of my favorites. I literally used it in a business meeting earlier this month. It was like, either you got it. Oh, my God. It’s like a theory.

Marques Allen says he didn’t learn about resilience until after losing his company

Either you got it or you don’t, like the theory is a brilliant kind of thing. Like, it’s like, like you said, it’s that simple. It is simply that, and I love that he mentioned that. And being your own CEO and really being in control and in power of your life. Because, you know, you really are the captain of your faith. You choose.

Marques Ogden: Absolutely. I mean, if you’re not going to drive your own shit, then who’s gonna drive it for you? Nobody.

Pamela Bardhi: It’s so true. Well, I tell people all the time, I’m like, listen. They’re like, oh, you know, but this happened to me, and that happened to me, and this happened to me. And I’m like, listen, and this ties in with exactly what you’re saying. I’m like, you know, say you’re gonna go out for a drive somewhere and you don’t have a destination. The hell are you going?

Marques Ogden: Nowhere. It’s like, if you’re trying to do something, but you don’t have full belief that you can get it done. Why bother doing it?

Pamela Bardhi: One, hundred thousand percent. I appreciate that you shared so much of what kind of what that journey was like. Cause, I mean, being in that NFL, that is a dream for so many out there. Right, and you were to kind of go in. And then sharing your stories with that, and kind of getting into the different things that you got into. You know, I’d love to hear a little bit more about how you became aware of that. Because there’s people that don’t lose the hard way, right?

Marques Ogden: Uh-huh.

Pamela Bardhi: So how did you become aware and then overcome? Because there’s a certain level of resilience there. You know, that awareness is the hardest part to get to. And then, obviously, to kind of combat that and then get right back on track.

Marques Ogden: So I didn’t learn about how to actually be resilient until after I lost my construction company. I bounced back, but that was very minor to go from the struggles of alcohol and addiction, gambling. All that to the next phase of my construction company because I was still young and I was able to bounce back. And I hadn’t really lost much financially, I had lost my way, but not my finances. I didn’t learn about accountability, how to overcome being the underdog. Until I lost everything that I own after my construction company failed. Because of my bad leadership and my poor skill sets to run a business. Once that happened, I got down to here in Raleigh, North Carolina, the Raleigh northern area.

I lived in a little town called Kerry, and I was working as a custodian, downtown rock. Being fired from Merrill lynch and being fired from a construction company, I got fired twice in the same week. And what happened was I finally hit rock bottom as a result of that. It’s kind of like when I was doing all I needed to do in my business and in my life. Things were working well. When I got here to the Raleigh area, I had no money, I had no friends, I had nothing, right? Zero, and as a result of that, that’s when things hit the fan. So I really didn’t learn about overcoming adversity. How to bounce back, being an underdog, until I hit complete rock bottom.

When someone’s trash, rotten meat, nasty, protruding, horrible smelling garbage got all over me. As a result of trying to finish up my shift working as a custodian in downtown Raleigh. After that, I ended up sitting down on the curb, crying for about 1015 minutes. Then I realized that there was no accountability, there was no responsibility. There was no burning desire to get my life back. I was simply waiting for someone to come and save me and get me. And put me on a white horse and make me the knight and say, poor Marques, please. Here you go, here’s the easy street, here’s your cash back, here’s your opportunities. Now just go live a nice cush life. Well, in reality, that wasn’t going to happen.

No one was coming to save me, no one’s going to give me anything. And no one honestly cared about me being down at the bottom. Once I got that into my mentality and I realized at that moment I was the underdog. Because getting out of that hole, most people felt it would never happen. He can’t bounce back from a bankruptcy, he can’t bounce back from losing all his money. He can’t bounce back from having his home foreclosed on, he can’t bounce back from having both cars repossessed in the same day. And you know what?

That’s what drove me once I realized that I was the culprit, that’s what drove me forward. To get to the other side, I was realizing that I was going to have to be the captain. The driver of my own ship. No one was coming to save me. If I didn’t do this, starting with myself, getting my life back together, getting myself back up, off the canvas. Back in the game of life, then I was going to be sitting there in a really bad place. To be sitting in a position, accepting whatever life throws at me. Instead of getting up and going after what I want in life.

Pamela Bardhi: Amen. Marques. Oh, my gosh. Those words were so powerful, and I could feel it as you were speaking about that experience. How that was a huge breakthrough for you. Because, honestly, it’s one of those things that, you know, a lot of society goes by, this victim mentality, right? Like, there’s gonna be this night that comes and saves us and all of this and, give you all the things. And it’s like, in reality, what you put out into the universe, that’s what you’re gonna get right back.

Marques Ogden: Absolutely, again, no excuses, just results. Right. Again, no excuses, just results. If you want to have something, if you want to be something in life. You have to go out and get what you want, no excuses, right? No one is going to come and save you. I’ll share this. When I started speaking in 2013, I struggled immensely. Didn’t get a paid job for two and a half years. Went to do a free job for a Fortune 500 client through one of my networks, a guy named Dave. Did a job for them, didn’t do that great. Came back to the job, and the second time did much better. I then met one of the top executives at that company, up at his condo at the plaza in New York City.

I remember asking him to refer me to clients to help me with speaking. He told me, Marques, I don’t know you that well, I haven’t seen you speak. I have no idea if you’re any good, and I’m not comfortable. I’m not confident to open you up to my Rolodex to tell people to hire you as a speaker. It hurt like hell to hear that. And it actually ruined the relationship because I was trying to get something from him without being a real, genuine friend. That was probably the best thing that ever happened to me. Because with that, I realized that, yes, Marques, you are the underdog in this speaking circuit. If you want to actually do something, gonna have to work for it, no one’s gonna hand you anything.

Pamela Bardhi: Absolutely Marques. I love how you mentioned that, too, because here’s the thing. Like a lot of people, especially in business right now, that you’re back up. And, you know, Marques, I’m sure that people kind of forget where you were a long time ago, right? Then they see you now and they’re like, oh, my gosh.

Marques Johnson says he went through valleys to get to where he is today

It’s funny how a lot of people want to eat from the table but not earn a seat at it. Yeah.

Marques Ogden: People are going to want everything, but are you willing to give it everything? Right? Everybody’s like, market again. I’m recently divorced, I got divorced about two years ago. Filed for divorce about two years ago. It became final November 2023. Because we had this rule. You have to be separated from your spouse for a year in North Carolina which is absolutely asinine. But whatever point is, right, is that everybody now sees I’m in this beautiful 600,000 or dollar more home. I bought it for over a half million, and I just was still not divorced in the process. When I was still technically married. My ex wife had to sign a consent form to give me full access to my home. Which is crazy, but that’s what had to happen, right? And so I bought this home, literally about seven and a half.

It was literally about maybe about ten months after filing, after giving her $1,000. After paying out a bunch of money for lawyers and this and that, right? For all the things I had to do to get here and pay down debt. And do this and do that, people see that and they like, well, I want that house. I bought a new car about three months ago. Bought my dream car. Yukon Denali XL SLT 2024. Oh, I want that car, I want this. Got it, do you want to be the guy that we moved to Raleigh, had $400 to his name? Do you want to be the guy that when he spoke, trying to get work for two and a half years. Was told no every single time? Do you want to be the guy that had to file for divorce, leave his home.

Who went to a crappy, dilapidated, broke down, two bedroom apartment that he needed to get fully furnished. Because he had no furniture, he owned nothing. He didn’t have anything? Do you want to be the guy that was contemplating suicide in November, 2022 and December and the first half of January. Because I didn’t know if I could handle not having my daughters with me for every holiday. Like I had had for their entire. Since I had known them since Ava was eight and Farrah was born. Right, do you want that? Because you can’t have this without that, doesn’t come. You can’t have the home, the car, the money, the success, the prosperity, the fulfillment, you can’t have that without that. If you don’t want that, you don’t get this, and that’s the way that it is.

Pamela Bardhi: That was powerful, Marques. It’s the testimony, right? A lot of people don’t see it. This is the whole reason I created this. Because a lot of people will see the end product and say, oh, you’re so lucky. It was an overnight success, it was this. Then the way you just broke it down is like, hey, this is a whole nother level. We went through valleys to get to this point, right? In those moments, you know, we think that even the most successful people out there have been through those valleys. And been through all that depth and all that pain and all that suffering. But to get to where they’re at today, right, you had to go through that to become this. Without those lessons, you couldn’t be here. Right?

Marques says four things helped him rise from rock bottom after divorce

I have a question for you, Marques. For anybody who’s listening, that maybe right now might be in a position that’s there. Where you were at rock bottom or close to there, or know somebody that is. And in that stage of rebuilding, what were some of the things that really helped you pick yourself back up? Because, like you said, that’s a very hard position to be in, and then rise from that point.

Marques Ogden: So there are four b’s that I exercised starting in mid January of 2023 when I told myself, okay, enough is enough. This can’t be, I can’t live like this. I can’t let the negativity of the divorce and this and that bring me down. I gotta get out of here.

Pamela Bardhi: How?

Marques Ogden: Huh? First B is visualize, if you’re listening to this, visualize what you want. If it’s just in your mind and not on paper or a chart or a graph or where you can see it. Man, it’s not gonna go well, because the mind has been designed to go after what the heart believes in. And if you don’t write it down and show to yourself you believe it or you really want it. You’re always going to come up short, I don’t care how hard you try. I visualize a home for myself and with my daughter. I remember her telling me, daddy, daddy, I love you, I know it’s your place and all this stuff. But it’s small. To hear that from my eight year old literally crushed me, I was like, wow. That’s how she feels.

This is small for her, and she can’t enjoy it. She doesn’t feel that she actually has something to call up, her own. And I’m like, I gotta fix this, man. So I visualize a home. Vocalize. Speak good about yourself, if you don’t speak good about yourself, who’s going to? Great quote. Don’t tell your mind negative thoughts in a joking manner. Your body can’t dissimilate the difference, period. If you’re joking. Oh, I’m fat, oh, I’m. Used to be guilty of that, too, so don’t say I’m not, I used to be guilty of that. I’m not anymore. Right? I work out hard. One of my good friends gave me a workout plan. Like, I’m much more confident, now that I’ve ever been, I’m 43 years old.

Started a new workout plan, six weeks. I finished the sixth week today of day four. It’s four days hard. One day of auxiliary finished week six today. The way I look now is not the way I looked six, seven months ago or even six weeks ago. It is crazy when you actually speak good about yourself. Go out and do for yourself what you know you can do. That’s huge. Okay? So you do that, vocalize. You are good enough, and you do deserve greatness, third is vote. Do something positive. Listen to a podcast, read a book, talk to somebody. Get into therapy, talk to a friend, send that email, make that phone call, I don’t care what it is. Just move forward every day towards something that you want. And the fourth beat is venture.

Venture out and find your tribe, your vibe attracts your tribe. And if you do those four b’s, it leads to victory. Once I started to visualize, vocalize, vote, and venture out, then it’s crazy. Basically, in February of 2023, business got better, right? Then I bought my home four months later, and ever since then, business has grown all the time. Our podcasts, our speaking, our coaching, our consulting, our different businesses coming on great podcasts. Your to get more exposure opens up to more people. Right? People want us to be a part of their ecosystem. That’s because I finally said, okay, enough, is enough. Marques, you’re not living life. You’re just flailing through life. Once I got purpose back into my life and got realigned, that’s when things got better.

Pamela Bardhi: I absolutely love that, Marques, I love the practicality between all four of those views, too. It’s something that you can really just implement as of today. Right. Or even if you feel like you’re out of alignment. And it’s just like, there’s a lot of people right now, I don’t know, man. It’s just like a weird thing in the world. Like, it’s like a lot of people don’t feel like they’re living for their purpose. So they’re living in their power and in their authenticity, which I think is really powerful thing.

If you don’t believe in what you are doing, you can’t achieve it

And I know you touch on that a lot, so I would love your insights on that. But it just feels like a lot of people, you know. I’ve had people reach out to me and say, hey, Pam, I feel like I’m just living through the motions.

Marques Ogden: So, you know what’s interesting? It goes back to the saying, the heart believes, the mind knows. If you fully don’t believe in what you are doing, if you fully do not understand and have full confidence. That what you are doing is the right thing, is the best thing, that’s your thing, it won’t work. You will go through the motions every single time. Because in reality, you don’t believe it, if you don’t believe it, you can’t achieve it. Right. We used to watch, there was this. It’s still out today, you can see it anywhere.

But when I was in high school, eyes on the prize was a documentary. About the struggles of African Americans in the fifties and the sixties in the south. Eyes on the prize. They stressed in there a lot of the people that were, like, part of the documentary. If you don’t believe it, you can’t achieve it. And that’s why a lot of people have their eyes on the prize that don’t believe it. Never, ever achieve it, never. So again, understand, you have to be the one that wants to actually do it in the right way.

Pamela Bardhi: Absolutely, and I completely agree with you on that. It’s, you know, it’s an interesting parallel. That I’m just seeing with so many people is, like, I feel like I’m not my highest and best self. I feel like I’m not my most authentic self, like I’m out of alignment. Right? And like you said, you’re like, if you don’t believe that, you can be somewhere else. Like, if you can envision yourself doing something else. You know what you’re doing is not the way you want to be living. You’re lying to yourself.

Marques Ogden: Yep. And here’s the scary thing. You can lie to yourself and do things, but the problem is, in reality, you’re wasting time. Because in reality, you know that what you’re doing either, you don’t want to do, you don’t believe in it. Or worse yet, no, you can’t, you feel you can’t succeed at it. Why do it, why waste your time, why do that to yourself? Why not just go and do something that you feel you know you want to do? Even if you don’t make the kind of life you want to live for yourself. At least you can know and hold your head high that it’s all about doing it for the right reasons, right? I’ve been speaking for eleven years. I made little to no money when I started. For years now, I thought this, like a year or two years.

I’m talking like seven, eight years or longer, or maybe even close to nine. We just started to get really successful, as this kind of. Maybe it’s God protecting us. Or me or our brand, whatever, we didn’t start making really good money till I got divorced. If you want to, that’s the truth of the matter, we did well when I was married. Right? We did well. But new levels, bigger coaching clients, bigger stages. A new industry of insurance, which pays a ton of money to speakers. That was not in my ecosystem, was in my stratosphere until I got divorced. So again, I believe in my heart of hearts, what I was doing was the right thing for me. Even though I wasn’t making the kind of money people thought I should make or thought I was making. That’s what it is, period.

You have to watch who you surround yourself with, but especially your relationships

So again, ladies and gentlemen, listen to this. Understand, you are either your best friend or your worst enemy. It’s that simple.

Pamela Bardhi: Amen to that. I mean, what’s interesting is that, and I tell people this all the time and in my own brain is, you know. You have to watch who you surround yourself with, but especially your relationships, right? That could be your biggest block, you feel like you’re out of alignment. Who are you hanging out with, who is your, who is the person next to you at home? Are they supporting you? Right?

Marques Ogden: I’ll say it again, didn’t start making. And my message would, tension come. Like, this is like this real, like I’m just tensing up, we didn’t start making larger money, consistently. New industries, new opportunities. Until I got divorced. So make space for the new right again. I’m not going to sit here and down and beat up my ex wife. Not going to do that. But what I will say, and I would tell her this right to her face, is she standing right here. When I would make money, she would spend it. We did not see eye to eye on how to save and or spend money. That was one of our big issues.

So, God say, okay, Marques, you made enough just to, Okay. Stay on a keeving keel, make a pull on my way away, all that golden. But now with larger venues, different industries, different opportunities. Doing, like, online groups, paid groups, getting more team members to help with more outreach, more growth. I’ve been an underdog so long in my life, so long. And I was an underdog about two years ago when I had to actually know what it’s like. 18 months ago when I moved out, November 2022, moving to a crappy apartment. Talk about an underdog, right?

Living somewhere that you didn’t want to live, and you had no choice but to get out. Like, you had a court or you had, like, an assigned agreement, you had to get out. No, my point is, whoever you are around is who you become, right? Venture. Find your tribe, find your tribe. If you don’t find your tribe, all you’re going to do is keep playing. Here’s the thing, right? This podcast is called the Underdog podcast, right? Love the title. But this podcast did not say stay the underdog. It’s the underdog who becomes the winner. You don’t win in life. Hanging around losers is simple.

Pamela Bardhi: Amen, Marques, and it also prevents you from being. Living in your authentic path, right? We were just mentioning earlier, you know, time is the most precious asset that we have. What are you doing spending your time, not happy? Like, what do you want to be on your deathbed later down the line? This is for anybody who’s listening that feels like they’re not on their authentic life path or living their lives authentically, right? Or where they’re supposed to be. They know they’re supposed to be somewhere. But they’re not there because they don’t believe in it or whatever the case is, right? You don’t want to be on that deathbed, right? And that’s one of my biggest quotes is, regret is far worse than fear.

Marques Ogden: No matter how much money I make, I can’t buy time. I don’t give a dad how much money you got. You can’t waste time, right? I have a quote on this. Right? Time is the only item that we all pay the same retail price for. Time is the only item that we all pay the same retail price for, period. Doesn’t matter if you’re Warren Buffett, if you’re 50 cent, if you’re Eminem. If you’re snoop, if you’re Jeff Bezos, if you’re Pamela, if you’re Marques, it doesn’t matter. You are going to pay the same price for it.

And also, once it’s gone, it’s gone. You can’t get it back. When we finish this interview, from two to 03:00 eastern, gone. It’s gone. I can’t get it back, I can’t say, hey, by the time. Here’s $100, please wipe out the clock, there is no Marty McFly, there is no Biff Tang. There is no Doc Emmett Brown, there is no DeLorean, there is no time machine. I’ve seen these new cars, that kind of. These little trucks that look like a Delorean, I think they’re awesome. My next door neighbor has one.

Marques: Don’t stay in situations that don’t move you towards greatness

Paid 100 grand for it by living. Damn. Love it. But you can’t punch it to the. To the clock. Okay. Take me back to 1955, take me back to when my parents were in high school, when. Make them fall in love again. Like, that’s not real. It’s not real. Right? So, once it’s gone, it’s gone, so invest it and use it wisely.

Pamela Bardhi: Amen, and with the right people.

Marques Ogden: Amen.

Pamela Bardhi: Recently. I mean, I don’t know if you’re into quantum physics, Marques. But, you know when they talk about the law of resonance and dissonance. When two people of the same frequency are getting together, you know, the vibration rises big time. And then dissonance is, when you come across someone that’s not of your frequency, it cancels out.

Marques Ogden: Oh, yeah. Of course, I’m leaving that again, I am divorced. So, trust me, I get it, I get it. Do I ever, and by the way, right? I’m the one that filed, I’m the one that was the plaintiff, I’m the one that left. And I was just talking to a client about this, right? If you stay in a situation that’s hell on earth because you’re afraid of what’s on the other side. Could it really be that bad ,could it? Maybe. Probably not. But you know one thing where you are, that ain’t no good. Why stay right again? You’re trying to push to the next level. Trying to get to another, to the next level of your business, grow, whatever.

Don’t stay somewhere that you’re not moving towards greatness, don’t do it, don’t do it. Make that move, right. The comfort zone is where dreams go to die. Regina King, great actress, great director. Loved her since she was in boys in the hood in the late nineties, right. If it doesn’t scare you, it’s not worth it. Anyway, I was so scared to start our podcast, start speaking, start coaching, consulting, be a brand ambassador, write best selling books. Every time in my life, we, as a team or our company, achieved something great. I was scared to death to start, every time, same year.

Pamela Bardhi: Every time, same year. Everyone always asks, oh, Pam, you’re so confident on stage. Oh, you’re doing with your businesses. I’m a real estate developer by trade. And my construction company, similar to you and all of that, oh, yeah. I was scared shitless every single time.

Marques Ogden: Every time, if you’re not scared, every relationship that actually has been worth something in that regard. I was scared to get involved, every time, right. Again, same thing. Now, like, dating is interesting. I’m an underdog in that one, too. Because in that one, you’re trying to figure out who has the best intentions for you. And it takes time because you really don’t know this takes time. Right. So again, in your business, and all you do, it takes time. You’re not going to get to where you want overnight. It’s not realistic.

Marques: Be a farmer, not a hunter in business

Pamela Bardhi: Well, I was on my walk this morning and, you know, I was thinking about this. And I, you know, I was looking at all the flowers and never really noticed them before. I was like, you know, and I thought about the whole process and this is exactly the thing that came up. So it’s interesting that it’s coming up again in conversation now. But a farmer, when they plant the seed, it takes time to harvest, right?

Marques Ogden: I tell people all the time in business, be a farmer, not a hunter. When you kill games as you like, shoot them, try to get business. Or if you go deer hunting, when you shoot game sometimes. But most times you go to hunt, what do you come back with? Nothing. Most times you go to hunt, you come back with nothing. When you farm and plant seeds that eventually grow and blossom, you can go out to harvest. Pluck the vegetables, pluck the fruit, whatever. You have a much better chance of success and fulfillment. Planting versus hunting, that’s just light. So it’s the same way in business, try to go out and hunt all the time. I was hunting when I started trying to speak.

I need a job, pay me, I need, boom. Nothing now, I plant seeds. Yesterday closed, two coaching clients that are finalizing next week for $17,500. Just conversation, just say, hey. One lady even didn’t know I coached, and her husband is a former NBA superstar. She is a superstar in their own. In her own way, they both are awesome. He’s successful in business, she has a wedding company. They want to sign on his clients. Another guy that’s successful in real estate and development and commercial has his own plane, has worked on all these things. He had a nice home in Long island. Great guy. Boom charged him. Save 100 for six months, her ten k, and him ten k for the year with her and her husband.

Boom wasn’t hunting, just one. Was a podcast guest conversation, boom wants to do more speaking, going bigger. Say, that’s what I do. The other one, the basketball player and his wife. Same thing. He gets asked to speak a lot. She speaks a lot. They want to build a business, they want to do it right, boom, here’s what I do. Great. Marques, send me an invoice and, Bill and a contract. Sign up the other guy, send me a contract, boom, I’ll talk to you next Friday. Finalize it. We’re off to the races. Just planning, harvesting, had no intention when I met them for the first time, then becoming clients. No intention at all. None.

Pamela Bardhi: Your authenticity brought them in. You know, just.

Marques Ogden: Just me doing what I do, and they know that I’m m good at what I do. That was enough.

Pamela Bardhi: Amen.

Marques Ogden: I believe in my heart. I’m a good speaker, good coach, good consultant, good author, good podcaster, I believe it. In here and up here, I know what to do. But now that I believe it fully in here, when these two align, that’s when the magic happens. If these two are not, if this believes it, but if, this knows that this doesn’t believe it. Or this believes this doesn’t know it, disconnect. But most times, this knows it, doesn’t believe it. If this doesn’t believe it, no matter what it knows up here, this will drive all this. You’ll know what to do, but it’s not enough, because this is going to drive the rest of you. To actually be authentic, be sincere, be real, be engaging, not come across like a used car salesman. All that in itself.

Pamela Bardhi: Amen. Marques. Oh, my goodness. The wisdom and the nuggets you’ve dropped this whole time. My friend, oh, my gosh, I’m so grateful for you. I’m so curious to hear what you’re going to say on this one, because you’ve got so many nuggets. And I’m like, I wonder what he would say to himself.

What would your older self tell your younger self based on what you know now

So this is my last question. I always leave the save the best for last. Now, what would your older self tell your younger self based on what you know now, Marques?

Marques Ogden: I would tell my younger self, never get an ego when you are successful. Because that was my demise with my construction business. Made a lot of money, got famous, had what I wanted, all kinds of stuff. And I got an ego bigger than the empire State building. Once that happened, it was over. So I’ll tell my younger self, do not get an ego. No matter how successful you get, don’t do it.

Pamela Bardhi: Amen. Ah, Marques, Amen. My gosh, dude. I’m like, I can’t wait to listen to more of your speeches and see you in person actually speaking sometime. Like, I see you on zoom, and I’m like, man, the power in these words are so great. I love it so much, I’m just so thankful for you, my friend. And just everything that you’ve dropped throughout this entire interview has just been absolutely incredible.

What’s Marques up to in the next few months

I know there’s people listening saying, hey, what’s Marques up to in the next few months? Any events coming up? Anything?

Marques Ogden: Oh, yeah. So I’ve got a big event in September in Phoenix for Napa. National Association of Insurance and financial advisors at the Biltmore in Phoenix. I’m actually taking my ten year old with me. It’s my weekend with her. And she would see her father do what he does on stage for the first time. Then in October, we’re super busy. We’re in philly. They were going to the Jaguars game in Jacksonville, Washington, played the Colts for Jaguar legends weekend.

Them in Houston the following Thursday and Friday for a big talk for the living. Don’t offer the living bank in Houston, then in Vegas for the insure tech Connect conference. Then after that, I’m going to be in Dover, Delaware. For fairway independent boards corporation, and then I’m going to be in Destin, Florida, for our client, high speed alliance. Remember, we’re here in Raleigh, a couple virtual events, and in December, we got a big one for NAEPA as well. Up, in DC at the beginning of December.

Pamela Bardhi: That’s amazing. You got a full schedule, my friend. I love this. Oh, I love this for you. May it continue to grow and prosper and all of, all of the magical things for you. And question now, where can everybody find you in your magic?

Marques Ogden: So the easiest place is just, go to our app. If you have an Apple phone or Android or Google, whatever you have, go to your app store. Type in Marques Ogden Marquesogden and our app will pop right up. You can listen to our podcast there, you can go to our website there, you can get free exclusive content there. And it’s just our app, Marques Ogden, you can go to our website, Marques ww dot Marques ogden.com. Or shoot me an email marquesarcusdon.com dot. Either our app, Marques Ogden, so your Apple or Android. You can go to our website, www.marquesogden.com or you can email me marquesarcusogden uh.com.

Pamela Bardhi: You are magical, Marques. Thank you so much for just this incredible interview. All the nuggets you dropped throughout the interview, my friend. We’re so, so, so grateful for you. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Marques Ogden: Thanks for having me.

Pamela Bardhi: Thank you.

Underdog is a weekly podcast featuring advice from underdogs

So that’s it for today’s episode of Underdog. Catch us next week. Always dropping on Thursdays. And remember, if you’re interested in real estate or want to learn how to create more money and magic in your life. Check out meetwithpamala.com and let’s chat. Sending you so, so much love.