Inspiration, now in session. Inspire guys, people, the packet. I'm a dreamer, but all dreams don't come true. See, I was cut from the basketball team at high school.
I was cut from the basketball team in college. You can better, you can better. I never got a record deal. I'm just getting started.
Never qualified for a scholarship. All right, all right. See, I'm not afraid of failure, because I know that failure is only part of the journey on the road to success. And I'm inspired more than ever to live in my dreams and be the person that guy called me to be.
And I don't want to just live in my dreams. I want to inspire you to live in yours. Because I know that your dreams, that's what love is. That's what life is.
That's where I feel the most creative. That's where I feel the most successful. But I'm doing exactly what I was created to do. All right, I'm ready.
My dreams line up with guys' dreams. Now you know exactly what I mean. But this stays off the record. Let's talk off the record.
This is off the record. Let's get off the record. Yeah. Guys, people, what up?
I am your host, Jay Will. Welcome to Inspire Guys, people. The podcast, episode 2.5, off the record. It's a half a show, baby.
You remember being a kid in school where you had a half a day in school, do they still do that? Half a day is the dopest thing ever. I really don't know. When you don't have kids, it's a weird thing because you just feel left out of the progression of life.
Like, I don't know what's happening in the new world because I don't have kids. When the Lord blesses me and my wife or kids, it's going to be kind of awkward because I'm going to be jumping back into the world based on the 90s and the 2000s. And when I was growing up, or really the 80s too, let's hit them with the late 80s. Yeah, you was growing in the 2000s, bro.
You know what I'm saying? By the time 2000 came, I was a grown man out here. Anyway, you know what I'm saying? Keep it real with the timeline.
Okay, so today's show, there's a couple of things I want to talk to you guys about. First thing I'm thinking about is how there's this dynamic in life where timing is everything. So here's what I mean. Do you remember like in high school or middle school where people had their little reputations, right?
We were talking about brains and reputations from the last episode. People had their little reputations. I'll talk about myself, so I'm not talking about anyone else. I was the class clown in high school, okay?
I know you can't tell now because I keep it all together and I polish it up real good and I'm professional, right? Cause I'm a corporate businessman and entrepreneur and I have to keep it together. I can't just act crazy out here. But I want you to know, your boy had issues.
Okay, let's just put it like that. I literally had class clowns sold up in ninth grade. By ninth grade, and there was a couple of other hilarious guys at the school in our class, but by ninth grade, everybody at the school knew like, oh, come to up grade, class clown. That's me, J.
Will's class clown. You know what I mean? That was a rep. I graduate high school and I used to hate running into people the first couple of years after high school because people tend to remember your reputation based on the moment and time in which they knew you, okay?
So this is also still talking about a brand right here, I guess because at that point in life, my brand was a class clown. That was it. That was my brand. It was like, even teachers would let me come and skip my class to come in their class and they would stop teaching to let me crack jokes.
Literally that used to happen. I used to walk in the classroom and I remember the teacher would be like, oh man, the whole class is like, it's about to go down here. It's about to be crazy because I just would say and do whatever came to my mind. I enjoy making people laugh, okay?
That could backfire a little bit because you find yourself, you know, maturing and growing in life and what happens is everyone who runs into you, they're stuck at that point in your past. So I'm running into people, you know, in college or at this point maybe graduated college and things like that and literally people, the first thing out of their mouth would be like, are you still crazy? And I'm like, I mean, yeah, but it's like, you know, is your granddaddy still crazy? Cause he ate the same crazy at 78 that he was at 48.
You know what I'm saying? Like, so he's like, yeah, I'm crazy. I'm gonna always be a little, it's gonna be something, I'm be a little touched. You know what I'm saying?
Like, y'all might not always catch it at this point in my life because I've learned how to control and channel the touch and put it towards the right situation. So sometimes it just kind of slip in there. Sometimes you think I'm serious and I'm playing. Sometimes you think I'm playing and I'm serious.
You get what I'm saying? I'm like mastering my issues. You get what I mean? But that got me to thinking about blockbuster video.
How many people remember blockbuster, man? I remember as a kid growing up and even into young adulthood when blockbuster was still around, like you growing up and on a Friday night, man, when your parents going there and you get to walk around and what my parents used to do, they would pick out, you know, growing people movies. You know, y'all don't have growing people movies no more because y'all just let y'all kids do whatever they wanna do. You know what I'm saying?
I don't know what's up with these kids. This time we watching movies, I'm watching movies with adults and I'm looking like, oh, so the kids ain't gonna, so they're not gonna go to the back. And you're not gonna close your eyes? At the least we had to turn our head at certain parts of the movie.
Kids these days looking at you like, hey, bro, you gonna turn your head and turn them up. Okay, that's why the kids growing up crazy. Anyway, they would pick out their grown people movies, they'd tell us go around, y'all go pick a movie. Oh man, that was so fun picking a movie.
And you got this movie for two or three days, bro. And they gotta take it back where it's gonna be a late fee or let's take it past the movies. It got really exciting when you could go pick a game. Like if you had a PlayStation or Genesis or whatever it was out at the time, when you could go pick a game and go rent this game, I mean, the hardest thing was turning the game back in.
Let's be honest, right? That's what's hard about a game. It ain't like a movie. A movie come on, go off, you've seen it already.
You don't really need to see it again. The game is like, Hey, bro, you taking the game back, I'm on level six. Like games don't just stop like a movie. So it was a little hard taking games back, but you catch my drift.
So Blockbuster was a huge business. Why is it then today that Blockbuster isn't around? How can you be the biggest thing in an industry on one particular day or time or moment and just be gone, you know, 10 or 15 years later? Y'all know me, I wanna know what happened.
What is the nuts and bolts of the situation? Like how did we get here? Because, okay, Blockbuster, I know you're not the class clown anymore, but what are you? Did you evolve into something better or something worse, right?
If I was the class clown in high school, okay, cool. I'm not the class clown anymore. But the reason that I had to grow was because the things I wanted to do in life required me to be able to be serious about some things and grow in the area. But listen, class clown is still in me, right?
Certain things are stitched into your DNA. It's who you are. We talked about repurposing your brand last week. I had to repurpose what it meant to be silly or a clown.
You get what I'm saying? Because the things that I want to do in business and in life, it was gonna require people to take me serious. And that was important to me. But the authenticity of my brand and who I am as a person, I'm gonna always be a little silly.
At the same time, I'm not gonna be silly out of context the way I was as a kid. I had to repurpose that and use what maybe messed up some of my grades and had teachers dislike me, use that to my benefit now as something that actually adds value to my presentations, to my sermons when I'm preaching in church, or hopefully things like this where you can actually enjoy it a little better because I'm just naturally a little offbeat, right? I'm naturally off the record. So let's talk about Blockbuster, who was the biggest of their time before in the past.
And let's talk about the biggest thing since sliced bread now, which is Netflix, right? The whole little phrase is Netflix and chill. I don't know who made it up. I don't know if Netflix threw that slogan out there, or if it's something that the people were the internet created, but think about how that's branded into our minds.
That could have very easily, and look, should have been Blockbuster and chill. But here's the whole problem. Blockbuster could not grow, could not evolve, could not change to become something better. I think this is important to point out as Christians because we have to be careful how we evolve with the world around us.
We have to be willing to be an outcast, right? Like we have to be willing to maybe accept that, yo, if the world is changing and going against the grain of Christianity, that we're gonna be outcast in some aspects of life. So I don't want you to take this information I'm giving you and apply it to the wrong situations in your life, right? Don't apply this in a way that'll have you saying, hey, I have to evolve my, as a preacher, I can't preach the gospel anymore.
You know, I have to now match with the world once. They want me to talk about social issues. So I have to talk about that. And that happens a lot out here.
And I don't want you to take this information and do that. So I have to give you a little disclaimer sometimes. You know what I'm saying? So back to business.
In the business world, you're going to have to evolve some things to reach the consumers based on the way that they're receiving information. Now even in Christianity, whether you have a church or a brand or something, a simple way to look at this is, okay, now you put out messages on YouTube. You're no longer selling a VHS of your message or a cassette tape. Now you're changing and evolving with the way people consume messages today.
So you're not changing your message, right? You're still preaching the gospel, but you want to deliver the gospel in the way that it's received today. Does that help you out with what I'm saying? So as it relates to blockbuster Netflix, Netflix started in 1998.
First of all, let's pause and think about that. We talk about a process all the time on this show and how real success doesn't happen overnight. We act like they just came out the other day and there's some type of overnight success, but in reality, it doesn't happen that way. It started in 1998.
Now, what are we? 20 years later, they're the biggest thing we ever heard of. And some of us think they just came out of nowhere. No, they've been grinding since 1998.
And what am I saying to you? If you want to grow in the area of life, it's not gonna happen overnight. Y'all gonna hear me say this probably every single episode. You're not gonna fall to the top of the mountain.
I'm gonna keep saying it. Netflix didn't make a mistake and become here. They went through some ups and downs. They went through some tough times and I'm gonna tell you about one of them now.
They were struggling in 2000. So two years into their existence, they were struggling. So Netflix went to blockbuster, who was the biggest video company out there? And they begged them to buy Netflix.
Hey, you buy Netflix for $50 million and we will run your online business. Now think about this, let's pause. Blockbuster video, I'm just giving you bits and pieces now, we all over the timeline. Blockbuster video end up going out of business simply because they couldn't evolve to the digital world.
But if you go back to 2000, they had the opportunity of a lifetime, but they underestimated. They thought too highly of themselves based on where they were in their timeline. They were filling themselves all because they were stuck in the moment and they didn't have foresight to see what would happen in the future. So they thought too highly of themselves.
And they told Netflix, no, they literally laughed at Netflix. And the Netflix CEO gave an interview or something on a conference call where he made a statement that look man, Blockbuster has thrown everything at us, but the kitchen sink. The next day, Homeboy wakes up and Blockbuster CEO mailed him a kitchen sink. Now that's savage.
But all how things change when you fast forward to today. Now Blockbuster is out of business. Netflix is a multi-billion dollar company who dominates the market because they were able to, first of all, change, remain persistent through the process. They didn't quit or give up and they stood the test of time and now they're Netflix.
Now everyone wants Netflix. Now is Netflix and chill. It should have been, it could have been Blockbuster and chill. Man, think about that.
What does that mean for us as Christians? Like I'm always asking myself when I read these stories about businesses and history, what can I take from it to ensure that I don't make some of the mistakes that, hey, maybe I've already even made in my life or things that I'm seeing in this story. And so in this particular story, I wanna look at it from both vantage points. First, as Blockbuster.
Paul talks about it in Romans 12 and three. He urges us not to think too highly of ourselves. And I think it's easy to do if we're being real, you get caught up in the moment where you believe the hype about you. It's like you in high school, best dressed and you fly and you, you know, got the reputation and you looking down on people because they're nerds.
And then 20 years later, the nerd ends up being a scientist that creates the cure for world hunger in one peel and not eight worth billions. And you sitting here like, oh man, I was, I was the best dress 20 years ago. Now I'm just, you know, I'm just struggling. Just the best struggler.
You get what I'm saying? And this is how you end up becoming the back in my day guy. You know the old dude that stuck somewhere 50 years ago about when he was the man because quite as captain, he not really that happy with who he became. So you gotta live in your past.
I don't get enough boy. I tell you right there, not boy. Oh yeah, back in my day now boy. That like that.
Uh-huh. Man, you don't wanna be that guy. It's like, it ain't been your day in 20,000 days, bro. Let it go.
Let it go. My point is, for me, I don't wanna think too highly of myself just because I may be doing good in a certain time or moment in life to the point where I just start becoming delusional and even forgetting that it's the Lord that allowed me to be in his position in the first place. This also takes me back to Philippians. I could do all things through Christ who gives me strength.
I can be a base. I could be a bomb. We forget that we still need the strength of Christ when we have a lot, when we're on top, when we're feeling healthy, when we're doing well, too many times, at least for me in my life, I would start feeling myself. And stories like these, humbles me, brings me into a sober mindset.
And it's like, naw, Jay, if you're doing good, still do good by people because the Lord give it and the Lord take it away. And you don't wanna even miss opportunities for longevity because you're too arrogant. Okay? So that's the first thing I take is don't think too highly of myself, irrationally, don't look down on others.
At the same time, I think there's something from the Netflix vantage point that we can take from this. And that is be willing to go through the process, bro. Just because a person is laughing at you underestimating you and mailing you a kitchen sink today, it doesn't mean you get to give up. It doesn't mean go and have a pity party.
I'm sure it was hard. I'm sure there was doubt for Netflix in that time, but 20 years later, they kept going. And for me as a Christian, I think about how I'm supposed to live with faith. And trusting God's word for my life, and trusting God's wheel for my life.
And in doing that, I understand as a Christian, there's gonna be some ups and some downs and I'm gonna have some not so great days, but on those not so great days, what I'm learning to do is strive to keep my character, strive to keep my integrity, strive to grow through that because God has a bigger plan. In order to get to the bigger plan, I gotta get and go through the kitchen sink. And I think the problem sometimes in life for us is on that day that the kitchen sink arrives to our doorstep, we lose it. Oh my God.
Oh, why does that mean? Why do you God? I don't even got no dishes to put in the sink, God. Why you let this man give you a kitchen sink?
I give up. I'm talking to God. How many times do we give up on God because of a certain day? And again, I'm not saying that whether it be me, you or anyone else that you might not have those days where you doubt, but I just believe as God's people, that we should be striving to continue to go forward if it's his plan for our life.
That's really the big thing. Are we confident to read in his word and sound doctrine that and through prayer that this is what God wants me to do? And if you are confident through those channels that this is what the Lord wants me doing, then when you get to that day on the kitchen sink day, then you can't allow yourself to lose faith and give up because if Netflix gives up, then there is no Netflix and chill. On the flip side, if Blockbuster has foresight and humility, then maybe it becomes Blockbuster and chill.
Regardless of how you chop it up, everything we do in this life is interconnected. One of the stories in the Bible that people often look at out of context for me is the story of Ruth and Boaz. Everyone focuses on the relationship and we make it about the relationship. We romanticize the relationship.
But I think about scripture and its totality and one of the messages being, C.E. First, the kingdom of God and all his righteousness and all of these things will be added. Yeah, there will be things added. But so many times when we tell a story, we tell a story with a thing as the star of the show.
And I believe the thing in this story is the relationship itself. You have this idea of, oh, you find in a man or you're being found by a man. And that's the part we focus on. But when you dig into how it's interconnected from God's overall plan, it's amazing to me.
Ruth and Boaz, become married, have a child. That child is Obit. Obit has a son. That son is Jesse.
Jesse has a son. That son is David. That's literally the lineage from which Jesus came. So we focus on the thing being the relationship and glamorize and romanticize it.
It's like, oh, you found a man. So then you go through life trying to find a man. That's your plan. But God's plan is always much greater.
God's plan is about seeking him, his kingdom, his righteousness. And yes, you being married, having a family is a part of the benefits of his plan and his purpose for us. That's why God built family a certain way because he had a plan. He needed to reproduce kind of the whole theme and the story behind the Bible, his son, Jesus, coming into this world, dying for our sins, all for us to be able to access heaven.
That's God's plan. And that's how the things that he wants to do kind of work together. And so it's just hard sometimes in his life, we get caught up in our selfish ambition and it can show itself in the smallest ways. So let's get off that.
And let me just talk about this last thing before I get out of here. This is a new segment that I'm calling, Is it just me or? I don't have a theme song for that yet because we on a .5 episode, we don't have a budget for a theme song. So let's get into it.
Is it just me or do people try to sneak and make you babysit their kids when they bring them over your house? Follow me on this. My brothers and sisters, every now and then, may stop over our house, maybe a Sunday after church, dinner, well, by dinner, I mean pizza or something, hot dogs, whatever we might buy at the store because we don't cook. A movie, whatever.
They come over and I'm noticing after about 10 or 15 minutes, they've purposely gone deaf and blind to anything that the child is doing. This puts us in a perplexing situation because you just gave your child a chocolate donut. This now means that your child is walking around my home with chocolate donut hands. So I'm watching the kid the whole time.
I'm like, oh, so she eating a donut. Okay, now she getting off the tip. She getting off the tip. Look, you see this?
They're getting off the tip. Now me and Tifsy just clearly, but somehow this movie is so good that you don't notice your own child. And after a while, we find ourselves walking around the house, we washing hands, changing diapers, asking you to be quiet. I'm like, wait a minute.
Yo, daddy and your mama are right there. How come if I see chocolate hands, the daddy don't see the chocolate hands? And then it hit me. Oh, we are now the babysitters.
So you tell us you want to come over to our home to chill with us and see us and check on us after church or whatever, but really what you needed was a break. Is it just me and Tif? Like, are we the only ones that's happening too because we don't yet have children? Okay, I get it.
I feel y'all. It's just me. It's just me. That's off the road.
Look, before I go, I want to say thank you so much for sharing the podcast, for listening, for providing feedback. Please give us ratings on iTunes and Google Play. But look, when in doubt, go to jwheelmusic.com. Send people to jwheelmusic.com.
And make sure you click the dropdown box at the top, check out music, podcast, subscribe, all that good stuff. Listen, if you don't like this show, act like you like this show. Off the record, episode 2.5. See y'all next week.