Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Welcome to Underdog to Unstoppable. I'm Nicole Anderson, and today we're proving that no matter the odds, resilience rewrites the story. You're watching now Media Television.
Welcome to Underdog to Unstoppable, the show where we share real stories of grit, resilience, and the relentless pursuit of purpose. I'm your host, Nicole Anderson.
Today's guest is Jamie Cunningham, an entrepreneur, husband, father, and a man whose life was radically transformed through faith and discipline.
After overcoming addiction and rebuilding from rock bottom, Jamie rose to become the president of a successful merchant services company, leading with integrity and using his journey to inspire others who feel like they're starting with nothing.
In this first segment, we're talking about what it feels like to enter a competitive industry with no name, no clout, and no safety net, just belief and hustle.
Many aspiring entrepreneurs feel locked out before they even begin. Without connections or credibility, every door can feel closed. This conversation explores the emotional toll of being overlooked and the grit required to build momentum before anyone takes you seriously.
Jamie, I'm so happy to have you today.
[00:01:20] Speaker B: Thanks for having me. I really appreciate it.
[00:01:22] Speaker A: So you have an incredible story, and I can't wait for you to share it with our viewers.
Can you tell me the beginnings of your story?
[00:01:33] Speaker B: Yeah. So my, my story actually begins in 1986 when I was born in Savannah, Georgia to two loving parents.
They put love first in everything that they did. But, you know, like many families, we came from humble beginnings.
My father fell pretty sick when I was young, approximately six years old. He had a serious heart attack.
And I walked in one day as a six year old, and this image is burned in my brain forever. And it was. My mom was doing chest compressions on my dad, and my brother, who's four years older than me, was on the phone with 911.
And that's the only thing I remember from that day. Um, you know, I don't think as a six year old, you're supposed to remember those kinds of things. You, you know, those memories don't stick, but for some reason that did.
And yeah, fast forward a few years and my dad had serious heart issues, so he was medically disabled in 1994, and he became a stay at home dad at that point. But he was a heavy smoker, he liked to drink. You know, he came from a different, different era. Right.
[00:02:46] Speaker A: They didn't believe anything hurt your body.
[00:02:49] Speaker B: Exactly. Yeah. Well, they didn't have the science, you know, that they have today, which may be for good or for bad. And that's probably a reason why life expectancy is a little bit longer now.
[00:02:59] Speaker A: That's true. True story.
[00:03:00] Speaker B: Yeah.
But, but it was a, it was a horrific scene for me as a young person growing up in a rough neighborhood in Savannah, Georgia, because, you know, that's your whole life as a young child is your parents. And so it was tough. You know, my dad needed a heart transplant and then there was another time where he had another massive heart attack.
I was about 12 years old at that time and, you know, I pretty much grew up in the hospital because my dad was always there.
This one was bad, though. It was real bad.
And my mom was staying at the hospital with my dad while we were in school. And I just have to start by saying my mom is the most wonderful, strong and amazing woman that I've ever known. You know, what a blessing she's been in my life because not only did she raise three kids single handedly, she took care of a dying husband and worked, was a sole income provider for her family. And, and she just did everything that she could with what she had, you know, but she had stepped out of the room and I was in there with my dad and the physician came in and, and, and asked for her and I was like, yo. You know, she went to get something to eat and she looked very somber.
And I think as a young child, one of the gifts that God has always given me is the, the ability to understand emotion, discernment as well.
But I could tell something was wrong. And she made a comment that, you know, tell your mother. What we had discussed is in about two weeks.
And in my mind, I immediately went to. I think they're saying my dad has two weeks to live. Right. Because when my mom came back to the room, you know, they, they share that information with her and, and she became very sad, very upset. And, and I think it was just one of those moments in life where, you know, it strikes you as a tragic situation as a young person. And, you know, there's a lot of kids in this world that go through a lot of hardships, you know, and, and it shouldn't happen, unfortunately, but it is the world that we live in. So that's kind of the beginning of my story.
But I'm not sure if you want me to segue kind of into how I got into the industry or you're just.
[00:05:20] Speaker A: No, no, just, just knowing kind of your backstory and what led you, you know, what eventually is going to lead you to starting your, your business or, and becoming an entrepreneur.
[00:05:31] Speaker B: Sure.
[00:05:32] Speaker A: So there Are, you know, a lot of things that happen in childhood that are. That are traumatic, that. That do harm children, that, you know, I. I think sometimes parents. And I mean, I'm a mom, so I get it.
Sometimes we overlook kind of what our kids are going through, because we are going through it as parents.
[00:05:55] Speaker B: Yeah, certainly.
[00:05:56] Speaker A: And so sometimes the children are missed in all the chaos that's going around, and it's usually not important or. Not that it's not important. It's like you said, your mom was doing the best with what she could. She had two children.
[00:06:09] Speaker B: Three.
[00:06:10] Speaker A: Three children.
[00:06:10] Speaker B: She's the youngest of three.
[00:06:11] Speaker A: Youngest of three. So three children, a dying husband trying to keep food on the table, and sometimes the children get left. Sure.
So let's talk about, you know, what happened after that.
[00:06:27] Speaker B: Yeah. So my dad, luckily survived during that time. He had a great health team. We grew up in Savannah, Georgia. But the truth was, is that, you know, his heart was completely in full failure, so he required a heart transplant.
So my mom moved us all to the suburbs of Atlanta so that we could be near Emory University Hospital, because that was the hospital that they recommended. Because back in the late 90s, heart transplant procedures were so new that they didn't have a much of a sample size. So it was like, you know, it may work, it may not work. I think at that time, the average life expectancy was anywhere from, like, two to five years.
You know, and these are things that I'm learning as a young person. You know, fifth grader. You know, I was. I was transplanted from the fifth grade into a new city, new schools and everything. And, you know, that was really, really hard because at that point, you know, my mom pretty much had to focus on work and my dad. Right. So my brother and sister helped out with me getting up, getting, you know, dress, breakfast, getting to school, riding the bus.
And it was a very weird dynamic. And we were very blessed to say that. In March 28th of 99, my father did have a successful heart transplant surgery.
[00:07:47] Speaker A: Wow. That's. That's incredible.
[00:07:48] Speaker B: Yeah. No, it was. And at the time, Yeah, I mean, it was. It was all God because, you know, he was in the hospital for, I think, four months in the icu, Critical care unit, similar area, but it's like critical care. Like, you're more awake, you're more alive, um, but you're still, like, tiptoeing, you know, the grave. Like, you could die at any minute. And, you know, we did Christmas there, we did Easter there, we did Thanksgiving there. And it was, you Know everybody in the hospital knew me, little Jamie running around. I had like the Emory scrubs and stuff. But we're blessed. He actually came home a week after Easter in 99 and he did live 10 years after that. But everything that transpired in his life from that point on really changed the trajectory of like the direction my life was going. And it wasn't for the good.
[00:08:33] Speaker A: Okay, so let's talk a little bit about that.
[00:08:35] Speaker B: Yeah. So because of the complications with the medication he was taking at the time, they have these anti rejection drugs because your body almost can treat a new organ transplant. Like, like chemical warfare. Right. So your, your body wants to attack it as a foreign body. So my dad was taking all these medications.
We were so blessed because we were literally like negative paycheck to paycheck. Like my parents were floating checks to like put groceries on the table knowing they were going to bounce, like, but she was doing what she had to do that there was this new medication that was coming out and it was in trial. So we were blessed that we didn't have to pay for it because it wasn't covered by insurance and it would have been thousands and thousands of dollars. We just wouldn't have been able to afford it.
So. But the, the side effects of the medicine ultimately caused total deterioration in both of his hips.
Essentially the, the way that the doctors explained it is this anti rejection medicine would cause bone and some muscle tissue to essentially like deteriorate and absorb back into the body. So he was required to hip replacement surgeries which put him on long term pain management. Right. So he was going to these pain pill doctors during the season when all these big pharmacies were just pushing these heavy narcotics on people. And ultimately my dad ended up getting addicted to these pills, but he needed them. So his addiction wasn't like chasing a high from the pills, but it was like chasing pain relief. But it never sustained him, you know, and he didn't understand.
[00:10:06] Speaker A: He always needed more.
[00:10:07] Speaker B: Of course. Yeah, because you don't. We, we didn't understand in the 90s and the early 2000s, like how dangerous this medication was. We just knew that it worked and it came from the opium plan and you know, and et cetera. I mean we all know now it's, it's tragic, but my dad didn't understand that. So as a, as a high school student, as I grow, you know, as a young boy, you start to kind of distance yourself a little bit from your family because you're learning how to become an adult and you're learning how to be a little bit, you know, more independent. And I think, you know, I was depressed in high school because I didn't get to do the same thing that most kids did because my dad was home and I had somebody had to be there with them. So, you know, I spent a lot of time at home with my dad.
My sister moved back to Savannah and my brother was off living on his own. So it was pretty much me and dad and mom, and we were living in Kennesaw, Georgia at the time.
And so, you know, I think my dad could feel a little bit of the depression.
So he knew in his mind, like, if I take one of these pills, it makes him feel good. So maybe if I give one to my son, it might make him feel a little better. And he did. And I took it and it did. And it made me feel better. It made me more charismatic, it made me more friendly. It made me want to, you know, be part of the family. But at the time, we didn't understand that what I was doing was being down, led down a road of an insane addiction.
[00:11:31] Speaker A: So we're definitely going to get into, into that in our next segment. Up next, let's continue talking to Jamie about his walk and how, how he turned to entrepreneurship and showing confidence on outside while battling self doubt.
Stay tuned. We'll be right back with more unstoppable stories and strategies for turning obstacles into opportunities.
And we're back. I'm Nicole Anderson and you're watching Underdog to Unstoppable on NOW Media Television. Let's keep pushing past limits together.
Welcome back to Underdog to Unstoppable. We're here with Jamie Cunningham. And now we're diving into the internal battles so many underdogs face. Selling yourself while secretly struggling with self doubt.
Entrepreneurship demands confidence, yet many founders privately question their worth. This segment explores the emotional tension between outward strength and inward insecurity and how confidence is built through actions, not before it. So, Jamie, we were just talking about your upbringing and we left off on a pivotal moment where your dad gave you your first opioid. I would, I would assume because he was going through some of his own health battles and he actually thought it would help you with your depression.
[00:12:52] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:12:52] Speaker A: So we left off there.
Let's talk more about that. And you know, kind of the path that that led you to.
[00:13:00] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, spiraled very quickly.
It went from a want to a need in about two weeks.
And I knew where my dad hit his medication and I started taking it, I started stealing it, and probably about A year after that, he was placed in a hospice. This was in 2009.
And then when hospice comes in, they bring enough medication to last for six weeks. Right? Because when you go on hospice, I
[00:13:32] Speaker A: believe they have a time limit.
[00:13:34] Speaker B: Yeah, it's about six weeks. So they brought in like, the strongest painkillers in several different categories.
[00:13:40] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, like, you're talking morphine.
[00:13:44] Speaker B: No, I'm talking like Oxycontin, 80s Roxy, 30s, morphine pills. I mean, yeah, it's like, it's literally. It was like a candy store.
And see, at that time, I didn't understand what dependency, addiction, and withdrawal was, right? I'm. I'm a young man. I'm 20, 21 years old, and all I know is that I take these. I feel good, I'm better at my job. People like me, I'm more friendly.
So, you know, it was. It was a bad situation. And so he went to sleep on the Monday that they brought hospice in a day or so later, and he slept all the way until Friday. And ultimately where I.
I did discover that he had passed away in our home.
And, you know, that was such a shocking, you know, discovery for me at the time that, you know, the. The only thing I could think of was like, I need to get these pills.
And thinking back on it now, it's crazy that, you know, when you find your dad had passed away, that the first thing comes to your mind is your own self interest. But that's what these pills do to you.
So I stole the pills. Hospice came in and they wanted them. And my mom said she didn't know what happened to them. And I'd given myself probably like a good one month buffer. And once that supply ran out, that's when the real addiction began.
[00:15:07] Speaker A: And so what, what was so not knowing at the time that it was a real dependency or understanding that I'm sure a lot of it was. Well, I saw my dad take these, right? Like, I. I saw him live on these forever, like, until he passed away. Like, why, why couldn't I, right? Like, because that was. Was that any of your thought or did?
[00:15:29] Speaker B: You know, it never crossed my mind. For me, it was like, you know, it was cool to have them when I had them, and when they're gone, they're gone, right? You don't think much more after that. You just think about the here and now. And I think that's what opioid addiction does to you. It makes you focus on the right now.
It's an attack from the enemy, and it blots out your future, it blots out vision for your future. And that's what happened. So, you know, I didn't anticipate what was going to come once the drugs ran out, and it was a nightmare.
[00:16:01] Speaker A: So you.
After your dad passed, obviously it's traumatic, it's trauma, and, you know, there's. There's also guilt. Right? I'm sure there's. I mean, that's part of the grieving process.
So you had all of those things and you had an addiction.
And so what was your real addiction beyond that time period?
[00:16:25] Speaker B: I mean, that's when it really got bad.
That's when I started buying the pills from the streets. You know, I started to get into trouble. I started to steal cars, and I started to do whatever I could to support my habit because, you know, I couldn't keep a job because, you know, my addiction took priority.
I landed myself in jail a few times, and when it escalated, the worst was when I was presented with an opportunity to fill counterfeit prescriptions for 120 of these pills. And it. It actually worked.
And then I had sheriffs show up at my door three months later with an arrest warrant. And I was incarcerated at the time and going through withdrawal in jail.
But nothing fixed it.
Nothing could fill the void that was left by the pills and by the depression that I was battling with losing my dad.
You know, I tried everything else. I tried drinking, I tried the hard stuff. And it was like the only thing that I felt comforted me was the opioid addiction. And this was kind of at the turn of when the whole opioid scene sort of shifted away from pushing these pills and the pill mills and the government started to really crack down because they realized what a epidemic this become.
So they restricted access to being able to get this kind of medication so easily. So naturally, that transition into a heroin addiction, you know, growing up in Atlanta, you know, I found myself in dangerous neighborhoods, very dangerous neighborhoods. I mean, the bluffs is. They're famously known. They've had numerous documentaries on it. People get murdered.
You know, the. The skin color doesn't blend well. You know, so I'm a target.
I've been robbed. And it just. It became so. Just chase the addiction every day for four years that I finally just got to a breaking point. I was tired of going to jail. I was tired of, you know, living this life of having to rob and steal and panhandle. You know, like, my dad would have never given me a pill if he thought for one second I would be begging people for Money in a gas station.
But again, that's what these drugs do to you. And, you know, I was arrested 14 times, been convicted of five different felonies, all related to the addiction.
And, you know, it's funny to say, but you look back in your life and you say, man, what would I have done differently? You know, there's so many things I would fix. But to be honest with you, everything kind of leads to this moment, because I truly believe that there's somebody on the other end of this conversation that's going to see my story and hear what I've been through, and it's going to give them hope, you know? And it was in that moment that I decided, like, I'm not going to do this anymore. I'm not going to continue this lifestyle. And I. I made a commitment to my mom that I was going to get off these pills, I was going to get off heroin, I was going to kick this addiction. And I did it. October of 2012.
[00:19:25] Speaker A: Congratulations.
[00:19:25] Speaker B: Thank you so much.
[00:19:28] Speaker A: Everybody that knows me knows that I always quote Romans 8:28, One of my favorite verses. And that is, I went to church many years ago after I got saved, and I asked the question to the community pastor. So he was in there and he was teaching community, new Christians and things like that. And my question was, is, why do bad things happen?
Like, why does God allow bad things to happen, whether it's free will or not? Right. Like, there are some things that happen to good people that were from somebody else. It wasn't their fault.
[00:20:02] Speaker B: Right.
[00:20:03] Speaker A: And it just goes back to my story and my past and my childhood. And so I was just like, why do bad things happen to people? And he said, I don't have an answer for you.
He said, I can't answer that.
He said, but what I can answer is Romans 8:28 is that all things work together for good, for those who believe.
And so that's what I carry with me all the time. And I tell that to people, even if they don't understand it or want to believe it. I tell them, God can turn anything for good.
And part of most of your story, right, talking about your addiction. And then a little later, we're going to get into where you're at now and what that looks like.
And so you've. You've done you. Roman 8.
[00:20:55] Speaker B: 28.
[00:20:56] Speaker A: Right?
[00:20:56] Speaker B: Right.
[00:20:56] Speaker A: You took something that was bad, something that was harming you, and all of these things, and now you've shifted it 1 million percent for good. And I think that's the power of discipline, the power of faith, the power of courage and bravery.
Because I. I know people that didn't make it out of addiction.
[00:21:18] Speaker B: Yeah, me too.
[00:21:19] Speaker A: And so the fact that the Lord still has you here and said, you know what, Jamie? Your story is what we're gonna.
What we're gonna run with.
So we're also gonna talk a little bit about prison, because I know some of your power in your story happened in prison.
[00:21:39] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:21:40] Speaker A: But let's talk about the family dynamic of your addiction.
[00:21:45] Speaker B: Sure.
[00:21:46] Speaker A: For the last few minutes of this segment and. And how the family dynamic in your life changed with your mom, with your siblings during this time.
[00:21:57] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, my family pretty much wrote me off. It was like, you know, when you love somebody and they're going through this, you can only be so supportive until it becomes codependency. Right. My mom became codependent on being my savior. Right. She turned a blind eye to the addiction and would give me money here and there. But essentially, it got to a breaking point because I was stealing from everybody to support my habit. And ultimately, they all cut me off. And really what jump started this whole initiative to get clean was my mom throwing me out of the house and changing the locks.
She was like, listen, I love you. I support you, but you've made a decision that you don't care about your life. I can no longer attach myself to that, so you have to be away from me. And I was homeless for about four weeks, living in and out of motels. And you grow up fast on the streets. I mean, you grow up fast on the streets. And so that broke my heart, because through everything, the one constant that I had was my family.
But I stole from my sister. They wanted nothing to do with me. My brother loved me, but he was emotionally detached because he didn't want to lose his brother, you know, and it was easier.
[00:23:09] Speaker A: It's easier to just not have. Yeah.
[00:23:11] Speaker B: It's easier to mourn you while you're still alive. Right. Because I think when you have the expectations of death, it's easier for you to cope with that if you're already prepared. So I think that's essentially what they were doing, because I had overdosed numerous times, and it was always the same thing. Oh, Jamie's in jail. Oh, Jamie's in the hospital. Like, it's. It's always something bad. No one's calling to give anybody good news on me. So they had to distance themselves. And to be honest with you, it was the smartest thing they could have done.
[00:23:37] Speaker A: So, coming up, we're going to talk more more with Jamie about the weight of chasing a dream when the stakes feel painfully real.
Stay tuned. We'll be right back with more unstoppable stories and strategies for dreams turning obstacles into opportunities.
And we're back. I'm Nicole Anderson, and you're watching Underdog to Unstoppable on NOW Media Television. Let's keep pushing past limits together. Welcome back. Every underdog story has a chapter filled with pressure, fear and sleepless nights. Jamie knows this chapter well.
This segment highlights the sacrifices, tough decisions and emotional resilience required when survival and ambition collide.
So, Jamie, we we've been talking about your work up to entrepreneurship.
[00:24:26] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:24:27] Speaker A: And we we've talked about some dark times in your life and we're going to talk about probably one of the darkest times in your life. Right. Prison.
[00:24:35] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:24:36] Speaker A: But something very profound came out of your last prison or your last prison stint.
[00:24:45] Speaker B: Yeah, definitely. So I wouldn't say prison because it's not actually prison.
So I've been very blessed along the way.
But I went to.
So I'll give you the short version of a long story. I was ultimately convicted of a possession charge by consumption.
Don't ask me how that happened. But yes, you can be convicted of possession if it's in your urine.
And I violated probation with a theft charge.
I was pretty young at the time, so I should have gone to prison because I violated a felony probation with a new felony, but by the grace of God.
And I think it's only by God's grace that this happened because it led me to the most pivotal and impactful moment in my life. I got sent to a probation detention center up in Blairsville, Georgia, north Georgia in the mountains. And essentially the way that it works is you wake up, I mean, you're housed in open dorms with other men. You wake up at 4am and you're out working with like a sheriff's office doing community service work till about three in the afternoon. They bring you back, you eat dinner. You're basically jailed there, doing that.
The problem with me is that I didn't take it serious. Right. You know, I've always been a little bit of a class clown.
I think it, you know, growing up and going through what I went through as a young person, that I was always seeking some sort of form of attention or validation. Right. So I never took serious situations as serious as I should have. And I landed myself in hot water. I'm not gonna lie. I started a rumor about one of the corrections officers that was very Unpleasant to be around if I can frame it nicely. And it landed me in solitary confinement.
[00:26:21] Speaker A: Yeah, I worked at a prison, so you understand. So it makes it, it makes that even more comical. I know it's not funny being in a detention center or anything, but making jokes on the correctional officer is pretty funny because I'm sure all of us did.
[00:26:38] Speaker B: Sure.
[00:26:39] Speaker A: Because I worked in admin, I'm sure we had worse, worse rumors that were spread. So, yeah, it's pretty funny.
So what happened in solitary confinement?
[00:26:48] Speaker B: Well, you know, for those who don't know what solitary confinement is, essentially you're housed in a 4 by 6, 4ft by 6ft. I could do this and touch the walls on both sides. Sell. It's you. It's a concrete, like a bed area, if you will. A toilet that also doubles as your sink and your water fountain. So you get to drink the water that you use to urinate in. It's a pleasant experience.
And it's 24 hours a day.
It's 24 hours a day until they decide to let you out. They take your commissary, they take your books, they take your dignity, they take everything away from you. But the only thing that they couldn't take was my Bible and three sheets of paper.
So, as any sane person would do, I read the Bible, I read the stories of the Bible in the Old Testament and I was just. I was so blown away by just constant story of like perseverance after perseverance. And then I discovered the story of Jesus and his life, the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
And the Holy Spirit came on me in that cell.
And it was such a beautiful experience that, you know, I wasn't alone in that solitary confinement cell. I actually had God in there with me. But interestingly enough, this lovely older co. She was a lieutenant, would come by because, you know, she was like my grandma. You know, she sees this young guy, full of life, full of charisma, full of potential.
[00:28:18] Speaker A: Why are you in here?
[00:28:19] Speaker B: Exactly. But she knew why. Yeah, because she's like, you don't take anything serious, you don't follow the rules, you bucket authority. You don't listen, you talk too much and you want to fight everybody. She's like, I want you to read this Bible verse. I was like, okay, yeah, let me have it. And it was James 1:19.
And I read it and I was like, yeah, I guess that applies to me. And it says in James 1:19, so I say unto my brothers, be quick to listen, slow to anger and slow to speak, essentially is what it says, I'm like, okay, I see what you're trying to tell me here. Shut up and listen. Stop getting mad at people. Maybe you won't end up in solitary confinement. And I ended up getting out shortly thereafter, and that kind of stuck in the back of my mind. But it wasn't that radical aha moment that I was really looking for. And that happened a little bit later in life.
[00:29:05] Speaker A: Well, I think it's powerful because one of the things, one of the quotes that I use when I do speaking engagements and things like that is the world would be so much better if we taught people how to listen instead of speaking.
[00:29:20] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:29:21] Speaker A: Because the first thing we do is, is teach people to speak and it's all downhill from there.
And so I thought it was interesting that that has always been my favorite thing to say.
And it's actually biblical. It is, it's fully biblical to actively listen.
[00:29:39] Speaker B: Well, not only that, I mean it's, it's, it's fully human because God gave us two of these and one of these. So you think you should listen twice as much as you speak?
[00:29:48] Speaker A: 100%.
So what came out of James 1:19?
[00:29:54] Speaker B: Well, I would fast forward a while and I, you know, I, I got out of trouble, I got clean.
I, I started doing the right thing, living a good life, but I just didn't really have a purpose, I didn't really have a vision, you know, in my mind if I could make $100,000 a year, like I made it, right? So I worked in the restaurant industry long time and I worked my way up through very high end steakhouses, making very good money, became a wine professional.
And I really cared about the service. Like for me it was about having a relationship with people, like having someone come in that you've never met and being able to guide their experience and have them leaving with a little bit of a wow factor. Right. So I took it personal, but, you know, it just was never, it was never enough. So I knew living in Atlanta, I needed to position myself around powerful people because one thing that I had always learned is it's not always what you know, but it's who you know.
[00:30:50] Speaker A: A hundred percent.
[00:30:50] Speaker B: Yeah. So I took a job working at the Capital Grill in Buckhead. So if you don't, I'm familiar. I would say if you're not familiar with Capital Grill, then one of the
[00:30:58] Speaker A: law firms that I worked with, their headquarters is in Buckhead. Okay. So I'm sure we've been to that Capitol Hill or that Capitol Grill numerous times.
[00:31:07] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. So I knew that there were affluent people there, there were successful business owners and entreprene entrepreneurs. And so I took the position of a server, but I also worked as a bartender because I knew, like, if I wanted to really gain access to these individuals and learn how to become a business owner entrepreneur, like, really strive for something bigger and better than this, then I needed to speak to these people. So I started working as many hours as I could, you know, 40 plus hours. And also it was motivating me, right, because I stayed out of the bar scene. I stayed out of the, you know, I didn't do. I wasn't doing drugs. I wasn't a big drinker. I was really big into fitness. And it was like, I was single. I was living by myself, like, you know, but I couldn't afford, like, a nice place to live. So I was living in, like, an apartment room that I rented off, like, Craigslist that wasn't even supposed to be sublet. It was a nightmare. But I was dialed in, right, because I knew, like, I had now had, like, a premium seat at the table with individuals that were willing to have conversations. Because I can testify to the fact that entrepreneurs love nothing more than talking about their own success 100%.
[00:32:12] Speaker A: It's 100%. I mean, that's the truth. And I think, you know, some people do it out of pride and ego, but there are people that. That do talk about their entrepreneurship journey so that other people can learn. And, hey, you can get out of this. I mean, I can't tell you how many times I've been in a restaurant and I've recruited somebody for a company that I was working for or one of my clients because of the conversations that I was having with waitstaff or the bartender or something. And they want to be able to do more things. They want to do better, but they don't know how to get there. Because we. We do share, but, you know, entrepreneurs do share, but we're not going to share the full secret.
[00:32:59] Speaker B: We're not giving all the sauce because
[00:33:01] Speaker A: we want you to pay that. We want you to pay us for that because that's our consulting. And I've just never been that way.
[00:33:07] Speaker B: That's beautiful.
[00:33:08] Speaker A: If, you know, it's one of those things. If I can help somebody be successful, I'm going to help them be successful.
[00:33:13] Speaker B: I love that.
[00:33:14] Speaker A: And so if it's a wait staff or, you know, it's a nail, like, somebody in my nail place, like, I'll say, hey, yeah, this is what I did. And How I did it.
[00:33:24] Speaker B: Yeah. Well, I think it's important, too. I think one of the biggest things in life, once you have established yourself and you reached a certain point in your life, that it's important that you give back, you know, and that's why, you know, I mentor young people and, you know, and. And we'll get into that a little bit later. But, you know, I think it's important to, you know, really just. Just taking people under my wing and really just guiding their steps in the. In, you know, how to become not just successful as a business owner, but as a. As a man, as a husband, as a father, and, you know, faith.
[00:33:56] Speaker A: So one of. One of the questions I had is that let's talk a little bit about the addiction and alcohol.
[00:34:05] Speaker B: Sure.
[00:34:05] Speaker A: Because you were a bartender.
[00:34:06] Speaker B: Right.
[00:34:07] Speaker A: And. And this will be just out of my pure ignorance. Sure.
Is that a problem? Like, is that. Is it. To some. To some, it's not.
[00:34:16] Speaker B: You know, I think it depends on the person.
You know, if you were to follow the 12 steps of, like, full sobriety, you know, I think, yeah, it's in everyone's best interest to, you know, be completely clean.
But I knew for a fact that, you know, for me, the opiate was a coping mechanism. Right. You know, I didn't look at alcohol the way that I looked at opioids because I had seen family members struggle with it. And to me, it didn't make sense. Right. Because I didn't get any sort of comfort, I didn't get any sort of, you know, piece from consuming alcohol. For me, it was more of a tool to learn how to become more successful in life. And I wasn't a big drinker. Right. I. I like to drink here and there, but for me, it was about learning about wine. Right. Because when I become, you know, fully invested in whatever venture I'm in, I have a little bit of an ego, in a sense, that I want to be the best that's ever done it. Right. And what does it take to be the best? Well, you have to study. You have to know your product, you have to know your service. You have to know as much as you possibly can. So for me, the bartending wasn't about consuming alcohol. For me, it was just a tool that I was able to use to have those conversations, get to where to get to where I needed to get to. Exactly.
[00:35:31] Speaker A: Makes sense to me.
Next, we're going to explore the moment everything shifts when an underdog stops playing small and steps fully into their power.
Stay tuned. We'll be Right back with more unstoppable stories and strategies for turning obstacles into opportunities.
And we're back. I'm Nicole Anderson and you're watching Underdog to Unstoppable on NOW Media television. Let's keep pushing past limits together.
Welcome back to Underdog to Unstoppable. This is the turning point, the moment an underdog realizes they were never meant to stay small.
Success often requires an identity shift. This conversation explores what happens when someone outgrows survival mode and finally steps into leadership, confidence, and authority.
So we've been talking about your journey to entrepreneurship, and we've hit that entrepreneurship mark.
So let's talk about you jumping into entrepreneurship coming from your background. And now you've decided I'm doing this for myself.
[00:36:37] Speaker B: Yeah. So I met a gentleman that was very successful. He him and I had hit it off pretty well.
And he. I didn't know exactly what he did. I just knew that he had a standing reservation every Friday, him and his wife, and they'd always bring a different couple in. And he always tipped very, very well. And he asked for me specifically. And so over the years, I created a relationship with him and my wife ended up taking a job in Miami. So we moved down here to South Florida and I was still bouncing around from job to job, and I ended up getting a job at a poppy steak restaurant down in South Beach. It's owned by Dave Grutman. He's a very well known entrepreneur, very successful, and he's very strong willed. And I got an opportunity to sit down with him and a few other people and really just get to ask him questions. And I mean, he is like, you know, the pinnacle of entrepreneurship. And one of the things that he taught me was you have to take whatever you do personal. Right?
So that kind of stuck in my mind. Take it personal, take risks. So Covid happened. And my, the gentleman that I had mentioned prior reached out to me during COVID and he was like, hey, man, what are you doing? And I was like, sheltering in place like everybody else, right. He's like, oh, no, I'm asking like, what are you doing for money? I was like, nothing, I'm, you know. You know, I just moved to Florida, so I wasn't able to collect uninsured or unemployment benefits, so I was pretty much stuck. And he was like, well, how do you feel about getting into credit card processing sales? And I was like, that sounds awful.
Why the heck would I want to do that?
[00:38:13] Speaker A: That does sound awful. I'm not gonna lie.
[00:38:15] Speaker B: Yeah, I was like, would not have
[00:38:16] Speaker A: been my first choice.
[00:38:17] Speaker B: No. I was like, there's no way I want to do that. And he was like, well, what if you're good at it? I was like, what if I suck at it? He. He's like, well, you're never gonna figure it out.
But I'm telling you right now, if you're good at it, the ceiling is much higher than anything you're ever gonna get in the restaurant space. I was like, okay, what the heck? So I gave it a shot, and I was really good at it.
But unfortunately, that business tends to have a lot of misrepresentation, a lot of shady people selling promises and delivering things, things that are just not possible. And it ends in disappointment. I would say 90% of the time, truthfully, it's a tough industry.
But I learned that there was something out there that was bigger for me that I could go out and create myself.
So I had some success in this business, but I just didn't like the way that most people were doing it.
So I made a decision. Hey, listen, instead of doing it for them, why don't I do it for God?
Right? And I just felt God speak to me and say, it's time for you to do this my way. And so I started my company, I started my business, and it is a Christian business. And the most important thing was about serving people and not selling people. And I think that's where the dynamic shift happened for me in my life, at least.
[00:39:36] Speaker A: So, you know, I'm aware as well, Christian business. And highlighting that you're a Christian business makes it all the more difficult, of course, to. To grow a business.
[00:39:48] Speaker B: Sure.
[00:39:49] Speaker A: Let's talk about the struggles early on in your business right there. Financial struggles.
Financial struggles.
Family struggles. Right. Because you have a family, you're trying to support a wife, you move to a new area, like you're in a new area and stuff. And how do you. How do you cope? Because prior your cope, you're coping was easy, right? Like, you just was an addict. You were an addict. You take. You take something in the coping. So what shifted this time as an entrepreneur?
[00:40:21] Speaker B: Well, to be honest with you, as a man, you know, society teaches us that, you know, you either suck it up and deal with it or you quit.
And I knew that I wasn't a quitter. I knew that this was what I needed to be doing. And I got a little bit of affirmation because when I started doing this, I didn't enjoy it. Right. It's not fun, you know, putting yourself out there in front of strangers, because essentially what you're doing is you're going door to door and you're meeting total strangers, and you're trying to convince them that you're one of a hundred people that are not going to try to rob, steal, or rip them off.
So I'm dealing with constant rejection. So in the back of my mind, my clock's ticking, like, yo, the restaurants are going to open back up soon.
And it's funny because I ran into Dave Grutman on my birthday at the Fountain Blue, and I told him, like, Dave, like, thank you so much for encouraging me, and thank you so much for pushing me and motivating me. And I just want to let you know, I'm doing this new venture, and it's going well, but I'm really excited to get back to the restaurant when it reopens. And he looked at me and he goes, you're not coming back to the restaurant.
And that offended me because I was one of the hardest working people in there. Like, you know, Dave trusted me. The restaurant trusted me to wait on the, you know, the celebrities and to take care of, like, the important guests. And I. I waited on Dave Probably 75% of the time that he came in the restaurant because he trusted me not to make mistakes.
But I was like, what do you mean? He's like, no, you're going to pursue this. This industry, and you're gonna. You're gonna do good at it. He's like, you're not coming back to the restaurant. And I'm like, thinking to myself, I'm like, yeah, whatever. Fast forward a few months later, and I try to go back to the restaurant. And the GM at the time is like, dave said, no. You know, and I was like, it hurt, you know, because I had poured so much of myself into that job, and it made me realize pretty quickly, like, it doesn't really matter what you do for people, that you're replaceable.
But what I realize now is that Dave was doing me a favor. You know, he was pushing me. He was motivating me. He's like, yo, if you take the safety net out from underneath you and it's either success or failure, there's nothing that's going to catch you. And that was my fuel. That was my motivation. In fact, on my phone, I have a list of things that I read every day.
[00:42:27] Speaker A: And the.
[00:42:27] Speaker B: The first thing that it says is, never forget how they made you feel.
And I use that as motivation to walk into those businesses and to talk to these strangers and to put Myself out there, embarrass myself and joke and just kind of go through a whole slew of emotions. The problem was, is it wasn't working well enough. So, yeah, there was depression, there was fear, there was anxiety, there was stress. And I'm not gonna lie, there were seasons where, like, I couldn't even get out of bed for several days at a time, you know? And luckily, my wife was able to support us. But, I mean, we racked up a tremendous amount of debt between Covid losing the restaurant job and trying to start a new industry that had zero paychecks. Right. As a business owner, you have to generate business for yourself. No one else is going to sign those checks for you. So I had two options. I either fail. I lose my family. I lose everything that I've had, or I go to freaking work. And so I went to work.
[00:43:21] Speaker A: Well, I. I think when I. When I started my business, I. I remember.
So I got laid off because the company downsized. Obviously, HR is usually the last.
[00:43:33] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:43:34] Speaker A: The go. They're gonna let you do all the dirty work.
[00:43:36] Speaker B: Right.
[00:43:36] Speaker A: They're like, all right, you're done. But the company did a significant down
[00:43:42] Speaker B: downsizing.
[00:43:43] Speaker A: Downsizing. I don't know why I couldn't get that word out. So they did significant downsizing.
And I had always known, because I knew it in my spirit like, that I was supposed to be working on my own. I just didn't know how to do it. There's not been any business owners or entrepreneurs in my family. So there was, like, no guidance, nothing.
So I put in a thousand job applications.
[00:44:08] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:44:08] Speaker A: I have them still.
[00:44:10] Speaker B: How do you have time for that?
[00:44:11] Speaker A: Well, when you don't have a job and you have a daughter, like.
Like, you don't really have a choice. You have to put in the work. And I had a thousand job applications. I still have them all in my Yahoo work folder.
And not one person called me for an interview.
Not one. I'm like, how is this even possible?
[00:44:34] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:44:34] Speaker A: And I feel as though that.
And that jump started. Well, I'm either gonna sink or swim opening a business. There's been plans for it. I had been working through it. I had taken out a personal loan. Cause I was still working at the time to work through, building up the stuff that I needed for the business. Well, that turned into paying my monthly bills with that personal loan because I had no income coming in.
So those.
I do believe that doors are closed on purpose.
And you're not gonna break through the doors if they're not for you.
That's you're gonna learn and you'll learn very fast. Like, those doors aren't for you.
And so what was your next step? Like, you went to work, you went to work in the business, right? Yeah. And so now your next step is I gotta bring in my first sales.
[00:45:26] Speaker B: Yeah. So the problem was, is when I was, you know, we're a mentor based business and I think if there's any advice that I could give anyone watching out there, it's is align yourself with people who are in life where you want to be, but don't attach yourself to that person based off of the money. Right. I think I was so attracted to what the potential was that I was kind of blinded and following this person that was like, oh, my savior. Like, I want to be like him. But the core values were not aligned. Right. So, like, we were not connected to spirit to spirit, which is how God really wants us to connect with people. Like the Bible says, you know, take my yoke, it's easy. He wants us to be equally yoked. So in community with people, he wants us to guide people to him. And so I was led astray in this industry and I was having success, but I was, I was creating more issues for these business owners than I was creating help. And so I was like, yo, I'm not going to do this. Like, I was fooled. I was, I was, I was a snake oil salesman, unbeknownst to me, Right. So I didn't know because, for lack of a better term, I just was stupid in the industry because you're never going to start in something and be an expert right away. So I quit. I was like, I'm not going to do this because I'm making people mad. I'm being, you know, deceiving people unintentionally. And once I kind of started to peel back the layers to the onions, I didn't like what it smelled like. And I'm like, I don't want to do this.
But the one blessing this guy did is he introduced me to my mentor. Now his name is Rich Norton. He is the goat in the payments industry for outdoor sales. And connecting with him and what he did for me completely changed my life and it helped guide and shape me going in the direction that I needed to go to get to where I'm at today.
[00:47:09] Speaker A: So, Jamie, you have a very powerful story, Extremely powerful. Where can our audience connect with you? Where can they get in touch with you? Where they, where can they hear more about your life and your story?
[00:47:21] Speaker B: Yeah. So I serve on the worship team at Vu Church down in Miami. That's my second home. But if you're wanting to connect, I unfortunately only have one social media outlet, and it is my Instagram page for my business. I don't distract myself with doom scrolling. There's nothing wrong with it, but it's just not, you know, who I am. So it's at JC Merchant Management.
[00:47:44] Speaker A: Okay.
Well, Jamie, thank you for your honesty, your faith, and your courage to share the hard chapters, not just the highlights. To everyone watching, remember, underdogs aren't defined by where they start, but by their refusal to stay there. Confidence is built in motion, strength is built in struggle, and purpose is often discovered in the climb back up. I'm Nicole Anderson, and this has been Underdog to Unstoppable, where setbacks become setups and ordinary people become unstoppable.
