From Federal Prison to Celebrity Jeweler | Jimmy Phan

I'm on my way to the airport. I get a call from the electrician. He's like, yo, I need to meet you. I need to meet you. I'm like, bro, I'm about to miss my flight. I gotta see you. Meet me at the house. So I go back. Next thing you know, I was the big SWAT truck. They surround me. Put your hands up. Unlock the door. I'm like, what the f*** do you want me to do? Motherf***er looked like Sergeant Slaughter. I'll never forget it. F***ing glasses, the f***ing beard, and the cigar. I think his goal was to look like him. He walks up and he looks in the window and he's just like, oh, there's that motherf***er. Get him out. And so they threw me out. They grabbed my daughter, bro, and I just, I snapped. All right, guys, welcome back to LaValle Podcast. This is Paul Alex. Right now, we are top 25 in business entrepreneurship. Thanks to you guys. Make sure to check us out on Spotify and YouTube right now. I'm here with a special guest. His name is Jimmy Phan. He is a celebrity jeweler, leader, father. I mean, just overall good dude. Jimmy, welcome to the show, brother. Thank you for having me, Paul. So, Jimmy, this is all about the level up, man. It's about inspiring others to go ahead and go out there and, you know, live a life by design, brother. So, let's start off with your background, man. Tell us a little bit about yourself for the people that don't know you. Oh, man. Born and raised in Houston, Texas. um you know um i guess like just every other kid man waking up with a dream but just uh trying to be the best we could be and uh i just chose a different route that you know unlike any other route i guess my family wanted me to join and uh i just uh i don't want to call it bad choices but you know i chose what i chose and uh you know how to deal with the consequences of it, but it made me who I am. And I guess to the detail, I chose a life of crime, totally opposite from what you did. You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. Um, but you know, um, yeah, uh, best way to put it, man, I just had another chance at life and was able to really use what I learned in the streets and turn it into a multimillion dollar business legitimately. I love that, brother. Let me ask you. So, life of crime, do you think it was just based on your environment, the people that you were hanging around with? Like what was it that caused you to live that type of life before the success And so like you know the crazy thing is I think about that a lot you know and I always tell this to my kids and to younger people nowadays is that if I knew what I knew now, I would have never chosen life or crime. I think based on my environment and based off the people I was surrounded, it was just the quickest way to get what I wanted, whether it be money or whatever and it wasn't not not even the quickest but it was just what was relatable or more understanding you know we didn't have nobody that was telling us like hey um you know do this like don't get the tattoos you know all we would hear is like oh tattoos is another form of id but you don't explain to me what that is you know um so i definitely feel it had a lot to do with environment the people we're around whether it be our peers that we saw maybe doing their thing or maybe they were just taking advantage of us as youngsters to to you know make themselves profitable and we saw it for what it is too but you know it was just really trying to make a way to get what we wanted or what we felt that we wanted at the time now you being a successful entrepreneur and how old are you right now jimmy i'm 44 so 44 at the age of 44 you have decades of life experience now definitely would you say you had a mentor back when you were a kid uh no um i think the best way to put it is that i had a lot of people that i looked up to at the time um that i thought were i idolized i really did you know um i always said that i call it the three amigos in my book i did a biography i wrote a biography that i never released yet but a chapter is called the three amigos and there were three people that I looked up to that I idolized like I would have died for and killed for it but if you look back at it now those same three people like one screwed me over the other two people owed me lots of money actually one of those two people actually snitched on me and set me up you know and to try to do less time for himself wow so um yeah I I think the best way was that I was surrounded by people as I got older I realized I was surrounded by people I didn't want to become. And that's what made me turn and change my life around to where it is today. Do you think that people have to go through certain seasons in their life in order to learn those type of situations, man? I feel like life is definitely based on experience. You know, like we meet a lot of people now that are a lot younger, making lots of money. And even me at a young age I made a lot of money But I realized that the experience is what going gonna make you outlast or make you understand what to do with the money to make it last yeah so you know with your question it's just like what was the question again my mind just went yeah no you're all good bro this is good stuff but um my question was do you believe that you have to go through these seasons in life whether they're good or bad yeah in order to have that level of experience I truly believe that life has its chapters and seasons, and you have to go through it when you're supposed to go through it. We see a lot of people that don't go through certain things when they're supposed to, and they end up having to go through later. Like, even when I say, like, during my, like, juvenile times, like, all that time I did, it was like, I feel like it helped me avoid doing time now. I see a lot of guys my age that I grew up with, and they're in and out of jail, and they're constantly, I'm just like, yo, I'm glad I got it. out of my system, I guess you can call it. But yeah, you definitely have to. But there's some people that are like, oh, well, you have to go to jail. No, I don't believe that, though. There's a saying that I learned from 50 Cent, right? And there's two things I learned being around him. The first thing he taught me was when you give something, give it from your heart. Because if you don't, that means they took it from you. And the second thing that stuck to me was that a person that learns from their mistakes is considered a smart man, but a person that learns from other people's mistakes is a genius. And that made me realize because a lot of my knowledge and my wisdom didn't just come from me single-handedly experiencing it, but my surroundings and my people that I was around. You know, I had friends that were doing a lot more crazy things than I was, but I saw where that was doing and I saw what they, they might have not even learned from that, But I saw what happened and I learned from it and I made sure I avoided it. Yeah. I mean, so I definitely feel that life is in seasons and you have to allow it. Prime example, like even like child actors like Disney and Hollywood at a young age, they don't get to be the kid that they're supposed to be. Yeah. So when they get older, they try to make up for that. No. So I definitely, truly believe when you when you when you say that. I mean it's it's a good thing you brought that up man because you see it time and time after that with childhood actors singers I mean you see with Justin Bieber like he going through all this trauma and drama and all these rumors and all this stuff Right And then you see him going through the ups and downs but man it so true So let me ask you this, man, at what point in your life, as you're going up, you had to go through the juvenile system and all that jazz. Um, did you finally hit like a pinnacle where you were just like, dude, enough is enough. Like I got to change my life around. How did you get into start building yourself up to be the greater version of who you are right now? and so when I tell you earlier right about you know when people say you got to go through you know you got to go through like prison or you got to go to jail to really understand or go through like I'm not gonna lie to you me personally though for my situation I truly believe that I became a man when I went to prison like prison made me the man or shaped me into the man I was today and I say that because before then especially during my juvenile I was like in and out you know i mean like i was making money you know i was able to get in and out so i kind of like had this i wouldn't say like bulletproof mentality but i was just like it ain't nothing i'm in and out in and out because you were used to it but when i actually so i caught a federal case when i was this is 1999 right was it 99 no no it was a week after 9-11 uh i caught a fed case and when they sat me down and I was just like you know I'll get a bond I'll get out and they're like no you ain't got no bond you got a fed hold that was kind of like a reminder like hold on what do you mean I can't get out you know what I'm saying and then you know getting out fighting the case and then having to do my time at that moment it was just like yo like money can't even get me out right now you know I'm actually here and at that time I was 19 years old I remember and at the time 19 year olds they're either rocking and rolling which is you know they they full blast hard heads in their you know buck in the system or you see all the old schools we call you know old school dudes and they in there you know playing chess just doing their time in minutes of convicts you know i mean and um i think at that time it was just like what you're gonna do you're gonna just be rocking and rolling are you just gonna make the best of this time that you got and learn what you can. And I truly believe for me going in there, you're surrounded by people you would never surround yourself with in the real world. You know what I mean? Because you stick to your own little circle, whatever. And so I chose to hang around with the older people, the OGs, the old schools, you know what I mean? in the real world, you know what I mean? Because you stick to your own little circle, whatever. And so I chose to hang around with the older people, the OGs, the old schools, just picking up game from them, just the way they talk, learn how to play chess in there. Just really did a lot of time, I guess, reflecting, but even trying to help myself. And like I said, becoming the man. Because before, I always tell people, before I went to prison, prison, I was living the devil's, I was living the devil's deeds. I was doing the devil's deeds, bro. like everything I did, I just, I was out trying to find a reason to do wrong, you know, and going in there, it was a game time to sit down. You were playing the game. Yeah. And how God worked. You know, I grew, I grew up in a Buddhist family, you know, and I, I went to temple and everything, but no one ever taught me really the history. So I never understood my religion. And you know, a lot of people that go to jail and they come to your house, Christians and stuff like that. And because of so much time I was doing as a juvenile, I told myself, I don't want to be one of those jailhouse Christians, you know, where, you know, you just go inside and all of a sudden you're spiritual, you know. Right. And it's crazy because I started working out a lot and I had a workout partner and he was like a jailhouse Christian hardcore dude. And he would always try to push the word on me, push the word on me. And I would always tell him, I'm like, I don't want to be one of those. Like, you know, we work out together. We cool. But I respect your religion. Just respect mine, because that's how I grew up knowing. but you know one day it was just he pulled out a chapter bro and ecclesiastes and i don't know if i pronounced it right or not but that hooked me and and i started reading more and i just started reading it next you know i read the whole bible front and back next you know i read it again front and back and i can honestly tell you that i felt like there was so much game in there as far as like just self um reflection um ways to just look at things that i never saw how it would look and it made me really i guess become more accountable you know when i was reading those things because i guess i felt relatable you know like like a certain like verse like as far as like you know stop worrying about tomorrow because today has enough worries itself um and it was like, wow, I need to practice that. And I started doing that and just picking up the knowledge from the people I was around, the old school people, and it made me just look at life better It made me just see things at a different angle I guess instead of looking inside out I went from the outside looking in And I feel like that even helped me as far as how I got into business more because before prison, it was just selling drugs. But I had a niche for marketing. I knew how to attract people to whatever product I was trying to sell. I always tried to find the demand, and I would try to supply it. and coming out of prison, I didn't just come out of prison. I was like, hey, I'm going to be a hustler. I'm going to be a businessman. Never that. I remember before, it's crazy because before prison, I used to play around and rap with my friends on the block. We'd be just joking around. And so when I went to prison, I was like, I'm going to come out and try to be a rapper. And it was funny because when I went out, and I said it, but I didn't do it. You know what I mean? But how God worked, we happened to be at a restaurant one day with this dude that was a really famous local rapper at the time and started playing around and that kind of like gave me my first kick into legitimate business that went good for me you know i started doing music and and it did pretty well for me at first you know and once again i used what i learned as far as my marketing and i call it guerrilla marketing yep um you know and i and i just made it work bro and and it's crazy you know like even to this day it's like talking about it and being in the music business at the time it was it was crazy because i i was just another kid from houston you know growing up with just trying to make it by to next you know we on mtv you know they fly me places going on tour you know doing things it was it was crazy i mean get into a little bit of specifics man because we're gonna have people listening to this they're gonna be like okay wait a minute so you were able to go through all of this hardship brother and then get out of prison and and and beat a federal case and all that jazz and then slowly but surely start winning in life literally and there's a lot of people right now that listen to this podcast and they're looking for that specific type of game so specifically when you say guerrilla marketing i know what guerrilla marketing is man you're you're actively going into your network and you're going ahead and you know you're putting your product or your service out there but what was the actual service what was the what was the product that you were doing in the music business that was getting you momentum. I think one of the craziest things I would say a part of the guerrilla marketing that I did was so this is when my space at first came out right. Yep And so you know here I am not computer savvy at all I bought a computer and which is kind of like spending time the first time i really got active on a computer was when i caught my fed case and when they let me out they put me in house arrest okay and i bought a computer i remember at um circuit city uh hp computers like four grand bro desktop right i remember yep and um at the time like i knew a lot of friends that were like stealing cars selling car parts stuff like that and so on the streets like you can buy a pair of acura wheels for like 250 300 for a whole set and i remember i'm going online and there was a website called a parts trader.com and i'm going through there i come across it and i'm watching they're selling the same acura wheels for like 650 700 so i'm like bro this is a market for me right so i'm going to my friends now and i'm buying it for what they want 250 300 and they're just like what and i'm buying it and i'm selling right back I'm making a $400 profit you know this is you know in 2001-2002 and you know so I kind of started understanding how to do the computer stuff and so when I get out of prison and when I started getting into MySpace I'm looking at it and I'm watching now they have MySpace music so I'm thinking like how can I get the attention of people and so like you know at the time you know I'm a flashy dude you know I wore a lot of jewelry I know what I can attract And so what I did was I made a, and this is before there was max texting or group emails or nothing, but I made like this, like this, this, this message. And it's just like, Hey, uh, I'm an upcoming, uh, artist main Jimmy boy. If you do me a favor and check out my music, I don't know what you think. And what I would do is I would go find all the bad bitches on, on, on my space. And I would copy and paste to all them because my way at the time was, either she gonna like me and not even care about the music but she gonna see the jury so she gonna get the attention she want or if she got a man she gonna listen and like it and she gonna tell her man and so i literally and at the time i was i was i was with my daughter's mom at the time i remember i'm i'm doing it all day copy and paste a copy and paste it she's like you just trying to holler at these bitches and i'm like no like this is bigger but you know how they think women it's like yo and it's funny because I remember I made a goal I think it was March and I said by June I wanted to get my music thing to 100 plays a day and so I kept doing that and of course some of the girls would reach back oh I like your music and I be appreciating you know a small talk with them. And you kind of build a relationship. And I just started realizing, I was like, instead of me trying to sleep with these girls, if I just become cool with them like that and build that relationship, I feel like for a woman being so used to men always trying to sleep with them, when you don't, it fucks with them. They really do. It throws them off to where it's like now, it's like, like I said, she was like, this dude doesn't even like me. Hey, babe, check out this dude. He pretty cool, and he like his music. And the crazy thing was by June, I didn't hit 100,000. I was doing 250,000 plays a day to where I became the second largest artist under Paul Wall in Texas, MySpace Music. You know what I mean? It was crazy. And it was just like not even knowing, you know, and I think that's one thing that anybody that's listening to understand is that you're never going to know what it is that's going to make it pop. And you never know. But the consistency is always going to like like make it work. Like you just got to keep at it. Like you're never going to know. Like I had no idea that she was going to do what it did. you know, because that turned me from just a dude selling dope, because I was still selling dope at the time, like, I got out of prison, and I tried to, I tried to go straight, I tried really hard, bro, like, the first year, and it was like, like I said, right, I said I was going to do music, but when I got out, I didn't do it, you know, like, we say things we want to do, and, you know, my best way to put this, if you ask 10 people right now, what do you want in life? I bet 10 people be like, I want to be rich or happy, successful, right? Yeah, I want to be a millionaire. And so everybody says that, but then that's when you have to step in and ask yourself, how are you prioritizing that goal or what it is you want to reach? And so when I came out, it was like, yeah, I want to be a rapper. I want to be a rapper, but you're facing real day, everyday stuff, and you get pulled different directions. So I remember I was not doing that. And so when it happened the way it happened and it worked, I just was like, let me just go into it. It wasn't even like, oh, I'm going to dive into this and this is going to work and how it is. No one's plan is going to work the way it wants to work. It's just, you just got to be consistent and repetitive and just keep going at it. And it might not even work, but it wants to work it's just you just got to be consistent and repetitive going to work the way it wants to work it's just you just got to be consistent and repetitive and just keep going at it and it might not even work but it will guide you to a certain thing that's going to work for you so jimmy real quick i'm interested to to to learn um more on the time frame so the time frame from like you you started doing the first post uh to the time that you got the 250 000 uh listens per month what was the time frame that was like in like i think four months three to four months that's remarkable bro it's crazy yeah it was it was crazy because it was just like i was literally sitting like i remember like at the time they had like codes so you could try to like design your page the html codes yeah and i'm like trying to figure all that out and we're sitting there and i'm talking about he was living with me at the time and we in a trap house you know i mean and and literally we selling dope out the house we got a studio in the front room we do we used to call that house 25 to life because at any time we got so much stuff going on in there it's 25 life and a cop lived in front of us too that's crazy and i'm upstairs in the computer i'm upstairs bro and this is i bought this little l-shaped computer desk and i'm sitting just going at it during the day just copy paste copy paste i will post this copy paste but once again it was just like the distraction you know i mean yeah because the career took off it blew up bro but the mentality i would also say it wasn't there i didn't have the right people around me yeah and i'm not saying that the people were wrong they were my brothers to this day i love them but we didn't know what we were getting ourselves into like i didn't even know like and so when the shit took off we just knew how to ride the wave we didn't know like how to keep the wave going sustain it yeah because it was just like we were young like i said it's the first legitimate thing so I got out of prison in 2003 this thing started popping off 2005 you know and so it's just like Odyssey is overnight really you know because we weren't trying so hard and so once again like I said it was just and I for some reason I feel emotional just talking about it but it was just like yeah like we were just a bunch of young dudes bro and like we're like yo our life is changing Like, you know, for so long in my life, I thought I was going to be a drug dealer for all my life. I'm not going to lie to you. If I would have met you 12 years ago I used to always say like I would always be involved in this because I been so deep into it that i don even have to be around it or i ain got to do nothing and i still get paid from it right and it's crazy because now i could look you in your eye and tell you i would never even think about that like and that's why i always say like if i knew what i know now i would have never even chose that life because i feel like you can make so much more money legally by just really finding, you know, your niche or, or just really there's, there's always a way, you know what I mean? There's a will, there's a way. And as long as people are wanting, as long as people are needing, you can provide that, you know what I mean? And make it in a way to where you can be very lucrative the right way. Yeah. I mean, I'll be very honest with you, man. Like you said, in the very beginning, I come from a law enforcement background, never thought I was going to be a cop myself, but when I did it, you know, I'll be honest. I even, I even give some of the people that I used to do business with back in law enforcement and tell like, Hey man, the drug dealers, the best businessmen I've ever met men and women. I mean, that's just what it is. They, they, you have that very business minded mentality, right? And to me, it was never about, Hey man, you're, you're, you're a bad dude or you're a bad woman or whatever. Right. It was more like, Hey man, you're providing for your family. So to me it was all business and that's all it was. And I respected them. They respected me. And that's just the way it is. So a lot of the things that you're saying, I respect it, bro, because you were trying to figure yourself out. And for a lot of people, you started figuring out your truth and you started saying, hey, you know what? This is legit. This is awesome. Let me go ahead and use the skills that I have because you had skills. Not everybody thinks outside the box. Right. To go ahead and say, hey, I'm going to leverage the posting on a beautiful woman's profile. and then one or two things is going to happen, brother, as common as that might seem to you and me, it's not common to a lot of people. For sure. They're probably like, oh, that's not going to work. No, definitely. But that's how I worked. I got friends that I've grown up with that are still in that industry. It's like they don't see nothing else. You know what I mean? Of course. It's like I pray for them and I get it. It's not easy to think that. I've lost relationships with some of my friends I grew up with yeah because I've actually gone legitimate and I won't like I say I won't see myself ever being you know doing anything illegal again I've literally lost relationships where it's like oh so you think you're better than me and I like I never even said anything or ever made nobody feel that way you know so it it hard it sucks you know I mean but it reality yeah and you know it it it it reality that we have to realize that there's that saying like not everybody is going to come you know and everybody's not going to meet you at top and that's why the top is so lonely you know I I feel that man because this is what I tell everybody I do business with I can always relate to people when they go ahead and say dude i've had to separate myself from family i have had to separate myself from some certain exes i had to separate myself from uh childhood friends because eventually you're gonna start all growing people man and not everybody's gonna want to see you actually grow and be better than them and that's the messed up part about this some of the people closest to you might be your worst haters right it is it is you know like it's it's it's harder for them to reflect on their like flaws and their issues their insecurities so when they're seeing that you're growing they're refusing to grow just because of whether it be fear for them of not making that happen and it gets to the point where your growth becomes them thinking you're rubbing in their face yeah you know and that's why i had the situation i told you that happened to me like like two and a half years ago you know where the dude that i was literally took him out of bad situations helped him change his life he lived with me for four years straight bro like i'm talking about lived in the room in my house, bro. Yeah. And, you know, to wake up and see him, you know, rob my store, you know what I mean, like that, and do that, it's like it's the ones closest to you. It was so hard for him to just want to do better with all the help and all the vision I saw in him and trying to, you know, help him. But that's not what they wanted, you know. They wanted you instead of you making them better. I was trying to help these people be better than me, but instead they just wanted to take me out. And Jimmy, before we get into that story, brother, let's continue on the path where we're at right now. So you're under Paul Wall's camp. You got the amount of reach that you got right now. Now, are you going on tour with him? What happens next? So we're going on tour. Definitely. It was crazy, you know, in mainstream music. Definitely was I was supposed to be the next thing. but I think, um, you know, there's, I don't want to say it was like where I messed up, but at the time, you know, we were making good money, but, um, you know, there an Asian market and it crazy because there was a website called Asian raps And it was like a a they talk about hip They talk about Asian artists on the Upcome And I never forget they messaged me on MySpace And at this time, I was growing a buzz already. I was getting my name out there. And so they go, who the fuck are you? So I'm just like, what? Like, what you mean? You know, that's their first message. And I'm like, what do you mean? They're like, you came out of nowhere. Like, you didn't use Asian people to build your fan base or anything. Like, you just popped out of nowhere. We never heard of you, and now you're just everywhere. And my reply to them was, well, my music doesn't just pertain to Asian people. Like, I've always, you know, looked at my music as, I call it hustle music. You know, we created a label at the time. It was called Live the Hustle Records and Live the Hustle Entertainment. And it was just basically a bunch of hustlers that made music to motivate, inspire other hustlers to keep pushing. Now it's more like a lifestyle brand and everything else. But yeah, you know, and so when that happened, when I came into the Asian market, they were paying me a lot. Like I started getting bookings all over the U.S. And, you know, I was I was at the time making three to five thousand a show mainstream. but with them this is what what year bro 2005 2006 so 2005 you're getting booked for multiple shows three to five k a show i mean it's gonna add up man yeah yeah and all of a sudden they're like yo we'll pay you ten thousand a show wow you know and so it's like they were like for example like mtv had me uh they were filming a reality show that they wanted me to be a part of and i never forget we you know we drove to st louis to film it they flew me to new york for the mtv video awards and like we're doing promo runs. And I'll never forget, like I'm sitting in the hotel and I'm just like, damn, like I'm out here for like two weeks doing promo, but I'm not getting paid during this time. I got like three shows lined up. I make 30,000 right now. And so I'm just like, what you gonna do? And I feel like, you know, you know, the greed, you know? And at the time, I don't think it was greed to me. It was just like, yo, I'm just trying to, I'm trying to get it. You know, I just have my daughter. I'm just trying to figure out to where I don't got to go back to doing what I did. At the time, I was still kind of one foot in, one foot out, but it wasn't that serious no more. So in my mind, I'm like, you know, this can be a way out. So I go heavy into... to doing what I did. to doing what I did. At the time, I was still kind of one foot in, one foot out, but it wasn't as serious no more. So in my mind, I'm like, you know, this can be a way out. So I go heavy into the Asian market, like doing the shows, doing the tours. But once again, like I said, we ride the wave. You know, thinking of it now, it's like I wish somebody was there to be like, hey, we still got to focus on the mainstream. Like, we're taking this money, we're doing these shows, but we still got to focus on that. We got to go back in the studio, make more music, We got to be consistent, you know, like the delivery, you know, making sure we deliver when we're supposed to. You know, I wasn't doing that. And so fulfillment, like as in like dropping the mixtape once a month or once every three months becomes, oh, we got to push the date back. There is an issue. and what I realized, especially with social media at the time and even now, your followers follow you because they want to feel engaged. They want to feel a part of you. You know what I mean? I might have never met Paul, but I want to feel that I know Paul's life through what he posts and what he gives me access to. The more access Paul gives me online, whether I know there's a million other people having the same access, I'm not thinking about them people. I'm thinking about me. Wow, Paul made this post for me. And so at the time, I didn't know that. I didn't realize that. So the following was so big, but we kept delaying drops. We kept doing things like that to where they make it disappoints them. It makes them feel that you're not in tune with them. And so they'll go somewhere else, you know, and that's what really happened. To where next thing you know, the show started dying out. now i'm heavier back in the streets because i gotta make things work because oh i'm gonna drop a mixtape now but once again with social media or entertainment if you're not consistent and you start dying out you can't just pop out and they're gonna come back back no you gotta you that's why there's marketing campaigns that's why there's so much they got to put behind budgets as far as marketing because they got to get you right back to where you were yep because there's so many other people trying to get to that spot too you know i mean so yeah and you started at a good time man I mean around my space there wasn't such thing as people calling themselves influencers or content creators or nothing like that so you know at that time that was gold that like the gold rush right there right that what actually when i left the social media man when i actually like 2014 i i want to go be a cop and i was just like man social media is just it's all bad for what i'm trying to do so i didn't jump back until 2020 see so for me it was crazy because so me not know what i know right and understanding social media or even the internet so you remember my space started dying now yep and so this is probably like 2009 2008 2009 this is when facebook starts popping youtube starts coming in yep and i'm watching other artists like releasing things on youtube doing things on facebook but because of my street mentality i'm thinking like i'm gonna stick with my space i'm gonna ride it out with them you know i mean like i didn't i didn't blow up with them like but that's not how the internet works yeah so i got i missed that wave of youtube i missed the facebook wave so literally i like i told you i started getting deeper in the streets and so i'll never forget 2009 2010 i end up moving to la because i had a friend of mine that was like i'm gonna help you with the music stuff get things popping and actually you know i moved out there and was getting things buzzing again. Shout out to Ben Baller. And I had some things going on in Houston. I flew back with my daughter and caught a case. You know what I mean? And this is the crazy part was that throughout my whole, I got out of prison in 2003. The week after I got out of prison, I'm walking outside the townhouse I was living at and they had an unmarked car outside. And so I'm looking and I realized it was the dudes that caught me in my fake case. And, you know, I come up to them like, yo, what's up? And they're just like, you know, oh, we're just seeing how you're doing. We just want you to know, like, the offer still stands. Like, if you want to work for us, we can pay you good money, you know, and things like that. And I told them, I said, look, I've been gone almost two years now. Ain't nobody messing with me. Everybody know I'm hot, so I can't help y'all. Okay, well, it still stands. So, you know, when I started doing the music and I'm popping now, again, I'm out there. you know i'm wearing the nice jewelry and i'm rapping about the life that i lived so literally like we used to have situations at least once a year where randomly i would just get pulled over or like they'll just pop up on me i'm talking about literally bro like dea and they just like there was the one officer i forgot his name that caught by busting me on my fake case He was just like until I retire like I know you still doing shit And until I retire I going to I going to catch you And so, like, I bring that up because I was having these issues. So once again, I was still fucking around, but not too crazy. But my cousin, like I told you, the one of the people for the three amigos of my book. he had got caught up doing some house flipping back in them days in 08 you know the whole flipping houses stuff and he had got caught up and he had set them up telling them that I was still connected with the cartel and I'm doing all this shit and I fucking got houses all over the city that I'm growing marijuana and I'm pressing kilos and everything so I'll never forget he had introduced me to his friend that was a master electrician and so I used them for one of our houses to redo the electricity to so we can grow weed in there and it was just funny because it was just like hey you know I know you got other houses too just make sure you let him know so he can do the rest of them and I'm just like I'll let you know you know I would always say that and um I'm on my way to the airport literally bro and I get a call from the electrician yo I need to meet you I need to meet you I'm like yo what's up you can meet with my partner like I'm leaving right now no no I gotta see you I need to talk to you I'm like bro I'm about to miss my flight he's like no I need to meet me at the house so I go back and meet him at the house bro and he ain't even there so I walk in the house my daughter and my girl at the time is in the car and I walk in the house to meet my partner and all of a sudden we hear a car like screech like outside and so we come out and it's him and he's like jittery you know what I mean so I'm like yo what's up so he's like talking about stuff and I'm like this is what you need to talk to me about like you could have just told my partner he was like I gotta go bro like I gotta fight the kids he's like yeah you know so I get in the car and I'm about to roll out bro and it was at his cul-de-sac and bro next you know I just see like I'll never forget it was a silver Dodge Ram that was like another I think a Durango then it was the big swap truck and you know they stand out on the sides I get a little emotional when I think about this cause I when they pull out I'm driving off and, you know, they pass me, the truck passes me but then the other pickups and stuff, so the SWAT truck, they pass me and the rest of them, they surround me and my daughter in the back seat and bro like 30 of them come out 20 of them really like guns out you know what I saying and they just like half of them is like put your hands up unlock the door and I'm like bro I'm like this and I'm like what the fuck y'all want me to do like one or the other cause I ain't trying to get shot and my daughter's screaming and this dude comes out of the truck bro motherfucking look like Sergeant Slaughter exactly like him I'll never forget it. The fucking, those fucking glasses and the fucking beard and the cigar and everything. The whole look, like I think his goal was to look like him. And he walks up and he looks in the window and he's like, oh, there's that motherfucker. And so they're like, that's Jimmy boy. Get him out. And so they threw me out. And I'm emotional because they grabbed my daughter, bro. And I just, I snapped. And I was just like, I was like, don't fucking touch my daughter. and they threw me on the floor and I was just like, I don't want her to see me like this. Yeah. And I'll never forget, the cop was like, you made her see you like this, you know what I mean? Not because of us. That shit, it fucked me up, bro, because I wanted to make sure like my daughter and my kids never knew the life I lived, you know what I mean? Like I never wanted them to have to live through that or even, you know, my daughter been going to private school all her life. So it was just like, I always wanted her to just have a normal life, bro. Like I never wanted to understand because my daughter, like, I had to raise her since she was three by myself. So she had to see a lot of shit, bro. She's seen things that she should have never saw growing up. So like, when that happened, bro, it was crazy. You know what I mean? But it was like, it was funny because, you know, after the lady, the agent grabbed her, and so they had to separate it. And so like, they're like, yo, before we kick down the door, we know what's up, just tell us. I don't know what y'all talking about. They're like, we know you got breaks in there. we're like no no no no and so I kind of like laughed they're like you think this shit's funny and I'm like bro the thing that makes me laugh is that y'all really think y'all really think that I really got all that stuff like it's crazy so you know they run in the house and so they're all up in there and I see them walking up ain't nothing in here it's just some fucking wheat plants and so there was this one SWAT there's this one SWAT officer bro and this dude's fucking 5'4 probably a buck 20 wet I'm talking about scrawny bro with a blonde beard and he's just like hey I just want you to know I love your music man like I got your CD and I'm just like that's how 5'4", probably a buck 20 5'4", probably a buck 20 wet. I'm talking about scrawny, bro. With a blonde beard and he's just like, hey, I just want you to know I love your music, man. I got your CD. And I'm just like, this is not happening right now, right? But then I'm looking at my daughter over there and she's like so fucking shocked. And so I was like, yo, I need you to do me a favor real quick. I just need to talk to my daughter. I'm like, please. Somebody talk to her real quick. See what I can do. He brought it over to me. She grabbed me She's like, look, we're playing a game, okay? Like, don't worry. Like, we're just playing a game right now. And I'm going to have grandpa come pick you up. But everything's okay. Like, don't worry. And she was just like worried, bro, like she was sad. And I think I'm so emotional because it made her, from years later on, you know, like it made her like lose trust in law enforcement. Yeah. And, you know, I grew up around law enforcement. I have family that are. So it's like I'm not like fuck all police. You know, they're still good. Everything you do is good and bad. people. There's good and bad, bro. But it hurt me because just seeing what my daughter had to go through. I remember months later, I'm out on bond and we just got pulled over and I look back, bro, and she got out the car seat and she dug herself under the fucking back seat because she's scared. It got to the point where every time she saw a cop, she thought someone was going to jail. You know what I mean? Yeah. That's hard, bro. Even with myself, I've always... When I was a kid, I feared the police, man. That's why I told you, you know, in the very beginning, I was like, I never thought I was going to be the police. You know, it was one of one of those epiphany things where I was just like, man, I just want to do something different. And that was it. Right. So I feel for you, man. And it's traumatizing, man. And I can only imagine me being a new dad this year. You know, my son's 11 months and just seeing how cute he is and how it was your daughter. At the time, she was three. Yeah, she's a little baby, little baby. So little baby, they're emotional. They see you as her hero, you know, at that time. and man, for her to go through all that, dude, of course. Who wouldn't hate the police, right? So at the end of the day, man, I mean, it is what it is, but I'm glad that you rose above it, brother, because that's what it's about. And so I bring that up, right? So because of that, I ended up getting on a bond and I ended up having to do six months. And this is just how like, it's funny because before I went in, that's when, you remember Twitter? They started coming out with TwitPic. And so I was always a person that I never really liked to type what I doing or And you know that what Twitter really is like speaking your opinion whatever So when TwitPic came out it was like I could post a picture. And so like, you know, I'm like, okay, I love doing that. So I'm posting pictures, posting jewelry, posting to the club. So I go do my time. And let me also add at the time, I'm a Blackberry guy. I only fuck with Blackberry. I hated iPhone. This is 2011. and you met my friend Tony in Arizona. Yep. So he always been in the nightlife entertainment business and I remember calling him from in there. You know, we did like a little campaign while I was gone where I shot like 10 music videos. So we're dropping videos like once every couple weeks. We're doing our thing. So I'm checking on with him and he's like, bro, I got something to tell you. Like I just seen this app and I thought about you. I'm like, what? He's like, you know how you love posting pictures and shit? this app you just post a picture you write a little caption i'm like what is it it's called instagram i'm like okay that's what's up he's like but there's only one problem i'm like what it's like it's only for iphone so i was like well fuck it then i don't it wouldn't matter to me right i'm like that ain't gonna help me none right and so fast forward i get out bro and so like i get out november 2011 and i'm like i'm seeing it you know i mean but i don't have it because i got a Blackberry. Two months later, bro, I'm like, you know what? If I gotta buy an iPhone. The only reason why I bought an iPhone was for Instagram. Yeah. And at this time already, my music has faded out. People don't even know where to find me or nothing like that. So I started the Instagram, started posting. And so people started finding me again. And it was just crazy because at the time, it was just me just posting my life. I was still trying to do the music. but then uh that's when i started like this hashtag called done right which is like i'll go places i see jury that's nice the way i like it and the execution of it and i would just hashtag done right that's a nice jury and uh one thing that i was doing when i was on tour back then you know back then there wasn't social media like instagram it was just facebook or myspace so i would go to like freaking, you know, the Midwest or I go to Minnesota. I go to these small towns. I doing these shows All these guys got money but they have no access to the jewelers So that like yo like we love your jewelry It looks good Like where you get it from So at the time you know I like I buying it from Johnny Dang or King Johnny and stuff like that And they're like, yo, like, we have no way to get to them. And I know if I call them, you're going to tax me. So why don't I just go through you? And so that is what got me into, like, middleman and jewelry. And so, bro, there were times I used to do a show in Minnesota. and I would come home looking like I got robbed. They buy all the jewelry on my body, my own jewelry. And they're buying it for like double what I paid. So I just go back home and buy more jewelry. Just doing it as a middleman thing, bro. Never thinking none of it. And literally, you know, when I started the Instagram, I would just like be posting the jewelry, posting things I got. Sometimes I'll get some, I'll just post it and sell it. And it was just, you know, it would just work. You know what I mean? And I mean it when I say I tell people I built a multi-billion dollar jewelry business on social media, on Instagram. Like I became known as the Instagram jeweler. I changed the way people sold jewelry. I made it less transactional and more relatable to where me and a client can sit down or I can fly to them and really have them in the comfort of their own place or where they feel comfortable at and give them what they need. you know and i can't forget of course like in 2015 i don't know if you remember but before like when vine first came out yeah there was a little asian girl that became very popular for holding a bunch of money and rapping to where like you know now drake's posting it fucking everybody it became it went crazy bro and that's my daughter wait wait you're talking about it was a little asian girl she got a bundle money she's like this rapping not the one so there was too so the original was they call her ling ling which is the one that raps then there was little tay the one that goes on there to talk shit to people okay okay my daughter was ling ling okay so it was oh shit my bad you're fine you're fine so uh it's funny right because we're living in la my daughter was like i want to be a superstar i want to be superstar and i would always tell like yeah we'll do it don't worry and i took her to one or two um like uh auditions but it was just whatever so like I said me and my daughter she's been with me since she was three bro so everything I listen to she listens to I was very transparent with my daughter as far as like I let her a lot of people told me like you expose her too much but I just like it my daughter it my life like I here with her It what it is So my daughter used to love listening to what I listen to And I never forget It was never even a plan, bro. I picked her up from school. And I had a bunch of cash in the cup holder. And at the time, this song by Young Thug named Check. It was one of my favorite songs. And my daughter used to always make fun of the way I danced. So we're driving, bro. And she grabs a stack of cash. and he starts like she starts dancing and she's in her school uniform and i'm playing around i just record her and i posted it just like a regular post that we would always post and play around she do dances whatever and it didn't do nothing bro like just do what it usually does it was whatever and then i'll never forget like three months down the line i'm in vegas right i'm at a pool party encore and this girl i used to date sends me a link from twitter i'm like what's this She's like, look at it. And I click on that, and it's a video of my daughter. And I think it was like a blogger that posted it. I was like, that's cool. You know, whatever. You know what I mean? That's tight. Then, like, I think the next day, like, someone tags me. Next thing you know, someone sends it more. Next thing you know, Jermaine Dupri posts it. Next thing you know, like, Tony Braxton posts it. Like, it caught fire. It was crazy because it was like an overnight thing that happened, right? and I don't want to go back too much but so around 2015-14 I started questioning whether because I started doing jewelry January 1st 2015 and it was doing good that was when I was like okay I'm actually going to be a jeweler I'm going to like put my time into this before then it was just like middleman and at the time I had you know a big label that was trying to sign me into music and they were talking, we were talking in talks back and forth for like three to six months, bro. And something was like dragging me, like something was causing me to drag it out with them to sign. And it was just like I think it was just the thought of like, you know, everything going through with my daughter, with that shit. Like, when I had to do that six months at a time, I had to lie to my daughter. I told her I was going to China to go on tour because I didn't want her to know I was going to jail. And that was the first time we were ever separated, you know. And I'm not going to lie to you bro the way I broke down to you here I was breaking down like that in jail during those six months of course because at the time though that was the easiest time I ever did because every week they had a TV show called I was breaking down like that in jail during those six months. I was breaking down like that in jail during those six months. Of course. Because at the time, though, that was the easiest time I ever did because every week they had a TV show called Street Flavor in Houston. They played my music. So they treated me like a king in there. From the guards to the freaking chief, everybody, the captain, I'm living the best life. I'm getting free food, like outside world food, free world food, everything. But I was away from my daughter. I was down the street from her, but I couldn't see her. and there were times bro like she'll be on the phone with me and she'll be crying she's like i want you to come home i want things to be like they used to be i don't want you to make money i don't care and bro i would go into my cell and i'd just be bawling bro and so i was thinking about all those things when i started doing the tricks i'm okay things are going good right now i'm making money you know i'm still i got my shit lined up and uh it was crazy because i i grew up in a family of musicians like my family that's all they know too so growing up it was all music it was funny because i i finally realized at one point i had to tell them like you know what i appreciate everything guys i appreciate everything you've done but i'm just gonna take a stop on the music right now and um it's crazy because at that time when i did that it was just like damn i'm closing the chapter of music in my bloodline like my whole family that's all they know is music so even at one time they wanted me to be a musician and so when that happened it was just like wow like i'm ending it and i was like this is it and i bring that up because literally bro a week later was when that girl i dated sent me that link of my daughter and i bring that up because it was like even though i thought i was done with that god was like you might be done with but you're not fully done with it. And that's when my daughter came into the spotlight. And when I say that thing got so big, we were getting phone calls from Ellen DeGeneres, Oprah Winfrey, even Drake. Like, it was out of this world, bro. And we had deals with Nickelodeon on the table. We had deals with Disney. We ended up doing some shows. She has a couple shows that are on Netflix. But I say all that because we brought the thing about the kids is that I was in a situation where someone very big and powerful flew us to L and sat us down was like yo we we want to we want to like yo we want to sign her and we want to change her life But it was a 20 year deal. Straight up they told us 20 years. Like basically she was going to go straight into her own Nickelodeon show. From there we'll blow it up and then we'll bring her into pop get her pop music going. They were the same people that were behind Gwen Stefani and everybody. And it was like from there we just keep pushing through. and I was stuck in a situation of what do I do? And a lot of people told me I was tripping but I turned it down bro because I looked at it like if I was to sign my daughter's life away for 20 years all those chances I took of my freedom all the time I did all the shit that I was doing in my mind to do for her it would have been down the drain what was it for then you know because she'll never have that life or she'll be 30 years old trying to live like a 15 year old you know and you know and you hear about it you know and I just didn't want that for her I just wanted her to have a normal life and I feel like any parent that's what we want to give our children a life to where they can just avoid at least one thing that we had to face and you know how I look at it and how it worked out you know it's like I gave that music part up she took it in I turned that down everybody told me I was stupid I was tripping but God made it work somehow to where the jury business took off for me to where I was able to give my daughter that normal life that American dream life to me you know and everybody has their own definition of the American dream but for me my definition of the american dream is opportunity yep you know my family grew didn't have opportunity yep me i didn't have a lot of opportunity because of my choices whether it be high chosen tattoo myself or choosing the situation that i chose so you know all we can do for our children in my eyes to give them opportunity let them know that hey you live in a place where anything you want to do i can support you and we can try it and we can do it provider mindset brother sir you know yeah going ahead and have options because that's what i tell my wife all the time you know it's my second year going into my third year now being married and i tell my wife all the time i will provide you take care of the home you focus 100 on our son that it we don want no one to take care of them exactly because we can trust people that just the way it is small group of friends that's all we need we don't need no friends right there's a saying in vietnamese it's uh home guy lock augment by lock augment and basically it's like no one's gonna care for your child like you gonna care for your child backs you know i mean backs like literally i have My two youngest and my daughter, they've been with me, and no babysitters, no nothing. Like, I did it. I made it work because, you know, I truly believe, and, you know, like we've been talking about 20 years ago, I was doing all these different things in life, that in the future when people talk about, oh, Paul or Jimmy, oh, you remember Paul? You know, he did all this. He was a cop, and he came up, and da-da-da. Or, oh, Jimmy, he did a da. They don't really look at it like, oh, where are they now? it's like oh they got kids where are their kids at like how are they like where did their kids become 100 and i truly believe that's all that matters right there 100 it's your blow line exactly bro like what you like how you helped to shape them into you know and that's why earlier when i was talking about my other son like it devastates me it hurts me because it's like i i take accountability whether i was able to be there or not or what i still take accountability because I feel like I could have did more. And I feel like any man, that's what we do. Like, we ask ourselves every day, what more could you have done to maybe make this different or change this? You know what I mean? Damn, love that, bro. I mean, it's just accountability, knowing your truth. And at the end of the day, man, I mean, not all is lost. There's still things that could be changed. True. Especially if you weren't in one of your children's lives or whatnot, you could still go ahead and pour into them now because you're a great man. So, all right, 2014. Yep. the the whole music uh portion with your daughter blows up um you got all these great opportunities with celebrities and the media and all that jazz okay and then you're starting this great career of building your jewelry um legacy so tell us a little bit about how you learned how to become a jeweler who'd you learn from and then how did you take it to the next level so i think um the jury was always since I was a kid. Whether I see my dad or even my best friend, we were just always infatuated with jewelry. It was something about, and you know it wasn like back then in the 2000s it wasn a lot of diamonds It was just thick gold chains it was just something about wearing that piece of jewelry that made you feel you know it a way of i guess when you come from and i hate using this word but when you come from nothing that's your way of showing your success you know like especially where i'm from in houston it was like you you'll be motherfuckers that got a hundred thousand dollars worth of jewelry on that live in an apartment driving a brand new Escalade. And that was just the way. We show by what we have. And so we used to wear chains and jewelry. So since I can remember in my teenage years, it was always an infatuation. And watching even my dad too, because he loved jewelry. And so when I started getting money to where I can buy jewelry, I'm the type of person when I like something, I just want to learn it. Whether I'm even purposely trying to learn it or not. so my jeweler at the time I was I was messing with Iceman Nick Johnny Dang I would always just go there every day almost you know if I'm not doing nothing I remember carrying my daughter in a car seat and just go there and just talk to them or you know think about what I want to do or looking at their stuff and it wasn't even trying to learn to do the business bro it was just trying to learn more as far as knowing what I'm buying and what I'm doing and um so as that time went that's when I started middlemanning and you know making a thousand here 500 here off each one and I never I never I promise you I never thought of it like this can be a business it was just like hey I'm a middleman and make a little money and keep it going I think when 2010 after 2000 hit jewelry became more artistic than it was just a piece of gold and a piece of diamond and like for example I think it was 2012 when the Jesus piece came back. It was everybody wanted a Jesus piece. In New York, they had created the Jacob Jesus or the Kufi Jesus like that. And all the jewelers down south, like Houston mainly, they could not replicate the piece. It was, bro, like they tried so many ways. And this is before 3D printers, CAD design stuff. It's literally by hand. Or you have to be, you know, you really have to have the vision of it in your face to make the mold and I'll never forget at the time they couldn't do it and I've always drawn all my life I was artistic and I was able to help Iceman Nick make the Jesus pieces like they they couldn't do it and you know i've always drawn all my life i was artistic like they they couldn't do it and you know i've always drawn all my life i was artistic and i was able to help ice man nick make the jesus piece that to this day that they use down south you know and i designed that and i helped him create it to where it made him so much money i think he made like a million dollars the first year off the design that he made me my own piece for free like a $20,000 piece you know what I mean and um even at that time it wasn't even like me being a jeweler it was just like yo I could just help design but at the time I was also bringing him so much business I think it was early 2014 when he was just like you ever thought about being a jeweler and I'm just like no like why you know and he was just like bro like you bring me so much business as it is and like you know so much from it because i was around so much to where i guess he just would forget i'm around and so he'll like tell me how to break down like gold percentage wise things like that how much labor costs for things like that and i'll never forget there was one time i was like i asked him for a piece i wanted to get made he gave me a price and i'm like bro that's too much and he's like what do you mean so i started telling him like well bro like it's this many stones and that many stones for labor and this amount of gold and that point ago and he laughed and i'm like what's so funny he's like if you know already why are you asking me and so like i thought about it i was just like there's no way i could be a jeweler because the way i look at it is like either you have that family in this shit or you got to be connected all the way in like it's like like the drug trade right i could buy a kilo from you here but how many hands has it touched and what was the price before so how many points have been on top so I can't come out and say hey I'm a jeweler buy for me but then when I give you a price a jeweler can beat my price because I'm not getting the price and so he was just like look I'll make a deal with you I'll show you everything like the pricing cost everything but you just what we do we'll split the profit 50-50 so I'm like for real he's like yeah like i just think this will work let's just try it and um i thought about it and i finally i was like you know let's give it a try fuck it and at this time i was kind of like going through that thought of like what am i going to do now you know what i mean because at this time now it 2014 15 i like 32 33 years old i like am i going to sell drugs forever I need to find other avenues I had rocky situations that happened back up and down so it's just like let's try something new it wasn't even trying to go legit it was just trying something new like I said January 1st 2015 I officially went on Instagram I was like I'm a jeweler June-July was when my daughter went viral and I will bring this up to say her going viral catapulted my jewelry career to a place where money can't even buy like you can't even buy marketing for that because it's network yeah it was so crazy because I started getting so many customers that were coming to buy jewelry for me was like once again back to my space yo I know of you because of my girl because my girl follows your daughter or she's a fan of your daughter you see and it's like like full full circle moment right it was like i was thinking about doing it for the women and it's like my daughter ends up bringing it back that way but it really it really it really took my career to a totally different level bro to where i was able to get away from selling dope get away from illegal stuff and that's why i always tell people it's like my daughter owns as much as this empire that i built as much as i own it i mean because i truly believe like when that happened it took me to another place you know I mean and that's when the bigger name started coming that's when all the other things and that's when all eyes were on me and I was able to design very good jewelry to make people latch on and keep following me that they weren't just following me for my daughter tomorrow now it was like my daughter gave me that push for the world to truly see me and really buy in to what and follow me and what I'm doing and that's how it attracted my relationship with six nine so to go back before we we continue on before the relationship was six nine which is freaking interesting dude um i want to talk about your first mentor who put you on to becoming a jeweler yeah how were you able to trust him i think the relationship with me and nick started with him so i'll never forget right at the time i um i was real close to johnny dang you know we had like family members that knew each other and a lot of stuff like that but there was just always situations that I just felt like he was like overcharging me. Like, overcharging me And I would always bring it up You talking about Johnny Yep Okay The jeweler So because at this time before I was a jeweler I was messing with everybody I talking about whoever gave me the best price You know I buying And everybody knew that if Jimmy comes, he got clients that come too. He bringing business. You had the network. Uh-huh. And so for me, it was just like, I would always tell every jeweler I worked with, like, look, I know you got to make your money. But I know what I can bring to the table. So all I'm asking you is just don't make me find out that I can get it cheaper somewhere else. like I don't want that I've always been since I was young I believe in working with people and don't try to fix it if it ain't broke you know what I mean so loyalty is very big for me and there were just a lot of situations where I seen it with my own eyes that I was getting done wrong you know and so I remember some of my friends were like yo and back in the day the beef was crazy I'm talking about the beef between King Johnny and Johnny Dang it was like it seemed like it was on street shit like these dudes would like fight if they saw each other and you know everybody knew that i was always with johnny dang and i'm vietnamese too so it's kind of like automatically you know that's my boy but i forgot how it happened but i had some friends were like yo you should come check them out they want to holler at you and i'm just like i'm not he trying to hear ain't nothing you know i'm loyal to what i'm loyal to but there was a situation where i was looking for this jacob and co watch and at the time i think johnny was trying and charged me like $12,000 for it. And it got to them that I was looking for that. And they were like, yo, we got one for 7,500 bucks. It's like 5,000 difference. How are you able to do that? That's huge. Yes. And I ended up going to see him. Check out the watch. It's exactly what it is. I buy it. And that was kind of like, I guess, the surface got scratched from there. From there, it was like he was always doing things to make me feel very comfortable as far as my relationship to where I remember at the time gold was selling at like $10 a gram, $12 a gram. And so I'd ask him like, yo, I'm going to buy this. If I need to sell it, how much would you sell it back to me for? He goes, I'll give you back what you paid for it. I'm like, for real? And, you know, talking about it now, whether he knew gold was going to go up or not, his money's going to be good. The fact that he was willing to do that for me is sometimes all it really matters, you know, relationships in business. It's like, it's the little things, bro. You know what I mean? Stuff like that. So it, that's what kept our relationship going. And then also when I was middlemanning there were situations where there might be a calculation that wrong you know and i instilled the same business for me learning from him and if if the if the calculation gets wrong on my end i gotta hold myself accountable right there were situations when i was dealing with johnny and the numbers be wrong and they'll make me be accountable for their action it's just like that's not cool yeah so it's just a little stuff like that and i'll never forget when johnny found out I first went over there to them he's like how you gonna do me like that that's fucked up you know you over there and so I told him straight I go no Johnny like why did you have to get me to have to go over there you know I mean wow like you made me go over there like why did you do that because I kept telling you I didn't want to do that but you keep doing me like this you know and um it hindered our relationship but it was just it was what it was and you know I started just building my relationship and that's what I said like I would literally carry my daughter in the car seat over there to just go sit down and talk to them, chop it up with them, buy jewelry, whatever it kind of be and that built our relationship from there and every time I brought a customer whatever I was supposed to get he would always make sure I get. It was just that relationship and when I designed the Jesus piece for him and he was able to look out for me like that it became more of a relationship to where it's like, it's not just business with this, you know? And I feel that, you know what I mean? Like, and it's crazy because the way you put it down has, has brought it even a bigger perspective to me. I never even thought of it like that, but yeah, Nick was my mentor, bro. Like he, he and I both, he and I both didn't even know this would do what it did because it literally changed both of our lives. So would you say, because Nick did good business with you from, from the beginning that you guys were able to make millions together yes um Nick's you know Nick is is solid and and and that's why I've told him to his face you can never do me wrong he's he's my youngest son's godfather you know my my youngest son's middle name is his name like what he did for me and I tell him this even though he didn't realize it and I didn't realize at the time but giving me that opportunity and going into the jury business and doing what I did, it changed my life and my kids' future forever. My legacy. Like, I'll never forget when me and my daughter talked and I was just like, like, how does it feel? You know, like, because we've seen life change. Like, we went from, yeah, I got, my legacy like i'll never forget when me and my daughter talked and i was just like like how does my legacy like i'll never forget when me and my daughter talked and i was just like like how does it feel you know like because we've seen life change like we went from yeah i got money and we live in like good but to where now like we live in in places where y'all going to the best schools y'all around not the people you know and my daughter i'll never forget she's like i'm just glad that i don't have to tell my friends that you're a youtube rapper anymore you know i mean And, bro, like, that shit right there was a good feeling, man. Like, to make my children proud, to make my dad proud, to really turn my life around is, you know, it's, you know what I mean? And Nick made that happen, bro. You know what I mean? And it made us millions and millions. I'm talking about, you know, we good for life. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. You know? So for anyone listening right now to Jimmy's story, I mean, do good business. So do good business. And I'll tell you, like, there were times I know that Nick took losses. I'll never forget. And I admit it now, but before I was drunk one night, I had an ice style AP watch, bro. I was drunk. I used to be real sloppy when I'm drunk. Not sloppy as a person, but I get cocky. So I took my watch. I'll be talking shit. I threw my watch in the ice bucket. I'm like, yeah, it's nothing. You know what I mean? I do dumb shit. And I wake up the next day and my whole watch is fogged up. and I'm like, fuck bro so I'm calling him like, hey bro, what's up with this? like the watch, but I didn't tell him I threw it in the ice bucket bro, I sent him the watch it was fully rusted inside he fixed it for me bro, it cost him 10 grand, he fixed it, he did everything right bro, and never tripped about it, you know what I'm saying? There are times when we talk about business, you know and he know he take less he do that, and until this day I've learned that business trait from him and I think like, part of the reason why I'm successful is because of that like I've had situations where I calculated a custom job for somebody and I remember uh what's his name um our rest in peace to one of our friends but I I I bro I I underpriced him four grand and I know I underpriced him four grand so I told him you know what take it like it is what it is you know like I literally thought that I calculated it right. And so that's just what it is. And it comes back, you know what I mean, in different ways. No it does man because you got to consider your network is really your net worth You might be underpricing somebody at four grand but you don know the potential referrals they might be bringing to you That why I always big on good business And your work is your bond. Oh, it's huge. That's why when earlier we were talking about, you know, your son, I'm like, bro, like, I'll take time to go ahead and just add value. Because if I could go to him and have him move the needle in his life, what is that going to show you? You're going to be like, oh, bro, Paul, man, he poured into my son, made it happen for him. Dude, this dude is a good dude. And that might bring more business to me. That's how I always think, man. Your network is really your net worth. Right. So love the story, dude. Let's get into the portion now that you got involved with 6ix9ine. Tell me about that. I say it was like end of 2017, bro. I'm going on Worldstar. I'm just seeing this colorful hair dude, you know, like everywhere. And I'm just like, whatever. I don't pay no mind to it. But one day I go on Worldstar and it's like the first video and he's smiling and I see him with his grill and it's just like rainbow color, but it's like painted, right? It was different. Yeah. And at the time I had some people in New York. So I was just like, yo, y'all know, y'all know dude or what? They're like, we know some of his people. I said, yo, holla at him, man. Tell him like, let me do a grill for him. Like he needs something better than that. And so me and my daughter actually spent Christmas Eve, like Christmas time, like December in New York. And it was actually New Year's Eve. His team reaches out. We get together. We go to the studio. They're playing music. You know, we chopping it up. And he's like, yo, I want to do a grill. So I'm like, cool. So I molded him up. And it's funny because I molded him up. He's like, how long you think it'll take? So I was like, it'll take like about a couple weeks. He's like, all right, cool. And I make the grill for him. Then he calls me. He's like, yo, bro, like I want to get a piece made. What should I do? so I had an idea I was like yo like we should do like a spinning 6-9 piece he's like for real I go yeah that should be clean he's like alright how long it take I was like I was like it might take me like 2 weeks 3 weeks he's like can you do it like 10 days or a week I go I can try he was like alright I'm going to stay here until it's done and I'm like in my mind I'm like bro it's going to take 2 weeks but I'm like fuck I'm like you want to just come back he's like no I'm going to just chill here and bro like you know it's crazy because we you know, years later, he admits to me is that at the time, when he got that piece made, bro, like I charged him the piece and whatever he paid he had no more money left in his account He spent all the money he had from his bonus left on that necklace right You know what I mean? He said, but that necklace changed his life. You know, it shot him up so high. He made back so much money. But it's just funny because it was just like, in the video, though, that went viral, he comes and he has all this money stuffed in his pants and his drawers and everything. but that actually was my money. You know what I mean? I brought from the house like to make it look the video we did. You know what I mean? But it was crazy. It built a relationship to this day where it's like, yo, I still consider him a friend, man. And like it was definitely amazing. Like he's still one of my top five, top three clients that I love working with because he let me freestyle. Like he was just like, I trust you. run with it. And it let me really use my creativity. And that's why to this day, like the pieces that him and I have done are still some of the most talked about pieces, you know, in the world, literally, I mean, yeah. From the Billy, the puppet from Saul. And literally when I made that piece, the producers of Saul reached out the whole company. Wanted me to make pieces for them, you know, to the Bruce, the shark finding Nemo piece I did for him. Like, um, it was, it was, it was a fun time. at that time that's crazy how that works man how people could just reach out based on you know your ideas that you put on paper and just make it happen man it was a it's a blessing like i i remember when when they first called me the producers that saw i thought they were gonna like send me a cease and desist or something bro and they're just like hey we love what you did we want to make 20 of them for the cast and the producers and i'm just like that's crazy this is crazy man yeah definitely bro it was it was definitely it was it was it was a time man So, Jimmy, let's now transition into what we talked about before. You know, in entrepreneurship and in life, we all go through our seasons, right? We're winning. We go down. We go up. We go down. As much as you had a phenomenal mentor who put you up and you guys made millions together, there was also some friendships and partnerships that possibly caused betrayal, right? And hardship on your end. So let's shift into that season now. um let talk about what had happened with i guess one of your close associates and uh the tragedy that happened with like the robbery that you ended up experiencing You know, to get like a little bit more history on it, bro. I think the best way is like when I got with Nick, it really took me to a place. and I don't know if it was whether I was lonely or whatever it was, but I was just like, yo, how can I find some of the people that I've known for so long and take them with me? And I had people that, you know, whether I was close to them or not, I looked at them like family and I was just like, yo, I think this person, because they're a hustler too or were a hustler in the streets, if I bring them with me, we could probably be at a stopover together. You know, and that's how it started. You know what I mean? I had a person that I looked at like a sister and it was just like she had from what she made me believe is that she just had the short end of the stick in the situation and so for me being the person I am with a big heart it was just like man I know she a hustler even though me and her never did no business together just from what I know of her if I bring her in and she do what I think she knows it will be unstoppable and so we basically you know she got out i moved her to houston paid for everything put her son in private school like i just want to show you what i can do you know i mean and we did it it was working well bro but things were going good and she was amazing because i i literally threw in the dungeon when she got here you know i mean well jimmy let's let's take a step back brother so um she had an expertise obviously because in business you know i don't like dealing with business partners unless they have a special unique talent that I don't have. Yeah. Right? So I like to delegate. So was that the case with her? Like she had like, she was an artist. What was she doing for you as far as the business side? Like, so before we were just really close. Like we were just like, when I was in the music business, she was always supportive of it. She was getting her own money. You know, she was from Dallas. So me knowing her and meeting her, she was a hustler from what I saw. We never did no business together. So I never really knew how she did business, but I knew she was doing something right because she was well off and good in her position. Okay. We never mixed. That's one thing I was like in the streets, right? Just because we cool, don't mean we don't work together. Got you. I just always was like that for some reason. So when she came home, I was just like, you know what? Like, I really feel confident that that for some reason. I just always was like that for some reason. So when she came home, I was just like, you know what? Like, I really feel confident that we can work together well because she never really liked to be the front person. It was like, you be the front person, I'll handle the back work. So when she came, it was like I threw her in the dungeon. Like, she literally learned from scratch, and she picked it up fast. You know what I mean? And it worked together. But, you know, sometimes, like, you're close to somebody, And you might see them doing something that you don't like, but you're just like, oh, well, that's just them. You know what I mean? Like, that's just what he does or she does. It's whatever. You know what I mean? A bad habit they have. Maybe, like, they like to talk bad about people or do whatever. That's just maybe how they feel, you know? But as long as they don't get to me, because I know who they're talking about is not bad, it's all right. But, like, with anything in life, if you don't shut it down or stop it right there, it just keeps growing. Well, it's a cancer, bro. Yep. and so looking back now I first realized it was just like oh why are you working with Nick we can do our own shit you know what I mean like and you know I remember having these conversations with Nick hey why you never branched off on your own and he would tell me you don't want to do it it's a headache just stay down and I'd be like you're right you're right but then once again they're in your ear we can do this without them we can do this you don't got to do this and so I think it was COVID time was when I decided to branch off so around 2019, 2020 so there was really like I mean it's up to you how much you want to say how much you don't want to say but was there anything else between you and Nick that was just like I'm going to branch off Nick or was it just like let's be honest was it greed? I'm going to be totally honest with you it wasn't Nick but it was the other partners that we had on top of Nick They were in your ear? Not in my ear. So basically, the system they had, it was Nick and three, four of the partners. It was like five of them total, right? And when I came in at first, when Nick was like, I'm bringing him in, like half of them were like, no. Like, he a street dude. Like, we can't trust him. But Nick was like, I vouch for him. Whatever he does, I'll back him up. And I single-handedly earned all of their respect. when I went in I started at the bottom I built it up and I built their brand same as building my brand We became everybody got rich you know what I mean But some of them one of them two of them was always you know how like when you so used to being that dude, that you don't know what else of being that dude, you start to get mad when you see the dude next to you, even though we on the same team, and we all making the same money, it's going to the same pot, but it's like, oh, I don't want him to shine, I want to be shining. He take away my light. It's pride. So it was situations like that. But then also the girl that was at my sister would kind of like highlight it too. Oh, you see that? You see that he doing that? And like I said, I was going through this phase where it was just like, who can I help? You know, like, oh, you know, this person, you know, and there was the one guy that I took in, you know what I mean? I looked at him and I felt like relatable. I'm like, man, he looks like a, he reminds me of a younger version of me. maybe if I can help him and mentor him, he'll be better in life. And so he was from Dallas too. And it was to the point where he got so strung out on drugs and his life was so bad that his own people, if his own people that he grew up with wanted nothing to do with him. And I was just like, I'll take him. You know what I mean? Because I had the call with his OG. His OG's like, I can't deal with him no more, bro. like why don't we just set him down with you you just you know what I mean like get his ass right you know what I mean like he'll be next to you at least you know you got somebody to watch your back whatever so I was just like alright fuck it you know what I mean I brought him down put him in the house with me like curfew every day he always with me everything you know what I mean and so like I'm having these people around and I'm thinking what can I do so let's open a store if I open the store and we do everything in house everybody will have a job everybody gets paid their salary you know whether we do well or not everybody get paid we do well everybody get more money and i'm doing this with the thought of this but this business right here will be a part of you know my sisters theirs you know because by this time now i'm gonna be rude to you like by 2020 bro being at a 2020 i'm i'm seeing i'm i'm i never like to calculate what i was worth or my value of my net worth and i decided to do it and i'm like yo i'm damn near 10 million never even imagined to be a millionaire you know so I just like well shit let me set up this store you know let open this store because i i planning my way out now i like yo i want to retire i want to basically be in a place where i could just spend more time my kids because at this time now i i'm separating with my kid my two youngest kid mom so it was a real ugly separation it got real bad lawyers involved to where now they're with me damn near every day now too so it's just like okay if I could set this up, open this door, they run it. I just work when I want to work. I can just spend all the time with my kids. They're going to be straight. I'm straight. Everything's cool. So, you know, we focused on opening the first door. And it was just like, the best way to put it was just like, every time, like, we're touching back on it, yo, what's going on with the status? Oh, there's this and that. And me, it's like, okay, well, I trust you. That's what you're saying. All right, let me go. off and do whatever i do and and that's where i was i was where i fucked up i believe it's just like in 2020 i was just like since i'm thinking i'm trying to retire i'm like okay well let me invest in other things too let me put some money in different places uh you know let me get into like construction business let me do different things so because i think my sister and my brother got the jury business had no if they need they call me because you're delegating it to them because you trust them you have history with them you you mentor them essentially you show them a better light and you're like you know what they they got me it might my mentality is like for example of like i'm like paul i need a and b done and you're like yo i got a so you had a b yep the way i think is that i don't think about a no more like if anything you'll call me i'm gonna go focus on b yes and when we get back together i'm done with b you're done with a right but i guess it doesn't work like that or or however you want to put it it didn't work like that you know and long story short it was just like I just kept doing what I was doing thinking that I would get done and it wasn't it wasn't to where you know once again the cancer it keeps growing and when the cancer grows to the point where the people that believed in you and look up to you start questioning you I think that's what was happening because I started kind of like distancing myself because I wasn't, you know, before I used to, my lifestyle was very active. I'm always on trips, on yachts. We taking trips, 20, 30 of us. We go to Vegas. We spend $50,000 a weekend. We go to Miami. You know that how I like to live You know it was how we were living and I wanted to make sure everybody had a good time Around 2022 it kind of like started slowing down 2023, because I'm like, where's my life at right now? What am I doing? Like, for my children, how do I want to be? I want to retire. Like, the party's got to slow down. Jimmy, let me ask you, man. So 2022, 2023, how old were you? 40, 41. So 40, 41. what happened in 2022 2023 for you to start thinking that way i think it was just the separation i'm not gonna lie like i really didn't think that me and my my youngest kid's mom was really gonna separate and we were together like 10 years off and on but more on than off so that that hit you it was it was a hard hit because i had left everything in her name got you and when the separation happened we weren't married but because everything was in her name i almost lost everything oh shit and you know by the grace of god i had found some good lawyers and we found some loopholes and i was able to get most of it not most of it like half of it back but it was like money was coming in good business was going good so i'm just like what do i need to do to not let the same things happen again right right i gotta sit down and think about that and it was just like I've always had gout I've had gout since 1990 no 2008 I was considered the youngest person to have gout at the time but my gout became very chronic to where the lifestyle I was living was causing it very bad so by 2022 I'll never forget I was in bed both my knees swollen I couldn't move I go to the doctor they drain my knee and they put out five and a half ounces of like liquid Like it looked like, like just pus, but it was uric acid. Yeah. And it was because of me not thinking about taking care of myself, me not, you know, really, you know, being on top of my health to make sure I needed to do that. And so I started focusing on my health more. 2023, I started going on this diet, like getting right. And I always been messing with working out, but it would always, it'd be crazy, bro. like I would get fit and then my people around me is like party drink and that's all it was so maybe I was wrong for not having to sit down and tell them hey guys I don't want to do this anymore but they were around me every day they see what I'm trying to do but I guess to them it's like what is going on here for not having to sit down and telling them hey guys i don't want to do this anymore but they for not having to sit down and telling them hey guys i don't want to do this anymore but they were around me every day they see what i'm trying to do but i guess it to them it's like what is going on here he don't want to hang out with us he don't want to drink and i'm just like i'm just trying to be at the house more and do things and trying to figure out so i started traveling more too you know like just getting away by myself or you know with a friend just to chill being distant from them and the distance caused them to start feeling some type of way i guess started thinking that probably you think you're better or you're not fucking with them they're beneath you and i just i'll never forget because you know when the robbery happened i found out like a couple days before there was a lot of speaking going on around me in in the circle but not directly towards me and like the guy that was like my brother called one of my close friends and he would like kind of like um you know vent to him about what he felt like i was doing or what i wasn't doing and he would always tell him like yo just call bro and talk to him like if you call bro we can figure it out that's one thing we know just call bro call jimmy and it'll be all good and he would just be like oh yeah yeah yeah i'll do it but he would never call me and he said this to my friend that my friend told me that he said, he goes, if sis ain't okay, oh no, if sis ain't safe, ain't nobody safe. Wow. And that was two nights before he decided to wake up. So basically when I brought him in, you know, got him cleaned up, I'm like, we work out every day. We did everything every day. I'm talking about every day we're together. And five months before, he had like a family, he had children that he wasn't taking care of, nothing like that. I was helping him take care of them. I was paying for lawyers for him. I was like he was on the run when I first brought him back to Houston. I paid for his lawyers to get all his stuff reinstated, let him finish his courses. I was setting money for his family. He owed people money, lawyers, everything. I was doing all that for him because I was just like, you know what? I'm trying to help him get through this. He even ended up jacking one of my friends, you know, on some business. And when my friends came and tried to collect, I was like, look, you went at the right place. Let me just work it out with you. I'm going to pay you in installments and he'll just pay me back. I was doing all this for him, you know what I mean? And never thinking of it as in him owing me or never throwing it in his face or nothing But you know five months before he moved his he so he was always talking bad about his child mom doing all this stuff and so that why i kind of understood why he was distant from his children because he's like she don't let me be with him she don't know but then i had to fight out he get her pregnant again wow so i go all these years i've been letting you be distant from your children because you tell her but if you're getting her pregnant again you you need to be a father. So you need to figure out what you got to do and you need to take care of your family. That's one thing we're not going to do is just do that. So, you know, he moved her back into Houston. They were living together. And that five months is when we weren't, you know, living together. But before then, for four years, we were together every day. And, you know, there was just, it was funny because a day before he did this, so basically, you know, I got him cleaned up. I gave him a job working for me, basically as just a security. I call them a security because at my store, we were by appointment. We never got fully open because our permits weren't coming through because my sister was telling me there were certain problems that we couldn't get the permit yet. So I just told him that, you know, all my employees were girls. So I was like, I just need a male there, like just a security in case a client comes, drops off money, whatever, you get it from me. And I was paying 3,500 a month just to do that. That's all you gotta do. There are times he's in the place sleeping all day or he goes, whatever, it's all good. I'm not complaining because you're just doing the job I pay you to do. So he had access to the safe. He had a key to the safe. Every morning he'll come, unlock, turn the alarm off, whatever. So one morning he just decides to go very early. And it's smart because he knows I take my kids to school 745 at 8 o'clock. So 745, he goes to the store, goes in there, unlocks it, cleans out one of the safes, and just leaves. And the night before, he loaded, a U-Haul loaded the whole truck up from his house he rented like I said from Dallas he planned this he pulled up to the store with the U-Haul truck there was someone driving it I couldn't see but then he drove his car got out went in did that and burnt off you know what I mean and it's crazy because I didn't even know yet and then I get a call around 12 o'clock I'm at the house and I'm talking to my sister about some stuff And then my other employee was like, hey, did you grab some stuff from the safe? And I was like, no, I ain't been in the store in like three days. She like there a bunch of stuff missing And I like what do you mean it missing She like it not there and automatically bro i was just like where he at and they like he not here i like call him try call him he don't answer nobody call that's when we looked at the cameras and we saw that he did that so he got burglarized you guys that day and um so from there what ends up happening i mean you you guys call the police you guys do police report they start investigating the crazy part So like, you know, as soon as the video called, my bookkeeper calls the police right away. I text him. I call him. You know, I text him. Hey, bro, hit me back. Two hours later, he don't hit me. I text him again. Hey, bro, like, holler at me. Whatever you're going through, we can figure this out. Let's just talk about it. You know, don't hit me. I remember my bookkeeper calling me like, yo, the police wants to meet. Want to talk. And I'm like, look, just stall them for a second. let me just figure this out because they came to the store already you know they see the cameras they're doing all that stuff and i remember i think it was like six seven o'clock by this time and i texted him i said lay bro like it's my last time reaching out just call me bro we can figure this out yeah but after this if you don't hit me it's not in my hands anymore and you know basically i waited till literally like 9 45 bro and i had to go to the store because they were waiting talk to them like in the situation with what it was you know he walked in burglarized it left you know and that's just that and um you know he burnt off back to dallas and um the moment i knew that he was getting the cause was that i had a a family member had like reached out just to text him about something and he replied to them right away the next morning oh wow so it's just like you know like fuck me i mean yeah and um i noticed it was funny because it was just like the person i was like my sister she didn't want to talk to the cops about nothing and it's just like you're the manager like you're the partner and so i remember telling her i'm like yo like you just gotta talk to them whatever they gotta ask you you're not you know i don't need you to lie about nothing like it's the end of the day and she was just like wow i'm not trying to deal i'm like bro he didn't just rob me he robbed you you know the store is our store so it's your guy's business yeah literally you know he took literally 1.8 million in jury you know i mean that's my cost at the time and this is not where the inflation would go going up or nothing you know and i'm I'm just like, I'm not understanding why you don't need to talk to him and figure out this thing because it's like, this ain't no street shit, bro. This is a legitimate business and this is what it is. Whatever info we need we need to figure this out you know And it was just funny like the way she was acting and then once again how god works you know i mean bro like after the robbery like things started coming out like the light started shining different things and you know when you know three different people and they tell you the same story but they don't know each other it's probably true you know i mean and that started coming to light things like that started going on bro and um i just it was just like damn you know I realized it was like she had to do as much as this. Like she didn't plan it, but she put that machine in his back. She put the negativity in his ear. You know what I mean? And that's why I say it was like that was a cancer, like the way you say it. You know, and I should have seen it right there, and I should have like nipped it in the butt. But I was just like, you know, that's just how she is. So I could, you know, let her be whatever. And, you know, I ended up having to cut ties with her. and um you know i cut ties with her try to keep it cordial never talked about it this is actually the first time i'm talking about all this since this has happened yeah like this detail and you know like i left it like you know i didn't want to talk about it public people but then it's like she started like trying to make lies started doing things right and it's just like and you're showing your true color you know i mean yeah because to me it's like i even say to this day you know as much as what he did to me and what she did to me I can't talk that bad about them because for so long I loved them and I still love them to this day I don't do I regret it? No I can't say I regret it I don't have no negative way to say about it you know everything that I had with them the memories we had it was real and so that's why I can't sit here and talk bad about them or creative shit about them but I just know that the best way I put it is because even insurance didn't cover my shit. You know what I mean? So for me, it was like I paid 1.8 billion to get rid of those people out of my life because I will admit that since like that happened, I let go of so many people that I realized was a strain to me. Like every day I woke up trying to think of how I could help them. I never forget. Me and my therapist talk about this every time we talk about it was that a few weeks before this happening, I'm sitting there crying to my therapist and she asked me, why do you feel so responsible for this person? Why do you feel like her future or career is in your hands? Like she's a grown woman. And she asked me, why do you feel so responsible for this person? And she asked me, why do you feel so responsible for this person? Why do you feel like her future or career is in your hands? Like she's a grown woman. Yeah. And I'm sitting there like, man, you know, like she, she, she left Dallas and came down to Houston and took a chance on me. And she, you know, she, she, I want to, don't want to let her down. I want to make sure she's good. I'm not going to be good to she good. But it's like, she didn't take a chance on me. I paid her twice as much as what she was getting paid I gave her free home housing when she came I put her son in private school like you ain't do me no motherfucking favor you know what I'm saying so it's like I don't owe you shit you know what I mean and I feel like that's what my problem was is that I'm like I guess the best way bro like I was undervaluing myself I wasn't looking at myself and holding my value of who I am so I was sitting there feeling like oh these people have done this for me i need to do more for them but no like i helped you more than you helped me yeah and that's just what it is you know it's not even trying to cap or showboat or nothing right the facts are the facts like one of my best one of my other friends that knew us said it best bro he's like yeah i've been hearing her talking all this bad about you i see her like saying shit about you but i was here talking about all the good shit that i see you do for that I've seen myself every piece of designer bag every piece of jewelry you have on your whole life was from me like I did I I took care of so well that people thought we had a romantic relationship together but we didn't like this was a person that I saw like you're my sister and you you believed in me you took a chance with me and so as long as I'm good you had nothing to worry about you know what I mean but for you to bad mouth me and even like try to destroy my character it just shows you who your character of a person is you know what I mean and it's like I feel like like I said she didn't tell him to do it and she didn't like plan it but I truly believe that she was the reason why he did it like he wasn't strong-minded enough to even think about something like that you know i mean and so like that's just what it is you know i mean and it's just like they're always gonna hold on to just the life they had with me because that's gonna be the best time of their lives ever yeah you know and i gonna just i gonna keep doing what i do and i you know i gonna turn that 1 to 18 one day you know what i mean easily man this is what it is you know how to do it already man and this is what i always tell people i mean this is what i preach to like even my newest employees my newest i like to call them teammates right because everybody's an adult bro there's so much opportunity over there especially with the online space look at what you created and you were you were on on the online space before even got huge right my space man i always tell people man i wish i wish i would have taken more advantage of it back then yeah but it is what it is but to go back to that man it's it's deep and it really resonates with me why because whenever i go ahead and i mentor anybody whenever i meet anybody new level of expectations my man you know the reason why me and my wife i could truly say she's my best friend because before we started dating I sat her down I was like look 36 years old at that time I was like this is what I'm looking for I'm looking for a traditional woman I'm looking for someone who is more of a homebody I'm looking for somebody who's going to respect The fact that my business comes number one right now And then you And she's like okay I respect that Boom alright Now we're together Before we got married Then what I expect you're going to be a stay at home mom I'll be a provider but guess what you're taking care of the entire house boom we're good to go same thing with employees same thing with partnerships bro this is why i always tell people man i think i'm not gonna say you made a mistake because at the end of the day you have a good heart bro and you've learned everything through experience just like me i'm hard-headed bro i am hard-headed so i gotta learn things the hard way yeah right that's why i always say i live three different lives, corporate cop and now entrepreneur. But I think with you is because people have given you opportunities like your mentor, Nick, he gave you an opportunity and you were like, wow, I never thought I was going to be a jeweler. Boom. Look how it happens. One person changed your life. So you probably thought that you were going to change their life, bro. But see, they didn't take the opportunity that you gave them. They didn't see the bigger vision. And that's what it comes down to is being able to go ahead and show somebody the vision, bro, and then take them through that journey together. And that's what it takes, man. It's a lot of emotional distress, bro. But I'm going to tell you still right now, you're probably at the stage of life where bro, you're probably not stressing about much as you used to, because you got rid of all the negative people around you Definitely bro Definitely Yeah I see you know cause i went through a funk bro i think the biggest thing was even the money but it was the fact that even my whole years of life in crime no one ever did me like that yeah like the the level of trust to where even my closest friends like the guys in this room yep 30 years i've known them and even And they were like, we didn't even expect that because of, you know, it came out of like left field, bro. You know what I mean? And it's just like it fucked me up, bro. It fucked me up to where, you know, until this day, I still deal with it. You know what I mean? It's just like it's hard every day. But slowly, I feel like I'm at like 80% back to my mentality and who I was. And, you know, like I say, you know, you just got to shake it off, bro. You know what I mean? and that's what we got to do as hustlers, you know? Like, it is what it is. And like I told you, it's funny because I come across those old videos that I never released and I'm just watching myself talk and I'm like, bro, I know these things already. And it's like, I should have been watching the videos. Yeah. And would have got myself out the funk sooner, you know? Of course. And so sometimes, like, or not sometimes, I truly believe this for so long now is we are our worst enemies. We are our worst critics. And if that is the case for every person, they can succeed and they can really surpass anything they do if they fight themselves. You know, I always say, like, at an early age, I learned this. It's like everything that happens around me, whether good or bad, is some way somehow my fault. So I take the accountability. And my therapist tends to tell me that sometimes I do too much. She says, you always try to take the blood and put it on your hands for everybody. But sometimes you have to let people carry the blood on their hands for their stuff. But to me, it was like, it's easier for me to do that because I can just be like, okay, this happened. How is it your fault, Jimmy? And how you can avoid that same problem happening. Facts. Keep moving. Facts. Because, you know, there's so many people now that will sit there and they'll have you twisted and turned into the same place by their excuses or the way they want to justify the way they justify. 100%. when it's just like and once again i don't mean to say this but my therapist tells me like your problem sometimes is you're too logical but me being logical has got me where i need to go and you know that just how it works you know i mean like yeah that how it got to be sometimes well it all right man i mean i i think uh your logic and what you have done all these years have led you through the right path because look what you have built look at the daughter that you raised um is she looking to be take over the family business what what is her vision for the right now like um i don't think she is bro and and um i'm happy with that i never wanted her to um uh we had just recently talked I think she wants to go into business law. You know, either that or finance. She enjoys finance. She loves finance. So for me, it's like, I think the best blessing I had, I said this to her the other day, you know, and I don't want to, you know, I told her, I said, you know, you got your junior, you know. I remember when she was about to graduate high school, and I was just like, you want to just take a break? You know, you've been going to school since you were two years old. You want to take a break for a year before you go to college? She's like, no, let me just knock this out. so I told her recently when we had brought up the business law I said look you know right now your tuition has cost me almost $100,000 a year I go you're a junior now once you get your bachelor's degree whatever you choose to get it right now it's in business administration with a minor in business law I said once you get that your trust fund actually kicks in and you get $5,000 a month for the rest of your life now you can just do that and not even go to school is that what you're trying to do and she's like are you serious She's like, you think that's what I'm in this for? Like, no, like, I'm not going to, like, I'm going to take it all the way, the way you need it, you know? And I say that to say it's like, as hard as I am on myself, which I am very hard, things like that or times like that, it tells me I'm doing something right. You know what I mean? Absolutely. When I watch these other kids that, like, are, like, spoiled, rotten, or entitled or things like that. Like, let's be real. I probably would have been like, yeah, let me just get the 60 for the rest of my life. Because shit, it's going to save me, buddy. I got to pay 100. But the fact that she's like, no, I'm not in it for that. I'm going to just go for it. It's like, you know, I wish I had that growing up. You know, I didn't have the right role model to stay in school. You know, my highest grade I completed was eighth grade. Like, I just, you know, you know, like, and I think about that, you know, like when I was going through my rough times of thinking about all the time I invested in this sister or brother of mine, I could have spent more time with my daughter. Certain bad habits she has a mind, like how she's so hard on herself. Maybe of thinking about all the time I invested in this sister or brother of mine, of thinking about all the time I invested in this sister or brother of mine, I could have spent more time with my daughter. You know, certain bad habits she has in mind, like how she's so hard on herself. Maybe I could have, like, helped her earlier stages to where she don't got to be so hard on herself now. You know, I think about all that. Like, you invested so much time in these people that ain't even your blood, these people that come from whatever situation they came from that is not your responsibility. You could use that time towards your own blood and your own children because I always truly believe like children are born like a blank canvas and how you choose to raise them and the environment you put them in bro is going to be their art yep and when you meet a stranger or you meet a person that's been through that you can't fix that piece of painting you know I mean so why be so focused on that when you can focus on your own to give them what it is they need to succeed you know but you know what you're doing a goddamn good job brother i mean she she's hard on herself but but look she's like nah i'm gonna take it all the way yeah you know what i'm saying so at the end of the day you should be very proud as a dad and you're a bloodline breaker i'm the first bloodline breaker in my family brother and it's not gonna stop it's not gonna stop with you it's not gonna stop with me man i mean i got my son we're we want to have another kid next year i got willing bro and just keep it going right for sure so what's the what's a future hold for you brother i know you're trying to go more into like different investments and all that jazz but i know you're working on a couple big things that you cannot speak about right now but what what can you tell the audience right now what's in the future for jimmy fan you know i will say like you know like i said like 2000s i was a rapper you know in 2010s i became a jeweler you know i i've always been an entrepreneur you know i've always been involved in business I've been involved in real estate. So I have a lot of projects in the back end that I'm actually putting more thought into now as far as like my real estate portfolio due to like the projects. I can't talk about the jury. It's actually given me a lot of flexibility to be able to focus on other things now, which is definitely a blessing. And I can wait for the world to find out what you know I doing with these jury projects but right now just more focusing on being you know the present father that i can be um and just really focus on diversifying my portfolio as in putting more focus into it instead of you know allowing others to be you know um others be handling it because like you know like the saying you know like no one's is going to handle your stuff like you're going to handle it you know and i had to learn that the hard way and thankfully i'm still in a place where i can fix it and clean up for it you know so just be an all-around you know entrepreneur that i've always tried to be man and honestly i don't i don't know what's next you know i i wrote a book um in 2020 called 48 laws of hustle it became a best-selling uh book and um i had wrote my biography then but i didn't release it because i felt at that time i didn't have like the final like ending i think you might got it now bro no i definitely i definitely i think you should launch book two yeah i got i got some great people in my network that uh helped me publish my book made it number one on amazon and all that jazz so i mean i'll connect you with them definitely and uh see what they could do for you now now they can expedite things fast man all they need you to do is speak in the mic and they got the the copy that's what Honestly, bro, because I also had wrote a book that I had released called Dealing With My Daughter. And basically it's a memoir of during the time when me and her mom separated and I was raising her, dealing with her as it being a father, but also dealing drugs with her and have her being around that. And it was just like kind of like a letter to her at the same time for her to maybe understand now what my mind was going through or what demons I was fighting, trying to balance everything and try to just, you know, every father's tried to do, whether it be, you know, working hard or going through the hard times, you know what I mean? Because I feel like our situations are very similar in different ways. It's also not. But overall we all have the same goal It is And it the same struggle you know what I mean No 100 man it like where do you find the balance right being an entrepreneur being a leader raising your kids i mean people it's hard bro yeah it's hard you're you're never gonna stop working i tell people i don't stop working whether i'm in the office at home at my marriage and my my son with everybody bro everything is work right your body your health your mindset i mean uh therapy i mean it's a lot of work bro yeah man like i remember one day i asked somebody and i was chilling with somebody and i'm like what's going through your mind right now they're like nothing and i'm like there's no way yeah there's no way there's no way there's no it's physically impossible how are you nothing about nothing come on mine bro is it's like this running there's always bro like always literally yeah man so that's good man so where can the people find you brother so right now you can find me uh on my social media instagram which is uh jimmy x boi um really mainly it's just instagram right now you know i mean like we working on new stuff um you know i got my private showroom in houston and uh you know i plan to get into youtube more you know we have live to hustle tv youtube channel and also done right um but like i said these last couple years was kind of like the fuck I was going through. So we're getting things back in motion, really getting back to all the people that have been supporting me, following me. You know, like I said before, like, it's important, and I want them to know if they're watching that, the people that do know me from back then, you know, without y'all, I wouldn't be able to be here, like, truthfully. And I appreciate the support and everything. And I'm going to show you why y'all still ride with me to this day. And then for everyone that's listening right now, Jimmy, if you were to give the old you some advice back when you were still in the streets, back when you were in and out of juvenile hall and jail and all that jazz, what would you tell the old you as you right now to level up? I think the best thing I would tell myself during that time is that believe in yourself. And when I say believe in myself It just I feel like a lot of the times or you know because it can be a bad thing But a lot of times of I was going through I was trying to prove something And it worked out that I was able to prove, you know, but I feel like being in more tune to understanding because, like I said, a lot of people around me didn't get to be blessed to be able to change their lives. And I think it's because they believe in themselves. and so like I got very blessed that when I went and tried to prove it worked but it's not easy you know and so believing in yourself and just just believing in yourself bro I think that's the top thing because if you can't see it it's not going to happen and like there's that saying like it doesn't start in your brain it starts in your hair and it doesn't go in there until you really are able to see it. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. No, absolutely, man. It's so true. You got to be able to see it. You got to be able to write it. You got to be able to speak into existence. And then you got to lead by example. And I think that's the biggest thing, the biggest key takeaway throughout your entire story, bro, that I was listening to the entire time that I was just like, man, I can relate to you so much, bro, even though I know that I was in law enforcement, people don't like the police and all that jazz, but still, it's very relatable, your story, man. And I think you need to focus on putting your words out there, man, and preaching and giving out more people, especially on YouTube. You'll blow up on YouTube for sure, bro. Definitely. So with that being said, guys, my name is Paul Alex, Jimmy Fan here. And guys, make sure to check us out on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. Leave a five-star review. We're currently top 25 in business. We'll catch you on the next one. Peace. Thanks for watching!