Big Brother Contestant Talks Reality TV; "I Was Isolated" | Hope Agbolosoo Ep.125 - Gent's Talk

[00:00:00] The worst part, the one thing I've learned about social media is that for anybody that's out there struggling, looking at other people thinking, why am I not there yet? How many videos do you put up a week? How many videos do you put up a month? You expect the first three videos to like blow up. No, it doesn't work like that.

[00:00:15] Hope Agboloso is a fitness trainer, motivational speaker and recent contestant on Big Brother Canada.

[00:00:22] His years of community work continues to inspire young athletes in the world of basketball.

[00:00:27] You were just on Big Brother. What's the biggest impact that the show left on you?

[00:00:31] When you come off a show like that, your whole life changes.

[00:00:34] I wanted to give up, I think, three days into the game because it was hard. I was always anxious. I was always worried.

[00:00:42] Trying to figure out where the next event is going to come from, where the next collaboration is going to come from, where the next paycheck is going to come from.

[00:00:48] I was so anxious and worried about everything and I feel like I didn't really get to be present in the moment.

[00:00:54] What do you do when negativity creeps in, self-doubt creeps in, imposter syndrome creeps in and says, Hope, you're not A, B and C. Don't fool yourself.

[00:01:06] How do you fight that?

[00:01:07] Man.

[00:01:28] Hope, welcome to Jen's talk.

[00:01:30] Thank you. Thank you.

[00:01:32] I'm so excited to have this conversation with you.

[00:01:34] The fact that I'm here means I'm doing something good.

[00:01:37] So let's get into it.

[00:01:38] You know what?

[00:01:39] When you and I chatted over the phone, you started sharing a little bit about your story and I was immediately like, okay, stop talking because now I want to get this on the podcast.

[00:01:47] We got to get into it.

[00:01:47] Yeah.

[00:01:48] It's the first time we're meeting in person.

[00:01:49] In person.

[00:01:50] Yeah.

[00:01:51] Yeah.

[00:01:51] But I already feel like I know you.

[00:01:53] Come on.

[00:01:53] It's been a lifetime, man.

[00:01:54] Let's get it.

[00:01:55] Um, so this episode obviously doesn't come together without our friends at Angel's Envy for helping us to have these incredible conversations with people like yourself, Hope.

[00:02:05] And when you and I talked on the phone, like I was mentioning, you started sharing a little bit about your story.

[00:02:11] And from the outside, you know, someone were to pull up your social media, for example, or knows of you.

[00:02:16] They know of you as that contestant on Big Brother who is very emotional, not in a bad way, but you had a lot of emotions.

[00:02:22] You weren't afraid to express them.

[00:02:24] Um, a very big personality, um, and sort of, you know, fitness modeling all of these different things.

[00:02:32] And then you started talking and you were pulling the layers back on who Hope is sort of your story, your journey for people who only know you as the Big Brother Canada contestant.

[00:02:43] But they don't know who Hope is.

[00:02:45] Who's Hope?

[00:02:46] Who's the man sitting in front of me?

[00:02:49] Man, I'm still trying to figure that guy out, man.

[00:02:52] I'm constantly trying to improve every day.

[00:02:57] And the moment I stop, I'm not going to figure out who this guy is.

[00:03:00] But where do I start?

[00:03:04] There's so much to unpack here, man.

[00:03:05] There's a lot to unpack here.

[00:03:07] Um, born and raised in Ghana, Komase.

[00:03:10] Moved there when I was turning 11 years old.

[00:03:12] Came here with my mom and my dad was already here.

[00:03:15] Moment I was born, my dad was already in Canada working, trying to bring the whole family here, trying to provide a better future for us.

[00:03:21] Um, but yeah, came to Canada.

[00:03:23] I did not want to come here, man.

[00:03:24] I did not want to come here.

[00:03:25] I seen, you know, wizards and vampires.

[00:03:28] I'm like, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah.

[00:03:29] There might be some, you know, some wizardry and stuff.

[00:03:32] So I'm like, nah.

[00:03:33] But when I came here, um, English was definitely a big barrier.

[00:03:38] So I used my athletic God gifted abilities.

[00:03:42] I used my charisma, um, to fit in.

[00:03:45] And it wasn't until my father got a good job and moved this all into Milton.

[00:03:49] Um, when I first, when I was first in Etobicoke, I was known as African kid, this guy that was, you know, bald, this, this kid that, you know, everybody just knew him as that sport guy.

[00:03:59] But when I moved to Milton, I learned first thing was being able to re like introduce yourself to a new crowd of people, being able to reintroduce yourself, trying to, you know, just trying to fit in.

[00:04:09] And when I moved to Milton, um, I learned that when you get into new environment, you can literally be anybody you want to be and just show people who you are.

[00:04:18] And at this point, I still didn't know who I was.

[00:04:20] I still did not know what I was capable of.

[00:04:21] So showed up instantly cross country, volleyball, football, basketball, everything.

[00:04:27] And that's how I fit in as that fitness guy.

[00:04:30] I didn't pick this people picked it, you know?

[00:04:32] And so when you ask me, who am I?

[00:04:34] I, I, that's a tough question, man.

[00:04:37] I think I'm wherever the environment, whatever the environment is, defines who I am, if that makes sense.

[00:04:43] I don't think I truly know this guy yet, man.

[00:04:46] And the moment that I say I do, that means I'm done.

[00:04:49] I've, I've given up.

[00:04:51] And I think that's what this conversation is.

[00:04:53] I think this is why I'm so excited to get here because I really want to unpack this too.

[00:04:57] You know, I want to.

[00:04:58] Well, let's do it.

[00:04:58] Let's do it, man.

[00:04:59] Let's do it.

[00:05:00] What's, what's something that you haven't.

[00:05:03] What's something that you're hoping people know you about or know about you, man?

[00:05:12] Is that I am.

[00:05:14] There's always a mask, you know, there's always a.

[00:05:18] To fit into.

[00:05:19] Man, I'm gonna be honest.

[00:05:21] I've been going through a lot, man, especially when we spot when we spoke over on the phone.

[00:05:24] The first six months of this era rough, but nobody could ever tell you'd go on social media.

[00:05:31] They'd see me dancing, jumping over people down, dunking a ball.

[00:05:35] And you think that all this guy is just.

[00:05:37] Nah, man, I, I've been, I've been going through it.

[00:05:40] And.

[00:05:41] It wasn't until I found my girlfriend that I finally got a sense of purpose in like, you know, where to kind of take my life, where to go from here, you know, but brother for the longest time, I just didn't have any purpose.

[00:05:52] I didn't have any direction, you know, but.

[00:05:56] Hard to hear.

[00:05:56] Hard to hear someone say that when I again from the outside.

[00:06:01] To your point, you see the smiles on social media.

[00:06:04] You were just on big brother.

[00:06:07] A national audience.

[00:06:10] Exposure attention.

[00:06:12] And then, you know, even to Sean, who's been on the podcast talked about winning big brother and still struggling.

[00:06:19] And it could speaks to the fact that reality TV is not always reality.

[00:06:24] No, no, we, we understand that there are people watching us, you know, we understand that some of us have a bigger purpose, you know, from just being on the show.

[00:06:32] But that show did wonders for me.

[00:06:34] It opened a lot of doors for me.

[00:06:37] It really.

[00:06:39] It changed a lot of things for me because my whole life.

[00:06:43] I, I, I always knew I was destined for bigger things.

[00:06:46] I always knew that there was a bigger purpose to everything.

[00:06:48] But being on that show opened my eyes telling me that, hey, you're, you're, you're destined for bigger things.

[00:06:54] So don't, don't quit just yet.

[00:06:57] You know, but to Sean, um, before going on the show, actually, um, you popped up on the, on the, for you, the explore page, you know, I was trying to, you know, think about game plan, trying to break things down, trying to say, okay, what's the strategy going into the house?

[00:07:10] What am I going to do?

[00:07:10] And the video popped up and I was able to watch the whole video, even though to Sean didn't drop a single game gem.

[00:07:15] Um, I was able to tune in and really understand that, you know, a lot of things that we go through as men, it's not just me.

[00:07:21] It's not just, it's, it's, it's, it's us.

[00:07:24] Everybody's going through it.

[00:07:25] And, you know, I think, I think the more you go through, the better you become.

[00:07:29] And any person that's going through things like people are hiding it.

[00:07:33] Well, people hide it very well.

[00:07:36] And, you know, I think, I think when people ask me who I am and, you know, kind of what my whole thing is, it's just, it's just constantly just trying to improve every single day in every aspect of my life.

[00:07:52] Um, there's, there's a lot going on.

[00:07:55] I've learned so much in the last past couple of months, you know, through the hardship, but those have been the greatest like moments of my life because without all those hard times, I would not, I would not be here right now.

[00:08:06] I would not, you know, have the thought process or have the way of thinking that I think now and I'm so grateful for all that because without it, I would not be, you know, where I am today with the social media.

[00:08:19] But man, we, we have a lot to unpack.

[00:08:22] We have a lot to unpack.

[00:08:23] What happened?

[00:08:24] You said the first six months of this year were hard.

[00:08:26] So after you, after you were on big brother.

[00:08:28] Yeah.

[00:08:28] Last year of, uh, came off me.

[00:08:31] So between May and today, like what happened that sort of sent you down a path where you said you just

[00:08:36] you weren't yourself, man, you go into big brother and not a lot of people know you, you know, you're just a regular pedestrian on the street.

[00:08:45] You come off big brother and everywhere you go, people are hope, hope, hope, hope. Oh my God. Hope, hope, hope honking their, their, their, their cars at you.

[00:08:54] You get stopped in the streets. You're taking pictures. This is all new to me. This is all brand new, you know?

[00:08:59] And when I came off the show, you know, you're, you're under this perception that you're, you're that guy. Oh, I'm him. I'm big dog.

[00:09:08] Big top shot her, you know? But no, it's, it's, it's all temporary, you know?

[00:09:15] So came off big brother, signed up with an agency. Um, and at this time I was not in my mind, I was not a model.

[00:09:23] I'm not a, this content creator. And this is when I first learned my first lesson that in order to become anything, you first have to become in your mind first,

[00:09:31] believe that you're that guy before you can even pursue that.

[00:09:34] Yeah. Signed with an modeling agency slash content creation, all around 360. And man, I was, I didn't make a single dollar.

[00:09:46] I didn't make no money. I was losing weight, constantly partying, you know, getting invited to all these events, everything, people just loving you.

[00:09:55] And you can't tell them what you're going to, you can't tell them that I'm, you know, but you show up, you show up for the people, for the people.

[00:10:03] Um, you put up this mask, this, this energy and people gravitate towards that. But then when you get home, you know, who's gonna, he's gonna, who's gonna fill you up, you know?

[00:10:14] And man, to be honest, after I came off that show, um, it gave me a taste of like, kind of like, cause when you're growing up, everyone wants to be famous.

[00:10:25] Everybody wants to, you know, be that, you know, that, the guy that gets stopped by everybody.

[00:10:30] But that show gave me like a glimpse of what that life is like. And my guy, it's not, it's not all it seems, you know, it's not.

[00:10:40] What don't people understand about it?

[00:10:44] I was trying to have dinner with my girlfriend and we're just talking.

[00:10:47] We're in a moment. We had like a little bit of a, we're having a discussion, like a really heated, you know, just going back and forth, you know, and fans just come up.

[00:10:56] Hope, hope, hope, hope. And I took a picture. So I can't be myself in that prison.

[00:11:01] I have to instantly switch into this character that they seen on Big Brother.

[00:11:06] I can't show them who hope is.

[00:11:07] The moment I showed them, that's not who I saw on Big Brother. That's, that's not the guy that's jumping and always smiling and always hope, hope, hope.

[00:11:15] Illusion fades.

[00:11:16] Exactly. But, um, man, there's this, oh, this is good.

[00:11:21] You should have invited me on this long time ago, man.

[00:11:24] But in that house, man, I learned so much about myself.

[00:11:27] This is the first time I was isolated ever in my life.

[00:11:30] I've never been isolated, especially in the world that we live in now.

[00:11:32] There's so much distractions.

[00:11:34] There's so much dopamine everywhere.

[00:11:36] You check your phone, you got a message, you know, talk to somebody, just turn, you know, to the right, turn to the left.

[00:11:41] You can talk to anybody, call anybody up.

[00:11:43] Um, you know, before getting on the show, we were isolated for almost three weeks, I'll say in a hotel, by yourself.

[00:11:52] And I have never been alone in my life.

[00:11:55] You know, I have never been isolated where it's just me.

[00:11:59] I have to figure out, yo, like, what do I do myself?

[00:12:05] It's a lot of time for a man to sit there and reflect.

[00:12:07] Gosh, I've never reflected in my life.

[00:12:09] So much distractions.

[00:12:10] You don't have time to just think and just talk to yourself.

[00:12:14] What am I doing my life?

[00:12:16] What's my purpose?

[00:12:17] Where am I going to be in five years?

[00:12:20] Why am I here?

[00:12:22] And big brother is the best thing that ever happened to me because it exposed so many wounds that I had in me.

[00:12:28] It exposed so many things that I didn't know was in here.

[00:12:32] Because I was, I was, I was, I was compelled to, I was, I was on this illusion that everything just had to be okay in order for me to be okay, but no.

[00:12:43] But big brother was one of the hardest things I've ever done.

[00:12:46] But at the same time, one of the greatest moments, experiences I've ever, because without it, I would not know so much about this guy and what he wants to do.

[00:12:55] You know?

[00:12:55] What was the biggest wound that you discovered?

[00:12:59] The need, the need for reassurance.

[00:13:06] In a game where you have to, you know, trust people and people got to trust you, you know, you're constantly asking for it.

[00:13:13] Hey, do you trust me?

[00:13:14] Hey, do I trust you?

[00:13:15] Hey, are we good?

[00:13:16] Every single week.

[00:13:17] Um, man, I was paranoid every single day.

[00:13:21] I was, I wanted to give up, I think three days into the game because it was, it was hard.

[00:13:27] I don't think the fans understand how hard a game is like to be isolated with random people we've never met before.

[00:13:35] The hardest part of the game, um, that, sorry, the, the, the biggest wound that I really exposed for me was the fact that I needed people to be okay with the decisions I make.

[00:13:47] Like if I'm making a decision, Oh, he needs to be okay with it.

[00:13:49] Or, you know, this person has to kind of co-sign off it.

[00:13:53] I could not make not a single decision in my life had been made.

[00:13:56] I've ever made was by myself.

[00:13:59] So let's say if like that guy is the target, I have to make sure a B and C is okay with that person being a target.

[00:14:05] And I'm like, wait, so in life before I want to do something, I got to wait for, you know, somebody to tell me, okay, that's a good idea.

[00:14:13] You know, you're about to post a video.

[00:14:14] I got to send it to 10 friends.

[00:14:15] Oh, that's a good video.

[00:14:17] I got to caption it.

[00:14:18] Oh, that's a good, that's no, don't go back.

[00:14:21] You know?

[00:14:21] And I had to learn that, you know, you make your decision and you live with it, you know?

[00:14:27] And like, man, I wish they could bring the show back so more people can go into that house and realize that a game really opens you up and you're able to identify the things that are wrong with you.

[00:14:38] You know, the, you know, the, the good, the bad, the ugly, all of it.

[00:14:42] And you just have to live with it.

[00:14:43] There's a lot of time.

[00:14:45] I've had a number of conversations with different, like with people who've been on different reality TV shows, and they've all talked about how there's so much time alone and how all that time alone has made them think.

[00:14:57] And oftentimes when they've left the show, whether they've won, not won, whatever, it's left an impact on them.

[00:15:06] What's the biggest impact that the show left on you?

[00:15:12] God, I wish I could go back.

[00:15:14] Why?

[00:15:16] Because.

[00:15:16] It doesn't sound pleasant.

[00:15:19] No, because how, like I said, I was worried all the time.

[00:15:23] I was always anxious.

[00:15:24] I was always afraid.

[00:15:26] This show showed me that again, with the decisions you make, you know, with everything going on, no matter what happens, you're going to be all right.

[00:15:33] You're going to be okay.

[00:15:35] The reason why I want to go back and relive that whole moment is because I feel like I didn't really get to be present in the moment.

[00:15:43] Every day I was anxious on who's going to evict me, who's going to backstab me, who's going to, oh, what are the fans going to think of me?

[00:15:49] Oh, what?

[00:15:50] I wish I was just there for me and just be present and know that no matter what happens after the show.

[00:15:55] I'm going to be all right.

[00:15:57] You know, that's probably one of the biggest lessons that I learned on the shows that no matter what happens in life or whatever you're going through.

[00:16:06] Everything is going to be all right.

[00:16:08] If I had that mindset in that game, I think I would have probably went way further.

[00:16:13] I would have, I would have done so I would have won the whole game.

[00:16:15] So then let me ask you something, because you said that, you know, if you were to go back and tell that version of hope that everything was going to be okay, you would have performed better.

[00:16:26] But you're saying that today.

[00:16:30] After the show leading up to today, there was still some inner turmoil that you had to work through.

[00:16:36] You talked about going six months with having like just a really rough patch.

[00:16:41] What happened there?

[00:16:42] Like, what was it?

[00:16:43] Was it because of the show?

[00:16:44] Was it something else in life that triggered that?

[00:16:46] What suddenly made you feel like I'm not being the best version of myself?

[00:16:54] When you come off a show like that, your whole life changes, you know, and you're suddenly walking into rooms that you never been, you know, never would have gotten invited to.

[00:17:03] You're meeting people you never would have, you know, met and came off the show.

[00:17:10] And, you know, before that, I was not a big party guy.

[00:17:13] I was not this guy that always go to, you know, these events and everything like that.

[00:17:17] But I was just, I was always anxious.

[00:17:21] I was always worried, trying to figure out where the next, you know, event is going to come from, where the next collaboration is going to come from, where the next paycheck is going to come from.

[00:17:29] And I was so anxious and worried about everything.

[00:17:32] And because I was so worried about everything, I didn't realize the presence, what was really happening.

[00:17:39] Enjoying the moment.

[00:17:39] Enjoying the moment.

[00:17:40] Came off the show and going back to it, signed with an agency.

[00:17:44] And I didn't book anything for six months, brother.

[00:17:50] It's hard.

[00:17:51] Six months.

[00:17:53] And the thing is that it wasn't their fault.

[00:17:58] It was 100% my fault because I would get anxious, worried, anxiety.

[00:18:02] What am I going to do next?

[00:18:04] What do I post?

[00:18:06] What's so-and-so going to think?

[00:18:07] Worried about so many things when everything is going to be all right.

[00:18:10] You know, I think, I think two weeks ago, me and my girlfriend went to Aurelia for a comedy show.

[00:18:19] And we drove, we drove a Tesla and you know, the electric car, you know, there's a battery, you know, I think I had like a three, three 50 kilometers on.

[00:18:28] So we drove there.

[00:18:29] We get to the spot in Aurelia.

[00:18:31] It's a casino.

[00:18:33] And there's no parking spots.

[00:18:35] There's no, what do you call it?

[00:18:36] Charging spots.

[00:18:36] It was like a hundred and like 80 kilometers there, whatever.

[00:18:42] We get there.

[00:18:44] And I'm panicking.

[00:18:45] I look at my girlfriend.

[00:18:46] She's just enjoying it.

[00:18:47] Cause she's about to see our one of like, you know, our favorite comedian.

[00:18:50] And we get into the show.

[00:18:53] And this is, this is when everything starts to make sense to me.

[00:18:56] We're watching the show.

[00:18:57] He's saying some crazy jokes.

[00:18:59] He's, he's dropping gem after gem after.

[00:19:01] I'm talking like, and I'm just there like, how am I going to charge the car?

[00:19:04] How am I going to, how are we going to get home?

[00:19:05] How are we?

[00:19:06] Oh my God.

[00:19:07] And I wasn't in the moment.

[00:19:09] Everybody's laughing around me and in my heart, my heart's racing.

[00:19:12] I looked at my, um, my watch.

[00:19:14] It's telling me, brother, you're jogging or something like what's going on.

[00:19:17] And I'm looking around.

[00:19:18] My girlfriend's having a great time.

[00:19:19] The people who came with are having a great time.

[00:19:21] I'm just, I'm just there.

[00:19:23] We get back to the car and the car has only, I think had 12 kilometers on it, you know,

[00:19:28] cause when you leave the car, it's still, it's 15 kilometers to the next charging spot.

[00:19:35] Brother, I was going so below the, you know, the accelerate a little bit.

[00:19:38] I was going like, just so I could not burn anything in my head the whole time.

[00:19:42] I'm scared.

[00:19:43] My girl's trying to tell me the funny jokes.

[00:19:44] I'm telling her like, babe, like calm down.

[00:19:47] Like I'm like, again, the present, not living in the present, being worried, being anxious,

[00:19:51] being, ah, how am I going to get this?

[00:19:53] I'm like, we get to a charging spot and I plug it in and I'm like, ah, ah, that's just amazing.

[00:20:01] And, and I'm just sitting there and my girl's trying to talk to me now cause she's not mad at me now because I was not giving her.

[00:20:07] Then it hit me.

[00:20:07] I'm like, yo moments ruined.

[00:20:10] And then now I'm trying to tell like, remember that one joke he said?

[00:20:12] And she's like, no.

[00:20:14] And I'm like, wait, this is how I've been living my life the whole time.

[00:20:18] I think that's how everybody lives their lives.

[00:20:20] No, we spend so much time worrying.

[00:20:23] Worrying about things when everything is going to be all right.

[00:20:28] If you told me a year ago, I'd be where I'm at today on this show with you.

[00:20:32] I'd be like, brother, come on, man, you know?

[00:20:37] But that show showed me that no matter what happens in life, everything is going to be okay.

[00:20:42] Being in that car, my girl going to that show and not enjoying a single moment of it because I was worried about what's going to happen next.

[00:20:47] But everything worked out.

[00:20:49] Showed me that no matter what happens in life, everything is going to be okay.

[00:20:54] So we got back home and then I'm like, so remember that one joke?

[00:20:58] She's like, stop it.

[00:20:59] I'm like, I'm sorry.

[00:21:01] While you were being passing your princess chilling, I was worried about how we're going to get home.

[00:21:05] But if the car broke down, not broke down, if it had stopped, I could have called CRA.

[00:21:10] If anything happened, I could have called a friend.

[00:21:13] I was so worried about the things that are going to happen, all the bad that I didn't realize that this is all that matters right now.

[00:21:22] And so then I love anime.

[00:21:24] I love watching anime so much.

[00:21:26] But there's this, I don't know if I can say anime titles here, but this Hunter X Hunter, Gong, his father, his whole purpose was to get to become a hunter.

[00:21:37] You know, and that's all he's focused on.

[00:21:39] He doesn't care about anything else.

[00:21:40] Oh, I have to be a hunter, hunter, hunter.

[00:21:41] I have to.

[00:21:43] His father told him that, you know, life, it's great to have a destination.

[00:21:45] But when you become so focused on the destination, you forget about the journey, you forget about the, you know, the present.

[00:21:53] And it's about the little detours in life, the little conversations, the network, the people you meet, the memories, the mindset that you gain.

[00:22:00] So I can resonate with that.

[00:22:03] So after that happened, I'm like, no matter what happens in life now, everything.

[00:22:07] Okay, so when you ask me what hope is, now I'm just this guy that's just trying to grow knowing that no matter what happens, I'm going to be all right.

[00:22:16] You know, I don't, I don't need to have hope.

[00:22:19] I don't need to be afraid or have fear.

[00:22:22] I just need to be courageous.

[00:22:25] You know, I need to let go and just know that no matter what happens, everything is going to be okay.

[00:22:31] So I literally just discovered this two weeks ago, but two weeks ago, and I look at every single moment in my life and I realized that anytime things got hard.

[00:22:44] We're still here.

[00:22:45] Yeah, we're still kicking.

[00:22:47] So for people who hear this watch this and you know, they're going through something.

[00:22:53] It all sounds great.

[00:22:55] Even I'm listening to you going.

[00:22:56] Yeah, that's amazing.

[00:22:57] I wish I could just eliminate any concern and worry, you know, the constant negative feedback loop that happens upstairs.

[00:23:07] How do you actually do that?

[00:23:09] What do you do when negativity creeps in self doubt creeps in imposter syndrome creeps in and says hope you're not a B and C don't fool yourself.

[00:23:20] How do you fight that?

[00:23:21] I've been fighting that this whole time.

[00:23:24] But how what do you do?

[00:23:26] I have this.

[00:23:31] Then I've been running telling myself this whole time that I imagine myself that I am at a blockbuster premiere movie that I started and I wrote and I produced and I'm here with my wife, my kids, and we're all watching a movie and I'm watching a movie and I'm watching all the hardship, all the bad things.

[00:23:53] And we're all watching.

[00:23:54] And we're all enjoying.

[00:23:55] But I'm not worried watching that movie because I know at the end of the day, he's going to get the girl.

[00:24:01] He's going to get the money.

[00:24:02] He's going to get the whatever he's trying to get to that being like going through hardship and everything prepares you for when you do get what you wanted.

[00:24:12] It stays when you get it.

[00:24:13] So I just imagine I'm already watching the well blockbuster action romance drama that I started and wrote and produced with my whole family.

[00:24:23] And the whole time I'm watching, I'm not worried.

[00:24:25] I'm not anxious.

[00:24:26] Because you know the ending.

[00:24:27] I know the ending.

[00:24:28] So why am I worried?

[00:24:31] And it sounds crazy in the beginning.

[00:24:33] And again, I'm not preaching just to you.

[00:24:36] I'm preaching to us that there's no need to be afraid.

[00:24:41] There's no need to be scared because the moment that you're scared, you forget what the whole purpose of this was like this whole purpose is.

[00:24:49] And it's to be in the present because this is all we get.

[00:24:51] The presence all we get.

[00:24:52] This moment is all we get.

[00:24:53] The moment I'm sorry worrying about how am I going to get over there or how am I going to be like him?

[00:24:58] I forget that it's about the journey, the people I meet, the friendships and the bonds that I make, the hard things I overcome and how I overcame it.

[00:25:08] So then when I do get there, that never happens again.

[00:25:11] So this all again hit me two, three weeks ago.

[00:25:15] So very recently.

[00:25:16] So recently.

[00:25:17] And when I look back now, I just I imagine what kind of quality of life would I have?

[00:25:22] I just didn't worry who would hope be today if he just had a goal and he just, oh, man.

[00:25:32] So what's the goal?

[00:25:32] What's next?

[00:25:34] What are you aiming for?

[00:25:40] I just turned 25 July.

[00:25:47] I have never been exposed to so much in my life as I am today.

[00:25:51] You know, if you had asked me last year, I'd tell you I want to be a basketball trainer.

[00:25:54] I want to be a skills development and skills enhancement trainer.

[00:25:57] I want to be a strength and conditioning coach for NCAA school or for prep school.

[00:26:03] So in life, in life, when you surround yourself with, you know, like minded people or people who are striving for more, you realize that your dream is small, brother.

[00:26:13] That's why when you asked me, who am I?

[00:26:16] I'm just and I just said that I'm in constant pursuit of self-improvement, constant pursuit.

[00:26:23] And just trying to find more opportunities, trying to find more ways to put myself in uncomfortable situations.

[00:26:29] So then all I'm forced to do is grow and expose myself to more.

[00:26:34] So I can't tell you what the goal is when I didn't even know I could achieve everything I have today.

[00:26:40] The car I'm driving has been my has been my dream car for the longest time.

[00:26:44] I just got that two months ago, and I thought it was going to be a 10 year plan.

[00:26:49] You know, at first I was just thinking, oh, let's get the smallest one.

[00:26:53] And in the last three months, I have achieved more than I can ever imagine.

[00:26:59] And now that I have this mindset of not worrying about what's going to happen, what other people think, knowing that this is my movie, this is my show.

[00:27:08] And all this hard stuff, all the setbacks, all the it's all part of it.

[00:27:15] It's going to make my movie, my show worth the watch.

[00:27:18] It's going to be the greatest story ever.

[00:27:20] So I'm in constant pursuit, self-improvement, constantly putting myself in any situation.

[00:27:26] I'm forced to grow.

[00:27:27] To us, envy is a good thing.

[00:27:29] It motivates us in the pursuit of better.

[00:27:33] Like crafting a bourbon, even the angels would envy.

[00:27:39] Angels envy worth the envy.

[00:27:42] You talked about, you know, hope last year, a couple of years ago, wanted to be in basketball in some way.

[00:27:51] Basketball is a big thing for you.

[00:27:53] When you and I were talking, you talked about some of the work that you've done for kids when it comes to basketball.

[00:28:00] And I said to you that I really want to have that conversation because I think it's so admirable, the stuff that you were doing for them.

[00:28:06] And, you know, when I pull up your social media, like I didn't see anything about it.

[00:28:10] So again, it's just that little nugget of information that exists about who you are at your core that you're not out there putting in front of people's faces.

[00:28:17] Tell me about the basketball courts.

[00:28:23] I was born and raised in Ganokomase.

[00:28:25] And growing up, you know, it was, we, in my, again, in my environment, I thought I had everything.

[00:28:32] I thought I had the world, brother.

[00:28:33] You know, we had the big turf we would play soccer at.

[00:28:37] You know, we'd have some hula hoops taped to the, in the backyard where we just like, you know, shoot volleyballs at.

[00:28:43] And I thought I had the world.

[00:28:45] But then when I moved here, I realized how fortunate we are, how, you know, just how, how amazing this country, this environment is and how we just overlooked that.

[00:28:56] Um, 20, 20, 2019, 2020 around there when COVID right before COVID started.

[00:29:06] Um, my grandma passed away.

[00:29:10] She took care of me my, my whole life when my mom was working, but she passed away and we went back home to, you know, obviously celebrate our life and everything.

[00:29:20] But when I moved here, you know, through social media, I'm able to talk to all my peers back in Ghana, especially the teachers.

[00:29:26] They always want something, you know, but I went back and I spoke to about eight different schools and every single school.

[00:29:33] The main topic was talking about the difference between the Canadian system and the Ghana system, because obviously we're all in Ghana.

[00:29:38] We don't want to hear about what God, we want to hear what's going on in Canada.

[00:29:42] And every single time I went to a school, there was always a common interest in basketball.

[00:29:47] Everybody was talking about, Oh, do you know LeBron James?

[00:29:49] Like LeBron lives down the street from like, you know, like, I don't see him on TV just like you, like, you don't wear dogs, man.

[00:29:56] You know, but I was supposed to stay for a week, but I ended up staying for almost two months.

[00:30:04] I was still in school, high school at the time.

[00:30:06] But when I came back, I had so much assignments, but I ended up staying for two months and I was running clinics back at home.

[00:30:12] I have videos.

[00:30:13] I took so many.

[00:30:13] I don't know what came over me, but something told me, hope, take a video of this because you might need this later.

[00:30:18] I don't even know why I recorded some of the stuff, but it paid off later on.

[00:30:25] Rank camps, rank clinics and the courts are playing on terrible.

[00:30:31] I think I hyperextended my knee.

[00:30:33] I hyperextended my joint at one point.

[00:30:35] And I'm like, yeah, this can't, this can't go on.

[00:30:38] And at the time I was 17, 16.

[00:30:44] And I was like, yo, I got to put a court here.

[00:30:47] I got to change something.

[00:30:48] But I'm like, this is impossible.

[00:30:49] I'm like, how can a little me, old me?

[00:30:53] Yeah.

[00:30:54] So when I came back to Canada, I was like, I'm going to be the best I can be so I can make a difference back at home.

[00:31:00] So I started Hope Fitness, a basketball training camp that, sorry, programmed.

[00:31:05] I basically, you know, just empowered kids.

[00:31:07] I focused on mainly bringing kids out of their shells.

[00:31:10] I still run junior camps up until today, every Monday, you know, check it out, play.

[00:31:16] But I still run camps till today.

[00:31:18] And for the first week when I got back, I put together social media videos, making content.

[00:31:24] Hope Fitness, who got next?

[00:31:25] Hope Fitness.

[00:31:26] And I got all the people in my school to basically do free sessions to record it, to promote it.

[00:31:31] So then every time that we go to basketball tournaments, when we finish the tournament or whatever,

[00:31:34] I'd go to the school talking to the coaches like, hey, like, if you got like the kids that are trying to like,

[00:31:39] and I'm still in high school this time.

[00:31:40] If you got kids that are trying to get better, I'm running sessions at Bishop Fitness.

[00:31:43] So make sure you tell them all that.

[00:31:44] It's free, by the way.

[00:31:45] It's on me.

[00:31:46] And all I was thinking about was just like recording and showing that everybody was involved.

[00:31:51] I don't know why I was thinking like this.

[00:31:53] But I record all the sessions, post on social media.

[00:31:58] And then I opened up my first paid session.

[00:32:02] Sold out within the first week.

[00:32:04] And then it was supposed to be a one day session.

[00:32:06] Then I turned into a two month thing where you pay an upfront fee, use all that proceeds to build my first quarter at my father's high school.

[00:32:15] And, you know, when I sent all that money back and they built it, I'm like, wait, we can do this again.

[00:32:22] Yeah.

[00:32:23] I got exposed to it.

[00:32:24] And at the time when you're in high school, you live at your mom's crib.

[00:32:26] You're not thinking about payments.

[00:32:28] You're not thinking about nothing.

[00:32:29] So I was not thinking about charity work.

[00:32:31] No, that's it at all.

[00:32:32] But all the point was to all the kids that I met when I went back home.

[00:32:37] I wanted to kind of show them.

[00:32:38] I told them I got you.

[00:32:39] Hope's going to take care of you.

[00:32:41] Like I got you.

[00:32:41] So I raised awareness in Canada, use my name and my brand Hope Fitness to make like promote camps, use the proceeds from that camp to build court.

[00:32:52] So after I built my first one, I use all the footages from that made a big video on Instagram.

[00:32:57] And this was when the first first time I realized that content creation, I don't know how again, I shoot stuff, but we'll get to that later.

[00:33:07] I put a video out and I get reached out by a whole bunch of news channels trying to get the story on your platform to expose it.

[00:33:19] I was on magazines.

[00:33:20] I was when I first started doing shoots, you know, just for a project project.

[00:33:24] Project hope.

[00:33:25] I was on.

[00:33:26] I don't know if I could say it, but you know, CTV City News breakfast television, CP 24.

[00:33:33] Or this goes on and it built a network with powerful people that can make a difference back at home.

[00:33:39] Because at the time, me and my vessel right now, I could not make a difference.

[00:33:43] But there were other people that were in that, you know, reality where they can make a difference.

[00:33:49] So I was able to connect with them.

[00:33:50] And until today, until I turned 20, I built eight courts.

[00:33:55] Wow.

[00:33:57] And life happens where, you know, you get distracted with everything going on around the world.

[00:34:04] You start to worry about what I'm where am I going to go to school?

[00:34:07] You start to worry about what job am I going to work at?

[00:34:10] Parents are on your neck.

[00:34:11] Like, what are you going to do hope?

[00:34:13] When are you going to move out hope?

[00:34:15] And I'm like, yeah.

[00:34:17] Like, so I got to go back and I got to figure out.

[00:34:20] So I stopped.

[00:34:22] And do you want to do some more?

[00:34:27] That is, that is, I think, you know what?

[00:34:32] That's the goal right there then.

[00:34:33] You ask me what the goal is?

[00:34:35] To become the person, the vessel in which I can make more of an impact back at home.

[00:34:41] Wow.

[00:34:42] We should do this more often.

[00:34:44] But, um, yeah.

[00:34:46] Um, when I'm big brother and after I came out big brother, I was in the mindset that when I come out big brother, I would use that exposure.

[00:34:53] Mm-hmm.

[00:34:54] Because you have so much, you have so much eyes, but then again, you come off the show and the world is so good at distracting you.

[00:35:00] Oh yeah.

[00:35:00] Take you away from your purpose.

[00:35:02] It shows you all the flashing lights and all the glam.

[00:35:05] You get distracted by shiny.

[00:35:07] I forgot why I even started this.

[00:35:09] What put me on this path?

[00:35:11] Because without that first court, none of this would be possible.

[00:35:16] And going back to that point, if I had just stuck with it.

[00:35:20] And when I was building the courts, I was this young, fearless kid.

[00:35:22] I don't know where that kid went.

[00:35:24] When you're 17, 18, you feel like, you feel like you're immortal.

[00:35:28] You're like, I'm never gonna die.

[00:35:29] Like I'm, I'm invincible.

[00:35:31] I can make anything happen.

[00:35:32] And now I think about it.

[00:35:34] If I was this age, starting Hope Fitness now, I would, I would have gotten nowhere, brother.

[00:35:47] Because the world is, it's so judgmental and with social media and everything, it's so easy to just look what everybody's saying, see how hard it is and not.

[00:35:58] That and watching other people and seeing how they succeed and comparing yourself to them and realizing that I don't have the same numbers, I don't have the same followers, my videos don't do well.

[00:36:10] I struggle with that all the time.

[00:36:12] Half the time I'm like just constantly looking at other profiles and I catch myself doing it.

[00:36:18] I'm like, I gotta stop because it's unhealthy.

[00:36:20] Imagine coming on Big Brother and you're trying to get these collaborations, these paid partnerships.

[00:36:27] In your head, you're thinking, I'm up to go.

[00:36:30] I'm, I'm, I'm that guy.

[00:36:31] You should be coming to me.

[00:36:32] You should be coming to me.

[00:36:33] Man.

[00:36:33] I'm with an agency.

[00:36:34] I should, I should be getting, but then I go on my phone every day and I see other people getting in.

[00:36:39] I'm like, yo, and I should, it was eating at me.

[00:36:45] Happy two, this is, this is my girlfriend and I's anniversary two years today.

[00:36:50] Happy anniversary.

[00:36:51] If it was not for that girl, I would still be stuck in that.

[00:36:55] I would be so distracted, so miserable chasing the next big thing or the next whatever.

[00:37:03] She sat me down, um, November, November 4th, 5th around there somewhere after our first year.

[00:37:12] And she just says like, she, she could see through everything.

[00:37:17] She could see how miserable.

[00:37:18] Cause all I do is stay home.

[00:37:19] I just, I don't go out.

[00:37:20] I stay at home and I just binge watch whatever show I can waiting for the agency to, Hey, hope we, we got something for you.

[00:37:31] Nobody called me.

[00:37:33] Nobody gave me any opportunities.

[00:37:36] And I was scared, brother.

[00:37:37] I was, I was terrified.

[00:37:41] And every day, all I do is like, Oh, I hope I get a partnership.

[00:37:44] I hope I get a collab.

[00:37:47] Not doing a damn thing, not putting myself out there.

[00:37:50] So then she told me that you have to put yourself out there.

[00:37:53] If you don't do it, nobody else is going to do it.

[00:37:56] And that's when I realized I'm marrying this girl.

[00:38:00] I was 178, 79 pounds last year, November.

[00:38:06] I lost all my muscles.

[00:38:08] I lost everything.

[00:38:09] I made hope who he is.

[00:38:11] So even if I did get an opportunity, I have the same version.

[00:38:18] December came and I just started working winter arc locked in 75 heart, whatever you want to call it locked in.

[00:38:27] She was making all my meals, taking care of me.

[00:38:31] And without her, I would not, I would not have a purpose.

[00:38:35] I would not have a platform to stand on.

[00:38:38] I am the man I am today.

[00:38:40] It would have taken me maybe another seven, eight years from being generous if I didn't meet her.

[00:38:46] But she gave me that.

[00:38:51] She shrunk that time for me to realize by like 100%.

[00:38:56] And within that time span, I was able to get back in shape.

[00:38:59] I don't know what it is, but I started working on it.

[00:39:02] I'm back.

[00:39:02] I'm back right away, you know, eat the right things, cut out a few things.

[00:39:05] We're back, you know?

[00:39:07] And then we started putting on content.

[00:39:10] I realized that me and her were very good duo, people loved watching us.

[00:39:14] And so I'm like, okay, let's, let's figure out what we're going to do.

[00:39:17] Start putting content out.

[00:39:19] And then I realized that I was relying on the agency and the agency were doing a great job.

[00:39:25] They're doing, you know, what you're supposed to do.

[00:39:27] But if I'm not doing my part, I'm not getting any gains or anything.

[00:39:29] So I can't really sell you.

[00:39:30] So I decided to just cut tides.

[00:39:34] January, February, March, April, May, June.

[00:39:38] I get my first ever partnership from, I don't know if I can name it up again.

[00:39:44] I'm good, right?

[00:39:45] I get from Foot Locker to do their new on-cloud shoes coming out.

[00:39:51] Since I started doing content in 2017, all the way up until 2024,

[00:39:59] I did not make a single dollar of content.

[00:40:02] And I'd have been developing that, my content, I'd be making,

[00:40:05] hey, you want a video?

[00:40:06] I can, you know, your boy can shoot it up and, you know, I can act in it, direct it, write it,

[00:40:11] whatever you need.

[00:40:12] But from 2017, I'd be making content this whole time.

[00:40:16] And I'm finally getting some type of recognition, some type of love for it.

[00:40:20] I think that really speaks to this misconception that social media is the financial solution to all your problems.

[00:40:30] As I have more of these conversations with different people who have social platforms,

[00:40:37] a lot of them tell me, you know, like I don't, my live, my, I don't make my living off social media.

[00:40:43] No, brother.

[00:40:43] I do it in ABC way and social media is like kind of here.

[00:40:47] And if it happens, it's great.

[00:40:48] It's just bonus extra, but really and truly, you know, like even some of the biggest creators that I've talked to who live in LA,

[00:40:56] like you hear about this idea of leave Toronto, go to LA, make it happen, make it big there.

[00:41:01] Some of the biggest creators, millions of followers tell me the same thing.

[00:41:06] We still have day jobs.

[00:41:09] And there's nothing wrong with that.

[00:41:10] But I think, again, I think we've been sold a dream of make content.

[00:41:16] If you can get your subscribers, your numbers up, then suddenly you can quit your day job and go and pursue,

[00:41:22] you know, just making videos all day.

[00:41:23] And the reality is that's not how it works.

[00:41:26] And someone like yourself who was on a reality TV show and then distracted by all the shiny and then suddenly thinking,

[00:41:34] okay, so all the brand partnerships, all the shit all like I'm ready.

[00:41:38] I'm here to pick.

[00:41:39] Like you're sitting there at draft day trying to decide which hat you want to put on.

[00:41:43] It's like, no, it doesn't work that way.

[00:41:45] No, brother.

[00:41:46] No, not even close.

[00:41:48] Until that you can become that person who you want to be in your mind.

[00:41:53] And you can never, if you have any type of doubt, hence again, going back to not having any fear, not even hope.

[00:42:01] Don't even have hope.

[00:42:02] Just know and just let go of everything and just know that whatever it is, it's gonna happen.

[00:42:11] Yeah.

[00:42:12] I wanted to be this person for so long.

[00:42:14] And when it hit me, I didn't even realize I was that person yet.

[00:42:18] But I had to go through all the hardship.

[00:42:21] I had to go through all the tough times, all the rejections, all the failures, all the no's.

[00:42:29] And when that happened, I didn't even realize because I was so distracted.

[00:42:32] By everything else.

[00:42:33] By everything else.

[00:42:34] We have so much at our disposal.

[00:42:36] We have so many good things, but we focus so much on what we don't have.

[00:42:40] And again, social media, what he has, what she has, and what I don't have.

[00:42:46] Man, when I was getting back in shape, here for you, page is full of guys.

[00:42:51] It's just, you know, and I'm like, yeah, I gotta, you know, everything or not.

[00:42:57] I had to get off that.

[00:42:58] Yeah.

[00:42:58] I had to get off that app for a bit before I can, before I can focus on me.

[00:43:04] I had to take the focus off everybody else, put it on me.

[00:43:09] And then right when I came back out, the first video I put out was a video where I did a shoulder tutorial.

[00:43:14] That was the first video that started everything, by the way.

[00:43:17] I put it out.

[00:43:18] This was me January 1st.

[00:43:19] Also me March 23rd, whatever.

[00:43:22] And I can assure you this most effective way to grow your shoulders.

[00:43:24] Walk through the whole thing.

[00:43:26] That video got me almost 2000 followers, not because of the workouts, but because of the personality.

[00:43:34] That's when I'm like, what did he say?

[00:43:38] Like, you know, just put up this mask, you know, put up because people-

[00:43:42] Instead of showing up as your authentic self.

[00:43:44] People, people, people don't care how much you can lift.

[00:43:47] They care about the little reactions that you make.

[00:43:50] They don't care how big and strong you are.

[00:43:53] They care about how happy you can make them or what value you can give them.

[00:43:58] And the moment I realized that, I just started experimenting.

[00:44:02] I just put out any video.

[00:44:04] I didn't care how I was going to do.

[00:44:06] I wanted to see what the analytics would look like.

[00:44:08] And I tried seven different-

[00:44:12] Seven?

[00:44:13] Yeah.

[00:44:14] She'll tell you.

[00:44:15] She's my, like, you know, my, my, uh, Alfred, you know, and, uh, like-

[00:44:20] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:44:21] Well, she will tell me everything because that's, that's what she's good at, you know?

[00:44:24] But, um, I tried seven different content and four don't really hit.

[00:44:29] So I scratch you out of three.

[00:44:31] Get out of here.

[00:44:32] We're going to stick to this point.

[00:44:33] Every time I put out those four, something-

[00:44:36] Something happens.

[00:44:36] Magic happens.

[00:44:38] And I think I grew my following from-

[00:44:41] Big Brother didn't really give me a lot of followers, believe it or not.

[00:44:43] When I came up the show, I was at nine, eight thousand followers.

[00:44:48] Came up the show and I was like, like, nine thousand.

[00:44:50] Like, dang up.

[00:44:51] No, Canada?

[00:44:52] That's it?

[00:44:53] Turn me up.

[00:44:54] Turn me up, man.

[00:44:56] You know what I mean?

[00:44:56] I think it speaks to this idea that you're measuring this.

[00:45:00] You were measuring the success of showing up on a national reality TV show

[00:45:05] with how many followers you got afterwards.

[00:45:08] And the fact that you didn't get as many followers as you thought you would

[00:45:11] somehow makes all of that a failure.

[00:45:13] I was looking at all these other past Big Brother people.

[00:45:15] I'm like-

[00:45:16] How did you?

[00:45:16] How did you?

[00:45:17] Yeah.

[00:45:18] Brother, I was turning up more.

[00:45:19] Like, and-

[00:45:21] It eats away at you.

[00:45:23] So all that, not getting any gigs, watching other people in your agency getting gigs,

[00:45:29] watching your friends, peers doing good when they haven't even been on the show.

[00:45:33] So in your head, you're like, what did I do wrong?

[00:45:36] All of a sudden I just gave up.

[00:45:37] I just, I quit.

[00:45:41] So, I gotta ask you, um, there's gonna be, there's gonna be people out there, men, women,

[00:45:51] doesn't matter, who are in the same boat as you were.

[00:45:55] Who are struggling because they see other people doing well, at least on the outside, doing well on social media.

[00:46:08] And then they're starting to, that negative feedback loop is now in full effect.

[00:46:14] They're, they're self critical.

[00:46:16] They're negative on themselves.

[00:46:18] They don't feel motivated.

[00:46:20] They feel terrible.

[00:46:21] They're stuck in a rut.

[00:46:22] They don't know how to get out of it.

[00:46:23] If you could say something to those people, what would you tell them?

[00:46:26] I have been there.

[00:46:37] I went through it.

[00:46:39] I went through it.

[00:46:40] Coming off a really big show.

[00:46:43] And I truly believe that anybody that has success with social media, it's all consistency.

[00:46:52] Whoever can have an idea or an image, stick to that image long enough for it to do the work that they want it to, you know, work as.

[00:47:02] A lot of people start a page or just start an idea and they expect the first three videos to like blow up.

[00:47:13] No, no, no.

[00:47:14] It doesn't work like that.

[00:47:15] So for anybody that's out there looking at other people thinking, Oh, how can I get there?

[00:47:21] Or how come it's not happening to me?

[00:47:24] You need to stick to your content long enough for it to work like for you, the way that you want it to work for you.

[00:47:30] When I started making my videos and everything, I didn't know the, I don't have any purpose to make it.

[00:47:34] I just see a meme or a trend and I'll remake it.

[00:47:37] Not knowing that it's just a trend.

[00:47:40] How can you figure out something that is you, that you can make and everybody know that, hey, that's you.

[00:47:46] You figure that out.

[00:47:47] You stick to that for however long it is.

[00:47:50] And even if it's not working, you're learning from it.

[00:47:54] You're learning repurposing your video, remaking your video, remixing it, remixing it.

[00:47:59] It's kind of like, you ever seen the movie, The Max?

[00:48:02] The mask.

[00:48:03] Oh yeah.

[00:48:03] He puts on the mask and then he comes out.

[00:48:08] Oh, people don't like it, but it comes out again.

[00:48:11] I had to rebrand myself over and over and over and over and over until I figured out what works and what doesn't work.

[00:48:18] And even until now, I still don't know what works.

[00:48:20] I'm still trying to figure it out.

[00:48:21] I know what kind of works, but I don't know exactly what really works.

[00:48:26] But I think it's where we can stay consistent longest.

[00:48:30] I think it's where we can come up with an idea and keep on making that, like keep making that idea until the whole world believes that.

[00:48:36] Play the long game.

[00:48:37] That's it.

[00:48:38] You go on someone's Instagram page, you only have four or five videos up and they expect them to other.

[00:48:44] You don't get points for touching first base.

[00:48:47] You don't get points for touching first base.

[00:48:50] You know what I'm trying to say?

[00:48:51] Yeah.

[00:48:52] Right now I'm like what?

[00:48:53] 120 videos.

[00:48:55] I can't say that I've made it if I haven't even put up a thousand videos yet.

[00:48:59] How would people?

[00:49:00] Nobody knows me.

[00:49:02] You have to work and consistent.

[00:49:04] It's working consistent.

[00:49:05] And then so for anybody that's out there struggling looking at other people thinking, why am I not there yet?

[00:49:09] Look how many videos you have up.

[00:49:12] Look how many, you know, videos you've put up.

[00:49:14] How many videos you put up a week?

[00:49:16] How many videos you put up a month?

[00:49:18] Do you put up one week and then one week out we go crazy.

[00:49:21] Nothing happens.

[00:49:21] Then what do you do?

[00:49:22] You give up for a month and you come back.

[00:49:24] And I get it.

[00:49:25] Social media is like whatever, you know, sometimes you gotta take, you know, a break and you gotta come back.

[00:49:29] But when you do come back, what did you learn from going away?

[00:49:33] Yeah.

[00:49:33] Did you just, oh, I feel great.

[00:49:35] Let me just, let me just get back on it and just, oh, it didn't work.

[00:49:37] All right.

[00:49:38] Let me just, you know, and the worst part, the one thing I've learned about social media is that you can go hard.

[00:49:46] And I'm sure you can attest to this too.

[00:49:48] You can go hard for a month to the moment that you miss a week or two, your whole progress goes right back to the start.

[00:49:58] If you miss a month old brother, good luck.

[00:50:01] Good luck getting back up.

[00:50:02] You know what I mean?

[00:50:03] So it's about working because one thing I've learned is that all work works, all work works.

[00:50:11] And if it's not working the way that you want it to work, it's working on you and it's preparing you for something that's coming up next.

[00:50:17] When I started the fitness training, when I started playing basketball, when I started this whole charismatic energetic guy, every single job and everything I've ever done has all faded away.

[00:50:26] But what's one thing that's always stuck with me?

[00:50:29] Staying in the gym, staying fit, playing basketball, looking because I know for a fact that I would not be getting a lot of the things I get if I didn't look the way that I did.

[00:50:37] I know for a fact that I would not be getting all these deals and everything if it wasn't for the way that I talk and the way that I portray myself on social media.

[00:50:46] All work works.

[00:50:48] And I truly believe that whoever can stay consistent to whatever is working for them, because if it's not working for you now, you have to keep on developing yourself to become the person that it will eventually work for.

[00:50:58] So just keep working.

[00:51:00] Be consistent.

[00:51:01] Keep your head down.

[00:51:02] Don't look at the numbers.

[00:51:03] Not yet.

[00:51:04] Not yet.

[00:51:06] And just keep pushing.

[00:51:08] Hope, thank you so much, brother.

[00:51:09] Brother, brother, I'm I didn't.

[00:51:12] I'm just before this.

[00:51:14] I was afraid because I was like, I'm not going to know what to say.

[00:51:18] I need to.

[00:51:20] I need to prepare myself.

[00:51:21] I need to.

[00:51:22] And I'm like, wait, why am I worrying, brother?

[00:51:27] He's going to ask you a question.

[00:51:29] Just answer it.

[00:51:30] Use your life as, you know, like a testament, you know, use your life and the things you've gone through, though you have not achieved all the things you want to achieve.

[00:51:40] There's something in there that's going to help someone that's listening.

[00:51:42] So to anybody that's listening every day in every little way.

[00:51:47] Get better.

[00:51:48] That's it.

[00:51:49] I don't even think I could end on a better note.

[00:51:52] What did he say?

[00:51:55] Thank you so much.

[00:51:56] I am appreciative of your time.

[00:51:59] Thank you to our friends at Angels Envy again for helping us to have these amazing conversations.

[00:52:08] And honestly, I'm inspired by your journey.

[00:52:10] And I'm so excited to see where you're going.

[00:52:13] And what's next.

[00:52:14] I don't know either, brother.

[00:52:15] We'll figure it out.

[00:52:17] What did he say?

[00:52:17] But I really sincerely hope that you you continue on this path.

[00:52:21] And, you know, I really genuinely hope that you can do some of that work again in the basketball courts helping the kids.

[00:52:30] I think that's always it's a I love when people do that kind of stuff.

[00:52:34] I think it's so powerful.

[00:52:35] I think you're right.

[00:52:37] We're very fortunate.

[00:52:38] We've been blessed with a lot of breaks that a lot of kids around the world don't have.

[00:52:43] A lot of people around the world don't have.

[00:52:46] And if we can make a difference in people's lives, even just a little bit, I think it's a powerful responsibility that we carry.

[00:52:54] So congrats on what you've done.

[00:52:57] I'm expecting you're going to do more.

[00:52:59] What is that?

[00:53:01] And thank you so much for coming through.

[00:53:03] Thank you, brother.

[00:53:03] I appreciate you.

[00:53:04] Thank you so much, everybody.

[00:53:07] Thank you for tuning into this week's episode of the Gents Talk podcast.

[00:53:11] I'm your host, Samir Marani.

[00:53:13] And this week we had on Hope Akbaloso, a fitness creator, a recent contestant on Big Brother Canada and just an overall amazing human being.

[00:53:21] I'd like to take a moment to recap what we discussed in a quick episode reflection brought to you by our friends here at Angels Envy, Canada's number one super premium bourbon.

[00:53:34] Hope really shared what reality TV actually looks like.

[00:53:39] The challenges of being isolated in a room with a whole bunch of strangers seems like a wild concept even to me.

[00:53:46] But to go through something like that for weeks and months on end and then come out of that with suddenly a new reality has got to be very challenging to navigate.

[00:53:55] From there, he talked about how he immediately thought that that was stardom.

[00:54:00] And I think it speaks to the broader perspectives on how social media provides and generates this facade of what we think reality really is.

[00:54:08] He expected the world to come to him, all the partnerships, all the deals.

[00:54:12] And then he went such a long time without actually seeing any progress and how much that ate away at him.

[00:54:17] And it also spoke to some of the comparative problems that we do to ourselves.

[00:54:22] I do it. I'm sure you do it.

[00:54:24] Where we look at what other people are doing, we see their success, and then we look at ours and go, it's not the same thing.

[00:54:29] And then we get negative about it.

[00:54:32] All is to say, hope gave me hope that there is a way around that.

[00:54:37] It's to constantly remind yourself of what you're doing, focus less on others and focus on yourself.

[00:54:42] Now I want to take a moment just to say thank you to you, our followers, our subscribers, our viewers, all of you.

[00:54:49] You're our community.

[00:54:50] We love you for everything that you do for us.

[00:54:52] All the likes, comments, shares, subscribes, follows, all of that means so much to us.

[00:54:58] It helps us to continue to have these amazing conversations with guests like Hope and help these episodes grow.

[00:55:06] Thank you for being a part of this.

[00:55:08] Thank you again to our friends at Angels Envy for helping to make this episode happen.

[00:55:12] I hope you have a wonderful day.

[00:55:14] Next week's episodes, Monday, 2 p.m. Eastern.

[00:55:18] Make sure to tune in.

[00:55:19] Make sure to subscribe if you haven't done so already.

[00:55:22] I hope you have a wonderful day.

[00:55:24] Cheers.