Let me tell you, Obsessors, about something no one is really talking about. They are not watching this on highlight reels and they are not talking about when the money hits. They're not talking about when the crowd is screaming your name because the truth, the higher you climb, the more expensive your life becomes. Today's guest knows this cost intimately. We're talking about Marcus Ogden. NFL linemen built like a machine trained to win, raised in a family where excellence wasn't optional, it was survival. Because here's the story that is behind the helmets and the million-dollar contracts. It is the pressure, the identity, the isolation. Because when your entire life is built around performance, you don't learn how to be a partner. You don't learn how to sit still. You don't learn how to be human without the game. When the game ends, everything else can start to fall apart. Marcus went from the NFL to building a multi-million dollar construction company to losing everything. The money, the business, the identity, and yes, the relationships too. Because success without self-awareness, well, can be a ticking time bomb. We're going to talk about ego, poor decisions and chasing the highs of success that cost more than just money. And we're going to talk about rock bottom. When he wasn't in the stadium, he was cleaning toilets, making $8 an hour trying to figure out who the hell he was without the applause. So today we're going there and we're talking with the one and only Marcus Ogden. Let's get ready to get obsessed. Welcome Marcus. Can you believe it? Mika, this is our first NFL star ever on Get Obsessed. Yeah, we've had amazing musicians. We've had housewives. We've had all these survival winners and from the TV show Survivor. So it's nice to welcome Marcus to have you on right at the gate. I want to ask you, when everything fell apart, what hurt more, the financial loss or realizing that the loss was directly related to your doing, like your direct involvement? Oh, without a doubt, Mika. I was the one that caused my demise. I was the one that caused my loss. I was the one who did all that extra work without a sign change order. I did all those things on that project, really believing that I was bigger and better and this ego just took over. And I literally thought I couldn't be hurt. I literally thought I was the best thing since sliced bread. And I literally thought that no matter what I did, I was invincible, untouchable. You couldn't hurt me. I'm the minority contractor, one of the most prestigious, largest, premier jobs in Baltimore City for one of the largest and most premier brands in the entire world. And you couldn't tell me anything. So once I realized when I got down to Raleigh, making 8.25 as a custodian, I had to be fired from two jobs in the same week. It really hurt me when I was sitting on that curb like, oh, my gosh, I'm the one that did this. I'm the one that put me here. And I'm the one who literally went from a multiple eight figure year business owner to now making $311.22 a week cleaning toilets, taking trash out and doing whatever I had to do to support my family. It's one thing, right? Meekah Julie, to lose everything, you make a mistake or miscalculate or things like that or you go for something and doesn't hit. That's still bad. But when you lose everything because your ego blinded you and your ego made you think you were bigger and better and more important than you really were. Now that one is a one that's really hard to take. And that won't really knock me down for a number of years. I was trying to get back up the depths of hell. Wow. That's incredible to go from thriving to surviving is usually like the other way around where people the success stories we hear Marcus and Joel's as people going from surviving to like, oh, I've made it. We've made it and we're thriving. That's right. That's amazing because I mean his ego was so hyperinflated though that. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, I was trying this. I do want to ask you this question though. How did you go from you were in the NFL and then you became a contractor? You had your firm keen to break that down for people that are wonderful obsessors listening in. Yeah. So basically what happened is I ended up leaving the NFL and for about six months I had some addiction issues, alcoholism, painkillers. And what I found is I wanted to do something. I didn't want to go and work for somebody else. So I had taken a program, a class at USC on development and construction and site work through the NFL. And I found it was very interesting and I liked what it was about. I said, hmm, I have a little bit of experience. It's not much, but a little bit. I can be my own boss and I can start out. I can kind of control my own destiny. So with the little bit of experience that I had from that program, it made sense. And I was still relatively young. I was only 28 years old. I said, if I'm going to try something, this is the time to do. I've got no wife, no children, no family, no real response, but I'll take care of myself and my personal build. So I made a calculated risk for decision and I started my construction company. And luckily I found my business partner and we got together and we formed a partnership and we really took off. But unfortunately, as I tell people, I just wasn't ready for that type of success. I just wasn't ready to handle all the fame and notoriety and all those things, right? Julie and Mika, that came at me. And that's how I went out of business. But again, I just wanted to start something on my own. And that's how I found getting to construction because I love experience in it from going to a program. You were always from a young child taught to be the best. There was no alternative but winning, winning, winning. I can't imagine you forming these relationships, whether being business partnerships and or intimate relationships. How did that just affect those relationships when you are winning? I have to be successful in building upon that basis of I always need to be number one no matter where I go. How did that affect all those relationships going forward? So what happened is when I left the NFL and I struggled to really build relationships outside the game, except for people who I knew before the game, it made it very difficult because when I started my company, I really didn't know how to build real relationships with people. Now I could network, I could collaborate, I could go out there and give people to like as I could market my butt off, but building real relationships. I had never really done that outside of football except for people I knew beforehand. So it made it very challenging because again, my mentality was if you're not going to try to be the best, then we can't be friends. And in real life, you should want to be friends with people. Even if they can't be the best of something, you shouldn't let that deter you from being friends. You can still learn to have friends at like different levels and associations and things of that nature. But for me as a former professional athlete, right, Julian Mika, it was one way or the highway that you're all in or you're all out. If you're not all in with me and how you want to live your life, then I'm all out. Today, I have lots of people who I know that I'm actually friends with a lot of them are high achievers. Some of them that they want to live and stay in the type of job that they're at and be comfortable. Some are struggling because they just don't know what to do next and that's okay too. So today, I'm a lot healthier and a lot better at building relationships with people because I'm only wanting people to do the best that they can do versus me going all to be around me. They always want to be the best, right? As long as you're trying to do your best, that's all I care about. You don't have to be the best for me anymore. Now it's younger and very ego-centric though. If you are trying to be the best, I didn't want to mess with you, but today, I'm a much different person. This version of Marcus is definitely different from that Marcus in 2013 and before. Why do you think you had such an ego then? Did it come from being in the NFL? Was it already present before the NFL? Because it looks like there were certain character flaws, certain things that were missing that caused this multi-eight figure business to be going gamebusters one year and the next year closed because of an error. That makes perfect sense. Mika, as a former office of Lyman, we very rarely have egos. I don't do, but it's very rare because as a Lyman, you're putting your body on the line for somebody else, the running baths, the quarter baths. You're putting your body in harm's way and risk to take punishment to protect other people. That's how office of Lyman had to live, but we're very, very much natural protectors. The NFL didn't give me an ego shortly enough. Getting an ego was I had no experience really in construction. Started out and by the end of year three, the beginning of year four, I was the largest African-American subcontractor in my scope of work in the entire state. That blew my mind. I'm like, wow, I got to be this great. I got to be this awesome. I got to be this gold because I have no experience in this industry at all. Here I am less than four years in business. I'm number one. What's this all familiar? I am number one. Two is down and one at three. Nobody remembers. I was like, you're going to remember me. I'm number one. Yeah, that's right. I am killing it. The problem was it's just saying, yes, I'm number one. I want to be better. I want to help more people. I want to be humble. I was like, I'm number one and you need to know about it. If you don't know about it, you're going to know now. That was the wrong way to live my life. I was obsessed with being number one and letting everybody else know it. No way in a way that wasn't meek or mild or humble. It was arrogant, the prick. That's how I ended up losing everything because I took my eye off the ball and I created one of the most negative toxic cultures you could ever imagine. In an organization in such a short time that my best employees left and they would happen between that and the job going south, that was it. That was it. I was done. And you stopped probably being a mentor towards your employees, someone positive in their lives. I'm interested and you can share if you like in your personal relationships because I know money is one of the biggest factors in terms of marriages, disparaging relationships. When I have no idea, actually, there's nothing as we did our research on our number one podcast. I know probably one of the biggest factors my husband and I get into little scuffles about his money. So did that cause issues back then or maybe, I don't know, just carry. So you felt when I went bankrupt before and what were guards? I mean, I don't know if my husband lost all our money. I'd probably be pretty pissed at him. It's interesting. So from my ex-wife's perspective. There we go. Ex-wife. Okay. There you go. I mean, was that team? So actually when I went bankrupt, my ex-wife was not my wife. She was my girlfriend and my fiance. She actually stayed with me and we ended up getting married after I went bankrupt, after I went broke, after I lost everything. Okay. I didn't get divorced until 2022. For me, money did not affect that part of my life. But what it did affect was the friendships. I thought with people I were my friends. Because when I lost everything, I couldn't provide for anybody like the limos, the bar nights and the open tabs. And let's go down to Baltimore City. I'll spend five grand at the bar for everybody and stop in the limos. Go down here. That ended and that dried up. Oh yeah. That was it. That was the end of that. So money really caused a lot of people who I thought were my friends to disappear and never again heard from them. Now, of course, today, when I'm doing better, they want to come around, hit me up on Facebook. Oh, how are you? I see you're doing amazing. I'm like, oh, I'm doing well. Thank you very much for asking how are you? I'm always going to be very humble and show gratitude, but I also know what they're looking for or what they're looking at. People are going to show you who they truly are in times of hardship and struggle. And a lot of people who I thought were my friends, when the money disappeared, right, Julie and Mika, they weren't my friends. That's really sad. I saw that I went through a divorce and I became, and I'm not saying this lightly, I became a social pariah because I live in a Stepford Wives community. And if you are divorced, you know, you are the black sheet, you're the problem shot. That's how I was like when I lost everything. Oh, bankruptcy broke almost homeless. Oh my God, we can't talk to Marcus. No, no, no, no, no, no, like friends with him. Absolutely not. He's on the loser train. So I heard it all. I mean, you were the golden boy and I can't believe how quickly people jumped in. I jumped off the golden boy train just because you are not the center. The golden boy anymore or not because you're not married anymore. What happens is some people get so concerned about appearances or the look that they're so caught up in that and not the person. And that's why today we're very successful, but I'm always going to show gratitude being humble because I know how quickly it can come and how quickly it can go. Your story is so amazing from so many different angles. And I hear this question asked a lot and I'm going to ask you this Marcus. If you were to lose everything now, would you be able to start over? Absolutely. 100% because now I have relationships with people that goes far beyond money. I've got goodwill with people. I've got credibility with people. People know me in that regard and they're very excited about who I am as a person and how I try to help people. If I lost everything today, yes, I could totally rebuild because I have people that I know and respect, that no respect me and we have the ability to do business together and build together because they know who I am in my core. And no matter how successful I get, I'm going to always be the same person. If you're the janitor or the CEO, I'm not going to treat you any differently because I remember how bad it was when I went from a CEO to a janitor. People treated me like I was trash and I vowed, I remember saying this in September 2013, if I ever get to a position where people could actually listen to me and hear what I'm saying, I can turn my life around. I'll never ever again go back to what I once was, arrogant, egocentric and a prick. And I've made that promise to myself and I've put myself accountable to every day and I'll never ever break that promise I made to myself. And September 2013, seeing on the curb crying after someone spoiled milk, rotten trash and nasty disgusting meat got all over me. That's humbling, humbling. I am so grateful that you are here telling your story. There's so much more to Marcus Ogden, everybody. We will have everything about Marcus in our show notes. So run to the show notes. He is a motivational speaker. Reach out to Marcus, follow him on Instagram, follow him everywhere. Have him at your next event. But Marcus is the man that he knows the rise and fall of success. And I know I've been through it in different capacities. I'm speaking for Mika, but she's nodding. I think she's probably been through it. We've all been through it. So Marcus, we love you, everybody. Follow Marcus Ogden everywhere. We are grateful. We're in love in a deep way and we're obsessed with him. So everybody in the meantime, don't forget to rate, review and subscribe to the Get Obsessed podcast and we will see you next time. Get obsessed. If you liked the show, please take a moment to rate, review and subscribe. It really does help the show to grow. Thank you for listening.
