How a Health Crisis Forced Derek Carlson to Rebuild Everything

At around 2 a.m., I strike to the chest, unlike anything that I've ever felt in my life. My family watched that happen. I told the doctor on call exactly what I just said to you, and he comes back, he says, I just called the ambulance. You're having a heart attack right now. If I were to die, I would have left my family a mess. The vision I had did not work. I had to build a new vision. I had to work on my family. There it is. You have a book coming out. unlock your mbp is to help entrepreneurs out there by sharing my story to help them master their mindset and then finally to lead with purpose we're scheduled to release it on march 15th why march 15th that's the day i was finally proud of myself it's easy to feel one way in a hospital room it's easy to feel one way in here what are you going to do when you get out of this room is what's important in your life Don't talk about it. Be about it. Take action. This isn't lip service. You're here to change the world. What's up, everybody? We're back with another episode of The Determined Society. And I have with me today Derek Carlson, CEO of MVP Realty here local in Southwest Florida. But what's more important and very exciting is that we are live at Mind Your Business 3. Can I hear something, guys? the audience watching on camera can't see but there's about probably 500 people in attendance so hopefully i don't choke i'm kidding welcome to the show man thank you sean dude i you know we met last year around this time and i was just really just enthralled with your story you know in 2023 was a big year for you a lot of things happened and it's almost like they happened in threes for you as we were talking about you turn 50 one daughter graduated uh ucf yep the other daughter graduated uh yeah you guys are great graduated from uh gulf coast high school and your business was attacked you had three heart attacks that year so why don't we walk through this with the audience and talk about your journey because you've built yourself back bigger, better than ever. And so I want them to hear the adversity you went through and how you rebuilt and kept going and even rebuilt your faith through that. A hundred percent. Um, I started the company back in 2014 with literally $500. Um, basically wore every hat you could in the company, everything from a broker to recruiter to, to marketing guy. I cleaned the office. I did all of it. We didn't have a staff. It was me. And during the 10 years, we built it into one of the largest real estate firms in the United States. So life was good, right? So in 2023, it was supposed to be a year of celebration. As Sean said, I was turning 50, the big 5-0, which is obviously a milestone that all of you imagine in your life. And at the very same time, my wife and I and my daughters were celebrating, both of them graduating, one from high school and one from college. And we had planned this big European vacation in June to celebrate those three big milestones. And we did the whole Rome thing and we did all of the things you can imagine in Italy and so forth. And then we went on a Norwegian cruise called the Epic. We chose that because life was epic. Life was perfect. I even caught a football from Tom Brady. Can you imagine that? It is insane. That's insane. Go New England Patriots this weekend. But so life was epic. And then about four days into that cruise in the middle of the night, my wife, we were sleeping in our state room at around 2 a.m. I strike to the chest, unlike anything that I've ever felt in my life. And obviously I gasped for air that lasted. I don't know. For me, it lasted forever. But let's say it lasted for a minute. I'm sweating. And I did what the only thing I could, that I could think of as I started to pray, I didn't even wake my, my wife up, which there's a, there's a lesson there to all the men in the room. Don't be prideful. Wake, wake your significant other up. If something like that happens, the pain went away and we continued with the trip. Two nights later, we're in, we're in Laverna, Italy. We had a big dinner with my daughters and my wife. And we're walking back to the bus to take us to the cruise ship ship on that walk back. nothing, nothing stressful at all. Life was good. Another strike to the chest that bent me over. But this time my family watched that happen. So what did I do? Did I go to the, to the doctor on the cruise ship? No, I went back and said, I'm just going to rest. Well, the dumbest thing I've ever done in my life happened that next day. We decided to walk 200 some odd steps up to the top of the Lenin tower of Pisa. I'm sweating. It's pouring down my face. Um, between that time that was around noontime and about 5 PM, uh, literally my life deteriorated every minute. Um, I was sweating. My fever jumped. Um, I was fluids were coming out of places. I couldn't even imagine. And so I went to bed, the cruise was going to be over and we're going to go to pasta town of Italy the next day. and I told my wife, get me back to the United States as quickly as possible. Whatever's going on here, I do not want to be in some small village in Italy. And so we got on the earliest flight back, landed in Southwest Florida. The next day, I told my closest friend, Anthony in the audience and my wife, I'm like, I feel like there's a stack of books on my chest and I still have this infection or something. I need antibiotics. And so I went to urgent care in Naples and I told the doctor on call exactly what I just said to you. And he says, well, let me hook you up to an EKG machine. And he comes back. He says, I just called the ambulance. You're having a heart attack right now. You know, I want to interject here because there's a lot to unpack here. Right. And I want to make sure we get the full story out and, and really, so it's impactful for the audience here listening. You're building this massive company and, you know, as a man, right. We are, we always feel that responsibility, that weight of the world to provide financially. And a lot of times our health can go by the wayside. I've been through it and I've been blessed because I didn't have a heart attack before I caught it. Shout out to Jeff Delaney, who's here, changed my life. And, you know, but what's important is our health. We can have as much money as you want. You can have a billion dollars in your bank account, but if you drop dead and your wife doesn't have a husband and your two beautiful daughters don't have their dad, then it doesn't matter. It does not matter. And that's the message that I want to bring to you guys. Our health is the new wealth. We have to be okay. We have to be okay so we can do the things with our families. So I want to really focus on the emotion of, yeah, I've got two beautiful daughters and I got a, I got a, I got a really cool son too. That's just a stud. I can't even imagine going through what you were going through and looking them in the eye. Yeah. There's a lot of emotions that happen when you're sitting in the hospital the night before they're about to put stents in because of the blockage. Right. And the emotion is, is how did I get here? Right. Why did this happen? I did everything I thought I was supposed to. I built this amazing company. I provided for my family. I provided for my staff, the realtors. I did everything I was supposed to. And then I realized I didn't take care of the one person that needed it the most. And that was me. And that was a massive, massive wake up call. And sitting in that hospital alone, the family had left. I, I, again, did the one thing I, I didn't know how to, but I just started praying to God, give me another shot here. If I can get through this, things are going to have to change. They're going to have to drastically change because the business, the big business that I had worked for, if I were to die, I would have left my family a mess. There was no systems. We didn't have an operating system. I was the system in that business. That big, beautiful business that I built would have collapsed in one second if I were to die. So I made another promise. If I can get out of there, not only am I going to work on my health, I'm not only going to work on my business and rebuild it from the ground up with the helps of many people in this room, with the help of many people in this room, but I need to work on my faith as well. So I redesigned my entire life and I went to work You know and thank you for that That is amazing And when you started rebuilding you talked about rebuilding your health rebuilding your faith and rebuilding your business There's a lot of people in this room that are going through things. You know, I think that everybody that steps foot on planet Earth, you know, to the outside, people can say, hey, things are going great. You look great, man. Things are great. But we have some internal battles and we have things that we struggle with. And the most important thing is that we take steps further in every single day to combat those things and get well, whatever it is, and to heal. What are some of the tips you can share with the audience in building your wealth back up, building your health, and your faith, most importantly? Those are all things, because I imagine at that point, you're probably mad at God. Yeah, I was confused. with God. To answer that question, Sean, it's the first thing I did while I was sitting in the hospital is I, you know, obviously it's like, everyone says I need to, I need to fix this. I needed an operating system on my life. And the name of my company was MVP. And that stood for 10 years as most valuable property. That was the whole reason why I started that company. And while I was in the hospital the night before they put the stents in, I said, I'm going to, I'm going to, that's going to become my operating system where MVP is going to stand for mindset. I needed to rebuild my mindset. I had needed to master my mindset. The V. I needed a vision bigger than the one that I had because the one I had got me in trouble. You know, it's nice to, you know, catch footballs from Tom Brady. Don't get me wrong. It's nice to have a nice car and a house and go on these crazy vacations. but the vision i had did not work i had to redesign my visit vision i had to build a new vision and then the last one was purpose it had to be bigger than commission checks it had to be bigger than sales volume the two billion dollars in sales volume it had to be more than just transactional so i had to redevelop my my purpose and and so i created the framework and then i simplified my life And I made a decision. There's four things, you all have heard this before, called the four F's. Faith. I need to work on my faith. Okay, at that time, I prayed. I'd gone to church as a kid, but it was a very long time before I actually connected with Jesus and had a personal relationship with Jesus. So I had to work on that. The next thing was my family. My wife. There it is. Is she here? Yes, she's in the front row. Where is she? Hey, girl. You're the real MVP. My wife and kids, when you're running a big business, you take it home with you. She has seen the worst version of me. She's seen the best version of me. And when you take that pain of the struggle going through every single day to fight those battle scars, and you're trying to protect them, but they become a sounding board. So for me, I had to work on my family. Okay. I had to work on my fitness. I was 65 pounds heavier than I was today. I neglected my fitness. I did not go to the gym. I did not eat right. To me, Chick-fil-A, no disrespect. That was healthy eating. Right. Um, and then the last one was my finances, my finances, because my business didn't have an operating system. We didn't have KPIs. Basically, I was the system. So I went to work and I made a decision. Unless it fits those four things, it no longer matters in my life. I simplified the operating system for my life. It was founded on pain. He got into an accident and had this extreme pain in his arm and found that percussive therapy really helped. So he created the very first version of the Theragun with a Makita drill, just to pilot and test to see if his pain could be relieved by percussive therapy overall. And surely it was. So now birth to the Theragun and now Therabody, who has a multitude of products to help you recover emotionally and physically. And some of the products even help with stress, meditation and better sleep and just overall better wellness. And when I had Dr. J on the show earlier in 2025, it really spoke to me because his platform was founded out of out of physical pain. And The Determined Society was founded out of emotional pain. And so it felt natural for us to partner up. So here we are, an official partnership with Therabody. And I want to talk to you about some of the products today that I've been enjoying that I think you need to understand and know more about so you could potentially implement them into your life. And I'm not going to get into a big, deep dive of the actual science and everything like that. I'm just going to give you some anecdotal information based on the products that I'm using and that my wife is actually using too, that is helping us out a great deal at home. Because the great thing about these products, guys, is you can use them anywhere. You can use them in the gym. You can use them at home, in your bed, in your living room. Hell, you can even drive with the Theragun Pro Plus in your car and use it on your quads, use it on your arms, whatever that is. The first thing I want to talk about is the Theragun Pro Plus. I bring that in my gym bag every day to the gym. And when I'm warming up, I use it to warm up. I put it on my arms, whatever body part I'm using that day, I activate those muscles. And what I find is I'm able to move my body a lot quicker and I'm a lot stronger on those days that I do actually bring it and utilize it. I just think it's a great way to understand your body and the connection between your strength and your muscles and being warm and being able to perform. because it's one thing to go work out, but it's another thing to perform while you're doing it. And the Theragun Pro Plus helps me do that. Another thing that I really truly enjoy is the Jet Boots Pro Plus. These things are wire-free. There's no hassle. There's no cords. There's infrared LED light. There's that compression therapy. And I've been having bad pains in my ankles, both of them actually, for about a year. And I don't understand where it's coming from. But when I started using the boots, religiously after a leg day or after a cardio session, I throw those boots on and I find myself a lot looser afterwards. I find myself lighter. And then the next day, there's no pain in my lower extremity, like my feet. The other thing that I really enjoy is that product really helps me recover a lot quicker. And let's face it, that's the most important thing when we're trying to move our bodies or we're trying to succeed in life is we want quick recovery emotionally and physically. And these products help me do that and they can help you do that as well. One of the other things that I really want to go into because it's helping my wife out a ton with headaches and being able to distract from the noise in her mind. And honestly, it helps me with that too, is a smart goggles. Whenever we feel a slight headache coming on or things are getting really heavy, just in our minds, just thinking about all the stressors, all the things out there that we can't control. We throw the goggles on, get in a quiet place, and there's different cycles on there and different intensities of vibrations and massaging that you can either turn it up or turn it down. And what I really enjoy is it allows me to focus on what's going on with just me and I think about things. And the massaging with the smart goggles relieves either headaches and it relaxes me and relaxes my wife to a point where we can fall asleep better. We are preparing to kind of downshift and shut down and slow down for the evening So I heavily recommend them The other thing it really good for is just creating a peaceful time in your day And what I found since using the smart goggles and then the other products is it works for me, it works for my family, and I know it can work for you too. So I want you guys to think about things that you are struggling with. If it's lower back pain or you wake up in the morning, your neck is tight, I'm going to tell you the Theragun Pro Plus will help that out. They have cold therapy on it, hot therapy. I mean, think about that. When I opened that box and realized that I could have heat therapy and cold therapy and a Theragun changed everything for me and also really made the thing that I hate doing the most is warm up. Made that very easy for me just by applying it to the muscle group that I'm going to use before I do it and in between sets, which promotes quicker recovery between sets. So if you're looking to go high volume or to lift heavy weights, I strongly consider that. All these products are there to help you move along in your day with less pain and recover quicker. So go check it out because now, like I said, the official partnership has begun. And from now until the end of March in your first order, you get 15% off your first order, not every order. So if you're going to buy some stuff, load up there in that cart for that first time and you get 15% off, go to therabody.com. And at checkout, the code is determined. So let me know how you guys like it until then stay determined. I can relate to some of this, right? I mean, I didn't have the exact same journey, but I mean, about a year ago, I remember being in a room with you, uh, John Huffman, Jeff Delaney, um, at one of, um, John's breakfast events at the Lely, uh, at the Lely country club. And I remember seeing Jeff Delaney and I remember being in that room. And I also remember not being able to speak. Like I was just so depressed. And the only time I could really get off the couch is if I was at an event or recording and no one really knew that was going on with me. And I opened up to Jeff that day. And from that day forward, I took care of the one thing. And so I encourage you all here that struggling with the one thing that that's the thing that's holding you back. And a lot of people sit there and say, I don't know what that one thing is. And that is not true. It is the one thing you obsess over. It's the one thing you go to sleep thinking at night. It's the one thing when you're feeling super insecure and not comfortable in your skin, that's the thing you're thinking about. And so for me, that was my body, right? And I needed to get healthy. So once I did that and poured everything into my nutrition, listening to Jeff, my weekly check-ins, everything and lifting weights and doing my cardio, I changed physically. But the thing that really happened, guys, is my business and my show exploded because see, now I was living the brand. I looked like the determined society. I looked like I had determination and discipline in my life. and so that's what catapulted me forward and then everything else fell in place family fell in place faith fell in place fitness i mean uh the the finances fell in place like all these different things so you guys would be surprised on how many things will fall in place in your life if you take care of the one thing and that's what you did and and the thing that i want to commend you on is it is not easy it is simple it is simple but it's not easy there's a big difference It takes a lot of discipline to lose 65 pounds, to focus on these things that most people will have that health scare. Because let's face it, everybody in this room knows someone who's had a health scare. They have a heart attack. The doctor tells them they can't smoke. What do they do when they get home? They light up their Newports. Like how incongruent is that? But this man, you know, went through a lot of suffering in that moment and suffering thereafter. and a lot of sacrifice to build himself back up. So I want to encourage every one of you guys, and I want you to think about that. But again, my point is with this, it's easy to feel one way in a room, in a hospital room. It's easy to feel one way in here. What are you going to do when you get out of this room is what's important in your life. Don't talk about it. Be about it. Take action, right? How did you do that? Because that is a hard thing, man. So I knew, I knew I needed a drastic change. So there's a couple of things that I did. And again, I kept focusing on MVP mindset, vision, and purpose. So on January 1st, 2024, I started the program called 75 hard. Okay. So it was 75 days of working out twice a day. One out, one has to be outdoors, drinking a gallon of water, no alcohol, no recreational drugs, reading a nonfiction book, which helped my mindset and taking a selfie photo every day for 75 consecutive days. So I started that on January 1st. And here's why I did that. I needed something that would create non-negotiables in my life. So every morning I woke up and in that little manipulator, the one that got me in trouble for 50 years saying, go ahead, eat the pizza, go ahead. It's only a six pack of beer to watch the Patriots, right? That little manipulator, I had to go to war with that person every single day. So I created non-negotiables. Those non-negotiables were, I'm at the gym at 5 a.m. every morning. I would have a half gallon of water done before 9 a.m. every morning. I had to quit drinking alcohol. And right there, you know, I like football. Playoffs, obviously you got college football. I had to give up alcohol. I like beer. I like beer. And so I went to war against myself for 75 days. I was always scared that like after the 75 days, I'm just going to go back to that person. But what happened was when you go through the battle that I did for those 75 days, I found a different respect for myself. I put in this work. There is no way I'm going back. Number one, I owe it to my wife. I owe it to my kids. I owe it to my staff. I owe it to the business. Number two, this is the craziest part. And I was talking about Brady and John to Brady and John about this is that I think that I unlocked a different frequency in my life. And what do I mean by that? I start 75 hard on January 1st. 30 days later, I meet Brady McDonald at a mastermind group, which he just finished 75 hard. And that was his launching pad to doing the Moab 240 and things that are very difficult with intent. 30 days after that, I meet John Huffman and Bryce Lawrence. Come on, man. So talk about, and here's the thing, those people were always there. But I had to go through my battle scars, my journey, to be receptive to welcoming unbelievable men like that in my life. Because before, I had to look polished. I can't let anybody see the scars. But when you end up in the hospital, the scars, the Band-Aids have been ripped off. And the whole world can see it. When you get attacked with three class action lawsuits because of the National Association of Realtors war against our industry and they got attacked, which means we got attacked. It really puts you on display. So I stopped being the shiny, perfect image online and I started sharing my journey, which I believe unlocked those frequencies with people like Brady and John and Bryce and the majority of the men and women in the room that I'm now very close friends with and people like you, Sean. And to me, that was the game changer because what started as a non-negotiable, because of the people I now have allowed in my new tribe, there was no way I was sliding back to the person I was prior to those heart attacks. I love it, man. You know, I've. Yeah, absolutely. Give him a round of applause. Takes a lot of guts. Takes a lot of guts to quit something. I love beer, too. I don't touch it anymore because it doesn't serve my purpose. It's my purpose is to give to the world, to have great conversations like this that inspire people. I can't do that. If my mind's clouded, you know, I have to be in good shape to do that, to be effective you know So I just truly believe that everybody comes into your life at the right time so that you can heal and you can elevate But you know living on a different frequency it so funny because everybody here who here is talk about visualization You know, you hear about, you know, manifesting. I see that table right there. Two ladies. Absolutely. One hundred percent agree. But the thing that they don't tell you is there's actually work that goes along with it. Right. You think blink your eyes and a Lambo shows up at your doorstep. If it did, my dad would be really happy right now. Because he asked me for one yesterday. I'm still waiting on my Escalade, Dad. So my point is, when you can really see something, there's this quote by a legendary coach, Skip Burtman, my LSU baseball coach. Yeah, baby. Come on, man. Let's get it, baby. Go Tigers. Anything you could vividly imagine, ardently desire, and enthusiastically act upon, must, absolutely must come to pass. So whatever you're thinking your next move is, whatever your goal is, you can visualize it all you want, but unless you feel it in your bones, it won't happen. So you have to visualize what it's like to be 65 pounds lighter, what it's like to write the book, what it's like to have a better relationship with the family, right? What it's like to have a better relationship with Christ. And every day you see it on the movie screen of your mind and you just don't see it. You think of how it would feel when you achieve that. That's the cheat code, ladies and gentlemen. And that's what he did. It's beautiful. It's beautiful. You have a book coming out. I do. Let's talk about that. March, right? Yeah, this, hopefully, hopefully. Fingers crossed, guys. Last June, my wife and I were in Rye Beach, New Hampshire. And I just said, a couple people said to me, we've heard your story, you should write a book. I'm like, I'm not an author. I don't know how to write a book. And you need to write a book. So I started writing the book last June, and I've just been working on it slowly. And I submitted it to the publisher about two and a half weeks ago. And right now, it's in the editorial phase, because I'm not a writer. I'm sure there's some grammar problems in there. I speak Boston, right? But it's a book called Unlock Your MVP, which basically talks about my journey, how I became who I was prior to the heart attacks. How did you get there? Right? Well, how did all this adversity get thrown at you? Didn't happen overnight. These heart attacks were years in the making. We just didn't see it, right? We only see the gift when you're sitting in the hospital, I guess. But for me, Unlock Your MVP is to help entrepreneurs out there by sharing my story to help them master their mindset, to help them build a vision than the one they currently have. And then finally to lead with purpose. Love it. And I'm super excited about that. We're scheduled to release it on March 15th. Why March 15th? That's the day I finished 75 hard. And that's the day I was finally proud of myself. And I had pride. I had pride in myself because I knew that I, as well as my family, would be okay. I knew that I was back. I forgot about the heart attacks. I realized that this new form of me was going to just be a-okay, if not the best version of me in my entire life. So March 15th is the day that I'm hoping to have it come out, but obviously there's things that have to come into play. But I'm very passionate about this because the P part of that purpose, where it's more than just commission checks and more than transactions, I believe my story could help people. I know that there's entrepreneurs out there that know they need to go get to the gym, create those non-negotiables with yourself. I know that there's entrepreneurs that are out there struggling with alcohol. listen i quit drinking on uh january 1st 2024 i thought it was going to go 75 days me and my wife talked about this and she joined me on january 1st 2024 she liked her wine boy i like my beer together we mix it up and yeah um but on march 15th we said you know what we're gonna go to la for the tom brady roast the one that was on netflix oh my god that was so it was so much fun so we're gonna go to LA and we went to call it was awesome you were there I was there and um so we were gonna go to LA and that was gonna be when we chose to start drinking again comedy clubs we were going to fest comedy festivals and we looked at each other and we're like you know what we made it this far it's now May let's go a little further and since we're I think we're over 750 days what's up yeah we started over the 75 day journey and now we're at 750 plus days that's what i call true 10x i love that round of applause for that that's so cool man you know it's uh it's funny to me because you're talking about writing the book and the edit the edit the editorial process just heads up so i just got my manuscript back and there's red marking all over that day. Oh my gosh. I feel like I have to write a whole nother book, but I'm truly proud of you, man. Your story is impactful and it's relatable. I think, right guys? It, you know, yeah. Those are the stories we like to tell on this show because it's real life. It's real people. And there's so many people that are going through the same thing that as you are. And if we can just reach into somebody's screen or touch somebody here to let them know that in order to have more or to, you know, have different, you have to be different. And that's part of like the setting, the goals or the non-negotiables that he's talking about today. And for me, I call it a standard. I do this no matter what, every single day. I traveled a lot last week. I got back and I haven't felt well. Am I in the gym? Bad. Am I doing my job? Yes. It's because when you have moments like that and you push through them, you're building resilience. You're building that muscle of determination and discipline. But the standard is not just a non-negotiable. It is who you are. Period. and if it doesn't fall into that standard you run away from it if it falls into it you do what you have to do no matter how you feel emotionally at that time that's the difference that's what's going to set everybody on this room on fire and i'm going to tell you you guys have to do this because we're here to change the world guys this isn't lip service you're here to change the world you're in this room for a reason You go out there when you leave here and back into your communities. Some people live here. Some people flew here to be here. Some people drove, but you have an opportunity to change someone's life when you get back. And if you show them that love and that grace, they're going to show it to somebody else. And I don't know if you guys have scrolled social media right now, but our society needs some love and healing. And it starts with you guys. It's got to get done. I thank you so much, man, for coming on the show. It's amazing. My man. My man. Unbelievable story. And this has been a rush for me. You're filming in front of so many people. This is so cool. You guys are amazing sports. One thing that I want the audience to do at home and here, write this down for me, please. Thedeterminedsociety.com. All I want from you guys is to sign up for our newsletter. That's it. See if you like the show. and I think what you'll find is an opportunity to heal some areas in your life and to build that determination and discipline up in you so you can go be a trailblazer. So again, man, thank you. Thank you, Sean. And for everybody at home, until next time, stay determined. Thank you. Thank you.