Ross Mandell - From Rage to Redemption

How you feel really doesn't really matter. When you have purpose, what's your because.

Man, like, what's that purpose for you today?

You know what? It's something that's natural for me. I love to teach, to educate, to help.

One of the things that I truly, truly adore Ross Mandel about is the word accountability.

If I don't do a transaction that day, I don't make any money. The firm doesn't make any.

I love people that talk about mindset a lot. And yes, you do need a mindset, but mindset is just the first piece. It's the action, is the follow through and execution that matter the most.

A lot of people, you know, they get the mindset. They're so worried about executing perfectly that they never get off first base. Just jump in the fucking pool, splash around, you'll figure it out. It'll come to you. But in the meantime, don't miss a day. You can't wait till you get something perfect. You got to get in the game. You'll take a few lumps, you'll get hit, you'll make a few mistakes. Guess what? That's how you learn for real.

Welcome to Mick Unplugged where we ignite potential and fuel purpose. Get ready for raw insights, bold moves and game changing conversations. Buckle up. Here's Mick.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another exciting episode of Mick Unplugged. And today we've got an icon and storyteller. From Wall street titan to federal inmate, his story is one of the most compelling tales of redemption and reinvention that you've ever heard. Now he's a sought after speaker and coach and he's using his journey to teach others about resilience, accountability, and finding purpose in second chances. Get ready to be inspired by the bold, the insightful, the transformative, the original Wolf of Wall street himself, Mr. Ross Mandel. Ross, how you doing today, brother?

What's shaking? Mick? I'm so honored to be here as you guest today.

Dude. I am the honored one. You know, big story, deep story, so many places we could go, man. But I wanted to let you know, as I got to learn your story several years ago, I connected with you, brother, and I wanted to tell you this to your face. So no scripts, no cue cards, no anything, man. I connected with you. When I heard about you losing your dad at an early age or at a young age, and how the anger kind of fueled your purpose and realizing that you had to put people on your shoulders to make life happen, I so resonated with that dude. And I just wanted to tell you thank you for giving a voice to that. Like a lot of people, when they hear people that are fighters and people that just don't give a damn about what you think about them and how you feel, they don't understand that thing that's inside of a lot of us, man. And so you gave words to that thing for me, so I just wanted to give you appreciation for that.

Brother. Bro, thank you so much. You know, I'm a big fan and of you, of your podcast and what you, what you're doing. And when Stephanie told me that I was gonna get to meet you today, I was really excited. And you know, I'm on a journey now, much like you, in this new world of media that has exploded. And it's, it was, it shouldn't be lost on anybody that went deep. When President Trump was trying to get his final message out before the election, he didn't go to CBS or BBC or abc. He went on Joe Rogan's podcast. No agendas, no corporate influence, no bullshit, no FCC regulation. You know, all this corruption we see in government and all their sort of, the NGOs, they call them non gu governmental organizations, but these shadow people that you know, are ruling our lives, which is so wrong. And he got 30 million downloads in 12 hours. Never happened before like that, right? And so now we're in that race, we're in that game, you know, and I feel like we have a few years to go unregulated business media. We're able to reach the masses with the truth. You know, I created a company called Raw Media because it's raw. I don't have an agenda. I'm going to be Ross. I'm going to share with you what I really see, what I really feel, what my experiences are. No bullshit, no disguises, no secret, you know, secret messages. And, you know, my dad passed away. I was friggin angry. I was angry at God. God was dead to me. And I became, I just fueled. I couldn't handle, I was dealing with, I was taking pills, I was snorting drugs, I was eating drugs, drinking like an animal for 17 straight years. I was high. When I tell you high every day. You know, at one point I was, I had viral pneumonia with bronchial respiratory complications. And I'm in the hospital and I got an oxygen mask on me and double IVs. And my friends still smuggled me in weed so I could smoke, put the oxygen mask on me. I mean, I look back at that particular incident it's like. It was defining, like, what the fuck, man? You know? And I went into therapy after I got sober, when I was clean a year, and Dr. Arthur Canal with, God bless him, he. He passed away of pancreatic cancer right before I got married. But he said, you have a river of rage running through you. A river of rage. It's like fire. You know, God created fire, gave man fire, nature. If you don't believe in God, fire, the most destructive force in our universe, it could destroy a city, eat you alive. You see what's happening in LA with the fires, lightning coming down, I mean, crazy. And then you have. But if you. If you corral fire, if you manage, could light a village, it could heat a whole city. It. Use it for cooking. So, you know, all this abundance of rage, which is akin to a fire, I learned how to sort of manage it and steer it. And it gives me almost like a superpower. Men like us that have suffered pain, great pain, turns into rage. It's fuel. It allows people. It'll. It'll eat you alive and destroy you. Eat your life and destroy. But if you understand it, if you can manage it to corral it, you can use it to fuel. So when I went into the stock market, you know, they said, you know, got to make 300 calls a day. And a lot of guys would make 100, and they get fed up 150. They go out, take a walk, they call their girlfriends, act like they're on the phone. Me, smile and dial, smile and dial. 300, okay? They told me 300 calls a day to be a millionaire. I made 400 just to be sure, you know what I'm saying? Because I didn't care, right? What, am I going to go home? I'm broke, Go home and smoke weed and play video games? You know, I mean, I said I might as well just work because I got nothing. You know, I got no. I got no money to do anything. And, you know, they. Some people said, so how much did you make? You know, what was your salary? I said, there's no salary. I'm a commission guy. I never took a salary in my life till I was, you know, know, building companies. And we had, you know, 100 million in the bank. And I put myself. My first salary was like two and a half million a year ago. I never took money. I, you know, it's eat what you kill. What does that mean? If I don't do business, I'm in a transaction business on Wall Street. If I don't do a transaction that day I don't make any money. The firm doesn't make any money. Who's going to pay for your seat? Who's going to pay for your computers? Who's going to pay for your secretary? Who's going to pay for all the statements that they got issue? So I quickly learned that I better sit there and I better generate transactions. Buy, sell, opening new accounts, doesn't matter, gotta be transactions. And I learned essentially how to kill. Like you eat what you kill. And I learned how to do business, I learned how to do deals, I learned how to make stuff happen. Now I gotta say, if you're getting a salary, you're not gonna get to that point because, you know, it took me a minute, I used to wonder how the fuck I was gonna eat. Yeah, I'm not talking about pay rent, how I'm gonna eat, right? I had no money. I mean, you know, you're working, you're working, you're working, you're grinding. And my work ethic today I see in this particular arena that we're in is very helpful to me. You know, one of the guys, in fact, you just spoke to him briefly, Johnny said to me, you know, one thing about you, we know you're never gonna quit. I just show up, man, that's, that's what I'm doing since I'm a kid, you know, win, lose a draw, you know, broke or, you know, at my, at my height, I had 150 million. Personally, I had a real net worth, real capital, you know, liquid money. And My company had 200 million. My companies, so I was valued at about 450 million at my height. But you gotta remember that's 20 years ago today. That's like 4 billion.

Yeah, you're a multi billionaire. Yeah, you're a multi billionaire.

The world is very different today with all the things that have happened with the mismanagement of our economy by government and circumstances, et cetera. Covid. And a lot of different things that have happened and gone on. But the one thing is clear, I can add a lot of value to the youngsters and to the people. Funny thing is, I have a mastermind program, right? People get me for 10 hours, okay, personally, and we record the sessions, they get the tapes and they get other benefits as well by being sort of on the inside of Ross Mandel right now. And it started out a bunch of young kids, like 31 year old kids, 28 year old kids, you know, young men, I shouldn't say kids, the young men. And every one of them has Business. Every one of them makes some money, but they thought that they could maybe go to the next level. And I was able to do that with them. But now, all of a sudden, I'm getting men like 56, 58, 63, saying, Listen, I got this, I got that, but can you help me? And I've been able to add value to every single one of their lives, Mick. That's really what this is all about. Do you understand?

Absolutely, man. Absolutely. And, you know, like, on our podcast, right, we talk about your. Because that thing that's deeper than your. Why that thing that really feel fuels you. And I'm hearing it come out. But I always wanted to ask Ross, like, what's your. Because, man, like, what's that purpose for you today?

You know what? It's something that's natural for me. I love to teach, to educate, to help. I just. That's my personality. I don't know how to explain it. It's not like some great master plan or, you know, I'm a good person for that. I enjoy it. I mean, it's almost a selfish pleasure. When I was stockbrokering, people were attracted to me because I have an energy, but I'm very comfortable sharing. And I think that as a man, you have to be very secure to share. I noticed a lot of men in life, business relationships, they're not generous. If you were to ask me, like, people have asked me, so who was Ross Mandel? So when I was a young guy said, well, I'm a stockbroker. You know, I wear a Rolex. I mean, you know, it's like I drive a Mercedes. And I was challenged by people in that sort of psychological arena. No. They said, no, no. That's what you do. That's what you own. Who are you? And I was like, man, that's like, these are tough questions for. Like, you asked me earlier, how am I feeling? I don't even know how I'm feeling. I'm so. You know, my daughter got into law school today. We're looking to end my probation today. My website went down because of some stupid, you know, stupid billing issue. Doing a podcast. We had issues with Riverside, you know, so, like, it doesn't matter really how I feel. I happen to feel particularly good today. I woke up feeling very good. And because I'm dieting and I'm going to the gym and I'm taking care of myself, and when I do these things, physically, I'm okay. I have some issues and some conditions, but everything's managed and good and, but, you know, how you feel really doesn't really matter when you have purpose. I have great purpose today. Remember, I was. I was in federal custody for 112 months. And before I went into custody, I was on this journey, podcasting, getting my truth out, sharing, you know, it's amazing what happened in the world while I was away. Donald Trump, 77, 78 years old, a billionaire builder, ex president, all of a sudden is indicted on 92 counts after never being arrested in his life in all these different jurisdictions. So the scam of the Department of Justice and various attorney, you know, district attorneys, the scam of our criminal justice system was on display for the entire world. You understand how government, how people in business utilize. They use politicians, Department of Justice officials to further gain an end. I didn't do anything wrong. They came into my place, 40 FBI agents in November of 06. They said, nobody's getting arrested. Nobody. We're just here to execute a search warrant. Meanwhile, there's 40 guys with guns. We're a stock brokerage from an investment bank. I got a congressman in there, a senator, a member of Parliament. They come in with guns blazing, lockdown. But here's what they also did. They alerted every major news media organization, was already in my lobby, in my lobby. So the phones are ringing. This is the New York Times, this is ap, this is upi. This. I mean, the BBC, what, they're in the lobby while they're executing a search warrant, effectively saying, we're putting you out of business. Judge, jury, and executioner. Just serving. In the meanwhile, we had. We're a highly regulated business. We have been sharing. They send us requests for documents. We give them everything. What, are you kidding? I mean, this is. I'm governed by the sec, the nasd, finra, New York stockings, London stock, fsa, eight different regulators. But they felt the need to come in guns heavy. And, you know, I never really understood how unjust the criminal justice system was. But I'll say this to you, I've had a lot of friends, African Americans, sort of. I want to get Hispanics that have come to me over the years and told me just how frigging corruption government is and how corrupt the system is. How, you know, if you're a young black man, they could just pull you over just because you're a young black man, not because you're doing anything wrong, not because she's suspicious, not because they just do it. And I never really. Until it affects you, you don't really pay it. It's mine. Right? And you Know I'm a voice of that now. The corruption and the unjust stuff, I didn't do anything wrong. I didn't break the law. It took them years, years to indict me to find a crime. Five week trial, a complete scam. Theater, a show, it's a scam. Federal court, the whole system let. Cameras said no. The judge would start it to press the members of the media, I want to see because they were. The media was writing about what a scam the trial was and the witnesses were all lies. That people, the jury, people were laughing. But it's rigged and the system is rigged. It has been. And not until this Donald Trump thing did everybody see how corrupt. So, you know, it's not a matter of me whining about this and that. Mick. My journey is to be of service today. That's what I want. I'm a father. I was taken away from my young family. My daughters were 14 and 11. My young wife, you know, God bless her, you know, she was barely 40 years old when I went in and stuck with two kids. And like they say, like if I had cancer or a stroke, something terrible, the whole community would rally. Right, right. But when you're indicted by the criminal justice system, you're a villain. People would stay away. Now all of a sudden, people are starting to realize there's a lot of bullshit going on. So in 2014, I go away and I missed a lot of valuable time being a dad. You have kids, Mick?

I have three.

So you know what it is to be a parent, to love unconditionally, a child. And I was forced away from them. I couldn't call them on the phone. They couldn't call me when they needed. Dad. They suffered greatly. Okay? And then I was on American Greed. I'm the finale of season nine called the Sky's the Limit. You know, the show, I get a letter while I'm in prison that my, My case was deemed the most colorful case in the United States in 2011. After 2012, after I was sentenced and they did an hour show called the Sky's the Limit. American Greed. And you know, people are very. A lot of the haters come out on social media because they're too. They're cowards. It's like Hamas. They wear masks. You know, if you really feel something, say it. Show your face. Okay? Take a position. I'm like, that's the kind of guy I am. You know what I mean? And. But there's a lot of people that suffer from cowardice and from hate and so my family was really had a rough time. And this morning I got a call. My daughter got into law school, her first choice. And, you know, so I feel like I got into law school. My whole family feels like we all got into law school.

What school did she get into?

She's going to Nova. Okay. And in Miami.

Yeah.

And, you know, she lives in Fort Lauderdale. And it's just such a big event for us, having been through what we've been through. She had no intention of being an attorney. She went to University of Florida, great school. Finished in three years with a four year degree, a degree in psychology. And then, you know, we had a lot of fatherly talks. And I like to say that I said, look, I don't care if you lawyer for one day. Lawyering is maybe not for you, but whatever business you want to go into, I promise you, when you walk in as an attorney into that office, people will look at you very differently than if you just walk in as a college graduate. Yeah. You understand it gives you access to any business that you decide. Entertainment, securities, intellectual property, whatever enterprise you're interested in making, what industry, you know, podcasting, Whatever industry you're interested in being a part of, you can walk in as an attorney and you have valued your six figure automatically off, off the rip. And. And people look at you differently. So that message resonated with her. I will tell you I did everything I could to, you know, you know, if I ever made a good sale, it was this. And I'm so proud as a dad. And my other daughter's killing it. She's a technology recruiter. And, you know, one of the things, Mick, that I know, I just know intuitively, having followed you now and watched some of your stuff, you're a good guy. And we want to positively influence people. That's the reason we do this, right? To bring a positive message, to be of service, to help to influence positively. There's so much. You know, when I got sober, I stood up in a room. I was in Manhattan 32 years, 33 years old, 1990. And I said, my name is Ross. I'm an alcoholic and a drug addict. I don't know any sober people in New York City. If I could get some numbers from some of you, so if I have a rough spot, I can give you a call and maybe you could help me with advice, I'd be grateful. Fifteen people ran over to me. And it's funny because I had no idea there were so many good people in this world. And what I've learned Is if you're looking for bad, you're gonna find bad. If you're looking for trouble, you're gonna find trouble. Easy. It's easy. I used to go into cities all around this country and within an hour of being in the city, I knew where to get drugs. I knew where the best bars were, you know what I'm saying? I knew where the action was, that sort of underground action. But then you know what? As a grown up, as a newly sober guy, I learned where all the good AA meetings are in each town. I learned where the good people were, where they went with the people that I was interested, helpful people, people that were interested in being a part of a movement that helps in a positive way. So, you know, I learned God is funny and the world is funny. You will, you know, seek and you shall find. They say that in the New Testament. Right, right. And the doors will be open to you. So you have to decide who you want to be and what you want to be in this world. And then you just reverse engineer it and figure out the steps you have to go. I teach this, I teach young men and even, even young women now mentoring. And it's a wonderful thing. We have a course called the Wealth Formula. Okay, on go to my website or click on any of the training links in my bios in social media. It'll take you through funnel to Lightspeed Bradley Lea, Lightspeed Virtual Training in Henderson, Nevada, right outside of Vegas. Brilliant, brilliant guy. We have one of my guys. Yeah, we have a, we have a course. My store is right next to Grant Cardone and Damon John and, and Robert Kiyosaki, the rich dad, poor dad guy. I'm very proud of all that. And we're doing a new course, a stock market course. Just so you know. We're going to teach people what the stock market is and how to navigate the market, how to trade, how to build wealth, you know, one brick at a time. And there is no course out there that's legitimate teaching young men, middle aged men, older men, housewives, young women that want to learn about the stock market. It's a daunting thing. You have all these guys on Telegram and Discord with these scammy little groups that are, you know, trying to recommend options on futures of some sort of tertiary currency. I mean, it's a scam. It's the first big downturn that's all going to be revealed. I want to be there to help everybody navigate the world of the stock markets. Cause it affects pretty much everybody today. Everybody on the Planet, really. And so everybody that's involved should have at least a legitimate understanding of what it is and how to play. We're gonna show you the rules of the game.

I love it, man.

Yeah, I love it. Now, one other thing I'm involved in. I really wanna share this with you.

Yes, sir.

You know, I did time with a guy named Lawrence Hartman, my selli. And he has an incredible story. He's an attorney, Ivy League attorney. He became an international fugitive. He was on Interpol's most wanted list. There was a red notice issued for him. He eventually got arrested sneaking into Nicaragua with a fake identity. It was a crazy story. You know, online sports. He was a brilliant attorney. Ivy League law school. And it's about his journey. And RAW Media has agreed to represent him. He has a book, a screenplay. And Michael Kapan has just agreed to star in, to produce and direct C O P O N. He was one of the original Power Rangers. He's won an Emmy. He was in five films last year. He's been in the business for over 20 years. Check him out on IMDb. We're about to start announcing this on social media. And he's going to start doing interviews in the trades like Variety, Hollywood Reporter, etc. What? I wanted Mick Unplugged to get this first today because we just made the agreement in the last couple of days. It's being papered now, but I wanted to give you a little bit of something that nobody else has, Mick.

I appreciate that, Ross. Anytime we can break news and have exclusives. I love it, brother.

That's the first time it's been mentioned publicly. And you got it. So it's going to be a great clip and you people will get to see it. And it's called Blind Greed.

Blind Greed.

From Ivy League to International Fugitive. It's the story of Lawrence Hartman, starring Michael Kapon. C O P O N. And we're looking to just so you know, produce it in the Philippines.

Okay.

And there's a whole variety of good reasons for that, which I don't want to take up the time. But it's a very exciting thing to be in this industry and this business. I'm very determined to build a media company. Sort of like Mick Unplugged. Just killing it, bro. Right? We spoke about some good things prior to the broadcast. And I'm, like, so proud of you, man.

Dude, like, following in the things that you've done, man. I totally believe in mentorship. Whether it's virtual, whether it's through learning and reading, whether it's through research. Like, mentorship is so powerful. But here's the key, and I want to talk to you about this too. Having mentors is awesome, but sometimes you have to. Or not sometimes, all the time. You have to take the action though, right?

Correct.

Ross could give me the most amazing advice ever. If I don't put action behind, it doesn't go anywhere, doesn't mean anything. And so one of the things that I truly, truly adore Ross Mandel about is the word accountability, right? Like going back, I took a bunch of notes, right? The hey, if you tell me I can be a millionaire by making 300 calls, I'm going to do 400 just to make sure that's accountability. Correct. When you talk about, hey, I don't know anyone in New York City that's not a drug addict, I need help, will you be there for me? That's accountability, that's action. You talk about the coursework that you're doing with Bradley and Lightspeed Ross doesn't have to do that. That's accountability. Right. And now your cellmate, the blind greed. That's all accountability and action. How important to Ross Mandel? Because that's what I picked up following you and your story in the research is accountability and action. How important has that been for your journey, brother?

I am like you said. You asked me how I feel and I can't even answer you, really, because I haven't thought about it. I'm too busy doing. I'm not so busy feeling. You know, Andrew Tate talks about these things and he's a very controversial character, but I dig him. I dig the tape brothers. I want to say it publicly. You know, they're going through a lot of shit with the bullshit legal stuff that they're being brought into because they made a lot of money. He's very brash, he's very outspoken. But a lot of the things he says, I agree. Being a man means being accountable. It means being accountable. You want to be successful, you better take action. I can't stand negative people. I can't have it in my life. You know, they even tell you, you know, a younger man is going to a cancer journey and he's going to all these different doctors and he's getting all this advice and I'm like, the number one thing is you can't be negative. The body is a self healing mechanism. I believe God wants good for us. I believe that. And the thing is that we can't allow negativity or doubt to creep in. If I was feeling all, all so much. I might have doubt. I have made a decision. I've got some goals down. One is to build a successful media company, a successful podcast, to build an educational platform where I could truly help people get into business, build and create wealth, understand the stock market. There were specific things that I have, I'm uniquely knowledgeable about. Well, I have literally tens of years of grinding and making moves and success and accomplishment and failure. You know, Patrick Mahomes will learn more from what happened last Sunday in New Orleans, right? From failing than he ever will from all his victories. Trust me, the Kansas City Chiefs learns they got beat down, okay? They're going to reorganize and reshuffle the deck, because that's what winners do. It's not just about winning and accomplishing. It's about maintaining. Okay? You know, it's a great thing. If you're not aggressive, you're never going to make money. But if you're not defensive, you're never going to keep money. These are really important nuggets of wisdom. And if not for mentorship, you know, when I was a young man on Wall Street, I would be in the. In the, like, call it the bullpen, right? A boardroom. I'm making $40,000 a month, and I share a computer and a desk.