177. Julian Davenport | In My Eyes

Hello, Book Thinkers family, and welcome to our personal development podcast, Book Thinkers Life-Changing Books. During each episode, we interview one of the world's top authors, and as a listener, you can expect to discover new books, new mentors, and new resources that you can use to achieve more and live better. In today's episode, we have the pleasure to interview Julian Davenport, also known as Jules, author of In My Eyes, a book of poetry, and several other new ones that you should check out. Jules was on a dark path. He had beliefs about where he should end up, which caused him to go to prison at a young age. From there, he went on a journey of healing and decided that there was more in this life for him. While facing his 3rd potential jail time, he discovered poetry. Now he is writing poetry, teaching writing workshops, Speaking, and is an entrepreneur who wants to help kids empower themselves through writing. In this episode, you'll learn about why writing is still relevant and one of the most powerful forms of communication, how to cultivate your talent, why it's important to have a good foundation in finances and business, the importance of finding a process that helps you stay focused, and how to stay inspired by seeking knowledge throughout your journey. Now get ready to learn and enjoy this incredible conversation with Julian. Davenport. Jules, welcome to the Book Thinkers Life-Changing Books Podcast. It's so fitting because your life transformed because of words and led you to writing a book, 2 books of poetry, which is amazing. You were on a path of drugs, in and out of jail, and your story could have turned out just like so differently. I'd love to start with you sharing a poem if you're okay with it, and then I have a bunch of follow-up questions.

Okay. I'd like to share a poem from my first book, In My Eyes Won.

Mm-hmm.

It's titled My Society, and it kind of gives you a better insight on the direction that my poetry can bring you. So it goes like this: In my society, there's choices of destruction and variety. I always felt like the rules never applied to me. In my society, the path to success is rarely taken, and the young boys lose their fathers and they feel forsaken. In my society, precious young girls evolve to whores, and all we see is closed doors because the open is crowded. In my society, some days I ask God how he could allow this, but I guess he wouldn't give us one thing that we couldn't handle. Caught up in our lifestyles in the midst of a scandal. In my society, it isn't safe to walk the streets. There's robbers, there's thieves. the underachieved, and money's the only subject. People's eyes filled with greed in my society.

Man, I got chills.

That's from Am I Eyes Warm?

Beautiful, beautiful.

The one that started it all. So I feel like it's fitting for the, for the, uh, to, to kick it off with that poem. It's my signature poem. I perform it everywhere I go.

That's amazing. Well, it's a, it's an incredible one that tells such a, man, a powerful story. So what I'd love to ask about it is, what was the moment that you realized the path that you were going down wasn't for you? Like, when did you wake up?

Okay. That's a good question. I believe that I became conscious of what I wanted to do back in I'd say 2009, 2010, um, before— obviously before I put the work out. But I had this urge to, uh, had this urge to, to get what was inside of me out. So the only way I've ever been good at communicating is through my writing.

Mm-hmm.

And, um, I kind of— I wouldn't say I stumbled on poetry myself, but, uh, growing up I had a couple of, um, Mentors, I'll say, like my brothers and a couple of guys that are friends that were into hip-hop rap. So, you know, that's the path that I initially, you know, got the bug from. But, um, to get— take it a little deeper, when I was younger, my, my father was incarcerated, my brother was incarcerated at some point, and the way that we communicated most was through writing.

Mm-hmm.

Because, uh, we were— I was born, you know, I was living in poverty myself. We couldn't afford those collect calls like that. So writing was the most efficient way to communicate. So, uh, with my dad, it was straight up— I was, I was a kid, so it was straight up writing, you know, back and forth, getting to know each other, uh, through that connection. And through my brother, we were a little bit more close because he actually, you know, was with me side by side growing up for the most part. So when he got locked up, that kind of hurt me. And he would write me letters. And like I said, I looked up to him. His letters were like in a form of advice. And at the time I didn't realize that while he was giving me this advice, he was rhyming. And I kind of, I would say I caught the bug then, but later on I picked it back up through life and I ended up taking it on to be a full-time career.

Wow. That's such a, such an inspiring story. Do you feel like You were able to get close to your dad through the medium of writing?

As a child, yes. If I'm speaking for childhood Juice, yes. It was successful as far as, you know, it was something— it's a different way to be raised by your father, I'll say that. So I got to know things about him through the writing. I got my, you know, not punishment, but like my scolding through the writing, my advice through the writing. So, you know, that's why writing is so deep to me is because it was like my first form of, you know, communication. It was important because, you know, as you know, I don't know what your relationship is with your parents, but a father is pretty important to a boy. And, um, anything that they have to say is like, it's like a lion's roar to a little— I'm a cub, he's a lion.

Mm-hmm.

So no matter if it's through writing, through the phone, whatever, you know, his presence was felt. through the writing. So I would say, um, yeah, I would say yes to, to that question as far as, um—

I find it like so fascinating that you were able to still cultivate a relationship with your dad. This is getting a little vulnerable on my side. Um, I had a— and my dad might disagree if he listens to this or he listened to this, like, uh, but I had a rough relationship with my father. I didn't ever feel very connected to him. So when I hear that, oh, we were able to connect through writing, that sounds, that sounds really impressive to somebody like me. Like, that's super powerful. Do you feel like you kept that up as— I mean, you said you felt his presence. Do you feel like his presence stayed around as you grew up, or do you feel like that you had to distance yourself from that?

That's a good question. Um, Unfortunately, we don't have the best relationship. I won't— we won't— we don't really have a relationship as adults, um, and there's, there's multiple reasons for that. I don't have any ill will to my father, you know. I understand that there's a bigger picture involved with the, you know, the system that some of us are born into. So at first, as a child, you know, or as, as a youth, I was a little bit angry, um, at— after The, you know, when I first started writing my dad, I was infatuated with him. I was infatuated with my father. Um, but as I grew and I noticed around me that other kids didn't— they had their father, and the way I knew was because sports events, um, you know, just things that a father would show up for, birthdays, everything's missed. And, um, you know, after a while, uh, mail, um, mail and phone calls, they just don't replace the physical form. So— Um, as an adult, uh, we, we didn't— I guess we didn't get— keep the connection. But I, uh, but I do— I will say that, um, you know, he's given me, you know, a piece of him inside. I mean, uh, we, we all get— whether you love, hate, whatever your relationship is with your parents, we all get something from them whether we like it or not. So, um, I'm never upset with my father. I wish that we did have a better relationship as adults. And it's not over yet, but, um, everybody's growth is different. So maybe one day we'll align, um, and we'll, we'll be able to sit down like men and, and etch out our little differences. A lot's happened since, you know, I started— we, we pen pal to, to adulthood. A lot's happened, so it'd be hard to compress that into this time.

Oh yeah, yeah, absolutely.

But, uh, I definitely love my father though, uh, for giving me life, if nothing else. And, um, at least he gave me some good looks, you know what I mean? Yeah, there we go.

No, I love it. No, you're right, it's true. Oh man, I have so much gratitude for that. And, uh, feel the same about my dad. There's, there's so much love there. And, you know, those, those relationships are always complicated anyway. It seems like even the people that I saw growing up who had the seemingly perfect relationships with their parents still had a lot of different struggles and everything else. So It's like this natural progression of growing up, I suppose. So now you're like, you're leading workshops, you're doing this for a living, which just walk me through how, how that came about. Like, how did you go from, okay, I'm writing some poetry to book, and then now I'm leading workshops and changing people's lives through words?

That's a good question as well. Uh, how, how did that come about? Um, I'll say any— everything I've done is unconventional. First of all, I didn't plan on doing anything that I'm doing now, but I did see it. I did have a vision to get as far away from my situations at the time, my, um, environment— not get away from it, but just change the trajectory.

Mm-hmm.

So I didn't feel like I had much time left, to be honest. I did have a near-death experience through my, you know, through my street. experiences. And that wasn't the reason that I ended up publishing or anything, but it was one of the many reasons.

Mm-hmm.

I just started looking at life differently at some point. I ended up back on my childhood street, Vernon Street. It's a one-way street. And I just remember sitting out on the steps and just, you know, looking around. I was living one— I was living a different life than I'm living now, obviously. So I'm comfortable, but I'm uncomfortable, if that makes any sense. I'm uncomfortable Yes. Looking at the youth where I was and then looking at, um, the guys and the females that were older than me, I would say, and seeing where they're at. Um, and I just said to myself, I said, I want to change this. And, uh, for nothing else, for, for my children, uh, for my family, I want to try to do something, you know, take a, uh, take a chance. So what I did was I banked on myself. All of my work is self-published. I put everything out myself. I never wait for anybody. I don't wait for the okay. It was just an urge. And I said, I didn't feel like— I felt like if I spent another summer this way, I probably wouldn't be here. So, and that's just in all honesty. And that's a lot for a lot of people where I come from and all over the United States and the world for that matter. But I felt that urgency and acted on it. So I said, well, if I do die and something does happen to me tragically before my time, I want my children to know who I was as a person, not the stories they hear from others that may not have a favorable memory of me, but who I truly am and not who I had to be. And I did that through my poetry. That's why I'm so open with sharing it. I would say it started, you know, as just an idea. It was this. I started writing in my notepad, sitting on the same steps, you know, I hustled from. And, but I just decided to just cold turkey stop. I said, I'm going to change this. I started writing. I started gathering poems from when I was incarcerated, whatever I could salvage that made sense for what I, for the project I wanted to put out. Um, I knew the name that I wanted to call the series, In My Eyes, because I just— I'm a big Tupac fan, so I'm inspired by his work. And, um, never biting, but I just— I, I— he inspired me. So a lot of— if you, if you listen or read my work and listen to some of the poems, you could hear it in it, inside of the work. So I, I started out— I'm not going to drag this out— I started out with In My Eyes 1. Mm-hmm. I went around telling everybody I'm going to do this. Now everybody knows me for one thing, for hustling maybe, you know. And now I'm running around talking about, hey, I'm about to release this poetry book. I'm running around putting up posters, I'm putting up flyers, I'm talking about everywhere. I'm jumping out on people from out of my car, I'm telling them what's going to go down like I was a politician basically, you know what I mean? Matter of fact, I ran into the He became mayor, hopped out on any of those politicians. I think it was around election season. It came out, and I'm just like, "Hey, I'm Jews. Y'all need to know who I am." Da da da da da. And I just once I got the seed planted, I just didn't stop. So then I got my books printed up, and I ended up in the front page of the newspaper. And then you know the story was born. So to speak.

Yeah, man. It's, it's, and again, it's such a, it's such an inspiring story. I, I'm curious, like you, you came up to a lot of adversity. Like I've read a little few articles and everything else, and you came up to a bunch of adversity along the way. Like maybe people not accepting this new version of you. Maybe people saying like, oh, but you're this, you're a criminal or whatever it is. The, the labels that they put on you. So what are some of the things you've done to help yourself almost overcome that, that reputation?

Um, I didn't hide from it. I accept who I am. Uh, we're not all born, um, with things given. We're not all born with things in place. Uh, the way that I look at my life is from my own eyes. Um, it's easy for people to judge. It's easy for me to judge anybody, but When we take the time and we actually look at the person for the person, then you can understand that life can sculpt us into things. So I was born into a situation where I was just raised by my mother. So very hardheaded, very driven. When I get a thought, I've been doing this since I was a kid. Nobody can tell me anything. So I was okay with people judging me. And that's part of my brand, actually. is that you can take nothing and turn it into something. And it— but, but most importantly, it's a huge process. The same way you were sculpted from the day you were born is the same way you're sculpted when you start your vision, your process, your journey. And now, you know, I've become— I'm not— I'm not— never— I evolved. I've never changed. And I like to say that a lot. I never changed. I'm Jules, you know what I mean? And because of, of this Jules, you have this Jules. Because of the decisions he made, I'm making better decisions now and I'm still learning. So when people try to categorize me and put me into a box, I allow them to do it so they can see that a box could never contain me.

Man, so many powerful words. Oh, it's beautiful. You know, before this call, I was talking to a friend. It's like this synchronicity stuff, man. I love it. The looking at somebody with no judgment, it's so hard for people to do. And I, and I look at that, I'm like, you're just doing yourself a disservice. Like, if you hate somebody else for whatever, like the color of their skin, for their past, for whatever they've done, like if you're hating them for that thing, all you're doing is putting negative energy all over yourself and you're just harming yourself in the long run.

And yes, yeah.

I, I love that you're so willing to be yourself because so many people struggle with that. And that message is just, I think, so important to say. And it's so— I'm so inspired. I'm just— I know I keep saying inspired, but I truly am. I'm just inspired by listening to you talk and, and hearing you and seeing where you came from. And you're able to look at your life and be like, hey, yeah, I'm very grateful for the past, but I also see the possibility of the future and I'm grateful for the present, which is an incredible place to be. Now let's talk a little bit about the power of words. Like, what— why words? Why do you think words are so important?

Why?

I mean, like, let's just unpack that, unpack the power of words.

Well, um, hmm.

Because I think that— yeah, I think that, like, you know, you've under— you understand this, like, you're through your poetry, you're able to— you're able to convey messages that can transcend, transcend race, transcend gender, transcend age. And it's incredible. It's like, I read, um, one of your poems, uh, I've marked it here. It's, um, I Sit Alone.

Oh, that's one of my favorites.

And it's in My Eyes Too. Like, man, I felt that to my core. And maybe, you know, is it okay if I read it on here?

That's fine.

All right. All right. I'm gonna go for it then. It's okay. I sit alone. Do you want to read it? Do you want to read it?

I mean, if you want to read it, that's awesome.

I was just, I was just, I was just pumped. You read it. You read it.

All right. I'll read it. I'll read it. Hold on one second, sir. That's one of my favorites, by the way. So I'm really happy to hear that it resonated.

It did in a big way.

Um, hold on, give me a second. What page do you have?

Oh, hold on, I, I put it— put it—

I might get it before you, but just—

37.

Okay, I'm way too far. All right, I Sit Alone. It's actually one of my favorites, and I am me too. I sit alone in the bathroom. Is that a silly place to think? Ashtray full of ashes, few sips left to drink. Behind this door seems my only place of peace. I created my present from decisions of before. I'm desperate for change, I aspire to much more. Plagued by pain, but still I remain. As I grow, few friends remain. I'd like to think I have stayed the same, but I changed. A shell of me is what this fellow be. I am not a failure even with a felony. I keep doubt locked in a cell in me, plus pain is trapped in a gel in me. I lost friends over jealousy. This is what it's become? This is what you're telling me? Smiles harder to come by than frowns. Loyalty lost, nowhere to be found. You might as well close the casket, lower me down. I belong here no more. I belong in the ground. I sit alone.

Literally, I got goosebumps when I read it.

I would like to ask you a question.

Yes.

Uh, do you have a particular line that caught you? Ooh.

I mean, first of all, I will say like, as I was going through these, the, the first thing that caught me was I sit alone like every morning. And this is like, uh, like almost a personal thing, but every morning I get up and I do meditation and it's like this, I, I sit alone.

Right.

Mm-hmm. And so like, I thought that, and then as I was going through this, I was like, man, I, this is the, this is the thing that like just hit me. I created my present. from decisions of before. Like, holy smokes, if that doesn't— if that doesn't outline— I was like, that just outlines the, the human condition, right? It's like, we have these choices, we make these choices. And yeah, there's a lot of different things that go in that are involved in that, whether it's our upbringing, whether that's like different things that have like maybe pushed us to make those choices. But still, we are the ones who make the decision. And where we're at is because of the decisions that we make. And it's so powerful. But the whole thing, man, I love it.

Thank you so much.

Yeah, absolutely.

That's so true that, um, you know, the decisions that we make are the life that we were given in the beginning. You know, there's not much you can do about it, but once you start, you're able to make decisions and become conscious. It's up to you to sculpt the life that you want. And some of us don't get that right away. And that's why, you know, I write. I want people like myself, anybody that doesn't get it, to be able to capture, because then they're able to evolve and grow. And until you come to that point of understanding how important each decision you make is, it's kind of hard for you to evolve and grow, in my opinion, of course.

I mean, I think your opinion is pretty dead on. So You're also a father. Tell me about that journey and like, what are you teaching your kids? How do they feel? What are their ages? Like, how do they feel about you doing poetry? And like, what is— what are their thoughts of you?

15-year-old daughter, 13-year-old son, and 7-year-old son.

Oh man, that's awesome.

Um, my daughter was born like, what, what, She was born right before I even started writing. And my son, my 13-year-old son was like, he, the, what was it? The week before he was born, I released the whole series, Julian Jr. My son Cairo, he's an artist and his artwork is actually right back there on the wall. Yeah. Oh, I love it. He's a huge artist. Um, he, he loves what I do. He doesn't really pay as much. He doesn't understand yet, but he does know that I do these things. Uh, he's always proud of me. Um, have him the most. Uh, my daughter, she does— she lives out of state. She lives in Rhode Island. If you did a little history on me, I have roots in Rhode Island.

Okay.

Um, and my other son's 13. He's really much into video games and things of that nature. He's a smart kid. But he just, he's more like conditioned to the video games. My youngest son's the artist. He wants to be out getting dirty. Um, so, uh, they, they're— I believe they're proud of me. I don't think that they could understand the depths of what I, uh, what I'm trying to do here yet, but I do know that they recognize it in their own way. Um, so I can't speak for them, but I, I believe that they Understand for the most part, but they're kind of really much worried about, you know, what's going on in their life, as kids some— most of the time will be. Um, we never look at our parents and be like, oh, you know, you know. I, I mean, they could, but I think my youngest son, he really doesn't understand. He just sees me doing all these things. And I brought him on— I brought all of them, uh, except for my daughter. I brought both of my sons to, um, different engagements with me. So, um, it's always great for them to be involved. Um, this is actually my daughter's eyes on my children's book.

Yes.

And, uh, you know, I always cried. I did it for them, you know. Um, so, but I, I don't think that it'll sink in until they're, they're, they're self-adults. So, um, uh, a vision's a vision and it's not meant to be, uh, seen the same day. So this is a down the line type of thing. So, um, I write with that, with that, um, in mind. So hope that answered the question.

Yeah, no, for sure. I'd love to know too, like, what are some of the, the things that you're trying to do with your, your kids that maybe you didn't experience? I mean, there was a lot obviously that you didn't experience as a, as a child. So what are some of the things that you're trying to give to your children that maybe you didn't get as a kid? Hello, Book Thinkers family. We are on a mission to change people's lives for the better, and we believe that the right book at the right time can change your life. The only way we can impact more lives is with your help. If a book has changed your life for the better, I wanted to ask you a quick favor. Could you please take a few seconds and leave a review of our show? Because if you're like us, you want to change not only your life, but others' lives as well. And by you leaving a review of our show, it spreads the word about all of these life-changing books and does just that. We greatly appreciate your help. By reaching more people, you help us change more lives. Thank you so much for your time. And now back to the show.

Well, I want them to fit a lot of things. Um, well, just being there for the most part, if you're able to, in whatever capacity you could be there. We're not living in the same world as like the '50s where it's dad, mom, you know, married and everything. I think we can all agree with that. Things are changing. So it's like my kids don't all live with me. So I spend most of my time with my 7-year-old. A lot of— I spend a lot more time with my 7-year-old. My 13-year-old, you know, when he's— he'll be around. Uh, on the weekends and things like that. He's 13 though, and my daughter just doesn't live here, you know, so I have to travel. But what I, what I try to instill in them is I want them to be financially literate, something I really wasn't growing up.

Mm-hmm.

I want them to, uh, know who they are so that they know where they're going. Um, and I want them to know that early, and I try to instill that into them every chance that I get. That you are somebody, you're somebody great, but you have to work on that. You have to work on that every day. You know what I mean? And I just want to be there as much as I can physically because I didn't have that. And I also want them to know, Daddy will always fight for you and be there for you and listen to you. I realize life is about building relationships, even amongst your family. Um, we all, we all have cousins, and then we say we have distant cousins because we don't know them, right? We didn't have to— we didn't take the time to build that relationship. So I like— if I could pass anything along, it would be something that's— it's a small thing, but building relationships with people and cultivating those relationships honestly, you know, um, not forcing them. That's something I would like them to, uh, take away from my life. And, uh, anything that I do is just important. The people around you are super important, just as important as you are.

I love that, man. You're, you're absolutely right. It, I believe like at the end of the day, it comes down to those relationships that you have and cultivating those things because that's what matters. That's what matters most. Cultivating that love, man. It's, it's what it's all about. Um, so you talk about vision, like what is your, so what's your Your big vision for your life? Like, what do you— where do you see yourself? I don't know, 5 years, 10 years? Like, what do you want to— do you want to leave a legacy behind? Just maybe unpack, like, what you see your life turning into or unfolding to.

Well, what's going to happen is, um, what I'm going to do is, first of all, I'm going to continue putting in all the footwork. Uh, my, my vision's always been to hit the entire world. Okay, I know that sounds crazy, but it's not really that crazy.

Not to me, it doesn't sound crazy.

My vision is there's tons of schools out there, and I think in Pennsylvania there's like 85,000 elementary schools. Um, 85,000. All right, that's in Pennsylvania, I believe, if I'm not mistaken. That's just elementary level. So I'm trying to reach as much youth as possible with the message that I have. But ultimately, I want to be able to cultivate other artists underneath IME, which stands for Inspiration, Motivation, Entertainment, and the name of my company, IME Vision, LLC. My goal is to cultivate talent, talented young poets, get their voice heard, teach them that, yeah, it's writing, but it's a business as well. I don't want them to just get caught up in entertainment. I want to teach them the game. And I want to, um, take that as far as I can. No different than the entertainment industry with rap or hip-hop. I want to do it with poetry. Uh, I want to create platforms for young artists underneath IME Vision. Hopefully they branch off on their own, but you know, we start— you got to start somewhere. Uh, I put in a lot of work. I'm hoping that my experience and expertise that I gained— I've gained and keep continue to gain is going to be beneficial, uh, to young poets, singers, writers, artists, uh, because a lot of us are talented and don't understand the business, uh, aspect of this. And when I came into this, um, scene, I'll say, uh, one of the number one things that I would say is, uh, you know, I've seen a lot of people trying and doing what they were doing and they're great at it, but they weren't getting that respect I felt like They deserve because they're not pressing the issue. And one thing that I do is I make sure I get paid for my time. I make sure that people respect my presence because when I say I'm going to show up, I'm gonna show up. I'm gonna bring my A-game, 100%. I don't care what I went through that day, the day before, weeks leading up to. You get what I advertised and more, if not more. Um, I can, you know, I can definitely um, back that. So, um, yeah, I want to make sure that I teach anybody coming up underneath me, and eventually they will after I build this platform. I'm still in the works of building. It's like Noah's Ark. I'm building it. We'll all be able to sail on it one day to higher lands, right? You know, to dry land.

Yeah.

So I'm just hoping, you know, that, uh, everything comes together And I'm able to travel the world and locate these poets, these artists that need to be heard, and teach them to make a living off of what God gave them, their God-given talents. Because we all have a God-given talent, whether we recognize it or not. If you don't recognize it, you lose it.

Man, tell me, do you have a process, or if somebody's looking for their God-given talent, do you have Do you have something that you do or tell people to do to uncover what that is?

Hmm, I don't tell them anything, but if you have a talent and I notice it, I'll sit down and talk with you. I have a young man right now, uh, he goes by B. Nails. He's a, he's a young rapper from around here, but also had the pleasure of knowing him growing up on Vernon Street. He was my little— my cousin's age. They're all— they all got into rapping and whatnot. But he, uh, he still does it actively, but he also is writing, uh, a book. And, um, that's what piqued my interest is, um, how I got started was everybody was rapping, so I said I have to separate myself from that. So I chose poetry. People laughed at me, which I'm cool with. Um, he's in, in the midst of his scene now. It's years later, and this is his city now. He's young, he's at that age he's rapping. But I want him to see that, um, if you don't invest in yourself on a business aspect, it doesn't matter how great of a talent you are. So he's writing a, um, what, anime book? He's really— I didn't know this about him. He's super— this is about building relationships, right?

Yeah, yeah.

I've come to find out he, he's, he's into anime and he has this whole book, like he has the, like a a dictionary with the characters and the different language throughout the book that, that's able to be coupled with the book. And I just thought, I'm like, man, he thought all that. He showed me it. It's all in his notebook. And it just reminded me of when I was getting started, like how raw it was. It was just like— and I just can't, sometimes I can't believe, you know, what I've been able to accomplish since those days of just having those just papers in my hand. And, um, and I just wanted to— I, I, I sat down with him a few times Um, and I told him how important it was for him to start investing in this. I know you like to rap and stuff, but this can take you somewhere, you know what I mean? Not saying rap won't, but I see this taking you somewhere. And, um, so I told him, I said, every day, right? I don't care what it is, add something to it every day. Just write. Get into the rhythm of just writing. I write everything down from what I do. What I gotta spend money on, my checklist. As you can see, there's boards behind me everywhere. If you look around, I write. I'm really true to that. And, um, since I see he has that talent, um, for writing, and I read one of his chapters, I said, man, keep going, keep writing every day. I don't care if everything's terrible and shit's falling down. Excuse my language. Things are falling down, write for God's sakes. Nothing else could get— it couldn't get worse than this. That's how I felt. Can't get worse. I said, well, I can't do anything, I'm gonna write. And you know, who knows where it look— where it— I mean, I'm not where I want to be now because I have to get to the rest of the world, but I definitely come far from those steps. And he could do the same, and he could go far and beyond that. So what I, what I tell any young artist, or any artist, not just young, anybody that has a talent, you have to call cultivate it. It's a process. You're not— you're going to be somebody different at the end of this, and you're going to love who you become. Because it's— take— if you do the discipline every day, discipline, and you stay on yourself and you remove yourself from certain situations, you'll grow. And people will see that. But more importantly, you'll see that, and you'll want to cultivate that. So that's what I'd say to anybody, anybody. And I do say that even on my lives, whatever. You got to cultivate that process, man, and you got to learn to love the things you don't want to do. I get up every day and do things I don't want to do. That's that process. Um, that little bit, that little present was given to me a while ago and I stuck with it. Uh, that you got to stay on your grind. Some people call it the grind, some people call it a process. Whatever you call it, stay on it and, and, and block everybody out there saying, oh, that it can't be done because Anything can be done. You know, you're sitting in front of me, I'm sure you got your story. And, um, any new adventures or any adventures or any businesses that— business ventures we go on, it's possible, completely possible. It's just, um, are you willing to go through the process? It's not going to be overnight. A lot of us, I think, believe that you see these people on TV. I've always known from a kid, I always read biographies. I was— I'm always— I still love biographies. But I would read about all the greats— Michael Jordan, Michael Jackson, you know what I mean? All the Michaels, Mike Tyson, uh, Tupac. Anybody that was great, that I felt like was great and I was introduced to, I would study that. Bruce Lee— I love Bruce Lee. I love his quotes. I just love his life, period. He just has a lot of knowledge to give. So I, I would also recommend anybody doing research And I'm seeing what other people are going through because those guys weren't considered what they were until they went through these— through the process, they gained that momentum. So, and I, and I understand that completely now. And it wasn't something that I could put together completely, uh, back in the day. I just knew I had to do things that, um, I didn't always want to do. I had to show up and I had to, I had to be the one on me. I didn't Couldn't have like a manager or somebody. I had to be the one to say, "Yo, you got to get up at four thirty today. You got to hit that road today. You got to take care of your business." If don't nobody else telling me it ain't gonna get done. I mean, if I don't do it myself, nobody else is gonna care if I get it done or not. So I would say focus on you and what you got going on. And anybody that's willing to help you in any way, kind words. If they want to help you financially, if they want to give you the wisdom that they've gained over the years, you got to be humble and accept it. You know what I mean? Because not everybody's willing to help you on your journey and it's not their obligation.

Man.

Sorry, that was a lot. My bad, bro.

No, no. This last, like that last 3 minutes, man, I'm just like, I'm fully bought in. Everything you're saying, I'm totally resonating with and it's totally true. So good. I like, all these questions are like flowing through my brain right now and I'm like, oh man, let's expand on that. Let's expand on that. But you're just going and you're in the flow and I just, I love it. And you're right. I don't know if you've ever read The War of Art by Steven Pressfield, but in the book he has this thing, what he talks about is resistance. And it's like this daily act of overcoming this resistance, the resistance to not get outta bed, the resistance to not do the thing that you don't wanna do. It's like, But like you said, no one else is gonna do it for you. And your life has to matter to you. You have to matter to you. You have to realize that your life is the most important life that there is to yourself, right? It 100% is the most important life. And you can sit back and just, you know, float through life. And if that's what you want, fine. But if you want something more, if you want something bigger, you have to step out and you have to do the things that are disciplined. You have to do the hard things. So I just, I love that message. Now, you seem like you support, man, you like, I love the support that you're giving this young guy and others. And how can somebody who maybe feels alone, feels alone in the process, feels alone in their art, feels alone in their work, how can they maybe like find supporters like you and others to, to help them out? Because, you know, even though you have to do the work yourself, there are people out there that can support you, like you said, maybe financially and kind words. Like, how can we, how can In your opinion, what's your advice on surrounding yourself with those types of people?

Get lost in the work, and they'll come to you. Everybody that— and the way that I ran into you guys is a cool story. I'm lost in the work. I'm sitting in Starbucks. I got my computer out. I got my setup just like it is actually right now. And I'm just working. You know, not every day is a movement day. Not every day is motion. You're not getting paid every day when you're an entrepreneur, and we know this. Um, but I don't really care about the money as much as I do about the hustle, because the hustle brings the money. So I'm sitting, I'm sitting at the table, um, reaching out to different, uh, contacts and trying to book things. And I look out the corner of my eye and I see this BMW pull up out front of Starbucks. And I see this, this lady pop out, and there's another lady like kind of like not too far behind her. And I just remember her walking into Starbucks, taking her time, opening the door for the lady behind her, coming right in, setting up her computer and just getting the— just like I do every day. And you know, you'll notice it, you know, if, if you do it yourself, you're going to notice it that much more. So I'm like, I sat back and I was like, all right, let me. I see people all the time coming in and out, but I just just the way she was moving, it's an energy thing. So she sits down and she gets right into a no waste. She didn't even get no coffee, bro. I didn't know the story, nothing. So boom, I'm interested, and I hear a little. You know, I'm being nosy. I hear a little bit of conversation, and she mentions, you know, she's an author presentation. Da da da da. And I hear these things, and I'm like. You got to introduce yourself. So I was like hesitant at first as far as when to jump. I didn't want to interrupt her, uh, but I, I definitely, um, I waited for the right moment. I waited for her to get off the phone and I, I went over, introduced myself. I said, hey, how you doing? I'm Jules Davenport, yada yada yada. Um, you know, this is what I do. You know, I just noticed you over here. And then she immediately just— we just start having a conversation. Lori Barkman is who I'm talking about. And, uh, she just starts giving me advice, letting me know what she was doing at that time. And I was just like, a lot of people would be like, man, go ahead, get away from me, you know what I mean? Like, I'm busy. She never gave me that energy. She was, she was just— she's awesome. So, and I don't— and, and that was just off of introduction. So she's like, well, You know, here's my card if you ever have any questions or you wanna, you know, you wanna further this conversation, we can just set up a time with me. And she— little did I know, she just was fresh off of a presentation. So she— that's what it was. She had that vibe. She must have killed it. And she just had that vibe, that energy. I know what it is because I— if you know, you know. Um, so I felt that vibe and I was like, I gotta introduce myself, if for nothing else, just to See what this lady's into, you know what I mean? It doesn't hurt. And she ended up being really cool. She's an author. Um, I did buy her book immediately, but she's like, I'm from Pittsburgh and I just happened to stop here. You get what I said? I just happened to stop here, right? She happened to stop there and I just happened to be there, you know what I mean? But I didn't happen to be there because I'm there all the time and I'm there a lot of places all the time working. process. So if I wasn't— if I didn't believe in myself on them days, there's nothing's working. I won't— I won't ever meet anybody that can take me in any other direction. So what she did was we stayed in contact. I bought her book, you know, and, you know, I've been watching her videos. She said, you got— she's talked— had nothing but great things to say about you guys. She said, I know a couple of guys that I want to hook you up with. She was just like immediately productive. And she's like, her mind is already gone. And I just respected it so much. So we ended up, um, I ended up connecting, um, like a week or two later. She ended up keeping her word, connecting me with Nick. And then, you know, it, it, it, uh, transformed into us being here today. And, and, and I just like to shout out Lori Barkman. I really appreciate you for taking the time to, um, acknowledge me and take your time to give me any advice and connect me. So I didn't want to let this go before I—

Yeah. No, no, man. And I tell you what, Lori Barkin is such a wonderful human being. And I agree with you, like the energy that she puts off is, like you said, when you know it, you know it. And you're right. Like, she's got that. She's such an incredible human being. All right. I have 3 more questions that I want to ask, and then we can start wrapping things up here. But maybe it leads into 4 questions. I don't know. We'll see.

All right.

The first one, the first one is, What advice do you have around people who have a vision? They have this idea maybe that they want to do something like poetry or maybe art or rapping, or maybe it's a business. What advice do you have for those people who feel stuck in that idea phase of, oh, I have a vision, but I don't know what to do with it? What advice do you have for them?

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That's a great question. And, um, I think the best way to answer that is this, uh, I would recommend that they write everything out, everything down to a detail. I think we mentioned that a little earlier, all the details. If you don't know, if you don't know what you want for real, then you can't achieve it. So, um, usually, you know, whatever your vision is, it's a huge vision, but it needs to be broken down into bacon bits And you need— and, and I'll say this again, you have to understand that it's a process. And even short or long, it's a process. So you got to understand that if it's a process, you got to be working every day. I don't care if you work 12-hour days before or after work, even during work, you need to be doing whatever it takes, whatever you can do with the time that you have. Your time is essential. You have to, uh, respect time, and you have to know it's going to pass whether you're doing these things or not. So those days you're laying in that bed, and you could be writing, or you could be emailing, or you could be calling, or you could be knocking on doors, or you could be introducing yourself, or you could be in the coffee shop and, and, and making sure anybody coming that door, maybe you enter. You have to be willing to do what the average person is unwilling to do if you want to be Extraordinary, if you want to be exceptional, this takes superhuman work ethic. And only people that, that, that get it, get it. And, um, you have to do this. There's— you can be as talented as you want. You have to be knowledgeable of the business that you're stepping into, the money side, guys. And you all, as just as entertaining as you are, you need to let them know that you can handle your business as well. You can handle your contracts. You can handle the numbers. You can handle your business, because you're going to get to that if you're talented. But I don't— I say don't wait. Get yourself financially literate, because in every field you'd have to, you have to have that. But also, you also have to simultaneously sharpen your steel. You have to always be working. And I don't— I can't tell you how to do that. The way that I do it is I get up every day, I work out.

Yeah.

I write, I do my videos, I practice my discipline, I go to my coffee shops. I made the call— every coffee shop my office. I can go anywhere in the country and have an office because they have Wi-Fi and it's free. And if you go to Starbucks and you have the app, you can keep getting free refills. So you can sit there all day and, and, you know, make that your office. You have to find your space and you're going to have to get rid of All distractions, all distractions, it's going to take that. So I'd say you have to find your process. And then once you find your process, you have to work harder than you ever worked in your life, on the worst days of your life, as well as the best days of your life. So that's what I could— the advice I'd give.

Man, that's powerful wisdom, powerful wisdom you're sharing, man.

And it's—

that's what it comes down to. It's like taking those actions. Daily, no matter what.

No matter what.

Such a hard thing to do, but so important. And if you want to, if you want to get to that next level, if you want to stand out, if you want to be more than average, that's what it takes. And I think it goes back to, you know, it just goes back to realizing that your life matters. Like you matter so much and like that's what it comes down to.

All right.

So next question is, where can people go to find out a little bit more about you and what you're doing? Well, obviously we'll link it all in the show notes, but maybe you can just verbalize it here and then I'll ask my final question.

Okay, well, you can Google me under Jules Davenport and my information should pop up. I do have a website, it's under construction, www.iamjules.com, which usually everything's on. You can purchase books, you can find out about me, you can see, um, the different engagements that I'm into, you can book me. Uh, I've been utilizing TikTok heavily lately and it's been very successful. I'm on TikTok I'm on TikTok right now, actually. I'm on live. So, uh, I get a lot of support from TikTok. So, um, I know— oh, just to add to that, the question that you, that you asked, I want to add to that answer is, yo, utilize social media platforms, you know, utilize them. Like, TikTok is perfect, perfect. You can get your message out there and it's not just restricted to your area. Utilize and take it serious. Your biographies, um, your links, anything, everything. Look at others, look at other artists. But, um, you can find out more about me through Google, or you can check me out on my social media, my TikTok under IME Vision, um, Facebook Jules Davenport, TikTok Author Jules Davenport, and I'll send you whatever links.

Beautiful. Well, I appreciate that so much. Okay, this is my final question that I ask every single one of our guests, and I love, love the answer. All right, so here it goes. You pass away and all the information that you put out— the books, podcasts, social media, everything disappears— but you can leave the world with a single piece of advice. What would it be?

That is a great question.

Take your time.

All, all, everything's gone. Only my word stands.

Only your word stands.

Stay inspired. It's going to be hard. Stay inspired. It's going to be rough. Stay inspired. Don't give up. Stay inspired. Find inspiration. Seek inspiration like you seek knowledge. Keep educating yourself, you know, uh, because you can be nothing and you can, you can turn into something, whatever you want to be. Uh, like Nick said, it's all can be found in a book. So do your research. Stay inspired though, is the words I leave.

That's beautiful, man. I have enjoyed this conversation so much. I knew I would. Like, getting to know you has been amazing. I can't wait for our relationship to continue after this. This has been so, so much fun. And yeah, man, that advice is stay inspired, stay in possibility. Like, like you, you said it in this podcast, anything you want is possible. You just have to be willing to stick to it. So man, thank you so much for your time. Thanks for coming on. I enjoyed this conversation. I can't wait to have many, many more with you over the coming months, years, whatever it is. But yeah, thank you so much.

I appreciate you guys so much. you know, tell Nick I said hello. I wish him the best on his journey as well. You as well on your journey. And, uh, you know, I'm only one email, one call, one click away.

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