The Power Transformation Podcast

112. NFL Stardom to a Resilient Comeback from Rock Bottom with Marques Ogden

• Alethea Felton • Season 3 • Episode 112

Share episode

What does it take to rise from NFL glory to financial devastation and then reclaim success on your own terms? Top 1% podcaster, keynote speaker, and entrepreneur Marques Ogden reveals his extraordinary journey of resilience, transformation, and self-reinvention. From lessons in perseverance as a young athlete to rebuilding after addiction and a $20 million business collapse, Marques offers profound insights into leveraging setbacks as stepping stones to success in life, business, and beyond.

Connect with Marques:

Episode 112's Affirmation:
I am courageous and confident, embracing the unknown with a heart full of faith and determination.

  • Thanks for being a part of The Power Transformation Podcast community!
    New episodes are released every Wednesday, so follow to not miss an episode.


  • Want to be a guest on The Power Transformation Podcast? Send Alethea Felton a message on PodMatch, here.



Alethea Felton:

What if your biggest setback is actually your greatest setup for success? Welcome to the Power Transformation Podcast, where I, your host, alethea Felton, the Resilience Architect, have inspiring stories and real conversations with people just like you, those who are determined to rise above and thrive beyond life's challenges. Here we celebrate the courage and hope that it takes to reclaim your power, rewrite your story and step into the life that you were destined to live For. Now is the time to create your power transformation. We have made it to the end of the year, and what better way to end this year of the Power Transformation Podcast by having my guest, marcus Ogden, tell his incredible comeback story. This guest today is sure to give you hope, excitement and just simply give you future aspirations for how 2025 will be. Marques is a former pro NFL player, he is a father, he is an entrepreneur, but he has a serious comeback kid story. I'm talking about someone who knows what it's like to hit rock bottom and to make it to the top. That's who Marques Ogden is, and his story today is surely going to change your life. So welcome to the Power Transformation Podcast. I am your host, Alethea Felton, if you are new. I am so glad that you have decided to join us in this movement here on the Power Transformation Podcast, and this is airing on Friday, December 27th 2024. Usually, the episodes do release on Wednesdays, but this year, since Christmas Day fell on Wednesday, I decided to push back the release date and, just so that you know, for all of my regular listeners, the same will apply for January's first episode. January 1st is New Year's Day and I am not going to release the episode on Wednesday, but rather I will release it on the second or third, which is Thursday or Friday of next week, so that people can enjoy their New Year's Day. But 2025 is going to be epic. It is going to be epic, the most incredible year ever. I am believing that, for myself as well as for you, and this podcast, as well as so many other things, are going to just be taking off tremendously, and you are a part of that. So, thank you.

Alethea Felton:

We're going to jump right into this episode. Go ahead and follow the Power Transformation Podcast, if you don't do so already, and share this episode with at least five people that you know. You know five people and tell them about Marcus Ogden and his incredible journey. I know him through an entrepreneurial group that we're both a part of the Connected Leaders Academy, that we're both a part of the Connected Leaders Academy and Marcus is such a sincere, genuine human being and he definitely is here to inspire you. So we're going to begin with our affirmation. I'm going to say the affirmation once and then you repeat it and we'll get right into this interview with Marcus Ogden. I am courageous and confident, embracing the unknown with a heart full of faith and determination. I am super excited to have Marques Ogden here on the Power Transformation podcast. This man has such an incredible story as you heard a little snippet of it from the intro, but I saved out all of the great pieces. Marques, welcome to the Power Transformation Podcast.

Marques Ogden:

How are you? How's it going? Alethea Doing all right.

Alethea Felton:

Yes, I'm doing great today. Thanks so much. I'm so happy to have you here. I've been looking forward to this interview and we're going to dive on in. But you all, I met Marques through a group we are a part of and I'm telling you, when I heard him speak at a virtual conference we had, I said I've got to get this brother on my show because his life is absolutely extraordinary. And before we go into those details, let's just start with a fun, lighthearted, icebreaker question Marques, when you think of your favorite meal, tell me what that is and what makes you love it so much?

Marques Ogden:

So I love seafood. I love seafood, chinese food, steak and all that, but I absolutely love seafood. I love seafood, chinese food, steak and all that, but I absolutely love seafood and my favorite meal is like what you call like a seafood platter combination. So shrimp, clam strips, scallops, crab legs, all that kind of good stuff with a good little bit of side of fish, either a flounder or a cod or a catfish. I'm a huge seafood guy, so anything in that front, in that regard, is going to always be really, really exciting for me to definitely dive on into.

Alethea Felton:

Indeed, indeed, and that sounds absolutely delicious. As a matter of fact, last night I had seafood, I had some broiled flounder and it was so good. So I'm the same way. I grew up by the border and you are a native Washingtonian, and so I know a lot of people who are natives, including some of my cousins, friends, and, of course, I've lived in DC for many, many years, and the fact of that tell me about your upbringing and how your early origins have shaped you into the man you are today.

Marques Ogden:

So we grew up in a two parent household in the beginning, like hopefully a lot of people do, which I hope they do, because it's great to have both parents in the house, without a doubt. But when I turned eight, our parents divorced and our mom left and our dad stepped up and he was the one to get sole custody of my brother, jonathan and myself. And it was absolutely such a huge part of who I am today because I'm almost 6'6", my brother's 6'9", our dad was 6'4". So we're big individuals and having two boys have a strong male figure in the house to look up, to want to be like, idolize. And then we also had a very great relationship with my grandparents my mother's parents, to be more specific, and our grandparents actually sided with my dad and were very much in our lives. So our grandfather would pick us up, you know, from school if he needed jobs, but for me seventh grade, eighth grade, you know, always picking me up. Our granddad was at all of my brother's sporting events. Until I went to college, at UCLA, my granddad was at all my high school games, all my college games. So having two really strong, very proud, hardworking men to help really raise my brother and I was absolutely pivotal and that makes me who I am today, because unfortunately, I'm also divorced from my spouse and I have two daughters.

Marques Ogden:

I have a 20-year-old stepdaughter I tell you what I divorced her mom, not her and I also have a 10-year-old daughter and having them in my life, they are my everything, and my dad did a phenomenal job showing me what a real man is to like be a provider or protector. You know, then, be there all the time and friend, and you know a little bit of fear the whole facet. And my daughters they look at me the same way and even though it's not easy on my 10 year old for us to be divorced because it wasn't planned or anything like that, she's done a really good job of bouncing back and we're on a good schedule now and she seems to be thriving in elementary school. She's in the fifth grade, so she's doing well. So that's good. And my stepdaughter has got a full scholarship for her junior year at NYU. She's studying nursing.

Alethea Felton:

So that's exciting, but our dad and my.

Marques Ogden:

so my dad and my grandfather were absolutely pivotal in who I am today as an individual and they made me who I am from a dad and that perspective. So it's absolutely everything for me going forward.

Alethea Felton:

And I appreciate that because that's a perfect transition into this billion dollar question is if you could describe to someone outside of what you just said about him. But who is Marcus Ogden? What would you say to a person outside of what you've just shared?

Marques Ogden:

So Marcus Ogden has three core values that he lives by Authenticity, unbreakable mindset, relationship building. Those are the three core values, and do I have others? Absolutely Honesty, integrity, hard work all those absolutely I do, but authenticity is the number one thing, because our podcast is called Get Authentic with Marcus Ogden. It's all about to me authenticity is being who you are in the moment, knowing the moment is going to change. I'm no longer a married man. I'm no longer a guy who has $400 to his name. I'm no longer an NFL athlete. I'm no longer a football coach at the collegiate level. I am always evolving, I'm always growing. So authenticity is being who you are in the moment, knowing the moment's going to change.

Marques Ogden:

On breakable mindset, I've lost everything money, cars, home, you know everything, credit cards, I mean. I remember when I literally my credit my credit after filing the bankruptcy because I had so much debt was at a zero all across the board, every credit experience equifax, transunion, zero and I had to start all over right $400 to I mean everything, like I'd had absolutely nothing. So my point is is that I'm a guy that had to rebuild himself. I'm a guy that had to restart his engine in my early thirts and I restarted my engine on a track Raleigh, north Carolina where I didn't know a soul Other than my fiance and her family. I had no resources in Raleigh, north Carolina when I got here Didn't know anybody. I had a job lined up at Merrill Lynch in Durham but that only lasted for a couple of months because I unfortunately was not doing well on my practice test. That was failing. I basically failed out of the program. That's what happened. I failed out of the program. Then I went to a construction company, missed my way to the basketball court that I knew. Oh man, looking for a person to hire. I need a job. Hire me the next day, fire me five days later Because the shop ended up getting shut down. He shut down his sales shop in his construction company and I'm out of a job.

Marques Ogden:

So I'm an individual that's had to develop and sustain a mindset to keep going when most people would not have done that. And then relationship building. Everything I have in my life, from my professional relationships to my personal, has been off relationship building. That I have been doing over years and years and that's why our brand. Now we closed a new client today Well, he's actually an existing client paid $5,000 to work with us on a new project as a sponsor and a supporter of our mindset community. I tell him I'll be doing that. Jose is going to be joining us as a contributor and a thought leader and one of our sponsors, who I met through somebody a while ago honestly, I can't even tell you how I met my. I don't remember who introduced me, but then he sponsored our podcast. He's now my financial planner and then now this morning he just paid another five grand to support us for the show and our mindset community.

Marques Ogden:

That's wonderful so that's who Marcus is. He's authentic, he has a strong and breakable mindset, and he lives his life off building authentic, real relationships.

Alethea Felton:

Escobar, who is my business coach, but he's also a CEO of a group Marcus and I are a part of, and you went through this entire spectrum of just so much of your life where the person listening or watching this is going to say, wait a minute, he what he lost everything. Is going to say, wait a minute, he what he lost everything. So let's go back in terms of just briefly talk about before even your journey with the NFL and eventually to entrepreneurship business. Marcus, what were the key influences in your early life that shaped your understanding of hard work, resilience and success, and what is a pivotal moment in your childhood that already instilled in you that you were going to succeed and win?

Marques Ogden:

So for the first question, you know our dad was that. And so our dad ended up raising us when our mom left us on Christmas morning in 1988. Our dad was the one that showed us hard work, perseverance, discipline. He stepped up when a lot of people would have gotten really frustrated or panicked like, wow, I got to raise two boys by myself. He didn't panic, he didn't complain, he stepped up and he got it done and that was big for me and seeing that was everything.

Marques Ogden:

And then a pivotal moment for me where I knew I could be successful if I just got off my own way my junior year of high school I almost quit the football team because I wasn't starting on offense, because it would make it even worse. My brother, Jonathan, was the number four pick overall, not fourth round number four, the fourth player taken in the 1996 NFL draft by the Baltimore Ravens, and he was a left tackle. So I wanted to be like my brother and I wasn't starting on offense. So I said, dad, I'm not starting, this sucks, I'm going to quit. He said, Marcus, go ahead, you want to quit. I'm going to love you, no matter what. You're my son. You'll feel great today if you quit. Amazing. You'll feel okay. Tomorrow. Week later it'll start to fade away, fade away. Then, eventually, a couple months later, why did I do that? What could I have been? Why did I quit? My dad said so here's what we're going to do You're going to go upstairs, You're going to sleep on it. When you come downstairs tomorrow morning, I'm either going to take you to practice and you're all in, or you're going to be all out. You're going to go back upstairs and play video games and enjoy your summer. Back into school in the fall. I said Dad, OK, when I'm set with the bed, came down ready to go to practice, went to practice and my coach, my head coach said Marcus, you were starting on defense. Said Marcus, you were starting on defense, but you were acting like a baby because you didn't get to that point of practice of our planning and you were impatient and you were not being very prudent and you were not putting in your all. And now you're not wanting to show up to practice. Okay, you're now second team defense. If you want it, you got to come and earn it. Second team defense If you want it, you got to come and earn it. And I ended up earning my spot back and I started as a junior on defense. Senior year both ways starter that I got my full scholarship to Howard University. Wow, Remembering that time when my dad said okay, you want to quit, Go right on ahead, that's okay, I'll love you, no less, that doesn't matter to me.

Marques Ogden:

But you're gonna end up hating yourself if you don't go in there and you don't give it your all and you don't live for not what I want, not about what your coaches want, not about what your brother wants, what you want, what do you want out of this? So either get in there and get it done or stay on the sidelines and don't do it. But he said under one condition don't be half in or half out. It's either all in or all out, it's not in between.

Alethea Felton:

And I think about thank you for sharing that story, because I think about the fact had you quit, yes, things could have still worked out OK, but I'm talking about this journey, and so much of your platform now and where you are now in your life wouldn't have taken place if you had quit altogether, especially with our Black boys who want to be an athlete want to be in the NFL, and so many athletes, of course, dream of making it to the NFL.

Alethea Felton:

But your journey actually evolved and well, rather involved more than just sports. So tell me what are some of the connections that you made between football and business? What are some of those connections there?

Marques Ogden:

So the NFL is a big business. It's all it is a business, with pads and helmets and hitting it is being a gladiator, but having money behind it, people that are not like. Instead of having kings and queens and people out in the stands, you have owners that own. Get people to the stands. It's a business. It's all it is. It is a big business. So when teams aren't winning, that's why you see people get fired. Like any other business. It's no love loss. There's no emotion. If you're winning, you're in. Look at the Kansas City Chiefs the Chiefs are winning. Andy Reid is in, right. Mahomes is in. Look at Travis Kelsey right. He's the one. Like you know, I saw something at the barbershop this morning. Are you smarter than a celebrity? And he's the host. They're winning, right. Do you see any other players? Do you see players on losing teams get the same type of opportunity as people on winning teams? Not at all. It's a business.

Marques Ogden:

Like again that's what it is.

Marques Ogden:

That's why smaller markets I'll use. The Jaguars right, they're struggling, they had a great win this past weekend, but they're two and six. Right, they're in a smaller market. They're not going to get the type of advertisements, the type of opportunities that the Chiefs are going to get. Two times football champions going for a third I think they're 5-0, about to go play the San Francisco 49ers. That's what it's about.

Marques Ogden:

So I learned that early and I'll tell your audience exactly what Jack Del Rio told me as a 22-year-old rookie If you want to be successful in life, talk to the whole rookie class. You got to be your own CEO. Jack said if you're waiting for me to tell you what time to get here, when to leave, going to the Jaguar community, meet people, all these things you're not going to be here long, or if you're here, you're not going to take full advantage of being in the NFL, using your platform to connect with people for business opportunity later. That's why, when I left the NFL after strolling for a while, I got myself together. I started Caden in Baltimore. I played in Baltimore, my brother played in Baltimore. We use our platform to build something special. Unfortunately, I lost it all because of my ego, but that's the business aspect of it. It's like anything else, right? What's your branding like? How are you marketing? How are you closing sales? How are you operating? How are you collecting money? Again, take my gentleman today that signed up for another sponsorship for the show and for our mindset collaboration, community Branding. He knows our brand is authentic. He knows that because he sponsored the show Marketing. He knows we have people on our show like Sebastian Bach, from Skid Row to Scott Page of Pink Floyd, to athletes, to musicians, so he knows that we're constantly marketing sales. He knows when I'm in the room with the right people, I can transfer trust to have transactions come through that are transformational, not just transactional operations. I have been helping his business. I'm now his client, so I'm showing him I not only trust him, trusting my operational attributes and what I can do. I'm trusting him to manage my money, so I'm now his client. He's mine Financial. He signed up today. I took his credit card, ran the payment, boom, we're all to the races. Exactly, and that's what it is.

Marques Ogden:

Sports and business are synonymous. If you don't understand that, then you're just watching us expect it, which is fine, but there's a lot that goes on behind the scenes, and this is why the NFL, the NBA okay, take LeBron James and his son. Oh, yes, right. So again, is Bronny really a player that belongs in the NBA at this point? No, could he be that Sure. But is he there because he is going to be led by his dad.

Marques Ogden:

If anybody can make Bronny great, it's his dad, right, and again, it's a business. First father and son. And again I'm absolutely ecstatic for them. First father and son in the NBA on the same team, on the same floor. Fantastic, love it Again. I don't begrudge this to Bronny Like hey, lakers drafted him the opportunity. Go and get it, young man. That's fine. And again, there's a lot of players that go to the NBA and they aren't ready for it. So it's not anything new, but it's business. The Lakers see the opportunity to do what Cash in. That's business. The Lakers see the opportunity to do what Cash in. That's right. Tv with the endorsements. I mean I saw Ken Griffey Jr and his dad were at the Laker game beside Bronny and LeBron. You know what I'm saying.

Alethea Felton:

Yeah, I talk about it. It's business, marketing, business. Yes, all of that, yeah.

Alethea Felton:

All of that and you have dropped some nuggets here, marcus. Oh my God, I knew this was going to be amazing, and I love what you were told early on, because if, if we, as entrepreneurs, were to just wait around, to be waiting always for that next move? Of course we have guidance, we use wisdom, but we have to market ourselves, we have to move ourselves, we had to push ourselves, and that can go in any aspect of it. And you know, something else that's powerful about your story is that there might be people just say, hypothetically playing devil's advocate, who's like, well, his brother's, jonathan Ogden. So, although he hit rock bottom, I'm sure all he had to do was contact Jonathan to get him out of it.

Alethea Felton:

No, that ain't how it worked. You still had to work for what you got now, cause a lot of us my my own self included I know entertainers, celebrities. I have people in my own family who are part of that world and are well-named people. But I got to work for myself. I'm not using who I know to get me there. I've got to build my brand and be who I am for me. So let's talk about that aspect you talked about. Ego is what got you out. So take us now on this journey, marcus of you're in the NFL, then you're out of it. Tell us what happened and then what happened after that, because this is powerful.

Marques Ogden:

So, after the NFL, I struggled with addiction. For about six months. I struggled heavily with alcoholism, painkillers, nightlight being out, having no real identity, no real purpose. Finally, I found my new purpose and I chased the wrong thing. I chased money and a passion to earn a lot of money. I didn't pursue construction because it was a talent that I had and that was my first and my biggest mistake. But I started Caden, grew it from a $0 company to almost $20 million a year top line revenue.

Marques Ogden:

Unfortunately, when I lost my ability to maintain civility, humility and a very humble ego, I ended up becoming this monster, this King Kong, this tyrannical beast that only wanted more money, better cars, being at the club, being able to take my guys out and buy up the bar and look cool to the young girls or to whoever's in the room. Look cool to anybody, I didn't care who you were. I ended up creating a toxic environment, pushed away my best people and I ended up having a job go south really quickly. It took me about five years to build that company up to the height it was. It took me less than 90 days, less than three months, to lose it all, and I lost everything in 2013. As a result of my ego, my bravado and my selfish habits and my selfish nature, I was living what's called the personality ethics. Rage, wrath, lust, envy that's what I was living, so I lost everything at that time.

Alethea Felton:

But how did you come to the awareness and the consciousness that it was your ego? When was that aha moment?

Marques Ogden:

That didn't happen until I hit my rock bottom moment I moved to Raleigh, bankrupt broke. I was so poor I couldn't even pay the $3,300 payment in full At that moment when I hired my attorney, billy Brewer, who was awesome, it took me almost six months $300 here, $400 there. I had to piecemeal it. It took me six months to protect myself from over $5.5 million of debt. I had 177 creditors on my docket. I had 177 creditors on my docket 177.

Marques Ogden:

Good Lord. So I finally got that taken care of, but I didn't realize that I was the problem, that I was the culprit, that I wasn't taking account and taking ownership of what I needed to do. Until my rock bottom moment, when I was a custodian and somebody's rotten meat, nasty trash, horrible protruding garbage got all over me. And when that happened that woke me up and I said okay, well, how did I get here? I said was it your partner? No. Was it the client? No. Was it the people that work for you? No. Was it the client? No. Was it the people that work for you? No. Was it the developer? No, it was you.

Marques Ogden:

Marcus, you did the extra work without a change order. You became all about external motivating factors money, cars, women, nightlife, things that could be gone and which they were gone as quick as it came, as quick as it went, and I cared about all that stuff, alethea, that didn't mean a damn thing. And so when I hit rock bottom with that spoiled milk moment, that's the moment I realized my ego, my bravado, my selfish habits put me on that curve and that's the moment I said I got to start replacing ego and toxicity with gratitude. Gratitude is the biggest crusher of ego Today in my life. If I have a great day, bad day, whatever, I'm just grateful for again, nothing against my ex-wife. I'm grateful that I'm not still in that marriage because it wasn't good for either of us. I'm grateful that I'm now no longer in the apartment that I was in when I had to move out.

Marques Ogden:

I filed for divorce July of 2022, had to stay in the house with her until November 2022, and I had to move into an house with her until November 2022. And I had to move into an apartment because I only had two weeks to get out. Got out and the apartment was dirty, it was dingy, it was dark and you know what. It caused me to almost have a mental breakdown In January of 2023,.

Marques Ogden:

I was so close to just losing it all and just ending it all. I don't have my daughters on Thanksgiving, christmas half the day they're with me, half the day with their mom. What is this? How do we get here? And I finally got rid of that negative self-talk and then I got into who I am today. I rebuilt myself, I got myself out of my own way and now I bought my dream home. I have a phenomenal business. We have amazing people on our team and that Alethea is what people get. So for me, the moment of ownership didn't come, the moment of realizing that my ego cost me everything didn't come till I hit complete rock bottom. Last thing I'll say about that is when you finally hit rock bottom and you know it in your heart and you know it in your mind, the only place left to go is up Is up, you yep, you can't go, no lower.

Alethea Felton:

You cannot go any lower than that. And your transformation. You said you were in that apartment January 2023. Is that what you said? So the time that we are filming this is October, end of October of 2024. So are you saying that this was only about two years time? Just about, because January 2025 will be January? So, from there until now, in less than two years, you've rebuilt your life. Now, this is quite transformative, powerful and miraculous. So let's talk about this, that spoiled milk moment. What, then, was the first step after that did you take to rebuild your life?

Marques Ogden:

I went home and I did what I didn't even know that I did was I wanted to figure out my talent, and my talent was keynote speaking, trying to help others, trying to inspire others. There's a gentleman who has a powerful video talking about you need to pursue your talent and craft your talent. Don't pursue your passion. If you're passionate about something, craft your talent. Don't pursue your passion. If you're passionate about something doesn't mean you're good at it. So pursue your talent, craft that and, through hard work, dedication and discipline, hopefully your talent becomes your passion.

Marques Ogden:

And again, that's what I did. I said what can I do? How can I help people? I said let's start keynote speaking. And I started that and I had a talent for it. I didn't know what I was doing, but there was a great quote by the 19th president of the United States, rutherford B Hayes Every expert was once a beginner. So that's what I started out doing, and it took me two and a half years of hard work, failing free jobs, being told no, being told get lost you name it to get to the point of now getting that first paid job in April 2016.

Marques Ogden:

But to answer your question directly, after that moment I went home and I realized what my talent was and I started the journey of perfecting my talent, which eventually turned into my passion, which is why this is what I'm going to do, to the day I'm no longer here on this place we call earth.

Alethea Felton:

That's right, oh my gosh. So you've got all of this going on, and so when you made that pivot during the pandemic and everything else, and you start to shift your speaking business, so here you are. Let's kind of fast forward. Some, you shift your speaking business to an even more virtual platform. Okay, so tell me about the fact of how, how you learned to be flexible and innovative even during your uncertain times.

Marques Ogden:

There are two women, michelle William and Deborah Arcana, who were MIT ladies, phenomenal, brilliant Came up with six business slash career value drivers. The last one they came up with was inventiveness and innovation. They said four keys to being successful as leaders innovation, visioning, sense-making, relating. So, when things happen, I realize the only way to stay ahead of the curve in business and in life is to master innovation. So when COVID hit, we started doing Zooms Teams, we got into consulting. The podcast started in 2022. We needed something to help to differentiate us. We needed something to help to differentiate us, separate us from the competition. Our podcast has brought in so many phenomenal people to our world, to our stratosphere.

Marques Ogden:

that would not have been there without it. So we need to always be innovative, cutting edge. So the sixth business value driver is inventiveness and innovation. And they talk about learn how to adjust on the fly with speed, and that's something if you want to be in business and you can't adjust on the fly with speed, you will get left behind, like us right now. The mindset community, jose, is a phenomenal example. Connected Leaders Academy boom. We said, well, we're going to do mindset community. All right, jose, come on down. You have connected leaders, we have the mindset community. Let's go. And my partner, victor, we're having these thought leaders come in and bring in their expertise around certain topics. So the mindset community right, alethea, it's not just about me or Victor, it's about people like Bob Berger, the Go-Giver yes. Coach Escobar, coach David Kitchen, scott Page from Pink Floyd, jason Waller from the Hills Jason Waller from the Hills. All these phenomenal people bringing Bo Bravo, hr director for President Barack Obama and President George Walker Bush. They come in with their expertise, with their stories, with their lane, and the community grows and grows and grows.

Marques Ogden:

Victor is my partner. He excels at the back office stuff. I excel at the network the speaking, the videos, the onstage, the onscreen. It works. It tells me what to do. Videos on how to do things, how to shoot. We execute. That's being innovative. Again, I love speaking. It is phenomenal. I'm going to do it to the day I die. That's right. I'm more than a speaker now. I speak on stage. I can do virtual. I can business coach you, I can do consulting. I own parts of different businesses that align with our brand, like a gogi, which is a all pro. It's a protein drink that's all made from the earth, all from the earth products, no soy, no dairy, no, none of that. It's all earth-based Grind Oral Care, a toothpaste brand Been with them since 2018. As an owner, we're now almost 700 Walmarts across the country Wow. So again, it's about finding ways to be innovative. Again, get from this segment. If you're not innovating, if you're not creative, you will get left behind.

Alethea Felton:

That's true and trust your innovation and creativity and to not let others talk you out of the ideas you have. Plus, people have to learn that certain ideas that you have aren't for everybody, so don't go blabbing your mouth until the product's out there and then from there, or go to trusted people who you know can help you win in that area. I want to go back briefly for a second in terms of as you're making these transitions, marcus, with your dad and your brother and other close-knit people being key aspects of your life. Tell me about during that time, what lessons you gleaned or learned even from your father and your brother during these rebuilding stages of your life, and what did their words do to catapult you even to that next level.

Marques Ogden:

I learned from my brother the importance of hard work and showing up to do and be your best in the face of adversity.

Marques Ogden:

He was the number four pick overall to the Ravens, but he got a lot of not just the Ravens and him got a lot of negative press. Well, why did we draft an offensive tackle? We don't need that. We should have gotten a running back and, da-da-da-da-da, we don't need Ogden. Where's he going to go?

Marques Ogden:

And my brother just did the job that his coaches brought him in to do. He went into guard his first year. The next year he went to offensive tackle. He was an 11-time pro bowler 11 straight years until he retired and left tackle because he just showed up every day and did his job.

Marques Ogden:

So I learned from my brother to shut up. He never had a contract dispute. He never had an issue with the media, never had anything go negative in the press. It was just come to work, do your job, shut up, excel, go home. And my dad, just don't give up. My dad faced all kinds of adversity, negativity. He got sick, with issues, healthcare issues. He just kept going. He kept bringing anything and everything to the table.

Marques Ogden:

And that's where I learned the grit between my brother, who taught me how to show up, my dad, who taught me how to never quit, and my grandfather who taught me how to show up, my dad who taught me how to never quit, and my grandfather, who told me how to never quit. Those three men showed me to make me who I am today. So when I had the rock bottom moment, it was always meant for me to get back up Once I realized the person that put me down was me. See, it's easier to get up when somebody else knocks you down right. But when you knock yourself down, you can't get up until you realize you knocked you down. That's right. So that was my problem, because I did the extra work right. It wasn't the client that knocked me down or the developer that knocked me down. Nobody made me do that work, but me.

Alethea Felton:

That's what happened.

Alethea Felton:

Wow, that is absolutely the truth and everything that you're saying about what your brother, your father and your grandfather said.

Alethea Felton:

I'm going to say this just off of my own perspective and again, this is no disrespect to your mother or anything like that, but I think our society can sometimes put an emphasis on men leaving and walking out, and I think that we fail to remember sometimes that men have emotions too and men have pain and men can hurt.

Alethea Felton:

And the fact that your father, you know, even though he was crushed with that happening, he had to kind of grieve behind the scenes so that he could stay on point with what you had to do. So I'm thinking, like what greater gift could it have been to have your father pouring into you in such a down and out time of when you literally lost everything, Because he too experienced the trials of Job, maybe in a different aspect of it, maybe in a different aspect of it. And so, with you being a man, talk to me about the internal and external pressures that you had to push your way through in order to be who you are now, based on the societal pressures that we put on men, especially Black men, to be the best of the best of the best, and to not be trifling and to not be lazy, all of these stereotypes. How did you reconcile that, as a man, when you lost everything?

Marques Ogden:

Because my dad, who lost everything. I was able to watch him live a life, the best life that he could, through the hard times and the hard challenges, and that made me because, when I lost everything, my dad was gone. My dad passed away in 2006. Oh I got it. I didn't have them there to help me through that. It was just me.

Alethea Felton:

It was his memories his legacy in you pushing him through Correct. Okay, wow, now that's deep. That's deep right there.

Marques Ogden:

So again, I had no guidance. I didn't know anybody. My brother had his own issues, his own stuff, so it was just me when I got to Raleigh.

Marques Ogden:

And I had to face those demons, those sleepless nights, all by myself to get to this point. So again, it's a big facet. When I lost everything, I remember what my dad did, how he did it, how he stayed true and again love my dad, like more than anything, my dad never remarried, never remarried after losing my mom. You know what, looking at it, my dad still loved my mother.

Alethea Felton:

Of course, absolutely.

Marques Ogden:

Absolutely he was. He always held onto the memory of her until the very end. And you know what I have. I have no beef with that, that's fine, that's not a problem with me. But again, for me I needed to remember what he did to get through those tough times. So when I was struggling to pay the bills or make ends meet or take care of this bill, and I had to move bills around and do this and rob Peter to pay Paul and had to make up a story why I couldn't pay this bill or all this stuff, All I remember was Marcus, I know this is hard, I know this is long, I know this is not what you want to be doing where you want to be, but remember, if dad could get through it, so can you. And that's what kept me going.

Marques Ogden:

And today, again, I don't have to balance things. If a bill comes in, I pay it. I don't have to look at, like well, what's in the account. And I monitor my accounts daily what goes in, what goes out. I monitor my credit cards, all these things. But because I'm a guy that had to rob Peter, pay Paul, do this. I understand if you're listening, if you're going through a hard time. I get it. I've been there and I know exactly what you're going through. But remember, hard times, challenging times, don't mean impossible times, but you just have to face reality where you are, then, from there, start climbing and clawing your way back up to the top. That's exactly what I did, if I could do it so can you.

Alethea Felton:

That's right Now. As we have a few minutes left, let's talk about this top rated podcast, the top 1%. If I'm not mistaken, it's a top 1% podcast about truly just being authentic. Be authentic. How important was it for you to have a show named that, and what led you to even creating this concept of the podcast?

Marques Ogden:

So our podcast now is in the top half percent most popular worldwide and people love it.

Marques Ogden:

And we started the podcast with the theme of having amazing people authentic people share their authentic stories to help our audience move through challenges. To get to the other side period, and that's why it started. That's what it's about. The theme has never changed. We've interviewed rock stars and heavy metal lead singers like Sebastian Bach, to rock and roll stars like Scott Page, like all these things. We have interviewed all these amazing people. At the end of the day, it's all the same Authentic people sharing their authentic story.

Marques Ogden:

I want people to see that it's not about trying to be the biggest person on social media have the cars, have the house, all this stuff or trying to, like you know, showcase to other people I've got this made back or this, and you know what? If that's your mid-back, excellent. If it's not, then why are you doing it? Why are you trying to be something that you know you're not? Because all you're doing is fooling yourself, because the people that really know you know that's not your life.

Marques Ogden:

So what are you trying to do? You're trying to fool people that want to hire you. Well, why? Because eventually they're going to find you out anyway. So be who you are, who you are is enough, and that's why we started the show to let people know that they could just be who they are, and who they are is more than enough to be happy and fulfilled in their lives. So when I was going through my hard times, right Adithya, I was in a dark depression, feeling bad, feeling blue. God rewarded me for not giving up on myself. He moved me into a development named serenity, and then he moved me onto a street called Call Serendipity Drive.

Alethea Felton:

You living in that, walking in it, and I, oh my gosh, I so commend you for that. And yes, thank you for that correction. Top half percent, that's where I will be one day. We still in the top five percent, but we're going to get there. We're going to keep on trucking at it.

Alethea Felton:

But it's true, people are drawn. It's enough phoniness in this world. People want authenticity, they want reality, because so many people we all go through challenges, no matter what it is finance, health, relationships, whatever Every human being goes through a challenge. So they want to see people who are going to be real and to share their stories of hope and resilience and transformation, because it can happen. So, at the place you are now, marcus, what is an area of your life that you can honestly say that you are like, wow, I'm doing the darn thing, like what's the area that you are just so proud of yourself in? And not from a, of course, arrogant aspect, because that part of your life is over but what are you most proud of yourself with? What are you most proud of yourself with?

Marques Ogden:

Being a father, being a dad to my girls and working through the challenge of the divorce. And my oldest and I didn't talk for almost a year and that broke my heart because she was very confused and she was very hurt by the divorce and when I explained to her what happened, she understood why we divorced and it took a while, but now our relationship is back to where it was and then, also with my youngest.

Marques Ogden:

it's just adjusting to her, knowing that her parents aren't together anymore and being there for her and just never bad mouthing their mom to them or anybody I mean. At the end of the day, I'm proud of myself for how I've handled the divorce and how I've handled being a dad through the joint custody 50-50, through the challenges, through the nightmares of dealing with her when we first got divorced and we were fighting a lot and we were just contentious and we were both hurt and all this stuff. It was a lot. It was a lot and so I'm just proud of myself for not giving up on being a dad, especially to my stepdaughter, and we've worked through that and now it's back to better than ever. Then it's with my daughter, just helping her through the challenges of having divorced parents. So she knows that she's loved all the time, no matter if she's with her mom or with me. We both love her and we're both always going to be there for her for the long haul.

Alethea Felton:

Marcus, how do you cultivate peace in your life?

Marques Ogden:

every day I just take a moment and I'm always grateful for where I am in my life and all that overcome.

Marques Ogden:

A bankruptcy broke 177 creditors, over five5.5 million of debt home foreclosed on both cars repossessed not in the same month, not in the same week, in the same day and having to start over from rock bottom. And I'm very, very at peace that I didn't have to go to anybody for help, didn't go to my brother, my mother, friends, nobody. I just dug in and I leaned into myself my talents, I crafted them, I perfected them and now they are my passion. And that's what it's all about. I'm just at peace with. I was able to get my life back after such a traumatic and multiple traumatic experiences that I've gone through in my life.

Alethea Felton:

I have one more question for you, but before we go there, say, if a person's listening to you like I need to learn more about him, I definitely want to check out his podcast, anything he's written speeches, whatever. How can people do that?

Marques Ogden:

All they need to do is go to our app, the Marcus Ogden app. It's on your Apple phone, on your Android phone. Go to your app or type in M-A-R-Q-U-E-S-O-G-D-E-N, R-Q-U-E-S-O-G-D-E-N, that's it, and it'll pop up. You can connect to our website there, our podcast there, exclusive free contents. There. It's a free app. Just connect with our app, get Marcus Ogden. Or you can go to our website, marcusogdencom. Or shoot me an email, marcus at marcusogdencom.

Alethea Felton:

Wonderful Thinking about this incredible power transformation that you made in your life, that power from within to transform your life. Marcus, there's been a present name throughout this entire show and it's been that of your dad and although he's not here in the physical, he still exists in spirit. But if your father were here with you right now and he saw the amazing, astonishing man that you've become today and overcome so much, man that you've become today and overcome so much, and he was standing in front of you, what would you tell him at this moment?

Marques Ogden:

I would tell him thank you for making me the person, the man, the dad that I am today. He set the bar high. He showed me what it would take to be a real man, to be a real dad and to just be an individual that people could count on. So I just want to tell him thank you for everything he did to teach and instill in me the skill sets, the core values and the inner being of who I'm at my soul, because without him I wouldn't be who I am and or where I am today.

Alethea Felton:

And I truly appreciate that and, despite what happened between he and his mom, I'm just so glad that they created you so that you could grace our presence here on the Power Transformation podcast. Continue doing what you're doing, being authentic, changing lives, speaking on platforms all around the globe, and it is truly an honor for me to know you, marcus, and thank you again.

Marques Ogden:

Thanks so much. Thanks a lot, alethea, you, marcus, and thank you again. Thanks so much Thanks a lot, Alethea.

Alethea Felton:

Thank you for tuning in to this episode of the Power Transformation Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to follow or subscribe, leave a five-star rating and write a review. It helps us inspire even more listeners, and don't keep it to yourself. Fire even more listeners, and don't keep it to yourself. Share it with someone who could use a little power in their transformation. Until next time, keep bouncing back, keep rising and be good to yourself and to others.

Podcasts we love

Check out these other fine podcasts recommended by us, not an algorithm.

Fridays with Tab and Chance Artwork

Fridays with Tab and Chance

Tabitha Brown, Chance Brown