Jeremy Weisz 13:35
You talked about, Desmond the hires, right. And some we all have misfires, with hires, and even on the field, you have to make second adjustments minute by minute adjustments. You get knocked down, you’re like how do I adjust so I don’t get knocked down again. What was the adjustments that you have to make in the future from a hiring perspective that you learned from what you just said?
Desmond Clark 13:56
So I studied, so I had W2 employees that was doing the same job as independent contractors, right? And I studied the two, and my independent contractor is my best hire. And there are certain traits with him. First of all, I don’t look at him as an employee. I look at him as more of a business partner, right? I’m not paying him anything. He’s earning everything that he’s getting paid. And we have a split on revenue on profits. With the W2 employee, he’s getting paid regardless if he produces or not, right, and you have to eat that if he does not produce or she does not produce. So what I learned is that moving forward, after understanding the mistake that I made, what type of person that I want to bring to Bear Down Logistics. I want to bring the right person that looks at his business, he has a business that he or she is trying to grow and become his or her business partner in this venture of helping them grow a million-dollar business or whatever that goal is for them. I’m the person that we come together, I’m your business partner, my job is to make sure that I help you grow to where you want to go. And that’s what I learned from getting those bad hires.
Jeremy Weisz 15:36
Desmond, I want to talk, you a little bit different model in general. So I want to talk about that. I want to talk about Corey Davis. But before we do, talk about why you started, what was the idea behind starting Bear Down Logistics? Because you could have probably started a number of different types of companies. So what was the idea behind Bear Down Logistics?
Desmond Clark 15:56
So this is a common question that I always get, how do you go from the NFL to logistics, and actually, I went from the NFL, to being a residential real estate agent, for a short period of time into the financial bill, I was a financial advisor, full time up to 2018. And then at the end of 2019, I decided that, hey, I want to do something that is a gift of mine. I wanted to get out and motivate people and motivate leaders to bring greatness triumph people. And I wrote my second book, actually, the Principles of Winning, and then the pandemic happen. So I didn’t get to get out and do the speaking. But through that, I learned how to market myself online. And I started getting a whole lot of online interest. And one of the people that was interested was a guy who owns a logistics company, Brian Rice of Dray Depot right now in Chicago. And we had some interesting conversations, we had some conversations about doing some cold marketing, we had some conversations about me possibly coming over and working with him. And that’s when I started to study the industry. And as I study more and more, and I had his input on what this industry was all about, I fell in love with it. I love challenge, I love challenge, Jeremy you hear a lot of times, people go to work and they say, Well, I’m not challenged, it’s boring, it’s the same thing every day. Not in logistics, you always got something different that’s challenging you every single day. And I love that hustle mentality about it. And what I found is that I can take what I believe is my gift of being a motivator, and a leader and use this platform to help bring other people to that point of recognizing their own greatness. So it was just a combination of this logistics industry. It’s not going anywhere, it’s here, people are always gonna have to move something from one place to another place. Five years from now, 50 years from now, 100 years, and now it may matriculated to different modes of transportation or something like that. But there’s always going to be supply chain and logistics. And that was that’s what really brought me to it is that all of those things that I mentioned?
Jeremy Weisz 18:29
It’s funny, it just it does parallel. It seems that logistics the NFL, like you know, we talk fast-paced, challenging, intense, all those things. Do you have a favorite story? Desmond from Principles of Winning from the book or from one of your talks.
Desmond Clark 18:44
Oh, man. That’s like, what is your favorite child? Who is your favorite Child?
Jeremy Weisz 18:57
Depending on the day? That’s an easy answer for me.
Desmond Clark 18:59
Exactly. Depending on the day that I can give you the best. But for me, I think the foundational one is this. All you have is your name and your work. That’s principle number one. And what I mean by that principle is that’s your calling card. That’s your brand. And I think not often enough do people define who they are? And put it in words. This is who I am. This is what I’m about. This is what I do. And then walk it live it, talk it. And now once you define that for yourself. Now define what you want that to mean to everybody else. To all the people that you come in contact with. Starting with your family starting with your friends starting with you Colleagues starting with your business partners and everybody else that you touch and influence. What do you want that to mean? Because at the end of the day, your name, just like Nike, just like Walmart, just like Rise25, just like any other brand name, solicits some type of emotional reaction. When they call that name. What do you want people to think about you when they call your name. And that’s the basis of, that’s the cornerstone. That’s the building block that you build everything else upon.
Jeremy Weisz 20:36
I mentioned, you have a different model, we’ll talk about some of the specific services what you do a Bear Down Logistics, but you will have a different model. Can you talk about Corey Davis for a second?
Desmond Clark 20:49
Yeah, Corey Davis is my guy. So his name is Corey James Davis. No, he’s not black. I always joke with him about that, because that is a black person’s name. When you think about Corey, James Davis, think about a black guy. So when I got his resume, I’m thinking, I’m gonna meet a black guy. And then here comes this white guy called Corey James Davis. Okay, this is starting off different. So we had a chance to sit down and talk…
Jeremy Weisz 21:23
How did you come across each other.
Desmond Clark 21:26
He approached me off from LinkedIn, he seen some of the stuff that I was doing, he was interested, he seemed that I had started a new company, I had only been in existence for like, five or six months. And this is what I came up with air after just trying to grind it out and make sure that this was going to be a legitimate, sustainable company. So this was January, actually, it was December when he reached out, we met in January. And the thing that he said is that, hey, man, I want to build a business. I don’t necessarily want to work for someone, I want to build a business. And I was like, okay, let’s talk about it. And before this, that wasn’t my idea. He sold me on his idea of wanting to build a business. But he said, I also want to team, so I can continue to expand. So now, the business model from that conversation, is the Corey Davis business model. Corey Davis don’t work for me. He’s my business partner. And I supplied all of the carrier rep back office support for him. So all he has to do is go out, still bring customers in, take their orders, quoted form, and then turn it over to my side of the business, what I do as his business partner, and make sure that we have all of his loads covered and take care of the bill and invoices and the other 50 things that we have to do for him.
Jeremy Weisz 22:57
I’d love to hear. So it sounds like who would be an ideal person for you in this scenario, right? The Corey Davis, it seems like his superpower is he likes to sell good with people organized, but he doesn’t want to do all of the back end work. So who is ideal for you? Who’s your next Corey Davis? What does that look like?
Desmond Clark 23:21
So those things are really good, right? He’s really good at all those things, but I think is more so of a mentality that I’m looking for. I’m looking for someone who has a big vision. I’m looking for someone who wants to impact first of all their family. And then what impact do you want to make, I’m looking for people who want to be great at what they do. And Corey is that person, Corey came over. And we talked about our visions about what I wanted to accomplish with Bear Down Logistics, and how his individual vision fit into my overall vision. And we can both drive our visions together. So I want someone with a big vision that sees this logistics industry as a vehicle to get to where they’re trying to go. Like most of the technical stuff, we can teach all of that stuff. But by the time you hit 25, 35 years old, your mentality is already dead. So I’m looking more so for a connection of mental state, and drive and hustle and just a recognition of this industry and what it can provide for you as a vehicle to take you to where you want to go. And just to get a little I know that’s kind of bait but I’m a dial in just a little bit. If you ever thought to yourself that man, it’d be very, very cool to start my own company in the logistics industry. Well, I’ve been working in the logistics industry, and always wondered, can I start my own company, I’m looking for that person. I’m looking for that person, because I want to be a partner with that person. But everything that I’ve discovered over the last year, the processes, the systems that we’ve put in place for us to be successful for us to be a million-dollar plus company within a year when there’s 122,000 logistics companies that fail in the one year that I’ve been in existence, in the worst time, in the last five years, for the logistics industry, there’s a reason why we’ve been able to prosper. And I want to help other people see that those same type of results.
Jeremy Weisz 25:48
Des mean you talk about vision mentality, big goals, I want to talk for a second about 100 million. what that number means, because I’ve heard you talk about it. But before, because you have a big vision and big goals, but I want to go back to your playing career for a second at what point and it’s about believing first. And what point did you think, to yourself, I’m going to the NFL.
Desmond Clark 26:13
After my junior year, in college, that’s when I petitioned the NFL to see if I was a lead my junior year, which I wasn’t. But that year, I led to ACC and receptions with 72. And I petitioned the NFL to get my draft status, my draft stock. And they said if I was to leave my junior year, I will go fifth round, or be a rookie free agent. So that was the range. So at that point, that’s when I started to even think about playing in NFL because my whole thing was, I just want to be the best college player I can be.
Jeremy Weisz 26:53
You were very present-focused. I thought you were gonna say, like fifth grade or something?
Desmond Clark 26:59
No, hell no. So Jeremy, here’s the thing, people don’t know that I’m not the most athletic guy that you ever met before. And if you’re watching this, take a second. And I’m gonna talk really, really slow. So you could take this second because I want you to do it as you’re watching this. Get on your phone. All right, I’m gonna pause for two seconds, go pick up the phone and then type in Desmond Clark combines that CLMBIN. But that is where we go and audition for jobs in the NFL. That is my audition. And I want you to scroll down until you see a big red letter. And I’m not going to tell you here what it is. But when you see it, you’re going to understand that I was not supposed to make it an NFL. I was slow. I was weak. And I was small. I ran a 488 40. Jeremy oh, there you go. Keep scrolling down, Jeremy. Keep scrolling down. Keep on going. You see a big red letter. There you go. Right there, Jim. Yes. So if you look at my size, my size was oh.
Jeremy Weisz 28:15
Who wants this person, they got an app.
Desmond Clark 28:17
By speed. My speed was terrible. My agility was the best thing that I had. And it was in the, I can’t even say the lower half or the top half. I was right there on the edge of average. And then my quickness score and look at my stress score. That’s Political man. That almost brings tears to my eyes right now. So if you go down and look at the factors for a successful tight end, right there. Keep going, go back down. Right. Well, right here. I got you. Yeah, so my broad jump, I had half of the things. But yeah, man, I was all about me getting better day by day, year by year. My first year, I was not ready to play. Year two, I was ready to play. Year three. I was pretty good. Year three. And that’s when everything kind of took off. But hell, I forgot what the what the whole question was about now. Well, what was the question?
Jeremy Weisz 29:24
You were saying at what point did you believe you wanted to go to the NFL and I was thinking, yeah, fifth grade, like, from early age, like, I’m going to the NFL. You decided but you were saying no, it was my junior year in college.
Desmond Clark 29:36
Right. I thought I was good football player. I never didn’t think I was great, early in my, you know, my teen years or, you know, even when I was leaving the ACC and reception, I thought I was good. I thought I could do some good things. But I didn’t foresee a 12-year NFL career.
Jeremy Weisz 29:58
I mean, do you think that That’s one of the attributes that allow you to be successful. It seems like you’re a pretty modest person that just wanted to keep improving. You didn’t have a big ego. And because even if you look at your college days, you know, I mentioned some of the stats like highest reception yards, ACC, All-American status, someone could read their own press clippings I guess.
Desmond Clark 30:24
Yeah. But it was more about being in that time. So, and then afterwards, you look back on that time, and you’ve accumulated so many stacks, right. But when you’re in that time, I’m just trying to catch a touchdown or five passes, or whatever I need to help try to win this game at this time. And I never did really kind of look at the bigger picture. I’ve always been like, all right, I know the big picture. But now I’m focusing on the details, the small things that I got to get accomplished, just to get the job done today.
Jeremy Weisz 31:11
Yeah, you take that, just keep improving the little things keep improving everything day by day, when I say 100 million, right? Talk about that.
Desmond Clark 31:24
So that has everything to do with football also. And it has to do with who I am as a person. One of the things that I never liked is when somebody is seen just as a football player. And you could tell when people just, hey, I just want to talk to you just because you play football. And that always kind of irritated me when that person was around me. I’m more than a football player. I’m smart. I have ideas, I can be creative, I got ambition about things. And I don’t know if it was my third or fourth, or maybe fifth years, somewhere in there is when I said to myself, when I get done playing football, I’m going to make more money than when I actually played football. So now if you break this down, the average profit, right for this industry is 15%. So now, if you make 15% of 100 million, you make 15 million in a year, right? So I made 15 million in my entire NFL career. So that’s what that number comes from. So I know people like oh, man, I thought it was something like different. No, that’s what it is. And I’m not afraid to say it. But I’m trying to prove something to myself. And over the time, I would have already probably made 15 million. But I want to do that in one year. In one year. And that’s me trying to prove to myself That’s me being with myself. That’s me trying to make me better, and have my own goals. I don’t know what the other guy why he picked his number a while he’s driving so hard. I really don’t care. It’s all about why did I pick this for myself? And then how do I optimize myself to get to where I’m trying to go so I can just prove to myself that I can do it.
Jeremy Weisz 33:36
Desmond, what gives you the drive. If you look back in your childhood, for sports, for business, to something go back to what drives you, someone your thing.
Desmond Clark 33:51
It has nothing to do with sports. It has everything to do with I just wanted to see success in my life. My father was a drug addict. And because he was a drug addict, we lost everything and we came up it had some rough patches, man, I live in an apartment with no lights with no refrigerator. Man, it was solid. It was a few dark days. Let’s just say that. And seeing most of my family not really have anything. I don’t know what sparked that. But I wanted to be different. I wanted to have something I wanted to be able to provide and do things. So if you read my book, I talked about how my dad got shot when I was age of 12 and he was shot of line. So for a period of a few years, I used to like my dad’s crack pipe form. Whenever I was at my grandmother’s house because him and my mom was divorce. So it was one day at the lightness crack pipe form, I came out of that room. And it was it was drug dealers in the house chaos. And I got proposition that day to sell drugs. But it was during that walk home at the age of 14, I said to myself that I’m going to be successful. And I didn’t know what success meant. But that’s when I determined that I’m going to be successful. And I went home that day, and I told my mom, I’m going to be successful. I didn’t know how I didn’t know where I didn’t know what form but my mentality kind of crystallized at that point that whatever I need to do, that’s what I’ll do, to get to where I can say that I’m successful. So that’s what really kind of sparked that mentality.
Jeremy Weisz 36:02
Yeah, can’t even begin to think about how rough that was. And like, what I was asking about when did you know you’re an NFL player, it wasn’t about sports early on for you is more about you deciding to be successful, whatever that look like. And I love to hear how you parent, because you look at your childhood, and what you had to go through and what you had to overcome, compared to your kids, right? So how do you parent knowing that some of those things, I mean, you wouldn’t wish upon anyone, but it did shape to who you are, and it did create a drive in you. So how do you parent based on what you had to go through?
Desmond Clark 36:53
So parenting has been rough for me man. Especially over the last couple years, I want to see and bring up this in my kids. And I have my oldest kid that is going on his own path, and really don’t want to attach to principles and teachings and the lessons and me want to push him in the right direction. I have another, my twin, not my twin, but I have twins, that’s 20. I just helped her move into her first place this morning. But I’m still trying to get her to understand that in life, if you don’t build skill and mindset, it’s gonna be rough. And I’m scared for both of them, right. But I also realized that there are 20 now is only so much pushing that I can do before I probably literally push them away. Right. And then I have my 11-year-old that I’m pushing and trying to get him to understand the same things. Right? I have my 25-year-old stepson that, the same thing is trying to get them, because they didn’t have to go through the stuff that me and my stepson didn’t have to go through stuff that my wife and his mom had to go through, right. And my kids didn’t have to go through the stuff that I went through. So I don’t know if they understand what it takes to really be successful, because they never had to struggle. And then for my 11-year-old. I mean, it was 14 months ago, I actually had to travel to Africa, literally track him down, literally go and find him and bring them back home because his mom, my first wife actually kidnapped him and took him over to Africa without me knowing. And you talking about a journey man and experience by tool of foreign not country, but continent and having to track your kid down. But no plan, no help. And I got it done. And I brought him back here last year. That’s why I say parenting, it’s been rough this last year or two. But I can only give my kids what I had. Right? And what I have is a way of doing things that helped me be successful. I can only teach them what I know. And my hope is that, especially with my older kids is that those seeds were planted and maybe it’s just gonna take a little bit of extra time for them to germinate and then sprout. Because some people get it early, some people get a little bit later. But like I tell all of my kids, they have been seeded well, and that was up to them to cultivate those seeds and make sure that they grow as they need to.
Jeremy Weisz 40:22
Desmond, there’s so much to dig into, I know when we only have a minute, okay, but I do want to point people to beardown-logistics.com I know one of the stories I want you to tell, to highlight a little bit was best buy LG. But those are some of the companies you work with. And so I don’t know, in like 30 seconds or so because I know you got to hop off if there’s anything there or we just kind of leave it at that point and let people discover more at beardown-logistics.com.
Desmond Clark 40:53
I can definitely talk about that real quick. So we have a bunch of services that we offer. With Best Buy LG that’s a big client of ours, where we offer jury services we offer warehousing, trans loading and CART services for that particular customer we have other customers like In-tents, like a teepee tent that we move those for them all across Florida on platform flatbeds because they set up these huge events all across the place. And it’s been a joy man to be able to get into this business and have it take off within a year like it has. So those are two of the clients that we do all of our services for that we offer.
Jeremy Weisz 41:52
Desmond, I want to be the first one to thank you. Thank you so much for sharing your story. And it’s really impactful touching and everything in between., Everyone check out beardown-logistics.com to learn more. And thanks Des, thanks everyone.
Desmond Clark 42:08
Appreciate it.
