Left for Dead, Raised by Hustle: How to Win When Life Breaks You! Feat. Tiki Davis

Summary

Podcast Summary: "Left for Dead, Raised by Hustle: How to Win When Life Breaks You!" Feat. Tiki Davis

Podcast Information:

• Title: THE ED MYLETT SHOW
• Host/Author: Ed Mylett | Cumulus Podcast Network
• Episode: Left for Dead, Raised by Hustle: How to Win When Life Breaks You! Feat. Tiki Davis
• Release Date: August 12, 2025

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Introduction

In this powerful episode of The Ed Mylett Show, host Ed Mylett welcomes motivational speaker and entrepreneur Tiki Davis. Tiki shares his harrowing life story—from surviving a traumatic childhood to rising as a multi-millionaire and influential speaker. This episode delves deep into themes of resilience, personal growth, and the transformative power of hustle.

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Early Life and Trauma ([02:45] - [10:10])

Tiki Davis opens up about his tumultuous upbringing. At just nine years old, he was brutally stabbed in the neck, an event that left him bleeding and fighting for his life. This traumatic incident was a defining moment that showcased his innate strength and will to survive.

Notable Quote:

• Tiki Davis [12:39]: "The only reason I was able to survive is because I decided to fight for my life."

Tiki describes living with his grandmother after his father was incarcerated and the complexities of his relationship with his mother, who struggled with her own circumstances.

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Adversity and Group Home ([10:32] - [19:46])

At twelve, Tiki's life took another turn when he was sent to a group home. This environment provided him with stability for the first time, including regular meals, a small allowance, and a sense of normalcy. Despite the challenges, Tiki emerged as a leader among his peers, developing resilience and leadership skills that would serve him later in life.

Notable Quote:

• Ed Mylett [27:04]: "You definitely have that right. When I walked in the studio, he was here before me."

Tiki's time in the group home was instrumental in shaping his disciplined work ethic and commitment to self-improvement.

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Transition to Success ([19:46] - [36:46])

Tiki's journey from the group home to pursuing higher education is a testament to his determination. Despite the odds, he graduated with both a Bachelor's and a Master's degree. Entering the oil industry, Tiki started as a field engineer earning $13 an hour but quickly rose to prominence, eventually earning over a million dollars a year.

Notable Quote:

• Tiki Davis [40:01]: "And not only was the best, I became the best engineer in the world."

His success in the oil business laid the foundation for his ventures into real estate and motivational speaking.

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Achieving Milestones ([38:03] - [47:55])

Tiki discusses his meteoric rise in the oil industry and his subsequent investments in real estate. His ability to leverage opportunities and his unwavering belief in himself propelled him to become a multi-millionaire. Additionally, his passion for sharing his story led him to become a sought-after motivational speaker and author, with his story being adapted into a movie.

Notable Quote:

• Tiki Davis [58:03]: "So I went from a thousand dollars, me, not a thousand dollars, $100 a day, to $7,000 a week. And so that day on Friday, they had to cut me a seventh day. So that was the shift moment."

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TIKI Factor Principles ([41:01] onwards)

Central to Tiki's philosophy are the TIKI Factor principles, an acronym representing four key elements essential for personal and professional success:

1. Total Commitment: Devoting oneself entirely to one's goals.
2. Imagination: Living from one's imagination rather than being constrained by history.
3. Kindred Spirits: Surrounding oneself with positive and like-minded individuals.
4. Invest in Yourself: Continuously enhancing one's skills and knowledge.

Notable Quote:

• Tiki Davis [41:01]: "The T stands for total commitment. I challenge that person to make a total commitment to your life, your hopes and your dreams."

These principles have been the bedrock of Tiki’s success and are central themes in his book, "The Tiki Fact."

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Overcoming Belief Systems and Mindset ([42:12] - [45:43])

Ed and Tiki delve into the importance of core beliefs and mindset. Tiki emphasizes believing in oneself, especially when external validation is lacking. He shares strategies for building self-belief through small, consistent actions and the power of making and keeping promises to oneself.

Notable Quote:

• Tiki Davis [45:43]: "Small wins to get there. And that's what I used to do. Small wins."

Tiki advises listeners to focus on incremental progress, reinforcing that success is a journey built through daily efforts.

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Current Achievements and Legacy ([55:10] - [62:34])

From a troubled youth to a celebrated figure, Tiki's achievements are multifaceted. He has become the first African American inducted into Ross State University's Hall of Fame as a distinguished alumnus. His real estate ventures continue to thrive, and his influence as a speaker and author inspires millions.

Notable Quote:

• Tiki Davis [60:59]: "I'm the best in the world doing Tiki Davis. My standard is different because I went through more than you."

Tiki's legacy is not just in his financial success but in his commitment to uplifting others and sharing his story to help others overcome their own adversities.

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Closing Remarks

Ed Mylett concludes the episode by lauding Tiki's extraordinary journey and storytelling prowess. He highlights the transformative impact Tiki's story can have on listeners, encouraging them to find their own shift moments inspired by Tiki's resilience and determination.

Notable Quote:

• Ed Mylett [61:52]: "You've done something for millions of people today that nobody else could do."

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Key Takeaways

• Resilience in Adversity: Tiki's life exemplifies how overcoming severe trauma can lay the foundation for immense personal growth and success.

• The Power of Self-Belief: Building and maintaining belief in oneself is crucial, especially when external support is minimal.

• Consistency and Small Wins: Achieving large goals is a result of consistent, small efforts compounded over time.

• Positive Environment: Surrounding oneself with supportive and like-minded individuals can significantly influence one's path to success.

• Purpose Over Accolades: True success is measured by one's purpose and the positive impact on others, not just financial or social accolades.

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Where to Connect with Tiki Davis:

• Website: tikidavis.com
• Instagram: @Tikifactor
• Facebook: Tiki Davis

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This episode of The Ed Mylett Show is a compelling testament to human endurance and the relentless pursuit of one's dreams despite overwhelming odds. Tiki Davis’s story is an inspiring blueprint for anyone seeking to transform their life through commitment, imagination, and unwavering self-belief.

Transcript

[Tiki Davis]

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[Ed Mylett]

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[Tiki Davis]

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[Tiki Davis]

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[Ed Mylett]

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[Tiki Davis]

I'm glad to be here. Thank you, Ed.

[Ed Mylett]

Yeah. It's so good to have you. All right, let's go all the way back. You're here because of a story. Well, multiple stories in your life. But take us back to your upbringing, because I think a lot of people. Why do I want you on. A lot of people are going through something right now in their life or a hardship or a trauma that they think is pretty significant, and they don't know the path out. You do, because you've made the path out. And yours is dramatic.

[Tiki Davis]

Right.

[Ed Mylett]

So should we start at 9? Is that about the right place to start?

[Tiki Davis]

Yeah, we can start it now. Let's start a little bit before that.

[Ed Mylett]

Okay.

[Tiki Davis]

Let's set it up the stage and see why I got stabbed in the neck. So 12 years old, this young girl was having sex. Her father found out she was having sex. So he said, if you're going to have sex, you might as well get paid for it. So her father turned her into a prostitute. As she got older, she was 16, 17, working at the hospital in Amarillo, Texas. And she was having sex. Her main customer was the head physician at the hospital. Then she was also having unprotected sex with her pimp named Ramsey. This young girl gets pregnant. She's hoping the baby's her pimps because she's in love with this guy. He's a tall black guy with an Afro. But she has the baby. The physician delivers the baby. The baby comes out half black, half white. So now the request my mom has with this physician, Tie my tubes. I don't want to have any more kids.

[Ed Mylett]

So this lady that you're describing is your mom, and you are that half black, black, half white baby?

[Tiki Davis]

No, that's my brother.

[Ed Mylett]

Okay. All right. But it is your mom.

[Tiki Davis]

It is my mom.

[Ed Mylett]

Okay, so.

[Tiki Davis]

But she doesn't want to have any more kids. So the guy ties her tubes, fires her from the hospital, hope to never see her again.

[Ed Mylett]

Okay.

[Tiki Davis]

So she goes straight back to work as a prostitute. Wow. The guy. That's my father. He's in jail in prison serving seven years. So when my dad gets out of prison, he finds out that his girlfriend that he had has had a baby. And not only had a baby, it's a white baby.

[Ed Mylett]

Oh, my gosh.

[Tiki Davis]

Now he's jealous, and he's begging her to have a kid for him. And she says, frank, I can't have any more kids. My tubes are tied. And so he begs him. Begs her to untie her tubes.

[Ed Mylett]

Whoa.

[Tiki Davis]

And she said, I don't want any kids. But she does anyway. Has a baby. Two months after I'm delivered, she calls my dad and says, come get your son. I didn't want no more kids. You did.

[Ed Mylett]

Oh, my God. See, I didn't know this part of the story.

[Tiki Davis]

Oh, my gosh. So my dad, wow, 25 years old, he comes to Andrew, Texas, picks me up, takes me to his mother because he doesn't know how to raise a kid. And my grandmother, Hattie Ward, takes me in open arms. Not because she loved me so much, she had a debt to pay to her own son because she gave him away at birth.

[Ed Mylett]

What did you just. You talk about generational trauma in a family.

[Tiki Davis]

Yes.

[Ed Mylett]

Okay, just piece it together. Brother's born half black, half white. Mom's a prostitute. Turns out it's not the pimp, it's the doctor.

[Tiki Davis]

Yes.

[Ed Mylett]

Then dad, who's in prison, gets out of prison.

[Tiki Davis]

Yes.

[Ed Mylett]

Says, I want a kid. She unties her tubes, doesn't want to. You, you're born, right? She gives you away within two months. I'm not laughing. I'm just blown away. Two months. And then your dad can't raise a kid, so you go to your grandmother. Your grandmother only does this because she gave your dad away, right?

[Tiki Davis]

Yeah. True story. I can't make this up. So now I live with my grandmother from 2 months old to 3 years old. And guess who comes looking for me at 3 years old?

[Ed Mylett]

Mom or dad?

[Tiki Davis]

Mom. Mom.

[Ed Mylett]

Okay.

[Tiki Davis]

So she comes to look for me because back in early 80s, when you went to the welfare office, you got to have proof of your kids. So mama needed proof of her two kids to get this check. And my brother was given to her mother. So she ain't raised any of her kids. They've been two different places. So now it gets tricky. So she comes to Artesia, New Mexico, where I was living with my grandmother, to pick me up. She's one of her dates. She had married this guy named Murphy Young. Pulls up in this yellow Lincoln. Cloth seats in the back, right? And she sits me. And I knew she was my mom for some reason. I knew that was my mom, even though I never met her. But I like, that's my mama.

[Ed Mylett]

Wow.

[Tiki Davis]

But check this out. It gets weirder, okay? She gets me. Sits me in the back seat, and she looks over and say, there's your brother.

[Ed Mylett]

Oh, my God.

[Tiki Davis]

First time I seen a white person oh, my gosh.

[Ed Mylett]

So your brother visually looks more white than black.

[Tiki Davis]

Yes.

[Ed Mylett]

Which makes sense that you're not the mixed baby, because you don't. Hello my left. Yeah. Yeah.

[Tiki Davis]

And so that's how I met my brother.

[Ed Mylett]

Wow.

[Tiki Davis]

And then we go to Odessa, Texas, and that's when my life starts spiraling out of control because now I'm living with Mama and now Grandma.

[Ed Mylett]

Just curious, those years when you were the grandma, was she a loving grandmother?

[Tiki Davis]

Oh, yeah. Oh, she was a great man. Daddy like. That's why I love breakfast. You know, that's my favorite meal of the day is breakfast. Because she used to make me oatmeal. Queen of wheat, biscuits, eggs, and that good old grandma smell. And, you know, and I loved her, too. She passed away about 10 years ago at 84.

[Ed Mylett]

Wow. You have a. You're a grown man, but you almost have a. Anyone ever tell you this before? You're strong man. He's gigantic, you guys. But you almost have the spirit in the face of a little boy. Still. You ever heard that before?

[Tiki Davis]

I get that I had to put these braces back on my teeth. One of my teeth was getting crooked, so I had them when I was 34. I'm 46.

[Ed Mylett]

You look so young. I wonder if there's some like, you didn't have a childhood. So God's going to make you look like a young person for the rest of your life. That's one of the blessings of this horror story so far. Okay, so now you now are with your brother and your mom, Right? And we're not even to the nine year old incident.

[Tiki Davis]

No, no, no. So we're growing up in the projects, and now once mom gets the benefits, she sends us back with Grandma.

[Ed Mylett]

Wow.

[Tiki Davis]

And so now me and my brother always grew up thinking that my grandma loved him more and mom loved me more. Why? Because we were kids, we didn't understand really what was going on. So my brother had lived with my grandma his whole life, so she had the means to take care of him. But when I came on, I was extra. I was another mouth to feed. So me and my brother would overhear conversations, my grandmother and my mom arguing about money. And my grandma would say to my mom, hey, I got enough for Kevin. I don't have enough for Tiki. And so my mom would always come and bring money for me and not my brother. Bling codes for me and not my brother because he was already taken care of.

[Ed Mylett]

Gosh, it's horrible.

[Tiki Davis]

You see what I'm saying? So me and my brother was thinking, hey, my mom loves me. And my brother was thinking, mom, don't love him because I'm white or something.

[Ed Mylett]

Wow. And by the way, I'm just piecing something together. So you were living with this brother, not knowing he was your brother until she tells you in the back of the car, Is that right?

[Tiki Davis]

No, I wasn't living with my brother because we were at two different homes. I was in New Mexico with my dad's mom. He was living in Odessa with my mom's mom.

[Ed Mylett]

There's a different grandmother.

[Tiki Davis]

Yeah, different grandmother.

[Ed Mylett]

Oh, my God.

[Tiki Davis]

So when. When I meet my first white person, is my brother in the backseat.

[Ed Mylett]

Oh, my gosh.

[Tiki Davis]

And that's the first time we met. He's five, I'm three.

[Ed Mylett]

Oh, my gosh. Okay. So, okay, one of the crazier story. And by the way, when I introduced you, I knew about 60% of this story. It was already one of the best stories I'd ever heard in my life. When I say best, it's best because of who's sitting in front of me now.

[Tiki Davis]

Right, Right.

[Ed Mylett]

I certainly would never want someone to go through that. But your proof that you can transcend your environment.

[Tiki Davis]

Right.

[Ed Mylett]

You can overcome your circumstances. You are living proof of this. And we're going to talk about some of those keys and strategies. By the way, everybody, you should know this Tiki is a inspirational motivational speaker as well.

[Tiki Davis]

Right.

[Ed Mylett]

These stories on stage even come to a life in a different way than what we're doing right now. So I want to make sure that at the end, when I send you to find him, that you guys know, but he does this as well, because it is. It's. It's going to be a movie. We're already talking about that. But I get the movie on my show first, which is really cool. So, okay, probably let's get to what happens at 9, because that's the beginning of the story. I knew. I didn't even know any of this.

[Tiki Davis]

Okay.

[Ed Mylett]

Okay.

[Tiki Davis]

And so my mom's a prostitute. That's her means, you know, to a job. And other than being a prostitute, the only job I knew my mom had, she's ring the bell for the Salvation army at her Walmart, HomeGoods, things like that. So mom got sloppy one night with this date. And we only have one key to the house. So I. I went home that night. It was dark. My mom and aunt had robbed this guy, a Hispanic man. So I'm laying in bed, getting ready for bed. I hear footsteps coming down the hallway. I'm not afraid, but it's this Hispanic. The Spanish guy comes and asks, where's your mama? And I'm looking. I don't know where she is. She's in the flats. And the flats was where all the black people hung out. And then before I know it, he says, she stole my money. And I'm thinking, okay. And then he wrapped the bandana around my neck.

[Ed Mylett]

Oh, no.

[Tiki Davis]

Strangling me. You know, left to right, I'm this little. You're like a boy. Yeah. I'm nine years old. He's strangling me. And then he finally lets me go. And then he stabbed me in the neck with a screwdriver. Then he puts a pillow over my face. Ed start beating me, beating me, beating me, beating me. And only reason I was able to survive is because I decided to fight for my life. But the only reason I did, because my mom used to give me a whooping and I would run from her. So that's the only way I was able to escape this guy. So I slide down the wall, roll up under the bed. So he's moving the bed left to right, flipping it over. But I'm stuck up under the bed because my mom would give me whoopings, and that's where I would go. So nobody could get me from up under that bed. And so I'm fighting for my life. I'm bleeding. I don't even know my life's in danger, really. I just know this man's attacking me.

[Ed Mylett]

Gosh.

[Tiki Davis]

And only thing that I remember, because everybody said, tiki. Do you remember what the guy looked like? Yeah, I do. I remember the bottom of his blue jeans and his snakeskin boots.

[Ed Mylett]

Because you're looking at it from under the bed.

[Tiki Davis]

Under the bed. And then finally, the guy panics and run away. Think I'm going to die or whatever. And when I hear the back door slams, I decide to get up. I roll from up under the bed. And my mom used to have this hatchet on the stairs in the projects and for a defense mechanism. And it was right there. And I'm thinking to myself, I'm glad he didn't find that. And I'm holding my neck. I'm bleeding.

[Ed Mylett]

Oh, my gosh.

[Tiki Davis]

My brother's next door playing Atari video games. I'll go over there and knock on the door. The lady name was Linda Fay, and she had an old drunk uncle named Hl. And my brother and him answered the door. And I walk in and I fall in. My brother's arm bleeding to death everywhere. And everybody in the hood is screaming.

[Ed Mylett]

Ah.

[Tiki Davis]

You know, everybody's screaming. And they think that my mom's ways caught up to her, and I got murdered.

[Ed Mylett]

Oh, my gosh. Okay, I have to pause here for a second. Maybe this is the most compelling story I've ever had said right here in front of me on the show. I don't want to say anything about other guests. We've got some great stories, but this is a. This is a. Wow. Okay, so what happened? So you're bleeding. Are you bleeding to death?

[Tiki Davis]

Yeah, I'm bleeding to death. I'm bleeding death. They called the ambulance, and this old guy named Hl. He worked at Odessa America. He was a newspaper guy, and he says, put a band aid on it. He was drunk. So anyway, they called the ambulance. Is crazy. Just like the movie. They got me on the stretcher. And this is. This is the most realist thing that I ever really happened in my life that. That I'm true. I never snitched on my mom. So I'm on the stretcher. Police is there. My mom rolls up on the scene because they told her I got murdered, but she wanted to come see for herself. I'm on the stretcher, getting in the ambulance. My mom runs up. She don't say, are you okay, baby? Nothing. She said, don't tell him nothing. She says, don't tell him nothing. And so I kept that in my head.

[Ed Mylett]

Whoa.

[Tiki Davis]

So now we go to the hospital. I don't know if I'm a die or nothing, but whatever. My mom said, code of the streets. Don't snitch. Don't say nothing. It was in the back of my head. So it's the detective named Detective Price after they banged me up a couple days later, he comes and say, boy, what happened? What happened? I said, man, somebody tried to break in our house and rob us. And he goes, nobody robs the projects. But I just said, hey, that's it. And so for three or four days, no one showed up. But that detective. Fourth day, mama shows up.

[Ed Mylett]

What, your mother didn't come visit you?

[Tiki Davis]

No, because she thought I was gonna break or whatever.

[Ed Mylett]

Gonna get arrested if she shows up. Because you've told the story right? Oh, wow.

[Tiki Davis]

So now I'm. I'm there. And then she shows up, and she comes in, and she sets on the edge of the. The. The bed, and she's crying. Oh, baby, I'm so sorry. And now me being a little boy, start comforting the mom. Mama, don't cry. It's gonna be okay. And mama said, I'm so sorry, baby. I'm so sorry. And in my heart, I forgave my mama in that moment. I never held a grudge. And so after that time, I want to know why my mama was crying. So I got up and she said, baby, look. And I looked in the mirror and my head was about four or five times the normal head of a nine year old boy. Knots and bruises, my eyes, the pupils, it was. You could see the black where the white was. It was red, like all blush. I completely. No white. And I remember when I got out of the hospital, I couldn't go to school anymore. I was in the second grade. So all my second grade, I just barely found this out. A few months ago, a girl, her name is Keisha Robinson. She was my neighbor in the project and she was also in my class. And she said that everybody in my class, second grade class, thought I had died.

[Ed Mylett]

My gosh.

[Tiki Davis]

Because I didn't go to school for a few months because I was so jacked up. And I remember that, that eye doctor, when we went to that specialist, the eye doctor told my mom, she says, I never seen an eye condition this bad. If the medication don't work where his eyes clear up, we're gonna have to scrape his eyeballs.

[Ed Mylett]

Oh, my gosh.

[Tiki Davis]

So I was a little boy thinking about, oh, my eyeballs scraped.

[Ed Mylett]

This may sound really weird, but, like, I'm sitting here with this grown Jack man. I, like, want to. I want to just like hug this little boy. Like, it's just. It's staggering what you're describing right now. The other thing that strikes me as I'm listening to you is like, God made this articulate, brilliant, intellectually gifted, amazing storytelling young boy who's going through this trauma, like, on the other side of pain, by the way. And the pain hasn't ended yet, guys. We're just getting started. The pain, there's just this amazing human being, right? And that anybody listening to this, like, whatever you're going through compared to what, by the way? And the other thing I think of is there's some other little boy right now somewhere going through the same type scenario that how. How many people need our help? You know what I mean? I think about that. All the people going through something like what you're describing, which, the way that I was raised, this isn't even fathomable, right? And I thought I had it bad with a drug addict dad and an alcoholic dad in a safe home, right? Where we had food on the table, right? My mother was not doing any of the things your mom was doing and there was love. He had no love. It just, I just stepped back for a second ago. My gosh. So if you're running a business right now, you know, it's hard. You know, budgets are tighter right now, hiring freezes, there's some economic uncertainty for a lot of you. Here's the good news. Upwork is helping small businesses do more with less. Upwork is a hiring platform designed for the modern day playbook where you can find, hire and pay expert freelancers who can deliver results from day one. It's fast and it's simple. Never tried up work. Well, now's the perfect time because they're giving our listeners a $200 credit. After spending a thousand in your first 30 days, that's 200 you can put towards your next freelancer. Design help, AI automation, admin support, marketing. Whatever your business needs, visit upwork.comsave right now for this great offer that is upwork.comsave to get a 200 credit to put towards your next freelancer to help you grow your business. That's Upworm v e Upwork.com save don't wait. This offer is only valid June 24th through August 5th, 2025. So I'm super fired up. We're creating a bunch of content and doing podcasts today. Guess what I had right before I walked in here? I drank my AG1. I do it before every single show. In fact, I actually do it every single day. I even take it on the road with me when I travel. I would not go a day of my life without my AG1s. It's a habit that actually sticks because you feel the difference and what I can tell you most of the benefits for me, my body feels calm, yet I have high energy. It's been great immune support for me as and digestions. When it comes to my health, I want something I can trust and that's why I choose AG1. It's science backed ingredients, real benefits that I can feel and it makes it really easy and affordable to get into your body as well. AG1 is now offering new subscribers a free $76 gift. When you sign up, you'll get a welcome kit, a bottle of D3K2 and five travel packs in your first box. So make sure you check out drinkag1.com/edmylett to get this offer. That's drinkag1.comedmylet to start your new year on a healthier note. So these injuries are pretty significant, right? You eventually heal and recover from this but let's just be real. You've now grown up with programming and patterns and an environment that is not set up for a young man to make good decisions up until adulthood.

[Tiki Davis]

To be honest with you. The reason I became the successful entrepreneur, that's all I know.

[Ed Mylett]

Millionaire, everybody.

[Tiki Davis]

Oh, yeah, we did that 12 years ago.

[Ed Mylett]

Yep.

[Tiki Davis]

So the thing about me making money, like I tell everybody, it's not arrogant, it's not a cocky. It's just I. All I had was me. My life basically been locked out by all purposes. So at 12 years old, I think that's the last time I ever asked for money. I was selling candy door to door at 12 years old because, and this is another thing how I ended up in the boy's home. I'm selling candy door to door, and I used to save my money at home. I'm living with mom at this time. We're living in an apartment somewhere else.

[Ed Mylett]

Is she still in the same occupation?

[Tiki Davis]

Occupation, same thing. Robin still. And drugging. She just says, he's three years later.

[Ed Mylett]

Okay.

[Tiki Davis]

We get evicted from that first project because HUD says once you have police involved domestic violence, you get kicked out of the program. So we're living somewhere else. So what I would do every day, I would sell candies door to door for this thing called West Texas Teens. And for every box of candy I sell, I get a dollar bill. So I would sell 25 after football practice, after school. And I used to stash the money at home. So one day I come home, I think I had $380 saved up at 12 years old. I come home, I'm putting some more in my stash. Mama hit me. She hit me for my whole 380. And I'm sick. And because she was asking me for money that days early. And I like, no, I'm saving for my school clothes. I wouldn't give her any. And then I go around the corner, her and her friends are drinking, having a party with my money. So I went around there, and that's the only time I ever really kind of cussed at my mom. Did you steal my effing money? And she goes, nah, what are you talking about? She denied it. And I just hid around the corner. And this lady that was drinking a beer party, when she said, did you take that boy's money? She goes, yeah, I took it, but he ain't gonna talk to me like that. I'm his money. I got a hundred left. I was gonna give it to him. Then I just went back around and I Said, you know what, Mom? I said, mama, man, go on and keep it. I'm gonna go get some more. So from that day on, I would carry my money in my pocket, like to school. So now I would go, I'm in the seventh grade at Crockett Junior High. I would take my money to school and I would flash it sometime or get something. And they're like, dang, Tiki, what are you doing? And I said, I sell candy. Made it to the principal.

[Ed Mylett]

I think it's a different candy, right?

[Tiki Davis]

You're 100% correct. So they called me to the principal's office. I'm already on juvenile probation, understand? I had my probation office. His name is Gary Speed. So I go to the principal's office. They said, tiki, what are you doing with all this money? I said, I sell candy after school. They said, who's your pusher? I said, he's a guy named Eddie. I says, okay. So they called my probation officer. They come in, we have this meeting. They said, tiki, what are you doing with all this money? And I said, gary, he was my probation. I said, I don't know if you know it or not. I said, how many days in a week it is? He says, it's seven. I said, I'm by myself for five. So I need this money to take care of myself and I gotta bring it to school. If I leave it at home, Mama's gonna steal it. They wait till after school. They say, when your pusher pick you up? I say, he picks us up after school in his little van. So after school, they wait for the guy to pick us up and they ambush his van and they open up all the boxes and it was candy. So Gary, my probation officer, he says, tiki, you can't live like this. You can't sell candy. You can't do this. He said, what do you think about the boys home? I said, what boy's home? He said, is Buckner Group Home. He says, you don't have to sell candy. You get a eight dollar allowance. You get your own room with some other boys. You can't live like this. You want to go in? And I said, yeah, let's go in. And that's when my life started to change. When I went into the boys home.

[Ed Mylett]

Brother, okay, this is bananas. I have, by the way, my first career out of college is I worked in a group home, okay? I worked at McKinley Home for Boys. That changed my life, being with those boys.

[Tiki Davis]

Yes.

[Ed Mylett]

And stories. Yours is the most extreme, right? But stories like that, having Boys in my home whose own fathers had sexually assaulted them or father and uncle. And, you know, seeing what these young boys had gone through in their life and just thinking the chances right from there, if they don't start learning new patterns, new decisions, new thoughts of their lives, not repeating. Because, you know, I was thinking the whole time you're describing your mom, I don't know you. I'm sure you've thought about it. What happened to your mom when she was a little girl? Do you know what I mean? Like. Like what caused her to turn into what she ultimately turned into. Have you ever given any consideration to that?

[Tiki Davis]

Here's the deal. A lot of people, when I share the story, I just really started sharing it like six, seven years ago when I got into the speaking. Yeah, I love my mom unconditionally like no other. I never loved anybody like I love my mom. But my daughter, my granddaughter, now, like my mom, she was my number one. I loved her to the end. And I'll get into that a little later on in the story. But she had a rough life.

[Ed Mylett]

Yeah, she had to have.

[Tiki Davis]

But check this out. The grandmother I was telling you about, I didn't really want to confuse the story.

[Ed Mylett]

Yeah.

[Tiki Davis]

But my mom had five siblings, and her birth mother gave her and her five siblings and only kept the sixth kid because he was a boy and she was in love with the man. So my mom, birth mother gave five of my mom's siblings and herself away.

[Ed Mylett]

So this sort of starts to kind of explain your mother's trauma.

[Tiki Davis]

Right.

[Ed Mylett]

And in every family, I always say, there's the one where it stops.

[Tiki Davis]

Right.

[Ed Mylett]

And they become the one that changes everything. Clearly, you're the one in your family. I mean that obviously, I just want to acknowledge you, brother. Like everyone, wait for the rest of this. But, like, what you've turned into multimillionaire speak around the world, unbelievable book coming out called the Tiki Fact. That you can pre order, by the way right now.

[Tiki Davis]

Yes.

[Ed Mylett]

But just. It's just incredible. And we're gonna talk about some of the strategies in a minute, everybody. But the story actually isn't done. What did you get? I'm curious. What did you get at the group home that so helped you? I guess, short term compared to what you weren't getting in your own home?

[Tiki Davis]

Well, Ed, at 12 years old, that was the first time that I knew when I went to school all our belongings weren't gonna be sitting on the side of the street. So what I got from the group home was stability. First time I Knew I was gonna have three meals a day. I knew I was gonna get $8 at the end of the week. Cause I stayed out of trouble. I knew I was gonna be able to play video games. I knew I was gonna get the hang with the other kids. And I didn't have the stress of a grown man. I was just gonna have the ability to live normal. And so that's what I got from the group home was stability.

[Ed Mylett]

Did anything in the group home when I was. When I worked in the group home, Everyone that's actually worked in it years. It sounds like you were in one, like, what I was into. Like, a pretty significant one, yeah. One of the things I used to worry about with my boys. This is nothing to do with your story. I'm just curious.

[Tiki Davis]

Yeah, yeah.

[Ed Mylett]

Was there was always a boy that was the alpha in the group home. And every once in a while, he was the one who kind of corrupted or messed up the other little boy. So it wasn't their family anymore. It was this alpha who, like, in our group home, frankly, some of these sexual assaults that would take place was from this. I know his name. I won't say. But, like, one boy that was in there.

[Tiki Davis]

Yeah.

[Ed Mylett]

Would almost hurt the other boys in there.

[Tiki Davis]

Right.

[Ed Mylett]

Did you ever have to defend yourself against. Was there, like, a dude in there, or was it just a. You got blessed that this was a good group of dudes you ended up with?

[Tiki Davis]

Yeah, it was a good group of guys. If anybody was the alpha, it was me.

[Ed Mylett]

It was you.

[Tiki Davis]

I was always the leader, and then it was always like a rivalry. You know, I was always bumping head with the other guy that want to be aligned. Like you in the jungle. I'm aligned, you along. Let's see a mano. A mano.

[Ed Mylett]

Yeah.

[Tiki Davis]

So it was a guy named Roderick Luke from lck.

[Ed Mylett]

Your name recognition is incredible, by the way of your life.

[Tiki Davis]

Yeah. And so. So Roderick, me and him would go back at it because I was eighth grade, he was ninth grade, and I was the new boy in. So everybody kind of liked him. But when I came in, I had that thing when you walk in a room. It's called command presence.

[Ed Mylett]

That's right.

[Tiki Davis]

And what people say, I don't know who that guy is, but he's somebody. And so I've always had that, even as a young boy, to a man, to whatever. When he walks in a room or you walk on stage. Oh, that's him.

[Ed Mylett]

You definitely have that right. When I walked in the studio, he was here before me. Guys.

[Tiki Davis]

Yeah.

[Ed Mylett]

And right away, I mean, it's not your guns, it's not your physicality. It's a presence.

[Tiki Davis]

Yeah. And that's what I've always had. And, you know, sometime it helps me. Sometimes I put a target on my back.

[Ed Mylett]

Yep. Yeah. And sometimes it's intimidating and off putting to certain people, too. Okay, so things go good in the group home, but then you're locked up at 18.

[Tiki Davis]

Yeah.

[Ed Mylett]

So what turned? What happened? Because everyone. And then. Is it accurate that your mom was incarcerated at the same time? Not in the same place.

[Tiki Davis]

Same place.

[Ed Mylett]

Oh, my God. Come on. You end up incarcerated in the same facility as your mother.

[Tiki Davis]

Yes. So here it is at 17.

[Ed Mylett]

The story is amazing.

[Tiki Davis]

Yeah. So at 17, I'm finally trying to live this dream of being a football star at my local high school. And that was all over as quick as it started because I was accused of a crime.

[Ed Mylett]

Okay.

[Tiki Davis]

And I go to jail.

[Ed Mylett]

Okay.

[Tiki Davis]

But I'm at the county jail.

[Ed Mylett]

Yeah, you're being held.

[Tiki Davis]

Yeah. So when I go in there, everybody wants a visitor, right?

[Ed Mylett]

Yep.

[Tiki Davis]

But my visit was my mama. And so the sheriff and the powers that be knew my mom and knew me. And so instead of waiting on a visitor, they took me right to her.

[Ed Mylett]

They did. Okay.

[Tiki Davis]

Yeah.

[Ed Mylett]

That's just. Bro, I don't even know how to explain this. I don't even know. Can you, as you tell it, like, is there a part of you that's like, outside your body almost right now? Like, I can't even believe this is my story.

[Tiki Davis]

No, now, hindsight, like I said, like, when people. You're proofreading the book, you know, with the editor, and when I. When I dive back into it, it's hard for me to read my own story again because now I don't live that life anymore. And I'm like, dang, how did I make it?

[Ed Mylett]

Yes.

[Tiki Davis]

Because when you look back and you see all the trauma and everything, because when you're going through it, it's just normal.

[Ed Mylett]

Right.

[Tiki Davis]

Because you don't know nothing different. And so when I go in and visit my mom and I never shared them, I'm sure it on your. Your stage right now.

[Ed Mylett]

Okay.

[Tiki Davis]

When my mom. When I went in, my. Asked my mom, I like mom, you know, I didn't do what they said I did. She says, boy, do you got aids? She asked me if I had aids. Really? Because she thought being around white women or white people, you can get aids.

[Ed Mylett]

Oh, my God.

[Tiki Davis]

And I say, no, Mom, I don't have aids. I didn't. I didn't do nothing. And she says, well, I love you, son. And she couldn't really help me because she was on her way to prison for murder. Yeah. So she went to prison for murder. I was going in there for what I was charged for. She went to prison for murder. And so before she caught the chain to go to prison for murder, we had that conversation. And that's the last time I ever seen her.

[Ed Mylett]

Tiki, I've been doing this a long time. I've been speechless like three times ever on the show. Yeah, I didn't know that.

[Tiki Davis]

Yeah. Oh, it gets. It gets worse. Okay, so we have that conversation. She hugs me. I said, I love you, Mom. She said, I love you too. But she's 37, I'm 17. She can't really compensate to help me because she's dealing with her own life. She goes to prison, I get out of jail, bond out, My football careers wiped away because I have to start my senior year at the alternative school.

[Ed Mylett]

Yeah.

[Tiki Davis]

So this whole dream, I'm watching someone else score my touchdowns. I'm waiting, you know, I see their name in the paper and I'm hurt by this. And as soon as football season over, I go back to my high school when basketball season, I'm like an outcast. I was this big star. Now everybody's looking at me like, man, what happened to you? What happened? And then I go to school for about a month, then I go to court. When I go to court, my lawyer tell me, tiki, they're offering you five years in prison. Five years? I'm 18 now. Five years in prison. He says, but I think we go to court and they see all the evidence and they see that young lady and see what she looks like. Ain't nobody going to send you to prison. And so we go into the courtroom. Court's supposed to start at 9:00'. Clock. 9:15, 9:30, 9:45. Nobody shows up but the judge and us. 9:45, 9:55, the prosecutor and the alleged victim. Mom shows up, falls out in the courtroom drunk.

[Ed Mylett]

Oh my gosh.

[Tiki Davis]

And so at that time, boop. Mistrial. And then. But then that lady started screaming. So the judge called us to the back. And the lawyer that I had, they says, okay, let's give him deferred adjudication, probation for 10 years. And the judge said, if you stay out of trouble for 10 years, this goes away like it never happened. That's the best deal we can have. And then the girl's mom screamed, I want him to go to prison. And he goes, all right, I'll send him to prison for 120 days. And then when you get out, you do your probation. Then my lawyer said, no, we can't do that. If he goes to prison, he's an ex con, so that deferred probation don't work. Then he goes, you're right. So judge said, you go to jail for six months. So in the middle of my senior year, I went to jail for six months.

[Ed Mylett]

Jail, not prison.

[Tiki Davis]

I'd never been to prison. I just went to jail. And so the. The people in the community kind of knew I got a raw deal. So this is why, like, God has always came in my life like earth angels and helped me. So this particular time, I would have school every day at the jail. The teachers would come, they would bring me my work, and I would do school. And I did that for six months. And then I got out, and I would tell all those inmates and other people in the jailers, because I always had this confidence. I said, man, when I get out here, I'm going to college. When I get out here, I'm going to the NFL. And they would laugh. They said, tiki, no one's getting out of here. I said, I'm different. But the reason I'm sitting on your show today, I just didn't say I was different. I had to prove.

[Ed Mylett]

Prove it.

[Tiki Davis]

So I receive a call on the other end. It's my mom. And I haven't spoke to her for seven years, since I was that young boy. And we had that conversation. And everybody knew I wasn't going to the NFL anymore except my mom, because I wasn't playing football. So I had to break the news to her. And I said, I got some good news and some bad news. She said, well, give it to me. I said, well, the bad news is I don't play football anymore. I'm not going to the pros. She says, that's not so bad. What's the good news? I said, well, mom, I'm gonna be the first person to graduate college. I graduated with my degree in May. And she says, I'm excited. She says, I also have some good news. I said, what is it? She says, I just made parole, and I'm gonna be there. And she. I said, when do you get out? She says, I get out January 6th. I need you to pick me up in San Angelo, Texas, with a wind suit. And she says, lastly, son, I need you to send me $40. She says, because I'm working in the kitchen and my feet has swelled up so much, I can't bend over and tie my shoes, so I need the Velcro snap shoes. And I said, yes, ma'. Am. She says, the next thing, I need $40 for my medical report. When I get out, I need some help. I'm a little sick. I said, yes, ma'. Am. And she says, lastly, son, before I hang up, I need you to expect the call from the warden. She'll let me know where the property's delivered and stuff like that. And I said, yes, ma'.

[Ed Mylett]

Am.

[Tiki Davis]

And make sure everything's on schedule for me. And I said, yes, ma'.

[Ed Mylett]

Am.

[Tiki Davis]

And so, just like clockwork, I'm in East 11th and Odessa, and I get a call from the warden of the prison. And there's a female warden. She says, this Tiki Davis. I said, yes. She says, I just want to let you know that Karen has expired. I said, I know. She said, you're going to be calling. I know her time's up. I know it expires. She said, son, you don't understand. What do you want to do about burial arrangements? So on January 6, instead of picking up my mom from a bus station, I was in Huntsville, Texas, having a funeral. At that time, I felt like I was invincible. My mom was an invincible person. But at that time, I really felt like I could die for the first time because my mom passed away. And I didn't really understand. I just didn't know how to process your mom dying. And I hadn't seen her in so long, so I wasn't really missing her presence. But I just knew I was never going to see her again. So when she was in prison, it was always a thought in my mind that I would see her again. But when I seen her and I went down there and I identified the body, she was 280 pounds, real black, real dark, and I couldn't recognize her. And when I finally knew it was her, I looked at her hand where she used to shoot drugs. She had this wep. And I knew it was her. And I fell out and I cried, man. And it hurt me real bad because she had died. And I felt like I was gonna die because she died. And that's the kind of last time I seen her. We had a funeral the next day, and the prisoners at Huntsville, they made a makeshift casket, and she's buried at the Huntsville graveyard. And that's. That's pretty much it, man. And I remember we're doing the funeral, and some of the inmates was carrying her to her grave. And I remember taking out running and I pushed one of the inmates out the way and I carried my mom to her grave. Me and three other pallbearers, which were lifers at Huntsville. I was. I hadn't graduated yet. I was in my senior year of college and I wasn't going to graduate till May. She had passed away in January, December 31st of 2001. When I graduate with my bachelor's degree, I stay in school because I couldn't get. I couldn't find work. And so I end up working on my master's degree.

[Ed Mylett]

This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. I got to tell you, I'm glad that they do because, you know, people ask me all the time, what do most of the guests on your show have in common? Because there's all these different industries and stories. I'd say the one thing most of them have been to therapy and I've been to therapy. I think it's a great thing whether you've had a lot of trauma in your life and it's extreme and you need to work through it, or maybe it's not so severe, but you just need clarity, somebody to talk to. Get a plan in place. With over 30,000 therapists, BetterHelp is the world's largest online therapy platform, having served over 5 million people globally. And it works with an average rating of 4.9 out of 5 for a live session based on over 1.7 million client reviews. It's convenient, too. You can just join a session with a therapist with a click of a button, helping you fit therapy into your busy life. As the largest online therapy provider in the world, BetterHelp can provide access to mental health professionals with a diverse variety of expertise. Talk it out with BetterHelp, our listeners get 10% off their first [e-mail] Ed Show. That's better. H E L P.com EdShow People ask me all the time about owning a business. What are some of the critical things people. People matter. Things don't. And I got to be honest with you, every team that wins has great players. Right now, you may have just realized your business needs to hire someone like yesterday. How can you find an amazing candidate really fast? Easy. You just need.

[Tiki Davis]

Indeed.

[Ed Mylett]

When it comes to hiring, indeed is all you need. Stop struggling to your job posts seen on other job sites. Indeed, sponsored jobs posts help you stand out and hire fast. With sponsored jobs, your post jumps to the top of the page for relevant candidates so you reach people that you want to reach faster. You only pay for results, so there's no need to wait any longer. Speed up your hiring right now with Indeed. And listeners of this show get a $75 sponsored job credit to get your jobs more [e-mail] mylet just go to indeed.com mylet right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Indeed.com mylet terms and conditions apply. Hiring Indeed is all you need. Tell him what happened, by the way. I'm gonna give you guys the post now what his life's turned into. And then he said earlier, how did I become this? But he actually has how he became it. So then we're going to talk about some of the strategies and the, the patterns and tactics that you could be taking to change your life as well. And this is an extreme story, but just tell them, give them. That was all. The before. I guess we'll call it the before.

[Tiki Davis]

Yeah.

[Ed Mylett]

What's happened over the next 20 years of your life? 20, 25 years. Like just give them an idea of where you sit today.

[Tiki Davis]

Okay, so where I sit today? Yeah. I'm a two time college graduate. I went to school, got my Bachelor's, my master's in 03 and 05. Started in the oil business. So where I'm from, oil is big. So my first job, I started as a field engineer in 2007, making $13 an hour with two degrees. So I worked for that company for about three years and I learned everything and I became the most requested engineer in the Permian basin, whereas there's not a lot of black engineers. And this, this independent number one oil man in the world, Clayton Williams Jr. In Midland, Texas, he gave me an opportunity to consult on his wells. And within a five year period, I took that 13 an hour to over a million dollars a year. He was paying me.

[Ed Mylett]

Wow.

[Tiki Davis]

And not only was the best, I became the best engineer in the world. So the consultants at that time, when I first started Ed, they were making 400 a day. When I stopped, I was making three, two hundred dollars a day. Every single day.

[Ed Mylett]

A day?

[Tiki Davis]

Every single day for eight years. You said that's how I made my money.

[Ed Mylett]

Yep. And so now you're by that time, you're now a millionaire.

[Tiki Davis]

Yes.

[Ed Mylett]

Then you've invested and multiplied that money many, many times.

[Tiki Davis]

Yes.

[Ed Mylett]

So the fast forward becomes this. You basically go from being in jail with your mom who then goes away to prison for, for. You haven't seen her since, right?

[Tiki Davis]

No.

[Ed Mylett]

For murder. You end up turning that into a $13 an hour job into becoming a multimillionaire and by the way, a really sought after speaker, author and a movie coming out about his life. So if he can do all that, by the way, how did he do it? So we're going to talk about that because we've got some time. I want to go through that. Some of the stuff that you recommend in the book because you do know how you did it, right? And there's things that you, you talk about in the book. Let's get into these tiki factor principles because I think that's the bedrock of what's happened here in your life.

[Tiki Davis]

Okay? So when I'm on stage, as you know, I travel, I'm the tiki factor. And after I share that crazy story, how did you overcome that adversity? How do we do it in our life? I'm glad you asked. So my name is spelled T I K I. The T stands for total commitment. I challenge that person to make a total commitment to your life, your hopes and your dreams. The next thing is the I. Imagination. Live from your imagination and not your history. Because none of us are our history. The next thing is K kindred spirits. The people around us affect us. Depending on who they are and what they do is going to affect us in that type of way. And the last I invest in yourself. Those are the tiki factors, principles of life. And if you apply them to your life, you'll win. And you can't win today's game.

[Ed Mylett]

I totally agree with you. I have a whole chapter in my book on imagination versus history. And I say the people that are the most successful and the happiest operator of their imagination, that is outstanding.

[Tiki Davis]

And so those are my principles. And that's what I leave every talk with.

[Ed Mylett]

One of the things that happens when you grow up the way you did is you develop belief systems that don't serve you. Belief systems about people, belief systems about how to get ahead, belief systems against what is stacked in your favor or against you. We just, we form beliefs when we're young.

[Tiki Davis]

Absolutely.

[Ed Mylett]

You're in an environment that just fed you almost nothing that would be good about beliefs to have, about how to treat other people, about love, about all that stuff.

[Tiki Davis]

Right.

[Ed Mylett]

And in the book, there's a, there's a part of the book where you talk about developing a core belief.

[Tiki Davis]

Right?

[Ed Mylett]

Right. And this is something most people, it's invisible to most people. Most people don't know. You have a core belief primer. Tony Robbins and his events refers to it like as a primary question you ask yourself, but you have a global belief about yourself. Or life that dictates most of the terms of your life. And for many of you listening to it right now, it's invisible and you're oblivious to it. It just starting to ask yourself what your belief actually is is a really powerful question. But what do you mean by that in the book, when you say that developing a core belief?

[Tiki Davis]

Well, it's like for a guy like me, my core belief was believing in myself, like you have.

[Ed Mylett]

But why would you. There was no, no evidence you should. I mean, your mom didn't want you, your dad didn't want you, your grandmas pretty much didn't want you. Right. You're like, how do you do that?

[Tiki Davis]

It's like old Baptist church. I had to bring my own Amens. So the core belief was I could sneak up on people because nobody was paying attention. And I got into the rooms that I wasn't supposed to get in because no one was paying attention. And I was developing myself. I was studying the game, just the speaking. I studied everybody even before I jumped in. And I knew I could do it. I knew it was room for me. I didn't hate on nobody. All I said was, me too, me too. You got a great story, but me too. And I knew it was room for me because I studied everybody. So my core belief was basically believing in myself. That's basically like that total commitment. I made that total commitment to myself. And I knew because a lot of times people always come up to me. Now, once you're successful, they. They ask you, how did you do it? So I was always getting that. I'm like, man. And I would just give it away for free. Yeah, but I didn't know. So, you know, when you were chosen, everybody like, man, I see you doing good. So right before my eyes, I started maturing not just as a. As a person, but as a man, just as an influencer. When you didn't even know. You weren't even trying to be this. You were just walking in your gift and it made room for you. And so my core belief was just being myself, but doing the work.

[Ed Mylett]

What would you say to somebody who doesn't and like, their parents didn't really. I always say this, you know, a great parent not only just loves their kids because that's kind of like basic, you'd even have that.

[Tiki Davis]

Right.

[Ed Mylett]

But most kids get love from mom or dad or both. What most kids don't get from mom or dad because the parents aren't conscious of it, is belief.

[Tiki Davis]

Right?

[Ed Mylett]

I believe in you. I believe in you. I Believe in you. That's a totally different level. So most people that belief they have is the absence of belief in themselves. What would you say to somebody who's listening to this? They certainly almost no one listening to this had it as hard as you did.

[Tiki Davis]

Right.

[Ed Mylett]

They might have had a difficult. In their version and in their world. That's trauma.

[Tiki Davis]

Right.

[Ed Mylett]

But. But the fact of the matter is, and by the way, I'm sure there's tons of micro stories that happen day to day.

[Tiki Davis]

Yeah. That we.

[Ed Mylett]

We'd be on a nine hour podcast. We're just giving the highlights.

[Tiki Davis]

Yeah.

[Ed Mylett]

But what would you. Someone's listening. Go, hey, that sounded good. I don't believe in myself. What would you say to that person to begin to build the. The first step towards developing that belief?

[Tiki Davis]

My advice would be you got to believe in yourself. Nobody else will. And success is measured in time. So you're not going to get to the pot of gold overnight. So it's going to take some small steps. Small steps, Small steps to eventually get there and focus on your dream. But the destination takes time. So what I would say is just look at what you want. Try to win small battles day by day.

[Ed Mylett]

That is the key.

[Tiki Davis]

Yeah. Small wins to get there. And that's what I used to do. Small wins.

[Ed Mylett]

Yep.

[Tiki Davis]

Small wins.

[Ed Mylett]

Always say keep the promises you make to yourself.

[Tiki Davis]

Right.

[Ed Mylett]

The first win is if you're going to get in the gym in the morning. Get in the gym, you're going to drink a gallon of water. Drink the gallon of water. You're going to make 10 phone calls a day. Make one. I would say the power of one more as well. But the fact of the matter is like if you go from no belief to tons of belief is not a switch of the fin.

[Tiki Davis]

Right.

[Ed Mylett]

Right. Now in my case, I would also say that if you believe you have a loving God in heaven who made you in his image and likeness, that's a huge advantage right out of the gate because he didn't make you to be average or ordinary, but you got to do the things every single day. In the book, he actually says, I made my first million by betting on myself.

[Tiki Davis]

Right.

[Ed Mylett]

Somehow though, you've taken. And it's a topic I want to ask you about. You've taken pain and truly made it like a purpose thing in your life. So because I think in life I say this often, you're most qualified to help the people you used to be.

[Tiki Davis]

Right.

[Ed Mylett]

Boy, if people are in pain, they haven't had a level of pain like you've had, right? What does that mean, turning your purpose into pain?

[Tiki Davis]

Well, you turn your purpose into pain by growing through it. Like the nine year old boy with the screwdriver neck. That's not who I was. That's who I was. That's not who I am today. So I didn't live there because if I would have lived there and made excuses like it's something in my book when I says, if you're looking for a story about a victim, you come to the wrong place. I never had a victim mentality. I was like, this is what happened to me. Let's keep on moving, you know. And a lot of times my life was so bad, people would make excuses for me and my brother for us not to be successful. I remember one time I got this award, man of the year award. And in, in the same city and I'm up there giving a talk or a speech, accepting it. And I told him, I said, I never ever want to be the man of the year. I just want to be a good man. I just want to be a good man. So if I, if I, if I came to a level for accolades or success or whatever, that was never my goal. I just wanted opportunity to get in the game of life. So my purpose was just trying to be a good man. And my whole life was trying to fight this frame or trying to prove that I wasn't this. And I just kept on working and stacking one good day after the, the next.

[Ed Mylett]

So. Hey guys, I'm loving the shirt I'm wearing right now. If you're on YouTube, you can see it. And if you're not on YouTube, you're listening on audio. I got a great looking shirt on and guess where I got it? I got it at Quints. That's where I get my stuff. Now I'm gonna tell you why we're all dropping a fortune on clothes, which is really silly because you can get the good stuff. High quality fabrics, classic fits, all that kind of stuff at prices that actually make sense. At Quints. Everything I've ordered from Quince has been nothing but solid. Quince has the staples you want at prices that are a lot less like I got cozy cashmere sweater that I bought from there. Quince has luxury pieces without the markup. And Quince only works with factories that are safe, ethical and use responsible manufacturing practices with premium fabrics and finishes. Keep it classic and cool with long lasting staples from Quince. Go to quince.comed for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. That's Q-U-I-N-C-E.com forward/ed to get free shipping, 365 day returns. Quince.com forward/ed is part of it also. You just sort of a hustler?

[Tiki Davis]

Oh, yeah, very much so. Yeah, very, very much so.

[Ed Mylett]

Like, I think you just learned. I mean, when you're hustling to sell a box of candy bars, so you got food that you hope your mom doesn't steal.

[Tiki Davis]

Yeah.

[Ed Mylett]

I think what happened is all through all of that trauma was like you learned to scrape and to hustle. I think grit, like that thing, it's like one of the most under talked about things. Like you can have all these mindset things in the world. Do you outwork everybody? Do you out hustle everybody? Like, are you always, you know, when I'm training my UFC fighters, yeah. First thing, I always ask him about the other guy or the other woman, by the way, because I work with some women as well on their mental games. I'll say, let's just start out before I want to one thing about the opponent. And they know what I mean. Is this one a dog or not?

[Tiki Davis]

Right.

[Ed Mylett]

If they're a dog. If they have some dog in them, you're in for a fight with a junkyard dog. That's different than fighting somebody who's just skilled. Somebody's got that dog, and I'm like, they're gonna fight you through the pain. The great fighters don't just, you know, dole out punishment. They can absorb it and keep hitting you with false punishment.

[Tiki Davis]

Yes.

[Ed Mylett]

That's got to be an element of your stuff.

[Tiki Davis]

Yeah, yeah. Like. Like, I don't feel like, you know, a lot of times when I was getting into the speaking world, I felt like, man, I could be one of the best in the world. And people say, hey, can you be like such and such, Such and such? I says, they're the best telling their story. I'm the best telling mine.

[Ed Mylett]

And you are, by the way.

[Tiki Davis]

You know what? I'm the best telling mine. And so, like, you have the power one, right? I have a quote that I use all the time. I'm not trying to be the best, I'm trying to be the only.

[Ed Mylett]

There you go.

[Tiki Davis]

The reason the world stopped when Kobe Bryant died, not because he was the best, it's because he was the only. It's a different to the standard. What's your standard? So that's when I tell people I'm the best in the world is because I'm the Best in the world doing Tiki Davis. My standard is different because I went through more than you. I said, man, tell me somebody else that did this, that came from where I came from, made a million in five different areas.

[Ed Mylett]

Yeah, that's bananas. And also, I want to talk about that victim where you came from thing. Here's what I think over time, like, I have nowhere near like, to compare our stories would be a truly gigantic disservice to your story.

[Tiki Davis]

Right.

[Ed Mylett]

But it wasn't an advantage to have an alcoholic dad or a drug addict dad. Right. That wasn't an advantage. That was a disadvantage. Or to. If you're born in a marginalized area or socioeconomically or maybe you don't look like the right race in somebody else's mind, whatever that thing is.

[Tiki Davis]

Right.

[Ed Mylett]

Not having a victim mentality isn't not acknowledging that the deck stacked against you. It's acknowledging it the deck is stacked against me.

[Tiki Davis]

Right.

[Ed Mylett]

But it's not using that as an excuse not to win. I think some people think, well, wait a minute, don't tell me I'm not a victim. I am a victim. Well, yeah, you are. You clearly were a victim of your upbringing. Like your mom victimized you, your grandmother, your dad, like you. You certainly had these things happen. The difference of not having a victim mentality is not carrying that through your life as an excuse. It's not a lack of acknowledgment of the. That the setback or that you weren't born on first base. It's acknowledging it, but not using it as a reason not to win. Right.

[Tiki Davis]

And a lot of people use that. Like my brother, the white kid. You know, he's been to prison five years. I mean, five times.

[Ed Mylett]

I was going to ask you about your brother.

[Tiki Davis]

Yeah. So, man, he. We. We're like night and day.

[Ed Mylett]

Really?

[Tiki Davis]

Like night and day. He just got out of prison several months ago. He lives at one of my properties, and he's not really doing much with his life. And I try to encourage him, help him out, but he hasn't got it yet.

[Ed Mylett]

I think the, The. The shift is exactly what we just talked about. You can have, like an alcoholic family, for example. You can have three or four kids, grow up in the exact same house, exact same parents, exact same situation. One or two turn out and have a great life and are successful. One or two don't. It's how they process what's happened to them. Do they use it as leverage? They use it as a chip on their shoulder. They use it as something that Builds strength. Or they use it as an excuse to will. Because if you're looking for an excuse in life, almost everybody can find a valid one, right? Oh, now you really, you have like 60, right? Right. But everybody's got one, right? And so if you're looking for an excuse, like if you're looking for a door out of the room of success, right? You're looking for a window or a door out, you could probably find one, right? There's probably a story you could tell that feels good, it seems reasonable, it's justified, but you're still going to be out of the room of success or happiness or faith or bliss. So you be really careful justifying your own story to fail, right?

[Tiki Davis]

I hate excuses. I want to be around winners. I want to be around higher achievers. Not because I became that, but that was my mentality way before I got it. Like When I was 18, my first job was washing cars, making 250 a week for two and a half years until that guy sent me to college.

[Ed Mylett]

You're a hustler.

[Tiki Davis]

Yeah.

[Ed Mylett]

What I, what I just hear is like, like I learned to scrape. I've never to to eat and survive. You learned it and you took that into something multi millionaire. Like there was a shift moment though, right? You talk about that in the book. There's a shift moment. What was that for you?

[Tiki Davis]

It was several. It was just like, like, I can't live here in this moment. Like, it was like times that I was going to do different things, like just imagine graduating college and no one would hire you. So it was a moment in my mind that like, my cousins all back home sold drugs and they were telling me to come. So the guys that were in high school with me, they're a cartel now. They took over and they used to always tell me, like, tiki, we'll give you all the drugs you sell to the blacks. And I was that close to doing it, Ed. I'm in graduate school. I'm out of money because I can't ask the guy that sent me to college for more money. He paid my undergrad. Now I can't say I can't find work, pay for grad school. So I'm just going to school, scraping by, living off financial aid. And so they're filming this movie in Odessa, Friday Night Lights, and I'm getting a haircut at the local barbershop and they're looking for booby miles and this guy from Houston Chronicle. And I go into the barbershop. That presence, this tiki. And I Tell this guy what you looking for Booby Miles for. I was better than him. And the guy bust the whole barbershop busted out laughing. And the guy says, man, no one was better than Booby. Ma said, well, you're not from Odessa. It was a lot of guys better than him. And then he says, all right, if you're so good, whatever your name is, Tiki Davis, go out there to the stadium. They're looking for extras to play this role in this movie, right? So I said, all right. So I went out there, I got hired as an extra.

[Ed Mylett]

That's awesome.

[Tiki Davis]

So after a few days, I became Derek Luke Stanin, the character that was playing Booby Miles.

[Ed Mylett]

Yeah.

[Tiki Davis]

And so. But I'm only making $100 a day. And so I got Tuesday, Thursday night school. So I'm driving back and forth for three weeks to night school. And the only money that I'm making off the movie is for gas. So I'm praying to God, I'm like, after my fourth week, and it's the. I think I'm praying to God, I'm like, man, if I don't get something, man, I'm have to come back and get these drugs.

[Ed Mylett]

Yeah.

[Tiki Davis]

So this is the turning point. This is the shift moment you're asking about. So I'm driving. I got this 735 BMW that I bought myself. But the guy that sent me to college, he owned a dealership. So, you know, a luxury car is the maintenance. So I got free maintenance on that. But I'm driving. Everybody think I got money, but I'm broke.

[Ed Mylett]

Yeah.

[Tiki Davis]

And I'm. I'm. I'm thinking about selling this dope, right? And I praying to God in my car, it's a two and a half hour drive from college to Midland, Texas. And then I go to the set that day and the director, Peter Burke, the guy that produces Baller and all this, so I go to Peter and I said, I'm mad at him because I've been doing all this extra with Permian. So this day he wants us to be Dallas Carter. All these black bodies. So I pull Peter and I say, say, man, how you gonna. How you gonna have us put on this Dallas card? I've been doing all this extra work in Permian. He goes, well, he said, if you want a shot in this movie, just go put that stuff on, I'll get you something. So I'm one of those guys, if you tell me something, you better do it. And he didn'. And I didn't know him. And I was like, hey, I'm Tiki. I want to be a movie star. And like, oh, yeah, good. Go get dressed. Right? So I go in the locker room, I put on the clothes, I get dressed and we go in a room. You got all F Division 1, Texas A and M, Oklahoma, all these big guys. We're all in this room together. And so Peter Burke said, who's the craziest guy in here to get a football team hype? So I said, all right. I ran to the front. I said, peter, you told me outside that you're going to get me in the movie. He said, I didn't tell you shit. He punked me out in front of everybody.

[Ed Mylett]

Wow.

[Tiki Davis]

So now I'm crying inside. You know, you've been embarrassed. So I go to the back room. It's all these guys. Egos, testosterone, everybody. So I go to the back, and another guy goes. And he starts screaming, ah. Peter Burke punks him out. He says, that's 30% what I'm looking for. Another guy goes. He cusses. And then Peter Burke says, I'm trying to make a PG13 movie. I can't have all that profanity in the back. This Tiki Davis is back there crying inside. So when he punks out the other guy, I'm mad. So I run back to the front. I told you I can do it. He said, let me see what you got, Tiki. I go, let's go, baby. Let's go. Don't be afraid to get your name in the paper. And organically, that energy transferred to the whole room. Everybody went crazy. And then Peter Burke says, cut. You're signed to the movie.

[Ed Mylett]

Come on.

[Tiki Davis]

So that's how I made it to Hollywood.

[Ed Mylett]

Come on, you guys. This is.

[Tiki Davis]

So I went from a thousand dollars, me, not a thousand dollars, $100 a day, to 7,000 a week. And so that day on Friday, they had to cut me a seventh day. So that was the shift moment.

[Ed Mylett]

Oh, brother.

[Tiki Davis]

That was the shift moment. And from that day on. And check this out. So I'm big in real estate, just like you.

[Ed Mylett]

Yeah.

[Tiki Davis]

My office that I offer is out now.

[Ed Mylett]

Yeah.

[Tiki Davis]

I was able to buy that first property at 25 with the Friday Night Lights money.

[Ed Mylett]

Oh, brother. This is the best. You're the best stories. The best stories and the best storyteller. And by the way, I'm hoping. I'm hoping that people listening to this. This is their shift moment, listening to you. Let me ask you one last question, because you mentioned this about praying to God.

[Tiki Davis]

Yes.

[Ed Mylett]

So I'm just going, wow. Like, even my producer Steven is like so chill all the time. Like, we're not chill right now.

[Tiki Davis]

Me and Steve got same haircut.

[Ed Mylett]

Yeah, you do. Yeah, you do. You could be brothers. Actually, let me ask you this last. How important has been your intuition or faith since you've referenced it a couple times? Like that intuition to run to the front. Right. That intuition to, you know, to go to the group home. Right, right. So how much is intuition and faith played a role in all of this?

[Tiki Davis]

I've always had a strong discernment.

[Ed Mylett]

Yep.

[Tiki Davis]

I can read people and it's like a gut feeling, either right or wrong.

[Ed Mylett]

Yeah.

[Tiki Davis]

I always, I always knew it. So my faith is I'm gonna make it regardless of. Because a lot of times it was a friend of mine, she asked me one day, she says, tiki, do you ever feel like God left you? And I said, it's never one time in my life. So I've always felt, okay, whatever, whatever the circumstances is, I just felt like whatever it's going to be, I have to get through it. So I ain't never been shaken or wavered. I never pointed the finger. Even when I've been in the darkest place. I never questioned God ever. Not one time. Because some reason or not, even though I went through that. But I, I felt like every year I was the best at my age level. So when I look back in my community, if I was 12, I was the best 12 year old. If I was 15, I was the best 15 year old. If I was 18, I was the best 18 year old. Now I'm 46. I'm the best 46 year old where I'm from. And so I kept on elevating my life.

[Ed Mylett]

Yeah.

[Tiki Davis]

You know, and like another thing is like, like, like, like how do I get modern day? So last year at my college, I graduated. So Ross State University. Right. I was the first African American to go into the hall of Fame as the distinguished alum in 103 years. And guys that's in the hall of fame that, you know, what's the name? What's that? Bonanzas. Dan Blocker.

[Ed Mylett]

Oh, yeah. Okay.

[Tiki Davis]

Big blocker. He's in there as a distinguished, you know, some of those guys. And, and I was just looking back because I didn't know when I went in I would start looking the list and I was like, man, I'm the first black.

[Ed Mylett]

Wow.

[Tiki Davis]

And that, that's history.

[Ed Mylett]

It is. I'm just picturing this. It's weird. It's all coming together for me at the end. Yeah, but I'm like, I'm picturing this little boy. Hey, I don't want you go with your grandmother. Hey, that's your brother. Then I picture that little boy peeking out and recognizing those jeans and those boots where he's been stabbed and gonna. He's bleeding out and he's under that bed, hiding from the man, trying to murder him because his mom ripped him off and he was a john and she was a prost, right? And then I'm picturing you in jail and seeing that last conversation with your mom to right now to first African American into that hall of fame, like, multi, multi millionaire, published speaker. It's just like. It's one of the most remarkable stories of all time, bro. And by the way, on top of it, you're unbelievable at telling it. Like, when you speak, I see visual pictures, right? Which is what a great communicator does. I just want to tell you something. I'm honored and thrilled that you came here today, man.

[Tiki Davis]

I'm honored to sit here.

[Ed Mylett]

Yeah. Well, listen to me. You have done something for millions of people today that nobody else could do, right? Because of what you've gone through, who you've become, what you're becoming, the lessons, the stories. I can just promise you, you're. By the way, your world's about to change right now. I tell you, when this is out, your world's even going to go to another whole level. So, Tiki, last thing is this. Where do they find you? You. Where should they go find you so they can stay in contact with you?

[Tiki Davis]

You can go to my website, tiki davis.com. you can find me on Instagram, Tiki Factor, okay? And Facebook. Tiki Davis.

[Ed Mylett]

Okay? Tiki is t. I K I, everybody, just so you all know, thank you for today, man.

[Tiki Davis]

Thank you for having me.

[Ed Mylett]

It was an honor. It was. It was. It was this flu. I feel like We've been here 15 minutes.

[Tiki Davis]

Yeah.

[Ed Mylett]

All right, everybody. I don't know what to say. You. You know what I'm talking about. You're gonna share this. If someone wants to hear a story again, go on a journey for an hour that'll change their life, this has been the one. So God bless you all. Max out your life. This is the Ed Milan Show.