NFL to CEO: The Grit, Grind, and Growth Behind the Glory with Marques Ogden

Summary

Podcast Summary: NFL to CEO: The Grit, Grind, and Growth Behind the Glory with Marcus Ogden
The Lindsey Anderson Show – Released April 1, 2025

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Introduction

In this compelling episode of The Lindsey Anderson Show, host Lindsey Anderson welcomes Marcus Ogden, a former NFL player who has transformed his life into that of an inspirational speaker, author, and successful entrepreneur. The discussion revolves around the pivotal mindset required to overcome adversity, bounce back from failures, and achieve sustained success in both personal and professional realms.

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Marcus Ogden's Journey: From NFL to Entrepreneur

Background and Career Transition
Marcus Ogden shares his remarkable journey, transitioning from a six-year career in the NFL to founding a highly successful construction company that reached multiple eight figures. However, in 2013, Ogden faced a devastating setback, losing his business and financial stability entirely. Relocating to Raleigh with only four dollars to his name, he encountered multiple job losses within a single week, forcing him to rebuild his life from the ground up.

Personal Challenges
Beyond business losses, Ogden discusses his personal struggles, including a divorce nearly three years prior to the interview. These experiences necessitated a resilient mindset, enabling him to navigate through significant life changes and emerge stronger.

Notable Quote:
"I had to stop playing victim mode like poor me, help me. Nobody's going to come and help me, Marcus, you have to help yourself." [00:00]

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Overcoming Adversity: Embracing the Peaks and Valleys

Life's Cyclical Nature
Ogden emphasizes that life is inherently a series of peaks and valleys, with successes and setbacks interwoven. Recognizing and accepting this cycle is crucial for maintaining momentum in business and personal growth.

Facing Rock Bottom
He recounts hitting rock bottom in Raleigh, experiencing profound anxiety, stress, and sleepless nights. This period was a wake-up call, prompting him to adopt a proactive mindset focused on self-empowerment rather than victimhood.

Notable Quote:
"Life is peaks and valleys. It's ups and downs, it's highs and lows. And I had to really, truly understand that." [03:48]

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Key Mindset Strategies for Resilience

Marcus Ogden outlines three essential steps to develop a resilient mindset, each supported by personal anecdotes and practical advice.

1. Focus on What You Can Control

Avoiding External Blame
Ogden advises entrepreneurs to concentrate their energy on aspects they can influence, rather than dwelling on uncontrollable circumstances. This shift from external blame to internal control fosters a proactive approach to overcoming challenges.

Practical Application
He shares his experience of losing his business partner and how blaming external factors only hindered his progress. Instead, redirecting his focus allowed him to take actionable steps toward recovery.

Notable Quote:
"If you can't control it, don't have your energy flow towards it." [07:36]

2. Master Self-Hypnosis: Find Your Happy Place

Mental Reset Techniques
Drawing inspiration from the movie Happy Gilmore, Ogden explains the concept of self-hypnosis as a method to shift one’s mental state. By envisioning a personal "happy place," individuals can manage stress and anxiety more effectively.

Personal Anecdote
Ogden recounts a session with peak performance coach Dr. Lebo, where being in a natural, light-filled environment enabled him to open up and regain mental clarity, highlighting the importance of physical surroundings in mental well-being.

Notable Quote:
"Close your eyes and go to your happy place. Start making parts." [10:12]

3. Optimize Peak Performance

Holistic Health Approach
Optimizing peak performance involves maintaining physical, mental, and emotional health. Ogden underscores the necessity of good sleep, nutrition, regular exercise, and emotional well-being as foundations for enduring success.

Analogies and Lessons
Using the example of bison facing storms head-on, Ogden illustrates the importance of confronting challenges directly rather than avoiding them. This approach not only mitigates potential harm but also strengthens one’s ability to handle future obstacles.

Notable Quote:
"If you don't have good mental, physical, emotional health, then you have nothing." [11:59]

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Application and Success Stories

Client Success: Julie's Transformation
Ogden highlights the success of one of his coaching clients, Julie, who faced difficulties in establishing her speaking business. By implementing the three mindset strategies—focusing on controllable aspects, finding her happy place, and optimizing her performance—Julie transitioned to a full-time speaking career, demonstrating the effectiveness of Ogden's approach.

Notable Quote:
"Julie now is full time speaking. She's kicking butt. She has learned to focus her energy, which she can control." [18:01]

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Personal Insights and Lessons Learned

Valuing Relationships
Reflecting on his past mistakes, Ogden emphasizes the importance of treating team members with respect and valuing them as "gold." His downfall in the construction business was partly due to an arrogant, ego-driven approach that alienated his best people, leading to bankruptcy.

Building an Inclusive Team
With his new venture, Ogden Ventures, he prioritizes inclusivity and treats every team member as family. This philosophy not only fosters a supportive work environment but also drives the company’s success.

Notable Quote:
"Learn to treat your people like gold... Every person on our team is family, period." [19:55]

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Conclusion and Takeaways

In summary, Marcus Ogden imparts invaluable lessons on developing a resilient mindset essential for entrepreneurial success:

1. Focus on What You Can Control: Redirect energy towards actionable areas, avoiding the pitfalls of external blame.
2. Find Your Happy Place and Master Self-Hypnosis: Utilize mental reset techniques to manage stress and maintain clarity.
3. Optimize Peak Performance: Maintain holistic health to ensure sustained performance and the ability to face challenges head-on.

Ogden’s authentic narrative serves as an inspiring roadmap for entrepreneurs, coaches, and consultants striving to scale their businesses while navigating the inevitable ups and downs of the entrepreneurial journey.

Final Notable Quote:
"The more you start going after what you want in life, the harder it gets because you're going to face more challenges." [16:41]

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Connect with Marcus Ogden

For those inspired by this episode and seeking further guidance, Marcus Ogden offers additional resources:

• App: Available at marquestogden.com
• Website: www.marcusogden.com
• Community: Join the Inner Game Mindset Community at innergamecommunity.com

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About The Lindsey Anderson Show

Hosted by Lindsey Anderson, a best-selling author, international speaker, and business growth strategist, The Lindsey Anderson Show is the ultimate resource for entrepreneurs, coaches, and consultants aiming to scale their businesses with precision. Each episode delivers actionable insights, expert interviews, and no-fluff advice to help listeners grow their business, close high-ticket sales, and create the freedom and impact they've always dreamed of.

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Listen to the full episode here.

Transcript

[Lindsay Anderson]

Hey everybody. Welcome to the Lindsay Anderson Show. Today I will be joined by Mr. Marcus Ogden, a former NFL player turned inspirational speaker, author and entrepreneur. And today he's going to be talking about the very important topic of how to have the mindset to bounce back. You'll find in this interview. Marcus has gone through many iterations of his life, from NFL player to construction company owner to being divorced. He has a lot of experience in bouncing back and that is really what he inspires other people to do. And I know when it comes to building a business, your business really works in cycles. You win a whole bunch and then you lose some, and then you win some and get ahead and then you lose some and it's a never ending cycle of challenges and wins. And when you really start to understand the cycle of win winning and learning and improving and that it's just part of the game, it certainly makes running your business so much easier. I'm so excited to invite Mr. Marcus Ogden to the podcast today.

Are you ready for next level growth in your business? Welcome to the Lindsay Anderson show where we pull back the curtain on the exact strategies, tools and mindsets that build million dollar Empire. If you're hungry for more time, more freedom and a whole lot more impact, you've come to the right place. Buckle up because we're about to ignite your business journey. Now, here's Lindsay.

Welcome to the show. Marcus. So glad to have you on today.

[Marcus Ogden]

How are you, Lindsay? Thanks for having me on.

[Lindsay Anderson]

I'm doing good. So tell me, Marcus, before we dive in, can you tell us a little bit about yourself and, and how you became so passionate about having that mindset to bounce back?

[Marcus Ogden]

So I am a former NFL athlete. I now live in Fuqua, Carolina. I'm from Washington D.C. originally, I played for almost six years. I got out of the NFL, got into construction, built a very successful multiple eight figure business. Unfortunately, I lost it all in the kitchen sink in 2013, moved to Raleigh with $4 to my name, very few friends, no money, no resources, didn't know anybody. And when I got here, I was fired from two jobs in the same week. I had to start over from the bottom, get where I'm at now. And I had to hit rock bottom when somebody's rotten meat, nasty protruding garbage got all over me. And that was my wake up call to say, wow, you got to get my life back on track. I got to stop playing this victim mode like poor me, help me. Nobody's going to come and help me, Marcus, you have to help yourself. And I Recognized at that moment if I was going to get my life back. Lindsay mindset was like become my biggest driving force, no longer my biggest crush, saying, oh, poor me, oh, all that. So really what I've gone through, and that includes building a business, having to go through a divorce almost three years ago, and all these different things, I've had to always develop that mindset to keep going no matter what I faced along the way.

[Lindsay Anderson]

Marcus, so it sounds like you just kind of led us through several times that you have bounced back, like leaving the NFL. Probably felt that way. Your construction company divorce. I'm seeing this pattern and it's not a pattern that I think you're alone and I think everyone experiences this. But is that the way you see it as well?

[Marcus Ogden]

Absolutely. I mean, life is peaks and valleys. It's ups and downs, it's highs and lows. And I had to really, truly understand that, like I hit rock bottom in Raleigh. I hit a really, really low point. Maybe not rock bottom, but close enough low point with the divorce. And it was absolutely just horrible. And I had to really just go through so much and so much anxiety, stress, sleepless nights. So absolutely it's a pattern. And I tell you, I had a great speaking job today for Taylor Morrison. Never tell your mind negative thoughts in a joking manner. Your body cannot dissimulate the difference. Bruce Lee. I just got hired for a job in Wisconsin with a company called IAG Wealth Partners. It's their 40th year anniversary. It was started by a lovely woman named Lori Watts. She started as a woman financial planning business in 1985. And I told her that's mindset. Think it's women dominated now, how about freaking back in 1985? What does that look like? Yeah, that's everything.

[Lindsay Anderson]

I do. I do. So when we're struggling with mindset, these entrepreneurs that are listening to this and. And they realize that their mindset is the problem and not something else. What does that look like? Or what are they blaming it on if it's not their mind?

[Marcus Ogden]

Oh, circumstances, things going on around them. Oh, this person doesn't like me. Oh, this happened. Oh, that happened. Look, I get it. It happens to everyone. I got the wrong business partner when I had Kaden Premier Enterprises, the absolute wrong business partner. But that doesn't mean I can when I move to Raleigh, keep saying, oh, my business partner screwed me. Oh, my client took everything away from me. Oh, I didn't do what I supposed to do. And now poor me, I could sit there and do that. But what good does it do this to do to sit there and talk about something you can't change? If you can't change it, don't have your energy flow towards it.

[Lindsay Anderson]

I love that. And I think that's just a simple rule of life for anything that happens, even during the day, even on a micro level.

[Marcus Ogden]

Oh, yeah. If you're literally. If you cannot change anything. Right. It really makes me sad. People say, oh man, politics has got me down, is hurting my life. How? How? You may not like who's in office. That doesn't. You can't change it. But if you focus on it and then it will negatively affect how you do your work, how you talk to people, your mindset, your. Your relationships. So why are you worried about something? Politics, inflation, gas prices, food prices. What good do you to say that? Dag on government. They're raising food prices again. Oh, man. You know, Donald Cups in office. Oh, man. Joe Biden doesn't know that. What good does it do? It doesn't make any difference in your life. Have to take care of what you. You can't control. That's the first bullet point in a super strong mindset. Focus on what you can control. Number two, master self hypnosis or find your happy place. Number three, optimize peak performance.

[Lindsay Anderson]

Okay, I want to dive into those because that was my next question is lead us through a process. So just for clarity, step number one is what, Marcus?

[Marcus Ogden]

Focus on what you can control. If you can't control it, don't have your energy flow towards it.

[Lindsay Anderson]

Okay, I love that.

[Marcus Ogden]

Absolutely no good. You know why, Lindsay? You'll keep playing victim instead of going after being a victor.

[Lindsay Anderson]

I love that, Marcus. Okay, step two, I found real interesting, which was hypnosis or find your happy place. Unbox that for us a little bit, Marcus.

[Marcus Ogden]

I went to the brain and body assessment and I saw you like my post on Facebook back in December. My last exit was a peak performance coach. Dr. Lebo, she said, hey, Marcus, let's go for a walk. Sure. Went for a walk. And we were chatting about challenges I have, how to become more patient, how to grow, about working on my business, how to become more. Just working on myself. And by the time we were done, it was a great session. Said, marcus, do you know what we just did? I said, no, Dr. Lebo, we. You mastered self hypnosis. What are you talking about? I took you out of that room and I put you in an environment outside with the trees, with the light, with the sun, with beautiful clouds. And I knew that from reading your File I knew that light and being outside was one of your happy places. So I took you out of where you were, put you where I knew from your file that you wanted to be where you wanted to be. And from there, we had our conversation about your business, your challenges, what you open up to me more. Do you not realize I said, wow, pretty cool? Because I did put that in my file. I was living in the apartment after my divorce. No windows, feeling like a failure, all this darkness. Like, all my appliances were black. My refrigerator, my stove, it was all. Everything was dark. The hallway coming into my apartment, going up the stairs, everything was like little light to darkness. So in my home, where I'm at now, there's eight windows on my first floor, eight huge windows and a huge skylight window that comes down from the second floor down to the first floor. She knew this. And so putting me in that atmosphere, she knew I would open up more, which is exactly what I did.

[Lindsay Anderson]

So what is the tip is go to your happy place in order to think about the things that you want in your life.

[Marcus Ogden]

Did you ever see Happy Gilmore?

[Lindsay Anderson]

I did, yes.

[Marcus Ogden]

Do you remember when Shubs Peterson told Happy he was struggling with his putting, close your eyes and go to your happy place. Remember that?

[Lindsay Anderson]

Yes, I do.

[Marcus Ogden]

Start making parts. There you go. That's what it is. And he. It's so simple, but so many people just don't do it. Why? Because you're so overwhelmed. What was Happy's part? He's like, oh, I can't make the putt. Oh, that crying. And what did Chubb say? Close your eyes. Go to your happy place. He said, how do you feel? Better now. Putt. Boom. That's mastering self hypnosis.

[Lindsay Anderson]

I love that. So I want to line this out. We're envisioning this. So if we're feeling angst or anxiety or I want to give up or I'm at my breaking point, then I got to train myself to go to my happy place.

[Marcus Ogden]

Amen. I mean, that's again, that when I was living in that crappy apartment, never, ever wanted to work from home. Never. I would do podcasts in my car. I would do podcasts. Any, like, outside my building where there was light. I only pretty much slept there when I had Farah was with me half the time. While would asleep there. I was constantly going out, drinking, eating over this. That why I didn't want to be there. My home today, where I'm at right now, doing this awesome podcast in my office, right with my Raymond jersey with the light over here, right? My dolls over here. Relaxing like so, like this is now I have my happy place.

[Lindsay Anderson]

Love that, I love that. So important and yet so simple. So the third one, tell us what the third step is, Marcus.

[Marcus Ogden]

The third step is optimize peak performance. Which means get good sleep, eat well, work out, take care of yourself. If you don't have good mental, physical, emotional health, then you have nothing. For example, one of my favorite actors, I don't know if he passed away from anything health related one that's not true. I know he died of colon cancer. I don't know if anything led to that. But again, I talked about this when I gave a talk in Puerto Rico. Chadwick Boseman, right. Passed away unfortunately at 41 years old from colon cancer. And I tell everybody, take care of your health the best you can, be grateful that you have it and then try your best to take care of yourself. Because if you don't have your health physical, mental and or emotional, that you really don't have anything. Don't have anything. And I struggle with my mental health, my physical health and my emotional health. When I was going through the early parts of my divorce when I first moved out, I was drinking way too much, I was way out, I was eating horribly, I would work out, but it wasn't like a good consistency with good sleep or I was just constantly running from the issue. And what I realized is one of my favorite animals is the bison. I'm a Howard bison grad. I saw a video one of my friends put up that did some research. Bison are the only animals that head into the eye of the storm. They go towards it because they feel if they go towards it they can get through it faster and come out better on the other side versus running from it and having the storm catch them from behind. Then from there they are going to much more likely get hurt, injured, or maybe even worse yet, death. So the bison, because their face is covered in snow, but they're not just like sitting or they're walking, right? You're just like when a cameraman gets a good picture of them, they're walking toward the cameraman. That's where the storm is. The camera's got the storm behind him, the bison are heading towards that storm.

[Lindsay Anderson]

That's really interesting. So, so are you saying that peak performance get your body in order? Because if you're not taking care of your health, everything is going to be so much worse and you're not going to be up for heading into the storm, which is what you need to do. Anyway, life is going to push you there anyway, so you may as well get through it.

[Marcus Ogden]

Here's the thing, right, Lindsey, when I was married, we had some debt we had to take care of for so long. Me and my ex would run from that. Hi. Put our head down. Oh, baby, don't pass us by. Now here I am today, I went to my accountant and I put down a good chunk of money and now I've gotten going towards it. Boom, here we are. Now I've got it manageable. I've got in a position where I'm going to take care of it. And the funny thing is, check for a job that I did today is in the mail and I saw it on my emails that I get from my post office every day. And that check covers what I paid towards that debt to get it down, to take care of it, to be able to keep going in my life. And I end up winning a job today that's going to bought the same as pay for when I put down. Isn't that interesting how when you actually go towards the challenge and face it head on on the other side and good things happen for you, what you have to remember, you have got to face the challenge head on. Running from it, it's not going to go, trust me. I ran from my bankruptcy. It caught up with me, all these things. Right. That was absolutely the way it was. So again, if you're listening, have the optimal strength, take care of yourself to face challenges head on, get through them, and you usually come out better and stronger on the other side.

[Lindsay Anderson]

Are you at a point in your life now, Marcus? Because you're so convincing and I really appreciate all of your authenticity and just sharing because we all go through so much. So I really appreciate that. But are you at a point in your life where you're like, I'm okay with challenges. Does it ever get easier for you, Marcus?

[Marcus Ogden]

No, no, of course not. Melanin ever gets easier? No. The more you start going after what you want in life, the harder it gets because you're going to face more challenges, more mountains, more things to do, more things to bring on. But that's why people that you work with have the mindset to embrace dynamic subordination. You don't know everything, Lindsey. None of us do learn how to let others that have more knowledge, more experience lead us through challenges that we really don't have as much knowledge in. And that's how I deal with challenges, is I look at. Well, I don't know it. Great. I'll go to My partner Victor, or if I'm having trouble with the website, I'll go to my guy, George. Oh, man. This media opportunity I got to take care of. Email to Jaslyn. Right. I know who on our team to delegate to to bring things home. So does it get easier? Absolutely not. I have just learned digging in my head like the bison and going towards a challenge. I have a much better chance of coming out as successful than turning my big butt around and running from it, having it catch me and then knocking me out cold from behind.

[Lindsay Anderson]

I love that. So you've shared so much success stories from your own life, so much before and after in so many different ways. Do you have an example of someone else you've guided through these three steps that's had a really big effect on them?

[Marcus Ogden]

Oh, yeah, absolutely. I have one of my coaching clients. Right. She is doing phenomenal. And Julie had challenges trying to get her speaking business going. How to brand, how to market, how to have the mindset to keep going. It was not going first like she would want it. I said, julie, focus on your brand, focus on marketing, and then close the sales through bringing the value on the other side. You have what it takes. But she's like, a lot of us go through the struggles all that well. I'm so proud. Julie now is full time speaking. She's kicking butt. She has learned to focus her energy, which she can control. She has learned to go to her happy place, which is her family and her children. And then she's learned to optimize peak performance. She's doing great with her workouts, being consistent and turn huge dividends for her and her business.

[Lindsay Anderson]

I love it. I love how you've incorporated all mind, body, spirit, how important it is to manage all three areas of your life. As a summary, if you want to develop that mindset for when you want to give up, you got the three points Marcus has brought us today. Number one is going to be don't try to control things you can't control. Right. Number two is going to be find your happy place and self hypnosis. And number three is peak performance. Take care of your body. Is that right, Marcus?

[Marcus Ogden]

Amen.

[Lindsay Anderson]

Okay, one more question before I let you go. So you've been through so many iterations of your life, even just right here on this podcast. If you could go back to the very beginning and tell yourself one thing that you wish you would have known before you started all of this, what would it be?

[Marcus Ogden]

Learn to treat your people like gold. Because I ended up losing everything in My construction business kind of became an arrogant, ego driven maniac. And when I did that, I pushed away my best people, lost out of what mattered most. And I ended up going completely bankrupt, broke, almost homeless because I stopped treating people like gold, my people. And once that happened, it was the beginning of the end with my new company, Ogden Ventures. Every person on our team is family, period. You can and again I tell people I have. We have an inclusion driven business with people all different perspectives, backgrounds, thoughts, experiences. But we also practice inclusivity. Every person in our company can play on the same playing field. Period. Tell everybody. You can tell me what you need to tell me when you need to tell me what you want to tell me. The only time I'll get mad is if you don't tell me. That's it. You tell me, then we're good. You don't tell me, then we got a problem.

[Lindsay Anderson]

I love it. Marcus, you shared so much wisdom. Thank you so much for your time on the show today. Before I let you go, I'm going to turn the time over to you. Tell everybody where to find you and anything else you want them to know.

[Marcus Ogden]

Best place to find us is our app. We have the Marcus Ogden app and go to your app store. M A R Q U E S o g d n dot com our website www.marcusaugden.com or we have the inner game mindset community inner gamecommunity.com that is where you can come and join free to be around great minds, great contributors and learn how to collaborate and move towards achieving your goals with people supporting you, getting you where you want to be.

[Lindsay Anderson]

I love it. Marcus, thank you again for your time. I appreciate you.

[Marcus Ogden]

Thank you so much.

[Lindsay Anderson]

There you have it folks. Another really awesome interview here on the Lindsay Anderson show. So grateful that Marcus was able to join us today. What a very important topic about developing that mindset to bounce back, developing that mindset to run towards the storm and to really approach your obstacles in the most positive way possible because that's how you're ultimately going to be able to get through. Now if you are looking for help with your social media, if you're a business owner looking for consistent, high quality content on social media and you need to be on social media but you struggle with the consistency, you struggle to know what to say, you struggle with how to even generate leads on social media and nothing you do seems to work and nothing you do seems to really catch on and make a real difference for you on social media. Make sure you head over to Lindsay a.combook-now and schedule your free social media strategy session with myself for qualified individuals. On this session, we will look at your social media strategy and plan out how to generate high quality leads from your social media. All you need to do is head over to Lindsay a.combook-now and meet me on that social media strategy session. Thank you so much for listening to this episode of the Lindsay Anderson Show. Cheers to you and your success.

That's a wrap for today's episode of the Lindsay Anderson Show. If you loved this episode, don't forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share how you're leveling up your business. Want more? Connect with Lindsay Anderson and get the tools you need to crush your [e-mail] until next time, keep pushing, keep growing, and turn those business dreams into reality.