← Tom Bilyeu's Impact Theory
Tom Bilyeu's Impact Theory
Gary “Litefoot” Davis on Shattering Excuses and Becoming the First Native American Rap Mogul (Fan Fav)
00:46:23
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- [00:00]
Tom Bilyeu
Premier hosts on VRBO deliver quality vacation rental stays with fast responses and clear instructions.
- [00:05]
Gary Lightfoot Davis
Oh, I had a question. Our host replied.
- [00:07]
Tom Bilyeu
Super quick Premier move.
- [00:09]
Gary Lightfoot Davis
Wish I had a Premier group chat.
- [00:11]
Grainger Announcer
They won't even write me back.
- [00:12]
Tom Bilyeu
Book a top rated stay with a Premier host if you know you vrbo
- [00:15]
Grainger Announcer
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- [00:45]
Tom Bilyeu
Hey everybody. Welcome to another episode of Impact Theory. On today's episode we are joined by real life renaissance man Gary Lightfoot Davis. Award winning rapper, actor, author, entrepreneur and political figure are just a few of the amazing accomplishments on his resume. Join us as we discuss how to keep moving forward, setting aggressive timelines and leading by example. Without further ado, my friends, the one and only Gary Lightfoot Davis.
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Gary Lightfoot Davis
Wow.
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Tom Bilyeu
Thanks for coming on.
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Gary Lightfoot Davis
Absolutely, absolutely. Glad to be here, dude.
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Tom Bilyeu
It is awesome to have you hearing your story. Obviously it's a very unconventional tale of success.
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Gary Lightfoot Davis
Right.
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Tom Bilyeu
And it started from something pretty powerful. Walk me through what happened with the financial collapse for your family, what that led to and what your parents taught you through that hard times. It's pretty amazing.
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Gary Lightfoot Davis
Yeah. I had grown up with a father that had shown me, a grandfather that had also shown me hard work and that through hard work we can accomplish providing for our family. If nothing else, that we can show them that maybe we didn't have these things when we grew up, but we can give back if we just get a very clear cut idea of what we can do, however small that it might be to make an impact. And so for my grandfather it was way tougher. He had a way tougher start in school, had run away from a very well known Indian boarding school in Oklahoma and hitchhiked back all the way with his little brother to Claremore, Oklahoma, right outside of Claremore, Oklahoma. And he his whole life taught himself resiliency and showed us resiliency that you can do things that will sort of help motivate other people. And my father was the beneficiary of that. He saw that it was possible to be an entrepreneur. And then myself, I would see both of these guys, my grandfather at that point very well along in his years Getting up every morning and going to work at 4 in the morning in very hot Oklahoma weather in the summer, then coming home and working all evening in the garden. And I couldn't get enough of that. I wanted to be around him as much as I possibly could. Then my father, seeing him do everything that he needed to do, even if it meant taking it into his own hands to get it done, and just me, through osmosis, absorbing all of this and seeing these two men do very, very great things for our family. And then in a turn of events, we lost everything. And it was pretty devastating. We went from having a decent sort of middle class life to really sort of having to lose our home and end up living with my grandparents and the burden that that put on them. And then I had to sort of forego school for a year to get out of that and go work. Not that they forced me to do that. I just felt like, look, these guys have a load on them and what can I do to help? And so I went and got a job and tried to contribute the best that I could with my paycheck to provide groceries and food. And I just probably didn't realize it then, but I was building this feeling that I need to do as much as I possibly can so that we never have to go through this situation again. So that as an adult, things will be different for me. So I was fighting and I was fighting to try to make sure that I kept moving forward. And I realized that if it was going to happen for me, I probably was going to have to make it happen. That there was going to be no way that somebody was going to swoop in and just put it in my lap and that it was just all going to be there for me.
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Tom Bilyeu
So when did you start thinking that? Because that's a pretty incredible moment of awakening that shuts most people down, but it definitely didn't shut you down. So at what age do you start actually thinking in that way?
- [04:56]
Gary Lightfoot Davis
Around the time that things started to fall apart with my parents marriage, even in high school, there was this sort of guy that was the, the it guy on the team and another guy that his father had built the stadium so you know he was going to play regardless of what happened and regardless of how good he was. So I started to learn these lessons that it's not always about how good you are or how talented you are. You have to work 10 times as hard to cut through some of this. And as I was going through this, I lost my grandparents, both of them, within a very Short period of time. So here I am, I think, sort of being forged, you know, in the flames. To realize that you really can depend on yourself. You, of course, have to have many great people around you. But I knew that if it was going to happen for me, I had to keep moving forward. And maybe that was a stumble, maybe it was a crawl, maybe it was just barely trying to put one thing in front of the other during that time. But I kept pushing forward. I kept moving forward. And I think that's one of the lessons I still carry forward with me to this day. When I see things getting tough or when I see things that seem insurmountable to other people, I know we just have to stay the course. We have to stay focused, and we keep putting one foot in front of the other. The key is to keep moving. And that's something that I think really was that turning point for me.
- [06:15]
Tom Bilyeu
But there were people that had that same belief, but they didn't make it. So what is it that people can cultivate? Like, right now, the kid that's listening to you, that for whatever reason, whether he's Native American or not, he's being told the same thing, whatever you want to do. Like, it's ridiculous. Like, what can they do to make sure they've got the fortitude to last through the whole rez tour? Yeah, like, how do you build that in yourself?
- [06:38]
Gary Lightfoot Davis
Every experience that comes your way is. Is a tool. When we lost our home and we had to go live with my grandparents, I understood that these are just material things that. That doesn't define you. It doesn't make you. So when you get these challenges, when you have these things that come up in your life, continue to move forward. Now, how do you get to that place where you come back and move forward and that you become very intentional about it? I just did one of our footnotes that's sort of a daily motivational, inspirational thing about baby steps. Baby steps. Become intentional about what it is that you're going to do. Nobody in your family may have done that. Nobody in your community, your city, your country may have done that. But if that's what's been put here for you, take it in baby steps. Begin to see how that you're going to move forward. It's exactly what I did once I came and understood my purpose and I understood what it is that I was supposed to be doing. I sat down and created a plan as to how I was going to go about deploying that. And I think that's what you really have to do and take it in baby steps. Don't try to do the whole thing at once. Sit it down, look at it, break it down, rebuild it, put it back together, and then assign timeframes to everything that you want to accomplish and break it down in phases and then focus everything you have on that phase.
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Tom Bilyeu
How do you do that, by the way? So I heard you say this in probably the footnote you're talking about, where you said, okay, I start with where I'm trying to get right. This is my goal. And then I work backwards to where I am today, and I identify each of those baby steps that I have to take. How do you do that process? This is a question that I get asked a lot because I'm totally with you. This is exactly what I do. But even, like, I'm not sure how to explain that in between. Like, how do you get good at identifying the real, tangible steps?
- [08:19]
Gary Lightfoot Davis
We only know what we know right now about what we want to do, right? I mean, it could be. There could be things out there that will be so much more awesome. But we just. We don't know what we don't know. And to the best of our ability, what we can say is, here's where I am right now. I can put a waypoint right there. I can mark that, and I know that I want to do X. And this is that thing. So if I'm going to step back now, what I've got to do is go to work. I've got to study every single bit of that and understand every iteration. You know, if it's to make an album. So what are all the steps in making an album? From content creation to music production, to mastering, to editing, to recording the record? You know, what are all the business aspects of things that go into that? Who do I need to sing on all these 10 songs? How many are gonna have a chorus that somebody sings? How many? So I start to understand what I have to do and what I'm going to need other people to do. And then I start to think, okay, well, what's the money going to be? How much do I have to put from a money point of view into each phase? So each phase has a capital raise that I have to ascertain all of these other things about? What am I going to do to have to put into this to make it become a reality? And so that's where I'm focused on once I hone in on all of these things, you know, yes, it's to be on tour with somebody, right? But First I have to have a record, I have to have an album.
- [09:38]
Tom Bilyeu
And do you model after somebody? Like, if you're trying to do an album, do you find somebody that you can get a lot of information from and then copy that as a starting point? Or how do you do that process?
- [09:48]
Gary Lightfoot Davis
I think every successful person always looks at other successful people as especially in their field or a field they're endeavoring to get into. Why? Why fix it if it's not broke? You just have to find your people of it that you bring to make it you. But if they're doing it and they're doing it incredibly well, sit back and look at it and find all the ways that you can take that great model, fix it where you feel like it needs to be fixed, make it you. And then can you add to it? Can you put something on top of it? And then you take that and really, that's when you start to really do the work and sit down and study each piece of it. And then you assign the timeframes. I think the timeframes, the timelines are the critical piece to it because that's where so many people go from just having a hobby or a dream. And I'm sure many people understand that dreams are tough because without a time frame, a timeline, they may just stay dreams. When you assign a time frame and a plan of action to it, it can become a goal and then it can become attainable. And I think that's what you have to do is. And it makes it very present. Then you have your work cut out for you. You know what you need to do, and now it's just about doing it. So you execute.
- [11:05]
Tom Bilyeu
Is that like really aggressive timelines or how do you decide your timeline?
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Gary Lightfoot Davis
Very aggressive. Very aggressive. I guess it would be that old adage, shoot for the stars. And if you fail, then at least you're in the clouds, right?
- [11:19]
Grainger Announcer
When you manage procurement for multiple facilities, every order matters. But when it's for a hospital system, they matter even more. Grainger gets it and knows there's no time for managing multiple suppliers and no room for shipping delays. That's why Grainger offers millions of products in fast, dependable delivery, so you can keep your facility stocked, safe and running smoothly. Call 1-800-GRAINGER Click grainger.com or just stop by Grainger for the ones who get it done.
- [11:49]
Gary Lightfoot Davis
I remember somebody telling me when we were choreographing some of my first songs, just whatever you do, don't stop. Because more than 99% assuredness, nobody's gonna know it was a screw up unless you stop. If you keep moving, everybody's gonna think that's just, you know, own it. If you were supposed to go right and you go left, then the minute that you realize, oh my God, I just went left, what am I gonna do? Go to the crowd and start going, you know, dancing to the crowd or doing. They're never going to know that it was a mess up. So, yes, you have to improvise. You have to adapt, you have to overcome. You have to be like water. The great Bruce Lee saying that, you know, you have to be able to conform yourself to those situations so that you ever don't do yourself a disservice by not growing and not becoming better. You have to be able to be malleable. And I think that's the greatest thing about being shaped and having been to that place. You know, it may cause you to go through some growing pains, but there's, there's. That's, that's awesome. And at first when you go through that, you're just, oh my God, it hurts. I don't want to be here. I don't want. It hurts. And complain, complain, complain. But if you start to look at it, once you've got through it a couple times, you're like, oh, here we go. This is probably going to be pretty good. This is going to be awesome. I know. Wow, man, this really hurts. So if it's really hurting, I know it's really going to be good on the other side of it. And you just see yourself grow and you grow and you grow and you grow. And I think that's how you get from, you know, rapping to a small group of people and then speaking to larger audiences and testifying to Congress.
- [13:23]
Tom Bilyeu
Wow. Yeah, it is pretty unbelievable, like the chasm that you've crossed. In fact, walk us through a little bit of that. So who are some of the performers that you modeled yourself after that you feel like you've learned a lot from? And what have you learned?
- [13:39]
Gary Lightfoot Davis
So I would be remiss if I don't first go right to Michael Jackson. He's the man and he was a master. There will be never another Michael Jackson. He just was all it. And so when you get into hip hop, so many folks influenced me from very early on. And then I remember all the way forward into folks that really started taking it into the mainstream and, you know, folks that, that were really ridiculed, that were berated for their commercial success. MC Hammer was just ostracized because he got A British Knights shoe deal. And he was a sellout. And now you can't find a rapper that doesn't want a shoe deal.
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Tom Bilyeu
Yeah, they're like rushing to it.
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Gary Lightfoot Davis
No. And you can't find a record label that's not factored in a shoe deal, a clothing deal, a movie deal, a commercial deal, a Sprite deal, you know, some something deal to promote a product or a brand. And it's just part of what it is. And so it's very accepted today. But I also looked at, you know, the people that hung on to these people and milked them dry of all their money and, you know, coming. Coming from the hood or coming from your struggle and, you know, everybody that sort of, you know, and I, to my degree, experienced some of that too. So it helped me as I was watching other people and again, modeling some of the mistakes, some of the things that they did do, didn't do, you know, getting into problems with, you know, your money in general. And so, long story short, just looking at sort of the things that the Public Enemy was saying, things from a
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Tom Bilyeu
political activist standpoint, because your lyrics are very political.
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Gary Lightfoot Davis
Very much so.
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Tom Bilyeu
In fact, people were calling you militant, if I'm not mistaken, when you first came out.
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Gary Lightfoot Davis
Yeah. Early. They don't now. They're just like, wow, that's so awesome. And grandma's like, this is awesome. Like, man, I wish you would have said something. When people were calling me militant in an act, activists and all this stuff, I didn't feel like it was militant, you know, and I say that. And my stuff was at least even with some of the concepts and things that Public Enemy was talking about or, you know, X Clan or some of these, you know, old school groups that, you know, Professor X and all these guys in, you know, the S1Ws and everybody that was down with Public Enemy. So, you know, it was trying to really, with my music, give folks some pride, some understanding, to remove some of the oppression. I think, you know, still to this day we suffer from an intense amount of fear that I think is just genetically and through years of oppression built into our community. So people are very hesitant to do anything outside of the box because every time we've done that, we felt the wrath and the power of the government. And it's very tough. And again, you only know what you know. Right. So some of my lyrics were very, very. Just cut to the point and get right to it. Because at the same time I was writing these things, I was having grandmas cry. I was out in the community Seeing how people were living not just in my community and not just the struggles that my family was having, but I was everywhere, constantly in the community for. For years and years and years, just from one reservation to the next reservation. It would be nothing to be in three or four reservations within 10 days. And we're doing this every year for years. And so you can't help but absorb the struggle of everyone.
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Tom Bilyeu
What does it mean to you? You've got a really powerful saying, we are the people we've been waiting for.
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Gary Lightfoot Davis
Right.
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Tom Bilyeu
What does that mean? What do you hope people do with that?
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Gary Lightfoot Davis
There's a prophecy that our ancestors will return one day. And so you kind of take that at face value and you sort of think, okay, so what does that mean? They're like, we're going to see a bunch of spirits rolling up. You know, they're all, oh, hey, I haven't seen you in forever. I don't think it means that. I think that everything that has been done before us is a part of us. And so it's equally as important that we do everything that we possibly can with our life for everything that they did for us before we were even born. And I think that makes it even more powerful when you think of, we can't depend on other people. That's sort of been my through line is I've never understood how you can be independently codependent. You either can be independent and stand on your own two feet and know who you are and what you're here for. And in the tough times, when everything is pulling you to do something that maybe just go with the flow, that's the moment you have to be the flow. And it may run in the opposite direction of the current that's asking you to jump in.
- [18:21]
Tom Bilyeu
You talked about that with your dad. You said, one thing that I learned from my dad was never be afraid to stand alone or maybe even be the lone wolf. I don't. I might be painting that on it, but that was the image that I had.
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Gary Lightfoot Davis
You could assign both of those things to him.
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Tom Bilyeu
Yeah. What does that mean? Like, how can. How have you manifest that in your own life? You seem the absolute embodiment of that. Right. So being the first Native American rapper, when everybody not only is just gonna sort of obviously tell you that it can't be done, because that's where people always start, but this is also at a time where you would be the only person who isn't African American being taken seriously, with minor exceptions. So how have you in your life been not afraid to stand alone. How has it served you like looking at you self published your book. You created your own record label to sign yourself. Like, how has it worked for you? What are lessons that you hope people will take from that?
- [19:17]
Gary Lightfoot Davis
It can be a very lonely journey. So you absolutely have to know where you get your strength. I remember walking on the set of Indian in a Cupboard. Had never had an acting class in my life.
- [19:29]
Grainger Announcer
I.
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Gary Lightfoot Davis
And it started to dawn on me and it becomes pretty big where you're like, I'm the Indian in the Indian in the Cupboard. And this is already a classic book. This is a huge production. Frank Oz, Industrial Light and Magic, Paramount Pictures, Sony Studios. And I'm like, does anybody know? I don't know what the hell I'm doing, man. And I went in the soundstage and I was first day of filming and I found this quiet place over off of the set. And I just went down on one knee and I just asked the creator to give me everything that I needed to do what's in front of me. Not everybody's work ethic is the same. So if you don't feel like you're up to that place right now to run a marathon, how do you start training for a marathon? By running. By running more and running more. Baby steps. Take it as you can take it. To grow and to work those muscles. Develop those muscles. And if you're willing to go through the pains and the ebbs and the flows and. And the new shoes and the blisters and whatever you got to go through to get to that goal, you will run that marathon. You know, you speak about the people on the tour that couldn't make it through here. We're very focused. You know, of all the people that we left to go on that journey with, only my wife, my son, myself, our documentary film director, and one person made it from beginning to end. There was literally a time where there was somebody complaining on the tour. And I'll never forget this in my whole life. We were almost, you know, through, I think, probably midway. And this really big guy, and he was hungry, right? And we hadn't had a chance to really eat well that day, but we were on our way to it. And he was complaining about not wanting to go anymore because he wanted to eat now, right? So my wife went over. Now you gotta imagine this is a F550, really large Ford pickup truck and a big, huge, long, 48 foot trailer. So it's. It's a pretty big tandem. And she walks over and she says, can I have Your car keys. He says, for what? She's like, why don't you go get in and sit down and I'll drive. And he just shut up. That was it. He said, all right. So he just turned around and went and got in and started the car and we were ready to go. But I think you have to lead. You have to be willing to lead. And if you're not, nobody will follow that. And in the moments where it's most stressful, if you don't know where you're headed, if you don't know what you're supposed to be doing, nobody else will either. And you have to be able to stay that course and be willing to do what you need to do. So there were times where the bus driver that we had, we thinking, okay, well, this is already hard enough on everything else we got to do. He didn't make it. Probably, I would say he didn't make it 5,000, 3,000 miles of that 54.
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Tom Bilyeu
Wow.
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Gary Lightfoot Davis
So I learned how to drive a
- [22:31]
Tom Bilyeu
tour bus just to paint the picture for people. The reason that people are dropping off is because you're having to drive through the night. You're doing multiple shows in one day. There's just no rest for you guys to do the 211 shows, meetings, speeches in the single year. As much driving as you guys have to do, right.
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Gary Lightfoot Davis
It.
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Tom Bilyeu
It. When you said that, it was the equivalent of twice around the earth, you really get a sense of, like, how far you guys are going in such a short period of time. And it's really quite inhuman, frankly. And what I loved is I heard you guys talking in another interview where your wife said, I wasn't trying to check the guy when she took his keys. I wasn't trying to check him or like, you know, get in his face about it. And the interviewer said, sometimes that's the best way to check somebody. To your point about leadership, you lead by example. It's not like you're trying to make some big statement. It's just, well, in my worldview, we are getting there. That's not even an option to not go. So once you take that off the table, we'll eat when we eat. No judgment, but I am going to take the keys and I'm going to drive. And that's one of the things that I find so fascinating about your story. And, and one thing reading your book that really hit me was when you were talking about your mom and she goes from the nice middle class existence to being the peer of everybody, you guys lose everything. She doesn't miss a beat, and she starts working as a maid for some of essentially her former peers. And she told you, never be afraid to start over. And I don't even know your mom. And that hit me, and I. I can only imagine what you took from that. How has that echoed through your life?
- [24:10]
Gary Lightfoot Davis
She led by example. I really believe what they did in their lives. My father, his work ethic, my mother's resiliency. I'm the beneficiary of all those things. I stand on their shoulders, and therefore I can't be anything less than that. And, you know, you talk about the sort of inhumane nature of this tour, this effort, the situation out on the reservation is that crazy. It's that unknown to people how horrible the conditions are here in America and how under the radar it is almost for everybody, the anomaly that it is for most everybody, how. How hard it. Maybe it's almost akin to standing on a island where you're the only inhabitant wanting to be rescued or wanting somebody to come down and provide some assistance. And you keep saying it's an island next to an airport. You know, everybody sees you must be, but nobody's gonna come down and do anything about it. And yet at the same time, you see all this going out to all these other countries, and we're doing everything for everybody else. So is it intentional? You know, this must be intentional. People must intentionally not be looking down to see that, because it's right here. And so the tour was an effort to draw over and above and beyond the attention, not just from outside of Indian country, but for Indian country, again, leading through example. I'm going to make this an example of if some folks. I'm not a tribe, I don't have all that funding. I don't have all of these things, but if a couple, their family can go out and garner enough support to be able to execute and deploy and logistically do this whole effort, what is our bigger excuse to not do this? If a few people can make this happen collectively, what could we do? And it was to really say that as well. And in order to say that, you have to be willing to do more. You have to be willing to take a stand and make a difference almost on an epic scale, just sometimes to get people's attention. And I think that's really what it was about. But going back again, you know, to do something like that, to have the resiliency to believe in yourself, going to see my mom at a home where she was, you know, cleaning a toilet to Know that when I was going to school, she was cleaning those toilets to help pay the tuition for me to be able to go. When a lot of the kids, there's parents were doctors or, you know, because she wanted me to have a better education, she wanted me to have a better chance. And also the things that I would have to do every Saturday to go work at this lady's house, that helped pay the other part of my tuition. I learned nothing's free. Everything has a price one way or the other that you have to pay for it. And understanding that early on and coming to terms with that helped me, I think, navigate my journey.
- [27:27]
Tom Bilyeu
You talk a lot about self belief. How can people cultivate that?
- [27:36]
Gary Lightfoot Davis
You know, it's interesting you say that because literally one of the issues that I think that we're dealing with more in Indian country right now than ever before is knowing our value, knowing our worth. If you don't love you, you can't love anybody else. If you don't appreciate you, it's impossible to appreciate anybody. If you don't respect yourself, it's impossible to respect somebody else. And if you are absorbed with that, really what it is is hatred of self. And however you got there, through trauma or oppression or, you know, sort of genetic historical trauma, it becomes a situation that can be so devastating, not just in the lives of individuals, but in communities. And we have that trauma. Absolutely. One of the biggest challenges right now for us to really stand up and come together as a community, I believe, is the need for our people to realize their purpose and their value and to come to terms with who we are and the beauty of our culture and the beauty of the life that we have. And that self worth manifests and grows. And I think it's very contagious. And that's one of the things that sometimes people say, well, these are just words or these are just things that you're saying and don't put a very high price on motivation or inspiration. But, but if you don't have hope, if you don't believe that there's possibility for you, well then you do start to understand why we have the highest rates of suicide, why we have the highest college, the highest high school dropout rates, the lowest college attendance. You know, I think right now we have less than 1,000 tribally enrolled attorneys. Right now in 2017 in the United States, I think we have less than 250 certified public accountants that are enrolled tribal members. Look at the doctors. The whole scope begins to be almost unattainable.
- [29:45]
Tom Bilyeu
I know you and your wife have started talking about actually getting into filmmaking, being on the other side to tell stories. So when I put that in conjunction with helping anybody but Native Americans specifically, see, see a sense of self worth, get a picture of what's possible. One, why do you think that filmmaking will be effective, which is something my entire life is built around. And then two, what are the kinds of stories? I know some of it is we just want them to see people playing normal roles. A dad, regardless of the fact that he's a character. Right, but what's that other thing like? You talk a lot about the warrior spirit. Is there something, Are there stories that you want to tell people that impart a certain life code that you want people to internalize?
- [30:32]
Gary Lightfoot Davis
You know, I think sharing stories, of course, in our culture, culture is how things were passed down, how historical events were passed down, how we learned from each other. My grandfather talking to me every day in the garden when I was working with him is how I learned a lot about who I am today and who he was and who he is. I think when we look at these mediums that are more accessible and more viable than they've ever been before, you know, with access to reaching people, we have to be out there telling our story. We can't let other people tell our story for us and continue to not have the ownership of who we are. And I think we just have to do that. And again, hopefully that's leading by example because we don't have all the access in the world to doing these things. But I know that it's meaningful. So at the end of the day, we start with, is it meaningful? Absolutely, that's meaningful. The power of our people. Seeing somebody on tv, on film, playing a role that is just a person, that's just a story that they see that's there. The power of that can impact and change folks whole idea of what is possible.
- [31:46]
Tom Bilyeu
You've got such a big mission in front of you and it's really amazing. And you've clearly got the willingness to it put. Put in all the hard work. But how do you think about failure? What do you teach your kids about failure? Do you see it as a teaching mechanism, something to be afraid of? Like, how do you conceptualize of that in your life?
- [32:03]
Gary Lightfoot Davis
Failures are our greatest teachers. I don't think anybody that's ever endeavored to ever do anything didn't fail at some point in some aspect of what they were trying to do. We learn from it and we move forward.
- [32:20]
Tom Bilyeu
How do you keep it so your dad Used to say that one of the things he had gotten good at and he wanted you to get good at was not letting the energy of a negative situation or confrontation to carry you away. So how do people, in that moment of failure, which is usually really embarrassing, and like, when you're failing, like all the talk in the world, if you're caught up in the energy, it's just. It sucks so much. People just want to turn and run in the opposite direction. So how did you learn not to get caught up in that energy?
- [32:52]
Gary Lightfoot Davis
We're people, and we feel how people feel. Meaning, it hurts when people say bad things about us. It doesn't feel good when people don't believe in you. My dad always told me, if something ever doesn't go the way that you've planned and you find yourself in that situation, don't panic. The most important thing you can do is stay calm, stay present. And I've always sort of likened. I can't remember which. You know, I think it was a Vietnam War film or some other film that I was watching one time, and this sergeant stood right up in the middle of this battle, and bullets are hitting branches and knocking trees down. You can hear him zipping by. And he stands up and he says, hey, go over there. Move up. You. You need to watch right over there. And the presence amidst all the chaos and destruction and calamity was what saved all of their lives. And I think that presence of mind and that being able to be calm, that you've laid a plan out, you've done what you've done, that got you to this point. If something comes up that you didn't expect or that you didn't know was going to come, your plan's not bad. It got you to where you are right now. You have to deal with what's in front of you. That doesn't mean run away, doesn't mean stop and don't do anything. It means deal with it. Deal with what's in front of you. Move through it, move around it, move over it, move under it, but keep moving forward, rectify the situation, regroup, and go.
- [34:27]
Tom Bilyeu
So I've got a somewhat ridiculous way of practicing this, because I'm such a huge believer that you have to learn how to do that. Because I think naturally you're saying we're people, right? So naturally, I think people just kick over into the sympathetic nervous system. Fight or flight, they freeze. Blood is literally leaving their prefrontal cortex. They're not able to process things. So I started playing first person shooter video Games as a way to practice. Because on the other end of that computer is a 14 year old who wants to say horrible things about my mother. And I've got to, in that moment, learn, like how to just. Just literally not get caught up in the emotion. Like, literally not get caught up in the emotion. Lower my heart rate, slow my breathing, like, find that calm in the center of that storm. It's like in that moment, you have to go the opposite way of what your body's telling you and learning to go the opposite way. So whether it's. Everything's heightened, you're panicking. Like, dude, I can't imagine testifying before Congress. Like, I've worked pretty hard not to get, like really nervous. That would freak me out. So your body wants to amp up. Right? And you've got to find a way to bring it back down. So I'm looking at your son over there and I'm thinking, what are you telling him to do? To practice. That is it. Hey, life is going to present that. And in that moment, don't think of it as a performance. Or are there things that he. That you try to put situations you try to put him in where he can practice going the opposite way of what his body wants. Like, how does he prepare now for what will happen tomorrow?
- [36:00]
Gary Lightfoot Davis
As you were talking, one of the things my mom used to tell me also was run to the roar.
- [36:06]
Tom Bilyeu
I love that.
- [36:08]
Gary Lightfoot Davis
Run to the roar.
- [36:10]
Tom Bilyeu
I love that. That came from your mom. That's something you'd expect from a father.
- [36:15]
Gary Lightfoot Davis
Yeah, no, she, she was very. She would, you know, she would sit me down and she would talk to me about this and she would say, there's always going to be hard times and you just have to have belief in that. Where you are is where you're supposed to be. And by moving forward, the strength of your faith will unleash the power of the creator in your life. And I've seen that happen so many different times. And the. I keep going back to it. When you see that happen, when you see a man go out and talk to a storm and the storm goes away, you can't unsee that. You can't unknow that.
- [37:01]
Tom Bilyeu
What's something about entrepreneurship that you want to teach people? Because, man, it's so clear hearing the way that you talk, that there's so much like entrepreneurial thinking woven through the way that you see the world, the way that you approach things.
- [37:16]
Gary Lightfoot Davis
Absolutely.
- [37:17]
Tom Bilyeu
What do you think people would benefit from from learning or understanding about being a real entrepreneur?
- [37:25]
Gary Lightfoot Davis
It's the most rewarding, hardest, most beautiful, liberating journey you'll ever go on. And I don't know of anything much more fulfilling than to see a possibility or an opportunity when nobody else sees it, maybe, or see a piece of it that's already existent and say, wow, I could do that. And then take that and breathe life into it. Through your hard work, your efforts, your passion, and see it not only help you, but help other people. There is nothing, there's nothing I can think of that's more rewarding than that. Every time somebody says to me, when you came here on tour, I was thinking about killing myself. And when I heard what you said, it changed my life. Every bit of being day one, doing anything I was doing that led me ultimately to impact that person's life. Everything has been worth it. The fact that there's kids in Germany that listen to my music and learn about Indian people, everything has been worth it. So I guess that's the most beautiful thing, is that when you have the ability to do something that maybe other people haven't ever identified as a tangible, and you, you can help people see that and then glean from it what it means to them. That's just. That's just the ultimate end result for me.
- [39:02]
Tom Bilyeu
And what are a few tools that you think will universally prepare people to actually be an entrepreneur, to not just talk about it, not just have the dream, like you're saying, like, what are, what are some tools that people need to cultivate?
- [39:16]
Gary Lightfoot Davis
Planning. Planning. I think, absolutely your confidence, you know, whatever you got to do to really continue to build your confidence and continue to craft. The value comes from, I think confidence comes from doing, trying, failing, correcting, and then doing, trying, failing, correcting, doing, trying, failing. Or if it's not your own journey, hopefully it's not doing your work enough to look at what you're going to get involved in or people around you and identifying where other people are having a hard time and correcting off of their mistakes. I mean, you don't wish anybody bad and you don't want to see anybody fail. But if you can look at that situation and say, wow, I know that when I do X, I need to kind of be prepared to move right and take two steps forward. Let me file that one. So being aware, being aware of whatever it is that you're going to get into or whatever is passionate about you. But I think that you really have to understand that if it's your dream and that you're moving forward to accomplish your dream, don't let Any. Anyone ever take that from you. Don't let anyone kill your passion about what it is that you feel innately is what you're supposed to do, what your journey is, that's yours. That's almost been ordained to you specifically, uniquely that you may be the one person that's able to move that forward. Don't let anybody rob you of that. And it's going to happen. People are going to doubt you. People are going to. And as you had mentioned, you know, there's going to be people that just don't see it. They just don't get it, and it sucks. I mean, it's hard to maintain that excitement. I think the other thing right there in that window is absolutely be about it. If you expect other people to be about it. If you want people to be 100% excited, understand, you got to be 150% excited about it. Nobody is ever going to be more excited about what you're doing than you. So you better be on fire about it. If you walk in with your head down or you don't feel that this is something that you really, at the core of your being, believe in, then you're not ready to walk in there yet. Don't go until you know it better than one, than no one else, that you know it better than anybody else on this earth. That's vital. You have to know what you're doing. You have to know every bit of it to the best of your ability so that you can talk about it. Because the minute they see you flinch, the minute that they see you not know, or you start to make it up as you go, I think that's where people start to lose confidence in who you are, what you're about, what you're talking about. You have to be able to walk in. And I think that all comes with knowing your service, your product, what it is that you're doing your story better than anybody else could ever tell it and being on fire about it. And you don't have to. If it's really your passion, it's really that it's just going to come out of you. But a lot of people maybe have to work on that skill more than other people, right? And I think that, you know, get in the mirror, get your wife, get your uncle, get anybody that will let you listen, that'll let you talk to them and listen and maybe help tell you, hey, look, I didn't really believe that too much, you know, maybe. Where did you stop believing me? What, did I not communicate enough and just go through the iterations, do the work, practice whatever it is that you've got that you want to communicate to folks. And I think that's communication. I think back about what my dad said, and I said it earlier, be able to speak. Be able to know what you're trying to say. And if you can communicate to people, if you can speak and talk about your idea, that's the key to it all. You've got to be able to express. And I think there's so many things people will find as they begin that journey and that they didn't even know they had. But you got to take one step. And I think that's where people fail, is they don't start.
- [43:09]
Tom Bilyeu
Wow. Yes, That I will agree with you on. What would you say? I love when people have kids because it really clarifies what their beliefs are. What would you say if your son came to you and said, I just don't know how to start?
- [43:26]
Gary Lightfoot Davis
If my son came to me and said, I don't know how to start, I would say to him, do you really believe in what it is that you're trying to start to do? Yes, you got to start there. Do you believe in it? Do you know why you're doing it? Does it have purpose and meaningfulness to you? Because if he's saying he can't attach to it or he can't find the place to move forward to me, he hasn't found the thing yet. I would encourage him to keep looking and searching for it.
- [44:00]
Tom Bilyeu
Before I ask my last question. Where can these guys find you online?
- [44:04]
Gary Lightfoot Davis
They can find us online at Litefoot. L I t e f O-O-T.com and of course, all the social media. Facebook, Instagram. My wife would kill me if I don't say Snapchat. I do my best on Snapchat. But, yeah, we Twitter everything. So, yeah, YouTube. I'd be remiss if I didn't say, yes, true.
- [44:29]
Tom Bilyeu
YouTube.com many of your YouTube videos.
- [44:32]
Gary Lightfoot Davis
Yes, sir.
- [44:33]
Tom Bilyeu
So what's the impact that you want to have on the world?
- [44:37]
Gary Lightfoot Davis
The impact that I would want to have on the world would be for people to understand that their life is not a mistake, that their life isn't just because that they've been put here for a reason, that we're all here for a purpose. None of us were put here to do nothing. And I would never want to see anybody come here for the window of time that we're here, which ultimately is very short, no matter how long we live and not find that because really, for me, life is contained within that. Living is contained within that. And through that, I would want them to understand that we're here to live, not survive. I think too many people survive every single day and not enough of us live. And I wouldn't want anybody to come here and do an 80 year bid and just survive. We should all spend every second that we possibly can living.
- [45:45]
Tom Bilyeu
Thank you so much for being on the show. That was amazing.
- [45:48]
Gary Lightfoot Davis
Thank you.
- [45:49]
Tom Bilyeu
Thank you, guys. You want to talk about somebody that has definitely lived their life. And however much time this man ends up getting, every bit of it has been used wisely. This is a story, an incredible story of hard work, perseverance. He once said, if you're going to ask somebody to do 10 pushups, you better do 50. And that I think really sums up what he's learned. The incredible way that he's drawn from his family, the lessons that he's learned from hardship, seeing his mother in failure, only thinking about moving forward and reinventing herself, and whether people were judging her or judging him. Her encouragement was always to never let anybody else define you and what you're capable of. And a story that we didn't even get to. When he goes back, he used to be a busboy. He meets another kid who's busboying and sees him being mistreated by other people, goes up to him, gives him $100 tip and tells the kid, don't ever let anybody else define you and give you your worth. That's something you have to define for yourself. And that is something that goes through everything that he puts out, all the content that he creates, whether it's the raps which go listen to, they're amazing. Especially if you grew up. When I grew up, it is amazing to hear the lyrical prowess, to hear the things that he's talking about, to hear somebody that was political long before many people, if anybody was being political. It's really, really fascinating. Hard work gets you an outcome. This man's life is absolutely proof of that. And just to see how far he's gone from rapping about the reservation all the way to lobbying on Capitol Hill. It is an absolutely breathtaking journey that I think you guys will learn a lot. So if you haven't already, be sure to subscribe. And until next time, my friends be legendary. Take, take care. Thank you so much.