← What Are You Made Of?
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- [00:00]
A
Welcome back to the what do youo Made Up Show. It's your boy, C Rock here. I'm with Kirk Ashley. We met through one of my famous 15 minis. I love these things. Done thousands of them. Met some of the most amazing people, and otherwise we wouldn't have had a chance to meet and he wouldn't be here to share his story with you all. Kirk, welcome to the show, man.
- [00:18]
B
Thank you, Mike. And I, I love that you reach out like you do. First, I thought it was like a cheap sales call, and it turns out to be really you. And you're so genuine and authentic that I think you just instantly calm people and win them over.
- [00:33]
A
Thank you. I appreciate that. You know, thinking about it now, it actually is a powerful hack in a way because people do think it's a sales call, and when they find out that it's really not, they're not. They're like, let down. It's just like a. An uplifting thing. So, yeah, yeah, I started that, you know, I started those when I was raising capital in, in tech. And I would just say, you know what, why not just meet the people and build a relationship with them and don't worry about what you're trying to do as far as raising capital. Let's just see what happens and what synergy there is. And then the pandemic happened and I was like, I'm not being separated from people. I refuse to be separated from people. I'm gonna start doing this. This thing with amazing people and just see what happens. And it got popular and. Yeah. So anyway, so let's, let's first start to show the way we do every time. And that is with the question, what are you made of?
- [01:29]
B
Well, it's a great question, Mike. What am I made of? Persistence. I, you know, I'd call it the four Ps of power, actually. First would be. Is perception. Is that I work on my perception to make it empowering instead of disempowering. Next would be perturbation, which is the experience to go through challenges. Well, if you read my book, you know, my life this week, my youngest brother died. You know, it's one of those things that you just never. Out of seven of us, you know, the youngest goes, you know, so it's about going through challenges to grow on the other side of it. And then the last one would be persistence. Is that, you know, the fortune's always the follow through. And I think I built my life on those things. Is that always choose an empowering perception. You know, it Is what it is doesn't really have a meaning. So, like, I miss my brother. I love my brother. And yet to me, it, it makes me choose to live my life to the fullest because that's what he'd want for me. And, and use it as an inspiration. At any moment, it can come to a screeching halt. So while you're here, enjoy every moment the people you love, love them more, hug them more, kiss them more, tell them you love them more. All those things and all those little things that are bothering you, people are irritating you, piss you off. Just don't give any energy to it. Let it fade away.
- [02:48]
A
Yeah, yeah. That's powerful way to look at things and live for sure. Question for you, though. You are an impact driven entrepreneur. You've helped a lot of people, coach a lot of people, success. One of the things in my background in performance and what have you going on a lot of podcasts, talking about this is how you should handle this and this and that, preaching to people and all that. And then when something happens in my life, I'm like, oh, shoot, now I gotta practice what I preach. You ever had those moments where you're like, yeah, it's all easy to tell everybody else stuff, but then when you go through it, you're like, oh, this is harder than I remember.
- [03:27]
B
Well, you're reading my book right now. You haven't gotten to the last chapter. I don't want to give you a spoiler alert, but the last chapter is called A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Publisher. And that's because I got hit with another catastrophe as I was finishing the book. And I had to use the strategies in my book to get me over that one. So I, I have a kind of a belief system that the creator puts me through all this stuff just so I have better new and current seminar stories. You know, I probably had way more than my fair share of really challenges, just like this week. But I know people who have had way worse lost their kids or whatever, you know, I mean, it's, it's one of those things. Life's not fair. It never has been fair. It never will be fair. It's a waste of time trying to make it fair. It doesn't turn out the way that it should. It turns out the way that it does. So now it comes down to, what do you do with it, Mike? And that's why I say those, you know, my persistence to go through those challenges, you know, and just because I was, you know, in a helicopter crash and Lost my brother and different things I've been through doesn't mean you get out of jail for free card that you're never going to have another thing. Because if that was the truth, I should have been free for, like, last 35 years. But that's not the case.
- [04:45]
A
Yeah, I want to. I want to challenge you a little bit, if you don't mind, because I think that when you say life is not fair, I think the moments, certain moments in life do not seem fair. However, I have this idea that in my head, that is, long as I keep going, everything always works out. And so as you go through it and you keep going until I'm plucked from this planet, I'm going to always look back 2020 hindsight and say, oh, man, I'm glad I kept going. What are your thoughts on that?
- [05:14]
B
Well, what I mean by that, Mike, is that, you know, if it was fair, there would be no kids who get cancer and all criminals and bad people stuff would happen. If it was fair, you know, that everything would work out. But that's not the way it is now. It's going to come down to what do you do with it? Whatever happens. So nothing really has a meaning. We give it a meaning. Is it good or bad? Well, those terminologies I don't really use because they're judgmental. The thing is that I'm going to make the best out of whatever happens to me. So, like Covid, you know, homeschooling. Loved it. Extra time with my son. You know, I live on a farm. We have 14 acres, so we have plenty of places to exercise, and we have a gym and a pool and all those things, you know, so people go, what was it like during isolation? I go, I didn't know anything changed. Love it. But it's. It's all how you perceive it. But is it fair? I don't know. You know, when it comes down to that word, what most people think it is, it's probably not. And it is what it is. So what are you going to do with it? I mean, it's not fair that my youngest out of seven died this week, but that's life. It reminds me every moment. Pull the stops out, you know, whatever you think hold you back.
- [06:33]
A
Yeah.
- [06:34]
B
And don't let those things that aren't fair be the things that trip you up and get. You stopped it. Just what are you going to come down and do with it?
- [06:42]
A
Yeah. Yeah. That is. That's the thing I always think about, is, okay, what do I do now? What are you going to do about it? You know, I say to my kids, you know, they're complaining about something like, okay, what are you going to do about it? You know, so love that. All right, so I got a lot to cover here and I'm. First of all, I want to know, you know, you got into the movies back in the day and how did that all take place? What I always wonder if it's skill or proximity and access to those that can help you that matter more importantly, early on, because obviously you need to have skill if you make it just to last. But early on, do you think skills more important or proximity and access?
- [07:22]
B
Well, it's a great question, Mike. I would say the answer is yes. I mean, so it could be either or. I mean, restaurants in LA are filled with very talented actors and actresses who are waiting tables. David Hasselhoff wasn't a great actor, but he had three hit TV shows. And so you know what Stallone taught me? I've been friends with Sylvester Stallone since I was 18 years old, so I guess proximity helped. But his best friend, John Herzfeld, he's an award winning writer, director. I met John at the gym and I was working there and he wanted me to train him. Well, John became my Mr. Miyagi. You know, he raised me and forced me to look up vocabulary words and taught me movie making. So I would say, yes, proximity or having that network. But the thing is, it's still going to come down to what do you do with that. So John always taught me that. That everybody in life gets a shot. Everybody. And it all comes down to what do you do with that shot. And I said, yeah, I understand. And I said, yeah, but what you got to understand is that you never know what your shot looks like. And a lot of times it's not the obvious one. So treat everything like it's your shot. And so with Sly, with John, you know, they would give me strategy or advice or whatever. I put it right into action and would report back to them, which is very rare to show them that I'm listening and I'm ready for the next piece of the puzzle. And they love that enthusiasm because they love this guy who is so driven but was moldable and would follow through with it. So. But then you're gonna have to deliver. Once you get on set, there's a lot of people, I know that they're funny in person. And then you get them on set and they. They clam up. They can't work. They don't know what they're Doing or actors regularly hear him say is, I'm great on the movie, but I suck at auditioning. Well, okay, you're not going to get in the movie unless you learn how to audition. So it's part of the skill set that you need now.
- [09:26]
A
Yeah, just pretend you're in the movie when you're auditioning. That seems simple to me.
- [09:31]
B
Well, it's tough that. Well, nowadays, you know, you're not even face to face with audition anymore. Now you have to do your own audition. Real.
- [09:40]
A
Yeah.
- [09:41]
B
For people.
- [09:41]
A
Yeah.
- [09:42]
B
That wasn't like when I was in the street. But you used to have like a casting director who's not giving you any character when they're reading back to you. So you're poured your heart out, you're doing your thing and then they're lines. And so I went to the store and you're like, it's really hard to work off of. And there's distractions and the phone's beeping and you know, they're shuffling papers and whatever. It's learning how to focus. But what people don't understand is when you're on a movie set, there's a hundred people behind the camera and they're not all paying attention. They're not, you know, they're doing whatever they're doing and you still have to be focused.
- [10:17]
A
Yeah. So with the drive that you talked about and the follow through that you talked about, was that taught from that mentor or did you have something before or do you think it was naturally ingrained in you?
- [10:31]
B
I was always hungry to learn and I was always hungry to grow. So that kind of is already in me. And I think John, when he first met me, you know, saw this, you know, block of clay, you know, that was so moldable because I had a lot of drive and a lot of talent. It was just, it was like a shotgun, you know, I was like a bulldozer. I would just. And so John taught me how to hone that in and focus that. So not only did he made me read from books every day, I had to read 20 pages a day. He would call me from the studios and say, what? Asked me, what page are you on? And if I was not being truthful, somehow that guy knew. I'm like, did you memorize every page of this book? How'd you do that? He made me look up two vocabulary words every day when I came to pick him up for the gym. He has this giant pedestal dictionary, you know, and would have two words pulled out. I had to write him on a Little book that I carried him in my back pocket. He'd call me up, peruse, use it in a sentence. I was perusing a map, I found Chicago. And he was great. He'd hang up on me. So he really held me to that higher standard. And I took that as love that this guy believes in me and he sees something in me. And so I blindly followed that. And I wound up doing, I think, nine movies with John. I was in Lockup at Stallone. John Hirschfeld introduced me to John Travolta, who I did two films with. So, you know, by the way, John's the guy who discovered Charlize Theron. He gave Sandra Bullock her first line in a movie. So this guy, he's pretty famous for finding talent.
- [12:11]
A
Yeah, well, speaking. Look, speaking of looking up vocabulary words and you. And you mentioned Travolta, L. Ron Hubbard wrote a how to study course. And I took this how to study course. And one of the things in it was never pass a word you don't understand. So if you're reading something, stop right there. Clear the word, and it teaches you how to clear a word. Go through the definitions, the derivation, read all of them, find the definition that works for that context, use them in a sentence, and then go back to where you were. Because he describes. Actually, there's a physiological reaction that people have when they pass a word or concept that they don't understand. And if you can pick that up, you can study any topic. Any. I remember when I took this study course, the. The word quantum or nuclear physics, like, wigged me out. I wouldn't even. Like, I'm not studying that. Like, how the heck. That's way above my pay grade. Like, I don't understand. You know, once I took that course, I. It didn't even phase me. And I went right in and I just stopped and looked up the words. I took some time and looked up the words. The Bible changed for me because I know how to clear words. And so I feel like I can study any. Any subject now. So that. That was very powerful lesson he taught you.
- [13:22]
B
That is a. You know, Mike, when people don't understand the word, what happens is your brain shuts off because it goes, I don't understand this, so I'm not going to understand what follows that. So, yes, I have that same thing. And I started that when I first started acting. I did a play, and it was Shakespeare. And so I figured the only way to deliver what Shakespeare's saying is you got to figure out what every word means. Then it's easy to give the emotion in the right spot and be in character. So I literally researched every single word. It was in the Taming of the Shrew, and I played Gremio, which is one of the leads. And, you know, being a Chicago street kid speaking Shakespearean was quite unique. But, you know, to understand the words. And I do the same thing. And now with Kindle and all that stuff, it's so easy. You know, you just put the cursor on it, it gives you the definition of the word. But in those days, you and I, we had to go back to the dictionary, which I used to have right next to whatever book I'm reading, and go through to get those words. But John always taught me that words make you powerful, you know? And so not only writing a book, a thesaurus became my best friend, which, again, expanded my vocabulary. But because you can't keep repeating the same word, because, again, you're going to trans people out in their reading, and they don't get the value of it. And now writing the script for the book is the same thing, is that it's different writing styles, but also having vocabulary, because if you're writing for different characters, you can't make them sound all like the same person.
- [14:55]
A
You know, I never thought about that. Honestly, it just hit me when you said that, like, yeah, when you're writing script and there's dialogue going on, they have their own dialect, they have their own vocabulary, the way they express themselves. Yeah, I never thought about that. When you're writing interesting and they start
- [15:11]
B
to come to life. Yeah. So I just finished my 40th rewrite of the script. Finally it's done. It's not because I'm slow. Sly always told me that, get it down on paper, and then the magic comes into rewrite. So Rocky, by the way, had, like, 50 rewrites on it. And it's just one of those things that, you know, the characters start coming to life and they start telling the story, and if you allow them to do that, then you hear them in their dialogue and their vocabulary instead of, you know. Otherwise you read it and people go, sounds like the same person talking to him.
- [15:46]
A
Right. And so when you met John, where were you in the U.S.
- [15:51]
B
john Hirschfeld. I was in LA.
- [15:54]
A
Okay.
- [15:54]
B
And the gym was right on Hollywood Boulevard and La Brea. It was called Holiday Spa. The guy who owned it had, like, 13 of them. In those days, gyms were segregated. Well, his were men on one side, women on the other, because we're not supposed to work out Together. And John was this crazy guy that would come down from Mulholland Drive with a barbell on his back to go to the gym and then walk up backwards to work on his calves, you know. And it turns out that him and Stallone were roommates in college at the University of Miami and still to this day are the best of friends. And John just wanted to be brutalized in the gym. Like he made me even get a Smokey to Bear Marine Corps drill instructor hat to scream at him in the gym. And he has asthma and you know, would be barely able to breathe and go, see you tomorrow at 6am but we just really hit it off. And then piece by piece he got me working behind the camera and learning every department, every piece of equipment, everything. And John, the funny part is that he calls me up now asking me to teach him strategies. Or he wrote a movie that was based. You can't see it anymore when you see it. But the movie's called Reach Me and, and it's, it's about this guy who wrote this book that changed people's lives. And then he went underground because of his own dark things that he was going through. And John made me do a two hour live seminar over the phone at four in the morning. And he said, don't tell me what you say, just do it. Do the whole thing. And sorry, that. But you see the essence of me in the, in the movie. But it's not my life anymore.
- [17:40]
A
Right, right. Wow. Well. And so. All right, so you, you do this movie. I, I believe you were in the Philippines, right, with the helicopter?
- [17:49]
B
Yeah, Delta Force Two. With Chuck Norris.
- [17:51]
A
Yeah. Okay, Delta Force Two, you're doing the scene and you hopped off the helicopter. I want you to, if you don't mind, kind of, you know, I want people to read the book, but just give us a high level. You hopped off the helicopter because they were like, we really don't need you in this scene. Right? You're just finishing something up.
- [18:08]
B
Well, you know, the funny part is I got paid $400 extra for every flight and I did about 15 flights that day. And I mean some really hairy stunts, you know, and shooting time down to the ground and shooting a machine gun out the door and all those things. All we do is go up 15ft. But we were on top of a rim of an extinct, extinct volcano. It's a house that the Marcos family built for the Reagan's as a summer home. So the president of the Philippines right now, it was his parents house where the crash happened. And so because of me doing 500 movies behind the camera as a key and dolly grip. I'm really familiar with the camera, the lenses, and so the cameraman's looking for his shot and just shift the camera maybe an inch. And I realized I'm not in frame anymore. So I said, hey, Gotti, can you see me? He goes, nope. He goes, you can get out if you want. You can stay in. It's a few. I was like, ah, just make room for everybody else. So it wasn't any premonition or any weird thought. The other door gunner, he was also out of frame. So he stepped out, chopper went up 15ft. It just kind of drifted out over the edge of the mountain, but nobody cares because it's a helicopter. And then it had what's called a compressor stall where the engine shut off and nose dive down the side of the cliff. So it was, you know, one of those sliding doors moments where, you know, that split second of me, by the way, if I didn't look down at the camera, I could have been looking somewhere else and not notice that he shifted it and would have probably still been on board. Or I could have said, ma' am to do it for the 400 bucks. But for some reason, I stepped out. And it was one of those destiny moments that I'm still here and five of my friends aren't.
- [19:58]
A
And how many times have you ran that back through your head prior to you doing the work on yourself to. To heal, so to speak. But, you know, like, that could have been me. I made that decision. Why did I, like, Can't imagine.
- [20:13]
B
Yeah. And my best friend Mike was the key Grip. He was 29. I was 27 at the time he died in my arms. You know, I had a gun in my mouth every night at 357 Smith Wesson for two and a half years because of those kinds of thoughts, you know, why'd I step out? How come I didn't die like a hero? Instead I live like a coward. By the way, those are not good questions to ask. There's no relevance. But survivor guilt is brutal, you know, especially in that moment where you think, you know, you second guess yourself, that I could have done something to save everybody or save Mike or, you know, jump on a helicopter and catch it or something. I mean, you don't know what. But we're emotional creatures. We're not rational creatures. We're rational, by the way, Mike. Nobody'd be in prison.
- [21:03]
A
Yeah.
- [21:05]
B
You know, we're emotional creatures. And so it's a powerful Muscle your emotions. And it. It did me in for a long time until I. I asked a new question. And the question is, is what's great about this? And that's a crazy question when you're going through dark times, but what's great about the helicopter crash? And because I held myself to that standard, that I get an answer, that I was there and that, you know, Mike died in my arms, not in a stranger's arms. At least he was with somebody who loved him, not a stranger. That all the care to try to save the guys was given to them. I was one of those people administering that care. And I saw a lot of other people as well, that I saved two people's lives that day and. Well, actually three, because the other door gunner stepped out because of me. And then also is that I lived. And, you know, now that I'm. I really got that, that I'm dedicating my life to make my friends, lives and deaths count for something positive. And that's what I've spent the last 35 years doing.
- [22:08]
A
Yeah. And then, you know, I remember this part of the story of seeing Mike in your. In your apartment or what have you. My house, I guess it was hallucinations, basically. Like, were you awake when that was?
- [22:22]
B
No, Mike. Mike being a Chicago street kid, I didn't. I didn't buy into this stuff either. Until it's so in your face that there's nothing you can do besides just deal with it. And Mike, when he died, he wound up locking his saw on me.
- [22:40]
A
Okay. By the way, I didn't read far enough to know to pick up some of the stuff, the explanation of that. I just got to that point.
- [22:48]
B
He definitely visited for two and a half years. I wasn't the only person who saw him. I just saw him the most since my book. You know, it's so many people, thousands of people have contacted me saying it gave them permission to have their experience where they thought they were crazy. Even my biology teacher from high school called me up and had his experience with his father, who had passed on. My producer gave my script to an apprentice of hers who's 20 years old. Her genre is horror films. But she just wanted to see what she would think about my movie. And she said, man, that stuff with Mike is as real as you get. My father committed suicide and sat on the end of my bed and talked to me and said everything he needed to say. And the way Kirk writes it, it's just matter of fact, that's. That's how it happens. Yeah. So Our body isn't as real as we think it is, you know, and our body is only part of who we are. You know, the seen and the unseen, the form and the non form are two sides of the same thing. And my visits were, Mike, were so real that after a while you have to just accept it and go with it. And it changed my life. But also, I have no fear of where I go after here, because I can guarantee you go somewhere.
- [24:13]
A
Yeah, yeah, I know. I, I know now that you explain, I wanted to ask that question because I didn't get far enough. I should just keep reading. Well, since we're doing the show, I wanted to ask. No, I, I definitely think that. Well, I tell this story a lot. I heard the story about this intelligence officer that was sharing an experience he had with a, an et cetera. And he was saying that the ET told him the extraterrestrial, alien, whatever you want to call them, you, human beings have no idea what you're capable of. And you know, that could go both ways. You could be like talking about nuclear war. It could be talking about damage and destruction, or it could also be talking about the capabilities and abilities that we have. And I just thought that was. Even if it's not true story. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. I think it is. It was powerful to hear that. Like, it's kind of like, well, wait a minute, you know, what's keeping us from really doing the things that we need to be doing and, and, and impacting the way we can impact, you know?
- [25:12]
B
Yeah. Well, Mike, you said that you read the Bible every day. Jesus. Now I'm, I have no religion. My mom was Jewish, my dad was Christian. I was just confused. Why were these people? It didn't last long, by the way, the, the Bible, you know, Jesus in red. Those are his words, you know, directly. He said, even the least among you can do all that I have done and even greater things. And he said, it's not a sin to consider yourself one with an equal to God, which means we're creators. You know, if God were made in his image. God look in the mirror. He sees the creator. We're creators, you know, we. God doesn't work for you. He works through you. So that means we have that power. We have the God gene in us. No, we're not the totality of God. But that's kind of like saying your pinky fingers not you, right? You know, still part of you. And our potential, you know, is unbelievable when you think about where we started from. Cave People to what we've done, good, bad and indifferent. That's pretty amazing considering that. Why did cave people know not have mobile phones and computers? Considering that all the materials to make those things were always here. I mean nobody flew off to outer space and went to, you know, Radio Shack out in outer space and brought back computer parts. So all that stuff was here. But that's our evolution to create it. And you know, yes, there's going to be people who want to use stuff for bad and there's people want to use stuff for good. And I think this pendulum has swung back and forth between good and evil. You can't never have one without the other because it's the law of polarity. But I think as dark as the world's been lately, you know, that's because you're watching these dark forces get desperate because the light is starting to take over the darkness. There's more spiritual people, there's more covet, woke more people up. They thought they were gonna pull another fast one on us. Instead it woke more people up from a, from a trance, from a deep sleep, from the Matrix. You know, so it's work. We have full potential of what we can do and we only use a small portion of our brain. Imagine if you used 1% more over the 15 that Einstein used. So we're supposed to use like 11% but imagine using 1 more percent. What our potential would be, you know, as, as a person and just directing it towards something positive, something good. But the people who are doing the bad stuff, you got to deal with it because life isn't in this box. Life is the whole thing. And however you leave this life is the way you're going to begin the next one.
- [27:58]
A
Yeah, well the other thing is, is that our potential and what we do go with it shouldn't be about us. I think a lot of us get started with like let me see how far I could take this thing, right? And it's all about me, me, me. We see it all the time. And when people do that, they eventually fall. But when everything shifted for me, I was, it took me to my 40s. I'm a little, you know, you know, hard headed and stubborn but when I hit 40s and I made it about other people, let me see how far I could take this thing by helping others, serving my kids. Like how can I help my kids realize like they can achieve whatever they like to and the work that goes into it will pay off that make those deposits. And I'm seeing this right now with my daughter she plays travel softball and we, I homeschool her so that I have the opportunity to be able to do what I want with her when I want to practice. We went out to the fields and practiced softball like during the week when everybody else is in school and then on the weekend. She's phenomenal. And I try to show her like this is the work, the results of the work that you're putting in. You don't just get become phenomenal, you know, outworking a lot of people that while they're in school, they can't help it. Right now, maybe their parents don't let them. You, you have this opportunity and then seeing that results, man, that is like. And, and when you're helping other people with what you do and when I help other people get attention, exposure that they normally wouldn't have, like that's what it's all about, man.
- [29:17]
B
Well, that's, you know, samurai. My study aikido. I've been training in aikido for like the last 15 years. It's based in the Samurai. Samurai means to serve. Most people don't understand that. My mantra when I meditate every day is how may I serve? It's again, it's the law of cause and effect, Mike. You know, people want things to come to them. They want the good life to come to them. But they don't understand is that nothing comes to us. It's all byproduct of what we put out. Starting with our thoughts and then our consistent actions. That's what produces what we're getting back. So that's the ripple effect or the processional effect is that what we put out comes back and it's the law of circulation. So it's always about putting that out there. And when you want your life to be great, help other people have a great life. When you want your wealth life to be abundant, wealthy, help other people become wealthy. If you want other people to be happy or you want to be happy, help other people become happy. It's funny, it's just in the payoffs instantaneous. But a lot of people still don't get that. You know, they're still playing a greed game and they're still chasing it and they wind up really lonely. And you know, the number one most consumed drug on the planet are called antidepressants. So you can see the way people are participating. But again, when you read The Bible, in 2000 plus years, not much really changed is some people get it, most people don't. It's the minority that changes the world. It's the majority, by the way. That's a pyramid. The majority waits for it to be changed. That's called victim mentality. They're just trying to make the best out of a bad situation. It's always been the 80, 20 rule. I don't know if that's ever going to change. I'm not here to fix the world. It's not broken. I'm here to help the people who want help, who want to move to the next level. Some of those people who are living in the dark, who finally want to come to the light, just like you and I did, we had what's called an awakening. You know that you wake up from the trance and you go, yep, it's time to live my life differently. Because I used to live my life pretty much on my ego, and I was really good at it. But the thing is, it, it was like a bulldozer where I left a wake of kind of destruction behind me. Not purposely, but I was so driven that it didn't really matter at the speed and veracity that I went at things, even if people got pushed out of the way to do that. But after a while, you wind up dealing with that karma, that feedback that comes back. And that's when I made a conscious choice to change my life and how I operate.
- [32:00]
A
Yeah. And with the time we have left, I want to touch on that. So when, when did you decide to start helping other people? And then what was the first thing you did to start disseminating information or helping people?
- [32:13]
B
I kind of always did it, Mike. The funny thing is, I even gave little seminars in the hallway at high school. I, I, you know, it was just my thing. I was honored with my high school Distinguished Alumni hall of Fame. You know where my picture is permanently up in the hallway now in my book. Right next to Dan Tanney, by the way, Astronaut Dan Tanny. Where his spacesuit. He fixed the Hubble telescope in space. And I'm thinking, I'm not really sure if I'm in this group, really, next to him. And I knew Dan by the way. We went to school together. My dad, if my dad was alive, he would have said, I'm sorry, do you have the right guy? Did you say distinguished or delinquent? But so I kind. But I always did it. It's just that I had auditioned for a movie on a Saturday, which never happens, for Disney. Mighty Ducks Part four, which I've still never seen come out, but it was for the lead bad guy. They said, we need to tell. We'll tell you by Tuesday. You'll start work on Thursday. I never heard from anybody. So I went to Georgia to do the speaking engagement to help the youth of this community. And we did board breaking and all this stuff. Well, I'm still in Georgia. And I checked my answering machine. It's Sunday. And I got a message, you got the job. We'll see you on the set on Friday. It's Sunday. And first thing is, you know, I had like 40 phone calls versus. Hey, congratulations to. Hey, you piece of garbage. You'll never work in this town again. Wait a minute. Just because I auditioned didn't mean I take the job, but that stress that it created. And then I thought, well, which one of these two things would I have rather done? Another stupid role that's going to go nowhere or help people change their lives? And once I did that, I said, why'd you ever become an actor? And that's when the answer came to me, is that I thought if I got famous, somebody would want to hear me speak. But I realized I was taking this roundabout way instead of just the direct route. And so I started dropping the movie industry and focused just more on doing what I do. And my career has been like a rocket ride. It's been unbelievable just because I haven't been dual focused anymore.
- [34:26]
A
Laser focus, man. The attention units are limited and it's important what we pay attention to. So, all right, as we wind down here, then how did you get back into the movie with this book? Like, what made you decide to turn it into a project?
- [34:41]
B
Well, the funny part is I turned down years ago Robert Downey Jr. Who wanted to make it into a movie because once you sign it off, they do whatever they want to do with it and doesn't have to look anything like your life. And it can be a hokey and garbage, you know. And so I said no. A producer was talking to me about doing my own TV show. I censored a copy of my audiobook for the my bestselling book called how would Love Respond. And she said, oh my God, we have to do this first, but you have to write it and you have to direct it. And I said, that's not really what I do. I don't want to mess it up. And. But she kept hounding me for a couple weeks until finally I realized I really do have to do this because I have to stay congruent with the story. I have to honor my friends. And nobody knows the story better than I do, you know. So I started writing immediately. It's funny how those. Once you set that intention and you give attention to your intention, so attention gives energy, intention transforms. Trans means goes into form. And all of a sudden, these writing skills started coming out of me. Because writing a book, by the way, is different than writing a script. One is descriptive, one is cinematic. So it's a whole different writing style. And now I'm on. I just finished the 40th rewrite, but man, is it. It's powerful movie. People who read it go, you might want to get your tux ready for the Academy Award because, whoa, what a ride. You know, you laugh, you cry, you're all over the place with it. And then at the end, you're kind of out of your seat cheering for yourself because you see yourself in the story. Yeah, which is what I want. You know, the movies. The only reason I'm even doing it, Mike, is because is in line with what I do on the planet. I don't need a movie about me. I. I don't need, you know, to get sucked back into Hollywood. I'm not going to be doing directing after this. It's that this is a vehicle to help me help more people improve their lives and the quality of their lives and, you know, achieve their grand goals.
- [36:52]
A
And so how does it work from here? You have the script 43, right? You said it's the final one. Like, do you have to. Do you have to raise money now? Like, what's the next steps?
- [37:01]
B
Well, if you're offering, I'll take it now. Mike, the producer, she's the head of an acquisition for a film fund. She's the head of acquisition for a couple of film funds and she's doing some other projects and just literally raised the $20 million for my film. So it's funny, I used to fight tooth and nail to get a, you know, thug number three role and now pretty easily I just walk into directing my film and doing it that way. And you know, the. Like I said, the president of the Philippines is involved. They want some of the film being done there because the crash had so much impact on people's lives. And we're underway now. I'm work working on casting. You know, by the way, your son looks great for a role.
- [37:53]
A
Thank you.
- [37:54]
B
Got got him in mind.
- [37:55]
A
Appreciate that. Just, just the fact that you just requested him send you the information, it means the world to me. So thank you.
- [38:01]
B
No, he looks great and I'd love to give him a shot because, Mike, everybody gets a hand extended to them to help them up, you know, through and so then becomes our obligation as successful people to extend our hand to other people. And, you know, like you said, is it proximity? Well, if your son gets a shot and does something great with that shot, then he deserves it. You know, I worked on a movie where there was a young actor that had a couple lines in it. You saw him, you go, man, this guy's going to be somebody that turned out to be Brad Pitt. But you knew, you kind of saw them. But somebody had to give him that first role, you know, for him to display that talent. And by the way, you know, yeah, Brad's a good looking guy, but there's a lot of people who look like not Brad, but really good looking guys and people who. Who don't work. Yeah, but that guy, you can see him working on his craft, but also somebody extended a hand to open the door for him.
- [38:58]
A
Yeah. Well, thank you very much again. I was just talking to a lady on a podcast prior to this, and she's a comedian. Marina, her name's Marina Franklin. And she was telling me about Dave Chappelle. And she was in the Chappelle show episode and calls her, gives her some advice, this and that. I'm like, listen, when you just said about Brad Pitt, you knew this guy was going to do something. I saw Dave Chappelle at my college, 95 or 96. He came in, there was like 50 people in the audience in a room into college. And I just knew, like, I could. I don't even know if he knew he was going to be it, but I could tell, like it was. There was just genius, you know, so some people have that part that you. You can just tell that they have that. That aura, that genius. Right. So, yeah, it's amazing.
- [39:41]
B
Yeah.
- [39:42]
A
Well, Kerrick, listen, man, I really want to thank you for the time. Thank you for taking the call when I reached out to you, and I appreciate that. I'm looking forward to developing our friendship. And if there's anything I can ever do for you, obviously let me know. I'm here to serve. And. Yeah, and thank you.
- [39:57]
B
Yeah, same. Same, Mike. And again, you and your team have blown me out of the water with how genuine and authentic you guys are and how refreshing that is, you know, because, you know, in position life, we get hit with sales calls every day. Everybody's trying to offer us something. And. And that's why I wrote you saying, is it really going to be you? And not only did you write right back, but, man, how genuine, authentic you are. And I know that somehow you and I are going to be doing something together down the line, even if it's just staying great friends. So thanks for having me.
- [40:29]
A
Awesome, man. It means the world to me. Appreciate that feedback. All right, hang tight while I wrap this up, folks. That's this episode of the what do you made of show with your boy C Rock and Kirk Ashley sharing what he's made of. Go check out the book. Where's the best place for them to go get the book, Kirk?
- [40:42]
B
Probably Amazon. I mean, you can get it through my website, Kirkashley.com but Amazon's worldwide, so.
- [40:48]
A
All right, folks, we'll put that in the show notes and also on Instagram. You can go look his name up. He's on Instagram. Instagram, too. Shoot him a dm. Let them know you heard him here. Until next time, folks, make sure you hit the subscribe Follow button at the top of your favorite podcast platform and keep coming back. And of course, be that one.