I asked them… “SHARKS are you ready to buckle down with Mack Belts” and they said… NOPE
I didn’t even make it past the first round of auditions!
What was my plan? Well.... I had a few acquaintances I knew make it on the show!
When their episode aired their company turned into a revenue-generating machine!
Most of them were just selling paperweight trinkets….
Now you're probably wondering just what the hell I am doing in that photo…. and maybe that weird little belt pose at the end of my presentation I shouldn't have done!
But hey hindsight is always 20/20!
But what many people don’t know. Because I can market around it with teleprompters and endless takes….
I have difficulty with my memory. I have difficulty with my speech. I am noise-sensitive. The background noise of all the others in the tiny room coupled with the ringing in my ears… Well I guess the best way I can put it is:
"I'm sitting down yet it feels like I'm about to jump out of an airplane for the first time"
Here come the spins, the tunnel vision, the words just won't come out smooth… and right behind that is the incoming flood of old memories. Reminding me WHY this happening!
I think to myself, “Man not too long ago. My legs were dangling out of a helo, sitting next to my brothers with an M4 covered in CLP in a country most people don't even know
Now... just the overstimulation of being in a room…. was “too much” for my brain to handle
How pathetic… I hate feeling this way… Still do… its a “BLAST” no pun intended
More importantly… At that moment I was trying to recall my “PITCH” and I couldn’t perform
I wanted to BOLT....
The little committee between the ears was giving me every reason and every excuse on why It's okay to QUIT
Just get in my rental car and leave. Go back to your comfort zone. SAFETY!
So what did I do? Well I had to change the angle of the fight baby...
So I left that damn building…. and I breached my way into another at War Wic community college.. Once a breacher always a BREACHER!
I locked myself in a bathroom and for hours before my audition in the SILENCE that I could find...
I rehearsed my 1 min pitch over and over. Until my unlucky number 72 was called, and I gave the Los Angeles casting crew: THE MACK DADDY
SUCCESS on that day wasn't really about making it to the next round
It wasn't about impressing people with the numbers
It wasn't about flaunting the Navy SEAL thing
But after years of hardship, setbacks, recovery, and hard work.
I finally regained the confidence to take that step forward
I finally found the COURAGE once again to push past the fear of failure to achieve something greater for my team, for my family, and for MYSELF!
On a scorching July day in Salisbury, Maryland! It was the return of the Mack!
If I can do it.. So can YOU!
Keep Hammering