From Hustling in Cleveland to Changing Sports: Rich Paul's Journey Unveiled in New Memoir!!!

all right my next guest has one of the greatest stories of growing up in America's ghettos and overcoming adversity that's a quote not from me but from another Legend his name is Jay-Z and he had that to say about the new Memoir that comes from one of the most powerful Sports agents in the world the book is called Lucky Me A Memoir of changing the odd it's written by Rich Paul and it is out right now and it is the story of a young man who was selling sports jerseys out of his car became friends with LeBron James created a long part parip and changed the business of sports we love to hear it rich Paul joins Me Now by the way he's also the founder and CEO of clutch Sports he got so many titles so many amazing things happening my brother so good to see you thanks for having me on no no doubt man now you grew up in Cleveland uh you say shooting dice to help pay the bills you were running around hustling like a lot of us had to do to make things happen for us uh but it didn't just sort of stay in the street you developed a mental your upbringing shaped who you are help us understand some of the lessons you learned what were some the things that made you who you are now yeah I think a lot of it had to do with my father and mother but my father owned a was an entrepreneur and you know I worked in the store and that's where I really learned the importance of customer service and and math for that matter and and and you know marketing and or whatnot and then and then the most important skill set I developed was understanding people uh as you know know there's all walks of life that comes in and out of a corner store and and so while I was working in that store my dad would continue to instill these specific values work ethic you know professionalism integrity and the importance of treating people a certain way but then once I was able to step foot outside he had to prepare me for what was going on in my surroundings in my community and that was coming from a place of survival and I had to understand uh impulse and have great awareness and again understand people and and you know being able to see things before it happen per se or feel have a specific feel and so I just Carri those traits into the world I live in today one of the things I I love about uh your book is how transparent you are how honest you are uh there's a very generous way that you talk about what your parents gave you what they taught you and then there's a way that you also talk about some of the hard stuff you know uh you said you watched uh your Mom struggle with addiction you know what was uh one of the biggest lessons you learned from that ordeal I think you know often times you you turn something know you look for a reason to be upset and be mad and and and then you also look for a reason to give up I had a lot of peers that took the environment or something that may have transpired that they actually had no control over and use that as an excuse I refuse to do that so instead of using as an excuse I tried to find an understanding within and take that and say to myself I'm going to do better and then once I'm able to do better I'm going to reach back and help those that were affected do better because you never know why somebody is doing something within their life and as older the older you become you start to have a better understanding of certain things when you're young you look at it and you you want to place blame and so that's exactly what I did as I got older I got in better position and I was able to reach back and do the things for my mother that she wasn't able to do for herself while struggling and so that's a very proud uh moment that I have for myself and my family and you know my dad I want to thank him as well and my mom because she didn't sugarcoat it she helped us understand what was going on and why and I respect her more than ever because Des You know despite what was going on and me understanding exactly what was going on she had enough respect for us that we never seen it and I think that's extremely important that that is super important and it's it's so fascinating to watch how you have navigated those relationships how you've made sense of them have you come how you how you have come to terms with them made peace with them and speaking of relationship ship obviously the world makes a lot about your relationship with LeBron James uh how did that happen exactly was that like a friendship partnership uh that you sought out I mean there's no way I mean he was very good at basketball but there's no way you could have known he'd be one of the greatest players ever ultimately it was God's plan for me to be in a place that I was in and him to be in the place that he was in and for me to be open-minded and willing to have a conversation for him to be you know curious about a specific thing that led to many many steps that we don't have enough time for here today but that led to many many steps and I'm extremely grateful for what we have today not just a Brotherhood but a continued friendship a business relationship a partnership in certain ways um and more importantly a respect for one another you know when I started my business there was a lot of chatter amongst several agents and agencies both black and white Le and they were TR you being generous brother it wasn't chatter it was hate it was chatter it was hate yeah yeah the hate yeah it was a lot of it was a lot of hate and it still is today um about where LeBron sat and he owned a piece of my business and all these type of things um and so the respect that he had for me I'm extremely grateful for and the opportunity that he gave me to not only represent him the representing him the respect he had to pay me you know what I deserve as an agent and not try to cut Corners because of who he is again the respect we don't normally give each other as black people and then in addition to that um the support as I move forward and so I was able to go on and build something but um you know we still sit here today with the same relationship as we had 22 years ago and so um it is a beautiful thing when that happens because you know it don't ha happen quite often and you know I'm just taking the bull by the horns and continue to grow and today I sit here with with in three Sports across um the globe and and and you know including Tyrese Maxi right yeah yeah represent Tyrese and who is just a rising star and more importantly he's a much better person than he is basketball player he's I'm a Philadelphia I'm a native Philadelphia and I'm a season ticket holder I don't care about nobody else you represent you need to make sure this I'm give you some un some unrequested advice make sure we protect Tyrese Maxi at all cost don't show him no other cities don't do nothing else tell him we will we will tie him to his chair if we got too well you know I called the Sixers when Tyrese was in the draft and I said hey Elton if this kid makes it here y'all better take him they were going to trade the pick and they listen but I'm telling you the professional he is the person he is is why I love my job I've met his parents I see him 500 a.m. practices he's still smiling man it's it's the most amazing thing I've ever seen lucky Us in Philadelphia but the book is called lucky me the book's available everywhere but as always we encourage you to support your local black own book book story