I first encountered the work of David Meltzer at an incredibly pivotal moment in my life. I had been doubting my abilities as a writer and nearly ready to throw in the towel. A message popped up on my phone diverting me to the Instagram account of David Meltzer, where he was holding one of his daily Q&A morning sessions on Instagram Live. Within 30 seconds of tuning in, I was hooked while simultaneously being almost forced to look within myself at something I had not had the courage to look at in a very long time, my truth and my purpose. I had been revived. I now was convinced that pursuing my dreams was what I was meant to do. I had to tap into, as David puts it, “the consistent, persistent pursuit of my potential”. I turned my attention back to the man on screen before me, often referred to as “The Ferocious Buddha”, who was speaking his own truth and his own purpose with such ease and inspiration to the hundreds tuning in with me, I knew that I had to pursue speaking with him and I had to share his journey. David Meltzer is on a lifelong mission “To Empower A Billion People To Be Happy”. If he can empower 1000 people who in turn empower 1000 people to empower another 1000 to be happy, that number can be reached and the world will change dramatically because of it. Today, as you read on and we peel back the layers of the journey that has built David Meltzer into who he is, keep this mission in the back of your mind. You too, can be one of the 1000 people David empowers to be happy and your life will become exponentially better because of it.
David Meltzer is formerly the CEO of Leigh Steinberg Sports & Entertainement agency as well as currently the Co-Founder of Sports 1 Marketing. He is also a 3-time international best selling author, a Top 100 business coach and Host of the top entrepreneur podcast, ”The Playbook”. These are all things that have come to be due to hard work and years and years of the devotion to his craft. But where did this journey begin? David says ” I grew up poor with a single mom and six of us. After being ran over playing football in college by the man they call “The Nigerian Nightmare”, Christian Okoye, I decided to go to law school in order to make alot of money. My goal in life was to buy my mother a house and a car. After I completed law school however, despite my mother insisting that the internet was a fad, I became a salesperson selling legal research online. 9 months out of law school, now applying all the things I had learned on the field to what I was gifted at, I was a millionaire. I always say that if I was as good at football as I am at selling, I would be Drew Brees or right alongside my business partner Warren Moon in the Hall Of Fame.” This meteoric rise to wealth was not just solely based on talent alone. There are other factors to be noted as well. David recalls a conversation with the late Kobe Bryant as a great analogy for this. “I asked Kobe Bryant what his favorite movie was one time and he has the same as me which is “Rudy”. I was puzzled. How could you be Rudy, I’m Rudy, everyone knew by 8th grade you were going to be a superstar, that’s nothing like Rudy!. Kobe looked at me and said “No David, Rudy is not about being an underdog, it is about your potential. Every time I was Unfocused or not doing what I was supposed to be doing, my father threw me a DVD copy of “Rudy” and told me not to waste my talent, to pursue my potential.” More great wisdom from Kobe that was passed on during his lifetime. This is a conversation that has stuck with David to this day as he notes ” You know the great ones like Kobe and Warren Moon, they are more than just genetically gifted, they have this constant desire that they must be what they can be and pursure every last drop of their potential. That is what I did. I developed my system which there are 3 things that are vital along with capabilities. 1. I develop my skills and continually do. 2. My knowledge, like my brother said to me when I wanted to be a doctor, be more interested than interesting, so I constantly left myself space to learn accelerate, expand and grow and 3. My desires to be absolutely anything I wanted to be.” Using these tactics and tools, David would have part in a wide array of things, leading to a unique opportunity upon a chance meeting world renowned sports agent Leigh Steinberg. “I met Leigh Steinberg when I was helping a friend, using my great negotiation skills and business acumen, represent him in a reality show with Magic Johnson. I met Leigh and he immediately recognized the skills, knowledge and desires I had. Jeff Moorehead had left Leigh’s practice after buying into the Arizona Diamondbacks and there was a vacancy at the firm as an Executive. Within 48 hours of meeting me, I had the job, which was a dream job for most men and women who work day in and day out to be a sports agent, and I was now CEO of the biggest sports agency in the world for 3 reasons, I had the skills, I had the knowledge and most importantly, I had the desire.”
David Meltzer was on top of the world. He was CEO of the world’s first smartphone, a venture capitalist, he had made millions and raised millions and was now also CEO of the world’s biggest sports agency. As meteoric as the rise to the top, so was the fall from grace. To understand this, David points to 3 incidences in his life. “I was a multi-millionaire, married to my dream girl, everything in my life was geared toward the fact that money will buy love and money will buy happiness. My father, who was estranged from me because when I was 10 had forgotten about my birthday but lied and said he didn’t believe in birthdays, had now reappeared 20 years later with a gift for me on my 30th birthday. It was a jacket with no pockets. I became very upset with him. How dare you show up with a gift after 20 years and I cant even wear it? He told me it was not for wearing, it was to be buried in. It was a reminder that you can’t be the richest man in the cemetary. That I could not buy love or happiness, but the main purpose was to remind me that I was just like him. I became very upset with him again. I am nothing like you, you liar, cheater, manipulator, over seller, back end seller. I hung the jacket in my closet.” Pay attention to what David says happens next. “6 years later, I am now CEO of Leigh Steinberg Sports surrounded by the greatest athletes, celebrities, executives in the world. So I ask my best friend Why don’t you come hang out with me man, let’s go out with these guys, it has been a dream of ours since like 4th grade?! My friend said to me I don’t like who you hangout with and I don’t like what you are doing. I was shocked. I said I am not like them, I am not doing what they are doing. He replied David, You can lie to me but do not lie to yourself. I went home crying. I was so upset because after being surrounded by yes people and people who were saying what I wanted to hear, someone had finally told me the truth. 2 weeks later, I hit the pinnacle of dumb stuff I was doing when I lied to my wife and went out partying after the Grammy Awards with rapper Lil Jon. I got home at 530 am after lying to her all night and it was the first time my wife looked at me in our marriage and told me she was not happy. I hit rock bottom right there. I immediately got resentful and thought how dare she be unhappy when I had provided everything for years?! I went to bed and woke up still so angry, I plotted how I was going to take all my money and my kids and I was going to show her. Until I looked at my closet and saw the jacket my father had given to me. I realized right then I hated the liar, manipulator, cheater, overseller, back end seller my father was, and I hated myself because I had become just that.“
Right then and there, there was a shift in not only David’s thinking but as well as deep within his soul and every fiber of his being. An almost cosmic shift within himself prepared him for what was to come and how he came to find the mission he is on today. “I took stock in who I was. I shifted the paradigm of value. I lived my life of service and of value. I believe in making alot of money, helping others and having fun. I do not think you can be poor enough to make someone rich, you have to be rich to make somebody rich. I know you can be rich enough to make others rich. I want everything to come through me for others. That is the shift that occured in me when I was 36. At 38, I lost everything. I was well prepared to lose everything. I have had no problem making back what I had lost by using these philosophies and values of what I want in my life.” How does a man who literally had everything one can dream of and loses it all, find a mission to make 1 billion people in this world happy after working his tail off to get it all back? The answer is very parallel to the times we are currently living in. “Happiness is the greatest virus of all time. It is something that can be spread just by witnessing it. Happiness boosts the immune system. You cannot be angry or attack other people if you are happy. So I wanted to mathematically by connecting the dots backwards figure out how to create an abundance of happiness because I know if I can create that abundance of happiness, the world would change immediately“. David’s goal was met by befuddled looks and gazes of uncertainty. However, upon hearing his story, People not only believe in it, but they want to instantly be a part of the 1000 he empowers. I am lucky enough to be chosen as one myself. Upon reading this interview, I hope that others are inspired and empowered by the powerful words of David Meltzer. I hope that I can continue to honor those on life altering missions and achieve my dreams of being a major force in sports journalism but it is not possible without what David says is essential to life and especially his lifelong mission ” I need to consistently, persistently pursue this potential but most importantly, I need to continue to thoroughly enjoy doing it, which I undoubtedly am.”
At this time, I would usually leave my readers with what the person I am speaking with hopes their lasting legacy is. If you have been paying attention, that message has been uneqivocally clear and redundant during this entire piece. Today I would rather end with something I know will resonate throughout the world and that is what David says when he speaks about Regret. ” I do not have regrets. Regrets can take away from what we are trying to accomplish both in the present and the future. If you can find the light, love and lessons in everything, like I have, regret will be erased from your inventory and will certainly free up more space and time in order to consistenly and persistently pursure the passions, desires and values you are striving for.” David Meltzer is a giant in the world of business, sports, media and entrepreneurship. He is also one of the purest and happiest souls I have ever had the opportunity to speak with. The light and love and peace in which he conveys every thought and word is contagious. I hope that it continues to spread from what has been written here today, even to one soul, as we collectively work to change the world.
To The Rack With Mac 