Intro: Are you ready to change your habits, sculpt your destiny, and light up your path to greatness? Welcome to the epicenter of transformation. This is Mick Unplugged. We'll help you identify your because so you can create a routine that's not just productive, but powerful. You'll embrace the art of evolution, adapt strategies to stay ahead of the game, and take a step toward the extraordinary.
So let's unleash your potential. Now, here's Mick.
Mick Hunt: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another amazing episode of Mick Unplugged. And today, we're going deep. We're going deep into the realm and the story of transformation, resilience, and leadership. From relentless discipline in the boxing ring to the strategic arenas of corporate success, joining us is someone that I've looked up to for a very long time, not because of what he achieved in the boxing ring, but what he's achieved out of it and the man that he is and what he stands for. It is my distinct honor and pleasure to welcome my man, Mr.
Jameel McClain. Jameel, welcome to my man. Thank you so
Jameel McCline: much for having me, brother. I appreciate it. I'm very excited to be here. Thank you.
Mick Hunt: Man, I I am excited as well. And, you know, a huge boxing fan, huge fan of yours. And I always tell people this man, like I heard the saying, you play tennis, right? You play basketball, you play football. You don't play boxing.
Yeah. You don't play boxing. Right? When you step into that ring, it's a different animal. It's a different beast.
A lot of people aren't cut out for that. So for you, and and we're gonna talk a lot about your story, man. Like, what got you into boxing? Like, what made you say this is what I'm gonna do?
Jameel McCline: I was 25 years old. I just gotten out of prison. I was in a gym in Staten Island, New York working out. It wasn't a boxing gym, which is a regular workout gym. Some guy comes over to me, this German guy.
Is in his mid to late forties, Ron Reuther, hardcore German, you know, and he came to me and he said, hey, man. You wanna be a boxer? It's a true story. So I I was like, I don't know. I mean, who knows?
So he gives me his card and says to me, hey. Give me a call, and we'll talk about it over steaks at Peter Luger's. So I go to the guy. I say, okay. And I go to the guy who ran the gym, and I said, hey.
That guy wants to take me to Peter Lugers, talk about being a boxer. And all he said to me was, hey, man. Peter Lucas is one of the best steak houses in the city. So I thought to myself, I just got out, like, not a few months ago. I couldn't afford a steak, and I didn't have a steak those 5 years I was in.
So I literally only went for the steak dinner. The man convinced me to move into his basement and live on a cot, and that man made me everything I am today.
Mick Hunt: Wow. Yeah. That's amazing. That's amazing.
Jameel McCline: The next day I was on his basement floor sleeping in some hey. Listen. You know, I was in solitary confinement for for years. So sleeping in the basement on the floor in a car, and it was all weight. It was like a weight room.
And that's just where I lived. I lived in the weight room for 6 months.
Mick Hunt: I love it. You know, we talked offline about transitioning out of boxing and how some of your peers and some of the people you looked up to didn't handle the transition. Right. And I know that there are a lot of forget boxing. There are a lot of former athletes, right, that don't handle the transition.
Because when you retire from, from professional sport, you're still a very young person in society. But, but a lot of times we don't look at it that way. And these are my words Let me go master something else. Like, what was that like for you? What was that spark for you that said, okay, I need to go master and be the person I'm supposed to be, not this athlete.
Jameel McCline: Well, I'll tell you now, you know, it's honestly speaking, it is as frightening as starting a boxing career. Any transition that you have no idea where you're going to end up is frightening. But for me, it always boils down to belief and these God given attributes that made me who I am. You know, I didn't become a fighter because of who I am. I am a fighter because of what's inside of me.
You know? Like, I I just transitioned that into don't get me wrong. I mean, just like boxing, you know, I I lost my ass many, many times. I've been beat by other people many, many times, use, you know, and you just learn and, know, you learn how to bob and weave, you know, and stick a jab when you're supposed to. So, you know, I just picked it up.
So what separates me, I think, is that, you know, just like boxing, you know, I started my career at the age of 25. And by the time I was 30, I was already in the top 10 in the world.
Mick Hunt: That's right.
Jameel McCline: And then for me back in those days in the top five was still Mike Tyson, Lennox Lewis and the Evander Holyfield. So for me to fight to claw my way in 5 years from the time I put on a pair of gloves, I'm destined to do whatever I wanna do. That's right. That's right. Whatever that is, however I define success is how I believe that it will end up, whatever that definition is for me.
So the trick has become lately to not put limits on that. At one time, it was x amount of, you know, dollars in the bank or x amount of, you know, assets. You know? Now it's like, no. There there really is no limit.
You know? It's just a matter of time. You know? I just need more time. That's all.
Mick Hunt: You know, again, I've told you this before, and I opened the podcast by saying it. You're one of the people that that I looked up to and admired. And here's why, man, because you have so many things that are not supposed to be going well for you. I mean, you think about it again. These are the words of Mick and Mick only.
Boxing today, getting in the top ten probably isn't that hard. But when you got there, bro, like getting in the top ten was not, I mean, you had to go through beast in the heavyweight division. And then you transition out of boxing and you go into the corporate America world, but your past is your past. All of that is stacked up against like Jamil is not supposed to win, but you're a freaking winner. And that's what I love, man.
And that's what, that's what I think people need to understand is most of the time you just gotta keep going. Like you're going to have bad days. You're going to have bad moments of days. Like every day is never going to be perfect. You just gotta keep going and you gotta have purpose.
And again, that's what I admire about you is that.
Jameel McCline: Thank you so much. You know, I'll tell you it's, you're right. It is just a matter of keep going because what other choice do you have? Like, I leave myself at, oftentimes, I'm thinking, okay. So what's next?
How do we do this? Like, how am I gonna figure out this? And and and I remember when I was in the league, you know, I call it the league. You know? It sounds cool.
I remember when I was in the league, you know, I would say, I got a big show on a table, and I'd say, I have no idea how I'm gonna do this, but I got the next 12 weeks to figure it out. And I would and that's when I would start training camp. 12 weeks out, I was a 12 week guy. I was one of those guys that needed to be in camp for 10 to 12 weeks. So just like in my professional life, you know, I really didn't know how we were gonna get to the next level and then to the next level, but I did know that if I stayed with it, it would just appear, you know, and just every day chopping wood, chopping wood.
So Mhmm. It's it's been a real experience because there is no doubt that it's frightening going into a new no one knows you. No one cares. No one cares that you were once, you know, fighting at Madison Square Garden, Mandalay Bay, Caesars Palace, HBO. They could care less if when when you're in the boardroom.
Oftentimes, I wouldn't even talk about if I'm doing a presentation, I wouldn't even talk about my past
Mick Hunt: Right.
Jameel McCline: What I did. You know, I just felt that no one really cared. You know? Once in a while, somebody would recognize me and say something and I'd speak to it. You know?
But if your deal wasn't a good deal, they pat you on the back, maybe ask for a selfie and send you on your way. I've seen it happen many times.
Mick Hunt: So when you decided to transition and retire from boxing and then go into corporate America, like, what was your thought process? What were the things that you had to put in place? Because there's a lot of people listening to this podcast right now that are at that stage. Again, they might not be professional athletes, but they're at that defining moment where I need to change my career for the better. What were those first steps like for Jamil?
Jameel McCline: So it was really difficult because first of all, you know, think about it. I was big time McClain. I mean, Jesus. I had my own parking spot, you know, next to the garden. You know, they made sure I had
Mick Hunt: to park.
Jameel McCline: Even when I wasn't fighting, they oh, that's Jermaine McCline's spot. And then all of a sudden, you know, I'm thrust into this world where no one could care less. For me, it was a, traumatizing experience because I was no longer judged on my name and my skill set. I was now judged on my performance in a new realm, in a in a new arena with new players, new rules, new bars to to hurdle. So it for me, it was it was traumatizing.
I will admit that. It was debilitating in terms of depression. I fell into deep depression, fell into drug use again after being clean my entire fight career, picked up cocaine and and drinking, and it was it was terrible for me. But, you know, I just woke up one day and just realized that, wow. You know, you're a champion, Jamille, and you were a champion for a reason.
So let's let's get it together. Let's step forward and see what we can make happen. And here I am a decade after I retired, and things are just absolutely phenomenal.
Mick Hunt: That's amazing. And there's people listening that are right there. There are people that are in depression, that are in despair, and and, you know, they think that or they feel that they can't get out of it. What's some encouragement you would give people? Because again, I know that there are people that are battling this right now.
What's some encouragement you would give?
Jameel McCline: So it's really hard to give encouragement on depression. Depression is absolutely debilitating. I mean, you can go into a room and not leave that room for 48, 72 hours only to eat and to use the bathroom because of depression. So as soon as I was able to find my way out, like, as soon, like, as soon as I saw, like, a bright day, you know, in my mind's eye, you know, I would seize on it. I would just run.
I would get out of the house. I would call, you know, and and they call that the manic stage when I would just call people, hey. What's going on? I got this. I got this going on.
Hey. I'm looking for this. I got this. Hey. What you, you know, and just I just kept pressing forward.
So it it giving someone advice on how to come out of depression is really hard. You know? I did a lot of mental, I did a lot of yoga and a lot of, psychotherapy with my, therapist speak to to be completely honest.
Mick Hunt: That's awesome. And I, again, I think those are things that people need to hear. And I'm just gonna say this, especially people that look like Jamil and I, right? Like, sometimes we're our egos get in the way and we don't wanna seek help or Right. We don't wanna call our buddies and and let them know we're going through dark moments or I just need someone to talk to.
So for people that are listening, I'm gonna say this. Number 1, pick up the phone and check on your people. They they probably need you. And then number 2, when you receive that call from a friend that maybe you haven't heard from in a while, there's probably a reason they're calling. Pick up the dog on phone because you never know that moment when just a simple hello, how are you doing?
Jameel McCline: I wish I had given that advice because that's so true. Because I tell you, when you're in that depression, sometimes picking up the phone is a huge step because people are trying to check on you. They haven't heard from you in a while and they're wondering what's going on, and you're sitting in your hole going, woe is me, woe is me when you actually have people reaching out to you. So to your point, I actually started you know, that was the first thing like that. As soon as I saw a slither of light and I got a phone call.
Okay. Hey. How's it going? Hey, Jamil. Hey.
I'm looking for this, so I got this going on. Sure. I'll show up. That's the first step. Just just being brave.
You know, that's one of the things that set me apart in my career as well was that I was absolutely courageous, you know, sometimes to the point of psychosis. You know? It's crazy. I was so brave. I was like, I didn't care.
Oh, okay. You you want me to put you wanna put me in with Lennox Lewis? I got 12 fights, had no amateur career. Okay. You know?
And, you know, 100 rounds later, I started winning a few. You know? A few. I wanna make that clear.
Mick Hunt: Just you won more than a few, brother. You won more than a few.
Jameel McCline: I'm talking about tomorrow sessions with Lennox Lewis.
Mick Hunt: Oh, I gotcha. I gotcha. That's awesome, man. And you hit on a couple of things that that my mentor talks to me about. So Les Brown is is my personal mentor.
And in our podcast, he, he announced to the world this phrase called the Mick Factor. So m I c k. So mastery, imagination, courage, and keep going. And you've actually hit on all of those because that's, that's what you're talking about. Right?
You had to master something in box and you had to master something outside of the boxing world. You just talked about the imagination to say, okay, I'm gonna go spar with Lennox Lewis. Right? Like, I'm gonna, I have the imagination that I can be a top 10 top 10 fighter. I can be a contender.
You've hit on courage so much, and we open the podcast talking about keep going. It's just amazing how, like, your story transcends into to me and what I do too. And I'd love to hit on mastery because I think that's something that's really important for people. You had to master a lot in the ring. You have to master a skill.
You just don't get in and just box. Right? Like, there there's a lot of things that you need to master. And then outside of the ring, you had to master something else. So I'd love to do this twofold.
Like, how did you learn mastery from a boxing perspective? And then how did that translate over into your corporate world?
Jameel McCline: Attrition. That's how I learned mastery, attrition. We just stayed with it day after day, year after year. You know? We just, back in my career, I remember, you know, the the the old German guy, Ron, was like, listen.
You have to do something every single day. And then when you get in shape, you have to do something twice every single day. So I took that exact format into my professional career. You have to do something significant every day. And then when you get your feet on, do you have to do something significant twice every single day?
And it's really hard to keep that momentum going just like in life. You know? Some days you have it, some days you don't, some days I got nothing done. But my goal was to do something significant twice a day every day. Even if that significant was just as little as, getting a commitment for a meeting, You know, getting 2 commitments for a meeting, that would be my 2.
And then what I had to master was in corporate America. I had to I had a very, you know, just a, you know, big, happy, strong, outgoing guy, you know, you know, I have 0 to prove and and that comes through in my in my personality, in my energy, and people are just drawn to me. I was very fortunate to be around some of the some of the smartest people here in South Florida, and I was able to connect them through my network nationwide and and worldwide as well, but I had to learn how to do that. I had to learn how to up manage, down manage, and cross manage. You know?
I really had to learn how to manage egos. You know? You know, I had this one guy. He's a billionaire. You know?
And I and I was talking to him, and he says to me, you know, Jamil, you got this thing about you. You see how you speak low and you make me pay attention to you? I'm like, I wasn't trying to speak low. I wasn't trying to get you to I was just talking to you, but thanks for telling me that. You know?
Like, the guy was basically, what he was saying was that, you know, you have command. So when he said that to me, things kinda clicked in my mind's eye. I was like, wow. I have the ability to hold someone's attention. Even this guy who you know, he wasn't listening to me because I was Jamil MacKhan.
He was listening to me because he thought I had some reeling for him to say. You know? You know? And I did, and I and I did, and I got him interested, and I got him happy, and I got him excited, and he understood what I was where I was going with the with the idea. And, you know, when we got together and we made some really great things happen.
Mick Hunt: That's awesome. Again, one of the things that I also love about you and I could talk to Jamil McLean, big time, a client all day. Right? Like we could have a, a 20 hour episode, but I won't do that to the people. In boxing, bouncing back is as important as the actual fight itself.
Right. Because there are moments in the fight where you've got to make quick decisions or this combo that you thought you're gonna be able to get off because you practice it forever, you can't. How did that translate into your corporate world too? Because again, bouncing back, having strategy, and being able to adapt quickly, I think are big facets. If I look at every power leader, that's what they do.
Jameel McCline: Adaptability. You know, we talk about that often, my partner and I, and adapt or die. You know, I am an artificial intelligence now. And, you know, just yesterday, in Nvidia came out with some you know? And also, Elon Musk, this past weekend, was saying that, you know, jobs are gonna be gone by the wayside tip you know, because of AI.
It's gonna take so many jobs. And my partner and I were on a phone talking about it. And we were like, well, what's gonna happen next? He's like, we already figured it out. We've already adapted.
You just showed us how to adapt because we're in a different you know, we we made some incredible things happen. I'll talk about that in a little while. It's all about adaptability just like in the ring. You know? Just like you said, you're getting ready to make a move.
He counters with something. You gotta have the ability to adapt, and we've been able to adapt. When I say we, I mean me, you know, my family, my loved ones, my partners. We've just been able to adapt, like, on the fly and make sure that we're bringing value to whatever service that we're trying to provide to our client base, especially in the ever changing world of technology. You know, Moore's Law says that technology changes every 18 months.
Well, that's gone. You know, now it's every 6 months technology is changing. Correct. You know, you really have to be on the cutting edge of whatever it is you're thinking of doing or whatever it is you are doing. You have to be on the cutting edge because AI, automation, iteration is is is here.
And I I I just feel that all enterprise level organizations that are not prepared will be swallowed up by organizations that are prepared, and the smaller ones that are prepared will become the bigger ones.
Mick Hunt: All day. And you hit on a phrase that I just wrote down, and I'm gonna give you a lot of props, adapt or die. You hit on it. This world is ever changing at a much faster pace than we've ever seen in the history of life. And if you're a business leader and you're not adapting, like I can't tell you how many folks I talked to that have a 3 year plan or a 1 year plan, and it's a piece of paper that they review once a year.
I'm like, if you review your strategic plan once a year, you're set up for failure, and you're probably not gonna be in business in the next 3 to 5 because the world is evolving that much. Technology, AI, they're coming for us. Right? And for those that that don't wanna embrace or that don't adapt, you're gonna not be here from a business standpoint. So I love that thing.
Jameel McCline: Correct. You know, I oftentimes, we have, you know, powwows with my partners and I. And if we just feel that to be a true leader in any vertical, it doesn't matter, to be a true leader, adaptability of the technology now and and and learning what that technology is. Like, again, you know, I'm really fortunate because I have a god given attributes that allow me to transition and adapt, and I've had that since I was a kid got when I went into, a orphanage at 7 years old. You know, I adapted very quickly to being alone.
I was a I I was able to tolerate. I remember it was very stressful at the beginning, you know, nightmares as a young kid, but then I just adapted, and I'm just a happy kid all the time. And even though I was separated from the family, I it's just who I am, and, yeah, adaptability.
Mick Hunt: Alright. I'm gonna rapid fire a couple of questions for you before before we find what Jamil's doing now. So toughest fight.
Jameel McCline: Toughest fight I had, I won. It was a 12 round fight against, Shannon Briggs. Every time the man hit me, he hurt me. When I say hurt, I mean, I was concussed. Every time he hit me, I was concussed.
I got cussed concussed maybe 12 times in that fight. Mhmm.
Mick Hunt: Big time my client's favorite punch or combination to throw.
Jameel McCline: So the the right uppercut to the body, the left hook to the head, the straight right to the head.
Mick Hunt: I had to sit back in my chair for a moment just in case you're about to throw it real quick.
Jameel McCline: That's right up a cut, the left hook and the straight right down the pipe. It was just my fastest, most effective punch, and it got me out of a lot of trouble in my career. Because I always put guys on my shoulder when I would throw it. It would be right on my shoulder, and I just hit the belly, hit their chin, hit the and hit the chin again. Good night.
Mick Hunt: Mhmm. That's deadly right there. That's deadly right there. Alright. So we talked about your toughest fight.
Easiest opponent that you ever faced.
Jameel McCline: Michael Grant.
Mick Hunt: Alright.
Jameel McCline: I stopped him in 43 seconds.
Mick Hunt: Good. Yeah. What was the the knockout? What was the move?
Jameel McCline: Okay. So it was, actually, My trainer said everything we worked on, forget about it. Go out, hit him with a left hook. I looked at him. I was like, what?
He goes, go hit him with a left hook. I walk out, hit him with a left hook, he goes down. Later, we talk about it. I say, why he goes he goes I said, Jimmy, why'd you do that? You changed it right at the end there later.
And he goes, son, I it was all Jimmy Glenn. He goes he always called me son. He goes, son, I saw his legs shaking, and I didn't wanna get I didn't want him to get any courage. So I wanted you to hit him with the left hook, Work.
Mick Hunt: Let it be known early, hon. Alright. And then last rapid fire, any camp superstitions? I've heard some stories of of boxers and their superstitions in camps.
Jameel McCline: So when I went to camp, I went I was seldom. Once once I went to camp, that's it. I'm selling it to the fight, and that's it. So a lot of guys say it's a superstition. You know, you know, I I I experimented a couple times, and I didn't believe it was a superstition because I didn't have the same legs the next day.
Mick Hunt: So celebrate through the fight, but after the fight, it was on.
Jameel McCline: It was on. Always right there ready for me.
Mick Hunt: Oh, I'm getting in trouble. I'm getting in trouble. Alright. So what is Jamille McCline? What is Big Time McCline doing now?
Like, where can people find me? Like, what are your passions? What are you doing with work?
Jameel McCline: So, really, you can always find me on LinkedIn, Jamille McClain on LinkedIn. So I I kinda stay away from the other social media currently, but, because, you know, when I ran for United States Congress, I had tens of thousands of followers, but it just got overwhelming. So I got away from it. Too many opinions, too many people yelling at me for no reason. So I got away from it.
Namaste. Peace of my life. Right? But, yeah. So now I'm an artificial intelligence of we developed a product, the first we're first to market with a, amazing product.
We're able to hyper personalize video from data. So in other words, if you give me a dataset, I can turn that data into video, at scale by the millions on demand immediately. So I can put out maybe a mil I can put out a 1000000 videos for a company, and and I can do that just using data in less than an hour.
Mick Hunt: Any type of data set? So you're talking PDF?
Jameel McCline: Any type of data set, like, like name, number, address, the car they're driving, the car they like, or the car they have, or the trade in. So we're we're specifically in the automotive industry now. We have, in the last 3 months, we've had an incredible run. We've been able to bring on about 70,000,000 in new business in in just 3 months with the product. The product, no one else has it in the world.
We're the only ones in the world that can render 10 80p video at scale on demand immediately using only data. So if you go to my website, our website, Techpedal, t e c h, Pedal, like technology, Pedal, pedal.io. It'll give you some because it moves so fast. Like I said, we the the industry was like I was saying earlier about adaptability and changing. The industry was moving so fast.
We had to come up with a product. We were doing well. We had about 400 different, rooftops, automotive rooftops that we're servicing with some technology or another coming into September of last year. We sat down, had a postmortem after a meeting, didn't like how it went, really understood the position that we were in, came up with a product that no one else in the world can that no one else in the world has. And, yes, we started in the automotive industry, but we're moving very quickly into the health care, dental, any other industry with the it's it's really a tool for marketing agents and ad agencies.
Mick Hunt: Wow. I mean, I've been obviously, my ears perked up the entire call, but 70,000,000 in 3 months?
Jameel McCline: So we put on new business. Yeah. We've been able to sign some of the largest automotive ad agencies in the country from Affinitive to Solara to Vista Vista, you know, that's the to $96,000,000,000 fund. We've already been offered a buyout. Of course, we're not going to take it.
Yeah. We've been able to get Iheartradio as one of our new clients. I mean, I can just go on and on in just 3 months because the technology is so timely. No one else has it. So if you're an ad agency, think about it.
You're sending out all these videos and all these emails, and no one's clicking the emails, or no one's watching your videos. So we we just, have the ability to take your entire dataset. Let's say your Home Depot, you have a a special on wood this week or barbecue grills. We can hit your entire database nationwide, hyper personalized. Hey, Mick.
Thank you for, checking out this, video. We got a great offer. Come on down to Home Depot. Show them this QR code and get 30% off the next grill you buy or whatever.
Mick Hunt: And and that's where the world is. Personalization. That's what people want. Like, I tell people all the time. I just taught a class on selling to the modern buyer.
The modern buyer, like the generation younger than you and I, they want quick and they want it personalized.
Jameel McCline: Quick. They want it personalized. And 70% of all content on the Internet now is video based. Right? So everyone is watching videos.
Facebook came out with reels to compete with TikTok and, Instagram. They put it on Instagram. But it it it it just it's all videos. So we've just seen that, you know, sometimes a 14 to 30% increase in engagement. And really, that's in marketing and advertising.
It's really about engagement. Right. Getting your client base to just pay attention. Brand loyalty. I I'd like to say we finally got we got a great company that, Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy, l v m h.
That's I mean, that brand I mean, I'm not a Louis Vuitton. I'm not a brand guy, but because that brand is so the Louis Vuitton, the Hennessy, the Moet brand, we got that brand. We're doing marketing for that company as well now. And, and I was telling them, listen. We're the best in the world at what we do.
And he was like, he didn't know I was a fighter. He didn't know I was amongst the best in
Mick Hunt: the world.
Jameel McCline: And I was like, listen. This is just what we do. This is how we are. This is what we believe in our souls. We believe that we are the best.
Even when we weren't, we believed it. Right? Now we came out with this product. 4 months later, we're 70,000,000 in new business. And he was like, wow.
You guys really are the best in the world. And I was like, well, what made you see that now? He goes, I see that you guys believe it. Yep. That's where it starts.
Mick Hunt: Amen to that brother. Amen to that. Ladies and gentlemen, Jamil Big Time McCline.
Jameel McCline: Woo hoo.
Mick Hunt: My dude, my dude, my dude.
Jameel McCline: I appreciate
Mick Hunt: you more. Techpedal. Io. I know that there are a lot of business leaders listening. Go have a conversation.
Go research them. They have a solution to the problem that you have. I promise you, you have this problem. I don't care the industry, they solve the problem. Video and distribution, you can't beat it.
Jameel McCline: Video distribution at scale on demand.
Mick Hunt: There we go. Everybody remember, your because is your superpower. Unleash it. Jamil, I love you, brother.
Intro: Thanks for listening to Mick Unplugged. We hope this episode helps you take the next step toward the extraordinary and launch as a revolution in your life. Don't forget to rate and review the podcast and be sure to check us out on YouTube at Mick Unplugged. Remember, stay empowered, stay inspired, and stay unplugged.