38: Bench Warmer to Pro Basketball Career, Author of 29 Books & 8,000 Videos // The Story of Dre Baldwin

Dre Baldwin turned one year of high school basketball and a Division 3 college ball career into 9 years of pro basketball. In 2005, he began blogging and publishing to a new website called “YouTube.” That’s where the brand started. Dre created his first products in 2008, and introduced the phrase “Work On Your Game” in 2009. His first book “Buy A Game” published in 2010.

Dre stopped playing basketball in 2015 – the same year he did the first of his 4 TEDxTalks. The daily Work On Your Game Podcast launched in 2016. Today, between Speaking, Coaching, Authoring and Podcasting, Dre serves an audience of entrepreneurs, professionals and athletes on mastering Discipline, Confidence & Mental Toughness.

Time-Stamped Show Notes:

• 3:50 During his younger days, Dre tried different types of sports from football to baseball. He started basketball at the age of 14.
• 5:26 After college, Dre wanted to play professional basketball but he doesn’t have any concrete plans to make this dream a reality.
• 6:19 Dre went to an event called Exposure Camp, which was a huge opportunity for people who want a career in professional sports.
• 8:22 In 2005, Dre decided to upload his basketball video to YouTube.
• 11:11 In 2010, people started learning about Dre’s story through his YouTube videos.
• 14:21 When he stopped playing basketball in 2015, Dre knew what he wanted to do.
• 15:26 Eric talks about mental toughness and how it is related to his life. He also asks why people continue to do things even though it looks impossible to achieve.
• 18:19 According to Dre, people need to be irrational enough sometimes to create something new and move forward.
• 24:14 Dre offers his insight on life journey and destination. He talks about persistence and not giving up amidst failure.
• 29:15 A book called The Third Day, written by Dre, is all about the decision that you make to show up every day and deliver, which makes you a real pro and a champion. You can get this book for free, just go to: ThirdDayBook.com
• 32:10 Being unemployed and staying at his parents’ house after playing pro basketball abroad, Dre ended up working at a supermarket restocking the shelves.
• 35:00 For one and a half weeks, Dre felt he was a total loser working at the supermarket.
• 44:40 For the people who know where they want to go but are stuck in a place or situation that is not meant for them, Dre offers a piece of sound advice.
• 47:45 Dre is most active on Instagram but he also posts daily on his YouTube channel.
• 48:40 Receiving a call from his agent to play pro basketball in Lithuania was the very first rockin’ it moment for Dre.
• 50:08 If Dre was given the chance to go back in time and talk to his younger self in his rock bottom moment, he would tell him to just stay in the game.

This Episode Brought to You By:

• 28:20 The Man, the Myth, the Canadian Legend: Eric Gilbert-Williams. Eric put together this very podcast as a passion project to help you & others. If you’d be so kind to Subscribe & Leave a Written Review of the show, it’d really make our day! You can Subscribe & Rate our Podcast right here: From Rock Bottom to Rockin’ It..

Key Points from the Interview:

• “Each one of us, who is listening to this right now, you get to decide when the story is over. As long as you’re alive, the story can keep going. So you could hit rock bottom, quote unquote ten different times, that doesn’t mean the story’s over. As long as you keep going, the story can continue to be written. What I tell people is putting a comma at the end of a failure instead of a period.”
• “Success is not about what happens in one particular moment, even though the show is about rock bottoom and rockin it moments, it’s really about what you do every single moment. Because the only way you get to that moment of rockin it, because if you listen to both what Eric has shared and what I’ve shared, is that it’s the small decisions that we make along the way that put us in position for that rockin it moment to occur.”

Resources Mentioned:

• Instagram: @drebaldwin
• LinkedIn: DreAllDay
• YouTube: Dre Baldwin – Work On Your Game
• Twitter: @DreAllDay
• Facebook: @WorkOnYourGame
• DreBaldwin.com
• ThirdDayBook.com
• 3 Steps To Gain Mental Toughness and Confidence In Your Negotiations