Tony Gaskins Jr. is a motivational speaker, author, and life coach who has appeared on the Oprah Winfrey show. Tony built his brand from scratch to where he now has more than 1 million followers on social media. At 22, he became an author. At 23, he became a husband and father. At 25, he started his first company, Soul Writers LLC. At 25, he also got himself on globally televised shows to tell a portion of his story. Tony decided to turn his pain into purpose and live a life of service. Raised in the church and being the son of a pastor, there was something about service that stuck with Tony.
Tony made his fair share of mistakes like most young men from areas like where he grew up. Many of his childhood friends are serving life sentences in prison. Although Tony was introduced to the street life between the ages of 18–23, he finally found his way. At 23, he allowed love to change his life. His wife was unwilling to be with a man who wouldn’t live up to his full potential. That tough love pushed Tony to be more and to do more.
By combining all of his passions Tony became an author, life coach, and speaker. In 2015 Tony began working with an NBA team as the team life coach. Tony also became the life coach for several college teams. His message comes from his mess. He believes that we all are coaches because we’ve all learned lessons that can help someone else. Operating in his gifts also took him around the world as a highly sought- after speaker. Tony has spoken in two other continents and over 10 different countries and counting. Tony was able to accomplish these feats by the tender age of 31.
He doesn’t believe in boxes. “Don’t put me in a box until I’m going in the ground,” he says. He covers a wide range of topics in the areas of life, love, and business. He’s written several books on those subjects with his latest work being The Dream Chaser published by Wiley and available everywhere books are sold.
In today’s episode, we discuss:
- His appearance on the Oprah Winfrey show
- How his background helped shape who he is now
- Writing books to help people
- Working with and connecting with NBA players
Matt Morse is the author of the #1 best-seller “Mental Game VIP” and co-author (with Brian Cain) of “Mental Conditioning for Baseball.” He is a former NCAA Division-I baseball player turned innovative entrepreneur, author, speaker, consultant, and coach who equips top businesses, authors, speakers, coaches, athletes, and teams with the tools and strategies needed to maximize their impact. Matt is also the founder of Kaifect, a full-service impact agency that specializes in online marketing, branding, web development, social media, content creation, copywriting, graphic design, audio/video production, product creation and launches, live events, Facebook Ads, affiliate marketing, research and reporting, and digital strategies.
Dr. Cory Dobbs is the Founder & President of The Academy for Sport Leadership. A former basketball coach, Cory’s coaching background includes experience at the NCAA DII, NJCAA, and high school levels of competition. Cory has worked with collegiate athletic programs and high schools teaching leadership and team building as a part of the sports experience and education process. Cory is an accomplished researcher of human experience–a relentless investigator of team building and leadership behavior. A skilled researcher, Cory actively engages the process of naturalistic inquiry seeking in-depth understanding of social phenomena such as leadership and team building in their natural setting. A “teamologist,” Dr. Dobbs is an author, speaker, teacher, trainer and a consultant. Cory has been a recognized educator teaching at institutions such as Northern Arizona University, Ohio University, and Grand Canyon University.