Bek Lover
Appearances
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
What I regret the most about losing my brother, for example, wasn't just the loss of him. When I look back now, it's like, oh my God, I lost three years. Three years of my life in sorrow. Yeah.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
And I couldn't picture a life without this guy anymore because he was so important to me. Yeah. And helped me shape a lot of my identity. He gave me a lot. He's the one that always told me, what are you doing, man? People love you. You're wasting your talent. Why are you working? Go into Hollywood. I said, I only want to be an actor. He's like, dude, you belong in front of a camera. Yeah.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
What are you doing? People love you. You inspire people. You make them laugh. People love you, man. Yeah. And then, you know, losing him in, it just, it was devastating, brother. You know? So walk us through the steps of moving. So I was at work. Yeah. So, you know, I'm going to work in the morning. I take the ferry into the city. There's traffic in my town. There's never traffic like that.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
I'm like, what's going on? Somebody died on River Road. I'm like, who the hell dies on River Road? Make the story short. I'm going around my own brother, not even realizing it's him. That's him. Damn. I get to work. And at this time, I worked for Hilton in the biggest hotel in New York, the Hilton on 54th or whatever it is, right here on 6th Avenue.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
That's where Trump, the first time he won, he held his acceptance speech there. So I get up to the penthouse because that's where they would sell the units. And I get up there and then I see all my family calling me. At the same time, I'm like, this is not good. Something bad is happening. The fact that my aunts are all calling me, they never even call me, something's wrong.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
So I pick up, they're like, get to your uncle's house right now. I'm like, what do you mean? Like, just get to his house now. I'm like, can you tell me why? They're like, I don't want to tell you over the phone. I'm like, okay, so I already know someone's dead. I'm praying at the time, it's my grandmother maybe, you know? But in my heart, I'm like, it's probably him, man. It can't be him.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
Make the story short, man. I'm like... I don't know where I'm going. I get downstairs. I'm trying to hail a cab. This is like before Uber really took over. And I make it back. And I'm in the cab. And then my other cousin calls me and says, hey, man, Nicky's gone. I said, dude, I just went crazy. Punching the roof nuts. The poor cab guy, man. He's like, brother, are you okay?
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
I said, nah, man, I'm not. I said, I'm sorry, man. Just get me to the ferry, man. And I went back home. Years, Nicky. You know, people go through a hard time in life. And I understand sometimes it's weeks, sometimes it's months, sometimes it's years. Brother, for you, sister, for you, it might be decades. But you never give up, man. You can't.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
And to say that I didn't feel like I had in some ways, I did. I felt like I did. I'm inside of a man cave. I was never an introvert. During this time period, I became fully introverted. It's crazy. It's like the complete opposite of who I am. That's how you know something's wrong with Beck. This is a guy who will talk to anybody, anywhere, anytime, and now he doesn't even want to talk.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
And now, let alone, I got to go sell timeshare. And I used emotion as a weapon in sales.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
And now I'm like, I go from being one of the top sales reps to I'm about to lose my job. I'm literally 90 days in. Because you get three months in that. They give you three months to pick up. And everyone felt bad. Everyone knew what had happened. They're like, this rock star. It's like, you know.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
My manager just felt bad. Everyone felt bad for me. And they're like, shit, man. We're going to lose him. We're going to lose Cleo. We're going to lose him. And I'm on my last knees, man. And I remember that time, man. It was... It was rough, bro. Wow. It was rough. I couldn't control the emotion. Yeah. So where I would try to get it out of my clients, it was... Mind was coming out too much.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
I'm the one crying on the table. I would make them... Listen, in hard sales, I'm sorry. Make them laugh. Make them cry. Either way, they will buy. The problem was I was the one crying. So... It was crazy, man. And then, you know, something kind of came over me, man. I heard him, his voice. He's like, don't, he always told me, never give up. I, the tiger. He would always say that to me.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
I, the tiger, Nicky. I'm looking at my kids' pictures and I don't know what happens, brother, but I go on a freaking rampage, bro. I broke like a sick record that month. So I'm on like final warning about to be fired. So like I sold a half a million dollars that month. I made like 50 racks. I saved my job. And I came back out of the abyss. But I wasn't healed yet.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
But at least I had gotten back to the point where I could work. There was something therapeutic about work. I think a lot of times when people go through tragedy, they go into isolation. I think that's where you become devastated. It's okay to pull back for a little bit, but for not too long. Because if you do... you can go into a very dark hole and it might be very hard to come back up.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
And I know because I kind of did that. So I think having the routine after tragedy, you know, as hard as it is to go to work and, you know, friends, like let your friends talk to you, man. You know, you need people, man. We're social creatures. That isolation destroys us, man.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
You know, even these podcasts, you know, like what you're doing right now, there might be one person listening to this right now that changes their life, Mickey. And the impact, you know, and I'm sure you get messages all the time. To me, that's what kept me going throughout all of this. Always the thought of, I can't give up. So many people before me didn't give up.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
My family, I saw them after the war. They lost everything. People died. They didn't give up. How am I going to give up over this? How can I be the one that gives up? My grandfather, great-grandfather did 28 years in a communist prison. He didn't give up. How am I going to give up? Yeah. Like shame on me if I give up because we're going to die anyway. That's it.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
You listened to my episodes lately. You might turn it off and say this guy's out of his mind. But that's why I love you.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
And when you realize the great equalizer, like, hey, no matter what, we're all going to die.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
So wherever they are, I'm going and we might as well go out swinging. And then that kind of breath. You know, in faith, I do have faith in the creator. That breath is kind of what led to all of this, which is why we're here today.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
These things are going to happen, man. And you're not the only one going through them. And so many people have gone through them, are going through them, and will go through them. You're not here forever. You can't let this one or two events dictate the rest of your life. having a purpose for life, man, like really having a purpose.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
Like today when I, you know, came into the city, you could see it in people's faces, man. You know, there's two types of people that wake up in the morning. There's the ones that look miserable. They're like, man, you can see them at the bus stop. They're going to a job. that they don't want to go to. Then you have the ones that seem a little bit more alive, right?
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
You're talking about the comeback team? Absolutely. We're going to launch season two soon, man. I really miss that work. You know, speaking of podcasting, it's what brought me and you here. And when I started that show five years ago, almost six years ago,
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
And to me, I always said, those are the bosses, those are the workers. Having a purpose for your life. It's not just about money, Mick. For money, I would have stayed working in Timeshift the rest of my life. I made a great living there. I was not happy. So until you find a purpose for your life, and if you can't find it for yourself, then find a purpose for other people, man.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
Give some meaning to your life, man. So when I said earlier, like, my kids. So, yeah, I'm going through tragedy and trauma. So I put myself first. My kids need me. I got to get through this. You got to have a why, right?
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
Like the greats say, like Les Brown and Eric Thomas. Yeah. You got to have a why. What is your purpose, man? Is it just to make money and then that's it? Like, okay, maybe you don't have kids. Like whose life can you make better?
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
Because if you're not, you're being selfish and maybe that's part of the reason why you're having a hard time. That's it. Find a higher purpose, man. Life is so damn short. Fight for something, man. If you can't fight for yourself, fight for someone else. Exactly. It's kind of always been my approach with this type of stuff.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
So things have really transitioned in the last couple of years. So I never went into podcasting to really get political. It was actually the one subject matter that I was kind of avoiding. People would look at my content and I'm like, this guy's full of crap. No, go look at my first season of my podcast.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
Then something happened in 2019 where I kind of got galvanized because I didn't like what was going on. And I'm not, just for the record, not Republican or Democrat. I believe it's an illusion. If I was to be classified, yes, I'm someone that leads towards conservative values, family, and all that stuff, and business, and God, and blah, blah, blah.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
But I don't believe in ramming it down people's throats. Right. So I ended up going on the Danny Jones podcast, huge podcast. And I'm there to talk about just random stuff. And somehow religion came up. And I am Caucasian, but I'm of the Muslim faith. So I'm not stereotypically what you would classify and the ignorance that a lot of people have as what a Muslim would look like.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
They're usually someone with a huge beard and a turban around their head and they talk like this. So I've always, you know, I'm coming from an Albanian background and seeing what my family lived through during the occupation of Kosovo under the brutal Serbian regime, under Milosevic.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
at the age of 30 what am i minus seven so 37 years old i just walked away from a very lucrative career selling timeshare in new york city yeah and i wasn't happy in life i wasn't happy with the work i was doing i was happy with the money but i wasn't happy
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
And just knowing what it's like to see that and learning about it as an American, what happens to the African-American community here. I was always... like inspired by these people who would push back against that type of evil. You know, as a child, I watched the movie Gandhi like 20 times. You know, the movie Gandhi.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
And just these social injustices that have existed, I've always spoken out against, but just never really publicly like on the internet. I went to protest my whole life against the Bosnian war, what was going on with my people and stuff like that, right? Going on these shows, that came out of me. And it just broke the internet, brother. We're talking about billions of views. Yeah.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
And I was going through one of the darkest times of my life. Another personal thing that I won't get into. But it was another. Just because you went through one bad thing doesn't mean it's not going to come back again. Correct. Or something horrible is going to happen. Correct. Right? Because it's just a matter of time, right? Yep. And make the story short, my phone's vibrating one day.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
I'm at a really low point right now. This is like a few years ago. My phone's going like, I'm like, what the hell's going on? Bro, you're everywhere, bro. What do you mean? Tyrese Gibson just posted you. I'm like, Tyrese? There you go. Baby boy? Bella Hadid, this one, that one. I'm like, what the hell is going on? I couldn't believe it myself, man. This just went viral.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
Now it's at the point where I literally go outside and I swear to God I get stopped all the time. And I'm like, how? Mick Hunt got more followers than I do, man. Only got 130,000. There's people with my face and my name, I swear to God, online that have way more followers. Yeah. Just using my name, it's crazy. And I'm like, I got 30,000. This guy's got like 180, like on TikTok.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
I got 180,000 followers on TikTok. My name, all the content's mine. Why do I leave it up? Because he's clearly doing a better job of marketing me than I am. I swear to God. He's a better me than me. And he was respectful. He's like, sir, I am making money with your content. I said, good, you're doing better than I am. He goes, sir, I would like to give you half the money.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
I said, I don't want nothing. I said, the fact that you had respect and that you tagged my name, keep doing what you're doing. But there was one weirdo who was like literally trying to pretend like he's me. Like I gave him like, okay, you could post. But then I see him like, my friends were right on me, not knowing that it's not me. Same picture, just a Beck dot lover.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
Mine's Beck lover, his is Beck dot lover. They're like, I miss you. He's like, yeah, I miss you too. I said, listen, my man. I said, this is your first warning. I don't mind that you're doing what you're doing. But if you try to impersonate me or act like with people I know or even just people in general, we're going to have a problem. I'm going to strike the page. Okay, brother, I want this.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
Probably some guy from Pakistan or somewhere. I don't know. Of course. The way I'm picking on the Asians today. Mr. Humanist. But they know I love them. They know I love them. Beck loves all. Beck loves all. So, yeah, man. You know, that's the whole thing. Starting where we started from the beginning of this. Starting a podcast. Not realizing what was going to happen. Having no experience.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
personally yeah and uh when i started that show i really first of all i don't have any experience as a podcaster i had no experience in production i knew i could talk because to succeed in sales for 20 years you got to be able to talk right if you can't talk you're a starving salesperson yeah okay so i knew i had the ability to talk i knew i had the ability to connect with people and i said okay i know i have the skill that's important for podcasting the rest of the stuff
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
I had every reason not to. Family saying, you're stupid. What, are you going through a midlife crisis? Oh, you're making a fool of yourself. My mother, stop already. You're making a fool of us. Yeah. Okay? But you know what you want to do. There it is. I knew this 10 years ago.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
And what did I do? I'm living my life for everyone else except for me. I know the gift. God gives everyone a gift. Most of us either A, are too stupid to realize what it is. B, too scared to operate on it. Or C, don't believe, man. So basically... You know, there's someone out there that, you know, you're listening to this and you make the best apple pie on earth.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
And you don't realize that that was the game. It wasn't to be an amazing basketball player or a public speaker. It's that you literally make the best apple pie in the world. Babe, he's talking about you. Okay. My wife. And how does God tell you this? Everyone tells you, hey, you know, what's her name? Marcy. Marcy. Marcy, I love your apple pie. Please make us one.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
Marcy, for the holiday, can you make your pie? Hey, Marcy, my teacher is having a bake sale. Could you, you know, can we? And that's your clues, man. That's your gift. That if only you would realize that, hey, this is my gift. Everyone has a gift. Some people, they use their looks. It is a gift. I think it's a gift and a curse at the same time. But... I always knew I had a big mouth.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
Some of my teachers, if you look it up, it says in my yearbook, most likely to have his own talk show. I swear to God. They knew it in high school. Now imagine, they knew this in high school. And I didn't. Hell, we do.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
And so do a lot of you. You know what your gift is, but you're too scared to go after it. You don't have to quit your job. There's so many ways to get somewhere.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
You know? I can go with a plane. I can go with a boat. Right? It's the same thing in life. There's more than one way to get to the destination, but so many people just don't want to try, Mick. That's it. They don't want to try, brother. They don't want to try. They don't want to sacrifice watching soccer or football or whatever that's taking up Xbox. Yeah.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
And procrastination, man, is such a dream killer. That's my greatest regret now. Looking back at all of it, the tragedy, the success. What I regret the most about losing my brother, for example, wasn't just the loss of him. When I look back now, it's like, oh, my God. I lost three years. Three years of my life in sorrow. Someone gets divorced, it takes them five years to get back up.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
I get it, man. That heartache is serious to some people, man. Some people are just heartless. They don't feel sure. Okay, next. The greatest regret, if you're young and you're listening to Mick's show right now, the greatest regret you will have in this life, I promise you, two, three of them. One, it's not going after it. Taking that risk. Yep. Okay? I've failed so many times, man.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
I don't even care anymore. I'm like numb to it. I laugh now. I'm like, okay, next. I've lost construction. I've lost plenty of companies in my life. I've also succeeded. But what I'm saying is not taking the risk. not having the faith, because some of it you're going to have to go on faith.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
If I would have paid attention to what was happening in the beginning of my podcasting career, me and you would not be sitting here right now today. We would not have met this. Tyler in the other room wouldn't be here today. These relationships, I drove cross country. I met Rachel Ray. I'm going to her house in Italy. She's amazing.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
Just by knowing, hey, I think I have this gift, I'm going to take the risk. And everyone close to me It's telling me I'm stupid. You're making a fool of yourself. You're an idiot. You're this, you're that. Meanwhile, I have strangers from all over the world saying, you really changed my life. I mean, what you said to me caught me off guard.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
But I mean, those types of messages are what kept me going. Even though there was no recognition, no money, nothing. And that's why I never stopped. And I made a pact. I said, I will never stop. Because to save one life is as if you saved the whole world.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
I'm going to learn how to do it. And I launched the comeback team with nothing, man. Nothing. What gave me a little bit of morale in the beginning was the first season I went from it. This is where sales comes in. I'm telling anyone. I'm looking at the camera. I don't care if you don't want a career in sales. It is a skill you must learn in life. Absolutely.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
I got three myself too, man. And it's difficult, you know, because, I mean, I don't know. I mean, in most households, it's the, Daddy, I love you. Then the hormones start kicking in.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
Some bodily changes start happening. Yeah. Then it's the, I hate you, Dad. Yeah. We've all been there. And then it's the life is so busy. And then it's the, damn, what my dad went through. And, damn, what I put him through. You have the self-realization. And that, I think, only happens once you become a parent. Yep. I became very humble and mortal. I say I became mortal the day I became a father.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
I was never scared of anything. I was known as a nightlife guru, always out to four or five in the morning. I was always an amazing networker.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
And I think that's another thing that a lot of young people drop the ball on. Even though they have tools that we didn't have and maybe it's done more online now, but knowing how to store those resources, man. You meet these people. You get a business call. Okay, maybe you're nowhere near that industry. This is a little nugget for your audience.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
This is so important, okay, when it comes to networking. You've seen me. You see I know everybody. Absolutely. It's so important because you don't realize that you're 18, you're 19, you're 20, you're in college. You haven't figured out your life yet. Some people don't figure it out until their 40s, man. I mean, it is what it is. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
You have to learn because you're going to have a very mediocre life if you don't. And what do I mean by that? It's not about trying to sell someone and do a hard sale. And it's just really learning how to listen, which I struggle with at times, right? and how to connect with people. And that's really what sales is in essence, right?
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
Thank you. Thank you.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
Thank you. Thank you.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
Listening, understanding, looking for what they need might be on both sides. Like what do I need from this person? What do they need from me? And is there a way we can connect? I mean, that's sales in essence, right? To not learn this skill of how to ask the right questions, when to ask, when to speak. It's not like if me and you both got the same words in a word bank, right?
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
Let's say that we each got a hundred words and they're the same exact hundred words. It's like chess, we both get the same pieces, but how we play them can determine whether we're gonna succeed or not, or if you're gonna make the sale or not, or connect or not. Everybody's different. How they might react to words is different. Their humor is different, right?
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
So you could say one thing that 100 people find funny, but this one person takes offense to it. So, you know, when we're communicating, these are things that, you know, a salesperson, I think, with time, through baptism and fire, there's a lot of people I pissed off, brother.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
And not intentionally, you know? Especially in timeshifts, a very intimate... meeting where you're going back and forth and back and forth and and you know people can get angry man you know you're pushing them it's high pressure so you would be foolish not to learn how to know at least learn about the process of sales yeah it's life-changing wholeheartedly really is wholeheartedly
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
So I started the show and I convinced, I went from begging him to just come on the show to, he actually ended up co-hosting for the first season, was Arthur Nascarilla from The Sopranos. You've seen him in a lot of big movies. Copland with Stallone. He was in Billions, which I love that show, but I don't like how it fizzled out.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
You ever watch... I don't really watch a lot of TV. Yeah. But Billions was a show I loved because it kind of brought in the whole New York dynamic, politics, the corruption, the blurring of the lines. I thought it was a very, very well put together show.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
With Bobby Axwell and all that and then he disappears with the plane, right?
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
So Arthur was on a lot of these big shows and I met him smoking cigars and... Convinced him to come on and then he's like, okay, I kind of like this. And then 2019, everything closed. So nothing else was going on. So he stuck around for a while because they weren't shooting. So it was like, I truly believe this. Your destiny, yeah, there's free will. But some of it's written for you too.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
Meaning you got to take some steps, man. And then the rest, God opens the doors for you. There you go. But to hear what you told me, I can't even believe that you even... You got more followers than me, man. You know, how the hell did I inspire you?
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
I was a legend on there, so they threw me off.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
Well, Clubhouse, you know, I think they got theirs, though. You know, I got thrown off not because of what I was saying. Because I was allowing people to speak and have open conversation and push back what was happening in 2019, which I did not agree with the way they handled things.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
And I felt there was a lot of shady things going on, which I think time has, if anyone has half a brain, can see that something just wasn't right about the last five years of our lives. Whether it's New York. The fact that Governor Cuomo, no offense, I don't know if people support him. My best friend was just with him yesterday. would even entertain bringing this guy back.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
And I'm not here to get into politics. I hate it, but I also talk about it, but not on your show. I can't believe this guy's even running. Did we forget why he stepped down? Like, whatever. And did we forget about, whatever. Leave that on the side. So for me, you know, to hear that come out of your mouth, man, and that's actually what kept me going.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
And what's weird, Mick, is I went from being a host of my own show that was kind of like no one really knew. Yeah. to now I'm the guest that everybody wants on their show, man, which is crazy. And even my followers were like, bro, we don't care about your guests. And I've had some big guests, man. I've had Rachel Ray. I've had Carole Baskin of Tiger King. I'm talking about when the show popped.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
I was like one of the first interviews she ever did. I've had Havoc of Mob, Deep Legend of Hip Hop. I mean, I love the guy. And I go from... From doing these interviews till everyone's like, man, we don't care about the guests. We just want to hear you rant. I mean, you want to hear me?
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
They're like, yeah, we want to hear you, man. You inspire us. I'm like, and I start getting emails from people. Yeah. Because that, you know, my first podcast really was about trying to inspire people to never give up. Yeah. No matter what you've been through. I've been through a lot of, you know, listen, this is not a competition of who's had a more tragic life, right?
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
Eventually, I don't care who you are. that's coming knocking one day. You're gonna lose something that's irreplaceable. Someone you love, that's only a matter of time. A mom, a dad, a brother, God forbid, a friend, whatever it is. If you're going through a great time in your life, it's only a matter of time before the darkness comes, the sadness comes. And sometimes it catches us off guard.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
And a lot of people don't know how to handle it. And they don't know how to get back up. And what do they do? They turn towards ways of numbing the pain. It carries over into their work life. So speaking of time show, when I was doing it, it's a very intense job. You're doing two to three presentations a day. You got 90 minutes to convince some person who doesn't want to be there, okay?
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
We got the free room to go to the timeshare. The company has, in essence, bribed them to come and listen to you tell them why they need to spend between $30,000 and $120,000 in 90 minutes. Most people don't buy a car in that amount of time, okay? That they want and that they're willing to spend more money on to buy And what's the mindset of the customer in timeshare? Billboards on the way there.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
Do you own a timeshare? Are you looking to get rid of it? They put it on the radio. Do you own a timeshare? Are you trying to get out? Yeah, our timeshare sucked. And they had to be bribed, literally, made a really good offer to say, hey, you want to come spend two nights in New York City? We're only going to charge you $150 when the room rate's $700 or $500. Right.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
But you're going to have to come and listen to Beck for an hour and a half. Yeah. Okay. And they're coming in very standoffish, closed. Listen, I'm just going to tell you right now, whatever you say, whatever you do, we ain't buying. Those were the easiest ones. They were like shooting ducks in a barrel. Okay. Those clients would come in.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
I'm telling you, no matter what you say, no matter what you do, we're not buying nothing. I'm like, and I swear to God, Mick Hunt. I swear to God, I would say, sir. And about 90 minutes when you're signing the paperwork, you'd be like, damn, he was good.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
Now, there is a thin line, right? Pitching heat. Sizzling too much. Flat out line. And I've seen in the industry, and that's why the industry, it's really not the product's fault. The reason Timeshare has such a bad reputation out there is because of all the dishonest salespeople. Of misrepresenting what the product does just to get a sale.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
I'm happy in my entire career, and I worked for the big three, brother. I worked for Marriott, Hilton. Very short time period with Wyndham. And I'm happy that in my career that I did there, it wasn't long, about seven years in that world, never once did I have someone ever come back to me and say, you lied to us, or you did this, or a formal complaint.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
The only letter I ever got in my entire career in Timeshare was the guy wanted a two-bedroom And in New York City, the units operated like two bedrooms, but they weren't. They weren't, yeah. And I told them this, and they saw it, and they still purchased it, but he's like, no, I changed my mind. It's not Beck's fault. That was the worst letter I ever got in my career.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
And one of the most high-pressure environments you can be in.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
And as a salesperson in that world, the stress that a timeshare... This is what breaks a lot of them, brother. You're on a wheel, right? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And it's called value per guest. So... I see X amount of customers a month, I get a rank. And the higher my rank is, the more often I go out. The more often I go out, the more money I can make.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
So if I'm not closing, eventually I fall off the wheel. I'm dead. I'm done. I'm not earning a living. There's no salary. So it's a very intense process. So, you were considered good if you had like a value per guest. It means every time you shuck a hand, the company is making $3,000 to $4,000. That was considered good. Okay. I was averaging like $7,000 to $10,000, $12,000. Wow.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
$1,000 every time I shuck a hand. Wow. Okay. They didn't want me taking off. Right. But it came from being baptized out of fire also because what happened was I started with like 100 people. And within three months, there's only five of us left. Okay. That's how many people survive in that industry.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
Mick, nice to see you, brother.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
And... There's a lot of corruption in that game.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
The managers that control the industry because they have their team in there, their friends. They look at the new guys as expendable.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
So they would do a lot of feeding. So let's say a tour came in from Beverly Hills. And then one came in from Bangladesh. It's not the stereotype, but just the amount of money someone's going to have from Bangladesh or Albania where my family comes from compared to Beverly Hills is night and day. So Beverly Hills comes off the elevator.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
Welcome to the Big Apple. Long time coming. What's left of it. Long time coming, man. A couple of big bites got taken out of it the last four years, but we're trying to put it back together. We're going to put it back together.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
They would give it to the people that were already there long before me. Didn't matter how good I was. They were all boys. They were all in on it. And they were giving me tours that most people couldn't close. And I got angry. That's like the Albanian in me. I wanted revenge. I said, you think you guys are going to eliminate me? No, I'm going to outsell all of you. And that's what I did.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
I became unstoppable. Yes, sir. But the hardest part of my career wasn't that. It's that during that time period, I lost somebody.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
Having kids makes you a super person, I think. If you're not putting your kids first as a parent, there's something wrong with you. As down as I was, and I was down, man. So I lost what I call my brother. And there's sick people out there that tried to even attack me publicly saying, he wasn't your brother. He's not your brother. He's your mom's brother. Stupid. This guy raised me.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
My mom's brother was only 10 years older than me. He was like my older brother. He took me everywhere. He was like my mentor. He paid for everything. This guy took me everywhere. He gave me the name Beck Lover. I literally have this name because of him. May he rest in peace. He gave me this name making fun of me.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
Because I was into hip hop when I was younger and I was rocking the MC Hammer stuff, you know, the big pants. And he sees me and he's like, yo, yo, Beck Lover. And I like, I'm like, damn, I like, I swear to God, I was like 56 years old, I was like, I like the sound of that. So I was like, yeah, I saw some people call me Beck Lover. He literally gave me that name and then became a nickname.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
And now the world knows me by it. So I was very close to this person and I lost him suddenly in a car accident, right? At the age of, he was 42, I was only 31. Okay. And it was devastating. I had been through horrible things in my life. And I lost family in the Kosovo War in 1998. I lost about 28 people.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
Okay. Cousins and their cousins. And I spent every summer with them. And it was in the Republic of Kosovo, which at that time was a part of the former Yugoslavia, which erupted into war in the 90s. And you had Bosnia and Croatia and then Kosovo. And I lost a lot of people, man.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
So I know what it's like to get a phone call and find out 28 people that you love and care for, your family that you see every summer, is wiped out. And that's a devastating thing to go through. I was underneath the World Trade Center when it got hit, right, at the age of 19. I went to Pace University right here in downtown Manhattan.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
E train, last stop, World Trade Center. So I know what it's like to come out thinking the world's, you know, going into the subway and the world's normal. And you come out 15 minutes later and you're like, did I just go through a portal?
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
Like, did I just go through a time warp? Like, where the hell am I?
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
Because it's snowing outside, but it's September.
Mick Unplugged
Bek Lover: The Art of Never Giving Up and Inspiring a Generation
And it's not snow. And I'm looking up and I see people start jumping off buildings, right? So that's how my day started at the age of 19. So I've seen a few things in my life. But putting that all together... Losing Nicky for me was like an atomic bomb in my life. It was the most difficult thing I've had to deal with because of how close and how important he was to me.