Titus Walker: How Becoming Addicted to Progress Builds Empires

Welcome back to the Authority Is podcast, where we help you to grow your business, attract new opportunities, and outpace your competition. My name is George Wright III. I'm your host, and I've been partnering up with Valiant CEO Magazine to bring you the hottest entrepreneurs, thought leaders, and experts from around the world that are crushing it in business. Together, we're going to unpack strategies and tactics that they're using to become the authority in their field. And my goal is to help to inspire and motivate you to do the same. So let's get right into it. Okay. Welcome back. George Wright III here. And I've got an awesome guest here today with us on the podcast, Titus Walker. Welcome. Hey, thanks for having me, man. Thank you so much. Hey, man, this is good. You know, listen, I know we had a chance to talk a little bit beforehand, but I think we're going to get into some cool stuff. But before we do, I want to give kind of a little bit of your background. So Titus is the CEO and founder of the Ultimate End Gamer League, UEL, and his goal is for that to be the NFL of esports. But you've got a pretty diverse background. You've gone from real estate to gaming to starting your own company, growing a community, creating a brand. We're going to get into all of that. But I really love what you've done in a very short period of time. So you've got some great nuggets I'm sure you can share with our audience. So once again, just super glad to have you here, man. Yeah, thanks. Thanks so much, man. Appreciate the intro too. Yeah, no worries. No worries. And I know we're going to be able to do some other things too in the future. So let's do this. I always like to give our audience a little bit of a framework for the success that you and I kind of touched on. So help us to understand where you came from, right? You mentioned that you've been in real estate and then you went into this. Let's just start real quick with Titus's background. Did you grow up like a side hustle type of guy? Where did you come from? And then how did you get into, tell them a little bit about how you got into real estate and we'll go from there. Yeah, absolutely. Always been a side hustle guy. So I was introduced to gaming when I was probably like five or six years old and it was mortal kombat my dad introduced me to mortal kombat 1 on sega genesis and um loved it kind of just fell in love with the the the gaming um part of it i played a lot of games as a kid um fast forward to elementary school um i was selling candy bars you know by going to i found out you could buy in bulk candy bars and i'm like doing the math in my head i'm talking to my mom I'm like, hey, like, you know, we can sell these for a lot more and make a lot of money. And so she would take me to the store and buy a bunch of candy bars and sell them. Well, that's funny you say that because I was just at dinner last night talking to buddies about how I used to buy those boxes of candy bars at school. I'd have them in my duffel bag and I'd just always be the guy. It's like, yeah, you need something to eat. Here you go, man. Like, I'm just constantly all the time. That's funny. Okay, keep going. Yeah, graduated from that, started selling sneakers, did that very successfully. and then found out, kind of got into the insurance world and was doing both of those, selling sneakers and doing the insurance thing. And then I actually, I got sick. I don't even know what the sickness was, but I got really sick. And while I was sick, I was thinking a lot because I was in the hospital, realized I wanted to try something different. And so I just happened to have an email that said that a company was hiring and it was like a real estate developer. I never heard of it, never heard of that, but I figured I'd put myself out there, went to an interview, got hired. And that was kind of what transitioned me into the real estate world. And I did really, really well, hundreds of millions of revenue, of dollars in revenue over my eight year or so career. Kind of did a lot of, throughout that, did my own real estate deals and then created the gaming thing about four years ago. Let me back you up, just a question. So what do you think was one of the keys to your success in a brand new industry? You were in it eight years. You said you did all this success. I mean, was it all like the chart all up and to the right? I mean, just all easy going. Like, what did you have to, did you study a lot? What helped you become successful in an industry you had no clue about? I think in everything I've ever done, I spend a lot of time understanding the industry and the people around the industry so that it's not just like, it's wild because nowadays you really can find out anything you ever want to know, whether it's true or not. You know, you can find out anything you ever want to know online. And I started doing that when Ask Jeeves was the thing before, you know, it was Google. You know, once that that idea or that concept of, oh, I can find this somewhere came out, that was that was everything. And so I would I would just I would Google everything. And knowledge is like something that I really crave. So I read a lot. I read a lot of books. Never read a book until I was like 28. But since then, I read, you know, six, seven books a month easily. And so anyways, yeah, that was kind of the key thing is just when I get into an industry, I really, really want to know it inside and out. So it wasn't just that I studied the real estate market. I studied the financial market. I studied the economy. I studied the industries outside of housing, like lumber industries. You're an active learner, for sure. It's funny because we say this a lot on this podcast, but you hear it in personal and financial development, is you've got to be curious and you've got to be an active learner. And I think people sometimes feel like they're too busy and they don't realize the value of that because obviously success leaves clues. And if individuals like yourself are learning and evolving because they're so eager to do that, that's a big reason for your success. But I think it also, from what you told me earlier, it's probably another reason that you went into gaming because at the end of the day, your curiosity and your exposure to people and things like that is what put you out there to be aware of things. So tell us a little bit about what took you that transition into gaming, because I know you know people hear all the time it's like i want to make money gaming and you think oh my gosh like that's not but nowadays we're talking legit right so what was the transition point and were you thinking to yourself oh man is this even a possibility or were you like i got this what was the transition yeah so the the transition i when in studying the market i saw how how cyclical it was how it was like so many ups and downs um and it got to a point where i just i kept telling my wife, like, I have to have something else. Because what I won't do is go backwards. What I won't do is depend on this one industry that I know eventually is going to take a turn for the worse. And when it does, I don't want to be left holding the bag, as they say in the stock market. So I started a trading company, then started, like, I had all kinds of different businesses that I was trying, pouring money into and trying to get to work. But none of them really drove me. None of them really. It was like I would try something because I knew I needed to try something. But eventually there was something that just clicked. And it really was when I started the gaming arcade idea and research, and I started really diving into it, something clicked. There was something so different about it that like it was clear not only that there were serious needs in the industry, but that the industry was like. It was broken, like like something was was clearly broken. And you didn't know exactly what it was, but I got to back you up for a second, because I think people need to really understand the point you just made. And that is, you know, people, a lot of times, number one, are so busy living their life that they're not looking and they're not trying to prepare themselves. So that's the kind of the first point I really liked that you made. And then the second is they they sit around and they say I don know what I want to do I don I don know And what you saying you did is you just started trying things You just you on trading you investing whatever you were trying things And I think a lot of entrepreneurs at least ones I met do the same thing Like they dabble into things they try things and, and, and then they find it because the question I have for you is you didn't just wake up one day and go, you know, gaming would be a good thing to do. I'm leaving real estate and going to gaming, right? You're doing things. And do you feel like you would have even come across it if you weren't just out there looking? No, absolutely not. I mean, at the end of the day, I was very successful. I mean, I mean, like very, I, you know, bought a nine bedroom house and driving a Porsche and there was absolutely no reason for me to have anything outside of that, you know? And, you know, people would tell me that all the time, you know, like, what are you doing? Can't you just be happy with what you have? And it was hard to explain because there was just that drive that like, this isn't it. I don't know why, but it's not it. I'm going to ask you, it doesn't sound like you weren't happy with real estate because you seem like the kind of guy that's probably happy doing whatever you want to do, but you felt it need to continue to diversify. Is that a safe bet to say? Yeah, it was more that like, I want to continue to grow if i don't i'm addicted to progress like addicted to it it's like if i don't see progress i really struggle in life if i if i'm not progressing in some way and so like i even had it's to the point where i have this no a lot of people know this but i have a game that i play daily because it's a progress game it literally just it gives me it's 10 minutes a day first thing in the morning, but it gives me that little bit of progress to know, okay, I've accomplished something. And then I move on with my day and I accomplished stuff outside of it. But it just gives me that, like, that, that, I don't know, that, that feeling like feeding the addiction. That dopamine hit or whatever that need to fulfill, right? Because, man, I hear you there. And I love that point you made because I mean, people, a lot of times we breeze over stuff like that, but, you know, being happy where you're at, I'm telling you, if more entrepreneurs could get addicted to progress rather than destination, they would be killing it. And you literally have a game you do every day, like as a ritual to kind of give you that little hit of progress. That's cool. I'm going to have to get more details on that too, but that's, so that's something you do every day. So you feel progress, but you've recognized progress. So you're out doing all this stuff and you came across gaming. And I guess the question I have is, did you notice it fit within your passion or did you notice the opportunity in it first which what was it that attracted you to it or it must have been the op it was the opportunity first at first it was um the thought that oh i can um create this and it's something that i love and maybe you know because i had done so many other things and all of them were like oh this is something i like maybe you know maybe this is it you know um but with this in particular at first it was that but very quickly in re i had uh the university of mary washington put together like a research piece and i remember they're they're reading it to me and explaining like the the niche that that uh or the industry and how um you know this is the average this is the the market and it was like at that time it was like 150 billion dollars and you know all that stuff like that and the average gamer plays 24 games a year and i'm thinking to my i've been doing research already and then they hit me with that and i was like hold on how many like 24 games a year and i was like well every other gaming competition is one game how on earth like why would you why would you do it that way If they play 24 games a year and there's 2.5 billion gamers out there that are playing on average 24 games a year, why would I pigeonhole myself into one game? Like that doesn't make a lot of sense. Yeah, and I want to make sure because you talk this language, and this is important. Listen, if you're listening to this podcast, I want you to hear this. It's very important to understand the mindset of what he's talking about. There's a billion dollars in the e-sports type industry, 250 billion in gaming. But how many total gamers did you just say? There's how many? 2.5 billion gamers. 2.5 billion gamers. And most of them, when you say play one game, you mean there's just one core game that they stay gaming on. All of the businesses that are trying to create a community, they play one core game. All the gamers play 24. got it so it's like even the industry isn't feeding the gamers you know what i mean it's like it's it's a backwards um concept they'd be like creating a basketball league that only dribbles there's no shooting involved you know what i mean it's kind of like what are you doing there's other parts of this that that are not being included um and yet all of these gamers and this is like anything in life most people they're all just in it and they don't think about those kind of things You, however, are going through the lens of opportunity, problems and solutions. And you see that you're like, wait, why would you just play one game? Why not 24, like go out there? So, okay, keep going because the opportunity got really deep and you really took action on the opportunity. So what did you do? So, and I like that you said that because it's a thing I always say is Henry Ford's quote, if I would have asked the consumer what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse. And that's really all there is to it. They don't know what they want. They don't know, like they're doing what's put in front of them, not realizing there could be something better for them. And so anyway, so I so I look into that research and then I started thinking, like, OK, let me look up every other esports platform. And I dove deep. I mean, I went so far into it and was just like really like breaking down. OK, what are these platforms doing? How are they generating revenue? How are they? And it was like so blatantly obvious, like, oh, they're not they're not making money. They're not they're not really as successful as even they try to portray themselves to be. They're not like, you know, they have these massive communities that they don't really own and they know it. And the question is. There's a video game, NBA or Madden 2K22, right? madden 2k22 2022 how long is that game gonna be good for how long is that community good for right because because you're seeing commute the communities were forming around a game right got it and so or loot it's short loot it's like okay so i build this whole community and then a new game comes out because the developers don't care about my community they're not building it for my community they're building and there's only one person making money the game the game right Like, yeah. Yes. And so I just kept like kind of driving into that research and realized like, okay, there's literally no other, there's no community or gaming industry or gaming league or anything like that, that focuses on anything outside of one game, not one, not a single one. And I'm like, how can I be the only person that's thinking like this? So then I started researching more of the developer side to see, okay, what are the rules and regulations around the game itself? And I realized, okay, so if I don't advertise or have a focus in my community on any particular title, then I don't have to worry about the licensing. Because we don't have to focus on paying you to license your game. I don't have to worry about even like if I'm bringing in revenue, if it's not because of your game and it's because of my league instead. Now I don't have to worry about that. So I was like, OK, so I need to think of something like that. Then I researched every pro league in history, the UFC, the NFL, the NBA, the MLB. how did they begin and what really you know set them off what really caused the the explosion and like how did they really build what they built because if you think basketball now you think nba right yeah it's their nfl nba and mmb you think that right and so even ufc i mean you think about it like nobody knew what it was and now it's like ah everybody knows right but it wasn't always that way. Right. And I grew up watching the UFC and I was just, I never watched a UFC match in my life. Right. But I was so into the business of UFC because I I always would watch the tap out guys I don know if you ever like oh yeah And they going to every game and that how they built their full like brand is just by going to all the matches and having tap out on it. And so, I don't know. And so I went- This is what led you to build the UEL, right? Like basically I figured out how to build my league and I didn't have to worry about licensing. I didn't have to worry about that. But are you saying you patterned what you did off the successful track record of what these other major leagues have done. You didn't go out and say, how do I create the UEL? You went out and said, how did the NBA? How do I create a new sport? How do I build a new industry? Because the NBA is its own industry. They own the basketball. If they change a rule, what happens to basketball? Yeah, it changes. Everyone changes it, right? NFL changes a rule. What happens in football? And everything changes. And that is an industry that is controlled, right? How often do you get to control an industry? Not often. But I can tell you, esports is not controlled by anybody. And why? Because it's never changed past the one game. And you don't own the game, so you don't own the industry. And no single game owns all of the other games. And developers can create new games whenever they want. And so there's no way to really control it without controlling the people around it. But there's a shift you did, which is, you know, you saw an opportunity, which like you said, if you ask these most people, they would tell you what they want. Yeah. But you saw an opportunity. But I feel like from what we've talked about, you shifted your paradigm not to say, how could I do more? How do I create an industry? How do I create it? That's a paradigm shift that you've done consistently. And I tell you, man, what so? It was just all easy going. no no no brain damage you just started this thing people started knocking down your door and it was all easy yeah right um no uh yeah i mean so so when i when i first came up with the the concept um it was very much a shift of um i i i'll take ufc as an example the way i had to shift people's brains was before UFC you had boxing, jujitsu, wrestling, all these different, we'll call them genres of fighting. There were all these different genres of fighting that were successful on their own. They were doing okay. They didn't need the UFC per se, but somebody came in and said, I'm going to redesign fighting because fighting as a whole was never actually like, nobody ever thought of it, which is weird to say, but they didn't think, oh, let's do a fighting tournament, right? So I was like, okay, well, why don't we do the same thing? Let's do a gaming tournament. It's not about a game. It's gaming. And so we took the genres of gaming and there's five major genres, fighting games, sports games, shooting games, racing games, and strategy games. those are the five major genres in gaming right and so i combine them and i say the games are irrelevant these are the genres of games that we play and so when someone asks oh what's what game do you play oh well we play 33 different games around these genres right and that's it we don't ever have to talk about the game because the games are relevant yeah um but once that shift well Well, first I had to convince people. Yeah. How did you make that shift? Because usually in marketing, I'm a marketer. The last thing you want to do is try to get people to change what they're thinking to want your product. That's the hardest thing in the world. So to make that shift is the genius, right? So what did you have to do? So, and I'll say, the reality of it is I spent three years with everyone telling me that I was wrong. three years where every single person i came across would say it's never gonna take right it's not gonna work it's never gonna happen like you just need to do it the way everybody else is why don't you just do it this way you know um because i was i was building a community but the entire community was telling me you're doing it wrong you know it's like just that constant like and so this this last year i haven't had a single person tell me i'm doing it wrong Not one, not a single. They never do. They never do one to great success, man. It's like, come on. Oh, now you're all best friends. You all thought it was gonna work all along, right? Right, right. What did you do though? Like, is it, was it, are you saying it was persistence or did you come up with something? So what I did was I really focused on first building a community of people that just enjoyed gaming and gaming has never been seen as an art form but i i see it as an art form it's a form of expression when you sit down and you play a game you're expressing yourself you play the game a certain way based on how you express yourself and the esports environment as it is does not allow any form of expression every single rule down to the very minute details are is in a rule book that you have to live by so you have to play the game this this way or it doesn't count or you have to do it and so i opened it up and said no we're just playing the game express yourself in this game how you how you feel fit how you want to play the game is is the right way and eventually of course we'll get you know the people that are playing and winning doing it a certain way and so most people will follow that but then eventually somebody comes around and defeats them and does it a different way, right? So I had to convince them first that gaming is an art. It's an art form. It's a form of expression. And there's nothing wrong with expressing yourself differently. That was tough. You really just, it's tough. But what you did was you really tapped into ultimately what they're going to love the most, right? Because structure and rules, you know, in discipline is good. I'm not saying, guys, listen, discipline's good. But structure is the greatest enemy to growth because you're so confined into what you think. You don't even realize that, are you kidding me? There's a better way to do this? So you're saying you were just persistently letting them express themselves over time. And I think that that focus allowed them to feel like they were somewhere special, even if they didn't understand it or believe in it fully. and I can say like until, like I said, about a year ago, they didn't believe in it. But now I do believe that everybody believes in it. You know what though? I would say, but during that time they loved it. It's not that they didn't love it. It's kind of like, if I ask you in hindsight now, it's like, hey man, let's charge 10 bucks for cups of coffee and we'll make a place people can come hang out. You'd be like, bro, you're up in the night. It's like Starbucks, hello, you know? Or the Dollar Shave Club. hey, let's go start a company that we can charge a dollar for a razor. And you're like, dude, you'll never make any money. Sold for billions of dollars. So persistency is good, but I think you tapped into human nature. And it sounded like you were playing the end game. I mean, you weren't like, all right, we got to get into this thing, selling merch, moving some products, getting things. So you're pretty patient if you waited three years, right? It was never about the money. It was like, initially we charged people to go pro, but then once they went pro and then we only had 14 pros season one we're on season seven now um with the competition is for a hundred thousand dollars we do three hundred thousand dollars a year um but um the the um the idea was it was never for the money so once someone made it into the pros they never paid another dollar since then they've never paid another dollar and that That was because in my head, it wasn't about the money. It wasn't about like, it really truly was about changing a narrative around gaming, but also giving people an opportunity to do what they love and actually get the money that is deserved to them. Because if even now, if I am a streamer and I have a community of 100,000 people that watch me, that game does not pay me to play their game. They don't. They don't do it. Funny that you said all these people are like, that's not the way, it's not the way to do it. And yet, so the way you're doing it where you make no money is the way to do it. Like people just don't think what they're saying coming out of their mouth. And bro, you did a phenomenal job because I will say you went into this and correct me if I'm wrong, but you went into this, you were looking at opportunity, but you weren't greedy and short-term focused. You were looking for a way to do it. You tapped into community and the most important thing I wanted to kind of hit here and I want you to validate this or tell me if I up in the night you didn know what this was going to end up looking like three four years down the road Like you just started. I mean, you had some ideas, right? But if you had waited to figure out how you were going to be able to convince people to do something, you had the whole plan all put together, you probably wouldn't be where you're at, right? Yeah. You just had to be late. Yeah. And that's 100% right. I just, just, I went for it. Um, and I, I never looked back. Like I, I had so many, and this, this, this is honestly the first time in my life this has ever happened where I truly told myself, like, I would die for this. Like I, I would really truly die for this. Like this is something that I will do until the ride until the wheels fall off. I will go down with this ship like um and that form of commitment um i've never really outside of my marriage and my my kids like i've never had that you know in any type of like any business or any like you know things outside of you know like i said the people in my life of course but things i've never really had that and i think like what i what i what what i've built has turned into a person in my life Like, you know, they say it's your baby, right? Yeah, it's your baby. You know, you did, you moved forward. You're addicted to progress, right? We got that. But I feel like you discovered a couple of things that are pretty common to entrepreneurs and successful people that I've met, which is you ultimately aligned with your unique talent, meaning things that you were doing great, but you love doing. So that is something that aligned for you. And you also were just willing to say yes and then figure it out. And so using those character traits, I'm going to ask you this question. Do you see this industry and what you're doing, and maybe this is why you're so passionate about it, do you see it being much bigger than it ever is going to be? Like you say, the NFL of esports, right? How big a vision do you have for this? it'll be bigger than the NFL, NBA, MLB combined, like combined. Big vision, man. Yes. I mean, there's what, 400 million people that play football, right? 200 and something million that play basketball or something like that. 2.5 billion gamers. And it grows every day. New generation, they all play games, right? And so it's going to be bigger than all of those. You can play football virtually and you can play basketball. but how many NFL players, when I can give them a contract big enough, how many of them will leave to play in my league instead? Because they just enjoy video games. I have NFL players that play in my league now. So like, but how many of them, when I can cut them a check big enough, will leave because they're like, I don't want to do this to everybody. That is real, man. That is real stuff. I got to ask you this because I'm sure people are listening to this. They're going, man, I've got to find a niche like that. Like there's got to be something. But I think something that helps a majority of people because they're stuck is how do you make it through three years of people telling you, no, no, it's not going to happen, not going to happen. And you're just like, yeah, you know, I'm sold on this. What did you do? What's something you do daily, weekly? What do you recommend to people that maybe feel like they've got something that they're passionate about, but they're just here and know everywhere they go? What did you do? I wish I could answer that question, man. Are you wired that way or do you also? No, I'm not. I'm not. So I've started and ended so many businesses within a three, four, five, six month period, like so many times. And this by far was the hardest one I've ever done. It was the hardest journey I've ever had. I started the business idea, the concept. we um locked down a location for the um first um first arena um and my business partners the day before signing the the lease backed out two of them two out of six of them and then after signing the lease about a month later another two out of six and they wanted they sued me for their original investment and I had to pay that back and then wow um and so and then I you know my job gave me the ultimatum of if you do this we're gonna fire you and then so it's like I've never had so much adversity in anything in my life but I've also never felt as much peace in anything I've ever done, like ever. And I think I can, I can attribute that. Like, I think, you know, God has given me a lot of strength and I think that I've put my head down and just trusted that what I know to be true is true. Um, and yeah, it's funny because you have, you have those same common characteristics that I think people got to realize. And I say it all the time. It's like success leaves clues, guys. If you're listening to this, you've got to pick, you got to read between the lines of aligning with things that you're passionate about, you know, getting started, even if you haven't, you know, you don't know how it's going to come together, active learning, lifetime learning, right? But I feel like there's a level of resolve that you've had in your life, meaning you made the decision and you're just committed to doing it. You know, so many people, I used the term earlier, but they dabble. I really would love to try this, I'd love to try that. Things get bad. They shut it down. They go to the next thing. We're all like shiny object entrepreneurs, right? But this definitely seems to be a project, a topic, a focus that you're resolved and committed to do. Like this is what you're going to do. And you've made that decision, right? Yeah. I was losing $150,000 a year for three years. Wow. That's a commitment, man. A commitment. Was your wife like, what in the hell are you thinking, man? Yeah. Yeah. You had to have a good support structure because there's no way you keep doing that. And you come home at night and feel like you can make it. I mean, luckily I made a lot of money, but it's still just money. It just felt like for a long time, it felt like it was just going out the window. It was just like, you know, and people didn't appreciate it either. So it made it that much harder. But when you have a big enough vision, though, those things don't stop you. It's people that don't have a big enough vision. I mean, let's be honest, like the NFL vSports were bigger than combined NFL, NBA, NMLB. Like that's a pretty big vision. That'll take you through some obstacles. And so unless I know we're short on time and I want to respect your time as well. One of the things I loved about when I first met you, you know, and we talked a little bit, as I said, you know, what can we do to help you? And you're just like, brother, I just want to, you know, promote the brand, get it out there. Like everybody has an ask and you didn't. And that was awesome. So even with that said, man, we want to do everything we can. How can people follow you? Where can they find you? Help us understand where's the best way they can support and get connected. Because I guarantee we got a lot of gamers listening as well. So yeah, for sure. So you can follow us on all social media. And our website is the same as well at UEL esports or UEL esports.com. So UEL, just like the shirt, UEL esports.com. and then at UEL on all social media. We're on every single one. Instagram is probably our most updated or Discord if you are looking to become a player, which at this point, it's not super easy to become a player. But if you got the skills, then you can definitely do it. Hey, if you got the dream and you want to develop the skills, do it. But you said that there's jumping through hoops, but man, there's nothing like 300 grand a year put out there to kind of motivate you, right? That's good, too. Well, listen, man, I appreciate you sharing some of your success nuggets um i know that people are going to be listening to this thinking i don't know man and then you know years from now you can go back and say remember when i said the nfl of esports and i got it on recording now let's let's do this so um i know those people are gonna i know people are gonna learn a lot from just your message and your commitment your your consistency and things like that so i do appreciate it and hopefully have a lot more things um so thank you so much for joining us today for sure yeah thanks so much for having me this has been great really seriously. No, definitely. Well, listen, everybody, as always, like and subscribe to the podcast. If you do me a favor and share the episode, it'll mean the world to me. It'll get more out there, getting the inspiration and motivation they need to create your best life. So do me a favor, do that. I look forward to talking with you more tomorrow. Once again, my name is George Wright III, been here with Titus Walker. Have an amazing day. Talk with you soon.