Walmart Employee to Professional NFL Athlete w/ Corey Jackson

I'm privileged to even say this but, I got to talk to the legendary Corey Jackson. He's not only a phenomenal person with an amazing rags to riches story...but also a down-to-earth dude!

Take a step back and prime your brain to digest this transformative story from $7/hr Walmart employee to a professional NFL athlete and now business entrepreneur.

Watch the full podcast episode below and catch the audio versions on  iTunes, Spotify, Google, Stitcher Radio, and iHeart Radio.

Corey Jackson's Origin Story

At 5 years old, I wanted to become a professional basketball player. I lived in South Carolina with my parents and 4 other siblings.

My father was working one of those long hours little-paying jobs, and when I was about 8, he took an action which totally changed my life.

He quit his job at a mill where he works 16 hours daily in a 120 degrees temperature ambiance. My mother thought he was crazy.

He enlightened her. "There is no future in this."

And I was quite sure prior to that that my parents weren't happy. Life was wearing on them. As time spreads out, my father started a business. With no money, walked into an empty building, discussed with the owner and made a real business deal. He started a car wash business.

Though my family income level didn't change that much you know what? It spelled out the definition of freedom to me. I watched my Dad deal with customers, learned his work ethics and entrepreneurship spirit.

But I knew I wanted to be an athlete.

I played basketball in high school. I did pretty well but I didn't get any interest or scholarship to a college basketball team.

So I got a $7 an hour job at Walmart. For a year and a half, I was miserable until the day I had a conversation with myself. I realized the problem was me. Somewhat, I was waiting for someone to hand me a scholarship instead of going for it myself.

In life, you never get picked. You have to pick yourself. It was easy for me because I've seen my Dad did it before. I picked myself and bought a one-way ticket to Texas where no one knew I existed. That's all I could afford.

There, I changed my game. Despite the coach told me NO in every different ways, I impressed him by dunking my way, on three players, into college.

What most people do in life is that they always try to suppress their inner self. I tried too on my journey to Texas, each time the bus stops, I wanted to alight and go back to South Carolina but I had only a one-way ticket. So I stopped fighting my real self.

A lot of people refuse to take responsibilities and control of their lives, they are comfortable when their employers, parents, investors etc take that responsibility on their behalf, even when it's killing them. And by that, they're being taken advantage of.

The cool step you can take is, be more intentional, be more aggressive with your goals in life, and chase it. Take big shots, take big risks. These have very little downsides, the worst that can happen is that you're back at your original spot - it won't get as bad as you already are.

For me, the worst that could happen if this didn't work is to figure out how I'd get back to South Carolina, and I'd get back my $7/ hr job at Walmart.

I just know that I'm responsible for getting anything I want regardless of me attending college or playing basketball. I think the biggest obstacle people put on their own way is listening to other people.

Meanwhile, those people don't understand you, most times they confuse you're feeling special or better than everyone else, and that’s true, if you conceive an idea, you have to believe in yourself and live your life in that direction. That's what it takes to be that.

And if you understand that, you won't succumb to what they're saying and you will make your behavior reflect you. I totally understood that the biggest obstacle I can put on my way is people's opinion. I didn't let it determine my life.

However, this shouldn't disrupt you from taking advice. Okay. I literally crushed it as a basketball player, I was one of the top rebounders in the nation, I was a leader on the team and I averaged a double-double and I had a great year.

But I wasn't picked on the NBA.

I was invited to play in the summer league and I got some attention and invitation to go to Europe. I knew I could go to Europe to play professionally and make a lot of money but I stayed back because I wanted to get a degree.

At the University of Nevada, one of the football coaches came to me and said,

"I'm a huge fan of yours. Sorry, you didn't make it into NBA. Did you know you've been playing the wrong sport this whole time? ...you know with your size, skill set, and speed, you should be playing football."

So he hired me up.

Truth be told, I was horrible at it.

And I was a big deal at the University of Nevada because Media was there to headline "Basketball star turn Football star." Some of my teammates called me to the side, advised that I go to Europe to make money playing basketball. I thought about it but I knew I could get better at football.

At the session end, I played a combination of twelve players. I had a career stats of 1 tackle for loss, 1 pass breakup, and 1 block filter.

I literally forgot about football until one day when one of our coaches called me that some group of NFL stars would like to see me workout - I did the workout, they loved it, agent kept calling and I ended up signing with the Cleveland Browns.

Sometimes, we fit better in other places. We're not made to do one thing.

I tell people that the universe is designed to help you decide. If you pay attention, it'd be easy. It’s like starting a company, be romantic about the impact you want your company to have, but not so much about the idea. The idea could change but the impact you want to have on the world is important.

For me, my skill set didn't change, it just the vehicle I choose to use my skills for that change. When I got to the NFL, I realize it was totally different from what I thought as a kid dreaming to become a professional athlete.

By just paying attention and being a part of the NFL, I learned the business, the concept of negotiation and marketing. I started meeting people and connecting with people doing cool stuff that I was interested in. I started having conversations and putting myself in the environment.

From there, I got more excited about the bigger game. Business and ultimately my company that helps players do the same thing, Qwerkz.

How will you utilize this information into actions in your own life?

Listen / Watch the FULL Humans 2.0 Podcast episode with Corey Jackson & Mark Metry.

If you’re looking for a technological self-development podcast that focuses all about the human experience transformation in this 21st-century world, you should definitely check out my podcast, Humans 2.0 

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You can Listen to my podcast, Humans 2.0 on iTunes, Spotify Google, Stitcher Radio,iHeart Radio or YouTube.

Big Shoutout to my friend, Sodiq for contributing to this article!