95 – Learn chess and learn life: Tom interviews Orrin Hudson

Episode 095 – Orrin Hudson
[00:00:09] Welcome to Screw the Commute. The entrepreneurial podcast dedicated to getting you out of the car and into the money, with your host, lifelong entrepreneur and multimillionaire, Tom Antion.

[00:00:24] Hey everybody it's Tom here with episode ninety five of screw the commute podcast you've got orrin checkmate Hudson on here and this guy teaches kids the game of life through the game of chess I've known him for a long time and he's gonna really rock your world here. Now the last episode was 94. That's our Monday training. Every Monday I do an in-depth training session on a topic that's either made me or saved me a lot of money. And this past Monday I talked about on demand TV that I just got started in. So this is one of the ones I haven't made a fortune in yet but boy I can see it coming because this people like to watch stuff when they want to watch it. So you'll hear all about that on the last issue if you missed it. It's a good time to get into that I'm on route Roku TV if you happen to have a Roku box you can go to the public speaking channel and that's my new channel that just went live and I'll have a lot more channels to go and you can see the link to that show. My my channel on Roku and I'm also going to be doing Amazon Fire too. But you'll see all the links in the show notes if you happen to have a Roku box or an Amazon Fire box. Now our podcast app is available in the iTunes store but you can go to screwthecommute.com/app and you will be able to download it to your smartphones your tablets and we have complete instructions will do all kinds of stuff like saving your favorite episodes. And if you happen to be in the car listening and a phone call comes in it'll pause the the podcast and then pick it up when you hang up and you know all kinds of stuff like that. We have complete instructions over at screwthecommute.com/app. Now our youth program is going now we're looking for entrepreneurial youth to feature on screw the commute podcast and when I say youth it's up until the early 20s if they're older than that They might be candidate for a regular podcast but really want to get the entrepreneurial spirit going in those young people and want to feature them. So if you know anybody they can apply to be featured by email at orders@antion.com and I will send them the details on how to apply to get a feature on screw the commute. All right. Our sponsor this week It's me again and it's the Tom Antion internet marketing retreat and joint venture program where myself and my staff work with you for a year to either get you started in an Internet business or to use the Internet to take your existing business to the next level. I'll tell you more about that later. The details are going to be a greatInternetmarketingtraining.com and of course they'll be in the show notes this is episode 95.

[00:03:27] Let's get to the main event Orrin checkmate Hudson is a chess champion. He's the number one best selling author of one move at a time how to win at chess and life. He is a strategist an inspirational speaker and he's the founder of Be Someone besomeone.org is the Web site and he's created a successful youth development program for students across the country by teaching them the game of life through the game of chess. And he's won all kinds of awards. He's the recipient of numerous awards including a national self esteem award from the Martin Luther King Award and the FBI director's Community Leadership Award I mean he's been featured nationally on every major network and show you can think of and I've known him. He used to be a state policeman and I think I met him. Maybe he gave me a speeding ticket or something I don't know. It's been a long time knowing this guy so Orrin are you ready to screw. The commute.

[00:04:32] Yes sir I'm ready to screw the commute.

[00:04:34] You screwed the commute a long time ago didn't you.

[00:04:36] Yeah I know and one of the things I love about you Tom we were in California is a lot of speakers are speaking and you say listen I'm gonna give you guys more value than any of the speakers combined.

[00:04:51] And you stood up you said and you deliver so I honor you because you a person of value. And if you really want to be an entrepreneur and you really want to be successful you got to give people value. And when you outgive the competition you beat the competition and you my man you if you say it you gonna do it. And I honor you because you all about doing what you say you can do.

[00:05:12] Well thank you very much for that man. I always stick by that and I don't say it out of arrogance but that's what I shoot for I want to give you more value than you ever seen in your life. So. So let's get into thing. Let's let's start out with what you're doing now with this organization you started and then we'll back it up to like where you came from and the jobs and where you grew up and all that thing and how you got where you're at today. So tell them a little bit about what you're doing now.

[00:05:39] Well I'm using a game of chess to teach young people to pull your head up pull your pants up and pull your grades up. I don't want to see your underwear. So we're teaching children. Don't do the first thing that pops in your head your first crack as a Wack and you can't take it back. So think before you act.

[00:05:58] Wow you're like Muhammad Ali reincarnate. You've got all the all the phrases and the rhymes.

[00:06:07] So we use any ancient game of chess to teach new tricks. It's not where you line up it's where you wind up and don't play the blame game. Black and white is the same. You have everything you need to win the game. So use what you have to get what you want.

[00:06:21] So tell him tell him about your your history in chess though how you got the in the chess.

[00:06:27] Yeah well I was in and out of foster home then former gang member when I was in my teens and a teacher came along and told me that he's gonna teach me how to think for myself and he's gonna teach me chess. I told him I'm a checker guru. He said well he said I'm a teacher chess because chess using every single square of the board checkers. He only used in half of the board. He said I will show you how to use every single square on this board. So when I was about 15 years old he introduced me to chess and it turned my life around and I started making straight A's and start making good in school. And next thing you know I was voted most like to succeed in school because of a guy a teacher taught me to think for myself and don't don't follow the follow or be a leader.

[00:07:13] Wow. And you were your former gang members.

[00:07:16] Yes sir I was. You know in my teens basically following to do it. Hey they say Do this do it. It's basically doing what they say. Do I come from a large family with about 14 of us in the house. And one of the gang members came to me with a box of honey buns and said listen if you want food you've got to do what we say. Do it. He got us and we would break in trucks and steal food and an inner tubes and stuff like that. We didn't do anything violent we just mostly stole food.

[00:07:43] Wow. Wow I didn't know all that but so how did you transition from that to being a state policeman.

[00:07:50] Well you know I was a gaming like when I was 13 his teacher taught me day Dan I went in the Air Force and and from the Air Force I became a state trooper.

[00:07:56] Oh so you went to the air force and was that a big change for you going from gang member to the air force.

[00:08:04] Yeah actually you know once I once I stopped hanging with those guys and just basically went into really start thinking for myself that playing chess it really taught me to be a leader and to make sure what I do was a product of my conclusion and not just follow the fool or Follow the Follower.

[00:08:20] And then you got pretty darn good at it right. You've played multiple people and beat all of them at once and all that stuff.

[00:08:27] Yeah. Chess teaches you pattern recognition when you know the pattern you can play several people at once because you know what's coming next. I was playing 59 people at once. And a reporter said how can you beat 59 people at once. I attend all my classes every time I teach a class I'm there and I'm I'm the king of fair I failed a lot. So when you fail you learn and failure is weakness leaving the body and the more you fail the stronger you get.

[00:08:51] So You beat fifty nine people at one shot.

[00:08:55] Right. Is this a world record or what.

[00:08:58] No. Not by far. I was playing students and the students weren't really that good but I love the game because you have everything you need and everything is in front of you and you just got to use what you have to get what you want.

[00:09:12] You did win some pretty big things in chess though right.

[00:09:15] Yeah I went to the world open and I'm a speed chess champion in the world open stage and I'm the first African-American to defeat the Alabama state champion in Birmingham. So I've won a few times I've won you know several tournaments across the country. So I mostly tell people that I'm not a master but I beat several masters and I'm living my dream because teaching the children makes my heart sing.

[00:09:40] Right. So this wasn't technically an original idea that you're passing something on that was given to you right.

[00:09:49] Exactly. You know I know. I'm passing along you know I'm just basically paying it forward I'm tired of seeing our young people on the news making bad decisions. If you walk around with your pants sag and you're throwing rocks at the police then your head is not in the game. So I'm basically trying to get young people to put their head in the game.

[00:10:10] That's that's really really great work. So you actually started a what they called a 501(c)(3) kind of thing.

[00:10:18] Yes it's a 501(c)(3) non-profit and we depend on the community to keep us our program going and we know what I'm doing works. I've never seen a child that I've been working with on the news for some negative because we teaching children to be givers not takers.

[00:10:36] So tell us some of your success stories.

[00:10:38] Well Aaron Porter was one of my success stories. A judge gave him one more chance to get his life correct. He was about 17 years old. He almost went to jail for attempted murder on his own father. His father was incarcerated for about 17 years. His father come home. They get in a fight. He pulls out a knife and fights his dad or whatever and the judge say Listen I'll give you one more chance to get your life correctly. I work with Aaron Porter train him and we travel to Augusta Georgia which is a couple hours from Atlanta. And we was able to win the state championship because of Aaron because I'm teaching Aaron that you got to think before you move because every move you make has consequences.

[00:11:23] And so so what happened then. So you you took a kid that's up for murder and what did you actually do with them. Did they come live with you or did you go visit them regularly. How did it work.

[00:11:36] Visit them regularly every day at the school. Because we was training for this tournament and I wanted to show him I said I must share with you what to do. And when you get on your own you got to think for yourself. Chess is good because it's not like football where you can just holler plays at the player and tell them what to do chess. They got to teach children how to think for themselves and on his own terms so you know you got to be an independent thinker and you got to have personal responsibility. There's greed that cause people to fail and there's impatient. So we teaching them how to delay gratification and how to be a giver not a taker.

[00:12:16] Yeah and I saw some stuff some studies on that delayed gratification. I don't know if you ever heard of the marshmallow thing but they had these little kids and they said OK you can have this marshmallow if you don't eat it when I come back in 15 minutes I'm going to give you another marshmallow. And so most of the kids ate the marshmallow and then they followed these kids. They followed these kids up till they were in their 20s or something and most of the ones that ate the marshmallow and didn't wait for the other marshmallow were having lots of trouble. Bad relationships drugs alcohol and the kids that waited for the extra marshmallow were doing great in school had good jobs had good relationships so that delayed gratification is really important thing.

[00:13:02] It's powerful you know patience is a virtue and it will open so many doors because timing is everything. And sometimes you just gotta wait a few extra seconds so that you can save lives so that you know it just opened up a plethora of more opportunities.

[00:13:19] All right. So I think I remember seeing Don't you have some kind of giant chess board or something that you do for events. Tell us about that.

[00:13:28] Yeah. I take my life size chess board with me and it's called Go big or go home. And I challenge people I say listen it's not where you line up it's where wind up.

[00:13:38] How do you carry this thing. I mean this is these are life almost life size things right.

[00:13:42] I put it on the plane and Delta hit me pretty good. Oh Delta is they've been they've they've been very nice to me lately they've been kind of giving me a deal but yeah. So put it put those two huge bags on the plane and pack it up and and once people see me with that they know that I'm serious about empowering our young people to think before they move.

[00:14:06] Now you've been very successful using publicity to help your organization. Right. So tell us about that.

[00:14:13] Well I got a call today from A big time news organization in Washington D.C. They gonna do a big story on me. So yeah I've been very successful but I think the key to being getting on TV is once you've been on CNN and Good Morning America sports illustrated all those good stuff. It's an easy sale then a person coming out of nowhere. But I integrity just like you say I will give you more value than everybody else if you do what you say you going to do. The media loves that and that's all I'm about credible. If I tell you I'm doing this if I tell you who's going to be free food at that event is going to be free food. If I tell you I'm doing this for free it's gonna be free if I tell you some you can take it to the bank and once the media see that and they know you credible I I don't need a press release I can follow I can phone in media.

[00:15:04] Yeah exactly. Yeah. But it's really great to help with donations I imagine and I guess that's how you're totally funded right.

[00:15:13] Yeah based on donations and I've been blessed cause people see me on the news. Are you still doing it. I'm gonna help you now and help you first but now see you still doing it. Yeah. Because I teach to children as though my life depends on our children at stake and we are in a crisis. And our biggest problem right now is untapped human potential we not they don't know what they don't know and they think they know and they make bad moves.

[00:15:37] Yeah. So this is a 501(c)(3). And how does a person you personally exist that you take a salary. How do you keep being able to do this.

[00:15:48] Well I I've been surviving on speaking engagements. And the money. All the money that I've been raised on donation goes toward the organization I've been taking some of my speaking engagement money and putting it toward the organization. So basically I hadn't received a salary for the organization in 20 years. I love doing what I'm doing because I'm I'm making the world better. I'm stopping kids from robbing and killing one another and to be a force for good. Not something negative. There are four types of people in the world that people that subtract people that divide. When you subtract the value go to jail. People that add and people that multiply. I'm teaching children to multiply value and to give more than you take. There's a song out by the average white man. Call a love of your own in this song. It says the sooner you give the sooner you get to have.

[00:16:41] Good good. So what would you say to people that are stuck in a job and they say man this is this is my life's calling to do something really good like this. How did you start the organization. Basically. Did you keep your job while you were preparing or what.

[00:17:00] All right I'll tell you exactly what I did. Seven people were shot in a robbery for two thousand dollars. And I said to myself bad things happen when good people fail to make boss moves. I made a boss move and started a program teaching young people to go out at a cash with the K K for knowledge a for attitude s for skills and H for habit. And once you get this cash this cash is king. So make a boss move. Create value and good things will happen. But remember this you got to give to get and the sooner you give The sooner you get to have. If you create value for the just like you Tom you stood up in front of your audience and you said I gonna give you value and You do it. People are looking at you to others because of my. But you deliver on what you say and that's how I work. If you deliver on what you say good things are happening and then money will come.

[00:17:53] Now do any of the kids that you've helped as they get older help with the younger kids at all. That's part of the deal with part of the program.

[00:18:01] Yeah they come back and they help us out. In fact one of my students come back does it as a coach I'm in college now I can beat you. I said let's see. He said I said I'm in pre-k.

[00:18:10] He's a coach you in pre-k. 20 years ago. I said I'm never gonna get out of pre-K because school is never out for the pro and I'm always learning the biggest room in the world is room for improvement. So I'm constantly reading constantly trying to get better and the student tried to beat me and I was able to take him out.

[00:18:27] Well yeah. Being an old coal miner told me the schoolhouse door is always open. What do you got big coming up with. You do events or community events around this there. What are all the ways that people could get involved with this.

[00:18:48] Well I always doing free events. I'm a meeting with a lady next week to do our huge event in Atlanta that can hold as many as 400 people is it. It's story Stonebridge Event Center in Atlanta I'm doing so I'm working on it real big. So I always do about 10 12 events a year real huge and give back to the community teaching young people how to make good choices and to help them get jobs. You know if you if you listen to this broadcast you live in Atlanta area I help children get jobs because I want to stop the acceleration of crime and violence. I'm making a difference by you know showing people hey if I can do what you can do it. If I can go from being a gang member making bad choices following the fool. So can you. You can think for yourself. You can use your God given brain create value for other people and you'll be your entrepreneur so you can screw the commute and bring value to the world.

[00:19:42] Well yeah. So what are the. How did the events work. I mean do people bring their kids there or you just show up with a bunch of kids. how does that work.

[00:19:53] I may set up a hundred chess boards teach everybody and then I'll play several people at one time and then I'll have the big life sized chess board there and our show and stuff and then I'll let the children play each other so I'll train teach and then I'll play and then I'll let them play each other. So basically this trying to transfer information knowledge is transferable and I get a kick out of transferring information so children showing children how to think for themselves and take personal responsibility for your life if it's to be. It's gotta be me. No one's coming to the rescue.

[00:20:27] Know that's for sure. So you get to do like a presentation at these things so the kids can really get behind it.

[00:20:34] Yeah I do that I put the low lifes. I had a little projector up there have a life sized chess chessboard and I play would have games. I say I'm making this move here. What would you do. They say Coach I would do this and I go have you. If you do that have you thought about this Oh no. Oh no. I don't want to do it now so I'm just teaching children about actual experience how to think on their feet and the sanctions and ramifications that repercussions and consequences don't do the first thing that pops in your head. Your first crack is a whack and you can't take it back. So think before you act.

[00:21:10] I swear you're Muhammad Ali reincarnate. What do you like best about running a place like this. And what's the what's some of the hard parts about doing it.

[00:21:23] Well I hadn't worked in 40 years because I love what I do. The biggest challenge I have is a 24/7 job but just raising resources and getting volunteers and raising money. But I love it because I have a lot of favor from God. I've been in 40 cities I've been on TV in 40 cities and I always say to me Orrin we got to we got to vote on whether we gonna come and every time they come. So I've been through because I'm teaching these children as though my life depends on it because it does this guy the other day he he saw this guy get out of his car that he carjacked him and the guy didn't realize it was an undercover cop that undercover cop killed him. So this kid made a decision that's consequences for that. Now he's dead. He thought it was a regular guy and he was regular. He had him. He was a police officer in plainclothes. He carjacked the police and now the kid is dead. So don't do the first thing that pops in your head unless it's a good thing. Given that you're trying to take from people you're going to lose every time.

[00:22:31] And so if you had any luck with any big companies like sponsoring this.

[00:22:38] I got to learn how to master that. That's it. I gonna be totally honest with you Tom. I love what I do so much that I hadn't even took time to really focus on trying to do that. I could focus on doing it. But I'm just having so much fun. And I realize I can do more if I get the sponsorship. And I guess I gotta do that.

[00:23:02] I think you can have a lot of fun if somebody plunk down a million bucks. Let me tell you a story Orrin about one of my students former students he was. He had a buddy who's an executive at a big insurance company and the buddy was kind of telling him how to make a sponsorship proposal to this big insurance company. And so he said you got make a budget and you're going to do this and that. And so the guy figured it all out. He was doing some kind of thing for kids also. And so he comes through his buddy the executive of this insurance company and he needed about one hundred thousand dollars.

[00:23:42] You know what the executives said to him. He said hey if it's not at least a quarter of a million they won't even think you're serious. So. So yeah I think you're going to learn how. Do you still have a lot of fun when you see that big check come in.

[00:24:00] Yeah I definitely need to. I mean I really and I honor you Tom of all the speakers I've met. You've added more value to my life than anyone. And what I love about you is that you you will weed out people who are inferior who will subtract value. So I honor you for that and that and that's why I'm always your biggest fan and if I can ever serve you let me know. I would love to see how we can be a blessing to each other because I'm a be honest with you Tom. Soon I'm going to something big is gonna happen.

[00:24:35] Yeah. I'm waiting for it. And it's far past do it as far as I'm concerned because you've been doing this as long as I've known you. And that's been a heck of a long time. Yeah and you got the credentials you've got the organization in place you've got the media behind you. I mean this is ripe for some big companies and you can have multiple companies.

[00:24:57] I guess I need to just I've got to figure out a way to partner with you. Let you go. Push me. I'm going to try to raise money to get you on board.

[00:25:06] I'm telling you this is this is such a life changing thing. Companies would just flock to you if there was just presented to them. I mean a lot of them say oh maybe doesn't need us. But but I could just think of 50 different companies major companies that would eat this up and something that's a drop in the bucket to them. You know I spoke at an event one time they spent a million dollars on a luncheon. Yeah it was a big pharmaceutical company. Some of these companies have more money than we could ever imagine. And just a tiny fraction of a fraction to your organization could just send it skyrocketing to the next level so that money is out there. And like I said I think you're going to have a lot of fun when you see those big checks coming in.

[00:25:58] I just love. I mean you got me motivated.

[00:26:01] Well you're doing great things that I just always for the underdog because everybody wants to deal with all the big shots and the celebrities and the people that have already made it. You're taking the kids that like yourself had nothing to start with and making something out of them. So that deserves a lot of attention and I think it touch a chord and when you present it properly to a lot of places. So. So I can't wait to see that. So anyway we've got to take a quick message from our sponsor and we'll come back and see what a typical day is like for Orrin Checkmate Hudson.

[00:26:38] All right. So I kind of turned the Internet marketing training world on its head around the year 2000. See people like me were charging 50 or 100 thousand dollars up front to teach what we knew to clueless business people who refuse to learn. Oh well we're not technical. That's not you know that's not an excuse anymore. I'm a small business advocate and I knew many small businesses could never afford that kind of upfront money. So I made all those gurus mad by charging a relatively small entry fee to my program. And they also pay a percentage of profits that's capped. So you're not stuck with me forever. So. So for me to get my big money you have to make way bigger money. And you know I'm not going to disappear like many of them do because I won't get any more money. So this I've been doing this 19 years now and never had a lawsuit made fortunes for people. I get my cut and everybody's happy. So check it out at greatinternetmarketingtraining.com. And you can see what's involved to get in the program which by the way this is no get rich quick stuff. This is a year long training includes a trip to my retreat center and Orrin's been here. It's the real deal. So check it out at greatInternetmarketingtraining.com.

[00:28:04] All right let's get back to super Orrin Hudson. He's the checkmate guy who helps kids learn about life through the game of chess. So. So how do you keep motivated. I know that you got these kids that their life's in your hands in a way. But how do you keep motivated because cranking out and trying to get money for the organization all day long it's gonna wear on you.

[00:28:28] Well you know I love what I do. And if you love what you do like Steve Jobs say that he said if you don't love what you do then of a normal person would stop. But I haven't. So. I love it so much that even. Yeah. I keep going even when it's difficult. I just love it and I just know I thank God if I'm doing what I'm doing what you want me to do. Show me a sign and I get this miracle. I got to get this lady like I was on the beach in Tampa and the news media came and say Orrin Can we do a story are you why are you here. I go yes. So I mean just miracles happen. And the next thing you know another miracle happened. So like today I had a call that was a big opportunity. And then two days before that I'm going to be in this is a full page profile which I'd never been in this magazine and Atlanta is a big time is called Atlanta Business Chronicle. It's going to be huge and I think that it's really gonna open some doors for me. And so I'm doing God's work and I'm gonna get you on board. And I I'll take advantage of your expertise and I'm living my dream. It's been a while but like in the song I said at long it takes the better you become. And sometimes you just gotta go through the stuff that you go through to really be able to bring that value. And that's why screwing the commute and hanging around Tom is a brilliant idea because nobody on the planet is gonna give you the value that Tom brings you.

[00:30:06] Well thanks. Now I was this when you're talking about the beach there do you ever set up on the beach.

[00:30:11] Yeah. Set up the life size chess board and a couple of kids said we can beat you I said let's go. And I was able to hold them off and come to find out their daddy wrote a famous song. So I'm I'll follow up with them. They live in New York.

[00:30:27] Hey what's a typical day look like for you. I mean is this on the phone all day trying to raise funds now.

[00:30:32] A typical day is I go to a school and do something in the morning and then now do something do a lunch and learn and not do a eating workshop and our Setups set up some calls in the afternoon at the school get out and I'll keep on moving. So basically I do like a typical day is I do a workshop do a lunch and learn do something in the evening and then call it a day.

[00:31:00] Well you know we're just got to keep you off the streets you know. So that bad element doesn't get ahold of you. well Orrin and this has been really great and really uplifting people out there. If you want to do some good. This guy just decided I'm going to do it rather than just talk and think about it the rest of his life because those kids need you. I mean it scares me to death when I watch the news and kids dropping like flies killing each other. You know all kinds of the bad stuff is not happening around you. That's for sure. So thanks so much for coming on.

[00:31:33] Thank you for having me and I appreciate you and God bless you.

[00:31:37] Well thanks so much.

[00:31:38] Web site is besomeone.org. My e-mail is orrin@besomeone.org.

[00:32:01] Now can they go there and donate or we have what all can they do at the site.

[00:32:08] At besomeone.org you can go there and you can purchase my book. I have a book out one move at a time and I have t shirts. It says brains before bullets. Thinking that they'll shoot it out and I have a few chess boards on there and you can also donate and invite me to speak to your group.

[00:32:27] And I have to introduce you to one of my students. His name is Al Johnson out of California. He's a longtime karate expert and teacher and he's got an anti-bullying class. But then I don't know how well how you guys would match but there's got to be something there. Because he's the he's doing great things for youth also. So I want to introduce you to him and let you guys talk. So thanks so much for coming on. Everybody make sure you subscribe and review get a hold of that app that'll make it easy for you to take us with you on the road and we'll see you all on the next episode.
Join my distance learning school: https://www.IMTCVA.org
OR
Join the mentor program PLUS get a FREE Scholarship to the School: https://www.GreatInternetMarketingTraining.com