LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith

Speaker 1 Bro, what's your because?

Speaker 1 What's that thing? What's your purpose? What would that answer be?

Speaker 3 My purpose is to walk this earth to be able to have my daughter as a parent, right? To have my daughter look at me and say, hey, my dad was somebody.

Speaker 1 U.S. Naval Academy played sports there.
What was your decision in saying, I want to join the Navy? What was that like?

Speaker 3 Oh, that was a hard decision. Leave it to my own guidance.
I would have never went to the academy. One of my biggest mentors, Wayne Blair, was probably my biggest supporter to drive me in that era.

Speaker 1 The mission of Divine Sport now is: is it the same mission as when you first started it or when you joined the company?

Speaker 3 It's evolved a little bit. I would say initially, we still are faith-based, right? That doesn't change.
I think our driving point was that we knew as agents, right, that we're faith-based.

Speaker 3 So we want like mine and we try to expand it as much as we can.

Speaker 4 Welcome to Mick Unplugged, where we ignite potential and fuel purpose. Get ready for raw insights, bold moves, and game-changing conversations.
Buckle up, here's Mick.

Speaker 1 Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another exciting episode of Mick Unplugged, and today's guest is a dynamic leader who has made waves in both sports and entertainment.

Speaker 1 With a background that spans from playing football for the U.S.

Speaker 1 Naval Academy to founding Divine Sports Entertainment, he has proven himself as a visionary in creating opportunities for athletes and entertainers alike.

Speaker 1 From the football field to the boardroom, his journey is one of determination, discipline, and innovation. Please join me in welcoming the passionate, the driven, the visionary, and the comedian, Mr.

Speaker 1 LaVon Kelly. LaVon, how you doing today, brother? I'm doing well.

Speaker 3 How you doing? How you doing today?

Speaker 1 I'm doing great, man. You know, I was telling you offline, like we have some mutual friends and I've heard a lot about LaVon.
And so I'm truly excited and honored to spend some time with you.

Speaker 1 But before we even get started, man, I just personally wanted to thank you for your service and all the things that you've done for this country.

Speaker 1 Because without people like you doing the things that you do that go unseen, we couldn't have the freedoms that we have today. So I wanted to personally thank you, brother.

Speaker 3 I truly appreciate it and happy to do it.

Speaker 1 Always, always. So, Levon, man, like

Speaker 1 we're going to do the PG-13 version today. Okay.

Speaker 1 We'll give some folks after hours, Levon, later, man. But on Make Unplugged, we like to go into your because,

Speaker 1 that thing that's deeper than your why, that thing that really makes you do what you do and become the person that you become. So if I were to ask LaVon Kelly, bro, what's your because?

Speaker 1 What's that thing? What's your purpose? What would that answer be?

Speaker 2 My purpose is to walk this earth.

Speaker 3 to be able to have my daughter as a parent, right? To have my daughter look at me and say, hey, my dad was somebody, right?

Speaker 3 The overall theme of everything I try to do, I try to make sure that when she looks at me or hears my name or my name is spoken, she has a sense of pride in her as well as I have when I see her.

Speaker 1 That's it, man. That's truly amazing.
Because, you know, for me, very similar, but the opposite way. Like, I was at 10 years old, I made a promise to my mom to like change lives and to

Speaker 1 specifically change her life. And so that promise is what drives me to this day.
And then as you get older, that promise then goes to your kids, right? And to the people that you love.

Speaker 1 And so i see lavon as a man who just lives a promise and a purpose every day bro got to got to yes sir so let's talk to us a little bit about your story your background so you know u.s naval academy played sports there what was your decision in saying i want to join the navy what was that like oh that was a hard decision and leave it to my own guidance, I would have never went to the academy.

Speaker 3 My mentors, one of my biggest mentors, Wayne Blair, was probably my biggest supporter to drive me in that era. Coming from South Florida, I mean, I'm a Miami Hurricanes fan, right?

Speaker 3 So growing up, I mean, I'm Afro, I'm braided back, everything, you know? So to see me transform and getting that first haircut, cut my hair all off, to go to that realm.

Speaker 3 My dad was in the Air Force for 23 years, so I caught the back end of his service and time. So never really saw like the deployments and away from home kind of trying to drive from him.

Speaker 3 But I had a little bit of what military was about right not how it interacts right and i never really had that exposure uh so take so taking that ride was never on my never on my radar like even when they came to school offer letters thing i put them in a shoebox and threw them to the side right never really paid attention to it but as time went on like i said i was definitely a hurricane fan they they didn't they didn't come around right i wasn't at that caliber yet right i was small like i was always the underdog trying to try to drive up and get that eye right trying to prove myself should should I say.

Speaker 3 But my mentor, he went to Tulane. So he knew the kind of rigor morose of going to be a collegiate student and played for the CFL for a little while as well.
So, you know, Florida, big football.

Speaker 3 So, yeah, I want to go to the league too. You know, that was always something in the back of my mind to kind of keep going.
But he saw the bigger pitch and I never saw it, right?

Speaker 3 And he wanted to make sure that I was in that place. And my parents, of course, they were driving.
They want me to be happy wherever I went, right? So we took some school visits.

Speaker 3 UCF, FIU was getting a new program, was getting prominent. Today was offering us and kind of talking our way through.
But I mean, my mother really left it to me to kind of figure that piece out.

Speaker 3 So with him and prayer, a whole lot of prayer, I was able to make that decision, went to the prep school first. So I went to Rhode Island.
Never been to Rhode Island in my life, right?

Speaker 3 It's snowing in October. I'm a Florida, right? Yeah.
So I'm, but listen,

Speaker 3 I'm in the orange dickie shorts, some Nikes.

Speaker 3 And watching this snow come down in October, didn't know what I was doing, right? Didn't know what to do other than stay inside, right?

Speaker 3 Stay warm but got through that first year and then really had to make a decision okay now hey now I was on to Naval Academy and it's from the guys that I met there the football team and the nucleus we started to build and we were winning we did pretty well for ourselves so we knew that we could go in as a unit and change the program and that was our expectation so we did it we went on our first year was course still rough uh we didn't win any game but our freshman year right so that was something new to me i'm from st thomas aquinas high school in florida so i'm used to winning right

Speaker 1 you just showed up and you won. Right.

Speaker 3 Used to looking up in the stand. Yeah, committee team just said, hey, we just playing for second.
You know, that's how I kind of really boiled to.

Speaker 3 But looking in the stands, looking for my parents, always trying to find that noble, simple face, it wasn't there, right?

Speaker 3 So I had to really dig deep, and football really became a heavy, heavy factor for me to just maintain my college career.

Speaker 3 I think if they would have took the football away from me, I've probably had to reevaluate some things personally just to kind of stay put.

Speaker 3 But it kept me there and it allowed me to flourish and allowed me to be great as a midshipman, then commissioned as a naval officer.

Speaker 3 There was opportunities that we were trying to seek a couple classmates to try to go play professional. But 9-11 actually happened on our freshman year, so the nation was at war.

Speaker 3 So at that time, it was very, very difficult for anyone to allow us to go on to play professional. So got stationed out in Virginia, was there for a couple years.
There was a couple semi-pro teams.

Speaker 3 I kind of just stayed around football. So I played a little bit and then I was on a ship.
So we went out on deployments.

Speaker 3 So now I'm across the globe, you you know, touring the world, defending the country, and just kind of having that security.

Speaker 3 So that football of playing, I had to hang those cleats up at that point, right? I took on other responsibilities. And it was the men and women of the Navy, my division, my department, right?

Speaker 3 Those I had to lead at that point. I took them on and was able to complete 20 years of service.
So I was able to come home every time I took away, you know, and bring my guys back too.

Speaker 3 So it's definitely a blessing. My mom has always been.
been my cornerstone in my rock. My dad was giving me guidance as some of the military aspects as well.

Speaker 3 And then the family and friends that i actually met through the military i wouldn't change it for the world right and i knew as i transitioned out i still wanted to do something i coached when i was at short duty so when i had opportunities i was able to coach at two different high schools also trained a couple guys um and watched them go from high school to college to nfl right so i watched those phases of progression to go out and i was able to be a part of it to help mentor right wasn't my ability by any means right and I wasn't trying to live through them but I just wanted to give them what I necessarily didn't receive as I was going through that process.

Speaker 3 And I think it proved to be great dividends for them, and they did well. And now, some of them are actually back coaching high school.

Speaker 3 So I actually attend some of those practices sometimes, just flower on the wall, right? Never wanted a true by any means. And they asked me questions, like, Coach, was I like that?

Speaker 3 Like, yeah, that was back then, too. You know, it happened that way.

Speaker 3 But I'm happy they're embracing it and they're figuring out ways to lead their guys to, right, to motivate them, to get them to do what needs to be done.

Speaker 3 And I'll also give them a platform to be successful well after football. So I definitely appreciate and love those guys as they continue to do that.

Speaker 1 That's awesome. One of the things I know about you, Lovana, and what I hear is you tell your story.
And I never say leaders are born naturally, right?

Speaker 1 Like, you can have leadership tendencies, but those are skills that you have to continue to develop, right?

Speaker 1 Like, I tell people all the time, just because you're seven foot doesn't mean you can dominate in basketball.

Speaker 1 There's skills that you have to develop, but I do think that you had qualities to obviously be the best leader among leaders.

Speaker 1 And so, what was it like for you you when you realized that you were on that path of being a leader, being the person that people looked up to, people counted on, people depended on?

Speaker 1 And the second part of that question is, what did it feel like?

Speaker 1 Because as a leader myself, right, like there are a lot of times when people don't understand the responsibility that true leaders have and that thing that we feel that sometimes you can't articulate, right?

Speaker 1 It's like when you're in that moment and you know you're in that moment, like there's a thing that happens on the inside for most like true leaders. What was it like for LaVon?

Speaker 1 Like one, realizing that that's you. And then two, those moments where it's like the decisions I make are about to change lives.
Like, what is that like for LaVon?

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Speaker 5 Atruvia is an old medicine used to treat adults with ATTR-CM to reduce death and hospitalization due to heart issues.

Speaker 5 Tell your doctor if you're pregnant, plan to become pregnant, or are breastfeeding, and about the medications you take. The most common side effects were mild and included diarrhea and abdominal pain.

Speaker 5 If you have ATTRCM, talk to your cardiologist about Atrubia or visit Atruby.com. That's ATTRUBY.com to learn more.
It's time to get busy living.

Speaker 3 So I would say probably the first time I could probably say I felt a glimpse of that was once I graduated, they allowed us to go back to the prep school to coach.

Speaker 3 So that was my first experience of something that I love with football. And I was able to teach high school students how to play the game, right? How to play my positions.

Speaker 3 I was a DB coach and special teams coach. So watching them in a high school atmosphere like, right, is what they come from.
And bringing those guys to jaildom together.

Speaker 3 And they're looking to me, right? I'm their pathway at this point, right? I have to lead them is learning that playbook and being able to play it.

Speaker 3 Four years ago when I played, but when I had to teach it, two different things, right? Absolutely, two different things.

Speaker 3 And if I would have actually probably learned and knew what I was teaching at that point four years ago, I'd have been a totally different player. I would have definitely had a better insight.

Speaker 3 So I think at that point, when I started to watch them, and then when I said, hey, when they've arrived, they've seen some of these things. They learned the tendencies.

Speaker 3 They're doing the drills correctly.

Speaker 3 They're being coachable, right? And they're doing those things that you ask of them. And then you have to find out a way to motivate them.
Every person is not the same.

Speaker 3 And that was another factor is that I had to be adaptable and I had to be able to do it quickly in order to keep everybody on the same mode.

Speaker 3 Because I couldn't focus on one person all the time because I would leave the rest of the group behind. So I had to figure that person out real quick, right? What makes them tick, right?

Speaker 3 And how do I can get them to be motivated to continue to go on and do and go on and go forward to do great? So that was probably my initial clips.

Speaker 3 What it felt like, I think the biggest feeling was when I was in the military. I was in my second command, so I was at a staff group.
So after the ship, I went to a staff unit.

Speaker 3 And at that time, the staff constructed our Commodore at the time, he's the head of multiple ships. So I answer up to him.

Speaker 3 He was the head for the most part, but it was other captains on each ship that owned their own ship and their personnel. So I was like an overseer for the most part.

Speaker 3 Well, I reported to him, but certain units reported to me. Now, mind you, they're not always in the same place.

Speaker 3 So when I give certain directions or get certain reports, I have to be able to be very clear and concise when that happens.

Speaker 3 So I had to work on how I speak, I had to work on how I deliver messages, had to work on how I convey things because how I'm hearing it in my mind may not be how they receive it on the other end.

Speaker 3 So I had to figure that out. Once I figured that out, I think I was golden, right?

Speaker 3 Because I knew once I put something out, it was clear what I taught it to train them to be in a better place and then watch them go on and do it and execute it far beyond what I imagined.

Speaker 3 It felt great, right? Because now I'm like, okay, I might do a little something, right?

Speaker 3 But they're executing it and whatever innovative ways they may have added to it, they've actually made it better. So I learned from them, right?

Speaker 3 When they came back with certain things, I learned from them and I just was able to sponge, right, take some of that in and apply it to the next phase, right?

Speaker 3 And I just continue, it's a continuous cycle, right? Because always learning, always some professional development to happen. So I appreciated it and it was a great feeling at that time.

Speaker 1 I love it. I love it.
So that part of your journey kind of, I don't want to say ends. It evolves into you creating and finding divine sports Entertainment.

Speaker 1 Tell me a little bit about your vision for why you wanted to start Divine Sports Entertainment and then what that mission initially was.

Speaker 3 Gotcha. So with Divine Sports, so I didn't necessarily find it.
It was two founders prior to me. They brought me on with them, right? One of them I actually mentored while he was at the Naval Academy.

Speaker 3 Actually, he's a 2014 graduate. So from their nucleus, it didn't find a way because we both played football, right? So it was always a pathway.

Speaker 3 The biggest thing for us first is Savers Academies, right? Trying to find a way to the league. You still want that.

Speaker 3 Some still have those dreams and aspirations.

Speaker 3 Even though we know we have to go and serve and there's a commitment once we graduate to serve in the armed forces, there's always that slight chance that that hope that you, hey, I may have an opportunity to go forth.

Speaker 3 And that was always something we wanted to be able to tap into. It still is, right? Still at the desire of ours as we continue to work through this.
But we... Faith-based, right?

Speaker 3 We always understand what it took for us and we knew how many times we had to fall on our knees to make sure that next day was to come right and we were prepared for it.

Speaker 3 And we believe everyone has a purpose because we have our own purpose.

Speaker 3 We learned through the Naval Academy, coming from boys to men, right, how that changes those sacrifices in life and then getting to the fleet, right, or to the military or to the Navy, just a commission you actually received at that point.

Speaker 3 As you got developed, your purpose began to become a little bit more refined, right? And you learned some tools and you got some assets to actually get us to a place.

Speaker 3 And that allowed us to be there at that point. So we appreciated it at that point.

Speaker 1 That's awesome. So

Speaker 1 the mission of Divine Sport now, is it the same mission as when you first started it or when you joined the company?

Speaker 3 It's evolved a little bit. I would say initially we still are faith-based, right? That doesn't change.
I think our driving point was that we knew as agents, right, that we're faith-based.

Speaker 3 So we want like minds and we try to

Speaker 3 expand it as much as we can. But then we kind of figure out like it's not just the athletes, right?

Speaker 3 Like we want the family, we want the Nicholas Drive, we want to be an extension of family as that comes about.

Speaker 3 The transactional pieces that happens in the business of the sports industry, we do our best to shy away from, right? We want to be able to build those relationships to be a part of that.

Speaker 3 And we even started a Bible study that we have as an agency every Wednesday, right?

Speaker 3 So anyone that's affiliated in the sports industry that we have either a reach to or we can touch, we invite them, right?

Speaker 3 And we go through books, we go through certain passages in the Bible every Wednesday for the men. And we know that we have to kind of walk that walk, right?

Speaker 3 You just can't be out here just preaching it and you're not living it. What you live is your creed, right?

Speaker 3 Um, so we do our best to not only be that example that others can emulate, right, but we try to pass on those tools because you never know when somebody's paying attention, right?

Speaker 3 And when they do what they take from you, right? Now, I'm not trying to say that I'm perfect by any means, right? I know I'm no saint and

Speaker 3 I know where my shortcomings lie, but at the same time, I do know that I'm on a path that I try to instill in myself and in those around me a better way forward.

Speaker 3 And if I can touch one to just kind of be motivated to do that, then I think I've done my job.

Speaker 1 That's amazing, man. That's why, again, I love the human that you are above anything else.
So

Speaker 1 inside Divine Sport, what are some of the principles from your military background that you are able to apply into what you do at Divine?

Speaker 3 I'm going to say a structured structured piece as far as how how we implement certain programs, how we have certain milestones and checkpoints to make sure everything is running accordingly and efficiently, right?

Speaker 3 We know everything is not clicky-cutter. We try to apply it and we got to be adaptable.
So we, every day, there may be a change, right? But we always say it's an intel, right?

Speaker 3 The enemy has a factor in this decision process, right? So what we do depends on the enemy, right? So we just can't go out and just run A through Z. It's not how that works, right?

Speaker 3 So the enemy always has a play in that decision. And I think the next piece, when it comes to development, the mentor piece, I'm not the yes man, right? I haven't been that person.

Speaker 3 I don't know if I ever was that person. So

Speaker 3 I can't be with a client and

Speaker 3 being my own person if I don't really give them the pros and cons, right? Pluses and minuses, the risks that maybe they have to be able to live with, right? With any decision that they make.

Speaker 3 As a prior, I was an internal officer my career, so I was always looking at the adversary courses of action as to how do we defeat this.

Speaker 3 So whatever the issue was, I try to find a way to defeat it, but I got to understand what the issue is, right? And I got to bring that.

Speaker 3 And a lot of people consider that to be the devil's advocate piece and think I'm the negative person, but I'm just like, I want you to be able to think every manner in which this may play out.

Speaker 3 And then whichever one is best for you, that's fine. And then let's look at the risk that we got to take on it.
We probably can't buy down the risk all the way to zero, right?

Speaker 3 So any form of fashion, whatever that may be.

Speaker 3 If we can just buy it down to somewhat because we thought about some of these processes that actually have to take place, then it may become an acceptable risk.

Speaker 3 And that's part of the military, too, right? Um, collateral damage, should I say, right? Things of that nature.

Speaker 3 But if it gets to a point where you're acceptable and you know what it is, and you're able to swallow that, then okay, if that's what you want to do, then we move forward, but we move forward without second-guessing, right?

Speaker 3 We take that, we move that in the right direction, and then we go, right?

Speaker 3 And then, if something else arises that we weren't prepared for, that we hate, we got a breakpoint, and then we just got to adjust, adapt, and we keep moving on.

Speaker 1 I love it. I love it.
So, you've mentioned several times something I believe in, which is the power of mentorship, right?

Speaker 1 Like I have, I have multiple mentors that are skilled in different facets of life. And so they become resources for me.
And I think, especially for leaders, but also for

Speaker 1 everyone, if you don't have a mentor or two or three, you definitely need to make sure you're finding them.

Speaker 1 I love to ask LaVon, right? For you, I'm going to go for you personally and then I'll have a follow-up. So for you personally, what do you look for in mentors?

Speaker 3 I'm very, very keen. I'm a strong proponent and advocate that success leaves clues.
I don't think I have to go and reinvent the wheel all the time.

Speaker 3 Times change, right? So innovative ways do come across, but the methodologies don't really steer too far from it, right? History repeats itself.

Speaker 3 So I look for, well, who, whatever I'm trying to do, if I'm trying to get to a certain goal, well, who's completed that goal? Then I do some research. Well, how do they get it done?

Speaker 3 Does this apply to me? Is this a timely manner? And the time that it took them, do I have that time and space to do that?

Speaker 3 If I do, okay, well i might start marketing if i don't then i got to figure out how do i speed that up if i speed that up what am i losing right what is the value that i'm going to miss out right i may miss out on a learning tool or i may be so far ahead that i've missed out on a production so it may get me there faster but then i can't sustain it right and that's not where i want to be at either right so you got to find that balance when it comes to that and i think that other than success itself um you got to understand that just kind of what you said your mentors may not always be in the industry that you're in right So, I love to have out-of-the-box thinkers, someone that has nothing, a fresh pair of eyes, because when you're in the thick of it, you kind of get tunnel vision sometimes, and it's hard to step away when you're in the problem.

Speaker 3 But if I can go to someone who has no bias, right, no dog in the fight whatsoever, but just an honorable person, someone that just has some forward thought that can kind of take things and just give me the honest opinion and evaluation, I'm all about it.

Speaker 5 Hi, Morgan Freeman here. I want to talk to you about a serious rare heart condition called ATTR cardiac amyloidosis or ATTR-CM.

Speaker 5 Now I don't have the condition myself but if you're living with ATTR-CM it's important to know about treatment options like Atruvi also known as Acoramidis because you have the power of choice when it comes to treatment.

Speaker 5 Atruvi is an old medicine used to treat adults with ATTR-CM to reduce death and hospitalization due to heart issues.

Speaker 5 Tell your doctor if you're pregnant, plan to become pregnant, or are breastfeeding and about the medications you take. The most common side effects were mild and included diarrhea and abdominal pain.

Speaker 5 If you have ATTR-CM, talk to your cardiologist about Natrubia or visit Atruby.com. That's ATT-R-U-B-Y.com to learn more.
It's time to get busy living.

Speaker 1 That's wonderful. That's wonderful.
And so now the second part of that question is for you as as a mentor.

Speaker 1 What are some of the things that you're seeing with athletes, entertainers that are coming to Divine that's like, okay,

Speaker 1 I know that I'm going to need to be a mentor in this aspect of their life?

Speaker 1 Like, what would you say some of the common aspects are that you're seeing with, I don't want to say this newer athlete or entertainer, but this different generation of athletes and entertainers?

Speaker 3 I think the different generation, probably the biggest thing is that they have to understand that they themselves now are no longer really a football player by itself, right? You're not just a player.

Speaker 3 As you transition to the professional side, that's a profession, right? So you got to understand that, right?

Speaker 3 Being a profession now, you got to understand that you are a brand, you are your own business. So technically, once you graduate, you become a CEO.

Speaker 3 Whether you want to or not with no skills, no knowledge or anything, that title is on you. And for them to grasp that, some of them do, right? Especially with NIL when it comes into place.

Speaker 3 If the proper education is given to them, I think they understand that and that transition is a little bit easier, but some don't. And it's a rags to riches kind of deal.

Speaker 3 And those are the other things for just responsibility, being

Speaker 3 financial like literacy,

Speaker 3 understanding how that works, how money works, how it can work for you. Small things, things that we're accustomed to now as I'm older, right?

Speaker 3 But I know no one was talking about that to me when I was younger, right?

Speaker 3 I think NIL brings an open platform and a space for us to start having those conversations a little bit earlier, especially now in the high schools, right?

Speaker 3 As they go to college, so with the collective deals, those are the things that you have to have taxes, right? Some of them just is just not aware, right?

Speaker 3 And they may not be thinking about it until you bring it up. Then they'll be like, oh, you know what? You're right.

Speaker 3 And those are things you just kind of got to pull on.

Speaker 3 But I think once they see that you're trying to open them up to things that they should be aware of, maybe they're not, but it's going to allow them to be better. They're very much more receptive.

Speaker 3 So it's not always a fight, right?

Speaker 1 It's not always a bad thing i just some of them just don't know what they don't know right and they receive it as as you come with it and as you're being authentic right transparent it's nothing that you're kind of hiding on the back scene it's very it's very much more receptive than anything else yeah so another question with this the modern agent that's coming out the modern athlete something you didn't have to deal with right so when you were and i'm not calling you old livon by any stretch of imagination we're we're i'm a little bit older than you but like we didn't have to deal with social media and all that right like we didn't have to deal with as many distractions today not just athletes but just everybody in the world has distractions in front of them 24 7.

Speaker 1 how do you handle that and what's some advice that you have again not just for athletes but for the everyday listener out there of of how to stay focused and not be so easily distracted yeah Yeah, social media, Facebook started when we were in school.

Speaker 3 Matter of fact, it was still so fresh while we were in school.

Speaker 3 when you went to sign up you had to have a school email address right the Naval Academy handle was not even in there like you had to put it in there right to be at it so that was funny but to manage the the distractions I mean you really just have to tell them just I need you to to be mature about this right you got to be it for the long game the short game the distractions today will definitely affect you two three years down the road And you don't want to look back and say, hey, four years ago or two years ago, if I would have been here, but you took that time to do certain things.

Speaker 3 Players may go to training. I'll give you an example.
Training, right? Getting ready for the season or getting ready for their pro-day combine, anything, right? And

Speaker 3 social media is very heavy, right? They're on their downtime. They're probably on social media, following whatever have you.

Speaker 3 But when they're posting their training or they're after training, they want to post it in the gym. That's great, right? Acknowledged document, that's all well and good.
But then

Speaker 3 all I do is I ask, I say, let me ask you this question. The time that you took out to go get your phone,

Speaker 3 to go position yourself, to sit up here, to show that, hey, you've worked in the gym and you've worked out and you want to flex, right? Like, what else could you have been doing, right?

Speaker 3 Because I'm asking you this. Does that little time, right? If you add them all up collectively, it's going to get a couple hours in your life.
Is that playbook time? Is that another workout?

Speaker 3 Is that another rep? Is that another set?

Speaker 3 Is that something that's going to propel you on the field? If you look at your phone, no phones on the field. There are no phones in between the white lines, right?

Speaker 3 So that aspect of your training is nowhere to be found and it can't be trans,

Speaker 3 you can't translate it from that little moment in time and it's going to make you a better football player. So I simply ask the question, I put it on them, right?

Speaker 3 I don't, I don't, I'm not the parent for them, right? I just make sure they're aware of what they're doing. Again, I let you know the risk, right? That's the risk that you run into.

Speaker 3 As much as time as you put into that, if you miss a beat or you don't hit a mark, I'm always going to be like, was there any other time and space that we could have done in that time frame that we could have probably got there?

Speaker 3 Now, if you tell me you've you've done everything and the social media wasn't

Speaker 3 i don't know right we'll see but if i i can tell you that the person who who's put the phone down who's taking the time to to sacrifice whatever time that is to focus on their crafts i'm always going to say they're going to be the better player that would be my bet hands down

Speaker 1 I do the same thing when I talk to business leaders and salespeople, right? It's like there's somebody who's not doing that right now.

Speaker 1 Your competition, there's somebody that's closing a million-dollar deal because they're focused on the million-dollar deal.

Speaker 1 There's some leader that's making the ultimate business decision that's going to move their company forward because they're focused on that business decision.

Speaker 1 They're not distracted by the phone or trying to see what my buddy's doing, or, oh my God, did you see this on TikTok?

Speaker 1 I can't tell you, I shouldn't say this out loud, but I'm going to say it because I'm talking to Levon. So, I work with a few Fortune 500 companies.

Speaker 1 You would be surprised at how many Fortune 500 CEOs are like amazed at what's happening on TikTok when they should be focused on this crazy dynamic business decision that they should be making or that their team is going through.

Speaker 1 They're goofing off, my words, they're goofing off on social media.

Speaker 1 And I'm like, yeah, you're not going to be the CEO of this company in a couple of years because the decision that you're not making right now

Speaker 1 is also very telling, right? Like decision and indecision are in the same family.

Speaker 3 How you you do anything is how you do everything.

Speaker 1 Hey, exactly. I have the saying, how you do small things is how you do all things, right? And that's it, man.
So, Levon, right? I want to go rapid fire. Just a few questions.

Speaker 3 Okay, let's go.

Speaker 1 So, my best friend in the world, Darren Vermost, shout out, Darren. I know he's listening, is an Army guy, right?

Speaker 3 Okay.

Speaker 1 He wants me to ask you this question.

Speaker 3 Yes, we're going to win.

Speaker 1 How bad is Navy going to be?

Speaker 1 How bad is Navy going to lose to the Army in the game?

Speaker 3 So I would say, Darren, every time I've touched the field, I've never lost to the Army, so I don't know how that feels or how that even happens.

Speaker 3 So

Speaker 3 if I'm a betting man,

Speaker 3 I say that

Speaker 3 I'm going to give us 10 points. I think we got a 10-point win.
I know Coach Munkin. Coach Muncin was coaching at the Navy when I was there.
So I love Coach Muncan. I mean, Coach Muncin, he's a dog.

Speaker 3 Listen, if he can go out and win and get it scratched and dig, he'll put his foot on your throat, right? 100%.

Speaker 3 And I love that, right? He's it. He sees it.
He goes for the kill. But I really do think that we have a team that can definitely

Speaker 3 match up. And I'm looking forward to the game.
I'll be there, of course, so I can't wait.

Speaker 1 Darren, I think that's a challenge. Levon said he's going to be at the game.
I don't know if you're going to be watching on the couch with Mel and

Speaker 1 everybody else. So we'll see.
But Darren, that was a challenge right there. All right.
Next question, man. So what's your favorite holiday?

Speaker 3 Fourth of July, fourth of July. In Florida, yeah, we were big on fireworks.
I love fireworks in Virginia. You really can't do them.

Speaker 3 So, um, we go to the parks when they kind of set them off through the city. But, yeah, we've always been with fireworks family time.
So, yeah, I love that time frame.

Speaker 1 Okay.

Speaker 1 Favorite NFL team?

Speaker 3 Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Speaker 1 No, I said your favorite NFL team.

Speaker 3 Like, like a couple of couple year Super Bowl winners? Yeah.

Speaker 3 Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Speaker 1 Love it. Love it.
College sport. What's your favorite college basketball team? And why is it my albumitter of the University of North Carolina?

Speaker 3 I'm Harry Kings all day, so that won't change. I'm still going to be a Harry King fan.

Speaker 1 You keep missing what I'm asking. I know.

Speaker 3 I know what you're.

Speaker 3 I just

Speaker 3 give you what you want right now.

Speaker 1 College basketball. Carolina Blue.

Speaker 3 I love it.

Speaker 3 I'll wear a couple Jordans. I'll do that for you.

Speaker 3 That's about it.

Speaker 1 There you go. There you go.
All-time favorite athlete.

Speaker 3 It's a lot of them. It's tough to choose one.

Speaker 3 I mean, growing up, I mean, Dion is always as in my position, always been. But I will say, I know I was growing up, Bo Jackson, I had the

Speaker 3 cartoon. Remember the cartoon all-stars? Absolutely.
So that was to get up. I used to have the little Raider pajama set, the bed set spread and everything.
Yeah,

Speaker 3 Bo is on the map for me.

Speaker 1 That's it. So,

Speaker 1 Bo, you said my three are probably, if we go football, Bo, Barry, and Dion. Yeah,

Speaker 1 Barry Sanders was my guy, yeah, but Bo Jackson was a different breed. He was, he definitely was a different breed.
Cool, man. So, so, what all do you have going on? What do you want folks to know?

Speaker 1 Like, what's upcoming for Levant?

Speaker 3 Right now, I mean, it's kind of the grind season for us as we continue to keep recruiting and getting ready to close some deals and bring some clients on the board for this next draft class.

Speaker 3 So we're still here trying to better ourselves. I'm actually, so like professional development, we always say we're trying to learn, right? There's actually Harvard

Speaker 3 Business School has this executive leadership course in June. So I just applied for that.
Hopefully I get in.

Speaker 3 So pray for them and whoever's out there to praying to praying, folks, please pray for me that I can get into that course. And just to be better at my craft.

Speaker 3 Now that I'm retired, like, I'm just all I want to do. I don't want to do anything else.
I don't want to do the corporate job and do an agent on on the side.

Speaker 3 Like, I'm a full-time agent, so I don't, I wake up and do this weekends, anything, right? It don't matter. Like I said, for Thanksgiving, so my high school again, St.

Speaker 3 Thomas, we practice on Thanksgiving, right? Because you're typical in the playoffs. I flew home.
So I flew to Florida

Speaker 3 to go to practice, go to Thanksgiving, saw my dad, went to the game Friday, flew out Saturday. Now I'm in Texas visiting my mom right now.
And then I fly back to Virginia tomorrow. So

Speaker 3 all for the work, but I love it. And she knows that she loves it too.
So that support factor.

Speaker 3 And I would say that, yeah, when you have a good circle to support you, that's one of the best things in the world.

Speaker 3 You really can't put any value on that piece.

Speaker 3 And I'm talking about just from parents to those parents that are still around that can still push you, not just as a student now, but as a professional and let you just kind of grow and cultivate on your own space.

Speaker 3 I would trade it in for the world.

Speaker 1 That's amazing, man. So where can people follow and find you? And I'll make sure we have links to everything in the show notes in the description.

Speaker 3 I make it very simple.

Speaker 1 instagram and twitter uh it's just my full name lavon kelly so it's lavon l-a-v-a-u-g-h-n underscore kelly k-e-l-l-e-y there it is simple enough lavon brother i appreciate you being on we're gonna do this again so we can go into some of these stories because they didn't get to see the comedian that i know you are as well too so Thank you, brother.

Speaker 1 I know you're busy. Just, it meant the world to have you on.
And again, thank you so much for your service.

Speaker 3 I appreciate it, man. Definitely, definitely.
Uh, I thank you for this opportunity. I wish you all the best and continued success for you as well.
And I'm looking forward to doing this again with you.

Speaker 1 You got it. And to all the listeners and viewers, remember, your because is your superpower.
Go unleash it.

Speaker 4 Thank you for tuning in to Mick Unplug. Keep pushing your limits, embracing your purpose, and chasing greatness.
Until next time, stay unstoppable.