Aug. 24, 2025
From Felon to Fortune: Ken Miller's Inspiring Journey of Resilience and Redemption
Send us a text In this inspiring episode of Living the Dream with Curveball, we are joined by Ken Miller, a remarkable author, speaker, and seven-figure business owner who shares his extraordinary journey of resilience and transformation. Ken opens up about his challenging upbringing, including being adopted after spending six years in foster care, and the struggles he faced with addiction that led to three incarcerations. He candidly discusses how he overcame the stigma of being a convicted...
In this inspiring episode of Living the Dream with Curveball, we are joined by Ken Miller, a remarkable author, speaker, and seven-figure business owner who shares his extraordinary journey of resilience and transformation. Ken opens up about his challenging upbringing, including being adopted after spending six years in foster care, and the struggles he faced with addiction that led to three incarcerations. He candidly discusses how he overcame the stigma of being a convicted felon and rebuilt his life, ultimately becoming a successful entrepreneur. Ken emphasizes the importance of mindset, forgiveness, and trust in his journey, offering valuable insights into how he embraced his past to create a brighter future. With a focus on the power of artificial intelligence and its potential to level the playing field for communities of color, Ken shares his passion for mentoring and helping others find their paths to success. Tune in for an uplifting conversation that will motivate you to pursue your dreams, no matter the obstacles you face. Don't miss this chance to learn from Ken's incredible story and the lessons he's gained along the way.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Welcome to the Living the Dream podcast with Curveball. if you believe you can achieve.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Welcome to the Living the Dream with Curveball podcast, a show where I interview guests that teach, motivate and inspire.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Today I am joined by author, speaker and seven figure business owner, Ken Miller. Ken has an amazing story, one of resilience. So we're going to be talking to him about his story and where he came from, what he's up to and going to be up to. So, Ken, thank you so much for joining me today.
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> Ken Miller>Thank you, Curtis. It's my pleasure to be on your podcast.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Why don't you start off by telling everybody a little bit about yourself?
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> Ken Miller>Sure. Let me give you the high level version.
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> Ken Miller>I'm 62 years old, African American male. I'm a business owner, I'm an entrepreneur, I'm a speaker, I am also a author and I also own property in other countries.
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> Ken Miller>So that's what I do today. predominantly, again is the business and the speaking and writing of books. But to get to where I am today, which is an individual that is successful, one that's very comfortable in his own skin, and one that has very little friction in my dealings with others or the world at large, I, took a journey. And the short version of the journey is 62 years ago, my mother was a white teenage runaway in New York and my father was a black pimp and drug dealer in New York City.
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> Ken Miller>And I am the byproduct of that union.
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> Ken Miller>And, my mother put me up for adoption at birth. And so for six years I was in foster homes. And then I was adopted by Irene and Sam Miller.
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> Ken Miller>Unfortunately, my father was a violent alcoholic, which was to come, into play a few years later. After I graduated from college, I was precocious and I was accepted to Dartmouth. I was a National Merit Scholar and accepted to Harvard, and I went to Dartmouth College, Ivy League, got out when I was 21 years old, where I tell people with a, ah, degree in fraternity with a minor in drinking and I went into the corporate world, did very well for my first two years, then I relapsed and I was to spend the next 20 years homeless on the streets of Seattle, Reno, Sacramento, Jackson, Mississippi. I am also a three time convicted felon. I've spent time in penitentiaries, years in penitentiaries on three different occasions. but today, I am coming up on 21 years clean and sober.
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> Ken Miller>And like I said, I own multiple businesses and am, what many people would identify as an individual. That is Successful.
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> Ken Miller>And I am. And I'm also merely and humbly a child of God and very, very comfortable in my walk.
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> Ken Miller>How's that for an intro?
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>oh, absolutely. great. And Congratulations on your 20, one years of being clean.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Well, talk to the listeners about, you know, I guess what led you to your three times incarceration and how you was able to make it through and bounce back despite those incarcerations because, you know, like, felon getting a felony is like a death sentence. You know, you get blocked out of a lot of things and excluded from a lot of things. So how were you able to, you know, overcome and get around those things and be the successful man that you are today?
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> Ken Miller>A lot to unpack there, you know.
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> Ken Miller>So how did I become a crack addict on the streets?
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> Ken Miller>very simply is, I've always had an addictive personality. I'm an alcoholic. I was an alcoholic from my, literally probably the first month.
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> Ken Miller>I had my first drink in college. One month later, I'm a full blown alcoholic. What does that mean?
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> Ken Miller>It means, very simply, I. I do not with any certainty have the ability to stop when I start drinking or doing drugs.
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> Ken Miller>I can't. I just, I don't have that switch that shuts it off. So I go until the wheels fall off. I go until I am drunk or under the influence of enough drugs. And I make really poor decisions under the influence of drugs and alcohol. And so what led to my difficulties, of course, is being an alcoholic. And then once I got to the streets of Seattle and was drinking, I was introduced to a drug called crack cocaine in 1988.
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> Ken Miller>And it's not so much under the influence of crack. I did a lot of crazy things. But in pursuit of money to buy crack cocaine with my Ivy League college degree, I did robberies, larcenies, violence, pimping, drug dealing. I was a male prostitute for a lot of years. These are things that I did to pay for my addiction.
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> Ken Miller>And sooner or later they catch you.
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> Ken Miller>And, I got caught at least on three occasions for felonies and many more for misdemeanors.
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> Ken Miller>I tell people I really don't count misdemeanors.
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> Ken Miller>We call it a lay it down. I gotta lay it down. Lay it down for 30 days, 60 days.
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> Ken Miller>So that's what got me into the penitentiary. It was, you know, felony crimes, the ones they caught me for.
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> Ken Miller>At one time, I remember I looked in the thing called the Washington State Blue Book. And the Washington State Blue Book had, like, all the different crimes in their Code and number.
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> Ken Miller>And I picked out 26 felonies that I had committed. I didn't get caught for most of them. In fact, the great majority of them, I didn't get caught, but I did. And by the time I came to my third felony, I was so thankful to go to prison again. Thankful. I was so grateful that I had an opportunity to take a step back and look at this destructive, behavior that I went into prison. I was literally glad to be going back to prison.
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> Ken Miller>Hope that answers.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Yep, that absolutely does.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>So let's talk about, you know, basically like I was saying, if you're a felon, you, you are blocked out of a lot of things, you miss a lot of opportunities.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>How were you able to, you know, get out of prison, get clean and, and be able to get around the stigma of being a felon to, to being the successful man you are today?
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> Ken Miller>So there's two imprisonments.
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> Ken Miller>There's the imprisonment of body and there's the imprisonment of mind.
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> Ken Miller>So yeah, I was locked up and I would get out of prison and still think I'm imprisoned because I've imprisoned myself. We used to have a term on the street, judge, jury and executioner.
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> Ken Miller>And that was a role that we would undertake in relationships to other people. I'm gonna be your judge, jury and executioner.
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> Ken Miller>Okay, well you can say that to yourself. And so when the first two times I came out, I'm just an ex con, I'm just a prisoner. I'm imprisoned by my own thinking. And what that means is, we have a term called fetters or chains.
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> Ken Miller>I mean I've chained myself to lack of hope, I've changed myself to a sense that I can't grow or I can't do well or everything is stacked against me. Well, I got out the third time and I didn't have that sentiment and I didn't use the circumstance as an excuse. Let me repeat that. I didn't use the circumstance as an excuse because I could have used. I'm a three time convicted felon. I could have used that as the excuse to not grind. The excuse to not show up for work every day. The excuse to not to put in the 20 applications when I got out in 07, which was a terrible time to get out because the economy had went to bad.
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> Ken Miller>I couldn't get a job, I couldn't get a full time job. The only thing I could get was a part time job working in a warehouse with my college degree Ivy League.
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> Ken Miller>And I got fired from that job, they fired all the ex felons because one of the guys messed up, wasn't me, somebody else.
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> Ken Miller>And I could have said, poor me, I could have said, I'm, just going back to dealing, I'll go back to pimping, I'll go back to selling myself on the streets.
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> Ken Miller>I didn't do that. What I said is, I gotta find another job.
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> Ken Miller>And I went out there and I thought, I remember I got this job and I was living in a halfway house because that's what we do when we come out on paper, on parole.
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> Ken Miller>And my rent was like 195 a week, something like that, you know, room and board.
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> Ken Miller>And I was making, taking home like 160 a week. I had $35 to live on for another week.
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> Ken Miller>I still got to buy some food, still gotta get a bus pass, all that, so be it. I always look, I always look at it this, those were the cards I was dealt.
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> Ken Miller>But I am not going to let my past imprison me again.
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> Ken Miller>And to this day, and I speak from the stage, I put it in my books, I tell people that I work with, it's all, you can go to social media. This is who I am. This is my truth, this is my experience.
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> Ken Miller>And individuals went out, I'm not gonna say on a limb they went out on some trust because a lot of it has, by the way I carried myself, there was sincerity behind my eyes, there was eagerness behind my eyes.
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> Ken Miller>There was a sense that maybe there was integrity and that there was an alignment between what I said and what I did. And therefore, Mr. Miller, we're going to give you a shot.
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> Ken Miller>And then this is a key one. I performed. I performed.
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> Ken Miller>I was a great, great employer. I'm not an employee anymore. I employ people. I own the businesses today. But for my first seven years I worked for someone else.
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> Ken Miller>I was cool with that from 07 to 14. But I was a good employee because so many times we get these opportunities.
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> Ken Miller>I say we, I'm talking about people, of certain communities. We get an opportunity, opportunity.
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> Ken Miller>And then the opp. The door is open, we go in there and we want to kick our feet up and not do the work, not perform. So that's what I did. I had a different mindset and I did not allow the circumstance to be the excuse.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Well, congratulations. And I, and I know that you are, you are now a seven figure business owner and including, like you say, owning properties in other countries. So tell the listeners about the, the businesses that, that you do own that major seven figure business owner and, and you know, talk about the properties that, that you own and, and other countries and how you got to that point.
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> Ken Miller>So my first company was 2014.
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> Ken Miller>So when I got out I got a job in the warehouse. I went from the warehouse to another warehouse and then I had an opportunity to go back to Alaska where I had grown up. And I got a job, white collar being a supervisor for a convention center, what they call food and beverage.
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> Ken Miller>Super supervisor. FNB did that. And then I went to work for a soup kitchen as a fundraiser. Fell in love with that. First of all, I was very familiar with soup kitchens. I had lived in them or been a part of shelters and Soup kitchens for 20 years.
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> Ken Miller>So very familiar. But now, here I am, clean and sober, helping to bring in funds for this organization. Did a great job. And then I was asked if I would become a consultant teaching people how to be a good fundraiser.
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> Ken Miller>And so I started my first business, which still is going on 11 years later, called Denali FSP.
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> Ken Miller>And what I do or what my company does is that we, you know, consult and coach, non profits in fundraising. And then we also have a very special niche in that we write federal grants for tribes, tribes throughout the country. My wife is Alaska native.
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> Ken Miller>Then my second company that I started was Evolution, which is a company that I have offshore virtual assistants that are located in Ecuador and in the Philippines and they help out clients but they're also trained in AI.
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> Ken Miller>I could spend the next half hour talking about AI. I'm a big, big believer in AI and I love, you know what I love about AI? AI did not care I was a three time convicted felon. AI did not care that I was a six year old black male. Didn't care.
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> Ken Miller>Okay. AI does not care who you are when you put that prompt or query in. And I tell all people, especially of color to learn AI. Get off that one.
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> Ken Miller>Next company, I have a speaking company, kenmillerspeaks.com I speak all over the country. I share from the stage predominantly on resilience, but I also talk about trust. I also talk about self esteem. I also talk about mentoring, but predominantly I talk about coming back from the setback and believe me, I've had some setbacks.
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> Ken Miller>And then my next company is becoming ken book.com or and that's my book, my company I do for when I write books. So I wrote a book called Becoming Ken Bestseller and it tells the story black man's journey from the Ivy Leagues to Prison and back again. It's on Amazon, all that. I'm writing another book.
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> Ken Miller>I'm in the process writing a book on respect and disrespect. It is going to be powerful. Then I'm writing another book by the end this year on mentoring within communities of color. And then I have a third book I'm writing this year already in the process on fundraising, practical or pragmatic fundraising for nonprofits. Three more books coming out this year. And then I have property in Ecuador. I have a six bedroom home that I built with cash with swimming pool on the beach and I also have a condo that I have a company down there that does the rentals of those properties that I own in Ecuador, South America. We'll be there in two more days. Can't wait.
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> Ken Miller>I'm going on vacation. So that's what I have done. Three time convicted felon, ex, crack addict, ex, everything that I did out there on the streets. But today I am a proud black man that has a very strong spiritual foundation. And I give back. That's what I predominantly do is I give back.
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> Ken Miller>Thank you for that question, Curtis.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Absolutely. It sounds like you're out there killing it.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>And you mentioned AI, so kind of talk about AI and I know you talked about AI for people with color. So kind of talk about that and talk about what it did to you. And for those who don't know and who haven't embraced it yet, let them know what it can do for them.
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> Ken Miller>Okay, so AI, the term is artificial intelligence. And what it is is information in the digital realm that can, with a prompt or we call it a question, answer the question from the, what we call compendium, a compedium, the, the breadth of knowledge that's out there in the digital realm.
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> Ken Miller>That's what, what most people know is AI, what are called large, large language models, LLMs and the examples CHAT GPT so I can talk about it. So there's really five different areas of AI. AI, chat GPT, LLMs. There's AI image, there's AI Audio, there's AI Video and there's what we call automations and agentic. You don't have to go to that level, just learn CHAT GPT well or Gemini or Gro or Claude. It doesn't matter what the large language. But again what you're doing is you are asking questions to then take all this information that has been that has been put together literally over the history of the world and having that give you an answer that can make you Much more effective, efficient to be effective. That's in, in a nutshell for what you're, for what 95% of the people need out there.
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> Ken Miller>That's it. So we use the AI. And again, AI does not care your background. It doesn't care your physical ability or disability, does not care that you're a former drug addict or an active drug addict. What it cares is what is the prompt and or question that you're asking of me? And it will do its best within the quality really of the prompt or question to answer that. But AI doesn't do the work. Unless you get into the automations, we're not going to really go there. You still got to do the work. You got to take that information and then utilize it in the most efficient and effective manner.
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> Ken Miller>That's what A.I. So why is it, why do I love it so much for communities of color?
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> Ken Miller>Because you couldn't get into Harvard.
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> Ken Miller>You couldn't go to Dartmouth. And I'm not saying that in a negative way.
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> Ken Miller>I did go to Dartmouth. But you didn't.
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> Ken Miller>But people look at that. I went to Dartmouth and they gave me a shot. Okay, Or I went to college. You may not have been able to go to college, but you can still put in a great prompt, get a good answer and use that answer to help you and your loved ones, to help feed your family, to help give you direction as to what is my next step to take. That's what it can do.
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> Ken Miller>It literally can even the playing field. But you've got to learn the AI.
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> Ken Miller>And I tell people and what I suggest is go to AI foundations. It's on the school platform and learn AI or go on YouTube and look at Jeff sue, or look at There's Another Gentleman or look at Carter Siraj or any of the other great teachers that are teaching AI.
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> Ken Miller>But the one I recommend is the school platform, AI Foundations. I get nothing from recommending that to you. I just want you to be successful.
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> Ken Miller>That's my thoughts on AI and AI in the communities of color.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Well, that was the next question I was going to ask you to give the listeners resources and you already talked about your books and stuff like that. So besides your books, tell us about any other upcoming projects that you are working on that listeners need to be aware of.
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> Ken Miller>so one of the things that I do is that I run a black men's book study.
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> Ken Miller>For free. For free.
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> Ken Miller>And what that consists of is black men having discourse on a non fiction book.
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> Ken Miller>We're Doing Cry Like a Man by Jason Wilson. Okay, great book, phenomenal book. We just did the Six Pillars of Self Esteem by Nathaniel Brandon.
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> Ken Miller>So if you're interested in that, look me up. Ken Miller, 84, is my LinkedIn. Just go to KenMiller84 on LinkedIn and you'll be able to communicate with me. No problem. If you want to join the group, it's free. It will always be free. The other thing I do is I mentor. I don't have the capacity right now, but I probably know somebody who would mentor you.
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> Ken Miller>I know men and women. I only mentor men.
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> Ken Miller>And I have 11 at one point I had 28.
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> Ken Miller>I have 11 now that I mentor. I strongly suggest getting a mentor. The other thing to do, and this is what I tell people who want to be successful, learn how to speak from the stage.
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> Ken Miller>Learn how to speak. And it's a skill, but learn it.
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> Ken Miller>Go to Toastmasters, go to, NSA National Speakers association and learn.
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> Ken Miller>Because what it will do is it'll allow you to communicate your value, your offer to more people. It will scale you, it will scale your message.
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> Ken Miller>And I truly believe that every person listening has a message, has something that's of value to society or to their communities that they choose to represent or belong to.
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> Ken Miller>So those are just a few of the things that, you know, that I recommend. and, you know, but grow, be curious, learn.
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> Ken Miller>You know, you're listening to this podcast, you've invested some time, and I hope I've been of value to you. Most people say that when they've heard me speak. I share something of value, and that's what I want to do. I'm cool.
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> Ken Miller>Let me say this again. I'm, cool. What I mean by that? I want nothing from you other than your success. I want nothing. I'm not asking for anything. You don't have to pay me nothing. I'm a millionaire. I got houses, I got cars, I got a beautiful wife, I got grandchildren, I got self respect. I have a church, I have friends. I don't need anything from anybody. But God has called upon me to give back.
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> Ken Miller>And that's what I do. And I have a gift.
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> Ken Miller>I have a gift to speak from the stage. I have a gift to come on a podcast and share honestly and share with a motive that is not of self, but of God. That's my gift. And I'm glad that Curtis has given me the opportunity to be able to share this with others. But I believe for you to listen to a podcast like this, I believe in you, I'm preaching to the choir.
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> Ken Miller>But avail yourself and get a mentor. I'm, really big on mentoring. Really big. Male, female, but get a mentor.
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> Ken Miller>What else?
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Curtis, is there a website that listeners can go to to keep up with everything that you're up to?
00:26:16.859 --> 00:26:47.359
> Ken Miller>Sure. Social media, is one. and then my website does have a blog on there. So you can go to denalifsp.comapp for website. Just go to that one. But the key one is really the LinkedIn. And then just go to Instagram, Ken Miller. You'll see me on there becoming Ken. Ken Miller. Or go to Facebook. Ken Miller. You can put Ken Miller author or Ken Miller speaker. And I'm the Black gentleman in 62. Good looking.
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> Ken Miller>That's me.
00:26:51.119 --> 00:27:03.230
> Ken Miller>And you know, follow me, join up with me. I share a lot of good. I have a team of people that do my social media. I have client, I have employees that take care of this.
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> Ken Miller>But it's my voice, it's my videos, it's my podcast that we do the Facebook shorts that we do the, you know, the, the, the postings on Instagram or Tick Tock. But there's my team that does that. But yeah, and I'd love if you would follow me. And I'm the type of this is my truth. If you send me a direct message in LinkedIn, I will answer it. I will take the time to answer it. I'm not that special.
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> Ken Miller>If you were to call me, I would answer it. My phone number, 907-250-8488.
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> Ken Miller>I've had that same number for 15 years. Give me a call.
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> Ken Miller>If I can answer, I will answer it. If not, I will get back to you. That's my word. I have integrity. What comes out of my mouth, my actions match. I'm too grateful.
00:27:59.650 --> 00:28:13.970
> Ken Miller>I should be dead. You know what the judge said to me last time I got sentenced? He said, Mr. Miller, the next time you come into my courtroom, I'm giving you the habitual criminal statute. You know what that is? That's 25 to life.
00:28:14.690 --> 00:28:37.519
> Ken Miller>If I stole $51, I was getting 25 to life. I got three strikes. I got a life sentence looking at me. I didn't clean for 21 years. You why? That's one of the reasons why I do it. Because I love being sober and clean and being a child of God. But the other way I have fear works. Works for me.
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> Ken Miller>So I hope that helps.
00:28:42.240 --> 00:28:43.039
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Oh, it does.
00:28:43.039 --> 00:28:49.819
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>So close us out with some final thoughts. Maybe if that was something I forgot to talk about that. You would like to touch on any final thoughts you have? Listen.
00:28:49.819 --> 00:28:55.740
> Ken Miller>Sure, sure. I'm just gonna say two. I could talk about 20.
00:28:56.140 --> 00:29:04.460
> Ken Miller>I'm just gonna talk about two. I want to talk about forgiveness, and I want to talk about trust.
00:29:06.220 --> 00:29:07.660
> Ken Miller>So let's start with forgiveness.
00:29:09.660 --> 00:29:18.230
> Ken Miller>One of the greatest gifts that you can have is the gift of forgiveness.
00:29:20.230 --> 00:29:31.349
> Ken Miller>My father shot my mom six times, shot her six times, and then came to shoot me at my job. Hit her five times from a foot away.
00:29:31.910 --> 00:29:33.829
> Ken Miller>She lived, thank goodness.
00:29:34.950 --> 00:29:49.579
> Ken Miller>But I harbored a lot of resentment, anger, and it's not the reason why I became a crack addict, but it sure helped keep me in it. Okay.
00:29:50.059 --> 00:29:56.140
> Ken Miller>It gave me a circumstance to make into an excuse. Okay.
00:29:58.220 --> 00:30:00.940
> Ken Miller>I knew at one point I would have to forgive him.
00:30:02.220 --> 00:30:11.079
> Ken Miller>And my father did, like, eight years, got out and called, him up, and I went down, we sat down and we talked.
00:30:11.799 --> 00:30:14.599
> Ken Miller>And I forgave him. I have forgiven him.
00:30:14.920 --> 00:30:17.880
> Ken Miller>I harbor no resentment. He's passed away.
00:30:19.799 --> 00:30:28.359
> Ken Miller>So it's that forgiveness doesn't mean I forgot, doesn't mean that the incident was not negative.
00:30:29.079 --> 00:30:37.460
> Ken Miller>But as a human, I forgave him for his brokenness because my father was broken in a lot of ways.
00:30:39.220 --> 00:31:01.180
> Ken Miller>Black man growing up in the Depression, fought in World War II to be a black man with as much pride as he had to have to deal with what he had to deal with. I can understand his brokenness. He still shouldn't have done what he did, but he did what he did. But I can understand his brokenness. Okay, so that's forgiveness of, others.
00:31:02.940 --> 00:31:05.660
> Ken Miller>One of the key things I had to forgive is myself.
00:31:07.339 --> 00:31:10.140
> Ken Miller>I did a lot of negative stuff. I hurt people.
00:31:10.140 --> 00:31:20.460
> Ken Miller>I hurt people on the streets, emotionally and physically. I hurt people. And I carried a lot of guilt.
00:31:21.500 --> 00:31:23.099
> Ken Miller>I carried a lot of shame.
00:31:24.470 --> 00:31:26.869
> Ken Miller>I was the lowest thing you could be on the streets.
00:31:27.829 --> 00:32:09.250
> Ken Miller>And he's like, what's that? I was a male prostitute. I turned tricks with men to pay for my crack addiction. And I hated myself for that. I hated. It was a secret, but I hated it. And I hated that was some shame based. I'm, guilt based. And finally, once I got cleaned up, had a few years, went to counseling, went, went into prayer, I made a conscious decision to forgive myself. I was broken. So many things that had happened to me and things that I had done to others, but I was broken. I'm not broken today. I'm.
00:32:09.250 --> 00:32:14.750
> Ken Miller>Well today, folks. I'm, well. And it's all right to be well, you don't always have to have a problem.
00:32:15.069 --> 00:32:23.410
> Ken Miller>I don't have a problem today. I have some circumstances. I don't have a problem. So I had to learn how to forgive myself and to forgive.
00:32:23.490 --> 00:32:31.890
> Ken Miller>And I have. I harbor no resentment toward any human being. Any human being.
00:32:32.609 --> 00:32:38.210
> Ken Miller>Okay? I harbor none. Okay? So that's forgiveness.
00:32:39.490 --> 00:32:42.460
> Ken Miller>The other one is. And, excuse me, my allergies kicked in.
00:32:43.529 --> 00:32:51.690
> Ken Miller>Is trust. And all trust is and is a belief and a perceived future action.
00:32:53.849 --> 00:33:13.660
> Ken Miller>So when you don't trust someone, you don't believe in their future action. That's all it is. I by nature default to trust. I just default. And sometimes people take advantage of me. So be it. I can afford it. I can. But more importantly, I can afford it.
00:33:15.099 --> 00:33:17.819
> Ken Miller>Emotionally, I can afford it.
00:33:19.019 --> 00:33:26.059
> Ken Miller>Because I don't see your transgression against me because I've trusted you as disrespect.
00:33:28.460 --> 00:33:36.500
> Ken Miller>I've seen more people killed, more people put in prison over disrespect than anything else. It's not over drugs, money, or. Or sex.
00:33:37.059 --> 00:33:49.700
> Ken Miller>It's over disrespect. That's just the manifestation of your disrespect to me is you taking my money, taking my dope, or taking my girl. But it's not them.
00:33:50.099 --> 00:33:53.799
> Ken Miller>It's the disrespect, or perceived disrespect.
00:33:55.079 --> 00:34:03.219
> Ken Miller>So how do you learn trust? How do you learn trust? How do you engender trust? How do you create trust?
00:34:04.019 --> 00:34:12.099
> Ken Miller>One is do trustable things. Number two, align your words with your actions.
00:34:12.978 --> 00:34:15.298
> Ken Miller>A belief in a perceived future action.
00:34:17.219 --> 00:34:21.699
> Ken Miller>So if you say something, your future actions don't align with it. How are they going to trust you?
00:34:22.818 --> 00:34:24.898
> Ken Miller>How? How?
00:34:27.150 --> 00:34:28.829
> Ken Miller>And then how do you trust others?
00:34:31.630 --> 00:34:42.989
> Ken Miller>That's a choice. That's a decision to trust others. But understand that people are fallible. Understand that people are fallible and they're human.
00:34:44.110 --> 00:34:49.949
> Ken Miller>And they will make mistakes or they will forget. I'm not giving them excuses.
00:34:50.670 --> 00:35:01.610
> Ken Miller>But don't embrace it as disrespect to you as a human, because that's not what it is. It was a mistake.
00:35:02.809 --> 00:35:24.690
> Ken Miller>99% of the time I'm late, I forgot to do it. Something else came up, but it's not that I think you're less than. Because what is disrespect? What is respect? Respect, very simply, is acknowledgement of a person's position or. Or stature within a community.
00:35:26.530 --> 00:35:37.489
> Ken Miller>As a drug dealer, I had a stature. I had a position. And if you steal my drugs, I got to deal with that because you did not acknowledge my position.
00:35:39.010 --> 00:35:55.239
> Ken Miller>If I'm, the grandfather or the father, and you talk back to me as a child. You did not acknowledge my position as the head of this household. You see, you see how that, how that respect works.
00:35:57.239 --> 00:36:13.329
> Ken Miller>If you go to your pastor and use profanity to your pastor, you've not acknowledged their position within the, community of the church, let alone, we talked about the community of the family, the community of the streets.
00:36:15.010 --> 00:36:30.599
> Ken Miller>We have a community. In the penitentiary. There are some things. You call me a bee in the penitentiary, you call me a punk. We got a problem because that's our community. And in that community, that means something.
00:36:32.760 --> 00:36:43.960
> Ken Miller>And then I've got to manifest a reaction to that because you did not acknowledge me as a member of this prison community.
00:36:46.710 --> 00:36:51.750
> Ken Miller>So trust. There's a great book called the Speed of Trust.
00:36:52.309 --> 00:36:55.190
> Ken Miller>Please read it. Please read it.
00:36:56.469 --> 00:37:24.400
> Ken Miller>Great book that's like, I don't make this stuff up. I've absorbed information and I can articulate it back out. I can give examples. I can give, most importantly, solutions. Because there's a lot of people could talk about the problem, tell me about the solution, give me an example from your life instead of something out of a book, and I can do that again. That's a gift.
00:37:25.039 --> 00:37:31.280
> Ken Miller>And then I try to share that gift with others. So that's just two of them. Trust and forgiveness.
00:37:33.760 --> 00:37:39.519
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Well said, ladies and gentlemen. Be sure to check out Ken Miller's books. Check him out on social media.
00:37:40.610 --> 00:38:07.329
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Follow Rape Review. Share this episode to as many people as possible. If he comes to a city near you to speak, check him out. Follow us on your favorite podcast platform and visit www.craveball337.com for more information on the Living the Dream with Curveball podcast. Thank you for listening and supporting the show. And Ken, thank you for all that you doing to make the world a better place. And thank you for joining me.
00:38:08.070 --> 00:38:08.949
> Ken Miller>Thank you, Curtis.
00:38:09.590 --> 00:38:18.630
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>For more information on the Living the Dream with Curveball podcast, visit www.craveball337.com.
00:38:19.269 --> 00:38:22.469
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Until next time, keep living the dream.
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