Oct. 28, 2025

Mindset Matters: David McKee's Journey to Transforming Trauma into Triumph

Mindset Matters: David McKee's Journey to Transforming Trauma into Triumph

Send us a text In this thought-provoking episode of Living the Dream with Curveball, we welcome David McKee, the founder of Another Angle Consulting, a global advisory firm that fuses neuroscience, psychology, and mindfulness coaching to foster growth in individuals and organizations. David shares his personal journey of overcoming childhood trauma and how it inspired him to help others view their challenges from a new perspective. He discusses the critical role his firm plays in diagnosing a...

Send us a text

In this thought-provoking episode of Living the Dream with Curveball, we welcome David McKee, the founder of Another Angle Consulting, a global advisory firm that fuses neuroscience, psychology, and mindfulness coaching to foster growth in individuals and organizations. David shares his personal journey of overcoming childhood trauma and how it inspired him to help others view their challenges from a new perspective. He discusses the critical role his firm plays in diagnosing and addressing the root causes of issues within businesses, from mental health to team dynamics. With insights gained from working with a diverse clientele, including actors, musicians, and CEOs, David emphasizes the importance of navigating distractions, especially in the post-COVID landscape. Listeners will learn about his upcoming mindset book, which aims to simplify complex psychological concepts for a broader audience, and how small changes can lead to significant personal transformation. Join us for an enlightening conversation that encourages listeners to embrace change, foster communication, and cultivate resilience in their lives.

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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. Welcome to the Living the Dream with Curveball podcast, a show where I interview guests that teach, motivate, and inspire. Today, I am joined by David McGee. He is the founder of Another Angle Consulting, which is a global advisory forum committed to helping individuals and organizations grow through the integration of, neuroscience, psychology, and mindfulness coaching. So we're going to be talking to David about everything that him and his firm is up to and going to be up to.

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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>So, David, thank you so much for joining me.

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> David McGee>Thanks for having me, Curtis. I'm thrilled to be here.

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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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> David McGee>Sure. So I'm the CEO of Another Angle Coaching and Consulting, and, the intro you gave kind of sums that up to a T. I got here from a bunch of trauma that I had as a child, and I've processed that through time of, my dad being manic depressive and making a lot of decisions that really hurt me and my family. And, learned at a young age of holding on to pain and grief and trauma is not a great way to live. And instead of holding that pain in, which I did for years, went through the process of learning to look at it. It's where I got my company name. From Another Angle, Consulting and coaching. How could I look at that from another angle, outside of what happened to me? And I was able to find peace when I asked those questions, that I was able to kind of realize and sum up that my dad never made.

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> Speaker C>Any of those decisions with any intention ever to hurt me directly.

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> David McGee>He was in a corner the way he felt, of how he was, and he made a bad decision. And, when I thought of it.

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> Speaker C>That way, I was like, man, how could anyone not get that? I don't think we ever really.

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> David McGee>Go out with the intention to hurt people. It's usually we're forced into a situation.

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> Speaker C>And we don't know what else to do.

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> David McGee>And when we're stressed and in that.

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> Speaker C>Negative brain state, we can make really bad decisions.

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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Absolutely.

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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>So talk about, you know, what. What your company actually does for individuals and organizations all around the world.

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> David McGee>Yeah, you got it. So, we're a consulting and coaching firm. we help a wide range of things.

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> David McGee>But, essentially where I've really dug in recently is, diagnose exactly what's going on with every business, whether it's something that needs to be done on their revenue cycles or financial side or if it's a psyche and a, team building type issue, we help everything from turnover on down to mental health. And that's where we've really made a lot of strides this past years, since COVID of working with. And it's a wide range. I work with actors, musicians, and then I also work with CEOs and their employees. I was able to kind of find the common thread that worked within that and what they deal with. And it's a different approach for each type of person that you go through this. But it's been able to help build teams and build character and let people become the best versions of.

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> Speaker C>Themselves and make the best choices they.

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> David McGee>Can make for themselves.

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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Well, talk about, all the distractions post Covid, you know, all the issues, that you and your firm have had to address with companies and individuals.

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> David McGee>Sure, yeah. And I ended up writing a book about this which will be coming out in the next few months. I'll make sure you get an advanced copy of it. but I wrote a mindset book that worked with.

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> David McGee>And it's what I do at this level with executives and companies is.

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> Speaker C>work and dig in to find.

00:04:00.758 --> 00:04:02.118
> David McGee>Out what the root cause of what.

00:04:02.118 --> 00:04:02.959
> Speaker C>The root issue is.

00:04:02.959 --> 00:04:04.408
> David McGee>And one of the situations I.

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> Speaker C>Just came up into recently is I.

00:04:06.348 --> 00:05:23.889
> David McGee>Was talking to a doctor who owns his own practice and I asked him just very simply, and this is where it was something that had nothing to do with the psychology side that I also have the side with. But this just happened in the last few days and it was getting to the root cause. I asked him a very simple question of did you have 2025 projections? And he said yes. And then I asked him, okay, we're two months away from the end of 2025. Did you meet those projections, exceed them, or come below? And he let me know that they didn't meet their expectations and projections of where they had looked at everything. And we dug into it and he felt it was a cash flow issue was our first conversation. And then as we dug and we found in the layers, it was a turnover issue which led to short staffed issues. And it was like this issue led to this issue, led to this issue. So what I specialize is in helping finding companies find that root cause. sometimes it's tough. I always say it's the example of when you're going to the gym. You could be going to the gym every single day. And if you don't really feel the difference yourself. But then when you're around other people, they may jump in and say, oh, notice the difference of how you look, how you feel, all that side of everything. So it's that side of it.

00:05:23.889 --> 00:05:27.408
> David McGee>Sometimes you just need an outsider to kind of help shine a light on what you're looking for.

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> David McGee>Because when you're a CEO, you're focused on whatever is the problem of the business that day, and you're really like, hyper focused on all these random things. And in life, if we're. Our attention is too frayed in looking at too many different things at the same time. It's almost impossible to really get a good gauge of what you're doing. So I help shine a light on some of the things that haven't been looked at. And I always say every part of your business is like a garden that you're. You got a flower and you got to water. And this is actually in life too, is what you think about and what you put your attention to are, the flowers you're growing in your mind and the planting that you're doing in that. And if you ignore it, you're going to have issues and you're going to have those things of, okay, if you don't deal with things now, then you'll have to deal with it later. So it works on so many different levels. But yeah, on the CEO and on the coaching side with businesses, it's been a real fun ride lately, since COVID because it's not as serious anymore. And, I think for a long time a lot of businesses were using Covid as the excuse of why things weren't going right. And now I'm letting people know, like, hey, that was a good excuse for maybe 2020 and 2021. But we're about to turn to 2026 and we're talking about four years ago, since it was 22. So, it's, it's helping people kind of have those uncomfortable conversations. I think potentially with all the screen time and being home and stuck of what we did with COVID is, I think a lot of people forgot how to conversate and be able to have some of those tough conversations. It's always EAS a small talk, easy conversation. But when you have to let your boss know or let someone you're working with know, hey, this isn't working like this. It's not the easiest conversation to have. So I, I love being able to have those conversations and just kind of get the ball rolling.

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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Well, speaking of your upcoming book that you mentioned, talk about it. Tell us what we can expect when we read it and why you decide to write it and, and what we'll be able to pick it up when it comes out.

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> David McGee>Yeah. so it'll be available everywhere, all in stores as well as it's going to be on ibooks and Amazon, Kindle store. It is a mindset book at its core. I worked and spoke with many of the leading neuroscientists and psychologists and looked at their work and what they were going through and tried to compile something that almost everyone could understand. Sometimes when you get a little too much into scientific jargon and the way that they talk, it's, it can feel confusing and people will tune out. And that is a problem now more than ever, which is a big part of this book is where our attention spans went. Our attention spans just kind of went really, really short and like shortened even more because of COVID It's one of those things of if you were just doing nothing but binging TV and cheap dopamine on your phone and kind of doing that everything of like everyday cycle of scrolling and doom scrolling, it kind of fell into that pocket of you, you have a really short attention span. And I, I notice now with people if you really can't get their attention. It used to be an age old thing in advertising where they said if you can't get their attention in the first 20 to 30 seconds you're lost. And now I think it's five to 10 seconds that if you don't have that people are willing because that, that's the content they're getting on their phone. If you swipe to the next thing, if you're not interested in it. So if you can't make that quick impact, you need to realize where you're jumping to. And that's what happened. A lot of people in life is that they're ignoring some of their problems, they're ignoring some of what's important to help them develop and become the best version of themselves. because they don't have the attention span to really go through it. And anything with the mind, attention span especially to focus, to think about something, it's a skill and if we're not doing it frequently we lose that skill. So a lot of doom scrolling and stuff, it will, it has almost that direct impact of it can really affect that attention span of what you're dealing with on a second to second basis.

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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Okay, well talk about what you and your firm are doing to help companies, you know, navigate the noise you talk about how you help them navigate the noise, whatever that noise might be in that particular situation.

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> David McGee>Absolutely. And it's that is always going to be a wide range of whatever they're going through. But so much of what we go through is we, we think thoughts that are they. They say commonly in on.

00:09:49.318 --> 00:12:54.788
> David McGee>In psychology circles that by the time we're 35, 90% of what we do is automated. It's our default mode network. And it kind of falls into. And let me describe, I think this was probably common for a lot of people is we go to bed and fall asleep on the same side of the bed and we wake up and tend to look at our phone right away and, and scroll through social media, maybe some emails, and then we maybe make our way to the bathroom, brush our teeth with the same hand, take a shower. You have, everyone has their morning routine and so much of it is the same. So when that study came out that it was saying about 90 to 92% of what you're doing is automated. It's that you're doing the same thing almost mindlessly every day. So your brain ages when it's not really getting stretched and pushed to learn new material. So when it becomes overly patterned and it's the same thing over and over again, your brain ages, ages at a faster rate. So it's a way that we can keep ourselves young. And the cool thing is neuroplasticity is a wide concept in the neuroscience world and we have it until very late in life. So that whole phrase of you can't teach an old dog new tricks and some of those mindset, m. Kind of 8 old A.D. age old adages that people will use. It's not true is that like I, I'm 41 and there's so many things that I, for the longest time thought was just part of who I was and it was more so the story that I was telling myself. And what I find is a lot of people who are stuck in this kind of default mode and just kind of autonomous type life is you think the same thoughts, you feel the same feelings, you kind of do the same thing over and over again. And it's almost like a glorified Groundhog Day, if you ever saw that movie, that you're just stuck in that loop and it's finding ways to break outside of that. And for some people it's making drastic changes. But some people I really coach, do minor small changes, little things that you can really take advantage of, manage and prime your brain. To really enjoy as much as you can in life. when you're in that automatic type mode, a lot of people almost prime themselves and prime their brains to be really living a life that they don't even like. And it's just scary that I really feel a lot of people live like that. And that's not the only way. I think it's. We get kind of stuck or scared of, scared of change, scared of anything else. And we just think this is the way. So what the Mindset book, really I wanted to accomplish and I geared it to make it that so many people could understand, that it was very broken down in very simple terms. And I made it so that anyone from seventh grade on up can read it and have some type of effect. If you're an adult, I think it's going to have a bigger effect. But I think some of those kids in that seventh, 12th grade mode, they missed a lot going through Covid and being stuck at home, Whether they missed their high school graduation, some missed their high school and college graduations. And you just really miss a lot of that camaraderie you had going up. So what the book walks through is so many things that you can do to kind of catch up and be able to reconnect with people and get.

00:12:54.788 --> 00:12:56.188
> Speaker C>Those communications going again.

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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Well, so people know how qualified you are in this space. If you can talk about some of the, organizations that you have worked with worldwide.

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> David McGee>Sure. I've worked around with, many colleges across the country, as well as, their neuroscience departments as well as psychology departments. I'm the first person to say I am not an expert. I became, obsessed learning about this stuff because of the impact it had on my family. And I realized how much lost potential I had and that I didn't capitalize.

00:13:31.178 --> 00:13:32.818
> Speaker C>On in my 20s and my 30s.

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> David McGee>And it all clicked for me and I was able to kind of figure it out and figure things out. And while I was doing that and learning about neurosciences, I would speak to these professors and their, doctors who are in their fields and really kind of get a gauge of what's happening. Because I never understood the scientific. When I was saying scientific jargon, that was my side of I didn't understand it, I would tune out. So I use that as a thing because I know when I started talking to other people and I started talking to college students and going through, they were kind of telling me the same thing that I experienced. So I wanted to find a way to really, simplify it as much as possible and really just have a positive impact for whoever wanted to kind of make a switch of how they were thinking, what they're doing. If you're in that mode of you kind of telling yourselves the same things over and over again, and anytime you want to try to do something new or you get an idea and an inspiration and then immediately you get those limiting thoughts and beliefs coming through of, I can't do it, I'm gonna fail. I always fail. And it's. I thought I was different and I, I don't know, I just, I, I didn't think other people thought like that. So I bottled it for a long time. And what I found going out into the world more and kind of traveling around the country in different countries is I wanted to get a feel of what people were actually going through. And as I started talking about this, it was something that really kind of stuck.

00:14:59.678 --> 00:15:53.418
> David McGee>And I did a couple podcasts and I had people reaching out and it was really starting a conversation, I guess, that I, I had lived and I went through. And the thought that it was actually helping somebody, I really wanted to do that as much as possible. So I always lead with. I do not have a doctorate, I am not an expert in this field, but I talked to some people and I'm referencing, when you're talking about near the top, going through the studies of Joe Dispenza and Tara Swart. Joe Dispenza is a big, it's. You're not familiar with him, look him up. You can see a lot on the mindset side and works a lot of the old Neville Goddard psychology type theories. And then Tara Swart, or Tara Swart, is a neuroscience doctor, with MIT and is one of the leaders really in the world of what she does. And it really breaks down of how we think and what we do in our brains of we can really make.

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> Speaker C>Such huge impacts by doing small things.

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> David McGee>Of leading ourselves and priming our brain for the positive. I walk through kind of everyday tips and the one I love sharing is it, it works out. It's like about the last 10 minutes and the first 10 minutes. So when I say the last 10, it's the last 10 before you fall.

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> Speaker C>Asleep, when you start getting tired and.

00:16:12.188 --> 00:16:13.068
> David McGee>You'Re about to lay down.

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> Speaker C>And then when I say the first 10, it's the first 10 after you wake up.

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> David McGee>So on average in those 10 minute.

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> Speaker C>Frames, our brain is really close to a theta state and theta is really suggestible. your, your subconscious is really Suggestible. It's some people say it's like.

00:16:30.188 --> 00:16:31.538
> David McGee>you can talk to your subconscious.

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> Speaker C>It's. You can make the biggest impact. And where we've probably heard this all in life before is when people say, when you first wake up, go right to your bathroom mirror and say your affirmations.

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> Speaker C>Look in your, look yourself in the mirror and say your affirmations.

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> David McGee>So that's part of where it's coming.

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> Speaker C>From is that if you do that in those last 10, first 10 in that partial theta state, you're literally giving your brain a way to kind of operate. This is what you want. This is the kind of the game plan that you're, you're laying out and what you want to do. And why we need to be careful is most of us mindlessly don't even realize it. But majority of people, your last 10, first 10, you're on your phone, you're doom scrolling.

00:17:11.828 --> 00:17:14.269
> David McGee>You're, or you have a problem, you.

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> Speaker C>Put your phone away for the night, you go to sleep and, and you're stressed about a meeting or something going on the next day. And the first thing you do when you wake up is you grab your phone. And while in that partial theta state, you're telling your brain, I'm going to be anxious today. And in a lot of cases, that's why we lead anxious and kind of just unsure lives. There's a way that you can instead say those positive affirmations, tell yourself what a great day it's going to be. And that meeting I have, it's going to go right.

00:17:42.848 --> 00:17:44.769
> David McGee>Because I'm going to accomplish this, this and this.

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> Speaker C>And, and it lets your brain look at it from another angle and it really lets you jump in and figure out really easy and simple changes. I tell everyone, I'm like, even if you don't want to start, you don't need to do a full 10. Do, do five. Just be mindful of five and five. That okay.

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> Speaker C>Like for 10 minutes now a day, you're being more mindful to think, to put your brain in that best possible spot. And for me it was a domino effect of once I started doing it, I was like, whoa, what an impact that had. How do I apply this to something else to have the same impact? I've applied it to what I do with work. All of my client stuff, I jump in and I do every exercise. I ask any of my clients to do that. I really think that that's tried and true. What you, you should at least have tried it once. If you're recommending it. And I just know it's had this positive pole. And I was always. I, played sports growing up and had this real competitive streak.

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> Speaker C>And I've made it a competition with myself of, if I get angry, how fast can I get back to calm? If I have a setback, how fast can I get back to where I was at my road? And I let myself feel my emotions.

00:18:46.189 --> 00:18:59.229
> Speaker C>We all should feel something if we're going through it. But the lingering and ruminating over it is really priming your brain into that negative. Whereas you can take what you learned, find the positive in it, and focus on the positive out of what you're doing.

00:19:01.628 --> 00:19:08.108
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Well, tell us about any upcoming projects that you and your firm are working on that listeners need to be aware of.

00:19:08.429 --> 00:19:31.128
> Speaker C>Yeah, it's going to be fun. I've got a artist that I'm working with. I run an indie music label as well where we work with artists who either have struggled with writer's block and or mental health to some extent. And that was a Covid project that started. but yeah, we have an album coming out next year. artist name is Sevy S E V I I and you can find them on Instagram. Sevy Stars S E V Y S T A R S.

00:19:33.929 --> 00:19:36.419
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>All right, well, do you want to expand on that?

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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Any music label?

00:19:39.298 --> 00:20:17.028
> Speaker C>Absolutely. So it's a, part of my another angle consulting. It's just something else that we do. I really tell everyone if you have a passion in arts, business, sports, anything along that line our firm can help you is we work with through that stuff. And from the range of writing a book, we've written a screenplay that is being developed into a potential TV series. And we also wrote a music album. So it's a safe place to create and we've got a really cool team. No matter kind of what your niche is or what you're kind of looking for, we have different ways and avenues to help get the best result and help you become the best version of yourself.

00:20:19.519 --> 00:20:27.148
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>All right, so ladies and gentlemen, please be sure to check them out. throw out your contact info so people can keep up with everything that you're up to.

00:20:27.709 --> 00:20:29.709
> Speaker C>Thank you so much, Curtis. I appreciate it.

00:20:32.108 --> 00:20:33.588
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Throw out your contact info.

00:20:33.588 --> 00:20:34.548
> David McGee>So you got.

00:20:34.548 --> 00:20:53.078
> Speaker C>Oh, I'm sorry about that. David McKee 84 D A V I D M C K E E 84 at on Instagram. as well as another angle consulting on Instagram. please check us out. send us over any information, any interest you have. If something I said resonated today, I would love to hear what was your favorite part?

00:20:53.159 --> 00:20:55.949
> Speaker C>And, let's chop it up a little bit and figure out what to do.

00:20:56.588 --> 00:20:58.469
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>We'll close this out with some final thoughts.

00:20:58.469 --> 00:21:03.548
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Maybe if that was something I forgot to talk about, that you would like to touch on, any final thoughts you have for the listeners.

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> Speaker C>We are in a really tough spot as a world and as a society today, but there's a lot of positivity in groups if you look for it in the right path. I know a lot of people who are struggling and going through down times. There are better ways. There are ways that we can get through this and become better versions of ourselves. Life happens for us, not to us. And the more we can remember that even the worst things that ever happened to us, we can find meaning and work through the pain and find reasons why. It's beautiful when you get to the other side, so it's possible. I know things are tough for a lot of people, but I come out because this is something we want to do and we want to truly help in any way we can.

00:21:49.818 --> 00:22:20.078
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>All right, ladies and gentlemen, check out everything that David, his company, and his, independent music label is up to. Follow, Rate Review Share this episode to as many people as possible. Follow us on your favorite podcast platform. If you have any suggestions or feedback for the show or you or someone you know want to be a guest, please visit www.craveball337.com. Thank you for listening and supporting the show, And David, thank you for all that you do. And thank you for joining me.

00:22:20.558 --> 00:22:22.159
> Speaker C>Thank you so much. I had a great time.

00:22:22.719 --> 00:22:30.798
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>For more information on the Living the Dream with Curveball podcast, visit www.craveball.uh3 3 7.

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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Until next time, keep living the dream.