Oct. 12, 2025
Rediscovering Power: Troy Horne's Mission to Inspire Those Over 40
Send us a text In this inspiring episode of Living the Dream with Curveball, we sit down with three-time bestselling author Troy Horne, who has sold over 287,000 books and has an impressive background as a performer. From competing on Star Search to showcasing his vocal talents on NBC's Sing Off and even singing on Monday Night Football, Troy shares his incredible journey and his mission to empower individuals over 40 to rediscover their passions and live their dreams. He discusses the import...
In this inspiring episode of Living the Dream with Curveball, we sit down with three-time bestselling author Troy Horne, who has sold over 287,000 books and has an impressive background as a performer. From competing on Star Search to showcasing his vocal talents on NBC's Sing Off and even singing on Monday Night Football, Troy shares his incredible journey and his mission to empower individuals over 40 to rediscover their passions and live their dreams. He discusses the importance of mindset and mental toughness, especially for young athletes, and how his personal experiences have shaped his writing. Troy offers valuable insights into overcoming societal expectations and the belief that it's too late to start something new. Join us as we explore the transformative power of self-belief and the steps necessary to pursue your dreams at any age. Tune in for an uplifting conversation that encourages listeners to embrace their potential and take action towards their aspirations.
www.troyhorne.com
WEBVTT
00:00:00.560 --> 00:00:50.189
> 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 a dream with Curveball podcast, a show where I interview guests that teach, motivate and inspire. Today I am joined by three time best selling author, Troy Horn. Troy has sold over 287,000 books. He's competed as a Star Search contestant and on NBC Sing off. And his mission is to help people over 40 live their dreams. So we're going to be talking to him about everything that he's up to. So Troy, thank you so much for joining me.
00:00:50.920 --> 00:00:53.399
> Troy Horn>Oh, well, thank you for having me. This is fun.
00:00:53.399 --> 00:00:55.000
> Troy Horn>This is fun. I'm excited.
00:00:55.479 --> 00:00:58.439
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Why don't you start off by telling everybody a little bit about yourself.
00:00:59.079 --> 00:01:02.039
> Troy Horn>Well, I mean you did a great, great job there.
00:01:02.039 --> 00:01:37.819
> Troy Horn>Let's see, I'm a father, I'm an author. and my big thing, you know, in this second part of life, is really helping other people in their 40s, really, rediscover that power that we had when, or that have, and have always had. When we were younger we thought, you know, we had power, but now we actually do. So my hope is to help more people kind of awaken themselves to their greater yet to be. I've, let's see, I've, I've been on Star Search as a kid. I toured the world, as a musician assigned record deal and opened for Steve A.H.
00:01:38.019 --> 00:01:44.969
> Troy Horn>miller and government Mule back in the day. I sung on Monday Night Football as an acapella singer.
00:01:45.349 --> 00:01:53.340
> Troy Horn>I've been on Broadway as a lead in the Broadway show Rent. I started my own multiple businesses.
00:01:53.340 --> 00:02:02.489
> Troy Horn>So hopefully I will help people see that, you know, you don't have to be anything special to do stuff. So that's my, my story and I'm sticking to it.
00:02:04.010 --> 00:02:09.979
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Well, I used to watch Star Search as a kid. So kind of tell us about that, how you got into that.
00:02:09.979 --> 00:02:13.219
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>And also about the NBC Sing off and the Monday Night Football.
00:02:15.139 --> 00:03:13.270
> Troy Horn>Star Search. Man, that was, that was fun. It was, it's funny because, you know, if you're on any type of social media and your age, they feed us those, you know, nostalgic videos of the 80s and 90s and stuff like that. So anyways, what I'm going to say is, I was at home, I was a kid in high school and they ran a commercial probably in between, I don't know, that's My Mama and some other show. and I saw it and I was like, oh, this it's in my town. It's like we gotta go, I gotta go do this audition. So my mom, man, my mom, drove down there with me so that you know, we'd make sure that, you know, we wouldn't I guess get scammed or anything else that you worry about as a 16, 17 year old kid going to an audition. And plus I couldn't sign for anything because I was too young. So she needed to be there to sign if I were gonna do anything. Anyways, I walked down there, sing this song. I just called to say I love you by Stevie Wonder. Hopefully that people know that.
00:03:13.270 --> 00:03:22.449
> Troy Horn>Remember that song? I did it with a little one of those. You guys remember those? You remember those little brass old fashioned phones that we used to have with the cord and all that stuff? Really heavy.
00:03:23.009 --> 00:03:27.750
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Yep. I remember the rotary phone where you got to stick your finger in each number.
00:03:29.430 --> 00:03:51.849
> Troy Horn>Yes, yes. So I, I brought one of those down, down to my audition and use that as a prop. here's, here's a tip. Number one, if you are ever auditioning, don't bring your own pop props. But I didn't know. Anyway, so I did use my own prop and sang and a couple weeks later they invited me to do the show in Orlando. they flew me out and you know, I had a great time. It was fun, it was good.
00:03:52.490 --> 00:03:59.699
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Well, tell us about how you got on NBC sing off and how you got to do some acapella on Monday Night Football.
00:04:00.259 --> 00:04:07.389
> Troy Horn>Oh wow. Well, NBC's a sing off. That was Actually I was singing in a group called the House Jacks.
00:04:07.389 --> 00:04:37.490
> Troy Horn>And one of the guys in the group by the name of Deke, Sharon Deke was like one of the producers for the show. And one of the groups actually in Denver needed a bass singer and I sing bass. So he was like, you want to come in and audition with them? And so it was a situation where you know, it pays to know you know the right people. I went and auditioned and sang with them and we ended up going through all the way to the end, which is really cool. Yeah, so that was fun.
00:04:38.689 --> 00:04:46.649
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Yeah, that's amazing there, three time best selling author, 287,000 books.
00:04:46.649 --> 00:04:48.129
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Tell us how you got into writing.
00:04:49.089 --> 00:05:04.490
> Troy Horn>You know the funny thing is getting in writing for me was I was trying to find a book for my kid. So he, he plays basketball. I was gonna say he played, but he plays basketball. And as a young kid, you know, it's Funny, because in the world of youth sports, there's a lot of just, you know.
00:05:04.649 --> 00:06:25.540
> Troy Horn>Well, in the world of anything that's competitive, there's a lot of mental strength and he's go with that. And I couldn't find any books that were written for kids or any books that kind of spoke to kids. I mean, they were all like, adult stuff, and they were all, you know, adults talking to adults. So I thought, hey, if I want him to get this message, I'm gonna have to create this because, no one else is or has. So, I wrote a book for, with and for him about mindset and mental toughness and stuff like that. and we based it off of a podcast, which we started in the beginning, before we started writing the book, just asking other professional athletes what they did for their preparation and for their mindset and stuff like that. We were able to interview, like, Chauncey Billups and Jason Richardson and even, Kobe Bryant there, at the end, which is really cool. John Lucas, a lot of great people. And they kind of gave us the mentality part of the game and of all sports, really. and so, we put it in a book in a way that it relates to youngsters and their parents, and that's how we got started. That's how this book thing kind of happened. You know, really trying to help people with things that I struggle with. And we had some figuring out or figure some stuff out. So hopefully it's helping other people with their youngsters, you know, figure it out as well. So that's the whole book, right?
00:06:25.860 --> 00:06:31.939
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Talk about how those lessons from elite athletes can transfer over to everyday people.
00:06:32.420 --> 00:07:25.639
> Troy Horn>Oh, you know what I learned about one, it's like a lot of people think. A lot of people think that their situation is a, what's the word? An isolated or specific or special situation compared to other things. And I say from being in entertainment and then watching this youth sports thing and then also being in business, all things are basically the same deal. And that means you need to, one, be confident, believe in yourself. Two, work really hard. Three, be very honest with what you need to work on and what you, what you're good at. And then, you know, have great relationships with people, be kind to people, help people, especially when you don't need anything, you know, help people just because you want to help people. And it's just something about that energy you put out there. It always returns to you. So, yeah, with sports, it was like really understanding those.
00:07:25.639 --> 00:07:40.980
> Troy Horn>Those things like, you know, using training your mind, visualizing things, calming your mind with meditation, you know, just, you know, using a lot of the things that, you know, we talk about in the book and that a lot of pro athletes showed us, in our podcast interviews, which is really cool.
00:07:44.100 --> 00:07:58.740
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Well, talk about how, you know, you, you talk about your second half of life and, and what you're doing. So when you're starting something later in life, how do you manage to stay motivated and creative?
00:07:59.860 --> 00:08:21.449
> Troy Horn>Wow. so here's the fun thing about starting things later in life. The mental part is still like we talk about. Sports is still a big part of it. The thing that we, unfortunately, for whatever reason have been told is that, you know, after 30 or 40, whatever, you're, you should not be trying to do new things, that you should be set and whatever.
00:08:21.449 --> 00:08:45.429
> Troy Horn>And so again, just like the other one, I wrote a book and I went through the steps that, I write about in the book to kind of help me get past the messaging that's very prevalent out there that says that, you know, you're supposed to be done after 40 or 50. There's a lot of bad messaging out there. And I was like, well, I can't find a book that's not saying this, so I'm going to write it.
00:08:45.669 --> 00:09:27.240
> Troy Horn>And let me explain to you something that I learned on this path of doing the steps that I talk about in this book. And that is, one, at 40, you actually know the things that you thought you knew when you were 20. You actually have the information and the wisdom and in many cases you have the resources or the resourcefulness to actually execute on those things. You actually know where to go or who to call or how to work with or without money to get to where you need to go. and three, it's like we have the expertise, the resources and the ability to do all the things that we thought we, we could do when we were 20.
00:09:27.240 --> 00:09:36.519
> Troy Horn>So I think this is the perfect time to start something new. The biggest part is getting out of our own way and giving ourselves permission to do that, I believe.
00:09:37.799 --> 00:09:40.440
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Well, if you could leave the listeners one message.
00:09:40.929 --> 00:09:44.269
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>When it comes to passion and purpose, what would that message be?
00:09:45.470 --> 00:10:41.299
> Troy Horn>If you have any inkling, vision, idea or desire to do something that you haven't done before, that you are like that, I would really love to, you know, own a restaurant or start a business, or start a podcast, or write a song. If it ever came to you as an idea, it is meant for you to do the only thing that you need to do is give yourself permission to do it. Give yourself, the push through to make it happen. But if you have, like, if you can see it in your mind or if you have seen it in your mind, if it is meant for you. So your job now is to walk in, in faith, as they say, trusting, yourself and your abilities and manifest this thing, this vision that you have in your mind. So go do that. I'm giving. If you don't need permission, I'm giving you permission to go do, do that right now.
00:10:43.139 --> 00:10:51.139
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Well, you want to talk to the listeners about all your books. You know, just kind of give a brief description, tell us what we can expect when we read them and where to get them.
00:10:51.759 --> 00:11:16.970
> Troy Horn>Oh, sure, sure, sure. So, there's mental toughness for young athletes, and that's for, families that have kids, who are in competitive sports. Now here's the thing, there's a difference between competitive sports and recreational sports. and so it's really for kids that are in families that are in competitive sports or travel sports or things of that nature. So that's mental toughness for young athletes. That's on Amazon. You can find it there. it also has its own website, mental toughnessforyoungathletes.com so you can go there.
00:11:17.879 --> 00:12:13.039
> Troy Horn>And then secondly, for the parents or for people that are over 40, and this is one that's very near and dear to my heart. I'm in this moment because, I actually just came through the process that I write about in that book. and that is called a Middle Management. And that is actually before you, I have a free download that I would like to give to people to help them just get started. And to get the free download, all they need to do is go to Middle Management, that's middlemanagement Bio, and you can get a free download to begin, to get you on the beginning of that rediscovering of yourself after 40. obviously there's also Troyhorn.com that's T R T R O Y H-O-R-N-E.com or you can also connect with me, but Middlemanagement Bio is, a free resource that I like to give to all the people over 40 that are looking to start, their second half with something exciting.
00:12:13.679 --> 00:12:20.559
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Yeah, okay, well tell us about any upcoming projects that you're working on that listeners need to be aware of.
00:12:21.039 --> 00:12:37.559
> Troy Horn>Yeah, no, Middle Management is the one. That's the one. That's my, my current project. That's the one that, is my big, thing in this moment. And so, I would say, you know, check that out if, if that's something that resonates with you, because that's, the one that I'm very focused on in this moment.
00:12:38.919 --> 00:12:41.759
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Okay, well, leave us with some final thoughts.
00:12:41.759 --> 00:12:46.919
> 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.
00:12:47.879 --> 00:14:00.820
> Troy Horn>Yeah, you know, Curtis, it's like, for me, I would like to say this one thing, and this is something you learn, I think, when you get. As you get older, it's like procrastination, fear, doubt, and uncertainty of your abilities is based on something that we all fall, victim of. And that is the idea or belief that we have this unlimited amount of time. We all believe on some. Some level that we have the next five minutes, next hour, next 10 minutes, next month, next day. And the one thing I've learned is that. And that's. It's funny, I got this from, a YouTube video or Instagram video from Cat Williams, of all people, which is very funny. he said, he said, every night when you go to bed, if you can tell yourself, that was it. If I don't wake up, I did the things I need to do, I'm grateful for the time I had to go to sleep. That was it. And then if you wake up the next day, go, this is it. Everything I need to do, I need to be about doing that or moving towards that today. Because I know tonight I'm going to say, that was it. He said, if you can do that, it will change your life. And I am, an example of.
00:14:00.820 --> 00:14:18.090
> Troy Horn>Yes. If every night when you go to bed, you go, this was it. And when you wake up, you go, this is it. It will change your life. So I would encourage people to look into doing that, or at least trying that exercise as they go about their life, their day to day.
00:14:19.929 --> 00:14:55.730
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>All right, ladies and gentlemen, visit middlemanagement bio. Get that free download troyhorn.com check out Troy's books and everything that he's up to and gonna be up to. Follow rate and share this episode to as many people as possible. And for more information on the Living the Dream with Curveball Podcast, visit www.craveball337.com Follow us on your favorite podcast platform. Thank you for listening and supporting the show. And Troy, thank you for all that you do to make the world a better place. And thank you for joining me.
00:14:56.129 --> 00:14:59.600
> Troy Horn>Ah. thank you for having me thank you for all that you do. Thank you. This is great.
00:15:00.320 --> 00:15:13.070
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>For more information on the Living the Dream with Curveball podcast, visit www.craveball337.com until next time. Time. Keep living the dream.
00:00:00.560 --> 00:00:50.189
00:00:50.920 --> 00:00:53.399
00:00:53.399 --> 00:00:55.000
00:00:55.479 --> 00:00:58.439
00:00:59.079 --> 00:01:02.039
00:01:02.039 --> 00:01:37.819
00:01:38.019 --> 00:01:44.969
00:01:45.349 --> 00:01:53.340
00:01:53.340 --> 00:02:02.489
00:02:04.010 --> 00:02:09.979
00:02:09.979 --> 00:02:13.219
00:02:15.139 --> 00:03:13.270
00:03:13.270 --> 00:03:22.449
00:03:23.009 --> 00:03:27.750
00:03:29.430 --> 00:03:51.849
00:03:52.490 --> 00:03:59.699
00:04:00.259 --> 00:04:07.389
00:04:07.389 --> 00:04:37.490
00:04:38.689 --> 00:04:46.649
00:04:46.649 --> 00:04:48.129
00:04:49.089 --> 00:05:04.490
00:05:04.649 --> 00:06:25.540
00:06:25.860 --> 00:06:31.939
00:06:32.420 --> 00:07:25.639
00:07:25.639 --> 00:07:40.980
00:07:44.100 --> 00:07:58.740
00:07:59.860 --> 00:08:21.449
00:08:21.449 --> 00:08:45.429
00:08:45.669 --> 00:09:27.240
00:09:27.240 --> 00:09:36.519
00:09:37.799 --> 00:09:40.440
00:09:40.929 --> 00:09:44.269
00:09:45.470 --> 00:10:41.299
00:10:43.139 --> 00:10:51.139
00:10:51.759 --> 00:11:16.970
00:11:17.879 --> 00:12:13.039
00:12:13.679 --> 00:12:20.559
00:12:21.039 --> 00:12:37.559
00:12:38.919 --> 00:12:41.759
00:12:41.759 --> 00:12:46.919
00:12:47.879 --> 00:14:00.820
00:14:00.820 --> 00:14:18.090
00:14:19.929 --> 00:14:55.730
00:14:56.129 --> 00:14:59.600
00:15:00.320 --> 00:15:13.070