In this engaging conversation, Cam F Awesome shares his journey from being bullied to becoming a successful boxer and entertainer. He discusses the importance of self-belief, resilience, and the lessons learned from setbacks, including being kicked off the Olympic team. Cam emphasizes the need to reinvent oneself and leverage athlete privilege to build a brand beyond sports. He also provides valuable advice for young athletes on surrounding themselves with the right people and finding joy in their pursuits.
Takeaways
Chapters
00:00 From Bullying to Boxing: The Early Years
04:50 Building Confidence Through Hard Work
07:48 The Shift: From Self-Doubt to Self-Belief
10:51 The Journey to the Olympics: Trials and Triumphs
13:44 Facing Setbacks: The Olympic Team Incident
16:43 Reinventing Identity: Beyond the Athlete
19:31 Leveraging Athlete Privilege for Longevity
22:39 Navigating Criticism and Staying True to Self
24:06 The Importance of Rest and Recovery
24:54 Trusting Your Instincts Over External Pressure
26:17 The Challenge of Making Your Own Decisions
27:41 The Connection Between Boxing and Entrepreneurship
28:48 Learning from Failure and Resilience
31:22 Living Life on Your Own Terms
33:15 The Struggles of Van Life and Pursuing Dreams
35:29 Overcoming the Fear of Judgment
37:08 Reinventing Yourself: The Birth of Cam F. Awesome
39:35 Transitioning from Schools to Corporate Speaking
41:33 Finding Joy in Your Work
44:44 The Top Five Influences for Athletes
Mike Huber (00:01.968)
Hey Cam, how are ya?
Cam F Awesome (00:04.078)
Doing well, man, how you doing?
Mike Huber (00:05.68)
I'm doing great. Thanks for joining me on the podcast today. I guess to get started, can you take me back to your childhood? Tell me what like inspired you or what was the motivation to get involved as a boxer, become a boxer.
Cam F Awesome (00:20.078)
The motivation was just to look like a boxer. I was dealing with bullying and I had the thought if I just looked like I knew how to fight, people would leave me alone, which also works. I had some foresight as a kid. But what it really did was it gave me confidence and with confidence I think I became less of a target.
Mike Huber (00:43.738)
Okay, so what exactly did you do to make yourself look like a boxer?
Cam F Awesome (00:49.614)
So I struggle with weight issues and I found out how calories work. burn, you consume about 2,000 calories a day. You burn about 2,000. The only way to lose weight is by burning more calories than you can consume. I learned this in like 10th grade health class. This was magic to me because I was struggling with weight. Problem was I tried out for every team. I'm not very athletic. I couldn't make any teams, but there was a free boxing gym in my neighborhood, which was right up my price alley.
And I figured if I joined the boxing gym, just did the workout and looked like a fighter. It would make me more confident and maybe get a date from Supram. That was the motivation back then.
Mike Huber (01:31.792)
Okay, well that sounds about right for a teenager. So how old were you when you started boxing? Was it in those high school years?
Cam F Awesome (01:35.341)
yet.
Cam F Awesome (01:39.7)
Yeah, I was 16 when I started boxing. because I thought boxing would make me safe, so my thought was the faster and harder I worked out, the faster I would be safe. So I did what most boxers in the gym wasn't willing to do. I showed up on time. I was consistent. I pushed myself. And I became better than the talented boxers pretty quickly, because the talented people didn't have to work really hard.
Mike Huber (02:09.286)
Yeah, right, exactly, right. So you came in and you're kind of behind the eight ball. So you sort of were motivated to like push yourself to work really hard to get to where you wanted to go faster versus the people who maybe were naturally talented who just felt like, okay, I can kind of cruise or take my time.
Cam F Awesome (02:27.01)
Yeah, in hindsight, I'm glad I wasn't naturally gifted because it taught me that you don't have to be special to be special. You just have to be willing to sacrifice.
Mike Huber (02:42.054)
Yeah, right, and that's what we would call in sports psychology, having a growth mindset, right? Like that idea that, hey, if I'm just getting better and I have to work for it, it makes me feel good, right? And I'm judging how I feel about myself based upon my improvement and the growth and the dedication versus the result, which ultimately in a lot of cases isn't really in your control, but the work is. So that's great. So at what point now did you go from like,
doing it for those reasons, to avoid bullying and to look different, to like, hey, I could be really good at this.
Cam F Awesome (03:17.486)
My senior year of high school, my parents moved from New York to Florida and I had this idea that I could just reinvent myself and be anyone I wanted and I wasn't that awkward anxious kid anymore. I just pretended I was gonna be this charming, funny, outgoing person and everyone in Florida believed it, but I didn't.
Luckily, my walk to the gym was a six mile walk every day after school. And it would take me like three hours for that walk. And this is before iPod. So I just made up stories in my head. Like for three hours and all the stories. I was kicking ass. Like I was knocking everyone out. I had all the championships. I had all the cars, all the money, all the jewelry, all the girls. None of this was true. But there was a direct correlation between how highly I spoke about myself and how well I did.
the gym and the better I did the gym the more excited I was for that walk and basically 15 hours a day I was just patting myself on the back telling myself how amazing I was at some point I started to believe it and the pendulum had swung Mike like I just I knew I was amazing and whether it was true or not I believed it
And that confidence is what led me to become the number one heavyweight in less than two years of boxing.
Mike Huber (04:38.076)
Yeah, well exactly right if if you don't believe it right I see the opposite quite a bit with athletes which is Other people believe it, but they don't actually believe it themselves. So it's not good enough, right? But when you believe it Whether it's true or not to people on the outside doesn't matter right and so like you're using that you were sort of shifting that self-talk and it sounds like you were using like You know, you're imagining yourself, you know
imagery you were kind of visualizing yourself doing these things, which is also a way to build confidence, right? And you were getting all these reps on those walks to the boxing gym where you're just like mentally you're just rehearsing this in your head like, I really believe this. And I have to imagine when you got to the gym, you're feeling pretty good about yourself even after a six mile walk. Like, hey man, I'm gonna kick someone's butt today.
Cam F Awesome (05:27.65)
Yeah, yeah, and it was like that idea of self belief and what I found in this, this was a story happened, was 17, my best friend, he's 16.
Mike Huber (05:31.75)
Mm-hmm.
Cam F Awesome (05:39.32)
We were at a boxing match in Florida and he saw his opponent was also 16 but had tattoos. He was from New York and he started panting. My friend is way talented than his opponent, way more talented, taller, stronger, faster. But he's like, this dude has tattoos. And I saw my friend psyched himself out and lost the boxing match because he allowed himself to lose. But clearly from the outside and I had no emotional attachment,
knew clearly my friend was way better. He just allowed some dude to beat him up for no reason. And I was like, okay, I'll never let that be me. And I understood that for a heavyweight, there's guys who waist bigger than me, muscle, six pack. And in my mind, I'm like, yes, that looks cool. It's intimidating. But in the reality of that square circle, when we get in that ring, muscles require oxygen.
you're gonna get tired one minute into the first round. don't have punching power for long. And if I don't allow that to scare me, he can't win.
Mike Huber (06:50.288)
Right, yeah. But yeah, right, exactly. Well, you're focused on something constructive, right? Something positive of like, hey, he might be big and strong and look nasty, but I'm the more skilled, more conditioned boxer. I'm focusing on that and I'm gonna use that strength as a way to win versus focusing on the opponent and being like, well, I don't have what he has. Now I gotta worry for my life, right? And like...
That's actually a really great strategy mentally where you're really focused on like your attributes and your strengths and you're not worried about the other person. You're only worried about what you're good at. And that's something that I think is a lot of hard, it's hard for a lot of athletes, especially in like a one-on-one competition, right? I can't say that I've worked with boxers before, but I've definitely worked with a bunch of wrestlers and that's a big deal, right? Like you go into the wrestling circle and you know, some kid comes across the
Away from you and he's all jacked up and he's got tattoos and all this stuff, right? It's really easy to focus on what you don't have or what you think he's gonna do to you versus hey, here's my plan I don't care what he looks like I'm gonna execute my plan and keep the focus on that because I believe that I can Get the result I want if I do that versus focusing on my goodness. I'm like buying into the feelings of this guy's really scary Yeah
So as you elevated through the ranks, I mean, obviously you have the experience of being an Olympic boxer. So did your mindset change over time in terms of as you fought better competition? Or did you become more confident and not think much about it at all?
Cam F Awesome (08:25.102)
I became more confident because, so my first boxing match I won and it felt great because I never competed in anything. So I was undefeated as a human being. And then my second fight, I was feeling myself, I was all confident and I fought a guy with like 47 fights and he won clearly.
And it wasn't even close. was like, it was a snap into reality to me. I'm like, he's been doing this for like his entire life. He has a bunch of boxing matches. This was my second match. Then I had an idea, Mike, if you and I were the same age and the same weight and we fought, but you had a hundred boxing matches and I had three boxing matches, who do you think would win?
Mike Huber (09:12.07)
with a hundred.
Cam F Awesome (09:14.07)
I didn't even tell you your record, Mike. You could be 10 wins and 90 losses. It doesn't matter. Experience weighs that much.
Mike Huber (09:19.313)
Right. Right. I didn't even think of it that way really off the bat. just, 100 matches is a lot of matches even if you're 10 and 90. Right, exactly.
Cam F Awesome (09:27.758)
So my plan in boxing was I didn't care about my record. I just wanted to get to 100 fights. Most boxers never even come close to that. Like if a boxer has 40 fights, that's a lot. But my thought was once I get to 100, everyone else I fight, I'm gonna be more experienced then. And I fought everyone.
Mike Huber (09:38.226)
Yeah.
Cam F Awesome (09:49.07)
top name guys constantly and everyone thought it was weird because I would show up by myself with no coach Mike to your backyard to your gym and fight you in your hometown in front of your crowd and your judges and To me cuz like I had nothing to lose my record doesn't matter to me but I have that experience and after I had a hundred fights it made me more confident because
I would get to nationals and a guy would come up to me like, my gosh, Cam, a guy I'm gonna fight will say, my gosh, Cam, I've been looking up to you and Mike, you'll never be. If you show me any type of respect, I'll never let you beat me. So when I got comfortable in my spot as the number one boxer, I became more comfortable in my position as I'm supposed to win.
Mike Huber (10:26.406)
Right. Yeah.
Mike Huber (10:37.724)
Yeah. Well, I think what you said about like having nothing to lose, right? And measuring your success just based on the number of fights that you had, right? Like that, that mentality is very powerful, right? Because you're not worried about the result. You're not worried about, I have to win this fight because it's going to define who I am or it's going to, you know, other people are going to, you know, other people are going to judge me based on it or I have something to prove. It's like,
Hey, I just need to show up, right? I just need to show up and fight and I get that fight under my belt and like for me, that's good enough, right? And now you're dangerous because you're not worried about whether you win or lose. You're just going out there to execute the plan, you know, get into that fight. how many fights did you end up having?
Cam F Awesome (11:25.934)
Just under 400. And I rarely mention my wins, but I can tell you I've got 39 losses. That's more than losses than anyone you could name. But imagine if I were to get to like 10 losses and then hang up the gloves because great boxers don't have 10 losses. Says who? I mean...
Mike Huber (11:28.508)
Holy moly.
Mike Huber (11:37.82)
That's an incredible record.
Cam F Awesome (11:55.106)
I mean, I got to 20 losses, got to 30, I got to almost 40 losses. And each of those losses led me to almost 400 wins.
Mike Huber (12:04.582)
Yeah, exactly. Well, that's your mindset. Your mentality is, hey, I'm not worried about the number of losses. I'm worried about the good stuff, right? The focus is on the things that you can control versus focusing on those losses and be well, I got the 10 losses and now I'm going to quit. So ultimately, you face some pretty significant setbacks, right? Including getting kicked off the Olympic team. So can you talk about that?
Cam F Awesome (12:34.126)
Yeah, so I won nationals. I was 20, about 19, 2008 nationals. I was 19, 20 years old when my first one. And I had a choice to either go to college or pursue a sport where I was bad at free school. They call it high school. I'm not going to be paid to be bad at school. So I was like, yeah, I'm going to try this sports thing out because yeah.
And it was a great avenue for me to go because I realized you get special treatment when you're an athlete. I call it athlete privilege. I mean, I get opportunities I wouldn't normally get. I get let into rooms I wouldn't be let in. Mike, I date outside of my range because I'm very good at a sport. I understood that. And I identified with that. I was an athlete through and through.
In 2012, I won the Olympic trials to represent the US in the London Olympics, and I was kicked off the Olympic team for a drug testing incident. I didn't test positive. Actually, I tested negative, but I forgot to tell the drug testing agency I was leaving the country. And they showed up to my home in Kansas City at the time to give me a drug test. I was fighting in Azerbaijan, a tournament where you get drug tested too to even compete in.
It wasn't a real offense, but as around the time Lance Armstrong went on Oprah, they cracked down on a bunch of athletes for infractures. I was one of those athletes that was made an example of. And the idea of identifying as an athlete slapped me in the face because when my dream of going to the Olympics was taken from me, I had nothing. I had no degree. I had no certification. I had no skill. I had no athlete privilege.
The gyms made me pay for my gym membership. I'd never paid for a gym membership before. I wasn't getting free supplements anymore. The opportunities dried up and I was in a unique position because I was only 23 years old.
Cam F Awesome (14:35.086)
when I realized that without my sport, have nothing. So I'm gonna have to return to my sport. I'm gonna do it a little bit resentful. I'm a little upset because I felt like I gave everything to boxing to, I saw it like my wife, I gave everything to my wife and she just left me for another boxer because someone took my spot. A dude I fought six times and I beat six times took my spot. And I realized, oh, boxing doesn't love me.
Your sport doesn't love you as soon as your relevancy as an athlete dissipates faster than the sweat on your jersey dries from your last game. Once it's over, it's over. For me, I got a chance to go back after my suspension, but I decided this time I was going to leverage sports in a way to build myself to transition out of sports to an actual career. First thing I did, I stopped identifying as an athlete.
Mike Huber (15:29.159)
Yeah.
Cam F Awesome (15:35.966)
Sports don't love you. Like, you're just another athlete. I identify it as an entertainer.
Mike Huber (15:39.195)
Yeah.
Mike Huber (15:44.082)
interesting.
Cam F Awesome (15:45.774)
I legally changed my last name to Awesome. I started wearing capes. I built a personality behind it. I do dances. I flip in a ring. I did crazy interviews. I marketed myself as more than just boxing. When I was the number one boxer in the country, when I would, let's say I would go fight in Philadelphia, I would reach out to schools in the Philadelphia area and I would go speak at schools. And my coaches hated it because they're like, you're supposed to be focused on the fight. I was like, no, the fight's secondary to me.
I'm using boxing to build my skill as a speaker and as a performer doing stand up, emceeing festivals and speaking at schools while I boxed. And I did that as I returned to boxing. I reclaimed my spot as captain of the USA national team, won nationals 2013, 14, 15, 2016, won the Olympic trials to represent Rio, US in the Rio Olympics, but lost an international competition and didn't get a spot in Rio.
Mike Huber (16:45.65)
Okay. So how did you, tell me more about how you made that, and I understand the logic behind like, hey, like boxing doesn't love you, sports doesn't love you, and you made a conscious choice to shift your identity, right, to something broader and bigger than just athlete. But how did you do it? what was that process like where you decided and then you went through the steps? Like, was it something that kind of was,
came in like a, you know, kind of a, you know, was like a epiphany or was it something that you had to sort of think through over time that evolved?
Cam F Awesome (17:24.046)
Great question and actually It's still evolving. So in 2012 when I got kicked off the Olympic team, I was broke, but I would go to free comedy nights which turned out to be open mic night and I realized you could sign up and all those comics were terrible. I was like I can do this and Being a performer something I wanted to do so I figured it was like I love doing this
I want to be a stand-up comic. So when I returned to boxing, because comedy wasn't going to pay my bills, when I returned to boxing, if I go fight in Dallas, I'd reach out to comedy clubs in Dallas like, hey, I'm fighting this weekend. Give me a feature spot at the comedy club. I could sell tickets. And I built myself as a comic. then it still wasn't, the most you get is $40 in a bar tab at that point. And I'm sober, so it wasn't very valuable to me.
So I started, because I was still speaking at schools about bullying, the reason why I got involved in boxing, and I realized I was speaking at schools for free because I'm passionate about it and I love that. Because if you pivot a 14-year-old 1%, it doesn't have to be a huge change in your life, just 1%, by the time they're 30, you changed their lives.
Mike Huber (18:32.146)
Yeah.
Cam F Awesome (18:43.534)
If you pivot a 30 year old 1%, it's like, it's a different, but you make a greater impact. So I always loved speaking at schools and then I realized, okay, this is the path. I could make a career out of this. It's something I'm doing for free anyway. I love doing it. I will pay to do it. The fact that I can make a career out of it, there will be a slight curve, but I decided to bet on myself.
So for athletes listening to this, want you to realize that.
There's other measurements of success in your sport other than just turning professional. Whether it's basketball, whether it's football, wrestling, you have nowhere to go after college unless you do MMA. Look at success in your sport as longevity. So when I got kicked off the 2012 Olympic team, I could have just signed a contract and turned pro. I was the number one heavyweight in the country for four years. It wasn't a lack of offers.
I instead decided to bet on myself at 23 and build myself as a brand and a business to have longevity in not just my sport, but in my life and relevancy. I could have turned pro and made a couple million dollars upfront as a pro boxer, but by the time I'm 35, it's over for me.
Mike Huber (20:07.536)
Right. Right.
Cam F Awesome (20:10.018)
I decided instead to realize there's other means of success outside of turning pro. So I decided to market myself as more than just an athlete, but use the athlete privilege I have. I mean, if I'm doing a comedy show, I reach out to the local news station. Yeah, of course, the number one heavyweight boxer in the country is throwing a comedy show. They'll give me a segment.
It's like you use that athlete privilege in every way you can. If you go for an interview and the dude sitting across from the table from you, if you're a wrestler, you know how to spot a wrestler. The way they walk is different. So like you have a connection point from that. And as far as I'm concerned, that's a fraternity. Like I don't care what year you wrestle. If you run into another wrestler, you have a connection.
Mike Huber (20:37.446)
Yeah.
Mike Huber (20:49.264)
Yeah.
Mike Huber (20:58.662)
Yes.
Cam F Awesome (20:59.564)
That's athlete privilege. If you even excelled at your sport, use that even further.
Mike Huber (21:05.285)
Yeah. Yeah. And we're seeing that happen now, right? In the world of college sports where athletes are leveraging their name, image and likeness, right? To try to build a brand and not just be an athlete and try to set themselves up for long-term success. So it sounds like you were ahead of the curve in that respect. And it's really, really smart. And it's really, you know, it's really ahead of its time. I am curious though, like, was it hard to like,
resist maybe some of the criticism from like a coach that said like, hey, you should focus more on your boxing. Did you ever have like second thoughts or doubts about the approach?
Cam F Awesome (21:45.87)
No, and I was very aggressive with it to where some of the coaches didn't like me because first of all, I coach myself to get to the national level and to get to the Olympic team. But when you get on the team, they give you a coach and the coaches they choose. It's more of a political game than because if you're that great of a coach, you'd have fighters in the Olympics yourself, right? So the fact that you don't means maybe not the greatest coach in the world. Just saying that. So maybe you don't know everything.
I boxed my own way and I had my own way of doing things. These coaches would try to wake me up at 7 a.m. to go running. What? Don't knock on my door. People go running in the morning before they go to work.
If this is my work, I'ma wake up at 11, I'ma go run and eventually don't wake me up. Rest and recovery is an important part of this. It's that old school mentality of wake up and run when you're miserable. Why? My life is great. I don't need to run because I'm miserable. And then those same coaches who they don't see anything outside of the world of boxing. Because if they did, they would be there.
All they have is boxing, all they see is boxing. I saw more for myself. So I had to trust my instincts over my coaches' instincts. Even though they were giving me the best advice they could give, I understood if, listen, if I'm gonna live with my consequence, I'm gonna make my own decisions.
Mike Huber (23:15.282)
Yeah, well that's a great life lesson to learn early. And I think a lot of people, if they learn it, they learn it much later in life. They rarely learn it in their 20s, right? Like that idea. And I think one of the things that you kind of talk about is working smart, right? That kind of like what you just said encapsulates that idea of like, hey, I'm gonna do what's best for me. I'm gonna be, use my time the way I want to as efficiently as I see fit.
versus feeling the pressure from people on the outside to tell me what it is I need to do or what's most important. That takes a lot of confidence and I can't help but tie it back to what you were saying earlier in our conversation, is those walks to the gym and that self-talk and that imagery and what you're imagining, that building up that persona.
inside yourself allowed you to be able to withstand maybe some of that criticism or some of that like, know, people looking at you going like, why are you doing it this way? You're like, no, I know what I'm doing. You know, so that's a really great lesson to be able to teach to young people because I don't think it's, it's not easy for anybody, you know, but I also don't think it's very common. So to give them that little bit of like, hey, you can do this your way, gives them that pivot that they could take and run with and make a life for themselves.
Cam F Awesome (24:38.102)
Yeah, and I will say it's not easy. It's very difficult, especially when you see the herd going in a certain direction and you're like, am I, should I be going that way? Just know, at some point, you're gonna have to sit with the success of your decision or you're gonna have to sit with the failure of your decision.
Mike Huber (24:44.914)
Sure.
Cam F Awesome (25:02.442)
The fact that I know I'm, there's a chance I might sit with a failure. And that's why a lot of people are afraid to give an answer because it might be the wrong answer or make a decision. It might be the wrong decision. I just mentally accept. I just need to be right, Mike, 51 % of the time. I could be wrong 49%. I will pretend I will just with the confidence that I'm right 100 % time, I'm just going to be wrong 49%. But technically I'm right more than I'm wrong. So I'm gonna be right the next time.
And that's how I kind of go about things. But you have to be okay with you're gonna eventually be wrong and you're gonna look stupid. Like part of the game. I've seen so many people, so many smart people not take chances because they're so smart that they've, they calculated their chance at success and they don't even try. Because they're afraid to look foolish.
Mike Huber (25:44.87)
Yeah, 100%.
Mike Huber (26:02.034)
How much of that do you think is tied to your experience as a boxer? Like that's one of the things that I, like I've sort of learned in doing the work that I do as a mental performance coach that I've learned from people interviewing them on my podcast, which is like, I just feel like there's this really natural connection between being an athlete and being an entrepreneur, which I would say, you know, clearly you're both right. As an athlete, you take those risks, right? You show up in the ring 400 times.
and you don't know what the outcome is gonna be, but yet you still put in all the effort and energy and everything that goes into doing it without knowing what the outcome is gonna be. putting your, not only are putting your body on the line, but you're basically taking an emotional risk, like what if I fail in front of other people? So how much of that experience as a boxer has sort of translated into the work you're doing now in terms of putting yourself out there and being a comic and being a speaker and doing all these different things and feeling like, if I'm just,
If things work out, you know, one more time than they don't, I'm good. Like how much of that is tied to your experience as a boxer?
Cam F Awesome (27:08.782)
I would say as an athlete, how do I put this? After like the age of 15, for the most part, we're no longer parented. Even if our parents tell us to do stuff around, we get the age of 15, we start thinking we know everything ourselves. At the age of 40,
Mike, who's gonna tell you to put your phone away? Who's gonna tell you to remove social media because it's not a productive part of your life? Who's gonna tell you to make changes to make yourself better? No one, you're a grown man, Mike. No one tell you anything. But athletes, athletes are still parented past the age of 15 into adulthood where they're constantly coached and told not what they're doing right, not praised. Coaches just basically tell you what you're doing wrong all the time.
and it forces you to be in a position to constantly improve. And when it comes to entrepreneurship, you don't know everything off the bat. You're not the greatest business person, but you understand the concept of screwing up, going back to the drawing board and trying over again. And boxing's the greatest metaphor for life, because we're all fighting our own personal battles. And whether you win that battle or you lose that, well, actually, when you lose that battle, you go back, you study film, and you figure out how to do it better.
Mike Huber (28:21.682)
Yeah.
Mike Huber (28:34.822)
Yeah, you get knocked down, right? Just like you did when you got suspended for the drug test incident, right? You got knocked down and it was a really heavy duty blow and then you came back better because you learned from what happened. That resilience is so important and resilience is something that I talk a lot about, that ability to sort of bounce back, but bounce back in an active way, right? There's a difference between
you know, dropping a rubber ball and letting gravity bounce, you know, it just bounces back up versus like, like I'm going forward like inertia, right? You're kind of going forward and saying like, hey, I'm going to bounce back, but I'm going to, I'm going to do something to bounce back versus just let time sort of dictate, you know, okay, I'm going to recover from this. And it sounds like every time you've been through a difficult challenge, your instinct is, hey, I'm going to come back stronger, which is, which is wonderful.
Right? And so like, have there been things that you've experienced beyond boxing, like after you've retired where you've had the bounce back?
Cam F Awesome (29:42.51)
Oh yeah, just even business. Yeah, I'll just say business looks great on Instagram. Every month looks great, but in real life, it's not always like that. Even when, so when I, I didn't make the 2016 Olympic team.
Mike Huber (29:54.364)
Yeah, nope.
Cam F Awesome (30:00.462)
So I started, I was living out of my Prius driving around the country speaking at schools. Total to my Prius got insurance money and bought a van, a Dodge Sprinter, and I lived out of my van for three years. It was the only way I could afford to live.
It was the only means I saw to be able to continue to chase my dream without getting a nine to five. Cause I figured once I got a nine to five, I'd get comfortable with that paycheck that comes in and it's hard to leave being comfortable. So I lived in, I lived in a van without a bathroom in my van. I slept outside Walmart parking lots. I showered and worked out at Planet Fitness where I would bring my laptop in with a
Mike Huber (30:33.425)
Mm-hmm.
Cam F Awesome (30:49.254)
desk and I would sit in the tanning room for eight hours using their Wi-Fi. That was my work office as I traveled around the country. And it was sometimes I was stuck in a city for a few weeks because I didn't have money to drive to another city. So I had to find a gig and kind of figure things out. And I just hustled for three years until the pandemic happened and forced me to leave the van life.
Mike Huber (31:16.528)
Okay, so like when you were living the van life, like was there ever like that inkling or that doubt of like, hey, maybe I need to just go find something more comfortable or did you always, were you always resolute in the belief that this is the way you're gonna do it?
Cam F Awesome (31:36.266)
Actually, it's funny you ask that. There's a boxer, Terrell Goucher. I was in LA, like, living in my van. And Terrell, world champion, great boxer. after practice, like, we got done working out, he came out to the parking lot. He saw me in my van that I was, living out of. And we were on the 2012 Olympic team together before I got kicked off. And he's like...
Mike Huber (31:53.66)
Yeah.
Cam F Awesome (32:03.342)
I think he cash-affed me $100. We never spoke about it. But he sent me $100 cash-affed, because it looked like I was struggling maybe. I know. I never brought it up to him. I'm going to clip this out and send it to him. But we never spoke about why he sent me that $100. But in my head, I was like, oh, man, I must look pathetic. I... Yeah.
Mike Huber (32:20.223)
Ha
Mike Huber (32:28.156)
Well, yeah. No, no, but I think that's really important. And I just, think the thing that's kind of jumping out at me about everything you've shared is like your willingness to not be concerned of what other people think of you. Because that's probably one of the hardest things that any of us, athlete or not, but certainly young athlete,
worries about, right? In the world that we live in, you talked about social media and sort of its value, right? That's a whole nother conversation for another day. But for young people, that's a big part of their existence. And so much of their self worth gets tied up in the way they look to other people on social media, right? So that ability to not worry about what other people think, not take things personally, not to let that influence your choices and your vision is really impressive. Because I think it's
That sounds like something that, you know, when you, if you speak to young people, like that sounds like something that, you know, couldn't be more valuable for them to hear. Because they, and I could tell you from my own experience working with young athletes, you know, the idea that they're letting other people down or they're not living up to others' expectations is one of the biggest roadblocks that they face in terms of fulfilling their potential.
Cam F Awesome (33:49.868)
Yeah, yeah, that's caring what other people think. And of course, if you value your reputation, you care what other people think. But a way I would constantly check myself, because I would, of course you see how your peers are doing and how everyone else is doing in life compared to you, but I would often like remind myself, you look more foolish not trying and staying stagnant.
Mike Huber (33:56.977)
Right.
Cam F Awesome (34:20.13)
then you look foolish failing. And I've seen just so many, so many people with such great potential not take that leap because they're afraid to look stupid. And I'm like, yeah, I'm the king of looking stupid. I, it's a cost of entry, I'll pay it easily. Like I've got all the pride in the world. I can throw it away.
Mike Huber (34:38.48)
Hahaha
Mike Huber (34:44.422)
Good for you.
That's great. mean, that's something that I need to hear. What you said before about business looking good on the outside, on Instagram, and to other people. People think, oh wow, this guy's doing great. And then you know the struggle behind that picture or that video is like, it's a lot. There's a lot of uncertainty. There's a lot of...
know, lonely times where you're like, wow, is this gonna work out, right? And so I think that that's a really great lesson for anybody to hear, including myself. So I appreciate you sharing that. A couple more questions, and I'm curious. So why CAMF Awesome? Why did you change your name to that?
Cam F Awesome (35:28.84)
so I started boxing because I was afraid and I was always fearful and I never felt like I got to be who I wanted to be growing up because I was always worried about what other people were thinking, I'd look stupid. And when I got suspended and I was no longer identifying as an athlete, I'm like, well, I never actually, I don't even like boxing, I don't watch it. If my friend's fighting, I'll watch.
to support, but I don't really like boxing and I spent all this time being a boxer. Who am I? What would I like? And I wanted to reinvent myself and I was very confident before in boxing and when I got suspended, I lost that and one of the comments I would find on social media was, I bet he's humble now. And I looked up the definition of humility.
It's having or showing a low or modest estimate of one's own importance. Also other definitions to lower someone in dignity or low political rank. It wasn't anything positive and I realized when I accomplished everything great in my life, it was when I thought I was going to. It was when I believed in myself, when I spoke excellence out into the world.
I realized I never walked into the boxing ring thinking, I might lose this fight. Then I'm not gonna walk into life thinking I might lose this situation. So as a way to believe in myself and speak my excellence into the world, I legally changed my last name to Awesome. As a reminder that I'm worth it, that I'm worthy. Like people put posted notes all around their house that they're, worth it, I'm worthy. That's just my way of doing it. And
Mike Huber (37:09.426)
Okay.
Cam F Awesome (37:21.768)
the it rubs some people the wrong way but I immediately know hey I don't like you so we save a lot of time.
Mike Huber (37:31.698)
Well, again, that kind of goes back to making choices for yourself that are best for you and knowing that not everybody's going to agree with them and there's nothing you can really do about it. And if you worry about that, it's just going to take away your focus from something that is important and putting your energy in the right place. can you just quickly talk about, can you talk about like when you, the work you're doing now, speaking at schools, that kind of stuff, like what's that look like?
Cam F Awesome (37:56.334)
So I've actually I've transitioned from speaking at schools into into the corporate world I still do the school occasional school here and there. I'm trying to take 2025 off of Speaking at schools. I've built my career speaking at speaking at schools and to me. That's the most impactful work I can do but weirdly the It's a business and I don't like that. It's a business
Mike Huber (38:00.026)
Okay? Okay.
Mike Huber (38:08.785)
Okay.
Cam F Awesome (38:22.734)
And I don't want to treat it as such so I'm building my corporate side of things so that can pay my bills and I can go speak at schools out of the goodness of my heart because I put so much pride into into my speech and my promotional material and the business side of it and then the the high school I went to Couldn't afford me and that once once that went off in my mind when it was a point of pride like hey I built my value, but that means I literally couldn't speak to me and
For me, that's when I decided I needed to recalibrate the way I'm doing things. So 2025, my goal is to work on the corporate side of my business and build myself in a place where I can dedicate time to a nonprofit. I started a nonprofit. just, I...
I didn't think it would be that much work. Turns out a lot of work to just do by myself. So I'm figuring out that part of business right now. And the cool part about business is I think it's a puzzle. There's a way to solve the puzzle. And there are people who are very successful today that if they lost everything in three years, they can be back exactly where they are because it's a formula. That puzzle is figuring out that formula and I'm in the process of doing that right now.
Mike Huber (39:16.57)
It's a ton of work.
Mike Huber (39:26.726)
Cheers.
Mike Huber (39:43.142)
Yeah, I can relate to that. It's great. just a quick follow up. So what sorts of things do you speak about when you speak to corporate groups?
Cam F Awesome (39:53.358)
Literally the same things I speak at middle schools about. Like adults are just children who can drive. And I can't tell them to put their phones away. Yeah, it's the same message of hope. My message is if you can fail without being discouraged, success becomes inevitable.
Mike Huber (40:00.146)
You
Mike Huber (40:15.186)
That's great.
Cam F Awesome (40:15.384)
And how do you stop yourself from being discouraged? And it's finding joy and positivity in your life. Most of us don't do the thing for a living that brings us passion, but it brings us a paycheck, which is also very important. But where are you finding joy in your life? Like changing my last name to awesome just brought more joy to my life. Now, I don't think you should do that because it's a little bit of paperwork.
but are you finding the things that bring you joy? Mike, the podcast might bring you joy. This might be your thing where maybe it doesn't make you millions of dollars, but you get to connect with people and it brings you happiness. It doesn't bring you the greatest paycheck, but it brings you happiness and you can't calculate that. You can't quantify that. So I talk to audiences about finding things in their life that can bring them joy because most of us aren't doing the things that we love all day.
Mike Huber (40:57.106)
Yeah.
Mike Huber (41:10.706)
Yeah.
Cam F Awesome (41:11.458)
When are we gonna find some time for us to do the thing we love? And if we're not doing the thing we love, why are we living?
Mike Huber (41:18.736)
It's a, but for a lot of people, it's really hard, right? Because the stability and security that they feel like they might be giving up to do that thing that gives them joy, that could make them feel selfish or irresponsible or, and that's something that I went through when I got into my work in sports psychology, which was like, I really want to do this because it, working with young people brings me joy, working with athletes brings me joy, but it's like, well, now you're giving up the,
stability and the security that you've had, you've built to your point like nine to five, right? You get that nine to five paycheck and you're like, wow, okay, this is great. And then you're like, well, okay, I'm gonna leave that. Why am gonna leave that? So, but I think sharing that message with grownups in some ways actually is maybe even as valuable if not more because young people do tend to be more kind of creative and hopeful and things and they sort of see the world in a much more innocent way, whereas adults, they're not jaded yet.
Cam F Awesome (42:14.094)
They're not jaded yet.
Mike Huber (42:16.37)
where the adults are like, well, I've been in this job for 20 years and now this guy's talking to me about hope and joy. Can I just go back to work and look at my phone? But you can pivot somebody there. Like you said, it's a little harder to pivot those set in their ways, but it could also make a big impact on an adult as well. So having that opportunity to speak to those groups, I'm sure is really fulfilling as well. So last question for you, Cam. So I asked this question at the end of all my podcasts. And maybe your answer this is going to be redundant.
Because I feel like I kind of have a sense now that I've talked to you for about 45 minutes But if you had one piece of advice specifically for an athlete right for a young athlete, right? You know if you were putting yourself into their shoes going back What would that piece of advice you'd want to leave them with at the end of the podcast?
Cam F Awesome (43:04.622)
I'd say for athletes, your top five. This is a game I play in my head. The top five people you should spend time with around your sport. Whatever your sport is, for mine I'll use boxing as the example, but it's basically a formula. The number one person on this is like the pinnacle. For me, boxing, it's Muhammad Ali, because he's not just the boxer, he was the personality behind it. If you're in basketball, it could be Michael Jordan. It doesn't have to be a person you meet. It doesn't have to be the person living. It's just someone you idolize towards.
Your number two person is someone who is real that is more talented than you. Whether he's a better basketball player, a better boxer than you, he's more experienced than you, she's more experienced than you, whatever. That's your number two person. Your job is to get as good as that person. It's possible. Your number three person, one of the most important people, it's your direct competition.
It's someone just as good as you are, someone on your level, just as hungry as you are. Be friends with this person. Competition is good. Don't ever let that person become better than you. And also that person should never let you become better than them. And you will constantly push each other to grow. Your number four person, that's someone who's just as hungry as you are, but not as talented as you are.
That's someone who looks up to you. So the person who's your number two, you're their number two.
Give that person every tool and every piece of advice you can get to get that person better. Never let that person become better than you. Give them all the tools to do it though. And the fifth person, the most important person, which will be you. None of those other four is gonna wanna spend time with you if you don't wanna spend time with yourself. Are you the person who shows up to practice on time? Are you the positive person? Or are you always complaining about the coach? Always complain about equipment?
Cam F Awesome (45:10.19)
complaining about things. So those are the top five people and never let anyone get better than you.
Mike Huber (45:19.77)
It's a great way to end it. Before I let you go, Cam, can you just let everybody know where they can find you?
Cam F Awesome (45:29.366)
Yeah, you can find me at camfawesome on social media and camfawesome.com. I speak on positive internal dialogue and resilience. I'm a keynote speaker. Still speak at schools, not as much. Also, MC events, galas, and festivals.
Mike Huber (45:49.17)
Cam, thank you so much for joining me on the podcast. It was great talking to you. I loved your story. Thank you. You're welcome.
Cam F Awesome (45:54.574)
Thanks for having me, man.