Episode Transcript
[00:00:12] Speaker A: Hey, what's going on, guys? Welcome back to the Eager to Motivate podcast. I got my right hand man now on my left side, Todd Brown song major Todd Brown. And we got a special guest today, man. I'm super excited about it. You know, this is one of those fan moments where you kind of get one of the, one of the people you've been looking up to and you finally get a chance to meet in life. That's right, you know, because everybody know me. I'm a Patriots fan, man. So I finally get my opportunity to meet big bro. But I want to introduce today, Jarvis Green. So, Jarvis, welcome to the show.
Super happy to have you today. So if you guys don't know who Jarvis is, for the few people that don't know, Jarvis is a two time super bowl champ. I played for the New England Patriots and I'll let him tell you all the rest of the teams that he played for. But Jarvis, welcome, man. Welcome, welcome, welcome.
[00:00:59] Speaker B: Thank you. Thank you, Jeff. Thank you, Todd. This is a beautiful day on Tuesday. I'm so happy to be virtually in the studio with y' all to share some, some past and present and future endeavors that I have going on.
[00:01:12] Speaker A: Yeah, man. And just when you talk about future endeavors, Jarvis is also really big in the seafood industry. He owns Oceans 97. And so we'll talk about that some more today. So, Jarvis, real quick as an intro, I would love for you to tell all the folks about, you know, your college football career, of course, your pro NFL career and those large super bowl championship rings you also have.
[00:01:35] Speaker B: Okay. Hey, so I'm Jarvis Green. I'm from Donaldsonville, Louisiana. Born in Thibodeau, raised in Donaldsonville in between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, off of I10 along the Mississippi River. Good stuff, country boy. Growing up. I have a twin. My twin name is Jason Green. My mom had two set of twins, bless her heart.
Five total kids.
[00:01:54] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:01:55] Speaker B: Yeah, I know, huh?
Yeah. So coming out of Donsonville, Louisiana, it's a little different back in the day because we didn't have all the digital and all the tv, you know. So let me brag a little bit. When I came out of high school, I was a five star athlete and all the guys doing this stuff with the gloves and I went to lsu.
At the time it was all paperback, so it was all time blemish, this and this and that. So I went to lsu, but then I visited Syracuse, visited Miami, visited Auburn, man. Got in a big fight at Auburn. At the time it was Bowden. Bowden's son. Yeah. Yeah. That's another story. Another time.
And then I went to lsu. So when people say lsu, they think about Nick Saban. And I got. There was Gary DiNardo. Three years.
Bring back the magic. And then my last two years at LSU was Nick Saban's first two years, so. The last two years, yeah. So in between, we won seven games in two years, man. But then Stephen came in, Donaldo got fired, and then we won the Peach bowl, and we won the Sugar bowl my last year, man. Yeah. Yep, Yep. And then I got drafted by the New England Patriots in 02. So when I got drafted, the Patriots just won their first Super Bowl.
[00:03:10] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:03:10] Speaker B: Tom Brady was in his second year.
And then I played eight years with the Patriots, and from that time, I went to three Super Bowls.
One, two.
We had no. I'm gonna say the dynasty was created and all the different accolades that came with it. And then my last year, I ended up going to Denver, but I got released the last day before cut day before the. Before the first week of the regular season. And I played nine years, had some back injuries, some knee injuries, retired at 31 years old. So that was my football career in a couple of. In a minute or so.
Yeah. So then from there, I went on into, I guess, the real world with business. But during football, I owned a liquor store, I owned a restaurant, I had a foundation. And I always was big about entrepreneurship. I always was a guy to say, you got to have a plan B, C, D, E, and so on.
So I was always doing something, staying busy, learning all the time. I did four internships while I played pro football. People used to ask, how do you have so much time?
We do have a lot of time, and we don't. But it's all about time management at the same time. And y' all can relate to that, being in armed forces, you know, it's similar to the work schedule and just to max out on the body mentally and physically.
[00:04:27] Speaker A: Yeah.
And so. And so you had. So you had an amazing, amazing football career. I mean, brother. I mean, you are highly accomplished in football, so definitely much respect to that. And so after your football career, you transitioned into entrepreneurship. Tell us a little bit about that.
[00:04:45] Speaker B: So. So, like I mentioned earlier, I did. I had a liquor store for five years, a packaging store. It was called Greens Purple and Gold, right down from LSU Stadium. So. So we had some great times. But it's funny because I tell people we made. We made the total revenue four months out of the year.
[00:05:04] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:05:05] Speaker B: It was during football season, and after that, everybody leave campus. I mean, it was definitely a campus packaging store when it was full and if we had big games going on, it was maxed out. It was a great time to learn. But then during that time, I had a restaurant called the Capital with a O. So back in 1830, 1831, my hometown called Donaldsonville was the state capital for Louisiana. So I said, hey, down, down. It was down the avenue, Railroad Avenue. It's a historical Main Street.
One of the small. I'm gonna say this, you know, it's crazy. Like today they have a lot of movies that are produced in my hometown today.
[00:05:44] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:05:45] Speaker B: You remember the last movie with Michael P. Jordan?
[00:05:48] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:05:50] Speaker B: Some of that was shot in my hometown of Donaldsonville, Louisiana. Yeah, it's still a historical town. So. So I had a restaurant down there. And that was probably one of the greatest experiences I ever learned. Don't ever go in business into the hospitality and issue of the restaurant.
[00:06:06] Speaker A: Hey, look, those entrepreneur lessons, boy, they don't even know about them. They don't even understand the little bit about them.
[00:06:12] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, right, right.
Food and that, I mean, it's not an easy business at all. So from there, when I got done with playing football, I had a chance. When I was in North Dakota, I mean, when I was in Denver for two years, my wife's kids went to Johnson and Wales. Oh, wow. So she did Johnson and Wales Culinary school in Denver and then she did four months in Leon, Paris. I'm sorry, Leon, France. Sorry, Leon, France for four months.
And she did that. So when we was in Denver, I picked up a contract. Not a contract, but an opportunity to go build man camps for the oil and gas. It was the rock and shell. It was like the great gold rush of his time. And this was probably around 2010, 11, that I was there for about a year, year and a half, we was building a 400 bed hotel for a couple of oil and gas companies. Some things happened, good and bad.
And then we got, I got out of North Dakota, we had some lawsuits, blah, blah, blah. Some things happened, made a little money, but not what I, not what I wanted, but had to move on. And I always tell people I have a PhD in hard knocks. School of hard knocks. Just learning the business, man.
[00:07:23] Speaker A: I'm an alumni of that too.
[00:07:25] Speaker B: Yeah, right. The university of hard knocks. And everybody can get that experience and also the opportunity that you could take it and, and you, the, you could enhance your, your future brighter because of all the different, the ups and downs you went to. And it was like lessons just to be. Become a better. A better entrepreneur, a better business owner at the same time.
[00:07:46] Speaker A: No, I love.
[00:07:48] Speaker B: So. So I guess, well, we got some time, so. So when that happened. When that happened, I went back home. I went to school for construction management. Like I mentioned before, too. I did some internships. So I started working for a company called Acousti.
They started, I think, in 1946. Nope, I'm sorry, They're older than that. But this company came out of Miami, Florida. They created the Drop Ceiling.
[00:08:14] Speaker A: Oh, wow.
[00:08:16] Speaker B: The Drop Ceiling. Acoustical grid ceiling. Right. So they came to Louisiana. I was doing some stuff with another construction guy, and we was looking at the VA Charity Hospital.
And when I got done with football, I started working with them for two years in the South.
So they came in and we did all the ceilings for, like, for the charity, for the VA and a lot of other major construction projects. Right. So I did that.
And at the same time, I'm like, man, it didn't get my hairs going. It didn't, like, give me the energy that I thought I would get going to school for this for five years, getting a degree in it.
And I had a friend of mine. I have a friend of mine. That's the. Hey, Jarvis. I did a. Something happened years ago around 0708. Can't really explain the details, but I got a friend, a Vietnamese guy, and he was like, hey, Jarvis, you remember that favor you owe me? I said, yeah. He said, it's time to pay that favor back. So around 2012, he said, I got family, that we have a seafood facility, about 90 employees in New Orleans East. So we have a NASA center, and we have a Smuckers.
[00:09:22] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:09:22] Speaker B: And the coffee peanut butter plant, Eastern New Orleans. He said, hey, this plant is past Smuckers in NASA. And I'm like, guys, I don't know anything about, like, seafood. Shrimp. I like to eat it. You can tell I like to eat it, but I. I don't know anything. So he said, hey, Jarvis, now we're going to show you everything.
We're going to have an internship and see if you like the job.
If you like the job, you keep it.
So 2012, I got into the seafood industry, and I remember the first two weeks they gave me a Rosetta Stone Vietnamese. I had to give that back to them. That was impossible at my age, at 31 years old, you know, and people talk about, you know, football and playing. Long career. I mean, NFL. The average age is 3.5 years, you know, so for me, playing nine years I got past that, that mark, but then getting into seafood industry, I never thought I'd be here today. So I did the internship, worked, and I worked with the company for about maybe two years, two and a half years. But the thing that that happened to me was that I crawled, I walk, I ran, then I sprinted into this day. I'm still in this industry, but just falling in love with it and also just working with the local fishermen, local boats, docks along Gulf of America now. Right.
So it's just been very appreciable for me just to learn that new business and just understand about the industry.
[00:10:47] Speaker A: No, I love it, Jarvis. And I'll ask you and Todd some questions now.
So let's talk about, you know, this month is men's mental health month, and, you know, the reason why I have you and Todd on today. Well, first of all, you know, I'm a Patriots fan, so I got you here because you're my guy. But other than that, you know, a lot of people don't talk about men's mental health. And for us being veterans and you being a. A veteran of the NFL, there's a lot of things that people go through in both of our industries they never talk about.
And so when you transitioned from the NFL to the civilian world, was there any. Was there any identity issues? Because you were. You've been a football player since college, lsu, NFL for many years, much longer than most average football players play. You were known as super bowl champ Jarvis Green, and now you're in the civilian world. So was there any challenges or struggles that you had as you transitioned mentally?
[00:11:43] Speaker B: Yeah, I did. I wasn't like the Entourage guy, but I had a little crew with me, you know, and we.
I don't. Again, it's like now where they were there for me, just for Jarvis, but I think they're there more for the. For just the image, right. Being an NFL player, having the money, wine and dine, fast nights, fast days, you know, just the life that you go through. I mean, people.
You see some of the football movies, right? I'm on. Most of that stuff is legit.
[00:12:11] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
[00:12:12] Speaker B: Like the movie ball, like the series ballers, you know, so it's legit on things that goes on in this industry, off the field and on the field.
When I got done, my phone stopped ringing. I was in Denver.
I had nobody checking on me. I had nobody saying, what we going tonight? Are we going this weekend? What you got going on, nobody really cared about.
You didn't have people calling about, hey, man, I need A loan? No.
It's just the fifth time that I'm in full closure for my crib. I need some help.
So you get those type of stories.
My kid's mom was in school and before I went to Denver, I was at home. Guys literally hanging out, doing the wrong stuff. I started picking up a drinking problem.
It got really intense as far as how much I was drinking a day.
Mentally. I started getting headaches towards the end of my career.
We kind of had all the stuff when it comes to the concussions and this and that, but we didn't have any questions yet on what was going on with everybody mentally.
Capacity and dis your body. Right. So I went through that for maybe almost, I'm gonna say about a year, year and a half.
I had to. I started making some phone calls to the NFLPA and just was really complaining about what I was going through and my situations and my health. And when I got done, I had, like I said, I had knee injuries before. I had back injuries, very severe back injuries. I was supposed to get back surgery. I mean, even to this day, I'm supposed to go get a six point cage in my back L4 L5 because I had a car accident back in college. It was very minor. But then over the years and the impact and the contact and just the physicality of football, it got my back deteriorating more and more and more. And it got worse with the discs and this and that. Just other things. I don't get into detail with it, but it came to a point that I had to pick myself up. And not just myself, but I had some other people that was checking on me. And it was like my union, my NFL pa and people started calling, I started getting missed calls. You know what I'm gonna say? What was crazy was that, you know what really got me back, like waking up out of this, this, this, this slump or this, this dream of retirement.
I remember Pete Brock.
Nope, nope. I think I ended up going to a game with the Patriots and the Saints was in New England and I had my little skull cap on, my waters cap, and I had my jersey on, but nobody knew where I was.
And. And somebody, I heard people say, well, why these guys walk around with a number 97 Jarvis green jersey on?
Nobody knew that that was me, Right. And I remember we were in the stands watching the game and the jumbotron went right to my face.
[00:14:56] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:14:57] Speaker B: I was eating like popcorn. I looked up like.
And the entire stadium went like, crazy.
[00:15:05] Speaker A: Oh, man, that was a cool moment. Yeah.
[00:15:08] Speaker B: Because when I left New England, myself and Belichick, we really had fighting words because I remember we. Let me tell you this quick story. I remember we were playing Baltimore, it was AFC playoff games.
And at the time it was. Ray Rice was the running back. Baltimore had the crazy defense.
That was my, My eighth year in the league. Yeah, my eighth year. Yeah, eighth year. And I remember I had a. I had a cutback. And I'm gonna put Vince Woolfuck on the spot.
It was Vince, gap.
He missed the gap.
Belichick thought it was me. I was two gaps over.
Superman couldn't make that play. It was a trap backside. Vince got kicked out. And I remember during the game they benched me, but they kept me on third down. And I was a starter the whole year. And I'm like, what in the hell is going on?
And then I got Pepper Johnson, the great Pepper Johnson, also linebacker for the Giants during that time. He was like, jg, you gotta get benched. Bill said, you know, screwed up a big play, 83 yard run, 87 yard run or whatever it was. I kept saying, that wasn't me. It wasn't me.
And Belichick is never like a guy that keeps going back on the play before, he always talked about amnesia.
I gotta have amnesia playing sports and a lot of other things in life. And he kept coming back to me like the next series and the next series. And I said, I said, pepper, you better check coach, man. And I'm not this type of guy to be going, going against authority in that type of, in that sense. I'm a team player. I'm a sealed dot company guy, right? And, and I remember it got to the point we got into it, but I didn't want to make any scene because the camera gonna shoot right now to all the action, right? You got a name on your back and blah, blah, blah. You're not coachable. This and this and that, right? And I remember that was my last year. I was gonna be a free agent pretty much after the season.
And they watched the film and I watched the film. End of the season, end of the season, you lose. If you're not. If you're not going to super bowl, you're done. You don't watch film, you don't come back, and they're gonna give you a letter and say, this is where all you. All your shit gonna go back to the mail. This, this, this, that you check out, blah, blah, blah, blah.
The next morning, I'm in an ice tub with a piece of paper, newspaper.
I'm looking at the Highlights of the game, right? I watched the film. It wasn't.
It wasn't my. Gap and Pepa came in. Hey, jg, I'm like, deal with the newspaper.
I'm all set.
I'm all set. Thank you for the eight years.
I don't want to talk about it. I told it to you. I told you what happened on the field. You should trust me. I'm the player on the field at the time. Right. Anyway, that all happened, and from that point I just stopped talking to Bill. But then when free agency came up, they wanted to assign me for another four years.
And I couldn't believe it because my agent called me from the combine and said, hey, Jarvis, guess who I just freaking talked to? I'm like, who?
He said, bill Belichick. I said, what does he want?
And he was like, they want to sign you back. I say, boo, whatever. Get out of here.
So when Frazier came up, because they said they had ownership of me, we just started going at it. Going at it.
We went from a four year deal to this to a one year deal with no bonus. So a lot of stuff happens behind closed doors.
Even though you have your agent, you have to still defend yourself as a player because it's a business, right. Still, it's a business.
But from that we fell off. So I haven't had any communication with the team until I went to the Saints game when they saw me on the jumbotron.
[00:18:59] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:18:59] Speaker B: And I'm telling you, in between that time, I was like crashing. Like here I was mentally crashing. But then when that happened, Pete Brock called me. He was over the union for the Patriots. He said, hey. He said. He said, what do you say? He said, dumbo. He called me. He said, dumbo, what are you doing at the game? He like, I was going to watch you say, you know, you get free tickets, right? You know, alumni.
[00:19:20] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:19:21] Speaker B: And he was like, have you talked to your union? Like, have you talked to anybody since they say no? He said, you know, all this stuff is free, right?
[00:19:26] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:19:27] Speaker B: And that's when I started getting back into my NFL pa, back into the club, the camaraderie. And that was. Straightened me out.
[00:19:35] Speaker A: I like it, I like it.
And so, so, no, no, man, that's a beautiful story, bro. And I'm glad we're able to get you on camera to tell your story, man.
For those of you who don't know, I got to spend a lot of time with Jarvis in Louisiana and I learned so much about him. I mean, it's like, you don't get to talk to somebody you see on the TV screen. You don't get to talk to a football player that you know is on the team you look up to. You don't get that opportunity. And so getting to talk to Jarvis like a regular person, you know, just learn so much about him. And just honestly, we joke and tease about this, but learning how smart he is, a lot of people just think, you know, football players all just rough and tumble, but extremely smart guy.
But now really smart guy, really fast thinking. And so what were you playing, like sudoku on your phone? He was playing something I was like, yeah, smart.
[00:20:25] Speaker B: You know what I mean?
[00:20:26] Speaker A: And so. Yeah. And so, so I took. I pick up things, right? And so, you know, my. My left hand today, but right hand man, Todd. Me and Todd been, man, we've been riding together for what, four years now?
[00:20:36] Speaker C: Almost five.
[00:20:37] Speaker A: Almost five years now.
So Todd and I served in special operations. We served in 5th Special Forces Group together as a command team. I was a battalion commander. He's my battalion sergeant major. And so Todd and I kind of have our own story when it comes to transition. Like, Jarvis left the NFL and had to start his own civilian life. And so Todd and I had to do the same thing. And so the biggest thing for me and Todd, you know, we spent a lot of time in special ops, and Todd spent a lot of time in the Ranger regiment.
And so a lot of people that spend time in soft special operations or Ranger regimen, things like that, when they leave, that's kind of their identity. They were known as Army Rangers or Special Operations or Special Forces.
And when they leave those types of units, the world changes. And so, you know, I wanted Jarvis to kind of tell his piece a little bit first because, I mean, you know, that's never been told. But now Ty's never been told either. And so, Todd, man, I would love to hear how you transitioned from being a command Sergeant Major, spending 22 years in the military to going into civilian life. And I'll kind of inject a little bit about that. He came out of the military to join me in the civilian world. That's right. And I kind of hustled him a little bit, but we'll tell that story later. But Todd, how was it mentally to go from being, you know, Ranger regiment guy to special operations guy to now you're a civilian and that was your identity. You were, you were big tb. You were the guy, man. You were the sergeant major. You were the commander. You know, commander's right hand man all the Time, you know? And so how did you transition from that in a. In a mental health standpoint?
[00:22:18] Speaker C: Yeah, no, Jeff, I appreciate you having me on today. And I got to spend some time with Jarvis, too. And not only is he a smart guy, but that dude is funny, too. Like, he is hilarious.
[00:22:28] Speaker A: Come on, man.
[00:22:30] Speaker C: And he knows some stuff about some barbecue shrimp, that's for sure.
[00:22:33] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:22:35] Speaker C: But no, Jeff, you know, for me, unlike Jarvis, you know, Jarvis had a hard break from the thing that he knew most, which was football. He went from football to something completely different, and.
[00:22:46] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:22:47] Speaker C: You know, I also went from something being in the military and special operations for so long. You know, you and I, we did logistics, and so a lot of variation in what we did every day.
And so for me, coming down here and then helping you with E2M Kitchen and being a part of the E2M family, that was. That. That eased my transition quite a bit because I had you here with me.
[00:23:09] Speaker A: Right, right.
[00:23:10] Speaker C: Me and you could talk, but some of the other things I've done is. And Jarvis, you know, I don't know about you, but, you know, my family was huge to my transition.
My wife and children were absolutely critical to me being able to transition from that very important role as a command sergeant major. When Jeff and I were together, you know, our Battalion had over 500 people, and so, you know, that's a huge company, and.
[00:23:34] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
[00:23:34] Speaker C: And so. And not only was it that large, but we were geographically dispersed over, you know, over the world. You know, we were in. We were in three different continents.
And so going from doing that level of important stuff, you know, what we defined as important stuff, to then gearing it down and everything being very centralized, you know, with E2M kitchen and working with the same team every day, my family was huge to my transition. They were really there for my mental health. And, you know, I saw my wife and my children blossoming and blooming in the. In the new location that we were at. And so it really motivated me to say, hey, I gotta. I gotta make sure I'm talking to the right people doing the right things.
And so, you know, for me, Jarvis, you know, a lot like you're saying, you know, I started focusing on my health more. You know, things the way I was eating.
I do Brazilian jiu jitsu, which is huge for my mental health. And so, yeah, Jeff, I think that was kind of the big thing, man.
[00:24:34] Speaker A: I like it, man. You know, my. My story, of course, is similar to Todd's. You know, I left the military and, you know, I went to military academy. I went to the Citadel. So military lifestyle, military, you know, mentality was, man, for most of my adult life.
And I didn't get the transition of going to work at another company or something like that. I went to work for myself.
And the biggest thing that really hit me first and foremost was you can't operate with civilian folks the same way you can operate with military folks. It's a lot different.
It's a lot more. It's a lot more emotions you gotta take into place.
[00:25:17] Speaker B: Place.
[00:25:17] Speaker A: And so where Todd and I, we're kind of emotionless guys, man. Like, hey, we got to get the mission done for real. We gotta make. We gotta make it happen.
I've become a lot more emotional, you know, try to find my emotions and happy and sad. But, you know, for going for so many years of being a leader and being a commander and that kind of stuff, and having challenges and taking care of soldiers and that kind of stuff, you know, I never got too low. I never got too high.
And so coming into the civilian world as an entrepreneur, I am learning how to tap into emotions and be a good leader to civilians, to understand people with families differently than I understood soldiers with families. Trying to understand how to help people deal with things not going right, things, things happening. And so in the military, man, hey, all kind of stuff happens. You know, you have combat, things occur. You have to deploy on short notice. All kinds of things happen. And so military service members are accustomed to handling different things a little bit differently than civilians are used to handling things.
There's less emotions involved. And so my transition was more so of a development process mentally than, you know, trying to overcome any kind of biases or any kind of things that were challenging me. It was a lot of emotional maturity I had to develop, and that was a struggle for me. It was a struggle for me trying to develop emotionally to be able to be a good leader in the civilian world when I was so accustomed to being a good leader in the military.
And I'm still working on it. Honestly, I'm still working on it. And so what I do is I consult other people that have been civilian leaders for a long time. I use them as my sounding board. I use them as my mentors. I make sure I have people in my corner where I'm like, man, I don't know how to handle this situation. I never had to deal with that. Oh, man, I get hit with a mega tax bill like, oh, man, I don't even know, man, where this stuff coming from, you know? I have a situation where I got to, you know, I got to have some kind of, you know, certification or inspection done. I'm like, man, this is all new stuff to me. I didn't grow up in the corporate America world. I didn't grow up in this space. And so just learning how to develop fast as a entrepreneur and as a business leader has probably been my biggest transition challenge with my mental health. And I would say the biggest thing for me is just having a team of people around me to help me. So now Jarvis, that's a good question to kind of spin off to you, you know, coming out of the military and working in some entrepreneurial aspects with the liquor store and that kind of stuff.
What has it been like with Ocean's 97?
What's that been like for you? Because that's a new endeavor. So what's that been like for you?
How have you handled that? How have you taken on that challenge? What's that been like for you?
[00:28:16] Speaker B: Well, I started Oceans in 2015 because when I got with the Vietnamese co op in 12, learned internship learn, and we scaled up to about 1800 stores in 18 months.
[00:28:29] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:28:30] Speaker B: Learned everything about the business, but like when with that it was all value add. And then for me it was like learning so much about the business, the ins and outs, but understanding that commodities only could take you so far when it comes to that.
So when I got in 2015, started Oceans, I didn't have any true contacts because they made a lot of contacts. I made contacts, but it's like I had to give them the. The sale part, the selling part when it comes to the product, you know, the package, the labeling. So when, when it was me, I took all the gut info that I knew, gut bare bones info that I knew and I took it in and took similar model because I didn't have a non competitive and I just started dealing with the supermarkets, right? Talking to the buyers. I didn't want to talk to the second, third or category manager. I was talking to the head buyers. So when I started doing that, I think my first sale, when my first sale got in, it probably got into maybe four months, five months after I officially started the company.
And it was 80 chain supermarket.
And that's kind of when it started when I said, damn, I think I could do this right? And not having the largest my company ever been. I probably had four employees, but I just did all my stuff third party understand the model. But what separated me in Ochi's 97, I had my ups and downs a Lot of my ups and downs, I'm gonna say most was some natural disasters, hurricanes. I can't control hurricanes. I can't go stop Mother Nature, right?
And a small percentage, and I'm gonna say small, I'm gonna say maybe 25% of it came from those who processed my product.
Because I had a specific spec sheet that separated me from others.
I was more of the quality control guy.
I had a knack for tasting food. My palate was so unique that I could taste where the shrimp came from. I could tell you what ingredients enterprise, I just knew. And then also I saw from my eyes that I saw from texture, Right. So I was a connoisseur of seafood products and food in general.
And I learned that just from my palate over the years, you know, growing up in a southern kitchen. And I think that's one of the things that God blessed me was my palate.
Look at me, God. I mean, I could eat.
And I'm gonna say this, so it may sound crazy what I'm about to say. Through my process of the business, I got into maybe 1200 supermarkets. I was on Amazon, I was on the fair. I was doing stuff with corrections like I'm doing today.
Small, but it's all new stuff.
But my spec sheet, I burnt a lot of bridges because some of these facilities that you go in, they wasn't up to par when it comes to the certifications.
If people really knew exactly like the supply chain.
And as a consumer, you don't see the supply chain. You just see in a nice package if it's on ice, if it's IQF in a freezer box.
That's what you really see. You don't see where it came from off the boat. And for me, I went back to the boats. I went back to the boats, to the docks, to the processing facilities, to the packages in between. And I wanted to make sure that I could put my hand on that supply chain and, and understand the quality control that the customer got at the end. So a lot of times I went to some facilities and it took a long time for me to get vetted on some of this stuff. And some of it was my downfall. Because when you got a company like Walmart, they might say it's going to take you 12 months.
I got past the 12 months threshold. I got to the 13, 14 months. But the only why it took me so long because some of my supply chain customers there wasn't certified to move the product through their facilities. So I had to go and find another facility. That took almost six weeks to get vetted. And for me to be in the seafood industry, I've not seen guys that look like me in the business when it comes down to supply chain. So I'll do the anomaly. That's the word I never use in my life. But I say it the proper way, so I'm happy about that.
[00:32:52] Speaker A: Told you it's funny.
[00:32:55] Speaker B: And it worked.
And I said I can be an edge to this system or I can be the steroids to the seafood industry in helping them get to the next level. Now my thing is I always wish that I could own a seafood facility. So I'm in the process of doing that now on a seafood facility. But I need partners like A, like a E2M. The things that I know that y' all been doing and we've been talking, talking, talking, but it's like somebody has to do something about I'm gonna say the finest food, the finest food production application for the end customer. And it's hard because a lot of food we make today ain't healthy.
It ain't healthy. All the over processed foods. And it shows because look at, look at the BMI of our kids today.
[00:33:40] Speaker A: True.
[00:33:41] Speaker B: Right. So, so, so for me, I'm that guy. I said we need cleaner food. Thank God we got people like RFK is pushing the envelope, but we need more companies on the ground.
Not coming from. Look, nothing wrong with international food sales, nothing wrong with imports, but it was a time when in America, we got all our food from America.
We wasn't buying food from all these other countries. Everybody got their own way, they process their own way.
They treat.
And I think getting it locally, domestically is the best case scenario for a healthier future for our kids and older generation.
[00:34:18] Speaker A: And that's a, that's a good point, Jarvis. And we'll definitely talk some more about that because me and Todd are excited about, you know. Yeah, no, me and, me and Todd are excited about getting a nonprofit started up. And we'd love to have you, have you be a part of that, you know. Yeah, definitely.
[00:34:32] Speaker B: I would love to.
[00:34:33] Speaker A: Yeah. Because. Because you're definitely, you're definitely a role model, you know, in how you've handled adversity in life and how you've focused on goal setting in your life when it comes to football and entrepreneurship and that kind of stuff. So I do got a question for Todd and so I'll have it come from the Sergeant Major aspect. And I know we're running a little bit long, but we'll keep it going. This is a good interview. And so, Todd, you and I have both had to deal with a lot of soldiers that had a lot of issues when it comes to post traumatic stress syndrome and that kind of stuff. So what was some of the ways you encourage soldiers to. To get through different times of depression, anxiety, and that kind of stuff? Because we. We dealt with a lot of, you know, soldiers that really saw a lot and had to do a lot. And so what. What were some ways you encourage them or you. You help motivate them or. And mentor them?
[00:35:29] Speaker C: Yeah, no, Jeff, you know, you and I, we did see a lot of that. And, you know, we were sharing this with Jarvis when we were in Louisiana visiting him. And, you know, one of the things that I like to do, Jeff, was I like to do exactly what we're doing right now. I like to share stories where I was low at some point, you know, I started talking with people. I started seeking out professional help, like you seek out your mentors in the civilian sector, and Jarvis with his union. You know, I would do the same thing. I would talk to those Ranger buddies, or I would talk to the military counselors, you know, and I would then share that story with the young soldiers, with the NCOs, and the young officers that were struggling, who had been away from family for a little too long or had a particular tough mission. And then it was never to lessen their experience, but it was to always say, hey, don't give up. There is light at the end of the tunnel. And these resources actually do work.
Don't just waive these resources off. These resources actually work. They help you process these emotions. And, you know, Jeff, you were just saying it. You know, we in the military were really bad about being, you know, just right in the middle. We never get too high. We never get too low. And oftentimes when you. When you stunt those emotions like that, you don't get the healing that you should have, you know?
[00:36:54] Speaker B: Right.
[00:36:54] Speaker C: And then, you know, a guy like you, big, big strong guy in the trenches all the time, you know, if somebody saw Jarvis Green crying, it would freak them out. Oh, man, you're not supposed to cry. A big warrior like, you're not supposed to cry. You know, facts.
[00:37:06] Speaker B: Right, right. But.
[00:37:08] Speaker C: But the thing that I, you know, in the visits I've had with you is, and sharing with you personally, is that I see how deep your emotions run. And so, you know, all those colors of emotion and, you know how to process it properly. So that was what I did a lot. Yeah, just have share Those personal stories.
[00:37:25] Speaker B: What you saying? Like. Like. Like, I have two. Two daughters and a son, and they've seen me cry before, and friends of mine have seen me cry and tear it up, and. And I was a guy that never, never. I don't know how they. When they say, wear your emotions on your sleeve, but I was just straight up front because I didn't care about that. That was a weak point of me, because they used to call me the friendly. The friendly Giant. All through, like, articles in school, I was being a nice guy. Just when the football field. I just turned that switch.
[00:37:52] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:37:53] Speaker B: You know, and as athletes.
That's athletes. And as soldiers. I know it's so different with y' all because of things y' all deal with every single day on the field. So that. On the field, the battlefield, at the office, because you got the PTSD thing that kicks in.
And I don't know how it is with a lot of other, like, professional sports, but our NFL and nflpa, I think we far along way ahead of other sports when it comes to really, traditionally helping us cater to transition, because that is very hard, you know, and you have a family and you have people behind you because you're making all the money. And like I told you before, my phone stopped ringing the day I retired. I didn't have nobody to lean on. My family was there, but it's kind of like, oh, he's tough. He's strong. He got money. He'll be fine. It's not always about the freaking money, man. It's about people touching and just making a phone call, say, how are you doing?
I didn't have those calls. I did not. And I went berserk at times, and I stayed to myself, so I don't want to hurt nobody, man.
[00:38:56] Speaker A: Jarvis.
[00:38:57] Speaker B: I stayed to myself a lot of times, man.
[00:38:58] Speaker A: Jarvis, you bring up a great point, man. That's why we wanted to talk about the men's mental health, because, you know, I will just be honest about times that I did not take care of my mental health, and I want to encourage more men to be open to having someone check on them.
When somebody asks you how you're doing, just don't say, I'm fine. I'm okay. I remember, like, yesterday I had to go home. I was in a deployment. I had to go home because my wife at the time broke her leg on a jump. And so I was at home. And so while I was at home, my team got hit. I was on a military transition team that was training some Iraqis and So when my team got hit, you know, I felt like I should have been there.
Like they got hit when I wasn't there. Like, if I was there, I could have helped, you know, helped them fight. And so I was not in a good headspace.
I got back to country after I had my time there at home. I got back with, like, a vendetta. I wanted to go out on missions every day. I was like, I. I missed the opportunity to save my team guy. Like, I want to be on every single mission. I'll take any. Any kind of training mission. I'll go. Send me. And it wasn't healthy. Nobody. Nobody knew that I was. I was dealing with that because I felt like I missed out. I felt like I was in. I was on the sidelines when my guys were getting into it.
And so I probably needed to get some counseling or talk to someone during that time, because that bled over.
That bled over for many years, actually. It's just thinking about always wanting to be in the mix because I missed that one situation because I wasn't there at that situation. Send me. I'll go, I'll deploy.
I'm ready. And so I think for me, I missed so many times when I could have gotten healthier mentally.
But, you know, I am also a guy from the south, and we cover up a lot of our trauma. We cover up a lot of things that we're dealing with. And that's why, you know, when I see even a co worker or a friend, when I can tell they're not really okay, I push them. Yeah, I push him because I needed somebody to push me. So if somebody would've pushed me a little bit harder, it was like, hey, man, you say you're okay, but you just had this really fun thing happen, and you didn't even smile.
You do a good job at that time. You had this for real. Yeah, that's all good. You had this really tragic thing happen, and you weren't even sad about it. And so it's just like somebody could look at that and say, he said he's all right. I guess he's all right. But sometimes people don't realize if you go one step further, if you say, hey, man, how you doing, brother? And it's, oh, man, I'm all right, man. Life is life, man. I'm living.
No, brother, how are you really doing?
Sometimes just asking that secondary question. How are you really doing, man? Sometimes even the toughest defensive ends, somebody who make a living trying to tear somebody head off, would break down in tears.
Because nobody cared enough to really show concern. Nobody cared enough to really say, how are you really doing?
I'm not just asking you that. Just to ask you. I care. How are you really doing?
[00:42:33] Speaker B: Right, right, right. You know what? Jeff, too. You're saying that. I know. We got. We're on 42 minutes here. This has been great.
One of my good friends, I befriended him when he came to the Patriots. I only been knowing. I only knew him for maybe two and a half, three years.
A lot of people knew him a lot longer. Name was Junior. Say he was a guy.
He always called people buddy. Buddy, Buddy, Buddy. We know about Junior Seah. 12, 13 years straight. You know, if you're a football fanatic, 12, 13 years straight Pro Bowl.
He got to 20 years. So when he got to New England, he was probably 38 or 39.
And I guess I was 29, 30.
But the guy was a freak of. I mean, a freak of nature. The things he'd done, the things he's. His accolades off the field. On the field. He had a big foundation, big heart. He always smiled, and he was like, buddy, Buddy. And I'm like, we used to hang out, like, hang out, like, in the streets. Good guy, good friend. He was always at my foundation events. And when I remember when I invited him the first year, he showed up, and I'm like, gosh, Junior Seattle at my foundation event in Providence. You know how many people that kept people just like. And my foundation, we helped disadvantage center more working moms. But the foundation, we raised money and helped over 700 moms in the time of the cause.
I'm like, junior, one day I pull him to the side. I said, bro, nobody's this freaking happy in life.
He's always smiling. Everything's great. No worries. I remember when I saw the situation when he shot himself in the chest, I said, I knew something was up with this guy.
You can't just keep going through life. And it's all.
It's all a facade. It's a mask.
And I remember when I'm going back to. I remember towards the end of my career when we was going through the lawsuit with the NFL for the concussions and the trauma, and you remember the concussion, the movie, Will Smith, right? But the African doctor. And you heard all of these different stories coming out. And then it's like everybody tried to keep things on wrap under the surface, but all of us like to say it. If you start crying in the locker room, man, you weak.
That. That's. It's. It's 2025, man. Us, as men, we have to open up, like you said, Jeff and Ty, and touch your brother and say, man, what is really up? Talk to me.
I'm here.
Yeah, I'm here. You know, And. And it's not about pride anymore, man. I mean, the way the stuff we go through with life, man, it's a humbling time right now for all of us, for the stuff that we've been through. So, like, my kids, my son, 26.
I kiss, hug my kids. I make sure, let them talk to me.
We don't need no suicide victims on a family profile, period. It sounds crazy what I'm saying, but we don't need that. Open up and be verbal about how you feel. And I think most of us, as men, we need to do that as well as going to the doctor to check on our hearts as well.
[00:45:30] Speaker A: Big on that.
[00:45:31] Speaker B: That's a big prideful thing.
[00:45:32] Speaker A: Big prideful thing.
[00:45:33] Speaker B: And then you got. I got a lot of buddies. 48, 52. My agent died at 42 years old.
[00:45:39] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:45:40] Speaker B: He had 28 guys in the league. He had 80% blockage at 42 years old. He didn't even know.
Never been to the heart doctor.
[00:45:49] Speaker A: I'm big on that.
[00:45:50] Speaker B: I don't know. You tell me.
[00:45:52] Speaker A: I'm gonna do a PSA before we get out of here on that. So if you haven't had your heart checked, you wanna go to your doctor and see if you can get a Cleveland heart study done and a carotid artery scan. Those are things that will help you find out what your plaque score is for your. For your heart to see if your arteries are passing. The blood is going through your arteries like it's supposed to. You got any plaque around? You know, anything going on with your heart, you need to know that because you could. You could have a blockage starting or forming, and you could. You could be able to beat a stroke. My father. My father had two major strokes, and he ultimately died of his second one. But.
[00:46:26] Speaker B: Wow. Sorry.
[00:46:27] Speaker A: No, no problem. Thank you, man. But. But. But the biggest thing is, you know, most men.
And this is the tidbit. This is real, man. Todd. Larry, you know what I'm about to say? Most men don't find out something's going on with their heart until they have problems in the bedroom when the blood does.
[00:46:44] Speaker B: Isn't that crazy?
[00:46:45] Speaker A: When the blood's not pumping somewhere else in the body, they're like, what's wrong with me, man? Why can't I perform in the bedroom?
[00:46:52] Speaker B: Ain't that something?
[00:46:52] Speaker A: Because the blood is not pumping through your body well enough to be able to pump blood into your member to perform in the bedroom. And then a lot of doctors have told me that's when people say, hey, I'm concerned. Let me go to the doctor. And the worst thing they could do, the worst thing. This is a super psa. The worst thing you can do if you're having any kind of erectile issues is just go take some secondhand pills from somebody around the corner or on the streets or something like that, Go to your doctor, because that could be a major red flag that something's going on with your heart, and you could just go grab some pills to try to, you know, have some good times, and you could literally be having a good time for the last time.
[00:47:34] Speaker B: That's all right.
[00:47:35] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:47:35] Speaker B: Look, I'm not laughing at psa, but I'm laughing at some of my guys crushing three or four of those miracle pills. I'm like, bro, get your heart checked, man. Facts. We have a stroke on us, right?
[00:47:47] Speaker A: Check it out. Hey, with Jarvis, I'm gonna let you have the last word, but, Todd, man, what. What would you say is the one thing if I had to ask you, what keeps your mental health strong? What's the number one thing you say? Because I'm going to ask Jarvis the same question, but what's the number one thing that keeps you strong mentally or something that kind of helps you out when you have mental strength issues?
[00:48:11] Speaker C: The number one thing for me, Jeff, personally, is my personal faith and my personal walk with Christ. That's my number one thing.
And through that walk, through that, I see all of the great opportunities. The opportunities of meeting a hero like Jarvis Green or working with my best friend like you, These are all opportunities that are brought to me, that are planned for me. And so when I start to feel down, when I start to have those gray days, I look at all of the goodness in my life and all of the great opportunities, opportunities that God has brought before me, and that's what really helps keep me up.
[00:48:47] Speaker A: Oh, man, I love it, man. That's great, Ty. And I'll just throw mine in there before we get the drivers and close it out.
I'm the same way. So I. I remember. And, you know, we're not dragging this podcast out, but I remember on a subsequent deployment, I was going through a divorce from my first wife and, you know, again, not talking to anybody about what's going on. And so I was deployed for. For 15 months at a time and stuff like that. And So I remember I was in Iraq, and I was just walking down the sidewalk, like, I needed somebody to talk to me. I needed somebody to ask me, how am I really doing? Cause at the time, I was a commander, so it was like, I'm not gonna say, oh, man, nobody talking to me. Nobody's gonna be like, hey, man, you okay? Hey, hey, hey, hey, Captain, you all right, Captain? No. You know, nobody was gonna talk to me, you know? Cause I had pressure on me. I had to make sure that I got all those people in my company back home to their wives and husbands and mothers and fathers. I had to get all these people back home. And so I had nobody that I felt like I could talk to when I was going through probably the toughest time in my life.
And so at that time, you know, I had to lean on my faith. And that was a turning point for me because, you know, I lean on my faith to this day. And so that taught me that when I felt like I didn't have anybody else to talk to or to lean on, God was always going to be there for me.
And so for me, my faith is now so important to me that it's helped me get through so many things that would cause someone else to buckle and. And break down in tears.
But it just shows the power of when you have something or somebody to lean on.
Yeah, it can help you not go that. That ultimate route, you know, that. You know, I've had many soldiers that I've had to deal with that have committed suicide. And so I'm not going to be afraid to say that word, but I always wonder about those soldiers that have committed suicide.
Was there something, Was there anyone that could have helped them, could have talked to them, could have encouraged them? So before I let Jarvis have the last words, if you have or ever encounter anybody that you feel like is suicidal that could potentially have a plan for a suicide, and you don't know how to handle it, get them into the hands of somebody else who is trained to help. So if you just don't know how to deal with it, you're not good at handling that kind of stuff. Talk to somebody. Normally, anybody in the healthcare field, anybody in religious fields, those are people that can help you find the words or step in for you and give the right words to those people and help potentially help save their lives. So don't be afraid. Don't be afraid to ask for help, if. For yourself or for anyone else that you feel may be in that situation. So, Jarvis, our special guest, the man of the hour two time Super bowl champ, owner of Oceans 97. My friend, last words for you, my brother. How today, after all you've been through, how do you keep your mind clear? How do you keep yourself mentally fit, mentally strong? How do you keep yourself going?
[00:51:49] Speaker B: But to stay on top of what you said too, you also could call 91 1.
[00:51:53] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:51:54] Speaker B: If you get into that situation. Because I don't get a hotline for the suicide hotline.
But that is always there. I think for me, guys, I mean, look, man, patience, they talk about patience, you know, the virtue. And I think with patience, what I've learned is it's about how you handle it or what you do while you're waiting.
Because I had times in my life I had to wait for something and wait. And I'm a man of faith. Grew up in the church. Mom and dad was preachers, ministers and all that stuff.
And thank God that was spent. I thank God that I grew up in the church because that foundation will always be there with you. And we are not perfect vessels at all. None of us stand close to being perfect, but one, and that's Christ Jesus.
And I think for me, not think. I know. I know Patience has been my biggest winner, my biggest assets in my life. Asset in my life at 46 years old. And with me, I'm gonna talk about just the business side on what he's been doing, the growth with my family, my kids. I went through a nasty divorce, but just for my kids and the things that they could see in me as a whole. Father, who I am, my mom, my dad had passed away, my siblings. I have a few close cousins that I deal with. A lot of my friends are more. Not even, not even African American. Most of my true friends outside of family, but the patient has been the big. The big win for me to say that I'm a guy with true patience but also have a kind heart, you know, So I think I could talk to anyone and I could make friends with anybody. It doesn't matter what, what time it is or the situation.
So I thank God for that. That I do have that on my side. And that is one of the. The. What. What is the word? One of the. One of the kind spirits of the heart.
[00:53:48] Speaker C: Of the spirit.
[00:53:49] Speaker B: Thank you. Thank you. To preach on t.
The patience that. So, so that, that's. That. I'm, I'm, I'm the king of that man. So. So I thank God for that man.
[00:54:02] Speaker A: Jarvis, man, we really appreciate you taking time to, you know, sit down with us and talk and for us to have a conversation. We intended for this to be 20 minutes, but we. I was gonna cut the camera off, man. We'll keep it rolling because, you know, this is the kind of conversation that I had with Jarvis. You know, in New Orleans, it's like you can talk to Jarvis for hours, man. Hours, man. You got one of those spirits about you where you make everybody feel comfortable. You don't come across as, hey, I'm Jarvis Green. You know, you, you come across as everybody's friend, you know, and, and that, and that for anybody that gets to spend time with you, man, I'm sure they walk away with the same feeling like, man, that's a poop. They're blessed guy. You know what I'm saying? And so I encourage, I encourage anybody that is interested in learning more about Jarvis. Check out some of his highlights go on YouTube. Check him out if you're interested in what he's doing in the seafood industry. His company is Oceans 97. Hopefully you'll see, see him pull up with us at some charity events and stuff like that, because we're going to try to work him.
But Jarvis, man, thank you, brother. It's a blessing, man, to have you, man. You're really good, dude, man. And, and I'm happy to see that you have turned the corner and now you are inspiration from your, from your lows and your highs. You now use those as inspiration to mentor people like me and my boy Jason.
You mentor us and make sure that we stay straight. So, man, I'm proud of you for paying it forward and the kind of man you are, bro.
[00:55:29] Speaker B: Thank you, Jeff. Thank you, Ty. It was a great time with E2M, man, and I will be seeing y'.
[00:55:34] Speaker A: All very soon, very soon, for sure, my brother. Hey, guys, that is another great episode of the Eager to Motivate podcast. We hope to continue to bring you amazing guests. I won't always be able to bring you two time super bowl winning champions like Jarvis Green, but I will try to bring you interesting guests that are motivational, that are inspirational, and, you know, just fun to listen to. So we want to thank our guest, Jarvis Green. Today. I want to thank my right hand man, my boy Todd.
I also want to end this by saying, like Jarvis said, you know, there's a suicide hotline. If you don't know that number, you can call 91 1. They'll get you there. So if you ever encounter anybody, you're in a situation yourself where you feel like, you know, you want to take an exit of life, before your time. We encourage you to speak out, to tell somebody if you have a plan. If you don't have a plan, you're thinking about it, make sure you talk to someone, because somebody could tell you or say the right thing. That could cause you to rethink that and you can live a longer, happier life. I've seen it many times.
Y' all take care, be blessed. Another episode eager to motivate. Podcast, podcast, Podcast.
