During this episode of A Richer Life podcast, host Rich Weingart talks with Sean Dustin, host of the Nowhere to Go But Up podcast. Sean talks about his past, including a rocky childhood and experience with selling drugs, his time in prison, and what he did to change and turn his life around. Sean also talks about the importance of parent-child relationships.

Episode Highlights: 

• Sean takes us through a brief version of his life story:
• Sean had a rocky childhood, got into drugs at a young age, went to Juvie and a drug treatment center.
• Sean moved frequently while living in Sacramento and started selling drugs.
• He moved with a stripper to Vegas and she had his first daughter.
• He lost the ability to see his daughter when she was 18 months old, got back into selling drugs, and started seeing another stripper who was also addicted to meth.
• Eventually, Sean got raided by a SWAT team and got arrested but was released in 2 days.
• Sean moved on and “opened up shop” in a different area.
• He got involved in a bad situation and thought he was going to kill someone. He got caught with the gun which turned it into a federal case.
• Sean gave himself up and did his time in the state system (15 months) and another 15 months on parole.
• What’s it like in prison? Is there any reform or is it just survival?
• There can be reform if you look for it.
• What was your personal experience like in prison? What was the “bottom” that caused you to turn it around.
• Sean was scared and did not know what to expect.
• After 4-5 days the realization hit him that he had royally messed up and there was no one to help him.
• Sean digresses to discuss how the current situation has put everyone on a level playing field, in the way that no one has experienced this situation before.
• How did you break the pattern of doing the wrong thing?
• Sean says he didn’t, it broke him.
• When Sean got out, he started searching for small victories to help carry him to the next goal, and the next goal, which helped build his self-esteem.
• Sean talks about his second daughter and how important their relationship is to him.
• Rich and Sean are planning to have a part 2 of this episode.
• What is the most powerful thing you are going right now to try and live a richer life?

3 Key Points:

1. It’s never too late to change.
2. Even if you are apart as parents, the way you interact sends a very strong message to your children.
3. RIght now, everyone is on a level playing field in that we are all experiencing something new and we are experiencing it together.

Tweetable Quotes: 

• “Things are being thrown at us all the time, and it’s really on us how we respond to those things, right?” -Sean Dustin
• “We’re in a situation we’ve never been in before. Nobody, none of us. So we’re all at the same level.” -Sean Dustin
• “How you choose to respond to anything in your life is how life is going to respond to you.” -Sean Dustin
• “I was leading people into the wrong places, you know? I was using my influence to influence people to do the wrong things.” -Sean Dustin

Resources Mentioned: 

• Sean's Podcast
• Sean's LinkedIn
• Sean's Facebook