Brandon Held - Life is Crazy

Episode 43: John Carter Mafia Boss' Son, Shot in the Head, Drug Dealer to Changing Lives

• Brandon Held • Season 2 • Episode 43

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John Carter shares his remarkable journey from being shot in the head at 24 to becoming a successful gym owner and motivational speaker. His story reveals how even after surviving an assassination attempt, coma, addiction, and prison, it's possible to completely transform your life through the right choices.

• Growing up with a family involved in organized crime
• Being shot in the head at 24 by someone who owed him a gambling debt
• Falling into addiction, weighing 330 pounds, and using a wheelchair
• Getting arrested and seeing it as a blessing to end his destructive cycle
• Meeting Deb at the halfway house who inspired him by walking after her own traumatic brain injury
• Receiving a 10-year prison sentence but choosing to face it rather than run
• Learning personal training from fellow inmates who helped him build strength and leave his wheelchair
• Starting over at 32 with $100 and a bus ticket after prison
• Working from a $7/hour newsstand job to personal trainer at Boston Sports Club
• Taking the leap to buy his own gym despite having only $18 left afterward
• Running his own successful private training facility for 13 years
• Delivering a TED Talk and writing his book "Triggered to Change"
• Supporting service dogs for veterans and first responders through his book proceeds

Visit brandonheld.com to subscribe to the podcast. For exclusive content, consider the premium subscription option that includes members-only episodes. Follow on Instagram at bh_life_is_crazy and on YouTube at brandonheld_lifeiscrazy.


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Speaker 2:

Welcome. Welcome back to Brandon Held. Life is Crazy, and I want to thank you all for joining me. I appreciate all my listeners and everyone who listens to this show, and today I'm excited about a special guest that I have. I'm excited about a special guest that I have. His name is John Carter, and John has been through a lot in his life and, as we like to focus on here on the Life is Crazy podcast, we like to focus on just how crazy life can be and how low life can get, but how you can bounce back from that and still live an amazing, great life, and I think John will be an exceptional guest for this reason alone, because of his story. Hey, john, how are you doing today? I'm very good, brandon.

Speaker 1:

How are you?

Speaker 2:

Bill.

Speaker 1:

Thanks for having me.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, of course I'm happy to have you. Thanks for being here. Thank you for having me. Yeah, of course I'm happy to have you. Thanks for being here. So, john, I know your background. Right now You're a personal trainer and a motivational speaker.

Speaker 1:

If you want to let everyone know a little bit about you, Sure, I live in Boston Mass, I'm a personal trainer, I own my own gym and that's basically where I am right now. My life, I lived a very unconventional life. Really, all of my family was involved in organized crime, so crime was involved in my family. Throughout my life and as I grew, I really had a close relationship with my dad. I loved my dad. He was the best father in the world. He never missed a ballgame. He was there for me all the time. So when he passed away, I don't know where he's feeling, but I was not his size, brandon, and eventually I got caught up in a world of trouble. This man, instead of paying me a gambling debt, decided it would be a good idea to assassinate me and he shot me in the back of the head. And, brandon, that was the easy part of my story. It inspired all the control with drug addictions, food addictions, gambling addictions and even prison stay.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that's a lot to swallow. That's a great overview. Thanks, John. And so we're going to break that down a little bit and talk about just how each of these phases came into your life. So we already know the final result. You're a gym owner, personal trainer, motivational speaker. You didn't say this yet, but I'll say it for you. You did a TED talk for nine minutes, which I listened to and it was great. So let's just start after you got shot. How old were you?

Speaker 1:

I was 24 years old 1992.

Speaker 2:

Okay, so 24 years old and so, yeah, that's really young to. Obviously you became handicapped somewhat at that point. That also is responsible for your speech impediment, I assume yeah, and so now life changed for you even much more dramatically than just your father passing away at this point. So tell us what happened from there after you got shot.

Speaker 1:

After I got shot, I was a mess. I was in a coma for 90 days and I spent nearly six months in the hospital. It was life-changing and all things. After I got to the hospital, I was in a bit of depression, but then I was drinking heavily, I was in my wheelchair and I was 300 and something pounds 330 pounds, I believe, at the time, and you're how tall and I was 6'2", so 6'2", 330 pounds.

Speaker 1:

Sitting in a wheelchair was that fun? Yeah, my life was spiraling out of control with alcoholism. And then drugs came into the pack and it was over. I was just a drug addict and a drunk and I thought my life was over. I did not think I could get any better. And then one day I was down drugs at this time now because I just bought my habit. And how old are?

Speaker 2:

you at this point I was 25. 25. So just a year later, okay.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, in Oklahoma, just on the drive. Okay, thinking my life was over. So one day I'm sitting in my apartment and this is where my life changed. Randomly, I was down to the dumps. I wanted to end. I never contemplated suicide, but I wanted my life over. I didn't want this to end. I never contemplated suicide, but I want my life over. I don't want this, no more.

Speaker 1:

I'm sitting in my wheelchair in my apartment and boom, the door comes crashing in Brent. A dozen cars come flying in my apartment. They found drawings, cash and they arrested me. And Brenda was smiling and the sergeant said to me what the hell is so funny? I said, sir, thank you, you know, thank you. I just want this to be over. I didn't care what was happening to me now I was happy it was over. And so now I go to jail and I get bailed right out. So I'm sitting in the control of the police station and I had nowhere to go. I was drugged and plowed in a wheelchair. I had no more drugs, I had no more money and my one law, who was with me, said you need to go to a detox. And I didn't even know what that was. I was in a position in my life where I had no choices.

Speaker 1:

So I listened to him and I went and that's what changed my life. That's what changed my life.

Speaker 2:

That's what changed my life. So you're 25, you get arrested, you get out on bail, and, and so you're now on your way to detox. So where did what happened from there?

Speaker 1:

I was wondering about this. This is where I wrote the whole story. So now I have to go to an interview to get into a halfway house. I was still in detox, but I was going to a halfway house, so I went to my interview. Brandon, this is unbelievable. I roll in. I'm sitting in the office. I'm waiting for the executive director to come.

Speaker 1:

Brandon, she comes rolling in, laughing heavily. I'm looking at her. I couldn't believe it. She sits down and she starts telling your story how she was in a cocaine-induced seizure. She was 24 years sober now. She fell down, she cracked her head open and it gave her traumatic brain injury and she was in a wheelchair for a couple of years. And she walked into a room. I remember looking at her and I was in awe. I could not believe she got out of the wheelchair, couldn't believe it. I was like this is the first time in my life I really seen somebody do something like this. I said you know what? I said she can do it, I can do it.

Speaker 1:

Before that, my mental mortality switched. I knew I could do it and then she started talking to me. Brandon, she was my best friend, she saved my life. It was not, for her Unbelievable. She wrote the foreword to my book. She's in my life now. She's unbelievable. She retired from the halfway house but she's still involved and helping people. She's helped so many people through her life and that's what changed my life right.

Speaker 2:

So Triggered to Change is your book that you wrote, and that's the moment, right there, that's what you're describing. That moment, that interaction with her, was where you were triggered to change. Oh, unbelievable, right there. So that's great. That's great Because you were feeling hopelessness, and hopelessness is where a lot of people either commit suicide or consider committing suicide or just give up, as you discussed, if suicide's not something that you would consider doing. So now you went from hopelessness to having hope. But you say you were in prison. So how did you end up going to prison?

Speaker 1:

Okay, so this is where it is. I don't have a house, but I still have this long car and a prisoner hanging over. Deb her name was Deb was the executive director, was taking me back and forth to court and this was the time where I really needed her and I listened to every word she said, brendan. She was like God to me. Every word she said I followed and we went to court and I remember I both have a public judge in a solo wheelchair. He's about 90 years old and he went like that. She took blue glasses down and he looked at me. He says, mr Conner. He says we don't discriminate in this court. Mine. You're gonna get the same sentence, any drug dealing from death. This don't sound to me. So he gave me 10 years 10 years?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, first offense that's wild.

Speaker 1:

But he gave me a day of execution, meaning I could go home, go to prison or be a traitor. Yeah, I didn't think I would die and I was crumbling and she pulled over, she stopped, she looked right up. She said, john, most people would run right now. Face your fears, face it. You'll be running forever. She said face it, you're gonna get what you're gonna get over it. I'm gonna be right here for it.

Speaker 1:

Brandon, for years I always felt alone. I always felt, even when I was a room with a thousand people, I was alone. Not, no more, I don't feel alone anymore. And that was a horrible place, brent, horrible place. Yeah, so she takes me and she drove me to jail. I remember walking in, I rolled back, actually, and I was at Walpole State Telemetry here in Massachusetts and I remember going inside the cell and I was like, damn, the door shut and I was in a room no bigger than your bathroom and I said I got 10 more years left. I was like I just cried like a baby. Brandon Cried like a baby. All the tough guy out of me came right out. I cried like a baby.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that's a real humbling experience. Right there, that moment, you get into that jail cell and you realize your life is no longer in your hands. Right there, all right. You get there and you have to go through all the feelings that you go through probably anger, sadness, everything you're going through and what did you do with your time while you were in prison? Right?

Speaker 1:

then this is where personal training came into my life. And who would have thought convicts were a top in this? The next morning, three guys after myself I said, oh yeah, I'm in trouble here, but my father had a good name and there were friends of my dad's. They said, well, if he needs to help you, I would help him. They said, well, we're going to start by getting rid of that wheelchair. To stop by getting rid of that wheelchair, brendan. For months, daily, they took me to a prison gym and they trained me and trained me. I was getting stronger and stronger using that wheelchair less and less. That's awesome. Three convicts taught me this. They taught me all the physical, never mind the physical strength, the mental strength, franklin.

Speaker 1:

I was in the prison feeling real good about myself, feeling real good. I was starting to get in shape. I went to prison eight months sober, so my mind was connected. I was seeing the connections and I was in prison where I seen recidivism. I seen people coming in and getting out a revolving door, and this is where my father always taught me. Feel the plan to feel. I said this is not happening to me. Feel the plan to feel. I said this is not happening to me. I'm going to make a frigging plan today. Boy, I'm not going to do this.

Speaker 1:

So I called. I was in the bathroom, but I called her up and I said Deb, I need your help. She said I've been just waiting for this phone call. She said I know you need help. I was just waiting for you to ask for it. Of course, you'd come right back to my house. So, brandon, when it was my turn to get out, they gave me $100 and a bus ticket. I was 32 years old. Brent, do I go back to Worcester, where I'm from, or do I go to Boston, to the halfway house? Do I take a ride or what? Thank God I took that ride Because if I went right, I went back home with a hundred bucks. I might have changed and survived.

Speaker 2:

Right Zero, probably right back where you started.

Speaker 1:

If I was lucky. Right, most people die. But when I was in the head rooms the first time, we kept getting family pictures. Now I go back all the time and I remember down there we were sitting in the room one time and she says anybody in there that wants to stay sober, raise your hand. The whole room raised their hand and she said now. She said now the fact one of you is going to stay sober the odds at that time were like 1 in 33 or something, so one of you was going to say so. When I go back to the house now we look at the pictures from when I was there Dad, dad, dad, dad, dad, dad. I was the only one to say so. This was back in 1994.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you do the math. You did seven years in prison, 25 to 32. And then so many things about this story could have went differently. Right, you could have OD'd on drugs, you could have made a decision not to go get clean and you would have never met Deb. And then who knows how your life would have went right. Then you go to prison and you have a choice there as well Do I go back to Worcester or do I go where Deb's at? You also made the right choice there. So I think I think you know one of the great parts about this is emphasizing the right choices. Right, because, even though you had many points there, you could have gave up, said my life sucks, it's over. You kept making the right choices and that's the important part of success in the story.

Speaker 2:

When you're going through these kinds of issues, is making the right choices Okay. You're going through these kind of issues is making the right choices, okay. So you get out of prison. You got a hundred bucks. You're 32 years old, you're. Are you out of the wheelchair at this point? Yes, okay. So you're out of the wheelchair, that's great. How do you proceed from there?

Speaker 1:

Well, Brevin, I had to humble myself. The health care house was a working health care house. You had to have a job. So I remember my first job. I said you know what? I went down and I started selling applications and I walked into a place that sells newspapers and magazines. That's it, and they gave me a chance. Rather than it was making $7 an hour. I was 32 years, making $7 an hour Rather than, and I was happy as a pig in shit. I was the first person making 50 cents a day.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

Now I'm making 10 bucks an hour, boy. I felt so good about myself. Well, I knew that I wanted to be involved in training. So while I was working, I kept looking for work and I finally found the Boston Sports Club. I went there to train and I was working out and I see the manager and you know they're tripping.

Speaker 1:

And I said well then, I've seen he was acting very nice. So I said you know what, I'm going to go up to this man and ask him for a job. And then I approached him and said you know what? I'm going to go up to this man and ask him for a job. And then I approached him and said you know what? I'll have a few minutes. Why don't we sit down in my office and talk Spread in that two minutes was an hour-long interview and I told this guy all this stuff.

Speaker 1:

Well, I didn't tell him about Jill, but I told him all about himself. He said you know what, can you start your own history? He handed me the application, I put it in the mail and I get to a sentence about prison. I said shit. I didn't talk to him yet. I said I'm going to go for it, I'm going to be truthful. When I told my whole story about prison, was I in French to get say can you start tomorrow? I was like then you'll just hear what he gets. Then I'm a felon. And he says you know what he says. Thank you for being honest and truthful with me. He says I just wish my mom was here to listen to you talk. His mother had passed away a year ago also, and he says you know what I think? If you heard you talk, she might think twice. You are having a little drink, and that's how it started.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so that's great. So many good things happened there and just the fact that you basically ended up in the right place at the right time and you made the choice to talk to this guy. That could look intimidating. It's funny. You say that because I'm a little shorter than you. I'm 6'1" but I'm 235 shorter than you. I'm six foot one but I'm 235 pounds and mostly muscular. And a lot of people tell me the same thing, like when they see me they think I'm intimidating, but then when they talk to me, they're like oh, you're just a big teddy bear. So it's funny, I see that through other people's eyes.

Speaker 2:

Okay, that's great, it's, you have a great attitude. A lot of people would have looked at working at a newsstand for seven bucks an hour as like a low point in life, but obviously you had been much lower, so you didn't see it that way and that's great. So attitude's a big part of that. And then you finally get your opportunity to be a personal trainer. But it's a big jump from being a newsstand guy and a personal trainer to gym owner. So tell me your path between personal trainer and gym owner.

Speaker 1:

Okay. So I started working at Boston Sports Club. My manager had left, told me I was going his own private gym and there was a mall after where I used to phone call Will you please come and help me here? So I came over, I looked at it and I was very nervous for that. I'm a single dad, I have a son and I was working at a foster. I'm a single dad, I have a son and I was working with him with an income. And now he wants me to go to his private gym where there's no income and I have to do all my marketing, get my own clients, make my money. And I was very nervous, yeah, but I went for it. I came because I worked. Very nervous, yeah, but I went for it. I came because I worked for him and it was great, it was awesome and I was fighting for him. But he wanted to make his gym more public, have more people come in, more trainers and I already had a car to tell that like working privately with me. They like talking and hearing stories and training and private with me, yeah. So I have to make the decision Do I buy them out or do I leave Brandon? I buy them out and leave, rather than I buy them all and thank God. But I believe I had $18 to my name after buying them out. Wow, and thank goodness. I did this Because now I've run my gym for 13 years on my own and it's awesome. It's a private gym, one-on-one, and my clients love it.

Speaker 1:

I hear daily how I've changed their lives For me. I'm there all the time. You know what it's a great feeling to have somebody say to me I changed their life, I made an impact on their life, and that's one of the reasons why I wrote my book. I never thought I could do it until I met Deb. Then I said you know what she did it, so can I. I would love something to read my book that's called Do a Challenge and come to the end. Challenge a challenge is a challenge. I don't know what it is, but it's challenging you as a challenge, right it's all relative I want something to read my book and take it a walk.

Speaker 1:

That's pretty good, so can I, you know?

Speaker 2:

that I completely understand you and more than you even realize. What you may or may not know is I was a personal trainer for a time in my life and I had people come to me and tell me how lifechanging it was for them when I transformed their bodies, helped them lose 100 pounds and get muscular. Awesome, yeah, it's one of the most amazing feelings in the world Not the doing it part as much as their appreciation for when you've helped them change their life and it is a great feeling for sure. I totally understand and identify with what you're saying there. So let's talk about your TED Talk. How did you get to do a TED Talk, my TED?

Speaker 1:

Talk. No, my TED Talk was from a client of mine At the beginning of before. I've never start a joke, but I've never. I always held my story in Right. You know, I have clients. I have a person in the gym. I'm not going to tell someone that comes to my gym to check it out. I'm thinking of joining. Oh, I was in a crime, I was shot in the head, I was in a plane. Join my gym.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah. I'm a felon, join my gym.

Speaker 1:

So I would tell a little bit of my story, as I trusted her and I really liked her. She was great. When you see somebody two days a week for months, you really don't recall them Little by little. You really don't recall them. Sure, little by little I was telling them my story and finally she says you know what she says? I just thought you were a kid in an accident. I didn't realize any of this. You can't surprise me. And I have yet to tell her about pussy. I said oh really.

Speaker 1:

Let me tell you an old story. And finally she said you have to do a TED Talk and she had the connections and I remember going to my first TED Talk interview and walking out of there saying what the hell did she get me involved? There was no way I could do it. Yeah, she says, you know what she said to me, unbelievable. She says you are not alone, I'm going to help. They got me a coach. The coaches came to my gym Three and a half weeks, two months, and they trained me when I watched the TikTok. I was watching TikTok. They weren't successful.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

Why weren't they successful? I said to myself the story wasn't clipping, they were losing people's attention right away. So I said that's not going to happen to myself. The story wasn't clipping, they were losing people's attention right away. So I said that's not going to happen to me. That is not going to happen to me. I got an astounding ovation. It was simply awesome that adrenaline that I got from that stage. I thought I was back in the football field again. I said this is awesome. I love this feeling and that's what inspired me to write the book.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that's great. Where I live here in Tucson Arizona, I went to the University of Arizona to watch some live TED Talks and they weren't all winners. Some were good and some weren't as good to me, so I think it also just depends on who and what speaks to you as well. John, I think this is an amazing story. Everything that you've gone through to be where you are today and still have your head up high and be happy and love your life with everything that's happened to you and you've gone through. What is the last thing you would like to leave people with?

Speaker 1:

When you said you were 230 pounds, six wonders and a willing to marry. I have a 200-pound. Well, I had two, actually a 200-pound service dog yeah, service dogs for veterans and breast fathers and veterans of the general public that have mobility problems. I have a headache, obviously, so we need my case. All these bullies and the proceeds of this book are being donated to the service dog project to help them.

Speaker 2:

People triggered to change. People can find that where it's on Amazon On Amazon. Okay, trigger to Change a life full of turbulence. A life full of turbulence.

Speaker 1:

That's my dog's name is Turbulence. Oh, he might want to be jagged up.

Speaker 2:

So got some symmetry in there. Okay, all right. I want to thank you, john, for your inspiring story and for joining me here today on my podcast and for all that you're doing, not only for helping people overcome their problems and their issues, but even first responders and veterans. I'm a veteran. I was in two different branches of the military. I think most people know that, that listen to my podcast, and so that's a place that hits close to home with me. So thank you.

Speaker 1:

I've met so many great veterans.

Speaker 2:

Unbelievable, yeah yeah, you can't selflessly go serve your country and be willing to die for your country if there isn't something good about you. So I'm not. Obviously some veterans have some bad times and they go through things, and we've heard some negative things about some veterans, but by and large, the majority of us, we are just good people who want to try to do the best thing we can.

Speaker 2:

So thank you, john, and so I want to thank my listeners for listening to John's story today and hopefully it helps you and motivates you, if you're going through any kind of problems, to know just exactly what you can get through and still come out the other side and you can be a gym owner and you can be helping people and you can be helping veterans. Whatever your passion would be, you can still get there, and John is living proof of that. And so I want to ask you guys to please go to my website, brandonhellcom, and subscribe to my podcast. I have two different types of subscriptions now one where you can just donate monthly and another one where it's going to be an exclusive program where I do a couple podcasts a month just for my subscribers, so only my subscribers will get to listen to those podcasts.

Speaker 2:

If that's something you're interested in, and follow me on Instagram bh underscore life underscore is underscore crazy. And I'm also on YouTube, brandon Held underscore life is crazy. And remember, no matter what you're going through, no matter how low you are in your life, I've been there, john's been there. We got through it. Not only did we get through it, we are on the other side, excelling, loving life, living life.

Speaker 1:

Never give up, baby.

Speaker 2:

And never give up. So you can do it too. And thank you for listening to my show and I'll talk to you next time. I don't know.

Speaker 1:

It's a cool movie. I have to be honest, it is.

People on this episode

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Brandon Held

Host
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John Carter

Guest

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