Masters of The Turnaround, With NFL Pro Marques Ogden
Figure out the three things you do best — That’s exactly what I did during those dark times. I wrote in my journal what my three best strengths were and started figuring out how I could utilize those strengths.
As part of my series about prominent entrepreneurs and executives that overcame adversity to achieve great success,” I had the pleasure of interviewing Marques Ogden.
Marques Ogden is the founder and CEO of Ogden Ventures LLC. In 2003, he was drafted into the NFL as an offensive lineman, and after five years of playing in the league, he decided to retire and pursue a career in construction and contracting. At the age of 27, Marques founded a construction company called Kayden Premier Enterprises. The company had fast growth but eventually went bankrupt, losing almost 2 million dollars on one project in 90 days.
During his darkest hours, he pulled himself together, got a part-time job as a custodian. With hard work and determination, Marques is now an inspirational keynote speaker, executive coach, best-selling author, podcast co-host (The Lev & Marques Show) and marketing leader, helping to build the success of others. Visit MarquesOgden.com; Follow Marques Ogden on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us the “backstory” about what brought you to this specific career path?
I grew up in Washington DC in a single-parent home raised by my father, Shirrel Phillip Ogden, and my older brother Jonathan Phillip Ogden. My dad was one of the first African American bank managers. He was a role model and provided a great childhood for my brother and me. We were raised to value education over sports, respect women and ourselves and always work hard for what we want.
Unfortunately, by the time I got to high school, my father had kidney failure and developed many health issues, so our family struggled to survive. My brother ended up getting drafted to the NFL, and that changed everything. After graduating high school, I attended Howard University and later went on to join my brother in the NFL. After retiring from football, I became an entrepreneur.
My father was the ultimate inspiration for my career as an entrepreneur. He always told me I was meant for more than football and that I was meant to help others and live a life of service. When I understood that, I found my true purpose.
Can you share your story of when you were on the brink of failure? First, take us back to what it was like during the darkest days.
I want to share my spoiled milk moment. After the NFL, I started my entrepreneurship journey and pursued a career in construction and contracting. I founded a construction company called Kayden Premier Enterprises and grew it to be the largest Black subcontracting company in Maryland. In 2013, I lost everything due to ego. I went bankrupt and lost almost 2 million dollars on one project in a matter of 90 days. That’s when I hit rock bottom.
I moved to Raleigh, NC with my wife and daughter and tried to survive from the bankruptcy. I ended up having to work as a custodian just to pay the bills. This is when I had my lifechanging “spoiled milk” moment. I started having a vision of becoming a speaker and wanted to share my failure story so others wouldn’t go through the same. That’s when I turned my darkest days into inspiration for success.
What was your mindset during such a challenging time? Where did you get the drive to keep going when things were so hard?
During this time, my mindset was bending but it wasn’t breaking. I was under constant stress, negativity and self-doubt because I had lost everything. My drive to success came from wanting to provide for my family; I kept going because I wanted to give them a better life. I knew if I let my mindset break, I wouldn’t be able to recover. My wife and daughter kept me going and pushed me on the days I wanted to give up.
Tell us how you were able to overcome such adversity and achieve massive success? What did the next chapter look like?
I was able to overcome that dark period in my life through support and encouragement from my family and hard work and dedication. Looking back, the hardship strengthened my mindset and allowed me to see that when I was up against a wall, I would get myself out of that situation no matter what it took.
I shifted my mindset, focused on my vision for success and the future and started putting in the time and work to get there. Now, I am humbled and proud to be where I am at today — an international keynote speaker, executive coach and consultant, podcast co-host, three-time best-selling author and more! I was just inducted into the Howard University Athletic Hall of Fame and the Pro Football Hall of Fame Health and named a 2022 Top 100 Most Influential Blacks by CORE Magazine. It feels surreal!!
Based on your experience, can you share a 3 actionable pieces of advice about how to develop the mindset needed to persevere through adversity? (Please share a story or example for each.)
Figure out the three things you do best — That’s exactly what I did during those dark times. I wrote in my journal what my three best strengths were and started figuring out how I could utilize those strengths.
Figure out who is in your inner circle that can help you based off of your strengths and what you think you want to do next — That’s what I did. I reached out to my network of football clients letting them know I wanted to pursue keynote speaking.
Don’t be afraid of failure — Embrace the fact that you have to humble yourself and start over at the bottom and work your way up.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
Yes, my wife has tremendously helped me in my journey to where I am today. After I got fired from my two jobs and hit rock bottom, she told me I had one day to mope and then I had to get back up. If I didn’t listen to her, I would’ve continued to mope and mope and not be where I am at today.
Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?
I am grateful to be working on many different and exciting new projects. My company Ogden Ventures, LLC is working on doing some online courses around mindset with one of our big partners. Additionally, I’m continuing to tap into new markets for my speaking engagements and booking really interesting guests as the co-host of The Lev & Marques Show. We just had Michael Strahan on our show, which was such a huge milestone for us!! You can listen to the episode here.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)
Be kind to others. Being kind costs you nothing; being mean could cost you everything. You can always be your authentic self when you’re positive and kind, bringing out the best in people, which could inspire them to start their own movement.
Any parting words of wisdom that you would like to share?
Life is about choices. And you always have a choice to reinvent yourself, start over or pick yourself back up when you’re down. In moments of adversity is when you find your true strength. Harness that inner strength and fail forward!
How can our readers follow you on social media?
You can visit my website at www.marquesogden.com or follow me on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. You can also purchase my book on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Success-Cycle-Achieving-Goals-Business/dp/1642931748.
Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational.
