FROM INMATE BARBER TO SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS OWNER. “SELF MASTERY IS KEY TO MANIFESTATION” Albuquerque

Hey guys, it's Sunday the 24th. This is just a little bit of a podcast that we're going to do and everything. We're just going to talk about some subjects and everything. And this is Luis. So I'll introduce him to you guys and let him talk about himself and let you guys know a little bit about him. What's up guys. My name is Luis. Very happy to be here. Very grateful to my boy Thomas. Not only the best haircut, only man I trust with my hair to be honest. Sick ass dude. And today man, that's exactly what we're here to talk about. I believe in personal success. I believe in fitness. I believe in doing your best always, right? And my man Thomas here, just like anybody that's ever been successful at anything, at some point they decided to take success personal. And that's what I want to talk to you guys about today is are you taking your life personal, right? Or are you just running through the motions? And who better than the man Thomas who's been there, done that. And you know what I mean? I'm just here to pick your brain to be honest. I just want to know more about you and see what, you know, a little bit more of your story. Because you know, I see the shop. I see you grinding. Like it's really cool what you feel here, man. Talk to me about it. Yeah brother, back then I had no ambition probably. Like when I was younger, you know, probably growing up just in the wrong direction. I really feel like me going, you know, had a little bit of a rough childhood. Had good parents and everything. I would say, you know, did go through juvenile hall, that little stuff. And came out, still made wrong decisions. Moved from California to Albuquerque. Got in trouble here and everything. God, I would say, you know, just probably my lack of success then was probably due to the people that I hung out with. I'm a big believer in the five people you hang out with are the lump sum of your worth. Show me your friends and I'll show you your future. So I think that I hung out with the wrong crowd and that was a big additive and, you know, trouble and everything. And then, God, once I got out or, you know, once I got to prison and everything, it was, I picked up more dedication. I picked up barbering in there and everything. Okay, so was that your big wake-up call or when was that moment you're like, oh ---- man, I gotta switch something in me, you know? That's a good question, dude. I think that accidentally developed. So I was in prison. I was in there for 1,827 days in the state of New Mexico. My prison number, guys, it's, my name is Thomas Joseph Baca. My prison number is 60467. Anyone that wants to look me up or any of that. I would say accidental dedication through a passion that I had had. I'd like to barber. I pretended I was a barber in prison. When I got there, they threw the clippers in the pod and I told one of my buddies as a cellmate, I said, oh yeah, I'm a barber. I really wasn't a barber. I just cut a few heads on the street. And so, yeah, I just, I started cutting hair in there. One day, the clippers got thrown in there. Long story short, one day, the clippers got tossed into the pod. The buddy was like, oh yeah, this guy cuts hair and I was like, oh ----. And so, you know, one of the big dudes in the pod came up, got a haircut. He liked it. And, uh, and, uh, and then I just really fell in love with, with that, what I was doing at that time. I like to make people feel good and I like to make them, you know, I like to make something look good and I was creating something. So I had never been dedicated before, but I guess I found a passion to kind of dedicate myself. So I kind of cheated with that. And it's dope that you mentioned that, that it happens by accident, bro. Cause people never, never think about it that way. Right. You know, everybody's like, oh, you've got to figure out what you need to do. You've got to figure out what you need to do. But then on the other hand, as soon as you stop trying to figure it out and trying to force ---- and you just kind of do what comes to you and you just focus, like it shifts. Right. And then it goes back to that saying where how you do one thing is how you do everything. Right. That's where you find that one passion that you love, which for you was bartering. And then you could see how that goes to every aspect of your life. Like for me, that's the gym for some people, that's bartering for some people that's writing. And I tell people, man, you can't discount yourself because of what your passions are. And you can't try to be like somebody else, but that's how it happens. But like the accidents, those accidental things lead you to the ******* thing. They lead you to the passion of the purpose. That's why I think it's so dope that, that, you know, cause that's how it happens, you know, accidentally you *******, you end up right where you're meant to be. Yeah. I really think about it too. And I see passion wise, it's like, ****, how did, or I mean, dedication and, and, and success. I really think that once you, your passion necessarily doesn't have to be your purpose. You can do something, you know, as your purpose to get to be able to do your passion part-time. But I'm saying I was lucky enough for the passion to be the purpose. God, I would say a lot to do with my success was genuinely who I started to surround myself with. It really was. It was a big thing that in the sense of when I was cutting hair in prison, I wasn't necessarily in the pod hanging out with, you know, too many of the, you know, a bunch of other guys who were doing the wrong things, you know, bringing ---- in and doing whatever it is they do. And, uh, you know, I was more, you know, just, you know, keeping my head in the barbering and everything. Obviously when I got out, I started, you know, once I placed myself around, you know, better people, it really grew from there. Yeah man, that's, that's, that's golden. And that's why I think that's why those sayings, you know, they're still around, you know, cause they're so ******* true. Like who you hang around with, it really does reflect this. So yeah, man, like that's, that's why I love hanging out with people like you, man, that show me that other side. Cause I know like everybody's always saying, oh, I had, you know, bad parents or this and that, but you literally just, I was a selfish little bitch. And, and I believe in extreme accountability. I believe when I was on the street as a kid, I was a selfish bitch. And, uh, and I believe extreme accountability is everything. Once I owned up and I saw and said, you know, this, this is, it just, uh, you know, that, that visual changed my life too, as well as extreme accountability. Why am I in this place? I'm in this place because I chose to be in this place. No, this, I just picked up from, you know, from self realization of, you know, being in there and saying, why am I here? And it's like, man, you know, I could blame, you know, you got spanked. I say you made choices, you made the wrong choices and it was time to, you know, switch that and, and transfer that into the right choices and everything. And is that shifted mentality where you're no longer a victim, right? I mean, you take it personal, like we said, you can actually change it. And people underestimate the power of just not being the victim anymore and stop, you know, stop looking at life like, ah, ****, like I'm not like someone, so I don't have this, I don't have that, or I was around the wrong people, just pointing fingers, bro. And as soon as you decide that, you know what, man, I did that. Yeah. It kind of sucked. It's like, I ******* did this to me, but it put the power back in your hands to switch it around. So, you know, that's, that's ******* awesome, bro. Like you were able to turn it around and talk to me like, what kind of, what kind of ---- were you doing that got you locked up? That got you? Oh yeah. I mean, you know, and it's all public record and everything. Uh, you know, I used to, you know, probably sell drugs, you know, unfortunately, uh, got caught up. Someone, you know, they brought this at one point in time, we seek revenge and, and, and that kind of led me into prison and everything. Yeah. And so it was, you know, like I say, you know, just, I was probably a part of the bad crowd, but, you know, just, you know, hanging out with, you know, other people and doing bad things. It's just such a, it's just such a drastic point of view, how you're going from dealing drugs and literally you're there to serve through haircuts, through barbering, man. So talk to me about, I know you said you like to make people feel good and stuff like that. Talk to me about how that played out in prison for you, like making people feel good in prison. How does that, how does that work? Okay. So, you know, God, a barber has a different stay in prison than most people in prison. I, you know, I got to cut these people's hair and they all actually liked me and they wanted me to be around. It wasn't like I had any issues in prison and, uh, yeah. And I was, and I became very good at cutting hair. Shout out Eugene Galloway. I don't know if he's alive. I don't know what the deal is with him. He's a black barber who was over in, uh, Las Lunas level two. And, uh, and I was blessed enough to get pulled into that barber shop. Uh, first real barber job I ever had. And, uh, Eugene Galloway showed me a ton of techniques, uh, and, uh, my barbering grew. The first person that sat in my chair, uh, that was black was a guy by the name of Chauncey Johnson. And he was, uh, from Clovis, New Mexico. And, uh, you know, a Spanish barber usually didn't cut a black barber, black guy's hair or whatever. Their hair's real good. They have, you know, they usually most Spanish guys can't cut their hair. But, uh, now he, one day Eugene had left and went home. He was only doing a short stay. I was doing five years. He was doing, I think, 18 months. His time had gone up. He had left. They put me as head barber. I was in charge of the shop. There was no other brothers in there, meaning black people. Uh, Chauncey walks in and comes into the shop and he's like, Oh, Eugene's gone. And, and so he actually sat on my chair. I busted out a fade. It came out elite. And, uh, once that happened and I busted out that fade on him, all the brothers came on my chair and everyone started sitting in my chair. And then what happened from that is, uh, all of a sudden, dude, I actually got almost got in trouble. Like, so the guards, uh, had saw some of the haircuts on these brothers that play basketball and everything. And they were like, Oh ----. So one time the Sergeant came in and, uh, walked right into the barber shop. And then, uh, and, and I was like, Oh ----, like am I in trouble or something? But he just sat down in the chair and he pointed to his head and I was like, Oh crap, you want me to cut his hair. So I even got up. I was like, damn, he was sitting in. I said, Oh ----. So I threw the cape on him and I started cutting his hair and everything. And, uh, and it was, uh, started cutting his hair and everything. And, uh, that was the first CEO that I ever did. So when you come back to seeing about that good feeling about that good feeling. So I felt when I was in prison, anytime I was around a guard, a nurse, a staff member, uh, anyone like that, I felt that I'd leprosy. You're not allowed to look at them, touch them. You can't be here. It just felt like less than less than for sure. Absolutely. And so, you know, when I, uh, when I cut his hair, uh, I felt like, wow, you're allowing me to touch you. I don't have, you know, leprosy or anything. I'm allowed to cut your hair. And he loved the haircut. Well, the guy comes back in and brought a hamburger from the street and I, and I got to enjoy it. And I said, wow, dude. And so, uh, and, and so I started cutting a bunch of seals here, longer story short, uh, the secretary of corrections, Joe Williams, shout out Joe Williams. I don't know where he is. Uh, he ended up coming onto the compound. Jackie Lava, the Sergeant that probably still works in Los Santos to this day comes into the barbershop and says, uh, Thomas gets your stuff and you're coming to the warden's office. And I said, Holy ----, probably going to getting locked up or whatever. So I go over to the warden's office and, uh, and, uh, and a guy in a suit standing there and it's Joe Williams. And he says, hi, I'm Joe Williams. And I was like, oh, nice to meet you. And he goes, did you cut my Sergeant's hair? And I said, yeah, I'm so sorry. It was me. It was my fault. He, I did do it. It wasn't his fault. And it was my fault that I didn't finish in time. And he was like back to his post and, and, and, and he goes, uh, well go pack all your stuff. And I said, oh ****, I'm going to the hole. And he goes, uh, and I got my stuff. I came back and he goes, uh, you're coming with me to central office. And I said, oh, I'm not allowed to go across the street because I have five years or whatever you had to have under a year to be able to travel to that demographic. And I said, I'm not allowed to go. And he says, I'm the secretary of corrections pack your ---- and you're coming with me. And I said, oh ----, no problem, dude. Hell yeah. But he took me long story short, took me to central office, which is a real place. Uh, that's the time I got to get some experience and, and I got to build a barbershop. He told me, handed me a catalog that said to go to his secretary. When I figure all the ---- out, the barber chair, everything that I want to get for the shop. And I would build him a barbershop. I built that barbershop for him. And I became, you know what, dude, just to say something that made me feel really good. And this is when my integrity started kicking in because I probably had no integrity up until this point. Uh, that dude, Joel Williams said, uh, TJ go, uh, he goes, uh, I got something you to go. You got to go to property. I want you to go get an ID. And I said, okay, that's weird. So I went over and I got an ID. It said staff barber. And then he goes, yeah, bro. And he goes and gets me a pair of clippers. And he goes, uh, he said, Hey, these ones right here. I don't want you. I know you're going to do inmates haircuts. When you go back to spend the night in prison at night, he goes, but during the you'll be using, this is, this is for all of us. And it was like, oh dude, that's, that was right there. It was like, man, these guys that gave me integrity. You know, brother, I put this on everything. All these ******* prisoners are probably hate me for this, but I kiss my ass. I don't care. And the thing I swear to God, dude, I put that on everything. I'm the only ************ to go cut the cop's hair and go back to the yard and walk the main line. And it was like that. You know what I mean, dude? It was, Hey, but here's one thing that I held on integrity on both ends for the inmates and for the STG and everyone high end that I was cutting. I never crossed information. So back at the pod, I don't pay attention to someone that's doing the wrong thing. And I never share that information with the police. And another thing I never share when I walk into the beautiful, uh, you know, office, the central office and the beautiful high end, uh, uh, Sergeant of STG is coming in to get a haircut security threat group. And, and guess what? Uh, you know, when he has that list of urines that are sitting out there, I don't share that information with the inmates either. I keep the integrity on both hands. I don't grab cigarette butts from, uh, cause some of the guys in the beginning were like, Oh, at central office, cause they can real, you know, staff can smoke and everything. And they say, go grab the cigarette. I say, I don't commit crime. I don't do anything. So that changed my life is to start to really have accountability and say, you know, what got me here? And to start to really correct your thinking in the way of you're never, these guys aren't going to do corrective thinking in the sense of just do corrective thinking, do it to better your life, corrective thinking to make income, corrective thinking to better yourself. People just underestimate so much how just being of service will elevate you. And just like I said, personal success, you going out there and just saying, I'm going, I'm going to do this haircut the best I can. Right. I'm pretty sure you weren't thinking about a paycheck. Hey, I'm here to cut hair as best as I can and learn. And when you change and you just did it every day, that service elevated you, it elevated you to places that you weren't even supposed to go to. And that's what I tell people, when you become of service and you change your point of view, it's going to open up doors for you that you've never seen and that you cleared up yourself. So when you come from service, you will see your life elevate. And even if he was still in prison, he's still cutting hair, but he's walking differently. He's talking differently. He's carrying himself differently. He became a man of integrity. Like all his work was going on inside of him as his being of service without him seeking attention, without him going for it. And that's, that's what I tell everybody. When you do one thing and you give your best, like genuinely do your best. It's going to go to every aspect of your life. You will carry yourself different. And Thomas is a prime example. When you got out of prison, how that, I mean, I see you now with the shop. I see you now doing good. It's like, how did you transition? It's like, like we now see where all that confidence and everything got built. When you came out, how did you take that and apply it to actually? When I got out, unfortunately enough, I accidentally did MMA and everything. I got a shout out Donald Sanchez. He's fighting for bare knuckle. Uh, uh, I think next month over here in Albuquerque in August, uh, that guy was king of the cage and I trained with him. I, you know, I've done stuff with him since he was 12. And so when I got out, I noticed he was king of the cage and I figured, Hey, you know, we had all done that as a kid. And I may as well jump in that. It wasn't a direction eventually for me. God, you, for a few years, I just spent cutting hair for free on the side because I love doing it so much, but I never saw an Avenue of getting money from it. What got me to understand that I, that I could actually, what got me back on gear was, I spent three years doing MMA, never making a paycheck, being an amateur fighter, never making any money. Uh, you could look up, I got a red little tiny record as well. Oh, and one king of the cage. I've had more fights than that, but that's on my shirt, odd record. Uh, and then, uh, and what got me really into it was I went to a barbershop in town. I'll keep that barbershop silent. I went to a barbershop in town. Uh, a buddy of mine owned that barbershop. He was going to a big UFC fight with another buddy. And he said, Hey, do you want to come and barber in my space? He knew that I was very sick at cutting hair. As a matter of fact, I taught him to cut hair before I went to prison. When I got out, he had had a shop. And so, you know, I said, yeah, I'd love to go cut hair there. I don't even, you know, and, and so I noticed that I made, this isn't a lot of money guys, but back then for my poor broke ass, who was in a homeless shelter, not homeless shelter, but halfway house and everything else, uh, it was $300 that day. And I said, Holy ****. I thought it was 3000 that day. And I said, ----, I got to get the barber license. And that's what got me to go get the license and, and, and, and, and get that license. Then I went in and just to show them. So they know it's real. It's like, Hey guys, so you know, everything is real here. This is a, I went in and got the barber license, uh, went in and got that master barber license. You guys can all look at it. I'm not ashamed to hide any numbers or anything. I got that barber license. Uh, once I got that barber license, I went to work for six months. I earned the money to open up this spot, which had nothing in it. Luis knows there wasn't even hardwood floors guys. We were dancing on carpet. He's been here since the ******* beginning. That's why I love this dude so much. He's been an inspiration in my life. Guys. I want to say before I even continue to say this dude, this dude is the best of the best when it comes to success coach. The, the other things I've even done with, with making things more successful has a lot to do with him. He doesn't know that he won't know that, but that's a lot of it is this guy's going to want to look. I also became an instructor. But Luis, I want you to give them your information, uh, your Instagram handle. We're going to be pumping his Instagram handling for more and everything, but tell them how to reach you. So right now I really only have Instagram. I'm not big on socials. You know, I'm a, I'm a read a book and go to the gym type of guy, but I'm on Instagram at at Luis underscore Baca with the number one. So Luis spelled with a one instead of an L underscore Baca is like, hell yeah. And like I said, you know, man, I love talking to you because people don't realize that success is all around them. And there's a quote that I heard that most people have never been around greatness to realize how ordinary it is, right? Most people are thinking, Oh, you know, that guy, you know, he's famous. He's rich. Is that no, the barber next to you is successful. The guy, the teacher that is a teacher, because that's what they want to do. That person is successful. Success is all around you. And it's always all around you. And then these clues guys, anybody that's been successful at anything, they took it personal. They elevated themselves to service, you know, and I'm talking about people that really make it and really render a difference to their craft. So people like Thomas that, you know, have built this shop from nothing, coming from a troubled background and taking that responsibility and being extremely real and raw. And you guys can see it in the way he talks and expresses himself that it's really nothing special. You've got the bright and the power to be yourself. You can serve and through your service, no matter how small and insignificant it seems at first, it could just be one haircut. It could just be one workout that you take a buddy with you to train them. It'll open every door for you. That's how I got into coaching. I literally started with one guy, Hey, come to the gym with me through training him. I, I elevated myself and then I was able to help more people don't realize how much when you help others and serve the work is really getting done inside of you. That's the beauty of it, man. And that's what I wish people would, would think of when they go out and serve. It's not what I'm getting from anything is literally becoming that person. And when you become that person, everything else, you know, once you walk with that integrity, with that confidence, and then you came out and then you got that 300 bucks, it's like, you get that. Wow. I made that happen from something that came from me that I'm good at, that is making a difference that makes somebody feel good. It's like, boom. And then the whole world is like, it opened up. And pay attention to the law of attraction. I'm like, if you think about it every day, guys, I'm I swear to God on everything. Like I thought about this watch that I wear here and I'm serious. Like I, this watch right here. I thought about it every single day. I watched this watch in GQ in prison. I looked at it. I manifested it. I brought it into reality. When I tell you guys, I did MMA. It's like, I really, really did MMA. I mean, this is, these are just to even show you, look guys, this is Alistair Overeem. This is God, who do we look even. So like whatever you can do to manifest is, you know, it becomes real. Iron sharpens iron, all that other ----. And that's the truth guys. You become what you think about no matter what you believe in. Everybody's agree from this, from philosophers to the Bible, to whatever you believe in, you become what you think. So the people you hang out with that are messing with your head, that are telling you, Hey bro, maybe don't do that. You become what you think about. So every time I want you guys, when you're forging those habits, when you're like, Hey, you know, when you talk about yourself, are you telling yourself, Oh, I'm fat. That's why I don't go to the gym. I'm a fat boy, man. That's the one I hear a lot. Or, or you hear, Oh, you know, I'm just this way, bro. I'm just a lazy person. Like, are you talking to yourself a certain way? Like the law of attraction, it works for material things, but it also works for you. Who do you want to be? Think about that every day and you will become that person. So then when you become that person that has those things, you get those things automatically. That's who you are, right? Yeah. Yeah. That's right. When you guys really put the focus on it mentally, your mental will eventually propel your physical and it'll, your, your mind will have you doing different things. The more thought, you know, process you put towards something, you know, and positive things. That's why I say it's like that, you know, Hey guys, this is our first little podcast. This is me and Luis. We're going to be doing this every Sunday. And, uh, and, and if you guys like it, we're going to be doing it more than that. And, uh, one thing we want to say too, is guys, uh, any, anything you put, like anything you guys want to hear me and him talk about, just put it in the comment section and then make sure to like, and subscribe to the video and everything, you know, help us out. It's free to like the video. So let's see how many of you guys liked the video, you know, 6,000 views, we should get, you know, 6,000 likes and, uh, and it costs you nothing, you know, don't hate help us out. It's just, you know, look where we've been, where we're going. We want you guys to come on the journey with us. This is why we're doing it, dude. This guy likes to help people. So I figure I'm starting to have a platform. This will be our platform. This is, we're going to help you guys better your lives through something realistic that you can see, you know, unfortunately he hasn't been to prison, which is a very good thing. And, uh, you know, but he can see it manifest through me. I love him by God, but Hey guys, that's it. And now we're going to wrap it up. And anything else you got to say? Honestly, man, I'm just grateful for the opportunity. Thank you for letting me be here. Grateful for you guys. You know, we're here to serve. So any questions, drop them in that chat and, you know, support the man. There's very few people out there that will legit go out of their way to serve. So if you ever even come in with a haircut, you know that he goes above and beyond and that's the goal guys to go above and beyond in everything we do. So yeah. And put it in the comment section, anything you want us to talk about. I don't care what it is. We'll talk about it. Give you the best angle on it. Whether it's housing, whether it's money, whether it's fitness, you know, we like fitness and success for sure. Those are the big things you guys will see a transformation coming along. He's going to help me get into shape. And, and I'm Thomas Baca, barber on all platforms, any platform you could think of, that's me. So yeah, just hook us up. Appreciate it.