Jamell,

From a young age, you were gifted and special and you didn’t even know it. At age 13, you wrote your first poem. While it was writing that rhymed, the one thing you didn’t know was that it was going to take you to places you never thought.

You spent your life loving sports, having a passion for it like no other. From basketball to football and baseball, watching and going to games from your younger years all the way until now. You went to college and majored in mass media communications which is television production and media. Your big goal was to be on television, the big names like ESPN, CBS or FOX.

You graduated college and went on to work for the National Basketball Association along with Major League Baseball Advanced Media. By the time you got into those companies, the landscape of the sports industry had significantly changed.

On September 11, 2001, you watched the twin towers fall from your college dorm room with your roommate in horror. At the age of 18, your freshman year of college, you had no idea the falling of those two buildings would change the corporate world until this very day as you’re typing this letter.

The next phase of your life would take you into sales at the NBA Store and then moving onto the Converse store while being a basketball referee for an adult sports league for over seven years. The goal was to make it somewhere in sports as the dream of making it in television was starting to fade.

The YouTube sports channel you had, you left alone after your laptop crashed and you knew it was time for a restart. Your love for sports was still there and if you can just get yourself into a sports company on the corporate side, that would personify that you made it. It would be the pinnacle of your success in life.
After leaving the sales space, you would venture into the corporate office of the adult sports league you referee basketball for and split time between their office and running up and down a basketball court four days a week. The money was good but you had no full-time status, no health benefits and you were basically a wrong injury from having huge medical bills.

When you weren’t hired full-time after giving your all to the company for seven years, it was time to figure out what was next in your life. Sometimes we never know what will happen in our lives but writing was what I was supposed to be doing all along.

GOD told me, “I let you have your fun in sports, it’s time to do what I need you to and write books.” The message was clear and I started my journey of writing books while stepping back into the medical field as a full-time job.

Social issues were always something you were immersed in, concerned about and as I watched the world crumble in front of me from racial issues to domestic violence and a myriad of other things, there was a need to write stories. Stories that would impact others and start conversations not just between family and friends but strangers too.

It was a road less traveled, writers and authors have a thankless job in telling stories, some make it big, some do well and some fade off into the sunset when things get tough. But the ideas were coming non-stop for content to write.

You would start your writing journey writing about men’s social issues, then shift into police brutality and corruption. Along the way, you’d read articles on writing book series and standalone books and then the light bulb would go off.

You first book, “The Struggles and Growth of a Man” would turn into a five book series, along with “Code Blue” and “The World We Live In,” before you would pivot to writing standalone books such as “America Under Mind Control,” “America, A Country Divided,” and many others.

As the years would progress, you would shift into the podcast space? Who would’ve thought that your voice can motivate and inspire others, you would have a voice to share your experiences as an author and sharing thoughts that are on your mind.

You’re three years in and over 300 podcasts published to the world. You’ve built two websites, one for your books and one for your podcast which is something that not many have done. Along with that, you’ve published 52 books in nearly 8 years and are almost at your goal and contract with GOD to publish 60 books.

Let’s not forget you stepped out of your comfort zone and moved across the country from New York to Phoenix, on your own, everything paid for and taken care of by you. You’ve accomplished so much in your life and it becomes surreal after a while.

You were one of the first in your generation in your family to go to college and graduate on time. You were one of few who moved across the country, published a book, have two websites running efficiently and have impacted and changed so many people’s lives.

You’re only 40 years old, you’re just beginning your journey and you have a long way to go. You’re not satisfied, but you’re fulfilled in what you’re doing. You work tirelessly to get your books noticed and while that takes a lot of time, patience, energy and effort, you have the D’s in place.

You have a dream, drive, determination, dedication and discipline, words that you instilled in yourself early on. Your mother always told you to work your butt off and the results will show for itself. She’s worked for one company for 34 years and counting, it’s a rarity in today’s world of people moving from one company to the next.

She’s your main supporter and guiding light in all of this. She’s the one you share all of your crazy ideas with and after a while, she can’t keep up with all that you’re doing. You have grace for her as the ideas continually keep coming and there was a moment where she looked at your 12 book series in “Alphabet City” and was astonished at what you’ve written.

Mom would sit in the kitchen island area on a stool and read the synopsis of the 12 book series and look at me thinking, “this is my kid writing this stuff?” A few years back, a coworker of hers who’s very spiritually in tune with people told my mom, “Jamell is going to do big things and impact a lot of people in the world.” That’s probably the moment it set in for my mom.

Jamell, your journey took you down a road less traveled and one you surely didn’t expect. Your love/hate relationship with writing poetry has turned into 52 prose books on social issues that when it reaches the hands it’s supposed to, it’s going to change the landscape of the world.

You always knew you were destined for something big in life. That you wouldn’t be confined to a desk job for 40+ years of your life. You would learn that you’re an empath, an old soul from a past lifetime that most wouldn’t know even existed.

When you can vibe out alone, conserve your energy and listen to different genres of music, you’re just cut from a different cloth. You’ve learned alot about yourself, made a few bad investments into your book promotion journey but you live and you learn.

All I can say is to keep going, keep pushing and striving for greatness. Don’t let anyone or anything stop you from achieving all that you want in life. Don’t lose your life and continue to have the 6 G’s, GOD, Goals, Growth, Grind, Greatness, and Gratitude.

Continue to have the passion, love and zest for life. Your time is coming, continue to love the journey when you started at age 32. Always remember, you’re one of the chosen ones to impact people and the world. Be good to yourself and the results will soon show…

Love,
Jamell Crouthers

In 2020, when the world came to a complete stop and everyone was home and couldn’t do much, there was a lot of reflection and goal setting for me. I was 37 years old and still living with my mother and knew it was time to leave the nest.

Living in New York was not ideal for me (where I’m from and grew up) and I wanted to move to the west coast. The game plan was to live in Los Angeles, I had been there a few times and loved the environment, atmosphere and potential opportunities for me with writing.

I soon learned that it would be too expensive to live there and my second option was Phoenix, Arizona. I had never been to the city, had no family there, no friends living there so I would be moving there alone. If I moved to California, I would have my uncle so that was my backbone.

The whole year I spent saving my money while working from home and eventually went to my big boss at my current job and spoke to him about leaving New York but staying with the company. Once I was given the go to move across the country, my journey started.

I would start apartment searching and come across a brand new apartment complex in Midtown Phoenix. I’ll always remember the manager giving me a virtual tour and I fell in love with it. After applying and getting approved, it was real. I was officially moving to Phoenix, Arizona.

Next, was finding a moving company that was affordable and booking that. It was even more real when the movers came two weeks before I left to take all of the furniture I would be taking to Phoenix with me. The excitement was there, I started writing down a long list of things I needed for my apartment. I would walk around my mom’s apartment and write down things I planned on buying from Amazon.

All of the years I spent watching and learning from my mother on moving, buying things, and saving money were all starting to pay off. My mother never knew I was taking mental notes on how to manage everything, packing, preparing ahead of time. That was one big lesson my mother always taught me, to prepare and be ready for anything and everything in life.

As the days got closer, things were getting real. As I slept on a blow up bed in my room, I’d start to get nervous and wonder, “am I going to be okay? I’m moving away from my family, my best friends of over 25 years, I’d be alone every day.”

Thanksgiving morning, I was a wreck, I broke down and cried in bed as my mother comforted me and told me that I’m going to be good. I’m going to be okay and this was always meant to be. GOD has my back, he will be there and this is what he has planned for me.

After calming down and my mom wiping my tears away and giving me a big hug, I felt so much better. The uncertainties faded, this is a journey of growth and becoming the man I’m supposed to be. We would cook Thanksgiving dinner and my aunt would make her famous string beans and we’d have a great dinner together.

The day before I moved into my apartment, I would leave the confines of New York, a place I spent 33 of my 37 years at the time (I spent four years in Connecticut for college), and I said my goodbyes to my mother and aunt. My mom admitted she cried after I left and they were tears of joy that I was going somewhere I wanted.

The airplane ride was great but in my mind I was thinking to myself, “you’re one brave but crazy guy.” I was going through the excitement of where I’d be living and as the airplane descended into SkyHarbor Phoenix Airport, I would take pictures from my airplane seat of where I’d be living.

The mountains were beautiful, the sun was shining bright, it was November 30, 2020 and it was 75 degrees in Phoenix, Arizona. That was a complete difference from New York where it can be anywhere from 30-50 degrees. As I sat on the airplane in sweatpants and a heavy zip up hoodie, I knew I’d be making some adjustments to what I’d be wearing living in Phoenix.

I would stay at an Airbnb and get to know who I was staying with a little bit as she has young kids. She gave me some advice and pointers on living in Phoenix that I surely applied and I’m thankful she shared a few things with me. She didn’t want to overload me as she wanted me to experience things for myself.

A few hurdles the next morning with getting to my new place along with other things, I’d finally get my keys to my apartment. Upon walking in, there was a cleaning lady doing some final touches in mopping the floors to my apartment. To the left of me were all of the boxes of stuff from Amazon (I wish I took a picture of it, my only regret).

I’d get settled into my apartment by unpacking the clothes I had and opening all of my boxes. My furniture and the rest of my things wouldn’t come until a few days later so I’d sleep on my floor with my comforter, sheet and pillows I ordered with my TV on the floor.

The next day, I would go get food for my house with a trip to Costco and carrying everything up two flights of stairs wasn’t necessarily the most fun. I was officially living on my own, after all of the years of trying to find a stable job where I can have my own place, the fulfillment was there, my hard work had paid off.

There are so many lessons I can say I’ve learned since moving to Phoenix, Arizona. Stepping out of your comfort zone is scary but it’s also fun and exciting in a lot of ways. I’d go on to meet my neighbors and become cool with them. They were in their early 20s so I was the uncle who taught them the ropes with living on your own.

I’d be paying rent that’s significantly higher than what I was paying. I’d be doing my own food shopping, paying every bill in the book (electricity, internet, etc) and remembering the dates I had to pay them. It was about organization and staying on top of everything. It was the daily cleaning of my apartment, buying whatever else I needed for my place.

There were a lot of lessons I learned about life where I’d meet people and help them become the best versions of themselves. It would be settling into a routine of work, gym, writing my books, publishing them, promoting myself, going to events, learning the Phoenix metro area.

I’d go on to buy a bike, and ride a trail on a daily basis. I’d find a church where they had an outdoor basketball court where I can get a workout in. I’d met the pastor of the church who is from New York and we became good friends which was great.

Being on my own was surreal, when my mom used to tell me, “there’s nothing like turning your own key to your place,” I finally understood what she meant. I was walking into my sanctuary, my place of peace, where I can learn, grow, think, and become a better version of myself.

I’d live in my apartment for two years before leaving there and moving into a new building again and being the first to live in the apartment I’m currently in. I’d go on to meet so many people in this new place I’m in and spend time with them with game nights, go to sports games, go out to eat and have fun.

Sometimes in life, stepping out of your comfort zone is necessary. With my writing and books, I’ve been able to meet people, go to book events and network with new people who have become part of my life and my circle.

It’s okay to be nervous and scared to step out of your comfort zone. Sometimes doing that can lead to the best moments of your life. They can lead to new opportunities, career changes and things you would never think of.

Don’t hinder yourself from living the life that you want. As I always tell people, be 80 years old with memories, not with regrets.

Jamell Crouthers