BrieSearch Subject : Jeff Timmons

In Addition to being attractive and talented and grammy-nominated my guest today has endless energy one of the most inspiring work ethics I've ever encountered and an incredible business Acumen on top of his experiences as a performer in the music industry a loving husband father and oh right the founding member of 98° I'm very much looking forward to catching up with the Kindest Heart of my friend Jeff timmons

Gosh that's the best intro I've ever gotten any time in any of interview ever 

Really 

oh my God amazing I totally appreciate it thank you so sweet 

Ill get it inscribed on something for you

Im glad I can capture the audio and save it that that's so nice of you. I hope that you think that way and look I certainly that's what I aspire to be a hard-working loving person and and you know trying always and never leaving a second to spare so I really appreciate the intro and thanks for having me

Of course

That's a very good way to characterize you I think always moving forward 

I think you have to I mean especially in these times with everything that's going on that's all you have is time on your hands so you have to get creative right before we started recording we were talking about having to explore other things during this time because you have so much so much down time and there's so many changes and it's somewhat unpredictability out there you have to come up with unique ways to get yourself out there be creative and I have seen the silver lining in this if there is one in that okay this is the time to get into a tutorial learning a new program find a way to create it okay we cant create shows in the traditional atmosphere create a way to do it from the home so you know it's definitely kept us on our toes and I think it's helped us grow a little bit

Absolutely agree and I think we all had kind of a learning curve where the first 2 weeks everybody was kind of scrambling and now everybody setting into whatever they've chosen to follow up with you know like I was doing all sorts of projects and then things but there's like courses and I love that I love the support of people learning new things free books and free language learning and you know really Branch out and use this time to the best of their abilities 

I agree I mean it is there only two ways to go right you can sit on the couch and keep your eyes plastered to all the negative news that's out there and they certainly aren't doing a good job of keeping it positive. Despite you know what's going on are you know you want to be appreciative of real science and real news but you also need something that uplifts you can either sit there and go ok this is this the end of the world as we know it 

Right

 and then or you can go ahead and say right well I'm I've always wanted to figure out how to use this program in the studio and I have never and that's where I love to be let's go ahead we've got all the time in the world and you know you have that conditioning your mind like oh no I got to be at this point at this time and I have to be here and I have to save my energy for the that's all out the window you got all the time in the world how to find a way to get yourself better during such a trying time

Exactly and that's that's exactly I think the struggle of so many people and I've had this conversation with so many of my creative friends it's like whatever you were doing before that Garnered you all of the attention or the busyness or career the accolades that you were getting you have to Pivot it to be able to do it in a different way and and you can either wallow and not being able to do it or you could change your focus and allow yourself to do things that you have been putting on the back burner like that that's exactly what this project is for me I have fascinating people in my life I'm constantly you know inspired and interested in in people and things going on around me. Not Only in the entertainment industry but in general I think it's important for people to be learning from the people around them all the time and I've been talking about this for 2 years and I was just like I've been working too much and I'm in my career I don't want to put my energy into I don't have what I need and this was exactly like you said I've got no more excuses I don't have to be looking for a job I don't need to be doing anything else like I can dedicate my time to starting something that I've been talking about for so long and I kicked it off and I am 6 episodes in so 

And i'm sure you are getting better at it right so not only have you gotten into it figured out what's the platform what's the best way to get the message out what technology what questions to ask who should I have on and now you've put that together you kind of sussed through that you've gone to the technical process so you You basically you know I mean it's okay that you can look at it as a time where we've all been allowed to go to school for whatever we want it to do. It gives you a chance to kind of you know take those chances on things that you might have not gotten a chance to explore that sort of Avenue and read about it or learned about it, well it's not for me or why I've discovered a new passion or new strength of mine or Express or do or apply back to my normal life with things to get back to the old routines we were used to in the past

Exactly  it's kind of like pioneering your own future right the biggest hurdle that people encounter is I don't know how to do this or I don't want to learn it so other people are doing it other people are better at it than me and at this particular Venture I was like I have to learn how to do all this stuff I don't know how to do then it takes me forever and immensely frustrating but then again I can turn around now and say I taught myself how to do all of this from beginning to end im doing it myself and there's a part of that that's really rewarding when you have something to show for it 

Well right sure and we're talking about the positivity of the whole thing and everybody gonna say oh they’re woowoo and Kumbaya and all that stuff but no you have to be positive even when you're in this mindset look we’ve had so much time i mean we are on day 70 something 80 something already and so you know you can go out of the gates and be depressed and then all the sudden I'm going to pick myself up I'm going to get myself in the best shape of my life and you're raring to go with that and then 2 weeks later you’re like okay im still in the house 

I'm over it I'll 

Yeah and then you going to eat some popcorn and watch Netflix for 3 days and all that stuff is normal I mean this hasn't happened before The last time it happened there was no Netflix it was a hundred years ago or whatever we have you know and people are like I'm so pissed I'm I'm out of things to watch on all the streaming services I mean could be a lot worse so there re ebbs and flows in the humanity of it and those emotions in those those everyone's feeling right now but ultimately you have to just decide this is how I'm going to be I'm going to be confident that this is going to make me better and I think a lot of people are coming around to that and you’re gonna see a lot of new things across the board in all aspects of everything I mean including everything from you know everybody’s been working from their home so what's the need for all these corporate offices now we can get things done with technology so Medical changes School schooling changes everything health changes I think people a lot of people are going all right well you know there could be a vaccine and there could be Therapeutics for this covid-19 but in the mean time I should probably just get myself healthier  find a better way to eat and all that stuff so not to be corny or upbeat uplifting or anything but I've seen it as a time to take advantage of being upbeat rather than being upset

 I agree  I think everyone kind of needed this pause the kind of figure out who they were without all of the stuff without all of the accoutrement that come along with how busy your life is 

 exactly  and that is a pretty scary thing to think about it and you can get into the comfort of that whether it's a grind or whether it's convenient or inconvenient  you just become used to it right and this has caused everyone to take a really long look this is going to give me a chance to decide what kind of person I'm going to be and if I ever one type of person I don't like it I'm either going to change it or am I going to stay with it or for the opposite us up be person in this is taking you out of your mix and it's taking you to a different dimension are you going to let that sink you or you going to make It fortify you and make you stronger so It's quite an interesting time I certainly  wish it didn't happen but at the same time I've taken a lot from it as a person and certainly learned a lot outside of all the other things I knew professionally to help me grow in other areas as well

I agree and I don't buy  into  I don't buy into the whole trope like if you're not doing 15 things then you're wasting your quarantine time like everybody's dealing with it how they have to deal with it there's place for everybody to kind of have their own space but I do think it's a really good reset for people to kind of reintroduce themselves to themselves and if they don't like the person that they have to spend this much time alone with maybe doing some steps to alter that

 Right it'll let you know if you don't like yourself then guess what 

exactly 

Guess what all those people that are saying they really like you and we all really have those are few and far between for all of us no matter what right but they we’re close people to as those that are really thinking about themselves all the time thinking about especially now if you're going well I can't stand myself the way I think the way of acting the way I behaved 

or if you get all your value from exterior sources it's all about what other people are doing or saying or showing you know then you're not drawing that from yourself 

that's why I find it really interesting you know I have a lot of friends in the industry and its really interesting it's really affected and I have friends across the board I come from a blue-collar town in Ohio and it's affected everybody obviously it's really you know egocentric celebrities that really yeah yeah this is taking them completely out of the routine and out of their  bubble when you just see some of these people just shriveling  not all course not all there a couple. Just like  wow you really can't take that this is reality it's  a really challenging time for everybody maybe it's the universe's way of telling us to press pause and regroup and go out there in a different way with a different tact

 totally absolutely agree and I hope it works I hope everybody is kind of going to come out on a different page when we come out of this I know I don't I don't want it to go back to the way it was I for one am like I needed this kind of reset I needed this refocus and I don't think anybody's completely ever satisfied with anything I mean unless you have the perfect life the perfect finances the perfect zen mentality which is really conflicted you know when you think about it but I think it is really kind of regrouping and look I don't think anybody want anything to go back to the way it was I I know a lot of people are saying oh I just want it to go back the way was  really was it was really amazing everything perfect in your life with everything the way you wanted it's to be or was this the time to really kind of take things in a different direction for everybody 

yeah I agree what are we drinking 

you know what I'm doing I'm a big Beer Drinker I love beer but I have been in the Studio quite a bit so I can't drink beer I would have gained a ton of weight during  this time and I have to I have to watch my girlish figure so lately I've been on to the corona hard Seltzer's

 oh are they good

 well they're good good enough yeah they taste good they're not like beer but you get what you need out of them you get to get the little Buzz you got a little kick of the the alcohol they're tasty but yeah it's no carbs you know I'm always on these diets 

yes I know 

 to stay skinny but anyway yeah so that's what I'm drinking what are you drinking 

so I have got a single shot of tequila because I don't remember what we used to shoot together and that probably means that's what it was 

what it was everything When we were stuck in Montana it was everything Joey Fatone had a Distillery there was a distillery in the town and then IT migrated into his hotel 

Yes so the flask that Joey gave us for like our wrap gift still had whiskey in it tonight  when  I just opened it and I was like oh my God that's got to be so old

 oh that was gone when he gave it to us that was gone it was over

 but he had everything in there he had gin he had  Whiskey vodka in there but yeah we were shooting tequila I think

 yeah that's probably why I don't remember what it  so I was going to have a shot of tequila for Jeff tonight cuz I'll bring back old times

 I love it go for it

 so my first question what I start out with everyone across the board is who are you

 who am I why wow that's a really well on the surface I am a guy that was in a group called 98° I'm a family man father of five kids two step kids three biological kids have a beautiful wife is totally amazing changed my life around and really I'm just a guy that wants to have success and that's not just a in a Financial way that's it across the board daily try to get better you better person certainly become more of a financial success create new businesses and being successful creative that inspires people so that's pretty much in a nutshell who I am 

I like it So you grew up in a small town in Ohio like you were saying playing sports what struggles and challenges have you encountered when you shifted your focus to music and performance I have a feeling this is going to resonate with me and with a lot of people I grew up in Alabama and I kind of have to go through the same transition so I'm wondering how that affected you 

well you know what it's like so so in the midwest or in the South it's a little bit different than the northeast of the West Coast in that you know where we from Blue Collar areas so you figure you know when you work hard at something the amount of effort that you put in automatically results in you know just sort of Accolade achievement financial success with the entertainment business it's a little bit different you go in with a certain amount of effort and then you encounter and it goes you have politics but in the entertainment business there are many more Peaks and Valleys High highs and low lows I think than in traditional jobs and I had some of those traditional jobs before I got into entertainment I've been around people that have other traditional jobs not that they don't have their peaks and valleys as well but in the entertainment business there are a lot more competition it's more fickle business it's more it's less of a business where people take chances on things that they feel is good and then they look at it analytically and they'd go with those types of things rather than creative things that should obviously be great but they don't go through those things and then once in awhile you have somebody that's a Visionary you have plenty of those in the tech business you have plenty of those in other businesses but in the entertainment business you don't have very many Visionary people's It's quite the opposite of what people think they are like oh man entertainment is just filled with these brilliant creatives no it's not really that way what happened eventually you have a brilliant creative come out with something and then someone on the executive side 

right 

Which traditionally those guys aren't really creative their business men one of those Guys will spot something great tackle it put it out there Market it it'll have tremendous success as it should like you would expect and then everybody copies that and then you have whatever cycle year 2 years of that type of thing until people get burned out and they'll be afraid the executives will be afraid to touch other creative stuff that might be great because they're just too afraid to lose their jobs is this business for me you know there for awhile there and no longer so strange when I was in my mid-to-late twenties I was too old at that time to be doing pop music

 right 

 now Technologies out there you can grow your own fan base you don't have to be out in that mainstream media is much when you can utilize your social media networks in your reach in your great fan base now you're not too old doesn't matter how old you are going to put on great stuff and you have a rabbit excitable fanbase it's fervent out there and support you it's so much different so you know just it's just a learning curve with this is always changing my as with anything in life but I feel like the entertainment business is a bit more challenging people expect more from you you can't you can't be a human being that makes mistakes or says the wrong thing or makes the wrong turn I mean look Especially during this pandemic a Twitter everyday to cancel this guy or cancel that guy and half the time at 

cancel culture 

Its not something the celebrity has done its something the fan has taken out of context and trends because people were bored and you look at the same time eyes are all on you you have to look good you have to say the right things all the right times and even when you're trying to do it you can stumble and make it a mistake because you know by the way you are a human being so it's a complicated business it's one that I feel probably the most challenging in my life for me that I could be it but I accept the challenge of trying to do what I like to do in the business cuz I'm such a passion for it 

right that's a great point and the point you made about the creative versus Corporate everybody assuming that somebody is This brilliant creative minds and that's what kids coming up that's what we aspire to be right we aspire to use our creativity we aspire to be these artists and I think what you just said about that's not how stuff gets made that's not how things become successful I think that's not talked about enough in the entertainment industry 

I feel like that's a big side is the business and the corporate on the marketing that's where the progress in Creative happen just because you're a brilliant artist you're talented or you if you do lots of things very rarely mean you're successful and very rarely does again unless you find that one person that sees the diamond in the rough it right this gets it right away it goes it's been plucked you out of obscurity And puts you right in the Forefront and goes here we go oh my gosh

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Who’s is the best at the movies Steven Spielberg If i can get in from of steven speilberg my life is going to be made, ok while he is a legend of the best of all time directors and all that, he can say something to you but Steven Spielberg has to go out get financing for his movie still you know he still hasn't been green lit he has to report to basically a banker or someone that controls checks that make his projects you don't know everything that he says immediately at the snap of a finger gets Green lit in people just don't understand that they're like no way, nope, he has to go through rounds of funding you know in one of his movies most recent movies it might have been 1917 I might be wrong but I was supposed to be the last round of financing to people that I knew in Dubai for his movie, at first I was like no way but then I thought about it and I was like of course - because it’s become more corporate it's become more about the numbers and less about the creative. These guys have to report to big huge corporations that have to look at the bottom line is he all right going to cost 300 million dollars to get this made and it's going to maybe make you know 117 million because its a niche

right what's my investment Worth 

1940

right what's the investment and I certainly wouldn't want anybody that is listening to this to be discouraged because I'm all about following your dreams but just learn, you have to learn that there is a business side to it, to look use that other side of your brain the side that you know you have that side that is creating this great music or making that great painting or writing the great script or looking great and putting on this great scene, as much time as you spend on that, well go learn the other side because then you're going to know what they're expecting who's going to who you're going to have to be answering to and how to attack it from a business standpoint

absolutely I think there's some kind of perception that it becomes easier when you get to some level right like well if I were there it would be so much easier I can just do whatever I wanted and what people don't understand is, it's all the same just on the next level it's bigger levels it's bigger checks it’s bigger money it's it's the same process

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And don't forget about the Pressure it's even more pressure, cause then once you make it, when you're not making it it's the pressure of aw I'm not going to make it and I'm going to have to go back to Ohio and all my friends and all their parents that said I was gonna be back in three months they're going to laugh at me and then I'm going to have to get a regular job that's one type of pressure okay let's say you go out and you make it and you have five top 10 singles and then you start selling out stadiums and arenas and traveling in the world and then music starts to change well all the sudden there is another type of pressure

Right right

Then there's the pressure that you are now a has been and you don't have it anymore and your time is now past and that's an end then you start to look at yourself and go well I'm good enough to do it and make it this far what happened to me how did I fail how did I make a mistake and then you start to pick yourself apart all those type a type of things that OCD type of stuff that you have about yourself in the beginning is now intensified because you had that taste of success and you have had people that have written you that checks and you traveled the world so there's that other intensity it’s like you said it's just on another level the intensity it's it's sort of an equal out some more success you have the more you want and the more pressure the more people expect and the intensity increases and again I wouldn't trade the experiences that I've had for anything they’'ve been amazing but it has been intense pressure throughout I mean certainly you know you gotta ratchet it up all right man I made it we had a bunch of songs we’re still touring what's next what are we going to come out with new music well people think we’re too old with those type of things cross your mind 24 hours a day when you're in a business like this 

speaking of pressure you’ve seen a lot over the course of your entertainment career and your fans of change and develop with you you were talking about having a loyal fanbase do you feel responsibility to live up to a generation of people's expectations or Notions or perceptions of you and how do you manage that 

I think at first I think at first when we first had success we felt like wow people are expecting X Y and Z from us now but I think as we’ve grown throughout the year our fans have grown up with us so they seen the Peaks and valleys of each of our careers and they are not dummies okay while they have you have this perception and idea about us as artists and individuals have the fandom about us they they seen us through two and a half decades now to where they know we're real people and some of us have got divorced and some of us have put out that records that haven't been great and some of us have gone and gotten in trouble we've come back and I think that I wouldn't underestimate our fans into thinking that we need to have a sort of persona that is squeaky clean and perfect and you know if dreamy to the them 

right 

because I think they're they're too sophisticated for that on the flip side of that the product in the entertainment in the performances that we put out I think I always have to get better because we owe it to them as they supported us and patronized us and allowed us to have for our families have lives that are amazing as a result of our dreams and our music and our creations I think we owe the best versions of our creative selves to them

that's awesome now I see you how majoring in Psychology affected your business acumen haha just makes a lot of sense

Ha ha! well a lot of the time I was majoring in Psychology I was also majoring in partying so I don't remember a lot of those classes or lessons but I it the corny saying the University of life the experience you don't have to be a brilliant person if you go through all the spectrum of experiences and But I've been fortunate enough and at points I'm feeling unfortunate to go through this experience but you know you look back and the older you get you sort of take on the good and the bad in a different way and you go okay its a lesson Im gonna power through and it's going to make me better, I was talking to my wife about it last night cause it's on the personal side things become tough as well and that's on the family front and Friends front and all that stuff so don't I'm reading a bunch of great books that talk about embracing the challenge forget some of these Common Sense things that these great authors put into their so eloquently that you power through it and you get better and stronger and I think that those lessons have made me become a little more at least in tune with what's going on I wouldn’t say wise or I wouldn’t say super smart or how to how to tackle it mentally because I'm all over the place up and down emotionally but I know how to handle it a little bit better. 

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Yeah that's true tell me about when you started performing and the moment that you knew that your presence as a performer was valuable and describe how that felt 

it's an interesting question. Well look I start my parents put me into like school plays and and things like that and at a really young age but where I'm from is very football centric so while they supported the Arts if you're not a football player you know if it goes from your first class to like you 18th class 

Yeah same

Right you are Alabama you know

It's All or Nothing with regards to football and they're like cute, he's a good performer, but So I was in 5th grade and I tried out for this play and got it and you know it came so easy to me and I just learned all the lines and got the part easily and then every time I would do Community Theater or something like that I would secretly go away after football season and do a play or a musical or to speach all that stuff was always too easy it was too easy I was like man this is too cocky but I was like it's too easy is coming to easy this must not be worth anything so I didn't value it at all like I thought it was a joke other people would be working at it and trying really hard and they would get pissed at me because I'd go screw off and do other things play other sports and walk in and be lucky enough to get parts and you know and really Excel there so I knew I had the Knack to perform very early on I embraced its 0% 

wow interesting 

it was weird it cuz it was you're so good to get up there before me and get the Applause and really just trying to get crafty with you know performing and testing myself 

there must be something wrong with it 

I thought it was too easy you know it must not be of importance have the class High School football player that just actually pass the class they're throwing a ticker-tape parade for and I was like oh this must not mean anything but really

right right right

 really but I just I like totally pushed it out of my life and really focused on football and then it just kept coming back around when I was in college it it just we started singing first some girls at a party And it sounded great and everyone knows that story but it was like I can't push this away anymore I should probably look into this and try to do it and still you know I still have this sort of subconscious thing that it's not really really that great to be doing it so I think we might be a little more freedom with it I'm a little less rigid with it because I always have this thing in the back of my mind that there's always this is not a real job it's a weird kind of psychology behind it now I have to make sure it's great because it's what I do for a living and I want to get better at it but I really never took it that seriously it still was my career 

that's so interesting so last week I had a friend of mine who is the lead guitarist for the zombies and whenever this comes out if you listen to last last week's episode he tells the story about how he thinks that every musician every artist every creative has this thing in the back of their mind that they're just like I'm just I'm just waiting for somebody to uncover that I'm crap at everything I do and he was like I feel like everybody struggles with some level of imposter syndrome in this business 

Well I mean look at the look at the history of art right the history of art is the greatest artists right from Amadeus on their supposed to get robbed it's not a real job right they have people lurking in the shadows to take their money right tell them they're not that great and shove them our on stage to collect the checks for everyone else so the psychology has been sort of the blueprints been put out there long before either of us and what that what that does whether you're conscious of it or not you know our parents come on how many times I'm sure his parents went in there a million times like when you going to get off the guitar and go do your homework 

Right get a real job

right your conditioned to think that is not a real job that it's it's not viable it doesn't have any meaning but see look you know what's been interesting about everything and let not to compare musicians to essential frontline workers or Hospital workers people are working and delivery services or grocery stores those are heroes but I think entertainment has been essential during this time. It is an essential element to the human condition the entertainment value to keep people intrigued to keep their brains excited again not comparing it to those people out there that are doing their jobs but you're taught that this is not a real service to people but none the less people are coming out and buying tickets to see do something that makes them feel good and not only that puts them in a peer group of other people thats what I find often that people forget they’re like wow here’s what we’re going to do you’re going to get to your fanbase and here’s how you’re going to attack your fan base and here's how 

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The marketing idea and it's about you and you um like but part of it is the camaraderie that our fanbase has with each other 

so true 

It's almost a bigger component that when were on stage sometimes we are on stage On stage sometimes we see the fans like having more fun with each other than enjoying our show but really that's what the job in service that’s what we were supposed to do for those fans and it's a lot of Executives don't understand that but you know you create these peer groups that are solidified for a lifetime because they've experienced something that they enjoy together 

so true so true and especially in that era because still to this day I mean first of all I was that era second of all getting to know and to work with all of you guys witnessing the fan base that has grown over the years of your career that is still so strong that they they know each other they still interact with each other they meet up they like it's affected their whole there in each other's weddings it's a bigger thing than being a fan of something singularly by yourself that creates an entire Community around the common interest 

right and look I sit there and troll Facebook and I know everybody is like oh I don't look at my social media man I'm too cool I take the good with the bad no look I don't care what anybody says they will at least glance at comments people say of their pictures or what they have to say about their new song or what they’re you'd be a machine if you didn't do it but

Right

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 I'll look Late at night when I'm not sleeping I'm never unfortunately I don't get too much sleep so I'm used to scrolling through something or watching something or learning something but I'll sit there and see what the fans are saying and it's a lot of times it's i can't wait til concerts are coming back so I can get with my girls I can't wait to get with the 98° message board girls you know this click of you know hundred girls have bonded for life that go on family vacations together like you said are in each other's weddings and you know sadly some funerals so that you know it's like that's a phenomenon that you know we didn't you know as young guys we never knew that that would be a repercussion of us getting up on stage we were always thinking its about us it's about our music I think of that deeper more sentimental aspects of what we were going were going to get out there

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that's very true so let's talk about 98 I want to know why 98° is not a boy band 

well look I mean it depends on how you want to approach it we now don't don't mind being called a boy band because boy band now means all these Backstreet Boys NSYNC you know One Direction. All these huge worldwide phenomena when we started though were were a vocal group So we were inspired by vocal groups, boys II men which is also at times considered a boy band now, but they were a vocal group they were a 4 part vocal chamber they were all singers so we modeled ourselves after boys II men as well as old school groups like the 4 tops the temptations and then some harmony based rock groups as well like Boston and Journey and the eagles so we were vocals vocals vocals and we came out and we were on Motown and that was an urban label and they try to make us really urban at first this really early to figure out if you have we went there was no term boy band out there was no nothing else like that I mean Backstreet Boys started emerging the same time we did nobody was calling them a boy band and then we went to Europe and then here you go here is some boy bands is right four or Five Guys everybody's got a different look they all dance half of em lip sync there is one lead singer you know they all have the same canned answers they all have nicknames and they were calling us a new boyband and we were like hell no no no no no we are not like these guys we did not embrace it we didn't like it then you look when they lumped us in which group has sold hundreds of millions of records and it means we travel the world and you know we have this huge - here were are talking to all the pop magazines trying to conjure up nicknames for each other like what are our nicknames

Yeah like the cute one The Sassy one with dancer one

My wife is redecorating the house and she's she's digging out these old magazines that we’re in and she’s leafing through them like sugar? Your name is sugar? And I'm like stop they told us that they told us to come up with nicknames for eachother. And shes like Why sugar and I was like well I had cut out sugar at the time so the guys were calling me sugar

 of course

I mean we had a bunch of nicknames but never did we call the four of us call each other any of those at anytime I mean we had some pretty colorful nicknames but we didn't put those in the pop magazines

Not those

 No

so that was that was without a doubt like the Heyday of MTV and like aughts band fashion what do you look back on like those pop magazines and what makes you cringe and what would you like Still Rock now 

well I mean some of it is coming back

 I know

 like some of the big plaid shirts and things are coming back but look cringe-worthy we had so many cringe-worthy outfits we had silver polyester silver suits and I mean the stuff that was really bad was like overly really hip-hop at the time was super baggy so we have these really baggy clothes Maurice Malone Fat Farm who Fubu we literally look like we are drowning in these clothes they were oversized but they were a million looks we have these red jumpsuits that looks like we just got done fixing a car

 oh I remember that

 funny enough my wife Amanda was like you know those Red Jumpsuit we were making fun of girls are starting to wear those they're Tighter and they look cool but they're wearing them that stuff that fashion gets recycled cuz there's only so much you can do with clothing but I look all of it and I'm like wow it's so cringe-worthy but I would say the oversized bagginess they look like giant trash bags are wearing they were crazy 

to that point if people were trying to start a boyband now what advice would you give them and how would it differ from your experience what do you wish someone had told you coming up if you are doing it now

 well look we didn't have too many mentors unfortunately we got to perform and be around

 you guys put yourself together right so you weren't being controlled by different entity

We did and we didn't have sort of all the Motown was  amazing in signing us Andre Harrell who just passed God Rest his soul he gave us our first shot we owe a lot to Andre he was a Visionary he signed us to Motown which a lot of people don't know he gave us our shot when nobody else wanted to so we owe a lot to him but he didn't know what to do with us he tried a lot of different things so we had to kind of figure out the whole series of how to do things how to perform how to act in interviews and how to work on our own but really looking back now I think the element now and then are the same it's three things you have to have self belief that occurs in any generation you cannot let people make you waiver no matter what here today or then you have to have faith you have to have self-belief you have to have the hardest work ethic you possibly can have and even when you feel like you can't do anymore you've got to work harder that's a little bit different than what you were saying earlier I'm not a person that feels like you just need to populate yourself with busy work if you have a focus you need to focus 100% on that if you're a young person that doesn't have too many responsibilities outside of yourself Focus 100% on your craft and now today talking about today and yesteryear I think fit today is a crowded space social media wise it's really hard to get attention that way you have to get very lucky or have a ton of finances that can help you get those listens and Spins and Views and likes because it's really hard to cut through that I think that I Created a pop boy band now that was intended to be a tribute group that was having a little bit of success before the lockdown and we were going to transition them into a real group and I was going to put them on a Grassroots tour so I can get them out there and do a mall tour or with those guys some of the things I knew that helped us to be successful would cut through some of the things that other people were doing in 12 or 15 Mall tours getting them to opening up for people in fairs and festivals but I say do your best creatively stay true to yourself have that worth ethic have that self-belief don't let anybody tell you you can't do it and work harder than anybody else and it seems like simple things but those things are hard to put together you have people tearing you apart you'll have people enter tension with the band you'll get tired and not want to work and then you'll sort of lose that self-belief so if you keep those things together you're bound for success 

well you do all of those things so well and you've got your hands in so many projects how do you pivot your creative fulfillment that you got from performance and the band into different projects 

for me it's easy because well one if you're talkin about music I like to write for other people or just like to see other people become successful so those really high highs that I had in the group and still have I mean we're still having a great time the best time ever actually that we've ever had which is odd so many years later but I thrive on watching people enjoy those moments when I can help them do it if I can help them enjoy those moments and have them realize those dreams and those efforts that they're putting forward and then seeing them realize something and I'm a part of that that gives me an extraordinary High I love it so seeing other people be successful is one thing for me and then just trying new things and learning all the time learning new things and applying them to watch the results become successful I love that so for me whether it's now creating a workout show out of your home with celebrities that were pitching to an online service that's really interested in doing it that's one thing I'm trying to put that together and see people's enthusiasm and see people's and integrate that with Brands to sitting in the studio learning a new program I mean all of that stuff to reading something new to learning something new to discovering something new that helps me discover something about myself and just get better and enjoy the process you know taken life and enjoy the process so those things are it's not hard for me to be creatively fulfilled with stuff 

yeah you are amazing you're constantly moving you're constantly absorbing you've got 12 irons in the fire and you are always invested and excited and empowering every project it's not like oh well we'll see what happens if I don't know I don't care whatever you are fully dedicated to all of these things that you genuinely find so interesting and fascinating and want to help and learn and do across-the-board just like a million projects

while I appreciate all of the kind words and nice things you're saying about me brie but I don't find I don't feel like there's another way I can't there's not another gear to be honest with me so it's not like I'll get this energy out there so I'm going to plug somebody up and be a part of their stuff it's if I find something That in passions me than I go 100% And I don't think there's another way to be alright well and you say yeah I'm a part of this new multi-level workout program and I'm going to put my name on it and collect a small check and then it Fizzles out and then you put your name and reputation on something that didn't do well and I think you find something that give you that spark that excitement that comes within and from without and it fills your body with excitement and you feel like you have to go out there and are compelled to do your best at it and for me fortunately I have a lot of creative people around me that give me the Sparks on his ideas and we bounced them off is sort of called one of those old-school NuWave self-help success books they talk about these Brain Trust when you can find two or three people that you can bounce ideas off of and you guys get into a room and you get coming up with these ideas and you thrive off each other because you can lean into each other and not be afraid of throwing ideas around and being wrong and that's another part of it you can't be afraid to fail you can't be afraid to be wrong it's about what you do after what you taking those lessons and you apply them to the next project and what you learned so I'm always trying to keep out there do new stuff make it cool and a lot of them fail once in a while some of them explode so those are well worth the hundred and fifty failures the one or two that come out on are all over the place everywhere and selling tickets are making people happy and making the artist happy over the participants happy or the creators happy or the people that are on the executive side happy those are the very fulfilling 

what failure do you most value

4421

Oh I mean I've had so many of them I mean I failed when I put my first solo record out look music had changed and not a label would sign me they wouldn't even listen to my music let alone sign me I mean I couldn't get an executive to answer my phone calls or at that time it was like send a CD and I would call all the executives from all the labels and they would always take my call and say nah jeff music is different we're not even going to give it a shot all that was very discouraging after being in a group that sold 10 million + records Toured the World sold out Arenas so now all the sudden I can't even get someone to take a listen to the music it felt so futile it felt literally like I was banging my head against the wall but I was like look screw it I'm going to go into my studio anyway and get better at just producing music learning how to do music I don't care if anybody listens to it I'm going to listen to it so it was tough it was a tough stretch and it was a long stretch and that long stretch lasted a number of years before anybody would give me the opportunity to pitch anything so it's frustrating and I thought that a couple of times I actually was going to quit but I wouldn't let myself do it so at the end of the day I started producing I got somebody to listen to the music producing music for placements and TV and things like that and that was giving me confidence okay alright well look we are at least getting in the door there started doing some stuff for artist ghostwriting and just getting back into the mix and now look the group is coming back around and developing artists and had some success with some other projects so you know It was a tough little stretch there in the early to mid-2000s for me probably a really soul-searching time but I didn't quit so that was a long failure so that just inspires me to go look what you view as a failure could be 10 years or 20 some of these screenwriters pitch around a TV show for 10 or 15 years and all the sudden it's the biggest show on television and you're like how did they miss that for so long well they missed it a bunch of people got it wrong and then one person ended up getting it right so it inspires you to go look you're not crazy stick with it or maybe you are stick with it and then you know eventually you're going to see your due

 let's pivot a bit you've mentioned Amanda a couple times and I think you are a shining example of behind every strong man is a stronger woman and you're so open about how supportive you both are each other and how she kind of masterminds so much of your lives tell me about meeting Amanda and how you knew that was it 

well I didn't know that was it and listen I was on the other side where I had the opposite no support and I know what that felt like so I had a good gauge to measure 

you had a barometer

4725

Yeah exactly I had a nice case study before her but you know look I was not I went through a brutal divorce and was not intending by any stretch to ever not only get married again but not even I was not interested in having a girlfriend not interested I of course love women and was seeing them but had zero intention of any type of serious settle down it was not in my it was like that it's not happening and I didn't sit at home and go I can't wait to

 no been there done that got the divorce papers

 yeah I was like nope I'm not doing it I'm not doing it I'm perfectly good with just being a dad and going back to my career but I met her and I can't really explain what it was about her that I liked but I could tell that she was different and when you get into a position of being a person of any type of notoriety whether it's a CEO of a company or a star basketball player let alone like a pop boy band guy you get you meet you come across so many different people that you start to become disenfranchised with how genuine people are and what it does is make you very in tune with people's cues and what they say and how they behave and you start to become very aware of what people's intentions are even if they are not aware of it themselves

 woah that is a very good point and I want to know more about that because I feel like that is something that you have a very singular experience in that you had all of these experiences throughout your career that hone that ability that very specific ability to know what people want how they want it how genuine people are like you have a radar now

 it's like a radar

It's just you become a little more your intuition gets much better your awareness gets much better and it's based upon routine and experience so when you go to 60 cities in a row for 5 years in a row and you're in the same type of atmosphere over and over again you're like okay here comes the radio guy and here comes the girl that's going to tag along with and here comes the supermodel and here comes the girl that's The Quiet One and here's the bartender's girlfriend who's going to and then you're like I mean it's a script that keeps repeating itself over and over again while they are experiencing it For the First Time new every day so they're thinking it's the first time you've seen this and you're like this is the 300th time in The Last 5 Years that I've seen this so you start to become a little bit numb so when somebody like Amanda comes on she came along and was just acting different everything about her was different her demeanor was different she was not interested in talking to me and of course you have all of the experiences where you have the fake person who fakes like I don't want to talk to you and then they ask you for the picture or the autograph or to leave with you later she wasn't like that at all and I really liked that about her and it caught me way off guard so I was like wow this is kind of different and so I got her information we exchanged information and then I didn't exchange my phone number or anything I just started talking to her on Twitter a little bit that was the safe way to, 

Ha exactly 

I was like all right no phone numbers no emails Twitter 

Right I'm not giving you my address that's it I'll talk to you on Twitter 

that's it but she really caught me off guard I know we just started talking and I had seen her a couple times she came to see me but I'm not really taking it too seriously and she wasn't either and then it dawned on me I was like what is it about me that I'm too good to settle down again I looked at it a different way Not to be protective like what am I so cool that I don't need to give somebody a piece of me and be so guarded and why should I let my previous experience put this armor around me that I can't share with somebody else that's going to actually rob somebody else of having you know interesting life or someone else that cares about them so it really just dawned on me one day and I started going all right man time to let your guard down time to let someone get to know you and for you to get to know somebody 

what a fantastic interesting way of looking at it I think that's something that it sounds like you had to go through so much to get to a level of maturity to reach that perspective 

and that's exactly right because if it were all roses I don't think that ultimately if I went through so much time if I would have went through the good stuff longer instead of going through bad stuff if something bad would have occurred I would have had a meltdown and not known how to handle it but again it's about looking at all those experiences and finding value so that bad stretch that I had maybe with a person that wasn't right for me the first time that barometer that you said there's no way if I hadn't gone through that I would have ever really looked at her in that way there's no way I would have just kept going and it would have been another day and so that stuff those eye-opening treacherous experiences while debilitating and crippling emotionally and spiritually at times they can Crush you and you can quit or you can go all right let's see if we can get out of this one now let's see if we can pick ourselves up now

 that is so true and so smart it's - I've had similar experiences and I'm like that is such a valuable lesson for people to understand that something you view as detrimental or sad or Damaging or trauma can turn out to be the lesson you needed to get to be able to level up to the next thing 

5320

and it's no question and you said the proper word to maturity maturity emotionally mature I didn't step on anybody I didn't run over anybody but I also didn't really take a whole lot seriously either as seriously as I should have you know when you're hit over the head with something called life and it takes you really back down to earth and you go wow this is something I've got to go through and my life is so amazing what's going on why did I go through this you kind of a/ b it with people who had worse situations you go all right what if I got to come back out of it and I would not have been emotionally prepared and I say it all the time to her and she probably thinks I'm still not emotionally prepared for anything but look I would not have looked at her in that way I just know it had I not gone through a really bad experience before that I wouldn't have really taken it as seriously as I did and I'm glad I did because it's changed my whole life and so you alluded to that old saying behind every good man is a good woman and you really do need that support system whether it's your partner or whatever you need to have somebody not nobody I don't know anybody who can do it by themselves 

and you have five kids now and 

that's right 

which blows my mind how do you cancel your kids on careers and education and what do you wish you'd known starting out 

well they're all different 

do you try to interfere in their interests

 well look that's another lesson you learn as you go long so I had two kids from a previous marriage and I struggled to get them In my life so that occupied a large part of my life for about 10 years and ultimately I got them both but then what you do in that situation is you overcompensate and I didn't want to give any lessons and I didn't want to make any rules and I may have knocked on the right thing with those two because I didn't really have as much structure with them I was just happy to be with them so I was always trying to make them happy and ultimately that not might not be the right thing either I didn't push them anything if they didn't want to play sports they didn't have to say one of the play sports they could so as opposed to saying why don't you try this and let's do that and then with my stepkids they are like my own kids I love them the same and there it's a different thing when you have step kids and you don't know how much to infringe upon with their dad what their dad is trying to tell them and you don't want to interfere overstep nonetheless it's a learning lesson across the board so those two from my first marriage are different and I'm the stepkids the boys are different and then a man and I have a child together Ariana and she's been with me every day all the time so I feel like all my rules she listens to all of them and I'm like this is it you're going to do this and although I'm still not a complete enforcer cuz she's a girl so she gets away with a lot it's a little bit different but look how long it's taken me to learn how I want how I want to be as a parent you learn what worked and what didn't and you know it's been over 22 years so that's the hardest job out of all of them that I've learned is being a parent 

oh and you've had the distillation of all the different kind of like you were saying the different kind of combinations you had to learn all of these slightly different ways of doing things and now you have this one where it's like all right you get all of the all of the lessons I've learned from all of these other incarnations 

that's right and you know what's different is she can take it on so I thought before oh man I don't want to make waves with them and I don't want them to feel upset about this or let me buy them this or always tell all of them I love them but you learn as you go along and I'm learning now and still I feel like okay what else can I do and you're never going to be perfect at that one being a parent rocks my brain more than anything it's really difficult because it's hard to make every my thing is I was going to make everyone happy but that's not a job as a parent your job is to make prepared instilled empowered and ambitious enough to go out and live their dream and treat people with respect so it's been quite a lesson for me to it's almost like they've parented me in a way they've taught me quite a few things I think that's true and I think I don't have kids but I imagine one of the hardest things about being a parent is you do all of this work and all this preparation and all of this teaching and learning and strife in order for your kids to not need you then you know like I want to teach you and make you ready and make you able and empowered and smart enough to make these decisions so that you can go out and do it by yourself and that's got to be such a hard line

yeah it is because you feel the oldest ones are gone so that's a vacancy right it's almost like they're gone and then you mourn something because they are not around anymore and you can't see them or talk to them or be with them or guide them when you know what you got to their age 21 and 18 they don't even want to hear you that they tuned you out they think you're an idiot they're tired of your stories and your parables and your rah rah speeches and your inspirational Tony Robbins real moments and this is what I did and they don't want to hear that s*** they just want to go out and do their own thing so that part is tough but also understandable cuz you reflect and go look I wanted to do my own thing so some point you have to go all right you have to have faith in the gods that hopefully they'll be protected with whatever decision they make and that'll be their thing and the two other boys are powerful in their own respects and different guys the two boys in the middle of my stepkids ones an athlete and one's really syrebral and super smart kid who's different and sensitive

5923 So they're completely different you know they rely on me for advice and they come to me for this and then of course the little one so Ariana she's like I'm right there all the time like what’s going on I'm like okay you’re not doing that okay you’re doing that and fortunately again I keep bringing my wife up and hopefully people aren't getting nauseated by my affinity for her but she can she knows how to handle all of it I can usually ust do one thing at a time she can multi task.

Yeah we like to multi task. 

yeah

So knowing you the way I do I feel like I know partially the answer to this question what is something that you compete with yourself about 

10000

Ugh Everything

Exactly

Everything. That's the worst. It’s tough. I would change it and then I wouldn't change it is the competition I have with myself and so I know a lot of people that have success they find somebody that they want to aspire to be like if it's in the same peer group as them and they compete against them me I don't do that ever never have any way not in sports not in theatrics and not in my music career and with me it's like okay I look at myself and I see a lot of faults a lot of failure and a lot of room for improvement at all times there’s not a time when I get excited at accolades and achievements but that lasts like about 30 seconds and I'm onto the next thing and people go aw man that’s a sad way to be you're never going to be happy but No I was happy for that 30 seconds when I achieved that award but now we gotta get on to the next 30 seconds well musically I always want to get better vocally always want to get better I always want to get better around people it's really important for me to get better around people and Inspire them but lead by example and then you know look as far as physicality I'm always trying to make sure I look better I’m really into that I want to make sure I look better that I'm healthy just mentally have to come out with something that I learned every day. I mean People go wow really that's a lot to do 

That is a lot to do

but that's the just way I’m wired there are times when it's exhausting but there are more times when it's rewarding so that's the way I am and people go aww man no way you take breaks. Never. there's never a break there's never a time for rest

he doesn't you guys. He doesn't. 

Its obsessive to the nth degree only when it comes to me so when we were talking about my kids never did I push that mentality on them at all and sometimes overcompensated with a couple of them with not doing any of it so you know with me it's like I wouldn't wish sometimes I go man I wouldn’t wish this obsessiveness on anyone. But it drives you to become a better person in as long as you're doing it in a way that you see it's productive and you see growth I feel like it's healthy and a lot of people tell me it's not healthy and I’ve been to plenty of shrinks that say oh that's not healthy and then you know they come to the Show and want an autograph. 

Hahaa right

So its like oh hi Doctor, it’s mister unhealthy, right? Here I brought my wife and my colleagues from the office and I’m like here you go oh See you on Monday! you know it's just the way I am I'm sure at times if anybody my wife would want me to chill out a little bit and take breaks but I try to make as I get older I try to make myself go to bed sometime. Not at an hour. Just go to bed. 

At all ever. 

Yeah just go to bed and then watch some shows are some quality time with them and go places and all that stuff so you got to have some of that balance but yeah so with me I see room for improvement daily and if I slack off for a little while I obsess it like literally have to turn on something to watch because I go man you didn't do this today and you didn’t go get better at that and you didn't learn something there and then you know what I'll do is stay up late and I’ll sneak on my phone and I’ll read something and that will satisfy me until I eventually pass out but I think it'll look at find it there's a lot of room for improvement 

Oh my God. It's it's unbelievable to that to that point describe me paradise 

Om man there's a lot of different versions of that so Paradise can be something as simple as just waking up before everybody else or you know going to bed later than everybody else and seeing everybody safe and healthy in your house resting peacefully in nice place right you look around and it doesn't have to be a palace or Mansion but you look around and go look this is a nice place my kids and my wife

They are safe they are healthy

Yeah they are rested and they are waking up with smiles and not with a lot of anxiety or angst and then knowing they're in a safe place and they’ve got people to take care of them and people who love them to me that’s paradise and then you know you of course have got the cliche ones which are all these beautiful places around the world Australia and Singapore and beautiful beaches in exotic places in cultures that can be Paradise or Paradise for me was you know hearing the song on the radio for the first time after we work so hard 

Oh yea

Or being able to express yourself in any way that makes at least one person happy and that that can be with some interaction that nobody has to see you know that nobody else has to see you have an interaction with a stranger give somebody a smile or nod or you can't shake anybody's hand anymore but maybe just shaking somebody's hand or give him a hug or something and and you can see you made somebody's day because you actually paid attention to them and were nice to them it was it sounds corny but those kind of things like stoke the fire for you and so you know Paradise for me is all of those things 

I love that that's so true and it's not like you have to find that on a desert island it's not like you have to go somewhere or have a lot of money to have any of those experiences you can bring joy you can Revel in your family's you know health and happiness like all that is free

 and you can even stay in your mind right it's really hard right because we're filled with this wiring and these these chemicals and these emotions you can stay in your mind you don't even have to go anywhere you can stay in your mind and get out of your funk by taking a bunch of deep breaths and thinking of some of the best things that have happened to you and that can change your physiology and your mind frame and your attitude in a matter of minutes sometimes it's just sometimes so hard to do that because we want we want to own the energy we want to be pissed off or upset ultimately you can’t control any of that stuff and you can go inside your mind and go oh man remember that Christmas remember grandma did this 

or any of that stuff if you don't have to even leave your house sometimes and you can get that Bliss 

That is so true I love it I'm going to do all of these things okay I'm loving talking to you what something you're looking forward to what can we look forward to seeing from you what are you looking forward to after we get out of our houses what's what's happening 

I want to see what next I mean look with 98° we were really planning to tour in a prolific manner we had many many dates on on the books and that was sort of a you know when that group comes calling we drop everything and we go do that because that's like something none of us can do on our own right so we expected that and now that's gone for now so I'm excited to see what's next I mean I think creating from the home finding a way to do things from home these these entertainment shows or these contests or you know there's some new technologies that are emerging that I've been having webinars and virtual meetings about this week that are pretty exciting in the on the horizon and it's some of its as a result of this this pandemic was a catalyst for emerging technology 

For sure there's technology that that people need now that we didn't think we needed until this happened 

yeah I think those things are exciting and to be a part of some of those things are very exciting and then as far as I go just I love to perform and that's great and all that stuff and it's it's my wife's you know you're trying to say you're behind the scenes but you glow when you're onstage and she is right I love I love it I not saying that I’m always be behind the scenes all that stuff but I don't expect to be performing on stage forever so you know trying to develop things behind the scenes it's interesting to see what they will do with our kids in school you know my oldest son he graduates this year and he didn’t get to walk you know I was disappointed that I don't know it doesn’t mean as much to some of the kids today as it did to us but you know I wanted to see that but happy he is graduating proud of him but to me I just just to see how people emerge from this and hopefully for me people emerge better you know I’m always an idealist that I think that this is going to make people better everybody's going to be stronger I think that I know you saw if you seen some bad parts of people during this but I think that positivity in the way people emerge and how they are approaching creative and how they approach to each other is inspiring to me and exciting to me 

dude thank you so much for coming thanks for chatting I hope that when we get out of this we all like live in Jeffrey Timmons world 

Haha well

It sounds great.

Well look it’s definitely not perfect but I don’t have any complaints and I appreciate you having me on and I love you to death and I'm so proud and happy that you're doing this and I can't wait to see you in person to give you a hug and and hopefully hopefully that'll be sooner than later I really appreciate all the nice things you said too thank you

oh of course 

all right thanks for having me on the time went by fast 

I know right 

yeah 

thanks so much Jeffrey

Thanks Brie!