Success After Prison with Michael Santos
30 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 8 years ago - ★★★★★ - 9 ratingsSuccess After Prison highlights experiences and lessons Michael Santos learned while conquering 26 years of imprisonment. He shares strategies that he learned from leaders like Socrates, Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, Viktor Frankl, and Martin Luther King. Those leaders taught concepts to overcome struggle and adversity. Michael shows how living in accordance with those strategies opened opportunities for him in prison and prepared him for success upon reentry. He emerged from prison successfully and he explains how others can use these strategies to overcome challenges in their lives.
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Episodes
Episode 30: Success After Prison
March 16, 2016 00:00 - 22 minutes - 30.8 MBSpreading Awareness: Although our growing portfolio of rental properties had become an integral part of our wealth-accumulation strategy, I remained determined to build a digital-products business. With hopes of finding more institutional buyers for the program, I accepted 12 speaking assignments in the fall of 2015, keeping me in different airports every week. I traveled to various cities between Tacoma and Washington DC, striving to create market awareness for Earning Freedom products. ...
Episode 29: Multiple Income Streams After Journey in Prison
March 15, 2016 00:00 - 20 minutes - 27.8 MBEric’s testimonial convinced me that through digital programs like Earning Freedom, more people would find hope they needed to overcome struggle and prepare for success. My challenge was finding more purchase orders, as I would need a revenue stream to build a sustainable business. Multiple Revenue Streams: Throughout this book, I’ve tried to share lessons I learned from masterminds. They taught me that I could advance my prospects for success if I lived in the world of reality rath...
Episode 28: Podcasting About Prison
March 14, 2016 00:00 - 22 minutes - 31.2 MBPodcasting: The more research I did, the more I realized how podcasting could serve as a wonderful tool to build authenticity. After watching a webinar on Podcaster’s Paradise, I pulled out my credit card and paid $1,000 to enroll in the podcasting course. Through that course, I learned everything I needed to launch Earning Freedom, which would become my new podcast. I purchased microphones and software to get started. Then I retained Scott Houston, an audio engineer to set up my podcasting...
Episode 27: Earning Freedom Mastermind Course
March 13, 2016 01:00 - 21 minutes - 29 MBEarning Freedom Mastermind Course: Mike Tausek came across the Straight-A Guide course that I created for Justin’s nonprofit foundation. We had distributed the course to several jails, schools, and prisons. Mike contacted me to learn more about what it would take to bring the Straight-A Guide to Maine’s prison system. The Straight-A Guide was a comprehensive course, with ten modules of five lessons each. The course included workbooks, videodisks, and softcover books. Further, facilitato...
Episode 26: Orange County After Prison
March 12, 2016 01:00 - 20 minutes - 28.7 MBOrange County After teaching my final class at SFSU in May of 2014, Carole and I loaded our Chevy Aveo to make the seven-hour drive south to Newport Beach. Earnings from books I wrote while in prison provided resources Carole needed to live while she advanced through nursing school. Those earnings also allowed her to purchase the small, four-cylinder Aveo. The car brought a lot of memories for both Carole and me through our journey. From prison yards, I used to wait for her to drive in on...
Episode 25: Changing Jurisdictions After Prison
March 11, 2016 01:00 - 21 minutes - 29.9 MBTransferring Jurisdictions: Since I was still on Supervised Release, making a move to Newport Beach would not be so easy. I reported to a probation officer in a different judicial district. As a resident of the San Francisco Bay area, authorities required that I report to a probation officer in the Northern Judicial District of California. Tim’s employment offer required that I relocate to the Central Judicial District of California. Besides convincing my probation officer to support my...
Episode 24: Corporate Sponsors After Prison
March 10, 2016 01:00 - 21 minutes - 29.8 MBCorporate Sponsorship: To succeed in building the Straight-A Guide program, I would need to find a different source of support. My Socratic questioning convinced me that I didn’t have sufficient experience to accept responsibility for $3 million worth of investor money. But that didn’t mean I would have to abandon the idea altogether. Instead of raising money necessary to hire a staff, lease office space, fund travel, marketing, and advertising expenses, I decided to venture into the market...
Episode 23: Expanding Markets After Prison
March 09, 2016 01:00 - 20 minutes - 28.7 MBTotal Available Market: First and foremost, I anticipated that investors would want to know the total available market for products that I could create. As I wrote above, I envisioned a multi-billion-dollar annual market. I arrived at that number after reviewing published reports showing that state and federal governments spent in excess of $80 billion per year on corrections. Although I didn’t have any data, I estimated that at minimum, 5% of those budgets funded programs designed to reduc...
Episode 22: Raising Capital After Prison
March 08, 2016 01:00 - 20 minutes - 28.5 MBRaising Capital The wisdom of Socrates has lived for longer than 2,000 years. His teachings influenced my thinking and approach to problems. To figure out next steps in the development of my career, I turned to his question-based approach to learning. The more questions I asked, the more truth I found in his saying, “The one thing I know is that I know nothing.” By the spring of 2014, I’d been free from the Bureau of Prisons for eight months. The experience of creating the Straight-A ...
Episode 21: First Mortgage After Prison
March 07, 2016 01:00 - 21 minutes - 30 MBFirst Mortgage: Carole and I met with a mortgage banker and provided all of the documentation requested. We took the next step of ordering an appraisal of the property. By considering comparable prices in the neighborhood, the appraiser provided documentation valuing our property at $454,000. To avoid additional charges for mortgage insurance, we agreed to accept a mortgage of ...
Episode 20: Financial Stability After Prison
March 06, 2016 01:00 - 21 minutes - 29.3 MBBuilding Financial Stability: When I concluded my obligation to the Bureau of Prisons in August of 2013, I set new goals with Carole. We were 49 years old and making progress, but we would have to cover a lot of ground to prepare for a stable future. Although I felt passionately about working to improve outcomes of our nation’s prison system, I also had a responsibility of preparing for our family’s future. Carole had sacrificed a great deal to marry me while I still had 10 years remaining ...
Episode 19: Finding Markets After Prison
March 05, 2016 01:00 - 21 minutes - 28.9 MBFinding Markets: Like anyone starting a new venture, Justin and I had to overcome many hurdles as we tried to introduce our products into the marketplace. Philanthropic organizations provided us with funding to get started, but we still needed to create a sustainable business model. That meant we needed to find markets. The markets we identified included jails, prisons, and schools that served people who were at risk of going into jails or prisons. As formerly incarcerated individuals...
Episode 18: Programs For Prisoners
March 04, 2016 01:00 - 22 minutes - 30.9 MBDuring my imprisonment, we developed the literature for this program. It all began under the theory that people in prison would be more receptive to learning from individuals who had transformed their lives while they experienced the prison system. Prisoners sometimes rejected a message when that message came from people who didn’t know the pain of being separated from the people they loved, or from the people who loved them. We wanted to reach prisoners. We wanted to convince those people t...
Episode 17: Funding After Prison
March 03, 2016 01:00 - 21 minutes - 29.4 MBI designed the third class to teach students about evolutions that occurred in criminal justice during the 18th century. Scholars referred to that era as The Enlightenment, a time when people had more hope. Two philosophers, Thomas Hobbes and John Locke, presented different theories on human behavior. According to Thomas Hobbes’ view, people were basically beasts by nature. Hobbes’ theory held that people would only refrain from breaking laws if the state maintained a severe penal system tha...
Episode 16: Prison To Professor
March 02, 2016 01:00 - 20 minutes - 28.5 MBSan Francisco State University In early 2013 I began sending letters to professors who taught criminal justice courses in the San Francisco Bay area. If they thought it would be helpful, I offered to visit and provide their students with a different perspective. Many students who majored in criminal justice wanted to pursue careers in corrections, probation, or other law enforcement professions. I knew the students would’ve read many theoretical textbooks on corrections or different soc...
Episode 15: Technology After Prison
March 01, 2016 01:00 - 21 minutes - 30 MBThrough Justin I met Scott Budnick. Through Scott Budnick, I met Chris Redlitz. And through Chris Redlitz, I met Tulio Cardozo. Tulio was one of the first graduates from The Last Mile. As I had done, Tulio made some bad decisions as a young man, becoming involved with drugs. While incarcerated, however, Tulio chose to reinvent himself. Through textbooks, he trained himself how to code computers. Those efforts brought Tulio to the attention of Chris Redlitz and Chris authorized Tulio to parti...
Episode 14: Support Networks After Prison
February 29, 2016 01:00 - 21 minutes - 29.7 MBSupport Networks Accelerate Growth Opportunities Earlier, I wrote about rules in the halfway house that required me to have a job. So long as I had a job that paid a steady paycheck, my case manager in the halfway house authorized me to leave. My friend Lee was more like a sponsor for me than an employer. He set a schedule for me to work 10—hour shifts, Monday through Saturday. I reported to an office and sat at a desk, but instead of doing work for Lee, I focused on creating a business...
Episode 13: Creative Financing After Prison
February 28, 2016 01:00 - 21 minutes - 29 MBCreative Financing: I visited Chris and Seth. They were partners of Advanced Building Solutions, a premier real estate development company with more than $100 million worth of properties under development. Although I’d never met Chris prior to my release from prison, my friend Lee could introduce me. Without a doubt, Chris and Seth were the type of people I had in mind when I thought about avatars. If leaders like Chris and Seth were going to believe in me, they would want to see a record s...
Episode 12: Buying Real Estate After Prison
February 27, 2016 01:00 - 22 minutes - 31.1 MBReal Estate Purchase When I returned to society, in August of 2012, our nation was starting to emerge from the worst recession in our lifetime. In 2008 the stock market and the real estate market began to implode. Credit dried up. Housing prices fell to historic lows. By the fall of 2012, however, the economy looked poised to rebound. Carole and I wanted to participate in the potential upside. To profit from an anticipated market rebound, I knew that Carole and I would need to control...
Episode 11: Building Credit After Prison
February 26, 2016 01:00 - 22 minutes - 30.4 MBEstablishing Credit: With a driver’s license, a job, and a paycheck, I had to begin building a banking relationship. After I received my first paycheck, I went to Bank of America and opened an account. Charles had told me that I could not apply for credit until after I completed my obligation to the Bureau of Prisons. So I opened a checking account and a savings account. Just to check, I authorized the banker to run a credit report on me. We learned that I had a 0-0-0 credit score. H...
Episode 10: Steve Jobs and Other Mentors For Me In Prison
February 25, 2016 01:00 - 20 minutes - 28.2 MBAs Steve Jobs, another mastermind said, “Good artists copy ideas, but great artists steal ideas.” To prepare for success, I copied ideas from the most successful masterminds I could find, whether they lived thousands of years ago or whether they served time alongside me in federal prison. Regardless of where you are today, you have masterminds around you. Question yourself on how your actions and choices influence they way those masterminds perceive you. If they perceive you as being ...
Episode 9: Driving After Prison
February 24, 2016 01:00 - 21 minutes - 29.1 MBThat initial meeting with Charles went well. Why? The roots for that successful meeting extended way back to the 1980s, when I was still locked inside of the Pierce County Jail. Recap? While in my cell I read about Socrates. From his story, I learned the importance of living for something greater than myself. Instead of dwelling on the challenges that had come from my own decisions, I could empower myself by thinking about others. Through Socratic questioning, I could learn the relationsh...
Episode 8: Prison to Halfway House
February 23, 2016 01:00 - 22 minutes - 30.5 MBWho are your avatars? What would they expect of you? In what ways are the decisions you’re making today leading you closer to earning support tomorrow? Chapter 3: Transition from Federal Prison to a Halfway House By 3:00 am, on August 12, 2012, I was up and ready to start my exercise inside the federal prison in Atwater, California. It would be my last day locked inside of a prison. I had 9,135 days of imprisonment behind me, just over 25 years. Carole was scheduled to pick m...
Episode 7: Release to California From Prison
February 22, 2016 01:00 - 21 minutes - 29.4 MBCalifornia: As we approached the end of my term, we had to figure out where we wanted to live. When a man served longer than a quarter century, he didn’t really have roots anywhere. We chose California because I’d built a strong support network that would be easier to leverage from a large state. Further, California was a big market and the state had some significant problems with its prison system. Since we wanted to live in a place that offered the best opportunity, California seemed p...
Episode 6: Earning Freedom From Prison
February 21, 2016 01:00 - 20 minutes - 28.3 MBLeaders begin by clearly defining success. They contemplate the pain or challenge they’re experiencing at a given time. They contemplate steps they can take to build a better outcome. They create a plan that will lead them to success. Then they execute the plan. Individuals who aspire to succeed always follow that pattern. Those who reach their highest potential follow the pattern in sports, in business, in politics, in marriage, and in any area of life where they want to excel. They...
Episode 5: Reviewing Books To Prepare For Success After Prison
February 20, 2016 01:00 - 21 minutes - 29.5 MBDate I read the book: Why did I choose to read this book? What did I learn from reading this book? How will this book contribute to my prospects for success upon release? By adhering to that strategy, I read with a deliberate purpose. Every decision had a direct connection to the success that I was determined to become. There were opportunity costs and risks associated with every decision. Since I knew that many people placed a high value on where they positioned their seat in the mov...
Episode 4: Publishing From Prison
February 19, 2016 01:00 - 21 minutes - 29.3 MBThe first step would be to write a book proposal. Then I would need to write sample chapters. Next, I would need to write a cover letter and begin sending self-addressed-stamped envelopes to literary agents. My research showed that if I could persuade a literary agent to represent me, the literary agent would connect with publishing houses. If editors who worked at the publishing house liked my book, the editor would issue a contract to bring my book to market. It wouldn’t be easy. But...
Episode 3: 45-Year Prison Sentence
February 18, 2016 01:00 - 21 minutes - 29.5 MBSentenced to 45-Years: My judge chose not to impose a life sentence. Instead, he sentenced me to 45 years. I was sentenced under a different set of laws than the sentencing laws that exist today. Under the laws that existed for crimes committed in 1987, I could earn 19-years worth of good-time credits. For readers who don’t know about good time, they’re rewards for avoiding disciplinary infractions. A prisoner didn’t need to do anything particularly good to earn good time. He simply needed ...
Episode 2: The Beginning in Prison
February 17, 2016 01:00 - 22 minutes - 31 MBI’m Michael Santos and I’m typing this manuscript on an awesome Mac Pro computer. When I served my sentence, I had to write all of my manuscripts by hand. Now I’m addicted to Apple products and word processors. These tools allow me to write much more efficiently, but I no longer have the time that was available to me while I was in prison. Again, that’s why I won’t devote hundreds of hours to editing this manuscript. At least for this draft, what you see is what you get. I started typing th...
Episode 1: Why?
February 15, 2016 19:18 - 19 minutes - 26.8 MBSuccess After Prison! How I Built Assets Worth $1 million Within Two Years of Release from 26 Years Inside (And How You Can Succeed, Too) 1. Introduction My name is Michael Santos and I’m writing this book in a conversational style, wanting to share the story of my return to society after 26 years as a prisoner. This book isn’t about prison. It’s about overcoming struggle, or more precisely, about strategies I used to overcome challenges associated with long-term confinement. I’m convinced...