In this power-packed conversation, Navy veteran, foster child, and entrepreneur Mike Little walks through his journey from homelessness, addiction in the family, and military turbulence to building multiple seven-figure businesses and becoming a TEDx speaker and bestselling author of Be Tenacious. He reveals how “unguided tenacity” nearly broke him, how he learned to aim his intensity, and why you’re never “too intense” when your energy is guided with purpose.
We dive into his time in the Navy, launching a billion-dollar real estate brokerage during COVID, healing from divorce and family loss, discovering mentors like Coach Burt, Ed Mylett, and Eric Thomas, and creating his own conference, Determine Your Destiny. If you’re in the middle of a storm and wondering how to keep going, this episode gives you a real-world blueprint for sustained, superior resilience in your faith, family, and finances.
0:00 – Mike Little intro: Navy vet, TEDx speaker, bestselling author of Be Tenacious, real estate entrepreneur
1:34 – Why Mike chose the path of personal development and storytelling after a rough childhood
2:30 – Born into addiction, neglect, abandonment, and foster care: building resilience in real time
3:40 – Finding father figures in icons: Michael Jordan, Mike Tyson, Ali, Arnold, Stallone
4:47 – Meeting Coach Burt off a random Facebook post and investing $20K on the spot
5:40 – From zero to first book and number-one bestseller in six months
6:10 – How Mike landed Eric Thomas for his first book launch webinar
7:43 – The core of his TEDx talk: “You’re not too intense, it’s unguided tenacity”
8:40 – Being labeled “too serious” vs understanding where your intensity comes from
9:50 – The Law of Tenacity: power of sustained, superior resilience in every area of life
10:55 – Directing your energy: why people mislabel your drive as anger, hate, or obsession
11:50 – “There are no losses, just lessons” – using accountability to re-aim your energy
13:00 – Why experience density matters more than age: 38 years, but a lifetime of storms
14:11 – How pain forges your unique gift and makes you qualified to help others
15:06 – Reprogramming your language: from victim mindset to “this happened for me”
16:09 – Early role models: Muhammad Ali, Colin Powell, and learning to communicate with power
17:15 – 20+ years of speaking without knowing it: leadership, training, and presentations in the Navy
18:00 – Deep dive into self-development: Jim Rohn, Les Brown, Ed Mylett, Eric Thomas
18:43 – “Don’t wish it were easier, wish you were better” – the Jim Rohn line that changed everything
19:33 – How growing up around “the trap” shaped his hunger and relatability
20:19 – Struggle is not limited by race, creed, or background: why your story still qualifies you
21:00 – 15–20 years of self-development without a roadmap – and how the Navy became his classroom
21:45 – Divorce, Navy legal battles, COVID, and losing both parents and a sister: stacked storms
22:39 – Meeting his grandfather at 36 and discovering eerie parallels: Navy, real estate, author, title company
23:46 – Legacy and leadership: becoming the patriarch and example for his family
24:13 – How Ed Mylett’s “I’m the one” message broke him open at a conference
25:20 – Hiring his coach after that conference and then losing his father seven days later
26:10 – “This stops now”: the decision to pursue his dream and tell his story
26:36 – First-ever meeting with his grandfather at 85 and the generational blueprint revealed
27:46 – How his grandfather wrote the foreword to Mike’s book from his deathbed
28:18 – Sister’s sudden death 10 days before his TEDx talk: Westminster Avenue “coincidence”
29:15 – Choosing celebration over mourning and sending people off with dignity
30:10 – Why his story isn’t a gimmick or framework: “This is my life”
30:50 – Working with Coach Burt, Rene Rodriguez, Rory Vaden, Ed Mylett, and Eric Thomas to shape the message
31:27 – “I can help you”: why you’re most powerfully positioned to serve who you once were
32:11 – The theology of storms: why God/faith puts you through seasons to qualify you
32:43 – Business pivot: leaving the Navy after 14 years for real estate and entrepreneurship
33:17 – Doing real estate on the side in the Navy: multiple jobs to support a young family
34:10 – From construction worker to agent: spotting the guy in the BMW and asking better questions
35:00 – Becoming a top producer from the middle of the ocean: 3–5M a year while deployed
35:45 – Why he left the Navy even after “winning” his case: refusing to be tolerated, not celebrated
37:21 – The two books that pushed him out: Grant Cardone’s “Sell or Be Sold” and Dean Graziosi’s “Millionaire Success Habits”
38:30 – Realizing everything in the Navy was sales – and that sales was his portable superpower
39:36 – “Determine Your Destiny” and the seven-levels-of-why exercise that changed his path
40:27 – Translating Navy skills to business: SOPs, leadership, time management, communication
41:11 – Opening Iron Valley Real Estate Virginia Beach with zero brokerage experience
41:51 – Going from small team to regional powerhouse: 460 agents and 1.4B in annual volume
42:29 – Why people were wrong about their brand, model, and market fit
43:25 – Stepping back from ownership to fully pursue speaking, coaching, and writing
44:11 – Scaling multiple companies: title, P&C insurance, and the Zero to a Billion playbook
45:20 – Lessons from leading hundreds: people, culture fit, and mission over “warm bodies”
46:48 – What he really learned from the Navy: structure, discipline, and mission-focused execution
47:38 – Launching a brokerage in February 2020 – then COVID hit in March
48:00 – Staying open, deemed essential, and doubling down when everyone else paused
49:11 – Serving military clients as one of them: understanding their schedule, stress, and needs
50:09 – Competitive edge: living your client’s life before you sell to them
50:45 – The military as a Fortune 500 model: mission, vision, values, ethos in action
51:27 – Transferring military architecture to civilian business with a few key tweaks
52:34 – Why consistency, discipline, and just “showing up” beat talent and timing
53:23 – How Jim and Mike connected through social, mutual mentors, and showing up in rooms
54:26 – “Create the stage”: why Mike stopped chasing stages and built his own conference
55:10 – Determine Your Destiny: your fate, your responsibility
56:09 – Faith plus work: why belief without action won’t change your circumstances
57:24 – The conference model: value, relationships, and opportunities beyond the event
58:18 – Evidence of impact: from one breakout talk to 50–60 lb body transformations and new careers
59:11 – Tenacity as the number one trait of elite performers in every arena
1:01:15 – Unpacking Michael Jordan’s story and unseen storms of champions
1:01:47 – What attendees can expect at Determine Your Destiny: content, community, and clarity
1:02:22 – Health and wealth synergy: why his events include workouts and charity
1:03:20 – Final advice: stack lessons from storms, not losses, and live tenaciously
1:03:32 – Closing: how Mike’s story can be a mirror for your own storms and next chapter
If you’re in the middle of your own storm—financial, relational, emotional, or spiritual—this episode gives you language, perspective, and a practical framework for what it means to be truly tenacious and to determine your own destiny.
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SUBSCRIBE & FOLLOW!
BRIAN COVEY:
https://briancovey.com
https://instagram.com/thebriancovey
https://twitter.com/thebriancovey
https://www.facebook.com/TheBrianCovey/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-covey/
https://www.tiktok.com/@thebriancovey
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