Glenn Lundy’s story is one of triumph: He overcame homelessness and time in prison to become a hugely successful content creator, business owner and motivational leader. He is a father of eight, who has an undeniably radiant personality and wildly contagious smile. His time management skills are a true marvel and have been one of the keys to his great success. Over his 20 years in the automotive industry, Lundy grew his dealership to become the second-largest car franchise in the country, and started the 800% Elite Automotive Club, a program that helps dealerships scale their volume and profits and increase employee retention and satisfaction. Lundy also produces large-scale conferences Hustle & Grind Con and Grow Your Business for God’s Sake, and his expertise has been spotlighted on numerous outlets such as, ABC, NBC and CBS. Recognized for his distinct ability to identify areas for growth and teach creative ways to develop a winning work culture, he uses his skills in leadership and human development to advise other industries.
Lundy founded #RiseandGrind, the number one live streaming morning show on Facebook which aired its last show on November 4, 2021. The popular Facebook group with over 32,000 members, has now shifted to be named “The Morning 5,” where he continues to share motivational content. The show led to #RiseandGrind #Offline, an outreach program designed to support those in need through prayer, in-person meetings and financial support; despite the end of the show, Lundy continues to contribute to #RiseandGrind #Offline.
He has shifted his focus to “Breakfast With Champions”, a popular daily show he founded on the social app Clubhouse. The show features over 100 esteemed hosts from diverse industries–leaders such as Tamra Andress, Trevor Houston and Lisa Copeland–who collectively produce enlightening, informative content from 5 a.m. to 11 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, 6 hours a day, six days a week. Each host comes on for 30 to 60 minutes a week to contribute, they speak on topics of motivation, education and inspiration. Lundy shares, “It’s a collaboration of lighthearted, different point of views. But we don’t fight, we don’t argue because everybody shares the same heart–which is to elevate others, to love others and to create this safe space.” On Sundays, he has an hour and a half service called Club 1:11 on “Breakfast With Champions.” He explains, “It is from Romans 1:11 in the Bible. This verse talks about bringing a message of hope to the nation’s bringing everyone to the table. Here, we have a full on worship service, a sermon, we have time for prayer. It’s basically a digital church every Sunday.”
In regards to the end of #RiseandGrind Lundy shares, “The mission has stayed the same throughout all the different vehicles. It’s important to change the way people start their day. “Breakfast With Champions” has allowed us to take #RiseandGrind from a one man show, to an army of incredible super humans from all around the world that are pouring into people six hours a day, versus the 30 minutes a day we had on #RiseandGrind.”
A YOUNG ENTREPRENEUR
Glenn Lundy: My parents were very hardworking. My dad drove a forklift and worked at a Walgreens warehouse, and my mom was a medical biller. We always had enough, but never any surplus. When I wanted something extra, I had to get it by myself. When I was 11 years old, I discovered this place pretty close to our house, about a mile and a half walking distance, where I could buy Blow Pops and a whole box of Jolly Ranchers for $3. I’d buy it for $3, and sell the candies for a quarter each back at my middle school. I’d sell the box for about $12, so I’d make $9 in profit.
BECOMING A LEADER
Glenn Lundy: I grew up in a really interesting environment in the middle of two cultures–my dad is black and my mom is white. They got divorced when I was 11. At the time, it was difficult for me to figure out my identity because my skin was too dark to be considered white, but too light to be considered black. I tried to fit in with both my parents. I became this sort of chameleon, where I could fit in with whoever I was around.
Now I’m very grateful for that experience because I can see things from a different perspective. I have this ability to bring people together from all different walks of life, belief systems and ethnicities. I love to create safe places where people from all backgrounds and experiences can come and feel significant, seen and heard. They should know that it’s okay to disagree but that ultimately, we share the same heart. That’s why I’ve created “Breakfast With Champions.”
BREAKFAST WITH CHAMPIONS
Glenn Lundy: On Jan. 6, 2018, I started this live show on Facebook called #RiseandGrind. I was flipping through social media and everything was politics, violence and racism. It was just so negative, and I got mad about it. So on Jan. 6, 2018, I started this live show on Facebook called #RiseandGrind. I decided it would start at 5:30 a.m. and it would be nothing but motivation, education and inspiration.
Next thing I knew, it turned into a movement, and we had over 30,000 people flooded into our Facebook group. People started wanting T-shirts, so we started selling those, as well as hats and hoodies. Then people wanted live events, so we started doing live events. We started accepting donations, raising money and helping homeless kids and people in our community that were battling cancer, and we raised $400,000 to battle human sex trafficking for the organization Rescue 1 Global based out of Tennessee.
Then I thought, I’ve already been doing this show for three years on Facebook, maybe we will just take that and we move it over to Clubhouse to “Breakfast With Champions.” Now we collaborate with some of the great leaders that I’ve met over the last three years on our Clubhouse stage. It blew up on Clubhouse. Fast forward, on “Breakfast With Champions” we now have nearly 100 different moderators and contributors. Each comes on for about an hour or half an hour a week, and they contribute motivation, education, and inspiration to our room. We go from 5 o’clock until 11 o’clock in the morning Eastern Standard Time, 6 hours a day, six days a week.
DIVINE PURPOSE
Glenn Lundy: When I was in my 20s, I had an identity issue. I was also a morally challenged person, and I burnt a lot of bridges. I spent some time homeless on the beaches in San Diego. The worst part about homelessness is that over time you become invisible, and then hopelessness becomes a real deep depression.
For me, the depression led to suicidal thoughts, and then led to a suicide attempt where I tried to drown myself in the Pacific Ocean. All of a sudden I heard these words in my head, the words of a mentor that I had when I was 20 years old, named Jason Kitts. And the words were, “You take yourself wherever you go.” As soon as I heard those words, I started thinking, “I am the catalyst of all things negative in my life. And if that’s true, then does that mean that I could be the catalyst for positive things in my life?”
That was the shift. As soon as I made that shift, I asked myself, “Who are you?” I went on a spiritual journey where I tried to answer the question. I started to study Buddhism, Catholicism and Christianity and ultimately found my personal spiritual enlightenment through studying the works of Jesus. I also started practicing self-development by studying Les Brown and Eric Thomas. I was just trying to find myself, and in doing this, I did.
Lundy lives by his five-step morning routine, which is the foundation of “Breakfast With Champions,” Lundy’s popular daily show on the social app Clubhouse.
No. 1: Never hit the snooze button. It is a straight up lie, the snooze button. The way circadian rhythms work and the way your body works, you need to pop up. When that alarm pops up, get up. Trust me, you’ll thank me later.
No. 2: Don’t touch your phone first thing in the morning. There’s nothing out there that’s more important than this. As soon as you hand over your morning to your phone, you’re handing over your entire life in existence to someone else. And their agenda is not to serve you, instead they all have their own individual agendas. Nobody cares about you more than you should.
No. 3: Write down your gratitude and goals. I think the reason 80% of people won’t write their goals is they probably tried writing their goals at some point and it became a negative thing, rather than a positive. Whereas if we start with gratitude, it is really the jet fuel that will help you to achieve your goals.
No. 4: Take care of the physical. Some type of motion daily–walk, crawl, run, play golf, play badminton. Maybe you’re a pickleball champion. Get the body in motion. An object in motion tends to stay in motion; an object at rest tends to stay at rest.
No. 5: Send out an encouraging message. When you release this positive energy out into the universe, not only does it impact the person that you sent it to, but ultimately, that energy has no choice but to be converted and come back to you.
Learn more about the five morning steps at Themorning5.com
