What Ambition Without Limits Really Looks Like

The Playbook With David Meltzer

David Meltzer, Entrepreneur.com

Entrepreneurship, Business, Careers

4.6 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 30 April 2025

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In today’s episode, I sit down with James Maslow and Owen Hanson, a former USC walk-on who once brushed shoulders with Heisman winners and ended up running a multimillion-dollar black-market empire. Owen shares how ambition and access turned him from sports agent to international drug trafficker, and how a stint in federal prison sparked a new kind of hustle. From mop-bucket ice cream experiments to launching the first 20g protein ice cream bar from a halfway house, his story is as surreal as it is instructive. What started as a bet for fast cash became a lesson in patience, reinvention and the real cost of unchecked ambition.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Good morning, everyone, live from Nashville.
0:02.8	I'm with the amazing James Maslow.
0:05.0	It's office hours, the Celebrity Entrepreneur Edition, the Celebrity Entrepreneur Show with my boy,
0:12.5	James Maslow.
0:13.5	Today, we have a huge treat, my brother, because not only are we here in person together,
0:17.7	and we're having like a coaching session, the Uncle Dave session, you're one of my favorite people.
0:24.0	But we are blessed.
0:24.9	We're bringing on one of my favorite guests.
0:27.3	And every time he talks, he's difficult to interview.
0:30.9	I just want to tell everyone up front because you get so caught up into his story,
0:35.4	you forget your interviewing him.
0:36.8	Isn't that the best interview, though, right?
0:37.9	Oh, yeah, for sure.
0:38.8	You're not really searching for questions because they just keep giving wonderful answers.
0:42.1	Right.
0:42.9	Well, then you're like, oh, shit, I'm supposed to ask another one because you're just so engaged.
0:46.9	That's perfect for today since today is quite early, and I'm still getting from my first cup of coffee.
0:50.8	So let him take it away. It's West Coast time for him. And he's coming right from our federal system, as you'll find out.
0:58.6	We mentioned briefly. I'm excited to ask a question about that.
1:00.7	He has a different rental plan than us in our multimillion-dollar studios around the world.
1:05.7	But he's going to get there again. But we'll bring on our friend Owen Hansen.
1:12.3	He's the California kid.
	...

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