32 min

112: Incarcerated Life and Second Chances with Aaron Smith Good People, Cool Things

    • Books

Many of us want to make more money. We’ll find side hustles, or work hard in our main gig so we can negotiate for more. Would you take up to $15,000 a day? 

Aaron Smith, founder of Escaping The Odds, was doing just that on the south side of Chicago. The problem: His business with a heroin drug operation. He was later indicted and sentenced to 12 years in federal prison, serving nearly a decade of that time. 

While in jail, Aaron’s mindset changed. He decided it was time to switch hustles, or as he puts it, to go from selling dope to chasing dreams. But that entrepreneurial spirit never left him, and today Aaron is a business owner, podcast producer, and mentor. He’s out to change the narrative that people who have been incarcerated are beyond hope. They deserve a second chance. 

And through Escaping the Odds, Aaron is helping them get those opportunities.

Many of us want to make more money. We’ll find side hustles, or work hard in our main gig so we can negotiate for more. Would you take up to $15,000 a day? 

Aaron Smith, founder of Escaping The Odds, was doing just that on the south side of Chicago. The problem: His business with a heroin drug operation. He was later indicted and sentenced to 12 years in federal prison, serving nearly a decade of that time. 

While in jail, Aaron’s mindset changed. He decided it was time to switch hustles, or as he puts it, to go from selling dope to chasing dreams. But that entrepreneurial spirit never left him, and today Aaron is a business owner, podcast producer, and mentor. He’s out to change the narrative that people who have been incarcerated are beyond hope. They deserve a second chance. 

And through Escaping the Odds, Aaron is helping them get those opportunities.

32 min