Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / Overcoming the Odds: Black Wall Street in Asheville, NC. is a Black business incubator so entrepreneurs turn their ideas into reality.

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Overcoming the Odds: Black Wall Street in Asheville, NC. is a Black business incubator so entrepreneurs turn their ideas into reality. · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

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  Speaker 1: If you're about to make a change in your life
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: and you feel uncomfortable, that's the best feeling you can
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  Speaker 1: have because for the first time in your life, you'll
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: make under decision that's going to be best for you
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: and not what somebody told you to do, and that's
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  Speaker 1: when all bets are off. Welcome to Money Making Conversation Masterclass.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: I'm your host, Rashan McDonald. Our theme is there's no
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: perfect time to start following your dreams. I recognize that
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: we all have different definitions of success. For you and
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: maybe decide to your HM, it's time to stop reading
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: other people's success stories to start living your own. Keep winning.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: Everybody who's listening to the show. My guests I'm bringing
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  Speaker 1: up is the founder of Black Wall Street in Asheville,
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  Speaker 1: North Carolina. It basically lists an black incubator, which mission
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  Speaker 1: is to help people start growing scale, to turn their
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  Speaker 1: ideas into reality, and build a supportive community for local
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  Speaker 1: black entrepreneurs. Please welcome the Money Making Conversation master Class.
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  Speaker 2: How you doing, Jay, I'm doing great? How are you
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: pretty good?
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  Speaker 1: My friend sounds ambitious, you know, because these are individuals
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: who have dreams. How did you start this idea?
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  Speaker 2: Well, I started kind of like most things, it was
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  Speaker 2: by mistake. I opened the coffee shop in Ashville. It
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  Speaker 2: was on record as the city's first black on coffee shop.
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  Speaker 2: And when we opened the coffee shop, we were in
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  Speaker 2: the middle of the pandemic and we were doing a
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  Speaker 2: pop up shop and we noticed that the people that
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  Speaker 2: were coming to sell their stuff at tables, they didn't
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  Speaker 2: have their incorporation, they didn't have connections, they didn't have resources,
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  Speaker 2: and so we started to formalize that connection and help
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  Speaker 2: them get their incorporation status, connect with the resources that
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  Speaker 2: they needed in the city, and tap into the networks
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  Speaker 2: that were needed for them to brow their businesses. And
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  Speaker 2: then we were awarded a fifty thousand dollars grand from
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  Speaker 2: NCIDEA Foundation to make its own program, and from there
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  Speaker 2: it grew from a few businesses to twenty and within
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  Speaker 2: one year old day.
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  Speaker 1: You know you got this story down, Pat, You're not
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  Speaker 1: going to just give me a speech. We're going to
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: slow break this conversation down because you dropped the word grant.
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  Speaker 1: Fifty thousand dollars grant. You know what, People listening to
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  Speaker 1: this show trying to figure out how to get grant
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  Speaker 1: money and you just said grant, like, you know, we
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  Speaker 1: got to fifty thousand dollars grant. Now, let's talk about
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  Speaker 1: the grant. Did you do was it? Was it something
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  Speaker 1: that approached you about did you apply for? Because grant
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  Speaker 1: writing is very difficult and people are always looking for
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: people who could write successful rand let's talk about that.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, it is. Well, I'm separately the owner of
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  Speaker 2: six figure grants and so I've been doing grants for
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  Speaker 2: like twenty years. It's kind of my specialty. Well, it
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  Speaker 2: is my specialty. But this grant was actually not very
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  Speaker 2: difficult to write. This organization nc idea foundation, they support entrepreneurs,
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  Speaker 2: and that grant was available to for profit companies. A
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  Speaker 2: lot of people know about nonprofit grants, but this grant
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  Speaker 2: was set up for profit companies and companies that would
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  Speaker 2: benefit the community. And so it was not difficult to
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  Speaker 2: write because we were writing about what we're already doing.
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  Speaker 2: And sometimes people look at grant righting like it's hard
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  Speaker 2: and for some people they're just making up something. But
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  Speaker 2: for those people that are already in their community already
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  Speaker 2: doing things. They might be unincorporated, they might be unofficial,
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  Speaker 2: but they're doing things, it's really easy to tell your
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  Speaker 2: story just in a structured way and let people know
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: about it so they can fund it. And that's what
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  Speaker 2: happened to us. We were just saying that, hey, we're
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  Speaker 2: a group of businesses that are trying to work together
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  Speaker 2: to connect people with resources, and we could use the money,
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  Speaker 2: and they awarded it.
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  Speaker 1: Well, you know, it's interesting part about the whole process
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  Speaker 1: of you saying because I I started my business not
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  Speaker 1: having the proper paperwork, because you know, the idea always
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  Speaker 1: comes for the planning. You know, you know, you know
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  Speaker 1: you can watch cars may and car pull up, give
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: you ten dollars, watch the car going by to business.
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  Speaker 1: You don't need no tax because if you, if you
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: go apply it, they want to tax that. Now here's
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: the fun part of this conversation, Jap. Because you wanted
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: people to do it right, how many people resisted doing
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  Speaker 1: it right?
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  Speaker 2: Oh? Man, they resisted. You know how I don't want
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: the government in my business. The way my checking account
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: is set up, it's gonna mess up my public assistance
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  Speaker 2: all of that stuff. And it really is just ignorance
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  Speaker 2: talking like honestly, people don't know what they don't know,
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  Speaker 2: and so we get a lot of resistance, but it
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  Speaker 2: just takes a little bit of education. And education is
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  Speaker 2: to key.
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  Speaker 1: You know, because you know, like you said, a lot
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: of great things happen through failure. But then I hear
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: you know that because black people drink coffee, So it
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: wasn't like a bad idea to start a black coffee
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: shop in Ashfield. But tell us about the community of Ashville.
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  Speaker 2: What is it like?
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  Speaker 1: Was the structure, was the population? And where's it exactly
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  Speaker 1: located in relationship to Charlotte.
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  Speaker 2: Ashville is western Charlotte. It's in the western part of
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  Speaker 2: the state, about about two hours from Charlotte, North Carolina.
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  Speaker 2: If anybody were looking at a map, we're really really
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  Speaker 2: close to Tennessee. So down in the corner of North Carolina,
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  Speaker 2: really close to Tennessee and just over the line from Greenville,
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  Speaker 2: South Carolina. We're in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Most people
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  Speaker 2: know Ashville because of the Biltmore House. More House is
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  Speaker 2: the largest home estate in the country. It is a
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  Speaker 2: veritable castle. It's amazing and our coffee shop is right
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  Speaker 2: down the street from it.
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  Speaker 1: So basically you are taking advantage of the tourists that
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  Speaker 1: come through.
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  Speaker 2: Oh absolutely absolutely. Tourism is our economic driver. Tourism in
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  Speaker 2: Ashville is a three billion dollar a year industry, and
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  Speaker 2: astral is only about ninety thousand people, but we get
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  Speaker 2: eleven million visitors each year.
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  Speaker 1: You make me mad because then I said it a
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  Speaker 1: good way because you just throwing out these numbers. May
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: just go pass. The ninety thousand people live there, but
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: eleven million people come.
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  Speaker 2: That's right, that's right. And the sad thing about that
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  Speaker 2: is that the people who work there oftentimes cannot afford
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  Speaker 2: to own houses and live there, right because the tourists
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  Speaker 2: come and they just drive up the economy. They drive
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  Speaker 2: up the cost of everything. So when we were thinking
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  Speaker 2: about what we can do, like, well, why not tap
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  Speaker 2: into the tourist economy. If people are coming to spend money,
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  Speaker 2: let's figure out how they can spend money with black folks.
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  Speaker 1: Right, right, right, right, doing right And the structure is
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  Speaker 1: the key. So tell me because this is a conversation
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  Speaker 1: because I went to your website. You said, the advice
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  Speaker 1: and the information that the incubator that you created, even
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  Speaker 1: though it's in Nashra, North Carolina, is available to everybody nationwide.
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  Speaker 2: Correct, Yeah, yeah, absolutely, nationwide. All of the cities around
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  Speaker 2: the country, they're all set up similarly similarly, so every
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  Speaker 2: city region they have a tourism development authority, a board,
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  Speaker 2: an entity that tells people come visit here, come visit there,
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  Speaker 2: and when you go visit, you pay hotel tax, and
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: that tax actually goes back into the community in a
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  Speaker 2: very specific way. What what we do is we show
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  Speaker 2: black entrepreneurs how to find number one, how to locate
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: that tourism development authority, and then how to comply with
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  Speaker 2: their standards and how to apply to get that money.
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  Speaker 1: Well, I'm telling you some I need your help then
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  Speaker 1: because I need to know how to get that tourism
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  Speaker 1: or travel dollar how to tap into that. Are there
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: any like talking points or bullet points that you can
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  Speaker 1: give to us and especially me to understand how you
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  Speaker 1: can get this tourism to travel dollar opportunities?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah? Yeah, absolutely So if anybody were to go to
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  Speaker 2: go to Google and type it in the name of
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: their city and the word tourism development, it'll whatever your
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: local agency is that will come up, and then you
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  Speaker 2: just go to their marketing plan. Whatever their marketing plan
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  Speaker 2: is tells you what they are spending money on. So
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  Speaker 2: for Ashville, for example, they intentionally market to people that
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  Speaker 2: are within a three to four hour radius, and then
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  Speaker 2: it tells all of the things that they spend money on.
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  Speaker 2: All you have to do is look at the lists
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  Speaker 2: and say the things that you're willing to spend money for.
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  Speaker 2: I have this available. That's all you have to do,
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  Speaker 2: and you just connect with those people. All of it
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  Speaker 2: is public information, is presented available to you online, it's
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  Speaker 2: funded by taxpayer dollars, and it's designed to go back
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: into the community.
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  Speaker 1: So I'm not using the word that's saying the word.
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  Speaker 1: It is really common sense doe to research a sign
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  Speaker 1: what you do and find and target it and then
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  Speaker 1: go after it. That's basically what you were telling us.
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  Speaker 2: Correct, that's exactly right. So my coffee shop, for example,
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  Speaker 2: we realized that the Tourism Development Authority they bring guests
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  Speaker 2: into the city and they give them gift packages. Well,
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  Speaker 2: we want a bag of our coffee to be in
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  Speaker 2: the gift package, right, So we sell it to them,
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  Speaker 2: and we sell it in bulk. We sell like twenty
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  Speaker 2: or thirty bags at a time to the tourism authority.
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  Speaker 2: They spend money with local people and they give it
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  Speaker 2: as gifts to visitors, encourages people.
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  Speaker 1: But how were you able to pull that off? You know,
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  Speaker 1: like I said that, you know that's good and that's fantastic.
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  Speaker 1: But you know, everybody think they got the best coffee.
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: Everybody think they got the best grit or right, or
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: burger or whatever. How were you able to because you know,
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: this might have made a conversations masterclass, and I'm trying
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: to get some secrets to your success so I can
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: share it with my audience. How were you able to
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: go in and sit down and say, hey, this is
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: my coffee. Did you have to set up meetings? Did
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: you have to hound these people? How were we able
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: to pull that off?
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: No? No, no, no. The well you should know this.
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: I don't drink coffee. I don't like the taste of
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: it or the smell of it, So I don't know
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: how my coffee taste. All of it tastes nasty to me,
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: so bad. But I would selling though, ill though, yeah, yeah,
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  Speaker 2: I'll sell it. They didn't choose it because it's the
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: best taste in coffee. They chose it because of the
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: local story. So AEO type ofature report. They did a
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: study on the impact of COVID on black businesses, and
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: they showed that one of the reasons that black business
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: fail is because they target a customer with lower spending power.
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: In other words, black businesses are primarily serving poor black people.
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: But what if we took our same stuff and repackaged
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: it and repriced it and sold it to the rest
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: of the world that was not necessarily poor black people.
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: So now you have something that is the same product,
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: but it's presented to a presented to another customer that
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: can pay more money for it. It's the difference between
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: a soda and a low income neighborhood and a soda
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: and a high income neighborhood the same soda. So what
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: what we do is wrap a story around the product,
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: and that's what everybody needs to do. Don't just sell
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: your product, sell the story behind the product, and that's
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  Speaker 2: what people buy. So when people come to my coffee shop,
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  Speaker 2: even though there's a coffee shop up the street and
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  Speaker 2: down the street, my coffee shop was rated the number
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  Speaker 2: one fastest growing company in the city and the number
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  Speaker 2: one minority owned company in the region. And it's because
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: the story that surrounds our coffee awesome.
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: I'm speaking to Jay Hackett, they founder of Black Wall
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: Street in Ashville, North Carolina, You're hitting home so well
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: with so many details that when I look at people
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: trying to exceed, you know, the beauty of my conversation
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: with you is that you just lead me down the
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: path with common sense. You know, you're not telling me
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: you got to buy some scripture. You gotta be certified,
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: you said Rashan. Listen to me, friend, you gotta do
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: the research, you gotta tell your story, you gotta do
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: a follow up. All these steps means you got to
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: put forth effort. And that's what the average person who
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: wants to be an entrepreneur, who wants to be a leader,
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: who wants to be a difference maker, will fail because
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: there's effort at everything that you're asking us to do.
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: Correct. Absolutely, there's effort. There's there's burning the midnight oil.
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: You got to read, you gotta show up. And one
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: of the things that plagues us in our community so
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: much is this imposter syndrome. Because we've been kept out
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: of it so long, we don't know that we belong
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: and we have value there. When I got out of prison,
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: it was twenty fifteen, and I was nervous, I was scared,
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: I was embarrassed, and I really didn't think that anybody
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: would give me another chance. But I remember one of
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: the counselors in prison. She said to me, she said,
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: there's no such thing as a second chance. There's no
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: such thing as a new beginning. You have to start
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: where you are and create a new ending and give
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: yourself a chance. And when she said that, it resonated
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: with me. I was like, you know what, nobody's going
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: to read what I need to read for me. I
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: need to read it. Nobody's going to show up where
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: I need to show up for me. I need to
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: show up. Nobody's going to, you know, put put their
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: name in the hat. I have to do that. I
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: have to be willing to face that fear. And what
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: I realized was that big risk got me big rewards,
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: and the thing that I was afraid of I really
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: didn't need to be afraid of it at all. People
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: ended up not judging me, but celebrating me and participating,
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: and they did a big old spread in the paper
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: they said, formally convicted, formally convicted person is named executive director.
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: And the whole community celebrated, and I was like, all right,
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: so now I have some shoulders to stand on. I
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: have some support and I have some people that are
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: willing to assist me while I help other people. And
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  Speaker 2: it began to work. So I don't hide from it.
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: I encourage people. Never hide from what you went through.
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: Build a plenty.
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: Wow, great words. We'll be back with more money Making
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: Conversations Masterclafe with Jay Hackett Black Wall Street in Asheville,
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: North Carolina. A brand that he's building that is impacting
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: people nationwide. That's why I brought him on the show.
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: He's a community of ninety thousand people. Tours is eleven million,
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: Tourist traffic is eleven million people a year. Oh, they're
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: making money up there in Ashville. And guess what he
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: getting a piece of it because he's learned to use
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: common sense. Be right back with more money Making Conversation
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: Masterclass hosted by me Rashaan McDonald.
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: We'll be right back with more money Making Conversations Masterclass
• 14:44
  Speaker 3: with Rashawn McDonald. Welcome back to the Money Making Conversations
• 14:50
  Speaker 3: Masterclass hosted by Rashaan McDonald. Money Making Conversations Masterclass continues
• 14:55
  Speaker 3: online at Moneymakingconversations dot com and follow money Making co
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: Conversations Masterclass on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: All Right, This is Raushan McDonald. If you want to
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: be a guest on my show, just go to Moneymaking
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: Conversation dot com. Moneymakingconversations dot Com and click to be
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: a guest on the navigation bar. Fill out that document
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: and you can be a guest on my show. I
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: book all the guests on my show personally. Just like Jayhackett,
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: I saw an autocross, saw a flyer, and I contacted
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: him because I wanted to know more about your grind
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: Fest twenty twenty four. That excited me. It was an Ashville.
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: It was talking about the Black Wall Street in Ashville,
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: North Carolina. What exactly is the GrindFest? Because it attracted
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: my attention and that's why I brought you on the show, Jayackett.
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: Well, grind Fest is the celebration of black business and entrepreneurship.
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: Like I said, we started Blackwall Street in twenty twenty
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: and we knew that twenty twenty one was coming up,
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: which is one hundred years from nineteen twenty one when
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: the original Blackwall Street and Tulsa was bombed, and so
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: we launched grind Fest as that celebration. It start off
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: just to be a cookout, and we said well, we
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: got to have something for the kids to do. And
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: somebody ought to bring a grill. Somebody fried some seats,
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: somebody cooked, and let's have some games. And one of
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: the local blogs picked it up and called it a festival.
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: And then four thousand people showed up on the block.
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: And I was like, oh lord, you just be throwing
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: out these numbers again. Shake you know, you know, four
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: thousand people like this ain't nothing.
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: Four people they showed up. They showed up.
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: And so what was the setup was it was? It
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: was it like booths? Was it was it? Entrepreneur had
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: been booths set up? Tell us that, tell us the
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: set up.
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: It was tables just lined up down the street, out
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: the coffee shop down the street, on both sides of
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: the street. We didn't even have we didn't even have
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: the streets blocked off. We just had stuff going on
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: on both sides of the street. We had food and
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: food trucks. We had games going on outside, little fun
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: games that people do outside, like family reunion games like
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: of course you things like that. We had tents and
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: and we were just like everybody just bringing stuff, bring
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: your family, let's have a good time. We had a
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: DJ and and we have fun. We had fun. We
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: didn't know that four thousand people. The transportation folks came in,
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: did uh, did some type of estimate where they take
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: a picture and see how many people are there, and
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: they estimated that it was four thousand. People were like, wow,
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: this is awesome. So then they called it a festival
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: and said, well, y'all got to do it again next year.
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: So you know, you know, you know, I you know,
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: when you're doing something just for fun or just a
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: good idea, it's easy. When they started putting a title
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: like festival, that's where the work starts because.
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: Now you have the band works. But the fines we had,
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: we had, we had fines from the city because we
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: ain't know no better. We didn't have no certificates, no fine,
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: no life is just the city called us like you
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: can't do that, you gotta do that, you gotta do that.
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: So we ended up getting getting everything in place, all
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: of our lives. This is all of our pertinents, and
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: now it's recognized as a festival. In fact, our Tourism
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: authority they fund the festival each year and our partners
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: at Truest Bank, they are partnering with us this year
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: to kick it off with a Black Housing summit.
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: I love talking to you, Jane, because you an inspiration
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: to me, because because first of all, you mentioned you incarcerated.
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: Now have a young brother who was incarcerated, who also
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: was an entrepreneur, you know, and and I hear so
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: many sad stories about people who try to do re entry.
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: What are the steps to successful re entry once you've
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: been incarcerated?
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: Man, The first thing I'm so glad I said. The
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: first thing that you have to do after you when
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: you get out, You've got to cultivate real relationships. You
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: have to let people get to know you beyond what
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: you did all right. I think it was it was
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: a pastor that told me that I need to rewrite
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: my story and don't let anybody else tell it for me.
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: And so I start to do it, and I started
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: to make sure I did good work in the community
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: with building relationships and let my work speak for me.
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: The second thing you have to do is connect with stakeholders.
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: Like some of the connections that people had before there
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: were lower level connections. You have to upgrade your life,
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: upgrade your network, make bigger and better connections with stakeholders.
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: People that have things and know things and can move
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: things in the city. I mean, then the last thing
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: you got to be willing to collaborate on projects, volunteer, donate,
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: get on the board of directors, give your strength to
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: something else that's big and impactful in the community. And
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: what I found out was that when I did these
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: three c's, cultivate relationship, connect with stakeholders, and collaborate on projects,
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: it put me at the top of the list. It
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: gave me access to things that I didn't have before.
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: And the stuff that used to work against me, it
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: ended up working for me and nobody help it against me.
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: And that's important because you are you can't be victimized
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: first of all by the color of your skin. Okay,
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: also stereotype, trust, you know, and those factors that come along.
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: And so when you created grind Fast, because I was
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: only five years after you had left prison, but you
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: still was a dreamer, what did not kill your dreams?
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: Jay? Well, I was, honestly speaking, I felt like giving
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: up a lot of different times. But I while I
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: was I was incarcerated, I thought a lot and wrote
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: a lot, and I realized that bravery is it doesn't
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: mean that I don't have fear, but bravery just meant
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: I don't want to give up. It's the fear of
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: giving up. If I quit, Now, what do I miss?
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: If I quit? Now? What what do I what do
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: I forfeit? I'm probably closer than I think if I
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: just keep going. And so I had to face all
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: of those fears and the difficulties and the learning curves
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: and all the things that I just don't know that
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: I don't know the those relationships came in, came into play,
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: those networks came into play, and so I really had
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: to face them. But it was a lot easier than
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: I thought.
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: Because so many people need to hear this interview, and
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: I hope they are listening because they may be a
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: person who has in dealing with re entries, or relative
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: or close result or friend who's dealing with reentry. Because
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: when you step out, you know, time has pretty much
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: such still while you are being incarcerated, and when you
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: come out, there's so many levels of confusion and what
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: do I do? Where do I go? Is entrepreneurship a
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: good solid path versus trying if you have an idea,
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: if you have a vision, versus trying to go get
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: a regular for they all week job.
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: I really think it's both and and there's there's there's
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: this other thing that's that that's at work here you
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: get you get people that are incarcerated and seventy five
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: percent of all jail of jail population as black men,
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: and they're mostly incarcerated for drug and low level crimes.
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: So what you have is a person that's in jail
• 22:03
  Speaker 2: for one to be an entrepreneur already just using the
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: wrong product.
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: Now let me ask you this. You did not give
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: us a date of the grind Fest twenty twenty four.
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: It is excuse me, it's a faster a festival now you.
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: You they call it a festival.
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: Now come on, do it right now, Jay.
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: It is a grind Sets is a three day festival
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: May twenty fourth through twenty six in the mountains of Ashville,
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: North Carolina.
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: Okay, now, so now you got me excited. Now you
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: know my wife, you know we're starting to travel. Now,
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: sounds like someplace we should go and visit. Now, if
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: I come to ask, where should I what are the
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: places I should consider staying and what would I experience
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: coming to your festival?
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: Well, all of our hotels are top notched, but our
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: choice hotel is called the Radical Hotel. It's the old
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: warehouse that they made. They remade it with crystal chandeliers
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: and all kind of amazing stuff, so it's a very
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: unique and amazing experience. We also have some other hotels
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: that are there. But when you come to grind Fest,
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: you'll start off on Friday with the Black Wealth and
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: Housing Summit. You'll be connected with lenders and realtors and
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: everybody to help you build wealth. And then on Friday night,
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: on Friday night, we have a Harlem Nights casino night.
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: Harlem Nights. We pulled out the tables in the games.
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: It's going to be amazing. Everybody dressing up like the twenties.
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: It's gonna be dope. But then on Saturday we have
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: carnival rides, Ferris Wheel, go kart, sumo, wrestling, laser tag,
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: roller coasters. It's gonna be amazing, food trucks, over fifty vendors.
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: And then on Saturday night we have a concert at
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: Salvage Station. Last year we had Big Boy and Waka Floka.
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: This year we have another headliner. And then on Sunday
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: we got Afro Beat Gregg Aton Caribbean music, Latin music
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: bands Galory. Then on Sunday night we got a gospel
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: show all weekend long. It's going to be amazing fun
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: for the whole family.
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: Now here's the funny part about you, Jay Hacket. You
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: just threw in sumo wrestling like that's something everybody to do.
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: You just threw so much, did him saying that sumo
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: wrestling and walking flock all in the same.
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: Weekend, You'll gotta be shot.
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: These are two figure fat black man out there calling
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: himself Suma rastles are come on that. Don't do me
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: like that. I love it, man, Jay. I really would
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: thank you man for calling in on the show, man
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: and the sharing us with that experience, man, because I
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: knew nothing about what was going on in Ashville, North Carolina.
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: And you really are inspiring brother, and I appreciate you
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: telling us your story, being honest about your background, and
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: allow us to understand that there is a page you
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: can turn in your book just because somebody ripped out
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: the other section of the book and your pages that
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: you keep turning, Man, keep building a strong story, man,
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: and it doesn't look like it's gonna end anytime soon.
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: Thank you for calling money Making Conversations Master Class.
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: Thank you and.
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: We'll talk soon. There's another edition of Money Making Conversation
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: Masterclass of course, hosted by me Rashan McDonald. I want
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: to thank you Omar as well as Noman J. Hackett
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: for being on the show today and thank you my
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: listening audience. Join us next week and remember to always
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: lead with your gifts and keep winning.
• 25:17
  Speaker 3: Thank you for joining us for this edition of Money
• 25:20
  Speaker 3: Making Conversations Masterclass. Money Making Conversations Masterclass with Rashaan McDonald
• 25:26
  Speaker 3: is produced by thirty eight to fifteen Media Inc. More
• 25:29
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• 25:33
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• 25:36
  Speaker 3: remember to lead with your gifts.