Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / Info You Can Use: His company specializes in solar photovoltaic and signage installation.

Transcript

Info You Can Use: His company specializes in solar photovoltaic and signage installation. · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

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  Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Rashan McDonald, our host this weekly Money Making
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Conversation Masterclass show. The interviews and information that this show
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  Speaker 1: provides off for everyone. It's time to start reading other
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: people's success stories and start living your own. If you
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  Speaker 1: want to be a guest on my show, please visit
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: our website, Moneymakingconversations dot com and click the be a
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Guest button to submit your information. Now let's get started.
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  Speaker 1: My guest is the founder and owner of DW. We'll
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  Speaker 1: find out in a minute what DW stand for, a
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  Speaker 1: company specializing in promotional signage installation. With a strong background
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  Speaker 1: in project management and business development, he has successfully led
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  Speaker 1: DW and executing projects for clients covering design, production, installation,
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  Speaker 1: and maintenance. Please welcome to Money Making Conversations Masterclass. Abaduni Martin.
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  Speaker 1: How you doing, sir?
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  Speaker 2: Hey, how you doing? Thank you for welcoming on your show. Great?
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  Speaker 3: Great, I'm happy to be here. So just want to
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  Speaker 3: you know, or extend my appreciation.
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  Speaker 1: Well, I appreciate you taking the time. I always ask
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  Speaker 1: my guess when they come on the show, what are
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  Speaker 1: you trying to tell my audience? What message are you
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  Speaker 1: trying to deliver? As an entrepreneur? And you in the signage.
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  Speaker 1: I've never had a guess on my show to dealt
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  Speaker 1: with signed installation promotional signage. What are you trying to
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  Speaker 1: accomplish it with this interview today?
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  Speaker 3: Opportunity well, for me is to get across to people
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  Speaker 3: that are in undeserved communities that look like you and I,
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  Speaker 3: that may not know about the industries that I'm currently in.
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  Speaker 3: So I'm in signage and solar installation, so both of
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  Speaker 3: those industries we are marginalized. There's not enough representation. I
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  Speaker 3: consider myself a unicorn in regards to those perspectives. So
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  Speaker 3: my ideals are to you know, get the message across
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  Speaker 3: that hey, you can also become a part of these industries.
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  Speaker 3: I am considered myself a beacon and I train and
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  Speaker 3: certify those individuals that want to come in and learn
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  Speaker 3: these particular industries that I'm in, especially the youth.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I would do. When I talk about we say
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  Speaker 1: the word solar, you know, my tentacle goals up. You know,
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  Speaker 1: because you you know, everybody's in electrical vehicles and solar
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  Speaker 1: that so been around for a long time, you know,
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  Speaker 1: talk to us about that and why is important that
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  Speaker 1: you as an African American be preaching solar to our community. Well.
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  Speaker 3: One being green energy is to talk of the town.
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  Speaker 3: That's something that's talked about not just locally here in
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  Speaker 3: the United States, but all globally. This is a global phenomenon.
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  Speaker 3: We're looking for ways to gain energy and what's the
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  Speaker 3: best way get it from the sun is free, free access.
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  Speaker 2: It's all day.
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  Speaker 3: And if you want to uh, conserve your energy, there's
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  Speaker 3: battery that you can implement with your solar so you
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  Speaker 3: can use solar at night as well. Especially for the
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  Speaker 3: African American community. African American community, you know, we don't
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  Speaker 3: know much about these tools and these resources. And for me,
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  Speaker 3: I like to be able to, you know, speak to
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  Speaker 3: those individuals that just hey, I'm maybe looking for solar
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  Speaker 3: on my home. I specialize in the commercial fields, utility
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  Speaker 3: scale on commercial, so that's my specialty. I haven't got
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  Speaker 3: into the residential yet. There's something I've been considering, uh,
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  Speaker 3: but yeah, just getting the messages across. There's so many
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  Speaker 3: different avenues that you can take with this. With this industry,
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  Speaker 3: especially if you look into work and all the business
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  Speaker 3: within these industries, there's there's avenues and it's a hard
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  Speaker 3: it's a hard avenue to get into, but there's opportunities
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  Speaker 3: out there if you know where to look.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely, talking to Duty Martin, his company is d e W. Now,
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  Speaker 1: how did you come over that name? D e W.
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  Speaker 2: Well, d W.
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  Speaker 3: I pride myself on excellence and do everything wonderfully is
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  Speaker 3: what it stands for. And I just didn't want it
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  Speaker 3: to be known as a as an energy company or
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  Speaker 3: a signage company. I wanted to broaden my horizons on
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  Speaker 3: what I'm capable of, and that just seems like a
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  Speaker 3: fitting name and what I do. I pride myself on
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  Speaker 3: doing things in a particular fashion where you know my
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  Speaker 3: work stands the test of time, and anybody that comes
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  Speaker 3: work for me, they know that we focus on doing
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  Speaker 3: things excellently.
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  Speaker 1: Cool. Now we met at the Georgia Minority Supply Development Council, Yes, sir,
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  Speaker 1: and it means that you signified as a minority company.
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  Speaker 2: Yes.
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  Speaker 1: You hear the incoming administration screaming about d I. How
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  Speaker 1: does that make you feel? Oftentime? I'm so insulted by
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  Speaker 1: it because it feels like that people who are doing
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  Speaker 1: work under DEI format are underqualified or being given something.
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  Speaker 1: And I always tell people you don't understand how this works.
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  Speaker 1: It's so much paperwork you have to fill out that
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  Speaker 1: you have to be qualified to get the opportunity. So
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  Speaker 1: when you hear people talking about DEI and you're part
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  Speaker 1: of an organization called the Judge of Minorities, apply to
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  Speaker 1: development Counsel, what are your thoughts?
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  Speaker 2: So I want to.
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  Speaker 3: I don't think I'm qualified to speak on d I.
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  Speaker 3: I don't know much about it and how it benefited
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  Speaker 3: benefits young black men in that regard, to the statistics
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  Speaker 3: on that benefited at all. In that regard, even with
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  Speaker 3: affirmative action, you can go back in time with all
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  Speaker 3: the different name changes. With that, what I can say
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  Speaker 3: is is that if you have the willwithal to go
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  Speaker 3: about what you want to do in any field that
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  Speaker 3: you want to do it in, there's nothing that can
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  Speaker 3: keep you away or keep you out. No DEI, no
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  Speaker 3: affirmative action, none of that. If you know what it
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  Speaker 3: is and you have the direction to go there, the
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  Speaker 3: possibilities are endless. I think on a basis of merit,
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  Speaker 3: on a basis of being able to facilitate and go
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  Speaker 3: after the things that you want, you can get it.
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  Speaker 3: No d or I, de I is going to keep
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  Speaker 3: you away from that. I'm a strong believer in that.
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  Speaker 3: I'm the walking poster boy for it.
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  Speaker 2: You know.
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  Speaker 3: I just think you make your own way in this world,
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  Speaker 3: and you you you stick with people who see your
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  Speaker 3: vision in align whatever it is that you choose to do.
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  Speaker 1: And you understand the power of relationships. Relationships.
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  Speaker 2: That's that's important.
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  Speaker 1: And I apologize in the way I phrased that question
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  Speaker 1: to you of the duty because of the fact that
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  Speaker 1: I guess I was it should have been like, because
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  Speaker 1: you getting these opportunities, you can be insulted by the
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  Speaker 1: fact that people assume that this has been given to
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  Speaker 1: you because of the color of your skin and not
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  Speaker 1: the work and the relationship you built. Yes, that's the
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  Speaker 1: part that disappoints me. And that's not true. And you
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  Speaker 1: just said, Rashan, I can't speak on this, but I
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  Speaker 1: can speak on me, yes, sir, And this is based
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  Speaker 1: on your work, ethic, quality, relationships I built over the
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  Speaker 1: years and I deliver. Now, that is how that's my DNA.
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  Speaker 1: They may be talking about d let me tell you
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  Speaker 1: about my d N A okay, and we're gonna go
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  Speaker 1: from there. Now, let's talk about you know, d w's
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  Speaker 1: involvement and workforce development and training programs. Let's talk about that.
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  Speaker 3: Man. That's excellent. So my pride and enjoy and it
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  Speaker 3: goes back to me. I was adopted as a youth,
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  Speaker 3: and my way of giving back to the community and
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  Speaker 3: undeserved communities is being able to train individuals who don't
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  Speaker 3: have any experience in the fields that I'm in. So
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  Speaker 3: I take them fresh off the street, no matter what
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  Speaker 3: background you come from, especially the youth. And you know,
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  Speaker 3: I'm working with the INSO program through Cherry Street, who
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  Speaker 3: is my partner, Cherry Street Energy. I work with them
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  Speaker 3: and I hire those individuals to come on board to
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  Speaker 3: work within my organization and get the skills that they
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  Speaker 3: need to move up within industry. That's the that's my
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  Speaker 3: claim to fame.
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  Speaker 1: Let me give you a bigger claim to fame. Let
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  Speaker 1: me listen. Let's let's give you your flowers. Okay, because
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  Speaker 1: this is a national show. You're based in Atlanta, but hey,
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  Speaker 1: in New York. You want to call him, you call him.
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  Speaker 1: He can deliver LA, you can call him Philly, you
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  Speaker 1: can call him. Let's start talking about your top three
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  Speaker 1: clients that you're currently working with or have been working with.
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  Speaker 1: Over the years, let's start with number one.
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  Speaker 3: So over the years, Cherry Street Energies, my solar partners,
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  Speaker 3: I've worked with Amazon, Sam's Club on the signate side
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  Speaker 3: of things. I have branched out into numerous different services
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  Speaker 3: that I provide on both spectrums of the industry and
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  Speaker 3: currently just expanding more and more as I add more
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  Speaker 3: services and add more skill sets to what we're trying
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  Speaker 3: to do. I kind of liken myself to the Amazon
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  Speaker 3: of the emerging trades.
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  Speaker 1: Right right. And so you say green energy, green energy,
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  Speaker 1: and can you explain to us, you know, here's a deal.
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  Speaker 1: You're in the business of making money. You know, you're
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  Speaker 1: trying to create a legacy for your family, but also
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  Speaker 1: you're a person of color, and somewhere along line, you know,
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  Speaker 1: it's about who you're doing business with. Yes, but you
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  Speaker 1: are mentoring and mentoring is important to you. And why
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  Speaker 1: is that so important? Because you did say, Rashan, Look,
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  Speaker 1: I'm here trying to take the person who may not
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  Speaker 1: think they can be in this field and educate them
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  Speaker 1: and train them to be in this field. So why
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  Speaker 1: is mentorship? You know, you mentioned that you come from
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  Speaker 1: an adopted background. Is that the driving force behind who
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  Speaker 1: you are.
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  Speaker 3: It's definitely is because I didn't I didn't have that.
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  Speaker 3: I didn't have nobody to put me under their wings
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  Speaker 3: and take me and show me a different direction. I
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  Speaker 3: grew up in the rough neighborhood in the Fellmore district
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  Speaker 3: of San Francisco, and you know that upbringing, you know,
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  Speaker 3: led me to something where you know, it was a
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  Speaker 3: lot of great history there and I was like, hey,
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  Speaker 3: you know, I want to I want to be able
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  Speaker 3: to give back in the way. I didn't know what
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  Speaker 3: I wanted to do when I went off to college.
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  Speaker 3: I went to HBCU. I went to Grammar State University.
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  Speaker 3: I'm a Grammar Knight graduate myself, and that, yes, sir,
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  Speaker 3: I am a Grammar Knight, and you know that that
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  Speaker 3: showed me a different light. It was a culture shock
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  Speaker 3: for me as well, because I grew up in the
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  Speaker 3: melting pot and going to an all black university and
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  Speaker 3: I saw the positivity and seeing people you know coming
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  Speaker 3: up that look like me doing great things. You know,
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  Speaker 3: they all had the same mind state to graduate and
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  Speaker 3: do bigger things within their life. You know a lot
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  Speaker 3: of them first time, you know, family, first time going
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  Speaker 3: to college, and that was that was a big thing
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  Speaker 3: for me, and I was like, hey, this is something
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  Speaker 3: I want to do.
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  Speaker 2: I want to be able to get back start my
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  Speaker 2: own business.
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  Speaker 3: And when I decided to move to Atlanta, I seen
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  Speaker 3: so many success stories, you know, young black individuals just
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  Speaker 3: doing great things. And I was like, hey man, this
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  Speaker 3: is my motivation, this is the claim to fame, this
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  Speaker 3: is what I want to do, and I'm just giving
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  Speaker 3: my part. I'm just doing my part, you know, to
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  Speaker 3: uplift the communities and and give back.
• 12:06
  Speaker 4: Please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with more
• 12:09
  Speaker 4: Money Making Conversations Masterclass. Welcome back to the Money Making
• 12:20
  Speaker 4: Conversations Master Class, hosted by Rashaan McDonald.
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  Speaker 1: Now you have San Francisco Filmore District where you say
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  Speaker 1: you grew up here, sir. Now Grambling University. Now you
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: got all you got Texas Southern. Then used to Howard,
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: you got Morgan, Stay, you got fam you you got
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: but through Cookman you got Clock Atlanta. Just to name
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  Speaker 1: a fe How did you wind up in Grambling? Well,
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: you're the athlete.
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  Speaker 3: It's crazy. I was an athlete in the high school.
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  Speaker 3: It's crazy that you say that because my niece, she
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  Speaker 3: went to Grambling. She was there a year before I was.
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  Speaker 3: I knew nothing to black black universities that they don't
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  Speaker 3: most dam the West coast, all right, So yeah, I
• 13:03
  Speaker 3: knew nothing. I was getting recruited to, you know, different
• 13:06
  Speaker 3: colleges U C, L, a USC and stuff like that,
• 13:10
  Speaker 3: and uh, you know, she I didn't care what college
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  Speaker 3: I went to. I just didn't want to go to
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  Speaker 3: a big university where nobody knew my name, where I
• 13:17
  Speaker 3: you know, the professor newest as a as a number
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  Speaker 3: instead of a name. And she told me to come
• 13:21
  Speaker 3: out there to Gramblin. I was like, okay, let me
• 13:24
  Speaker 3: talk about ever since then. It was it was it
• 13:27
  Speaker 3: was it was golden Man graduated back in five and
• 13:32
  Speaker 3: uh you know it was story she wrote right there.
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  Speaker 2: You know, great time.
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  Speaker 1: Now let's let's talk about transitioning because because like I said,
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  Speaker 1: I was born and raised in Houston, Texas, and I
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: went to New York and I went to l A.
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  Speaker 1: And you know, it's these relationships, you know, because you
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  Speaker 1: coming in and did you come to Atlanta with this
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  Speaker 1: vision or how was your because you have a company
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  Speaker 1: in a D e W partnership with ship SHARE's treat energy,
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  Speaker 1: how did you get here, what enable what let's let's
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  Speaker 1: let's talk about the building blocks to get to this
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  Speaker 1: moment for this Geman oh Man.
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  Speaker 3: So, actually, after I graduated from college, I went back
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  Speaker 3: to California. I was living in Berkeley. I was married
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  Speaker 3: at the time, and I was in the real estate
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  Speaker 3: market around that time. And you know, around two thousand
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  Speaker 3: and eight, that's when the bubble burst, I lost a
• 14:24
  Speaker 3: lot of money.
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  Speaker 2: It's a lot of money. I was a young cat.
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  Speaker 3: I was what twenty four twenty five when I graduated,
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  Speaker 3: had my first chat at twenty six, and you know,
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  Speaker 3: I was making good money. And you know, when you
• 14:35
  Speaker 3: lose that money, you lose the woman too. So yeah,
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  Speaker 3: I had to make the transition and I moved out
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  Speaker 3: here to Atlanta back in twenty ten, and I was
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  Speaker 3: selling cars at the time. When I first moved out
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  Speaker 3: here and decided decided to get into business, I was
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  Speaker 3: at the time selling these devices ca the Strawberry lasers
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  Speaker 3: and medical devices, and I was the number one seller
• 15:06
  Speaker 3: at that time selling those devices. I brought the state
• 15:10
  Speaker 3: of Georgia because at that time, you comby states where
• 15:13
  Speaker 3: you can run and be a distributor within the state.
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  Speaker 3: I did that for some time. Opened up my shop
• 15:19
  Speaker 3: back in twenty fifteen on the sign of shop where
• 15:23
  Speaker 3: I was wrapping cars. That's how I started in Douglasville, Georgia,
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  Speaker 3: and just kind of matriculated and expanded.
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: Did you say you were wrapping cars advanced and things
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  Speaker 1: like that cars?
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  Speaker 2: Yes, yes, that's how it started.
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  Speaker 3: And then I started just growing bigger and bigger with
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: different services. People say, hey, can you do signage, can
• 15:42
  Speaker 3: you do billboards? Can you do your personality?
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  Speaker 1: Yes?
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  Speaker 2: Yes, I.
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  Speaker 3: Didn't know how to do it, but I figured it
• 15:52
  Speaker 3: out and they loved it absolutely. You know, I wasn't
• 15:55
  Speaker 3: turning anything down, and you know, my name just got
• 15:59
  Speaker 3: you know, expanded, and it grew from there. And now
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  Speaker 3: I started working with corporations and started traveling the world.
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: Let's let's hold that thought right there, but do the
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: because I wanted to talk about that's the steps where
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: people kind of stumbled, you know, you know, because you
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: know that's when you start to get you know, you
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: have a great idea and then you have to start
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: putting principles in place so you can for longevity. And
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: we're talking about business plan. We talked about budgets. We're
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: talking a We're gonna talk about funding in a minute,
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: but let's talk about that part, you know, because that's
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: when the dowters start creeping in. Oh man, when you
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: start saying I'm gonna do this, they go, You've never
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: done that before. Let's talk about those steps before we
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: go in the further.
• 16:42
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so let's let's go back to how I actually started. So,
• 16:46
  Speaker 3: I had a business partner. I was working for another
• 16:48
  Speaker 3: company called it was a wire company out Carton. I
• 16:55
  Speaker 3: can't think of the name right now. It's not to
• 16:56
  Speaker 3: tip my tongue, but we're gonna for the sake of
• 16:58
  Speaker 3: the story. I met this guy who knew everything about
• 17:02
  Speaker 3: car wrapping. He was just show me these videos on YouTube.
• 17:06
  Speaker 3: He was just obsessed with showing me these videos of
• 17:08
  Speaker 3: car wraps and it looks like a paint job, but
• 17:11
  Speaker 3: it just looks more more shinier for whatever. He said, No,
• 17:15
  Speaker 3: just a rap, I said a rap. They got on
• 17:17
  Speaker 3: like a sticker or something, and I was like, hey,
• 17:20
  Speaker 3: you know, over time, I was like, let's just go
• 17:22
  Speaker 3: in the business together. I funded, you know, and everything
• 17:26
  Speaker 3: I said I funded. Let's take a year and we
• 17:28
  Speaker 3: just do it in my garage at my house at
• 17:31
  Speaker 3: the time, and we were just practiced. We didn't know
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: no better was We sucked at it. But it took
• 17:36
  Speaker 3: a year for us to get it right. And we
• 17:38
  Speaker 3: finally opened up the shop, and you know, like I said,
• 17:42
  Speaker 3: we had a rough patch. It wasn't it wasn't easy going.
• 17:46
  Speaker 3: I told him to focus on the physical part of it.
• 17:48
  Speaker 3: I focused on the business part, and yeah, things was
• 17:52
  Speaker 3: going some much good.
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  Speaker 2: You know.
• 17:54
  Speaker 3: After a year or so, you know, I lost my
• 17:57
  Speaker 3: business partner. He ended up dropping out and I had
• 17:59
  Speaker 3: to learn the business. I had to learn the business
• 18:01
  Speaker 3: and the skill sets it took to actually do the work.
• 18:06
  Speaker 3: And I was solo, you know for a good three
• 18:09
  Speaker 3: four five years, just learning everything and doing it.
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  Speaker 2: And it was hard. Man.
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  Speaker 3: I went through another divorce, you know, because I put
• 18:19
  Speaker 3: everything into this business. I was like, hey, I can't
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  Speaker 3: give it up. I put my last set in this thing,
• 18:24
  Speaker 3: you know, and you know, taking that chance on myself
• 18:28
  Speaker 3: and going with it and having that faith in the
• 18:31
  Speaker 3: most high because.
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: Nothing was telling me to quit.
• 18:34
  Speaker 3: I have, I have my thoughts one, but it wasn't
• 18:37
  Speaker 3: nothing that was telling me to give it all up.
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: And I kept going.
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: Man.
• 18:42
  Speaker 3: And the network I always tell people your network is
• 18:46
  Speaker 3: your net worth. Your network is your net worth.
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 18:51
  Speaker 3: You know my mom put that in me. You know,
• 18:52
  Speaker 3: people from every walk of life have something to offer.
• 18:56
  Speaker 3: You know, you just got to introduce yourself. And that
• 19:00
  Speaker 3: stick with me to this day. God wish your soul.
• 19:03
  Speaker 3: And I always pride myself on meeting people. You know,
• 19:06
  Speaker 3: I'm outgoing and I let myself be known that hey,
• 19:09
  Speaker 3: I'm here and I have something to offer.
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: Well, you know, having a smile like lou God said, JR.
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: Don't hurt.
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: I don't hurt.
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: You know, you use that a lot with the ladies.
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying, I show these parly wise.
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: And that right, bro. Let's talk about some of the
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: key factors the d double considers with selecting projects or clients.
• 19:35
  Speaker 3: Yes, sir, so what I consider is, you know, for me,
• 19:38
  Speaker 3: is can I can I be of service to you?
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: What?
• 19:42
  Speaker 3: What?
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: What? What?
• 19:43
  Speaker 3: Things that you aren't able to do that I can
• 19:46
  Speaker 3: do for you? And that's how I bridge that gap
• 19:49
  Speaker 3: with any partnerships that I make, any any clients that
• 19:54
  Speaker 3: I do business with, is how can I help you
• 19:57
  Speaker 3: do what you do better or take some of the
• 19:59
  Speaker 3: weight off of you? So you know, when people think,
• 20:02
  Speaker 3: what are you? Who are your competitors? I do business
• 20:04
  Speaker 3: with my competitors. I feel like I don't have any
• 20:07
  Speaker 3: competitors because I figured out what my competitors don't do
• 20:10
  Speaker 3: well and I offer that service. Okay, so yes, a
• 20:13
  Speaker 3: collaboration it is. It's a strategic capital collaboration.
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: That's interesting because usually people don't want to collaborate with
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: their competitors. The competitors gonna take their secrets. So how
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: are you working that out? Now? Oh?
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: Man?
• 20:23
  Speaker 3: Say I have a special set of skills, you know,
• 20:27
  Speaker 3: I have a special set of skills where like I said,
• 20:29
  Speaker 3: I take the I take the brunt of whatever they
• 20:35
  Speaker 3: got going on that they want to do. Because sometimes
• 20:37
  Speaker 3: we would like to believe as owners we can do
• 20:39
  Speaker 3: it all. Right, we can't do it all. I like
• 20:42
  Speaker 3: to collaborate. I like to collaborate with my competitors, you know,
• 20:45
  Speaker 3: because like I said, I can't do it all. I
• 20:47
  Speaker 3: may have a big project that personally I just can't
• 20:50
  Speaker 3: do it all. But I've been on this project that's
• 20:53
  Speaker 3: one hundred or six hundred thousand dollars and hey, I
• 20:56
  Speaker 3: outsourced this, Hey can you do this?
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: Give me a whole sale price?
• 20:59
  Speaker 3: That you can do it at and I retell it
• 21:02
  Speaker 3: to my clients and so on and so forth, and
• 21:04
  Speaker 3: where we we just work together.
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: So it's really interesting you saying that because I've never
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: you know, in a since. I do collaborate in a
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: sense because I'm a vendor. People bring me on board
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: as partners to they can't do like you said, they
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: can't do graphics. I do graphics. You know, they can
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: do website. I do websites and so but to say
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: the word collaboration with competitors, that's even more of a
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: profound statement to say to you. But also you have
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: to be very very confident in your brand.
• 21:36
  Speaker 3: Oh yes, oh yes, oh yeah, because I separate myself
• 21:40
  Speaker 3: from from from everybody else. Like I said my claim
• 21:43
  Speaker 3: to fame. I'm an installation company, right, so I don't
• 21:48
  Speaker 3: do what my competitors do, and then I do multiple
• 21:51
  Speaker 3: services that my competitors don't do. I am a solar
• 21:55
  Speaker 3: and signage installation company right now, right, That's what I do.
• 21:59
  Speaker 3: But I focus on emerging trades. My competitors don't do that,
• 22:04
  Speaker 3: and how I do things, they don't do it the
• 22:06
  Speaker 3: way I do it.
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'll speak with the confidence that you do now
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: in doing business and organization that collaboration. Again, let's talk
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: about Street strategic partners and also the possibility of dealing
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: with upcoming investors because you're about expanding your business because
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: you started, like you said, Rishon, look, I came out
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: of my pocket in my garage. I had a vision.
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: My partner dumped me. Then I had to learn what
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: he was doing as well as the administrative's side. So
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: now how do you protect yourself and how do you
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: move forward with creating strategic partnerships.
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: Man, that's an excellent question.
• 22:46
  Speaker 3: So for me is I'm a great networker and what
• 22:52
  Speaker 3: I have been able to do is I walk into
• 22:56
  Speaker 3: companies that I have done business with where they called
• 22:58
  Speaker 3: me to do signage work for them, and I figure out, Hey,
• 23:02
  Speaker 3: what do they do that I can do more of
• 23:07
  Speaker 3: for them? Or you know, figure out how we can
• 23:11
  Speaker 3: have some type of senergy where we can work together.
• 23:14
  Speaker 3: That's how I met Cherry Street Cherry Street Energy. I
• 23:18
  Speaker 3: met the owner. He called me on on a weekend
• 23:22
  Speaker 3: to do some signage work for him. And the owner
• 23:25
  Speaker 3: we had a great conversation. His name is Michael Shannon.
• 23:27
  Speaker 3: We had a great conversation about what he does. I said, okay,
• 23:31
  Speaker 3: you're going to be like the premier's solar energy company
• 23:35
  Speaker 3: for Georgia. I was like, how can I be a
• 23:38
  Speaker 3: part of that? And he was like, well, I'm starting
• 23:40
  Speaker 3: a program called the shine On program. I say, look,
• 23:43
  Speaker 3: I want to be a part of that. It took
• 23:46
  Speaker 3: me about almost a year for him to actually put
• 23:48
  Speaker 3: me on put me on the shine On program. But
• 23:51
  Speaker 3: every since it's been a great, great partnership. And you
• 23:55
  Speaker 3: know I do I'll do extensive amount of work for
• 23:58
  Speaker 3: him and my crew and we're currently expanding the business
• 24:02
  Speaker 3: on the solar side of things, and the relationship is great.
• 24:08
  Speaker 3: Like I said, I'm helping him in the scenario where hey,
• 24:11
  Speaker 3: the workforce is what isn't demand, you know, where they
• 24:15
  Speaker 3: can just focus on that administrative of getting the contracts
• 24:18
  Speaker 3: and you know, all the red tape stuff out the way.
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: But let's let's talk about you. Let's give you more flowers.
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: I've heard mentorship, I've heard giving people opportunities. I've heard
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: about are you not afraid to collaborate with your competition? Yes,
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: a lot of people have never heard that. They don't
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: understand that. And again as understanding the plan, but Also,
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: there's a certain honesty about you that you go, can
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: I be a part of it? This is my strength.
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: See a lot of people don't want to say that
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: because a lot of people, like you said, want to
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: be three sixty. Yeah, they want to do it all
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: instead of going there. You know, hey, bro, I drive
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: the best jump truck in the city. That's all I do.
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: I'm not gonna I'm not gonna shit back there and
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: lay the concrete, but I drive it. And that's basically
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: what you're saying in the Solar and promotional signage. You
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: do the development, you installation, and the maintenance. Talk about
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: the maintenance side there before we wrap up.
• 25:16
  Speaker 3: Okay, Well, the maintenance on both sides is basically, Hey,
• 25:20
  Speaker 3: once I do installation and everything, I warrantee everything. So hey,
• 25:25
  Speaker 3: if there's a scratch or a crack or anything like that,
• 25:29
  Speaker 3: well then we come in and we basically we fix
• 25:33
  Speaker 3: the situation for you. You know, there's there's nothing that
• 25:36
  Speaker 3: you have to do as a client. You don't have
• 25:38
  Speaker 3: to repurchase anything, you don't have to do anything. We
• 25:40
  Speaker 3: come in and make sure that you're good.
• 25:44
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: Let me let me just ask you about solar because
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: I because the curiosity of solar energy. The Sun is
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: there endlessly. You know what you know, And I'm not
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: saying this is a bad thing to know, but I'm
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: trying to get my fan base. Not so much my
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: fan base, but my relstnership excited about looking into solar
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: What are the advantages of solar energy and some of
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: the things that a person like you can help them
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: out if they contact you.
• 26:13
  Speaker 3: Well, the advantages of solar energy if you on the
• 26:17
  Speaker 3: business side of things, utility scale or just commercial where
• 26:23
  Speaker 3: I have a great partnership where hey, we come in
• 26:26
  Speaker 3: if it's a big enough scale of what we do.
• 26:29
  Speaker 3: You don't pay for the solar panels, you don't pay
• 26:32
  Speaker 3: for the installation. All we do is try to figure
• 26:35
  Speaker 3: out ways to save you money on your electric bill.
• 26:37
  Speaker 3: And when that bill comes out, you pay a portion
• 26:40
  Speaker 3: of whatever that bill is to the solar company that
• 26:43
  Speaker 3: install that service for you for free.
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: So there's no.
• 26:48
  Speaker 3: Overhead for you other than you paying a monthly bill
• 26:52
  Speaker 3: like you is to pay PGN or Georgia Power, whatever
• 26:55
  Speaker 3: the case may be.
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: Right, Well, my brother, how can they get in judge
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: with you?
• 27:00
  Speaker 3: Contact me at seven seven zero seven two six zero
• 27:03
  Speaker 3: one seven one, or you can go to my website
• 27:06
  Speaker 3: www dot d W dot com dot co. My email
• 27:12
  Speaker 3: is info at d W dot com dot co.
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: My brother, it was enjoyment. I'm telling you something.
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: I interview a lot of people and you're definitely a
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: personality driven company and you understand that and you value that.
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: But the one point you value relationships, but but hard
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: work you're not afraid of. Brother, Listen, listen.
• 27:37
  Speaker 3: I tell people you could either be an.
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: Action hero or action figure, a superhero. I'm to be
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: an action figure.
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: I love it.
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: Brother.
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: Thank you for coming on Money Making Conversations. Thank you fantastic.
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: I appreciate you.
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: Thank you.
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: This has been another edition of Money Making Conversation Masterclass
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: posted by me Rashawn McDonald. Thank you to our guess
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: on show today and thank you for listening to the
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: audience now. If you want to listen to any episode
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: I want to be a guest on the show, visit
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: Moneymakingconversations dot com. Our social media handle is money Making Conversation.
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: Join us next week and remember to always leave with
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: your gifts. Keep winning.