Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / Kika Wise, Founder of Kika Stretch Studios; Chris Gaston, CEO of Family First Sports Firm; Kenny Lloyd, CEO and President of TAVA Lifestyle; and Sherrell Dorsey- Founder and CEO of The Plug, a digital news platform that covers Black innovation

Transcript

Kika Wise, Founder of Kika Stretch Studios; Chris Gaston, CEO of Family First Sports Firm; Kenny Lloyd, CEO and President of TAVA Lifestyle; and Sherrell Dorsey- Founder and CEO of The Plug, a digital news platform that covers Black innovation · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

0:04
Speaker 1: Welcome to Money Making Conversations. It's the show that she
0:07
Speaker 1: has the secrets of success experience firsthand by marketing and
0:10
Speaker 1: Brandon expert Rashan McDonald. I will know he's giving me
0:13
Speaker 1: advice to many occasions. In incase you didn't notice, I'm
0:16
Speaker 1: not broke. You know, he'll be interview with celebrity CEOs,
0:19
Speaker 1: entrepreneurs and industry decision makers. It's what he likes to do,
0:22
Speaker 1: it's what he likes to share. Now it's time to
0:25
Speaker 1: hear from my man, Rashan McDonald. Money Making Conversations. Here
0:29
Speaker 1: we go. Welcome to Money Making Conversation. I am your host,
0:32
Speaker 1: Rashan McDonald. Let's be real. It's important that we understand
0:36
Speaker 1: that everybody travels a different path to success. That's because
0:39
Speaker 1: your brand is different and actually the people you're facing
0:41
Speaker 1: your life are different. So you need to start reading
0:44
Speaker 1: other people's success stories and little articles and find your
0:47
Speaker 1: own level of motivation. Now you can be motivated by
0:50
Speaker 1: their success, don't get it wrong, because their stories can
0:52
Speaker 1: offer direction and help you reach your goals. But I
0:54
Speaker 1: always remember it's through your planning and through your committed
0:57
Speaker 1: effort that you're going to achieve the success that my
1:01
Speaker 1: next guest, longtime friend. Last time I was here, I
1:04
Speaker 1: saw right before COVID when she was opening one of
1:06
Speaker 1: her popular franchise location in the city of Atlanta, Georgia
1:10
Speaker 1: went down there and were ready to get so all
1:12
Speaker 1: stretched out. She is a former professional dancer, turn entrepreneur,
1:16
Speaker 1: franchise or and wellness educator. Kika Stretch Studios help clients
1:21
Speaker 1: maintain youth and vitality with design, tension, relief that aigent,
1:25
Speaker 1: increased flexibility and overall ability. Kika Wise is a businesswoman
1:29
Speaker 1: on a mission to educate millennials and me people like
1:32
Speaker 1: me too and other demigrations on how to preserve self
1:36
Speaker 1: and pursue franchising. Please walk with the money making conversation
1:39
Speaker 1: to talent but young Kika Wise, thank you so much. Well, Kiko,
1:46
Speaker 1: you know I was, like I said, first of all,
1:48
Speaker 1: you introduced me to the whole concept of stretching. You know,
1:51
Speaker 1: I was a guy who fought that whole stretching principle,
1:55
Speaker 1: thought it didn't make any sense. And since I've been
1:58
Speaker 1: stretching and since we started our relations which is well
2:00
Speaker 1: over a year almost two years now, it has improved
2:04
Speaker 1: my my my flexibility has improved, my walk, has proved
2:08
Speaker 1: my posture. Tell us the whole, the whole science behind stretching. Yes,
2:15
Speaker 1: thank you so much again for having me um. Basically,
2:18
Speaker 1: when you stretch, you're sending fresh blood throughout your entire body,
2:22
Speaker 1: so your body is able to operate better, more efficiently.
2:26
Speaker 1: You're not as tired, you feel energized, and then you're
2:29
Speaker 1: just moving with more grace. You don't feel as much
2:32
Speaker 1: discomfort in your body. So it's very important to keep
2:35
Speaker 1: the blood flowing through your body. And so now that
2:38
Speaker 1: everyone's sitting down more there inside the house, now more
2:42
Speaker 1: than ever, it's so important to have someone help you stretch. Well,
2:46
Speaker 1: like I said, you just say help you stretch, or
2:48
Speaker 1: that's the principle is it's stretching by your stiff a
2:51
Speaker 1: good thing. You know, your business principle with somebody motivating you.
2:54
Speaker 1: In assistant, you tell us about your franchises and your
2:57
Speaker 1: brain yees, So imagine lying on a matt and having
3:01
Speaker 1: someone gently stretch out your entire body for you. So
3:04
Speaker 1: we helped take away the tension that's been trapped inside
3:07
Speaker 1: of your body for years. So our franchise locations are
3:12
Speaker 1: hubs for people to just feel more youthful, feel better,
3:15
Speaker 1: and just release all that tension that you really don't need. Well,
3:19
Speaker 1: I would tell you some Um, We've been in COVID
3:21
Speaker 1: in twenty Like you said, I I met you you
3:25
Speaker 1: opening one of your fantastic studios in the city of Atlanta,
3:29
Speaker 1: and I was about to schedule my my first appointment
3:31
Speaker 1: at that location and they COVID hit and then shut
3:35
Speaker 1: down the country for approximately two months when it was
3:38
Speaker 1: shut down. What was going through your mind and what
3:40
Speaker 1: was going through the franchise the franchises that you have
3:43
Speaker 1: sold your your brand to doing that first two months
3:46
Speaker 1: and talk about that and then when you start coming
3:48
Speaker 1: out of COVID, what were the planning process then? Yeah,
3:52
Speaker 1: So when the pandemic first happened, all of our studios
3:57
Speaker 1: had to close for three months. Um. For the first
4:00
Speaker 1: two weeks, I was really I was speechless. I couldn't
4:04
Speaker 1: believe that we were being forced to shut down. And
4:07
Speaker 1: during the pandemic, I had to have calls with my
4:10
Speaker 1: franchisees every week. So while I was struggling searching for
4:16
Speaker 1: positivity and answers in a situation like this, I really
4:20
Speaker 1: learned how to lead and I learned how to become
4:22
Speaker 1: a better leader by facing new entrepreneurs who just signed up,
4:27
Speaker 1: who are just getting their businesses flowing during a pandemic.
4:31
Speaker 1: So during the pandemic, we really focused on how we
4:34
Speaker 1: could help people feel better. That's what we do anyway.
4:38
Speaker 1: So UM, after the three months, we all reopened and
4:41
Speaker 1: we were able to engage our clientele again and they've
4:44
Speaker 1: been coming ever since. Great. So we currently have thirteen
4:48
Speaker 1: locations and including New Jersey, Georgia, Nevada, New York City, Pennsylvania,
4:53
Speaker 1: and California. We're not bringing that up because each state
4:55
Speaker 1: has its own pandemic rules on how to operate social distancing.
5:00
Speaker 1: Let's start with New Jersey. How did you UM, I
5:04
Speaker 1: could navigate through the rules that they had and placed
5:06
Speaker 1: in New Jersey, and we go to each state. I
5:08
Speaker 1: live in the Atlanta, Georgia, so I understand what's going
5:10
Speaker 1: on in Atlanta and California straight up crazy going over
5:13
Speaker 1: there with their rules. So so let's start with New Jersey,
5:16
Speaker 1: the most densely populated state in the Union. So New Jersey,
5:21
Speaker 1: believe it or not, was not UM that bad. We
5:25
Speaker 1: were because we're one on one and we do the
5:28
Speaker 1: stretching in private rooms we were able to open um
5:33
Speaker 1: after in the first wave, So the first wave of
5:36
Speaker 1: openings we were allowed to open at a limited capacity.
5:40
Speaker 1: So New Jersey was not that tough. Um, we have
5:43
Speaker 1: five locations in New Jersey, so we just had to
5:46
Speaker 1: follow the new COVID safety protocols, which was kind of
5:49
Speaker 1: easy for us because it's all one on one and
5:52
Speaker 1: so New Jersey was not as intense as some other states,
5:56
Speaker 1: as you mentioned. Absolutely, and so then had Georgia, which
6:00
Speaker 1: yeardi May eighth, there was allowed opening for places of massage,
6:04
Speaker 1: so you was able to the governor. Briant Camp who
6:08
Speaker 1: was the governor of Georgia, had relaxed rules started in
6:11
Speaker 1: May eight, so that was kind of like taken care of.
6:13
Speaker 1: Then you had Nevada, New York City with usual neighboring
6:16
Speaker 1: state Pennsylvania. Now your most recent location that you opened
6:19
Speaker 1: was in California. Calabasa tell us about navigating in California. So, yes,
6:27
Speaker 1: California had its own set of rules, many of them.
6:31
Speaker 1: When we opened in California, we were allowed to operate
6:35
Speaker 1: what we did as we started at an at home service,
6:39
Speaker 1: so we just did it outdoors. So that was the
6:41
Speaker 1: thing when we opened all of our stretching had to
6:44
Speaker 1: take place outdoors, so we met people at public parks, UM,
6:49
Speaker 1: golf courses, um, outside of their homes. So it was
6:52
Speaker 1: at home at and people loved it. Wow, I don't
6:56
Speaker 1: have to, you know, come out of my house. Um, well,
6:58
Speaker 1: I do have to come out of my house, but
6:59
Speaker 1: I don't have to drive to a location. So it
7:02
Speaker 1: was super convenient and it worked really well for the stated. Well,
7:06
Speaker 1: we're coming up, you know, Christmas, coming up, New Year's
7:08
Speaker 1: coming up, New Year one. What's the goal? You know,
7:11
Speaker 1: because let's let's let's let's talk to some of the
7:14
Speaker 1: highlights of kicka Wise, she's the youngest female franchiser in America.
7:18
Speaker 1: She reaching the open up thirteen, which we just talked
7:20
Speaker 1: about in the calabasas the Kicker. The Kicker stretch method
7:23
Speaker 1: is a trademark. Stretch routine is like any other. When
7:26
Speaker 1: you say that the stretching method is unlike any other,
7:28
Speaker 1: what's just the difference of me just going into my
7:31
Speaker 1: basement of going down, getting out my bed, laying on
7:33
Speaker 1: the floor, which makes your routine so unique. Right, So
7:37
Speaker 1: we all do that, We all stretch on our own,
7:39
Speaker 1: We all way on the floor and It's something that
7:41
Speaker 1: we keep doing and we keep seeking relief, but we
7:44
Speaker 1: never get it because you can only go so far
7:46
Speaker 1: on your own. After a while, you're just stretching at
7:49
Speaker 1: the same point over and over. It's really not helping
7:52
Speaker 1: you reach your goals. So when you have someone helping you,
7:56
Speaker 1: assisting you, you're going past your comfort zone and you're
7:59
Speaker 1: opening up new areas of your body. So you can't
8:01
Speaker 1: do that on your own. Um. The goal for us
8:04
Speaker 1: this year is to continue to expand nationally, and we're
8:09
Speaker 1: also adding some some more services to what we already
8:12
Speaker 1: do to help make it more relaxing, more comfortable and
8:16
Speaker 1: just dynamic. So let's let's relax me as a customer.
8:21
Speaker 1: You know, I want to come in. I know I
8:23
Speaker 1: need to stretch. I know, and I'm gonna tell you something.
8:26
Speaker 1: It does work. Ladies and gentlemen. Just stretching changes your life,
8:31
Speaker 1: bending over um, just lifting things. Just I think the
8:35
Speaker 1: biggest thing that stretching does for me, Kika is my
8:38
Speaker 1: posture and my walk because you know, as you if
8:42
Speaker 1: you don't stretch as you get older, your stride gets
8:44
Speaker 1: shorter and shorter, which calls that little slow motion quick
8:48
Speaker 1: step walk. If you stretch. I'm telling true, your ball
8:52
Speaker 1: was I thought I had my squad on that looked
8:54
Speaker 1: in the mirror and I went, okay, boy, you're walking
8:56
Speaker 1: like you eighty years old. And it's because I wasn't stretching, wasn't.
9:00
Speaker 1: I was doing the y'all, the walking, the power walking
9:03
Speaker 1: I was doing on my treadmill in the streets. It's
9:06
Speaker 1: like jogging, but that has nothing to do with extending
9:09
Speaker 1: your stride because you can do. You've seen people jog
9:13
Speaker 1: in the streets, they a little that little tippy tap
9:15
Speaker 1: jog because they don't feel like extending their body. Well,
9:18
Speaker 1: that was happening to meet and so so I was
9:20
Speaker 1: not motivating my body to get any better. And that's
9:23
Speaker 1: what the value of what you're talking about here, and
9:26
Speaker 1: not just for people my age, but people younger should
9:28
Speaker 1: start the process. And that's really what you discovered. I
9:31
Speaker 1: want to you know, it's been a long time since
9:33
Speaker 1: you've been on the show. Can you tell people the
9:34
Speaker 1: backstore how you got started with your with your whole
9:37
Speaker 1: business model? Yes. So I studied dance at Montclair State
9:43
Speaker 1: University in New Jersey. So I was a dance major.
9:46
Speaker 1: I acted and I danced professionally upon graduating for many years.
9:51
Speaker 1: Then it came to a point where I questioned should
9:53
Speaker 1: I go back to school or should I start my
9:55
Speaker 1: own business. Of course people were like, don't start your business.
9:59
Speaker 1: You know wants businesses fell blah blah blah. So I
10:02
Speaker 1: was always the type of people not people push your
10:05
Speaker 1: confidence and pushing you huh, pushing your confidence ahead fail,
10:09
Speaker 1: you would never make it stop exactly put stretching my
10:15
Speaker 1: confidence right. You know what, it's really sad because I
10:18
Speaker 1: want you know, look, I want you to finish your story.
10:19
Speaker 1: But that's where so many people stop. Because people don't
10:22
Speaker 1: understand your dreams. They will stop your dreams. If they don't,
10:26
Speaker 1: they won't take time to hear it out. They'll stop
10:28
Speaker 1: you to real speak, that's a dumb idea, or that idea.
10:31
Speaker 1: How are you gonna make money stretching people? That's what
10:33
Speaker 1: I know. You heard that a lot. So you mean
10:35
Speaker 1: you're gonna start a business where you should gonna stretch
10:38
Speaker 1: people out? See, they understand the word massar, they got that,
10:40
Speaker 1: they understand yoga, they understand pilates. But you came on
10:44
Speaker 1: with a whole new concept stretching and like a person
10:48
Speaker 1: like me, Oh, you're just gonna lay on the floor.
10:49
Speaker 1: Can't do that myself. And then you said, excuse me,
10:52
Speaker 1: that's the problem. You have been doing it yourself and
10:55
Speaker 1: you've been doing it wrong, and coming to your studio
10:58
Speaker 1: you get to do it right. So continue. I just
10:59
Speaker 1: want to stop you right there, because when you I
11:01
Speaker 1: get so mad when I hear people tell you to stop.
11:03
Speaker 1: When I that, it is so many typ of here,
11:05
Speaker 1: so many interviews. That term is used when people stop
11:08
Speaker 1: people trying to prevent them from pursuing their dreams because
11:11
Speaker 1: guess what, they don't understand trying to be a doctor.
11:15
Speaker 1: Do not go to a mechanic for advice, right, And
11:19
Speaker 1: unfortunately for for creatives, for people who create, it's something
11:23
Speaker 1: that you face people telling you to stop, that what
11:27
Speaker 1: you're thinking is crazy. And it's hard because you can't
11:30
Speaker 1: listen to them because they have no point of reference.
11:32
Speaker 1: It's a path that they haven't taken, so how can
11:35
Speaker 1: they really tell you to stop? Right? So you just
11:37
Speaker 1: have to keep going. So, like you said, people were like,
11:40
Speaker 1: I can stretch myself. What's the difference. So what we
11:43
Speaker 1: did our whole marketing campaign was coming for thirty minutes
11:48
Speaker 1: for free and try it out. And when people started
11:51
Speaker 1: doing that, they felt it and they were like, oh,
11:54
Speaker 1: this is what my body has been missing my whole life.
11:57
Speaker 1: And I'm like, exactly. So it's really something you have
11:59
Speaker 1: to feel. We always, you know, we try to explain
12:02
Speaker 1: it to people, but you have to you have to
12:04
Speaker 1: feel it because because it's so new. But yeah, so
12:07
Speaker 1: I decided to start the business. I took my last
12:11
Speaker 1: and people say really, yes, last five and I rented
12:14
Speaker 1: a little space that I shared with the real estate agent.
12:18
Speaker 1: I printed brochures from my computer and I started stretching
12:22
Speaker 1: people literally, and that's how the business started. And a
12:25
Speaker 1: little small space, people felt it, they liked it, and
12:28
Speaker 1: they begin to trust me and the method. So that's
12:32
Speaker 1: how we started. Well how do you how did that
12:34
Speaker 1: trust go from one franchise location to the next. You know,
12:37
Speaker 1: it's almost like when I go to McDonald's in Jersey
12:39
Speaker 1: and McDonald's in California, I want the same, Big Mac.
12:43
Speaker 1: How do you maintain that that that that authenticity, that
12:46
Speaker 1: that that credibility that the service I'm getting in location
12:50
Speaker 1: is going to be satisfactory to a client and your brand. Yes,
12:54
Speaker 1: So over the years, I um constantly uh, did new
12:59
Speaker 1: things and talk to new people. So we started getting
13:02
Speaker 1: more pressed more articles about what we were doing, and
13:06
Speaker 1: so more and more people started coming. Um, we had
13:09
Speaker 1: a really big article in the New York Times, and
13:12
Speaker 1: that's what really made it, you know, official, a big thing.
13:15
Speaker 1: And that's when people started inquiring about purchasing locations for themselves.
13:20
Speaker 1: So that's when I started taking franchising seriously, like, oh yeah,
13:23
Speaker 1: I could help people and I could expand using the
13:26
Speaker 1: franchise system. So we hold a lot of trainings, monthly trainings,
13:31
Speaker 1: we do one on one calls. Because the magic sauce
13:34
Speaker 1: is the stretch, So we constantly engage with our stretch
13:38
Speaker 1: coaches across the country ensuring that they're following the method
13:42
Speaker 1: and that everybody's on the same page. But that's something
13:45
Speaker 1: we've we focus a lot on because, as you said,
13:47
Speaker 1: we want people to stretch in California and have the
13:51
Speaker 1: same experience that they would have in New Jersey. Well. Yeah,
13:54
Speaker 1: in your opening, I said, is a business woman on
13:57
Speaker 1: a mission to educate millennials and other general rations on
14:00
Speaker 1: how to preserve self and pursue franchising. How you want
14:04
Speaker 1: to educate millennials? How much time do you have your Okay,
14:13
Speaker 1: I think it's it's happening now. Already we were told
14:16
Speaker 1: to get a good job, worth your your whole life, retire,
14:21
Speaker 1: so we all know that those systems are not the
14:23
Speaker 1: same as they once were. Pensions or not the same.
14:26
Speaker 1: So really, for millennials, what I'm encouraging them is to
14:30
Speaker 1: think outside of the box and trust themselves. We've been
14:34
Speaker 1: trusting systems, We've been trusting our boss, We've been trusting
14:38
Speaker 1: major corporations to give us a job. What I'm really
14:41
Speaker 1: trying to get people to understand is that if you
14:44
Speaker 1: trust yourself and believe in yourself, you can become your
14:48
Speaker 1: own entrepreneur or you your own boss. You can do it.
14:51
Speaker 1: So trusting themselves is really what I'm trying to get
14:54
Speaker 1: people to do. Well. First of all, I always tell people,
14:57
Speaker 1: if you don't trust yourself, then how are you gonna
14:59
Speaker 1: work hard? And if you don't work hard, then you
15:01
Speaker 1: want to achieve your dreams, And that's all tied to planning,
15:05
Speaker 1: proper planning, and you are planning. I remember the first
15:08
Speaker 1: interviewed when I first interviewed you, you were talking about Rashwan.
15:11
Speaker 1: I really want I want my stretch locations throughout this country.
15:15
Speaker 1: How does one franchise a location I want to go
15:18
Speaker 1: to the let's go look do let's do marketing one
15:20
Speaker 1: on one? Now, how does one franchise a location that's
15:24
Speaker 1: growing rather rapidly even during the pandemic. Yes, so you
15:29
Speaker 1: contact us first franchise the location keiknstruct Studios dot com. Um.
15:35
Speaker 1: But what is really happening out here is people are
15:38
Speaker 1: looking for ways to feel good and so that's why
15:41
Speaker 1: we're still getting many people interested in purchasing a location
15:45
Speaker 1: for themselves because they're looking for a business that obviously
15:48
Speaker 1: will generate a profit, but something that's long standing. So
15:51
Speaker 1: when I first started, I started during the recession in
15:55
Speaker 1: two thousand, it was right after two eight. Right now
15:59
Speaker 1: we're indepandem, we're still thriving, We're still we're still standing.
16:02
Speaker 1: So this is definitely something that will help people live
16:05
Speaker 1: their best lives. So um, they we ask people to
16:09
Speaker 1: really question why you want to go into business, and
16:12
Speaker 1: as long as it's for other people, like you're you're
16:16
Speaker 1: in it to help people, then we want to talk
16:18
Speaker 1: to you. Right, So what do what do? What do
16:20
Speaker 1: they have to have? I know, we gotta have good credit,
16:22
Speaker 1: do they have to have a building, they have to
16:23
Speaker 1: have a location. Do you have to have a staff?
16:26
Speaker 1: Can it be a one person operation? What the qualification
16:29
Speaker 1: of the standards to be come to buy a franchise?
16:32
Speaker 1: So yes, many of our current franchisees have a corporate background,
16:36
Speaker 1: so they're well organized, UM, they're good with multitasking. UM.
16:41
Speaker 1: We look for people who UM are willing to work
16:46
Speaker 1: in the business in the beginning and not just hand
16:48
Speaker 1: it off. It's important for our owners to know what
16:51
Speaker 1: they're selling. UM. We actually train you and help you
16:55
Speaker 1: find staff, help you find this space, We help you
16:58
Speaker 1: do everything. So really all you need to come with
17:01
Speaker 1: is work ethics UM, and just a passion to help people. People.
17:07
Speaker 1: We look for people that have like great personalities and
17:10
Speaker 1: and that's where we start our search. Well, you know,
17:13
Speaker 1: it's really important that you this interview process. You know,
17:16
Speaker 1: you're just not just set passing out franchises to make
17:20
Speaker 1: money because that's your brand. So you don't want the
17:23
Speaker 1: angry person or the get rich quick person trying to
17:27
Speaker 1: get in on your business. Because I want tend on
17:30
Speaker 1: here's the money next to you know, that's ten horrible
17:33
Speaker 1: brands and because guess what all complaints gonna come back
17:36
Speaker 1: to you. All the clints will hit your social media
17:38
Speaker 1: all complex and hit your hit your brand. So it's
17:41
Speaker 1: always important understand that yes you want to expand, yes
17:45
Speaker 1: you want to make money. Yes you want to be
17:48
Speaker 1: able to have your brain in the area that is
17:50
Speaker 1: up there with yoga and pilate, you know, just termin knowledge.
17:53
Speaker 1: You want to keep keeck a stretch meathter to be
17:56
Speaker 1: in that same language out there. But again, don't come
17:59
Speaker 1: to me for stupidity. Don't come to me. But if
18:02
Speaker 1: you don't care about people, don't come to me. If
18:04
Speaker 1: you don't have time, don't come to me. If you
18:06
Speaker 1: don't want to be an active participant in the location.
18:09
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying, Just buy it, give it
18:10
Speaker 1: to your mama, by give it to your sister. Then
18:13
Speaker 1: you won't do to generate money for you and neither
18:15
Speaker 1: one of them care about the product. So especially when
18:19
Speaker 1: the pandemic hit, because that's when you said it was
18:21
Speaker 1: something you noted and when you was talking you was
18:23
Speaker 1: talking about that was the truely you had to step
18:25
Speaker 1: up your leadership. When you said step up your leadership,
18:28
Speaker 1: what does that mean? Because did you have to step
18:31
Speaker 1: it up? Because people just didn't have any It was
18:33
Speaker 1: just they were just lost for words or or you
18:37
Speaker 1: just fear that, wow, these people could just collapse right
18:40
Speaker 1: in front you and you have no no answer to
18:43
Speaker 1: make them become successful because you had a plan before
18:46
Speaker 1: the pandemic. Pandemic here you're plan with out the window.
18:49
Speaker 1: It was planning b right. So it was because um,
18:56
Speaker 1: I would So I was watching all of the governors
18:58
Speaker 1: in differences, yeah state speak, and I was so inspired
19:02
Speaker 1: by many of them, like wow, just paying attention to
19:05
Speaker 1: how they they motivated, encouraged the community, but also how
19:10
Speaker 1: they dealt with negativity, right, um. And so I I
19:14
Speaker 1: understood that these new owners were at a very low
19:17
Speaker 1: place where they were afraid, and so I learned that,
19:23
Speaker 1: you know, you just have to keep it real with people,
19:24
Speaker 1: like we're all afraid, right, but this is what we're
19:27
Speaker 1: gonna do. So kind of um, not acting as if
19:30
Speaker 1: I was immune to what was going on, but letting
19:32
Speaker 1: them know that I'm human, I'm here with you, but
19:34
Speaker 1: this is what we're going to do. And just blieve,
19:37
Speaker 1: distrust me, you know, and just moving forward, um strong,
19:42
Speaker 1: because like, yeah, I've been doing this for a while.
19:45
Speaker 1: I trust that I know what I'm doing again, trusting
19:47
Speaker 1: yourself and so I'm not going to steer you the
19:49
Speaker 1: wrong way and leading that way. But what you said
19:52
Speaker 1: about finding candidates, it's so true. I've had to turn
19:55
Speaker 1: down so many people who literally threw money at me
19:58
Speaker 1: but didn't want to work in the business. Was gonna
20:01
Speaker 1: give it to a family member who never worked before.
20:04
Speaker 1: And so over the years I've become I've become really
20:08
Speaker 1: really strict as far as who we let in because
20:11
Speaker 1: that's the essence of your franchise. People well, you know,
20:14
Speaker 1: because that's what happens. And I'm just being honest. A
20:16
Speaker 1: lot of franchises I've been I've been associated with just
20:19
Speaker 1: through research and also talking to entrepreneurs, you know, people
20:23
Speaker 1: will sell them they say, hey, you want to you know,
20:25
Speaker 1: and a lot of main services franchises to do that.
20:29
Speaker 1: They say, I'm buying this for my wife, I'm buying
20:32
Speaker 1: this for my daughter, to try to get them in
20:34
Speaker 1: the business, get them in the entrepreneurial space. But does
20:38
Speaker 1: that mean that they understand it, Because in the end,
20:41
Speaker 1: it has to be a certain degree of education. What
20:44
Speaker 1: is that What is that period of education that you
20:46
Speaker 1: have in place when you when you want somebody signs
20:49
Speaker 1: on board, do just the training start before they they
20:53
Speaker 1: start paying making the payments for the for the franchising
20:56
Speaker 1: location or what's that period of training? Is a month
21:00
Speaker 1: to month or how does that work? Or just day weekly,
21:03
Speaker 1: weekly training? Yeah, so we start UM. Some people start
21:10
Speaker 1: as early as like three months before they actually opened.
21:13
Speaker 1: We start training them. UM. So we start training them
21:15
Speaker 1: in business in general. UM. You know, like what type
21:19
Speaker 1: what form of UM business entity should you form? Corporation, LLC,
21:25
Speaker 1: what's the difference bank account? How much money should you save? Um?
21:30
Speaker 1: Then we teach them on the method as well, and
21:33
Speaker 1: also the stretching business. So three weeks is usually the
21:39
Speaker 1: least amount of time will do it in. But I
21:42
Speaker 1: always tell people, like usually franchises are tenure agreements, So
21:47
Speaker 1: I always tell people it's a tenure learning process. And
21:50
Speaker 1: the moment you stop wanting to learn is the moment
21:53
Speaker 1: you're gonna your business is gonna go downhill. Because, like
21:56
Speaker 1: you said, entrepreneurs are not born overnight. Like you can't
22:00
Speaker 1: just say, oh, I have an LLC, I'm a business owner.
22:04
Speaker 1: On paper, you are, but in the real world you're
22:06
Speaker 1: gonna have to go through some stuff. So what we
22:08
Speaker 1: do is we try to tell you all this stuff
22:10
Speaker 1: you're gonna go through, so when it comes, you're prepared
22:12
Speaker 1: for it and you handle it. And that's the benefit
22:15
Speaker 1: of being in a franchise system. You're not alone and
22:17
Speaker 1: I can tell you what's going to happen and you'll
22:19
Speaker 1: be able to prepare for it. But it does require
22:23
Speaker 1: you to self educate yourself on business and requires you
22:27
Speaker 1: to read books on your own, to join local networking
22:31
Speaker 1: groups because you really do have to grow your entrepreneur
22:34
Speaker 1: muscle when you decide to purchase a franchise. Well, you know,
22:38
Speaker 1: it's really important that everything you said, I'm talking to
22:41
Speaker 1: kick a kick. You know, she used to kick a
22:43
Speaker 1: stretch studios thirteen locations across this country and you know
22:48
Speaker 1: states of New Jersey, Georgia, Nevada, New York City, Pennsylvania,
22:52
Speaker 1: and the Great state of California, Calabasas News locations location
22:57
Speaker 1: in Atlanta, Georgia that I will be visiting at the
23:00
Speaker 1: top of the year because guess what New Year's resolutions.
23:02
Speaker 1: So New Years Resolution at first quarter of the year,
23:04
Speaker 1: you're trying to change your life, You're trying to get refocused.
23:07
Speaker 1: This is the place to go. This is the I'm
23:09
Speaker 1: talking to the finder. What words of inspiration? What motivational
23:12
Speaker 1: statements can you say that convince these people not only
23:15
Speaker 1: this is a call not only about you sell enfranchises,
23:18
Speaker 1: but also inviting people down to the studios that in
23:20
Speaker 1: the various locations throughout this country. What words are You
23:23
Speaker 1: have five locations in New Jersey, one location I know
23:26
Speaker 1: in Atlanta, which is the state of Georgia. What other
23:29
Speaker 1: locations outside of that you have on your location that
23:31
Speaker 1: multiple locations in the same state or New Jersey is
23:34
Speaker 1: the only one has five? So we actually have two
23:38
Speaker 1: in Georgia, Vindings and Medtown find I know Vinus. Both
23:43
Speaker 1: locations are really good. Congratulations. Yes, um, we have the
23:48
Speaker 1: owner in our Nevada territory. He's adding another location within
23:53
Speaker 1: the next few months. California, UM, New York. We actually
23:58
Speaker 1: have someone who is going to open in Maryland UM
24:01
Speaker 1: the top of the new year. So we're excited about that.
24:05
Speaker 1: And yeah, I mean words of inspiration, I would definitely
24:08
Speaker 1: say invest in yourself period like period because we all
24:14
Speaker 1: we've we've gone through so much. Um, We've this just
24:20
Speaker 1: been such a tough time for everyone, and I think
24:22
Speaker 1: the lesson that we've all learned is that when it
24:25
Speaker 1: all comes down to it, we have. All we have
24:27
Speaker 1: is ourselves. We have to really focus on caring for
24:30
Speaker 1: ourselves before we can care for anyone else. So whatever
24:33
Speaker 1: that means to you, um, whatever you've always wanted to
24:37
Speaker 1: do that you've never done because you were busy doing
24:39
Speaker 1: other things for other people. Invest in yourself first and
24:43
Speaker 1: then your life will open up. And that's so true.
24:47
Speaker 1: But understand is when you invest in yourself and entails
24:50
Speaker 1: hard work. If you invest and want to be an entrepreneur,
24:54
Speaker 1: there's two things happening. You can be an entrepreneur in
24:56
Speaker 1: this case a franchise or a franchise or is really
24:58
Speaker 1: great because they kind of like give you the cookbook.
25:02
Speaker 1: They're there to help show you how to make the meal.
25:04
Speaker 1: But it still comes back to whether you have the
25:06
Speaker 1: passion to see it through. Because it is more than
25:10
Speaker 1: a forty hour week jaw. It may until some days
25:13
Speaker 1: when you don't want to go to work, to go
25:15
Speaker 1: to work, some days you don't want to get up.
25:17
Speaker 1: Some people want to call in sick on you. You
25:19
Speaker 1: have to do the work that they were supposed to do,
25:21
Speaker 1: so so to go out there and want to be
25:24
Speaker 1: a business owner. That's why I enjoy talking to the
25:26
Speaker 1: individuals like you, because it started from a dream, you know,
25:29
Speaker 1: in the small real estate office, your first your last
25:32
Speaker 1: five dollars. Now it's a growing franchise model that you
25:35
Speaker 1: can share around the country. And any number of goals
25:38
Speaker 1: that you have. For one, are you gonna try to
25:40
Speaker 1: get the fifty or a hundred by year twenty two?
25:44
Speaker 1: What's that? What's what's the what's the run? Here? Eventually
25:47
Speaker 1: gonna see you on the stock market. Here, we're gonna
25:49
Speaker 1: bear to buy stock for you five dollar kicker share? What? What? What?
25:53
Speaker 1: What are we doing in? Now? I know you're I
25:55
Speaker 1: know you're an entrepreneur. Now you don't think small. That's
25:57
Speaker 1: what I love about you. Know what is a big pit?
26:00
Speaker 1: You're here? Am I gonna be one day buying shares
26:02
Speaker 1: of your product? Listen? If we're gonna public, you'll be
26:07
Speaker 1: one of the first. Okay, thank you. You can't do anything,
26:11
Speaker 1: you know what I mean? Man, I will find you
26:13
Speaker 1: in one of your five locations in Jersey if you
26:16
Speaker 1: go public, because I just know that you're, you know, innovator,
26:19
Speaker 1: and I enjoy talking to you. It was so funny.
26:22
Speaker 1: Just let everybody know. She she had actually dialed me,
26:25
Speaker 1: and I like, kicking, what's up. I didn't mean to
26:28
Speaker 1: call you, I said, okay, girl, what's the problem. Really
26:32
Speaker 1: hurt my feelings right there. She could have said, hello,
26:34
Speaker 1: wish you happy holidays. I didn't mean to call you,
26:37
Speaker 1: Richard that I've talked to you a long time. Let's
26:39
Speaker 1: get back on the show. And then she started telling
26:41
Speaker 1: me about her Calabasas located. I said, wow. She started
26:44
Speaker 1: telling me how she was she was, she was, she
26:46
Speaker 1: was succeeding during the pandemic when there was every time
26:49
Speaker 1: you look on TV is one horrible story at the
26:51
Speaker 1: next harbor store after next harrible story. And you in
26:54
Speaker 1: a in a business that is close contact, which social
26:57
Speaker 1: distance can become an issue and used to exceeding and
27:00
Speaker 1: so so after that accidental phone call led to us
27:04
Speaker 1: getting back together to talk about this story. Is we're
27:07
Speaker 1: gonna putting this out here and promote you. You know,
27:09
Speaker 1: I'm a big fan of yours. I I just tease
27:11
Speaker 1: you about that phone call because of the fact that
27:13
Speaker 1: you know, God works in my sterious ways. You know,
27:15
Speaker 1: it's like time and is everything, And we needed to
27:18
Speaker 1: talk to each other because of the fact that I'm
27:20
Speaker 1: proud of you as a as a as a young entrepreneur,
27:22
Speaker 1: as a female African American. The one is going to
27:26
Speaker 1: be a year of the black woman or the African
27:28
Speaker 1: American woman. And I think you're gonna be one of
27:30
Speaker 1: the frontier blazers of that opportunity. So good luck and
27:35
Speaker 1: keep winning, Okay, and then anytime you make another accident
27:37
Speaker 1: on the phone, call make it like every six months. Okay,
27:39
Speaker 1: kick now, and I gotta give definitely not that Vineese
27:46
Speaker 1: location is a great location too, and I've I've been
27:49
Speaker 1: down to the Midtown location, which I thought was a
27:51
Speaker 1: fantastic easy parking on the street, very very met the owner.
27:55
Speaker 1: She was fantastic. Like I said, it was just COVID
27:57
Speaker 1: hit like the next week or so they shut down
28:00
Speaker 1: to a state of George as well as this country.
28:02
Speaker 1: So but that doesn't stop the desire to be successful.
28:06
Speaker 1: And you are successful, and you've already said on my
28:08
Speaker 1: show before you are public, let you know, so all
28:12
Speaker 1: right there, thank you for being the youngest franchise or
28:14
Speaker 1: in America. I appreciate you. Okay, bye bye, We will
28:20
Speaker 1: be right back with more money making conversations with your
28:23
Speaker 1: host or Sean McDonald. It's finally here, the season of celebration.
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Speaker 1: T E. R dot Ai, Hi and Rashan McDonald, the
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Speaker 1: host of Money Making Conversations. The Cafe Marca Swag Award
30:26
Speaker 1: is a celebration of black men who are making a
30:28
Speaker 1: difference in our community by empowering others to reach their
30:31
Speaker 1: life goals from civic leaders, businessman, activists, celebrities and everyday days.
30:36
Speaker 1: The Cafe Marca Swag Award one of this week's Chris
30:38
Speaker 1: Paul on the Court. Chris Paul is forced to be
30:41
Speaker 1: reckoned with off the Court. He's a father, husband, compassionate
30:45
Speaker 1: philanthropists and businessman who makes a huge difference in his
30:48
Speaker 1: community by supporting many organizations like the Bars and Girls Club.
30:52
Speaker 1: Choose that fit vision to learn the brotherhood Kausea leaps
30:56
Speaker 1: and bounds and feed the children. You know, that's so
30:59
Speaker 1: many people who have helped me get to where I
31:01
Speaker 1: am today that you know it is paying it forward
31:05
Speaker 1: and just trying to teach and educate, especially the youth.
31:08
Speaker 1: I wanted to do as much as I could do
31:10
Speaker 1: my part, just because you know, we all are people
31:14
Speaker 1: the big families. The caffine Oka Swag Award represents men
31:17
Speaker 1: who have strength, whose wisdom is assert and who are
31:19
Speaker 1: genuine in their spirit. Welcome back to money making Conversations
31:24
Speaker 1: with your host Rashan McDonald. My next guest is a Eustonian.
31:28
Speaker 1: I'm from Houston, so I'm always happy to bring on
31:30
Speaker 1: a fellow houstonnight onto the show. It's Chris Gaston Chris
31:34
Speaker 1: Gaston fold founded Family First Sports firm with his wife
31:37
Speaker 1: in twenty and eighteen. The agency Family First focused on empowerment,
31:41
Speaker 1: economic growth, and black excellence. The agency represents DeAndre Daron,
31:47
Speaker 1: Darren Fox of the That's just correct and I say
31:50
Speaker 1: the right Deer and Fox of the Sacramento Kings. Gassing
31:55
Speaker 1: is signed the largest contract in Sacramento Kings franchise history
31:58
Speaker 1: five years, a hundred and sixty rea million and then
32:01
Speaker 1: security four million dollar deal for Damien Dotson, former you
32:04
Speaker 1: of h grad That's why I went to school and
32:07
Speaker 1: the toughest free agent market and in NBA history. He's
32:10
Speaker 1: now with the Cleveland Cavali Leers. He originally started out
32:12
Speaker 1: the New York Knicks. Gaston made his way in the
32:15
Speaker 1: industry through player development, working with many of the top
32:18
Speaker 1: players in the NBA college in high school. Please welcome
32:21
Speaker 1: to money making conversation A man who understands relationships, Mr
32:25
Speaker 1: Chris Gaston. Yes, sir, Man well Man, pleasure to have me. Man.
32:29
Speaker 1: Didn't know you was a Houston native, so I was
32:31
Speaker 1: good talking to a fellow Houston guy. You know, we're
32:33
Speaker 1: very proud, you know, we were to that H symbol
32:36
Speaker 1: on our on our hearts man, wherever we go, well
32:38
Speaker 1: you have to. You know, I'll also be broadcasting on KTSU,
32:41
Speaker 1: so this show will be area on KTSU and the
32:43
Speaker 1: Houston market on that every Tuesday from twel to one,
32:46
Speaker 1: so I make sure this episode airs in the Houston market.
32:49
Speaker 1: So you know, again, you have a brand that you developed,
32:52
Speaker 1: and I started that out by save relationships. Because we
32:55
Speaker 1: talked about working with NBA players or top college players
32:59
Speaker 1: in NBA college school. Talking about your journey right quick, Chris,
33:02
Speaker 1: Because everybody wants to be an agent. But you can
33:04
Speaker 1: be an agent, but if you don't have the relationships,
33:07
Speaker 1: then you don't have talent to side to these big
33:09
Speaker 1: deals that we just talked about in your opening credits. Man,
33:14
Speaker 1: being an agent is all about relationships, man, And you know,
33:18
Speaker 1: these relationships don't happen. It's just like building trusts. You
33:20
Speaker 1: can't build trust overnight. So these relationships are ten, fifteen,
33:24
Speaker 1: twenty years in the making. You know, I'm not an
33:27
Speaker 1: overnight success. You know, I started, and I granted from
33:30
Speaker 1: the bottom. I started working out high school girls. You know,
33:34
Speaker 1: then I was blessing up that you know I got
33:36
Speaker 1: that I called you know like my little brother, a
33:38
Speaker 1: guy by the name of Tommy Mason Griffin and know
33:40
Speaker 1: him since he was in the second or third grade.
33:43
Speaker 1: You know, I started working with him and he turned
33:44
Speaker 1: out to be a McDonald's all American, you know, out
33:46
Speaker 1: of Madison High School. High school, I went to you know,
33:50
Speaker 1: it kind of snowball from there, man to just working
33:54
Speaker 1: guys out. UM started the AUTH program that I wanted
33:58
Speaker 1: to be a college coach and work out, and it
34:01
Speaker 1: just kept growing and growing. I just kept grinding and grinding.
34:04
Speaker 1: This is you know, this is years and years of
34:07
Speaker 1: relationship to get to this point. So you know, everybody
34:09
Speaker 1: wants to be a rich Paul or Jeremy Brynth and
34:12
Speaker 1: they could just wake up over not even to take
34:13
Speaker 1: a test become an agent. It's not that simple. Man. Well,
34:19
Speaker 1: he had the ultimate relationship. That's UH called Lebron James
34:22
Speaker 1: and that's him Maverick and UH. Lebre's a great story
34:26
Speaker 1: about black men who started out in high school who
34:30
Speaker 1: built a sports empire, media empire, and a philanthropi UH empire.
34:36
Speaker 1: As we all know, Lebron was very influential and the
34:39
Speaker 1: h A movement and civil rights arrested. UH sivil arrested
34:43
Speaker 1: happen this summer as well as getting out to vote.
34:46
Speaker 1: And so how does that player to your agency? Because
34:48
Speaker 1: we talk about your agency and focuses on empowerment, economic
34:52
Speaker 1: growth and black excellent, Let's start with the empowerment part.
34:56
Speaker 1: What empowerment is first, I have to empower myself, yes,
34:59
Speaker 1: because but that looked like me, that walk and talk
35:02
Speaker 1: like me that way they're hearing and you know, any
35:04
Speaker 1: type of style they want, they don't get opportunities in
35:07
Speaker 1: this business. Their stereotype, their judge. It's just hard. Like
35:10
Speaker 1: you know, the majority to men own the court, players
35:13
Speaker 1: on the court or African American or minorities, but the
35:16
Speaker 1: majority of the business that happens off the court, people
35:19
Speaker 1: hearing these guys careers are white men and it's just lopside.
35:22
Speaker 1: And you know, I've been here being through changing that
35:24
Speaker 1: and given you know, all minorities and women a chance
35:27
Speaker 1: and empowerment in this business. So um, I'm not slaying
35:32
Speaker 1: to hiring one person or another, but I but I do.
35:34
Speaker 1: I am big on hiring minorities and people who normally
35:37
Speaker 1: wouldn't get a chance to work in this industry. That's
35:39
Speaker 1: very important to I. Can I can relate to you.
35:41
Speaker 1: You know, I managed Steve hard my background Steve Harvey.
35:44
Speaker 1: Talents like Steve Harvey doesn't get associated with talents like me,
35:47
Speaker 1: which means that people of color. I currently managed Steven A. Smith,
35:51
Speaker 1: a high profile a person in the media, especially on
35:54
Speaker 1: the NBA side with ESPN and negotiating contracts. So it's
35:58
Speaker 1: all that part about the go she being in that doorway,
36:01
Speaker 1: being able to look at individuals that represented by UH majority,
36:07
Speaker 1: ferns majority first like CIA, UH, William mars, U, t
36:11
Speaker 1: A and other other sports agencies that that get out
36:15
Speaker 1: there and get the athlete first, and then usually what
36:17
Speaker 1: happens they have the ability to court them longer, and
36:20
Speaker 1: especially happens in the football industry, but also in the
36:23
Speaker 1: basketball industry a little bit different because of the fact
36:26
Speaker 1: that as a nurturing process, AU Pro Programs or i
36:30
Speaker 1: MG kind of setting it up where they got people
36:33
Speaker 1: they got you go down there and participate in their camps.
36:36
Speaker 1: So but you got in with Mr Fox who's out
36:39
Speaker 1: of Houston and Damien Dodson who went to the University
36:43
Speaker 1: of Houston. So these are two people in Houston based.
36:46
Speaker 1: Talk about how you establish your relationship with Fox because
36:49
Speaker 1: they also were two talented twins out of the Houston
36:53
Speaker 1: market that also went that went to the Kentucky and
36:56
Speaker 1: uh and a lot was expected of those two young men,
36:59
Speaker 1: you know, because they were they were much of bally hoo.
37:02
Speaker 1: The fact that they were even more bally you than
37:04
Speaker 1: their Darren was when he came out to Darreon when
37:07
Speaker 1: they Yeah, these guys, they had all the hype around him.
37:10
Speaker 1: But I can't speak. I don't know specifically what happened
37:13
Speaker 1: with those guys. I mean, they were great players and
37:15
Speaker 1: just I mean the NBA is hard. Just didn't paying
37:17
Speaker 1: off for those guys. But as far as my relationship
37:20
Speaker 1: with with Damian Dawson, he's actually a family. Um. He's
37:24
Speaker 1: my wife's cousin. So I met him when I first
37:26
Speaker 1: starter day with my wife and Damian was back in six,
37:29
Speaker 1: six or seven grade. He was Yeah, he was just
37:32
Speaker 1: with me everywhere. He wasn't a big time prospect or,
37:34
Speaker 1: like he said, a badly Hoover fruit. He was a guy.
37:37
Speaker 1: We just put our head down and went to work
37:39
Speaker 1: every day. We grinded. I mean when he went to
37:41
Speaker 1: some trials and tribulations at Oregon, get the Transport University
37:45
Speaker 1: of Right and then you know, my relationship with Darren
37:48
Speaker 1: Fox starter when he was in the fighth grade. I
37:50
Speaker 1: had my own a youth program and one of my
37:52
Speaker 1: friends that was going to be his coach at the
37:54
Speaker 1: high school said, uh, you should have come let this
37:57
Speaker 1: kid and played for a tournament on your seventeen in
38:00
Speaker 1: the under program. I'm like, I'm not letting no fed
38:03
Speaker 1: grade kid complaying with these juniors and seniors. They're now,
38:06
Speaker 1: you should let him come play. He's gonna be pretty good.
38:08
Speaker 1: So I let him come play one tournament, and that
38:11
Speaker 1: was all she wrote. You know, we've been attacked attached
38:15
Speaker 1: at the hip ever since. And I say that's the
38:18
Speaker 1: difference between me and Rich Paul. A lot of people
38:20
Speaker 1: try to comparis Rich Paul per Se was these guys
38:23
Speaker 1: peers and kind of grew up with them and hung
38:25
Speaker 1: out with those guys. You know, me and Darren we
38:28
Speaker 1: want peers. I was. I was a man, he was
38:30
Speaker 1: a child, you know. I was more of a mentor
38:32
Speaker 1: a big brother. And now actually that he's older, we
38:35
Speaker 1: grew into a different type of relationship. But I wasn't
38:38
Speaker 1: some guy hanging out at the club with him. And
38:40
Speaker 1: calling and texting him like no, I was a professional businessman,
38:44
Speaker 1: like this wasn't like you know, some homeboy hookup type
38:46
Speaker 1: stuff like. But but it's about it's all about trust
38:50
Speaker 1: because you started earlier, you know what, But I started
38:52
Speaker 1: reason to reservate Chris, you know, because you know, coaching
38:56
Speaker 1: a lot of discipline in your life, a lot of development,
38:59
Speaker 1: a lot of motivation comes out of your resume, you
39:02
Speaker 1: know when I look at it, and let's talk about
39:04
Speaker 1: let's walk through these steps because I'm not trying to
39:07
Speaker 1: bash anybody on this show when I talked about the
39:09
Speaker 1: Harrison Twins, because but that's how this business is. You
39:13
Speaker 1: can come out much Bally who they went to Kentucky,
39:16
Speaker 1: had an incredible career, but then flaws in their game
39:20
Speaker 1: started to pop up. You know, could have could have
39:23
Speaker 1: handled Rock. Who's what position is there gonna play? Does
39:26
Speaker 1: he play good? D? But when I looked at Foxes game,
39:29
Speaker 1: I remember when he played against uh Ball, who was
39:32
Speaker 1: much bally Hood. How do U c l A? And
39:35
Speaker 1: there was much talk after he clowned him. I mean
39:37
Speaker 1: he clambed Ball you know in the in the tournament
39:40
Speaker 1: that okay, it's ball, A Fox should go as we
39:45
Speaker 1: see now Fox should have went number two and not Ball,
39:49
Speaker 1: who's been a very competent player. But again, hype, Ken,
39:53
Speaker 1: how do you slice through the hype because I remember
39:57
Speaker 1: emotionally I was really charmed by by Dear and when
40:00
Speaker 1: he was crying on TV after that loss, were hype.
40:05
Speaker 1: We try to block out the noise, man, because it's
40:07
Speaker 1: gonna be so many people in your ears, so many
40:09
Speaker 1: people telling you how good you are. We always want more, man.
40:13
Speaker 1: Dearing's dad and his mom, they did a great job
40:15
Speaker 1: of keeping him absolutely. Remember after his his press er
40:18
Speaker 1: in high school, Darren had a fifty two point games
40:21
Speaker 1: fifty two points, and all his dad was pushing about
40:24
Speaker 1: after the game was you missed these rebounds, you missed
40:27
Speaker 1: the balls, you missed these free throws. Let's go to
40:29
Speaker 1: the gymer ninety two free throws. So it's about keeping keeping,
40:33
Speaker 1: you know, And it's hard to stay humber when you're
40:35
Speaker 1: getting all these press Culippians, all these rankings and stuff.
40:38
Speaker 1: So that's why you're your supporting circle, your people around
40:41
Speaker 1: your family. They are very crucial to the player of development.
40:44
Speaker 1: You gotta keep these guys humble, you know. To your
40:46
Speaker 1: point that hash and twins and had a lot of hype,
40:48
Speaker 1: and um, I mean it just didn't work out. I mean,
40:51
Speaker 1: the NBA is a hard business. Like you said, they
40:53
Speaker 1: got nick pick when they got to Kentucky, had a
40:55
Speaker 1: lot of question marks about the game, and it just
40:58
Speaker 1: didn't work out. But you know, you have to stay humble,
41:01
Speaker 1: you have to block out the noise. You cannot get
41:03
Speaker 1: caught up in the height. I've seen the number one
41:06
Speaker 1: pick Anthony Bennett WoT of the NBA. Now, so I
41:11
Speaker 1: tell people, don't get caught up in the rankings or
41:13
Speaker 1: will pick. You go the Jarbers to get in the
41:14
Speaker 1: league and stay in the league. You know, well that
41:18
Speaker 1: some people that get too caught up in the rankings
41:20
Speaker 1: and who's what. But we don't get caught up in that.
41:22
Speaker 1: We don't well what the thing about it? So so
41:24
Speaker 1: with that being said, because that's that's that's daring. Okay,
41:28
Speaker 1: here's it got much belly who And then you go
41:30
Speaker 1: to Damien Dotson, you know when he left your age,
41:34
Speaker 1: you know, and he made the New York Knicks team
41:37
Speaker 1: through tough defense and here's a good outside shop, good
41:41
Speaker 1: three points. So he had talked about that process because
41:44
Speaker 1: that was a different motivation process because the Fox was
41:48
Speaker 1: a lot of repick, so a certain amount of guarantees.
41:50
Speaker 1: You know, he wasn't gonna get cut his first year.
41:53
Speaker 1: We knew that, but Damien went in talk about that
41:55
Speaker 1: process and getting them on the New York Knicks and
41:57
Speaker 1: now he's over Cleveland now. But I was so proud
42:00
Speaker 1: because he was He's a really talented NBA player right Well,
42:06
Speaker 1: with Damnien, you know, we have a model. Man. I
42:08
Speaker 1: always know his work. You know, dream big, work hard,
42:10
Speaker 1: let God do the rest. And so that was kind
42:12
Speaker 1: of our model. You know, we're gonna put We're gonna
42:15
Speaker 1: work as hard as we can, and wherever the chips
42:17
Speaker 1: may fall, we're gonna We're gonna be happy with that.
42:19
Speaker 1: So his process was very different coming out of the
42:21
Speaker 1: University of Houston. There were no guarantees. We packed our
42:24
Speaker 1: badge and went to LA we started training. He had
42:27
Speaker 1: to go to the camp called the Court Smith Invitational
42:30
Speaker 1: the pr T, which is for the top seniors in
42:32
Speaker 1: the country, absolutely and he went there. He bawled out.
42:36
Speaker 1: He won m VP of the tournament and from there
42:38
Speaker 1: he got invited to the Chicago Combine, which is for
42:40
Speaker 1: the top sixty prospects in the NBA Draft. He played
42:44
Speaker 1: well there um and he we had several NBA workouts
42:48
Speaker 1: Lindo for him. He played what he did with I
42:50
Speaker 1: mean he stepped, he knocked it out the park, and
42:53
Speaker 1: I mean it was a ground. He's grueling, is mentally taxing,
42:56
Speaker 1: but he's built for this man. And you know that's
42:58
Speaker 1: the reason why he's sticking in the NBA the day,
43:00
Speaker 1: because he just has that fortitude to to fight it
43:03
Speaker 1: through adversity. Let's let's talk about that. There's sticking in
43:07
Speaker 1: the NBA. These guys are giving a lot of money
43:10
Speaker 1: to how do you you know? And I'm a guy.
43:13
Speaker 1: You know, I'm a financier. You know my name, my show,
43:16
Speaker 1: money making conversations, and so I always believe that some
43:20
Speaker 1: of these young men should just be they could be
43:22
Speaker 1: able to the money they make their first year, should
43:24
Speaker 1: be putting the fund where they can just be delivered
43:28
Speaker 1: live a lifestyle of comfort for the rest of the
43:30
Speaker 1: for the rest of their life. Really, it can't be
43:32
Speaker 1: done that way. How did you deal with these situations?
43:35
Speaker 1: From my financial Standford, you're the agent. Now, they are
43:37
Speaker 1: different lanes out there. I would just let everybody know
43:40
Speaker 1: and the agent lane, there's a financial lane, as a
43:42
Speaker 1: branding person, as a talent agent. There's a lot of
43:44
Speaker 1: different length What all is your firm encompass? Well, my friend,
43:50
Speaker 1: well come we have the marketing endorsements, are the contract negotiations. Uh,
43:55
Speaker 1: we do have several different business managers and financial broders
43:58
Speaker 1: we work with. We don't pick the person from with that.
44:00
Speaker 1: Those guys interview those guys and pick them. But we
44:02
Speaker 1: do have a few guys that we trust and um,
44:05
Speaker 1: you know, those guys are on the budget and at
44:07
Speaker 1: the end of the day, when people say they point things,
44:09
Speaker 1: you're the reasons why. God. At the end of the day,
44:11
Speaker 1: it's all on the player. You can advise them to
44:13
Speaker 1: do don't do X. The financial viser can tell me
44:16
Speaker 1: that this is your budget. At the end of the day,
44:18
Speaker 1: it's their money and they're gonna do what they want
44:19
Speaker 1: to do with their money. So it's up to take
44:22
Speaker 1: their advice from the financial advisor, from the business manager
44:25
Speaker 1: and stay with their their budgets, stay within reason. Because
44:28
Speaker 1: it's like these guys are making a lot of money,
44:30
Speaker 1: they can live a comfortable lifestyle and not go crazy
44:33
Speaker 1: way a lot of guys go broken Honestly, it's not
44:35
Speaker 1: a boy buying. You really can't. If you're making thirty
44:38
Speaker 1: million dollars a year, you're not gonna go broke buying
44:40
Speaker 1: a couple of Bentleys and Ferrars. The way people go broke,
44:43
Speaker 1: honestly is loaning out money that has up going to
44:47
Speaker 1: the club in investments. You know, everybody's coming to with
44:51
Speaker 1: these million dollar ideas and it sounds good, but that's
44:54
Speaker 1: the way have a lot of pleasures. Went broke is
44:56
Speaker 1: investing their money and the wrong things. Yeah, investing everybody.
45:00
Speaker 1: The car washers invest their money, and nightclubs invest their
45:03
Speaker 1: money and movie ideas. I know that I've been in
45:07
Speaker 1: the business a long time. I've seen this money flow out.
45:10
Speaker 1: Everybody wants to be a rapper, everybody wants a sound studio.
45:13
Speaker 1: Everybody here is that that final product? You know, say,
45:16
Speaker 1: hey man, this person here's gonna be the next you know,
45:19
Speaker 1: next next. But that does mean that's reality. And so
45:22
Speaker 1: when I look at talent like yours that you are,
45:24
Speaker 1: that's where the father figure comes in. That's where the
45:26
Speaker 1: maturity comes in. Like you said, you are a man,
45:29
Speaker 1: and you're a man who's a who's benefited from watching
45:32
Speaker 1: people make these mistakes. And also player development. Let's talk
45:36
Speaker 1: to these let's walk through these player development steps that
45:38
Speaker 1: you talk about and these camps you put in place, right,
45:43
Speaker 1: So my bread and butter when I got in the
45:45
Speaker 1: business player development, you know, a k A working guys
45:48
Speaker 1: out training And I never just call it training. I
45:50
Speaker 1: call it player development because we were doing more than
45:53
Speaker 1: just working out. We've been in a relationship, we're talking
45:55
Speaker 1: about life, we're talking about girls, god school. So that's
45:59
Speaker 1: why I ain't player development instead of training. Training is
46:03
Speaker 1: a word I feel they used to put you in
46:04
Speaker 1: the box where like this is all you can do, right,
46:07
Speaker 1: But player development that was my bread and butter. Man
46:09
Speaker 1: I studied. I learned it from you know, one of
46:12
Speaker 1: my mentors, as a guy by name of Amstar El
46:14
Speaker 1: A mean, he's a look not many people know him.
46:18
Speaker 1: Fact he's a he's a head coach at a small
46:20
Speaker 1: NA school in Florida. But he's one of my mentors.
46:23
Speaker 1: He's kind of like a hoose whisperer. He was kind
46:25
Speaker 1: of a training guru. Man I learned a lot from him,
46:28
Speaker 1: and that's where I cut my teeth at just on
46:31
Speaker 1: the floor, working guys out, and I didn't take it
46:33
Speaker 1: for granted. You know, each player that I had in
46:35
Speaker 1: the gym, whether you're a high school kid or an
46:37
Speaker 1: NBA player, you know, I would go home steady a game,
46:40
Speaker 1: watch film and break it up, and I'll be up
46:43
Speaker 1: all night and studying, trying to see how can I
46:46
Speaker 1: make this player, how can I elevate this game, what
46:48
Speaker 1: can I do. That's that's where I really cut my
46:51
Speaker 1: teeth is because I want to talk about that, because
46:54
Speaker 1: you know, I think it's gonna take Chris. I thought
46:56
Speaker 1: I was a hoopster. I thought I had game. You know,
46:59
Speaker 1: I was so American. I didn't. I didn't. I was
47:01
Speaker 1: all park, as they said, because I never played high
47:03
Speaker 1: school ball. But I was all park. You know funding
47:06
Speaker 1: come on the Funday, you know, I go down to
47:08
Speaker 1: McGregor Park. I had all the best black parks back
47:12
Speaker 1: in the day. I was there. I walked on the court.
47:14
Speaker 1: You know, I was first pick, first pick on the
47:16
Speaker 1: sideline shot. Come on, I want you, I want you.
47:19
Speaker 1: But then I was stupid too because I didn't understand
47:21
Speaker 1: the fundamentals of the game. I didn't understand that. And
47:24
Speaker 1: that's that's what we're talking about right now. Because I
47:27
Speaker 1: one thing I've learned when you play street balls. Yes,
47:30
Speaker 1: there are players out there. They were probably better than
47:32
Speaker 1: the chemolied you once. There are players out there that
47:35
Speaker 1: probably I'll jump Dominiquhippers right, they're probably physically better than
47:39
Speaker 1: Lebron James Dout. You might be going too far with him, man,
47:44
Speaker 1: but I get your point when you're saying, not come
47:46
Speaker 1: on that good talented guys on the on the on
47:48
Speaker 1: the come on. I'm talking about street ball. I'm talking
47:53
Speaker 1: about that hitting these parks. It's some guys out there, man,
47:58
Speaker 1: they can leap. It's some eyes out there can do
48:01
Speaker 1: like like they had that contest there was on T
48:03
Speaker 1: and T all these guys who could dunk. Oh they
48:06
Speaker 1: can dunk a ball, they can do three sixties, they
48:08
Speaker 1: can flip the ball over the back. But they can't
48:11
Speaker 1: play the game. And that's why I'm getting there with me.
48:13
Speaker 1: I was telling that, but I couldn't play the game.
48:15
Speaker 1: I didn't understand that player development part of that. You
48:18
Speaker 1: were talking about working with the team. That's why I say,
48:22
Speaker 1: That's what I'm saying is that you understood it, and
48:25
Speaker 1: that's what you're doing that that like you said that
48:27
Speaker 1: basketball whisperer being able to articulate what make what the
48:31
Speaker 1: next step for different players? How do you get in
48:33
Speaker 1: their head? And how do we eventually listen to you?
48:37
Speaker 1: They do they learn from the little no ship you
48:40
Speaker 1: given or that makes sense because that's a whole, that's
48:42
Speaker 1: a huge trust. It's just a little nuances. Man, some
48:45
Speaker 1: some guys, I never raised my voice. I never yell.
48:49
Speaker 1: I rarely curse. You know, some guys like to scream
48:52
Speaker 1: and yell and get over here. You know me, I
48:55
Speaker 1: just talked to him. I literally talked to him and
48:58
Speaker 1: you know, break stuff. Now, hey, did you the way
49:00
Speaker 1: you honest did a one too into its pull up?
49:03
Speaker 1: We want to do the same thing. You know, he'll
49:05
Speaker 1: I say a little phrase like you know, he'll toe
49:06
Speaker 1: explode into a jump shot or and you know elementary
49:10
Speaker 1: things hand in the cookie jar when you shoot, make
49:13
Speaker 1: sure when you're crossing over, get your shoulders to the defenders. Hills.
49:16
Speaker 1: Just a little key points that when they started playing,
49:19
Speaker 1: they can hear that my voice in their head. I'm
49:21
Speaker 1: about to go by this guy. Let make sure I
49:23
Speaker 1: get low protective ball. It's just a little small nuances.
49:26
Speaker 1: There's nothing crazy and over the top. It's just being
49:29
Speaker 1: a hat. And the main thing for these guys to
49:31
Speaker 1: trust you is you gotta have a relationship with I
49:33
Speaker 1: don't have a relationship with you. They're not gonna trust
49:35
Speaker 1: you with the most precious thing, which is the basketball.
49:38
Speaker 1: Is with their game. Okay, cool, And that's a lot
49:41
Speaker 1: of people miss on the relationship part. Those are the
49:43
Speaker 1: best coaches that relationship with their players. Players are run
49:46
Speaker 1: through a brick wall for him. You know, now we're
49:49
Speaker 1: talking about empowerment. Let's go to economic growth. Let's talk
49:52
Speaker 1: about that from your firm. We're talking to Chris Gaston.
49:55
Speaker 1: Here's an amazing company out of Houston, Texas and found
49:57
Speaker 1: in twin and eighteen with his wife called Family First
50:00
Speaker 1: Sports Firm. Talk. We talked about empowerment at your firm.
50:03
Speaker 1: Let's talk about economic growth. I didn't hear the last part,
50:08
Speaker 1: you coult On. I apologize. As we were talking about
50:11
Speaker 1: your firm. You know that you founded in twining their
50:13
Speaker 1: team called Family First Sports Firm. We talked about empowerment.
50:17
Speaker 1: Let's talk about the economic growth that you deal with
50:20
Speaker 1: your players. Right. Well, one thing we want to do
50:23
Speaker 1: is we want to put the dollar black back in
50:26
Speaker 1: the black community. You know, um, we we want to
50:30
Speaker 1: invest in small businesses. We want to support um young entrepreneurs.
50:35
Speaker 1: We want to get like I said, we want to
50:37
Speaker 1: we're a voice for the unheard. We want to speak
50:39
Speaker 1: for the unheard. Man. It's not saying we're not gonna
50:42
Speaker 1: do with big companies and stuff. I mean, we gotta
50:43
Speaker 1: deal with Nike, we gotta we do deals with Red Bulls.
50:46
Speaker 1: So that's not to say we're not done. We're not stupid.
50:49
Speaker 1: When we say economic growth, we want to put the
50:52
Speaker 1: dollar black back in the black community. You know. We
50:54
Speaker 1: want these players to help their family out, but do
50:57
Speaker 1: it in a way that's gonna create growth, not just say, man, mom,
51:00
Speaker 1: here go a hundred thousand dollars, Like no, mama, we're
51:03
Speaker 1: gonna create a company or corp or LLC. You're gonna
51:08
Speaker 1: be the you know, create a foundation and grow it,
51:11
Speaker 1: you know, not just here goes some money. Like no,
51:13
Speaker 1: you take this money and multiplied, you know, making times ten,
51:16
Speaker 1: you know ten x and growing into something else. So
51:19
Speaker 1: that's what we mean when we say economic growth. Just
51:21
Speaker 1: teaching these players financial literacy and you know, financial growth.
51:25
Speaker 1: And that's where so many not just in basketball, but
51:28
Speaker 1: in all sports. The financial literacy part fails so many
51:32
Speaker 1: because they don't have mentors. Because I consider your mentor
51:35
Speaker 1: too to these young men because as well as an
51:38
Speaker 1: agent representative so black excellence. You know, I hear black
51:43
Speaker 1: excellent throughout your bars. I hear the ability to give
51:46
Speaker 1: back to the black community. That's all part of the empowerment. Now,
51:50
Speaker 1: we went through a very amazing season that happened this
51:53
Speaker 1: year because of COVID eighteen and civil unrest. We saw
51:57
Speaker 1: the actual NBA walk off the court basically based on
52:01
Speaker 1: the incident that happened in Milwaukee. How did your players
52:04
Speaker 1: deal with that and how did you deal with it?
52:05
Speaker 1: Chris Um It was a very emotional times. You know
52:11
Speaker 1: Damien Dodson, he went to Yates High School, which grew
52:15
Speaker 1: up in the same neighborhood, same high school as George Floyd,
52:17
Speaker 1: so they hit close to home. And you know Stephen Jackson,
52:20
Speaker 1: you know, he's a good friend of mine. He's one
52:22
Speaker 1: of the people are starting to busines, one of the
52:23
Speaker 1: first NBA players I started working out. Uh, you know
52:26
Speaker 1: that he was very close to George Floyd. I mean
52:28
Speaker 1: they called each other twins, So that mean that hit
52:30
Speaker 1: home for us. That hit close to home. And actually
52:33
Speaker 1: one of the players and there I knew from Yates
52:35
Speaker 1: High schools. George Floyd was his cousin, which I didn't know,
52:38
Speaker 1: and so they hit close to home. So we participated
52:40
Speaker 1: in the marches in Houston, um Fox, you know, we
52:43
Speaker 1: went and flew up to Sacramento, participated in peaceful protests.
52:47
Speaker 1: And I say peaceful because you know, we want the
52:49
Speaker 1: ones riding and Lowton, but that's a story for another day.
52:52
Speaker 1: But participating in peace for protests in Sacramento, and we
52:58
Speaker 1: just got encouraged our players to vote, didn speak out
53:00
Speaker 1: on any issues. Foxes very vocal on his issues and
53:04
Speaker 1: even even more anti racists on the back of his
53:07
Speaker 1: jersey in the bubble. You know, so all our players
53:09
Speaker 1: are very outspoken and you know, very vocal about the movement. Um,
53:13
Speaker 1: that's that's going on. Now. That's really important because of
53:17
Speaker 1: the fact that you know, if social media plays a
53:20
Speaker 1: role in that, you know, because you have to be
53:22
Speaker 1: conscious of social media can be a double as sword.
53:25
Speaker 1: You know, you could post the wrong thing and then
53:27
Speaker 1: all of a sudden people criticizing for you post the
53:30
Speaker 1: right thing and then get increase the engagement that you
53:32
Speaker 1: want what what? What? What? What message are you trying
53:36
Speaker 1: to allow your players to put out there? Like say,
53:40
Speaker 1: you talked about community of Barmen, you talk about black excellent,
53:42
Speaker 1: you talk about economic growth, we talked about empowerment. But
53:45
Speaker 1: what is your company? You know, because you say family first?
53:48
Speaker 1: What does that mean when you say family first? Family
53:51
Speaker 1: first is exactly what it means. Your family is first.
53:54
Speaker 1: And then just like a real family, you're not gonna
53:56
Speaker 1: always disagree. I mean not, I mean, you're not gonna
53:59
Speaker 1: always agree. I was gonna be on the same page.
54:01
Speaker 1: But at the end of the day, you know, it's
54:02
Speaker 1: all of you know, we all lived together for the coming,
54:05
Speaker 1: for the coming goods. So that's exactly what it means.
54:07
Speaker 1: And family first means, you know, empowering your people. It's
54:12
Speaker 1: okay to grow with the people that got you to
54:15
Speaker 1: where you are. You know, and most agencies, most companies,
54:17
Speaker 1: I see gods make it to a certain status and
54:20
Speaker 1: then the agency takes it from there, like, okay, we
54:22
Speaker 1: got it from here. Now you know, Uh, your youth
54:26
Speaker 1: coach your here, you coach your mom and your daddy.
54:28
Speaker 1: You know, they helped you get to this point. But
54:30
Speaker 1: now they're done. You know, we got it from here
54:32
Speaker 1: right now. Obviously the player is gonna grow and they're
54:34
Speaker 1: not gonna be depended upon their family and things of
54:38
Speaker 1: that nature, but we still try to do things to
54:40
Speaker 1: make sure that the family is important. Like when Daren
54:43
Speaker 1: signed his mass contract, you know, we had a big
54:46
Speaker 1: it's a picture on Instagram, had a big family celebration
54:49
Speaker 1: in Houston, you know, all black autar. It's probably over
54:52
Speaker 1: thirty people there, you know, so we you know, we
54:55
Speaker 1: celebrated together as a family, not me and Dearing in
54:57
Speaker 1: a private room by ourself, you know, popping up bottom
55:00
Speaker 1: and all. We celebrated with everybody that was important in
55:03
Speaker 1: his life. You know, we celebrated that together. That was
55:05
Speaker 1: an accomplishment for everybody. Because he takes a village, well
55:08
Speaker 1: it takes a village, but they also lives in a
55:10
Speaker 1: different city, Sacramento, and he's born and raised in Houston, Texas.
55:14
Speaker 1: How does that allow him to be the person he
55:16
Speaker 1: wants to be Because Sacramento is a much fall the
55:18
Speaker 1: environment as far as population, it's not as I want
55:22
Speaker 1: to say, African American friendly as the city of Houston is.
55:27
Speaker 1: So how does he deal with that? Mr? Fox? Um,
55:31
Speaker 1: he's a very smart dude. He's a very cultural dude.
55:34
Speaker 1: And I say his parents have done a great job
55:36
Speaker 1: of keeping him grounded. His mom has a foundation, Foxhole
55:39
Speaker 1: Family Foundation and supports breast council wareness because she's a
55:42
Speaker 1: breast counselor. I've had about that, Yes, and the dad
55:45
Speaker 1: started AU Team Team Fox, you know, for the seven
55:48
Speaker 1: and every graders. So that keeps him connected to the
55:51
Speaker 1: city of Houston. That keeps in ground. He comes back
55:53
Speaker 1: and supports the Air You program, comes back to tournaments,
55:56
Speaker 1: he comes back to events that his mom's doing, so
55:59
Speaker 1: that keeps him very next it and tied to the
56:01
Speaker 1: city of Houston. Now your firm, you have two athletes.
56:05
Speaker 1: We continue to have talked about, how do you recruit
56:07
Speaker 1: future athletes are I know, first of all, you can't
56:10
Speaker 1: reveal certain things on this show, but how you go
56:13
Speaker 1: about recruiting the next Damien Dots the next Deer and
56:17
Speaker 1: Fox Right, Well, I said, I want to leave mother
56:20
Speaker 1: two guys out as well. I have two guys that
56:23
Speaker 1: are currently in the NBA, Foxing Dotson. I have one
56:25
Speaker 1: former NBA player who spent four years in the NBA,
56:29
Speaker 1: Eric Morland. He actually want to ring with the Toronto Raptors.
56:32
Speaker 1: He's currently playing in China. And then I also represent
56:35
Speaker 1: Josh Nibo, who's a rookie who he decided not to
56:38
Speaker 1: try the NBAL the G League round. He's playing in
56:40
Speaker 1: Israel right now. So I have two guys playing international
56:43
Speaker 1: and two guys that are currently in the NBA. And
56:46
Speaker 1: how got our recruiting is all about relationships. Man. I
56:49
Speaker 1: don't do a lot of time races and I don't
56:51
Speaker 1: DM random guys like hey, hey, what's what's your name?
56:54
Speaker 1: You have a lot of relationships, uh built all over
56:57
Speaker 1: the country through ANU coaches and high school coaches, college
57:02
Speaker 1: coach and I just reach out to my contacts. I
57:04
Speaker 1: kind of checked the board and see who would be
57:05
Speaker 1: a good fit, and then I, you know, I reach
57:08
Speaker 1: out to the necessary people. You know, And I've heard
57:10
Speaker 1: about the European, the China, the Israel. Let's talk about
57:14
Speaker 1: those because that's that's that's a that's a it's it's
57:17
Speaker 1: some players that play their entirely their life. In fact,
57:20
Speaker 1: you know, Stephan Marbury went over to China and became
57:23
Speaker 1: the biggest talent that he ever was in the US.
57:26
Speaker 1: So let's talk about before we wrap up. I don't
57:28
Speaker 1: want to. You have the g legal course that's tied
57:31
Speaker 1: to the NBA, and the NBA is also saying they
57:34
Speaker 1: are allowed veterans to come into the NBA the G
57:36
Speaker 1: League this year, something they weren't doing in the past.
57:39
Speaker 1: And so now let's talk about going overseas, the benefits
57:43
Speaker 1: of going overseas, and also it's not being like a
57:46
Speaker 1: death kill to your career. Well, going over seas, you
57:51
Speaker 1: gotta make a conscious charts was like, man, I'm not
57:54
Speaker 1: chasing the NBA dream no more. If it happens, it happens.
57:57
Speaker 1: But now I want to make money and I'm trying
57:58
Speaker 1: to feed my family. Yes, the G League is for
58:00
Speaker 1: guys that's still chasing the NBA dream because you're getting
58:03
Speaker 1: paid minimum money. But it's like, man, I wants to
58:05
Speaker 1: worry from the NBA. I'm gonna keep chasing it. I
58:08
Speaker 1: tell young guys that's kind of on the edge and
58:10
Speaker 1: give yourself a chance. Go to G League for two
58:13
Speaker 1: or three years while you're still young twenty three. After
58:16
Speaker 1: two or three years, you gotta do, you know, you
58:18
Speaker 1: gotta make a business decision and go ahead and you know,
58:21
Speaker 1: try to build a financial future for you and your family.
58:25
Speaker 1: And so that's what Ed Morland did. He he played
58:28
Speaker 1: in the inn bed for four or five years, he
58:30
Speaker 1: won a championship and now he's making you know, last
58:33
Speaker 1: year he made seven figures in China. This year he's
58:35
Speaker 1: making high six figures. So he's he's doing really well
58:38
Speaker 1: for himself. That's really what it's all about. You know.
58:42
Speaker 1: In the end, it's about uh, you know you let's
58:45
Speaker 1: let's let's let's move back to the NBA name. It's
58:47
Speaker 1: a business. It's like, you know, I have a job.
58:51
Speaker 1: You have a job, Okay, the NBA playing basketball, that's
58:55
Speaker 1: your skill. You know. Some people are engineers, some people
58:57
Speaker 1: are artists, some people are teaching, some people are doctors.
59:01
Speaker 1: They played basketball for a living. So child at It
59:05
Speaker 1: Israel gives them an opportunity to do what they are
59:08
Speaker 1: skilled best to do, to play basketball, put the ball
59:12
Speaker 1: in the hole. So that's what we're talking about right now.
59:15
Speaker 1: It's the business side. And don't get caught up into
59:18
Speaker 1: man if I don't make an NBA, man I, well
59:21
Speaker 1: I'm gonna do well. You do a lot. You can
59:22
Speaker 1: go overseas and make a profitable living, especially and then
59:26
Speaker 1: when you look at the w N b A. The
59:28
Speaker 1: women over there, they make more money in the European
59:31
Speaker 1: leagues than they make in the w NBA League. And
59:33
Speaker 1: so and what did you say earlier? You said you
59:35
Speaker 1: play at the parks and funding how much did you
59:37
Speaker 1: get paid to do that? I was all part free exactly.
59:41
Speaker 1: Y'all be at home playing for free anyway, So don't
59:43
Speaker 1: get it twitched like that. This is a great living
59:46
Speaker 1: and wake up and play basketball every day. And that's
59:48
Speaker 1: why I would be at the why I'm staying the
59:49
Speaker 1: local Boys and Girls club playing for free anyway, Because
59:52
Speaker 1: you love the game. That's why I wanted to get it.
59:54
Speaker 1: You're getting paid to do something that you love. That's
59:56
Speaker 1: why I wanted to bring you on the show because
59:58
Speaker 1: of the fact that you know, we we we we
1:00:00
Speaker 1: know about the rich Paul's out there and the other
1:00:01
Speaker 1: agencies out there. But I've been first of all, you
1:00:04
Speaker 1: in Houston. I wanted to shine light on you being
1:00:06
Speaker 1: in Houston and plus you real, dude. I did my
1:00:09
Speaker 1: background on us to Richard. They said, it's good Chris,
1:00:11
Speaker 1: he keeps it real. You know, he is who he
1:00:13
Speaker 1: is and uh and and and he's he's been fortunate
1:00:16
Speaker 1: and blessed to be attached to very talent of the
1:00:19
Speaker 1: guys who's playing in the NBA. But like I said,
1:00:21
Speaker 1: I only brought up Damien's you know, Damien's name and
1:00:24
Speaker 1: Daron's name because it was part of your bio that
1:00:26
Speaker 1: was sent over to me. The most fascinating part of
1:00:29
Speaker 1: your relationship all the two players that are playing in
1:00:31
Speaker 1: China and playing in Israel, because it goes back to
1:00:34
Speaker 1: the business side of the game, the business side of
1:00:36
Speaker 1: the industry. You know, Kobe Bryant's dad, Kobe born in Italy.
1:00:40
Speaker 1: It really born in Italy because his dad was playing
1:00:42
Speaker 1: in Italy. And so this is not something short term
1:00:46
Speaker 1: going overseas. It's not a negative spirit. A lot of
1:00:49
Speaker 1: players are bypassing high school and playing in Australia playing
1:00:53
Speaker 1: overseas instead of saying I'm going to the G League,
1:00:55
Speaker 1: I'm gonna give up my one year in college. I'm
1:00:57
Speaker 1: gonna play with some grown men. That's what it's all about.
1:01:01
Speaker 1: So what's the future of family First Sports firm? My friend,
1:01:05
Speaker 1: everybody I was asking me that, I'm like, be honest,
1:01:07
Speaker 1: wherever God leaves me, man um, I'm taking it day
1:01:10
Speaker 1: by day. Claim by clients Um, I have a lot
1:01:13
Speaker 1: of new exciting things that I can't announced yet, but
1:01:15
Speaker 1: that they're gonna be, you know, coming pretty soon from
1:01:17
Speaker 1: the groundbacking things that I don't think no other agency
1:01:20
Speaker 1: has that or is doing. So I'm always thinking outside
1:01:22
Speaker 1: of the box, and I was thinking, how can that
1:01:24
Speaker 1: be different? You know what the whole industry is going, right,
1:01:27
Speaker 1: I want to make sure I'm going to left make
1:01:29
Speaker 1: something going the opposite way. And you know, every client,
1:01:32
Speaker 1: every player, is not gonna be for family first. This
1:01:34
Speaker 1: is for people who believe in their steff and who
1:01:36
Speaker 1: are confident, and who about empowerment. And you know, you know,
1:01:40
Speaker 1: some people want the comfort of man, I'm going to
1:01:42
Speaker 1: CIA or Rock Nation. You know, they got the big name.
1:01:45
Speaker 1: But it's some people that's like, man, you know, I
1:01:46
Speaker 1: want to be groundbreaking. I want to be different. I
1:01:49
Speaker 1: want to go on a roster where you know, I'm
1:01:51
Speaker 1: just a name on the on the wall, I'm one
1:01:53
Speaker 1: of forty clients. You know. I want to go somewhere
1:01:56
Speaker 1: to get individualized attention and where I'm gonna be an
1:01:58
Speaker 1: important key piece. Well, I like what you said individualized attention,
1:02:03
Speaker 1: because that's what you get when you go to these
1:02:04
Speaker 1: big agents and you don't get apologize, you don't get
1:02:07
Speaker 1: you can be uh forgotten peace. If you don't get
1:02:11
Speaker 1: the contract, they won't nurture your next step. And that's
1:02:14
Speaker 1: what you do with your firm. And I want to
1:02:16
Speaker 1: thank you for coming on Money Making Conversations, share your
1:02:18
Speaker 1: story and I'm proud of your man. And any time
1:02:21
Speaker 1: these little you know, these the these the projects that
1:02:25
Speaker 1: you want to announce, please come on Money Made Conversation.
1:02:27
Speaker 1: What I like to do this I like to do Chris.
1:02:29
Speaker 1: And next time, let's bring your wife on the show too,
1:02:31
Speaker 1: because she helped to found this first and so I
1:02:34
Speaker 1: love doing that power couple uh interviews. And so next
1:02:38
Speaker 1: time you come on the show, let's bring on the
1:02:40
Speaker 1: show and talk about her contributions to why this company
1:02:43
Speaker 1: was found in the twining their team. But more importantly,
1:02:46
Speaker 1: use me as a legitimate sounding board to put your
1:02:48
Speaker 1: brands out their ideas you have out there if you
1:02:51
Speaker 1: want your clients interviewed on my on the show. As
1:02:53
Speaker 1: you can see, I'm a major player in the platform world.
1:02:56
Speaker 1: I get the biggest talent. I'm a major player man,
1:03:00
Speaker 1: and the game people start asking me what you what
1:03:02
Speaker 1: did you don't like man, I'm a major player in
1:03:04
Speaker 1: the business. That's what I come on. Chris, Well, Chris,
1:03:07
Speaker 1: we talked soon. Brother. I appreciate you, appreciate you, man,
1:03:11
Speaker 1: and I love you. Talent man. That that Fox kid man,
1:03:14
Speaker 1: I was so long when he dropped those tears, and
1:03:17
Speaker 1: Damien when he made the knicks. I say, brother, that's
1:03:19
Speaker 1: hard working. A lot of blessings man. And we got
1:03:21
Speaker 1: real news, man, We got real people not coming real news.
1:03:24
Speaker 1: So next time, tell your wife you're coming on the
1:03:26
Speaker 1: show with you. Okay, alright, alright, stage all brother, sticky notes,
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1:04:46
Speaker 1: next guest he's here straight out of Houston, Texas. That's
1:04:49
Speaker 1: where I was born and raised. My next guest is
1:04:51
Speaker 1: Kenny Lord. Kenny Lord is CEO, president and visionary are
1:04:55
Speaker 1: Tava Lifestyle, a direct sales wellness company. Tava Lifestyle is
1:04:59
Speaker 1: a global work marketing company offering health and wellness products
1:05:03
Speaker 1: including nutritional supplements, energy enhancement, and more. Can you started
1:05:07
Speaker 1: taping lifestyle with the mission to change lives by helping
1:05:10
Speaker 1: individuals earn an additional income, all while living a healthy
1:05:14
Speaker 1: and active lifestyle. Please working the money making conversation and
1:05:17
Speaker 1: HBCU made Tennessee State University. I gotta kick that off, man,
1:05:25
Speaker 1: because I was doing your bio and HBCUs are being
1:05:28
Speaker 1: so much love man, and uh during this pandemic time.
1:05:31
Speaker 1: It's really long overdue. And because now people are starting
1:05:34
Speaker 1: to understand the value of HBCUs even though they're they're
1:05:38
Speaker 1: they're a little they started out of racism. We all
1:05:41
Speaker 1: know that's why they're in the southeast part of the country.
1:05:43
Speaker 1: Tell us about the t SU experience, which is uh,
1:05:46
Speaker 1: Tennessee State University, because they got another tears you down
1:05:48
Speaker 1: and used to call Texas Southern University. Tell about TSU
1:05:51
Speaker 1: up there in Tennessee. Let's look, let's talk about the
1:05:54
Speaker 1: real tissue. But let me tell you, man, Um, I'm
1:06:00
Speaker 1: and I'm glad you're asked me that question because it
1:06:03
Speaker 1: is and I was talking to somebody about this other day. Man.
1:06:06
Speaker 1: Like the HBCU experience, Man, it was an incredible experience.
1:06:11
Speaker 1: It was the best time of my life. And I
1:06:14
Speaker 1: say that because of course life is good now. But
1:06:18
Speaker 1: it was a time in my life, man, with the
1:06:19
Speaker 1: only responsibility I had was was to get out of school.
1:06:23
Speaker 1: You know, and you know and and look, man, it
1:06:26
Speaker 1: was a time where instructors really cared about you. Man,
1:06:29
Speaker 1: if they saw you getting off track, you weren't just
1:06:32
Speaker 1: a number where they would expel your suspending. They pull
1:06:35
Speaker 1: you to the side like you were their son or daughters. Man.
1:06:39
Speaker 1: And then the people that you meet, man, all the man, Listen,
1:06:42
Speaker 1: I swear, Man, I have friends all over the world
1:06:45
Speaker 1: that I swear when we went in school, you would
1:06:46
Speaker 1: have sworn that they weren't gonna be worth a dime.
1:06:50
Speaker 1: These people are, I mean, they are helping shape to
1:06:54
Speaker 1: man these cities states in the world. I mean. Man.
1:06:57
Speaker 1: So man, I love it. Man, when I go back
1:07:00
Speaker 1: alone coming, there's nothing like it. Man. So, Man, I
1:07:02
Speaker 1: would tell anybody that it is a great experience. And
1:07:06
Speaker 1: I would never discount it when you're thinking about where
1:07:09
Speaker 1: used to go, because you're building friends that love livel
1:07:12
Speaker 1: Look in the last lifetime. We know you're to Detroit,
1:07:16
Speaker 1: so you know, I know you know how to dress,
1:07:17
Speaker 1: you know, if you're to Detroit. That's kind of like
1:07:19
Speaker 1: part of the game plan. You know, I've been up
1:07:22
Speaker 1: Detroit many tiers, Steve Harvey out there wearing our suits,
1:07:26
Speaker 1: when our gators, when our hats. All part of the
1:07:29
Speaker 1: structure been that you grew up in a community that
1:07:32
Speaker 1: is so urban, which is Detroit. Talk about when I
1:07:35
Speaker 1: look at the I want to say that the way
1:07:37
Speaker 1: you see social unrest today, and you know, we've been
1:07:40
Speaker 1: dealing with that all our Like Kenny, both of you
1:07:42
Speaker 1: and I were over sixty and so we've had our
1:07:45
Speaker 1: different layers of racism, but we never let our colors
1:07:47
Speaker 1: stop our ambition, even though we know we have more
1:07:50
Speaker 1: value than they told us we had value. Talk about
1:07:53
Speaker 1: the challenges of going through life growing up in the
1:07:56
Speaker 1: community or city like Detroit, and the impact of what
1:07:59
Speaker 1: you see it happen today with racial unrest. Young people's
1:08:04
Speaker 1: finally realizing their is racism. You know, it's it's it's deep, man,
1:08:09
Speaker 1: that's a deep question. I will tell you I think
1:08:11
Speaker 1: my biggest experience because as you know, you know, my
1:08:14
Speaker 1: father was the first African American to play in the
1:08:16
Speaker 1: NBA All of Fame coach the Detroit Pistons, And so
1:08:21
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna say that we were insulated from racism
1:08:25
Speaker 1: because of course, you know, athletes, they don't experience the
1:08:28
Speaker 1: same level of racism that ordinary people. Right. So I'm
1:08:32
Speaker 1: not gonna say that because I lived in Detroit and
1:08:35
Speaker 1: because my father was a head coach an athlete, that
1:08:38
Speaker 1: I don't experienced. Detroit is a different culture, you know,
1:08:41
Speaker 1: the city of Detroit itself. I don't want to get
1:08:43
Speaker 1: become political, but you did here. The President referred to Detroit,
1:08:48
Speaker 1: you know, and a kind of not so savory way, okay, right,
1:08:52
Speaker 1: because he knew what what the population was, you know,
1:08:55
Speaker 1: and uh so it's the kind of town. Man. It
1:08:58
Speaker 1: was insulated because the the blacks and in that in
1:09:02
Speaker 1: that city of Detroit. Man with some very sharp people,
1:09:06
Speaker 1: man like you take somebody like Colman young Man, Man Cloud,
1:09:10
Speaker 1: look Man, Coleman. Coleman took that city to a whole
1:09:13
Speaker 1: another level. I mean, like Coleben young was a very
1:09:18
Speaker 1: strong black man. Um. For me, all I can do
1:09:22
Speaker 1: is speak from my perspective. You know, they used to
1:09:25
Speaker 1: say that it takes a villains to raise a child, right, Well,
1:09:28
Speaker 1: I was raised man. I had to benefit of being
1:09:30
Speaker 1: raised because of my father and my mother. Because my
1:09:33
Speaker 1: mother has a PhD, you know, and they worked hard,
1:09:36
Speaker 1: man to put us in there in a in a
1:09:37
Speaker 1: right environment, right. You know. I don't make excuses for
1:09:40
Speaker 1: how I was raised. Okay, Now, the thing is that
1:09:43
Speaker 1: I wasn't raised in the villas, man. I was raised
1:09:46
Speaker 1: in the Kingdom. Because I was, I had to benefit
1:09:48
Speaker 1: of being surrounded bound by black men that were great
1:09:54
Speaker 1: husband's fathers. They were great in their communities, right, and
1:09:58
Speaker 1: they were politicians. They were turning his positions um entertainers,
1:10:03
Speaker 1: you know, and they cared about giving back to the young,
1:10:08
Speaker 1: to the young blacks. They really cared about it. Man.
1:10:10
Speaker 1: It was I mean, it was embedded in them. Man,
1:10:12
Speaker 1: Like they would give us lessons and they would it's
1:10:15
Speaker 1: still upon us. And they had the right to even
1:10:19
Speaker 1: if their corporal punishment, man, the slappers of Spakness and
1:10:23
Speaker 1: shake us out if we were disrespectful. I see that
1:10:26
Speaker 1: on exists anymore. You know why, because they're not a
1:10:30
Speaker 1: lot of kings in our communities that man, they care
1:10:32
Speaker 1: about the young men. You know, these young men are
1:10:35
Speaker 1: being raised by women who do who are doing the
1:10:38
Speaker 1: best they can, and they're doing a great job. But
1:10:41
Speaker 1: we know that I don't want to go I don't
1:10:43
Speaker 1: know if I'm opening up the door, man. But you know,
1:10:45
Speaker 1: it's hard for women to raise a man. You know. Uh,
1:10:49
Speaker 1: not to say that it can't be done, because I've
1:10:51
Speaker 1: seen it done right, but we know that a man's
1:10:55
Speaker 1: influence upon a young boy is very important. Man, you know,
1:10:59
Speaker 1: they it's very important. They respond to us, you know,
1:11:02
Speaker 1: like my my youngest son, oh, my my two sons. Man,
1:11:06
Speaker 1: they respond to me a little differently than they respond
1:11:09
Speaker 1: to their money. Because I'm old school, right, you know,
1:11:13
Speaker 1: I don't believe in that you can call family services
1:11:16
Speaker 1: and if you want, boy, but I take what living
1:11:18
Speaker 1: with me. There's a lot easer to living in a
1:11:21
Speaker 1: foster care home because living so it was. They called
1:11:29
Speaker 1: it the spirit of Detroit. And the spirit was a
1:11:32
Speaker 1: prideful spirit of a people man who really cared about
1:11:36
Speaker 1: each other. That I think they came from a generation.
1:11:40
Speaker 1: My parents generation was a generation of people that were oppressed,
1:11:44
Speaker 1: and a lot on were very poor and they didn't
1:11:46
Speaker 1: have the means, and their parents made great sacrifices to
1:11:49
Speaker 1: make sure that they could begin the new generation of
1:11:54
Speaker 1: the family. And I think that they took great pride
1:11:56
Speaker 1: in that, and because they did, they made sure that
1:12:00
Speaker 1: that we were exposed to the right things and that
1:12:04
Speaker 1: they took an interest in us, and they didn't allow
1:12:06
Speaker 1: us to get off track without inter seating man. So
1:12:09
Speaker 1: it was a great time, a great error. It really is,
1:12:12
Speaker 1: because I can relate that and born and fit forward Houston, Texas.
1:12:15
Speaker 1: You know, in the city. You know, my father was
1:12:18
Speaker 1: a truck driver, mom graduated from high school and so
1:12:21
Speaker 1: six sisters, two brothers too. Very shotgun house is what
1:12:24
Speaker 1: I was born in. But then then it stopping from
1:12:26
Speaker 1: seeing my goals. But because my father was in the house,
1:12:30
Speaker 1: he allowed me to stay focused, allowed me to move forward.
1:12:33
Speaker 1: And and I'm not saying he was the best father
1:12:35
Speaker 1: in the world, but his physical male presence of consistency
1:12:38
Speaker 1: allowed me to be the man who I am today,
1:12:40
Speaker 1: allowed to shape some things that I wanted to do.
1:12:43
Speaker 1: That's what I wanted to be as a man based
1:12:45
Speaker 1: on how he presented himself, whether it was good or bad.
1:12:47
Speaker 1: And it gave me a give me a model, Kenny,
1:12:50
Speaker 1: that's all you're saying, giving you a male model and
1:12:53
Speaker 1: to shape your male views as you come into manhood,
1:12:56
Speaker 1: and as you come into manhood. Today we look at
1:12:59
Speaker 1: this pandemic and we look at marketing. Marketing is such
1:13:02
Speaker 1: key and that's that's your gift. When I when I
1:13:04
Speaker 1: lived your resume, you're just a gifted marketer. Where did
1:13:07
Speaker 1: that come from? You know? I think that I get
1:13:11
Speaker 1: a lot of my qualities from my father. But because
1:13:15
Speaker 1: my father was famous, you know, and you know a
1:13:18
Speaker 1: lot of people would think earl or But man, my
1:13:20
Speaker 1: father taught me how to be a man, but my
1:13:23
Speaker 1: mother taught me how to be a person. And both
1:13:25
Speaker 1: of them had great oratorical skills that had great uh
1:13:29
Speaker 1: in a personal skills, you know. And so I'm not
1:13:32
Speaker 1: really a great marketer. I'm a great relationship building And
1:13:37
Speaker 1: everything is about building relationships. Because if you're a great salesperson,
1:13:42
Speaker 1: where anybody can go get a sale and that's the
1:13:45
Speaker 1: one time thing. But you know, when you have the
1:13:48
Speaker 1: ability to build relationships, you have somebody that will buy
1:13:52
Speaker 1: from you every month versus one time and they're gone.
1:13:55
Speaker 1: You know, it's a difference between a great salesperson and
1:13:58
Speaker 1: a great relationship building because man, listen, everybody I know
1:14:03
Speaker 1: that has positioned them well themselves well financially in life, man,
1:14:07
Speaker 1: they understand the power of building relationships. They have great relationships.
1:14:10
Speaker 1: Even you said, man, look, you know when this is
1:14:13
Speaker 1: all said and done, you know not, man, we're gonna
1:14:15
Speaker 1: get together as absolutely you understand the power of relationship
1:14:19
Speaker 1: because and it is the key thing about it. It
1:14:21
Speaker 1: wasn't even my financial get together. It was just a relationship.
1:14:25
Speaker 1: Because I would tell people my decisions I make in
1:14:27
Speaker 1: life aren't always tied to money, and because they're tied
1:14:30
Speaker 1: to a relationship an opportunity. And I think you understand
1:14:33
Speaker 1: what I'm talking about that opportunity. What builds out of
1:14:35
Speaker 1: that opportunity, if what allows you to be a winner.
1:14:39
Speaker 1: I'll put you in a winning situation. If you go
1:14:41
Speaker 1: in looking how much money I can get out of
1:14:43
Speaker 1: this relationship, they may deter you or may cost you
1:14:46
Speaker 1: a long term opportunity because you're looking for a short
1:14:49
Speaker 1: term gain. And that is really what we're talking about here, Kenny,
1:14:52
Speaker 1: when you're talking about Okay, Rashan, look, I want a relationship.
1:14:56
Speaker 1: And I said, and I said that very off, Cup,
1:14:58
Speaker 1: because I know you to be used to You know,
1:15:01
Speaker 1: I like to eat. I'm sure your bibecue man, just
1:15:03
Speaker 1: like me. You know, you've been used to less long
1:15:05
Speaker 1: enough to know that it's the best text mixed restaurants
1:15:07
Speaker 1: in the country's and used to text. So you know,
1:15:10
Speaker 1: when we come down there, she was just COVID because
1:15:12
Speaker 1: you know, we ain't going nowhere in public and code.
1:15:15
Speaker 1: My wife ain't going nowhere. I don't know. I don't
1:15:17
Speaker 1: know how your family Hamling Kenny for my wife has
1:15:19
Speaker 1: not allowed me to take out in public since March.
1:15:24
Speaker 1: I'm gonna listen, I'm I'm gonna lockdown, man, listen to
1:15:27
Speaker 1: sneak out right right right right. It has to speak out, man,
1:15:31
Speaker 1: because of course you go crazy. But you know, as
1:15:35
Speaker 1: as predicted, um, it's become worse. I mean they have
1:15:39
Speaker 1: been predicting, uh, even from March on in the in
1:15:44
Speaker 1: the colder months. Man's beginning. I took it it's gonna
1:15:46
Speaker 1: get worse, and it has become worse. It has. It
1:15:49
Speaker 1: has come to tuition that it has become worse and
1:15:53
Speaker 1: and becoming the worst thing every day. So you know
1:15:56
Speaker 1: my position is that you have to be careful man.
1:16:00
Speaker 1: That's why I'm you know, like in my business man,
1:16:03
Speaker 1: of course to doe to COVID. Man. I lost my
1:16:05
Speaker 1: mother and marks due to COVID, and I don't wish
1:16:08
Speaker 1: that on anybody. It's not just the death of a parent,
1:16:11
Speaker 1: because as life and death. Man. My father used to
1:16:14
Speaker 1: always say, life and death like a door knock, everybody
1:16:16
Speaker 1: gets returned, right. You know when your parents started reaching
1:16:19
Speaker 1: eighty five, you know it was six, You kind of know, man,
1:16:23
Speaker 1: you know that their time is approaching. But with anybody
1:16:27
Speaker 1: that has a parent and then then they're in another
1:16:29
Speaker 1: city and their parents is diagnosed with COVID, you can't
1:16:33
Speaker 1: even go see him, you can't be with them, you know. Uh,
1:16:36
Speaker 1: it was difficult, man. I had to really uh solicit
1:16:40
Speaker 1: some some political powers to be in Detroit, to even
1:16:44
Speaker 1: get a nurse to put on an asthmat suit going
1:16:47
Speaker 1: there and take a phone so I could say some
1:16:50
Speaker 1: things to my mother that I wanted to say, because
1:16:52
Speaker 1: everybody has some things they would love to whisper to
1:16:55
Speaker 1: a loved one's here when that they know that loved
1:16:57
Speaker 1: one is about the transition. And by the grace of God, man,
1:17:01
Speaker 1: that it happened, you know, I mean, because it would
1:17:04
Speaker 1: have disturbed me. Man. I don't know where I would
1:17:06
Speaker 1: be mentally if I wasn't able to do that. So,
1:17:08
Speaker 1: you know, I thank God that that he made that possible,
1:17:12
Speaker 1: that I could say some things to it, but um,
1:17:14
Speaker 1: they say that in death as a birth right. Right.
1:17:18
Speaker 1: It's funny, man, because right as my mother passed, uh,
1:17:21
Speaker 1: I mean, my business just took off, you know. And
1:17:25
Speaker 1: and that's what I said. I said that she became
1:17:27
Speaker 1: much bigger in spirit that she was ever for me
1:17:29
Speaker 1: on earth, you know. And because of the nature of
1:17:33
Speaker 1: my business. Man. You know, business has been very good.
1:17:35
Speaker 1: So man, I just talking up to again. Man, it's
1:17:39
Speaker 1: just a blessing. So let's talk about the nature of
1:17:41
Speaker 1: your business. You know, the COVID hit online. You know,
1:17:45
Speaker 1: a lot of black people were not able to um
1:17:48
Speaker 1: handle the opportunities because they weren't technically savvy. Their brand
1:17:52
Speaker 1: wasn't able to have benefit from the basically what TARP
1:17:58
Speaker 1: is all about, well typs Direct said, but mostly welly
1:18:04
Speaker 1: known as a network marketing company, right and we uh, Man,
1:18:10
Speaker 1: we survived our first year, where a lot of network
1:18:12
Speaker 1: marketing companies don't survive ninety days. Man, that we survived
1:18:16
Speaker 1: our first year, and we prided. Man. We had an
1:18:18
Speaker 1: incredible year. Man. A lot of people were blessed. And
1:18:22
Speaker 1: we uh. We we market health and wellness products products,
1:18:25
Speaker 1: but we allow people to operate a business within a business, right,
1:18:30
Speaker 1: So you can operate a home based business like we
1:18:34
Speaker 1: have right now in just a little over a year,
1:18:38
Speaker 1: over forty thousand reps all across the country, man, and
1:18:42
Speaker 1: in Canada. Right we're expanding. We have plans for international expansion.
1:18:45
Speaker 1: But you know it's the time putting everything for that.
1:18:48
Speaker 1: But uh, right now, you know, a little forty five
1:18:51
Speaker 1: thousand man, and these people are operating from their home,
1:18:54
Speaker 1: but essentially from their phone because we have as your
1:18:59
Speaker 1: home you know, for people uh to take a little
1:19:03
Speaker 1: control over their life, man, because there are a lot
1:19:05
Speaker 1: of people that are not as fortunate as you, uh,
1:19:08
Speaker 1: A lot of people that don't have careers. And there
1:19:10
Speaker 1: are a lot of people man that have jobs that
1:19:12
Speaker 1: that keep us afloat. Man. Like imagine the countless uh bartenders,
1:19:18
Speaker 1: man and waitresses that that take care of us man,
1:19:20
Speaker 1: to service us man who are out of work and
1:19:23
Speaker 1: make a lot of make money doing that, take care
1:19:25
Speaker 1: of their families doing it, man, they have no jobs,
1:19:27
Speaker 1: and imagine a lot I mean, so there's so many people.
1:19:31
Speaker 1: So the thing I love about what I do is
1:19:33
Speaker 1: that it gives people an opportunity to be the change
1:19:37
Speaker 1: that they've been seeking and buying that. I mean that
1:19:40
Speaker 1: they could really start their own home based business man
1:19:43
Speaker 1: for a thousand dollars or less, and have an opportunity
1:19:47
Speaker 1: to earn like I mean, man, I mean, I have
1:19:50
Speaker 1: people in my company that I mean, in in the
1:19:53
Speaker 1: first year, earned over half a million, and I have
1:19:56
Speaker 1: people that have earned two hunt a quarter of a
1:19:58
Speaker 1: uh two fifty thousand people that are earned fifty you know,
1:20:02
Speaker 1: so if you have people that earned five hundred thousand,
1:20:05
Speaker 1: I have countless people that have earned an extra thousand
1:20:08
Speaker 1: dollars a month. Man. That was much more powerful then
1:20:12
Speaker 1: the one twols of threes that earned five hundred thousand
1:20:14
Speaker 1: in one year. The imagine what an extra twelve thousand
1:20:18
Speaker 1: dollars would do for for your your household budget? Man,
1:20:22
Speaker 1: for extra extra money? Man, So how does it doesn't work?
1:20:25
Speaker 1: I doesn't work? Money Man. We talked about the kid,
1:20:28
Speaker 1: we talked about the lifestyle, We talked about the opportunity.
1:20:31
Speaker 1: How does it all work? When you're talking about networking,
1:20:35
Speaker 1: you know, everybody has a network of people that they share.
1:20:38
Speaker 1: Imagine you go to the store and you buy a
1:20:41
Speaker 1: bottle of wine and that wine is good. What do
1:20:43
Speaker 1: you do you're like, man, I tried to bottle of wine.
1:20:46
Speaker 1: And the difference is you don't get paid when you
1:20:48
Speaker 1: share the story, right, Like somebody asked me, you know,
1:20:52
Speaker 1: we have a product. We have a coffee called Caprice, right,
1:20:55
Speaker 1: and it's it's a CBD right. Gone, Oh, I'm gonna
1:21:01
Speaker 1: send you someone. Let you try. Just see the infused
1:21:04
Speaker 1: It's delicious. Man. Somebody asked me in an interview, what's
1:21:07
Speaker 1: the difference between my coffee and other coffees in the store.
1:21:11
Speaker 1: I said, what the difference is my coffee pays? Okay,
1:21:15
Speaker 1: all right, those coffees you have to pay to get those.
1:21:17
Speaker 1: My coffee. My coffee pays because you know, you don't
1:21:21
Speaker 1: have to just share it with somebody to say, man,
1:21:23
Speaker 1: it was good I tasted and not make a dime.
1:21:25
Speaker 1: When you share my coffee, you make money right right, right,
1:21:29
Speaker 1: and you're sharing something that's healthy, you know. So, I mean,
1:21:33
Speaker 1: so that's the difference. Man. Uh. Everybody has a network
1:21:37
Speaker 1: of people that they're close to that they share things.
1:21:41
Speaker 1: Hey did you see that movie? Man? That movie was
1:21:43
Speaker 1: a good movie. Bam, what you do you just make?
1:21:46
Speaker 1: You just made somebody some money, right this car? You know,
1:21:51
Speaker 1: I mean chicken, this sandwich, all that stuff. This is
1:21:55
Speaker 1: swich Man restaurants. All these things we do. We're making
1:22:00
Speaker 1: other people money. We do it unconsciously. So our position is,
1:22:04
Speaker 1: how about we work a little conscious? You know, how
1:22:06
Speaker 1: about we we'd be a little more conscious, uh about
1:22:10
Speaker 1: what we do, and let's start sharing some things that
1:22:13
Speaker 1: we're trying and let's let's turn it into a business
1:22:16
Speaker 1: and sharing with our friends and family and other people
1:22:19
Speaker 1: that that they know and that they know, and let's
1:22:21
Speaker 1: turn let's let's monetize. And that's what we've been doing. Man,
1:22:24
Speaker 1: very well, Now you did when I look at your background, Yeah,
1:22:26
Speaker 1: you had to run with BT and then the w
1:22:30
Speaker 1: n B A Washington mystics and so I know because
1:22:33
Speaker 1: your father, you know, hall NBA Hall of Fame and
1:22:35
Speaker 1: first black to be in the NBA. So you you know,
1:22:38
Speaker 1: you know HBCU, you have a trying to you have
1:22:42
Speaker 1: a very um layered life, you know, and how has
1:22:47
Speaker 1: that helped? You were telling us about your experience with
1:22:49
Speaker 1: b ET network and then I'll show the Washington mystics
1:22:53
Speaker 1: of the w n B A. Well, let me say this,
1:22:56
Speaker 1: the my experience with with B two was an incredible
1:23:00
Speaker 1: experience because it's the first time ever. Man. We started
1:23:02
Speaker 1: off with a local network and then next thing you
1:23:05
Speaker 1: O b T pick it up, Man, and we were
1:23:07
Speaker 1: just global with the show. Uh of course it was
1:23:11
Speaker 1: our first experience. But you know the show was not
1:23:15
Speaker 1: so good. We had a good seasons though, but you know,
1:23:22
Speaker 1: the show could have been a lot different. Um. It
1:23:26
Speaker 1: was supposed to shine a positive light on network marketing
1:23:30
Speaker 1: what we do, but uh it was. It turned into
1:23:33
Speaker 1: something than I don't blame it on BT. I I
1:23:36
Speaker 1: say that, and I even the producers. It was the
1:23:38
Speaker 1: first project that they ever worked on, Man, But it
1:23:42
Speaker 1: was an absolute pleasure working with B team. Man. We
1:23:44
Speaker 1: went down to the BT Awards and he took care
1:23:48
Speaker 1: of us. Man. They treat us. We walked the red
1:23:50
Speaker 1: They didn't treat this like you know, we were nothing. Man.
1:23:52
Speaker 1: They gave us the red carpet experience. So look, Man,
1:23:57
Speaker 1: you will never hear Kenny Lloyd sayything that you took
1:24:01
Speaker 1: care of us. When it was like when I had
1:24:02
Speaker 1: my moment, my five minutes of faith. I enjoyed every
1:24:06
Speaker 1: minute of the Man, and they made the special and
1:24:09
Speaker 1: now not to watch the mystics of w n B a.
1:24:11
Speaker 1: Now that's my brother. You have to do the interview
1:24:14
Speaker 1: with him because that was him working with the Okay,
1:24:16
Speaker 1: cool they put down there on your bio here, And
1:24:18
Speaker 1: I apologize when I looked everything up, I didn't see it.
1:24:21
Speaker 1: I didn't see what we're rolling like that. So now
1:24:23
Speaker 1: let's go back to the Houston, Texas area, and let's
1:24:26
Speaker 1: let's talk about that whole experience of being in Houston.
1:24:29
Speaker 1: You said you've been in fifteen years, right, yes, Okay,
1:24:32
Speaker 1: Now what advantages being in the Texas market, because let's
1:24:35
Speaker 1: talk about Texas because I my corporations in Texas they
1:24:38
Speaker 1: don't tax you. We're talking money making conversations. Now, there
1:24:41
Speaker 1: are some advantages to not taxing into to not paying
1:24:45
Speaker 1: taxes as a corporation and not have your your business
1:24:48
Speaker 1: tax Is that being is that? Is that an asset
1:24:52
Speaker 1: for your brand? Oh? It's it's it's absolutely asset to
1:24:55
Speaker 1: the brand. Look, man, you know and when you are look,
1:24:59
Speaker 1: I'm still a small business. Okay, you know, I'm still
1:25:02
Speaker 1: a small business. I mean, you know, we we do
1:25:04
Speaker 1: a lot of a lot of a lot of numbers
1:25:05
Speaker 1: a month, man, but we're still a small business. And
1:25:08
Speaker 1: any break a small business can get, you have to
1:25:10
Speaker 1: capitalize on it. But what's important in the biggest mistake
1:25:14
Speaker 1: that most small businesses makers that they think small when
1:25:17
Speaker 1: they're at off. You, Uh, you have to look at
1:25:20
Speaker 1: your numbers. And when you see your numbers, man, when
1:25:23
Speaker 1: you start going from two thousand, I mean like you know,
1:25:26
Speaker 1: like ten thousands and sales a month, twenty evening, and
1:25:30
Speaker 1: when you see yourself going to six figures and heading
1:25:33
Speaker 1: towards seven, you better have some very competent you know,
1:25:38
Speaker 1: people on your team and that that our c P
1:25:41
Speaker 1: A S man like that could guide you. But I
1:25:45
Speaker 1: always tell people, whatever it is you you you you
1:25:48
Speaker 1: achieved to be, start putting your team together before you
1:25:51
Speaker 1: get there because you have If you stay ready, you
1:25:54
Speaker 1: don't have to get ready man. You know when it
1:25:56
Speaker 1: happens sometimes it's you one contract. Man, You're one move,
1:26:01
Speaker 1: one once, one swing of God's hands from going from
1:26:05
Speaker 1: you know, twenty thousand a month to a million and
1:26:07
Speaker 1: sales a month. And if you're not prepared, man, you're
1:26:10
Speaker 1: gonna seek because it's not just about sales alone. They
1:26:14
Speaker 1: it doesn't it unsustain me, man, it is being you know,
1:26:17
Speaker 1: if your infrastructure. So it's important that you have the
1:26:20
Speaker 1: right people in place as you see your business start
1:26:23
Speaker 1: to grow, man, and don't don't be cheap because you
1:26:26
Speaker 1: get what you paid for. All right, Now, let's let's
1:26:29
Speaker 1: talk about that, and let's talk about relationship from the
1:26:31
Speaker 1: stand part of personal. Like, my wife has always paying
1:26:34
Speaker 1: a major role in my life. You know, I always
1:26:36
Speaker 1: tell people, you know, she was very talented optopatris and
1:26:39
Speaker 1: allowed me to go to New York and build my brand,
1:26:42
Speaker 1: go to l A and build my brand. I'm in Atlanta.
1:26:45
Speaker 1: She's helping me build my brand. Now I had to
1:26:47
Speaker 1: bring up because you know your wife plays a prominent
1:26:50
Speaker 1: role in your bio. Okay, I'll be I'll be remissing.
1:26:54
Speaker 1: And I don't want to fall on her dark side
1:26:56
Speaker 1: because I said I want to get with you. I
1:26:58
Speaker 1: don't want to have an energy with you, and don't up. Okay, Kenny,
1:27:01
Speaker 1: talk about that the power corporate relationship that you have
1:27:04
Speaker 1: with your wife. Kenny, Well, let me say this, man,
1:27:06
Speaker 1: My wife is my business partner and she and I
1:27:09
Speaker 1: both have a role, right And the thing I say
1:27:11
Speaker 1: about my wife is that I wouldn't be on this
1:27:14
Speaker 1: interview with you if it was not for my wife
1:27:16
Speaker 1: because I've had many more failures than I've had success,
1:27:19
Speaker 1: you know, and you know, each failure is a success
1:27:23
Speaker 1: if you don't duplicate because you learned through it, right.
1:27:25
Speaker 1: But I've had many more failures, and she never chilled
1:27:29
Speaker 1: my spirit, like you know who. I'll never forget that.
1:27:33
Speaker 1: In this last journey, we she was working and she
1:27:39
Speaker 1: would be going to work and she'd be working on
1:27:41
Speaker 1: our reality, and our reality was that we were broken.
1:27:44
Speaker 1: We needed some money, so she was going and she
1:27:46
Speaker 1: was earning some money. But she allowed me to work
1:27:49
Speaker 1: on our dream, right, which was you know, work the
1:27:53
Speaker 1: business full time right now. It's a little hard though,
1:27:56
Speaker 1: because you know, she would be like did you make it?
1:27:58
Speaker 1: Say other day, I'm like, I can't work out of
1:28:01
Speaker 1: that kind of pressure. Okay, let me do my thing.
1:28:04
Speaker 1: But that she allowed me to do that, and of course,
1:28:09
Speaker 1: you know it was ridicute because you know, people knew
1:28:11
Speaker 1: me and Shante's broke man and this and that. But man,
1:28:14
Speaker 1: I didn't let it in that swaye me because I know,
1:28:16
Speaker 1: broke man. It's just temporary, right right right when our
1:28:22
Speaker 1: when our dream became my reality, then her reality changed
1:28:27
Speaker 1: because she was able to do what she wants, when
1:28:29
Speaker 1: she wants and how she wants. Okay, and but she
1:28:32
Speaker 1: still chooses not to sit on her butt all day,
1:28:35
Speaker 1: live in the lamp luxury my life. They're active in
1:28:38
Speaker 1: our business, you know, because she loves the people. She's
1:28:41
Speaker 1: a big part of the reason why we're here, because
1:28:43
Speaker 1: she interacts for people. Like maybe I don't know. I've
1:28:46
Speaker 1: been told I might come off like a shark sometime, man,
1:28:49
Speaker 1: but I just don't play because being broke and climbing
1:28:52
Speaker 1: out of that hole that broke old man, it's rough,
1:28:55
Speaker 1: and so you don't have time to nurture anybody and
1:28:59
Speaker 1: breastfeed people. And man, look it's like it's man, it
1:29:03
Speaker 1: speeds to famine out of it, you know, when you're
1:29:05
Speaker 1: trying to live your dream, man, when you're trying to
1:29:07
Speaker 1: come from broke too and to giving your family the
1:29:10
Speaker 1: life you want to give them. Man, you gotta be
1:29:12
Speaker 1: a gorilla. Well, let me start talking about that, Kenny,
1:29:15
Speaker 1: because you know, because I'm probably I'm mad at myself
1:29:18
Speaker 1: because we talked about it off air, and I should
1:29:20
Speaker 1: have started this conversation with it because you're not both
1:29:23
Speaker 1: over sixty and we all know that, especially black people,
1:29:27
Speaker 1: they tended a lot of ages when they think they can.
1:29:30
Speaker 1: This is when I for the I'm for the I'm done, fifty,
1:29:33
Speaker 1: I'm done. I'm trying to retire. And we all know
1:29:35
Speaker 1: there's no money waiting on your sixty five years of age.
1:29:38
Speaker 1: You're not both know that. So what continued? And I
1:29:42
Speaker 1: remember I did an interview and it with viral when
1:29:45
Speaker 1: I was talking about I don't have an age limit.
1:29:48
Speaker 1: Agees a number that's necessary. And and I hate people
1:29:50
Speaker 1: who who I don't see how old I am. I
1:29:53
Speaker 1: don't know how you can be successful unless you get older.
1:29:56
Speaker 1: That's what's called experience. And if you do the right
1:29:58
Speaker 1: to have the right type of experience, get paid for
1:30:00
Speaker 1: that value. Let's talk about you, because you said Rishan
1:30:03
Speaker 1: and fifty, I cracked it back up. Let's talk about
1:30:06
Speaker 1: that not allowing age to stop you kidding. I mean
1:30:10
Speaker 1: I didn't let age because I think my my calling,
1:30:13
Speaker 1: you know, like we all to put on this earth
1:30:15
Speaker 1: man with a purpose, and man some of us die
1:30:18
Speaker 1: crying because we've never discovered our purpose, because we don't
1:30:21
Speaker 1: keep on moving forward. And for me, I anybody who's
1:30:26
Speaker 1: normally all my life will tell you that I've always
1:30:29
Speaker 1: said I wanted to be a millionaire, and I didn't
1:30:31
Speaker 1: know how, what or what, but I would go. My
1:30:34
Speaker 1: goal was to be a millionaire, and I said, it
1:30:36
Speaker 1: took me fifty years to make an happen in a
1:30:38
Speaker 1: lot of pain. Right. Well, a lot of people in
1:30:41
Speaker 1: my age, they're downsizning, you know, they're looking for you know, uh,
1:30:49
Speaker 1: one of those chairs, those one of those stays. Do
1:30:51
Speaker 1: you put the lever and they go, I don't even
1:30:53
Speaker 1: know what it is because I don't even know that.
1:30:55
Speaker 1: They go up this stair like the stairs. Then let
1:30:56
Speaker 1: ye go and stand, man. They just said in it,
1:30:59
Speaker 1: they just tell the people. And this is when I
1:31:03
Speaker 1: say this to y'all, say it from my heart. I'm
1:31:06
Speaker 1: working on my jet right right. I got two more things, man,
1:31:10
Speaker 1: on my on my because my fishing board. Man. Then
1:31:13
Speaker 1: I got a complete and that's my jet and my yot.
1:31:16
Speaker 1: And I'm gonna have my jet. I know when I'm
1:31:18
Speaker 1: gonna have because I have my expectation date. I'm closed
1:31:23
Speaker 1: my yott. I know what I'm gonna have that, and
1:31:25
Speaker 1: I will have that before sixty five. Right. And so
1:31:29
Speaker 1: to the point is I'm sixty one years old. Man. Look,
1:31:32
Speaker 1: I don't subscribe to that. When you get a certain age,
1:31:35
Speaker 1: you start wearing those sweaters, man, and sitting in up
1:31:38
Speaker 1: in the recod recliner that's what you call a recliner chair,
1:31:41
Speaker 1: watching TV with the man. Oh listen, that's like you too.
1:31:46
Speaker 1: I don't do your thing, But I want everybody to
1:31:49
Speaker 1: know that my life I was reborn at excuse me,
1:31:57
Speaker 1: I was re born years old and I'm telling you
1:32:01
Speaker 1: I'm sixty one and I still after energy envibrance of
1:32:07
Speaker 1: a forty yeld. Right. Why because my life is burning right?
1:32:12
Speaker 1: You know, my my life is still burning man, because
1:32:16
Speaker 1: I still have work. You know, it's really interesting that
1:32:21
Speaker 1: I tell everybody I didn't really despite having success in
1:32:23
Speaker 1: my life, Kenny, it wasn't until I was forty two
1:32:26
Speaker 1: that I really accepted who I was and who I
1:32:29
Speaker 1: could be. And so age plays a role in all.
1:32:32
Speaker 1: That's that's why I admired people like Barack Obama, who
1:32:36
Speaker 1: I call him visionaries. They knew early on he wanted
1:32:38
Speaker 1: to be president, you know, and so like you said,
1:32:40
Speaker 1: it was shane. I remember in high school, Kenny, you know,
1:32:45
Speaker 1: we didn't have enough money to burily buy basketball shoes
1:32:49
Speaker 1: that were played in every day but we used to
1:32:51
Speaker 1: cut out pictures of foreign cars, Porsches, corvettes, and I
1:32:56
Speaker 1: just always remember that and guess what I drive today
1:32:59
Speaker 1: though type of cars. For some reason in my mind,
1:33:02
Speaker 1: even though I didn't know it, Kenny, I was, I
1:33:05
Speaker 1: was instilling a value in me, an aspiration in me
1:33:08
Speaker 1: that this is what I wanted in my life. And
1:33:11
Speaker 1: even when my friends settled for you know cars, I thought,
1:33:14
Speaker 1: I just waited up. Remember the very first car was
1:33:16
Speaker 1: a Foreig Card FIA X one nine to to see
1:33:20
Speaker 1: it and because I just knew that that's the game
1:33:23
Speaker 1: I wanted to play. And when you say yourself Rashan
1:33:27
Speaker 1: at fifty, I remodeled and just started my career where
1:33:30
Speaker 1: I wanted to go. Now you're talking about you got
1:33:32
Speaker 1: goals all the way to sixty five, and I know
1:33:34
Speaker 1: your goals beyond sixty five. But what I always want
1:33:36
Speaker 1: to tell people, when you think like you, Kenny, it
1:33:39
Speaker 1: impacts you physically as well. You walk different, you talk different,
1:33:43
Speaker 1: you dressed differ. Am I right? Absolutely? I mean everything
1:33:50
Speaker 1: about me. I just worked through things, man, you know,
1:33:53
Speaker 1: because I know it was waiting with Kenny. I want
1:33:58
Speaker 1: to let you go. Is the top of lifestyle. Uh off,
1:34:01
Speaker 1: I want to get your phone number from you because
1:34:03
Speaker 1: I'm like, I got a home down in Houston, Texas.
1:34:05
Speaker 1: I live my headquarters down in Atlanta. Then you know
1:34:07
Speaker 1: when you get that uh that plane, that jet. You
1:34:10
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. You know, you know I'm not
1:34:12
Speaker 1: gonna ask you what what size you getting there? What's
1:34:15
Speaker 1: your what's your what's your vision out there? I don't
1:34:17
Speaker 1: want to, okay, because I'm being some jets. Now, I've
1:34:21
Speaker 1: been on some chests. Kiddy, Uh, I get it. You
1:34:25
Speaker 1: come here? Can you say Vegas? And you know I
1:34:30
Speaker 1: got the relationships baby in Vegas, I got the relationship. Hey, kiddy, man,
1:34:34
Speaker 1: please brother, stay blessed and again, man, we were friends.
1:34:38
Speaker 1: Now we're relationship. Brother, And tell everybody about the talker lifestyle,
1:34:42
Speaker 1: networking you've done, man, and everything that you're doing, man,
1:34:45
Speaker 1: because it's about uplifting people. Man. And look, man, you
1:34:49
Speaker 1: you've had a lot of success man, and I'm telling
1:34:51
Speaker 1: you man, I'm very honored man to be a partner.
1:34:53
Speaker 1: Thank you very much. We will be right back with
1:34:56
Speaker 1: more money making conversations with your host ros Sean McDonald
1:35:00
Speaker 1: and we're live here outside the Perez Family home, just
1:35:04
Speaker 1: waiting for the and there they go, almost on time.
1:35:07
Speaker 1: This morning, Mom is coming out the front door strong
1:35:09
Speaker 1: with a double arm kid carry. Looks like Dad has
1:35:12
Speaker 1: the bags. Daughter is bringing up the rear. Oh but
1:35:15
Speaker 1: the diaper bag wasn't closed. Diapers and toys are everywhere.
1:35:20
Speaker 1: Oh but mom has just nailed the perfect car seat
1:35:24
Speaker 1: buckle for the toddler. And now the eldest daughter, who
1:35:27
Speaker 1: looks to be about nine or ten, has secured herself
1:35:30
Speaker 1: in the booster seat. Dad zips the bag clothes and
1:35:33
Speaker 1: they're off. Ah, but looks like Mom doesn't realize her
1:35:36
Speaker 1: coffee cup is still on the roof of the car
1:35:39
Speaker 1: and there it goes. Ah. That's a shame that mug
1:35:43
Speaker 1: was a fan favorite. Don't sweat the small stuff. Just
1:35:46
Speaker 1: nailed the big stuff, like making sure your kids are
1:35:48
Speaker 1: buckled correctly in the right seat for their agent's eyes.
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Speaker 1: and the AD Council. Hi and ra Sean McDonald host
1:37:02
Speaker 1: the Money Making Conversations. The Cafe Marcha Swag Award is
1:37:05
Speaker 1: a celebration of black men who are making a difference
1:37:07
Speaker 1: in our community by empowering others to reach their life goals.
1:37:11
Speaker 1: From civic leaders, businessmen, activists, celebrities, and everyday days. The
1:37:16
Speaker 1: Cafe Marcha Swag Award winner this week is Hell Harper.
1:37:20
Speaker 1: His Manifest Your Destiny Foundation provides underserved youth a path
1:37:23
Speaker 1: to empowerment and educational excellent academic programming, college training, and
1:37:28
Speaker 1: personal development. When I started my foundation um Manifest Your Destiny,
1:37:33
Speaker 1: that I wanted to empower young people and in terms
1:37:36
Speaker 1: of education, in terms of helping them achieve their goals.
1:37:38
Speaker 1: And I started to realize the number one excuse or
1:37:42
Speaker 1: reason they would give me as to why they're not
1:37:44
Speaker 1: following their dreams always went back to money. If money
1:37:48
Speaker 1: is the root of what's holding people back, and we
1:37:51
Speaker 1: don't even teach it in school, we have to educate
1:37:54
Speaker 1: folks and empower them financially for them to actually live
1:37:58
Speaker 1: their best lives. The Calfe A Mocha Swagg Award represents
1:38:01
Speaker 1: men who have strength, whose wisdom is assertive, and who
1:38:04
Speaker 1: are genuine in their spirit. Welcome back to money Making
1:38:09
Speaker 1: Conversations with your host, Rashaan McDonald. My next guest is
1:38:13
Speaker 1: Sharille Dorsey. She's the founder and CEO of The Plug,
1:38:17
Speaker 1: a digital news and insights platform covering the black innovative
1:38:21
Speaker 1: community innovations community. I should say her work has been
1:38:24
Speaker 1: featured a Vice The Washington Post and more. Charrell has
1:38:27
Speaker 1: been contributing edge to for notable publications like Columbia Journalism Review,
1:38:31
Speaker 1: Fast Company, Black Enterprise, and others. The Plug and Word
1:38:34
Speaker 1: have partnered the highlight black tech and innovative innovations within
1:38:38
Speaker 1: the Philadelphia community by pulling together their resources to create
1:38:41
Speaker 1: greater impact through storytelling. Please work with the money making conversations.
1:38:45
Speaker 1: Sharrelle Dorsey, How you doing this? Dorsey? Hi, thank you
1:38:50
Speaker 1: so much for having me Oran. It's such a pleasure
1:38:52
Speaker 1: to be um here with you today and being part
1:38:56
Speaker 1: of this conversation. I'm really excited about the work that
1:38:59
Speaker 1: we're doing in Philadelphia. So what does that work? So
1:39:01
Speaker 1: let's go and get down to the heart of the matter.
1:39:03
Speaker 1: Because I hear the word storytelling, You know, storytelling in
1:39:06
Speaker 1: the era of the pandemic and the financial crisis, Black
1:39:10
Speaker 1: people in the financial gap is getting further and further apart.
1:39:14
Speaker 1: What is HBCUs finally being recognized for their contribution. That's
1:39:17
Speaker 1: the one positive thing has come out of what do
1:39:21
Speaker 1: you say storytelling? What do you what do you mean
1:39:23
Speaker 1: when you say that? Absolutely so, the way in which
1:39:27
Speaker 1: we tell stories about who it is that we are
1:39:29
Speaker 1: and how we contribute specifically to society matters. Right, For
1:39:33
Speaker 1: too long, we've seen innovation and genius only look like
1:39:37
Speaker 1: one archetype. Right. We talked about the Bill Gates, the
1:39:40
Speaker 1: Mark Zuckerberg's, we talk about the Elon musks, but you
1:39:43
Speaker 1: rarely see the conversations about folks that come from communities
1:39:47
Speaker 1: that look like ours being genius and what they've produced
1:39:52
Speaker 1: and created and what they also lead within their communities
1:39:54
Speaker 1: and how that particular impact UM is really changing the
1:39:59
Speaker 1: paradigm for so many of us. And so you know,
1:40:02
Speaker 1: I have the privilege through the Plug, which is a
1:40:05
Speaker 1: UM digital subscription based and insights news platform, we cover
1:40:09
Speaker 1: the black innovation economy across the country. And this year
1:40:13
Speaker 1: we have the privilege of receiving a grant from the
1:40:15
Speaker 1: Olympus Institute, UM and some community partners to work in
1:40:19
Speaker 1: collaboration with Word Radio in Philadelphia to cover what does
1:40:23
Speaker 1: black and brown innovation look like on the ground, especially
1:40:25
Speaker 1: amid such a tumultuous time as COVID nineteen. And we
1:40:29
Speaker 1: know that black businesses disproportionately have been the most affected UM,
1:40:34
Speaker 1: just as black people have from a a healthcare standpoint,
1:40:38
Speaker 1: and so UM as we look at the storytelling conversation. UM.
1:40:42
Speaker 1: Ensuring that we are covering the highs and mallows of
1:40:45
Speaker 1: this and how it affects our communities is super super
1:40:48
Speaker 1: critical um right now, and also as we look toward
1:40:52
Speaker 1: a new year with you know, new administration and new
1:40:55
Speaker 1: needs from a policy perspective. You know, it's really interesting
1:40:59
Speaker 1: because you've a name you mentioned earlier. You know, Elon
1:41:01
Speaker 1: Musk and uh Zuckenberg and Bill Gates, well the top
1:41:06
Speaker 1: five richest people in the world. And you know, when
1:41:08
Speaker 1: I look at insight and information, sometimes, UM, I think
1:41:13
Speaker 1: black news has been diversified, or maybe it's not as
1:41:17
Speaker 1: clean as it was when I was growing I grew
1:41:19
Speaker 1: up in Jet magazine. I grew up on the ebony,
1:41:21
Speaker 1: you know, and so this is truly you know, the
1:41:24
Speaker 1: Black Storytelle. You know, they told us who the Black
1:41:27
Speaker 1: Top ten songs, the Black ten Top ten TV shows?
1:41:31
Speaker 1: I knew everything. And so is there is diversity too much?
1:41:36
Speaker 1: Or do we need to get narrow the information based
1:41:38
Speaker 1: sometimes to be able to get the true information and
1:41:41
Speaker 1: success stories of Black Americans? I think that we need
1:41:46
Speaker 1: nuance in all cases and places and spaces. You know,
1:41:50
Speaker 1: black folks are not a monolitht I think we share
1:41:53
Speaker 1: so many similar challenges because you know, good old fashion
1:41:57
Speaker 1: American history has has shown us some of the tools
1:42:00
Speaker 1: and tactics that have been used against us, whether it
1:42:03
Speaker 1: was redlining our communities, not providing adequate and transportation options
1:42:08
Speaker 1: or food, um access options. A lot of our cities,
1:42:12
Speaker 1: from you know, Seattle, you know where I'm from originally,
1:42:15
Speaker 1: to you know, Kansas City, to you know, Tallahassee, Florida.
1:42:19
Speaker 1: I mean, we've all experienced the same levels of what
1:42:22
Speaker 1: systemic racism has done to our communities, our schools, our
1:42:26
Speaker 1: health care centers, um, all of those things. And so
1:42:29
Speaker 1: we have that shared experience UM of what you know,
1:42:33
Speaker 1: discriminatory systems have done to limit genius and limit innovation. UM.
1:42:38
Speaker 1: But but when we look very closely, we still see
1:42:42
Speaker 1: that there are so many great pockets of genius and
1:42:45
Speaker 1: people who have survived from the worst of the atrocities
1:42:50
Speaker 1: of American racism, and that place such a tremendous factor
1:42:54
Speaker 1: in terms of where we are today, particularly as we
1:42:57
Speaker 1: are battling you know, one of the most distinctive moments
1:43:02
Speaker 1: in our time from a public health standpoint, and then
1:43:05
Speaker 1: also from an economic one as well. UM. You know,
1:43:08
Speaker 1: and and you know, a decade ago, I was graduating
1:43:12
Speaker 1: from college in the height of a recession. You know.
1:43:14
Speaker 1: And now when we look at home ownership rates amongst
1:43:17
Speaker 1: amongst black folks in this country, we see a tremendous decline.
1:43:21
Speaker 1: We see the shift of in the growth of the
1:43:24
Speaker 1: way of the racial wealth gap in terms of you know,
1:43:27
Speaker 1: things really moving backwards. And so I love to talk
1:43:30
Speaker 1: about what innovation looks like in our communities and the
1:43:33
Speaker 1: opportunities that exists, be that making investments in entrepreneurs who
1:43:38
Speaker 1: are building high growth tech companies and the companies are
1:43:41
Speaker 1: gonna drive the future. Um, I think that you know,
1:43:44
Speaker 1: there's there's just plenty of opportunity here to take a
1:43:47
Speaker 1: look at all the dimensions in which black and brown
1:43:50
Speaker 1: folks live and work and play and finding ways to
1:43:54
Speaker 1: help people connect the dots and synthesize. Here are the
1:43:57
Speaker 1: movers and the shakers. Here the opportunity munities that we
1:44:00
Speaker 1: are really examining from a city by city's perspective to
1:44:05
Speaker 1: also ensure that, okay, are black and brown folks and
1:44:08
Speaker 1: the majority is they called majority minority city getting their
1:44:12
Speaker 1: fair share of support considering all of the other challenges
1:44:15
Speaker 1: that are up against us. Why did you choose the
1:44:17
Speaker 1: city of Philadelphia? Philadelphia for for a number of reasons.
1:44:23
Speaker 1: Super interesting city to me. I have family there. My
1:44:25
Speaker 1: family really originated you said Seattle earlier, now in Atlanta,
1:44:32
Speaker 1: and now in Philadelphia. So you've got the coast in
1:44:34
Speaker 1: the south lockdown. Yeah, I've got a locked down. I
1:44:41
Speaker 1: got locked down. My grandparents left to the South, that
1:44:44
Speaker 1: moved to Detroit, you know, and the fifties and sixties,
1:44:48
Speaker 1: and my grandfather ended up going to Boeing in the seventies.
1:44:52
Speaker 1: He got recruited to go work for Boeing. So most
1:44:54
Speaker 1: black folks that ended up in Seattle got there because
1:44:58
Speaker 1: of companies like Boeing Um. And so that's my grandfather.
1:45:01
Speaker 1: You know. My grandfather left Detroit, you know, after he
1:45:04
Speaker 1: came back from the military, and and that's how that's
1:45:07
Speaker 1: how he ended up in Seattle. And his sister went
1:45:09
Speaker 1: over to Philadelphia, got married and moved to Philadelphia. So
1:45:13
Speaker 1: I grew up going back and forth to those cities.
1:45:15
Speaker 1: But having such a deep, rich history, and Philadelphia is
1:45:18
Speaker 1: one of the top rising tuch hubs in the country.
1:45:22
Speaker 1: It's also one of the majority black right and then
1:45:25
Speaker 1: the state of Pennsylvania highly populated with black and Latin
1:45:29
Speaker 1: X people in communities who are are slowly starting to
1:45:33
Speaker 1: be pushed out right of the very city that um
1:45:36
Speaker 1: that that decided not to make the necessary investments to
1:45:39
Speaker 1: ensure that these croco folks got to participate in what
1:45:42
Speaker 1: we call the innovation economy, so really preparing people for
1:45:45
Speaker 1: the jobs of the future, which are driven by things
1:45:47
Speaker 1: like artificial intelligence, learning, automation, the kind of things like
1:45:52
Speaker 1: when we go to the grocery store and you don't
1:45:53
Speaker 1: have to go to the checkout person, you can go
1:45:56
Speaker 1: right over there to the machine. Those kinds of things.
1:45:58
Speaker 1: You know, we we over indexed as a people in
1:46:00
Speaker 1: service based businesses. UM. So when we look at places
1:46:03
Speaker 1: like cities, cities like Philadelphia where you know, investors and
1:46:08
Speaker 1: developers come in and buy up the blocks and you know,
1:46:10
Speaker 1: transform you know, a community overnight into you know, very
1:46:16
Speaker 1: expensive housing. We've seen that story all across America. But
1:46:20
Speaker 1: we wanted to make sure as Philadelphia was starting to
1:46:23
Speaker 1: um face its own economic changes, we really were taking
1:46:27
Speaker 1: a look at, Okay, what is the city doing to
1:46:29
Speaker 1: prepare these groups of residents and citizens who have been
1:46:32
Speaker 1: there for generations? UM What are they doing to help
1:46:35
Speaker 1: ensure that these folks also get an opportunity to get investment.
1:46:39
Speaker 1: We see the Google Google for startups having invested in
1:46:42
Speaker 1: two companies. UM, you know, black owned tech companies in
1:46:45
Speaker 1: the city of Philadelphia. You know we're seeing UM. You know,
1:46:48
Speaker 1: some of the administration really focus on workforce opportunities within
1:46:51
Speaker 1: the tech space. So I think it's just an interesting
1:46:54
Speaker 1: case study. I have just ties to the city, um,
1:46:56
Speaker 1: the people itself. I have family there that are still
1:46:59
Speaker 1: in North Philly, West Phillia and Germantown. UM. And so
1:47:02
Speaker 1: I think that that city, that that Philadelphia truly is
1:47:04
Speaker 1: a microcosm of the rest of America. Okay, Well, in
1:47:07
Speaker 1: October fifth, the partnership incorporate the Plug hosting a bi
1:47:10
Speaker 1: monthly segment on Word every other Monday. Tell us about that.
1:47:16
Speaker 1: So we get an opportunity to talk about some of
1:47:18
Speaker 1: the reporting that we've done, UM, particularly within the city
1:47:21
Speaker 1: of Philadelphia. And so UM we have one of the
1:47:24
Speaker 1: great things that the grant allowed us to do is
1:47:27
Speaker 1: also find a local reporting fellows. So we have Hadrian
1:47:32
Speaker 1: Lowe Crime who happens to be an undergrad at the
1:47:35
Speaker 1: University of Pennsylvania and UM. She's on the ground really
1:47:39
Speaker 1: really creating some incredible reporting stories. One of her lightest
1:47:42
Speaker 1: pieces was on how a crowdfunding campaign UM that was
1:47:47
Speaker 1: created by black doctors who developed a consortution to provide
1:47:52
Speaker 1: access to COVID testing for black Philadelphia ands. UM. It
1:47:55
Speaker 1: was an incredible piece that she did. So we go
1:47:58
Speaker 1: on live every other Monday with Word to talk through
1:48:02
Speaker 1: these pieces of these discoveries of what's going on in
1:48:05
Speaker 1: the community and to talk about how does that fit
1:48:07
Speaker 1: into the scope of innovation and opportunity within the city. UM.
1:48:11
Speaker 1: And so it's just been an incredible way for us
1:48:13
Speaker 1: to go from you know, hey, where here's a you know,
1:48:15
Speaker 1: a thousand words to read on this to you know,
1:48:18
Speaker 1: those who are just kind of listening into Word and
1:48:21
Speaker 1: want to, you know, want to get a glimpse of
1:48:22
Speaker 1: what's going on from an innovation perspective. You know, they
1:48:25
Speaker 1: can listen to UM. They can actually listen to the
1:48:27
Speaker 1: stories that we're covering. Well, it's really interesting because what
1:48:30
Speaker 1: I'm hearing now is your your version of what I
1:48:32
Speaker 1: grew up with Black Enterprise, Ebony Jet magazine from a
1:48:37
Speaker 1: technical standpoint, and the words you're finding where you can
1:48:39
Speaker 1: get the truth. You know, you can hear about black
1:48:42
Speaker 1: black leaders, black financiers, because right now the journal media
1:48:46
Speaker 1: just wants to tell us about athletes who make a
1:48:48
Speaker 1: lot of money. I want to tell us about entertainers
1:48:50
Speaker 1: that will make a lot of money box office success.
1:48:53
Speaker 1: But when you're talking about, like you said, you was
1:48:55
Speaker 1: able to ride off the top five financially successful men
1:48:58
Speaker 1: in the world, I don't know with the top five
1:49:00
Speaker 1: financially successful African Americans in the world, I should be
1:49:03
Speaker 1: able to rattled that off. And I feel that's what
1:49:05
Speaker 1: I would get from you. What you what you're doing
1:49:08
Speaker 1: with the word and the plug is being provided at
1:49:10
Speaker 1: home for that information and also create conversation. That's where
1:49:14
Speaker 1: you get the insights from correct. Absolutely absolutely, and I
1:49:18
Speaker 1: think overall, you know, when it comes to data capture
1:49:22
Speaker 1: of black folks, a lot of the conversations have been
1:49:25
Speaker 1: somewhat dismal. Right, it's about lack and disparity and deficit.
1:49:30
Speaker 1: You know, the reality is this, We know that we
1:49:32
Speaker 1: are severely underfunded and under resource compared to our white counterparts. Right,
1:49:36
Speaker 1: they got a four hundred year heads start, right, and
1:49:40
Speaker 1: so for us to leverage statistics solely based on our
1:49:44
Speaker 1: relationship to whiteness. I think it's the quickest way for
1:49:47
Speaker 1: us to lose imagination about the capabilities of black and
1:49:50
Speaker 1: brown people. And so the way in which you know
1:49:53
Speaker 1: the plug and even through our project with word, our
1:49:56
Speaker 1: question isn't to ask what Isn't it to ask what
1:49:58
Speaker 1: is where? Where does the opportunity happen? UM that allows
1:50:03
Speaker 1: us to help train, up, skill, reskill and provide guidance,
1:50:08
Speaker 1: you know, to those who want to create and build
1:50:11
Speaker 1: a better future, particularly for for people in within communities
1:50:14
Speaker 1: that look like them. And so I think overall we
1:50:19
Speaker 1: have to really think through our media again and what
1:50:23
Speaker 1: is the purpose and what is the context? You know,
1:50:25
Speaker 1: you mentioned the early publishing days of some of the
1:50:27
Speaker 1: black media publishers, you know, Chicago being that hub. Um.
1:50:32
Speaker 1: Kind of on a side note, you know, we did
1:50:34
Speaker 1: a podcast series called The Clark Street Project really really
1:50:38
Speaker 1: taking a look at um, you know, looking at the
1:50:41
Speaker 1: associated Negro press, right and and sort of those early
1:50:44
Speaker 1: black journalists who are covering our communities and providing nuance
1:50:48
Speaker 1: to what the black experience really looks like in America.
1:50:50
Speaker 1: And that is so significant in in that concept of storytelling,
1:50:54
Speaker 1: which is what you alluded to earlier. Absolutely, I'm happy
1:50:57
Speaker 1: that you see then I'm happy to see that they're
1:51:00
Speaker 1: from a technical standpoint. Well, you know, the thing about
1:51:02
Speaker 1: it is that Black Enterprise is doing a great job
1:51:05
Speaker 1: rolling out of these magazines. But somehow, you know, they
1:51:08
Speaker 1: they hit a wall. They hit the wall of being
1:51:10
Speaker 1: able to reach a certain demographics from a social standpoint
1:51:14
Speaker 1: and where you're providing information that I think it's like
1:51:19
Speaker 1: you know, when you feed a baby, you you kind
1:51:21
Speaker 1: of like take the little spoon. You don't give a
1:51:22
Speaker 1: big old table spoon or food to a baby. You
1:51:25
Speaker 1: give it to them. They sample and they come back
1:51:27
Speaker 1: for more. And that's what I feel that your platform
1:51:29
Speaker 1: is is a great sampling platform, and once you get there,
1:51:32
Speaker 1: you want more information because you provide the information, which
1:51:35
Speaker 1: your turn gives us an insight to be successful. Because
1:51:37
Speaker 1: I always tell people, if you don't know your story,
1:51:39
Speaker 1: that's where the storytelling comes from. If you don't know
1:51:42
Speaker 1: your story, I go to a place where somebody is
1:51:43
Speaker 1: telling your story accurately and consistently, then that's where you
1:51:47
Speaker 1: don't get your story. You get a partial rendering of
1:51:50
Speaker 1: what they want you to hear. You know, words, the
1:51:52
Speaker 1: timeline eventually pushed your story out of the headlines. And
1:51:55
Speaker 1: that's what you're not doing correct, absolutely, And at the
1:51:59
Speaker 1: end of the day, you know, I'm gonna trained data journalist,
1:52:01
Speaker 1: UM and computational data journalist. And you know what I
1:52:05
Speaker 1: love about word is working with the talented group of
1:52:09
Speaker 1: of media players you know. Um, you know Sarah Lomax
1:52:12
Speaker 1: Reese is also we both are two women that graduated
1:52:15
Speaker 1: from Columbia Journalism School. Right, black women running you know,
1:52:18
Speaker 1: media publications that are significantly focused on the Black experience
1:52:23
Speaker 1: and elevating our opportunities within the spaces that are that
1:52:26
Speaker 1: are controlling the world. Right technology, especially now we've accelerated
1:52:31
Speaker 1: in technology and work from home and future of work, um,
1:52:36
Speaker 1: you know, the kind of the jobs of the future
1:52:38
Speaker 1: are here now, right, And so you know, when I
1:52:40
Speaker 1: look at that, I believe that media's job, especially Black
1:52:44
Speaker 1: media's job, is to help us along the way. You know,
1:52:46
Speaker 1: if I'm honest, I feel that, you know, UM, I
1:52:50
Speaker 1: feel that our media didn't give us the necessary language
1:52:53
Speaker 1: to keep moving forward and to find the opportunities to
1:52:55
Speaker 1: get us in this space. I think in some instances
1:52:58
Speaker 1: we we confuse, um, you know, we confused the ability
1:53:03
Speaker 1: to profile people's businesses as entertainment instead of instruction. Right
1:53:09
Speaker 1: when I think about the case studies and the knowledge
1:53:13
Speaker 1: needed to really build out a strong and sustainable company,
1:53:17
Speaker 1: I don't think that we guide it the way in
1:53:18
Speaker 1: the way that we needed to for the kind of
1:53:20
Speaker 1: future that was coming, you know. And I can't speak
1:53:22
Speaker 1: to other publications and sort of what resources they have,
1:53:25
Speaker 1: but I do know that running a black media publication
1:53:28
Speaker 1: is a challenge and know that, you know, advertising revenue
1:53:31
Speaker 1: has largely been eaten up by social media and social
1:53:35
Speaker 1: media platforms, and so the distinctive thing about the Plug
1:53:38
Speaker 1: is we've been revenue focused from day one. UM, you know,
1:53:42
Speaker 1: having a subscription base where we do have a free
1:53:44
Speaker 1: weekly briefing and then for premium tier subscriptions to some
1:53:47
Speaker 1: of our our exclusive content, you know, we're able to
1:53:50
Speaker 1: have more paid version and really attract a group of
1:53:52
Speaker 1: professionals and executives that really look to us for guidance
1:53:56
Speaker 1: on how should we be making business decisions as it
1:53:58
Speaker 1: relates to in during an inclusive and diverse workforce, UM
1:54:03
Speaker 1: and community. And so I think it's just a hard
1:54:05
Speaker 1: business and I think that, you know, in order to
1:54:08
Speaker 1: continue to evolve. We have to be hyper tuned into
1:54:12
Speaker 1: what the data is telling us and using the data
1:54:14
Speaker 1: to really drive the way that we tell our stories
1:54:17
Speaker 1: and the way that we inform our public and really
1:54:19
Speaker 1: help equip the decision makers with the resources they need
1:54:22
Speaker 1: to make better decisions on behalf of our communities. Well, you,
1:54:25
Speaker 1: I love your tone. First of all, here you are
1:54:28
Speaker 1: storyteller yourself. Yeah, they do have a very um, very casual,
1:54:33
Speaker 1: very easy going, fact based information that comes out of
1:54:37
Speaker 1: this you articulate on the daily basis. That's why I
1:54:40
Speaker 1: can appreciate. I was kind of confused about the storytelling earlier,
1:54:43
Speaker 1: but I clearly see it now because of the fact
1:54:46
Speaker 1: that my life and what the information I'm able to share.
1:54:48
Speaker 1: You share what you is based on a resource that
1:54:51
Speaker 1: I had growing up that somewhere along the line I
1:54:54
Speaker 1: thought got lost when rap music came out and it
1:54:56
Speaker 1: became our storytelling was rap music, that there was our
1:54:59
Speaker 1: future story retelling. But some outlane line technology has to
1:55:03
Speaker 1: be We have to gain control of that technology because
1:55:05
Speaker 1: that's where everything is being disseminated. Like you said, social
1:55:08
Speaker 1: media through the digital platforms, and now you're creating a
1:55:11
Speaker 1: platform that allows us to be a part of it.
1:55:14
Speaker 1: Tell us about that platform and how can we participate. Absolutely,
1:55:18
Speaker 1: I would love for your your audience, your your readers,
1:55:21
Speaker 1: your listeners, your viewers to go to TP insights dot com.
1:55:24
Speaker 1: So just the plug insights dot com. Um, this is
1:55:28
Speaker 1: really where we have the bulk of our work positioned.
1:55:31
Speaker 1: So um, you know, giving you an opportunity to subscribe
1:55:35
Speaker 1: to our weekly briefing. Um, you know we're in your
1:55:37
Speaker 1: inbox every single Monday. UM, you know, really giving you
1:55:41
Speaker 1: a lens on Here's what you need to know, here's
1:55:44
Speaker 1: what we're starting to examine. UM, here are kind of
1:55:47
Speaker 1: the top conversations that are happening across the ecosystem. And again,
1:55:52
Speaker 1: you know, it really is is a way to kind
1:55:54
Speaker 1: of quickly digest what's taking place and not be intimidated
1:55:58
Speaker 1: by the language or the kind of come the news
1:56:00
Speaker 1: that are being built. You know, technology is accessible, We
1:56:03
Speaker 1: just you know, we try to slow it down a
1:56:05
Speaker 1: bit so that way, UM, everyone can be can feel,
1:56:08
Speaker 1: you know, can truly feel you know, ready ready for
1:56:12
Speaker 1: what's coming. So real. So I just provide you with
1:56:14
Speaker 1: us my email address, my first and last name, my
1:56:17
Speaker 1: email address. That's all you need from me. Every money.
1:56:22
Speaker 1: Subscribe right to the weekly briefing and start getting it
1:56:25
Speaker 1: every month. We shold weekly briefing. It is it like
1:56:27
Speaker 1: a one cheeter? Is several pages clickable pages or what
1:56:31
Speaker 1: is it? So it comes to you as a as
1:56:33
Speaker 1: a newsletter right to your email. So you're opening up
1:56:36
Speaker 1: your email, You're just you're reading the information. There's a
1:56:38
Speaker 1: note for myself for my managing editor. Um and we
1:56:42
Speaker 1: we you know, we we detail here's what we're reading.
1:56:44
Speaker 1: Here's what you should be reading. Here the most significant
1:56:47
Speaker 1: pieces of the news in terms of black tech news.
1:56:49
Speaker 1: Um and it just comes to your to your email inbox.
1:56:51
Speaker 1: It's just that simple. Well, guess what, Roshan McDonald's gonna
1:56:55
Speaker 1: sign up because we're talking because it's information. I know.
1:56:58
Speaker 1: I'm read by the LinkedIn. I read my Houston chronifles
1:57:01
Speaker 1: from from ust cronit reagon a j C. So I
1:57:04
Speaker 1: have not been able to find a platform which I
1:57:07
Speaker 1: feel is much more. You know, different radio formats I
1:57:11
Speaker 1: go to are read black in the fire, but this
1:57:13
Speaker 1: is a little bit different. I think this is socially
1:57:16
Speaker 1: tech friendly, so socially friendly, and it also allows me
1:57:20
Speaker 1: to appeal to the journal population. You know, if I
1:57:23
Speaker 1: go to if I go to Essence, that's female centric, okay,
1:57:27
Speaker 1: and uh and and so I know that Jet magazine
1:57:30
Speaker 1: really doesn't exist like it used to exist. And you
1:57:33
Speaker 1: know the voce of Ebony is not what it was previously.
1:57:35
Speaker 1: So you're creating a new voice and a very powerful
1:57:38
Speaker 1: wars from a techno standpoint, and you've accepted the fact
1:57:41
Speaker 1: that hey, we're going to deliver information to you every Monday.
1:57:44
Speaker 1: If all you have, just just give us your first
1:57:46
Speaker 1: and last name and your email address, which in turn
1:57:48
Speaker 1: gives you information about who your potential base is. Correct.
1:57:52
Speaker 1: The insights, yeah, absolutely, um and in worst scraping industry
1:57:59
Speaker 1: data uh private um, information data, public data UM to
1:58:03
Speaker 1: to really deliver interesting insights on on business growth, on
1:58:08
Speaker 1: opportunity growth, what have you. So there's a lot there, um,
1:58:11
Speaker 1: And it's such a great entry point to just go
1:58:13
Speaker 1: to TV insights dot com, subscribe to the newsletter. Just
1:58:16
Speaker 1: start there. It's really simple. Well I will start there.
1:58:19
Speaker 1: My friend, I'm talking to Currell Dorsey she v way
1:58:22
Speaker 1: of you know, friend, parents with the Detroit went old
1:58:25
Speaker 1: Seattle and the other system went to the Philadelphia. You know,
1:58:29
Speaker 1: the grandfather he went over to Yeah, then she landed
1:58:31
Speaker 1: in in Atlanta, Georgia with me. She's reconnected with the
1:58:35
Speaker 1: people in Philadelphia, which is as they said, a high
1:58:38
Speaker 1: black African American population is in Philadelphia, the state of Pennsylvania.
1:58:42
Speaker 1: I've been there many times. That whole Eastern Carridor is
1:58:44
Speaker 1: heavy with African American faces and places to do and
1:58:47
Speaker 1: participate in. But more importantly, it's your voice. You the
1:58:50
Speaker 1: CEO of the Plug, a digital news and insight platform
1:58:53
Speaker 1: for black economy and innovation in any party worries about
1:58:58
Speaker 1: this great platform because you you before, I'm I'm really
1:59:01
Speaker 1: genuinely excited because I referenced my as time I got
1:59:04
Speaker 1: you excited, ra Sean, because you soon as you start
1:59:07
Speaker 1: saying jet ebony, I mean, that's sold some hard shoes
1:59:10
Speaker 1: to feel. No, But but that's the right shoes to feel.
1:59:12
Speaker 1: Because reason to say that is that I always, like
1:59:14
Speaker 1: I talked to a lot of people. I'm always uh yeah,
1:59:17
Speaker 1: I just I just feed on information, you know, my
1:59:20
Speaker 1: mind and sociology. I've always I'm enter to entertainment. I
1:59:24
Speaker 1: try to be topical. I always tell people you can't
1:59:26
Speaker 1: be young, but you can't be topical, which you mean
1:59:28
Speaker 1: you can't be relevant, you can't be current. And you're
1:59:30
Speaker 1: telling me that I have a platform now that it
1:59:33
Speaker 1: can be delivered to my part of my mantro. On Monday,
1:59:36
Speaker 1: I give it four o'clock in the morning. What time
1:59:38
Speaker 1: does the newsletter usually hit your mailbox? We usually have
1:59:41
Speaker 1: it out by one o'clock in the afternoon, so it
1:59:43
Speaker 1: would be part of my afternoon information base, which or
1:59:47
Speaker 1: I may move it to my four em because at
1:59:48
Speaker 1: four am I get up every day and four m
1:59:50
Speaker 1: so every part of my four am reading right before
1:59:52
Speaker 1: I read my Houston Chronicle and then I'll be I'll
1:59:55
Speaker 1: be learning things and can we comment? Can we give
1:59:58
Speaker 1: you feedback on different things? Can you reply to the
2:00:03
Speaker 1: to the newsletter? Um? And that goes right to my team.
2:00:05
Speaker 1: You know, we are always you know, getting feedback and
2:00:08
Speaker 1: hearing what our audience is doing. And so it's a
2:00:11
Speaker 1: it's a two way street for us for sure. Well,
2:00:13
Speaker 1: thank you. I'm gonna put a big thank you Cherrelle Dorsey.
2:00:18
Speaker 1: I needed this. Uh yeah, I bring people on the show.
2:00:21
Speaker 1: It's money making conversation, but it's about life. You know,
2:00:23
Speaker 1: different ways you you achieve economic and social success. More importantly,
2:00:27
Speaker 1: is about relationships and the fact that you're mining an
2:00:30
Speaker 1: opportunity in the city of Philadelphia, which is recently become
2:00:33
Speaker 1: a hotbed of political political under undertakings by our departing
2:00:39
Speaker 1: President Donald Trump. That lets you know that your voice
2:00:41
Speaker 1: is important. Information you're giving from a social from a
2:00:45
Speaker 1: digital and from your insight information standpoint is important because
2:00:49
Speaker 1: I'm not getting my information from my heart and might
2:00:51
Speaker 1: getting my information where they won't even share it from Amazon,
2:00:53
Speaker 1: they won't even share it from Google, they won't share
2:00:56
Speaker 1: on Facebook. So you, yourself is building a base of
2:00:59
Speaker 1: reliability and ability that we can come and get that
2:01:02
Speaker 1: shared digital information. Thank you awesome, absolutely, thank you so
2:01:09
Speaker 1: much for having me today, and thank you for having
2:01:11
Speaker 1: this platform as well. It's definitely a big teacher for us.
2:01:14
Speaker 1: All awesome. Well, you'll be saying my name pop up
2:01:17
Speaker 1: in your registry and I will share my staff to
2:01:19
Speaker 1: sign up to because of my company. Thirty fifteen Media
2:01:22
Speaker 1: is about, you know, creating diverse platform information for minorities
2:01:26
Speaker 1: and people of color. Again, anytime you want to come
2:01:29
Speaker 1: to my show, I'm gonna put also putting my newsletter
2:01:31
Speaker 1: that goes out to ninety two thousand fans. Uh twice
2:01:34
Speaker 1: them up. So I'm gonna help to spread the word
2:01:36
Speaker 1: about what you guys are doing, because again, we need
2:01:39
Speaker 1: to know what you know, okay, and you know a
2:01:42
Speaker 1: lot and so if you tell us what you know,
2:01:44
Speaker 1: we'll be a lot stronger and a safer community and
2:01:46
Speaker 1: a much more knowledgeable community to be if to compete,
2:01:49
Speaker 1: and that's what you're about. You try to put us
2:01:50
Speaker 1: in the line to be to compete. And if we
2:01:53
Speaker 1: don't compete, then guess what, we can't win. Thank you, absolutely,
2:01:56
Speaker 1: thank you, Thank you for having me. Great when you
2:01:59
Speaker 1: come on the show, and we bring back on the
2:02:01
Speaker 1: show the first quarter so we can wrap up once
2:02:03
Speaker 1: they get out of this little pandemic run. We know
2:02:05
Speaker 1: we're going into the vaccination. You are important, my friend,
2:02:08
Speaker 1: because we've gotta be able to tell these black people
2:02:10
Speaker 1: they gotta take this vaccine. But well, wait a little minute,
2:02:15
Speaker 1: make sure they're all good, what they've done all they're
2:02:17
Speaker 1: kissing them. I hear you just have that conversation with
2:02:22
Speaker 1: my aunt yesterday. Appreciate appreciate it. Thank you so much
2:02:27
Speaker 1: for this opportunity and for sharing your platform with me. Um.
2:02:31
Speaker 1: Really looking forward to working together again in the future. Yeah,
2:02:34
Speaker 1: because you're the type of people I need in my
2:02:36
Speaker 1: life from a standpoint of trying to get the message
2:02:38
Speaker 1: out because you're a grassroot and you also uh, you
2:02:41
Speaker 1: know I've learned this is that you know, you win
2:02:44
Speaker 1: by being able to talk to people who have a voice,
2:02:47
Speaker 1: and you have a voice and you and you really
2:02:49
Speaker 1: do know how to tell a story. And I've really
2:02:51
Speaker 1: I'm really engaged by your level of communication. So please
2:02:56
Speaker 1: don't change, which I know you want, but also understand
2:02:59
Speaker 1: that you're grady is going to be fantastic and needed
2:03:01
Speaker 1: in Okay, Absolutely, thank you having a lovely holiday season talking.
2:03:08
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