0:04

Welcome to the Frontrunner Podcast with your hosts Ray Mayfield and Tiara

0:06

Jones to engineers more from

0:09

coworkers to in laws. And now

0:09

business partners, creating a

0:13

safe space to be open and honest

0:13

about what it really takes to

0:16

start and run a business.

0:17

We know it's easier said than done. But you were built for this and you are not

0:19

alone. Join us each week to hear

0:22

stories, lessons learned and

0:22

strategies from trusted advisors

0:26

in new and seasoned

0:26

entrepreneurs on how to endure

0:29

the marathon entrepreneurship.

0:38

Everybody razor,

0:38

A, this is here. And welcome to

0:42

another fantastic episode of the

0:42

front runner podcast. You know,

0:46

let's get the fun started. Let's

0:46

do so to tell us what are we

0:49

talking about today?

0:51

leaning into you

0:51

know, experiences from all areas

0:54

of your life that can benefit

0:54

your business.

0:58

I like it. I like

0:58

it. I like it. So is it sorry,

1:01

it's our last episode for the

1:01

season. It is oh man. I'm out

1:05

that season while one season

1:05

down and we made it we did it

1:09

made it without a hitch a few

1:09

hiccups here and there. But

1:12

thanks to your hard work, they

1:12

were able to pull it off. So

1:14

teamwork. Congratulations.

1:14

Congratulations.

1:17

Congratulations. So leaning into

1:17

your experience from all areas

1:22

of your life to for your

1:22

business. That's a that's a

1:25

pretty interesting subject.

1:25

Yeah, cuz

1:28

I mean, if you

1:28

think about it this way, going

1:32

into entrepreneurship, we may

1:32

say sometimes, you know, I can

1:35

never do that, or I'm not cut

1:35

out for that. But you are

1:39

because I mean, we think life is

1:39

hard. We've already done hard

1:42

things. So you're capable of

1:42

more than what you think. So if

1:45

you think about, you know, a job

1:45

that, you know, you were

1:48

offered, yeah, they gave you a

1:48

job description, but nine times

1:52

out of 10, there's something

1:52

you're going to end up doing

1:54

that wasn't in that description,

1:54

it's something new, you know,

1:57

that you may not have any

1:57

experiences in and you're gonna

2:00

have to try to figure it out.

2:00

Just like an entrepreneurship,

2:03

you don't know everything, but

2:03

you have to figure it out. Like

2:06

you think about marketing, you

2:06

have to promote yourself to

2:09

scholarships to colleges, to

2:09

different employers, the same

2:13

way you're going to promote your

2:13

expertise or your products and

2:16

things that you do in your

2:16

business. I mean, thinking about

2:19

juggling multiple things at one

2:19

time. You know, if you're a

2:23

parent, you're juggling your

2:23

nine to five, your kids, you

2:27

know, if you're married, you're

2:27

juggling all of that you think

2:29

about being in school, sometimes

2:29

when you're working, and you're

2:33

in school, juggling multiple

2:33

classes, like we've juggle

2:36

multiple things, you know, at

2:36

one time, so this whole thing of

2:39

starting your business and doing

2:39

your nine to five year, it's

2:43

gonna be tough, but you've done

2:43

it before, it's just in a

2:45

different, you know, context.

2:45

So, you know, we've been scared

2:48

to jump into new experience

2:48

before. We know with everything

2:52

that we do, if whether it's, you

2:52

know, like going back to high

2:56

school, you're trying out for,

2:56

you know, sport, or something

3:00

like that, you know, it's, it's

3:00

a little like, oh, I don't know

3:02

about this, but I'm gonna try it

3:02

out is the same, you know, type

3:05

of thing. And so you just have

3:05

to think about how you've used

3:11

your just your experiences in

3:11

the past and what you've done,

3:16

to push through things that you

3:16

maybe didn't expect, and use

3:20

that same, you know, that same

3:20

courage, that same wisdom, that

3:25

same willpower to push through

3:25

the things that

3:27

entrepreneurship, so it's maybe

3:27

a different context, but it's,

3:32

it's the same qualities, same

3:32

characteristics is that you need

3:36

to get through it. And so you

3:36

just have to look at it, you

3:39

know, in that light look, so

3:39

instead of saying, No, I'm not

3:43

cut out for this, no, I can't do

3:43

this. Just reflect back to what

3:46

you've gone through and what

3:46

you've were able to accomplish

3:50

in the past and how you can use,

3:50

you know, that same

3:54

determination to get through

3:54

starting your own business.

3:59

I like it. I like

3:59

it, man. That's, that's, that's

4:02

a that's a lot, man. So, you

4:02

know, I'm sure you know, we both

4:06

have some very unique and

4:06

dynamic backgrounds, right. And

4:09

I think a lot of the things we

4:09

say you're all all you are is a

4:14

combination of your experiences.

4:14

Right. And I think they've

4:17

shaped my experience

4:17

specifically for me shaped me in

4:20

a pretty unique manner. Um, you

4:20

know, we won't get too much into

4:25

it. He really wants to get into

4:25

a young offseason, I'll tell you

4:30

I've seen I saw like, for people

4:30

who don't know, like, I'm, I'm,

4:34

I'm a pretty guarded person.

4:34

There's, there's pieces of me

4:37

that I'll let people see. It's

4:37

like an iceberg, right? You only

4:41

see 10% You may see 5% of Ray,

4:41

but only a few people get to see

4:47

more than that. And my wife is

4:47

probably the one who seen all of

4:51

me I think. Um, so you know, my

4:51

experiences are are in my in my

4:56

mind are no different than

4:56

others is how I react to those

5:00

experiences is what shaped me.

5:00

You know what I mean? Like my,

5:04

my grown up in a military

5:04

family, um, you know, there was

5:07

disciplinary structure, there

5:07

was consequences for your

5:11

actions. All my friends, my

5:11

school nos, they don't punish me

5:14

along with my brother quite

5:14

often, most of the time just for

5:16

not doing what we were supposed

5:16

to in school. But that's a whole

5:19

nother subject, whether you

5:19

learn from that stuff. And some

5:22

lessons are learned later in

5:22

life, I was fortunate enough to

5:25

have an older brother, you know,

5:25

who I saw, there's some good and

5:28

bad things that I learn. I

5:28

learned from my, my dad told me

5:32

something. So graduated from

5:32

high school made the decision to

5:36

join the Marine Corps. And, you

5:36

know, we're the night before I

5:40

left for boot camp, you know, I

5:40

was hanging out with some

5:42

friends, you know, just just

5:42

having a good time seeing them

5:45

off, and I went home and my dad

5:45

was in the living room. And he,

5:49

you wanted to watch full metal

5:49

jacket with me know, before I

5:52

left for those who haven't seen

5:52

Full Metal Jacket. So it's a

5:55

movie about the Marine Corps

5:55

boot camp and the experiences of

5:58

those, those Marines and Vietnam

5:58

great movie. So we're watching

6:02

it, and we're talking, he's

6:02

like, Hey, man, like, you know,

6:06

all boot camp is a game. He's

6:06

like, he's like, he's just a

6:09

game. So think of it as a game.

6:09

And you'll be just fine. And it

6:13

worked. They worked very well

6:13

for me to boot camp. I was able

6:17

to graduate as an undergraduate.

6:17

But while there, I think the

6:19

Marine Corps really, boot camp

6:19

does a lot of things to people.

6:24

A good friend of mine, Lloyd

6:24

Lloyd, Brett, shout him out. He

6:28

says the military makes you more

6:28

who you are. And I think that's

6:30

true. If you're not a good

6:30

person, that's going to make you

6:34

worse, you know, if you want to

6:34

strive to be better to change

6:36

your circumstances, because you

6:36

don't want to go back to where

6:38

you were, you're going to

6:38

succeed and do just fine. For

6:42

me, I chose the latter, right, I

6:42

wanted to be better than what I

6:45

was when I went in. I wasn't a

6:45

bad kid. You know, I was, I was

6:48

a kid though. I lived the life

6:48

and, you know, boot camp did a

6:52

few things for me. That that

6:52

that comment from my dad, it's a

6:56

game, you know, listen, to

6:56

listen to what they say and not

6:59

how they say it. That that's

6:59

kind of like one of my monitors,

7:04

I hold that close my heart because that applies and everything right? You know, I

7:06

think there's a lot of people

7:08

now I'm in this environment,

7:08

we're very emotionally to react

7:12

to things without thinking about

7:12

the context of what's being

7:15

said, we more or less listen to

7:15

the message in house delivered,

7:19

instead of listening, what we're

7:19

being told to the message,

7:21

right. So that that gave me the

7:21

ability to, you know, listen to

7:26

people saying why they're screaming and spitting in my face. Just doing what they're

7:28

telling me to do in boot camp,

7:31

because that's just the

7:31

environment when you know, so

7:34

that's one thing that I

7:34

experienced that sticks out to

7:37

me, um, you know, and then

7:37

through through my experience in

7:40

the Marine Corps, one thing I,

7:40

they be into discipline in

7:45

multiple facets right. Now, you

7:45

know, I, there's things that we

7:50

experienced in boot camp that

7:50

probably shouldn't be thought

7:52

about. And there's things that

7:52

we, we experience that we can be

7:55

talked about. And one thing,

7:55

think of it like this, right, so

7:59

we went to boot camp in Parris

7:59

Island, South Carolina, um, I

8:03

think I left in March, March of

8:03

98, and graduated in June of 98.

8:09

Right, so three month period,

8:09

and, you know, it's hot, it gets

8:12

pretty hot, it was cold, we got

8:12

there, but it's hot by the time

8:14

I graduated, right? So so one,

8:14

one experience that I remember,

8:20

in which I really learned the

8:20

true meaning of discipline was,

8:22

you know, we would we would do things get in trouble as a platoon. You wouldn't listen,

8:24

you weren't marching, right? You

8:27

won't do your drill, right. And

8:27

agility orders at different

8:29

methods of punishing you, when

8:29

they chose to do with us is one

8:31

day was a Marcus at the tall,

8:31

uncut grass, and we mark time

8:35

marks mean, you're just marching

8:35

in place, and they told us a

8:37

whole new standard position of

8:37

attention. And probably every

8:40

safely in the state of South

8:40

Carolina was in that grass and

8:44

came up and just started chewing

8:44

on our skin. And we couldn't do

8:46

anything. You know, you couldn't

8:46

move, you can kill them. And I

8:50

was being built to the point

8:50

where I was literally shaking.

8:54

But you can't move. And you

8:54

know, that doesn't mean I mean,

8:58

to me, to me, that's a mind

8:58

altering experience, to where

9:03

you learn to value what truth

9:03

discipline actually means.

9:07

Because in their minds and how

9:07

they translate it is movement,

9:09

it can move in a can equal

9:09

getting killed in a combat

9:12

situation. And that's how the

9:12

Marine Corps prepares you. The

9:16

Marine Corps prepares you to be

9:16

a warrior, right? There's

9:19

nothing more nothing less like,

9:19

the Marine Corps has internal

9:24

internal conflicts with, you

9:24

know, a pOH, which is a person

9:28

of the grunts and grunts,

9:28

wingers and people who are in

9:32

the wing. So there's all those

9:32

internal clicks, but on that on

9:35

a larger scale, right, every

9:35

Marine is a warrior, right? You

9:38

are going to you are being

9:38

turned into a weapon to go into

9:42

combat and do something to save

9:42

the person next to you and make

9:45

sure you come back home alive.

9:45

And I think that's the you know

9:49

that that form of discipline

9:49

doesn't come. I don't think I

9:53

don't think I would be able to achieve such a form of discipline in another avenue of

9:55

life, like if I didn't go to the

9:59

Marine Corps. So for that, I

9:59

appreciate that experience,

10:01

right. So, you know, my dad's

10:01

great talks, to the experience

10:05

in boot camp, you know, even

10:05

even having the opportunity to

10:09

lead to become a leader at a

10:09

very young age and record,

10:12

because like, you know, when for

10:12

those who are Marines, we

10:14

understand, right? You know,

10:14

from day one, you're in charge

10:17

of somebody, like, you know, if

10:17

your E two e ones, you know,

10:20

you're responsible for every

10:20

day. And the Marine Corps really

10:24

puts values in teaching the

10:24

young marines and how to be

10:27

leaders. And to a degree, you

10:27

know, that that can be

10:30

stressful, right? I mean, there's, there's a, there's, you know, you got to tell your

10:32

friends what to do. But that's

10:34

something you have to look past,

10:34

right, you have to look past,

10:36

you know, we're homies, and we're hanging out during the evening hours, but at work, you

10:38

gotta respect me, those are

10:41

things you work through, and

10:41

they shape you, and they teach

10:43

you how to be, you know, have a

10:43

phenomenal leader, in a regard

10:48

where you can, you know, have

10:48

those frank discussions with

10:52

somebody who's doing something

10:52

inappropriately, and then

10:54

they're mature enough to see

10:54

what you're saying, but you have

10:57

to be mature and how you're

10:57

communicating it to that way,

10:59

when you guys go back and see

10:59

each other in the barracks,

11:01

you're not going to be in a

11:01

fistfight. And, you know, it's

11:04

this is just it is what it is.

11:04

So, you know, leadership

11:07

principles are key and

11:07

essential, I think, to anyone

11:11

who wants to become an

11:11

entrepreneur. Because even if

11:14

you're just an army one as

11:14

optional, right, you know, there

11:18

are going to be two people that

11:18

you come in contact with that

11:21

admire what you're doing, and

11:21

you're going to have to share

11:23

some wisdom with them to a

11:23

degree on how you got to where

11:25

you are. So, you know, those are

11:25

also some pretty critical,

11:30

that's also pretty critical to

11:30

the ability to communicate and

11:34

communicate effectively, is

11:34

another tool, you know, that

11:37

that we're taught pretty clearly

11:37

in the Marine Corps through,

11:40

whether it's, you know, through through boot camp to or presentations at leadership,

11:42

academies, corporate courses,

11:45

core staff Academy, things like

11:45

that, you know, we're, we're put

11:48

in a position to be more than

11:48

two leaders at every step of the

11:50

way. So, you know, I think

11:50

that's, that's value added to,

11:54

and then you're in charge of

11:54

teams, right? Whether that's a

11:56

small fire team of four people

11:56

or a squad of 13 or an entire

12:00

platoon that's platoon sergeant.

12:00

I know those just echelons and

12:03

levels to it. Right. And

12:03

everybody is wrong, right?

12:06

Everybody is not fit to be

12:06

leader. Right. I think that's

12:09

there's there's a such thing as

12:09

called a natural born leader.

12:13

And I think those are those

12:13

people are rare in the world. I

12:16

think they're even more rare in

12:16

the times we're living in. But

12:19

that's a that's a podcast,

12:19

something from that day. From so

12:23

yeah, I'm kind of I'm sorry,

12:23

just kind of rambling because

12:26

I'm, I'm freestyling here. So

12:26

let's, let's fast forward a

12:30

little bit. So things are really

12:30

really really shaky. Mmm hmm. My

12:35

combat experience I think the

12:35

point Iraq

12:40

in oh four or five and particle

12:40

six, really change me

12:45

significantly. As far as my

12:45

perception of the world in my

12:50

reaction to things, you know, oh

12:50

four, you know, deploy with the

12:56

with the battalion of Marines

12:56

who saw a significant amount of

12:59

contact, you know, to to shatter

12:59

warlords. You know, we, we, we

13:06

did, we did some good stuff out

13:06

there some cool things and great

13:08

experiences. All of them I won't

13:08

get into there are emotional, I

13:12

did develop some PTSD of being

13:12

out there. I think, you know, I

13:17

don't I don't know too many people that go to war and come home completely the same. I

13:19

think when I came home in 2004,

13:23

my mentality was still set to

13:23

war. It's funny, right? Because

13:27

at the day we got back, we were

13:27

bused from the airport, back to

13:30

campus union with our families.

13:30

And I got off the bus. And the

13:34

first person I saw was my master

13:34

guns, a mass gun. I said, Hey,

13:36

man, welcome back. Thank you. He

13:36

said, You ready to go back three

13:40

months, like, sure. It's just,

13:40

it's just, it's just a, I think

13:45

there's a to me, there was a

13:45

comfort in being in Iraq, it

13:48

felt more comfortable to be in

13:48

here in America. And only a few

13:52

people will probably understand what I mean by that. I mean, you know, I felt protected, you

13:54

know, having a weapon on me at

13:56

all times, you know, sleeping

13:56

with a weapon. You know, when I

14:00

came home, I was waking up in

14:00

the moonlight look, for my strap

14:02

looking for my mind my infor

14:02

house I got when I was not gonna

14:05

get in trouble. It's just you

14:05

can't turn some things off. So,

14:10

my mentality was was was a bit

14:10

war. And, you know, as a

14:13

consequence of that, you know, I

14:13

think I partially became an

14:16

alcoholic. Um, you know, I did

14:16

drink a little bit. I don't

14:23

think it was excessive, but I

14:23

did drink. And I think one thing

14:26

that saved me was going back to

14:26

Iraq, because no telling how far

14:29

I know down a down that path I

14:29

would have went. So you know,

14:33

that was a form of numbness to

14:33

being back in the States. You

14:37

know, I did miss the conflict.

14:37

Of course, you lost you lose

14:40

friends there in the you know,

14:40

the harsh reality of that is,

14:43

you know, you you have probably

14:43

a little time to mourn before

14:47

you have to get back in your

14:47

mind back into the fight. So you

14:50

know, you could come back and

14:50

other guys who with you can come

14:53

back. And that's something that,

14:53

you know, you're really not

14:57

taught to cope with, right so

14:57

for me my coping mechanism was

15:00

to get back to Iraq as fast as I

15:00

could. So I went back again,

15:05

with the, with at the division

15:05

level, this time and had the

15:08

opportunity to leave the

15:08

division level and to go, you

15:10

know, integrate or live with the

15:10

Iraqi military. And that, by

15:14

far, I think was the most eye

15:14

opening experience to me.

15:17

Because, you know, we're living

15:17

on the base with Iraqi soldier

15:20

and you're exposed to so much of

15:20

their culture, you know, why

15:22

they do things the way they do

15:22

it, you know, their philosophy

15:24

on marriage, their spiritual

15:24

philosophy, I learned a lot

15:28

about, you know, the Muslim

15:28

culture. And a lot of them knew

15:32

way more about Christianity

15:32

nodded. Me. And as a Christian

15:35

at the time, I was a Christian,

15:35

I was I had been saved, but I

15:40

wasn't walking my Christian

15:40

walk. You know, I'm saying that,

15:42

like, I'm doing it now. Right?

15:42

So they're impressed me how much

15:47

they educated me on what the

15:47

Bible said. And I was like, Man,

15:49

I need to step my game up. And a

15:49

lot of a lot of conversations

15:52

with the guys were talking about

15:52

religion, their beliefs, you

15:54

know, why did you think how do

15:54

you have seven wives and 21

15:57

kids, man, that's crazy. And you

15:57

just, you know, you just get to

15:59

learn these things about these

15:59

guys who, you know, probably

16:02

two, three years ago that, you

16:02

know, were trying to kill each

16:04

other, you know, and now they're

16:04

there. They're in the military.

16:07

And in, you know, not all those

16:07

guys have good intentions, some

16:10

guys don't. But, you know, my,

16:10

my intent. At that point, I knew

16:16

I was going out in Marine Corps.

16:16

And my XO came to me my Botanics

16:20

Oh, can you be your company X?

16:20

Or can you be saving? Like, I

16:22

want to submit you for me said,

16:22

Marine Corps commissioned that

16:26

list of programs when you're

16:26

enlisted. And they, you know,

16:28

you request into the cars for

16:28

four years, and you come back as

16:31

an officer. And you know, you

16:31

you finish out your career as as

16:35

long as you can and the officer

16:35

corps? And I said, No, because I

16:39

was burned out. I was mentally

16:39

fatigue, going back to Iraq at

16:42

three Muslim was the worst, the

16:42

worst mental decision I made.

16:45

And, you know, halfway through

16:45

my deployment, I got burned out,

16:49

and I needed to change the

16:49

scenery. So that's when I moved

16:51

to go integrate going live with

16:51

Iraqi soldier where they call

16:54

them AT T Mobile integrated

16:54

training team. And our primary

16:57

purpose was to train the Iraqi

16:57

military to be proficient on

16:59

their own patrol tactics,

16:59

communication, tactics,

17:03

logistics, basic living, things

17:03

of that nature. So as a radio

17:07

operator, I was responsible for

17:07

helping them you know, with

17:10

their communication standards,

17:10

it was a small team of 11

17:13

Marines, probably about maybe

17:13

two 300 Iraqi soldiers right on

17:17

their feet. The first day, we

17:17

went down to meet him such a

17:20

funny experience, man. I don't think I can say the

17:22

location where I was, I don't

17:25

know if I can or can't, but I'm

17:25

just gonna say, so we're in

17:27

Iraq, and in Anbar province, and

17:27

we were living on so we were on

17:32

in a tent city in a main

17:32

installation, and they will live

17:34

in like in another structure

17:34

that's right outside the the

17:37

main installation was still on

17:37

the confines of the base, if

17:40

that makes sense. So we go we we

17:40

drive down and I drove my, my,

17:44

our mob was the equivalent my

17:44

battalion commander at the time

17:48

I was his driver alone. It was

17:48

three or four buttons for us in

17:52

the vehicle. So you know, we're

17:52

moving to down to go meet the

17:55

Iraqi soldiers. And at the time,

17:55

it's probably like 12 them

17:58

information. And I'm just

17:58

looking at it like man like this

18:01

is it? No, like this? This is

18:01

it. This is gonna be a very

18:04

interesting experience. I was like, Man, I gotta use a bathroom. So you know, it had I

18:05

was like trying to find a porta

18:09

Johns. At one point John down

18:09

here. At the time, they probably

18:12

had 200 Iraqi soldiers going 12

18:12

information so I get to the

18:15

portage on open the door. And

18:15

man there was there's probably a

18:18

million flies and they're just

18:18

fecal matter everywhere. And it

18:22

flies just hit me in the face.

18:22

For example, yes, like window,

18:29

no, what is this? What is this

18:29

place off? I volunteer to come

18:32

to this makes no diagnosis. But

18:32

I had to take a step back and

18:35

remember there's cultural

18:35

differences between how we do

18:38

things in America whereas how to

18:38

do things over there. You know,

18:42

so it's just that was another

18:42

eye opening experience for me

18:44

but it made me want to learn

18:44

more about how they do things in

18:47

America they do I think I've

18:47

benefited from a greatly I have

18:50

I probably have, um, you know,

18:50

man cheese, I probably have

18:54

maybe 15 tapes, I bought a

18:54

camcorder. And I recorded myself

19:00

there with the guys interacting

19:00

with them hanging out in their

19:02

tents at night drinking tea,

19:02

listen, you know, listening to

19:04

music, watching them dance, and

19:04

it was good to have like 15 I

19:08

need to get saved converted to

19:08

DVD because they'll make for a

19:10

great show one day, but I think

19:10

it was such an eye opening

19:13

experience during that time. So

19:13

another defining moment during

19:19

that short stint of my life that

19:19

defined me was you know, we the

19:23

elections were coming up I think

19:23

it's 2005 2005 to fall October

19:29

16 electoral covenant we had to

19:29

go out in our unit was

19:33

responsible for escorting Iraqi

19:33

soldiers off base so they can

19:37

perform security so the citizens

19:37

could come you know vote without

19:41

the threat of b&q Think about

19:41

that everyone here in America

19:44

right? Like I know we have

19:44

issues with our elections right

19:47

but no must want to kill us on

19:47

the way to the balloting

19:49

station. You know I mean almost

19:49

killing us based on who we vote

19:52

for. You know, they're verbally

19:52

is one thing, but like literally

19:55

try to assassinate you and your

19:55

entire family is remarkable when

19:58

you think about it. So You know,

19:58

we're setting up security. And

20:03

you know, we were out we had a

20:03

scout there overnight, I think I

20:06

stayed up 24 hours straight up,

20:06

I set up 70 7070 hours straight

20:10

while we were out there. The

20:10

first day set up second day

20:13

election. And then there's a day

20:13

afterwards where you tear down

20:15

and move back back on base. So

20:15

the first night we got there to

20:19

set up, we set everything up

20:19

during the day at night. No, my

20:22

battalion commander is a good

20:22

man. He said, Hey, man, like,

20:25

you guys need rest, like, you

20:25

know, they're there. They're

20:28

embedded here. There's an army

20:28

unit co located with this. We're

20:30

gonna go back to the base, I got

20:30

to knock out some work. And so

20:34

just come on. So two vehicles,

20:34

six of us, go back. Eight of us

20:37

go back to our little compound.

20:37

He's like, Hey, man, like you

20:41

guys get rest on there. You're tired. It's been it's been a long day. Got it. Thanks, sir.

20:43

So you know, you had a couple

20:45

hours sleep. Get up, back off

20:45

the base. Every time before we

20:49

did it moving out. Always pray,

20:49

like I would always pray to our

20:51

vehicles. I would say a prayer

20:51

for everybody, you know, before

20:54

we maneuvered just just for some

20:54

covering, right. So we were

20:58

leaving based on the comment. I

20:58

forgot to say my prayer. So I

21:00

started praying while we were

21:00

driving and kitchenette, as soon

21:04

as I said, Amen, allow pop. And

21:04

I was like, Oh, so you know, you

21:08

speed the vehicle up? Yeah,

21:08

we're crossing the bridge. So

21:11

speed up, you get over the bridge. And I was like, man, like, you know, I think that

21:13

was, I was in an ID attempt. But

21:16

we weren't sure. By two o'clock

21:16

in the morning. I wanted to get

21:20

the vehicle and go and go check.

21:20

Because I could have swore I saw

21:23

trigger man, and his little

21:23

shack off to our left and right

21:26

about our my nine o'clock. And

21:26

I'm talking I was like, Nah,

21:31

like, we're going to push back.

21:31

Everybody safe, it's nighttime,

21:35

let's let's get the bleep out of

21:35

here and get back to where we're

21:38

safe, we can get you the unit to

21:38

come out in the next day to your

21:41

D unit went out. And they said

21:41

what happened was there's a

21:44

seven, five or seven foot

21:44

Russian missile that was wired

21:47

as an improvised explosive

21:47

device, but it was wired

21:50

incorrectly. So the pot was a

21:50

blasting cap. But the rounded

21:54

detonate, with a round was

21:54

located that was almost like up

21:57

underneath the barely underneath

21:57

the passionate side door. You

22:02

think about that we're talking

22:02

about a five or seven foot long

22:05

missile wire is the ID that was

22:05

done that was wired incorrectly,

22:11

right. And the blast gap is

22:11

detonated without the without

22:14

the Ordnance of cell phone off

22:14

outer thigh. Like we all would

22:17

have been probably decimated in

22:17

that vehicle. You know, we had

22:19

an up armored Humvee for those

22:19

who know, you know, up armors

22:23

protect you, but to a degree, I

22:23

mean, it's huge away from the

22:27

cameras of ease. So you know,

22:27

but in with that experience,

22:31

different music affirmed my

22:31

faith and God's ability ability

22:35

to protect me when I call on him

22:35

to do that, right. Because I

22:38

feel like you know, had I had

22:38

not been, you know, obedient to

22:42

what he had told me to do the

22:42

entire time I praying before we

22:45

go out the wire understand the

22:45

other, you know, maybe maybe

22:49

something worse would have happened, you know what I mean? So, that experience really

22:50

shaped me and changed my

22:54

perspective a little bit on what

22:54

a true relationship it'll be.

22:57

It's a guy really means. So you

22:57

know, that that was very eye

23:02

opening to me. And, you know,

23:02

everybody has their beliefs and

23:06

feelings, right? Some people

23:06

think like, oh, well, you know,

23:09

it just didn't wire around. Oh,

23:09

they wired it wrong. So that's

23:12

why you made it. Okay, maybe

23:12

that's the case. Or maybe you

23:15

guys said Not right now. Yeah,

23:15

different plan for me. And

23:18

that's what I believe happened

23:18

not just for me, but everybody

23:20

in that vehicle. So you know,

23:20

you live that experience. There

23:25

are times where I've been hit by

23:25

IEDs and in times where other

23:29

people on patrol with me may hit

23:29

with IDs and but you know, do it

23:34

all you know, do it all you know

23:34

you come back and those

23:37

experience like I said those

23:37

experiences shape you mentally

23:42

more than anything else right so

23:42

mentally I thought I was okay.

23:46

Mitchell my younger daughter

23:46

like you know, whoop no big deal

23:49

here and there put it in

23:49

perspective a little bit there

23:53

my back to my first appointment

23:53

before we came home they were

23:56

they had this auto viewing call

23:56

like a so the green zone right

24:01

the Green Zone is only place

24:01

where there's no real quote

24:04

unquote war happening so like

24:04

he's still slew officers on base

24:06

and all that and all that we've

24:06

been fighting like, you know,

24:08

we're down in the what was what

24:08

was known as a Triangle of

24:11

Death. We did the initial

24:11

invasion of Volusia patrols to

24:16

Fallujah. And then you know back

24:16

down to the triangle and then we

24:20

left we saw and there was a lot

24:20

of instance where we received

24:22

their indirect fire like door

24:22

slam and guys are grabbing each

24:25

other about the you know, hit

24:25

the hit the deck because you

24:27

don't know if it's it sounds

24:27

like a mortar coming in but just

24:30

a door slammed shut. So you

24:30

know, yeah, that's those are

24:33

Sonic clear signs of PTSD. But

24:33

in the moment you don't realize

24:36

that right? So we get to the

24:36

greenzone like Hey, guys, you

24:39

know you guys gonna be here for a week or two before you go home. This is kind of a mental

24:41

break for you guys to detox from

24:47

your combat high or whatever,

24:47

like add cool man sounds good to

24:49

me. So you know me a few friends

24:49

heard that they had a pool on

24:53

the main site, but you know, I

24:53

wanted to go buy a computer. I

24:56

wanted to buy a laptop while I

24:56

was there. Don't ask me why I'm

25:00

getting really lucky to bought a

25:00

laptop back home who wants to

25:02

buy more crap to go home with? I

25:02

do. So I'm like Alright, cool.

25:06

Let's let's go to the main site

25:06

go to the PX, we get to the PX.

25:10

And that was a doozy because we

25:10

were actually walking off off

25:13

base in the city of Baghdad

25:13

didn't realize it. And then some

25:16

you know, us contractor came by

25:16

and picked us up and gave us a

25:19

ride to the PX and anything

25:19

could happen is out there. But

25:22

again, we just don't we didn't

25:22

know we you know, we didn't

25:25

realize it they let us walk

25:25

right out right out the gate

25:27

taking them on base and we

25:27

weren't No, no, there. We get to

25:30

the PX buy, we buy we need to

25:30

buy and then someone's like,

25:33

Hey, man, you know there's a

25:33

pool and there's pool over here.

25:36

Y'all don't go to a pool. So

25:36

like yeah, sure, man. We know we

25:39

got you know, Marine Corps we

25:39

typically have called PT shorts

25:42

underneath our, our trousers so

25:42

they can they can serve as swim

25:46

trunks. So you know, we were

25:46

like walking to the pool. And

25:50

then as always, was by and we're

25:50

like, yeah, good morning. Sounds

25:52

like you don't salute me. And

25:52

we're like, yeah, we're worried

25:55

like, this ain't war this is

25:55

this the Green Zone. There's no

25:57

war here. Like okay, so you

25:57

salute them. And then someone

26:00

started jackhammering TTTT

26:00

thinking thing hit the ground.

26:04

All of us started making motions

26:04

that load are enforced. Because

26:09

we think we're being shot from a

26:09

jackhammer, right? I mean, this

26:13

this is how like, this is how,

26:13

you know, think about this,

26:15

like, you know, is four of us.

26:15

And we just hit the ground,

26:18

grabbing each other, making sure

26:18

we're good about the load up and

26:21

siding on this guy who's

26:21

jackhammer, and he just drops a

26:23

jackhammer and puts his hands

26:23

up, and I'm like, Ah, sorry,

26:25

man. Oops. Oops, my bad. Megan's cool. Have

26:28

a good time. Go back. There,

26:32

right. So the second time, there

26:32

was no green zone, what they did

26:36

the second time was like, Okay,

26:36

you can go home, but you have to

26:39

stay on your installation for

26:39

two weeks, two weekends before

26:42

you can go anywhere. And then

26:42

they had these classes we would

26:44

go to every day, about you know,

26:44

if you're married, you have to

26:48

you can't come back and just

26:48

demand your wife does things

26:50

that she used to do, because she'd been running the house whole time, the whole year, you

26:52

guys have been going, you know,

26:55

you can't you know, no, you

26:55

can't slap your girlfriend

26:58

around, it's not cool. You know,

26:58

you're gonna have PTSD, you're

27:01

gonna have these moments get

27:01

help, you know, don't be

27:03

physically abusive. That's what

27:03

that's what I took most of the

27:06

training to be about. None of

27:06

that applied to me because I

27:09

wasn't married. So like, I will

27:09

Kuang all these problems, right?

27:13

Got the Marine Corps, probably

27:13

two months after getting home.

27:18

And then I sunk it to a level of

27:18

depression. I was like, man,

27:21

like, I miss I miss Iraq, I miss

27:21

being with my Marines. You know,

27:25

I miss making sure buy is safe.

27:25

And that and I was like, man,

27:28

like, This is crazy. And I felt

27:28

a little bit of depression. And

27:31

then there's PTSD involved in

27:31

there. And then there's, you

27:33

know, you you are, you put a

27:33

barrier around yourself, and you

27:38

just be pull yourself away from

27:38

everybody. I stayed with my mom

27:41

at the time, and I wanted the

27:41

smallest bedroom in the house.

27:45

It's almost like a jail cell. I

27:45

just wanted to be in a small two

27:47

bedroom house. I didn't want

27:47

anybody near me. You know, my

27:51

twin my mum again, like, hey,

27:51

you know, when you come into the

27:53

room, you got to make loud noises, please don't try to be quiet because I'm going to jump

27:55

up. And I don't, I definitely do

27:58

not want to do anything crazy.

27:58

You know, and it happened once

28:01

she tipped over in Rome. And I jumped up she said, I'm just getting iron. It's like Sorry,

28:03

man. And when that happened, I

28:06

knew I had to get out of here

28:06

because it just it just, I just

28:08

wasn't I wasn't normal Ray, I

28:08

was different. Um, so I started

28:14

going to the VA, um, to file a

28:14

claim my back was all jacked up

28:17

a few other things wrong with

28:17

me. And it's doing that like,

28:20

well, you need some PTSD

28:20

counseling. Yeah, didn't wasn't

28:23

my thing. It didn't really work.

28:23

And then the first day when I

28:27

was in there, I was in it with

28:27

Vietnam vets, and Desert Storm

28:30

vets. So I'm thinking like, Man,

28:30

I just came home. But these guys

28:34

been dealing with this for 3030

28:34

years, some of them you know,

28:36

going back to Vietnam. 40 years,

28:36

my madness is crazy. Like, you

28:40

know, this doesn't make any

28:40

sense. And I hear their stories.

28:42

I'm like, No, I got I got to

28:42

talk about their stories are far

28:46

more crazy than mine. So I'm

28:46

like, why don't need this is not

28:49

helping me. So I stopped going.

28:49

And then like, I kept sinking

28:52

into crazier, not crazy, but

28:52

like a lower place with with the

28:56

PTSD in the direction it was

28:56

taking me. I didn't want to be

28:59

around anybody. You know, I

28:59

wasn't drinking drink has never

29:02

really been my strong suit. You

29:02

know, so it's like, you know, I

29:07

get I get very sick. From from

29:07

from from drinking. So I tend

29:11

not to do a lot. So, um, you

29:11

know, I'll just take it to a

29:14

lower place, you know, putting a

29:14

hedge of protection around me as

29:18

being very sharp with people who

29:18

probably wanted to love me and

29:20

wanted me to be around, but I'll

29:20

put on a fake smile. You know,

29:23

I'm good. Everything is cool.

29:23

But I knew I was battling

29:26

internally. And then one day I

29:26

was driving. I was visible, Boyd

29:30

Nando. I was driving back home

29:30

from his house and I can smell

29:33

like it's my burning trash. And

29:33

it kind of took me back to Iraq.

29:36

And I'm like, grab the wheel and

29:36

like swerving like Oh, I got to

29:39

get in the middle of the highway

29:39

middle lane. As you're driving

29:42

over there, it's a two way street. You drive down the middle lane. You pushing people

29:44

out of your way as you're moving

29:46

right, oncoming oncoming

29:46

vehicles for you know, suicide

29:50

bomb, the drivers, VPC, SVB,

29:50

IDs, all that all that good

29:54

stuff, right? You stay in the

29:54

middle of the road. If it goes

29:56

off your host, it's not showing

29:56

the impact of vehicle and it is

29:59

a push vehicle. moving vehicles

29:59

out of the way in case someone's

30:01

driving a suicide vehicle. So I

30:01

just moved to the middle lane

30:04

I'm getting people hit me horns

30:04

and flashing lights, my man like

30:07

so I had I had to wake up a

30:07

moment. I was like, Doc, can you

30:12

help me help you. But what I did

30:12

is, instead of going to talk to

30:20

a professional, I had a

30:20

legitimate spiritual journey

30:24

with myself. And I really picked

30:24

up on meditation, and prayer.

30:30

And I'll tell you now like those

30:30

things cured, cured me of the

30:34

ailments that I dealt with,

30:34

don't get me wrong, I'm behind

30:37

by no means am I over here,

30:37

because we think if you have

30:39

PTSD, there's always those triggers, right? But what I mean is, I literally

30:42

took myself mentally to a place

30:47

of complete peace, do

30:47

meditation, right. And in the

30:51

midst of my meditation, it was

30:51

prayer that fixed my perception

30:54

of the world. And, Lord, don't

30:54

let me sleep on a bridge, my

30:58

life has more purpose, I don't

30:58

want to be homeless, I want to I

31:01

want to be of use to the world,

31:01

you bought me home for a reason,

31:05

this helped me find my purpose

31:05

and walk in it, right. And that,

31:08

that, that, in this journey

31:08

didn't it's not overnight, like

31:12

this journey was a couple of

31:12

months. And it'd be to the point

31:14

where I would literally meditate

31:14

for man three, four hours in the

31:18

night, that nighttime is lay

31:18

there. And if you're interested

31:21

in like, my, my, my techniques

31:21

and meditating, I'll be more

31:25

than happy to share with you. So

31:25

just DM me. But like when it

31:28

when I say it altered my mind,

31:28

it opened up, it opened my mind

31:32

to a different channel, right.

31:32

And it really showed me that

31:34

there's purpose for my life is

31:34

my life to God, I wasn't, I

31:38

didn't make them off my rack to

31:38

do nothing, I didn't make them

31:41

off my rack to give up. And that

31:41

right, there was a catalyst kind

31:46

of launched me into getting out

31:46

of Atlanta. And, you know, going

31:52

somewhere, where I can start

31:52

walking in my purpose to fulfill

31:55

whatever, you know, whatever God

31:55

had for me. So, you know, I, I,

32:02

you know, after three or four

32:02

months, I woke up, I was like,

32:04

you know, this is not where I'm

32:04

supposed to be, you know, I had

32:07

a job. I was working with family

32:07

down there. And great, great

32:11

job, great opportunity, they

32:11

looked out for me coming home

32:13

from the Marine Corps. But that

32:13

wasn't where I needed to be,

32:15

there wasn't a healthy mentally

32:15

was not a healthy environment.

32:19

So I had to do what I had to do

32:19

to get out of there. And, you

32:22

know, the follow along to

32:22

meditation and prayer is

32:26

happening, focused effort, and

32:26

ask God to restore my

32:30

discipline, because I feel like

32:30

my discipline lacked they, for

32:33

those who know me during my

32:33

second deployment, like, you

32:35

know, I was a gym rat, you know,

32:35

when because the first half,

32:38

there was no patrols, there's

32:38

nothing we were doing, we were

32:41

more of a support element,

32:41

anything. So I turned into a gym

32:44

rat, and you know, we be me, my

32:44

boys, you know, marks like Kirby

32:47

movie in the gym, three hours,

32:47

three hours every night, you

32:50

know, trying to put on the show,

32:50

until the guys show what it was

32:53

Marcus had the guns. But anyway,

32:53

so, you know, we, you know,

32:57

asked for God to get my focus

32:57

and discipline back, get back in

32:59

the gym. Mentally sharper than

32:59

myself, my brother Fernando

33:03

hooked me up with some

33:03

phenomenal books. One book that

33:06

really did it was called the

33:06

Lost laws of success by Napoleon

33:09

Hill is 17 traits that every

33:09

person wants to be successful,

33:13

should have and implement in

33:13

your life. And number one is a

33:15

definite chief aim. I had no

33:15

definite chief aim. When I came

33:18

home, I was like, Yeah, I'm getting in the Marine Corps, you know, I want to get a job. I

33:20

want to go to school. But that's

33:24

not that's, that's not a really

33:24

a purpose, right? It's what you

33:26

want to do with those things,

33:26

and how you want to use those

33:29

things to shape you to be a

33:29

value to the world, right? And

33:33

that's what I lacked, right? I

33:33

didn't, I didn't have a definite

33:35

chief aim, right? Because there's more to life than just going to school and get a job.

33:36

It's being a good citizen, being

33:40

a good neighbor, you know,

33:40

helper to those who really need

33:42

it, and being able to feed

33:42

people as much as you need to be

33:47

fed. So you know, out of that,

33:47

you know, here I am today,

33:51

right? Um, you know, that they

33:51

got the Marine Corps 2006. I'm

33:56

moving over Virginia in 2008.

33:56

And an awesome job opportunity

34:00

had no experience whatsoever.

34:00

But I prayed to God, the day

34:05

before I got a call for the job, I pray to God today before the Lord, if it's meant for me, make

34:07

it make the path clear for me

34:12

to, to, you know, change my

34:12

situation that I'm in right now.

34:17

And the very next day, I got a

34:17

call for a job interview with

34:21

the government contracting company up in Northern Virginia. And our question was, like, oh,

34:23

nine moving up there. But then I

34:26

was like, You know what, I just

34:26

prayed to God to move to shake

34:29

the ground beneath my feet in me

34:29

that I'll be forced to move in a

34:32

direction where he can use me as

34:32

Will and I call back and accept

34:38

the opportunity for the

34:38

interview. It went very well and

34:40

I ended up accepting the job

34:40

offer for pennies. But I felt

34:44

like that was my destiny that I

34:44

was supposed to walk in. A lot

34:47

of people look at jobs that

34:47

like, you know, it's not enough

34:51

money that's beneath me. But I

34:51

looked at as an opportunity to

34:55

move up here to get back into

34:55

the classified workspace. Um,

34:59

because The Job directly

34:59

impacted, you know, friends of

35:02

mine, and family members who are

35:02

still wearing a uniform,

35:05

overseas, you know, fighting the

35:05

good fight, right. So I looked

35:09

at as opportunity to still be

35:09

involved and still help, right.

35:13

But added that I knew I would

35:13

get something from it. I was

35:16

going to school, I was working

35:16

probably 10 to 12 hours a day,

35:21

because I wanted to learn, I was

35:21

the usually the first one there

35:24

second one there. And probably

35:24

usually one of the last ones

35:26

lead because I wanted to learn,

35:26

I wanted to, I wanted to show

35:29

value and be of use, and it

35:29

worked very well, I got several

35:34

promotions in the job to help

35:34

help because those relationships

35:37

I established there, they helped

35:37

me get out of there to go to

35:40

other places where I will

35:40

elevate me to another another

35:42

level. everywhere I've gone, I think

35:44

I'll just been able to continue

35:48

to, I don't want to say move up

35:48

the food chain, but people who I

35:52

have helped in the past have

35:52

helped me and they have put me

35:56

at a level that's far beyond

35:56

where I thought I would be at

35:59

this moment in my life. I'll say

35:59

that. So you know, I look at it

36:03

as because I, through the

36:03

meditation of prayer, allow God

36:07

to feed me to say you know, you

36:07

have more purpose than where you

36:11

are right now. You need to

36:11

visualize that and realize that,

36:15

and you know, anybody out there

36:15

who's doubting, you know where

36:17

you are right now, you're there

36:17

for a reason. So learn, you

36:20

know, ask God to show you. Why,

36:20

why am I in the why I'm in the

36:24

situation? Why just keep

36:24

happening to me? What can I do

36:26

to change it? Show me, right?

36:26

You These are consistent things

36:30

you need to ask what repair

36:30

because he'll give it to you and

36:33

make it plain. And, you know,

36:33

while what comes your way may

36:36

seem, you know, like that's not

36:36

for you to sharpen your

36:41

discernment, you know, mean, like, just tell him you know, don't don't bring the things

36:42

that are not for me remove them.

36:45

Now, I've said that several

36:45

times. And the next day, the

36:48

next day, my life what I thought

36:48

was completely turned inside

36:52

out. But it was for my better,

36:52

right? Remove the negative

36:55

things out of my life and bring

36:55

only the good and the people

36:57

that are going to help lift me

36:57

up, I process them every day.

37:00

Because you know, I think it's

37:00

important to have the right

37:03

things attached to you. So you

37:03

go in the right direction. You

37:06

know, so, you know, you know,

37:06

there's a, there's a whole lot

37:08

more to the story. But I don't

37:08

want to hog, I don't want to hog

37:11

the conversation. But at the tea

37:11

tea, one of the uses as an

37:16

opportunity for me to kind of

37:16

help people see where I come

37:19

from how my how, you know,

37:19

because I think, you know, my

37:22

mentality is a lot different

37:22

from a lot of other people. Um,

37:26

a no nonsense guy to a degree,

37:26

but I know what I want. But

37:28

small things really don't really

37:28

get to me as much as they would

37:32

another person big things we

37:32

want to get to mostly would

37:34

another person because I

37:34

understand. These are these are

37:37

lessons, right. And I had, I had

37:37

what I thought was a great

37:41

conversation with a couple days

37:41

ago. And it's like, you know,

37:43

you may run into resistance

37:43

where you get frustrated, but

37:47

look at it as, instead of

37:47

getting fresher looking as the

37:49

opportunity to sharpen you in

37:49

areas of your life where you

37:53

you're not the strongest, right?

37:53

And that to me, you know,

37:57

looking at things in that

37:57

approach for me, helps me not be

37:59

so emotional, my reaction.

37:59

Horrible things happen when we

38:04

react that emotion, right? I

38:04

mean, horrible opportunity for

38:08

when I say that could come out

38:08

of reacting emotionally.

38:12

Instinctively, I think it's

38:12

important to train yourself to

38:15

be disciplined in your response.

38:15

Right? And, you know, be

38:18

careful, because if you ask God

38:18

to do it, he's gonna put you in

38:21

situations where you have to do

38:21

it, right. So you really have to

38:24

make sure you're physically

38:24

mentally prepared for those

38:26

challenges, right? I'm gonna

38:26

challenge the fights and walked

38:29

away, you know, that guy's

38:29

pulled knives and guns on me and

38:32

walked away, even though I'm not

38:32

carry, I'll walk away. Because

38:36

you know, there's more to life than just this blip on the radar, right? You know, taking a

38:38

life overseas, to make sure one

38:42

of my friends make a home is

38:42

different from doing here in

38:45

United States. That's just facts

38:45

to me, but don't get it twisted.

38:49

It can happen. This is easy, you

38:49

know, I mean, but I choose, I

38:53

choose to put myself in a

38:53

position where I can just walk

38:56

away and be confident in who I

38:56

am. And not worry about any of

38:59

that. That was back not to worry

38:59

about going to jail, try to

39:02

defend myself. It's just not

39:02

worth it. So you really have to

39:05

sharpen your mind and train

39:05

yourself to not react

39:08

emotionally, and react more

39:08

instinctively. Right? And your

39:12

instinct your instincts can be

39:12

learned, right? You can teach

39:14

yourself those instincts are I

39:14

think that's a that's something

39:18

where we, we kind of fall short

39:18

as humans, right? Emotions just

39:22

feel better sometimes. Right?

39:22

But, you know, my grandfather

39:26

told me a long time ago, you

39:26

know, make decisions with your

39:29

your head and not your heart.

39:29

And at the time, like yeah,

39:31

whatever, grandpa, but he's

39:31

right, you know, you make

39:34

decision with your brain and not

39:34

your heart, your heart typically

39:37

leads you sometimes on the wrong

39:37

path. Right. But with covering

39:41

your prayer, and, you know, develop developing a baseline of

39:44

discipline, you know, your heart

39:47

can be just as strong as your

39:47

mind. So I think it's important

39:50

to ask that balance, you know,

39:50

so, you know, with that being

39:53

said, you know, guys that's just

39:53

a little a little small peek

39:56

through raise window life. You

39:56

know, appreciate the opportunity

39:59

to I really didn't want to do

39:59

this. But, you know, thanks.

40:02

There's a lot of things I didn't

40:02

go through. I didn't discuss

40:04

because, you know, for this

40:04

form, I think it's better to

40:06

just talk about, you know, at a

40:06

high level, right, you know,

40:10

some experience that kind of

40:10

carbon has shaped me, you know,

40:13

the, I was fortunate to have,

40:13

you know, my dad, my life, my

40:16

mother in my life and get some

40:16

wisdom from them growing up that

40:19

I still use to this day, my

40:19

grandfather fed me, there's

40:23

people I've come in contact with

40:23

the Marine Corps. You know,

40:26

Cuttino if you're out there,

40:26

man. Love it. Appreciate you,

40:28

man. You're the first dude to

40:28

talk about investing in stocks.

40:31

Before it was a cool thing to

40:31

do. Um, you know, thanks for the

40:34

thanks for the plug where Apple

40:34

and Google love you, man. You

40:37

know, and there's a men's names

40:37

I can drop Nando always feed me

40:41

great books and Tyler's read.

40:41

And I'm telling everybody right

40:43

now, read man, read. Sharpen

40:43

your mind, what's in the books,

40:48

there's a lot of things you deal

40:48

with in life. Everyone deals

40:51

with them. But there is this all

40:51

about how you what you've

40:53

learned about their pliers. So

40:53

but you can't learn that and you

40:55

can learn it by watching TV, but

40:55

just read a book man, like pick

40:58

up a book, look up a topic

40:58

you're interested in Robert

41:02

Greene, John Collins, you know,

41:02

look at some of these authors,

41:05

man and some of these books on

41:05

self improvement and self help

41:09

and find a title that speaks to

41:09

you, and then just dive into a

41:11

little bit, see what you get out

41:11

of it, man, you know, like, it's

41:14

amazing what you thought of the

41:14

book, how much that'll impact

41:16

you, the smallest sentence will

41:16

impact you remember you forever,

41:19

I have a quotable thing in my

41:19

Google Keep that I keep it just

41:23

all these little. All these

41:23

comments are these quotes from

41:26

books are read. I'm trying to

41:26

grow that I'm trying to grow

41:30

exponentially, right. So that

41:30

way, it's something that I can

41:33

turn into a book I printed and

41:33

passed my daughter's, you know,

41:36

I mean, when they when they

41:36

become of age, like 10, or 11.

41:39

And little, almost like daily

41:39

devotions, they can go to read.

41:42

And it's a nugget that they can

41:42

keep that day, but apply for

41:45

every day and walk in their

41:45

life. Right. That's how I look

41:48

at it. And, you know, I think if

41:48

generationally, right, that's

41:51

something that we all do

41:51

together, will be even will be

41:54

even stronger, you know, meaning

41:54

like, our, our, I don't want to

41:58

call them our accountant, but

41:58

our tax man, he's put me up on

42:04

great game, he's like, Yo, like,

42:04

one day, your your daughter's

42:07

might marry my grandson's,

42:07

right. So they have to be just

42:10

as sharp as as, as we are with

42:10

the finances. So I'm going to He

42:14

teaches me, and in turn, is my

42:14

responsibility to pass down on

42:17

him. So the same applies to

42:17

everybody else, right? Like, you

42:20

want to sharpen the generation

42:20

beneath you to be better than

42:23

what we were, you know, you're

42:23

in their life. So it's all their

42:27

life has a potential to be

42:27

great. But to be value added, so

42:30

that way, you know, you can

42:30

ensure that it happens, man, you

42:32

know, each leg each each

42:32

generation should be an

42:34

elevation man, you know, I mean,

42:34

so, you know, maybe we'll do

42:39

more episode about here. No,

42:41

I mean, I don't

42:41

think that's necessarily shared

42:44

a lot, but just

42:46

a one, season two,

42:46

episode one done.

42:49

I mean, there's, I mean, there's things that have gone through, as well,

42:50

especially being a preacher's

42:53

kid, you're put in a different

42:53

kind of spotlight, where there's

43:00

people that think that you

43:00

should do things a certain way,

43:02

or you're only doing things

43:02

because, you know, you're a PK.

43:05

And there's, I mean, there's all

43:05

these misconceptions, and it, it

43:10

made me push myself to get out

43:10

of whatever they thought and it

43:14

took a while was, it was tough,

43:14

because you're already

43:17

especially when, you know, we go

43:17

to new churches and things,

43:21

there's always this, you know,

43:21

preconceived notion about who

43:26

you are, what your family, you

43:26

know, who your family is, and

43:29

you know that, but you have to

43:29

be able to not take that, you

43:33

know, to heart really, and still

43:33

walk in who you are, regardless

43:37

of who they think you should be,

43:37

you know, it can be a very

43:41

vulnerable, you know, state, but

43:41

it pushed me to the point where,

43:45

you know, I'm going to do this

43:45

the way that works, you know,

43:49

for me, so I'm going to, you

43:49

know, have my walk with God, not

43:53

the way that my mom did it not

43:53

the way that my dad did it, not

43:55

the way that you know, my

43:55

grandparents did it. Because for

43:58

those that you know, me, I grew

43:58

up in church, and everyone is a

44:01

minister, everybody's a pastor.

44:01

So it's like, all these things.

44:04

Oh, well, this is, this is your

44:04

legacy. That's what you've been

44:06

walking in. No, no, no, that's,

44:06

that's not it. And like, Well,

44:12

that's true. But my thing is,

44:12

it's not going to look like it

44:16

did for them. So it may be

44:16

something similar, but I'm going

44:20

to do it in the way that works

44:20

for me the way that works in a

44:23

way that I can impact my own

44:23

generation and not the past

44:26

generations. And so, you know,

44:26

walking in that and kind of

44:29

being, you know, a little more

44:29

strong willed. I was always kind

44:32

of the more strong willed child

44:32

was like, no, just because you

44:35

want me to do I'm not gonna do

44:35

it just because you said you

44:37

want me to do it. But besides

44:37

that point,

44:40

was what changed now.

44:44

You have a says that point, you know, entrepreneurship that helped me

44:46

see you know, what a lot of

44:48

people thought, what our

44:48

business should look like,

44:52

especially on the government

44:52

contracting side. Oh, you have

44:54

to do it like this. You

44:54

shouldn't be having a podcast

44:58

talking about you know this

44:58

stuff and stop polluting. Quick

45:00

corrected it, whatever, you

45:00

know, we're walking in this, the

45:04

way that, you know, it works for

45:04

us and the way that we know that

45:08

we can impact people just like

45:08

us, like, I'm not trying to do

45:11

it, like the people that did it

45:11

before, I'm just trying to do

45:14

it, the way that you know that I

45:14

know that God has given it to me

45:18

and not a lot of people are

45:18

going to understand that and you

45:20

have to be okay with it. And

45:20

that took some time for me, you

45:23

know, to realize that I got to

45:23

be okay with walking down this

45:28

different path that everyone

45:28

thinks is the wrong way. So if

45:32

you know that God has told you

45:32

that, then he's going to, you

45:35

know, give you the wisdom and

45:35

give you deserve, if you seek

45:37

Him, you know, to get you there.

45:37

And eventually everybody else

45:41

will catch up, and they will see

45:41

it. But you have to be able to,

45:45

you know, see things for

45:45

yourself. And yes, you know,

45:49

getting wisdom from others and

45:49

things like that, absolutely. is

45:53

a necessity, but you also have

45:53

to be able to see, okay, what is

45:56

what is for me? And how can I,

45:56

you know, walk in what God has

46:01

for me in the way that, you

46:01

know, he wants me to walk into

46:05

it really, you know, walking in

46:05

his footsteps. So my prayer has

46:09

been, I don't want to walk

46:09

behind God, I don't want to walk

46:12

ahead of him, I want, you know,

46:12

side by side, like, I'm gonna

46:15

need your help, like, you take

46:15

one step, okay, then I'll take

46:18

this step. So I already know

46:18

that I'm not gonna be able to do

46:21

this on my own. So knowing that,

46:21

you know, and walking into start

46:24

into this business, I know, I'm

46:24

going to have to seek him, I

46:27

know, I'm going to have x have

46:27

to ask others for help, you

46:30

know, and go to that path. And

46:30

that's shown me like, you're

46:33

not, you're not in this alone,

46:33

like, I got you, I've already

46:36

been preparing you years and

46:36

years before, because like, I

46:40

would be even like in, you know,

46:40

elementary school that I was

46:44

always the one that was so hard

46:44

on myself. And, you know,

46:48

everything that I did, so if a

46:48

test came up anything, everybody

46:51

knew I was the one stress and

46:51

even as a child, I was stressing

46:55

about my Nicole tell you this

46:55

all the times, you know, my

46:59

times tables and all that and

46:59

how I couldn't get it Oh, come

47:01

home cry, and like, I would just

47:01

beat myself up, because I

47:04

thought I just had to, you know,

47:04

be the best had to get straight

47:07

A's, I had to do all this and

47:07

all that pressure that I put on

47:11

myself. And you know, from

47:11

starting at that at an early

47:15

age, and God showed me going

47:15

through college, and yes, I'm

47:20

pushing to be, you know, the

47:20

best that I can be. But if that

47:25

doesn't happen, you know, I

47:25

still try my best. And so that

47:28

that was a long learning

47:28

experience. For me, I think I'd

47:32

really didn't get to that point

47:32

until a couple years ago, I had

47:35

to get through grad school.

47:35

Sorry, sorry, to see that, yeah,

47:39

but all of that prepared me for,

47:39

you know, the path that we're

47:44

walking in now, you know, with

47:44

this business, and just knowing

47:48

that, if I put my best foot

47:48

forward, you know, God's gonna

47:51

take care of the rest, and I can

47:51

let go of the pressure of trying

47:54

to be, you know, perfect, and

47:54

trying to make put up this

47:59

facade that I'm perfect. And I

47:59

can handle it all. And I can do

48:02

it all. At Yeah. Nope. Not try

48:02

to do that anymore. And so like

48:09

it now that I sit back, and I

48:09

think about the different things

48:14

that I went through different

48:14

challenges and, you know,

48:17

hardships that I went through

48:17

just from a child and all the

48:19

way up to adulthood. It mentally

48:19

prepared me physically prepared

48:24

me to be stronger, to take on,

48:24

you know, whatever people have

48:29

to say, like, now I'm at the

48:29

point like, okay, whatever, I

48:32

don't really care. And like, it

48:32

puts me in a place where I don't

48:36

feel like I necessarily have to

48:36

prove myself to them, all I'm

48:39

doing, I'm proving myself to

48:39

myself, you know, and to God,

48:42

like, You trusted me with this.

48:42

And so, yes, I'm going to do

48:47

what I can to make this happen

48:47

to prove to you that I'm serious

48:50

about this, but not proving to

48:50

anyone else, because like I

48:53

said, they'll they'll catch up

48:53

when they catch up. And so I

48:58

mean, my thing is, there's just a lot of

49:01

challenges, just a lot of

49:03

successes that you've gone

49:03

through. And even though you may

49:07

not see the benefit of them at

49:07

that time, and how they're going

49:12

to, you know, help you later on,

49:12

it's always going to come back

49:15

at a time where you know, that

49:15

muscle that you built in

49:19

whatever area is going to help

49:19

you in another instance. And so

49:24

that's why I think it's just so

49:24

important not to discount what

49:28

you've been through, but to

49:28

really use that as you know, a

49:32

building block to get to, to get

49:32

you to where you know, you want

49:35

to go. And another thing I don't

49:35

know if you guys noticed, when

49:39

Ray was telling his story with

49:39

everything that, you know, may

49:42

have gone wrong, he always had,

49:42

you know, a way to turn it back

49:46

around and be like, but it

49:46

helped me do this, you know,

49:48

like keeping track of, you know,

49:48

yeah, this failed. This didn't

49:51

go the right way. But I was able

49:51

to come out of it, you know, on

49:55

top, or I was able to learn this

49:55

from it. And so it's like

49:57

keeping track of your

49:57

accomplishments and your wins.

50:00

And even if they're big if

50:00

they're small, like, I don't

50:04

care, like you celebrate

50:04

yourself, you know, you like you

50:08

be your own hype man and be

50:08

like, I wanna, I want to thank

50:10

me well IG posts right, right.

50:10

That's what you got to do me

50:18

like, I want to thank myself for

50:18

making it this far. And for

50:22

still, you know, you know,

50:22

pushing press, my, my doubts and

50:27

my fears and, and you know,

50:27

making it happen making it

50:31

happen.

50:31

That's awesome,

50:31

man. It's off to you.

50:34

I mean, what you

50:34

just said was pretty impressive

50:36

story and that is it. I look at

50:36

it interesting that you don't

50:40

think so only

50:41

because only

50:41

because this right? I know some

50:44

guys who are life whose lives

50:44

are altered far beyond anything

50:48

I can imagine, physically,

50:48

mentally, and hope to have some

50:51

of those guys on here someday to

50:51

tell you guys how they how they

50:53

took those lessons and turn them

50:53

into into wins and how they

50:56

walked away now. So like, you

50:56

know, I look at as man, like,

50:59

what I went through was nothing

50:59

compared to some, but I'm not

51:02

gonna tell you, I'll tell you

51:02

guys it was hell, it was hell

51:04

while I was in it. But you know,

51:04

when you when you can look back

51:07

and say, Man, look where I was.

51:07

And that's a beautiful thing.

51:10

Yeah. And I can say

51:10

it's a testimony to others,

51:13

because I know he didn't want to

51:13

do this and raise really not.

51:15

We're both kind of very private

51:15

people. But I know that it would

51:19

help others. And thank you for

51:19

taking one for the team

51:23

appreciate that pushing through

51:23

and sharing. Because I know

51:26

maybe some people might not be

51:26

able to relate to, you know,

51:31

your experience with as a Marine

51:31

and things like that. But it may

51:34

be a slightly similar story with

51:34

you know, different situation

51:38

where they see okay, he was able

51:38

to still push through all of

51:41

that. And look at him now look

51:41

what he's able to accomplish.

51:44

You know, he's now you know,

51:44

you're now married. You got kids

51:48

raise your everybody loves right

51:48

at work. Yeah, absolutely love,

51:52

right. It's true. I'm a very

51:52

buddy. And just starting this,

51:56

you know, he started this business and you're still pushing past it. Yes. We've,

51:58

we've hit a lot of roadblocks.

52:03

Daily roadblocks, you know, but

52:03

we're still working through it.

52:07

Like it was right. Exactly. Just

52:07

detours. So you were able still

52:09

able to push through it. So I

52:09

think there's there's a lot of

52:14

good net that I think it's good

52:14

to sometimes just come out of

52:18

your shell a little bit and

52:18

show. And so, you know, thinking

52:22

about, you know, strategic site

52:22

and what we've been able to

52:26

accomplish, we started and what

52:26

may of 2019. With high hopes,

52:31

super high hopes I know we've

52:31

talked about, yeah, yeah.

52:35

Thinking that, you know, things

52:35

were going to be, you know,

52:38

you're hitting the ground.

52:38

Exactly, like Fall Winter 2019

52:44

In it was everything but that,

52:44

okay, everything but that. But

52:48

instead of saying like, Okay,

52:48

that didn't work out a whole

52:52

business away. We were like,

52:52

Okay, what, how else? Can we

52:55

divert our efforts, you know, to

52:55

keep going and so, you know,

52:58

faults when it I think that's

52:58

when we we built our first

53:01

website in house and, you know,

53:01

started to establish our

53:05

credit to you credit to you, man, I think like, you out there, I think

53:06

that's one thing I appreciate about you, right? Like, you

53:08

know, I looked at your we gotta get this government contract.

53:09

And you saw it was like, Yo, there's other things we can do.

53:11

Like, what what do you mean? And

53:15

and, you know, I appreciate you

53:15

for your persistence. Um, those

53:19

are some fun times. A lot of

53:21

fun times. Yeah,

53:21

that was up late nights, like,

53:23

frustrated. And I am not a web

53:23

developer. And I don't want to

53:27

be and I don't ever want to

53:27

build another website. But we

53:30

had to make it work. It's like,

53:30

you know, we were, you know,

53:33

just starting out. Yeah, we were

53:33

investing in our own business.

53:36

But we're we're trying to be, as

53:36

you know, financially

53:39

responsible, as we are like,

53:39

Okay, let's see if we can figure

53:42

this out in house. Because when

53:42

we try to go and hire other

53:45

people, they wouldn't even want

53:45

respond or any of this. That was

53:48

pretty much gotcha saying, do it

53:48

yourself. And that's how we did

53:51

it. So that was that was 20,

53:51

like the end of 2019. We're

53:54

like, okay, let's just, you

53:54

know, establish our digital

53:57

presence there. And then 2020

53:57

Hit y'all. And that was just

54:01

like, another blow to the stomach.

54:03

Your COVID Yeah,

54:03

so much happened last year.

54:07

It did a lot. And

54:07

it was, in a way, it was also a

54:10

blessing in disguise that

54:10

everything didn't get up and

54:13

running, because then we would

54:13

have been in a whole nother

54:16

world of roadblocks. Right,

54:16

exactly. And things like

54:20

navigating waters that we really

54:20

weren't prepared for. But you

54:24

know, we took that and turned it

54:24

around. And that's when we

54:27

started, you know, the front

54:27

runner live and we came online

54:30

every day days. We didn't want

54:30

to slow days. We did. So days we

54:33

did it. We still we stuck with

54:33

it. And we were consistent, you

54:37

know, and just trying to, you

54:37

know, share what we knew to help

54:41

other people just like us

54:41

starting out. And what that was,

54:46

that was 2020. At the end of

54:46

2020. Things start to get busy.

54:50

The world kind of started

54:50

opening up and still kind of

54:52

crazy. And then there came the

54:52

pocket. So you're like okay, you

54:57

still want to keep this going.

54:57

But let's try this out. in you

55:00

know a lot of you know, family

55:00

things happen in the beginning

55:05

of 2021 that you know took us in

55:05

a different direction things get

55:09

delayed. I wanted the podcast to

55:09

be in January. I don't think we

55:13

started the podcast to July we

55:13

did it. We are the 11th episode,

55:19

closing out season one and then

55:19

even from there able to start

55:24

the the front runner up here or,

55:24

and you know going for it with

55:29

you know, our thing that we

55:29

always say stay solid and so and

55:33

that's even been you know, a

55:33

great experience with you know,

55:36

trying out different

55:38

shout out the

55:38

Tierra T T T T designs all this

55:40

stuff, y'all it is on the

55:40

clothes. Kimmy Kimmy My bad.

55:44

Yeah, Kimmy, Kimmy, Kimmy Kimmy

55:44

gave us the design but like you

55:48

you take, you've taken that that

55:48

design and created the apparel

55:51

brand with it. So yeah, shout out to you, man.

55:53

Yes, it was

55:53

definitely it's definitely been

55:55

a team effort and getting this

55:55

done. And definitely shout out

55:59

to Kimmy and helping us out. And

55:59

she has been so patient with us.

56:03

You know, she's helped us. She's

56:03

done just about almost

56:05

everything in the business.

56:07

Jimmy did our wedding invitations.

56:08

She's ready. She

56:08

also did the baby shower

56:11

invitation.

56:12

Kimmy is

56:12

downloaded. So yeah, she does.

56:14

She does more she does more than

56:14

just, you know, branding and

56:18

designing like she she does it

56:18

all. So definitely, definitely

56:20

check her out.

56:20

Definitely check

56:20

her out. And so it's been a

56:23

learning experience from the

56:23

things that we've done has been

56:26

detours that I think that we

56:26

would start, you know, putting

56:30

out a pair. Oh, absolutely. Not

56:30

that I think we would ever get

56:33

into a pocket. Absolutely not.

56:33

But you know, God knew all of

56:36

these things. And he was he's

56:36

been preparing us since we came

56:41

out of the womb, away, and

56:41

everything that we've gone

56:44

through. And it's like, it's crazy, because both of our experiences and how they were

56:46

able to bring us together in

56:50

this point. So with Ray, you

56:50

know, getting that job and

56:53

coming from Atlanta to here with

56:53

me come out of school thinking

56:56

that I was going to go to John

56:56

Hopkins, you know, APL lab, and

56:59

God's like, nope, even though

56:59

that's more money, you're not

57:02

going to take, you can take this

57:02

other job where Ray is and then

57:04

getting us to this point. And so

57:04

there's a lot of great stuff in

57:09

store for us coming up in 2022,

57:09

which is crazy already almost at

57:15

2022. And so we'll have season

57:15

two, we'll have you know, more

57:21

peril, we'll have more

57:21

opportunities, you know, to

57:23

connect with us. And so even

57:23

more guests. Yeah, even more

57:28

guests. Absolutely.

57:30

A lot of podcasts,

57:31

absolutely.

57:31

I'll throw stuff in there, here and there.

57:33

And I'm here for

57:33

it. You know, like I said,

57:36

before, you know, growing up in

57:36

the church, and everything was

57:39

always like, we got to do it like this, you got to do it like that. And like, it was just so

57:40

like stuffing, like, oh, I don't

57:44

want to like I want to just

57:44

completely go against the grain.

57:47

And now I've kind of gotten to a

57:47

place where I can do that in a

57:51

way that's not so what do you

57:51

say? Defensive? You know, your

57:58

back? Exactly. I could I can,

57:58

you know, do that comfortably in

58:03

a way that, you know, really,

58:03

really feels right. You know,

58:06

and and I'm still in line with

58:06

what God wants me to do. Right?

58:10

Exactly. And so, you know, we're

58:10

all about helping others helping

58:15

each other. Anything that we can

58:15

do to help you, if you're on the

58:19

fence, starting a business,

58:19

you're already in it. And you

58:23

know, you need an ear, you need

58:23

someone to just vent to. Right,

58:29

exactly, just like us call us.

58:29

We're here to write to be

58:32

multiple, you know, things for

58:32

other entrepreneurs when it

58:35

comes to like the actual

58:35

business strategies and things

58:37

like that, or just, you know,

58:37

dealing with the day to day, you

58:41

know, rut of being in and out of

58:41

it all. Exactly. We're, we're

58:47

here for you guys. And we hope

58:47

that you will, you know, be here

58:51

for us as well as we're going

58:51

through because we're still

58:53

learning. We don't claim to know

58:53

it all.

58:58

But about out loud

58:58

anyway. Right, right.

59:01

But we're gonna

59:01

share what we do know. And we do

59:04

appreciate you all, you know,

59:04

listening in that every week for

59:09

season one of this podcast, I do

59:09

not take it lightly at all. So I

59:15

think we're up to maybe around

59:15

300 downloads or something.

59:20

So much. Thank you so much.

59:21

I appreciate it to

59:21

have 300 people caring enough of

59:24

us that listen to us for 15 to

59:24

45 minutes to an hour.

59:28

Exactly the whole wherever we got it will be everybody who listened

59:30

definitely had something out of it, though. Absolutely.

59:31

Absolutely. So let me ask your

59:34

question to you. And I guess

59:34

we'll maybe we'll wrap up the

59:37

season with this one, right.

59:37

There's one trait you think that

59:42

has helped you persevere during

59:42

an entreprenuer endeavor? What

59:48

would it be like one trait or

59:48

characteristic? Let me go first.

59:54

Yeah. For me, it's The

59:54

importance of discipline. I

1:00:02

think I think that's probably

1:00:02

one of the most important, most

1:00:05

important things is the

1:00:05

importance of discipline. And,

1:00:09

and discipline is such a, you

1:00:09

know, it's such a powerful word

1:00:13

when you really apply it in your

1:00:13

everyday walk and principles as

1:00:17

a business owner, co owner, and

1:00:17

partner. Yeah, I think

1:00:23

discipline, I think I reaffirm

1:00:23

my commitment to be more

1:00:26

disciplined, you know,

1:00:26

definitely doing this past year

1:00:30

as we move forward for what's

1:00:30

coming is going to be far

1:00:33

greater than where we are now,

1:00:33

in order to be able to do the

1:00:35

right thing with it and expand

1:00:35

on it. Yeah, I think discipline

1:00:39

is extremely important.

1:00:42

I like it, I would

1:00:42

have to say being resourceful.

1:00:46

Because I'm all about using what

1:00:46

you have. And so I'll say, I'll

1:00:52

be quick to it's not that like,

1:00:52

I'm cheap or anything

1:00:55

cheap. It's okay.

1:00:57

Sorry. I will I

1:00:57

will pay for anyone to be Yeah,

1:01:00

yeah, exactly. Sometimes I'll be

1:01:00

like, Oh, pick on what to pay

1:01:03

for that,

1:01:03

hey, I'm not

1:01:03

paying $5 for shipping. Y'all.

1:01:07

Gosh, me and

1:01:07

shipping. And it's tough. What

1:01:10

you know, I know, tangent. But

1:01:10

especially with small businesses

1:01:14

like at it I have, so I have a

1:01:14

better appreciation for this

1:01:17

whole shipping thing. Because

1:01:17

before, you know what the big

1:01:20

businesses they can, they can do

1:01:20

it. They can't they can, they

1:01:23

can either should have been. But

1:01:23

these small business y'all and

1:01:26

looking at your margins, can't

1:01:26

eat that shipping all the time.

1:01:30

And these shipping costs are

1:01:30

getting insane, especially with

1:01:32

this pandemic. So I've been

1:01:32

changing my my view on you know,

1:01:38

on shipping. But anyways,

1:01:38

resourcefulness kind of, you

1:01:43

know, taking a look at what you

1:01:43

have, because usually you can

1:01:45

start with, you know, you know,

1:01:45

what's in your hand. And so

1:01:48

like, I know, Bishop talks about

1:01:48

a lot like, what do you have in

1:01:52

your hand to start in? That has

1:01:52

helped me a lot, because there

1:01:56

was a lot of things we didn't

1:01:56

have. And instead, there were

1:01:59

some times where I was like,

1:01:59

okay, yeah, I can't do this.

1:02:02

Can't do that. Because we don't have this. We don't know this person. And God, you know, put

1:02:04

me in my place real quick and

1:02:07

was like, Yeah, you don't, but

1:02:07

you have this, you have that,

1:02:10

like you've, you've learned a

1:02:10

lot over the years, you better

1:02:13

figure it out, like what the

1:02:13

whole website thing, like going

1:02:16

on about doing a website, he was

1:02:16

just like, there's something

1:02:18

called Google YouTube, research

1:02:18

it no figure it out. And so you

1:02:24

are capable of doing just so

1:02:24

much more than you think by just

1:02:28

just taking a minute in, you

1:02:28

know, looking at what you have

1:02:31

around you, who you have around

1:02:31

you. And being you know, getting

1:02:35

rid of your pride and you know,

1:02:35

saying okay, hey, can you help

1:02:39

me out with this? Or are they

1:02:39

like that, just be resourceful,

1:02:42

with what you have, oh, get you

1:02:42

so much further. Because if you

1:02:45

wait for everything to fall into

1:02:45

place, and the fall in the line,

1:02:48

and things to drop in your life,

1:02:48

your lap, you're gonna be

1:02:52

waiting for a long time. And

1:02:52

you're just going to be pushing

1:02:55

yourself back and saying, Well,

1:02:55

no, I gotta wait for this or No,

1:02:57

it's not ready or this time is

1:02:57

not right. No, take what you

1:03:01

have. And just start little by

1:03:01

little, even a little bit each

1:03:05

day a little bit each week a

1:03:05

little bit, you know, each

1:03:07

month. Take what you have. Be

1:03:07

resourceful. And what you got to

1:03:12

do.

1:03:13

I like that brick

1:03:13

by brick brick by brick. I like

1:03:15

that. I like that city. Awesome.

1:03:15

Jojo. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, no, I

1:03:24

definitely appreciate the experience. Thanks to you for pushing the podcast. You know, I

1:03:26

think I think it's, it's value

1:03:30

added. And hopefully it's something that we're able to share. Like we said before, that

1:03:32

everybody's able to get

1:03:35

something out of it. So you

1:03:35

know, whether you're an

1:03:37

entrepreneur or you know, in

1:03:37

sports or just trying to figure

1:03:40

life out and gentlemen tap in,

1:03:40

you never know what you'll hear

1:03:42

that, you know, maybe that one

1:03:42

thing you needed to move you to

1:03:45

the next level in life. So, you

1:03:45

know, season one comes to an

1:03:49

end. Yeah, one run. We look

1:03:49

forward to doing again and

1:03:52

season two, you know, so

1:03:52

everybody hold down love one

1:03:56

another and just be cool as you

1:03:56

move out there. Yeah.

1:03:59

And as always, stay

1:03:59

solid peace.