0:04

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

0:06

Jones two engineers more from

0:09

coworkers to inlaws. 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 or 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

and new and seasoned

0:26

entrepreneurs on how to endure

0:29

the marathon entrepreneurship.

0:38

Peace everybody.

0:38

Thank you for joining us for

0:40

another front runner podcast. This is Ray

0:42

and this is Tiara.

0:43

Excellent. Excellent. So we got a good treat in store for everybody

0:45

today so T can you tell us what

0:47

we're talking about?

0:48

So Today our topic

0:48

is your business your rules

0:52

Ding ding ding

0:52

ding good. We're not alone.

0:55

today. We do have a special

0:55

guest and we are recording at a

0:58

remote location. So t going

0:58

everybody logistics in the

1:00

rundown someone who's joining us today.

1:02

Yes. So today we

1:02

are with a longtime friend of

1:05

mine. We went to ODU together

1:05

have known each other for years,

1:09

Dallas, Paul Dallas, but he goes

1:09

by Dallas and he is the co

1:12

founder of The Haven arts,

1:12

Virginia. And so he has an

1:17

amazing art gallery here in

1:17

Manassas, Virginia. And so we're

1:21

gonna start talking about a

1:21

little bit more about how he got

1:23

to this point. So Dallas is a

1:23

Brooklyn born entrepreneur with

1:28

a passion for music, art and

1:28

technology. He's a gallery owner

1:32

and art curator broker for the

1:32

havens. Art, VA. So welcome,

1:38

Dallas.

1:39

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you what's going on y'all?

1:41

You You may you may hear we definitely appreciate you. Welcome into the

1:43

Haven man. Thank you for helping

1:46

us set up It took us a while to

1:46

get up and running a couple

1:49

hours ago, Murphy man that will

1:49

get in the detail sometimes. But

1:54

it's all good. It's all good.

1:54

all worked out. Absolutely. Well

1:57

here and

1:57

it's nice to

1:57

recording from his art gallery.

2:00

We are on site at the art

2:00

gallery that you all definitely

2:02

have to check out. We'll give

2:02

you all the details. But yes, we

2:05

are here.

2:06

Yeah, definitely.

2:06

It's a good change of scenery.

2:08

Yeah. Love Love here.

2:09

Love here open up

2:09

in the attic here. Yeah, no, see

2:12

no art, but trust me. We're in

2:12

the recording studio. Right.

2:16

It's all good. It's all love man. We definitely appreciate you're welcome to

2:18

send today. Hey, man, thank you so much, man. So Dallas, once

2:19

you tell us a little bit about

2:24

yourself, maybe give us some background where you're from, you know, how you how you got

2:26

into, you know, the The Haven

2:30

and your your love for art. Um,

2:34

I mean, I really

2:34

didn't come up feeling like I

2:38

had a love for art. It's kind of

2:38

weird. But I did grow up in

2:42

Brooklyn, like you said, and my

2:42

mom from 88 to 2001 worked at

2:49

the Brooklyn Museum. And so I

2:49

spent a lot of time there, like,

2:52

bring your kids work days, if I

2:52

was sick of school was close. In

2:55

New York, in New York, we

2:55

celebrate every holiday in the

2:58

school system. So like, there

2:58

was a lot of days where I was

3:00

out of school. And anytime I was

3:00

I was at the museum. But I never

3:04

was into the art. You know, I

3:04

mean, like she worked for, I

3:08

don't know who she worked. She

3:08

was like on the admin side. So

3:10

like, when I went to the museum,

3:10

it was like, behind the walls

3:14

and the space that you didn't

3:14

even realize was there. So I

3:16

seen the art passing through,

3:16

but I've never like really

3:18

stopped to like look at it. And

3:18

then it wasn't till years later

3:22

that Kevin a good friend of me

3:22

and Tiara. Yep. He wanted to go

3:27

to New York to just hop around

3:27

some different wineries and

3:30

museums, and I went with him and

3:30

we went to this one gallery

3:34

called Eden Soho, which is like

3:34

a pop art Fine Art Gallery in

3:37

Manhattan. And I just kind of

3:37

that's when it kind of sparked

3:41

like, and that was way after,

3:41

you know, from when I was a kid

3:44

in the museum, but this place

3:44

had art that I was really

3:46

interested in like, the museum

3:46

stuff was like old like

3:49

literally like ancient art. But

3:49

this was like more bright colors

3:52

pop art, like stuff that you you

3:52

would say to yourself like when

3:55

I get a big house or have a nice

3:55

four year I want that piece. So

3:59

that kind of sparked it. And

3:59

then long story long, came back

4:02

to Virginia from that trip. And

4:02

me and Kevin had just moved into

4:05

a an apartment, but this

4:05

apartment was supposed to be

4:10

supposed to be like stores, but

4:10

they couldn't sell the the real

4:14

estate of stores. So they

4:14

converted them into apartments.

4:17

But it had like the aesthetic of

4:17

a store still. So we had like

4:20

the gray slate concrete. Oh,

4:20

nice and like 1213 foot

4:24

ceilings, and then like three

4:24

entryways that face the street

4:27

then look like a store. So I get

4:27

back and we just sit down one

4:31

day. And I'm just like, you know

4:31

what, we could turn this into a

4:35

gallery. And then from there, it

4:35

kind of just started with me

4:38

going to different art shows in

4:38

the area. And I'll be honest,

4:41

like scalping artists from those

4:41

shows, hey, I like your art you

4:44

want to come and you know, check

4:44

out a new gallery. And I just

4:48

kept to all of them. Like, yeah,

4:48

I got myself alright. Oh my god

4:50

knows. I don't want to say I was

4:50

lying. I felt like I was setting

4:53

myself up. You know, it was kind

4:53

of just forecasting what was

4:57

gonna happen as opposed to, you

4:57

know, tell them the full truth

5:00

but I was able to get like three

5:00

or four artists some local some

5:03

from from far away and they were

5:03

like alright, cool, yeah, we'll

5:06

we'll give you the art, they

5:06

sent the art. And we started

5:08

doing like private shows in the

5:08

apartment where we would like do

5:11

a full conversion like take all

5:11

the furniture and like stuff it

5:13

in Kevin's bedroom. And then

5:13

like all the other rooms we

5:16

would just make look like actual

5:16

business and it worked out we

5:19

did like private shows swanky

5:19

little things to like silver

5:21

trees and like cotton fixes

5:21

maybe we brought the artists in

5:27

and did like live painting and

5:27

stuff like that. And that's kind

5:29

of what started it. And the next

5:29

thing you know, I started

5:32

sewing, sewing some pieces. And

5:32

one of my main buyers, Alex,

5:37

who's now my, one of the CO

5:37

owners here, he started buying a

5:40

lot of art from me. And he

5:40

essentially kind of had a

5:45

parallel track in terms of

5:45

finding this love for art. And

5:50

yeah, he started buying for me

5:50

and then he started throwing it

5:52

out there Oh, you should open up

5:52

a an actual gallery never saw my

5:55

my gallery at home as actual

5:55

gallery, he opened up actual

5:58

gallery and I'm just like,

5:58

whatever. Anyway, fast forward

6:02

to last year COVID struck. And

6:02

then we closed down the gallery

6:06

that we did at the house because

6:06

we weren't sure how successful

6:09

would be going into the you

6:09

know, further into the year. And

6:13

at the end of the year, Alex

6:13

came back around was like you so

6:17

you don't want to try this. And I'm like, I really don't want to do it. Now. It's COVID

6:19

everything is close. But um, I

6:22

ended up saving up a lot of

6:22

money on like stocks and just

6:25

not going out. I was single, no

6:25

clubs, no dinners, no, you know,

6:29

I'm saying none of that. And by

6:29

the end of the year, I'm looking

6:32

at my bank account, like, you

6:32

could do something I don't know

6:34

if it's gonna be by gallery, but

6:34

and then we made a phone call

6:38

one night, talk to the realtor.

6:38

And then he was like, Yeah, he

6:43

was just so excited to get

6:43

business because you could tell

6:45

that COVID really like had, you

6:45

know, done damage to his

6:49

business. But um, he was like,

6:49

whatever you want to do. That's

6:52

great art, cool, whatever, you

6:52

can have it. So we literally

6:55

came the next day we did the

6:55

paperwork, put the money down.

6:58

And then that Monday, we were

6:58

owners of a space. I wouldn't

7:03

say we were gallery owners at

7:03

that point. But then me and my

7:07

other partner Jose, who was also

7:07

a co owner, we we just got to

7:11

work in here. And suddenly no

7:11

business model, no real plan. I

7:14

kind of just took what I was

7:14

already doing and just do it

7:17

into this part. And yeah, we just started

7:19

putting muscle into it.

7:22

Literally that night. I mean,

7:22

first day, and we started

7:24

ripping up carpet and tearing

7:24

stuff out nice and yeah. And now

7:28

we're here. So that was November

7:28

30. Here we are now on what

7:32

September 18. Not even a year,

7:32

and we were doing pretty good.

7:37

So

7:37

and when you originally started the first gallery out of your home, what

7:39

date did you start that?

7:43

That had to have

7:43

been? It was in the fall? I

7:48

think that was I want to say

7:48

that was September October of

7:52

2017 or 18.

7:55

So you've been doing this art thing for some time. Give yourself more credit.

7:59

Yes, man. It's been

7:59

it's been a minute now. But it's

8:01

just it's kind of transforming

8:01

into so much. But yeah, yeah,

8:06

not I still well. That's dope, shout out shout out to Kevin to him. I got to meet

8:07

Kevin also to cheer. Very, very

8:11

creative in the pretty pretty

8:11

solid brother, man. So that's,

8:14

that's dope, man. So that's

8:14

crazy, man. So you went from you

8:18

guys went from really creating

8:18

the art studio in your living

8:21

space to actually stepping out

8:21

and actually building something

8:25

from the ground up. That's

8:25

amazing, man. So in 2018 to 2020

8:30

and 2021. Here you are. So in

8:30

the background, you have a you

8:35

know, consistent nine to five

8:35

job as well, too,

8:37

or Yeah, yeah. So I

8:37

work at AWS, Amazon Web Services

8:42

I've been there for actually,

8:42

what's today, the 18th this

8:47

yesterday was my five year

8:47

anniversary. Yeah, so I'm a

8:51

broadcast, live streaming

8:51

engineer. So basically do like

8:55

in turn, it's like an internal

8:55

TV studio, but for like 2

8:57

million people because we

8:57

service the whole Amazon stuff.

9:00

So anybody from like the

9:00

janitorial staff to like a

9:02

kitchen staff to Jeff Bezos,

9:02

like we do all of the videos and

9:07

live streams for them. So it's a

9:07

pretty dope job. keeps me busy

9:12

and cutting a lot. I used to say

9:12

that what I was doing here is

9:15

cutting into my day job. But now

9:15

it's more like my day job is

9:18

cutting into what I'm doing

9:18

here. So that's becoming a

9:22

thing. But yeah, I love Amazon,

9:22

I give them I even told my

9:25

bosses that, you know, I credit

9:25

them for this, because without

9:29

that job and, you know, they pay

9:29

pretty decent over there at AWS,

9:32

you know, and the benefits are

9:32

good. And it just, you know, I

9:35

feel like a good job allows you

9:35

to do so much because people I

9:38

think forget why we work we work

9:38

to afford to be able to do the

9:41

things that we like to do and

9:41

there's a lot of people who work

9:44

who can't afford to do what they

9:44

what they want to do. Some of

9:47

them can't afford what they need

9:47

to do, you know, and so I really

9:51

give a lot of credit to and I

9:51

will say it's a lot of stuff you

9:54

can say about a big company like

9:54

Amazon, but you know you get in

9:58

there good. You and they're

9:58

good. You No, I mean, like, I

10:01

feel like a lot of people give

10:01

them a hard time, but it's like,

10:04

you know, fight to be in a

10:04

position you'd rather be in, you

10:06

know, don't, don't settle for

10:06

the position that you don't

10:08

like, you know, so I like my

10:08

job, you know, and I keep it

10:11

real with my managers about what

10:11

I have going on here as well. So

10:15

they're really attentive to

10:15

like, they first A lot of times,

10:18

when we get into a meeting, the first thing they asked about is the gallery more so than, than

10:20

the, than the job at hand there.

10:23

So so it's been pretty tight. I

10:23

still think I don't know how

10:26

much longer it's gonna, how much

10:26

longer I'm be able to do to do

10:29

both. Like, even yesterday, I

10:29

told my mom, she got Max, I

10:33

haven't been over there in a while. And I was like, you know, I have two full time jobs. And

10:35

she's like, what, full time job?

10:37

You only work at Amazon. I was

10:37

like the gallery. And I was the

10:40

first time that I even started

10:40

to look at this as you know,

10:42

full time because I get off

10:42

eight hours on Amazon. And then

10:45

I come here and do either nine,

10:45

maybe 12 sometimes. So. So yeah,

10:52

well, your Amazon's cool.

10:54

That was dope man

10:54

definitely makes a

10:54

difference. When you have one,

10:57

you have a job that can support

10:57

your, your other entrepreneur

11:01

work and things like that. But

11:01

when that job also supports the

11:04

work that you do, it just takes

11:04

kind of a weight lifted off, and

11:06

you have to worry about what they're gonna say what they're gonna do, even though you

11:08

shouldn't be worried about it, but it's just, you know, it just

11:10

kind of takes that pressure off

11:12

of you.

11:13

Yeah, because the time alone is a burden, you know, trying to balance the two.

11:14

So the last thing you need is

11:17

like the people who, who you

11:17

need to support you to be

11:19

against you, right? I mean, so

11:19

it definitely helps to have a

11:22

job where, you know, you have

11:22

support, even though it's

11:25

support that they don't

11:25

necessarily, but they literally

11:27

don't have to get there. Right,

11:27

there's, you know, the guys

11:29

those jobs where it's like you six minutes late, you're getting written up, you know, this is

11:31

definitely not not one of those

11:34

places. So, so you're shuttled

11:34

to AWS

11:36

nice, and the

11:36

flexibility is not something to

11:39

take lightly.

11:40

Absolutely, yeah,

11:40

that's amazing. I know, like,

11:43

like our backgrounds, we both

11:43

have, you know, what we call

11:46

like the nine to five grind. And

11:46

this is like a, you know, what

11:49

we do here with the podcast and

11:49

woke up, but he's more like a,

11:52

almost a 24 hour gig. So yeah,

11:52

shout out man. Like, if you have

11:57

organization, for your nine to

11:57

five grind, I suppose should you

12:00

do, it takes a weight off your

12:00

shoulders, makes you look more

12:03

easy to shake a move like a need

12:03

to, to get things off the

12:05

ground. And so that's amazing.

12:05

Um, so, you know, when we were

12:08

you were breaking down, you

12:08

know, how you got into the

12:10

Haven, you know, you showed us

12:10

your pictures of how you went,

12:14

from day one, you don't knock

12:14

the walls down, build things

12:17

out, man, the the nuts, that's

12:17

crazy to me, because you put

12:20

sweat equity into getting this

12:20

up, you know, and it's a touch

12:23

point for me. Because when we do

12:23

the podcast, we will live on

12:27

Facebook, and we're telling

12:27

people, you know, just start,

12:29

you don't have to have it all

12:29

figured out. And it's like,

12:31

perfect to have you on here to

12:31

you know, as a testament and a

12:34

testimony to that to that story.

12:34

Right? You know, we know

12:37

business plan, but you had a

12:37

vision, you had an idea, you

12:41

have a plan.

12:43

You know, we're not

12:43

having a business way apart. I

12:46

don't want to send people into

12:46

it, like, oh, whatever you think

12:48

about just go and do it. But,

12:48

but, um, to you definitely want

12:56

to have a vision, you know, I

12:56

mean, because like, without the

13:00

plan, at least you have

13:00

something that you can, you

13:02

know, even if it's not on paper,

13:02

like even if it's just in your

13:05

head to have some sort of guide

13:05

rail to like what you're doing,

13:08

you know what I mean? Because,

13:08

like, even this, like I tell

13:11

people all the time, like we didn't have a business plan. And I think they like they take it

13:13

that way. Like also you just,

13:16

you just winging it. We're not

13:16

winging it, like this room is

13:19

exactly what I envisioned it

13:19

would be, you know, that room is

13:23

exactly what we planned it to

13:23

be. We didn't know how it was

13:27

gonna get to that point, we

13:27

didn't know if it was gonna be

13:29

by alone, if it was gonna be

13:29

liquid, if it was gonna be, but

13:32

you know, whatever grant, we

13:32

just knew. That's what we wanted

13:34

it to look like. And I mean, if

13:34

I think if I was to draw up what

13:40

I thought this place would be,

13:40

and then look at what it is now,

13:43

it'd be pretty damn close. And

13:43

but not because of a plan more,

13:47

like I said, because it was a

13:47

vision. Exactly. So.

13:50

And I think if you

13:50

think back to when you started

13:52

in your home, like, I'm always

13:52

one to kind of start simple

13:55

start small to test out your

13:55

concept. And that's exactly what

13:57

you did. And so I think not

13:57

having, you know, the typical

14:02

business plan that people sees,

14:02

but if I'm sure you had things

14:05

that you had written down, it

14:05

was kind of unstructured kind of

14:08

plan that you had, because you

14:08

built it all out first in a

14:11

smaller space. And then you grew

14:11

it to what the Haven is now.

14:14

Now we'll say two,

14:14

I think a lot of what went into

14:18

the original place was just

14:18

opportunity. Like I've always

14:21

kind of seen myself as like a

14:21

thinker, and like, use what you

14:26

have to your benefit. So I still

14:26

didn't really feel like this

14:30

Uber connection to art. When I

14:30

had the idea to do it there. It

14:34

was more of like, we have sleek

14:34

gray floors and 13 foot

14:38

ceilings. This is perfect for

14:38

gout. And then it was like the

14:41

flow of the room too. Because

14:41

having the three entrances It

14:44

was like, people can come in

14:44

here and they walk this way. It

14:46

just makes too much sense. So it

14:46

was more about like, if it makes

14:49

dollars doesn't make sense more

14:49

like entrepreneurial like we can

14:51

make some money off of this.

14:51

There wasn't until it wasn't

14:56

until I started getting some of

14:56

the pieces in from some really

14:59

good artists that I'm Looking at

14:59

it like, oh snap, this is kind

15:01

of dope, like one The art is

15:01

amazing and to is cool to be the

15:06

responsibility started to kick

15:06

in, because now it's like, Okay,

15:09

this isn't art to just decorate

15:09

the, you know, the house, this

15:13

is art that they're sending with

15:13

the intent on selling, right?

15:16

And then that's where I have to

15:16

be that seller. So then it was

15:19

okay, well, this is more than

15:19

just, you know,

15:21

they trust you, right.

15:22

So then it was like

15:22

keeping up with that and like,

15:25

setting a rapport with the, with

15:25

the artists to let them know

15:28

that, you know, I'm serious

15:28

about it, and I can actually

15:30

move your work and we can actually make some money. So it was like combining, that's when

15:32

it started to kind of more

15:35

become a love for the art and

15:35

then like a passion for the

15:37

selling part of as well because

15:37

I don't really do sells, mainly

15:40

because nine times out of 10

15:40

what you're selling is somebody

15:43

else's stuff that you don't

15:43

really take, you don't really

15:45

care about. But being that I

15:45

cared about the art it made

15:48

selling more fun. So I think

15:48

that's when it started to become

15:50

more of a yes, it's a, it's a

15:50

smart money thing, but it's also

15:54

enjoyable. So yeah, kind of grew

15:54

on me.

15:59

And on that selling

15:59

piece, that's real, because, you

16:01

know, the kind of the

16:01

backgrounds that Ray and I come

16:04

from, especially me, and the job

16:04

that I had before working with

16:07

startups, we didn't have to sell

16:07

anything, we were kind of like

16:10

the best kept secret. So then

16:10

we're now now getting this

16:12

position where, you know, I got

16:12

to sell myself and so it was

16:15

weird for me. So you know, I

16:15

think Ray, maybe a little bit

16:18

more had more experience in it.

16:18

But it's a different space to

16:21

have to, you know, really put

16:21

yourself, put yourself on and

16:24

really sell yourself and be

16:24

confident in that and walk in

16:27

that. So. But I definitely agree

16:27

that if you're just loving what

16:31

you're doing, like with this

16:31

podcast, and then kind of using

16:33

this like as a marketing tool

16:33

for us. We're just being

16:36

ourselves and just doing you

16:36

know what we do, and it just the

16:39

money will follow type of thing.

16:40

Yeah, yeah, you put you put your passion into it. Right. So yeah. So So yeah.

16:42

So you know, so even though you

16:44

didn't have a written down business plan, of course, you had the vision, right? So you

16:46

know, and what I find dope too,

16:49

is that you took time to

16:49

cultivate that vision, you know,

16:53

before stepping out and in

16:53

buying, leasing, renting or

16:57

renting office space to turn

16:57

into our studio. So you took the

17:00

time to curate cultivate, and

17:00

then you you had an opportunity

17:05

to invite people tend to get

17:05

feedback, establish

17:08

relationships. So that I think

17:08

that process to me is always the

17:12

most amazing man when you meet

17:12

people, and they never take the

17:15

leap, because you know, the

17:15

smallest thing holds them back

17:18

sometimes. And, you know, the

17:18

business plan, to me is a big

17:22

sticking point. Because I think

17:22

a lot of people that I've come

17:24

in contact with is like, do I

17:24

need to get a template for a

17:26

business plan or write this

17:26

down? I'm like, No, you don't

17:28

need to, like if you know what

17:28

you want to do, you can execute

17:31

it without a business plan, right? You could have mental checklist that you just move

17:33

through, boom, boom, boom, boom,

17:35

in order to get you know, from A

17:35

to Z. So that that fascinates

17:38

me, that's quite impressive. So

17:38

so as you have the Haven so

17:42

let's talk about the Haven a

17:42

little bit, right. So, you know,

17:44

let's talk about some of the

17:44

things that you do here, or, you

17:47

know, for the local artists and

17:47

local talent may go ahead, go

17:49

ahead and plug your plug your

17:49

your network, man.

17:53

So when it used to

17:53

be called the gallery 66 Well,

17:56

the first gallery at the

17:56

apartment was gallery 155. And

17:59

that was like a simple play on

17:59

address. And then always had

18:02

this idea of like, Okay, if we

18:02

expand, what can grow with, you

18:07

know, do we want the name to

18:07

transfer or do we want the idea

18:09

of what we do to transfer and I felt like with a name, like gallery, 155 b, and just the

18:11

address of where we were, they

18:15

would be easy to it was

18:15

scalable, and that no matter

18:17

where we went, it'll have an

18:17

address, it'll be in a certain

18:19

city, it'll be in a certain

18:19

area, we'll just go in that

18:21

place. So we moved over here.

18:21

What other dudes we used to work

18:26

with, throughout the idea of

18:26

gallery 66 because of again, the

18:29

location right there where we

18:29

were, and that's okay, that

18:32

makes sense. And is it it shows

18:32

a connection loosely to gallery

18:37

155. And then, as we started, it

18:37

became more than art, like the

18:44

first few events that we did

18:44

were like, parties, you know,

18:47

they there was no art on the

18:47

walls, but we the the money man

18:49

was had his hand out like the,

18:49

like asking for the for the

18:53

bread. So I'm like, you know, we

18:53

never thought that selling art

18:58

always knew that art wasn't

18:58

going to be what kept the lights

19:00

on in here. But we know, we

19:00

didn't necessarily know what

19:03

would. But that's when we

19:03

started to think about, you

19:06

know, what we could do to

19:06

generate some revenue and

19:08

parties was the first thing

19:08

because of just you know, paying

19:13

entry and stuff like that. So

19:13

then it was okay, so we're not

19:15

just a gallery, we do parties.

19:15

And then we had people coming to

19:19

us saying, hey, I want to rent

19:19

this place to do a party. And I

19:23

was always in the back of our

19:23

minds. But it wasn't until art

19:26

was kind of always on the forefront. Because you know, again, you have these people

19:27

looking at you like, Hey, you got my, you know, $50,000 is art

19:29

work? Are you doing anything to

19:32

move it? But then I started so

19:32

you know what, we don't only

19:35

have to sell the art, we can

19:35

bring the people here and kind

19:38

of let the art so so, you know,

19:38

so that's when the party started

19:42

to happen more frequently. And

19:42

then people started coming to us

19:45

and saying, Hey, can we rent the

19:45

place out to throw a party and

19:48

then was like, of course you

19:48

can't. And then to your point

19:51

about how how we serve as a

19:51

community. red tape, and the

19:56

lack of it is where I feel like

19:56

we serve as a community to burst

19:59

like Where you can go to a

19:59

McDonald's or a big corporation

20:03

or even like a big event center

20:03

and say, Hey, this is exactly

20:05

what I want. I want our cart

20:05

like this. I don't care about

20:09

that menu. This is how they're

20:09

like, no, this is this is your

20:11

options. What we do here is we

20:11

give the client as far as events

20:15

goes, the full run of show and

20:15

let them tell us what they want

20:19

to do. And then we do our best

20:19

to try to bring it to fruition.

20:24

And then we have the so we do

20:24

events, baby showers, parties,

20:28

paint, private painting service,

20:28

we do lock ins, we do private

20:31

movie nights, we do screening.

20:31

So we've done music video

20:35

rentals here. We've done

20:35

podcasts. And just like

20:38

interviews here, we've done a

20:38

lot of stuff. But our main thing

20:42

is like events where you haven't

20:42

met Tiana, but shout out to

20:47

Tiana creates, she's our in

20:47

house event curator. So when

20:52

people come and book us out for

20:52

a birthday party, whatever,

20:54

they'll sit with her and tell

20:54

them a theme, like what colors

20:56

you want, like what kind of

20:56

diaper cake, what kind of

20:58

birthday cake, and then she

20:58

handles all of that. And then we

21:01

basically turn this space into

21:01

that person's vision. So perfect

21:06

example, artist by the name of

21:06

meego Shout out to me.

21:12

He wanted to do a party and a

21:12

video shoot at the same time.

21:17

But it was a beach theme. So

21:17

here we are in the middle of

21:20

Manassas, you know, no water, no

21:20

beach. So it was okay, how are

21:25

we going to do that. And then,

21:25

that was the first major like

21:28

event kind of design that we

21:28

took on and we brought in like

21:32

600 pounds of sand, and like

21:32

covered the showroom and like

21:36

sand and we put like beach balls

21:36

hanging from the ceiling. And we

21:40

had we turned Tiana turn the the

21:40

beams downstairs and like these

21:45

big palm trees and like, beach

21:45

back. So it was crazy. And then

21:48

like, even when the client

21:48

walked in, he's like, this is

21:52

beyond what I thought you're

21:52

gonna do, and way beyond what I

21:55

had planned on doing. And, and,

21:55

and we do it for an affordable

21:59

rate, too. That's the other

21:59

thing. So that's another way I

22:02

feel like we serve as a community and that most of these banquet halls you go to, you get

22:04

what you get an empty room, or

22:08

you might pay an arm and a leg

22:08

for like some chairs, and then

22:10

like for catering and all that.

22:10

Sure. But here, it's like, it's

22:13

affordable one. And if there is

22:13

a roadblock, we we try our best

22:19

to meet you halfway and try to

22:19

make it work. You know, I mean,

22:22

like we're not gonna, we're not

22:22

gonna say no to an idea because

22:25

you're $50 short or because you

22:25

know. So that's, that's the

22:29

beauty I love. That's what I

22:29

love the most about ownership is

22:32

that you decide when you're

22:32

going to, you know what I mean?

22:36

You can give people more by

22:36

being just a little more

22:39

understanding of situations. And

22:39

we also work with our clients in

22:44

terms of our payment, like how

22:44

they make payments, and we're

22:47

super flexible on that as well.

22:47

So yeah, we just try to we just

22:50

try to be accessible and

22:50

affordable, mainly. And then

22:54

beyond that we just started in

22:54

July. As far as like officially

22:57

opening, we do also plan to do

22:57

more like a stuff around certain

23:01

holidays, like food drives, and

23:01

like backpack giveaways and all

23:03

that stuff. But, but we're still

23:03

growing. We're a small team, but

23:06

that's all the stuff that we

23:06

have. That's some of the stuff

23:08

that we have planned in the

23:08

future as far as the community

23:11

just more outreach stuff and

23:11

more like our kids and getting

23:13

the kids more involved in the

23:13

arts. But yeah, right now, it's

23:17

just mainly just being being

23:17

affordable and accessible, you

23:20

know, and even when it's not an

23:20

event, we tell people all the

23:24

time, like if you're creating

23:24

something at home, and you just

23:26

wanted a new space, which is

23:26

somewhere else like this is this

23:29

is the spot for it. Yeah, you've

23:29

seen the facility like it's

23:32

plenty of places to just sit

23:32

down and like, just just create

23:36

and that's what we that's kind

23:36

of what we want here. So, so

23:38

yeah,

23:39

I don't think there's any place that you can walk in around here and get a

23:40

complete done for you. Like

23:44

event coordination space, I had

23:44

no idea that you guys went to

23:47

that level, like that's huge.

23:47

Here I have the space and will

23:50

completely, you know, design the

23:50

whole room for you. Can you

23:54

explain kind of what the space

23:54

looks like? So I think that will

23:57

give people a better idea of

23:57

what we do. This is just not

23:59

like a one floor gallery where

23:59

we're sitting right now. So

24:02

downstairs is about

24:02

I don't want to lie about the

24:05

square footage of the main

24:05

showroom, but our main party

24:08

room has a stage we have a large

24:08

a medium sized stage that can

24:12

fit you know, a couple

24:12

performers a small band. We also

24:16

do projection mapping and which

24:16

is like is which is something

24:21

that I don't even think I'd be

24:21

able to explain over a podcast.

24:25

Yeah, but we'll have to link it

24:25

if you have an example we can

24:28

Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's pretty

24:28

dope. It basically scans what it

24:30

sees and then you can use like

24:30

you can project digital overlays

24:34

on to pretty much anything like

24:34

if it was shining in this room

24:38

right now I can project them

24:38

onto this wall behind you and

24:41

make a turn colors and make the

24:41

wall look like it's collapsing

24:43

like a whole bunch of crazy

24:43

stuff. But we do that and but

24:47

downstairs is it's a it's a big

24:47

showroom where we host most of

24:50

our main events like that's

24:50

where the DJ would be. That's

24:53

where the main party will go. We

24:53

also have upstairs which doubles

24:57

as an art studio or lounge and a

24:57

screening room. Which has 110

25:01

inch projection screen, we have

25:01

pool tables we have dartboards

25:05

we have area that can be a bar

25:05

will say that we have a full

25:11

recording studio, and also a

25:11

photo studio as well upstairs.

25:17

And basically when all of those

25:17

spaces aren't being used as what

25:21

they were created for, they just

25:21

double it's like art space, like

25:23

just places you see every room

25:23

has like chairs, and like just

25:26

comfortable areas where you can

25:26

sit down. And you can even read

25:29

in here, like it's just a place

25:29

where when an artist comes up

25:32

here to create, I want them to

25:32

feel comfortable and to feel

25:35

like like they're at home, like

25:35

they can go any corner and just

25:38

kind of do whatever they want,

25:38

you know what I mean? But yeah,

25:41

and then we also have a small

25:41

kitchen where we do some food

25:44

service. As well as a work from

25:44

home space downstairs where if

25:50

you're, if you're at home, you want to get away from the kids or the dogs are barking order,

25:52

the lawn crews outside and you

25:54

have a big meeting, you can come

25:54

here we have gigabit internet

25:57

and you could just find a corner

25:57

and just kind of get your work

25:59

done. So. So yeah.

26:02

And then you put on

26:02

a lot of different other vendors

26:04

and entrepreneurs as well, no,

26:04

your grand opening, you had a

26:07

quite a few different vendors here.

26:09

Yeah. So that's,

26:09

that's another thing with we try

26:13

to have competitive pricing when

26:13

it comes to like vendor fees and

26:16

stuff like and we grandfathered

26:16

in a lot of the local people who

26:20

were kind of supporting us from

26:20

the beginning. So a lot of them

26:23

we still give discounted rates

26:23

to for because they we gave a

26:26

lot of people a lot of

26:26

opportunities to participate in

26:28

this whole thing through social

26:28

media. So when we first got the

26:31

keys, I instantly started posting, you know, if you ever want to come home, if you ever

26:33

want to come paint, if you ever want to come, you know, help do

26:34

these fours, like, then a lot of

26:38

people did come You know, and

26:38

those people who came are the

26:40

people we still have like some

26:40

of the strongest relationships

26:43

with. But the same goes for the

26:43

vendors who came to some of our

26:46

earlier events where we didn't

26:46

have a name, we you know, we

26:49

couldn't guarantee that they

26:49

were going to get you know a ton

26:51

of people up here who are going

26:51

to buy stuff, but they were

26:53

still willing to you know, hang

26:53

their hat on us and come and

26:56

support and like so those

26:56

vendors, we still kind of show

27:00

love to them to new vendors, we

27:00

try not to you know, bust them

27:02

over the head when it comes to,

27:02

to pricing. But we also do our

27:06

due diligence to get people

27:06

here. And every every vendor

27:09

show we do I typically make like

27:09

free promotional flyers for each

27:13

individual vendor, as opposed to

27:13

like making one flyer with

27:15

everybody's name and tiny font.

27:15

Because I find that just from a

27:18

marketing standpoint, people are

27:18

going to share something with

27:21

their face on it more than they

27:21

do something but yours, you

27:24

know, so. And I think there's

27:24

value in that, you know, if I

27:27

was to charge somebody for that

27:27

flight, it'd be, you know,

27:29

damage just as much as the

27:29

vendor fee ended up itself. So,

27:33

so I try to give them something

27:33

for their participation beyond

27:38

just putting people here. But

27:38

yeah, we do. We do source

27:41

vendors a lot for different

27:41

events. Typically, if it's a

27:44

party, a game night, or anything

27:44

that does on a larger scale,

27:48

we'll open it up for vendors to

27:48

come and participate. And it's

27:51

becoming a, it's becoming kind

27:51

of like an exclusive thing

27:54

because we don't have a ton of

27:54

space. So I can't I don't ever

27:56

want to pack it out with

27:56

vendors. But But yeah, we

28:00

definitely try to show love to

28:00

the to the vendor, community and

28:02

arts community.

28:04

That's dope, man.

28:04

It's dope, man. I'd like um, you

28:07

know, so so let's, let's unpack

28:07

this a little bit. Right. So

28:11

when you when you got the keys

28:11

to the facility, um, you know,

28:15

talk about some of the stuff,

28:15

you know, the hurdles you had to

28:17

go through in order to take what

28:17

was here before in transitioning

28:21

into the hate because I think this is important, because again, this is another roadblock

28:22

where a lot of people who had

28:25

these creative ideas, but like,

28:25

I don't have the money, you

28:28

know, to do all these things

28:28

that I want to do, you know,

28:31

welcome you know, you know,

28:31

share your testimony, your story

28:34

a little bit what how you

28:34

transitioned what was here into

28:36

what you have now. I

28:37

mean, Well, for

28:37

one, I couldn't believe that we

28:41

got got this space at the price

28:41

we did, because everything that

28:44

we were seeing online was like,

28:44

you know, 8000 square feet, 7000

28:48

square feet, 4000 square feet,

28:48

and $3 a foot. So it's crazy.

28:56

Those were the ones we were just

28:56

looking at. The first one we

28:58

clicked on was this one, and it

28:58

was nothing like that. And

29:01

again, I think a lot of that had

29:01

to do with COVID sure. But

29:04

anyway, when we got in it was

29:04

the main thing was I think it

29:07

goes back to that vision. And

29:07

then it was the excitement to

29:10

the excitement is what drove a

29:10

lot of that in the beginning,

29:13

where we all kind of had some

29:13

money already because we all had

29:16

decent jobs. So it wasn't really

29:16

about the money. It was when we

29:21

when we first got here it was

29:21

like I said I think like

29:24

excitement drove it was just

29:24

like, once we got the key was

29:27

already It was late in the day,

29:27

we had already worked that day.

29:30

But it was still like now we're

29:30

here. Now let's do it. I think I

29:33

showed you other pictures that

29:33

very first night, we started

29:36

tearing down the drop ceiling.

29:36

And I think once that started,

29:41

it got to the point where it's

29:41

like once you rip the ceiling

29:43

down you kind of can't stop. So

29:43

it was more like we just had to

29:46

figure it out. So a lot of it

29:46

was just figuring it out. But me

29:49

and Jose did it all by hand

29:49

ourselves. Like we had certain

29:53

things we had people come in

29:53

like we had an electrician come

29:55

in to help with the lighting.

29:55

But beyond that we'd like

29:59

everything you see We did

29:59

literally by hand. And when I

30:02

say by ourselves, obviously,

30:02

there are people that hope and

30:04

in terms of like, just the day

30:04

to day work, like we would get

30:08

off work and we'd come here and

30:08

put in like 12 to 15 hours, I

30:11

mean sleeping here and you saw

30:11

some of the videos to dust like

30:14

we literally just in here

30:14

covered in like, dust and just

30:18

sweat for like three weeks. It

30:18

didn't take long, like and then

30:21

we just I think once it started

30:21

rolling, that momentum was like

30:24

a snowball down the hill. Like

30:24

it really didn't take much to

30:27

dry because it was like you have

30:27

to finish it now. You know, if

30:29

we ever gonna open it has to get

30:29

done. But the one thing I will

30:33

say that wasn't easy was doing

30:33

it without the loans because not

30:37

too many people can can just go

30:37

at it and because you know, I

30:40

was taking I didn't have to rob

30:40

Peter to pay Paul, we had the

30:44

money. You know, it wasn't a ton

30:44

of money, but we so I don't want

30:47

anybody to feel like you know,

30:47

go go through your house at your

30:50

investment and like you just

30:50

because I said we didn't do it

30:52

without alone. Like it wasn't

30:52

killing us to spend this money.

30:55

Like that was the one thing even

30:55

though it was kind of shotgun,

30:57

we knew that. Alright, if we do

30:57

this, how are we going to be in

31:01

terms of our the necessities we

31:01

already have? And we all agreed

31:04

that we wouldn't so we went with

31:04

it. But yeah, I think the

31:07

excitement it was the driving

31:07

the driving factor. And then the

31:10

other thing too, a lot of the

31:10

stuff that you see was here

31:13

already, so Okay, like there was

31:13

like, tons of sheetrock already

31:17

here there was these acoustic

31:17

panels that Chelsea hanging up

31:23

the carpet that was downstairs,

31:23

we tore up and brought it

31:25

upstairs. So like we kind of

31:25

repurposed a lot of stuff like

31:28

even even the backdrop that's

31:28

hanging here was like a u haul.

31:34

Whatever you call these things,

31:34

like the blankets were for

31:38

covering up sensitive stuff. But

31:38

yeah, we just repurpose

31:41

everything. The bar top was

31:41

already here. And then you see a

31:45

lot of the furniture and stuff

31:45

is made out of pallets. So we

31:48

really just got creative and

31:48

cheap. That's what makes them

31:51

work. That's what Yeah, and then

31:51

after a while it stopped it

31:54

stopped looking cheap and

31:54

started more looking like the

31:56

aesthetic, you know, and then we

31:56

kind of rolled with it when now

31:59

you know people love it. And you

31:59

know, people come up here. And

32:01

you know, downstairs, you can see it's more finished a little more clean. But up here, it's

32:03

like more upcycled and people

32:07

love this room like they love

32:07

coming upstairs. It could be a

32:09

whole party of 200 people and

32:09

they will try their best to

32:12

squeeze up here without even

32:12

being like the I don't know what

32:15

it is. I really don't know they

32:15

want to be I don't know, I don't

32:17

know why. But so this are we

32:17

doing some right. So

32:20

the party is always upstairs. I feel like that party is always

32:23

upstairs.

32:26

Yeah. But I mean, that's I think

32:26

that's very creative, right?

32:28

Because it's sweat equity. And

32:28

you're fortunate to have some

32:31

money to spend on but to

32:31

repurpose in, you know reusing

32:35

materials, moving things from

32:35

upstairs or downstairs or

32:38

upstairs and you know, you got

32:38

creative with your space. You'd

32:40

also just let that be a

32:40

testimony for those who just

32:43

know, I can't do it because I

32:43

don't have everything I need.

32:46

Just start right. Just take the

32:46

first step right. And like

32:49

Dallas said, right, the passion

32:49

is what drives you not I think

32:51

that's the most important thing. And if you don't have passion for what you're doing, then you

32:53

shouldn't really be doing it.

32:55

Right. There's a reason for

32:55

everything. And if you really

32:58

want it, you'll you'll make it

32:58

happen. That's for sure.

33:00

Yeah. Yeah. Great.

33:00

And then I mean, talking about

33:04

not letting things get to you on

33:04

how things look, you know,

33:08

because sometimes you will be like, well, this doesn't look like the usual art gallery or I

33:09

got to make it you know, with

33:12

the white walls you know, that

33:12

usual type of art gallery look,

33:15

but you know, I'm glad that

33:15

didn't stop you. Because you

33:18

kind of just took it you use

33:18

what you had and said okay, how

33:20

can I really make this my own

33:20

and that's what I love about it

33:23

you really you really made this

33:23

you and your you know your co

33:26

founders you really built this

33:26

up, you know yourselves your own

33:29

with your vision and it looks

33:29

great.

33:31

And we tried that we went I showed you the pictures it looked ice man when

33:33

it was just white, we did the

33:36

whole all white everything the

33:36

white floors, white walls, which

33:40

isn't necessarily a typical

33:40

gallery look, most galleries

33:42

have the darker ceiling, darker

33:42

floors, but it was just too too

33:47

clean. And then it was almost

33:47

like, and this might sound crazy

33:51

when we first started, like we

33:51

had like, a stripper pole for

33:55

like, part like certain parties

33:55

and like it just didn't, it just

33:59

wasn't feeling like it wasn't

33:59

given Art Gallery. So you had a

34:02

lot of people coming in and they

34:02

were like, you know, one the

34:05

white didn't seem it seemed too

34:05

clean for what was kind of going

34:08

on in the room and I and it

34:08

played out literally too because

34:11

you know, you pack out all white

34:11

room with with people, a bunch

34:14

of people, it's gonna get dirty.

34:14

So the first thing that sort of

34:17

happened, the floors were turned

34:17

in black and it was just like,

34:19

Okay, this isn't gonna work. But

34:19

that's also why we changed the

34:22

name to because it was more than

34:22

a gallery. Yeah. And it was in

34:27

my biggest fear, not fear, but

34:27

concern was that the certain

34:31

locals will come here expecting

34:31

a certain experience based on

34:34

the name. And when they got here

34:34

they'd find like, Okay, well

34:37

this isn't quite what I was

34:37

expecting. So I think the Haven

34:40

gallery event space in studio is

34:40

still doesn't shine light on

34:43

kind of all of what we do here,

34:43

but it does, it broadens. It

34:47

broadens the scope of what's

34:47

here. And I think the event

34:50

space thing is really what kind

34:50

of helped help kind of bring all

34:53

that together because events,

34:53

they're all events, you know

34:56

what I mean? But it's not all

34:56

art. So, so so yeah. Um, but

35:00

yeah, we tried to we tried to

35:00

pristine gallery look, and it

35:03

just didn't, it didn't fit the

35:03

aesthetic of what what we were

35:06

trying to do and changing it up so

35:07

and then you've been changing things, you know? Right, exactly. I know I've

35:09

competed at different times, and

35:12

they just keep changing. So me

35:12

and that's okay, thanks. I'll

35:14

have to stay your showroom does

35:14

that the state looking the same,

35:17

you know, every single day

35:18

will come rst is

35:18

kind of like people coming

35:20

because like I said, there's a

35:20

personal personal walk in here

35:22

today, and stay for for eight

35:22

hours, and then come back

35:26

tomorrow and there'll be

35:26

something, it might not be a

35:28

huge change, but it will be a

35:28

change that's noticeable by that

35:30

even that person like wait, that

35:30

was, something's different. And

35:34

people love that about the place

35:34

because I, I've had people

35:37

explain it one way. And then

35:37

when when they get here with the

35:40

person they were explaining it

35:40

to they're like, this isn't what

35:42

you told me. He's like, dude, I thought that's what it was. But they changed it so much. So

35:44

dynamic. So it's definitely

35:48

dynamic and ever changing. I

35:48

think that's what makes it It

35:51

keeps it fun and interesting to

35:51

not just for the people who come

35:54

here. But for us. We always find

35:54

something, something to do. You

35:58

get to create, you get to create

35:58

it. That's growing up. My mom

36:01

was like that, like we had a

36:01

decent sized apartment in

36:04

Brooklyn, but she always was

36:04

changing it around. Like, every

36:08

weekend, every other weekend,

36:08

she was moving the living room

36:11

to where the dining room is or

36:11

moving the couch from this way

36:13

to this way. I don't know if she

36:13

had a functionary book or what

36:15

but she would change stuff like

36:15

all the time. But um, I think

36:19

that kind of stuck with me

36:19

subliminally because now it's

36:21

like, this should move for like,

36:21

let's change it up. Let's make

36:24

it look a little different. And

36:24

it makes it makes you your own

36:26

space exciting. Instead of

36:26

getting stale. Yeah. But um, but

36:30

yeah,

36:31

absolutely. I know, I know, the first time when I'm on measure earlier last

36:32

week. When we came in here,

36:36

you're moving to showcase your

36:36

moving showcase around, but I

36:39

think nothing that's very cool. And there's even some additional art hanging on the wall. They

36:41

does now. So there we came. So

36:44

like, you know, I like it, man,

36:44

I appreciate the creativity.

36:48

That's sure I appreciate the

36:48

creativity. Definitely, man. So,

36:51

you know, as you're looking at,

36:51

you know, looking back the, the

36:54

span from now from then to now.

36:54

Like, can you touch on some of

36:58

the hurdles, or some of the, you

36:58

know, the obstacles you ran into

37:01

that you had to overcome in order to get where you are today.

37:05

I mean, you know,

37:05

honestly, me and Jose talk about

37:08

this all the time. And we really

37:08

think this place is like just go

37:12

so crazy, but it's just like a

37:12

portal to like all things just

37:17

good. Like, as we built this

37:17

place up certain stuff, which

37:20

just happened I was like, how is

37:20

that even possible? You know,

37:22

we've met people here with

37:22

certain connections to like,

37:26

like, for instance, one of the

37:26

girls who works next door. She

37:32

She lives in my my apartment

37:32

complex, right. And one night,

37:36

I'm leaving the gallery to go

37:36

home short story to go home. And

37:39

it was like one of those nights where we did like 12 hours in here just working in where I

37:41

live, the parking is really

37:43

tight. So if you want to spot

37:43

that's like by the house, like

37:47

your front door, it's rare.

37:47

Otherwise, you have to like Park

37:51

way and visitors and walks

37:51

anyway, just one I get a spot.

37:53

I'm waiting for somebody to pull

37:53

out as I go to pull in this car,

37:56

like cuts me off and jumps in my

37:56

spots, like four in the morning.

37:59

Oh, sorry. Oh, I was mad. I said

37:59

some words. And then, um, so

38:04

anyway, fast forward to like

38:04

months, months later. This go

38:08

from next door, she comes over, she's like, Hey, you know, my boyfriend does art. And I just

38:10

want to introduce him to this

38:13

place. Because so cool. I'm just looking at these people. Like, it looks like he looks so

38:15

familiar. And this month's after

38:19

this right somebody or whatever.

38:19

So we talked, we exchanged

38:21

numbers or whatever, then they

38:21

leave. And then fast forward

38:24

like last week, last week, they

38:24

pull up, and I see the car and

38:29

I'm like, No, no, no, no, I know

38:29

that car, you know, and so that

38:33

they're coming to the event. Like I didn't invite him, you know, they come to the event,

38:35

they saw it online or whatever. And I'm like, No, you're the

38:37

dude that cut me off in the

38:41

Bigler that when that he's like,

38:41

that was you? And I'm like, What

38:44

are the odds at work next door

38:44

and live next door? They live on

38:49

the third floor? I live on the

38:49

third floor, all the way across

38:52

town. Right. But, but I say that

38:52

to say that, like stars align

38:55

here, you know, so like, there

38:55

hasn't been a lot of like,

38:59

tension in terms of what not

38:59

tension but there hasn't been a

39:02

lot of roadblocks in terms of

39:02

the business and I you know,

39:05

knock on wood. But um, it's been

39:05

kind of smooth. I mean, the only

39:09

thing would be I think people

39:09

lose sight of the future like

39:12

file your taxes and know how all

39:12

that stuff works, too. You know

39:15

what I mean? Because come April.

39:16

Yeah.

39:20

So I think that

39:20

part, but the biggest roadblock

39:23

has been time with my day job.

39:23

And just Jose works a pretty

39:27

busy day job. Alex lives pretty

39:27

far from here. So it's been time

39:31

management has been the hardest

39:31

thing and then then laying the

39:34

tracks as the train is going

39:34

down. And you know, I mean, the

39:37

train being the rent, you know,

39:37

the visuals and all that stuff

39:40

like you most people and this

39:40

will put them into perspective.

39:46

Most people work to pay for

39:46

where the things that they have

39:49

when he lived and all that. I'm

39:49

not you don't work to pay for

39:52

your job. Yeah. If you if you

39:52

start if I stopped working here,

39:58

then my other job is also To pay

39:58

this rent. So that's been the

40:02

hardest part of like realizing

40:02

like, this isn't, this has to

40:05

pay for it. So true. Like, you

40:05

started taking money from over

40:08

here to pay for this, you end up

40:08

down bad, right? I think that's

40:12

been I think that's been the I

40:12

wouldn't call it the hard part.

40:15

But it's been like, the part of

40:15

that kind of over your shoulder

40:20

all the time is like, don't slow

40:20

down. Because if you do, you got

40:23

to pay for it. Right? So I think

40:23

that that pressure, but that's

40:26

also the driving pressure to

40:26

that's that's kind of what keeps

40:28

you keeps you going momentum. So

40:28

we just try to stay creative.

40:32

And try not to look at that

40:32

pressure as something daunting,

40:36

but almost as the goal for each

40:36

month, you know, and you don't

40:39

want to live paycheck to

40:39

paycheck in your daily life. But

40:41

I kind of feel like when you run

40:41

the business, you settle for

40:43

paycheck paycheck. You just get

40:43

there. Yeah, even get close,

40:48

like you realize, like anybody

40:48

looking to start a business,

40:50

like don't feel bad if you

40:50

barely make it, because a lot of

40:53

people don't make it at all. You

40:53

know, like my landlord told me I

40:57

neighbors hadn't paid the rent

40:57

in months, which was the best

40:59

news I can hear cuz I'm like,

40:59

all right, we only need about 10

41:01

days. They can go months. We

41:01

good thing. Yeah, exactly. But

41:05

yeah, I think that's been that's

41:05

been the hardest part is just,

41:08

you know, staying focus and not

41:08

letting that that pressure of

41:11

time and everything kind of

41:11

overwhelming. And I'll say like,

41:14

yesterday, I was working for

41:14

Amazon. I work from home, I fell

41:17

asleep joining me in and it was

41:17

a meeting that I was supposed to

41:20

be running like, videos and the

41:20

whole like a high touch me and I

41:24

wake up like 10 minutes later to

41:24

like 30 messages, like where are

41:27

you the video supposed to play?

41:27

And I'm like, Oh, snap, my power

41:30

went out. So, so I had to, like

41:30

literally finesse my way out of

41:38

like, having that escalator up

41:38

the chain. But um, but yeah, so

41:42

it's just, you know, staying on

41:42

top of time. Yeah, that's been.

41:45

That's been the hardest part.

41:46

How's it been with your partners? Because you have two other partners, right? That

41:50

is cool. How do

41:50

you guys know each other? Sorry?

41:53

Yeah. Yes, so

41:55

so I've known Alex

41:55

since 2000. And like 13. So

42:02

we've known each other for quite

42:02

some time, but he was my then

42:06

girlfriend's neighbor. And they

42:06

had kids that went to school

42:09

together. So they would play

42:09

together. And that's kind of how

42:12

we met. And then Alex was

42:12

friends with Jose. Then I met

42:17

Jose through Alex and then when

42:17

it was always just me and Alex

42:21

talking about doing the gallery

42:21

thing, but when he came on to do

42:24

it, he said, Oh, Jose is

42:24

interested too. And I'm like, oh

42:26

Long's he got the bird. And

42:26

that's kind of when me and Jose

42:30

started to get we actually

42:30

formed our bond and got tight

42:33

from doing the work here, like,

42:33

do that same sweat equity. And

42:36

just and also, you know, doing

42:36

this was like a blood pack, you

42:39

know, you sign that lease, or

42:39

you sign the paperwork. You

42:43

know, we don't have to like each

42:43

other. We start, we start helps,

42:48

it definitely helps you like

42:48

your partners. But um, so yeah,

42:53

when when we first started that

42:53

I had met Jose, at least a year

42:57

or two before that, but we weren't, we weren't really close. He was just always the

42:59

guy that was like at Alex's

43:02

house. So yeah, so we got cool

43:02

over the investment. But yeah,

43:05

that's, that's that's pretty

43:05

much how we met. And it's been

43:08

cool working with him. The one

43:08

thing that they both they're

43:11

very different. We're all very

43:11

different. But Jose is

43:15

definitely that's my right hand,

43:15

man. Right there. And Alex is

43:19

also that's my right hand too.

43:19

Because one thing that Alex is

43:22

that you can call him for

43:22

anything and he got you got I

43:25

mean, but yeah, so So yeah,

43:25

we're all tight. And we haven't

43:30

had any, any major issues. I

43:30

mean, they don't I don't say

43:33

that to say that you won't have issues with your partners because we've had issues.

43:37

We know that

43:40

we have issues all

43:40

the time, but it's how you it's

43:43

it's knowing that going into

43:43

those issues, you know that

43:46

you're both you both have an

43:46

intent to come out of it. Okay.

43:51

Great point not malicious and non malicious

43:53

working through the

43:53

screen like we've had we've had

43:56

it out over some stuff but it's

43:56

always been if you're not that

43:59

passionate about making it work

43:59

or about whatever issue then

44:02

then you shouldn't be doing so

44:02

so yeah, we have our we have our

44:06

differences but nobody likes a

44:06

yes man. Nobody likes somebody

44:10

who's just gonna always just nod

44:10

and smile so so we all bring our

44:13

different things to the table

44:13

and it works and at the end of

44:16

the month when it's time to pay

44:16

the man like it's always there

44:18

an estimating thing like that's

44:18

the main thing so so yeah,

44:22

there's no but I

44:22

read this book called The good

44:25

from good to great and I think

44:25

it's in this book or this quote,

44:27

he says if you have a

44:27

partnership and the point is

44:31

always agree the two parties

44:31

always agree one of them is

44:33

unnecessary, right? So it's like

44:33

you got your sandpaper right?

44:37

Like you're gonna have to like

44:37

smooth some things out with one

44:39

another and do it in a cordial

44:39

fashion was not malicious. And

44:43

so so that's that's a mouthful

44:43

right there to a tee and I have

44:47

an interesting relationship to

44:47

be in first met each other at

44:50

work, then, you know, again, her

44:50

sister and marry her. And then

44:54

now you know, sister in law. So

44:54

like we have we have an

44:58

interracial relationship too,

44:58

but it's not I always move. And

45:01

everybody who has been listening

45:01

knows, it's like, we have our

45:03

issues. And again, it's not

45:03

malicious, but it's just things

45:06

you have to work out to try to

45:06

fit the pieces of the puzzle

45:08

together the right way for the

45:08

benefit of what we're working to

45:11

build and building towards. So

45:11

that's always important for

45:14

people who out there developing

45:14

relationships and partnerships,

45:17

you know, your, your, you know,

45:17

you got a friend, you know, for

45:20

10 1520 years, and you guys

45:20

crumble to pieces, when you when

45:24

you step out on something

45:24

together, you got people, you

45:27

know, for three years that I get

45:27

back way more in the business

45:29

than anybody else. So it was

45:29

important to understand where

45:32

you're going into business with,

45:32

then they both you hit it on the

45:34

head, like the individual you

45:34

ever make the individual that

45:37

you're doing business with, it makes it so much easier for the end of the day. Yeah, absolutely

45:39

no. So. So, you know, within the

45:44

Haven, and the constructs and

45:44

some of the things that you host

45:46

here, you know, tell us tell us

45:46

about like, what, what drives

45:50

you, I know, you're a creator, I

45:50

know, I know, you you like

45:54

bringing people together, from

45:54

the community to showcase their

45:58

art to let go to have fun, too,

45:58

and create this a fun

46:00

environment, people that do what

46:00

makes them happiest in, but I

46:03

talk about some of the things

46:03

that that drives you, you know,

46:06

as as, you know, one of the

46:06

three partners for the Haven and

46:10

the things that you do here for the community.

46:14

I mean, at this, like I said, I think that the answers, why don't want to make

46:16

it seem like the dance is always

46:18

just, you know, keeping the

46:18

lights on, but that that is a

46:22

big driving factor. But no, I

46:22

mean, honestly, I never really

46:26

looked at it like that I never

46:26

really, like felt like, there

46:31

was really, I don't want to say

46:31

that, that we don't get anything

46:34

out of it. But it's always just

46:34

been, I just enjoyed doing it.

46:37

You know, it's been fun, just

46:37

even, you know, I was in music

46:41

management for a long time. And

46:41

I kind of was just always in

46:45

service, you know what I mean?

46:45

Like? So like, for me, it's just

46:49

been fun to manage the whole

46:49

thing. It's like playing the

46:52

Sims. You know, I told you, I

46:52

told this chef, that one time

46:55

shout out to her. That, you

46:55

know, it's like, the, it's like

47:01

the Sims, like were you the

47:01

actual characters, like we're

47:05

the characters in the game. And

47:05

it's cool to see your house kind

47:08

of level up as you go along. You

47:08

know, I mean, so like watching

47:11

each room go from nothing to

47:11

this, this studio, or watching

47:16

the little makeshift kitchen we

47:16

had turned into like, now we're

47:20

starting to actually look like a

47:20

kitchen. So I think that's been,

47:24

what's driven us the most is

47:24

just seeing the fruits of our

47:26

labor, like, just like,

47:26

literally form in front of us.

47:31

And I think and I think that's

47:31

been, at least for me, I can't

47:33

speak for Jose or Alex. But I

47:33

think that's been the biggest,

47:38

the biggest reward has just been

47:38

in the biggest driving factor is

47:41

just seeing it just and being

47:41

the ones to do it. You know what

47:43

I mean? Like a lot of people. A

47:43

lot of people in this area say

47:48

that, you know, everybody who

47:48

comes here, we're a good

47:51

percentage of them. Also, all

47:51

the city needed this, like, I

47:54

had this idea, or somebody said

47:54

something about, and it's like

47:57

everybody had just said it, you

47:57

know, I mean, so like, it's cool

48:00

to know that it's something that

48:00

was sought after, and that is

48:03

finally somebody doing it. And

48:03

it also helps to be the that

48:06

person, you know what I mean?

48:06

It's dope to be that person,

48:08

especially being an implant. I'm

48:08

not from here, you know, I'm

48:11

saying I don't have, you know,

48:11

Kevin's like, literally the only

48:14

person like I can say, I know,

48:14

and you Right, right, that I

48:17

actually know what I mean. And

48:17

so it's dope to kind of feel

48:22

like, I'm kind of shouldering

48:22

that, because now so many

48:25

people, that people who, who,

48:25

who, who know about this place,

48:29

when they, when I change little

48:29

things, like we took the cloud

48:32

installation down there, like

48:32

what you did when I came here to

48:35

get some pictures. So it's not

48:35

it's a little pressure there to

48:39

like, just to keep it going and

48:39

just keep giving them you know,

48:43

that thing that was missing, you

48:43

know, so I think that that

48:45

that's been the driving factor as well.

48:47

I like that because like you set up little mini exhibits, that people can come

48:49

in and see each and every time

48:53

so like, it's a pitch drops like

48:53

that they could be and bring

48:56

people with exactly to sell the

48:56

art. I mean, it just all adds to

49:01

it.

49:02

So yeah, we saw

49:02

the video, the cloud, the cloud

49:06

formation, he's talking with the

49:06

Lightning Man, amazing. It's

49:08

downstairs, it's just, it's just

49:08

amazing. Like, it is really

49:11

cool. We look at you know, art

49:11

coming to life, you know, 3d for

49:14

3d for me. Yeah, that's one

49:14

thing, I appreciate it. But I've

49:17

been telling my wife, it married

49:17

about somewhere for a couple of

49:21

years, I want to get more into

49:21

art. And then I want to I want

49:23

to buy art, I want to start, you

49:23

know, learning more and, you

49:27

know, supporting the creative

49:27

people who out there in the

49:29

world. I think that I think

49:29

they're easily overlooked for

49:32

the value they bring to the

49:32

table. Um, you know, my

49:36

background like in in will say

49:36

like, and then national defense,

49:41

right? It's, it's, you know,

49:41

it's engineers, it's, you know,

49:45

program managers. But I think

49:45

the ones who are the artists and

49:50

have the creative minds are much

49:50

more appreciated because it's

49:52

the maneuverability, disability

49:52

Sydney's from a different

49:55

perspective, as it is the

49:55

ability to look, look beyond The

50:00

problem with through the problem

50:00

and figure out the solution, but

50:02

actually, we have a roadmap to

50:02

build towards it. So I

50:05

definitely appreciate it, man.

50:05

And I can't thank you enough for

50:07

what for, you know, for T for

50:07

bringing me here and meeting you

50:10

and seeing what you're having.

50:10

Man. Is this amazing? It's

50:13

impressive. Man, you said shot

50:13

before man, it smells great in

50:17

here, whatever.

50:19

Yeah, he's doing

50:19

today, unfortunately for us,

50:22

it's for they have an adult

50:22

Field Day across town. And he is

50:27

he's a caterer. So he's making

50:27

all this stuff, I won't tell you

50:30

what he's making. I won't make it worse.

50:33

Because most good, it's all good.

50:34

So you're even provided a space for him to be able to cook. So it's not just

50:36

art. It's also other

50:39

entrepreneurs, here's your space, right?

50:41

In just just a gym.

50:41

For those looking to start a

50:44

business that might have saw a

50:44

similar format, like in order to

50:47

maintain a liquor license, you

50:47

have to sell $2,000 worth of

50:50

protein food every month. So

50:50

it's a we have a somewhat of a

50:56

symbiotic relationship on

50:56

steroids. Where, where, where it

51:00

that gets us gets us that

51:00

number. Very cool. And also

51:04

allows us to, you know, maintain

51:04

the bar. Not to mention that's

51:08

not the only reason. He's also

51:08

awesome chef. Papi eats on

51:13

Instagrams anyone listening

51:13

think it has two s's at the end.

51:17

But yeah, awesome chef who was

51:17

doing, he was, you know,

51:21

Instagram chef, you've seen him,

51:21

you know, guys cooking online.

51:25

And I have seen his food all the

51:25

time. And our friend groups kind

51:28

of overlap. So that's kind of

51:28

how I met him. And yeah, I had

51:32

the food and then one day, we

51:32

did a brunch here. And then it

51:35

kind of just kind of took off to

51:35

where it was, like, you know,

51:37

you're doing the meals, you

51:37

know, from wherever you're at,

51:39

why not do it from a more

51:39

stable, stable space, you know,

51:43

people can come in, they can

51:43

take it to go, they can sit down

51:46

and eat. And this has been

51:46

working. I mean, we do some

51:48

pretty good numbers, and we're

51:48

pretty consistent, doing about

51:51

three times a week. So that's a

51:51

versus free incident. Isn't

51:58

that great? That's

51:58

alright, that's alright. I like

52:05

that. So the fact that you know,

52:05

and, you know, for the all those

52:09

who had those ideas out there,

52:09

study, learn, you know, you

52:12

know, Dallas has dropped the

52:12

gym, you know, 2000 2000 pounds

52:16

of protein a month in order to

52:16

maintain a license to sell

52:18

alcohol is important. It doesn't count. Yeah, sorry. $2,000 worth

52:21

of protein, right. Yeah, a

52:30

couple in Norway in order to

52:30

maintain a license was

52:33

important. You know, do you do

52:33

you research? Do you research?

52:36

Absolutely.

52:37

In fact, we're the

52:37

only according to the ABC person

52:40

I spoke to were the only Art

52:40

Gallery from what she said in

52:43

the state with food even in

52:43

their, their business model.

52:48

Most of them you know, they go

52:48

into it just you know, blinders

52:50

on for the art I'd imagine. And,

52:50

and that's why most galleries

52:54

you can't even get a glass of

52:54

wine, because you have to have

52:56

you have to have a food at least

52:56

that's what they told me. Yeah,

53:02

she says not too many have that.

53:02

So we're, we're in first place

53:06

when it comes to that. So I love

53:07

it.

53:08

That's amazing.

53:08

That's amazing, man. So so like,

53:10

you know, as you look at the,

53:10

you know, the blueprint, and you

53:14

know, I know, I know, the artist monster ever working, but you look what you're happy with the

53:15

Haven man, like, what was next,

53:18

like, you know, what do you what

53:18

do you envision Next, you know,

53:21

for the Haven.

53:23

Um, I mean,

53:23

honestly, we're looking at

53:25

literally next door, we want to

53:25

want to do a full on performance

53:31

Hall. So that like, we can

53:31

dedicate this just to like, you

53:34

know, typical art, art, you

53:34

know, Canvas art, stuff like

53:37

that smaller shows painting

53:37

serves. And then over there,

53:39

which is same floorplan but as

53:39

you can tell, they built this

53:43

second level after they built

53:43

the original building. So over

53:47

there, it's just opened. So we'd

53:47

be able to have a stage and we'd

53:50

be able to do like a full the

53:50

small concert hall, that we have

53:54

just a performance art space.

53:54

That's one of the things that I

53:57

want to do next, I'd also open

53:57

up the revenue because we also

54:00

might be able to do ticket sales

54:00

at a higher volume for you know,

54:03

events. And yeah, that's what

54:03

I'm doing. I also want to get, I

54:06

want to get this kitchen fully

54:06

up and running. But as far as

54:10

like big picture, I do want to

54:10

kind of shift the focus back to

54:12

the art. That's why we've been

54:12

doing a lot of pop ups. We have

54:17

one tomorrow actually and DCU

54:17

Street and 14th we do want to

54:20

pop up out there right on the

54:20

corner. So just trying to sell

54:24

more art and kind of put some

54:24

light back on that. But

54:27

otherwise we kind of keep that

54:27

same mantra of like we just as

54:30

we go. As we go. I'm waiting for

54:30

you know, some heavy hitter to

54:35

walk in and see the drive and

54:35

see what we're doing and say

54:37

look, man, I want to invest some

54:37

money. Every night. Yeah, and I

54:42

don't I try not to hold my hand

54:42

out i want i want whatever to

54:46

happen here. I want it to be

54:46

genuine and like organic. I

54:50

don't that's why we never did

54:50

the whole the loans like that

54:53

real transactional. Here's your

54:53

money. Now give us back this

54:56

plus I'm like to be like that. I

54:56

want it to be like I see what

54:59

you're doing. I Like it, I want

54:59

to invest in it, you know what I

55:02

mean? So I think just taking it

55:02

day by day, and just keeping

55:05

doing keeping up what we've been

55:05

doing, if it ain't broke, don't

55:08

fix it. Trying to keep it

55:08

everything legit, because, you

55:12

know, for us it can be, it can

55:12

be extra pressure. In terms of,

55:17

you know, we've already had some

55:17

of that from like the neighbors.

55:21

And one thing I would tell

55:21

people as far as that, like, you

55:23

know, I don't like to, like

55:23

automatically categorize stuff

55:26

hate as hate. But if you can't,

55:26

like come up with a logical

55:28

explanation as to why certain

55:28

stuff starts to happen on the

55:31

move, that's kind of what it starts to look like. And what I say is don't stoop. You know,

55:33

cuz that's what they want you to

55:35

do, especially in business, they

55:35

want you to stoop to a certain

55:37

level, and then they can say, Oh, look at him, look at that business owner doing that wrong

55:39

thing you're not I mean, so, you

55:42

know, I just thought he was

55:42

right now just try to give them

55:45

you know, don't do anything

55:45

against your morals, or you

55:48

know, your principles or

55:48

whatever, just to appease

55:50

somebody else. But if you're

55:50

wrong, or if it's something that

55:53

you can fix without causing more

55:53

of a stir, then just go with

55:57

that, because, you know, be you

55:57

got to be here tomorrow. Last

55:59

thing you want to do is to be

55:59

here, we're stressed tomorrow,

56:02

somebody, you know, poking and

56:02

prodding at you, because you,

56:05

you know, you talk to them a

56:05

certain way or gave them a hard

56:07

time. So like I said, I don't

56:07

say don't fold but, but you

56:10

know, be played chess. Chess,

56:10

not checkers, because that's

56:15

what they want, you know, in,

56:15

in, in regular situations for

56:19

us. Even so, in business, you

56:19

know, especially in a place you

56:22

see, we're kind of in a quiet

56:22

industrial parks, we're kind of

56:25

like the new shiny thing. So

56:25

right, get all the we get all

56:28

the attention. So just be

56:28

mindful of that. And be cordial

56:32

to your neighbors to like you.

56:32

Even if they're not to you

56:36

always be cordial to them.

56:36

Because I like to tell people

56:38

this all the time. I like to leave the ball and other people's court, no, play your

56:40

hand the way you know, you know,

56:43

is right, and then let them let

56:43

them make the next move. let

56:46

them decide how they gonna, you

56:46

know, go about it. Because at

56:49

the end of the day, they got to

56:49

live with what they did what

56:51

they did, you know, I mean, so

56:51

if you can go to sleep at night,

56:54

knowing like, you know, I

56:54

handled that situation, the best

56:56

way, they're gonna be the one

56:56

sitting up at night, staring at

56:59

the ceiling, trying to figure

56:59

out, did I do the right thing?

57:01

You know, so, so always try to

57:01

stay on the right side and stuff

57:04

like that, especially when it

57:04

comes to, to your neighbors when

57:07

it comes to business. But But yeah,

57:09

yeah, yeah,

57:09

definitely want any drama at

57:11

your place of business? Oh, no

57:11

problems. Yeah, yeah, makes your

57:14

life easier, makes those who

57:14

pager in here, it makes their

57:17

life easier to, um, you know,

57:17

just want to keep it cordial.

57:20

And just, you know, keep that

57:20

high character, man. That's what

57:22

it's all about, you know, like

57:22

you said, you want to be able to

57:24

sleep easy at night, but

57:24

personally important, absolutely

57:27

important. So, so as you as you

57:27

talked about before, you know,

57:31

you still have, you know, your,

57:31

your job AWS, while you while

57:34

you're, you know, you're running

57:34

the Haven, um, let's talk about,

57:38

you know, the, the burnout and

57:38

the fatigue factor. Right, like,

57:41

so what are some of the releases

57:41

and some of the things you may

57:43

do, you know, to kind of

57:43

mitigate that? Know, Are there

57:46

times you take may take a day

57:46

off from here at Dell from

57:49

there? And then what do you do

57:49

in your downtime, if there is

57:52

any at all don't have downtime.

57:56

Worse person acts,

57:56

just skip this one. Because I

57:59

said early on, just realized I

57:59

might not be the best at

58:04

managing this time. And that was

58:04

first time I felt See I legit,

58:07

like it. And it was because of

58:07

it was because of both, you

58:12

know, I'm tired. And I don't

58:12

know, I think even for myself

58:17

would be to take more breaks for

58:17

like I said, the hardest part is

58:21

like, you know, weekends are

58:21

short, you know what I mean?

58:25

They become even shorter when

58:25

your business and for me

58:27

weekends no longer exists,

58:27

because stuff, you know, that

58:30

stuff like, stuff, you know,

58:30

parties happen, events and

58:34

whatnot, so, so I would just

58:34

say, factor in rest. And you

58:38

know, take that time out. And

58:38

also have a team that you can

58:40

trust that you can, you can, you

58:40

know, leave things to. And in

58:45

were there, I could definitely

58:45

trust team, but we're all kind

58:48

of the same, but we almost need

58:48

a room. You almost need a staff

58:53

now. But yeah, just just just

58:53

make time for yourself. And take

58:59

breaks, even if they're short

58:59

breaks, just just close the

59:02

laptop, you know, take a walk,

59:02

just do something else. Even if

59:07

it's for 20 minutes, just give

59:07

yourself that space to just give

59:10

your mind time to time to

59:10

breathe. But yeah, that's what I

59:14

was saying. That's more advice

59:14

to myself more than anybody

59:17

else. But you know, I think that

59:17

that's a learned thing too,

59:20

though, especially if you're,

59:20

you know, I've done I've always

59:24

had something entrepreneurial

59:24

going on, but never, never with

59:29

this level of like intent and

59:29

what the intent was always

59:32

there, but the pressure is here

59:32

because of the bills because it

59:35

brings a difference. Yeah, it

59:35

brings a different level of

59:40

pressure when it comes to

59:40

actually starting, especially

59:43

brick and mortar, right. It's

59:43

one thing to run your business.

59:47

Right. It's another thing that

59:47

actually have a physical space,

59:49

you know, I could pay $20 for a

59:49

domain but way more than

59:53

quadruple. Lights. Yeah, these

59:53

nice electric You know, they're

59:59

like more or less But yeah, so

59:59

just taking time to take a break

1:00:04

and realize that you know,

1:00:04

without you, you can't do

1:00:07

nothing. Yeah. Like if you, if

1:00:07

you not if you're not here

1:00:12

physically and mentally, it's

1:00:12

going to start to show what one

1:00:16

physically obviously will show

1:00:16

you you're not here but mentally

1:00:18

it's going to show your work and

1:00:18

your execution, you know what I

1:00:20

mean? Like, even to the point

1:00:20

where, like, maybe you, you're

1:00:24

driving home, it could be

1:00:24

really, you know, I don't live

1:00:29

far but I'd be tired. Like, I'm

1:00:29

gonna just stay here. Yeah. So

1:00:33

yeah, so you definitely got to

1:00:33

pay attention to your to your

1:00:35

body and how the effects what

1:00:35

you're doing is having on you

1:00:39

and, and also understand that it

1:00:39

takes time to train yourself to,

1:00:42

to work at that level, you know

1:00:42

what I mean? You might think you

1:00:45

you can go all day and all

1:00:45

night, but it's a whole nother

1:00:47

thing. And I actually need to do

1:00:47

that. And, you know, so and

1:00:50

that's something that, you know, thankfully, I've been able to do, but like I said, definitely

1:00:52

gonna start slowing down and

1:00:55

setting some time aside, and

1:00:55

maybe certain certain actual

1:00:58

days aside. Yeah, cuz I

1:00:58

definitely find that you can't

1:01:01

plan anything. It's really hard

1:01:01

to plan. Absolutely. So like,

1:01:05

you know, I've been telling my grandma was coming to Hampton for months, but it's just like,

1:01:07

get all the way to Wednesday and

1:01:10

boom, something pops up for that

1:01:10

Saturday. I was like them, I

1:01:12

can't go nowhere. But so I think

1:01:12

I need to get more firm with

1:01:16

setting the date and saying that

1:01:16

stick into is done. Yeah, yeah.

1:01:20

So yeah.

1:01:21

I think that's important. Nothing is wonderful. I know for me, I wake up and

1:01:23

drive to work and fall asleep

1:01:26

driving to work some days. Well,

1:01:26

it's just because you're just

1:01:29

you know, you're you're always

1:01:29

on the go. So it's definitely

1:01:31

important if you had the opportunity to do so yeah, definitely pick a date on plug

1:01:33

everybody. You need it, you need

1:01:35

that reset, you need a little

1:01:35

refresher, anyways, man is good.

1:01:38

It's good to stick your, your

1:01:38

mind your body's like a computer

1:01:41

every now and you got to reset

1:01:41

your machine. So focus properly,

1:01:43

you know, so take care of your

1:01:43

health as well. If they say yes,

1:01:46

very true. Very true.

1:01:46

Absolutely. Absolutely. So, so

1:01:52

talking about tea, you know, so

1:01:52

how are you guys? You guys met

1:01:57

in college, obviously. Right.

1:01:57

Next question, are

1:02:01

you right? to just

1:02:01

throw in a curveball?

1:02:06

Sometimes a

1:02:06

freestyle, you know, off the

1:02:08

top, I think like I tell

1:02:08

everybody previous like I

1:02:12

thought a lot of curveballs man

1:02:12

so I don't want to do number two

1:02:14

crazy, but you know what, so the

1:02:14

tiara, I know, is a very driven

1:02:19

very task focused, which is

1:02:19

great because me while while I'm

1:02:24

very driven, I'm most likely you

1:02:24

alluded to before, right? My

1:02:27

tasks are up here. Right? My my

1:02:27

daily mental checklist is up

1:02:30

here and get your rest everybody

1:02:30

because if you keep it up here,

1:02:32

you can quickly forget it too.

1:02:32

So, you know, my mental

1:02:36

checklist is up here. And I'm

1:02:36

just curious man, like, you

1:02:38

know, what the what the little

1:02:38

TT used to know like, like, is

1:02:42

that how to use always been

1:02:42

always been like that task? Boy

1:02:46

goal oriented individual should like

1:02:49

I was gonna say

1:02:49

college t I'm gonna wish he was

1:02:54

going with that. But they were

1:02:54

always a year ahead of me. So I

1:03:00

was kind of I was the new the

1:03:00

new guy on to the friend group.

1:03:05

You know, they had all you know

1:03:05

y'all did a year plus knew each

1:03:08

other before before school. So yeah,

1:03:09

well, I came in not

1:03:09

knowing anyone kind of new to

1:03:12

the group and, and then you came

1:03:12

in kind of after everyone.

1:03:15

Right?

1:03:15

So yeah, I mean,

1:03:15

no, she was she was always the

1:03:18

mom. She was always the shape I

1:03:18

want to sit by I want to use

1:03:23

that. I don't want to use tiara

1:03:23

was. You know what? I'll say

1:03:27

this. I'll say this. I can't

1:03:27

speak much to her now because we

1:03:31

haven't hung out. Literally

1:03:31

since then. There. Yeah. I think

1:03:34

the last time I saw you before

1:03:34

this was bumped into you in Old

1:03:37

Town. But your mama says

1:03:37

somebody came right away. But

1:03:40

um, but yeah, no, she's always

1:03:40

she's been consistent. I think

1:03:45

not much has changed in her

1:03:45

demeanor. You know, she was

1:03:48

never the part of the big party

1:03:48

and type. She was never the the

1:03:52

she was always the one to keep

1:03:52

to make us feel like we were

1:03:54

willing. She was always the

1:03:54

best. Yes, she was the one that

1:03:59

always made us feel like but but

1:03:59

she was always willing to let us

1:04:03

wile out at her dorm. So that

1:04:03

was always cool. This

1:04:05

is a funny story

1:04:05

about that I was usually the hat

1:04:09

out for them because no one

1:04:09

would come looking for me no and

1:04:12

have trouble you know, or

1:04:12

anywhere I am. I was the safe

1:04:17

haven. Okay. Definitely the safe

1:04:17

havens, boy. Well, yeah, good.

1:04:23

Good times in college, it was a

1:04:23

group of us, like six or seven

1:04:28

of us that were, we're always

1:04:28

together, it was pretty close.

1:04:31

And for the gallery open, some

1:04:31

of us were able to come back and

1:04:35

see each other. So it was cool

1:04:35

to kind of have a reunion, and

1:04:38

then have the reunion in this

1:04:38

space. So to see, you know, how

1:04:42

far you know, we've all come and

1:04:42

then how much you know, Dallas

1:04:45

and his team has created it was

1:04:45

that was a good day.

1:04:50

None of us being

1:04:50

the guy to come to the class

1:04:52

reunion who's not doing

1:04:52

anything. Oh, everybody had

1:04:55

something everybody got

1:04:55

something going on. And I think

1:04:58

that's and then you know, shout

1:04:58

out to those who I have anything

1:05:00

going on. Yeah, I'm saying this

1:05:00

cool one day. Yeah, yeah. But

1:05:03

it's seriously, as far as a

1:05:03

friend group, it's awesome to

1:05:06

see, you know, that you didn't

1:05:06

have to, you'd have to look at

1:05:09

anybody. But then we left, we

1:05:09

left Ray Ray behind them, look

1:05:13

at them that we got to go help

1:05:13

them like Should we get them

1:05:15

help like, so we nobody has that

1:05:15

problem in our friend group. And

1:05:19

I think that's dope because I

1:05:19

know a lot of people who can't

1:05:21

say the same thing. So it's cool

1:05:21

to see that we all stuck to it.

1:05:24

And I didn't finish it with you,

1:05:24

I just, you know, as I gotten

1:05:27

sick and dropped out. But still,

1:05:27

you know, and again to

1:05:31

entrepreneurs, who cares, most

1:05:31

of the world dropped out within

1:05:37

10 to say, they say, forget

1:05:37

this, I can go make my own

1:05:41

money. You know, however you

1:05:41

want to do it. But I will say

1:05:45

don't let anybody pressure you and tell you that there's only one way to do it. That's that's

1:05:47

actually not the case. You know?

1:05:50

So

1:05:51

I think we were

1:05:51

talking about that with Nicole,

1:05:54

my sister was why the other day

1:05:54

about how like, if you're, if

1:05:58

you have your kids, and if they

1:05:58

say, you know, what one being,

1:06:02

you know, I don't want to go to

1:06:02

college, or I want to go a

1:06:05

different route, like, how would

1:06:05

you feel about that? And I would

1:06:08

say, being completely honest,

1:06:08

before I would have been like,

1:06:10

no, you're going to college,

1:06:10

you're doing this, but as the

1:06:13

years have gone on, and, you

1:06:13

know, I've jumped into this

1:06:15

whole entrepreneurship thing,

1:06:15

too. I'm like, not here for the

1:06:19

whole college thing. Because

1:06:19

I've seen kind of where it,

1:06:22

where it took me in my mindset,

1:06:22

and I think where you were going

1:06:25

was I was kind of a square, it's

1:06:25

okay, you could have said,

1:06:28

that's where you're going. And I

1:06:28

was, I was very, you know,

1:06:31

I didn't want to kind of rigid

1:06:36

the fact that she picked up on that.

1:06:40

And I think that was kind of school, like, you know, of course, I wasn't really

1:06:42

into the partying, and you know,

1:06:45

all that type of stuff. But I

1:06:45

just felt like I have to be here

1:06:48

at this time, I have to do this,

1:06:48

everything was just so templated

1:06:50

and contribute that to, you

1:06:50

know, being in the IB program,

1:06:55

you know, in this area, and then

1:06:55

go on to School of Engineering

1:06:59

and these majors trying to get

1:06:59

out in four years, and, you

1:07:02

know, all this type of different

1:07:02

stuff, trying to like just, you

1:07:05

know, just make it through, I

1:07:05

made myself think that I had to

1:07:07

be this person that just stayed

1:07:07

by the book, you know, and, and

1:07:12

that's not it, because I think

1:07:12

experience is the best teacher.

1:07:15

And so you know, it's taught me

1:07:15

a lot. And, you know, my kids,

1:07:18

when they come up, as long as

1:07:18

they have a vision, they have a

1:07:21

plan of what they want to do,

1:07:21

like you're not about to sit in

1:07:23

my house and be like, I am going

1:07:23

to school, and I do nothing,

1:07:25

that's not an option. I mean, as

1:07:25

long as they have something that

1:07:28

they want to do. And in the

1:07:28

sense, I know, when we were

1:07:30

talking about, you know, taking

1:07:30

time to rest and things like

1:07:33

that, when you know, kids are in

1:07:33

school, now there's a lot of

1:07:37

pressure, there's a lot of things that they're having to deal with, and being open to

1:07:39

giving your care today. So yes,

1:07:43

that's not you know, how it

1:07:43

usually is, and how you can give

1:07:47

your kids a day off of not

1:07:47

having to be sick or anything

1:07:49

like that. But you just got to

1:07:49

get out of the mindset of the

1:07:53

usual things that people do and

1:07:53

how people look at you and all

1:07:57

of that, like, just let that go.

1:07:57

Like if your child needs a

1:07:59

mental health day of your

1:07:59

challenges, they're just tired,

1:08:02

and they don't want to go to

1:08:02

school, let them take a day.

1:08:04

Because I mean, we take vacation

1:08:04

days, like you know, Nicole was

1:08:07

saying we take vacation days, so

1:08:07

why can't you know a child if

1:08:10

they need that if they feel like

1:08:10

they have a lot of pressure on

1:08:12

them? Why can't they take that

1:08:12

and so that's, that's one thing

1:08:16

I know, that I've learned

1:08:16

throughout the years, and you're

1:08:19

talking to other entrepreneurs,

1:08:19

that you really have to just

1:08:23

just just start figuring it out

1:08:23

and not not being pressured to

1:08:27

stick to what everyone else has

1:08:27

done, or what everyone has

1:08:30

always told you to do. And how

1:08:30

you just have to work a nine to

1:08:34

five all your life and then hope

1:08:34

that you have money to retire.

1:08:37

Like there's other options, it

1:08:37

doesn't have to be that way in

1:08:40

so many different areas of your

1:08:40

life. So um, I'm still learning

1:08:44

and seeing how I can just go

1:08:44

with the flow, okay?

1:08:48

Because I mean,

1:08:48

like the world was so black and

1:08:50

white at one point or another

1:08:50

splashes of color everywhere,

1:08:53

you know me so you don't have

1:08:53

to, you know, you can do a test

1:08:57

with the evolution of

1:08:57

technology, the internet, we can

1:09:00

learn anything, you can teach

1:09:00

yourself anything, you know, but

1:09:03

again, you may not need the

1:09:03

degree but you got to have that

1:09:07

passion, you got to have a goal

1:09:07

in state. I think that's that's

1:09:10

extremely important. More than

1:09:10

the degree, right? There's a

1:09:13

drive to do something to be a

1:09:13

part of something bigger than

1:09:15

yourself. If you have

1:09:15

opportunity to do it, you know,

1:09:18

just do it man. Like you know,

1:09:18

don't wait. Tomorrow is not

1:09:21

promised man Life is short. You

1:09:21

know, so short. So definitely

1:09:25

get up off the couch and you

1:09:25

know, put yourself in the game.

1:09:28

Put yourself in the game. It's

1:09:28

very important for sure.

1:09:31

Absolutely. So so you know back

1:09:31

back on script now right. So but

1:09:38

that's that's good. I'm always

1:09:38

interested to meet people who

1:09:42

were in tears circle because

1:09:42

Tierra is such a she's different

1:09:46

from a lot of people that I've

1:09:46

come in contact with so it's

1:09:48

always interesting to see it always been this way. Yeah. So, so Dallas missile. So

1:09:51

tell us man as you you know, we

1:09:59

talked about Your vision your

1:09:59

past your drive, where you see

1:10:03

the AV going, how you see it

1:10:03

becoming more integrated into

1:10:05

the community, man, you know,

1:10:05

where can people find out about,

1:10:09

you know, the haven to some of

1:10:09

the events you guys host? Or the

1:10:12

opportunities in the space? And

1:10:12

you know, where can they run you

1:10:15

guys down at and look at you

1:10:15

guys definitely support you.

1:10:18

Yeah, well,

1:10:20

mainly Instagram,

1:10:20

haven arts VA on Instagram, and

1:10:24

also my personal Instagram

1:10:24

Dallas for president the number

1:10:27

four. And then our website haven

1:10:27

arts va.com, which I will say

1:10:33

sometimes might be a little, a

1:10:33

few days behind in terms of some

1:10:37

information but like I said,

1:10:37

we're really small team, so bear

1:10:40

with us as we as we ratchet

1:10:40

things up. But yeah, that's

1:10:43

where you can find most of our

1:10:43

stuff.

1:10:45

Okay. Very cool.

1:10:47

Yeah, check them out, contact them, definitely, we'll put the address of the

1:10:49

actual you know, gallery and

1:10:52

event space on our show notes.

1:10:52

So if you guys that are in the

1:10:56

area, you can come and check it out.

1:10:58

This is definitely

1:10:58

space unlike anything I've seen

1:11:01

before in the art world, I think

1:11:01

like my my relationship to art

1:11:05

is is always like, you know,

1:11:05

our, you know, the Smithsonian

1:11:09

Art Gallery. The Atlanta or is

1:11:09

the two in galleries down there

1:11:13

places I've been to in Los

1:11:13

Angeles, which a little more

1:11:15

abstract. But this is amazing.

1:11:15

To me. What you create here is

1:11:18

pretty cool. So on some of those

1:11:18

spots where you are, you know,

1:11:21

your social media, your website,

1:11:21

all those places where artists

1:11:24

can link it with you to and

1:11:24

discuss opportunities for to,

1:11:27

for you to host their art here.

1:11:29

Yes. So anybody

1:11:29

who's interested in stuff like

1:11:31

that, I would say reach out to

1:11:31

me on instagram direct. The

1:11:34

reason I say that is I meet a

1:11:34

lot of people in a day nowadays.

1:11:38

So it helps to have the instant

1:11:38

face to the name. Gotcha. You

1:11:42

know, because I'm the type

1:11:42

person I never it will take me

1:11:44

months before I save your number

1:11:44

my phone. So it will just be in

1:11:47

there. Like, literally sit here

1:11:47

searching through my phone like,

1:11:50

what did I say to them last I

1:11:50

type it into search to try to

1:11:53

figure out which one of these

1:11:53

five seven ones just as this

1:11:55

person, so definitely contact me

1:11:55

on Instagram. That's the best

1:11:59

way to get to me I literally

1:11:59

answer every every message now

1:12:02

until I blow up then you know?

1:12:02

No, seriously, like, you can hit

1:12:09

me on Instagram, you can send a

1:12:09

you know, do the comments

1:12:12

section on the on the website or

1:12:12

through the havens arts

1:12:15

Instagram, which is managed by

1:12:15

me and Jose. So somebody will

1:12:19

get to you on that very though

1:12:19

that's the best place to reach

1:12:21

us

1:12:22

there. Very cool,

1:12:22

very cool young local artists

1:12:24

worldwide man, you know, the

1:12:24

check it out, come through. And

1:12:27

even those who are just interested in space for an event, work event, child child

1:12:28

event, some fun, he told you

1:12:32

about some of the creativity, they put in a way they transitioned downstairs into a

1:12:34

beach was still kind of mind

1:12:37

blowing. To me. That's crazy.

1:12:37

But I think you know, we look at

1:12:41

the space you have here is very

1:12:41

user friendly. And the fact that

1:12:43

you and your team are so

1:12:43

accommodating to anybody who

1:12:46

wants to use the space for

1:12:46

something is also unique in

1:12:48

itself too. So definitely,

1:12:48

definitely hats off to me. Thank

1:12:51

you for creating something so great. Yeah, and

1:12:53

as far as my

1:12:53

project, about as far as the

1:12:56

kids parties goes, we also do

1:12:56

like kid painting service. So we

1:12:58

get like locally. So let them

1:12:58

mix their own little drinks. And