WEBVTT - TV Has Been Good to Steve Harvey. Just Not Good Enough. 0:00:06.320 --> 0:00:09.560 Thanks for listening to another episode of Strictly Business, where 0:00:09.560 --> 0:00:11.720 we talked to some of the brightest minds working in 0:00:11.800 --> 0:00:16.079 media today. I'm Andrew Wallenstein with Variety. As long time 0:00:16.160 --> 0:00:19.360 listeners know, every now and then, this podcast skips over 0:00:19.400 --> 0:00:23.240 the usual executives to talk about business with performers, as 0:00:23.280 --> 0:00:25.160 we've done in the past with the likes of Kevin 0:00:25.200 --> 0:00:28.320 Hart and Tyra Banks. This week we're checking in with 0:00:28.360 --> 0:00:31.440 Steve Harvey, who you know from his many TV gigs, 0:00:31.800 --> 0:00:35.000 from Family Feud to his own daytime talk show. But 0:00:35.159 --> 0:00:37.120 what you don't know is that there's a lot more 0:00:37.159 --> 0:00:40.479 to his sprawling business interests. I caught up with him 0:00:40.560 --> 0:00:42.720 last month in Las Vegas to talk about it all 0:00:42.760 --> 0:00:49.080 at Variety's annual conference at CES. I just learned from 0:00:49.080 --> 0:00:51.199 you backstage, this is your first c E S. What 0:00:51.360 --> 0:00:53.640 what brought you out here? I mean, you know, I 0:00:54.240 --> 0:01:01.320 didn't even know what existed. I'm sixty woman. I just 0:01:01.440 --> 0:01:04.679 stopped putting stuff on index cards, so you know, I 0:01:04.680 --> 0:01:09.520 didn't even know. Uh, my son's I have all of 0:01:09.560 --> 0:01:13.720 my children on Millennials and my oldest son is twenty seven, 0:01:13.720 --> 0:01:16.280 and uh, he said, Dad, you gotta go. It's the 0:01:16.319 --> 0:01:21.080 cutting edge is where everything is that's moving forward. You know, 0:01:21.120 --> 0:01:23.679 I've had to do a lot in terms of technology 0:01:23.720 --> 0:01:26.679 that to keep my business in the forefront. You know, 0:01:26.720 --> 0:01:30.319 I'm not just a television guy. You know, I'm a businessman. 0:01:30.520 --> 0:01:33.120 So I've had to do a lot to learn about 0:01:33.160 --> 0:01:36.240 technology to keep myself in the forefront. You know, I'm 0:01:36.280 --> 0:01:40.760 not happy with every aspect of technology, but you know, 0:01:40.920 --> 0:01:42.800 I'm getting there. But the key for me is I 0:01:43.240 --> 0:01:46.000 surround myself with a lot of young people, you know, 0:01:46.160 --> 0:01:49.640 who are more used to this. You know, So what 0:01:49.640 --> 0:01:53.400 what kind of technology trends or things are catching your 0:01:53.400 --> 0:01:56.880 eye out here? You know, the apps, the apps are 0:01:56.920 --> 0:02:00.480 crazy right now. You know, I've got a couple of 0:02:00.480 --> 0:02:03.680 fintemp investments in a couple of apps out there now 0:02:03.920 --> 0:02:08.200 with finance and things like that. Harvey's Hundreds is doing 0:02:08.200 --> 0:02:11.680 good in the app world right now, which is a 0:02:11.720 --> 0:02:13.600 game that I do on my talk show that I 0:02:13.639 --> 0:02:17.040 turned into an app that's doing really well. And I 0:02:17.160 --> 0:02:20.720 just look for right now, and I just I just 0:02:20.760 --> 0:02:23.320 look for cutting edge opportunities. You know, things is out there. 0:02:23.360 --> 0:02:26.639 You know, because as as a businessman, you know, I've 0:02:26.720 --> 0:02:29.440 made the majority of my money making appearances. You know 0:02:29.639 --> 0:02:32.080 that's all. That's a tough way to make a living, 0:02:32.160 --> 0:02:34.240 you know, when you always got to be on something. 0:02:34.320 --> 0:02:40.040 I'm I'm probably on TV more than anybody in the country. 0:02:40.080 --> 0:02:44.120 I have more television appearances right now than anybody. But 0:02:44.200 --> 0:02:46.640 that's a tough way to make a living. Why is 0:02:46.680 --> 0:02:49.480 that because people would assume, all, you're the star of 0:02:49.480 --> 0:02:55.440 the show, You're making millions. I mean, you know you 0:02:55.480 --> 0:02:58.800 should ask your accounting maybe, yeah. I mean, you know, 0:02:59.480 --> 0:03:01.880 I don't know that people understand the grind that that is. 0:03:01.960 --> 0:03:04.160 You know, it's it's a difficult job. You know. When 0:03:04.160 --> 0:03:05.880 I go to work, I don't have the luxury that 0:03:05.960 --> 0:03:08.760 I can sit back and just chill. I can't put 0:03:08.760 --> 0:03:11.200 my feet up, I can't get a cup of coffee. 0:03:11.520 --> 0:03:14.959 I can't lay back on the phone, I can't go No. 0:03:15.240 --> 0:03:18.200 When I come to work, I'm on I'm on the 0:03:18.360 --> 0:03:23.400 radio every single day, talking to seven and a half 0:03:23.440 --> 0:03:26.800 to nine million people a week. Then I turned around 0:03:27.200 --> 0:03:30.440 and I do my talk show two to three shows 0:03:30.480 --> 0:03:34.280 a day, and then on the weekend I'm doing either 0:03:34.440 --> 0:03:39.080 Family Feud, Celebrity Family Feud, Little Big Shots, Show Time 0:03:39.080 --> 0:03:44.080 with the Apollo, Oh Miss Universe that they didn't think 0:03:44.120 --> 0:03:48.920 i'd ever be back on that now. Whatever do you mean? 0:03:49.680 --> 0:03:58.160 Little little accident happened one year. You know, it wasn't 0:03:58.200 --> 0:04:00.360 really my fault, but I took the book laid on 0:04:00.440 --> 0:04:03.840 that one. You know, I read the teleprompter. I read 0:04:03.880 --> 0:04:06.560 exactly what the teleprompter said. They said and the new 0:04:06.880 --> 0:04:10.560 two thousand fifteen Miss Universe is it said it. And 0:04:10.600 --> 0:04:14.200 the dude in my ear said, read the next name, Ms. Columbia, 0:04:14.200 --> 0:04:17.359 and I said, Miss Columbia, great job, Steve, go to 0:04:17.400 --> 0:04:19.960 the back and I went to the back. Everything was cool, 0:04:20.680 --> 0:04:23.080 and then some dude came out and said, you said 0:04:23.120 --> 0:04:30.040 the wrong name. I said, I didn't say wrong. Okay, 0:04:31.040 --> 0:04:36.320 I'm not supposed to cuss. And that was you know, 0:04:36.400 --> 0:04:39.320 but you know, I do a lot, man, and so 0:04:39.440 --> 0:04:43.719 you know, being on it is difficult, but I don't 0:04:43.720 --> 0:04:45.760 have the luxury like I was saying, like most people 0:04:45.760 --> 0:04:48.800 are being able to just sit around and chill. So 0:04:49.640 --> 0:04:52.359 when you work like that, man, I've already proven myself 0:04:52.400 --> 0:04:54.760 to be the hardest working man, and show business is 0:04:54.800 --> 0:04:59.200 now with my global business opportunities and things like that, 0:04:59.240 --> 0:05:02.320 I'm trying to work a lot smarter instead are harder 0:05:02.440 --> 0:05:04.400 so much, you know, I get it, But you know, 0:05:04.520 --> 0:05:07.680 because you've got so much going on in daytime in particular, 0:05:08.040 --> 0:05:10.520 people might be thinking, all right, he'll just do that 0:05:10.640 --> 0:05:14.080 show for for years to come. But how do you 0:05:14.120 --> 0:05:16.320 look at the TV business right now? Do you see 0:05:16.320 --> 0:05:19.039 the kind of show, for instance, your talk show right now? 0:05:19.680 --> 0:05:23.520 Is that something that could just go on infinitely or 0:05:23.640 --> 0:05:25.400 are we different? Are we dealing with a different kind 0:05:25.400 --> 0:05:29.919 of Hollywood these days? We're dealing definitely different. Television is dying. 0:05:31.360 --> 0:05:36.479 Daytime television is dying. My show, uh, Steve is the 0:05:36.600 --> 0:05:40.400 only show over the past seven years that came into 0:05:40.440 --> 0:05:44.440 syndication and stuck. Nothing else has stuck. There has been 0:05:44.520 --> 0:05:49.560 no syndicated TV shows launched in seven years that have stopped. 0:05:50.200 --> 0:05:55.040 Queen Got Out, Ricky Lake got out, Mardi Vera got out, 0:05:55.440 --> 0:05:59.279 Bethany got out. Everything that launched failed. It's a very 0:05:59.320 --> 0:06:03.480 tough space right now. Plus, because of technology, people watch 0:06:03.560 --> 0:06:06.200 TV when they want to. Now, nobody's sitting at the 0:06:06.240 --> 0:06:09.960 house at one thirty Steve coming on. Now, y'all tape 0:06:09.960 --> 0:06:12.600 it and then I don't get the credit for it. 0:06:13.360 --> 0:06:16.520 And the Nielsen's system has sucked from day one. Yeah, 0:06:16.640 --> 0:06:18.839 I don't know who thought this was a great ass 0:06:18.920 --> 0:06:22.600 way of measuring a person's success. But Nielsen is like 0:06:22.680 --> 0:06:27.200 the most archaic thing ever created. That's why Facebook and 0:06:27.279 --> 0:06:30.440 YouTube now prove out so much different. You know, exactly 0:06:30.480 --> 0:06:34.760 how many people are watching It's only thirty five um 0:06:35.200 --> 0:06:39.640 thousand Nielsen boxes in the country. It's over three fifty 0:06:39.680 --> 0:06:42.880 million people here, and those thirty five thousand people determine 0:06:43.000 --> 0:06:46.160 what shows it here or not. That's that's archaic, you know. 0:06:46.480 --> 0:06:48.799 So what do you what what becomes the next step? 0:06:48.880 --> 0:06:51.599 Do you look at the facebooks of the world and say, 0:06:51.720 --> 0:06:55.560 maybe that's where my show's got to be. Okay, you're 0:06:55.560 --> 0:06:58.880 trying to corner me now, because corner is such a 0:06:58.960 --> 0:07:03.680 harsh Yeah, you know, you gotta look at it. I 0:07:03.680 --> 0:07:05.520 gotta look at it. I gotta be smart, you know, 0:07:05.560 --> 0:07:09.120 I gotta think about it because that's where it's headed. 0:07:09.200 --> 0:07:15.760 It's not it's not in network television anymore. Syndication is dead. 0:07:16.680 --> 0:07:20.040 They didn't even they didn't even present a show last year. 0:07:20.640 --> 0:07:24.800 Nothing was presented. No new shows came in. Is that 0:07:24.840 --> 0:07:27.840 what you're saying. Nothing was at Napty where they launched 0:07:27.920 --> 0:07:32.000 and introduced new shows in January and Miami. Nothing was 0:07:32.080 --> 0:07:37.520 introduced the first time ever no syndicated shows were introduced, 0:07:37.960 --> 0:07:39.960 and that was that was a clear sign to me, 0:07:40.080 --> 0:07:42.320 you know, an NBC university who I'm with, you know, 0:07:42.480 --> 0:07:47.720 is they're making other decisions, you know, because oh, well, 0:07:47.840 --> 0:07:51.080 you staying with NBC Universal. Is that deal going forward? 0:07:51.440 --> 0:07:56.440 I thought I was until they made an announcement a 0:07:56.480 --> 0:08:01.160 couple of weeks ago that they wanted to give Kelly 0:08:01.240 --> 0:08:06.440 Clarkson the owned and operated NBC Networks and that's my slot. 0:08:07.520 --> 0:08:09.800 Uh it didn't. I don't know if it's sold. It's 0:08:09.840 --> 0:08:14.240 not selling like they thought. But you know, I thought 0:08:14.240 --> 0:08:16.160 it would have been nice of them to come to me, 0:08:16.320 --> 0:08:19.200 has been the only dude that survived for them for 0:08:19.240 --> 0:08:21.640 seven years, and say, Steve, we're thinking about doing this. 0:08:21.680 --> 0:08:23.880 But no, they just made an announcement. So when you 0:08:23.920 --> 0:08:27.400 do that, I gotta make announcements too, you know. I 0:08:27.520 --> 0:08:32.160 got something to say, something, something new that you know, 0:08:32.440 --> 0:08:35.480 the public demands it. You know, we can't all just here. 0:08:35.679 --> 0:08:37.839 You can't make announcements that don't expect they have to 0:08:37.880 --> 0:08:42.680 hear one yourself. And so I'm I'm working it'll it'll 0:08:42.720 --> 0:08:46.680 be something real cute. Um, I don't you know, I 0:08:46.679 --> 0:08:50.360 don't I just you know, I'm an honorable guy. Man. 0:08:50.400 --> 0:08:52.760 I'm just an old school guy. Man. I just thought 0:08:52.800 --> 0:08:55.680 that you're supposed to talk to people and go, look, 0:08:55.760 --> 0:08:58.400 you've been good business for us. This is what we're 0:08:58.400 --> 0:09:01.640 thinking of doing. Are you okay with that? Now? You 0:09:01.640 --> 0:09:04.040 don't just put something in the paper and say, you know, 0:09:04.080 --> 0:09:07.400 I'm gonna make this move right here, because it's crazy. 0:09:07.400 --> 0:09:09.000 And you look at the numbers on my show as 0:09:09.080 --> 0:09:13.280 number four, and daytime television is holding right there. I 0:09:13.320 --> 0:09:18.319 gotta hit so somebody's gonna recognize that. Yeah. Well, also 0:09:18.400 --> 0:09:21.280 you you might be in good company recently, Ellen degenerous 0:09:21.320 --> 0:09:24.800 even indicated and everything. Who are this is my I'm 0:09:24.840 --> 0:09:30.760 the working variety, that's you know. Damn. I mean, if 0:09:30.800 --> 0:09:35.640 Ellen's getting out, potentially, I think everyone's looking at the sidelines. 0:09:35.800 --> 0:09:38.560 I just did a show two weeks ago, and Ellen 0:09:38.600 --> 0:09:40.360 and I are friends. A matter of fact, we do 0:09:40.480 --> 0:09:47.000 little big shots together. And um, she is talking about it. 0:09:47.679 --> 0:09:52.040 Her brother wants her to stay. A girl says, go, 0:09:53.840 --> 0:09:56.720 I don't know what she's gonna do. She's like the 0:09:58.840 --> 0:10:04.200 Ellen is the most popular person in television, no one, 0:10:05.920 --> 0:10:11.840 I'm second take him seriously. I hope she do leave 0:10:12.720 --> 0:10:16.160 so I could just so I could just be number 0:10:16.200 --> 0:10:20.520 one for chick. I'm so sick of being second. I 0:10:20.559 --> 0:10:27.079 mean congeniality, likability, trustworthy factor. Do you feel if you 0:10:27.200 --> 0:10:29.240 was number two all the day on time? You know? 0:10:31.400 --> 0:10:34.760 So Ellen is really good man, She's a super sweet person. Man. 0:10:34.800 --> 0:10:37.560 I love him. I wanted to do what's best for 0:10:37.600 --> 0:10:41.360 her health, and to do what's best for that because sometimes, man, 0:10:41.400 --> 0:10:44.640 you gotta consider your health even I I gotta look, man, 0:10:44.840 --> 0:10:48.400 it's stressful and you're doing so many different My doctors 0:10:48.400 --> 0:10:50.679 have told me, hey, man, what what how long you 0:10:50.720 --> 0:10:54.000 think you're gonna do this? And I said, well, you know, hell, 0:10:54.480 --> 0:10:58.120 I ain't digging ditches. And I worked at Ford Motor Company. Man, 0:10:58.160 --> 0:11:01.160 I used to put eight spark plugs in eight engines 0:11:01.200 --> 0:11:09.680 a day. That's stressful, jokes, that's pretty cool. So I 0:11:09.679 --> 0:11:12.679 mean it honestly, maybe in your best interest to not 0:11:12.840 --> 0:11:14.560 do a talk show anymore. It's not like you don't 0:11:14.559 --> 0:11:19.439 have plenty of other irons in the fire, you know. Um. 0:11:19.480 --> 0:11:23.520 The biggest joggonnaut for me is family. Few Nothing is 0:11:23.559 --> 0:11:30.880 bigger than that. It's such a huge, huge, and the 0:11:30.880 --> 0:11:35.000 the money that's generated off social media from the clips, 0:11:36.200 --> 0:11:45.800 the clips I'm in every clip, so you would know 0:11:47.360 --> 0:11:50.760 that alone. I mean, I'm just looking at it right now. Man, 0:11:50.880 --> 0:11:54.520 if you can get like, for example, or the other day, 0:11:54.559 --> 0:11:56.880 I had a dance off on my show between my 0:11:57.040 --> 0:12:00.040 warm up who I invited down to dance with a 0:12:00.240 --> 0:12:03.440 kid that was on the show. It ended up getting 0:12:03.440 --> 0:12:09.000 twenty two million views in like ten days. The money 0:12:09.040 --> 0:12:13.400 that the talk show generates off of that alone. They're 0:12:13.440 --> 0:12:17.520 walking around bragging about this one clip and the hundreds 0:12:17.520 --> 0:12:20.400 of thousands, a couple hundred thousand they made, and it 0:12:20.520 --> 0:12:23.400 just starts you to thinking, Man, that world over there, 0:12:24.160 --> 0:12:29.200 that YouTube, that Facebook world is intriguing. It's money right now. 0:12:29.920 --> 0:12:34.319 There's no delayed gratification out there in this space that 0:12:34.320 --> 0:12:37.920 that money shows up now and goes into your account. Yeah, 0:12:38.720 --> 0:12:40.680 I just gotta figure out how to have a damn 0:12:40.760 --> 0:12:44.440 dance off every day. Well, my guess is when you 0:12:44.480 --> 0:12:48.520 did the deal for Family Feud, what social clips would 0:12:48.520 --> 0:12:51.440 be doing. That probably didn't even enter into your mind. Man, 0:12:51.559 --> 0:12:57.000 I missed that. You know, my deal is it's nine 0:12:57.080 --> 0:13:03.000 years now on Family Feud. Uh. And when I you know, 0:13:03.360 --> 0:13:06.679 Family Few was already a twenty year old franchise and 0:13:06.679 --> 0:13:09.920 it's so tied up in ownership and who created it 0:13:09.960 --> 0:13:14.840 and everything. I never could garner ownership of it. So 0:13:15.040 --> 0:13:18.760 I just charged as much as I could to be 0:13:18.880 --> 0:13:22.560 the host of the show. And I'm choking him, I'm 0:13:22.640 --> 0:13:27.080 choking her. Got a strangle hold on them. But and 0:13:27.200 --> 0:13:29.760 I you know, the show was one four when I 0:13:29.800 --> 0:13:33.319 took over. It's like a seven too, which is virtually 0:13:33.360 --> 0:13:36.680 impossible to get in television anymore. So they're very happy 0:13:36.720 --> 0:13:39.200 with me. I'm really happy with them. Freemantle has been 0:13:39.240 --> 0:13:42.200 a great partner, so that that one you could see 0:13:42.520 --> 0:13:45.040 continuing for a long time. I want to do another 0:13:45.120 --> 0:13:48.040 game show I wanted, is that right? Yeah? What what 0:13:48.120 --> 0:13:50.319 kind of things are you? I'm looking at one something 0:13:50.360 --> 0:13:52.880 that's just real simple. People don't like Jeopardy, you know, 0:13:53.120 --> 0:13:58.120 you know, don't tell the funks the Jeopardy And I'm 0:13:58.160 --> 0:13:59.920 just telling you the truth. It's like, who wants to 0:14:00.040 --> 0:14:07.120 be a millionaire? Who don't mean? You don't you know? 0:14:07.520 --> 0:14:09.760 Come on, you ever seen them give away the million 0:14:09.840 --> 0:14:12.160 on that show? That's crazy. You play a game show? 0:14:12.160 --> 0:14:14.280 Who want to be a million? Never give away the million? 0:14:14.360 --> 0:14:17.760 That's Nobody wants to watch Jeopardy and not know nothing. 0:14:19.640 --> 0:14:22.440 I watched Jeopardy for two weeks. One time I didn't 0:14:22.480 --> 0:14:29.200 answer a single question. You sit there. So what family 0:14:29.240 --> 0:14:32.440 Feud is is a game that anybody can play, and 0:14:32.520 --> 0:14:35.440 so I'm looking at a couple of games show ideas 0:14:35.520 --> 0:14:38.920 right now that's for people can play along and actually 0:14:39.240 --> 0:14:42.600 get it. Get no one to answer. I don't like 0:14:42.720 --> 0:14:45.960 watching Jeopardy. You see a guy with a hundred and 0:14:46.000 --> 0:14:50.480 sixty eight thousand dollars and he didn't answer every single question. 0:14:50.600 --> 0:14:57.640 You go, did you have a bike? You know? You 0:14:57.720 --> 0:15:02.840 ever been swimming? Ever? Do you know how to run? 0:15:03.200 --> 0:15:06.640 Because you gotta be really looking in a book an 0:15:06.680 --> 0:15:10.840 awful lot of time to know all of that. I don't. 0:15:11.040 --> 0:15:15.120 I don't like really now you're talking about room to 0:15:15.160 --> 0:15:18.200 say that is it? Go ahead? You were talking about 0:15:18.240 --> 0:15:21.080 doing game shows, but you're also in the gaming business 0:15:21.280 --> 0:15:25.720 with apps like what why does Steve Harvey even decide 0:15:25.760 --> 0:15:29.280 to be an app to do getting into the gaming 0:15:29.280 --> 0:15:36.600 business that way? Well, Honestly, as successful and blessed as 0:15:36.640 --> 0:15:39.400 I've been in the TV business, I can't leave none 0:15:39.400 --> 0:15:44.680 of that to my kids. I can't leave the kings 0:15:44.720 --> 0:15:48.320 of comedy to my kids. I can't leave none of 0:15:48.360 --> 0:15:50.760 I can't leave any of this to my kids, nothing, 0:15:50.920 --> 0:15:54.400 because it's not owned the stuff I own, like Little 0:15:54.440 --> 0:15:57.160 Big Shots and my talk show and and and the 0:15:57.240 --> 0:16:00.160 other shows that I have ownership. And you know, when 0:16:00.200 --> 0:16:03.520 I leave doing that, that check isn't big enough. You know. 0:16:03.800 --> 0:16:07.360 That's I can't leave my career to my kids. I 0:16:07.360 --> 0:16:10.520 don't have that type of career. I tell jokes, you know, 0:16:10.960 --> 0:16:16.040 And so I've got to generate businesses that can secure 0:16:17.000 --> 0:16:19.320 something for my family. It's very important to me that 0:16:19.360 --> 0:16:23.680 I leave not only a legacy of being a pretty 0:16:23.720 --> 0:16:27.520 successful entertainer, but I gotta leave them something. You can't 0:16:27.560 --> 0:16:29.560 leave them. So if I don't get into these apps, 0:16:29.640 --> 0:16:32.080 if I don't take my business, which is Steve Harvey 0:16:32.120 --> 0:16:36.840 Global and expand globally, if I don't look at Africa, 0:16:36.880 --> 0:16:39.000 and I don't look at the U a E And 0:16:39.040 --> 0:16:41.880 the business opportunities that's there, if I don't look in 0:16:41.920 --> 0:16:46.320 the text space, I have no way of leaving them anything. 0:16:47.000 --> 0:16:50.320 And that's been a hard push for me lately. I'm 0:16:50.360 --> 0:16:53.080 really that's a big part of the grind, because you know, 0:16:53.120 --> 0:16:56.040 I want to leave them something, you know. Um, that's 0:16:56.120 --> 0:16:58.920 that's a really the important part of it. Is Steve 0:16:59.000 --> 0:17:03.760 Harvey a glow Bull brand. Absolutely, I'm not saying that. 0:17:04.920 --> 0:17:09.000 I look at there's research that bags it up. I 0:17:09.000 --> 0:17:12.080 didn't know it. Out in India, I'm the number one 0:17:12.240 --> 0:17:18.000 celebrity outside of India. But now I guess that, No, 0:17:18.720 --> 0:17:24.480 I didn't know that. In Africa. I'm very very popular 0:17:24.520 --> 0:17:27.960 in Africa, and in the U a E. I'm extremely 0:17:28.280 --> 0:17:33.080 and I'm number one in the Philippines because you know 0:17:33.160 --> 0:17:40.320 when I said Miss Columbia and and turned around and 0:17:40.359 --> 0:17:43.240 gave it to the Philippines. The next year, we did 0:17:43.359 --> 0:17:48.320 all Miss Universe in the Philippines. Seriously, it's the king, 0:17:50.040 --> 0:17:58.720 it's Miss Philippines and then this Steve Hark and that's 0:17:58.800 --> 0:18:05.400 really you know. And I've started, uh taking business meetings 0:18:05.400 --> 0:18:08.360 and and looking at all the opportunities out there, and 0:18:08.400 --> 0:18:12.400 it's been really hard warming for me. Africa is very 0:18:12.400 --> 0:18:17.240 important to me because when I go to Africa, I 0:18:17.240 --> 0:18:19.040 don't know if this will mean anything any of you, 0:18:19.200 --> 0:18:22.280 but for me, it was like going back home to 0:18:22.359 --> 0:18:27.520 a place I've never been. And so when you're African American, 0:18:28.640 --> 0:18:32.399 I mean, you know, we were taken from a place, 0:18:33.600 --> 0:18:35.720 but when you go back to the place when you 0:18:35.880 --> 0:18:39.640 land on the continent of Africa. You're you're at home. 0:18:40.080 --> 0:18:45.120 It's it's an amazing feeling and um so that's very 0:18:45.160 --> 0:18:49.760 important for me to uh, to go there and to 0:18:49.880 --> 0:18:55.480 help develop without taking they've been so ravaged and taken. 0:18:56.880 --> 0:19:01.199 I do motivational speaking over there now developing a coding 0:19:01.280 --> 0:19:05.359 program in Botswana where I'm trying because Botswana is a 0:19:05.400 --> 0:19:08.679 country over there all education is free. They have the 0:19:08.760 --> 0:19:12.840 most educated people in Botswana, but when they all graduate 0:19:12.920 --> 0:19:16.840 with these degrees from college and everything, the country is 0:19:16.880 --> 0:19:20.880 only two million people where they're gonna work. So they 0:19:20.920 --> 0:19:25.160 have all these educated people and just not enough jobs 0:19:25.200 --> 0:19:30.240 there yet. So I'm introducing them to coding. R my 0:19:30.240 --> 0:19:33.560 my foundation here to Stephen Marjorie Harvey Foundation this year 0:19:33.600 --> 0:19:37.480 for the first time at the Chick fil A ranch. Uh, 0:19:37.520 --> 0:19:42.920 we're introducing a coding program to get young people interested 0:19:42.960 --> 0:19:46.439 in coding, because that's the future, you know. Stop telling 0:19:46.440 --> 0:19:50.280 our young kids to get into heating and air. Goodbody 0:19:51.359 --> 0:19:56.120 give it about you fixing the refrigerator. Just you got 0:19:56.119 --> 0:19:58.840 to get into coding. I'm sorry, I'm just I'm sorry. 0:19:58.880 --> 0:20:02.320 That's that's how I talk put out. We get it 0:20:02.440 --> 0:20:06.560 of course three times. I'm so happy. My wife ain't 0:20:06.600 --> 0:20:12.080 here because she Now you're a mong friend, curse all 0:20:12.160 --> 0:20:18.480 you like? Yes, you're streaming. Yeah, so you're also an investor? 0:20:19.040 --> 0:20:22.399 What what kind of businesses? What do you respond to? 0:20:22.400 --> 0:20:27.640 His investor is a dynamics founder of particular kind of technology. 0:20:27.680 --> 0:20:30.800 What are the things that attract you? Oh? You know, 0:20:33.000 --> 0:20:38.880 I've invested in quite a few things. Man. Oh more 0:20:39.000 --> 0:20:42.080 than the more sold than the idea. I invested in 0:20:42.040 --> 0:20:49.880 the person more sold than the idea. See this new generation, 0:20:50.119 --> 0:20:54.560 this text savvy group. I look for people who have 0:20:54.680 --> 0:20:57.040 a bit of old school in them. You know what 0:20:57.080 --> 0:21:01.400 I mean? No, Because okay, well let me tell you technology. 0:21:01.640 --> 0:21:04.159 Because I have a house full of millennials. My youngest 0:21:04.240 --> 0:21:07.120 child is twenty one. Because I have a house full 0:21:07.119 --> 0:21:11.600 of millennials. Tech can make you lazy because they got 0:21:11.640 --> 0:21:14.160 you thinking. If you google it, you now know it. 0:21:14.840 --> 0:21:18.439 But I'm sorry. There's two things you can't google. You 0:21:18.480 --> 0:21:21.400 can google anything, you can know anything by google it. 0:21:21.960 --> 0:21:27.679 You can't google success, and you can't google exposure. And 0:21:27.760 --> 0:21:31.359 until you meet people who understand what it is to 0:21:31.480 --> 0:21:35.440 grind and grit to become successful, the hustler. I look 0:21:35.520 --> 0:21:38.399 for the hustler. I look for the for the for 0:21:38.480 --> 0:21:42.080 the young man or young woman that's got that grit 0:21:42.160 --> 0:21:45.320 that's been knocked down a bunch of times and got 0:21:45.359 --> 0:21:48.320 back up and kept going with the idea. I invest 0:21:48.400 --> 0:21:50.840 money in that person right there, because that's the person 0:21:50.880 --> 0:21:53.359 that ain't gonna give up. That's I'll give them what 0:21:53.440 --> 0:21:56.720 your idea is. If you soft, it ain't going nowhere. 0:21:58.960 --> 0:22:02.520 So you find people who have that old school sense 0:22:02.560 --> 0:22:05.439 that you know, they're not sort of spoon fed. But 0:22:05.480 --> 0:22:08.359 do you feel that the tech world is a place 0:22:08.480 --> 0:22:11.600 you can invest as well? Yeah, absolutely, because there's a 0:22:11.600 --> 0:22:16.280 lot of that's it's some of the brightest minds in 0:22:16.359 --> 0:22:18.399 that tech world. Man. It took me a minute to 0:22:18.480 --> 0:22:21.679 understand that, because you know, I was old school. You know, 0:22:21.840 --> 0:22:24.160 you don't work to get it, you don't know. But now, man, 0:22:24.200 --> 0:22:27.040 you can actually think your way into millions of dollars. 0:22:27.440 --> 0:22:31.160 There's some people that just think then thought they asked 0:22:31.240 --> 0:22:33.960 in two millions and millions of dollars while I'm out 0:22:33.960 --> 0:22:37.600 here just working my ass off, and I went, wait 0:22:37.640 --> 0:22:41.040 a minute, I gotta start finding them. People that's just 0:22:41.160 --> 0:22:44.879 thinking of stuff, you know, like the dude that invented WhatsApp. 0:22:45.119 --> 0:22:48.080 There's his whole story and what and how he went 0:22:48.119 --> 0:22:50.560 back to the house to sign the contract on the 0:22:50.600 --> 0:22:53.320 door that they had put any eviction notice. So this 0:22:53.359 --> 0:22:56.640 guy just kept hustling and hustling and hustle. But see 0:22:56.800 --> 0:22:59.680 he comes from an impoblished background. See I would have 0:22:59.760 --> 0:23:03.200 had rested in him because of his background. The once 0:23:03.280 --> 0:23:06.000 app was outstanding. But you know what really got him 0:23:06.040 --> 0:23:08.920 to the top. That grit, that grind, that hustle. That 0:23:09.359 --> 0:23:12.119 I've been poor, I've been knocked out. They invicted me 0:23:12.200 --> 0:23:15.600 and my mama, and that dude just grinded it out 0:23:15.640 --> 0:23:19.800 and he signed that contract and what for how many billions? 0:23:20.200 --> 0:23:23.560 It was definitely a be I'll signed anything for a billion. 0:23:25.640 --> 0:23:31.199 He's taken off. But what you can have my kids 0:23:31.320 --> 0:23:33.840 all the houses I got, I got some nice houses. 0:23:33.880 --> 0:23:36.120 You can't have all of them and the kids if 0:23:36.160 --> 0:23:42.320 you got a billion dollars, they'll be all right. My kids. 0:23:42.320 --> 0:23:44.840 I wanted to put three of them in foster care 0:23:44.880 --> 0:23:52.080 an now. But it's a sense that you have a 0:23:52.200 --> 0:23:55.920 complicated relationship with technology. It's not all of it is good. 0:23:56.320 --> 0:23:59.120 I'm it's kind of a recurring theme in this conversation. 0:23:59.520 --> 0:24:02.240 I mean, so social media, it's been good for you though. 0:24:02.280 --> 0:24:05.919 I mean, it's a platform you're out there. How do 0:24:05.920 --> 0:24:11.119 you feel about that? It's I have mixed emotions about 0:24:11.200 --> 0:24:17.000 social media, be honest with you. Social media has made 0:24:17.720 --> 0:24:22.199 the price of fame too costly. It used to be 0:24:22.320 --> 0:24:26.320 fun to be famous. It's no longer fun anymore, and 0:24:26.520 --> 0:24:31.080 social media has taken that away. The worst invention of 0:24:31.119 --> 0:24:35.680 all time was the phone camera. The camera phone. That's 0:24:35.720 --> 0:24:38.480 the worst because everybody got one. You know, you used 0:24:38.480 --> 0:24:40.520 to remember people used to come up to you back 0:24:40.520 --> 0:24:42.720 in the eighties and go, Steve, what I wish I 0:24:42.760 --> 0:24:45.120 had my camera? I take a picture. But they all 0:24:45.200 --> 0:24:50.520 got more now, and so now the picture request is mounted, 0:24:50.800 --> 0:24:53.439 and now they don't even have to request the picture. 0:24:53.880 --> 0:24:57.399 You crossed the room with your finger in your mouth, 0:24:57.640 --> 0:24:59.920 and there's the picture, and that's the one that show 0:25:00.080 --> 0:25:02.879 is up on social media. And then social media is 0:25:02.960 --> 0:25:06.280 like for me, it's like the devil's playground. It's like 0:25:06.400 --> 0:25:09.040 every imp that's out there that's ever wanted to be 0:25:09.119 --> 0:25:12.600 a hater has a voice. Now you have some small, 0:25:12.800 --> 0:25:18.159 insignificant human beings that has a computer or a keypad 0:25:18.560 --> 0:25:22.240 and type something about you. You busting your ass out here? 0:25:22.280 --> 0:25:25.040 Every day, trying to make a name for yourself, provide 0:25:25.080 --> 0:25:30.520 for your family, and this little has I'm sorry, has 0:25:30.680 --> 0:25:35.000 access to a fake page and he starts printing stuff. 0:25:35.040 --> 0:25:37.679 Then they get picked up by buzz Feed and the 0:25:37.800 --> 0:25:41.320 shade Room and media takeout, and now all of a 0:25:41.359 --> 0:25:45.840 sudden digeneration of people who get their news from the internet, 0:25:46.000 --> 0:25:49.800 no fact checking, and all of a sudden, I find 0:25:49.840 --> 0:25:55.480 myself in a meeting with a sponsor having to explain 0:25:56.640 --> 0:26:00.960