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Speaker 1: Season two of the Black Tech, Green Money podcast is

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Speaker 1: brought to you by Lexus, known for celebrating driveway moments

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Speaker 1: for over thirty years, Lexus invites you to create more

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Speaker 1: with exclusive offers on the most popular Lexus models at

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Speaker 1: the December to Remember Sales event, experience Amazing at your

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Speaker 1: Alexis Dealer. Afro Tech San Francisco, California. Frederick Hudson, co

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Speaker 1: founder and CEO at Pigeon Ley of technology that helps

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Speaker 1: you affordably stay connected with your inmate from any phone, tablet,

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Speaker 1: or computer, is on the afro Tech stage telling the

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Speaker 1: story of how he and his co founder, Alfonso Brooks,

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Speaker 1: realized the opportunity for improving communications between loved ones and

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Speaker 1: state and federal inmates and found success by leaning into

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Speaker 1: their unique perspective on the world. I'm gonna tell you

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Speaker 1: how we hustled from idea to a product market there essentially, uh,

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Speaker 1: the idea started with me. I started close to five

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Speaker 1: years and federal prison for distribution to marry I wanna

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Speaker 1: don't feel bad for me. It was lots and lots

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Speaker 1: and lots and lots and lots of marijuana and bad

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Speaker 1: you know. Um. And it was during that time, I

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Speaker 1: saw this, this huge population of people that no one

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Speaker 1: is paying attention to, and we all had the same problem.

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Speaker 1: It was incredibly difficult and super expensive to stay in

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Speaker 1: touch with your loved ones. So while I wasn't nice,

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Speaker 1: I was like to send the leader. It's like, y'all

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Speaker 1: got this idea. We're just gonna we're gonna make a

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Speaker 1: million dollars. We're just gonna make it real easy for

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Speaker 1: people to send photos and to the lowers in prison.

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Speaker 1: No one's really done that yet. So we get to

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Speaker 1: the halfway house. I hit him up and says, yeah,

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Speaker 1: I'm with it. We take his student loan money, We

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Speaker 1: take his student loan money, and we start building a product.

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Speaker 1: And you know, I just want to go through some

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Speaker 1: of the steps and some of the things that we

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Speaker 1: learned along the way, taking that grand idea that you

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Speaker 1: have in your head to actually get something that has

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Speaker 1: product market it, or more importantly, that can get some traction.

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Speaker 1: Because early on I made the classic founder mistake. I

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Speaker 1: thought my problem was I needed to get money. I

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Speaker 1: need to get fund and I need to get fun,

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Speaker 1: and I need to get fun. I spent a lot

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Speaker 1: of my time chasing dollars what I realized is if

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Speaker 1: I focus more on the product, all those other things

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Speaker 1: come a lot easier. Whatever you're working on has to

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Speaker 1: be personal, or you have to have that strong way

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Speaker 1: to win. For me, it was really personal because I

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Speaker 1: lived in and I had that experience. I knew how

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Speaker 1: it felt to be there. I knew how it felt

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Speaker 1: to how portant it was. And I saw the direct

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Speaker 1: connection between people being able to staying in touch with

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Speaker 1: the loaves on the prison and not returning back to prison.

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Speaker 1: There was a direct connection between communication and the recitizens

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Speaker 1: of break. And you need that when those things gives

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Speaker 1: out because when it gets funky, and it will get funky,

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Speaker 1: you need that really strong wine, that that real hard

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Speaker 1: desire to win to kind of get you to those

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Speaker 1: moments because ship will go sideways more than you think.

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Speaker 1: You gotta look for your unfair advantage. For me, it

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Speaker 1: was I was there, I understood it, I've been there.

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Speaker 1: I was the best person to fix that problem because

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Speaker 1: I knew what people needed, I knew what they wanted,

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Speaker 1: I knew what the market needed. Sometimes, when we were

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Speaker 1: early on, we went to our first investors that our

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Speaker 1: first pictures, uh, people couldn't really wrap the around the

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Speaker 1: brain around investing in number one a black men. Number

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Speaker 1: two a black men that's also a felon. I never

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Speaker 1: went to college, so I had to use my unfair

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Speaker 1: advantage because I knew this market better than anyone else.

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Speaker 1: I was the best person suited to fix and address

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Speaker 1: this problem. Your unfair advantage can't be copied, that it

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Speaker 1: can't be bought as uniquely yours. Figure out and look

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Speaker 1: internally and figure out what is your unfair advantage or

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Speaker 1: whatever idea of problem that you're looking to solve and

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Speaker 1: leverage that. I'm Will Lucas and this is a Black

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Speaker 1: Tech Green Money. I'm gonna introduce you to some of

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Speaker 1: the biggest names, some of the brightest minds and brilliant ideas.

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Speaker 1: If you're black, in building, or simply using tech to

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Speaker 1: secure your bag, this podcast is for you. As founder

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Speaker 1: and CEO of the main choice Courtney adelaide A Bill

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Speaker 1: Hair Empire than That sales of over twenty million the

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Speaker 1: last reports we can find from September, the company was

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Speaker 1: acquired by Math Beauty Brands. Her products are solding over

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Speaker 1: twenty retail stores and boast the lineup of more than

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Speaker 1: ninety hair treatments, envitaments. I Escortiney about how to scale

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Speaker 1: a health, hair care or beauty brand and remain profitable

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Speaker 1: when the consumer is increasingly particular and highly interested in

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Speaker 1: the chemicals involved in making the products. I think it's

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Speaker 1: it's very important just to stay true to, you know,

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Speaker 1: really where you started. I think, you know, different companies

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Speaker 1: have a different initiative and how they get to that growth,

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Speaker 1: and a lot of companies say, well, we'll get to

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Speaker 1: that growth by changing the product a little bit, making

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Speaker 1: it more economical. Someone said, well, we'll get to that

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Speaker 1: growth by going international, by doing other things. So for me,

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Speaker 1: it's about staying true to what I what I started

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Speaker 1: saying two to my products and look at those races

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Speaker 1: to grow that we're not just jeopardized or you know,

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Speaker 1: change to any type of thing that I started, you know,

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Speaker 1: with the actual product itself. So you really have to

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Speaker 1: know your growth strategy and there's different ways to get there.

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Speaker 1: But you know, changing the product for me, that was

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Speaker 1: never that was you know, something that I just wouldn't

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Speaker 1: stand for. When you look at the field of black

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Speaker 1: women and men who start off in beauty, health wellness companies,

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Speaker 1: do you think they go hard enough, Like where what

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Speaker 1: keeps them from achieving the type of level of success

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Speaker 1: you've achieved in this industry generally speaking, Do I think

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Speaker 1: they go hard enough? I would, I would have to Unfortunately,

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Speaker 1: I would have to say no. I think for some reason,

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Speaker 1: people think that when you operate on an average level,

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Speaker 1: or if you're able to excel um by just giving average.

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Speaker 1: I think sometimes people think that's enough. But in order

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Speaker 1: to really scale something and take it to the next level,

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Speaker 1: it is going to require blood, sweat and tears that

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Speaker 1: I've come to the conclusion those people are not willing

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Speaker 1: willing to do, you know, or they think that giving

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Speaker 1: normal or average is okay and it's not. What are

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Speaker 1: some of those mistakes that people cut corners on that

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Speaker 1: keep them from Like what are some of the typical

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Speaker 1: things you see? I think some of the typical things, uh,

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Speaker 1: just the initiative. You know, when I say you have

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Speaker 1: to layer things on, I mean you have to be

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Speaker 1: from a social perspective, you have to be you know,

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Speaker 1: you have to put yourself out there from a personal perspective,

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Speaker 1: run your personal social media as if it was a business,

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Speaker 1: with strategy and timing and win and professionalism. And then

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Speaker 1: on the flip side, you have the business, you have

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Speaker 1: to do the exact same way. So there's a lot

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Speaker 1: of bells and whistles that goes along with it that

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Speaker 1: can be achieved. But you just can't cut corners in

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Speaker 1: regard to like the time. It's twenty four hours a day,

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Speaker 1: I have never since I've been in business. But they

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Speaker 1: do not disturb I'm out of town email, you know what,

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Speaker 1: I just never have I'm going to respond to it

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Speaker 1: or you know, I'm gonna get to it a little

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Speaker 1: bit later. But it's it's just NonStop. It's always it's continuous. Now,

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Speaker 1: I love that you talked about the personal input, like

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Speaker 1: the personal profiles and et ceter because I wanted to know,

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Speaker 1: and how do you build a sellable asset, a sellable

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Speaker 1: brand without becoming so core to it that if you're

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Speaker 1: not the face of it any longer, it no longer works.

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Speaker 1: How do you do that? You got to look at

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Speaker 1: the bigger picture. I think for me, it was always

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Speaker 1: about building a business, building businesses and having an ability

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Speaker 1: to actually scale them. You know. So for me when

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Speaker 1: I work on the project, you know, I never get

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Speaker 1: into it like, Okay, I'm about to build this thing

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Speaker 1: to sell. But to be honest, this is how big

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Speaker 1: business goes. Like there's companies has created strategically, how do

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Speaker 1: we position this thing to sell? But I think for

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Speaker 1: a lot of people entrepreneurs, it really doesn't work that

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Speaker 1: way because you have to attach yourself from a passion perspective.

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Speaker 1: And if you're constantly thinking, I'm going to sell it

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Speaker 1: one day, it's not going to necessarily do what you

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Speaker 1: wanted to do, you know what I mean. So you

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Speaker 1: have to keep your enterprise, which is it's being passionate

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Speaker 1: about what it is that you're working on and just

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Speaker 1: again just give it, give it your all is direct

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Speaker 1: to consumer um a better opportunity These days, I think about, like,

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Speaker 1: what what is the process like to get into retail?

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Speaker 1: Like so many times you hear companies who spent thousands

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Speaker 1: of dollars getting boots at conventions and traveling the shows

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Speaker 1: to you know, do the Dog and Pony Show. How

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Speaker 1: is it really accomplished to get into retail? Like how

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Speaker 1: do you set yourself apart when you got I think

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Speaker 1: the most the best way to think about getting into

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Speaker 1: retail is to not think about getting into retail. If

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Speaker 1: you start your business, and you're constantly thinking what can

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Speaker 1: I do to solely get into retail. Retailers are looking

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Speaker 1: for businesses who are actually popping outside of retail, so

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Speaker 1: you have to think about it. These are regular for

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Speaker 1: these buyers, there are people just like you and me.

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Speaker 1: They're taking a chance on you. This is their job.

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Speaker 1: So if you have not shown that you can succeed

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Speaker 1: outside of retail, because some for some reason, people think

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Speaker 1: that when you get on the shelf, oh my god,

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Speaker 1: not a retail is gonna take off. They're gonna advertise

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Speaker 1: for you. You have to drive your own business. So

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Speaker 1: if you can't survive outside of retail, you won't be

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Speaker 1: able to survive inside. So if you treat your e

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Speaker 1: commerce website as if it was a legit retail resources, strategy,

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Speaker 1: finding a team, how to build it, scaling it, making

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Speaker 1: an assessment you it's easy to get into retail. They

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Speaker 1: know who you are, the demand is there, people are

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Speaker 1: talking about it. But if you think about it a

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Speaker 1: little bit less and concentrate on your brand, on the

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Speaker 1: growth of your company, then retail is gonna be inevitable.

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Speaker 1: It's almost like a DJ. If you got a hot song,

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Speaker 1: he gonna play it, you know what I mean. If

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Speaker 1: it's hot, it's hot. So you have to focus on

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Speaker 1: making your brand hot that wants a retailer here. It

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Speaker 1: it's automatic, like you're coming in here automatically, you know,

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Speaker 1: because we've heard about this brand. The customers are calling.

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Speaker 1: Now we're gonna come back to the main choice. But

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Speaker 1: I do want to talk about you've got a master

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Speaker 1: class now and you're teaching people, you know, all across

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Speaker 1: the CpG particularly may be helping hair and etcetera, how

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Speaker 1: to do this. What can you give me, like the

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Speaker 1: elevator pitch for this master class and what they, well,

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Speaker 1: people get out of it. I will say, what they

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Speaker 1: get out of um is that one on one giving

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Speaker 1: you what you need. That that's basically different from the

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Speaker 1: next person. I think it was hard for me to say,

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Speaker 1: let me rerecord this stuff and just like sell some

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Speaker 1: type of master class. But everybody needs something that's different,

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Speaker 1: something that's customized. I work with people who have no

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Speaker 1: idea how to operate social media. I work with people

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Speaker 1: who have no idea what the E, I N and

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Speaker 1: entity form and the entity is. I work with people

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Speaker 1: who have no concept at all of a business. I

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Speaker 1: work with people who have sold over a million dollars.

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Speaker 1: So there's it's hard for me to pre record something

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Speaker 1: to say, well, this is a one size bit all

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Speaker 1: success is not a one size but at all. When

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Speaker 1: you look at the route that journey, every journey is

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Speaker 1: going to be a little bit different. And the only

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Speaker 1: way that I'm able to do that is by me

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Speaker 1: physically sitting down, talking and asking those questions individually, because

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Speaker 1: the responses is going to change. It's going to be

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Speaker 1: different across the board. Um. And as I mentioned, you

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Speaker 1: grew up in Detroit, and I think about the work

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Speaker 1: that you've done based on your success, like the philanthropy

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Speaker 1: work that you getting involved in, you know, you started

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Speaker 1: to pay my bill program. Um, how much of you know,

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Speaker 1: the work that you do today speaks to where you

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Speaker 1: come from, like being from Detroit. And because I talked

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Speaker 1: about this often, being from the Midwest, you know, forty

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Speaker 1: five minutes away from where you grew up, we were

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Speaker 1: so heavily innundated with the manufacturing and automotive and etcetera.

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Speaker 1: And at least in Toledo, maybe in Detroit it was different.

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Speaker 1: We didn't have that entrepreneurial spirit, you know, perculating around us,

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Speaker 1: but the people who were successful were successful because they

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Speaker 1: worked at GM or G or etcetera. How how do

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Speaker 1: you see your role as you know, a role model

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Speaker 1: to you know, and the giving that you do as

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Speaker 1: impactful for people who want to want to have a

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Speaker 1: kind of success that you've achieved. Um, I would definitely say,

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Speaker 1: you know, one thing about you know, being from Detroit,

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Speaker 1: even if we didn't have what we consider like that

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Speaker 1: traditional you know, entrepreneurial leadership, what we did have and

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Speaker 1: what we continuously have, and I think it's the same

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Speaker 1: thing where where you from is that hustle. At the

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Speaker 1: end of the day, we're gonna find a way to

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Speaker 1: make ends meet. We're gonna find a way to feed

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Speaker 1: our family, you know. And I know for sure my

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Speaker 1: foundation being from Detroit and just not giving up, knowing

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Speaker 1: that there's other opportunities that this door says, uh, it's closed,

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Speaker 1: or someone says no, there's another opportunity out there. So

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Speaker 1: I may can't do it here, but I can go

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Speaker 1: around you and find someone else. So I definitely believe,

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Speaker 1: you know, having that that that wholetle um that I

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Speaker 1: grew up in definitely helped achieved to kind of you

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Speaker 1: know where I am today. Sure, Yeah, And I read

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Speaker 1: that you a registered nurse, you know, are in by background,

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Speaker 1: and I imagine you probably didn't imagine that that you

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Speaker 1: would be doing what you're doing today, Like how does

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Speaker 1: that how do those looking back? How do those steps

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Speaker 1: piece together to allow you Yeah, I definitely believe having

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Speaker 1: my my science background. One thing about nursing is we're

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Speaker 1: so were around it, Like we have to do science, chemistry, statistics, sociology,

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Speaker 1: like there's so many things that we have to go through, um,

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Speaker 1: just to become a nurse. And sometimes we hear about

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Speaker 1: the nursing shortage out there is not really a nursing shortage.

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Speaker 1: It's just that the people who are nurses are not

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Speaker 1: entrepreneurs and they're doing something else. It's one of the

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Speaker 1: only fields you can go in. And the day you

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Speaker 1: graduate and start working, you're now responsible for like many

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Speaker 1: people lives, So you grow up overnight. Now you're thinking

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Speaker 1: has to be crisp, you have to be on point.

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Speaker 1: You can't make mistake. There is no you're a fresh

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Speaker 1: new nurse, we're gonna allow you room to have a mistake.

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Speaker 1: Like that's not an option. So I know for sure

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Speaker 1: having my medical background, just understanding even learning here from

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Speaker 1: a science perspective, I'm like, can we grow hair? Can

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Speaker 1: black women grow long hair? I've never thought that I

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Speaker 1: can have hair all the way down to my waist.

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Speaker 1: I didn't think it was possible. But as I as

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Speaker 1: I started to mature and just really um just doing research,

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Speaker 1: I'm like, yeah, we can't achieve it if we do

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Speaker 1: things a little bit different. So now my science background

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Speaker 1: is kicking in. Now I'm mixing things and and and

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Speaker 1: and testing things, and I'm like, no, we can grow hair.

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Speaker 1: And to grow my hair from here all my life

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Speaker 1: as an adult, it's been here too, down to my

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Speaker 1: waist definitely tells me that there's a science to it.

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Speaker 1: Season two of the Black Tech Green Money Podcast is

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Speaker 1: brought to you by Lexus and the December to Remember

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Speaker 1: sales event from graduation parades to birthday parties. This year

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Speaker 1: Driveways hosted some new traditions. Here's the celebrating them all

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Speaker 1: experience amazing at your Alexis dealer. We all know somebody

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Speaker 1: who started their health and wellness company, whether it be

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Speaker 1: haircare or skincare, and there's a point to where it

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Speaker 1: makes sense for them to make the products in their kitchens.

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Speaker 1: There's also a point to where it makes sense to

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Speaker 1: go big and find the manufacturer. But how do you

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Speaker 1: know which manufacturers are co pactors to trust when the

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Speaker 1: wrong batch can ruin your brand for good. Courtney speaks

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Speaker 1: on it one thing for me um and that could say,

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Speaker 1: you know, different folks, different strokes. When it comes to

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Speaker 1: anything that's like chemical bound, water based, I have to

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Speaker 1: have that stuff done here, Like when it comes to international,

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Speaker 1: I never felt comfortable with necessarily doing any type of

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Speaker 1: chemicals elsewhere. I made this stuff in my kitchen. If

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Speaker 1: someone is going to duplicate it for me on the

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Speaker 1: on the largest scale, I must have the ability to

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Speaker 1: walk in to see if they're doing the right thing,

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Speaker 1: using the right thing. Nothing is changing, no chemicals, no

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Speaker 1: extra chemicals, And I think it's really about finding the

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Speaker 1: right partner. This is you literally can google right now

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Speaker 1: a manufactorer and every one of the biggest players in

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Speaker 1: the game is gonna pop up. The problem is people

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Speaker 1: don't sit down and do the research and actually interview

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Speaker 1: because at the end of the day, they're working for

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Speaker 1: you now. So I think sometimes we feel a little intimidated, like,

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Speaker 1: oh my god, who do I reach out to They're

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Speaker 1: not gonna think I'm big enough. But you're paying them.

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Speaker 1: They shouldn't have that. They can't change anything without your

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Speaker 1: ability to do so. Unfortunately, I was able to pay

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Speaker 1: attention to my e commerce dot com before I really

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Speaker 1: needed to go mass man factoring because I was able

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Speaker 1: to make a lot of money right at home without

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Speaker 1: necessarily cutting the check to someone else. So when we

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Speaker 1: look at what does it take to actually scale and

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Speaker 1: to lose money? But by this point, fortunately I have

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Speaker 1: enough money to start doing testing and making sure that

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Speaker 1: chemists are doing what they're doing. But I ran my

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Speaker 1: company at home for three years. I made ten million

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Speaker 1: dollars at home, So I'm I'm corrective because I got

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Speaker 1: to do that. So we hit a hundred we hit

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Speaker 1: a hundred million, okay, but I was able to do

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Speaker 1: a lot of that at home. Like so again, this

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Speaker 1: is why if you don't me spress anything, pay attention

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Speaker 1: to your dot com. That is just as vital today

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Speaker 1: as a retailer. It's even more vital today. So so

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Speaker 1: is it important that these people, women and men who

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Speaker 1: are building these wellness, haircare beauty brands be just as

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Speaker 1: good at the craft as they are at they at

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Speaker 1: social media and marketing. How do you do that? That's

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Speaker 1: that's the tough part, and I think that was one

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Speaker 1: of my initiatives. But even having like the master classes,

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Speaker 1: because I understand that everybody may not have everything, and

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Speaker 1: I can't say I have everything, but one thing about me.

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Speaker 1: When I look to expand my team, I'm looking at

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Speaker 1: the areas where I know are my weaknesses. You know

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Speaker 1: what I mean. So instead of me looking for to

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Speaker 1: hire someone to do what I do, I don't necessarily

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Speaker 1: need that. You if you if you know you're struggling

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Speaker 1: in some areas. And one thing about social media is this.

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Speaker 1: Sometimes they scare as people and they said, well, you know,

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Speaker 1: let me hire your social media manage I'm like, note,

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Speaker 1: if you tend my master class, I'm like, no, we're

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Speaker 1: gonna learn it because this is the one of the

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Speaker 1: areas that you can do for free. The key is

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Speaker 1: necessarily sometimes not how much money you make, but how

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Speaker 1: much you can keep. So if you don't necessarily have

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Speaker 1: to pay extra people to do these things, I want

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Speaker 1: to teach you how to run this thing yourself. And

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Speaker 1: once you start needing some help, at this point it

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Speaker 1: should be a man power help because you've got so

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Speaker 1: many orders you physically can't ship them yourself. But for

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Speaker 1: the things that you can do do I think people

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Speaker 1: can learn them. Yes, is it it's gonna be harder, Yes,

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Speaker 1: it's gonna take extra time. Yes. So I don't like to,

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Speaker 1: you know, tell people get them like false holds, like

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Speaker 1: this is so easy. It's not easy, but this is doable.

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Speaker 1: So if I if I can do it, I'm legit

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Speaker 1: telling you you can do it too. You can learn

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Speaker 1: how to do it too. Definitely, I'm glad you bring

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Speaker 1: this up because I've I've seen a lot of people

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Speaker 1: you know, with shade butter companies and lotion companies and

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Speaker 1: hair companies in etcetera. And I'd like you to speak

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Speaker 1: to like knowing your numbers a little bit, because like

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Speaker 1: how do you price in early? How do you get

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Speaker 1: to figuring out what those unit costs are? Like what

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Speaker 1: does it cost to make one bottle? Right? That is

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Speaker 1: such an interesting conversation and topic because it's the number

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Speaker 1: one pain point when I do the matter. Classes I

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Speaker 1: ask somebody their costs, those people can't answer it. How

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Speaker 1: much does it cost you to make this this product?

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Speaker 1: Or they'll tell me, oh it's this. I'm like, wait

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Speaker 1: a minute, are we talking about the top, the bottle,

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Speaker 1: the lead, the ingredients, And they're like okay, well you okay,

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Speaker 1: let me add the Wait a minute, who shipped this stuff?

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Speaker 1: Did it shipped from there to you? And who paid

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Speaker 1: for this shipping? Why pay for it where you have

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Speaker 1: to put this shipping costs in there? So if you

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Speaker 1: don't know your numbers, if you don't price your stuff right,

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Speaker 1: I've seen it once and I would definitely say that

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Speaker 1: is one of the leading causes why people cannot scale

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Speaker 1: their company. There are some people out there who have

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Speaker 1: good products, good services, but this stuff is not price

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Speaker 1: right and they're like, oh my god, I legit had

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Speaker 1: ten thousand dollars in sales this month, but I have

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Speaker 1: zero dollars in my account. How your numbers is not right.

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Speaker 1: You can't even afford to run a sale if you

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Speaker 1: wanted to. You can't even give twent off, you can't

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Speaker 1: get free shipping if your numbers is not price where

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Speaker 1: it's supposed to be. So I think that's that's that's

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Speaker 1: that's definitely up there as number one. There's no one

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Speaker 1: Season two of the Black Tech Green Money podcast is

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00:21:22,640 --> 00:21:25,800
Speaker 1: brought to you by Lexis for over thirty years. Lexus

401
00:21:25,880 --> 00:21:28,480
Speaker 1: May Driveway is the place to celebrate with the December

402
00:21:28,480 --> 00:21:32,240
Speaker 1: to Remember Sales event. Find exclusive offers on popular Lexus

403
00:21:32,240 --> 00:21:37,960
Speaker 1: models now through January four. Experience Amazing Alexis Dealer. So

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Speaker 1: does it require building a CpG company consuming package a

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Speaker 1: good company? Does it require venture funding? How toy? How

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Speaker 1: can you bootstrap this? No? I think nowadays, and I like,

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Speaker 1: I got a philosophy that says grow as you go.

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Speaker 1: That means you can go out there on social media.

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Speaker 1: You can, And this is why it's important that I

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Speaker 1: teach how to run social media and grow it because

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Speaker 1: these are quote unquointe free ways to market. If you

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Speaker 1: make a dollar, and this is one thing I was

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Speaker 1: always committed to for years. Every dollar that I made,

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Speaker 1: I put it right back into my company. You spend

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Speaker 1: to five thousand dollars to build your company, and let's

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Speaker 1: say you you've had four thousand dollars worth to sell, Well,

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Speaker 1: you still haven't made any money yet, you know what

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Speaker 1: I mean? Because you spend five So that again, that's

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Speaker 1: that's that's the tough part. But can you grow as

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Speaker 1: you go? You don't necessarily have to get funding, you know.

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Speaker 1: And then one thing I always say, especially African Americans,

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Speaker 1: we don't need funding, we need support. That's what we need.

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Speaker 1: We need support. And I think if you have a

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Speaker 1: good connection with your consumer, which is one thing that's

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Speaker 1: top of my priority, I'm gonna make sure I give

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Speaker 1: a good product, make sure I ship on time, make

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Speaker 1: sure I'm transparent if there's any hiccups along the way.

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Speaker 1: You have to be transparent with your consumer. We have

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Speaker 1: we all have them. I never asked for someone to

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00:23:04,520 --> 00:23:06,600
Speaker 1: give me a pass or I need two weeks to

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00:23:06,640 --> 00:23:08,720
Speaker 1: get this product to you. If there's a hiccup, I'm

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00:23:08,720 --> 00:23:11,920
Speaker 1: going to come to you directly as the owner. We've

433
00:23:11,920 --> 00:23:14,680
Speaker 1: had a hiccup. This is how I'm going to resolve it.

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00:23:15,280 --> 00:23:18,040
Speaker 1: And when you do that, no one can. They can't

435
00:23:18,040 --> 00:23:21,199
Speaker 1: help but to respect that and appreciate it and support you.

436
00:23:21,640 --> 00:23:24,240
Speaker 1: So do you have to have funding? You don't. You

437
00:23:24,320 --> 00:23:29,639
Speaker 1: just need to really learn communication and relationships. And I

438
00:23:29,680 --> 00:23:32,960
Speaker 1: think that's key. Love it, love it. Um there's a

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00:23:33,000 --> 00:23:35,040
Speaker 1: company I won't mention their name, but you'll know who

440
00:23:35,040 --> 00:23:38,040
Speaker 1: I'm talking about. UM. They were recently sold about me

441
00:23:38,080 --> 00:23:39,760
Speaker 1: ye or two ago, and they put they were a

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00:23:39,800 --> 00:23:42,399
Speaker 1: black company, put a white put a white woman in

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00:23:42,440 --> 00:23:45,320
Speaker 1: an ad, and it kind of set their audience off. Like,

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00:23:45,359 --> 00:23:48,320
Speaker 1: you know, black people are, particularly black women, are really

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00:23:48,359 --> 00:23:51,160
Speaker 1: really loyal. Um, but they but they put a white

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00:23:51,160 --> 00:23:53,200
Speaker 1: woman in an ad after they have been sold. And

447
00:23:53,600 --> 00:23:58,479
Speaker 1: as as as companies grow, how can they grow without

448
00:23:58,560 --> 00:24:02,240
Speaker 1: risking that loyalty from being jeopardized? Like is there enough

449
00:24:02,320 --> 00:24:06,120
Speaker 1: market inside black communities with black products where we don't

450
00:24:06,119 --> 00:24:10,360
Speaker 1: have to look at other demographics? Well, it's it's a twofold.

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00:24:10,359 --> 00:24:12,399
Speaker 1: First of all, I'm gonna say obviously this is a

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00:24:12,520 --> 00:24:17,359
Speaker 1: very it's a very uh sensitive topic. Let me just say,

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00:24:17,480 --> 00:24:20,959
Speaker 1: let's start up by saying that two. I would say,

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00:24:21,160 --> 00:24:23,959
Speaker 1: someone always told me you always want to begin with

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00:24:24,040 --> 00:24:26,320
Speaker 1: the end in mind, and you don't know what that

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00:24:26,359 --> 00:24:30,040
Speaker 1: necessarily is. The very first ad that I created when

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00:24:30,080 --> 00:24:32,600
Speaker 1: I started out, had a black lady and a white

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00:24:32,680 --> 00:24:36,600
Speaker 1: lady on the ad. My very first ad, I didn't

459
00:24:36,600 --> 00:24:39,080
Speaker 1: know what the future help for me. It was about

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00:24:39,119 --> 00:24:43,240
Speaker 1: healthy hair, not necessarily a certain demographic. I'm African American,

461
00:24:43,320 --> 00:24:47,320
Speaker 1: so of course I'm going to get more African American support, right.

462
00:24:48,200 --> 00:24:51,280
Speaker 1: I think the problem happens is when you do something

463
00:24:51,400 --> 00:24:55,280
Speaker 1: abruptly out of the blue, never done it before, and

464
00:24:55,320 --> 00:24:59,080
Speaker 1: it's like, where did this come from? Now, it's already sensitive,

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00:24:59,160 --> 00:25:02,440
Speaker 1: even if you have been, even even me having when

466
00:25:02,440 --> 00:25:06,399
Speaker 1: the add day one is still sensitive. But on the

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00:25:06,440 --> 00:25:08,760
Speaker 1: business side, I would like to flip it and say this.

468
00:25:09,480 --> 00:25:13,359
Speaker 1: I think sometimes people generally speaking, I'm gonna have to

469
00:25:13,400 --> 00:25:16,359
Speaker 1: sympathize a little bit with the beauty industry because I

470
00:25:16,359 --> 00:25:18,560
Speaker 1: think they go a little bit harder on the beauty

471
00:25:18,600 --> 00:25:22,920
Speaker 1: industry when you take entertainment. When you go to these

472
00:25:22,960 --> 00:25:26,560
Speaker 1: concerts and you see these tickets, let's say these tickets,

473
00:25:26,640 --> 00:25:30,480
Speaker 1: you know they are best entertainers who we love? Who's

474
00:25:30,520 --> 00:25:35,480
Speaker 1: at the concerts? Is it just who's who would they

475
00:25:35,520 --> 00:25:39,840
Speaker 1: selling to? I had yet seen a billion dollar company

476
00:25:40,040 --> 00:25:42,320
Speaker 1: that's not diverse, that doesn't sell to more than one

477
00:25:42,640 --> 00:25:46,399
Speaker 1: one demographic. I don't care who, what color of the

478
00:25:46,440 --> 00:25:51,800
Speaker 1: owner is. I have yet to see it. Entertainment, liquor,

479
00:25:52,240 --> 00:25:54,679
Speaker 1: you name it. But I think what happens is and

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00:25:54,680 --> 00:25:56,239
Speaker 1: which is which is Which is cool? Because I love

481
00:25:56,280 --> 00:25:59,199
Speaker 1: the beauty industry. I think we're really passionate when it

482
00:25:59,200 --> 00:26:03,640
Speaker 1: comes to the beauty industry, especially hair care. Hair care,

483
00:26:03,720 --> 00:26:08,159
Speaker 1: you know they're not giving us no passes, that's no fassi.

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00:26:08,720 --> 00:26:11,440
Speaker 1: They're like we we were like, you know, cosmetic, We'll

485
00:26:11,480 --> 00:26:16,280
Speaker 1: go a little bit entertainment, clothing, but hair care it's

486
00:26:16,320 --> 00:26:19,240
Speaker 1: such you obviously it's it's it's a very touchy and

487
00:26:19,359 --> 00:26:21,520
Speaker 1: I get it. At the end of the day. I'm

488
00:26:21,560 --> 00:26:24,600
Speaker 1: I am my consumer before anything. And I think if

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00:26:24,640 --> 00:26:27,159
Speaker 1: a person know me, they know my initiative, they know

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00:26:27,200 --> 00:26:29,960
Speaker 1: what I stand for, they know my track record. I

491
00:26:30,000 --> 00:26:34,359
Speaker 1: think it speaks for itself. Um. One thing about in business,

492
00:26:34,440 --> 00:26:37,879
Speaker 1: if you think about it, what's really a slap in

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00:26:37,880 --> 00:26:40,280
Speaker 1: the face. And one thing I say about African American people.

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00:26:40,320 --> 00:26:45,439
Speaker 1: Two things. What our shrimp is we're passionate. Our weakness

495
00:26:45,640 --> 00:26:50,919
Speaker 1: is we're passionate. You know what I mean. But but no, no, no,

496
00:26:51,040 --> 00:26:53,000
Speaker 1: Like I said, it's it's the beauty. It's it's a

497
00:26:53,119 --> 00:26:57,040
Speaker 1: very touchy. It's very touchy. Um. And only thing you

498
00:26:57,080 --> 00:27:00,200
Speaker 1: can do is give your true authentic self. And then again,

499
00:27:00,240 --> 00:27:03,040
Speaker 1: I think my track worker, you know, basically speaks for itself.

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00:27:16,600 --> 00:27:18,600
Speaker 1: Black Tech Green Money is a production to Black and

501
00:27:18,680 --> 00:27:21,320
Speaker 1: the Afro Tech and it's produced by Morgan Dabon and

502
00:27:21,359 --> 00:27:25,080
Speaker 1: meat Will Lucas, with additional production support by Love Beach

503
00:27:25,119 --> 00:27:28,560
Speaker 1: and Raven Earport. Special thank you to Michael Davis is

504
00:27:28,560 --> 00:27:30,879
Speaker 1: the Cars of Mine Young you know, like the wine

505
00:27:31,000 --> 00:27:34,040
Speaker 1: and yes that's his real name. Learn more about my

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00:27:34,119 --> 00:27:36,880
Speaker 1: guests and other tech disruptors and innovators at afro tech

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00:27:36,920 --> 00:27:40,560
Speaker 1: dot com. Go get your money, peace and love,