Speaker 1: Hey, BA, fam. I don't even know if I need
Speaker 1: to introduce this week's guest to you, but Morgan Debon,
Speaker 1: the CEO of Blavity, is in the house. Morgan, how
Speaker 1: many times you been on BA do you know?
Speaker 2: At least two or three times?
Speaker 1: Maybe your fourth time?
Speaker 2: Really?
Speaker 1: Wow, I had forgotten how early in the game you
Speaker 1: had come on, And I just thank you for that,
Speaker 1: because when you're starting a podcast, I mean it's different now,
Speaker 1: but yeah, we started this ten years ago and for
Speaker 1: you to say yes at the time, it felt huge
Speaker 1: for you to say yes to my invitation to come on.
Speaker 1: And I actually went back and I listened to don't
Speaker 1: make that face, because you know what, I realized, you're
Speaker 1: just the same.
Speaker 2: Like I am the same, You just sound the same.
Speaker 1: Your vibe is the same for change, yeah, and I
Speaker 1: part of me is I just was like really impressed
Speaker 1: by that. I can't say the same for myself. I
Speaker 1: listened back to my in early VA days and I'm like, oh,
Speaker 1: baby girl, but how does that make you feel to
Speaker 1: hear that? Like what do you?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 2: I think I am pretty much.
Speaker 3: I've always lived by like a center of principles and
Speaker 3: I always feel pretty comfortable with who I am. I
Speaker 3: think the times in my life where I've been the
Speaker 3: most unhappy, it's because I let other people influence me
Speaker 3: too much.
Speaker 2: But like when I'm just me, then everything is much easier.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think, and being around people like you, I
Speaker 1: mean people like you, not to make you feel like
Speaker 1: I'm putting you under a microscope, but I feel calm
Speaker 1: with in your presence, and I'm someone who's like you know,
Speaker 1: I maybe it's like a little bit I undiagnosed ADHD
Speaker 1: and just like in general enthusiasm, but I am an introvert,
Speaker 1: but I am excitable, and I am emotional and raw,
Speaker 1: and that's just who I am. And so I feel
Speaker 1: like you are like the duck, calm on the surface,
Speaker 1: but your little feetbe kicking a.
Speaker 2: Lot going on behind me scenes.
Speaker 1: That's right, Yeah, but that seems to be like a
Speaker 1: core of who you are. Where did that come from?
Speaker 1: Like that inner sense of calm and self love. I
Speaker 1: definitely did not grow up with a deep sense of
Speaker 1: like comfort with myself and all of that, And I
Speaker 1: just wonder if you could talk a bit about that.
Speaker 3: You know, I think that being grounded today is because
Speaker 3: I feel like I have made a lot of a
Speaker 3: sequence of choices and a series of choices that were mine.
Speaker 3: And so when there are situations that are not great,
Speaker 3: when my life isn't going according to plan, when we
Speaker 3: overspend on a budget or a relationship doesn't work out,
Speaker 3: I feel like, at a minimum, I still had control
Speaker 3: over the path that I chose, And I think that
Speaker 3: gives me a sense of calm and ground like being grounded.
Speaker 3: And I think for anybody who feels like wants to
Speaker 3: feel that's kind of like you're never too high and
Speaker 3: are never too low.
Speaker 2: Amazing things happen. Close a huge deal at.
Speaker 3: Blavity, or you know, my partner Josh closed a huge
Speaker 3: deal for his business because he's awesome an entrepreneur. We
Speaker 3: go out, we celebrate. If something bad happens, we go
Speaker 3: out and we manage it. Like I just feel like
Speaker 3: everything is figure outable, And I think that that has
Speaker 3: helped me be pretty resilient in any situation.
Speaker 1: Yes, I mean a lot. Even though you at your
Speaker 1: core haven't so much change at least from like the
Speaker 1: way that I know you through these interviews, but your
Speaker 1: life has certainly changed a lot since those ten years ago.
Speaker 1: One of the things that you talked about on your
Speaker 1: first episode was I felt very much when I was
Speaker 1: reading the introduction to your book, like I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: that's who I spoke to, because you were I remember
Speaker 1: one of the things you were like, well, I'm ten
Speaker 1: pounds heavier than I want to be, and it was
Speaker 1: just indicative of like not really balancing and like working
Speaker 1: around the clock and eating crap. And I wonder now,
Speaker 1: like looking back at her, if she had this book,
Speaker 1: do you think you would have done anything differently?
Speaker 2: Oh? Absolutely, you know.
Speaker 3: I think that the person that I started with, Like
Speaker 3: many people, when you're in your early twenties and you're
Speaker 3: just getting started or even your mid twenties, depending on
Speaker 3: where you are in life, you're still figuring out what
Speaker 3: your purpose is because you've been told your whole life,
Speaker 3: like all these steps that you need to take in
Speaker 3: order to be successful. And you've told your whole life
Speaker 3: all of these rules you need to follow to be successful,
Speaker 3: get a good job, work really hard, like speak up,
Speaker 3: share your ideas. You're told all of these things and
Speaker 3: what you're supposed to do that's going to have a
Speaker 3: successful outcome. And the reality is those rules and that
Speaker 3: playbook was actually designed by people who they don't even
Speaker 3: play by those rules. So I think the faster that
Speaker 3: I accepted, wait, I can do whatever I want to do.
Speaker 3: I have free will. Let me decide what makes me happy,
Speaker 3: what my actual purpose than this life is, and let
Speaker 3: me work towards having more of my time and energy
Speaker 3: be aligned with my purpose.
Speaker 2: The more I was able to then.
Speaker 3: Have a more balanced life, because I used to tell myself, like,
Speaker 3: when you sign up to be an entrepreneur, you just
Speaker 3: sign up to be broke for five to seven years,
Speaker 3: basically because your first few years you're putting everything in
Speaker 3: the business. Then maybe you make a little bit of money,
Speaker 3: and then you're like investing all that money in all
Speaker 3: these people that now you're responsible for, so your income
Speaker 3: is incredibly unstable.
Speaker 2: And then maybe maybe.
Speaker 3: You start to make enough income and revenue the business
Speaker 3: that you can take a nice income. But for ninety
Speaker 3: nine percent of businesses in America, like that is not
Speaker 3: the narrative. That is like not true. Eighty percent of
Speaker 3: small businesses in this country are solopreneurs. So how do
Speaker 3: you accept that in the beginning stages that that rough
Speaker 3: stock is actually potentially your norm.
Speaker 2: It's a little art.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you know what, I Sometimes I'm like, dang,
Speaker 1: why didn't I start this when I was twenty two?
Speaker 1: And when I say this, I wasn't even sure I
Speaker 1: was starting what I want Brown Ambition to be and
Speaker 1: what it's becoming. When I was twenty I started this
Speaker 1: podcast for everything, how was I twenty six? And for
Speaker 1: me it was just a fun passion project. And since
Speaker 1: then starting my you know, leaving corporate and starting my
Speaker 1: my coaching practice, and that was exciting, but I was
Speaker 1: always coming back to Brown Ambition and it was always
Speaker 1: ba for me. And so when my co host Tiffany
Speaker 1: left at the end of last year, which was, you know,
Speaker 1: such a blessing and such a beautiful sometimes it's like
Speaker 1: it was a gift to get to say goodbye to
Speaker 1: her in that way and have such a great like
Speaker 1: parting of you know, creative partnership or whatever. I mean.
Speaker 1: I was just at her house the other day, so
Speaker 1: we still have our bond. But looking ahead, I'm like, oh,
Speaker 1: I do feel like I'm starting now, because starting fresh,
Speaker 1: I do feel like. Yet, I mean, I'm not a
Speaker 1: I'm not a solopreneur in the sense that I'm not
Speaker 1: making money like thankfully. The podcast has been profitable for
Speaker 1: a few years now. But now there's the pressure of, like,
Speaker 1: so how do I invest in the in the business
Speaker 1: of it all. Before I'm just like taking little you know,
Speaker 1: taking cuts, using it for bills and stuff. And now
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh, pouring it back in and choosing what
Speaker 1: to build. I feel like your book, by the way,
Speaker 1: rewrite your rules, which just imagine it's sitting right here.
Speaker 1: I don't have the physical copy. I will have it soon.
Speaker 1: There it is, there, she is. I'll put it on
Speaker 1: the screen. Don't worry. I know what publishers want being
Speaker 1: on the screen with a link. Okay, But I do
Speaker 1: feel like this book.
Speaker 3: Is for me. This book is absolutely for you, someone
Speaker 3: who already has a lot of successful things going on.
Speaker 3: You've got a family, You've made a lot of choices.
Speaker 3: You'd had a corporate nine to five, you chose to
Speaker 3: different paths, and now you're at a crossroads.
Speaker 2: You can choose the stable thing.
Speaker 3: And keep it going right, stick with the same network
Speaker 3: that you're in, stick with the same type of content,
Speaker 3: stick with the same stuff. Or you can take the
Speaker 3: risky route, which has implications it might work out or
Speaker 3: might put you behind where you are now not make
Speaker 3: that decision. I mean, that is what this book is
Speaker 3: designed to help people think through. It is like, how
Speaker 3: do I make the decision?
Speaker 1: How do you make the decision? And I will say
Speaker 1: what I was going to say earlier is being young,
Speaker 1: being twenty two and launching without a family. The stakes
Speaker 1: are so fucking high on Morgan, I got these two
Speaker 1: little ruggrats. My birthday is so compile high. Yes, they're
Speaker 1: right now, They're very high. And I am very I
Speaker 1: am an entrepreneur. I've always sort of been entrepreneurial. I mean,
Speaker 1: I started browd Ambition while I was working nine to five,
Speaker 1: and I love being creative. My husband is very not
Speaker 1: that and it's been it's been challenging, like for him
Speaker 1: to meet this version of myself who's like all in
Speaker 1: and I mean, so that's the challenge how it's impacting
Speaker 1: our relationship. And then I love the freedom I have
Speaker 1: to be a more present mom, but I do. I
Speaker 1: do have to move more slowly than I would have
Speaker 1: before I had these kids, and I have to accept
Speaker 1: that at this stage. Whereas it's it is what it
Speaker 1: is at the end of the day, you know, and
Speaker 1: I don't.
Speaker 3: Think that you can minimize it, like it's still a
Speaker 3: choice that you're making proactively. To say, one of the
Speaker 3: things that's important for me and my family is a
Speaker 3: stability for my family, and stability for my family is
Speaker 3: going to be one of my priority pillars, which we
Speaker 3: talk about in the book, right, and then from there
Speaker 3: everything works around that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was very different than the business. I would
Speaker 1: have the choices and the ways that I think I
Speaker 1: would have easily become, you know, taken the route you had,
Speaker 1: you know, like where you sort of work yourself into
Speaker 1: the ground. And at the same time, it's like be
Speaker 1: grateful for that version of yourself because look what you built.
Speaker 2: Oh I love her, Yeah, grateful for her.
Speaker 3: I think that for anything to be at scale at
Speaker 3: this type of momentum, it requires the ten thousand hours
Speaker 3: that people talk about. I mean, it requires great It
Speaker 3: requires hard work. The question is just when do you
Speaker 3: get off the rat race, Like when have you done enough?
Speaker 3: And when you let the momentum from the work that
Speaker 3: you've put in and the investment that you've put in
Speaker 3: then take you to a different direction. Because I think
Speaker 3: a lot of people get stuck, like they get stuck
Speaker 3: just going through the motions and there's diminishing returns of
Speaker 3: their hard work, Like that is not a hard work alone,
Speaker 3: is not the thing that makes people successful.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I love what you write about this trip to
Speaker 1: Costa Rica and how that was like the beginning of
Speaker 1: you just taking time for yourself. And I've seen that
Speaker 1: you've posted about painting, and I want to hear about
Speaker 1: soft life. Morgan. You left La, you went to Nashville.
Speaker 1: You're in Nashville. Now you found your boo. Yeah, had
Speaker 1: your baby. He's thriving. He's a full toddler. So you know,
Speaker 1: God for us. Yeah, I got one of them too,
Speaker 1: hop out here in these little streets, you know, I think.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I took a thirty day sabbatical.
Speaker 3: You know, I went through a super tough time in
Speaker 3: business where I felt like I was a wartime CEO,
Speaker 3: where like I really was. It was do or guy, like,
Speaker 3: either we make it through this or we're done. And
Speaker 3: I really gave it. After having gone through a season
Speaker 3: where I felt like we were super stable, I had
Speaker 3: then had to like buckle back in and.
Speaker 2: Work like work as hard as I possibly could. And
Speaker 2: I did that for nine months.
Speaker 3: The business had one of its best quarters and I'd
Speaker 3: ever had in the history of the business, and I said, perfect,
Speaker 3: your girl is out.
Speaker 2: I need to go.
Speaker 3: So I did a thirty day sabbatical in Costa Rica
Speaker 3: with some of my girlfriends, Melissa from the Lip Bar
Speaker 3: and Simone now Tyler formerly White, who was our head
Speaker 3: of revenue for the media business at the time, and Afrotech,
Speaker 3: and for thirty days we just did whatever we wanted
Speaker 3: to do, like eat papayas, talked.
Speaker 2: At a fish man.
Speaker 3: We went to a restaurant one night and I was like, oh,
Speaker 3: this fish is so good, you know, and Costa Rican
Speaker 3: so many tropical places are like, oh, we just caught
Speaker 3: it this.
Speaker 2: Morning, and da da da da.
Speaker 3: I was like, okay, cool. Can I get on this boat? Then,
Speaker 3: like I want to go catch a fish? And they
Speaker 3: were like, yeah, we can get on this boat in
Speaker 3: the morning. So we literally went on the fishermen's boat
Speaker 3: in the morning, caught the fish. I get terribly seasick,
Speaker 3: by the way, which I knew, but I was like
Speaker 3: I'm going anyways, caught the fish, smoked a lot of
Speaker 3: wheat on the boat because I was trying not to
Speaker 3: be so sick. Do I help'd the fish? At night
Speaker 3: and we had fresh ahi for dinner.
Speaker 1: Damn.
Speaker 3: But like I wanted to just do stuff like stop
Speaker 3: being so freaking responsible, stop overthinking everything. Stop if this
Speaker 3: then that every single decision for thirty days, and it
Speaker 3: just reset my ability to then have an abundance mindset
Speaker 3: about well, what does the next phase in my life
Speaker 3: look like now that I've made it through these different
Speaker 3: things in the business, what else.
Speaker 2: Do I want?
Speaker 3: And outside of work? Because that's just not enough. It
Speaker 3: wasn't enough for me.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and how much of that also is having a
Speaker 1: team to support you so that you can be free.
Speaker 2: It required a new team.
Speaker 3: I mean I had to dream up a whole new
Speaker 3: organizational chart, I had to dream up a whole new
Speaker 3: personal team.
Speaker 2: So it required a lot of transformation. It required total transformation.
Speaker 3: And I think, you know, my hope with the book
Speaker 3: is that it gives people the framework to identify where
Speaker 3: they need those transformations in their personal life as well
Speaker 3: as their professional life.
Speaker 1: Do you feel as if, let me back up a
Speaker 1: little bit, I sometimes as a mom, I'm so grateful,
Speaker 1: you know, I talk about how you can list out
Speaker 1: the ways that makes it more challenging to be ambitious
Speaker 1: and to have a career in all of that and
Speaker 1: to start a business. But at the same time, in
Speaker 1: a time like this, I find so much I find
Speaker 1: it meditative being a mom sometimes getting on the floor
Speaker 1: building a lego, you know, being in tune with that.
Speaker 1: How has your son changed your approach to business or
Speaker 1: your tolerant your resilience for business, if at all, you.
Speaker 3: Know, I think I was very much a yes, I
Speaker 3: can do these things. Yes you want me to fly
Speaker 3: to the city, Yes, I'll go from city to city
Speaker 3: and like take out these meetings and do this stuff.
Speaker 2: I've always had a little bit of like boundary and know.
Speaker 3: But I think when you have kids, it requires a
Speaker 3: different way of your time, and I think certainly for
Speaker 3: me that has been the case, particularly when they're really
Speaker 3: you know, I think over time they're a little less
Speaker 3: impacted by you being away for two, three four days.
Speaker 3: Hopefully I'm hopeful for some freedom, but you know, we
Speaker 3: leave the house for a night and he or two nights.
Speaker 2: You know, I know he's not going to sleep well
Speaker 2: that night because we're both gone.
Speaker 3: So I think for me, I've just had to be
Speaker 3: more disciplined with how I'm saying, Like what is my focus,
Speaker 3: What are my priorities, what are the I can only
Speaker 3: do three things at all times. I can only be
Speaker 3: prioritizing three things. Those three things can change, but right now,
Speaker 3: three things and that's it, and everything has to pass
Speaker 3: through those three things to make it out on the
Speaker 3: other side. And that I think principle is something that
Speaker 3: I've learned and lived by and I think having a
Speaker 3: kid just basically reinforced that.
Speaker 1: So now it's one of those things, you know, those
Speaker 1: three principles that you're sort of filtering every those three values,
Speaker 1: what are they if you don't mind sharing?
Speaker 3: Yeah, So there's six pillars in the book that I
Speaker 3: talk about, and at any point you're prioritizing three out
Speaker 3: of these six.
Speaker 2: The six different.
Speaker 3: Ones are wellness, stability, freedom, money, relationships, and passions.
Speaker 2: Okay, so for me.
Speaker 3: Right now, stability is important because family, two relationships, because
Speaker 3: my relationship with my partner. I'm getting married in August.
Speaker 3: We've got a lot going on.
Speaker 2: And then I think the last thing for me is freedom.
Speaker 3: Like I am spending a lot of time making sure
Speaker 3: that I'm doing things that I want to do that
Speaker 3: I'm in control of. High I spend my time right
Speaker 3: let's say you're a medical student. Freedom can't be one
Speaker 3: of your priorities because you're stuck into a system, right,
Speaker 3: But maybe it's passions. You're volunteering your time and you're
Speaker 3: doing these with other people and that makes you feel good.
Speaker 3: Or maybe it's relationships and you're going to church, building
Speaker 3: a church community and building relationships with your peers and
Speaker 3: your colleagues. Right at any different phase in your life,
Speaker 3: you're gonna have different pillars and those are going to change.
Speaker 2: And then what I think it.
Speaker 3: Does is it also helps you accept that the other
Speaker 3: pillars are not a priority.
Speaker 2: They're on maintenance, moll. So it's not that I.
Speaker 3: Am eating cake and you know, putting a bunch of
Speaker 3: sodium in my food every day because my wellness isn't
Speaker 3: one of my priorities. But it does mean like I
Speaker 3: was supposed to go to pilates this morning at six am,
Speaker 3: and I just accepted that that was not going to happen,
Speaker 3: and I was going to pay the cancelation fee, and
Speaker 3: I didn't.
Speaker 2: Beat myself up about it.
Speaker 3: I had all intentions I do it, but my son
Speaker 3: woke up early and I said, you know what, We're
Speaker 3: just gonna hang out.
Speaker 2: Then that's fine. Good morning, good.
Speaker 1: Morning, good morning. I think one of your podcasts we
Speaker 1: should mention the journey, which you I feel like you've
Speaker 1: tried a couple of different kinds of podcasts, right, yeah.
Speaker 3: I've had work Smart, I have the journey, and we're
Speaker 3: probably gonna transition the journey back to work Smart soon.
Speaker 1: Oh really okay? And then I was on your blavity
Speaker 1: head A podcast for a minute. I do feel like
Speaker 1: you're not You're not afraid to test new things and
Speaker 1: try new things business wise, I'm the queen.
Speaker 3: I'm a queen of failure. I believe in testing everything
Speaker 3: and failing as quickly as possible so that you can
Speaker 3: decide what's working and what's not working. Because the more
Speaker 3: shots I have at the at the goal, the more
Speaker 3: likely I'm gonna hit the goal.
Speaker 2: MM.
Speaker 1: So what has that looked for you? Look like for
Speaker 1: you in terms of your business right now? Like, what
Speaker 1: are you trying right now that you're not sure? Is
Speaker 1: blavity Fest one of those tests you don't want test,
Speaker 1: it's not really a test.
Speaker 3: So blavity Fest is at the end of ma A
Speaker 3: at the in Atlanta. It's a mix of a conference
Speaker 3: in a music festival, so we've got music in that
Speaker 3: in the evening, Kirk Franklin two chains, variety of different artists.
Speaker 2: We've got a DJ battle with local Bank.
Speaker 1: Went in two chains. The dichotomy is on Sunday.
Speaker 2: Okay, brun Okay to say, Atlanta, I.
Speaker 1: Thought you said Kirk was opening.
Speaker 2: Up for two chains. You know, Saturday is two chains.
Speaker 1: Got it? We getting lit Saturday.
Speaker 2: Park is all Sunday.
Speaker 1: Oh yeh, that makes sense.
Speaker 3: And we've got like really great speakers everything covering things
Speaker 3: from you know, wealth, personal finance to wellness.
Speaker 2: Speakers like Debbie Brown, Tiffany.
Speaker 3: Of course, the but Denistas, so you all know Tiff,
Speaker 3: so many incredible people and we've been doing that. We've
Speaker 3: been in the events business for a decade, right, Like
Speaker 3: Afrotech is huge. It's the second largest gathering of black
Speaker 3: professionals in the country. As it's only the second largest
Speaker 3: what's bigger, essence fastest? Oh, okay, fair enough, but damn huge.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a lot. It's so much fun.
Speaker 3: It's it's fantastic and it's just a great place to
Speaker 3: grow and invest in your to gown and get to
Speaker 3: the next level whatever your goal is.
Speaker 2: There is something for you at Efortech.
Speaker 3: Now for blavity Fest, we've had different iterations of a
Speaker 3: blabvierty Fest. We had some at twenty one, which was
Speaker 3: in form really called empower Her.
Speaker 2: If you were that.
Speaker 1: Old, I have yes, you talked about that on an
Speaker 1: early episode. I was like, oh damn, I forgot about.
Speaker 2: Empower Her exactly. So your girl goes through iterations all
Speaker 2: the time.
Speaker 3: So empower Her was two or three years and we
Speaker 3: changed it to sum at twenty one, and then some
Speaker 3: at twenty one did super well with consumers, but advertisers
Speaker 3: weren't really investing in it.
Speaker 2: So we picked.
Speaker 3: I picked basically, I said, look, we only got so many,
Speaker 3: so much time and effort, let's scale afrotech instead of
Speaker 3: some at twenty one. But now we're back at a
Speaker 3: place where Afrotech is super stable. And I do believe
Speaker 3: that there is a world where people who are not
Speaker 3: in tech still want to come together to connect. Network
Speaker 3: creators want the skills the tools we able to get
Speaker 3: to the next level. Artists, musical people, people in the
Speaker 3: production space, people who are looking to publish their first book,
Speaker 3: like there are a lot of information that I still
Speaker 3: think being in person and having those social connect connections
Speaker 3: helps people get to the next level, you know, and
Speaker 3: events are a great way to do that.
Speaker 1: I didn't know how much I needed to be at
Speaker 1: Afrotech until I was there. I mean, I went by
Speaker 1: your invitation just because you know, at the time, I
Speaker 1: was looking for any excuse to leave the house and
Speaker 1: go work on my book and you know, and I
Speaker 1: would just make a book trip out of any any
Speaker 1: little break I could get. So I was like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'll go to Houston, and what's there to do in Houston. Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: I didn't write anything because I was just goingting done
Speaker 1: during it. Yeah, it's just but there was work being done.
Speaker 1: I didn't know how much I needed to be at
Speaker 1: a table with other really, you know, unapologetically big idea
Speaker 1: creators like and people who made me feel capable of
Speaker 1: doing all I wanted to do. And the thing about
Speaker 1: solopreneurship is it can be isolating, and especially being a
Speaker 1: mom on top of that, like I don't really get
Speaker 1: to connect with other other than like BA fam and
Speaker 1: my family and my neighbors, not doing a lot of
Speaker 1: connecting in person with peers, and so yeah, it was
Speaker 1: just really I left there feeling extremely capable of doing
Speaker 1: everything I wanted to do and saying it out loud
Speaker 1: with Brown Ambition and turning it into like the media
Speaker 1: juggernaut that I wanted to become. And yeah, I definitely
Speaker 1: owe that to you and to Afrotech. So thank you
Speaker 1: for thank you in advance, not in advance many belated
Speaker 1: thank you for being You're right.
Speaker 3: I mean, I think that the power of your network
Speaker 3: is one of the things that can propel you in
Speaker 3: times when you're making those kinds of decisions like how
Speaker 3: are we going to scale Brown ambition? What does broad
Speaker 3: ambition three point out look like under Mandy's leadership?
Speaker 2: What does it look like?
Speaker 3: You have no one else to run things back besides
Speaker 3: your own brain.
Speaker 1: And you want the right people. You want someone who
Speaker 1: you can call up and be like, hey, I'm facing
Speaker 1: this problem and they're not going to tell you, well,
Speaker 1: why don't you just not do it? It seems hard? That
Speaker 1: seems hard. And the number of people who I've told
Speaker 1: me this week to just go take a nap and
Speaker 1: why don't you take something off your plate, I'm like, no, no, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: this is not here. This is not the time to
Speaker 1: take things off the plate. I need a bigger plate,
Speaker 1: that's what you mean, I need a bigger plate?
Speaker 3: Yes, well, I think that's like one of the challenges
Speaker 3: with the self care narrative and like the soft life narrative,
Speaker 3: Like I'm actually not like super pro soft life, like
Speaker 3: I'm pro proactive care, Like I'm pro don't get to
Speaker 3: a place where you feel like your plate is overflowing
Speaker 3: with work.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but I'm not a like just do less like no,
Speaker 2: like let me let me max out and still feel
Speaker 2: good about it. Like how do you max out and
Speaker 2: still get eight hours?
Speaker 1: Mmmm? It's like becoming a better optimizing optimization.
Speaker 3: Like, I just believe that that is possible. I believe
Speaker 3: that you can use tools like AI. I believe that
Speaker 3: you can make different choices with how you spend your
Speaker 3: money to invest in things that are going to give
Speaker 3: you your time back. Like I believe that there is
Speaker 3: a way for you to have it all eventually.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you and Rachel Rogers next to each other. It's
Speaker 1: like you ain't leaving that conversation without a nanny. It's
Speaker 1: like a cleaning crew, a meal delivery, a chef. Like
Speaker 1: you're going to invest in your.
Speaker 2: Ste at GPT pro like, let's just start with TPT.
Speaker 1: Pro like, okay, twenty bucks a month, who had it?
Speaker 2: No, I want the next one up the Yeah there's
Speaker 2: another level.
Speaker 1: Oh damn.
Speaker 3: But but the next level allows has an operator and
Speaker 3: does all this stuff where you can do stuff for
Speaker 3: you for you on your computer.
Speaker 1: Okay, I want to I want you to take me
Speaker 1: through your day. I want you to tell me, like,
Speaker 1: do you have a certain routine, how are you balancing
Speaker 1: and checking things? And also who are the people that
Speaker 1: are checking in with you and supporting you throughout the day, Like.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean my day.
Speaker 3: I mean I have to say I live in a
Speaker 3: state of privilege right now. So I don't want anyone
Speaker 3: to hear this and be like, girl, you're doing too much.
Speaker 3: That it's important for people to understand at a certain
Speaker 3: level how much help we all really have behind the scenes,
Speaker 3: because I didn't realize this until it was far too late,
Speaker 3: that people have things like house managers and nannies and
Speaker 3: all pairs, and they're have live live in nanny's or
Speaker 3: rotational nannies where someone is working twenty four to seven
Speaker 3: for a week, they're off and then another nanny comes
Speaker 3: while they're off.
Speaker 2: They have two full.
Speaker 3: Time nannies, Like, I didn't know the game that people
Speaker 3: were playing while everyone was telling us.
Speaker 2: Just lean in, just lean in, just say yes. And
Speaker 2: I'm like, ma'am, you didn't tell me what was going
Speaker 2: on behind the scenes. It allowed you to lean in.
Speaker 2: So that is my disclaim before I tell you my schedule.
Speaker 1: Open that gate, baby, let's go.
Speaker 2: Okay, So it starts actually the night before.
Speaker 3: So the night before, my virtual assistant Beth sends me
Speaker 3: my schedule for the next day with any notes, pre
Speaker 3: meeting notes, anything that I need to know mentally so
Speaker 3: that I can prep for the next day. So every
Speaker 3: meeting that I have, I have two calendar invites. I
Speaker 3: have the actual calendar invite, and then I have the
Speaker 3: notes for that meeting with any context like who introduced
Speaker 3: me to that person, what are we supposed to be
Speaker 3: talking about? Maybe prereads like all that stuff. Okay, I
Speaker 3: sleep for at least eight hours a night. I need
Speaker 3: a full night sleep, kind of girly. I wake up
Speaker 3: between five thirty and six fifteen. I would say, I
Speaker 3: don't wake up with an alarm. I kind of just
Speaker 3: wake up based off of what my body needs. But
Speaker 3: it's just pretty consistent. I wake up with the sun,
Speaker 3: which is hard to do in the winter.
Speaker 2: But you get about it.
Speaker 1: Like nine, I go to.
Speaker 3: Sleep between nine nine and ten. I'm sorry, yep, I
Speaker 3: am not a night out. I'm a morning person, so
Speaker 3: I'm highly productive in the morning. So I wake up
Speaker 3: and typically I sit in bed and like get some
Speaker 3: work done while i'm everything is still nice and warm.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Course from there. My routine has changed now that I
Speaker 3: have a son. Previously we would get up and go
Speaker 3: to the gym. That does not happen. Now we get
Speaker 3: up and we wait for him to wake up, wait
Speaker 3: for him to wake up. Then's breakfast, So him and
Speaker 3: I breakfast together, and usually I'm listening to some sort
Speaker 3: of news CNBC typically just trying to make sure or
Speaker 3: the New York Times Daily from the day before typically, so.
Speaker 1: Some sort of info there up before the Daily comes out,
Speaker 1: I believe.
Speaker 2: So I don't know actually know what time the Daily
Speaker 2: gets out, but it's.
Speaker 1: Like six am.
Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, so maybe maybe actually I could listen to
Speaker 3: the to the current one, but I'm usually be behind.
Speaker 1: I skip the depressing ones. I'm like, I don't want
Speaker 1: to spend thirty minutes thinking about the state of the Union.
Speaker 3: Sorry, no, that's the one I want to hear, because
Speaker 3: I'm sure as hell was not able to form. Like
Speaker 3: I'm married the first thirty minutes of pompous circumstances that
Speaker 3: I'm out, I'm gonna go watch Paradise.
Speaker 1: So then just finish that.
Speaker 2: So good.
Speaker 3: So then after the nanny arrives at around eight, not
Speaker 3: around at eight. And we also have an ad pair,
Speaker 3: So the odd pair now is up and online and
Speaker 3: with him at seven, so basically between like I'm sitting
Speaker 3: and eating with him, but she's still around in case
Speaker 3: I need to, you know, have my.
Speaker 2: Attention doing something else.
Speaker 1: And nanny.
Speaker 2: Have an AF pair and a nanny Now all.
Speaker 1: Pair is great? Why? Why? Why both? What is that?
Speaker 3: Because I travel so much now so his first year
Speaker 3: of life I didn't travel or he came with me
Speaker 3: because I was breastfeeding. Now that he's not attached to
Speaker 3: the boob, mama is al okay, but overnight.
Speaker 2: Or who's gonna watch him overnight?
Speaker 1: Okay?
Speaker 3: Like all pair can only work ten hours a day,
Speaker 3: which she doesn't. She works like six or seven hours
Speaker 3: a day, and nanny could not work twenty four hours
Speaker 3: straight like that would.
Speaker 2: Be a lot.
Speaker 1: Gotcha. So the nanny's rolling in to kind of pick up.
Speaker 2: Mm hmm, well vice versa.
Speaker 3: The pair the nanny's a primary, the all pair is
Speaker 3: actually the gap closer.
Speaker 1: Oh really okay.
Speaker 3: Yeah, because his language development, he's he's a talker, so
Speaker 3: he needs someone who speaks really good English during the day.
Speaker 1: Oh okay, So where's the ope. Where'd you get your
Speaker 1: pair from?
Speaker 2: She's from Brazil?
Speaker 3: Oh?
Speaker 2: Nice?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I have I have friends. I have a friend
Speaker 1: who has who has been has had a great experience
Speaker 1: with all pairs.
Speaker 2: She's great.
Speaker 1: If I had the space, I totally have one. Because
Speaker 1: they got to have their own Yeah.
Speaker 2: They have their own room.
Speaker 1: If you do it through like a reputable surface, which we.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's kindly regulated actually.
Speaker 1: As it yeah, as it should be to protect them,
Speaker 1: it should be.
Speaker 3: I'm like, oh yeah, check my background. But no, it's
Speaker 3: I mean, it's it's great. Like he gets basically a
Speaker 3: big sister playmate. And in those days where Josh and
Speaker 3: I are both out of town, we have a stable
Speaker 3: care system where the nanny's not being overworked and he's
Speaker 3: able to have two people that he trusts with.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Okay, alrighty, So the Nanny's arriving, and where.
Speaker 3: Danny's arriving, Mama's out, I'm out. So that's basically eight am.
Speaker 3: I'm working Okay, so eight am or that would be
Speaker 3: when I would go to the gym or plates. So
Speaker 3: assume a day I'm not working out, then I'm doing
Speaker 3: If it's day that I'm not working out, we would
Speaker 3: go for a walk too if it's warm, so that
Speaker 3: would be my little workout for the day.
Speaker 2: But yeah, I'm in the office. I'm out here in my.
Speaker 3: Studio going through typically the like prepping again for meetings,
Speaker 3: doing any prereads again that I didn't do the night before,
Speaker 3: and then just getting to it.
Speaker 2: Like depending on the day.
Speaker 3: I see my days and I talk about this in
Speaker 3: the book, but instead of context switching between all of
Speaker 3: the businesses that I have throughout the day, Like Tuesdays
Speaker 3: are Afrotech, so I meet with everybody on the afro
Speaker 3: Tech team. I have the Afrotech sales team meeting. I'm
Speaker 3: like reviewing all the Afrotech things. Mondays and Wednesdays are
Speaker 3: Blavity Fest and Blabvity Media Group, so I meet with
Speaker 3: the teams that way. Thursday and Friday are external. It's
Speaker 3: like today we're recording this. It is an external conversation.
Speaker 3: So I have five or six external meetings today, So
Speaker 3: depending on the day, I kind of know what's going
Speaker 3: to happen. And then I'm done with meetings by four
Speaker 3: thirty five. And I what you're eating during the day, Oh,
Speaker 3: I simple food, yes, early? Yeah, Lunch is usually like
Speaker 3: tuna salad or egg salad.
Speaker 1: And do you cook or do you have like a cook?
Speaker 3: I don't have a cook right now, but I've had
Speaker 3: seasons where I've had cooks and chefs.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: So again, like I very much believe that my village
Speaker 3: should be reflection on whatever season I'm in and when
Speaker 3: I need. So there's been times where I had a
Speaker 3: house manager and a chef, right, Langston, those two roles
Speaker 3: now are his, Okay, so get her. I used to
Speaker 3: have my call my house manager an adult nanny. She
Speaker 3: would make sure I was taken care of.
Speaker 1: Yeah, oh I fucking love an adult nanny. I need
Speaker 1: my wife. I like a stereotypical sometimes.
Speaker 2: Choose everything you know.
Speaker 3: And then when when Langston was a super duper baby
Speaker 3: and like really really sleeping a lot, then his nanny
Speaker 3: was also a bit of an assistant and house manager
Speaker 3: because he was sleep half the time she was here.
Speaker 2: Now he's up and about.
Speaker 3: He needs full time attention, right So I'm always reevaluating
Speaker 3: what makes sense based off of the priority pillars that
Speaker 3: I have, and then also what's going to allow me
Speaker 3: to have the time and freedom to be able to
Speaker 3: get to the next level of what I'm trying to do.
Speaker 3: So right now, my focus is ensuring that I'm reaching
Speaker 3: as many people as possible with these principles and frameworks
Speaker 3: and methods and tools in the book. Second is to
Speaker 3: make sure that the media business, which is the toughest
Speaker 3: business to run in this type of economy, is stable
Speaker 3: and slightly growing. I will settle for slightly growing in
Speaker 3: this economy as long as we beat the market, I'm happy, okay.
Speaker 3: And then my third priority is just like re establishing
Speaker 3: and having time to envision what a new life looks
Speaker 3: like for me now that I am a mother and
Speaker 3: I am soon to be a wife and all of
Speaker 3: these different things those require a new vision for my futures.
Speaker 3: I'm just making more time for me to be quiet
Speaker 3: and to think and to dream what the next five
Speaker 3: ten years.
Speaker 1: Looks like for me, Okay, can we peek through that
Speaker 1: window for a second? Yeah, what do you think? What
Speaker 1: do you see when you look at the next five
Speaker 1: ten years.
Speaker 3: Well, I you know, I'm eleven years in as the
Speaker 3: CEO of Lavity. I think at some point I will
Speaker 3: continue to work with my team for there to be
Speaker 3: new leaders who take on the operating role. I will
Speaker 3: always have an owner role, but there's a difference between
Speaker 3: an owner operator and just an owner or an operator.
Speaker 3: So I look forward to transitioning, I think, into being
Speaker 3: more of an owner and less of a day to
Speaker 3: day operator. I think the second thing is, you know,
Speaker 3: I'm really enjoying working with small businesses, and I really
Speaker 3: enjoy helping entrepreneurs who are already doing well get to
Speaker 3: the next level, like whether that's raised their first round
Speaker 3: of funding, whether that's think about their own exit. You know,
Speaker 3: I've bought three businesses in the last ten years, so
Speaker 3: I know what it's like to go through an exit
Speaker 3: and to be on the other side of integrating.
Speaker 2: I don't think I want to be a.
Speaker 3: Venture capitalist, but I do believe in like being a
Speaker 3: good capitalist. In other words, maybe raising a fund and
Speaker 3: investing in small businesses and helping middle market companies get
Speaker 3: to the next level. So I think there's a lot
Speaker 3: of different ways that I can take it. You know,
Speaker 3: with more time, it will the opportunities will reveal themselves.
Speaker 1: I think that that's yeah, excited for what comes next.
Speaker 1: I also, you know, having been on the journey, like
Speaker 1: just as a as a yeah, from the outside looking in,
Speaker 1: it's been. It's fun. It's you're like a character in
Speaker 1: a story that I mean, I know.
Speaker 2: That you're a human beings.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I just think it's it's really Yeah. I
Speaker 1: think it's a privilege to get to follow you on
Speaker 1: that journey and like and every once in a while
Speaker 1: check in, see what's happening, what's this new iteration of Morgan? Like,
Speaker 1: and I just wish you so much luck with the
Speaker 1: book and I hope it is as huge as it
Speaker 1: deserves to be. I will be giving a copy to
Speaker 1: multiple solopreneur friends of mine who I feel like need it.
Speaker 1: And yeah, just let me know what Morgan coaching program
Speaker 1: I can sign up for.
Speaker 2: You can sign up for work Smart. We meet monthly.
Speaker 3: We have so much fun and we usually have about
Speaker 3: one hundred and fety people on the call.
Speaker 2: We talk about whatever's going on in the world and
Speaker 2: I just have people work through it.
Speaker 1: Amazing. All right, Morgan, y'all go check out her book,
Speaker 1: get pre order it now. I'm putting the link in
Speaker 1: the show notes. And do you have a book website.
Speaker 1: I'm sure you do. Rewrite your rules dot com.
Speaker 2: Rules dot com. There we go.
Speaker 1: All right, that's how you know she was talking to Tiffany.
Speaker 1: Everyone's got that book website.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 2: I think you need the tenth step plan and I
Speaker 2: shall follow it.
Speaker 1: I mean it, it works, it works, all right, va fan.
Speaker 1: Thanks for tuning in, Morgan, thank you so much for
Speaker 1: joining me Brown Ambition.
Speaker 2: Mandy, thanks for having me. See y'all later. Bye,