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Speaker 1: Hey, Hey, Hey, we're back. We're black, We're Brown, and

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Speaker 1: I am writing solo. Wait, We're Brown Ambition. I already

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Speaker 1: screwed it up, y'all. Tiffany's only been gone a couple

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Speaker 1: of weeks and I can't even do the intro of

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Speaker 1: our show. But it's your girl, Nandy aka Mandy Money,

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Speaker 1: and I am not going to be alone for much longer, y'all.

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Speaker 1: This is kind of a weird but also amazing episode

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Speaker 1: of Brown Ambition, a history making episode of Brown Ambition.

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Speaker 1: I feel like the presence of this person has sort

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Speaker 1: of like loomed in the background of Brown Ambition because

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Speaker 1: he's mentioned he's been in my background for years trying

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Speaker 1: to get on this show. And I guess when your

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Speaker 1: little brother asks you for something, there's just something inherent

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Speaker 1: as a big sister that just makes you not want

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Speaker 1: him to have it. So for eight years, my little brother,

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Speaker 1: Alex Woodruff has been petitioning to be guest on Brown Ambition,

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Speaker 1: and finally he asked at the right time. I have

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Speaker 1: never been more impressed with him as not just a

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Speaker 1: career professional, but also from a financial perspective what he's

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Speaker 1: managed to do just by the tender age of thirty one.

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Speaker 1: I can't believe he's old, but also that makes me

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Speaker 1: so much older. But anyway, he has paid off a condo,

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Speaker 1: paid off fifty K of student loan debt, built his

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Speaker 1: own beautiful, gigantic home in the heart of our hometown

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Speaker 1: of Atlanta. He has an Airbnb property, and on top

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Speaker 1: of that, he is a badass tech sales rep for

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Speaker 1: multiple companies like IBM and Salesforce. And did I even

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Speaker 1: mention that he has this new thriving creative endeavor as

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Speaker 1: a filmmaker. So I am inviting my little brother, my

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Speaker 1: little brother Alex, on the show today and I hope

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Speaker 1: that you all enjoy this conversation. I listen, I try

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Speaker 1: to do the best I can not to tease him,

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Speaker 1: but it just comes out anyway, but straight from the heart. Though.

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Speaker 1: I love him dearly, and I think that you guys

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Speaker 1: will find so many gems that he drops, even some

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Speaker 1: things that I was surprised to learn about his own

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Speaker 1: career path and his financial path. So, without further ado,

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Speaker 1: here is my interview with my little brother Alex Woodruff.

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Speaker 1: Please go check out his production company, Pineapplecutpictures dot com.

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Speaker 1: You can follow them on ig and check out their

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Speaker 1: website to find out how you can support their projects.

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Speaker 1: They do incredible film short films using at Landta talent

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Speaker 1: at Lanta Crew. It's like such a Georgia Georgia Pride moment.

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Speaker 1: And not only that, but they are telling stories that

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Speaker 1: need to be told, telling stories from underrepresented communities and

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Speaker 1: doing it beautifully and with a lot of heart and

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Speaker 1: high quality. So definitely check them out. Uncomfortable for me

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Speaker 1: to say so many nice things about my brother, I

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Speaker 1: can't think of it. Whatever, he's awesome. He's become such

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Speaker 1: an incredible person. Now, if y'all want to support Brand Ambition,

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Speaker 1: you know what to do. Go to Brand Ambition podcast

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Speaker 1: dot com. You can leave us a review. We haven't

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Speaker 1: called out that for we haven't asked for a review

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Speaker 1: in a long time. Leave us a review, y'all, leave

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Speaker 1: us five stars and say a word about the podcast.

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Speaker 1: You can do that wherever you're listening to the podcast

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Speaker 1: right now. But let me stop rambling and let me

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Speaker 1: get into this interview with my baby bro, all right,

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Speaker 1: va fam, I don't really know how to act because,

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Speaker 1: like today's guest, I have read is Harry Potter fan

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Speaker 1: fiction and seen him wear a lot of Pokemon, uh,

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Speaker 1: paraphernalia and memorabilia anyway, brought into my house. Yeah, I

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Speaker 1: don't think I brought Pokemon into your house.

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Speaker 2: You brought it back from from Paris. When you went

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Speaker 2: to Versall, you brought back a book.

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Speaker 1: I will have the scar from when he threw the

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Speaker 1: remote control at my head so hard because I turned

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Speaker 1: the channel on him. So this is going to be

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Speaker 1: an interesting one VA fan, but I am really excited

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Speaker 1: to really make this a family event, okay, and introduce

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Speaker 1: you to my brother. My little brother, Alex James Woodruff

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Speaker 1: is in the studio.

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Speaker 2: Thank you. I don't know how to act baby showing

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Speaker 2: up here?

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Speaker 1: Wait am I the Yeah?

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Speaker 2: You're you're giving me the opportunity of a lifetime.

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Speaker 1: I have no idea how the lifetime.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, honestly, y'all, I feel like, when was it that

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Speaker 1: your campaign to be a guest on Brown Ambition really started.

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Speaker 1: I've always been a little confused by it, Like I

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Speaker 1: didn't think anyone in my family really cared. What do

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Speaker 1: you about my podcast? I didn't.

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Speaker 2: That's because for everybody who doesn't actually know Mandy in person,

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Speaker 2: Mandy is not really aware of how incredible she is,

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Speaker 2: and so.

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Speaker 1: Why I want to go that far? I am Elijah,

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Speaker 1: No she I think.

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Speaker 2: You you like yourself a lot, and that's great, that's healthy,

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Speaker 2: but you're maybe not aware like how other people see you.

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Speaker 2: I was, of course I want to be on the show.

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Speaker 2: From the beginning, I was like, what's wrong with me?

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Speaker 2: How come I can't? Am I not ambitious enough? As

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Speaker 2: brown as you are? Like this is I definitely can

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Speaker 2: make it, and yeah I made it eventually. Five What

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Speaker 2: is this been? Are you on year six?

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Speaker 1: Eight? We're on your eight?

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Speaker 2: You're eight?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, so when we started the show you were twenty,

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Speaker 1: you were just getting out of college. But listen, I

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Speaker 1: feel like for any sibling relationship, it's all I don't know.

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Speaker 1: I feel like our sibling relationship is super It's it's

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Speaker 1: its own thing. It's super unique. It's something that I

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Speaker 1: cherish really deeply. And I feel like for me having

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Speaker 1: you on the show, I was just waiting for it

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Speaker 1: to be an easy yes for me, And I think

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Speaker 1: it became an easy yes, not just because I slee

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Speaker 1: Tiffany is out this month and I just didn't really

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Speaker 1: which I want to be on here because I know

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Speaker 1: and listen, she'd be giving you so much shit about looking.

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Speaker 2: I wish I thought she didn't want to show her

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Speaker 2: face today.

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Speaker 1: I did send her a message let me see if

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Speaker 1: she responded.

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Speaker 2: So far.

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Speaker 1: She said nice. I told him when I told her

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Speaker 1: you were going to be on the show. Anyway, so

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Speaker 1: she this has her blessing. But anyway, I wanted it

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Speaker 1: to be an easy yes, And I can't think so

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Speaker 1: when this is the year when I really started to

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Speaker 1: like learn more and appreciate you as the entrepreneur that

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Speaker 1: you have become and how you're sort of managing your

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Speaker 1: your four way and not just a foray but like

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Speaker 1: your you know, transition into filmmaking along with your nine

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Speaker 1: to five career. And it's been really dope to see

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Speaker 1: you grow. And I feel like we have something to

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Speaker 1: sink our teeth into just beyond like this is my

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Speaker 1: little brother and isn't he cute? And he looks like

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Speaker 1: me and all that stuff, which, yeah, whatever, I see

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Speaker 1: the little sweater moment. I mean, I feel my hair

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Speaker 1: I did over over face time over Marco Polo over. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: yeah I did. Oh your hair goes down now.

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Speaker 2: Do not do not bring that.

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Speaker 1: It looks better than Nick from the Backstreet Boys. Okay,

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Speaker 1: it looks better.

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Speaker 2: Than Okay, everybody in the faces all right, like low

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Speaker 2: bow Wow's hair went down too. I really I just

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Speaker 2: wanted long hair. He did.

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Speaker 1: He got it, you got it. We both have had

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Speaker 1: her hair journeys. But listen, so I'm really happy to

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Speaker 1: have you on the show because I mean, and y'all

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Speaker 1: know for my intro, which I will do Alex the

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Speaker 1: magic of editing. You understand this, It'll happen later. But

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Speaker 1: my brother is so much more than that. He has

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Speaker 1: for himself launched at a very young age. What are

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Speaker 1: you like thirty, I don't know, thirty one, thirty one now, yes,

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Speaker 1: thirty one. Now you have created the successful care and

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Speaker 1: tech sales and you know, software sales and sort of

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Speaker 1: like taken everything that you and I share as a passion,

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Speaker 1: like writing and creative, you know, creating stories and storytelling,

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Speaker 1: and like you managed to take those skills but sort

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Speaker 1: of like go the business approach, whereas I was always

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Speaker 1: like art first, and I'm going to go be a writer,

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Speaker 1: like so literal like I like to write, so I'm

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Speaker 1: going to be a writer and be a journalist. And

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Speaker 1: you were like I like to write, but I want

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Speaker 1: to make some money and be a business person. So anyway,

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Speaker 1: but we've both, I feel like, taken these you know,

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Speaker 1: taking our unique approaches to our career, but both kind

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Speaker 1: of ended up like in a similar like coming back

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Speaker 1: to that creative space. So I want you to sort

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Speaker 1: of start things off by talking about your you know,

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Speaker 1: the money moves you made career wise, you know, getting

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Speaker 1: into software sales, and when did you start having this

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Speaker 1: like idea that I can also you know, bring my

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Speaker 1: creativity out and have this creative endeavor you know on

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Speaker 1: the side, and then of course talk about what it

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Speaker 1: is which I'm repping here.

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Speaker 2: Thank you very much for being such a good promotional

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Speaker 2: big sister. When you were talking about how I've parlayed

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Speaker 2: a lot of the same qualities we share from a

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Speaker 2: passion perspective and what we love about writing and storytelling

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Speaker 2: into making money and being a businessman. I was reminded

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Speaker 2: of a Kendrick Lamar album to Pimp a Butterfly, because

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Speaker 2: Eve one of my biggest inspirations as a as a

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Speaker 2: creative and as a software sales person or as everything

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Speaker 2: I am, and one of the things he talks about

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Speaker 2: in that on that album particularly, is to take the

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Speaker 2: butterfly or whatever that's important or impressive or core or

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Speaker 2: pure about yourself and pimp it right. And that's what

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Speaker 2: I've been doing the last eight years. I've been pimping

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Speaker 2: my own butterfly, right. I've been putting it out there

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Speaker 2: and making money off of it, right. And I think

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Speaker 2: that that's something that's really it's not something to be

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Speaker 2: ashamed of, right. It's something for me that has allowed

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Speaker 2: me and afforded me the creative license and freedom to

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Speaker 2: just do what it is that I feel. So when

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Speaker 2: you ask about you know, how did I make the

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Speaker 2: decision or when was I ready to transition to doing

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Speaker 2: not just my career, which is software sales. I work

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Speaker 2: at a company called Fiddler and we're in the AI space.

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Speaker 2: It's not It wasn't that I decided one day to

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Speaker 2: do it was I was always using those skills writing

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Speaker 2: and storytelling in my business world. And because I had

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Speaker 2: been able to be successful and build financial freedom for

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Speaker 2: myself at a young age, that allowed me to have

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Speaker 2: the headspace to do more music, to do film, to

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Speaker 2: do things that I loved and felt called to do

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Speaker 2: in my free time without the pressure of having to

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Speaker 2: say I got to make money off of this thing.

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Speaker 2: I have to like go and support work myself off

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Speaker 2: of this thing. We all have time. We all have

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Speaker 2: whatever your amount of time is, right that that's free

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Speaker 2: to you and for me, luckily enough, I've been able

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Speaker 2: to put that time towards something I'm passionate about. And

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Speaker 2: the results have been, you know, consistently increasingly getting better

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Speaker 2: and better. So to the shirt you're wearing, I am

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Speaker 2: the owner co owner of a production company, an Emmy

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Speaker 2: award winning production company right based in Atlanta called Pineapples Pictures,

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Speaker 2: And so we focus on creative narrative films, only creative

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Speaker 2: narrative films that prioritize underrepresented stories. And we've been doing

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Speaker 2: that now. I've been a part of the company now

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Speaker 2: for just over four years. M h.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, God, you reminded me. I forgot. First of all,

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Speaker 1: I forgot about rain. I forgot about your for a

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Speaker 1: minute for this conversation.

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Speaker 2: It's order to remember those things, because like I forgot.

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Speaker 1: You during music while you're in school.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I've always been I think I've always had or

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Speaker 2: whatever the triality or whatever, I've always I've never I've

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Speaker 2: never really liked the idea that I can only be

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Speaker 2: one thing, and particularly in film, that's I've learned because

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Speaker 2: I didn't come I didn't grow up in film. I

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Speaker 2: didn't like come on set as like at all grip

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Speaker 2: or something like that. I didn't like learn filmmaking from

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Speaker 2: the ground up. I learned as a producer. So one

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Speaker 2: of the things that's as an outsider to filmmaking I've

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Speaker 2: learned in the last four years is that it's kind

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Speaker 2: of frowned upon to do multiple things. You don't want

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Speaker 2: to tell someone that you're a writer and then tell

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Speaker 2: them you're also a producer, or you're an actor and

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Speaker 2: then also a director. People will kind of look at

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Speaker 2: you crazy. They'll say, well, no, you've got to just

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Speaker 2: be the thing that you are for me. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: And in the age of like and Reese Weatherspoon and

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Speaker 1: like many owning it.

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Speaker 2: There are very exceptional people. But those exceptional people are

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Speaker 2: looked at as that they're not looked at as the rule.

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Speaker 2: And when you're trying to in sales too, this is important.

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Speaker 2: You need to like make whatever the main thing about you,

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Speaker 2: your whatever your value proposition, whatever it is, needs to

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Speaker 2: be one thing. You know, one consistent thing. So yeah,

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Speaker 2: a lot of people get become afraid of letting people

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Speaker 2: know that they have a nine to five or letting

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Speaker 2: people know that they act, but they're also working on producing,

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Speaker 2: and that's something that is like core to me. I

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Speaker 2: enjoy being multiple things and so being outfront about that.

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Speaker 2: I didn't. I wasn't like that from the beginning. I

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Speaker 2: hid what I was doing in filmmaking for a little

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Speaker 2: while for the company from the company I worked at

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Speaker 2: at that time because I was nervous. But eventually I

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Speaker 2: realized everybody's doing something in their spare time, whether.

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Speaker 1: They're oh, you were hiding it from like your employer, Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Okay first at first, but at the end of the day,

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Speaker 2: I'm like, how different is this from somebody who's like

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Speaker 2: playing eight rounds of golf a week or something like that.

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Speaker 2: I'm just I'm doing something in my free time that

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Speaker 2: is putting beauty and joy into the world world, and

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Speaker 2: people think it's cool. So if you looked at a

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Speaker 2: little bit differently, But at the end of the day,

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Speaker 2: it's just time and as long as I have it,

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Speaker 2: and I can be productive in two different fields at once,

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Speaker 2: I should be able to and That's something that I'm

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Speaker 2: really passionate about, and I wish people would be more

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Speaker 2: open and you know, talk about that. It's hard to

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Speaker 2: just I heard your last podcast about like Easter ray,

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Speaker 2: how's she going to have like this nice hair?

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Speaker 1: This?

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Speaker 2: They know, like, like how's she going to have a ford,

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Speaker 2: this house or this apartment on the salary that she

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Speaker 2: would make of whatever company? Yeah, Like that's that's kind

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Speaker 2: of what we're talking about here, is you often can't.

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Speaker 2: So don't get wrapped up in this idea of being

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Speaker 2: a starving artist. Yeah, go make some money and be

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Speaker 2: an artist.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. I love that because I was just about to say,

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Speaker 1: like this whole trope of the starving artist is like

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Speaker 1: it's romanticized, but it's so freaking unrealistic, you know. And

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Speaker 1: I feel like our generation are we in the same

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Speaker 1: view as millennial or millennial? What are you with age?

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Speaker 2: I think that like every five years there's like another gap.

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Speaker 2: So I think.

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Speaker 1: I'm an elder millennial. You're just on the cusp, right, Okay, yes,

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Speaker 1: I'll admit I'm.

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Speaker 2: An elderly different but they are getting closer together.

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Speaker 1: It's yeah, yeah, anyway, So but like the the but

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Speaker 1: we're starting to really rebuke that God. I keep using

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Speaker 1: that word rebuke. It's so biblical anyway, whatever, just like, yeah,

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Speaker 1: I rebuke you in the name of the Lord. Rebuke

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Speaker 1: this idea that I have to starve and suffer. Right,

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Speaker 1: So I love that year open about that, and I

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Speaker 1: think that we And again it's like, first of all,

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Speaker 1: you're kind of like anti social media. It grosses you

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Speaker 1: out in a way too, But I'm sure part of

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Speaker 1: that is like people are putting on a front a

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Speaker 1: lot of the times and don't always tell the full story.

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Speaker 1: And I feel like having you share the fact that, Okay,

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Speaker 1: I didn't just you know, uh, skip college and move

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Speaker 1: to a big city and you know, live off of

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Speaker 1: ramen noodles to make films, Like, oh, I you had

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Speaker 1: what almost like half a decade of a career in place,

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Speaker 1: earned your money, got those sweet bonuses. Everything I talk

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Speaker 1: about from a career perspective, really like harnessing those early

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Speaker 1: years in your career so that you could, you know,

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Speaker 1: do your art and get too much yeah on your term.

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Speaker 2: Systems, and not be out here trying to like, you know,

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Speaker 2: when I was doing music, you brought up rain, So

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Speaker 2: when I was doing music, the thing I really struggled with. Well,

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Speaker 2: one of the things I really struggled with is like,

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Speaker 2: it's always my face. I have to go on a

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Speaker 2: stage and it's me. It's my face. I have to

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Speaker 2: like be in front of people all the time and

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Speaker 2: promote myself, and people want to know about me the

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Speaker 2: person and they're hearing me the music. And also it

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Speaker 2: really limits your ability to be a business person and

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Speaker 2: go work at a company like IBM, for instance, which

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Speaker 2: I worked at when I got out of school, and

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Speaker 2: also have like graphic rap lyrics out on the internet.

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Speaker 2: Like it's it's you can't really have a respect. It's

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Speaker 2: hard to like have both of those things at the

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Speaker 2: same time. And for me, I knew that if I

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Speaker 2: didn't want to put my face in front of everything

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Speaker 2: and be doing touring and all these things that you

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Speaker 2: need to do in order to become a successful musician,

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Speaker 2: then it likely was gonna not coincide with me making

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Speaker 2: any money. And so I needed to find a career

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Speaker 2: that could make me money and then an art medium

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Speaker 2: that I could pair with it that they go together.

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Speaker 2: And this medium of film is so beautiful to me

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Speaker 2: for many reasons, but one of them is that I

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Speaker 2: can pull together music, visuals, sound design, performances from an

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Speaker 2: actor's standpoint, like so every almost every single form of

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Speaker 2: art comes together in a movie. And as you know

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Speaker 2: this about me, you force people to watch it. You

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Speaker 2: bring people into a theater and they can't leave or else,

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Speaker 2: or I mean they can, but it's a captive audience,

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Speaker 2: and I love a captive audience. Like, well, how many

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Speaker 2: times do I try to make you watch a TV

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Speaker 2: show or like make you listen to a song? Like

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Speaker 2: that's it?

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Speaker 1: Just Yeah, you're my original influencer. Although now I'm trying

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Speaker 1: to influence you. But you've already seen everything I have

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Speaker 1: except for you. Have you watched Project green Light yet?

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Speaker 1: Because it's really damn good. I've been bombed because I

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Speaker 1: haven't really.

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Speaker 2: I haven't been seen many TV shows.

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Speaker 1: Oh so good though. Anyway, Okay, okay, so let's back

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Speaker 1: up a little bit because I want people to understand

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Speaker 1: how so let's talk about yeah, because you've accomplished a lot.

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Speaker 1: I'm trying to think. It's hard to think of you

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Speaker 1: as just like an individual who has some noteworthy headlines,

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Speaker 1: but you do. I mean, by what age you had

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Speaker 1: bought your own condo? In Atlanta by age. What how

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Speaker 1: old were you?

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Speaker 2: I was twenty, I was nineteen, I was twenty seven.

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Speaker 1: Twenty seven, you sold that condo and bid o.

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Speaker 2: I also renovated it completely. I'm that's great and renovated

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Speaker 2: it completely. Yeah, I've learned some things there.

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Speaker 1: Which was like a year a little bit after I

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Speaker 1: had bought my house, and but you bought this suite.

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Speaker 1: You had like the beautiful batch pad in Atlanta, in

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Speaker 1: the heart of Atlanta. You could walk to the Falcon

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Speaker 1: Stadium right the Mercedes Benz Stadium like it was, you know, gorgeous.

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Speaker 1: And then twenty twenty one you started the process of

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Speaker 1: building your own property in East Atlanta, buying the land,

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Speaker 1: figuring out how to do that.

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Speaker 2: Shout out to uncle Jim. Yeah, Manny, and I have

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Speaker 2: an uncle who and our grandfather had started this housing,

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Speaker 2: built this construction company decades ago. And I never once

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Speaker 2: thought about the idea of building my own house. I'm

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Speaker 2: not good with my hands. I don't do manual labor

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Speaker 2: very well at all. I don't get so it's just

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Speaker 2: never been like something i'd ever considered. You mentioned I

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Speaker 2: bought a condo, like that was my thought process, Like

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Speaker 2: it's something small, self contained, but renovating that condo opened

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Speaker 2: me up a little bit to the idea of what

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Speaker 2: it would be like to manage contractors. And when I

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Speaker 2: was looking for a house at the end of twenty twenty,

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Speaker 2: because I wanted something bigger, I was struggling to find

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Speaker 2: something that felt good for the money. And Uncle Jim,

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Speaker 2: who also does some real estate stuff, he was like,

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Speaker 2: have you considered building? And I was like, absolutely not,

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Speaker 2: and he was like, well, I think you think about

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Speaker 2: it and I'll help you. I ended up doing a

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Speaker 2: lot of the work, right, because he's a very busy person,

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Speaker 2: but just the idea him exposing me to.

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Speaker 1: Their annual work. But like the finding, yeah, I.

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Speaker 2: Mean yeah, the managing of the contractor is. At first

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Speaker 2: I was like, great, a couple gym's going to show

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Speaker 2: up and just build this whole thing for me. Yeah. No,

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Speaker 2: I ended up having to do most of it. But

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Speaker 2: the managing of it, sorry, the opening my mind to

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Speaker 2: what that could even be like, and the fact that

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Speaker 2: I could build it's not some like esoteric thing that's

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Speaker 2: impossible to wrap my head around. That was the key.

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Speaker 2: And so it's those moments that are really beautiful and

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Speaker 2: I love doing that for a younger generation too, like

398
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Speaker 2: exposing kids and like young collegiates to Okay, here's what

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Speaker 2: a career in technology sales, for example, could be. Like,

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Speaker 2: no one ever exposed me to that, and look how

401
00:20:59,000 --> 00:21:03,120
Speaker 2: much it's offered me. Yeah. So so for me, it's

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00:21:03,160 --> 00:21:05,560
Speaker 2: always been like these series of people close to me

403
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Speaker 2: in my life who have like opened a door to

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Speaker 2: something yourself included that took me down a path. And

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Speaker 2: all those doors are really fun to walk through, So

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Speaker 2: why limit yourself on how many you can?

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Speaker 1: So what do you feel like are the financial principles

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Speaker 1: that you have implemented to put yourself in a position

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Speaker 1: to like buy your condo at twenty seven? I mean

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Speaker 1: I feel like you. You we went to the same university, right,

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Speaker 1: I mean you shout out to the diplomas behind you.

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Speaker 1: When did you go to GSU?

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Speaker 2: That's Megan So my girlfriend, Oh, okay, graduated from Georgia State.

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Speaker 1: I was Lenna say, I'm like, woll, I'm forgetting some things,

415
00:21:40,320 --> 00:21:43,560
Speaker 1: but not that Okay anyway, University of Georgia. And I

416
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Speaker 1: tell this story sometimes to illustrate the cost of college,

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Speaker 1: because like I graduated with I think seven or eight

418
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Speaker 1: thousand dollars worth of debt. You graduated with thirty K

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Speaker 1: fifty fifty. It was fifty, okay, As I said thirty,

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Speaker 1: I'm like Noah's fifty a lot, right, And we know

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Speaker 1: you had a little blip. I'm not putting your business

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Speaker 1: out there. Might have lost a hope scholarship, oh my

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Speaker 1: god for a little minute, which you know I never did,

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Speaker 1: because many the bar was higher for you to keep

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Speaker 1: your hope than for me.

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Speaker 2: Right changed not exactly the situation I mean, if I'm

427
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Speaker 2: just being completely honesty, Mandy has always been, or you

428
00:22:22,240 --> 00:22:24,600
Speaker 2: have always been a much better student than me. I

429
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Speaker 2: don't like school. I never liked school. I never enjoyed

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Speaker 2: the going to classes or studying. I was always intelligent

431
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Speaker 2: and able to do well, but I was just pimping it,

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Speaker 2: like going back to the same point like earlier. I

433
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Speaker 2: was just like doing what I had to do to

434
00:22:40,520 --> 00:22:42,040
Speaker 2: get what I needed to get to get to the

435
00:22:42,080 --> 00:22:45,640
Speaker 2: next level. And so for me going to University of Georgia,

436
00:22:45,720 --> 00:22:48,600
Speaker 2: getting into those getting into the program, I kind of

437
00:22:48,680 --> 00:22:50,359
Speaker 2: like I was doing music at the same time. I

438
00:22:50,440 --> 00:22:53,200
Speaker 2: kind of lost my grip on what was most important

439
00:22:53,520 --> 00:22:56,000
Speaker 2: and what was most important is maintaining a good floor,

440
00:22:56,040 --> 00:22:58,840
Speaker 2: a steady floor, And I think that's a principle that

441
00:22:59,040 --> 00:23:02,280
Speaker 2: getting back to your question about financial principles, I've kind

442
00:23:02,280 --> 00:23:04,760
Speaker 2: of held deer. So my floor at that time should

443
00:23:04,760 --> 00:23:08,240
Speaker 2: have been remain in college, get a degree that can

444
00:23:08,280 --> 00:23:11,080
Speaker 2: allow you to make money. And what I was operating

445
00:23:11,119 --> 00:23:13,280
Speaker 2: like was I needed to be a rap star and

446
00:23:13,320 --> 00:23:17,359
Speaker 2: that was not the right floor to maintain. So yeah,

447
00:23:17,520 --> 00:23:20,280
Speaker 2: this has kind of been for me. And going back

448
00:23:20,280 --> 00:23:23,040
Speaker 2: to you know, the way I kind of came out

449
00:23:23,080 --> 00:23:26,760
Speaker 2: of high school and into college and beyond, I didn't

450
00:23:27,760 --> 00:23:30,679
Speaker 2: I never thought of it as something I needed to go.

451
00:23:30,800 --> 00:23:32,359
Speaker 2: I never thought of it as I needed to go

452
00:23:32,400 --> 00:23:36,840
Speaker 2: to school and be a journalist only and make money,

453
00:23:37,359 --> 00:23:39,080
Speaker 2: even though that's what I went to school for originally

454
00:23:39,160 --> 00:23:42,840
Speaker 2: was journalism. I thought, go to school, get a job

455
00:23:42,880 --> 00:23:45,080
Speaker 2: that feels good to me so that I can make

456
00:23:45,119 --> 00:23:51,440
Speaker 2: money to compliment my artistic endeavors. And so financial principles,

457
00:23:51,840 --> 00:23:54,600
Speaker 2: I feel like I'm rambling. But the financial principles you're

458
00:23:54,640 --> 00:24:00,000
Speaker 2: talking about, like it's like knowing what's most important to you.

459
00:24:00,040 --> 00:24:02,680
Speaker 2: You talked about Instagram and like social media earlier, Like

460
00:24:03,640 --> 00:24:05,919
Speaker 2: for me, it's not a good idea to be on

461
00:24:06,000 --> 00:24:09,200
Speaker 2: Instagram too much because it, to me, incentivizes the wrong

462
00:24:09,280 --> 00:24:12,560
Speaker 2: parts of myself. It makes me start thinking about what

463
00:24:12,640 --> 00:24:16,320
Speaker 2: everybody else is doing. It makes me start thinking about

464
00:24:16,840 --> 00:24:20,680
Speaker 2: is what I'm doing likable? Like literally? Is what I'm

465
00:24:20,720 --> 00:24:24,600
Speaker 2: doing it like good enough, notable. I don't need to

466
00:24:24,600 --> 00:24:26,600
Speaker 2: be worried about that kind of stuff. Someone like me,

467
00:24:26,800 --> 00:24:28,320
Speaker 2: and this isn't the same thing by anyone else, but

468
00:24:28,400 --> 00:24:31,840
Speaker 2: someone like me needs to be focused on creating, delivering,

469
00:24:32,440 --> 00:24:38,120
Speaker 2: building a house, getting a good job, closing deals, making movies,

470
00:24:38,359 --> 00:24:41,479
Speaker 2: getting into film festivals, getting an agent for myself. I

471
00:24:41,520 --> 00:24:45,959
Speaker 2: need to be thinking about real concrete like deliverables, and

472
00:24:46,000 --> 00:24:49,200
Speaker 2: once I deliver on those, that brings along with the

473
00:24:49,359 --> 00:24:52,080
Speaker 2: financial gain. And I can't get wrapped up in trying

474
00:24:52,080 --> 00:24:53,919
Speaker 2: to keep up with other people are doing what other

475
00:24:53,960 --> 00:24:57,000
Speaker 2: people are doing, which is I think like a financial

476
00:24:57,000 --> 00:24:59,720
Speaker 2: pitfall a lot of folks fall into is they start

477
00:24:59,760 --> 00:25:02,840
Speaker 2: thinking about what they should be doing based on what

478
00:25:02,880 --> 00:25:05,520
Speaker 2: other folks are doing or what they believe other folks

479
00:25:05,640 --> 00:25:09,879
Speaker 2: might be doing, and instead of just following what's in

480
00:25:09,960 --> 00:25:12,640
Speaker 2: their heart and connecting that to what can actually make

481
00:25:12,680 --> 00:25:15,879
Speaker 2: them whatever their definition of financial success is.

482
00:25:16,800 --> 00:25:19,560
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I don't think we've ever really had

483
00:25:19,600 --> 00:25:21,359
Speaker 1: a conversation about that, but I talk about that all

484
00:25:21,359 --> 00:25:24,239
Speaker 1: the time. Like, if you understand what your core values are,

485
00:25:24,280 --> 00:25:28,680
Speaker 1: it becomes so much easier to focus on your goals

486
00:25:28,880 --> 00:25:31,560
Speaker 1: because your goals are true to you, Like you know,

487
00:25:31,760 --> 00:25:34,960
Speaker 1: they're not your goals because there's someone else's dream or

488
00:25:35,119 --> 00:25:38,800
Speaker 1: Instagram's telling you, or social media or parent even the

489
00:25:38,840 --> 00:25:41,359
Speaker 1: original influencers are telling you, this is what you should

490
00:25:41,400 --> 00:25:43,440
Speaker 1: be striving for. Even though we have a father who

491
00:25:43,520 --> 00:25:46,520
Speaker 1: is just like a should king, the king of shoulds.

492
00:25:46,800 --> 00:25:48,160
Speaker 1: I was shutting you to death.

493
00:25:48,680 --> 00:25:50,720
Speaker 2: Literally, just on the phone with someone right before I

494
00:25:50,800 --> 00:25:53,640
Speaker 2: jumped on here. Who is She's just getting out of college,

495
00:25:53,680 --> 00:25:56,080
Speaker 2: she's about to go into the workforce, and she had

496
00:25:56,119 --> 00:25:57,960
Speaker 2: applied to my company as an intern. We don't have

497
00:25:57,960 --> 00:26:01,520
Speaker 2: any internships available at the time, so I offered to

498
00:26:01,520 --> 00:26:03,960
Speaker 2: talk with her just to talk about her trajectory. And

499
00:26:04,119 --> 00:26:05,879
Speaker 2: she jumped on the call and started talking about all

500
00:26:05,920 --> 00:26:08,239
Speaker 2: these big ideas, and I'm like, yo, what is it

501
00:26:08,280 --> 00:26:12,240
Speaker 2: that you like, don't talk to me about technology, Don't

502
00:26:12,240 --> 00:26:14,080
Speaker 2: talk to me about all these other big things that

503
00:26:14,119 --> 00:26:16,080
Speaker 2: are buzzy and in the industry that you see on

504
00:26:16,119 --> 00:26:19,600
Speaker 2: LinkedIn or wherever. Tell me what you enjoy for me,

505
00:26:19,960 --> 00:26:22,600
Speaker 2: and I gave her an example. I love putting puzzle

506
00:26:22,640 --> 00:26:26,879
Speaker 2: pieces together and I like to connect For example, a

507
00:26:26,960 --> 00:26:29,960
Speaker 2: deal I'm working on a I'm trying to close a

508
00:26:29,960 --> 00:26:33,600
Speaker 2: deal in sales. I don't know what the picture is

509
00:26:33,640 --> 00:26:34,960
Speaker 2: going to look like at the end of the day,

510
00:26:35,240 --> 00:26:36,800
Speaker 2: but I know it's going to be a deal. Just

511
00:26:36,840 --> 00:26:38,200
Speaker 2: like when you start a puzzle, you don't know what

512
00:26:38,240 --> 00:26:39,439
Speaker 2: it's going to look like, but you know it's going

513
00:26:39,520 --> 00:26:42,399
Speaker 2: to be a picture, right, And so for me, like

514
00:26:42,880 --> 00:26:43,640
Speaker 2: that's important.

515
00:26:43,840 --> 00:26:46,040
Speaker 1: Understand what the box does kind of tell you what it's.

516
00:26:45,880 --> 00:26:47,240
Speaker 2: Going if you look at it. A lot of people

517
00:26:47,240 --> 00:26:49,120
Speaker 2: don't look at the box. I look at a little puzzles.

518
00:26:49,119 --> 00:26:51,639
Speaker 1: I do puzzles like every day with my little Well.

519
00:26:51,359 --> 00:26:53,560
Speaker 2: Maybe my analogy is bad, but did you get the idea.

520
00:26:53,760 --> 00:26:56,320
Speaker 2: It's like, figure out what you like about it. So

521
00:26:56,320 --> 00:26:58,399
Speaker 2: for me, I love putting the puzzle pieces of a

522
00:26:58,520 --> 00:27:01,320
Speaker 2: strategic deal together. It's the same thing with making a film.

523
00:27:01,600 --> 00:27:03,400
Speaker 2: I love bringing all these artists.

524
00:27:03,040 --> 00:27:05,760
Speaker 1: Together to create a collaboration of projects.

525
00:27:06,840 --> 00:27:09,960
Speaker 2: The puzzle piecing, the strategy of it, like the solving

526
00:27:10,000 --> 00:27:13,240
Speaker 2: the problems along the path toward creating the thing, be

527
00:27:13,280 --> 00:27:15,320
Speaker 2: it a deal or a film. That's what I like

528
00:27:15,600 --> 00:27:18,760
Speaker 2: and that's what led me to these pursuits. So for her,

529
00:27:19,160 --> 00:27:21,399
Speaker 2: you know, it's like, what do you enjoy? What do

530
00:27:21,480 --> 00:27:25,760
Speaker 2: you actually enjoy about your potential career, the job that

531
00:27:25,800 --> 00:27:29,440
Speaker 2: you might be doing, what functionally speaks to you, inspires

532
00:27:29,480 --> 00:27:31,840
Speaker 2: you about it, and then okay, map that to what

533
00:27:32,440 --> 00:27:34,720
Speaker 2: job is the best fit? What company is the best fit?

534
00:27:35,720 --> 00:27:38,320
Speaker 2: Your parents like, you know, when I got out of school,

535
00:27:38,359 --> 00:27:41,760
Speaker 2: my dad was Our dad was very like adamant to

536
00:27:41,760 --> 00:27:43,800
Speaker 2: me about go to the big company. Make sure you

537
00:27:43,800 --> 00:27:47,080
Speaker 2: go to that IBM brand company. They'll protect you, They'll

538
00:27:47,119 --> 00:27:49,959
Speaker 2: take care of you. And that wasn't bad advice or anything,

539
00:27:50,160 --> 00:27:53,359
Speaker 2: to be honest, but he doesn't. I had to at

540
00:27:53,359 --> 00:27:55,000
Speaker 2: the end of the day, I understand I'm the expert

541
00:27:55,000 --> 00:27:58,000
Speaker 2: in this field. Our parents are very impressive people, but

542
00:27:58,480 --> 00:28:00,399
Speaker 2: they didn't go to college and go and get a

543
00:28:00,440 --> 00:28:01,920
Speaker 2: job in the field. I'm trying to get a job,

544
00:28:01,960 --> 00:28:05,439
Speaker 2: and I had to respect myself enough to know, all right,

545
00:28:05,480 --> 00:28:07,359
Speaker 2: I need to listen to myself here. I definitely want

546
00:28:07,400 --> 00:28:10,119
Speaker 2: to take their advice in their wisdom where it's applicable,

547
00:28:10,480 --> 00:28:13,040
Speaker 2: but they're not the ones doing all this research every day.

548
00:28:13,160 --> 00:28:15,520
Speaker 2: They're not the ones who got the degree and have

549
00:28:15,600 --> 00:28:18,920
Speaker 2: been at all these seminars and you know, meetings and

550
00:28:19,000 --> 00:28:20,639
Speaker 2: you know all these things that I've been doing. I

551
00:28:20,680 --> 00:28:23,040
Speaker 2: need to like listen to myself. I think that's harder

552
00:28:23,080 --> 00:28:25,640
Speaker 2: for people who come from maybe immigrant parents or black parents,

553
00:28:25,680 --> 00:28:29,199
Speaker 2: where it's like they are you're kind of conditioned to

554
00:28:29,200 --> 00:28:33,920
Speaker 2: find security first. And you know, luckily I was able

555
00:28:33,960 --> 00:28:38,000
Speaker 2: to find security that allowed me to do the things

556
00:28:38,000 --> 00:28:38,440
Speaker 2: that I love.

557
00:28:38,720 --> 00:28:41,240
Speaker 1: Okay, y'all, we'll be right back. We're going to take

558
00:28:41,240 --> 00:28:43,800
Speaker 1: a little pause here and come right back with more

559
00:28:43,960 --> 00:28:47,400
Speaker 1: from my interview with my little brother Alex Woodruff. Be

560
00:28:47,520 --> 00:28:53,000
Speaker 1: right back. Yeah, I mean, would you say, like, I mean,

561
00:28:53,120 --> 00:28:55,960
Speaker 1: we're talking about values, but also you combine that with

562
00:28:56,560 --> 00:29:00,520
Speaker 1: you did go into a corporate career that I don't

563
00:29:00,520 --> 00:29:03,200
Speaker 1: know if it was like if that's just sort of

564
00:29:03,200 --> 00:29:04,960
Speaker 1: like because I've never been in sales, but if that's

565
00:29:05,000 --> 00:29:07,000
Speaker 1: sort of like the expected trajectory. You're going to go

566
00:29:07,040 --> 00:29:09,120
Speaker 1: into sales and you can make big commissions and get

567
00:29:09,120 --> 00:29:11,080
Speaker 1: these big bonus checks. Because when you started getting these

568
00:29:11,080 --> 00:29:13,160
Speaker 1: big checks and talking about them, I was like, holy

569
00:29:13,200 --> 00:29:16,960
Speaker 1: sh I never knew this is how that's worked. But

570
00:29:17,160 --> 00:29:20,880
Speaker 1: those windfalls, you know, can you talk about like your

571
00:29:20,920 --> 00:29:25,240
Speaker 1: how sales specifically? Was it that you were an excellent salesperson?

572
00:29:25,520 --> 00:29:28,440
Speaker 1: Do does everyone who goes into sales, you know, at

573
00:29:28,480 --> 00:29:30,760
Speaker 1: a company like IBM, do they get those sorts of paydays?

574
00:29:30,760 --> 00:29:34,360
Speaker 1: Like how much were you making out of college to

575
00:29:34,400 --> 00:29:36,600
Speaker 1: the point where you could afford you know, your own

576
00:29:36,720 --> 00:29:40,480
Speaker 1: condo within five years four or five yearsol?

577
00:29:40,760 --> 00:29:43,120
Speaker 2: In terms of what I was making directly out of school,

578
00:29:44,840 --> 00:29:48,280
Speaker 2: I mean the first year because of largely because of

579
00:29:48,320 --> 00:29:51,400
Speaker 2: what IBM offered, wasn't because of me closing any deals

580
00:29:51,400 --> 00:29:54,200
Speaker 2: in that first year. It was just about six figures.

581
00:29:54,640 --> 00:29:57,240
Speaker 2: And that's what you can expect to make coming out

582
00:29:57,280 --> 00:30:00,800
Speaker 2: of college. If you are positioned well for an enterprise

583
00:30:01,040 --> 00:30:04,400
Speaker 2: sales company you can expect to make or enterprise software company.

584
00:30:04,400 --> 00:30:06,240
Speaker 2: I should say, if you're going to be in a

585
00:30:06,240 --> 00:30:08,360
Speaker 2: sales role, you can expect to make around six figures,

586
00:30:08,440 --> 00:30:11,560
Speaker 2: or you should you should aim for that. So that's

587
00:30:11,560 --> 00:30:13,840
Speaker 2: what I was making at first. But the windfalls you're

588
00:30:13,880 --> 00:30:18,320
Speaker 2: talking about closing those deals hmm, I'm like that, I'm

589
00:30:18,360 --> 00:30:18,840
Speaker 2: just really good.

590
00:30:18,920 --> 00:30:22,240
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's really good. I don't think separately.

591
00:30:23,360 --> 00:30:25,800
Speaker 2: Yeah, I heard that too. There are a lot of

592
00:30:25,800 --> 00:30:27,840
Speaker 2: people making a lot of great money in sales, So

593
00:30:27,880 --> 00:30:29,840
Speaker 2: don't get me, don't get it twisted, like there are

594
00:30:30,280 --> 00:30:33,160
Speaker 2: you can make money in this field even if you're

595
00:30:33,160 --> 00:30:38,720
Speaker 2: not very like, you know, gifted. But I've I haven't

596
00:30:38,760 --> 00:30:41,600
Speaker 2: had a down year in eight years. You know. I've

597
00:30:41,640 --> 00:30:45,120
Speaker 2: had some years that weren't as lovely as others, but

598
00:30:45,200 --> 00:30:47,320
Speaker 2: I've always been able to produce no matter where I've

599
00:30:47,320 --> 00:30:50,480
Speaker 2: been and no matter what types of environment I'm in,

600
00:30:50,600 --> 00:30:55,680
Speaker 2: good ones, terrible ones. It's it's it's a career that

601
00:30:55,760 --> 00:30:58,560
Speaker 2: fits me. It's I didn't just like land in sales.

602
00:30:58,600 --> 00:31:01,920
Speaker 2: It's like, literally, you know me, my whole life. It's

603
00:31:01,960 --> 00:31:04,200
Speaker 2: like the perfect type of career for someone like me

604
00:31:04,240 --> 00:31:07,360
Speaker 2: who does what I do well. And if I had

605
00:31:07,480 --> 00:31:10,400
Speaker 2: other skills, I'd be doing something else. And that's the point,

606
00:31:10,640 --> 00:31:14,280
Speaker 2: like what do you do well? And are you exposed

607
00:31:14,400 --> 00:31:17,800
Speaker 2: to a career in the field where you're that matches

608
00:31:17,840 --> 00:31:20,880
Speaker 2: what you do well? Luckily for me, I was exposed

609
00:31:21,040 --> 00:31:23,560
Speaker 2: to this career that matches what I do well.

610
00:31:24,240 --> 00:31:28,480
Speaker 1: How competitive did you feel with well? You and I

611
00:31:28,480 --> 00:31:30,000
Speaker 1: I think we can be Frank, We've always been a

612
00:31:30,000 --> 00:31:33,440
Speaker 1: little competitive with one another. I mean I feel competitive,

613
00:31:33,920 --> 00:31:36,560
Speaker 1: but like a healthy competitive but also still competitive.

614
00:31:37,040 --> 00:31:38,800
Speaker 2: I definitely used to be when I was a kid.

615
00:31:38,960 --> 00:31:41,840
Speaker 2: I was, but yeah, I honestly, if I am just,

616
00:31:42,720 --> 00:31:46,240
Speaker 2: I think I have one hundred percent been more inspired

617
00:31:46,280 --> 00:31:49,720
Speaker 2: by the idea of catching up with you, not ever

618
00:31:49,840 --> 00:31:51,840
Speaker 2: like beating you. You know what I mean.

619
00:31:52,080 --> 00:31:55,120
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's what I'm saying. It's like healthy, it's not

620
00:31:55,200 --> 00:31:56,760
Speaker 1: like malicious competition.

621
00:31:57,240 --> 00:32:00,000
Speaker 2: You're always been older than me, so you've always had opportunities. First,

622
00:32:00,160 --> 00:32:02,959
Speaker 2: I never knew about university where having a journalism in school,

623
00:32:03,160 --> 00:32:05,440
Speaker 2: you went, You went to their school, so I felt

624
00:32:05,480 --> 00:32:07,640
Speaker 2: like I needed to go, and if I didn't, I

625
00:32:07,640 --> 00:32:10,400
Speaker 2: wouldn't have found their business school where I got the

626
00:32:10,440 --> 00:32:13,160
Speaker 2: degree that led me to this path. Right, So there's

627
00:32:13,240 --> 00:32:15,720
Speaker 2: always I wouldn't write Harry Potter fan fiction because I

628
00:32:15,800 --> 00:32:22,520
Speaker 2: found it. You know, somebody pointed me to Harry Potter

629
00:32:22,520 --> 00:32:25,280
Speaker 2: fan fiction. It wasn't wasn't just on me. So like

630
00:32:25,720 --> 00:32:27,720
Speaker 2: you've always opened You've been one of those people that

631
00:32:27,920 --> 00:32:30,960
Speaker 2: opened doors for me to realize, oh I could, I

632
00:32:30,960 --> 00:32:33,600
Speaker 2: could walk through that door, and yeah, I want to

633
00:32:33,640 --> 00:32:35,400
Speaker 2: catch up with you and feel like I have in

634
00:32:35,400 --> 00:32:38,480
Speaker 2: a lot of ways, but that is that was like

635
00:32:38,880 --> 00:32:41,400
Speaker 2: never the idea to beat you or like to to

636
00:32:41,520 --> 00:32:43,920
Speaker 2: be competitive. It was like I want us both to

637
00:32:44,440 --> 00:32:46,040
Speaker 2: I want like, I want us both to win, but

638
00:32:46,040 --> 00:32:47,920
Speaker 2: in order for us both to win, I got to

639
00:32:47,960 --> 00:32:50,640
Speaker 2: catch up because you're definitely winning. So it's like it's

640
00:32:50,680 --> 00:32:51,040
Speaker 2: like that.

641
00:32:52,280 --> 00:32:54,320
Speaker 1: Yeah, No, I think that it's good whether it's like

642
00:32:54,360 --> 00:32:58,120
Speaker 1: a sibling or a friend, but to have someone in

643
00:32:58,160 --> 00:33:01,640
Speaker 1: your inner circle who challenges you in a positive way

644
00:33:01,720 --> 00:33:04,520
Speaker 1: and who makes you think differently. I mean, you were

645
00:33:04,760 --> 00:33:08,360
Speaker 1: someone I would call for negotiation, like to run through

646
00:33:08,360 --> 00:33:11,760
Speaker 1: a negotiation that I was going through, like professionally, even

647
00:33:11,800 --> 00:33:13,480
Speaker 1: though you were younger than me in a different field,

648
00:33:13,480 --> 00:33:15,840
Speaker 1: because you always, even though it would annoy the shit

649
00:33:15,920 --> 00:33:18,160
Speaker 1: out of me, sometimes you would make me think a

650
00:33:18,160 --> 00:33:21,120
Speaker 1: little bit differently about something and I and you know,

651
00:33:21,240 --> 00:33:23,400
Speaker 1: forced me to like, look at why do I feel

652
00:33:23,440 --> 00:33:26,360
Speaker 1: annoyed by this? Is it because I didn't think of

653
00:33:26,400 --> 00:33:28,640
Speaker 1: it first? And my little brother told me, like, you know,

654
00:33:28,840 --> 00:33:30,960
Speaker 1: so I feel like that's one of the things that

655
00:33:31,000 --> 00:33:33,840
Speaker 1: I really value about a relationship now is like yeah,

656
00:33:33,880 --> 00:33:38,200
Speaker 1: so a lot of the maybe the trite competitiveness like

657
00:33:38,760 --> 00:33:41,000
Speaker 1: sort of is moved out of the picture. And it's

658
00:33:41,040 --> 00:33:43,880
Speaker 1: just more like you make me better, you know what

659
00:33:43,920 --> 00:33:46,479
Speaker 1: I mean, Like a conversation with you about a choice

660
00:33:47,040 --> 00:33:50,280
Speaker 1: will probably make me like make a better choice, you

661
00:33:50,360 --> 00:33:52,000
Speaker 1: know what I mean? For the most part, I mean,

662
00:33:52,000 --> 00:33:53,480
Speaker 1: I had what kind.

663
00:33:53,400 --> 00:33:55,680
Speaker 2: Of person I want to be. I want people in

664
00:33:55,720 --> 00:33:58,000
Speaker 2: my life to think what you just said about me.

665
00:33:58,040 --> 00:33:58,880
Speaker 2: I want people to come.

666
00:33:58,800 --> 00:34:00,280
Speaker 1: To you know, And as I said it, I'm my god,

667
00:34:00,360 --> 00:34:01,920
Speaker 1: damn it, this is what he wants. But like it's

668
00:34:01,960 --> 00:34:04,360
Speaker 1: not all I want to give you give me what

669
00:34:04,440 --> 00:34:04,800
Speaker 1: I want?

670
00:34:04,920 --> 00:34:07,120
Speaker 2: That what is wrong with me? I want like everybody

671
00:34:07,160 --> 00:34:11,960
Speaker 2: should give you know what I mean, Like y'all see

672
00:34:11,960 --> 00:34:14,360
Speaker 2: what I'm dealing with, right, No, But like it's just

673
00:34:16,440 --> 00:34:18,719
Speaker 2: I want to give you what you want, right, I

674
00:34:18,760 --> 00:34:21,520
Speaker 2: want you to get We deserve that. We're good to

675
00:34:21,600 --> 00:34:24,800
Speaker 2: each other. We're good people, you know, Like we deserve

676
00:34:24,880 --> 00:34:26,759
Speaker 2: to give each other what we want, and we when

677
00:34:26,760 --> 00:34:29,960
Speaker 2: we deserve, like that call that you. I remember that

678
00:34:29,960 --> 00:34:31,840
Speaker 2: call I go yesterday I was in a hotel room.

679
00:34:31,960 --> 00:34:33,800
Speaker 2: I forget where I was, but I was like laying

680
00:34:33,800 --> 00:34:35,520
Speaker 2: on the hotel that I was like listening to you

681
00:34:35,560 --> 00:34:38,799
Speaker 2: tell me about this opportunity and realizing I could help

682
00:34:38,840 --> 00:34:41,400
Speaker 2: you and That was such a good moment because I

683
00:34:41,600 --> 00:34:44,120
Speaker 2: just want to be of service. I just want to help.

684
00:34:44,640 --> 00:34:47,239
Speaker 2: I want people who I love to think I have

685
00:34:47,360 --> 00:34:50,239
Speaker 2: something good to offer them, and I want to be

686
00:34:50,320 --> 00:34:53,279
Speaker 2: around people who I feel have something good to offer me.

687
00:34:53,520 --> 00:34:55,239
Speaker 2: So when I talk to you about a decision and

688
00:34:55,280 --> 00:34:58,720
Speaker 2: you give me this idea that sparks a new path forward,

689
00:34:59,320 --> 00:35:02,279
Speaker 2: I'm so thankful and excited about that. I don't have

690
00:35:02,360 --> 00:35:04,680
Speaker 2: time for a competitive I don't care whose idea it is,

691
00:35:05,040 --> 00:35:06,640
Speaker 2: you know what I mean? Yeah, I just I just

692
00:35:06,640 --> 00:35:09,160
Speaker 2: don't think about that. And also, going back to filmmaking,

693
00:35:09,719 --> 00:35:12,879
Speaker 2: it's so important because if I go on set as

694
00:35:13,400 --> 00:35:16,520
Speaker 2: a producer director, I have a vision, right and I'm

695
00:35:16,560 --> 00:35:18,759
Speaker 2: a writer, director, producer, so I have a vision on

696
00:35:18,800 --> 00:35:20,880
Speaker 2: what I want to get accomplished, But that does not

697
00:35:21,040 --> 00:35:23,719
Speaker 2: mean I know how to do it all. I need

698
00:35:23,719 --> 00:35:26,319
Speaker 2: to be very open to the idea that I don't

699
00:35:26,400 --> 00:35:29,000
Speaker 2: have the right idea all the time. I need to

700
00:35:29,040 --> 00:35:31,640
Speaker 2: be thinking about other people and their skill sets and

701
00:35:31,680 --> 00:35:33,840
Speaker 2: where they might be able to offer me guidance. And

702
00:35:33,920 --> 00:35:36,600
Speaker 2: so you'll get a lot farther that way.

703
00:35:38,040 --> 00:35:41,200
Speaker 1: Yeah, the collaboration is key. I didn't learn that so much.

704
00:35:41,239 --> 00:35:43,360
Speaker 1: And because as a writer, as a journalist, I was

705
00:35:43,400 --> 00:35:46,200
Speaker 1: so focused on me, my byline. You know, how many

706
00:35:46,200 --> 00:35:48,920
Speaker 1: pages was I getting at Yahoo and Business Insider, and

707
00:35:48,960 --> 00:35:51,400
Speaker 1: what about my career in podcasting and how big is

708
00:35:51,400 --> 00:35:55,040
Speaker 1: brand ambition compared to others? When I finally became like

709
00:35:55,080 --> 00:35:57,360
Speaker 1: a leader and oh to go back to the So

710
00:35:57,520 --> 00:35:59,960
Speaker 1: what Alex is talking about? The advice he gave me

711
00:36:00,160 --> 00:36:03,120
Speaker 1: was my first, my first role outside of being an

712
00:36:03,120 --> 00:36:06,520
Speaker 1: individual contributor, negotiating how to become an executive editor and

713
00:36:06,560 --> 00:36:09,759
Speaker 1: negotiating that job offer. I negotiated the hell out of

714
00:36:09,800 --> 00:36:11,720
Speaker 1: it and got a great base and as signing bonus.

715
00:36:11,719 --> 00:36:14,520
Speaker 1: But Alex was the one who was like, did they

716
00:36:14,200 --> 00:36:17,960
Speaker 1: did you ask for equity? And I was like, well,

717
00:36:18,680 --> 00:36:21,160
Speaker 1: that's not in my head. I was like it's not possible.

718
00:36:21,200 --> 00:36:23,960
Speaker 1: But then I was like, god, damnit, he's right, Like

719
00:36:24,080 --> 00:36:29,160
Speaker 1: why didn't I? Yeah? So, and yeah, that that that

720
00:36:30,080 --> 00:36:32,320
Speaker 1: decision for me to go back and ask for equity

721
00:36:32,800 --> 00:36:36,160
Speaker 1: indirectly became a two hundred thousand dollars windfall, you know,

722
00:36:36,200 --> 00:36:39,760
Speaker 1: when we were finally acquired. So you know you're checking

723
00:36:39,800 --> 00:36:42,240
Speaker 1: the mail from that, I know you weren't seeking a commission,

724
00:36:42,280 --> 00:36:43,360
Speaker 1: I know, yeah, yeah, yeah.

725
00:36:43,160 --> 00:36:44,880
Speaker 2: You did for the right reasons. I think I was

726
00:36:44,920 --> 00:36:46,359
Speaker 2: going back to that moment, and I want to say,

727
00:36:46,360 --> 00:36:48,000
Speaker 2: at the time of my life, I hadn't even got

728
00:36:48,000 --> 00:36:50,200
Speaker 2: I hadn't worked at a startup yet, I'd had no

729
00:36:50,280 --> 00:36:53,919
Speaker 2: equity in a company. I I can't say for sure,

730
00:36:53,960 --> 00:36:56,120
Speaker 2: but I'm pretty sure that the way we even arrived

731
00:36:56,120 --> 00:36:58,759
Speaker 2: at that piece of advice was me just asking you

732
00:36:58,920 --> 00:37:02,600
Speaker 2: questions about the products, and in the course of you

733
00:37:02,760 --> 00:37:05,520
Speaker 2: talking about the process, you brought up equity and that

734
00:37:05,640 --> 00:37:07,080
Speaker 2: was one of the things I checked. And that's part

735
00:37:07,120 --> 00:37:10,200
Speaker 2: of being a good seller is to hear what your

736
00:37:10,320 --> 00:37:12,800
Speaker 2: person is telling you, listen to all the things that

737
00:37:12,800 --> 00:37:15,320
Speaker 2: they've cataloged, and then asked them about those things. So

738
00:37:15,560 --> 00:37:17,360
Speaker 2: I'm pretty sure you brought up the fact that equity

739
00:37:17,440 --> 00:37:18,480
Speaker 2: existed or.

740
00:37:18,600 --> 00:37:21,200
Speaker 1: That there was like, yeah, I had given that advice

741
00:37:21,280 --> 00:37:24,680
Speaker 1: in my own freaking content, but that little bit of doubt, Yeah,

742
00:37:24,960 --> 00:37:27,799
Speaker 1: it's just you made me think why didn't I which

743
00:37:27,880 --> 00:37:29,799
Speaker 1: may be annoyed that I hadn't, And I'm like, I'm

744
00:37:29,800 --> 00:37:32,360
Speaker 1: supposed to be a badass, but why didn't a badass

745
00:37:32,400 --> 00:37:33,120
Speaker 1: ask for equity?

746
00:37:33,239 --> 00:37:33,439
Speaker 2: Yeah?

747
00:37:33,560 --> 00:37:36,000
Speaker 1: So, you know, I think that's where it came in

748
00:37:36,760 --> 00:37:39,719
Speaker 1: that little sense of like annoyance is not in you

749
00:37:40,040 --> 00:37:43,719
Speaker 1: but in myself. But still, the fact that I even

750
00:37:43,800 --> 00:37:47,880
Speaker 1: talked to you about it, I think that was pretty smart. Okay,

751
00:37:47,960 --> 00:37:49,400
Speaker 1: So leadership, Okay, we want to talk about that. I

752
00:37:49,400 --> 00:37:51,440
Speaker 1: want to talk about filmaking. Okay. So you're in sales,

753
00:37:51,520 --> 00:37:53,319
Speaker 1: you're making bank. That's how you were able to pay

754
00:37:53,360 --> 00:37:56,000
Speaker 1: off your student loan debt relatively. Fifty K was gone

755
00:37:56,360 --> 00:37:57,160
Speaker 1: what in a year?

756
00:37:57,640 --> 00:38:01,080
Speaker 2: In like two thousand, all before I bought my condo.

757
00:38:01,120 --> 00:38:02,960
Speaker 1: It was gone like a which was hilarious because I

758
00:38:03,000 --> 00:38:05,200
Speaker 1: think it put me like four years to pay off

759
00:38:05,280 --> 00:38:06,840
Speaker 1: eight thousand little dollars.

760
00:38:08,120 --> 00:38:09,960
Speaker 2: So think about that for a second. Though, I had

761
00:38:10,000 --> 00:38:12,160
Speaker 2: fty thousand dollars in debt, and so in order to

762
00:38:12,200 --> 00:38:13,880
Speaker 2: pay it off, Yeah, I had to make fifty thousand.

763
00:38:14,120 --> 00:38:17,000
Speaker 2: How many people wouldn't have paid off their debt. In fact,

764
00:38:17,160 --> 00:38:20,200
Speaker 2: I talking to you and to Dad and to Mom

765
00:38:20,560 --> 00:38:22,359
Speaker 2: about what I should do with the money I had

766
00:38:22,440 --> 00:38:25,680
Speaker 2: just earned, and a lot of you gave me. Actually,

767
00:38:25,840 --> 00:38:27,400
Speaker 2: no one told me to do what I did, and

768
00:38:27,600 --> 00:38:29,359
Speaker 2: all of you had good ideas, don't get me wrong,

769
00:38:29,600 --> 00:38:31,360
Speaker 2: but I want to say what you had suggested was

770
00:38:31,440 --> 00:38:34,640
Speaker 2: all right. Well, compare the interest rate of your loans

771
00:38:34,760 --> 00:38:36,800
Speaker 2: versus what you could get out of this sort of

772
00:38:36,840 --> 00:38:40,560
Speaker 2: account and all these ambition investment things that you tell

773
00:38:40,600 --> 00:38:43,400
Speaker 2: people to do, and they're all great ambition that doesn't

774
00:38:43,480 --> 00:38:46,280
Speaker 2: fit me. And so I had to hear the advice

775
00:38:46,360 --> 00:38:48,400
Speaker 2: from the people like you who are experts. But then

776
00:38:48,440 --> 00:38:51,439
Speaker 2: I had to convert that into decision that made sense

777
00:38:51,480 --> 00:38:53,719
Speaker 2: for who I am and what makes sense for me.

778
00:38:54,480 --> 00:38:56,520
Speaker 2: I can't have that debt over my head. I won't

779
00:38:56,520 --> 00:38:58,520
Speaker 2: be able to function, I won't be able to operate

780
00:38:58,760 --> 00:39:02,000
Speaker 2: with freedom and happiness. And so I was like, I

781
00:39:02,040 --> 00:39:04,560
Speaker 2: would rather get I'd rather kill this debt and be

782
00:39:05,000 --> 00:39:07,399
Speaker 2: not even thinking about it, not even recognize that it's

783
00:39:07,440 --> 00:39:10,239
Speaker 2: a thing. Then to have this thing weighing over me

784
00:39:10,360 --> 00:39:14,120
Speaker 2: and impacting my life in little micro ways every single day.

785
00:39:15,000 --> 00:39:17,759
Speaker 2: I just couldn't. And so I decided to take that

786
00:39:17,840 --> 00:39:20,239
Speaker 2: big swing because I put myself in a position too.

787
00:39:20,360 --> 00:39:22,919
Speaker 2: And then I got rid of it, and looking back

788
00:39:23,000 --> 00:39:25,800
Speaker 2: at the way my life is unfolded since then, I

789
00:39:25,960 --> 00:39:28,560
Speaker 2: really feel like that was a massively. It was a

790
00:39:28,640 --> 00:39:31,640
Speaker 2: good decision. It gave me what I needed, which was

791
00:39:32,280 --> 00:39:33,440
Speaker 2: freedom to operate.

792
00:39:34,400 --> 00:39:36,719
Speaker 1: Oh hell yeah, no, one thousand percent. And if you

793
00:39:36,920 --> 00:39:39,480
Speaker 1: had TIF on the show, she would be like jumping

794
00:39:39,560 --> 00:39:41,520
Speaker 1: up and down, because that's all you know, we talk

795
00:39:41,560 --> 00:39:46,080
Speaker 1: about that. And she especially has made decisions like for

796
00:39:46,160 --> 00:39:48,360
Speaker 1: her own financial security that her advisor's like, why you

797
00:39:48,400 --> 00:39:50,120
Speaker 1: could be making so much more money here and why

798
00:39:50,239 --> 00:39:52,600
Speaker 1: and here and there, and she's like, well, I don't

799
00:39:52,600 --> 00:39:54,680
Speaker 1: want a mortgage. A mortgage does not align with how

800
00:39:54,760 --> 00:39:57,560
Speaker 1: I want to sleep at night. No, one thousand percent.

801
00:39:57,600 --> 00:39:59,160
Speaker 1: I'm super proud of you, and I also want to

802
00:39:59,200 --> 00:40:01,680
Speaker 1: point out that, like now that you've built this glorious

803
00:40:01,760 --> 00:40:04,760
Speaker 1: house that is now like the family epicenter for Atlanta

804
00:40:06,000 --> 00:40:08,440
Speaker 1: and is so amazing you did that by age thirty

805
00:40:08,560 --> 00:40:11,680
Speaker 1: almost right, Yeah, by age thirty is shit, Not that

806
00:40:11,760 --> 00:40:12,760
Speaker 1: that matters, but still.

807
00:40:13,000 --> 00:40:16,479
Speaker 2: I mean, how young Atlanta twenty eight or how.

808
00:40:16,520 --> 00:40:18,799
Speaker 1: Young this gorgeous house plus you have. And for those

809
00:40:18,840 --> 00:40:22,200
Speaker 1: of you who are listening, like to make the decision

810
00:40:22,239 --> 00:40:24,120
Speaker 1: to build a guest house instead of what were you

811
00:40:24,160 --> 00:40:27,200
Speaker 1: decided in a guest house or a pool and you

812
00:40:27,320 --> 00:40:31,279
Speaker 1: turn that guest house into an Airbnb property. That is

813
00:40:31,680 --> 00:40:36,239
Speaker 1: bringing you additional financial security, you know, and I think

814
00:40:36,400 --> 00:40:39,160
Speaker 1: seeing you do it has made me more confident in

815
00:40:39,400 --> 00:40:42,120
Speaker 1: making that a part of my you know, strategy going forward.

816
00:40:42,200 --> 00:40:43,680
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh, there's no way I'm not going to

817
00:40:43,760 --> 00:40:46,680
Speaker 1: have a little airbnb or some kind of investment property

818
00:40:46,719 --> 00:40:49,000
Speaker 1: rental on the side. This is just too good.

819
00:40:49,400 --> 00:40:52,799
Speaker 2: It's great, like it I had no This is again

820
00:40:52,880 --> 00:40:55,200
Speaker 2: a concept of like somebody exposed me to the idea

821
00:40:55,239 --> 00:40:56,800
Speaker 2: and I don't even remember who it was, but somebody

822
00:40:56,880 --> 00:40:58,600
Speaker 2: wants you know what. I do know who it was,

823
00:40:58,640 --> 00:41:01,200
Speaker 2: my friend Austin. He was talking about turning his place

824
00:41:01,280 --> 00:41:03,960
Speaker 2: into one of his rooms in his place into an Airbnb,

825
00:41:04,000 --> 00:41:05,520
Speaker 2: and I'm like, oh, okay, cool. And I was in

826
00:41:05,560 --> 00:41:07,560
Speaker 2: the midst of building my house, and so then I

827
00:41:07,719 --> 00:41:10,319
Speaker 2: was like, hey, what if we built like a little

828
00:41:10,400 --> 00:41:12,320
Speaker 2: thing It was like a small little thing next to

829
00:41:12,440 --> 00:41:14,879
Speaker 2: it for like a one bedroom, And so they started

830
00:41:14,880 --> 00:41:17,760
Speaker 2: talking about the numbers, and the numbers weren't crazy, especially

831
00:41:17,840 --> 00:41:19,919
Speaker 2: given the fact that when you go through and build

832
00:41:19,920 --> 00:41:23,000
Speaker 2: a house with the right with a construction loan, the

833
00:41:23,080 --> 00:41:25,800
Speaker 2: way it operates is that you get to lock in

834
00:41:25,880 --> 00:41:27,719
Speaker 2: your interest rate at that time, which for me was

835
00:41:27,760 --> 00:41:33,440
Speaker 2: a once in a lifetime low Like yeah, that was

836
00:41:34,160 --> 00:41:36,200
Speaker 2: another thing where God was looking out. I got the

837
00:41:36,320 --> 00:41:38,800
Speaker 2: best interest rate of my lifetime on the biggest investment

838
00:41:38,840 --> 00:41:42,920
Speaker 2: of my life. So I was able to wrap all

839
00:41:42,960 --> 00:41:45,400
Speaker 2: the construction of the house, everything that took place from

840
00:41:45,440 --> 00:41:48,239
Speaker 2: the day I signed on the land through the day

841
00:41:48,320 --> 00:41:51,200
Speaker 2: that I moved into the house. I barely paid anything

842
00:41:51,280 --> 00:41:54,080
Speaker 2: in terms of I paid like a very low monthly

843
00:41:54,239 --> 00:41:58,520
Speaker 2: interest amount for the entire build So this house, all

844
00:41:58,640 --> 00:42:01,439
Speaker 2: this money is being invested by the bank to build

845
00:42:01,520 --> 00:42:04,680
Speaker 2: me my house and I'm barely paying anything. So yeah,

846
00:42:04,760 --> 00:42:07,719
Speaker 2: what's another let's say, forty fifty sixty K to add

847
00:42:07,840 --> 00:42:10,040
Speaker 2: to my mortgage when at the end of the day,

848
00:42:10,080 --> 00:42:11,920
Speaker 2: my interest rate's super low, and I know what this

849
00:42:12,080 --> 00:42:16,520
Speaker 2: place as an Airbnb unit can offer me. And it

850
00:42:16,640 --> 00:42:19,320
Speaker 2: has played out just like that that Airbnb is bumping

851
00:42:19,760 --> 00:42:21,760
Speaker 2: check me out if you're ever staying in East Atlanta,

852
00:42:22,320 --> 00:42:23,200
Speaker 2: and it's.

853
00:42:23,160 --> 00:42:24,840
Speaker 1: How can they because you won't get your house on

854
00:42:24,920 --> 00:42:27,960
Speaker 1: ig how are they going to know with Alex's property. Honestly,

855
00:42:28,000 --> 00:42:30,360
Speaker 1: I'm booked, and you don't want your cute little face anywhere.

856
00:42:30,800 --> 00:42:31,560
Speaker 2: I'm booked and busy.

857
00:42:31,640 --> 00:42:34,120
Speaker 1: So you know, booked and busy except for you know

858
00:42:34,200 --> 00:42:36,880
Speaker 1: what time I'm coming. You know what time the Manrique

859
00:42:37,000 --> 00:42:39,760
Speaker 1: family is coming for Christmas? So block out those dates

860
00:42:39,800 --> 00:42:41,080
Speaker 1: and I will be staying for free.

861
00:42:41,719 --> 00:42:43,120
Speaker 2: So that's another thing kind of to speak on that

862
00:42:43,160 --> 00:42:45,320
Speaker 2: real quick. You brought up like the family thing. I

863
00:42:45,400 --> 00:42:47,200
Speaker 2: want my point of view this pen. You brought the

864
00:42:47,239 --> 00:42:47,759
Speaker 2: family thing.

865
00:42:49,360 --> 00:42:51,160
Speaker 1: Let's circle back to that. Yes, use some use some

866
00:42:51,280 --> 00:42:53,400
Speaker 1: sales speak on me. Let's let's double click that the

867
00:42:53,480 --> 00:42:54,040
Speaker 1: family thing.

868
00:42:54,920 --> 00:42:57,440
Speaker 2: I knew that for me, it was important to have

869
00:42:57,560 --> 00:43:00,160
Speaker 2: a house that my family could come to for or

870
00:43:00,560 --> 00:43:01,839
Speaker 2: holidays when you would come.

871
00:43:01,800 --> 00:43:04,640
Speaker 1: Into freaking sweet and you would have always been such

872
00:43:04,680 --> 00:43:07,799
Speaker 1: a sweet, pure soul. And I think I'm so dark

873
00:43:07,840 --> 00:43:09,760
Speaker 1: and twisty that I was always waiting for the evil

874
00:43:09,800 --> 00:43:12,480
Speaker 1: out whether you're just like a genuinely sweet everybody is

875
00:43:12,520 --> 00:43:18,240
Speaker 1: waiting on the evil out kind person. It's it's strange,

876
00:43:18,280 --> 00:43:20,840
Speaker 1: but it's only because I am dark and you know,

877
00:43:21,360 --> 00:43:28,319
Speaker 1: flawed deeply. Anyway, Yeah, it's really sweet what you did.

878
00:43:28,760 --> 00:43:30,960
Speaker 2: Yeah, I wanted to bring everybody in, but that so

879
00:43:31,080 --> 00:43:33,759
Speaker 2: that means I have to make different financial decisions than

880
00:43:33,800 --> 00:43:36,080
Speaker 2: somebody who actually doesn't care about that. Like if I

881
00:43:36,280 --> 00:43:39,200
Speaker 2: only had one sibling who was going to be coming over,

882
00:43:39,360 --> 00:43:41,480
Speaker 2: I probably have like a two three bedroom place, but

883
00:43:41,600 --> 00:43:44,560
Speaker 2: I knew that I had y'all two Well, y'all four

884
00:43:44,680 --> 00:43:50,960
Speaker 2: now a Mallory and Taylor mom, Greg, like Megan's family, Dad, Like,

885
00:43:51,040 --> 00:43:53,360
Speaker 2: there's a lot of people who I want to be

886
00:43:53,400 --> 00:43:56,880
Speaker 2: able to call this place home and low key. All

887
00:43:56,960 --> 00:43:58,960
Speaker 2: y'all moved out of Atlanta just about so I'm trying

888
00:43:59,040 --> 00:44:02,319
Speaker 2: to ingratiate you to what it could be like if

889
00:44:02,400 --> 00:44:04,799
Speaker 2: you were to live in Atlanta. So all those things

890
00:44:04,840 --> 00:44:07,359
Speaker 2: are important to me. So, yeah, I wanted to build

891
00:44:07,360 --> 00:44:11,080
Speaker 2: a house that could sustain all that, and that was

892
00:44:11,120 --> 00:44:13,200
Speaker 2: what I set my goals to. So that whole year

893
00:44:13,280 --> 00:44:15,680
Speaker 2: I wasn't buying. I didn't buy a car. I didn't

894
00:44:15,719 --> 00:44:18,279
Speaker 2: buy I didn't invest a lot in my films that year.

895
00:44:18,400 --> 00:44:20,600
Speaker 2: I found other ways to make money to make films.

896
00:44:21,400 --> 00:44:24,880
Speaker 2: I took all my winnings, so to speak, from my

897
00:44:24,920 --> 00:44:27,480
Speaker 2: software sales job and invested it into the build of

898
00:44:27,560 --> 00:44:30,080
Speaker 2: that you know, putting myself in a position to get

899
00:44:30,120 --> 00:44:31,480
Speaker 2: the good down payment on that house.

900
00:44:32,120 --> 00:44:34,360
Speaker 1: And you sold your condo as well. You should have

901
00:44:34,360 --> 00:44:35,880
Speaker 1: been shocked the height of the market.

902
00:44:36,560 --> 00:44:38,440
Speaker 2: Yeah, there were some things that just it couldn't have

903
00:44:38,440 --> 00:44:40,160
Speaker 2: been me doing it by myself, Like there was some

904
00:44:40,280 --> 00:44:43,759
Speaker 2: divine intervention along the way. The interest rate, selling my

905
00:44:43,880 --> 00:44:46,239
Speaker 2: condu at the exact right time. When I did, like

906
00:44:46,719 --> 00:44:50,200
Speaker 2: the next month, everything changed. It was like I sold

907
00:44:50,239 --> 00:44:53,920
Speaker 2: it the perfect week. So I put myself in a

908
00:44:53,960 --> 00:44:56,520
Speaker 2: position to be successful. But there's definitely a lot of

909
00:44:56,600 --> 00:44:57,840
Speaker 2: luck and fortune that.

910
00:44:58,400 --> 00:45:02,080
Speaker 1: Was you know, that was operation means opportunity right, like

911
00:45:02,440 --> 00:45:04,560
Speaker 1: you put yourself. You had to have the great credit

912
00:45:04,600 --> 00:45:07,080
Speaker 1: even to qualify for the best score, you know, on

913
00:45:07,200 --> 00:45:10,240
Speaker 1: your mortgage, which paying off your debt early probably definitely

914
00:45:10,320 --> 00:45:12,719
Speaker 1: helped and contribute it to that. I wanted to point

915
00:45:12,760 --> 00:45:15,319
Speaker 1: out the car, especially like in Atlanta and especially when

916
00:45:15,360 --> 00:45:17,279
Speaker 1: you trying to launch your you know, your hip hop,

917
00:45:17,320 --> 00:45:20,000
Speaker 1: your rap career early. I feel like it could be

918
00:45:20,480 --> 00:45:22,600
Speaker 1: you see so many you see so much of the

919
00:45:22,680 --> 00:45:28,800
Speaker 1: opposite in Atlanta and even in my Enrique's Dominican culture

920
00:45:28,960 --> 00:45:31,680
Speaker 1: here in New York, Like it's all about what you ride,

921
00:45:31,920 --> 00:45:35,880
Speaker 1: the car you have, you know, the clothes, the jewelry,

922
00:45:36,280 --> 00:45:39,080
Speaker 1: the everything on the outside. And one of the things

923
00:45:39,120 --> 00:45:40,880
Speaker 1: I love about you, and one of the things that

924
00:45:40,960 --> 00:45:44,680
Speaker 1: I am like adamant about myself is the car that

925
00:45:44,880 --> 00:45:47,600
Speaker 1: you drive is nothing special. What is it a Nissan

926
00:45:47,760 --> 00:45:48,279
Speaker 1: something or other.

927
00:45:48,400 --> 00:45:49,160
Speaker 2: I like my car.

928
00:45:50,040 --> 00:45:52,799
Speaker 1: It's janky and it's dirty, and you have dog hare

929
00:45:52,920 --> 00:45:55,600
Speaker 1: all over it and it's always why don't you want listen?

930
00:45:57,239 --> 00:46:00,520
Speaker 1: Did you hear what she said about dog here over

931
00:46:00,640 --> 00:46:04,000
Speaker 1: it like that? Like it's the kind of car sometimes I.

932
00:46:04,000 --> 00:46:05,920
Speaker 2: Got it cleaned since the last time y'all saw it.

933
00:46:06,239 --> 00:46:07,960
Speaker 1: The outside and the inside and everything.

934
00:46:08,080 --> 00:46:10,960
Speaker 2: Yes, and can't prove it, but here I did.

935
00:46:11,320 --> 00:46:13,520
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, yeah, but you would like write and you

936
00:46:13,560 --> 00:46:15,960
Speaker 1: could write on the on the window like wash me

937
00:46:16,120 --> 00:46:19,120
Speaker 1: if you want it to something anyway, okay, yeah, but

938
00:46:19,400 --> 00:46:22,040
Speaker 1: it's clear. But at the same time, like millionaire next door, right,

939
00:46:22,160 --> 00:46:24,400
Speaker 1: like you know you have this. I love that about you.

940
00:46:24,440 --> 00:46:26,200
Speaker 1: You're the biggest house on the block, and I love

941
00:46:26,280 --> 00:46:30,719
Speaker 1: that anyone who's looking at you as a success, like

942
00:46:30,800 --> 00:46:34,000
Speaker 1: you're a true success. It's not like my biggest fear

943
00:46:34,080 --> 00:46:36,359
Speaker 1: is that I'm going to be successful to other people.

944
00:46:36,480 --> 00:46:40,640
Speaker 1: But inside I'm like stressed because I've got debt, I've got,

945
00:46:40,880 --> 00:46:43,840
Speaker 1: you know, things that I owe. I don't own actually anything,

946
00:46:43,920 --> 00:46:46,040
Speaker 1: And I feel like you're actually building wealth, which is

947
00:46:46,080 --> 00:46:48,560
Speaker 1: what I want. I think we both want that, to

948
00:46:48,680 --> 00:46:50,680
Speaker 1: build wealth that is not just for us, but for

949
00:46:51,400 --> 00:46:53,600
Speaker 1: our whole family. The legacy to live on.

950
00:46:54,280 --> 00:46:56,680
Speaker 2: I mean going back to the car thing. My girlfriend

951
00:46:56,800 --> 00:47:01,640
Speaker 2: is very anti new cars and I growing up our

952
00:47:01,719 --> 00:47:04,239
Speaker 2: family didn't really have like a history of buying brand

953
00:47:04,280 --> 00:47:07,840
Speaker 2: new cars. And the car that I based all my

954
00:47:07,960 --> 00:47:09,960
Speaker 2: interest in what I had was is a Nissan Maxima.

955
00:47:10,040 --> 00:47:12,600
Speaker 2: On was the car our mom had, like a Nissan Ultimate.

956
00:47:12,600 --> 00:47:14,239
Speaker 2: I just loved the way it rode. I mean I

957
00:47:14,280 --> 00:47:16,000
Speaker 2: didn't like love the look of it, but the thing

958
00:47:16,120 --> 00:47:17,920
Speaker 2: was smooth. I had a Mustang at the time. I

959
00:47:17,960 --> 00:47:20,040
Speaker 2: thought I was rolling. I would get in my mom's

960
00:47:20,080 --> 00:47:22,000
Speaker 2: car and this thing was like, actually.

961
00:47:22,160 --> 00:47:23,880
Speaker 1: Nice, Did you have a Mustang?

962
00:47:24,239 --> 00:47:27,920
Speaker 2: After I got your car totaled, well, I was hit.

963
00:47:28,080 --> 00:47:30,920
Speaker 1: I was teaching you bought a Mustang in college?

964
00:47:31,160 --> 00:47:35,400
Speaker 2: I didn't. I took the settlement from the car accident

965
00:47:36,640 --> 00:47:38,279
Speaker 2: I was in your car or what used to be

966
00:47:38,400 --> 00:47:40,799
Speaker 2: your car, and bought the Mustang. It was used though

967
00:47:40,800 --> 00:47:41,640
Speaker 2: it wasn't like brand new.

968
00:47:41,640 --> 00:47:44,520
Speaker 1: It was like at the time was like forty five minutes.

969
00:47:46,000 --> 00:47:49,239
Speaker 2: But yeah, I got a car that actually was at

970
00:47:49,280 --> 00:47:52,320
Speaker 2: the time only three years old. Now it's like eleven

971
00:47:52,400 --> 00:47:52,960
Speaker 2: years old.

972
00:47:52,880 --> 00:47:56,600
Speaker 1: And paid off, totally paid off years off. Yeah, years

973
00:47:56,640 --> 00:47:57,040
Speaker 1: ago I.

974
00:47:57,080 --> 00:47:58,839
Speaker 2: Wanted to get you know, I talked to y'all about

975
00:47:58,840 --> 00:48:01,240
Speaker 2: getting a Tesla. I talked toyall up, you know, getting something,

976
00:48:01,760 --> 00:48:04,640
Speaker 2: and I just couldn't make it make sense. So I

977
00:48:04,760 --> 00:48:08,919
Speaker 2: just didn't yeah going. But to your point about building wealth,

978
00:48:10,760 --> 00:48:12,800
Speaker 2: I got to be honest like that sort of that

979
00:48:13,080 --> 00:48:15,839
Speaker 2: doesn't like actually resonate with me the idea of building wealth.

980
00:48:15,880 --> 00:48:20,720
Speaker 2: I think what's more important to me is like being unassailable,

981
00:48:21,000 --> 00:48:23,120
Speaker 2: if that makes sense, And maybe it's the same thing

982
00:48:23,440 --> 00:48:23,640
Speaker 2: what I.

983
00:48:23,719 --> 00:48:25,040
Speaker 1: Mean financially bulletproof.

984
00:48:25,280 --> 00:48:27,680
Speaker 2: I do not want anybody to be able to dictate

985
00:48:27,760 --> 00:48:29,920
Speaker 2: my life for me. I don't want to go into

986
00:48:29,960 --> 00:48:32,319
Speaker 2: a job interview and feel like I'm desperate. I don't

987
00:48:32,360 --> 00:48:35,120
Speaker 2: want to be in trying to close a deal and

988
00:48:35,160 --> 00:48:37,160
Speaker 2: feel like I need this or else. I don't want

989
00:48:37,160 --> 00:48:38,800
Speaker 2: to be trying to make a movie and feel like

990
00:48:38,880 --> 00:48:41,440
Speaker 2: if I don't win with this movie, I'm done. And

991
00:48:41,560 --> 00:48:43,799
Speaker 2: I think there's a couple of reasons a person might

992
00:48:43,840 --> 00:48:46,480
Speaker 2: feel that way. One is because they're living beyond their

993
00:48:46,520 --> 00:48:49,560
Speaker 2: means financially and they have to, you know, to keep up.

994
00:48:49,840 --> 00:48:52,480
Speaker 2: And another reason is that they start believing that if

995
00:48:52,520 --> 00:48:56,400
Speaker 2: they are not successful immediately, then they're a failure. And

996
00:48:56,640 --> 00:49:00,320
Speaker 2: for me, and it's not about just getting successful today,

997
00:49:00,400 --> 00:49:04,160
Speaker 2: this whole filmmaking thing. I'm loving it. I'm loving the ride.

998
00:49:04,239 --> 00:49:06,560
Speaker 2: This thing could take ten years, twenty years. You might

999
00:49:06,600 --> 00:49:08,759
Speaker 2: not ever hear about me until like twenty fifty, but

1000
00:49:08,840 --> 00:49:10,959
Speaker 2: you're going to hear about me. So it's gonna happen.

1001
00:49:11,040 --> 00:49:13,680
Speaker 2: And I see the end of the line, but I

1002
00:49:13,760 --> 00:49:16,440
Speaker 2: don't have to get there right now. I'm really enjoying

1003
00:49:16,960 --> 00:49:19,080
Speaker 2: every part of this process. And as long as I

1004
00:49:19,160 --> 00:49:22,400
Speaker 2: can move at the right pace for me, which sometimes

1005
00:49:22,480 --> 00:49:25,880
Speaker 2: can be sprinting, sometimes could be jogging, sometimes I'm crawling,

1006
00:49:26,560 --> 00:49:29,040
Speaker 2: that's what I need to do, and I'll get where

1007
00:49:29,040 --> 00:49:32,480
Speaker 2: I'm going eventually. As long as I'm enjoying this journey,

1008
00:49:33,000 --> 00:49:36,719
Speaker 2: that's what's important. So yeah, like building wealth seems to

1009
00:49:36,800 --> 00:49:39,239
Speaker 2: be happening for me, but it isn't like my north star.

1010
00:49:39,480 --> 00:49:43,719
Speaker 2: My north star is happiness and not being desperate, not

1011
00:49:43,840 --> 00:49:45,719
Speaker 2: being able to be dictated to.

1012
00:49:46,239 --> 00:49:48,879
Speaker 1: I want to end on that note, just like talking

1013
00:49:48,880 --> 00:49:53,120
Speaker 1: about the audacity of brown ambition and how you personify that,

1014
00:49:53,280 --> 00:49:55,239
Speaker 1: and I'm just so damn proud of you, baby bro.

1015
00:49:55,480 --> 00:49:58,160
Speaker 2: Thank you so much, and the feeling is way mutual.

1016
00:49:58,400 --> 00:50:00,600
Speaker 2: I'm so happy. I wish TIF could be your or two, but.

1017
00:50:03,200 --> 00:50:04,719
Speaker 1: Maybe you'll come back on the show.

1018
00:50:06,120 --> 00:50:10,040
Speaker 2: I want to know, you know, if you're watching the

1019
00:50:10,160 --> 00:50:13,160
Speaker 2: reviews on this one, like the I want to get

1020
00:50:13,160 --> 00:50:15,200
Speaker 2: the I want to get the listening.

1021
00:50:16,280 --> 00:50:17,759
Speaker 1: Well, I don't know, you're gonna have to be on

1022
00:50:17,840 --> 00:50:21,680
Speaker 1: i G because like that's where the BA fan is

1023
00:50:21,760 --> 00:50:24,279
Speaker 1: on i G interacting with our clips. Also, you can

1024
00:50:24,320 --> 00:50:26,520
Speaker 1: listen to this on or watch on YouTube if you

1025
00:50:26,600 --> 00:50:29,400
Speaker 1: want to see how much Alex may Or may not

1026
00:50:29,520 --> 00:50:33,200
Speaker 1: look like me? Y'all? Me, I am the original doppelganger,

1027
00:50:33,360 --> 00:50:35,800
Speaker 1: not Drake. People didn't No one used to say, you

1028
00:50:35,840 --> 00:50:36,399
Speaker 1: look like Drake.

1029
00:50:36,600 --> 00:50:42,000
Speaker 2: His hair goes down. Yeah, it's pretty how much we mmm? Yeah?

1030
00:50:42,320 --> 00:50:45,640
Speaker 1: But you know you'll always be number one, all right?

1031
00:50:45,840 --> 00:50:48,640
Speaker 1: Alex James Mischief.

1032
00:50:48,800 --> 00:50:50,680
Speaker 2: Thanks wow, I love it.

1033
00:50:51,800 --> 00:50:52,520
Speaker 1: It was either.

1034
00:50:54,880 --> 00:50:55,200
Speaker 2: Thank you.

1035
00:50:55,400 --> 00:50:58,439
Speaker 1: It was either the Pineapple Cut shirt or the Harry

1036
00:50:58,480 --> 00:51:00,680
Speaker 1: Potter Sorcerer Stone T shirt that you gave me that

1037
00:51:00,760 --> 00:51:01,520
Speaker 1: I couldn't find.

1038
00:51:02,719 --> 00:51:05,120
Speaker 2: Oh, that's the shirt I brought you. Okay. I knew

1039
00:51:05,160 --> 00:51:06,759
Speaker 2: i'd brought you a shirt, That's what I mean.

1040
00:51:06,880 --> 00:51:08,560
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I knew it wasn't Pineapple Cut, but you

1041
00:51:08,640 --> 00:51:10,160
Speaker 1: know what, I just moved on from that, But you

1042
00:51:10,280 --> 00:51:14,480
Speaker 1: came around, all right. Thank you Alex for joining Brian Ambition.

1043
00:51:15,239 --> 00:51:18,880
Speaker 1: You guys please run to go follow Pineapple Cut Pictures

1044
00:51:18,960 --> 00:51:21,960
Speaker 1: on IG where you can stay abreast of all the

1045
00:51:22,080 --> 00:51:25,880
Speaker 1: news you've got. Your your shorts are entering film festivals,

1046
00:51:26,000 --> 00:51:27,480
Speaker 1: and I hope people get a chance to see My

1047
00:51:27,560 --> 00:51:30,880
Speaker 1: Sore Magic, which is just so cute, so sweet and

1048
00:51:31,400 --> 00:51:35,800
Speaker 1: adorable and heart you know, heartwarming and beautifully shot, just

1049
00:51:35,920 --> 00:51:39,000
Speaker 1: gorgeous the colors, I mean, so much of it. And

1050
00:51:39,480 --> 00:51:43,040
Speaker 1: also Forgive Us is one of the films that really

1051
00:51:43,719 --> 00:51:46,839
Speaker 1: whoa very different than My Sowre Magic, but another short

1052
00:51:46,920 --> 00:51:49,240
Speaker 1: that you all have done. And good luck this weekend

1053
00:51:49,400 --> 00:51:50,520
Speaker 1: making your first film.

1054
00:51:50,840 --> 00:51:51,640
Speaker 2: Thank you, thank you.

1055
00:51:51,719 --> 00:51:53,359
Speaker 1: I won't try to call our text you don't worry,

1056
00:51:54,440 --> 00:51:57,400
Speaker 1: but I will. You won't answer. That's good. Focus on

1057
00:51:57,440 --> 00:51:57,759
Speaker 1: the art.

1058
00:51:57,880 --> 00:51:59,760
Speaker 2: Yeah, I will be very very busy.

1059
00:52:00,080 --> 00:52:03,160
Speaker 1: Yeah, but it's so dope, all right.

1060
00:52:03,840 --> 00:52:04,080
Speaker 2: Bye,