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Speaker 1: Throwing it back to Black Tech Green Money episode two.

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Speaker 1: Brian Michael Cotton is a music producer and songwriter responsible

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Speaker 1: for more than a hundred million album sales, thirty five

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Speaker 1: number one hits, and twelve Grammy nominations, including nine wins.

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Speaker 1: On one of the first episodes of Black Tech, Green Money,

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Speaker 1: asked Brian about the value of building a strong network

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Speaker 1: with people who are at or close to your level

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Speaker 1: firsts always reaching upwards to try to get put on

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Speaker 1: by someone much further down the road. The majority of

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Speaker 1: help Dive been getting in my life for the past

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Speaker 1: it Team sixteen years have been directed from people that

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Speaker 1: I came up with, whether it's the Shocks Lose, whether

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Speaker 1: it's the Delicia Butterfields, whether it's you know, John Johnson's,

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Speaker 1: whether it's you know what I mean, Chris Higgs. Like

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Speaker 1: these are people who six was a little He helped me,

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Speaker 1: he put me on. But if we look at it,

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Speaker 1: you know, we talked about it all the time, like

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Speaker 1: we were learning that through learning together. I look at

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Speaker 1: the people around me and the people who's who helped me.

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Speaker 1: They were definitely ahead of me, but they weren't Jimmy

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Speaker 1: I V. You know, they couldn't just kind of check

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Speaker 1: and just saved my life. We had to literally work,

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Speaker 1: you know, learned together, and I needed them to guide

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Speaker 1: me to get to those places. You know what I mean.

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Speaker 1: I will say that, and then I looked at my

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Speaker 1: peers like a Volicia Butterfield, Christie Henderson. Any help that

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Speaker 1: I need, I could just reach out for them. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean, that's my network. And we came up together,

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Speaker 1: came from nothing. So I was telling to be your

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Speaker 1: net worth determines your net worth, right, So at the day, yeah,

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Speaker 1: you could like it. Moving up is a is a

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Speaker 1: good thing, you know what I mean. If somebody can

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Speaker 1: help you, who's who's who's in position to help you?

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Speaker 1: If if a if you're able to get to a

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Speaker 1: puff or get to a you know, go be cocks whoever. Right,

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Speaker 1: it's cool, you know what I mean. But at the

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Speaker 1: end of the day, I can help you get the point. B.

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Speaker 1: But the people that you surround yourself with all the words,

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Speaker 1: is gonna be your your direct anchor, you know what

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Speaker 1: I'm saying, Because you're not the way to call me

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Speaker 1: for every little thing. I can't call card days for

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Speaker 1: every little bit. So I can't call Jimmy Ivan or not.

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Speaker 1: You know, I can't call you know man anything, anything

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Speaker 1: I gotta issue with anything. I want to bounce off

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Speaker 1: anybody as I can bounce off. I could call Chris Easy,

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Speaker 1: I would call Alicia Easy. I could call j Q Easy.

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Speaker 1: I could call John Tay Easy. You know. I mean,

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Speaker 1: he's all people that we all came up together. The

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Speaker 1: importance of having people around you and creating your network

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Speaker 1: around you is I mean, it's necessary because you might

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Speaker 1: you know if you don't, you know when the valley

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Speaker 1: is hit and you out there by yourself. Who my

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Speaker 1: valot is said I was. I was in a good

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Speaker 1: space because I wasn't there by myself. I have people

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Speaker 1: who came up with and we can help each other

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Speaker 1: and want each other. Though I'm on Lucas and this

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Speaker 1: is black tech, clean money. I'm gonna introduce you to

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Speaker 1: some of the biggest names, some of the brightness of

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Speaker 1: mind and brilliant ideas. I feel black in building simply

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Speaker 1: using tech to secure your bag. This podcast is for you.

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Speaker 1: Dr Key Hallman is the founder at the Village Market,

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Speaker 1: a t L who's mission is to support the sustainability

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Speaker 1: of socially conscious, community minded black entrepreneurs and black owned startups.

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Speaker 1: I ask Dr Kid about the secret sauce to the

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Speaker 1: blueprint getting black entrepreneurs from different industries in the same

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Speaker 1: commercial space with the goal of not only building their businesses,

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Speaker 1: but our businesses. I think the blueprint is together. I

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Speaker 1: don't think I've created something that hasn't been done, and

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Speaker 1: I would tell you in twenty sixteen, I wasn't up

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Speaker 1: against what we're all facing right now, and that's being

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Speaker 1: forced to be online so pre pandemic. I was teamed like,

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Speaker 1: we need to see each other in person. We need

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Speaker 1: to figure out how to use our best gifts. Like

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Speaker 1: if if your gift is whatever it is, will and

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Speaker 1: my gift what is whatever it is. My whole thought

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Speaker 1: belief is that you're more powerful if I drawn with

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Speaker 1: you and you're drawn with me. And so even in

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Speaker 1: this e commerce space, I think there are some very

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Speaker 1: unique opportunities for entrepreneurs, artists and great minds to collaborate.

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Speaker 1: And a lot of that comes from conversations like this.

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Speaker 1: So when we think, when we have these type of conversations,

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Speaker 1: then we start to understand, like what you're really about,

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Speaker 1: because what I know especial about black Folks is always

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Speaker 1: much more than just a T shirt. It's always much

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Speaker 1: more than than than the hair care products. There's a story,

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Speaker 1: there's a legacy behind that, and there's also an aspiration

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Speaker 1: to create something that we've never seen. So the point

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Speaker 1: of entry to me and collaboration, especially in this digital space,

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Speaker 1: is getting on zoom, getting cute, getting the lighting together,

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Speaker 1: and having a conversation about how we got started, what

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Speaker 1: we're doing, and what we can do together. I think

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Speaker 1: those unified efforts in these most intimate ways and also

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Speaker 1: convenient ways of being able to communicate, helps us start

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Speaker 1: to establish what the partnerships look like in the twenty

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Speaker 1: first century. Now when the world opens back up, there's

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Speaker 1: nothing like being in the space in a room that

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Speaker 1: synergy that you all do it at afro Tech, at Glavity,

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Speaker 1: we do it at the Village Market. There's nothing like

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Speaker 1: that vibration of being in a space of collaborative minds

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Speaker 1: to a future thinking but also who are so thankful

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Speaker 1: to being a present moment together. There's nothing that's nothing

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Speaker 1: like that. So I look forward to being in that

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Speaker 1: space where we can comfortably convene together, but in the meantime,

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Speaker 1: how we can collaborate is literally doing what you and

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Speaker 1: I are doing right now. And I've asked you this

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Speaker 1: question before, but I want to make sure that people

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Speaker 1: really get this next answer, because what I don't want

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Speaker 1: people to leave here with after they hear your beautiful

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Speaker 1: words today, but I don't want them to leave with

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Speaker 1: is the idea what I'm gonna go support black businesses

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Speaker 1: because you don't go to Target to support Target. You

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Speaker 1: just go there because they got what you need. And

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Speaker 1: so how do we get over this idea that we

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Speaker 1: have to quote unquote support that our businesses need to

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Speaker 1: support versus they're looking for their consumers and they I'm

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Speaker 1: shopping there because they provide val you indeed, and good question,

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Speaker 1: and because I do truly believe support is a verb.

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Speaker 1: But I also know there's a count of narrative how

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Speaker 1: we talk about words, and words have power. So when

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Speaker 1: you go on to buy from black it's because you

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Speaker 1: want the best on your body, want the best in

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Speaker 1: your house. So I think it's the way that we

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Speaker 1: think about and how we're normalizing our intentionality of making

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Speaker 1: sure we find in support of black owned business that

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Speaker 1: we intentionally buy from a black owned business. That's different

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Speaker 1: than support support says I can take it to leave it.

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Speaker 1: When those things that we want, we heavily pursue those,

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Speaker 1: even if it's not conveniently around the corner for us.

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Speaker 1: So I think we start thinking about about black businesses.

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Speaker 1: What we've seen due to centuries of redlining and things

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Speaker 1: like that, it's not as quote unquote convenient to find

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Speaker 1: those black owned businesses, and so we're thinking about, like,

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Speaker 1: how do I do that in such a way. I

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Speaker 1: have to go and support and do this thing. But

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Speaker 1: what I tell the entrepreneurs in the village, and as

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Speaker 1: I tell entrepreneurs who are in this space, I mean,

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Speaker 1: folks are missing out if they're not rocking your product.

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Speaker 1: Both are not People are missing out if you're not

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Speaker 1: the black owned doctor that's taking care of their kids,

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Speaker 1: if this is not the black owned school that's educating

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Speaker 1: your young folks. And I think it's so it's the

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Speaker 1: way that we talk about ourselves is the way that

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Speaker 1: we start normalizing the narrative of what it means to

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Speaker 1: just be about black business. And I think that's beyond

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Speaker 1: quote unquote supporting, because that sounds more philanthropick in nature,

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Speaker 1: and rather than making it just a part of our

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Speaker 1: lifestyle and what we do. What did you do at

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Speaker 1: the village to ensure the narrative around doing business with

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Speaker 1: black owned businesses was changing, because you know, we have

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Speaker 1: this whole thing. You know, I can't do business with

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Speaker 1: black folks because they ain't got good customer service, the

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Speaker 1: whole thing. What did you do at the village to

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Speaker 1: make sure, I, look, this is a place of excellence,

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Speaker 1: and how did you how did you both inspire that

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Speaker 1: with your your vendors um and then how did you

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Speaker 1: shape that narrative with the people who would be coming

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Speaker 1: there to shop? Yeah? Good, super good question again, and

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Speaker 1: so even before we get to the vendors, even before

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Speaker 1: we get to the consumers, I made sure that I

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Speaker 1: had a good team. I made sure that I had

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Speaker 1: a really good team that understood like what we were

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Speaker 1: striving to build, because then it had to these thoughts

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Speaker 1: had to outlive me. Then we began to work with entrepreneurs, brands,

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Speaker 1: i e. Vendors, and so our job is if you

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Speaker 1: ever had issues with customer service, let us help you

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Speaker 1: out there. And so that programmatic piece before we are,

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Speaker 1: before we would do a marketplace, we work with entrepreneurs

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Speaker 1: over a course of thirty thirty to ninety days to

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Speaker 1: prepare them what I said, to just be ready to

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Speaker 1: be overwhelmed by a village of people who are seeking

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Speaker 1: to buy. And so I think that programmatic components what

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Speaker 1: made sure that the insurance that when you came to

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Speaker 1: the village market that these are these entrepreneurs, these brands

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Speaker 1: are well prepared to meet you, well prepared to make

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Speaker 1: sure that the POS systems are in place. Were prepared

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Speaker 1: to make sure that the meller system is locked in

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Speaker 1: so you can be able to communicate with them after that,

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Speaker 1: and that you have enough product, that your branding is

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Speaker 1: there that you're marketing there. And so that was that

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Speaker 1: multi pronged um process of ensuring that the entrepreneurs were

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Speaker 1: prepared to meet the village. And then the only thing

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Speaker 1: that we told the village that you don't want to

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Speaker 1: miss this. If you think you've seen the movie, were

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Speaker 1: kind of nothing like experiencing it, because that's what the

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Speaker 1: village market is. And I think, again, I am I'm

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Speaker 1: a former educator, but I truly understand the power of words.

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Speaker 1: But when you beyond words, then you have to be

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Speaker 1: able to meet that with a moment. I made sure

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Speaker 1: that the Village Market literally dripped an excellence from the

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Speaker 1: art on the wall, to the brands that were showcasing,

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Speaker 1: to the musicians that were playing and I and I

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Speaker 1: showed the plethora of what it means to be in

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Speaker 1: a black artistic space, from jazz brent bands, to kid

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Speaker 1: drummers to tap dancers to live art. All of that

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Speaker 1: is inside of the Village Market. And so I think

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Speaker 1: when we talk about excellence, excellence, it's not siloed. It's

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Speaker 1: not a it's not a single narrative. And so it

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Speaker 1: should be beyond just entrepreneurs. We should create whole experiences.

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Speaker 1: But before we create that experiences, we have to make

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Speaker 1: sure that the entrepreneurs are prepared to meet their consumer

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Speaker 1: because at the end of the day, the only way

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Speaker 1: that we can really ensure economic mobility we have to buy. Well,

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Speaker 1: let's talk about that program, like what what do you

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Speaker 1: do when somebody comes to you with the fantastic product

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Speaker 1: on its face may not have the operational excellence, Like,

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Speaker 1: talk to me about that program, you know whatever that

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Speaker 1: when you's heavy word, that's curriculum, But talk to me

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Speaker 1: about what that looks like over those you know, periods

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Speaker 1: of times where you're taking them before you put them

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Speaker 1: on the floor. They're going through this process, sure, and

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Speaker 1: so the curriculum is our word former teacher and me,

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Speaker 1: So we really build a curriculum around this. And also

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Speaker 1: that point of entry for us first is the application

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Speaker 1: and then we've created an amazing group break where we are.

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Speaker 1: I have a council of thirteen scores who rotate every

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Speaker 1: every ninety days who are looking at applications and we're

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Speaker 1: looking at different things. We're looking at entrepreneurs to make

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Speaker 1: sure that they have a way to uh that the

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Speaker 1: audience and their buyers can buy outside of the Village market,

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Speaker 1: meaning they have an e commerce space that their separation

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Speaker 1: between their personal life and their brand identity and if

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Speaker 1: it's merging, is merging in ways that makes sense. Um.

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Speaker 1: That is also very clear on message of what we're doing.

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Speaker 1: We're truly striving for the up, the up mobility for

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Speaker 1: all of us. So we're looking at these things that

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Speaker 1: once entrepreneurs get accepted into the Village or get accepted

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Speaker 1: into our Elevate program that's running now, then they then

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Speaker 1: entrepreneurs have one on one meetings and interviews with business

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Speaker 1: coaches and so the questions we ask what are your

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Speaker 1: wildest dreams and what is it? What is it gonna

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Speaker 1: take you to get there? If target is your wildest dream,

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Speaker 1: is it all is the only target because it's the

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Speaker 1: only thing you've seen? Or are you afraid to go

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Speaker 1: build your own thing? And so we we want to

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Speaker 1: know those answers because that helps us create a place

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Speaker 1: based curriculum that makes sense to that entrepreneur. And so

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Speaker 1: one once the entrepreneurs are accepted into the village, and

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Speaker 1: once in the village, you're always a villager. Don't believe

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Speaker 1: in the council culture. Here we prepare. We make sure

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Speaker 1: that those entrepreneurs have honestly everything they need. So if

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Speaker 1: there is if there's a gap in their website, if

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Speaker 1: they're not checking, if they don't have s c OH

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Speaker 1: in place, if they're not looking at the analytics in

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Speaker 1: their analytics, if they're not understanding their numbers, we have

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Speaker 1: classes and workshops around that, and then we do the

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Speaker 1: big reveal um and that is all before the pandemic.

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Speaker 1: Since the pandemic has happened, all of that has changed,

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Speaker 1: and we have our Elevate program that runs every day

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Speaker 1: for so proprietors and so at the end of the

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Speaker 1: elevated program UM entrepreneurs have an opportunity to be in

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Speaker 1: our new retail space located upon City Market that's open

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Speaker 1: seven days a week. And but will the catalysts of

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Speaker 1: what we do and what makes the Village market extremely special.

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Speaker 1: We don't just throw entrepreneurs out there like we're literally

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Speaker 1: hand in hand. We're on this journey together. If you

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Speaker 1: if we grow, that means you have UM And there's

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Speaker 1: honestly we what's so special about our work. And I

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Speaker 1: think other black lead organizations just not enough spaces created

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Speaker 1: when entrepreneurs can test, refined, fell forward, failed, completely flat

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Speaker 1: on their face, and then have counsel around them to

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Speaker 1: help them solve some of these big problems problems by

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Speaker 1: where capital problems, by where scaling operations problems. Was I

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Speaker 1: just have no idea what I'm doing. I thought I

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Speaker 1: just wanted to sell a candle. Now I have all

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Speaker 1: these thousands of units that's going out of the door,

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Speaker 1: and I have to grow to meet this moment. And

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Speaker 1: so what we do is just make sure wherever the

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Speaker 1: moment is, that they're somewhere in the village that can

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Speaker 1: meet them where they are. This is a phrase you

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Speaker 1: used in there, and you called the upper mobility, and

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Speaker 1: I think too too often when we hear that phrase,

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Speaker 1: it's just about economics. And there's also a point that

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Speaker 1: you talked about, you know, uh in other interviews I've read,

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Speaker 1: when you talk about our food is import and our

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Speaker 1: education is important. Can you talk about your idea of

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Speaker 1: upper mobility with all those things holistically? Yeah, when you

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Speaker 1: said the word, I think our mobility anything over is holistic.

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Speaker 1: I think the only way that things can move it

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Speaker 1: must create a complete circle. And so for me, the

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Speaker 1: first point of entry is mental health. So before we

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Speaker 1: talk about economics, before we talk about even education. If

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Speaker 1: the mind isn't well, then it's hard to dream something

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Speaker 1: bigger for yourself. It's it's also hard to dream something

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Speaker 1: bigger where you can actually believe that collaboration won't cut

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Speaker 1: you out of the deal. And so it's like training

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Speaker 1: our minds that think differently, training our minds to understand

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Speaker 1: the general generational curses are very real thing, but we

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Speaker 1: don't have to live and stay there. So we work

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Speaker 1: hand to hand with a number of mental health practitioners,

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Speaker 1: and we've done this for years to ensure that entrepreneurs

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Speaker 1: and we start normalizing what therapy is, and so we

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Speaker 1: can start literally trained here to start building. Now, the

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Speaker 1: upward mobility is mental health, making sure that entrepreneurs have

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Speaker 1: the resources, the technical, technical assistance, to education and place.

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Speaker 1: Then we start focusing on how the trust scale of business,

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Speaker 1: because what I don't want to happen is that we

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Speaker 1: rescale and then everything everything is thriving except for us,

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Speaker 1: that the money is sitting in the bank account. And

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Speaker 1: and this is the most isolated we've ever felt, the

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Speaker 1: most heartbroken and lonely we've ever felt, and also fear

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Speaker 1: of even outgrowing where we are. And I think all

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Speaker 1: of that goes to a place of wellness. Um, if

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Speaker 1: entrepreneurs are like myself, the things I'm doing well, I

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Speaker 1: have no relationship to it. In my family, UM, first generation,

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Speaker 1: my sister and I college graduates, first generation entrepreneur in

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Speaker 1: this way, with the exception of my great grandparents being

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Speaker 1: entrepreneurs in Mississippi. But in the way that I'm doing it,

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Speaker 1: I haven't. I haven't seen this before. And so another

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Speaker 1: part of that over mobility is understanding that to be

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Speaker 1: outward you have to have peers of like mind and

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Speaker 1: and like intention and like enthusiast them to help you

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Speaker 1: figure this thing out that many of us are experiencing

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Speaker 1: for the first time. I would imagine you've had this experience.

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Speaker 1: But I talked to a lot of people who run

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Speaker 1: like small business and maybe they make candles, maybe they

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Speaker 1: you know, do shade better like you just whatever, you know,

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Speaker 1: the thing that they can whip up in their kitchen,

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Speaker 1: And too many of them in my mind, because I

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Speaker 1: want to get your opinion and I don't want to, like,

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Speaker 1: you know, spoil the water before I put this over

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Speaker 1: to you. Just you know, they're happy with just selling

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Speaker 1: a few, They're happy with just making enough with their

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Speaker 1: things to say they did a thing. What do you

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Speaker 1: think is the root of that number one? And this

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Speaker 1: is something that needs to be solved, And if so,

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Speaker 1: how do we solve this idea that we can only

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Speaker 1: be as big as this? Yeah, I don't know if

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Speaker 1: it's a thing that you solve like an equation. I

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Speaker 1: think it's a journey of wellness. I think as we

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Speaker 1: love ourselves more, we know the capacity and wish that

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Speaker 1: we can achieve things. I think we are almost sometimes

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Speaker 1: a little afraid that if this grows to something else

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Speaker 1: that's more exposure to me, This more opportunity for me

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Speaker 1: to fail. Limited thinking is something that is ingrained due

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Speaker 1: to deep oppression. It's hard for us and many people

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Speaker 1: to start visualizing themselves being like a mogul in the

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Speaker 1: industry because they have never seen and they think that's

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Speaker 1: only for a select few that has to be in

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Speaker 1: sound a certain way and come from a certain thing.

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Speaker 1: But all of it again goes to mindset, and mindset

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Speaker 1: is only that relationship to environment. And so the solution is,

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Speaker 1: how do we nurture our environment, how do we nurture

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Speaker 1: ourselves that it can be more than it can be

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Speaker 1: more than a candle. We can literally create the jar

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Speaker 1: that every coundle needs. We can create the wax that

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Speaker 1: I'm sure I'm soory free. I'm hoping sort candles and

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Speaker 1: and and all these countles out there that people are

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Speaker 1: looking for, that we can be, We can be on

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Speaker 1: the manufacturing in so, I think that proximity of seeing

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Speaker 1: people who have done it. And I shared this to

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Speaker 1: a good friend of mine um just this past weekend.

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Speaker 1: He talked about the things that he wanted to do

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Speaker 1: and the reason why he believed he can do all

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Speaker 1: these things just because he's had a vast number of

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Speaker 1: experiences that's being so close to proximity to it. And

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Speaker 1: so I don't think the solution is something is one

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Speaker 1: plus one equals too. I think it's the journey of

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Speaker 1: understanding that there's a parts of us that need to

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Speaker 1: be healed, parts of us that we don't even know

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Speaker 1: how great we can be our And I actually talked

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Speaker 1: to my doctor and she shared that many of us

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Speaker 1: have no idea how great we can feel because we've

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Speaker 1: never experienced being a healthy before. And I think visions

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Speaker 1: and aspirations are the same, so it'll be a side

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Speaker 1: hustle because you don't know you can do anything else.

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Speaker 1: And I press upon everyone that the gift of vision

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Speaker 1: is already anointed. I won't folks to truly understand that

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Speaker 1: everyone everyone does not get the vision to create a

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Speaker 1: path for themselves. And when you get it, you don't

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Speaker 1: even have to worry about imposter syndrome. You have already

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Speaker 1: been given the first thing that you need, and that's

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Speaker 1: the seed of a big vision. So just I mean,

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Speaker 1: go after it. I unapologetically go after everything that is

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Speaker 1: in my mind because I know that it is divinely protected.

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Speaker 1: What I don't do is go after things that I

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Speaker 1: know are not for me though, and you can feel it.

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Speaker 1: I love that. I love that. Um. How closely tied

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Speaker 1: is civil rights? UM, social equality, closely health disparities to

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Speaker 1: economic power? And I want to ask a specifically of you,

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Speaker 1: because you know you like almost self proclaimed social entrepreneurs,

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Speaker 1: which means you're not just in it for the money.

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Speaker 1: But how closely tied are those things to economic power? Yes?

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Speaker 1: I mentioned earlier about redlining, and that was created to

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Speaker 1: literally starved communities. And so if a community does not

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Speaker 1: have a place where people can eat healthy foods, if

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Speaker 1: there is no way the kids can be educated, then

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Speaker 1: that that community would always be a as and deserters

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Speaker 1: with without things that people can do to survive and live,

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Speaker 1: and so economic mobility, that whole picture again, all of

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Speaker 1: that has to be included, and that social entrepreneur in me,

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Speaker 1: I'm always thinking about beyond the foods that we're eating,

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Speaker 1: what type of foods are we eating and what is

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Speaker 1: it doing to our bodies? What type of things are

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Speaker 1: we reading, How we're educating our children, how we're educating ourselves,

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Speaker 1: Because what is going to take and what is going

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Speaker 1: to require for us to really move our community forward.

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Speaker 1: Is that we're thinking about all these things all the time. Now,

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Speaker 1: you don't have to be the magician. You don't have

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Speaker 1: to be the one that has the magic in that area.

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Speaker 1: That's why we have the village. But I do think

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Speaker 1: comprehensive development, comprehensive community building and thinking about where we

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Speaker 1: can be ten fifteen years from now. It's gonna requires

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Speaker 1: to start thinking about the foods that were eating again,

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Speaker 1: what's happening in our communities, why it's not happening in

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Speaker 1: our communities, But then taken and honestly for black folks

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Speaker 1: to know that this was created by design, and we

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Speaker 1: know how something is designed, you have a much better

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Speaker 1: way of being able to tackle it. But it's not

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Speaker 1: something that can be tackled overnight. It is going to

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Speaker 1: require people to separate their privilege because sometimes we're super

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Speaker 1: happy to be at the table we saw, happy that

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Speaker 1: we outside of that neighborhood that we grew up and

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Speaker 1: I get it. But the but the thing about growing

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Speaker 1: up in the neighborhood, of growing up in the country

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Speaker 1: Mississippi like I did, and knowing that those spirities exist.

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Speaker 1: Those of us who have have an opportunity to get out.

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Speaker 1: Then our job is to do is to literally go back.

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Speaker 1: And if you think about the Civil Rights movement, the

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Speaker 1: leaders understood their call, they understood their charge. We think

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Speaker 1: about the great migration from Mississippi to Chicago. My family

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00:21:43,680 --> 00:21:46,440
Speaker 1: left miss left Mississippi, go to Chicago. But they were

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Speaker 1: supposed to go to create a better pathway, create a

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Speaker 1: better life. And so what we can't do is to

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Speaker 1: understand that we're supposed to create something better, then we

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00:21:55,160 --> 00:21:58,480
Speaker 1: just stopping. We never go back. So over mobility truly

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Speaker 1: has to do with how we think about our positioning

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00:22:01,200 --> 00:22:06,199
Speaker 1: power and leveraging it to bring the community forward. I

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Speaker 1: want to talk about this social entrepreneursial thing because again,

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Speaker 1: like this is not something This is not a business

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Speaker 1: you build just because you're a billion people are gonna

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Speaker 1: using You're gonna be this trillionaire like you know, Jeff Bezos.

432
00:22:16,080 --> 00:22:19,800
Speaker 1: Although you can do well while doing well. I want

433
00:22:19,800 --> 00:22:22,440
Speaker 1: you to talk about how that works because there I

434
00:22:22,480 --> 00:22:25,840
Speaker 1: would imagine if there is aspiring doctor keys out there

435
00:22:26,160 --> 00:22:29,200
Speaker 1: who in their other town, may you know, think about

436
00:22:29,280 --> 00:22:32,480
Speaker 1: putting together a market or doing something else, but they

437
00:22:32,520 --> 00:22:35,840
Speaker 1: haven't not not yet figured out how to do well

438
00:22:35,880 --> 00:22:41,120
Speaker 1: while doing well talking speaking up, Yeah, so I mean

439
00:22:41,160 --> 00:22:43,400
Speaker 1: you said it will you can? You can do well

440
00:22:43,440 --> 00:22:47,359
Speaker 1: while doing well. Um. The goal is to not stay

441
00:22:47,400 --> 00:22:50,760
Speaker 1: where we've always been. It's all right to make money,

442
00:22:50,960 --> 00:22:54,119
Speaker 1: it's not right to being authentic, it's not right to

443
00:22:54,200 --> 00:22:57,160
Speaker 1: just do things for the money. Um. But in order

444
00:22:57,200 --> 00:23:00,080
Speaker 1: for us to seek any sense of economic liberation is

445
00:23:00,119 --> 00:23:02,280
Speaker 1: going to require many of us to start making money

446
00:23:02,320 --> 00:23:04,240
Speaker 1: and put that money together to build things that we

447
00:23:04,280 --> 00:23:08,000
Speaker 1: have never seen. So with those social entrepreneurs like myself

448
00:23:08,040 --> 00:23:10,160
Speaker 1: out there, I can just tell you what I've done.

449
00:23:10,240 --> 00:23:12,919
Speaker 1: I can only speak about from my own experiences. I

450
00:23:13,000 --> 00:23:15,560
Speaker 1: made sure that the village was very it was very

451
00:23:15,600 --> 00:23:17,600
Speaker 1: clear on what our intentions were. But I made sure

452
00:23:17,600 --> 00:23:20,119
Speaker 1: that in the background of that that I had a

453
00:23:20,119 --> 00:23:23,520
Speaker 1: comprehensive business plan with verticals in place. What is the

454
00:23:23,560 --> 00:23:26,439
Speaker 1: nonprofit arm and what is the for profit arm? And

455
00:23:26,480 --> 00:23:29,600
Speaker 1: it's okay to exist in both spaces. They're doing good

456
00:23:29,640 --> 00:23:31,679
Speaker 1: to do good, But then that for profit is to

457
00:23:31,720 --> 00:23:34,240
Speaker 1: make sure that you can bring your team on that

458
00:23:34,240 --> 00:23:37,280
Speaker 1: that I have nephews who are who i I'm hoping

459
00:23:37,280 --> 00:23:39,280
Speaker 1: one day that I can hand something out to them,

460
00:23:39,359 --> 00:23:42,080
Speaker 1: and when it comes to land value and things like that.

461
00:23:42,359 --> 00:23:43,840
Speaker 1: But I can't do that if I'm only in the

462
00:23:43,880 --> 00:23:45,960
Speaker 1: space of doing things out of place with my heart

463
00:23:46,359 --> 00:23:49,400
Speaker 1: and I'm not thinking about what is that financial impact

464
00:23:49,400 --> 00:23:52,280
Speaker 1: that financial game. But one thing that I don't compromise

465
00:23:52,320 --> 00:23:55,320
Speaker 1: and I'm and I'm hoping no social entrepreneur or any

466
00:23:55,359 --> 00:23:58,400
Speaker 1: black entrepreneur, I don't think you ever should compromise your people.

467
00:23:59,040 --> 00:24:01,000
Speaker 1: And I know that's hard. I know it's hard when

468
00:24:01,000 --> 00:24:03,160
Speaker 1: things come at you and you're like, man, this is good.

469
00:24:03,760 --> 00:24:06,439
Speaker 1: But we all have that intrinsic thing that happens inside

470
00:24:06,440 --> 00:24:08,480
Speaker 1: of us when we know that something is deeply out

471
00:24:08,480 --> 00:24:12,159
Speaker 1: of alignment. That level of discomfort that we have to

472
00:24:12,240 --> 00:24:15,119
Speaker 1: live and experience when we do things out of alignment

473
00:24:15,200 --> 00:24:19,000
Speaker 1: is not worth it. All money, as our grandparents to say,

474
00:24:19,200 --> 00:24:21,720
Speaker 1: not good money. To leave that not good money over

475
00:24:21,760 --> 00:24:24,320
Speaker 1: there and make some really good money and make sure

476
00:24:24,359 --> 00:24:26,920
Speaker 1: you hire a really good team, because once you hire

477
00:24:26,960 --> 00:24:29,360
Speaker 1: that really good team, then you're able to scare your business.

478
00:24:29,680 --> 00:24:32,040
Speaker 1: But it put the verticals in place to make sure

479
00:24:32,080 --> 00:24:35,040
Speaker 1: that the revenue model is solid, make sure there's enough

480
00:24:35,480 --> 00:24:38,240
Speaker 1: after your revenue models is solid, and you can go

481
00:24:38,280 --> 00:24:39,760
Speaker 1: out there and if you want to give grants and

482
00:24:39,800 --> 00:24:42,040
Speaker 1: things like that. But it's hard to give from a

483
00:24:42,080 --> 00:24:46,240
Speaker 1: place where you don't have things. You see, I'm sure

484
00:24:46,280 --> 00:24:49,000
Speaker 1: a lot of small businesses who just aren't ready to

485
00:24:49,080 --> 00:24:52,840
Speaker 1: be in the village market. And I'm wondering what are

486
00:24:52,880 --> 00:24:56,000
Speaker 1: some of those things that people don't have in place

487
00:24:56,520 --> 00:24:58,400
Speaker 1: that they're not even ready yet for that I talk

488
00:24:58,560 --> 00:25:00,480
Speaker 1: and talk about some of the tactical things it should

489
00:25:00,480 --> 00:25:03,200
Speaker 1: be doing, you know, to be able to be ready

490
00:25:03,359 --> 00:25:05,920
Speaker 1: for whether whether it's a village market or just doing

491
00:25:05,920 --> 00:25:09,280
Speaker 1: business period, things that you need to do. Yeah, so

492
00:25:09,600 --> 00:25:12,879
Speaker 1: um for any entrepreneur in the village or wherever you

493
00:25:13,240 --> 00:25:15,480
Speaker 1: the first part to make sure you prepare to make

494
00:25:15,480 --> 00:25:19,359
Speaker 1: sure your your business is legit So have you have

495
00:25:19,520 --> 00:25:22,359
Speaker 1: you done all the things that legitimizes your business, like

496
00:25:22,440 --> 00:25:25,360
Speaker 1: that's the Instagram blue check. I guess have you got

497
00:25:25,400 --> 00:25:29,000
Speaker 1: your business license in place? Because there's gonna come a

498
00:25:29,040 --> 00:25:31,600
Speaker 1: time where you where, especially when we get this bank

499
00:25:31,640 --> 00:25:34,400
Speaker 1: and stuff together, that you may need access to capital,

500
00:25:34,520 --> 00:25:36,720
Speaker 1: you may need a line of credit, you may need

501
00:25:36,760 --> 00:25:39,560
Speaker 1: along and so what they're what the first thing is

502
00:25:39,560 --> 00:25:41,200
Speaker 1: they're going to ask you for is how many times

503
00:25:41,200 --> 00:25:43,600
Speaker 1: will you foul taxes? And you can't sit with a

504
00:25:43,640 --> 00:25:46,399
Speaker 1: blank stare. So the only way that you can foul taxes,

505
00:25:46,440 --> 00:25:48,280
Speaker 1: you've got to make sure you have a legit businesses

506
00:25:48,680 --> 00:25:51,399
Speaker 1: in place and a lot of And I understand the

507
00:25:51,440 --> 00:25:54,800
Speaker 1: intimidation factor of that, but getting get legit meant and

508
00:25:54,800 --> 00:25:57,920
Speaker 1: getting your certification is not It's not a hard process.

509
00:25:57,960 --> 00:26:02,760
Speaker 1: It's just sitting down and doing um starting there. That's

510
00:26:02,800 --> 00:26:05,439
Speaker 1: the first step of making sure your business is legit

511
00:26:05,800 --> 00:26:08,119
Speaker 1: and then just being very clear on what are those

512
00:26:08,119 --> 00:26:11,040
Speaker 1: short and long term goals. And I will say your

513
00:26:11,119 --> 00:26:13,320
Speaker 1: short term goals don't have to be the same what

514
00:26:13,480 --> 00:26:15,600
Speaker 1: you see as the highlight reel of some of the

515
00:26:15,600 --> 00:26:18,400
Speaker 1: people who you look up to on Instagram. I mean,

516
00:26:18,640 --> 00:26:20,880
Speaker 1: if we're catching a highlight reel, you miss in all

517
00:26:20,880 --> 00:26:23,320
Speaker 1: the years that they had to put in to even

518
00:26:23,359 --> 00:26:26,320
Speaker 1: create the highlight reel. So I wouldn't even assess that

519
00:26:26,359 --> 00:26:28,520
Speaker 1: I would put that as the long term. But in

520
00:26:28,520 --> 00:26:30,320
Speaker 1: a short term, do you want to make sure that

521
00:26:30,359 --> 00:26:34,560
Speaker 1: your your brand identity is solid, these colors that you're choosing,

522
00:26:34,600 --> 00:26:37,679
Speaker 1: these words that you're using, that voice and brand voice,

523
00:26:37,960 --> 00:26:40,560
Speaker 1: Like what are you about if people never see your

524
00:26:40,560 --> 00:26:42,719
Speaker 1: face but met your company, what do you want them

525
00:26:42,760 --> 00:26:45,320
Speaker 1: to see? That's the stuff that you start thinking about,

526
00:26:45,359 --> 00:26:47,920
Speaker 1: who is that customer, Who is that customer that would

527
00:26:47,920 --> 00:26:51,440
Speaker 1: go that would shot from you during the pandemic asthetive pandemic,

528
00:26:51,760 --> 00:26:54,960
Speaker 1: start considering who that person is. And then from a

529
00:26:55,080 --> 00:27:01,080
Speaker 1: very tactical sense, I recommend everyone getting an accountant and

530
00:27:01,119 --> 00:27:04,480
Speaker 1: getting a small business attorney. And there's organizations like the

531
00:27:04,600 --> 00:27:06,560
Speaker 1: s b A that you can work with, and that's

532
00:27:06,600 --> 00:27:09,240
Speaker 1: throughout the country. To make sure that you have those

533
00:27:09,280 --> 00:27:12,239
Speaker 1: two people in place. I find that to be number one,

534
00:27:12,280 --> 00:27:15,000
Speaker 1: because they're gonna make sure how I started this. They're

535
00:27:15,000 --> 00:27:17,439
Speaker 1: gonna make sure that you are legit because you have

536
00:27:17,560 --> 00:27:20,440
Speaker 1: to be prepared for when the great day comes, when

537
00:27:20,480 --> 00:27:24,320
Speaker 1: all the algorithms clide together and you see yourself popping.

538
00:27:24,520 --> 00:27:28,320
Speaker 1: You gotta be prepared for that customer overflow. It is

539
00:27:28,320 --> 00:27:30,359
Speaker 1: going to happen if you continue to push at it

540
00:27:30,400 --> 00:27:33,080
Speaker 1: and work at it um. But I really want to

541
00:27:33,080 --> 00:27:38,600
Speaker 1: share again, beyond those tacticals senses, it is so important

542
00:27:38,600 --> 00:27:42,080
Speaker 1: to disconnect from social sometimes because if you would look

543
00:27:42,080 --> 00:27:44,520
Speaker 1: at the progression the highlight reel of other people, you

544
00:27:44,880 --> 00:27:48,080
Speaker 1: constantly feel that you're feeling, You're constantly feel that there's

545
00:27:48,160 --> 00:27:52,040
Speaker 1: no space for you. That is oversaturated that I can't

546
00:27:52,040 --> 00:27:54,200
Speaker 1: do it like this person. And as long as you're

547
00:27:54,200 --> 00:27:56,600
Speaker 1: watching that, that is stifling what you can truly be

548
00:27:56,680 --> 00:27:59,520
Speaker 1: and what you can truly become. So another because another

549
00:27:59,600 --> 00:28:02,640
Speaker 1: tas to a sense of getting prepared as getting unplugged.

550
00:28:03,080 --> 00:28:06,280
Speaker 1: You have to be clear on what you're striving to

551
00:28:06,359 --> 00:28:09,199
Speaker 1: be old and why you're striving to build it, and

552
00:28:09,200 --> 00:28:12,400
Speaker 1: then you start creating your plan behind that. But my

553
00:28:12,600 --> 00:28:15,360
Speaker 1: advice for those first investments, and this is just what

554
00:28:15,400 --> 00:28:18,680
Speaker 1: I did. I got my accountant, I got my small

555
00:28:18,920 --> 00:28:21,520
Speaker 1: business attorney, and now at the place where I can

556
00:28:21,600 --> 00:28:23,960
Speaker 1: hire somebody who's always there. But at first, these are

557
00:28:24,000 --> 00:28:27,200
Speaker 1: just contract the folks who I could afford U when

558
00:28:27,240 --> 00:28:29,480
Speaker 1: it was important. But what you get to the place

559
00:28:29,480 --> 00:28:33,400
Speaker 1: where you're able to keep these people on staff. Um there,

560
00:28:34,520 --> 00:28:37,439
Speaker 1: I just said. Atlanta is a special places. It is

561
00:28:37,520 --> 00:28:40,120
Speaker 1: just it's a special place, especially for black people. It's

562
00:28:40,160 --> 00:28:44,240
Speaker 1: a special place. And it's not like to me, like

563
00:28:44,360 --> 00:28:48,320
Speaker 1: rocket science, that this works in Atlanta, because Atlanta's they're

564
00:28:48,480 --> 00:28:52,520
Speaker 1: wing you and plus Atlanta it's gonna work. How does

565
00:28:52,560 --> 00:28:55,240
Speaker 1: this work outside of Atlanta? So if if if I

566
00:28:55,280 --> 00:28:58,520
Speaker 1: am you and I'm trying to grow, or I am

567
00:28:58,920 --> 00:29:02,920
Speaker 1: aspiring you I'm in the town that's like, Okay, how

568
00:29:02,960 --> 00:29:09,840
Speaker 1: do you build community around commerce and black vendors in consumers?

569
00:29:09,880 --> 00:29:14,840
Speaker 1: How do you do that outside of the Yeah, in

570
00:29:15,040 --> 00:29:18,920
Speaker 1: fair question. So I also think Atlanta is a very special,

571
00:29:19,120 --> 00:29:22,160
Speaker 1: special city. But if you take the word Atlanta the

572
00:29:22,160 --> 00:29:26,680
Speaker 1: way Atlantis were comprised of people, every community, every city

573
00:29:26,760 --> 00:29:30,160
Speaker 1: has people, Every city has folks that that's like Dr

574
00:29:30,240 --> 00:29:32,120
Speaker 1: KEI and like Will. Now we may have our own

575
00:29:32,120 --> 00:29:34,480
Speaker 1: flavor to it, but there's people out there who want

576
00:29:34,480 --> 00:29:36,560
Speaker 1: to be disruptive and want to do things that they've

577
00:29:36,600 --> 00:29:39,480
Speaker 1: never seen before. You get all those disrupted people in

578
00:29:39,520 --> 00:29:42,400
Speaker 1: the room together and you started thinking of the master plan.

579
00:29:42,640 --> 00:29:45,960
Speaker 1: And this is in basevill Mississippi, where I'm from um

580
00:29:46,000 --> 00:29:49,600
Speaker 1: to Ohio to Detroit. You can do the same thing.

581
00:29:49,840 --> 00:29:52,240
Speaker 1: All like mind, people need to start getting the room

582
00:29:52,240 --> 00:29:55,200
Speaker 1: and talking together, talking about insecurity so we can go

583
00:29:55,200 --> 00:29:57,320
Speaker 1: on and get that out of the way. Started talking

584
00:29:57,320 --> 00:29:59,600
Speaker 1: about these big plans that we have and what we

585
00:29:59,640 --> 00:30:03,760
Speaker 1: can do collaboratively together and what connections we have, because

586
00:30:03,920 --> 00:30:06,400
Speaker 1: then we bring those connections together. Now we have a

587
00:30:06,400 --> 00:30:09,520
Speaker 1: working ecosystem in our in our community that we can

588
00:30:09,560 --> 00:30:13,120
Speaker 1: start plug and play. But I truly believe Atlanta it

589
00:30:13,160 --> 00:30:16,040
Speaker 1: has all the secret sauce, But Atlanta has the secret

590
00:30:16,080 --> 00:30:20,000
Speaker 1: sauce of people who decided to bring their sauce together

591
00:30:20,360 --> 00:30:22,600
Speaker 1: in order to get something done. And so do I

592
00:30:22,640 --> 00:30:25,400
Speaker 1: think this can happen in Mississippi? Yes? Do I think

593
00:30:25,400 --> 00:30:27,560
Speaker 1: it can happen across the country. It doesn't matter if

594
00:30:27,560 --> 00:30:30,080
Speaker 1: the city is hot Atlanta are not. I really do.

595
00:30:30,280 --> 00:30:32,320
Speaker 1: I think it all deals with the people that you

596
00:30:32,360 --> 00:30:35,720
Speaker 1: are in close proximity. And it takes how what you

597
00:30:35,800 --> 00:30:40,760
Speaker 1: and I are doing today. It takes communication, It takes authenticity,

598
00:30:40,840 --> 00:30:44,200
Speaker 1: It takes talking about things that we are not subject to,

599
00:30:44,240 --> 00:30:47,160
Speaker 1: talking about a whole lot those things that make us insecure,

600
00:30:47,480 --> 00:30:49,720
Speaker 1: and then we start working together. Before we ever start

601
00:30:49,760 --> 00:30:53,360
Speaker 1: working together, having these conversations and saying like, what's like,

602
00:30:53,400 --> 00:30:56,520
Speaker 1: what's the goal? Because the regardless of how well I

603
00:30:56,600 --> 00:30:58,720
Speaker 1: may be doing, how well you may be doing well,

604
00:30:58,880 --> 00:31:01,680
Speaker 1: none of us are doing well. Not one of us,

605
00:31:01,840 --> 00:31:05,920
Speaker 1: none of us individually have can even imagine the potential

606
00:31:06,120 --> 00:31:08,440
Speaker 1: of where we can be if we keep our minds

607
00:31:08,480 --> 00:31:12,880
Speaker 1: that strong and continue to work forward and work together. So, yeah, collaboration,

608
00:31:12,960 --> 00:31:17,280
Speaker 1: city to city conversations, um, getting those networks in the room,

609
00:31:17,400 --> 00:31:19,560
Speaker 1: all the plugs and the community get them, getting them

610
00:31:19,560 --> 00:31:22,520
Speaker 1: all in the same room and understand that the only

611
00:31:22,560 --> 00:31:24,320
Speaker 1: way we can conquer the thing, it has to be

612
00:31:24,400 --> 00:31:47,240
Speaker 1: done together. Black Tech Green Moneys in production of Black

613
00:31:47,360 --> 00:31:50,120
Speaker 1: Dy Afro Tech on the Black Fact podcast Networking I

614
00:31:50,240 --> 00:31:54,640
Speaker 1: Hired Media. It's produced by Morgan Dubon and me Well Lucas,

615
00:31:55,120 --> 00:31:58,040
Speaker 1: with additional production support by Love Beach and Raven near Born.

616
00:31:59,320 --> 00:32:02,360
Speaker 1: Especially thank you Michael Davis and sakasavon Yon you know

617
00:32:02,480 --> 00:32:06,040
Speaker 1: like the Wine. Yes that's his real name. Learn more

618
00:32:06,040 --> 00:32:08,280
Speaker 1: about my guests and other technis, weapons and innovators at

619
00:32:08,280 --> 00:32:11,840
Speaker 1: afrotech dot com. The video version of this episode would

620
00:32:11,920 --> 00:32:14,200
Speaker 1: drop the Black Tech Green Money on YouTube next week,

621
00:32:14,240 --> 00:32:18,680
Speaker 1: So tap in enjoying Black Tech Green Money. Leave us

622
00:32:18,680 --> 00:32:22,720
Speaker 1: a five star rating on iTunes. Gonna get your money,

623
00:32:23,520 --> 00:32:24,160
Speaker 1: Peace and love