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Speaker 1: Hey guys, welcome to another episode of Eating While Broke.

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Speaker 1: I'm your host, Coleen Witz, and today we have a

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Speaker 1: very special guest, entrepreneur founder of Coffee del Mundo.

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Speaker 2: Did I say it right? Coffee de del Mundo.

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Speaker 1: John Kinnard's in the building and this is all the

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Speaker 1: way in South LA. So we have a black owned

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Speaker 1: coffee business, so this is very unique. I don't actually

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Speaker 1: drink coffee, but today I'm gonna drink coffee. I'm gonna

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Speaker 1: test the colebrew before i even pass him over to

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Speaker 1: the dish he's about to cook us.

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Speaker 2: Let's just do a test. This is the Coco Blanco.

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Speaker 3: CaCl blanco, my favorite one blanco.

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Speaker 1: So fun fact, I actually don't drink coffee, and if

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Speaker 1: I do, I usually mix it with hot chocolate and

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Speaker 1: then usually I get the jitters and I start to

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Speaker 1: think I'm gonna have a panic attack. It's weird. I

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Speaker 1: don't know why I react to coffee like that, so

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Speaker 1: let's test it. And I'm not a coffee fan, so

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Speaker 1: if I make a certain face, it's because I'm genuinely

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Speaker 1: not a coffee fan. So it doesn't mean you should

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Speaker 1: be taking my advice on coffee. You should not take

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Speaker 1: my advice on coffee at all. This hot chocolate, yes,

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Speaker 1: I've even mixed. I mixed vanilla.

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Speaker 3: Well, this is a white chocolate coffee that's.

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Speaker 1: All enjoy Yes, and I'm only gonna drink it a

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Speaker 1: little bit because we don't even.

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Speaker 2: Be bouncing off the walls.

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Speaker 3: I can mess with this, Okay.

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Speaker 2: It has a little bit of a coffee taste. It

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Speaker 2: definitely has a coffee taste, which is good for coffee drinkers.

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Speaker 3: Right, absolutely, I ain't on front.

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Speaker 1: I could probably kill this whole thing. I could probably

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Speaker 1: drink this thing. But will I get the jitters?

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Speaker 3: You will? This is like two servings in one and

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Speaker 3: for you that may be like three servings.

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Speaker 2: So that means what is coffee made of? Caffeine? Right?

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Speaker 3: Caffeine content? Yeah, cold brew is three times stronger than espresso,

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Speaker 3: so a third of that is like one cup of coffee.

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Speaker 2: Okay, you need to have. This is delicious.

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Speaker 1: I ain't gonna run. This is actually delicious. I would

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Speaker 1: drink this whole thing and probably end up in the hospital.

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Speaker 2: Right, yeah, sensitive, babe, I'm not gonna lie. This is

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Speaker 2: so easy to drink.

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Speaker 3: It's made with oat milk, white chocolate and coconut condensed

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Speaker 3: milk with our Nicarockuan cold brew.

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Speaker 1: This is actually this is really I'm a low key

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Speaker 1: surprised how delicious this is.

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Speaker 3: And it's plant based hundred percent, so it's good for

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Speaker 3: you now and later.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, this is so you should probably take this from

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Speaker 2: me because how much can I drink without getting the jitters?

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Speaker 3: Uh, you know, probably to like right there, okay, yeah, probably, Like.

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Speaker 2: Guys, I'm not gonna lie, I'm probably gonna drink this.

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Speaker 2: And then the other flavor is it's.

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Speaker 3: Our Cafe o the Oia, a traditional flavor in the

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Speaker 3: Latino community, made with brown sugar, cinnamon, and dar Mexican colbrew.

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Speaker 2: And you make this from scratch right yeah?

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Speaker 3: All at the shop?

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Speaker 2: Wow? Okay? And where's your shop located.

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Speaker 3: On seventy four fourteen South Vermont Avenue.

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Speaker 2: Okay.

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Speaker 1: And when I was on the call with you, I

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Speaker 1: don't know if you notice, and it's very discriminatory, but

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Speaker 1: I had.

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Speaker 2: To ask how old are you?

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Speaker 3: I'm thirty three, thirty three?

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Speaker 2: I was like, you're thirty three? What did I say?

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Speaker 3: Oh?

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Speaker 2: I got to have you on the show, so young

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Speaker 2: black Latino man, cute ladies. I had to say. I

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Speaker 2: had to say it to help you all out.

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Speaker 1: And you own your own coffee business and it's award winning.

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Speaker 3: It's award winning, the only award winning shop in the city.

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Speaker 2: Yes, and what is your broke dish?

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Speaker 3: Oh, that's a good one. So my broke dish is

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Speaker 3: a spin on a traditional plate called the granaches and

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Speaker 3: I've been eating that since I was little because most

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Speaker 3: families make it because it's just so easy, it's so cheap,

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Speaker 3: it's so affordable and versatile. So that's my dish of

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Speaker 3: the day.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. So this dish, I want to say costs. I

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Speaker 1: think it was like maybe under ten dollars, but I

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Speaker 1: mean the corn tortillas, there's so many, so I would

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Speaker 1: guess you can get at least.

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Speaker 2: Ah, yeah, a lot out of it.

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Speaker 1: So this is definitely a cheap dish, really affordables.

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Speaker 2: Why don't you walk us through the ingredients?

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Speaker 3: Yeah? Sure. So it's made with a corn tortilla and

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Speaker 3: that's the benefit, like you said, is that comes in

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Speaker 3: a pack, so you can make this dish the whole week.

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Speaker 3: And what you do is you fry it in the

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Speaker 3: oil for a little bit to let it get crispy,

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Speaker 3: like a tostada, and then we have some traditional black

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Speaker 3: beans that will be spreading on it, kind of like

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Speaker 3: a Mexican pizza, and then your choice of topping. So

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Speaker 3: I like to add avocado. I'm dairy free, so we

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Speaker 3: got some vegan cheese along with some dice tomato cilantro.

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Speaker 3: And then at the very end we'll ad our lime

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Speaker 3: and our traditional Marie Sharp Belizion avenarow pepper sauce.

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Speaker 1: And then you made sure to make a note that

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Speaker 1: the beans had to be what was it refried or

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Speaker 1: mash mashed, And so just in case y'all go out

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Speaker 1: there and buy a can of beans, you may buy

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Speaker 1: the wrong ones. That's probably what I would do, so

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Speaker 1: just make sure you look for refried or mash.

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Speaker 2: All right, go ahead, feed me all right?

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Speaker 3: All right, So what we're gonna do is we're gonna

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Speaker 3: start off making sure our oil is hot. We turned

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Speaker 3: it down a little bit, and then we'll get our

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Speaker 3: beans warmed. So I like to put a little bit

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Speaker 3: of coconut oil. But you know we're not in Belize today,

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Speaker 3: so we're gonna have to make de and warm up

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Speaker 3: our beans here.

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Speaker 2: So you put the coconut oil before.

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Speaker 3: You before it. Yeah, and it gives it a little

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Speaker 3: more flavor because this dish comes from Belize and that's

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Speaker 3: what my mom is and so the coconut oil is

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Speaker 3: a really signature taste in a Belizian dish.

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Speaker 2: I like coconut flavoring. And like when I make a

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Speaker 2: Stoopies and rice, oh yeah, Like do you use coconut

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Speaker 2: milk in your rice?

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Speaker 3: I use coconut as many times. Look, I put it

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Speaker 3: in the coffee. I try to put as much coconut everywhere.

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Speaker 3: There's coconut milk in it, coconut condensed milk.

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Speaker 2: I thought there was oat milk and oat milk.

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Speaker 3: So the coconut condensed milk gives it that creamy texture

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Speaker 3: that you experience like it, and then the oat milk

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Speaker 3: just gives it that you know, additional lowers that pH

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Speaker 3: and gives it that creamy texture too.

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Speaker 1: I'm not gonna lie, like I could see me easily

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Speaker 1: drinking this whole thing, but I'm just scared about how

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Speaker 1: like jittery I would get.

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Speaker 3: Oh yeah, I mean we convert people all the time,

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Speaker 3: non coffee drinkers into coffee because most people are not

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Speaker 3: used to good coffee. They're used to burnt coffee. Good. Yeah,

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Speaker 3: And this roast is super fresh at our site in

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Speaker 3: South Central So literally you're not going to get a

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Speaker 3: fresher cup of coldbrew coffee.

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Speaker 2: I mean, this thing is delicious.

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Speaker 1: I'm not gonna lie, but this is for someone like

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Speaker 1: me because deliciousness.

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Speaker 2: I suck it down fast, then it creeps up later.

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Speaker 3: And so for those of you who are scared of frying,

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Speaker 3: or maybe have never fried something, this may be your

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Speaker 3: first time checking out this broke dish. A good way

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Speaker 3: to test your oil is just to put a little

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Speaker 3: bit of the tortilla in there, and if it bubbles

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Speaker 3: up and floats immediately, then the oil is hot enough.

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Speaker 3: But if not, then you want to wait, because that's

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Speaker 3: really the key to a good granachis and get that

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Speaker 3: good crispiness and it's not too oily and too unhealthy

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Speaker 3: for you. Because, like I said, I would make this

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Speaker 3: with breakfast, lunch, dinner. I would just fry up a

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Speaker 3: whole bunch of tortillas at the beginning of the week

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Speaker 3: and then just pop it out.

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Speaker 2: How do you keep them fresh there?

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Speaker 3: It's like a tortilla chip, just in a zip lock

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Speaker 3: bag on the counter.

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Speaker 2: Oh but sometimes they sell it like that.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, but it ain't nothing like the thick, the fresh.

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Speaker 3: Oh and it's also more expensive, just like the beans.

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Speaker 3: I wouldn't even do the can like I said, I

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Speaker 3: would do a pot a week, a big old pot

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Speaker 3: of black beans.

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Speaker 2: You make it yourself.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, that's how you say money. The cam beans are expected.

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Speaker 1: Wait a minute, So okay, I don't really deal with

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Speaker 1: a lot of beans, So tell me how do you

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Speaker 1: make it?

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Speaker 3: Oh? Okay, So like I said, oh, I haven't said it.

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Speaker 3: I come from a lineage of on my mom's side,

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Speaker 3: from Belieze, of restaurant owners and chefs. So with the

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Speaker 3: black beans, first you got to soak the beans.

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Speaker 2: How long do you have to soak them for?

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Speaker 3: I like to do it overnight and then in the

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Speaker 3: next morning I start my process to cook the beans.

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Speaker 3: So then you turn it on, let it cook a

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Speaker 3: little bit. Then once the beans have cooked, then you

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Speaker 3: chop up some dice onion. You put up a whole

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Speaker 3: aven arrow in it along with the secret ingredient, which

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Speaker 3: is really hard to find around here. The only place

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Speaker 3: I find it is at the Asian markets, which is

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Speaker 3: called kulantro culantro. We grow it in Belize and in

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Speaker 3: all the Central American countries. And see the tortilla starting

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Speaker 3: to flow, so it's almost ready. But it's like a

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Speaker 3: stronger tasting cilantro. But you put that in there with

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Speaker 3: a little bit of sassongoya, a little bit of all

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Speaker 3: purpose seasoning.

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Speaker 2: You sound like you can really cook. Oh I don't,

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Speaker 2: I don't know. I don't know if i'm mining, But

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Speaker 2: you sound like you really a chef in the kitchen.

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Speaker 3: And then you let that simmer once it's done. Oh

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Speaker 3: my gosh, really amazing.

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Speaker 2: But you didn't add any coconut milk to your beans.

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Speaker 3: Coconut oil?

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Speaker 2: Well, oh, it's coconut oil. The beans in the pot.

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Speaker 2: You use coconut oil.

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Speaker 3: Right, put a little bit of coconut oil and that

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Speaker 3: just sits on the count I use coconut oil for everything, eggs.

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Speaker 2: So but when you do your tortillas, are you using

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Speaker 2: coconut oil?

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Speaker 3: No? No, no, you can't fry in coconut oil because

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Speaker 3: the temperature to burn is too high.

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Speaker 2: Oh my god, you sound like a chef.

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Speaker 3: You're like, legit, I love it almost in it. Go

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Speaker 3: to college and went to culinary art school, Like that's

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Speaker 3: that's why my business is around cooking coffee all day

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Speaker 3: because I had to do something with cooking. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I always say that if I if I went

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Speaker 1: to school again, I would love to go to culinary school.

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Speaker 3: Me too, I would love to me too. All right,

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Speaker 3: So we think our first tortilla is ready, I'm gonna

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Speaker 3: do this one.

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Speaker 2: We'll just put it and then how many do you

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Speaker 2: usually eat to get full?

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Speaker 3: Like three, depending on how much I stack it up.

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Speaker 3: So see how that started.

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Speaker 2: Then how do we know when the tortilla's done?

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Speaker 3: It's brown, golden brown, and it's do you flip it? Yep,

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Speaker 3: we'll flip it eventually.

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Speaker 1: Okay, it's bubbling up. Okay, Okay, got a little cook

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Speaker 1: in action. So take me back to what was going

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Speaker 1: on at the time when you were making this while

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Speaker 1: you were broke or struggling, or when your family was

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Speaker 1: broke or struggling.

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Speaker 3: You know, when I first came out here, the only

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Speaker 3: family because I graduated from grad school and packed up

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Speaker 3: my car with whatever could fit and I just drove

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Speaker 3: out here. And the only person that had space in

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Speaker 3: our family out here was my aunt that lived in Paris, California.

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Speaker 2: Okay, first, wait, where did you graduate.

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Speaker 3: From Wake Forest in North Carolina.

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Speaker 1: Okay, so you came from North Carolina, you move out

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Speaker 1: here to live with the auntie.

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Speaker 3: Yep. And my job was in La So I was

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Speaker 3: driving eighty three miles.

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Speaker 2: Oh you got a job before you got a job. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: And what were you doing.

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Speaker 3: I was doing this management program for this marketing company

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Speaker 3: called Vantage. And so my aunt she would make a

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Speaker 3: big old pot of black beans because she had her kids,

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Speaker 3: you know, I was there, her sons, her daughters, and

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Speaker 3: then you know, she just enjoyed cooking, so there would

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Speaker 3: always be no matter when you got there, there was

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Speaker 3: always a good, big old pot of black beans. And

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Speaker 3: so with garnachas it really is, you know, it doesn't

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Speaker 3: take much. It's just tortilla black beans and whatever toppings.

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Speaker 3: So even if you have picky eaters, you can, you know,

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Speaker 3: make it up yourself however you like it. But that's

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Speaker 3: when I really started just making them all the time

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Speaker 3: after living there, because it was just so easy. So

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Speaker 3: I just made my pot of black beans. If it's

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Speaker 3: breakfast time, I'll make some scrambled eggs, put that on,

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Speaker 3: add that on there. If it's dinner time, I'll bowl

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Speaker 3: some chicken mince it up, add that on there, same toppings,

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Speaker 3: but you know, change up the pro team depending on

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Speaker 3: the time of day. And because I was hustling, working

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Speaker 3: sixteen hours kind of you know.

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Speaker 2: Make it and this is for that company, right yeah,

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Speaker 2: for that company. Okay.

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Speaker 1: And then so shout outs to your auntie for really

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Speaker 1: pouring the bean meals into you, right oh yeah, oh yeah, okay,

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Speaker 1: so you're working, tell me the next step of what's

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Speaker 1: going on in your life.

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Speaker 3: So then I ended up only doing that company for

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Speaker 3: a year and started doing an insurance for this union

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Speaker 3: company and that was another management program, and so did

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Speaker 3: that for four years.

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Speaker 2: Why do you keep saying management program like it's school.

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Speaker 3: Because I'm just started at school because I felt like

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Speaker 3: I needed I had just education. And so what I

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Speaker 3: looked for initially for my first jobs were, you know,

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Speaker 3: programs that had a pathway to promotion, and so that's

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Speaker 3: what this company had. And so within those four years

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Speaker 3: I ended up becoming the regional manager and seeing how

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Speaker 3: much money I was making for the company, I was like,

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Speaker 3: if I could make them this much money, imagine what

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Speaker 3: I could go out there and do for myself.

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Speaker 1: I think it's interesting though, I've never actually heard someone

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Speaker 1: say before the way you look at a job as

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Speaker 1: like a learning experience, or you're not just looking at

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Speaker 1: it as a check, You're looking at it for much

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Speaker 1: more than that.

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Speaker 3: That's also why I did the insurance business specifically for

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Speaker 3: that union company, because I mean, ultimately, the reason I

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Speaker 3: moved out here is to get into government. But I'm

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Speaker 3: not from here. I don't know anything. I don't know

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Speaker 3: how the people think. I don't know what people need.

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Speaker 3: And so the insurance game was I was able to

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Speaker 3: literally go into hundreds of homes of teachers, firefighters, police,

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Speaker 3: average citizens, still workers and learn what their true needs are,

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Speaker 3: and learn how they think, learn how much money they're making,

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Speaker 3: learn what they actually have in savings, putting things aside,

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Speaker 3: so really getting that understanding of what the landscape is.

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Speaker 3: So ultimately, one day I could really feel confident about

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Speaker 3: representing them. Okay, because that's what.

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Speaker 1: Your long term goal was government, And when you say government,

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Speaker 1: what do you mean government?

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Speaker 3: Ultimately I want to change education across the US federally,

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Speaker 3: so potentially holding a seat and Senate to sit on

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Speaker 3: that committee. Wow. But that's like why I moved here

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Speaker 3: and wanted to start my own business, because I don't

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Speaker 3: believe that. If you want to be in charge of

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Speaker 3: this city's budget, but yet you independently haven't ever managed

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Speaker 3: a budget like that, how can we trust you? There's

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Speaker 3: no proven history like this is a lot of money

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Speaker 3: that you get to decide in an instance. So I

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Speaker 3: want to when I get into office, I want people

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Speaker 3: to know that I've built my own wealth, I've managed money,

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Speaker 3: and I can also do that if you trust me

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Speaker 3: with this fund.

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Speaker 2: Wow, and those are big goals? Where did you get

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Speaker 2: that goal from?

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Speaker 3: Seeing all the injustices growing up? I grew up in Nashville, Tennessee,

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Speaker 3: and if you know anything about Nashville, it's mostly white black.

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Speaker 3: There's not many Latinos, definitely no Bellegians. And so just

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Speaker 3: going through the education system, seeing the unfairness, experiencing it,

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Speaker 3: witnessing it, and then going to college for my bachelor's

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Speaker 3: at the University of Tennessee where down the street that's

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Speaker 3: where the KKK was founded, And they would still have

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Speaker 3: rallies downtown in Knoxville while I was there.

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Speaker 2: Wow, And what year is that?

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Speaker 3: This was two thousand and ten and they were.

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Speaker 2: Still they're still having rallies still rallies.

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Speaker 3: When Obama won in two thousand and eight, they put

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Speaker 3: cotton balls around the Black Cultural Center, not them specifically,

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Speaker 3: but students on our campus. So it was just blatant

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Speaker 3: racism just and when I was there, the most thing

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Speaker 3: that struck me the most was the fact that we

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Speaker 3: were only celebrating fifty years of allowing black people to attend. Wow.

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Speaker 3: I said, so you're telling me you've only allowed two

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Speaker 3: generations of black folks to get educated here. But yeah,

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Speaker 3: you're charging us all of this money and debt to

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Speaker 3: just study freak. And so that really really upset me.

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Speaker 3: And so I was going to dedicate go to law

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Speaker 3: school and that was going to be my pathway. But

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Speaker 3: then you know, right at the last minute, God tapped

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Speaker 3: me on the shoulder and said, hey, I know you've

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Speaker 3: been practicing for the l side and think you're going

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Speaker 3: to be an attorney, but you need to go to

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Speaker 3: business school. I hadn't taken math since high school because

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Speaker 3: I wasn't gonna do nothing with math. I was going

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Speaker 3: to be an attorney. That was my path to get

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Speaker 3: in the government, but ended up, by the grace of God,

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Speaker 3: getting into Wake Forest their business management program. Some of

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Speaker 3: my classmates were from Princeton, Mit I felt like I

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Speaker 3: had no idea what I was doing. Never study business

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Speaker 3: in my life, but I made it through thanks to

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Speaker 3: some amazing teachers and office hours and peers, and made

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Speaker 3: it through that program. But it gave me. It really

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Speaker 3: changed my life and gave me that confidence to navigate

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Speaker 3: the world because I witnessed my parents who had the

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Speaker 3: desire this talent, but they didn't know necessarily, Oh that

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Speaker 3: was a little dark how to navigate the world. And

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Speaker 3: that's where the education came in, coupled with what I

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Speaker 3: learned from seeing them, and because they were both entrepreneurs

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Speaker 3: and my mom had a daycare, my dad had a

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Speaker 3: landscaping company, but they were never able to really scale

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Speaker 3: the business and take it to a point where they

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Speaker 3: could retire from it.

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Speaker 1: Like do you feel like they built the business to

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Speaker 1: be like self employed versus like building an actual organization.

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Speaker 3: At one thousand percent even to this day. I mean,

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Speaker 3: my dad still has his business and it's still basically

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Speaker 3: the same.

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Speaker 1: Way, like he's working for himself versus he has a

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Speaker 1: team absolutely okayutely perfect, And that's actually I want to

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Speaker 1: say that, like, kudos to your dad, I think scaling

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Speaker 1: and delegating work in a business is very it's a

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Speaker 1: very hard.

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Speaker 2: Thing to do. But kudos to him is to stay

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Speaker 2: in business as long as he has.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it is a blessing because you know, I grew

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Speaker 3: up my mom came here, you know, immigrated here from

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Speaker 3: Belize illegally for a better opportunity, and they were able

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Speaker 3: to do that together and they're still married to this day.

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Speaker 3: Blessed with that as well. But they taught me a

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Speaker 3: lot of those things and we had a we were

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Speaker 3: able to have all our needs taken care of growing up.

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Speaker 3: And so I knew myself watching them that I knew

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Speaker 3: one day I had to have my own business to

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Speaker 3: get that same freedom. But I also knew that I

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00:18:05,480 --> 00:18:08,520
Speaker 3: needed the education if it was ever going to be sustainable. Nice,

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Speaker 3: and that's where that business school came in and really

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Speaker 3: really changed my life, honestly, all right.

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Speaker 2: And then just so you know, unless you're cooking for

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Speaker 2: everybody in the.

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Speaker 3: Studio, yeah, we do can be done.

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Speaker 2: He's over here cooking for a family, and that's.

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Speaker 3: What I'm used to looking. I'm gonna get eat something.

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Speaker 1: Somebody's you know, I'm trying to judge him hard because

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Speaker 1: he looks a little too clean cut, guys. So one

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Speaker 1: of his tortillas from here looked like it could be

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Speaker 1: Crispy burn.

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Speaker 3: It's a little do you know, you just.

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Speaker 1: Put yeah, so you know, just so you know, guys,

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Speaker 1: we're judging. I mean, right now, I'll see one brown tortilla.

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Speaker 2: It looked like it could be an African American tortilla.

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Speaker 1: Just saying, but all right, So so you're in l A,

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Speaker 1: You're you're you're moving up in this in this organization.

401
00:18:57,520 --> 00:18:59,600
Speaker 1: What's going on? What's the next step? What is your

402
00:19:00,240 --> 00:19:02,399
Speaker 1: next chess move? Because you're you're definitely playing chess. I

403
00:19:02,440 --> 00:19:05,280
Speaker 1: see why you are where you're at because you're not

404
00:19:05,280 --> 00:19:05,880
Speaker 1: playing checkers.

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Speaker 2: You're playing chess right now. I like it. I'm very

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Speaker 2: very impressed.

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Speaker 3: Thank you, thank you.

408
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Speaker 2: Not that my opinion.

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Speaker 1: Matters, but my opinion does matter a little bit, but yeah, no,

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Speaker 1: I'm very impressed.

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Speaker 2: So continue.

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Speaker 3: So then with the insurance gig, again, I was doing

413
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Speaker 3: very well financially, and so I was like, I can't

414
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Speaker 3: do this no more. It's either I do something for myself.

415
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Speaker 3: But I didn't know what it was going to because

416
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Speaker 3: I knew it had to be around my passions and

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Speaker 3: I love to cook. As you can see, I'm really

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Speaker 3: enjoying this. Thank you for the opportunity. Again. I love

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Speaker 3: to travel, so I've traveled to so many different countries

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Speaker 3: and that's how I've learned about my first opportunity well

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00:19:46,240 --> 00:19:48,560
Speaker 3: with coffee. So one of my friends, I always go

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00:19:48,600 --> 00:19:51,040
Speaker 3: back in December to visit my family in Belize. And

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Speaker 3: so I had a friend who was from Alsalvador and

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Speaker 3: he goes back to visit his family. So I said, hey,

425
00:19:56,960 --> 00:19:59,040
Speaker 3: next time you go, let me. We're neighbors. Let me know,

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Speaker 3: and I'll just hop on playing over there and visit

427
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Speaker 3: El Salvador. Tour me around, and I didn't know his

428
00:20:05,000 --> 00:20:07,960
Speaker 3: family were coffee farmers, a lineage of coffee farmers, the

429
00:20:08,000 --> 00:20:09,960
Speaker 3: whole way. And so when I get there, you know,

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Speaker 3: he's giving me a tour of his place and everything,

431
00:20:12,040 --> 00:20:14,440
Speaker 3: and then you know, start talking to his parents and

432
00:20:14,520 --> 00:20:17,560
Speaker 3: learning about their coffee farm and then that it was struggling,

433
00:20:17,720 --> 00:20:22,399
Speaker 3: and how the whole industry was struggling, and just in general,

434
00:20:22,440 --> 00:20:25,960
Speaker 3: how the wealth was being extracted through coffee because of

435
00:20:26,000 --> 00:20:29,480
Speaker 3: all the bullying, like these huge conglomerates like Starbucks, and

436
00:20:29,840 --> 00:20:32,000
Speaker 3: they would and Nestley who would come in there and

437
00:20:32,160 --> 00:20:34,520
Speaker 3: just tell them, hey, either you pay this rate or

438
00:20:34,560 --> 00:20:37,200
Speaker 3: we're not buying from you. Good luck, and then restrict

439
00:20:37,200 --> 00:20:40,320
Speaker 3: them from all the access. And so I said, you know, well,

440
00:20:40,359 --> 00:20:43,240
Speaker 3: what can I do to help that? And so I

441
00:20:43,280 --> 00:20:45,760
Speaker 3: packed up my suitcase with some raw coffee beans whatever

442
00:20:45,800 --> 00:20:48,040
Speaker 3: could fit, and I said, I know there's some roasters

443
00:20:48,160 --> 00:20:50,280
Speaker 3: or something in la I could you know, take it

444
00:20:50,320 --> 00:20:50,480
Speaker 3: to you.

445
00:20:50,720 --> 00:20:52,720
Speaker 2: Now you were able to take that across.

446
00:20:52,800 --> 00:20:57,200
Speaker 1: The first of all, rewind educate us on the bullying,

447
00:20:57,400 --> 00:21:02,200
Speaker 1: like I hate so certain companies do this.

448
00:21:02,200 --> 00:21:06,000
Speaker 2: But it's interesting to hear. So can you restate them?

449
00:21:21,240 --> 00:21:24,680
Speaker 3: Yeah. So basically, as you know in America, when you

450
00:21:24,760 --> 00:21:26,880
Speaker 3: think of coffee, you think of.

451
00:21:27,359 --> 00:21:30,399
Speaker 2: What I think of Starbucks, Espress, so.

452
00:21:30,560 --> 00:21:35,600
Speaker 3: Lat cappuccino as Starbucks, right, And so coffee was here

453
00:21:35,680 --> 00:21:38,439
Speaker 3: long before it was colonized by the Europeans, and that

454
00:21:38,560 --> 00:21:42,400
Speaker 3: espresso machine was ever even invented. And so a lot

455
00:21:42,400 --> 00:21:47,280
Speaker 3: of the money that in the industry when they go there,

456
00:21:47,840 --> 00:21:51,040
Speaker 3: they pay them pennies on the dollar. And these folks,

457
00:21:51,080 --> 00:21:53,440
Speaker 3: it takes a coffee plant four years to grow. They

458
00:21:53,440 --> 00:21:56,560
Speaker 3: have to literally climb up the sides of mountains because

459
00:21:56,600 --> 00:21:59,880
Speaker 3: it only grows in remote places that have a micro climate,

460
00:22:00,320 --> 00:22:03,000
Speaker 3: and then they pick it by hand and have to

461
00:22:03,000 --> 00:22:05,080
Speaker 3: carry it back up and down the mountain. And I've

462
00:22:05,520 --> 00:22:07,679
Speaker 3: done the exact same truck. I go to the farms

463
00:22:07,680 --> 00:22:10,960
Speaker 3: and work with these farmers and then they get paid

464
00:22:10,960 --> 00:22:13,080
Speaker 3: like pennies on the dollar for it, and the workers

465
00:22:13,119 --> 00:22:16,040
Speaker 3: are in poverty. The farmers aren't doing as well. And

466
00:22:16,080 --> 00:22:19,520
Speaker 3: I was like, so coffee industry is billions and billions

467
00:22:19,600 --> 00:22:20,120
Speaker 3: of dollars.

468
00:22:20,359 --> 00:22:20,959
Speaker 2: That's crazy.

469
00:22:21,000 --> 00:22:23,640
Speaker 3: Where's the wealth being extracted. It's all here because they

470
00:22:23,640 --> 00:22:25,199
Speaker 3: pay them pennies and then they go and make all

471
00:22:25,240 --> 00:22:27,920
Speaker 3: the money. So I told them, I said, well, I'll

472
00:22:27,920 --> 00:22:30,159
Speaker 3: pay you more. I'll pay you what you're worth, and

473
00:22:30,280 --> 00:22:34,240
Speaker 3: I'll create a stage for your story to be showcase

474
00:22:34,320 --> 00:22:37,160
Speaker 3: and for people to know coffee is not a European thing.

475
00:22:37,200 --> 00:22:40,439
Speaker 3: It's a Nicaraguan thing. It's an Ethiopian thing. It's a

476
00:22:40,480 --> 00:22:43,320
Speaker 3: thing of the culture that has been here way before

477
00:22:44,280 --> 00:22:47,760
Speaker 3: it was introduced through the European perspective. And so that's

478
00:22:47,800 --> 00:22:50,480
Speaker 3: also where Coffee del Munda came about, because I said,

479
00:22:50,680 --> 00:22:53,040
Speaker 3: if I am going to create a company in this industry,

480
00:22:53,560 --> 00:22:55,800
Speaker 3: I want to change and shift the narrative back to

481
00:22:55,920 --> 00:22:59,800
Speaker 3: more of an authentic story that honors the efforts and

482
00:22:59,840 --> 00:23:02,520
Speaker 3: the hard work that goes into these things, because I've

483
00:23:02,800 --> 00:23:04,879
Speaker 3: I felt it, I've done it, I've done the exact

484
00:23:04,880 --> 00:23:07,160
Speaker 3: same things as them, and there's no way they should

485
00:23:07,160 --> 00:23:09,560
Speaker 3: be living like this when all of this money is

486
00:23:09,560 --> 00:23:10,800
Speaker 3: being made in this industry.

487
00:23:10,920 --> 00:23:14,680
Speaker 2: Do you have any any video or footage of what

488
00:23:14,720 --> 00:23:16,080
Speaker 2: it's like when you're like.

489
00:23:16,040 --> 00:23:19,560
Speaker 3: Oh, yeah, yeah, I got tons of footage, tons of footage,

490
00:23:19,560 --> 00:23:22,080
Speaker 3: tons of I had my Apple Watch on. It was

491
00:23:22,119 --> 00:23:25,680
Speaker 3: four miles down, four miles back up. I barely made it.

492
00:23:26,160 --> 00:23:29,280
Speaker 3: And they're carrying one hundred back pounds of coffee.

493
00:23:29,320 --> 00:23:30,800
Speaker 2: And these guys are making they're living in.

494
00:23:30,760 --> 00:23:34,679
Speaker 3: Povertis met yep. And it's young young.

495
00:23:34,840 --> 00:23:36,840
Speaker 2: How young, sixteen fourteen?

496
00:23:36,880 --> 00:23:38,760
Speaker 3: But this is where the work is. They go where

497
00:23:38,760 --> 00:23:40,879
Speaker 3: and they're migratory, so they go where where the work is,

498
00:23:40,920 --> 00:23:42,760
Speaker 3: so they they don't have no rights, they don't have

499
00:23:42,800 --> 00:23:44,359
Speaker 3: no benefits and so.

500
00:23:44,560 --> 00:23:46,280
Speaker 2: And then what about the education. They're not able to

501
00:23:46,320 --> 00:23:47,119
Speaker 2: go to school because in.

502
00:23:47,080 --> 00:23:49,480
Speaker 3: The school they're picking coffee and you got to pay

503
00:23:49,520 --> 00:23:49,960
Speaker 3: for school.

504
00:23:51,160 --> 00:23:53,480
Speaker 2: So it's and that's still going on in two thousand

505
00:23:53,480 --> 00:23:54,800
Speaker 2: and trial going on.

506
00:23:54,840 --> 00:24:01,399
Speaker 3: I literally left Nicaragua in January December and same situation.

507
00:24:01,760 --> 00:24:03,679
Speaker 3: But the good thing again is the farmers that I

508
00:24:03,760 --> 00:24:06,000
Speaker 3: work with, you know, have a little more infrastructure and

509
00:24:06,400 --> 00:24:09,000
Speaker 3: we're paying them more so that way we can help

510
00:24:09,359 --> 00:24:12,000
Speaker 3: because I know my dollar helps the farmer, the land,

511
00:24:12,160 --> 00:24:14,240
Speaker 3: the workers, and my consumers here.

512
00:24:14,280 --> 00:24:16,920
Speaker 2: But like the Nestli's and Starbucks, they're paying bully raates.

513
00:24:17,040 --> 00:24:20,920
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, they're playing bully rays and the quality is

514
00:24:20,960 --> 00:24:24,440
Speaker 3: a lot lower. Yeah, it's just terrible. So now there's

515
00:24:24,480 --> 00:24:27,359
Speaker 3: a lot of more emphasis on knowing where your coffee

516
00:24:27,400 --> 00:24:30,520
Speaker 3: comes from. But this is a recent shift. It's still

517
00:24:30,560 --> 00:24:33,199
Speaker 3: a lot of shifting that needs to occur. Yeah, for

518
00:24:33,320 --> 00:24:36,359
Speaker 3: this wealth to be properly distributed to those who really

519
00:24:36,400 --> 00:24:37,119
Speaker 3: deserve it.

520
00:24:37,119 --> 00:24:40,840
Speaker 1: It's crazy to think that you're right, I would think

521
00:24:40,840 --> 00:24:42,879
Speaker 1: of coffee as more of a European thing. I wouldn't

522
00:24:42,880 --> 00:24:45,640
Speaker 1: even think, I mean, but then again, I mean, I don't.

523
00:24:45,440 --> 00:24:48,960
Speaker 2: Know that much about coffee. But okay, so school me

524
00:24:49,040 --> 00:24:51,399
Speaker 2: some more. So, what was the next step in your

525
00:24:51,440 --> 00:24:54,359
Speaker 2: story once you went to Salvador and you heard the story.

526
00:24:54,640 --> 00:24:58,080
Speaker 2: Obviously you have a lot of empathy and compassion for people.

527
00:24:58,480 --> 00:25:01,119
Speaker 2: It's very clear moved you to what too.

528
00:25:01,320 --> 00:25:03,600
Speaker 3: So then I came back with the beans, right, and

529
00:25:03,680 --> 00:25:07,520
Speaker 3: so I went around to different roasters. None of them

530
00:25:07,560 --> 00:25:11,679
Speaker 3: looked like me, and importers, none of them looked like me.

531
00:25:12,119 --> 00:25:13,720
Speaker 2: What do you mean, what would they look like?

532
00:25:13,760 --> 00:25:17,600
Speaker 3: White people, white, all white, all white, the whole industry,

533
00:25:18,080 --> 00:25:20,399
Speaker 3: even at Coffee Fest it was all white when I

534
00:25:20,440 --> 00:25:22,960
Speaker 3: went the first year, and so I'm like, wait a minute,

535
00:25:22,960 --> 00:25:24,480
Speaker 3: wait a minute, winter the only people that can grow

536
00:25:24,480 --> 00:25:26,119
Speaker 3: this thing look like me. But then you get to

537
00:25:26,160 --> 00:25:29,760
Speaker 3: America and it's a white dominated industry, and I said,

538
00:25:30,080 --> 00:25:33,159
Speaker 3: this don't make sense. I said, so really, how complicated

539
00:25:33,240 --> 00:25:35,280
Speaker 3: is it to roast these beans? I love to cook.

540
00:25:35,320 --> 00:25:37,840
Speaker 3: I'm pretty good at it, and used my dark one

541
00:25:37,880 --> 00:25:38,240
Speaker 3: over here.

542
00:25:39,240 --> 00:25:42,919
Speaker 1: Before you went to Outsalvador and saw the coffee beans,

543
00:25:43,560 --> 00:25:44,720
Speaker 1: you liked coffee.

544
00:25:44,840 --> 00:25:46,720
Speaker 3: I loved coffee. I needed I told you I was

545
00:25:46,760 --> 00:25:48,440
Speaker 3: sixteen hours. I was made.

546
00:25:49,200 --> 00:25:51,159
Speaker 2: Coffee was your best friend. So when you went there,

547
00:25:51,160 --> 00:25:52,920
Speaker 2: neated it. When you went there and saw the farms

548
00:25:52,920 --> 00:25:53,480
Speaker 2: where you're like.

549
00:25:53,440 --> 00:25:56,840
Speaker 3: Oh my gosh, I was. I was in awe. But

550
00:25:56,920 --> 00:26:00,439
Speaker 3: also I just love explorations. Yeah, learning, so to be

551
00:26:00,480 --> 00:26:02,520
Speaker 3: able to learn. Before I went to Salvator, I didn't

552
00:26:02,520 --> 00:26:04,000
Speaker 3: really I didn't know coffee was a cherry. It was

553
00:26:04,000 --> 00:26:04,359
Speaker 3: a fruit.

554
00:26:04,359 --> 00:26:05,960
Speaker 1: You're gonna have to take this coffee from me because

555
00:26:06,000 --> 00:26:08,240
Speaker 1: it is highly so good, isn't it?

556
00:26:08,240 --> 00:26:08,920
Speaker 3: And it's very free.

557
00:26:09,320 --> 00:26:12,680
Speaker 1: You know, I'm not even saying this to promote his business,

558
00:26:12,720 --> 00:26:16,200
Speaker 1: but like, it's so good. You're gonna have to really

559
00:26:16,200 --> 00:26:18,399
Speaker 1: take this from me because I will drink it all

560
00:26:18,440 --> 00:26:19,400
Speaker 1: and be really sick.

561
00:26:19,480 --> 00:26:19,680
Speaker 2: Later.

562
00:26:20,880 --> 00:26:22,120
Speaker 3: You'll be all right, you just won't go to sleep.

563
00:26:22,119 --> 00:26:23,800
Speaker 3: You'll get a lot of work done. Just plan some work.

564
00:26:23,920 --> 00:26:27,920
Speaker 2: Really, yeah, I won't get. I won't get if you

565
00:26:27,960 --> 00:26:28,680
Speaker 2: stay up like the.

566
00:26:28,640 --> 00:26:31,840
Speaker 3: Shakes, don't drink more than half then, but.

567
00:26:31,760 --> 00:26:34,040
Speaker 2: I do get a little shaky feeling in me when

568
00:26:34,040 --> 00:26:34,760
Speaker 2: I drink coffee.

569
00:26:34,800 --> 00:26:37,240
Speaker 3: Well, I get that if you drink more than half. Okay,

570
00:26:37,560 --> 00:26:39,159
Speaker 3: if you drink more than half, take it for me.

571
00:26:39,359 --> 00:26:41,919
Speaker 2: All right, this coffee is really good. I'm not gonna lie.

572
00:26:41,960 --> 00:26:42,120
Speaker 1: Guys.

573
00:26:42,160 --> 00:26:43,760
Speaker 2: You're gonna have to go check it out for yourself.

574
00:26:44,160 --> 00:26:46,520
Speaker 2: And I'm not a coffee drinker, but I know for

575
00:26:46,600 --> 00:26:50,240
Speaker 2: sure like this you should get all right, so go

576
00:26:50,320 --> 00:26:51,440
Speaker 2: on with your story. Sorry.

577
00:26:51,600 --> 00:26:53,600
Speaker 3: Yeah, So then I was like, okay, so what does

578
00:26:53,600 --> 00:26:55,280
Speaker 3: it take to roasts thing? I love to cook. So

579
00:26:55,400 --> 00:26:57,680
Speaker 3: then I'm a I'm a very I'm a person who

580
00:26:57,720 --> 00:27:01,320
Speaker 3: loves to physically touch things and manifest thing. So I

581
00:27:01,359 --> 00:27:04,080
Speaker 3: know these machines are expensive. So I started googling who

582
00:27:04,119 --> 00:27:06,320
Speaker 3: sells them, and I was like, let me go see

583
00:27:06,320 --> 00:27:08,000
Speaker 3: what they are. Even if I know I can't buy

584
00:27:08,080 --> 00:27:10,160
Speaker 3: when they're like a buying a car, when.

585
00:27:10,119 --> 00:27:11,760
Speaker 2: You mean buying a car, they're like twenty thousand thirds.

586
00:27:11,840 --> 00:27:14,600
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, these things are expensive because they come from Turkey.

587
00:27:14,640 --> 00:27:16,720
Speaker 3: It costs like three thousand dollars just to get it shipped. Like,

588
00:27:16,760 --> 00:27:20,840
Speaker 3: these things are huge and expensive. And so I went

589
00:27:20,880 --> 00:27:23,320
Speaker 3: to this one manufacturer from Turkey ended up being I mean,

590
00:27:23,359 --> 00:27:25,760
Speaker 3: they ended up being from Turkey. And so talking to

591
00:27:25,800 --> 00:27:27,760
Speaker 3: the guy, he had a very thick Turkish accent, and

592
00:27:27,840 --> 00:27:29,719
Speaker 3: come to find out, he had just got here and

593
00:27:29,760 --> 00:27:33,399
Speaker 3: he was responsible to sell these machines for the entire US.

594
00:27:33,720 --> 00:27:36,080
Speaker 3: Doesn't have much experience, doesn't know much about the culture,

595
00:27:36,480 --> 00:27:38,239
Speaker 3: and that's what I specialized in. So I told him,

596
00:27:38,280 --> 00:27:41,240
Speaker 3: I said, hey, why don't I help you sell these things?

597
00:27:41,600 --> 00:27:43,880
Speaker 3: Create a sales pitch for you, help you sell these

598
00:27:43,920 --> 00:27:47,919
Speaker 3: machines and then I could earn a roaster, get a discount.

599
00:27:48,080 --> 00:27:52,880
Speaker 2: He was like, you are the most gangster person my goodness.

600
00:27:53,480 --> 00:27:57,280
Speaker 2: So he's like yeah, so then they literally did that. Yeah.

601
00:27:57,359 --> 00:27:59,280
Speaker 3: I was like, look, I can't afford it, but I

602
00:27:59,320 --> 00:28:01,359
Speaker 3: know you need some help and I'm skilled at what

603
00:28:01,440 --> 00:28:03,680
Speaker 3: I do and I can sell these things. So then

604
00:28:05,200 --> 00:28:05,720
Speaker 3: ended up.

605
00:28:06,200 --> 00:28:08,200
Speaker 2: You know, entrepreneurs, are you paying attention?

606
00:28:08,840 --> 00:28:11,040
Speaker 1: You just got You basically said, Okay, I don't have

607
00:28:11,080 --> 00:28:14,040
Speaker 1: the money, but I got this skill set and you

608
00:28:14,080 --> 00:28:15,080
Speaker 1: know we could work out a deal.

609
00:28:15,119 --> 00:28:17,080
Speaker 2: Okay. I like where you had it, so okay, so

610
00:28:17,119 --> 00:28:18,000
Speaker 2: then you work out the deal.

611
00:28:18,040 --> 00:28:20,119
Speaker 3: You start out to deal. The owner of the company

612
00:28:20,119 --> 00:28:22,800
Speaker 3: had come to the US to visit, loved it, and

613
00:28:22,840 --> 00:28:25,159
Speaker 3: he took me back. That's how I went and studied

614
00:28:25,200 --> 00:28:26,760
Speaker 3: roasting because they was like, we'll pay for you to

615
00:28:26,840 --> 00:28:28,880
Speaker 3: learn roasting. All I had to do is get my flight.

616
00:28:28,920 --> 00:28:31,720
Speaker 3: They paid for everything else, Like I got to tour Turkey.

617
00:28:31,480 --> 00:28:34,800
Speaker 1: And you sold them on hiring you, right, and you

618
00:28:34,840 --> 00:28:37,040
Speaker 1: had zero experience, but you had a sales background.

619
00:28:37,080 --> 00:28:39,440
Speaker 3: I had. That's what I did. I taught and trained

620
00:28:39,440 --> 00:28:40,560
Speaker 3: people how to do sales. Yep.

621
00:28:40,680 --> 00:28:43,840
Speaker 1: And I always tell people in entrepreneurship the number one

622
00:28:44,000 --> 00:28:47,240
Speaker 1: skill you have to have in entrepreneurship is sales.

623
00:28:47,400 --> 00:28:49,360
Speaker 3: That's it. And that's why I did the insurance too,

624
00:28:49,360 --> 00:28:51,640
Speaker 3: because I needed to learn that skill. And I was

625
00:28:51,680 --> 00:28:54,720
Speaker 3: a though salesman, especially not in these waters. You've got

626
00:28:54,760 --> 00:28:56,600
Speaker 3: some deep, big old sharks up in here.

627
00:28:56,920 --> 00:28:57,200
Speaker 2: People.

628
00:28:57,280 --> 00:28:59,600
Speaker 1: It's funny because there's a stigma around salespeople. But the

629
00:28:59,640 --> 00:29:02,920
Speaker 1: truth is, I tell people, one of the skills that

630
00:29:02,960 --> 00:29:06,240
Speaker 1: I want to teach my daughter is essential skill is sales.

631
00:29:06,600 --> 00:29:09,040
Speaker 3: Yeah, you're gonna you're gonna have to sell. So that

632
00:29:09,160 --> 00:29:11,520
Speaker 3: was one of the skills that I wanted to master. First.

633
00:29:11,600 --> 00:29:16,280
Speaker 3: I read, studied, and executed those demonstrated those skills with

634
00:29:16,400 --> 00:29:20,280
Speaker 3: building a sales team and selling roasters successfully for them,

635
00:29:20,320 --> 00:29:23,360
Speaker 3: and that's when I learned to study in roasting in Turkey.

636
00:29:23,400 --> 00:29:26,120
Speaker 3: So I got that taken care of. Then I came.

637
00:29:25,960 --> 00:29:28,959
Speaker 2: Back and how long were you doing that for?

638
00:29:28,960 --> 00:29:31,640
Speaker 3: For like a year, and so I would go to

639
00:29:31,680 --> 00:29:33,520
Speaker 3: coffee fest with them and then we would help sell.

640
00:29:33,560 --> 00:29:37,120
Speaker 3: And that's actually how I met my Nicaraguan farmers because

641
00:29:37,200 --> 00:29:40,200
Speaker 3: they bought a machine from me when I was selling.

642
00:29:40,560 --> 00:29:42,880
Speaker 3: I think we met in Portland when they came to

643
00:29:42,920 --> 00:29:45,280
Speaker 3: the coffee fest, or maybe it was La one of

644
00:29:45,320 --> 00:29:47,920
Speaker 3: these cities, and so That's how I ended up meeting

645
00:29:47,960 --> 00:29:53,479
Speaker 3: that farmer to work with, and so fast forward, I

646
00:29:53,600 --> 00:29:56,200
Speaker 3: was practiced. I got my baby roaster, earned my first

647
00:29:56,200 --> 00:29:57,080
Speaker 3: little baby roaster.

648
00:29:57,720 --> 00:30:00,000
Speaker 2: And how much was it worth, I'm just curious.

649
00:30:00,440 --> 00:30:03,320
Speaker 3: Eighty five hundred and you earned?

650
00:30:03,400 --> 00:30:04,120
Speaker 2: You earned it.

651
00:30:04,240 --> 00:30:06,840
Speaker 3: Basically they let me use it as a showroom to

652
00:30:06,960 --> 00:30:09,640
Speaker 3: teach people because they had a lot of interests, but

653
00:30:09,680 --> 00:30:11,520
Speaker 3: the people didn't know how to use the roaster. So

654
00:30:11,560 --> 00:30:13,760
Speaker 3: I was basically the kind of us showroom to help

655
00:30:13,800 --> 00:30:17,840
Speaker 3: teach and train. And so I had the little baby roaster,

656
00:30:17,920 --> 00:30:20,240
Speaker 3: and so I found a space that was a live workspace,

657
00:30:20,680 --> 00:30:22,560
Speaker 3: so I had my studio on the back and I

658
00:30:22,600 --> 00:30:24,720
Speaker 3: had my little warehouse in the front with my baby roaster.

659
00:30:24,880 --> 00:30:28,120
Speaker 3: And for that year, I just practiced roasted roasted. And

660
00:30:28,160 --> 00:30:31,520
Speaker 3: then I ended up leaving the insurance game.

661
00:30:31,880 --> 00:30:34,000
Speaker 2: Oh you were still an insurance were all that?

662
00:30:34,080 --> 00:30:36,080
Speaker 3: Yeah? Yeah, because that was just off time, you know,

663
00:30:36,480 --> 00:30:38,840
Speaker 3: follow up easy things on the side. And so I

664
00:30:38,960 --> 00:30:45,000
Speaker 3: ended up leaving the insurance game. And because I did well,

665
00:30:45,080 --> 00:30:49,320
Speaker 3: I had residuals. So I let my residuals come in

666
00:30:49,360 --> 00:30:51,000
Speaker 3: and then if it didn't make what I needed to take,

667
00:30:51,040 --> 00:30:53,520
Speaker 3: I just go uber for a day or two and

668
00:30:53,600 --> 00:30:56,280
Speaker 3: make my balance. And then the rest of the time

669
00:30:56,320 --> 00:30:59,000
Speaker 3: I just focused on building the business, like the business plan, studying,

670
00:30:59,120 --> 00:31:03,640
Speaker 3: roasting labs, marketing, all of those things. And are you

671
00:31:03,640 --> 00:31:04,360
Speaker 3: a spicy eater?

672
00:31:04,800 --> 00:31:05,000
Speaker 2: No?

673
00:31:05,480 --> 00:31:09,840
Speaker 3: Okay, so flavor, but I gotta warn you this is

674
00:31:09,920 --> 00:31:11,440
Speaker 3: it gets it can get really hot. But we're just

675
00:31:11,480 --> 00:31:13,800
Speaker 3: gonna put a little tab on it because it goes

676
00:31:13,840 --> 00:31:14,680
Speaker 3: good on the avocado.

677
00:31:14,800 --> 00:31:16,719
Speaker 2: He's talking about this. What do you call it?

678
00:31:16,800 --> 00:31:20,400
Speaker 3: This is our pepper sauce, the Beligian abba narrow pepper sauce.

679
00:31:21,520 --> 00:31:24,920
Speaker 2: And then it looks like a pizza almost, guys.

680
00:31:24,720 --> 00:31:26,720
Speaker 3: Yeah, kind of like a kind of like a toasta.

681
00:31:26,920 --> 00:31:29,960
Speaker 3: But it's like it's like my souped up you get

682
00:31:30,400 --> 00:31:32,520
Speaker 3: It's not it's more for taste. You'll be out right,

683
00:31:32,960 --> 00:31:33,719
Speaker 3: You got your water, right?

684
00:31:34,440 --> 00:31:36,640
Speaker 1: Can I invite you to sit down with me and

685
00:31:37,160 --> 00:31:41,720
Speaker 1: Katie to come in. We're gonna throw the commercial, okay.

686
00:31:41,440 --> 00:31:44,720
Speaker 2: And we're back and let's just sample your dish.

687
00:31:44,760 --> 00:31:47,800
Speaker 3: All right, all right, here we go before you gotta

688
00:31:47,800 --> 00:31:50,160
Speaker 3: get the lime. You know it ain't nothing, got the lime.

689
00:31:50,280 --> 00:31:53,200
Speaker 3: Put the lime on it, your little drizzle on there.

690
00:31:53,320 --> 00:31:55,680
Speaker 2: Whoever cut these limes, they didn't cut right, it's supposed

691
00:31:55,720 --> 00:31:56,240
Speaker 2: to be chunkier.

692
00:31:56,760 --> 00:32:00,120
Speaker 3: It's okay, you just use a little more muscle. That's all.

693
00:32:00,120 --> 00:32:02,640
Speaker 2: Get it in my eyes? Okay, there we go. Lie

694
00:32:02,880 --> 00:32:05,280
Speaker 2: looks like a little pizza. I'm glad you made it

695
00:32:05,320 --> 00:32:08,640
Speaker 2: all pretty. Is this the brown one? You didn't give

696
00:32:08,640 --> 00:32:12,240
Speaker 2: me the brown brown? I'm just trying to make fun

697
00:32:12,280 --> 00:32:13,719
Speaker 2: of them, all right.

698
00:32:13,760 --> 00:32:16,680
Speaker 1: It's got the beans, the avocado, tomato, cilantro, and cheese.

699
00:32:16,720 --> 00:32:17,160
Speaker 2: Here we go.

700
00:32:17,320 --> 00:32:19,840
Speaker 3: This is technically vegan. A lot of times I don't eat,

701
00:32:20,000 --> 00:32:21,720
Speaker 3: you know, like meat.

702
00:32:21,880 --> 00:32:25,320
Speaker 1: By the way, I have a question. Country Wayne was

703
00:32:25,360 --> 00:32:27,680
Speaker 1: on our show. Shout out to the Country Wayne.

704
00:32:27,720 --> 00:32:30,640
Speaker 2: Okay, we'll be getting little spats off camera. But the

705
00:32:30,680 --> 00:32:35,960
Speaker 2: truth is I bought baked beans. It says vegetarian on

706
00:32:36,000 --> 00:32:41,240
Speaker 2: the can. Okay, it doesn't say vegan. Wouldn't it technically

707
00:32:41,280 --> 00:32:41,880
Speaker 2: be vegan?

708
00:32:43,160 --> 00:32:43,520
Speaker 3: No?

709
00:32:43,920 --> 00:32:45,080
Speaker 2: Why because of the sugar.

710
00:32:45,720 --> 00:32:50,680
Speaker 3: Vegetarian just means there's no I guess meat in it,

711
00:32:51,160 --> 00:32:54,840
Speaker 3: But vegan means it wasn't made with any animal products.

712
00:32:55,080 --> 00:32:58,240
Speaker 2: But is there such a thing as vegan baked beans?

713
00:32:58,680 --> 00:33:01,040
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, we're gonna cut that.

714
00:33:01,120 --> 00:33:01,920
Speaker 2: We ain't gonna share that.

715
00:33:02,120 --> 00:33:02,920
Speaker 3: Yeah, there is.

716
00:33:03,040 --> 00:33:06,320
Speaker 2: We're not gonna share that. If you find it, let

717
00:33:06,360 --> 00:33:09,120
Speaker 2: me know. But Country was swearing that there's a such thing,

718
00:33:09,160 --> 00:33:11,080
Speaker 2: and I was like, no, there isn't that whole foods.

719
00:33:11,080 --> 00:33:13,440
Speaker 3: It ain't at a regular grocery store, That's what he said.

720
00:33:13,520 --> 00:33:16,520
Speaker 2: Yeah, damn, I'm glad I didn't wait for that. All right, cheers.

721
00:33:16,680 --> 00:33:18,440
Speaker 2: We gonna cut that clip and just send it to

722
00:33:18,480 --> 00:33:21,800
Speaker 2: his DMS. All right, cheers, let's try this all right,

723
00:33:21,840 --> 00:33:34,120
Speaker 2: all right here, let's click. All right, Okay, you know what,

724
00:33:34,560 --> 00:33:37,560
Speaker 2: eating broke? Ain't that bad if you creative?

725
00:33:37,720 --> 00:33:41,120
Speaker 3: Look like you said. It's under ten dollars. And I'm

726
00:33:41,160 --> 00:33:44,680
Speaker 3: eating this more than one day.

727
00:33:45,400 --> 00:33:46,880
Speaker 2: That was just when I'm rich or not.

728
00:33:47,640 --> 00:33:48,160
Speaker 3: I still do.

729
00:33:49,400 --> 00:33:53,360
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was knocking the way you fried these tortillas,

730
00:33:54,840 --> 00:33:58,640
Speaker 2: but you did it. These are amazing. I love the

731
00:33:58,640 --> 00:34:00,440
Speaker 2: way you fried them. I'm gonna fry them just like that.

732
00:34:00,640 --> 00:34:08,640
Speaker 2: Mh okay yo. That is simply wonderful.

733
00:34:09,040 --> 00:34:09,600
Speaker 3: Easy too.

734
00:34:09,680 --> 00:34:10,920
Speaker 2: I'm gonna be making these at home.

735
00:34:11,480 --> 00:34:14,600
Speaker 3: M hm. And if you already got the tortillas, pribabe,

736
00:34:14,840 --> 00:34:16,080
Speaker 3: what you do is warm up the bean in the

737
00:34:16,440 --> 00:34:20,040
Speaker 3: market way because everything else is in the fridge, easy

738
00:34:20,120 --> 00:34:20,799
Speaker 3: quick from home.

739
00:34:22,960 --> 00:34:26,400
Speaker 2: You be cooking at home, career, I throw down. You

740
00:34:26,440 --> 00:34:28,920
Speaker 2: know what, I actually like the sauce too right.

741
00:34:28,960 --> 00:34:30,800
Speaker 3: It's not too hot. It's just a good EPI sauce.

742
00:34:31,040 --> 00:34:36,000
Speaker 2: It's literally perfect. Like someone could be broke with you,

743
00:34:36,040 --> 00:34:37,560
Speaker 2: they could live in a hook with you and be fine.

744
00:34:37,640 --> 00:34:40,839
Speaker 3: Trust me, all my roommates loved me because they never

745
00:34:41,000 --> 00:34:41,600
Speaker 3: ate so good.

746
00:34:42,600 --> 00:34:45,880
Speaker 1: They'd be like, oh, he's in the kitchen. We chilling, okay,

747
00:34:45,920 --> 00:34:48,840
Speaker 1: and we're back. I annihilated mine. I'm gonna have to

748
00:34:48,920 --> 00:34:51,279
Speaker 1: go back to interview mode and then I'm gonna have

749
00:34:51,320 --> 00:34:51,880
Speaker 1: you cooked.

750
00:34:51,640 --> 00:34:53,200
Speaker 2: The rest of the tortillas before you leave.

751
00:34:53,239 --> 00:34:57,399
Speaker 1: They're so good, Okay, fantastic dish, ten out of ten,

752
00:34:58,320 --> 00:35:01,440
Speaker 1: one of my favorites. Really DELI now back to your

753
00:35:01,480 --> 00:35:04,640
Speaker 1: amazing story. One of the things I noticed about you

754
00:35:04,680 --> 00:35:06,680
Speaker 1: in this whole story is you're not looking at the clock,

755
00:35:07,440 --> 00:35:10,120
Speaker 1: or are you when I say the clock? Like, You're

756
00:35:10,120 --> 00:35:12,640
Speaker 1: not like I have to be this successful by this date.

757
00:35:12,719 --> 00:35:15,360
Speaker 1: It seems like you're taking life on as a journey,

758
00:35:15,440 --> 00:35:17,160
Speaker 1: not as a destination.

759
00:35:17,680 --> 00:35:22,440
Speaker 3: Yeah. Absolutely. When I first moved out here, it wasn't

760
00:35:22,440 --> 00:35:24,040
Speaker 3: the case. I was like, I want to be a

761
00:35:24,040 --> 00:35:29,799
Speaker 3: millionaire ten years out of college and so just experiencing

762
00:35:29,880 --> 00:35:35,040
Speaker 3: life the pandemic, and it really allowed me to understand

763
00:35:35,080 --> 00:35:38,120
Speaker 3: that really, if you are just present and operating your

764
00:35:38,120 --> 00:35:42,040
Speaker 3: purpose every day, then ultimately you will get to where

765
00:35:42,040 --> 00:35:44,759
Speaker 3: you want to be. And so you know, to come

766
00:35:44,800 --> 00:35:46,920
Speaker 3: out here to La. I believe God gave me that

767
00:35:47,040 --> 00:35:50,120
Speaker 3: vision to say, hey, you need to be in La

768
00:35:50,760 --> 00:35:53,160
Speaker 3: and that's why I came here. And so I came

769
00:35:53,200 --> 00:35:55,520
Speaker 3: here with an open mind with the understanding that this

770
00:35:55,680 --> 00:35:59,120
Speaker 3: is my desire. But if I'm diligent and using my

771
00:35:59,200 --> 00:36:02,560
Speaker 3: gifts to serve what I believe is my purpose, then

772
00:36:03,000 --> 00:36:04,920
Speaker 3: you know that God says He'll give you the desires

773
00:36:04,920 --> 00:36:07,799
Speaker 3: of your heart, and so I believe there my heart

774
00:36:07,800 --> 00:36:08,600
Speaker 3: is filled.

775
00:36:09,160 --> 00:36:15,400
Speaker 1: Okay, so then after you acquire the baby Roaster, I

776
00:36:15,480 --> 00:36:19,040
Speaker 1: like the name of the baby Roaster. All Right, you're

777
00:36:19,080 --> 00:36:20,960
Speaker 1: in this loft workspace.

778
00:36:21,520 --> 00:36:23,040
Speaker 2: What are you doing? What's the day in the life

779
00:36:23,040 --> 00:36:23,759
Speaker 2: of you?

780
00:36:23,800 --> 00:36:25,880
Speaker 3: Pretty much, I would wake up and plan out my

781
00:36:26,000 --> 00:36:28,480
Speaker 3: day on what research needed to be done, because again

782
00:36:28,520 --> 00:36:31,120
Speaker 3: I wanted I wasn't just building a coffee shop, which

783
00:36:31,200 --> 00:36:32,719
Speaker 3: it wasn't even in that I wasn't even building a

784
00:36:32,760 --> 00:36:35,399
Speaker 3: coffee shop. I was building an e commerce brand. And

785
00:36:35,440 --> 00:36:38,200
Speaker 3: so being as I'd never done this before, I'm a

786
00:36:38,239 --> 00:36:43,480
Speaker 3: super researcher and a deep analyzer, So I'd spend about

787
00:36:43,640 --> 00:36:46,480
Speaker 3: my first three hours of the day doing research, and

788
00:36:46,520 --> 00:36:49,080
Speaker 3: then the middle part of my day is when I

789
00:36:49,120 --> 00:36:52,080
Speaker 3: would do the roasting, and so I would test out

790
00:36:52,080 --> 00:36:55,520
Speaker 3: different roast. And then the next day, if I'm not roasting,

791
00:36:55,520 --> 00:36:57,799
Speaker 3: then I'm testing all of the roast, brewing it and

792
00:36:57,880 --> 00:37:01,520
Speaker 3: cupping it, which is how we determine it. What kind

793
00:37:01,520 --> 00:37:04,120
Speaker 3: of specialty, what kind of aromas, what kind of flavors is,

794
00:37:04,280 --> 00:37:06,680
Speaker 3: if it's acidic, if it's not acidic, if it has

795
00:37:06,719 --> 00:37:09,160
Speaker 3: a lot of body. So I would study to get

796
00:37:09,200 --> 00:37:12,280
Speaker 3: my palette up, kind of like Ali for coffee.

797
00:37:12,320 --> 00:37:13,719
Speaker 1: So if I walked in your place, would it look

798
00:37:13,760 --> 00:37:16,160
Speaker 1: like a science lab, because that's what it sounds like.

799
00:37:16,200 --> 00:37:18,680
Speaker 3: It was, And it would be many cups labeled and

800
00:37:18,760 --> 00:37:22,760
Speaker 3: many bags labeled, dates with dates, the type of roast,

801
00:37:22,880 --> 00:37:27,160
Speaker 3: and then it's I have scientific tools called the actron reader,

802
00:37:27,200 --> 00:37:29,680
Speaker 3: which tells me the color of the roast and gives

803
00:37:29,719 --> 00:37:32,080
Speaker 3: me a score so that I can roast specifically to that,

804
00:37:33,520 --> 00:37:35,799
Speaker 3: and a density measurer to measure the density of.

805
00:37:35,800 --> 00:37:39,360
Speaker 1: The You're not just buying beans, and when you say roasting,

806
00:37:39,800 --> 00:37:42,160
Speaker 1: you mean like when they turn into powder or.

807
00:37:42,080 --> 00:37:45,760
Speaker 3: Something that's grinding. So roasting is the coffee is actually

808
00:37:45,840 --> 00:37:48,600
Speaker 3: a seat a green seed kind of like a dried

809
00:37:49,040 --> 00:37:49,840
Speaker 3: white bean.

810
00:37:49,760 --> 00:37:51,080
Speaker 2: So it doesn't look like a brown bean.

811
00:37:51,200 --> 00:37:53,919
Speaker 3: No, that's the roasting. So once I put it into

812
00:37:54,120 --> 00:37:56,799
Speaker 3: the machine and cook it, depending on if I want

813
00:37:56,800 --> 00:37:59,920
Speaker 3: a light, medium or dark roast, then that's where I

814
00:38:00,120 --> 00:38:00,640
Speaker 3: roast the bean.

815
00:38:00,960 --> 00:38:02,920
Speaker 2: Okay, So when you get it, the bean looks.

816
00:38:02,719 --> 00:38:06,200
Speaker 3: Like what it looks like a seed, like a I

817
00:38:06,239 --> 00:38:08,920
Speaker 3: would say, like a green bean pee. Oh my gosh.

818
00:38:09,000 --> 00:38:10,600
Speaker 1: It's so funny because when you were talking about getting

819
00:38:10,640 --> 00:38:14,759
Speaker 1: the the the green the coffee beans, I thought of

820
00:38:15,840 --> 00:38:19,239
Speaker 1: what's that fairy tale jack? And the I was like,

821
00:38:19,239 --> 00:38:19,880
Speaker 1: are they doing what?

822
00:38:19,920 --> 00:38:21,319
Speaker 2: They climbing up and they're coming down?

823
00:38:21,400 --> 00:38:24,640
Speaker 3: Yeah, the mountains because it grows on the side of mountains.

824
00:38:24,800 --> 00:38:26,960
Speaker 1: So you get them as green beans. And then you're

825
00:38:27,000 --> 00:38:30,200
Speaker 1: sitting there like a science mad science is roasting in

826
00:38:30,239 --> 00:38:30,960
Speaker 1: your place.

827
00:38:30,840 --> 00:38:33,280
Speaker 3: Exactly, And that's where the skill comes in, is figuring

828
00:38:33,320 --> 00:38:36,120
Speaker 3: out what's the ideal temperature, what's the ideal time, what's

829
00:38:36,160 --> 00:38:40,680
Speaker 3: the ideal airflow, what's the ideal drop temperature, all of those?

830
00:38:41,000 --> 00:38:42,680
Speaker 2: How long were you doing that part?

831
00:38:42,719 --> 00:38:46,360
Speaker 3: Of your business for like eight months, just studying and practicing.

832
00:38:46,640 --> 00:38:49,200
Speaker 1: And then at this point you're not making money off this, No,

833
00:38:49,520 --> 00:38:51,080
Speaker 1: you're just are you searching.

834
00:38:50,719 --> 00:38:52,040
Speaker 2: It out to friends to test?

835
00:38:52,360 --> 00:38:55,480
Speaker 3: Yeah, So I started my e commerce site and then

836
00:38:56,000 --> 00:38:58,279
Speaker 3: I would try to sell the coffee, but everyone would say, well,

837
00:38:58,360 --> 00:38:59,759
Speaker 3: I need to know what it tastes like. I don't

838
00:38:59,800 --> 00:39:02,480
Speaker 3: know with this taste like. And so I started to

839
00:39:02,520 --> 00:39:06,319
Speaker 3: have tastings at my place on the weekends, and that's

840
00:39:06,360 --> 00:39:08,279
Speaker 3: where people started saying, oh, you know, this is a

841
00:39:08,280 --> 00:39:10,360
Speaker 3: dope experience. You should turn this into a coffee shop.

842
00:39:10,560 --> 00:39:12,080
Speaker 3: And I'm like, oh no, no, no, no, no, no no,

843
00:39:12,280 --> 00:39:15,040
Speaker 3: that's gonna take so much more work, so much more money.

844
00:39:15,840 --> 00:39:18,400
Speaker 3: And so just listening to the needs of the community.

845
00:39:18,640 --> 00:39:20,920
Speaker 3: There's you know, south Central, there's a food desert.

846
00:39:20,640 --> 00:39:22,880
Speaker 2: And this is in South LA. They're saying this, Yeah.

847
00:39:22,680 --> 00:39:24,480
Speaker 3: This is in South LA. There's a food desert. There's

848
00:39:24,480 --> 00:39:28,120
Speaker 3: no healthy options, there's no non you know, good coffee

849
00:39:28,160 --> 00:39:30,360
Speaker 3: outside of they had seven to eleven, you know. So

850
00:39:31,000 --> 00:39:32,880
Speaker 3: I was like, Okay, I think I could do this.

851
00:39:33,000 --> 00:39:37,200
Speaker 3: So I moved out, did a friends and family round,

852
00:39:37,280 --> 00:39:38,440
Speaker 3: raised twenty five thousand.

853
00:39:39,120 --> 00:39:40,719
Speaker 1: When you say friends and family like you went over

854
00:39:40,719 --> 00:39:43,040
Speaker 1: there with a business plan and did all the presentation.

855
00:39:42,719 --> 00:39:44,520
Speaker 3: Told you, I spent eight months building this business plan,

856
00:39:44,600 --> 00:39:45,000
Speaker 3: so then I.

857
00:39:44,960 --> 00:39:47,240
Speaker 2: Shared it and I did eight months doing a business plan.

858
00:39:47,160 --> 00:39:50,360
Speaker 3: Eight eight months practicing roasting and getting the research to

859
00:39:50,440 --> 00:39:51,239
Speaker 3: get my business plan.

860
00:39:51,360 --> 00:39:53,719
Speaker 1: Okay, I mean your family at this point definitely believed

861
00:39:53,800 --> 00:39:56,239
Speaker 1: that you were passionate about this business and it was

862
00:39:56,280 --> 00:39:57,080
Speaker 1: worth investing in.

863
00:39:57,200 --> 00:39:59,960
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, yeah yeah, but they didn't have yeah yeah, yeah, yea.

864
00:40:00,200 --> 00:40:02,720
Speaker 3: My parents didn't have no money to invest but friends

865
00:40:02,719 --> 00:40:03,719
Speaker 3: and out exit.

866
00:40:03,719 --> 00:40:06,080
Speaker 2: So you did around and you raised the money in

867
00:40:06,160 --> 00:40:07,640
Speaker 2: trade of equity.

868
00:40:07,280 --> 00:40:09,360
Speaker 3: And trade of equity. Okay, so I gave us some

869
00:40:09,360 --> 00:40:12,320
Speaker 3: equity of the company and raised twenty five thousand.

870
00:40:12,400 --> 00:40:15,400
Speaker 1: Now how long What was that twenty five thousand supposed

871
00:40:15,400 --> 00:40:17,520
Speaker 1: to cover? Because that doesn't sound like a lot of money.

872
00:40:17,520 --> 00:40:22,680
Speaker 3: Right, So again, because traditional coffee shops are European style,

873
00:40:23,120 --> 00:40:26,160
Speaker 3: So the reason why my business model didn't cost as

874
00:40:26,200 --> 00:40:30,880
Speaker 3: much is because we were non European. The largest expense

875
00:40:31,320 --> 00:40:35,239
Speaker 3: is typically your espresso machine, which is like eighteen thousand dollars.

876
00:40:35,520 --> 00:40:37,399
Speaker 3: We don't have that machine. We don't even serve any

877
00:40:37,480 --> 00:40:40,799
Speaker 3: espresso drinks, So that took away a big chunk, and

878
00:40:40,840 --> 00:40:43,560
Speaker 3: then the plumbing and the equipment needed to sustain that

879
00:40:43,640 --> 00:40:46,839
Speaker 3: equipment is also expensive. So for us, we just need

880
00:40:46,840 --> 00:40:49,839
Speaker 3: a drip brewer and a roaster and that's it.

881
00:40:49,960 --> 00:40:52,400
Speaker 2: So how much time did that twenty five k buy you?

882
00:40:53,800 --> 00:40:58,080
Speaker 3: Well, the unfortunate thing is literally two months after we opened,

883
00:40:58,080 --> 00:41:02,480
Speaker 3: COVID hit and so I was sick. I was sick.

884
00:41:02,520 --> 00:41:09,480
Speaker 3: We always kick apparently, and so I couldn't afford the

885
00:41:09,600 --> 00:41:12,719
Speaker 3: place plus my studio downtown. But I was like, if

886
00:41:12,719 --> 00:41:14,680
Speaker 3: one thing got to go, it's not gonna be my dream.

887
00:41:15,200 --> 00:41:15,880
Speaker 3: I'll sleep.

888
00:41:16,000 --> 00:41:17,800
Speaker 2: Did you move into the store.

889
00:41:18,480 --> 00:41:20,640
Speaker 3: So I rented out my studio so at least my

890
00:41:20,640 --> 00:41:24,160
Speaker 3: studio to a student, rented a RV, parked it in

891
00:41:24,200 --> 00:41:27,000
Speaker 3: the back of the shop, and from there for the

892
00:41:27,040 --> 00:41:28,640
Speaker 3: next three months, I slept in the RV in the

893
00:41:28,680 --> 00:41:32,080
Speaker 3: back of my shop, and I showered at the gyms

894
00:41:32,200 --> 00:41:34,839
Speaker 3: until eventually COVID after that three months got real bad

895
00:41:34,840 --> 00:41:37,239
Speaker 3: where they like shut the whole world down, and then

896
00:41:37,239 --> 00:41:39,960
Speaker 3: I was like, Okay, I need my studio back because

897
00:41:40,440 --> 00:41:41,640
Speaker 3: I can't do this no more.

898
00:41:41,800 --> 00:41:44,240
Speaker 2: I need you didn't like DARV life anymore.

899
00:41:44,360 --> 00:41:45,960
Speaker 3: I was fine with it, but because I could go

900
00:41:46,000 --> 00:41:47,440
Speaker 3: shower at the gyms. I go to the gym all

901
00:41:47,480 --> 00:41:51,120
Speaker 3: the time. So gym right when COVID got real bad,

902
00:41:51,200 --> 00:41:51,560
Speaker 3: they like.

903
00:41:51,520 --> 00:41:55,239
Speaker 2: Ye and it was like two years. Yeah, so what

904
00:41:55,360 --> 00:41:57,120
Speaker 2: was your mental state? Were you depressed at all?

905
00:41:57,920 --> 00:41:59,040
Speaker 3: No, I wasn't depressed.

906
00:41:59,080 --> 00:42:00,480
Speaker 2: I was focused.

907
00:42:00,719 --> 00:42:03,840
Speaker 3: Yeah, I was focused. It happened. I believe everything happened

908
00:42:03,840 --> 00:42:05,759
Speaker 3: for a reason. So it like gave me time to

909
00:42:06,080 --> 00:42:09,400
Speaker 3: again continue working on my brand, the development of it.

910
00:42:09,520 --> 00:42:12,200
Speaker 2: And how are you surviving the checks from the government?

911
00:42:12,760 --> 00:42:16,319
Speaker 3: Unemployment? So I had unemployment and then that's when I

912
00:42:16,360 --> 00:42:19,239
Speaker 3: also do my own life coaching and business coaching. Okay,

913
00:42:19,360 --> 00:42:21,160
Speaker 3: and that's what led me to get a contract with

914
00:42:21,200 --> 00:42:24,440
Speaker 3: the city to do coaching for them, and then eventually

915
00:42:24,480 --> 00:42:26,399
Speaker 3: that's what I still have a contract with them now

916
00:42:26,440 --> 00:42:27,720
Speaker 3: where I do business coaching.

917
00:42:28,400 --> 00:42:28,840
Speaker 2: Holy.

918
00:42:29,080 --> 00:42:32,120
Speaker 3: Yeah. So when I'm not working on my business, I'm

919
00:42:32,160 --> 00:42:35,600
Speaker 3: helping you know, people in my community who can't access

920
00:42:35,640 --> 00:42:38,560
Speaker 3: that education to help them build their businesses.

921
00:42:38,719 --> 00:42:41,680
Speaker 2: Wow. And that's for South La, South La.

922
00:42:41,840 --> 00:42:42,040
Speaker 3: Yeah.

923
00:42:42,120 --> 00:42:45,080
Speaker 1: Wow, you're a gangster. I use gangster as a term

924
00:42:45,080 --> 00:42:50,720
Speaker 1: of endearment just so you know. Okay, So then throughout COVID,

925
00:42:50,760 --> 00:42:54,359
Speaker 1: you survive COVID. Now you're doing the coaching during COVID, Yeah,

926
00:42:54,640 --> 00:42:57,200
Speaker 1: virtually virtually. And then how'd you know to apply for

927
00:42:57,239 --> 00:42:59,160
Speaker 1: that job?

928
00:43:00,000 --> 00:43:02,799
Speaker 3: Happened is before COVID. I went to this event, this

929
00:43:03,040 --> 00:43:07,840
Speaker 3: kJ LH Awards dinner that they have and wherever location

930
00:43:07,920 --> 00:43:10,000
Speaker 3: they have it, I can't remember, but the l the

931
00:43:10,560 --> 00:43:13,799
Speaker 3: elevator was taking forever and people there was a line

932
00:43:13,840 --> 00:43:17,200
Speaker 3: to elevator. So I ended up taking the stairs and

933
00:43:17,239 --> 00:43:19,480
Speaker 3: nobody else was taking the stairs. But once I walked

934
00:43:19,560 --> 00:43:21,319
Speaker 3: up to the top of the stairs, there was this

935
00:43:21,360 --> 00:43:23,759
Speaker 3: guy standing there. He's like, oh, you were one of

936
00:43:23,760 --> 00:43:26,239
Speaker 3: the only people that took the stairs, and he ended

937
00:43:26,320 --> 00:43:31,080
Speaker 3: up being the CEO of Vermont's lass In Economic Development Corporation. Joe.

938
00:43:31,360 --> 00:43:34,120
Speaker 2: Yeah, Joe is a mentor of mine. Shout out to Joe.

939
00:43:34,160 --> 00:43:36,399
Speaker 3: Shout out to Joe, Shout out to Joe. So Joe,

940
00:43:37,440 --> 00:43:40,240
Speaker 3: Joe was there. He was looking dressed.

941
00:43:40,760 --> 00:43:43,640
Speaker 2: He dressed like a pimp with the attack.

942
00:43:43,719 --> 00:43:45,720
Speaker 1: He had the what do you call those cuple links

943
00:43:45,719 --> 00:43:48,240
Speaker 1: and ever he dresses to the nine regal.

944
00:43:48,400 --> 00:43:52,239
Speaker 3: That's my definition of Joe. Yes, So he was like, yeah, oh,

945
00:43:52,480 --> 00:43:54,560
Speaker 3: nice to meet you. I'm Joe, you know, and he

946
00:43:54,560 --> 00:43:55,799
Speaker 3: said what do you do? I said, oh, I have

947
00:43:55,840 --> 00:43:58,239
Speaker 3: a have a coffee business that I just opened up

948
00:43:58,239 --> 00:44:00,000
Speaker 3: on her mind. He's like, oh, you need to come.

949
00:44:00,000 --> 00:44:01,560
Speaker 3: I want to see what resources we have for you

950
00:44:01,640 --> 00:44:05,000
Speaker 3: over here. And so I ended up going there. I

951
00:44:05,000 --> 00:44:07,520
Speaker 3: brought my business plan, I brought some coffee. And then

952
00:44:07,560 --> 00:44:09,160
Speaker 3: when the business coach met with me, they were like,

953
00:44:09,160 --> 00:44:11,440
Speaker 3: who helped you do this? I said, I did it.

954
00:44:12,040 --> 00:44:13,279
Speaker 3: I said, you know, I went to school for there,

955
00:44:13,360 --> 00:44:15,799
Speaker 3: she said, And he was slipping through his like, no, no,

956
00:44:15,840 --> 00:44:17,640
Speaker 3: you need to work here. We need your help to

957
00:44:17,800 --> 00:44:20,640
Speaker 3: teach people to do this. And so he's like, send

958
00:44:20,719 --> 00:44:23,640
Speaker 3: me your resume. And then they didn't have any openings

959
00:44:23,680 --> 00:44:25,640
Speaker 3: at that time, but a year later they when the

960
00:44:25,640 --> 00:44:27,880
Speaker 3: openings came there was like, yes, we loved you to

961
00:44:27,920 --> 00:44:30,360
Speaker 3: be one of our coaches. And so that's how I

962
00:44:30,440 --> 00:44:31,960
Speaker 3: kind of started being a coach for them.

963
00:44:32,160 --> 00:44:34,600
Speaker 1: Okay, okay, okay, Yeah, I had a contract with Joe

964
00:44:34,640 --> 00:44:38,880
Speaker 1: before the pandemic, and then I got annihilated during the pandemic.

965
00:44:38,880 --> 00:44:42,880
Speaker 1: But that's amazing, Okay, Okay, we yeah, shout out to

966
00:44:42,960 --> 00:44:44,480
Speaker 1: Joke because he mentors a lot of people.

967
00:44:44,560 --> 00:44:45,680
Speaker 3: He does, he does.

968
00:45:01,760 --> 00:45:04,359
Speaker 1: Okay, So all right, so after this, so now you're

969
00:45:04,360 --> 00:45:06,719
Speaker 1: doing the coaching. You make it through the pandemic, what

970
00:45:06,840 --> 00:45:07,920
Speaker 1: happens next.

971
00:45:08,440 --> 00:45:12,600
Speaker 3: During the pandemic? To survive with all the COVID regulations,

972
00:45:12,640 --> 00:45:15,239
Speaker 3: we had to start bottling our cold our coffee. I'd

973
00:45:15,239 --> 00:45:17,200
Speaker 3: never had this in the business plan, never thought of it.

974
00:45:17,560 --> 00:45:20,880
Speaker 3: But because the regulations you can serve open containers. I

975
00:45:20,920 --> 00:45:23,560
Speaker 3: had to figure out, Oh, I got a bottle.

976
00:45:23,239 --> 00:45:25,719
Speaker 2: This And at the time, were you doing hot brew

977
00:45:25,840 --> 00:45:28,040
Speaker 2: or hot and cold cough? Oh you were doing both, yes,

978
00:45:28,080 --> 00:45:31,279
Speaker 2: but no bottling. I never thought of it, and so

979
00:45:31,760 --> 00:45:34,160
Speaker 2: I had to. The regulation said you had to be.

980
00:45:34,239 --> 00:45:36,880
Speaker 3: You know, sealed container in a way that was tamper

981
00:45:37,040 --> 00:45:39,960
Speaker 3: proof so the customers would know. And so oh, I

982
00:45:39,960 --> 00:45:42,000
Speaker 3: guess I have to go to bottles. And that the

983
00:45:42,040 --> 00:45:45,799
Speaker 3: bottles took off and it literally saved my business and

984
00:45:45,840 --> 00:45:48,640
Speaker 3: today where it's now, the reason people know about it

985
00:45:48,800 --> 00:45:50,680
Speaker 3: and like how we're growing.

986
00:45:50,760 --> 00:45:53,400
Speaker 1: Even everybody when I heard about you was talking about

987
00:45:53,440 --> 00:45:55,160
Speaker 1: these bottles. Oh, you got to get a bottle. You

988
00:45:55,239 --> 00:45:57,279
Speaker 1: got to slide the bottles into the budget. When I

989
00:45:57,320 --> 00:46:01,279
Speaker 1: say that was an actual conversation and like order the

990
00:46:01,320 --> 00:46:01,799
Speaker 1: hot brew.

991
00:46:02,640 --> 00:46:04,480
Speaker 2: But we got to make a way to get at

992
00:46:04,560 --> 00:46:08,040
Speaker 2: least twenty five bottles twenty four bottles into that budget.

993
00:46:08,560 --> 00:46:12,200
Speaker 2: I'm like, okay, okay, so we can't feed everybody these

994
00:46:12,280 --> 00:46:14,400
Speaker 2: cold brew but it's a necessity.

995
00:46:14,440 --> 00:46:16,400
Speaker 3: You want to make sure the special ones get a bottle.

996
00:46:16,640 --> 00:46:20,040
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I could see why. It's highly addictive. I mean,

997
00:46:20,280 --> 00:46:21,280
Speaker 1: this tastes great.

998
00:46:21,040 --> 00:46:22,719
Speaker 3: And it works too. If you've got a long day,

999
00:46:22,800 --> 00:46:25,399
Speaker 3: you want a healthy energy like. This has way less

1000
00:46:25,440 --> 00:46:28,440
Speaker 3: calories and sugar content than a red bull like and

1001
00:46:28,480 --> 00:46:31,200
Speaker 3: it's natural, it's healthy. It's designed for our bodies. And

1002
00:46:31,239 --> 00:46:33,399
Speaker 3: that's what my shop is. It's one hundred percent plant based.

1003
00:46:33,440 --> 00:46:36,080
Speaker 3: Our menu literally is designed for people of color.

1004
00:46:36,200 --> 00:46:36,799
Speaker 2: But are you vegan?

1005
00:46:37,160 --> 00:46:39,759
Speaker 3: I am not vegan, but I'm dairy free. I can't. Yeah,

1006
00:46:39,840 --> 00:46:42,320
Speaker 3: so our whole menu is dairy free and our pastries

1007
00:46:42,320 --> 00:46:42,800
Speaker 3: are vegan.

1008
00:46:43,239 --> 00:46:45,800
Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, I did see that you didn't bring any pastries.

1009
00:46:46,160 --> 00:46:48,040
Speaker 1: I didn't do you actually make the pastries out?

1010
00:46:48,320 --> 00:46:50,120
Speaker 3: We outsource something. Okay, work, but.

1011
00:46:50,040 --> 00:46:53,280
Speaker 2: Then the bottles take off, and what happens.

1012
00:46:53,080 --> 00:46:55,640
Speaker 3: Then the world opens back up? We open back up,

1013
00:46:55,920 --> 00:46:59,239
Speaker 3: and that's how you know what really took off for us?

1014
00:46:59,280 --> 00:47:01,359
Speaker 2: How did people know about the bottle coffee though?

1015
00:47:01,640 --> 00:47:03,640
Speaker 3: Because you could only do deliveries during covid.

1016
00:47:03,800 --> 00:47:05,920
Speaker 2: But how did you promote that you had it?

1017
00:47:06,160 --> 00:47:11,600
Speaker 3: Oh? Eventually, yeah, through advertisements online, our postings on social media,

1018
00:47:11,680 --> 00:47:15,280
Speaker 3: social media. We started running promotions, did some good content,

1019
00:47:15,320 --> 00:47:17,879
Speaker 3: made a video that advertised did and then we had

1020
00:47:17,920 --> 00:47:20,560
Speaker 3: door dash and then we made a website just for

1021
00:47:20,600 --> 00:47:21,160
Speaker 3: the bottles.

1022
00:47:21,560 --> 00:47:26,080
Speaker 2: Okay, yeah, and okay, okay, So then what happens next?

1023
00:47:27,040 --> 00:47:31,600
Speaker 3: So then, yeah, we started getting bigger contracts. We get

1024
00:47:31,640 --> 00:47:34,160
Speaker 3: our first we get our first big deal, not a deal,

1025
00:47:34,200 --> 00:47:36,520
Speaker 3: but are one of our first big clients to La

1026
00:47:36,600 --> 00:47:39,760
Speaker 3: Marathon and they buy the bottles for their VIP booths

1027
00:47:39,880 --> 00:47:43,280
Speaker 3: for some of the runners, and so we just started

1028
00:47:43,280 --> 00:47:45,080
Speaker 3: getting bigger clientele universities.

1029
00:47:47,120 --> 00:47:49,560
Speaker 2: Are you selling it out more wholesale rates? Because these

1030
00:47:49,560 --> 00:47:50,040
Speaker 2: bottles go.

1031
00:47:50,080 --> 00:47:52,479
Speaker 3: For what six dollars a bottle retail, that's retail rates,

1032
00:47:52,480 --> 00:47:56,920
Speaker 3: but we do have wholesale rates for retail partners and

1033
00:47:57,000 --> 00:47:59,839
Speaker 3: then catering orders. Depending on how many bottles you get,

1034
00:47:59,880 --> 00:48:00,759
Speaker 3: we give discounts.

1035
00:48:00,920 --> 00:48:05,560
Speaker 2: Okay. And then have you what's the farthest you shipped

1036
00:48:05,560 --> 00:48:06,400
Speaker 2: this product out?

1037
00:48:07,520 --> 00:48:12,200
Speaker 3: We don't ship the bottles out, but as far as deliveries,

1038
00:48:12,200 --> 00:48:20,000
Speaker 3: the farthest we've gone that's a great question. Pretty much local. Yeah,

1039
00:48:20,120 --> 00:48:21,040
Speaker 3: pretty much local.

1040
00:48:21,200 --> 00:48:27,360
Speaker 2: Yeah, Okay, that's pretty awesome, man. So what's the next milestone?

1041
00:48:27,360 --> 00:48:29,799
Speaker 3: Man, next milestone is to move. We're part of this

1042
00:48:29,880 --> 00:48:33,080
Speaker 3: development over by USC, so we'll be moving to a

1043
00:48:33,120 --> 00:48:33,840
Speaker 3: bigger space.

1044
00:48:34,640 --> 00:48:37,160
Speaker 2: Now, you moving or you're going to add another location.

1045
00:48:36,880 --> 00:48:41,000
Speaker 3: We're gonna move. So where we're at now is just

1046
00:48:41,040 --> 00:48:43,800
Speaker 3: too small and also it's it's just not the ideal

1047
00:48:43,840 --> 00:48:47,960
Speaker 3: situation for how we want to continue moving forward. So

1048
00:48:48,239 --> 00:48:50,680
Speaker 3: in the meantime, there's this place called Baba's Vegan Cafe

1049
00:48:50,680 --> 00:48:52,439
Speaker 3: which is down the street from us, not too far,

1050
00:48:52,800 --> 00:48:54,680
Speaker 3: so we've already been in talk with them, so we'll

1051
00:48:54,719 --> 00:48:57,080
Speaker 3: do a partnership and a pop up so we'll still

1052
00:48:57,120 --> 00:49:00,759
Speaker 3: have a presence right where our customers are, and then

1053
00:49:00,800 --> 00:49:03,799
Speaker 3: the USC would just be a little further away for us.

1054
00:49:03,960 --> 00:49:07,160
Speaker 1: Now, do you see yourself expanding franchise wise or do

1055
00:49:07,200 --> 00:49:11,160
Speaker 1: you see yourself just breaking mortar one store at a time?

1056
00:49:12,080 --> 00:49:15,239
Speaker 3: Definitely franchise. When I built the business, I wanted it

1057
00:49:15,280 --> 00:49:18,280
Speaker 3: to be built in a way that I could align

1058
00:49:18,320 --> 00:49:22,480
Speaker 3: with many other people to one impact their communities because

1059
00:49:22,520 --> 00:49:26,880
Speaker 3: our menu again is a very healthy, conscious menu, but

1060
00:49:27,040 --> 00:49:30,440
Speaker 3: also impact people who have the same values and so

1061
00:49:30,640 --> 00:49:35,200
Speaker 3: with this business model, it's low overhead. We've already got

1062
00:49:35,280 --> 00:49:39,000
Speaker 3: the supply chain down, so it's really just you serving

1063
00:49:39,040 --> 00:49:40,920
Speaker 3: our recipes. Because it's no high skill. You don't need

1064
00:49:40,960 --> 00:49:41,480
Speaker 3: a barista.

1065
00:49:42,239 --> 00:49:44,360
Speaker 2: But do you still need a baby roaster.

1066
00:49:44,680 --> 00:49:46,799
Speaker 3: No, we'll do all the roasting. Oh, he'll do all

1067
00:49:46,840 --> 00:49:49,280
Speaker 3: the roasting. Ye. So we also roast for other coffee

1068
00:49:49,280 --> 00:49:53,040
Speaker 3: shops too. Really like, so we have wholesale that we

1069
00:49:53,160 --> 00:49:56,520
Speaker 3: roast for, but we're not expanding that line of business

1070
00:49:56,640 --> 00:49:58,919
Speaker 3: just because that's that's our niche is. We have these

1071
00:49:59,000 --> 00:50:00,640
Speaker 3: rare coffees that know one else has.

1072
00:50:02,360 --> 00:50:04,040
Speaker 2: So you said you're not wholesaling, then.

1073
00:50:03,920 --> 00:50:06,480
Speaker 3: We have we have wholesale. We roast for four shops

1074
00:50:06,560 --> 00:50:06,919
Speaker 3: right now.

1075
00:50:07,000 --> 00:50:10,480
Speaker 2: Okay, are they it to sound racist, but are they European?

1076
00:50:10,880 --> 00:50:13,320
Speaker 3: No, they're European style. Yeah. Every coffee shop in America

1077
00:50:13,320 --> 00:50:14,560
Speaker 3: besides US, is European style.

1078
00:50:14,640 --> 00:50:16,600
Speaker 2: Okay, so you're the only one that's the world's first.

1079
00:50:16,920 --> 00:50:19,640
Speaker 2: And the thing that separates you from a European style

1080
00:50:19,719 --> 00:50:20,040
Speaker 2: is what.

1081
00:50:20,480 --> 00:50:23,400
Speaker 3: We do not serve any European style drinks. So the

1082
00:50:23,440 --> 00:50:26,400
Speaker 3: European model is based on the espresso machine, so everything

1083
00:50:26,480 --> 00:50:28,720
Speaker 3: comes from there. Even the names of the drinks are Italian,

1084
00:50:29,080 --> 00:50:31,200
Speaker 3: but for us, we don't even have that machine. So

1085
00:50:31,480 --> 00:50:33,880
Speaker 3: you'll get a variety of single origin coffees. You'll know

1086
00:50:33,920 --> 00:50:36,520
Speaker 3: who's the farmer, where it comes from, the unique flavors.

1087
00:50:36,600 --> 00:50:38,520
Speaker 2: Is that what the QR code is for exactly?

1088
00:50:38,560 --> 00:50:40,239
Speaker 3: You scan it and it tells you all about it.

1089
00:50:40,440 --> 00:50:41,560
Speaker 3: So it's your boarding pass.

1090
00:50:41,680 --> 00:50:43,920
Speaker 2: That's our thing, is that, and that's why it says

1091
00:50:44,239 --> 00:50:45,640
Speaker 2: la X two ni.

1092
00:50:45,600 --> 00:50:47,080
Speaker 3: C to Nicaragua day.

1093
00:50:48,480 --> 00:50:52,040
Speaker 1: You're amazing. I love that you honor the history. Absolutely,

1094
00:50:52,040 --> 00:50:55,040
Speaker 1: you remind our people. Yeah, you know, you really respect

1095
00:50:55,040 --> 00:50:55,520
Speaker 1: the culture.

1096
00:50:55,920 --> 00:50:59,120
Speaker 3: That's what it's about because you know experiencing you know,

1097
00:50:59,239 --> 00:51:04,040
Speaker 3: my life growing up in Tennessee, and it's like I

1098
00:51:04,080 --> 00:51:07,200
Speaker 3: see so many elements where our stories and narratives are erased,

1099
00:51:08,080 --> 00:51:09,879
Speaker 3: and I want to be the one to help bring

1100
00:51:09,920 --> 00:51:10,360
Speaker 3: that back.

1101
00:51:10,719 --> 00:51:13,640
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's important. And how did you know how to

1102
00:51:13,680 --> 00:51:14,680
Speaker 2: price the drinks?

1103
00:51:16,040 --> 00:51:19,080
Speaker 3: Well? One, how much it costs me? And then two

1104
00:51:19,120 --> 00:51:22,120
Speaker 3: just looking at the market and with our drinks they

1105
00:51:22,160 --> 00:51:24,720
Speaker 3: really should be about eight dollars, seven to eight dollars

1106
00:51:24,760 --> 00:51:27,080
Speaker 3: a bottle, but because I know in our community, they

1107
00:51:27,080 --> 00:51:29,360
Speaker 3: can up hold that they're at six dollars and of

1108
00:51:29,360 --> 00:51:31,120
Speaker 3: course they can also get a discount if they're part

1109
00:51:31,120 --> 00:51:31,880
Speaker 3: of our membership.

1110
00:51:32,280 --> 00:51:38,360
Speaker 2: Okay, okay, Yeah, I noticed that in the black community

1111
00:51:38,400 --> 00:51:41,880
Speaker 2: when it comes to businesses, I noticed that the prices

1112
00:51:41,920 --> 00:51:44,880
Speaker 2: are a little bit higher. And I can't figure out why.

1113
00:51:45,320 --> 00:51:48,600
Speaker 1: I was thinking it's because maybe they're not ordering in

1114
00:51:48,640 --> 00:51:50,000
Speaker 1: a bulken of capacity.

1115
00:51:50,400 --> 00:51:52,680
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean that's also the case. But you know,

1116
00:51:53,200 --> 00:51:56,560
Speaker 3: when I built this business and decided it was going

1117
00:51:56,600 --> 00:51:59,400
Speaker 3: to be in South Central, I knew I was building.

1118
00:51:59,440 --> 00:52:02,840
Speaker 3: I wanted to build something in my community for my community,

1119
00:52:02,920 --> 00:52:05,440
Speaker 3: and show my community that we can do something for

1120
00:52:05,520 --> 00:52:08,440
Speaker 3: us and it be profitable. So I knew that initially

1121
00:52:08,440 --> 00:52:11,120
Speaker 3: in order for us to become profitable and to grow,

1122
00:52:11,520 --> 00:52:14,360
Speaker 3: that my revenue could not just be dependent on that location.

1123
00:52:14,480 --> 00:52:18,560
Speaker 3: We don't even have good parking. We're right beside a hotel.

1124
00:52:17,719 --> 00:52:22,160
Speaker 2: If business, do they do business with you, No, not

1125
00:52:22,280 --> 00:52:22,560
Speaker 2: at all.

1126
00:52:22,600 --> 00:52:25,600
Speaker 3: This is one of them sketchy hotels that you has

1127
00:52:25,640 --> 00:52:30,160
Speaker 3: other types of customers, and so most of our business

1128
00:52:30,239 --> 00:52:34,040
Speaker 3: comes from the wholesale and the bottles and the catering.

1129
00:52:35,440 --> 00:52:37,080
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's an honor to have you on the show,

1130
00:52:37,280 --> 00:52:38,560
Speaker 2: straight up, Like, it's such.

1131
00:52:38,400 --> 00:52:39,239
Speaker 3: An honor to be here.

1132
00:52:39,920 --> 00:52:43,040
Speaker 1: So what advice would you give to someone trying to

1133
00:52:43,080 --> 00:52:44,040
Speaker 1: be in your shoes.

1134
00:52:46,200 --> 00:52:49,640
Speaker 3: I would say, to really seek out a relationship with

1135
00:52:49,719 --> 00:52:56,160
Speaker 3: God throughout my life. That's the consistent thing that's been

1136
00:52:56,200 --> 00:52:59,080
Speaker 3: the driving factor. People always ask me, you know, why

1137
00:52:59,160 --> 00:53:01,560
Speaker 3: you in South Central? What why'd you pick there? I say,

1138
00:53:01,560 --> 00:53:04,640
Speaker 3: you know, the short answer is God. You know, some

1139
00:53:04,640 --> 00:53:07,080
Speaker 3: people consider themseelves missionaries and have to go across the

1140
00:53:07,120 --> 00:53:09,600
Speaker 3: world to go serve all these other places. But I'm like,

1141
00:53:09,640 --> 00:53:12,600
Speaker 3: you know, God sent me right here to help my community,

1142
00:53:12,600 --> 00:53:15,120
Speaker 3: people who look like me, people where I could go

1143
00:53:15,160 --> 00:53:18,200
Speaker 3: outside and see bellition flags in people's cars, you know.

1144
00:53:18,280 --> 00:53:22,560
Speaker 3: And so you have to believe in something, and that's

1145
00:53:22,600 --> 00:53:24,480
Speaker 3: really the answer is to believe in something. For me,

1146
00:53:24,520 --> 00:53:27,120
Speaker 3: it's God and that's my beliefs. But for you and

1147
00:53:27,239 --> 00:53:31,000
Speaker 3: the listeners, you have to pick something. Going out there

1148
00:53:31,000 --> 00:53:33,040
Speaker 3: in the world and not believing in anything, then what

1149
00:53:33,160 --> 00:53:37,480
Speaker 3: happens is you eventually get anchored to things that you

1150
00:53:37,520 --> 00:53:40,640
Speaker 3: shouldn't be right yeah, yeah, and based and those are

1151
00:53:40,719 --> 00:53:44,040
Speaker 3: usually based on your emotions. What feels good right now

1152
00:53:44,160 --> 00:53:47,239
Speaker 3: may not feel good tomorrow. But if I know ultimately

1153
00:53:47,480 --> 00:53:50,799
Speaker 3: that this is my purpose and this is why I'm here,

1154
00:53:51,000 --> 00:53:54,080
Speaker 3: and what I'm built to do as a creative born

1155
00:53:54,120 --> 00:53:56,360
Speaker 3: in the image of my creator. Then I have a

1156
00:53:56,400 --> 00:53:59,440
Speaker 3: little more peace through those highs and lows.

1157
00:54:00,360 --> 00:54:03,120
Speaker 2: Wow, I feel like every time I do an interview

1158
00:54:03,200 --> 00:54:07,480
Speaker 2: that is the most consistent message around on everyone on

1159
00:54:07,520 --> 00:54:11,360
Speaker 2: my show, Everyone That's successful. God is literally the number

1160
00:54:11,360 --> 00:54:12,919
Speaker 2: one ingredient on everyone's list.

1161
00:54:13,560 --> 00:54:19,160
Speaker 3: And not crazy, you know, yes, it's the common denominator

1162
00:54:19,200 --> 00:54:21,640
Speaker 3: when you're cut from a different cloth and you're not

1163
00:54:22,080 --> 00:54:25,080
Speaker 3: you're doing things that are typically trailblazing, or you know,

1164
00:54:25,120 --> 00:54:27,880
Speaker 3: you're literally deciding I'm going to take a more difficult

1165
00:54:27,920 --> 00:54:31,359
Speaker 3: path every day. That's what you decide. You're deciding, I'm

1166
00:54:31,400 --> 00:54:34,239
Speaker 3: going to go do something that's specifically catered for me

1167
00:54:35,040 --> 00:54:39,360
Speaker 3: and that's tough. And so through experience, whether you believe

1168
00:54:39,400 --> 00:54:41,600
Speaker 3: in God in the beginnings of your journey or later

1169
00:54:41,640 --> 00:54:45,160
Speaker 3: on you develop a relationship with God, it's going to happen.

1170
00:54:45,680 --> 00:54:48,600
Speaker 3: And even with these successful folks, eventually you start to

1171
00:54:48,640 --> 00:54:52,000
Speaker 3: see them honoring and giving glory to God. Because at

1172
00:54:52,000 --> 00:54:54,520
Speaker 3: the end of the day, once you make money and

1173
00:54:54,560 --> 00:54:56,840
Speaker 3: you feel like you checked off the things on your list,

1174
00:54:56,920 --> 00:54:59,719
Speaker 3: it's always that question of well, what really is next?

1175
00:54:59,760 --> 00:55:01,600
Speaker 3: Why am I here? Then? I already did the things

1176
00:55:01,600 --> 00:55:04,560
Speaker 3: I thought I was here for what's beyond that? And

1177
00:55:04,600 --> 00:55:08,839
Speaker 3: that's where that relationship really becomes transparent.

1178
00:55:08,440 --> 00:55:08,799
Speaker 2: All right?

1179
00:55:09,000 --> 00:55:13,120
Speaker 1: And then my next question is what does a relationship

1180
00:55:13,160 --> 00:55:16,360
Speaker 1: with God look like for people that have never or

1181
00:55:16,400 --> 00:55:17,759
Speaker 1: don't have a relationship with God.

1182
00:55:18,520 --> 00:55:22,799
Speaker 3: I would say vulnerability. A lot of times, we as

1183
00:55:22,880 --> 00:55:25,960
Speaker 3: human beings put up a lot of walls because we

1184
00:55:26,040 --> 00:55:27,960
Speaker 3: have to meet all these other human beings and we

1185
00:55:27,960 --> 00:55:31,839
Speaker 3: don't want to be judged, we don't want to be misinterpreted,

1186
00:55:32,480 --> 00:55:36,000
Speaker 3: and so we oftentimes that's how we treat God too,

1187
00:55:36,080 --> 00:55:38,280
Speaker 3: because we're talking about him as if he's a person.

1188
00:55:38,280 --> 00:55:40,200
Speaker 3: So it's just a natural response to treat him as

1189
00:55:40,200 --> 00:55:43,719
Speaker 3: I've been treating all these other people. But ultimately, you

1190
00:55:43,760 --> 00:55:49,200
Speaker 3: have to realize that God is nothing like humans and

1191
00:55:49,360 --> 00:55:54,080
Speaker 3: anyone you've experienced, and so you really have to seek

1192
00:55:54,160 --> 00:55:58,560
Speaker 3: him for what you really want and need, and sometimes

1193
00:55:58,560 --> 00:56:00,799
Speaker 3: initially you may not know what that is, and then

1194
00:56:00,840 --> 00:56:03,960
Speaker 3: a situation occurs and it just makes it very clear.

1195
00:56:04,200 --> 00:56:05,840
Speaker 3: Like I said, I didn't think I was going to

1196
00:56:05,880 --> 00:56:07,799
Speaker 3: get in the coffee. If you had asked me ten

1197
00:56:07,880 --> 00:56:09,239
Speaker 3: years ago what I was doing, I would have said

1198
00:56:09,520 --> 00:56:12,239
Speaker 3: I was gonna be the best litigator out there, you know,

1199
00:56:12,920 --> 00:56:16,360
Speaker 3: getting helping everybody. But look where I'm at now, and

1200
00:56:16,400 --> 00:56:18,759
Speaker 3: it's because I was able to really lean into what God.

1201
00:56:18,960 --> 00:56:21,319
Speaker 3: When God told me to turn left, I didn't turn right.

1202
00:56:21,560 --> 00:56:23,560
Speaker 3: I said, Okay, guys, even though I think I was

1203
00:56:23,600 --> 00:56:26,040
Speaker 3: supposed to be turning right. You said left. I don't

1204
00:56:26,040 --> 00:56:28,799
Speaker 3: see no path, it's not lit. But we're gonna turn

1205
00:56:29,400 --> 00:56:30,720
Speaker 3: and you just got to keep going.

1206
00:56:30,920 --> 00:56:33,120
Speaker 1: And then how much self doubt did you have on

1207
00:56:33,160 --> 00:56:35,279
Speaker 1: this journey? Like how much on like if you had

1208
00:56:35,280 --> 00:56:38,480
Speaker 1: to be completely real, like how much self doubt? I mean,

1209
00:56:38,520 --> 00:56:40,719
Speaker 1: I've met some people that say they didn't have any

1210
00:56:40,719 --> 00:56:43,480
Speaker 1: self doubt, but I'm curious for you, like was there

1211
00:56:43,480 --> 00:56:43,960
Speaker 1: self doubt?

1212
00:56:44,160 --> 00:56:47,239
Speaker 2: Was there moments where you questioned?

1213
00:56:47,520 --> 00:56:51,080
Speaker 3: Or shaking time all the time every day Because it's

1214
00:56:51,080 --> 00:56:56,440
Speaker 3: not like my life is consistent with comfort, it's consistent

1215
00:56:56,480 --> 00:56:59,880
Speaker 3: with change, and so I'm constantly having to face this

1216
00:57:00,000 --> 00:57:03,319
Speaker 3: decisions that are typically a lot bigger impact than I've

1217
00:57:03,360 --> 00:57:05,280
Speaker 3: had to do in the past. Now that my business

1218
00:57:05,320 --> 00:57:08,880
Speaker 3: is more successful, we're getting more exposure and so even

1219
00:57:09,160 --> 00:57:12,040
Speaker 3: you know, this past week working on this project to

1220
00:57:12,120 --> 00:57:14,000
Speaker 3: move and it's going to be three times of space

1221
00:57:14,040 --> 00:57:16,440
Speaker 3: three times, a rent three times, the employees like all

1222
00:57:16,480 --> 00:57:20,040
Speaker 3: of these factors that I've never done before. It produces

1223
00:57:20,080 --> 00:57:24,080
Speaker 3: that doubt because I haven't done it before. But the

1224
00:57:24,160 --> 00:57:26,360
Speaker 3: good thing is you know that doubt is looked at,

1225
00:57:26,480 --> 00:57:28,280
Speaker 3: and then it's set up on the shelf and then

1226
00:57:28,320 --> 00:57:31,440
Speaker 3: I pull out that faith and move forward with that.

1227
00:57:32,400 --> 00:57:38,080
Speaker 2: All right, guys. Uh, that wraps up our interview with John. John.

1228
00:57:38,120 --> 00:57:40,760
Speaker 2: How can people keep up with you?

1229
00:57:40,640 --> 00:57:43,760
Speaker 3: You can you talk straight to the camera. Okay? People

1230
00:57:43,840 --> 00:57:48,120
Speaker 3: can follow me on Instagram Hustle to Create, that's my tag.

1231
00:57:48,560 --> 00:57:50,440
Speaker 3: I believe we were all born to create, so we

1232
00:57:50,480 --> 00:57:54,360
Speaker 3: should be hustling to create, not to consume. Uh. And

1233
00:57:54,800 --> 00:57:57,000
Speaker 3: also that's where you'll find if you go to Hustle

1234
00:57:57,040 --> 00:57:59,000
Speaker 3: to Create dot com, you can find my life coaching

1235
00:57:59,040 --> 00:58:00,760
Speaker 3: and business coaching as well.

1236
00:58:01,000 --> 00:58:01,320
Speaker 2: Okay.

1237
00:58:01,360 --> 00:58:04,960
Speaker 1: And then one last thing. I always I have this

1238
00:58:05,000 --> 00:58:08,600
Speaker 1: discussion with my cousin a lot, Trevor. I always say,

1239
00:58:08,800 --> 00:58:10,840
Speaker 1: you don't want to get too comfortable, you don't want

1240
00:58:10,840 --> 00:58:13,600
Speaker 1: to get fall in love with complacency. And I'm a

1241
00:58:13,640 --> 00:58:16,560
Speaker 1: firm believer, like you know, my company's called Famous Failure.

1242
00:58:16,680 --> 00:58:19,680
Speaker 1: Like I'm a firm believer that you just really got comfortable.

1243
00:58:19,720 --> 00:58:22,120
Speaker 1: You have to kind of almost be comfortable with failure

1244
00:58:22,160 --> 00:58:25,800
Speaker 1: and challenges and being uncomfortable. Has there ever been a

1245
00:58:25,840 --> 00:58:30,160
Speaker 1: position amongst this journey where you chose comfort over or

1246
00:58:30,200 --> 00:58:35,800
Speaker 1: complacency over the latter, And what was that thing that said,

1247
00:58:35,920 --> 00:58:38,080
Speaker 1: uh uh, bounce back?

1248
00:58:39,960 --> 00:58:43,000
Speaker 3: I would say, when I was doing the insurance game,

1249
00:58:43,040 --> 00:58:45,840
Speaker 3: I got real good at what I was doing. I

1250
00:58:45,880 --> 00:58:49,640
Speaker 3: got real comfortable with the money I was making. And really,

1251
00:58:51,080 --> 00:58:53,120
Speaker 3: if I didn't leave that company, I would have probably

1252
00:58:53,160 --> 00:58:55,480
Speaker 3: just been doing the same thing over and over. And

1253
00:58:55,560 --> 00:58:57,840
Speaker 3: so that was a real big moment for me where

1254
00:58:58,640 --> 00:59:01,440
Speaker 3: I said, I gotta get out of this. If I

1255
00:59:01,520 --> 00:59:05,160
Speaker 3: don't make a decision now, the trajectory of my life

1256
00:59:05,320 --> 00:59:07,360
Speaker 3: is not going to be how I want it to be.

1257
00:59:07,640 --> 00:59:07,920
Speaker 2: Yeah.

1258
00:59:08,200 --> 00:59:12,160
Speaker 1: I feel like sometimes uber some of these what do

1259
00:59:12,160 --> 00:59:15,360
Speaker 1: you call gig economy jobs, for some people, they can

1260
00:59:15,400 --> 00:59:17,800
Speaker 1: get very caught up in the complacency of that. I

1261
00:59:17,800 --> 00:59:19,600
Speaker 1: think it's like a gift and a curse. You know,

1262
00:59:19,600 --> 00:59:22,960
Speaker 1: it can save you, but then you can get comfortable

1263
00:59:22,960 --> 00:59:23,960
Speaker 1: and lazy in that.

1264
00:59:24,120 --> 00:59:26,960
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, and absolutely, like I said, my ultimate goal

1265
00:59:27,000 --> 00:59:29,400
Speaker 3: I moved out here to give into government. But you

1266
00:59:29,400 --> 00:59:31,800
Speaker 3: can't be a broke politician So for me, I can't

1267
00:59:31,840 --> 00:59:33,760
Speaker 3: get comfortable until I have a position where I can

1268
00:59:33,760 --> 00:59:36,040
Speaker 3: effectively make change that I want to do, which is

1269
00:59:36,080 --> 00:59:38,600
Speaker 3: why I came here. So you know there's no option

1270
00:59:38,720 --> 00:59:38,920
Speaker 3: for me.

1271
00:59:39,600 --> 00:59:41,080
Speaker 2: Okay, yeah, I like that.

1272
00:59:41,440 --> 00:59:43,600
Speaker 1: We don't have to be homies, man, And I'm now

1273
00:59:44,440 --> 00:59:47,880
Speaker 1: a coffee drinker. Only this drink though, right, you know what?

1274
00:59:47,920 --> 00:59:50,640
Speaker 2: Can I test this one? It sucks because I don't

1275
00:59:50,640 --> 00:59:53,240
Speaker 2: know this is but I'm gonna just test. This is

1276
00:59:53,240 --> 00:59:57,520
Speaker 2: the boat. I feel like I'm going to be spinning

1277
00:59:57,560 --> 00:59:58,360
Speaker 2: off the walls, but I.

1278
00:59:58,320 --> 01:00:00,880
Speaker 1: Have to test it. I just want I hope this

1279
01:00:00,920 --> 01:00:04,200
Speaker 1: isn't Katie's. I feel bad I'm drinking your coffee.

1280
01:00:04,240 --> 01:00:12,040
Speaker 3: Hold on, what flavor is this one? Okay?

1281
01:00:12,400 --> 01:00:13,959
Speaker 2: My favorite one is this one.

1282
01:00:14,400 --> 01:00:20,240
Speaker 3: It's cal blancocko cal blanco.

1283
01:00:21,640 --> 01:00:27,080
Speaker 2: I look Puerto Rican, you know what I'm saying. But CaCO. Yeah. See,

1284
01:00:27,600 --> 01:00:29,400
Speaker 2: this is my favorite. So if you guys want to

1285
01:00:29,440 --> 01:00:30,720
Speaker 2: check out my favorite.

1286
01:00:31,120 --> 01:00:32,880
Speaker 3: My favorite too, and your favorite?

1287
01:00:32,920 --> 01:00:33,400
Speaker 2: See what, guy?

1288
01:00:33,480 --> 01:00:33,680
Speaker 3: You know?

1289
01:00:33,920 --> 01:00:35,080
Speaker 2: I mean, this one's good.

1290
01:00:35,120 --> 01:00:38,120
Speaker 1: If you're like an avid coffee drinker, you probably love this.

1291
01:00:38,200 --> 01:00:41,280
Speaker 2: But if you're the beginner, this is the one. All right.

1292
01:00:41,280 --> 01:00:43,720
Speaker 1: Thank you for taking time out your busy schedule to

1293
01:00:43,760 --> 01:00:46,360
Speaker 1: come kick it with us. If you guys want to

1294
01:00:46,440 --> 01:00:49,000
Speaker 1: check out more content, check us out at Eating While

1295
01:00:49,080 --> 01:01:09,680
Speaker 1: Broke or wherever you listen to your podcast peace up.

1296
01:01:11,960 --> 01:01:15,240
Speaker 1: For more Eating While Broke from iHeartRadio and The Black Effect,

1297
01:01:15,400 --> 01:01:18,959
Speaker 1: visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen

1298
01:01:19,000 --> 01:01:20,120
Speaker 1: to your favorite shows,