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Speaker 1: I started having some little wins where I had confidence,

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Speaker 1: but my confidence was only at a certain scale. You know,

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Speaker 1: I never dreamed. But a lot of that was because

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Speaker 1: from the generation I came from, in the industry I chose,

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Speaker 1: and also what happened to me as a child. I

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Speaker 1: realized all those things were impacting my ability to dream big.

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Speaker 1: And that's why I tell people of color, especially young

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Speaker 1: for us, say hey, don't limit yourself. Man. We can

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Speaker 1: do some incredible stuff, but we gotta really believe it.

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Speaker 1: And I'm a firm believer. We are what we see.

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Speaker 1: So it's so important that our children see people who

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Speaker 1: look like them doing some incredible stuff because then you

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Speaker 1: start believing, you know what, I really might be able

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Speaker 1: to do that.

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Speaker 2: Everybody, Welcome to another episode of Butter Nomics amy host

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Speaker 2: Brandon Butler, a found in CEO of Butter atl And

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Speaker 2: today we got a special guest. We got a legend

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Speaker 2: in the house. I've heard about this man in these streets.

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Speaker 2: He don't know I heard about him.

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Speaker 1: I heard about this man these streets.

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Speaker 2: So it's the honor to have the one and only

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Speaker 2: mister David Moody of CD Moody Construction in the building, sir,

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Speaker 2: how you doing today.

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Speaker 1: Hey man, I'm glad to be here. You know, I'm

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Speaker 1: excited to be here with a young man that went

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Speaker 1: to the neighborhood high school you know where I live,

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Speaker 1: and see what you're doing now, so I'm excited to

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Speaker 1: watch you do what you do. Hey man, I appreciate it.

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Speaker 2: And for those that don't know, he's talking about the illustrious,

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Speaker 2: world famous Rida in high school in Stone Mountain, Georgia.

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Speaker 1: If you know, you know.

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Speaker 2: If you don't know, you better ask somebody, as they

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Speaker 2: always say, But yes, you know, you know, mister Moody David.

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Speaker 2: You know we're first stay in base now, so you

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Speaker 2: know what I'm saying. You grew up around the corner

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Speaker 2: from there. I know that area very well. You are

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Speaker 2: a very well known, prominent figure on the East Side

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Speaker 2: all over Atlanta. And one of the reasons why you're

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Speaker 2: so well done for Atlanta is because your fingerprints are

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Speaker 2: all over this city.

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Speaker 1: Man. You built every damn thing out here, well not everything,

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Speaker 1: but enough to make me go, yeah, we're done, all right.

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Speaker 1: So you know underground Atlanta, Mercedes been Stadium, Phillips Arena,

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Speaker 1: Turner Field, Olympic Stadium, Morehouse, Ray Charles before I'm in

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Speaker 1: our Center, the Cyclorama and the History Center, Atlanta Airport,

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Speaker 1: I mean all kind of stuff. I mean I am.

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Speaker 1: I'm living a dream considering I started a business with

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Speaker 1: no plan and look, you've.

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Speaker 2: Grown that thing again, y' y'all started back in the

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Speaker 2: late eighties and right, you know, MI understanding like this

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Speaker 2: is the Internet, says you keep me on the Internet,

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Speaker 2: says y'all have grown over seventy million dollars a year

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Speaker 2: in revenue.

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Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah, we're way over that. I mean, we're

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Speaker 1: in five states, okay, you know we're in Ohio, Virginia,

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Speaker 1: South Carolina, Alabama, and Georgia. Man, what's it like? What's

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Speaker 1: that journey been like? You know, I tell you something,

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Speaker 1: and this is the hard thing to admit to yourself sometime.

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Speaker 1: You know, I'm a kid born. I'm born in nineteen

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Speaker 1: fifty six, so I was raised in the sixties. So

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Speaker 1: you got to think when I was coming along with

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Speaker 1: civil rights there, you know, we didn't have the right

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Speaker 1: to vote. A lot of things and a lot of

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Speaker 1: opportunities we didn't have. So I really didn't think I

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Speaker 1: would do much other than get a decent job, so

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Speaker 1: entrepreneurship it wasn't even on my radar. And I thought

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Speaker 1: I was going to be a draftsman, because you remember

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Speaker 1: when I was coming on this before CAD and computers

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Speaker 1: and all that. And then I met a black architect

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Speaker 1: when I was fifteen, when we had moved to Antarbroam,

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Speaker 1: Michigan from Chicago. I was born and raised in Chicago

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Speaker 1: till I was fourteen, and then I met this black

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Speaker 1: architect who had went to Hampton University, and I said,

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Speaker 1: you know what I could do more than be a draftsman.

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Speaker 1: You know, I could be a designer architect. And life

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Speaker 1: just kind of moved on. But even when I started

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Speaker 1: my business, I started my business more so because I

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Speaker 1: needed a job, you know, and I had two young kids.

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Speaker 1: So I really thought I'd do this one project and

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Speaker 1: that would be the end of it, and I'd go

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Speaker 1: get a job. And then I said, well, let me

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Speaker 1: try another job. And you know, so I was always

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Speaker 1: in survival mode because I started undercapitalizing like most of

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Speaker 1: us do. I didn't really have a business plan. I

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Speaker 1: was just trying to survive. And I wish I would

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Speaker 1: have changed my mindset much sooner. I'm sixty eight now,

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Speaker 1: so I probably changed my mindset at sixty seven and

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Speaker 1: three quarters. You know about you don't have to operate

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Speaker 1: thinking big, believe in yourself.

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Speaker 2: Well, you know what, I want to talk about that

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Speaker 2: and we'll get into the construction of the journey. But

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Speaker 2: let's talk a little bit about mindset because a lot

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Speaker 2: of people don't bring that up, like when you talk about,

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Speaker 2: you know, kind of having a positive mindset, but also

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Speaker 2: like a mindset of abundance, Like what was it like

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Speaker 2: when you were getting started and again trying to figure

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Speaker 2: out undercapitalized to the differences like you're in today.

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Speaker 1: Oh gosh, it's like night and day. I was thirty

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Speaker 1: one years old, you know, I'm sixty eight now. My

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Speaker 1: wife and I both same age, and I remember we

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Speaker 1: couldn't get ten dollars out the ATM machine and I

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Speaker 1: had to we wrote and this is probably the most

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Speaker 1: humbling time of my life. We had more money going

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Speaker 1: out than we had coming in. I was only making

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Speaker 1: thirty grand a year, and my wife we decided we

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Speaker 1: would struggle, you know. She stayed home with the kids

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Speaker 1: and then decided to go become an rin But I

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Speaker 1: had to write a letter to the More mortgage company,

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Speaker 1: to credit card people saying, look, we can't afford what

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Speaker 1: you be willing to cut our payment to this, and

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Speaker 1: I promised to pay. They all agreed and we kept

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Speaker 1: our word. And that was really tough. But I always

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Speaker 1: tell people that was also a great lesson because when

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Speaker 1: you learned to live off a little, and then if

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Speaker 1: you start making some decent money, you realize you don't

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Speaker 1: need a lot. So therefore you can invest, you can

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Speaker 1: do you know, put away for college for kids, put

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Speaker 1: away for your retirement. So I learned a lot in that,

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Speaker 1: you know, And even though it was hard. I remember

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Speaker 1: going to my tenth reunion in college. I'll graduated from

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Speaker 1: Morehouse and I also graduate from Howard for architecture school.

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Speaker 1: But I went back for my tenth reunion and all

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Speaker 1: my classmates have finished mad School, law school, nbas, you know,

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Speaker 1: having these great careers, and my business was just starting

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Speaker 1: and we were struggling, and I remember feeling a little embarrassed,

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Speaker 1: you know, looking at my class mates. But at our

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Speaker 1: twenty three union, it was a different ball. So it's amazing.

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Speaker 1: If you run your own race, yeah, run your own race. Well,

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Speaker 1: they always say, what is it comparison is a thief

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Speaker 1: for joy. And I think, you know, especially in this

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Speaker 1: world around social media, where all you see is other

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Speaker 1: people's highlights all day long, you start to really make

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Speaker 1: weird comparisons. I know.

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Speaker 2: One thing I've kind of noticed is that people find

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Speaker 2: like this, I think, additional meaning in like these birthdays

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Speaker 2: for some reasons, like for some reason, twenty five is

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Speaker 2: a big birthday and you know, thirty and forty five,

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Speaker 2: And I get it. But I always tell my friends,

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Speaker 2: even when they're twenty five and they're you know, depressed

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Speaker 2: or we were coming up, I said, well, lot of

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Speaker 2: that's because you're comparing yourself to Lebron James, right, Like,

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Speaker 2: let me tell you, Lebron is not was not a

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Speaker 2: normal twenty five year old, right, and sure he's done

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Speaker 2: all these things, but like you ain't Lebron bro like

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Speaker 2: wein six ' eleven, two hundred some pounds, you know

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Speaker 2: what I mean, You don't do what he does. But

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Speaker 2: I think, with a lot of sounds because of social media,

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Speaker 2: because all we see is the highlights, we compare ourselves

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Speaker 2: and so I think part of the thing that might

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Speaker 2: even help you out more is you didn't have to

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Speaker 2: deal with a lot of that stuff, you had the

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Speaker 2: ability to ring your own race right.

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Speaker 1: You know, it's funny. I always tell people the best

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Speaker 1: thing about being a C student like I was with

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Speaker 1: nothing was expected of me. I didn't had nothing to

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Speaker 1: prove to anybody. So you're right. It made it easy

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Speaker 1: for me as far as what the world might think. Well,

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Speaker 1: you know, in your little circles, nobody expected me to

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Speaker 1: make it anyway. You know, my biggest thing when I

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Speaker 1: started my business, I said, man, if I can just

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Speaker 1: make it five to seven years, when I don't look

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Speaker 1: like a complete failure, I would have done. Okay. I

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Speaker 1: never the big thing and I'll tell you as part

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Speaker 1: of it is then depending if we get into it.

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Speaker 1: You know, I'm a survivor of something from a childhood trauma,

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Speaker 1: and I don't want to trigger anybody, but we can

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Speaker 1: decide how we deal with that. But they can read

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Speaker 1: and understand what that trauma was. But it's something that

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Speaker 1: no child should ever have to go through. But I

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Speaker 1: realized because and I buried it, and you know I didn't

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Speaker 1: tell anyone. I realize how my self esteem was stolen,

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Speaker 1: when my innocence was stolen. So I realized when I

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Speaker 1: started my business that much later in life, I realized

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Speaker 1: how I didn't shoot big because I didn't think it

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Speaker 1: was possible. And also I didn't really see people who

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Speaker 1: look like me doing what I'm doing other than a

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Speaker 1: handful of people. So I realized how I really limit myself.

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Speaker 1: So one of the things I tell people, especially young

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Speaker 1: folks of color, man dream big, don't I mean, but

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Speaker 1: you got to put the work in, absolutely, But you

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Speaker 1: also got to deal with the things that are impacting

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Speaker 1: your performance. So often we all got a story of

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Speaker 1: different things from childhood. Some are bad and some things

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Speaker 1: you can kind of get over quickly. But we got

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Speaker 1: to be able to be aware of the things that

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Speaker 1: really impact our performance. And I'm a big proponent of

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Speaker 1: getting therapy because it was I hope you tremendously. I

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Speaker 1: actually had a complete nervous breakdown in nineteen ninety two.

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Speaker 1: My business was only four years old when I finally

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Speaker 1: kind of addressed what happened to me as a child,

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Speaker 1: and I actually said out loud to my wife what happened.

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Speaker 1: And I thought I was okay, But within four or

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Speaker 1: five months I started having panic attacks, I mean bad ones,

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Speaker 1: which I never had where I actually had to call

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Speaker 1: an ambulance on the side of the road, and then

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Speaker 1: I had a complete breakdown a couple months later, and

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Speaker 1: I didn't have any idea what happened to me as

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Speaker 1: a child could be affecting me at thirty six years old.

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Speaker 1: So the therapy idea was just to understand panic attacks.

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Speaker 1: I was sixty five before I went and got a

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Speaker 1: trauma therapist because I felt myself I had to break

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Speaker 1: down nineteen ninety two, and then I just powered through

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Speaker 1: power through, which you know, we as men were taught

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Speaker 1: just power through, power through, but we don't realize how

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Speaker 1: that beats us up and wears us down. So twenty

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Speaker 1: six years later, after night teen ninety two, I feel

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Speaker 1: myself I think doing COVID. So about twenty eight years later,

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Speaker 1: I started feeling myself wearing down again, like the breakdown.

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Speaker 1: So I had enough sense talk to my wife and

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Speaker 1: she went online to psychology today put in you know,

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Speaker 1: trauma therapists, and I found a trauma therapist, really excellent therapist,

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Speaker 1: more house man doctor INChO and I finally did cognitive

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Speaker 1: behavioral therapy. And that's one reason why I went and

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Speaker 1: hiked Mount Killim and Jarl in twenty twenty three, I

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Speaker 1: wanted to test myself and push myself through all the

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Speaker 1: triggers of things that have held me back in my life. Yes,

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Speaker 1: my business has done well, but I could have done

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Speaker 1: so much more if I had spent so much time

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Speaker 1: wrestling with anxiety and the trauma that I dealt with

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Speaker 1: and just believing in myself. So that's why you will

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Speaker 1: always hear me tell people don't give up, dream big

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Speaker 1: and deal with the things.

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Speaker 2: That's a roadblock for you. And it's usually in the mind. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: I mean that's where it all starts first. And you know,

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Speaker 2: first of all, I want to, you know, commend you

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Speaker 2: for taking that stuff.

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Speaker 1: Again.

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Speaker 2: A lot of people, you know, even when they've had

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Speaker 2: issues bat I batter you know, different issues and anxiety

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Speaker 2: and stuff in the past too. And you know, it's

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Speaker 2: taking me a while to go find the help you

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Speaker 2: need because, like I said, a lot of times men

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Speaker 2: were just told to power through things and kind of

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Speaker 2: figure it out. And yeah, people don't realize like how

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Speaker 2: much that kind of weighs down to you or how

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Speaker 2: lonely kind of the journey for entrepreneurship can be, especially

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Speaker 2: when you're kind of person that's building and get the

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Speaker 2: person everybody depends on, right.

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Speaker 1: Oh, I tell I tell people that's probably when the

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Speaker 1: loans and loneliest places to be as an entrepreneur. Now,

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Speaker 1: I am so blessed. My wife and I've been married

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Speaker 1: forty two years. I never had a lifestyle to feed,

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Speaker 1: you know. All my wife said, Hey, as long as

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Speaker 1: we got a roof over our head and a little

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Speaker 1: something neat and the kids are happy, you know, will

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Speaker 1: be okay. So I'm really blessed because even to this day,

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Speaker 1: I don't have a materialistic lifestyle. I gotta feed, yeah,

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Speaker 1: And it's funny. Then you get older you realize how

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Speaker 1: little you need anyway. Now you just want to be here.

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Speaker 1: I mean, I got friends who have you know, got

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Speaker 1: cancer and other health issues passing, and you realize, man,

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Speaker 1: I'm just thankful to be healthy and the material things

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Speaker 1: really don't even matter anymore. So I was really blessed

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Speaker 1: that I didn't have a material lifestyle to feed, so

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Speaker 1: we could struggle through those hard times. Like I said,

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Speaker 1: my wife went back to school and became a registered nurse,

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Speaker 1: and she did hospice for twenty five years just so

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Speaker 1: we could when we started the business, we could have

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Speaker 1: a steady income until the business took off. Yeah, that's partnership.

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Speaker 1: You know, we're a team. We all in. I mean

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Speaker 1: I always tease her, I say, girl, you pack your bags,

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Speaker 1: I'm going where we going. You ain't leaving me. I

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Speaker 1: wouldn't know how to do anything now.

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Speaker 2: You know, as much as you want to talk about this,

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Speaker 2: and like I said, we want to let people know again,

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Speaker 2: you know, you did mention some some trauma and stuff

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Speaker 2: like that that you had dealt with, and I don't

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Speaker 2: want to just brush past and I want to kind

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Speaker 2: of open up a state if you do want to

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Speaker 2: talk about that stuff, right. You know, how did those

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Speaker 2: experiences kind of influence you know, the way you thought

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Speaker 2: about business?

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Speaker 1: He said?

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Speaker 2: A lot of times it made you feel a little

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Speaker 2: bit more limited or less versus when you when you

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Speaker 2: went through the process of doing the work. Now you

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Speaker 2: felt bigger, right, Like, how did these things impact you?

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Speaker 1: You know that is a great question because I've been

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Speaker 1: really wrestling with that question, and I've been really being

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Speaker 1: honest with myself. It it my business. I ran my

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Speaker 1: business more so to make sure we could survive. I

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Speaker 1: never went I didn't go into business to think man,

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna have this big business and I can do

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Speaker 1: these things. I was like, man, I need a job,

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Speaker 1: because you understand. I was working for Bechtol Power as

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Speaker 1: an architect in nineteen eighty one, and I had a

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Speaker 1: great job. They were one of the largest privately owned

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Speaker 1: construction companies in the world. And my wife and I

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Speaker 1: got married in nineteen eighty two and nineteen eighty three,

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Speaker 1: I say, hey, babe, I'm gonna take you to Atlanta,

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Speaker 1: where I went to college and more house, and this

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Speaker 1: company offered me a job. It was a small company

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Speaker 1: and I'm leaving this big company that I was getting

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Speaker 1: ready to get transferred. I was in nuclear power division,

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Speaker 1: doing nuclear power plants, and I told my wife, Nah,

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Speaker 1: we're gonna take this chance. And man, two months after

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Speaker 1: we get here, that company goes bankrupt. Now I don't

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Speaker 1: have a job. So what I thought was a great idea,

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Speaker 1: you know, is looking pretty bad. But when I look back,

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Speaker 1: that was a blessing in disguise. Because that company had

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Speaker 1: not went bankrupt, I probably never would have won in business.

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Speaker 1: So I started working for some small construction companies, and

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Speaker 1: the one that made me go in business for myself,

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Speaker 1: the construction company owner also owned the bail bonding company,

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Speaker 1: and the construction company was in the billbinding office. So

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Speaker 1: one day they say, hey, go with us, and I said, okay.

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Speaker 1: I thought I was going to look at a project.

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Speaker 1: And we get to this house. I'm like, what are

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Speaker 1: we doing here? And they opened a truck and they

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Speaker 1: give me this blue windbreaker. I said, what's this? They say, hey, man,

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Speaker 1: you know you played football in college. When our bail

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Speaker 1: we think, when our bail jumpers in this house, we

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Speaker 1: want you to take the back door. And we got

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Speaker 1: the windows in the front door. I said, woa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

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Speaker 1: I'm doing what I said. Man. I went to architecture

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Speaker 1: schrew I didn't go to Bunty Hunter school. And I said, look,

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Speaker 1: he come out the back door. He's free. I'm telling y'all.

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Speaker 1: And so I went home that night and told my

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Speaker 1: wife what happened. And some people have been kind of

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Speaker 1: telling me about an opportunity that might be coming, and

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Speaker 1: I just kind of said, you know what, dear, I

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Speaker 1: think I'm gonna take this chance for this small project

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Speaker 1: and see what happens. And I really thought I'd just

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Speaker 1: do that project and go get me a job afterwards.

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Speaker 1: So it was them trying to make me a bounty

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Speaker 1: hunter that I was not prepared to be that made

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Speaker 1: me go become an entrepreneur. That's what I said. I

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Speaker 1: had no plan.

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Speaker 2: Who was that first time? Like when you started actually

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Speaker 2: because you kind of missed it again in the beginning.

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Speaker 2: You just want to get that first project out to

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Speaker 2: get to the next one. Like what was that first project?

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Speaker 1: The very first one is it was underground Atlanta. When

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Speaker 1: Underground Atlanta was getting redone nineteen eighty seven, I did

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Speaker 1: a joint venture to build a bridge. You know where

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Speaker 1: the peach drops that tower will We built that bridge

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Speaker 1: that goes over the Martyr tracks, gotcha, And I did

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Speaker 1: a joint venture with a company I had known, and

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Speaker 1: they gave me an opportunity, and I really thought that

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Speaker 1: was gonna be it. Well. I did well enough, and

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Speaker 1: the owners who were doing the whole underground Atlanta was

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Speaker 1: impressed with how hard I worked because I was out

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Speaker 1: there every cause we had to build that train at

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Speaker 1: eight at night to four thirty in the morning. I

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Speaker 1: was out there every night working, you know, because I

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Speaker 1: one thing I learned, you got to really know your

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Speaker 1: industry just because I had to degree in architecture. I

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Speaker 1: needed if I'm gonna be a contractor, I got to

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Speaker 1: really understand construction and they offered me. So my very

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Speaker 1: first contract on my own was eighty eight thousand dollars

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Speaker 1: at Underground Atlanta. I made like three grand, and I said, okay,

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Speaker 1: I'll try another one, and another little project came and

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Speaker 1: before I knew it, three years had passed and I'm like, oh, man, no,

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Speaker 1: this is kind of working. But the job that really

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Speaker 1: made me say I got a chance is when we

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Speaker 1: won the Olympic Stadium. Okay, it was a joint three

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Speaker 1: way joint venture. It was Beers HJ. Russell and US.

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Speaker 1: And that was the job after we had been in

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Speaker 1: business eight years when we finished. That was the job

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Speaker 1: that made me say, you know what, man, you might

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Speaker 1: be able to do this, you know, because I really

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Speaker 1: had to start developing some confidence. And in nineteen ninety one,

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Speaker 1: I was the first black business person to ever win

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Speaker 1: Small Business Person Other Year from the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce.

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Speaker 1: That gave me confidence. So I started having some little

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Speaker 1: wins where I had confidence. But my confidence was only

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Speaker 1: at a certain scale. You know. I never dreamed that

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Speaker 1: I could really, But a lot of that was because

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Speaker 1: from the generation I came from in the industry I chose,

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Speaker 1: and also what happened to me is a child, I

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Speaker 1: realized all those things were impacting my ability to dream

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Speaker 1: beg And that's why I tell people of color, especially

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Speaker 1: young for us, say, hey, don't limit yourself this man,

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Speaker 1: we can do some incredible stuff, but we got to

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Speaker 1: really believe it. And I'm a firm believer. We are

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Speaker 1: what we see. So it's so important that our children

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Speaker 1: see people who look like them doing some incredible stuff

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Speaker 1: because then you start believing, you know what, I really

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Speaker 1: might be able to do that. Yeah, and you know

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Speaker 1: what I mean. It's important.

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Speaker 2: And again there's those moments because like you said, it's

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Speaker 2: important that you see those different things. I think to

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Speaker 2: your point, a lot of times people have limited perspective

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Speaker 2: because they haven't seen big things. The one thing I

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Speaker 2: tell people is like, you haven't seen a big house

386
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Speaker 2: until you've seen a big house, right, and you know what,

387
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Speaker 2: it's an even bigger house somewhere else. And you got

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Speaker 2: to ask you something questions, right, like why would they

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Speaker 2: even build this house?

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Speaker 1: Well?

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Speaker 2: They building somebody for a reason. And I think those

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Speaker 2: are the things kind of you know, increase your perspective.

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Speaker 2: But let me take it back for a second, though.

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Speaker 2: Now you're working, you're getting some projects in when you

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Speaker 2: make that first million, because I know you said, I

396
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Speaker 2: know you said right now. You know, it's just it's

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Speaker 2: common right now. But I'm just saying I'm not talking

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Speaker 2: about your first, you know, million dollar project because again,

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Speaker 2: those products had a very quick butact when you made

400
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Speaker 2: your first million, Like, what was that moment like for you?

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Speaker 1: Especially all the things you had worked to accomplish that.

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Speaker 1: You know what I all I always say is we're

403
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Speaker 1: doing okay, you know you're doing well. But I will

404
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Speaker 1: say this. I promised my wife when we were struggling.

405
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Speaker 1: I said, baby, if I can't ever get us out

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Speaker 1: of debt, we'll never be back in debt. That was

407
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Speaker 1: probably the best feeling to know that we could own

408
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Speaker 1: a home, you know, we could own our car, we

409
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Speaker 1: could own things and not worry about could we make

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Speaker 1: the payments. And we've stayed in the same neighborhood since

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Speaker 1: nineteen eighty four. Man, we moved like a mile or

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Speaker 1: so different places and finally built our own home twenty

413
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Speaker 1: nine years ago. But man, I stayed in the same neighborhood.

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Speaker 1: People said, man, how come you didn't move out? You know?

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Speaker 1: And I always tell people that neighborhood was good enough

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Speaker 1: for me when I was trying to make it is

417
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Speaker 1: good enough for me when we're doing okay. So I

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Speaker 1: just I just never left. So I never again. My

419
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Speaker 1: dad taught me son always lived beneath me me, right,

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Speaker 1: you know, So I just kind of stayed there. But

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Speaker 1: you know what making you know, having a few dollars

422
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Speaker 1: is great, But what really kind of woke me up

423
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Speaker 1: is when Steve Jobs of Apple died that one of

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Speaker 1: the richest men in the world, he couldn't buy one

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Speaker 1: more minute on this earth. Right, And you know, now

426
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Speaker 1: I'm a grandfather, you know. For what's important to me,

427
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Speaker 1: and it always has been, I want to be the

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Speaker 1: greatest father, the greatest husband, and the greatest grandfather I

429
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Speaker 1: can be and show what the power loved us in

430
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Speaker 1: our lives. The business part is great, but for me

431
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Speaker 1: at this stage, and it always has been, you know,

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Speaker 1: I coach my kids. One of the reasons I also

433
00:21:07,000 --> 00:21:11,680
Speaker 1: didn't expand my business, but so big I wanted to

434
00:21:11,720 --> 00:21:13,960
Speaker 1: be home. I never wanted my kids to say, man,

435
00:21:14,040 --> 00:21:17,760
Speaker 1: daddy was always gone working and hate the business, and

436
00:21:17,840 --> 00:21:20,359
Speaker 1: you know, both my kids work in the company. But

437
00:21:21,240 --> 00:21:25,920
Speaker 1: I just I made a decision I wanted to be

438
00:21:25,920 --> 00:21:28,399
Speaker 1: because my dad was like that. My dad, you know,

439
00:21:29,680 --> 00:21:32,560
Speaker 1: he was just his family was. That's what it was.

440
00:21:32,640 --> 00:21:34,040
Speaker 1: I mean, my dad had a great job at the

441
00:21:34,080 --> 00:21:39,080
Speaker 1: University of Michigan, but he put us first. And I

442
00:21:39,119 --> 00:21:42,960
Speaker 1: saw my grandfather do that, my dad's father, and I

443
00:21:43,080 --> 00:21:46,639
Speaker 1: just decided I wanted to be. I think that's my

444
00:21:46,760 --> 00:21:51,639
Speaker 1: greatest reward from God is being a great father, a

445
00:21:51,680 --> 00:21:56,000
Speaker 1: great husband, now a great grandfather. And the business just extra. Yeah.

446
00:21:56,160 --> 00:21:57,960
Speaker 2: You talk about growing the business a lot too, and

447
00:21:58,359 --> 00:22:00,280
Speaker 2: kind of keeping under your means, but like some of

448
00:22:00,280 --> 00:22:02,040
Speaker 2: the other things that you think are important to kind

449
00:22:02,080 --> 00:22:04,880
Speaker 2: of maintaining that balance, you know, and kind of overcoming

450
00:22:04,880 --> 00:22:06,600
Speaker 2: some of those constraints you work with, Like what are

451
00:22:06,640 --> 00:22:08,679
Speaker 2: some of the other key lessons you've learned to be

452
00:22:08,680 --> 00:22:09,640
Speaker 2: in business for so long?

453
00:22:09,760 --> 00:22:12,160
Speaker 1: But first of all, all it takes is one bad

454
00:22:12,240 --> 00:22:15,960
Speaker 1: job and you out of business. Okay, So that's what

455
00:22:16,119 --> 00:22:19,720
Speaker 1: I mean about changing that mindset. I hated that because

456
00:22:19,720 --> 00:22:23,080
Speaker 1: I remember, you know, my son, he loves to go

457
00:22:23,160 --> 00:22:25,960
Speaker 1: with me to buy a car now and the only

458
00:22:26,000 --> 00:22:29,480
Speaker 1: reason why. When we were struggling. Man, them car people

459
00:22:29,560 --> 00:22:31,359
Speaker 1: used to kick my butt. You know, give me a

460
00:22:31,440 --> 00:22:34,120
Speaker 1: high interest rate. You know, so if I do buy

461
00:22:34,119 --> 00:22:36,720
Speaker 1: a vehicle, I tell them, if you tell me one time,

462
00:22:36,760 --> 00:22:38,879
Speaker 1: you got to go to your manager, I'm out of here.

463
00:22:39,240 --> 00:22:41,520
Speaker 1: And I don't mind you making money. Here's on willing

464
00:22:41,520 --> 00:22:43,520
Speaker 1: to pay. Can we do the deal or not? Yeah,

465
00:22:43,800 --> 00:22:47,080
Speaker 1: you know, and my son just likes to go to watch.

466
00:22:47,359 --> 00:22:52,200
Speaker 1: But you know, when I look back and I think

467
00:22:52,240 --> 00:22:56,920
Speaker 1: about it, the journey of entrepreneurship is a beautiful thing.

468
00:22:57,480 --> 00:23:01,720
Speaker 1: But not everybody's made to be an entrepreneur. You know.

469
00:23:01,800 --> 00:23:03,680
Speaker 1: One of the things I tell folks, if I knew

470
00:23:04,040 --> 00:23:06,440
Speaker 1: then what I know now, I probably wouldn't have did it.

471
00:23:06,840 --> 00:23:10,800
Speaker 1: I mean, the responsibility of making payroll every week. You know,

472
00:23:10,840 --> 00:23:13,639
Speaker 1: people say, what's your greatest project. My greatest project is

473
00:23:13,680 --> 00:23:16,520
Speaker 1: in thirty seven years, I've never been laid on mister payroll.

474
00:23:17,520 --> 00:23:19,720
Speaker 1: And I got people who worked for me with me

475
00:23:19,840 --> 00:23:24,480
Speaker 1: for almost thirty years. They've putting their kids through college paid.

476
00:23:24,560 --> 00:23:27,359
Speaker 1: I mean, when I think back, it was just me

477
00:23:27,440 --> 00:23:31,159
Speaker 1: and my wife, my younger brother who's the CPA in

478
00:23:31,200 --> 00:23:33,480
Speaker 1: the beginning. Then we got our first couple of employees,

479
00:23:33,520 --> 00:23:36,840
Speaker 1: some carpenters. Because in the beginning, I was the project manager,

480
00:23:36,920 --> 00:23:40,639
Speaker 1: superintendent and estimated because I was job calls. You know.

481
00:23:40,680 --> 00:23:43,359
Speaker 1: Too many people start a business and they want to

482
00:23:43,359 --> 00:23:47,520
Speaker 1: be president and all the money is going out and

483
00:23:47,680 --> 00:23:50,720
Speaker 1: they and they live off the problem. No, I was, man,

484
00:23:50,760 --> 00:23:53,320
Speaker 1: I was job calls. In construction, you can build for

485
00:23:53,400 --> 00:23:58,200
Speaker 1: your project manager superintendent. So I was billable because I

486
00:23:58,480 --> 00:24:00,639
Speaker 1: did the work, did the work man. I had on

487
00:24:00,720 --> 00:24:04,159
Speaker 1: a hard hat and jeans and boots every day with

488
00:24:04,320 --> 00:24:06,400
Speaker 1: dirt all over me. People look at me and laugh

489
00:24:06,480 --> 00:24:10,040
Speaker 1: at me, you know, and I would just chuckle and

490
00:24:10,040 --> 00:24:12,240
Speaker 1: they go, man, look all that concrete on you'all go yeah,

491
00:24:12,320 --> 00:24:15,960
Speaker 1: but that's money, you know. But one thing I've learned,

492
00:24:16,600 --> 00:24:20,480
Speaker 1: very few of us got enough money that if a bad,

493
00:24:20,680 --> 00:24:24,199
Speaker 1: really bad deal come and don't wipe us out. Yeah, okay,

494
00:24:24,440 --> 00:24:26,760
Speaker 1: all it take is so the bigger you get, the

495
00:24:26,800 --> 00:24:29,920
Speaker 1: more risks you take too. So those are the kind

496
00:24:29,920 --> 00:24:32,840
Speaker 1: of things I had to wrestle with. Then I also

497
00:24:33,640 --> 00:24:36,480
Speaker 1: had to deal with the guilt of being a little

498
00:24:36,480 --> 00:24:39,960
Speaker 1: bit successful. You know, I'm like looking at some of

499
00:24:39,960 --> 00:24:43,520
Speaker 1: my family members and friends and stuff, you know, because

500
00:24:43,560 --> 00:24:45,879
Speaker 1: of what I had been through as a child. I

501
00:24:45,920 --> 00:24:49,520
Speaker 1: realized I carry certain guilts of survivor, being a survivor,

502
00:24:50,960 --> 00:24:54,159
Speaker 1: and I think the greatest word you can learn is no,

503
00:24:55,560 --> 00:25:00,680
Speaker 1: you can't be everything to everybody. Yeah, you know, and

504
00:25:00,680 --> 00:25:04,880
Speaker 1: and family you got to know. Friends, you got to learn,

505
00:25:05,119 --> 00:25:07,119
Speaker 1: you know, the word knowing how much you're willing to

506
00:25:07,720 --> 00:25:09,720
Speaker 1: kind of well, I don't even call it loaning because

507
00:25:09,720 --> 00:25:12,120
Speaker 1: you don't get it back. So that's a whole nother

508
00:25:12,320 --> 00:25:15,600
Speaker 1: story that could be a podcast on itself. That's given,

509
00:25:16,440 --> 00:25:20,760
Speaker 1: let's get it. Yeah, but it's it's it's a beautiful

510
00:25:20,840 --> 00:25:26,120
Speaker 1: thing to look back. But also I have moments where

511
00:25:26,119 --> 00:25:28,879
Speaker 1: I realize fear and I'm not talking about this fear

512
00:25:29,040 --> 00:25:35,080
Speaker 1: like being scared, just there's a fear that comes a failure. Yeah. Man,

513
00:25:35,119 --> 00:25:37,600
Speaker 1: you just don't want to fail. You don't want your

514
00:25:37,640 --> 00:25:41,359
Speaker 1: wife or your friends, everybody, you know, because you you

515
00:25:41,400 --> 00:25:44,200
Speaker 1: always feel like everybody don't think you could do it anyway,

516
00:25:45,240 --> 00:25:47,320
Speaker 1: and you're like, man, I don't want to prove them right.

517
00:25:48,040 --> 00:25:51,399
Speaker 1: And you know, so living in fear is not a

518
00:25:51,440 --> 00:25:54,000
Speaker 1: good thing to be an entrepreneur, but most of us do.

519
00:25:54,160 --> 00:25:58,439
Speaker 1: And it's the fear if nobody knew and we wouldn't

520
00:25:58,480 --> 00:26:01,840
Speaker 1: care if we fail, I'll try again, but we're so

521
00:26:02,000 --> 00:26:04,320
Speaker 1: afraid of what people gonna think that half the time

522
00:26:04,359 --> 00:26:05,359
Speaker 1: we won't even try.

523
00:26:05,920 --> 00:26:08,080
Speaker 2: Yeah, that drives people crazy all the time. And again

524
00:26:08,119 --> 00:26:09,680
Speaker 2: the crazy part is a lot of people don't even care,

525
00:26:09,800 --> 00:26:12,359
Speaker 2: you know, think we think they care more than they care. Right,

526
00:26:12,560 --> 00:26:14,640
Speaker 2: And you know, people ask me stuff all the time,

527
00:26:14,720 --> 00:26:16,680
Speaker 2: and I always say, like, what are they even gonna

528
00:26:16,680 --> 00:26:20,000
Speaker 2: do that information? Like, you know, like if something fails,

529
00:26:20,000 --> 00:26:22,000
Speaker 2: something happens, like what does that? How does that change

530
00:26:22,440 --> 00:26:24,600
Speaker 2: their life or affect them? So I might as well

531
00:26:24,640 --> 00:26:26,600
Speaker 2: make the best decision for me. But I got a

532
00:26:26,640 --> 00:26:29,399
Speaker 2: question for you, speaking of no, how you tell Michael

533
00:26:29,440 --> 00:26:33,360
Speaker 2: Jordan though, Man, Michael Jordan tried to invest in your company.

534
00:26:33,440 --> 00:26:35,640
Speaker 2: He tried to guess a partner be of an investor,

535
00:26:35,680 --> 00:26:38,879
Speaker 2: And you told Michael Jordan the Michael Jordan. There's a

536
00:26:38,920 --> 00:26:40,840
Speaker 2: lot of Michael Jordan's around here. I'm talking about the

537
00:26:40,880 --> 00:26:43,160
Speaker 2: guy with all the rings, you know, the play in Chicago,

538
00:26:43,680 --> 00:26:45,399
Speaker 2: Like how did that happen? And how did you end

539
00:26:45,480 --> 00:26:46,000
Speaker 2: up telling him?

540
00:26:46,040 --> 00:26:48,600
Speaker 1: No? Hey, Mike, if you hear this, I changed my mind.

541
00:26:48,680 --> 00:26:52,560
Speaker 1: Come on back, man, let's do this deal. Man, you

542
00:26:52,600 --> 00:26:55,800
Speaker 1: know what, I'll tell you something. Michael was a good

543
00:26:55,800 --> 00:26:58,919
Speaker 1: friend of a friend who had a construction company in

544
00:26:58,920 --> 00:27:02,080
Speaker 1: South Carolina and he and I were talking about doing

545
00:27:02,160 --> 00:27:05,480
Speaker 1: some business together. So he connected me with Michael Jordan

546
00:27:06,040 --> 00:27:09,600
Speaker 1: and he had his finance guy come down checking me out,

547
00:27:09,960 --> 00:27:14,360
Speaker 1: and they were gonna invest in my company. And at

548
00:27:14,359 --> 00:27:16,960
Speaker 1: the last minute, now Mike and I talked on the phone.

549
00:27:16,960 --> 00:27:20,240
Speaker 1: I'm like, man, I'm talking to Michael Jordan. Then it Man,

550
00:27:20,280 --> 00:27:23,240
Speaker 1: I still have the autograph picture of you know him

551
00:27:23,280 --> 00:27:25,399
Speaker 1: and the slam dunk with his legs up and in

552
00:27:25,440 --> 00:27:28,960
Speaker 1: his knees a bent and he signs to David to

553
00:27:29,080 --> 00:27:32,520
Speaker 1: the success of our construction business. Michael Jordan. I still

554
00:27:32,560 --> 00:27:37,480
Speaker 1: got that picture. And at the last minute, I said,

555
00:27:37,600 --> 00:27:39,679
Speaker 1: you know what, I got to know what I can

556
00:27:39,720 --> 00:27:43,639
Speaker 1: do on my own, and you got to think about

557
00:27:43,640 --> 00:27:46,800
Speaker 1: something at that time. So that was like nineteen ninety one,

558
00:27:47,320 --> 00:27:50,320
Speaker 1: so I was thirty five years old. Nobody had I

559
00:27:50,320 --> 00:27:52,600
Speaker 1: don't know anything about how do you, you know, valuate

560
00:27:52,800 --> 00:27:56,439
Speaker 1: these kind of things. But I have to answer to him,

561
00:27:56,760 --> 00:27:59,240
Speaker 1: even though he won't go be majority. But still that's

562
00:27:59,240 --> 00:28:02,080
Speaker 1: Michael Jordan, And you know what kind of pressure would

563
00:28:02,160 --> 00:28:05,080
Speaker 1: be on me I don't want to lose somebody's money.

564
00:28:05,119 --> 00:28:07,159
Speaker 1: I don't mind losing my own because I ain't got

565
00:28:07,320 --> 00:28:10,720
Speaker 1: none at that time. Because I needed that investment too, bruh,

566
00:28:10,760 --> 00:28:14,040
Speaker 1: I mean when I tell you, I needed it. But

567
00:28:14,119 --> 00:28:16,439
Speaker 1: God had a plan that I was going to go

568
00:28:16,520 --> 00:28:19,600
Speaker 1: through something, because about eight months later, I had my

569
00:28:20,119 --> 00:28:24,199
Speaker 1: nervous breakdown from dealing with my childhood trauma. And I

570
00:28:24,359 --> 00:28:29,240
Speaker 1: always as years went by, in nineteen ninety two, people

571
00:28:29,280 --> 00:28:31,399
Speaker 1: did you know a break now? I was like, you

572
00:28:31,400 --> 00:28:33,639
Speaker 1: were weak because I felt weak. I was embarrassed, I

573
00:28:33,680 --> 00:28:37,320
Speaker 1: was ashamed. So I suffered in silence. Nobody knew other

574
00:28:37,400 --> 00:28:40,400
Speaker 1: than my wife and a couple of close friends. And

575
00:28:40,440 --> 00:28:44,440
Speaker 1: I always remind myself said, in nineteen ninety two, they

576
00:28:44,520 --> 00:28:47,960
Speaker 1: might have told you you can't run this company no

577
00:28:48,040 --> 00:28:49,960
Speaker 1: more because I thought, I mean, I was messed up.

578
00:28:51,360 --> 00:28:54,800
Speaker 1: So a part of me feels God was protecting me,

579
00:28:55,000 --> 00:28:57,680
Speaker 1: like turn this down, because bruh, I'm about to take

580
00:28:57,760 --> 00:29:01,200
Speaker 1: you through something that you might lose your business if

581
00:29:01,200 --> 00:29:06,400
Speaker 1: you say yeah. So that's so the answer I gave

582
00:29:06,520 --> 00:29:08,400
Speaker 1: him at the time was I want to know what

583
00:29:08,440 --> 00:29:12,040
Speaker 1: I could do on my own. But when I look back,

584
00:29:12,120 --> 00:29:14,160
Speaker 1: it's because I was gonna go through something that they

585
00:29:14,200 --> 00:29:17,840
Speaker 1: might have decided you're not capable of running this company anymore.

586
00:29:18,160 --> 00:29:20,720
Speaker 1: We're gonna have to replace you. And they rightfully saw.

587
00:29:21,200 --> 00:29:25,120
Speaker 1: And but I tell you, sometime, man, I'd be like, damn,

588
00:29:25,320 --> 00:29:27,440
Speaker 1: if I had a man, I would have built half

589
00:29:27,480 --> 00:29:30,160
Speaker 1: a Nike. I might have been up in the owner's

590
00:29:30,160 --> 00:29:35,200
Speaker 1: box smoking ciguar with my point to my money. So

591
00:29:36,280 --> 00:29:39,080
Speaker 1: you know, and you can't beat yourself up about that.

592
00:29:39,720 --> 00:29:42,640
Speaker 1: But I only have few things in my life that

593
00:29:42,720 --> 00:29:46,400
Speaker 1: I go I wonder what would have happened. But again,

594
00:29:46,520 --> 00:29:49,560
Speaker 1: because of that breakdown. You know, Mike's that kind of guy,

595
00:29:49,600 --> 00:29:51,720
Speaker 1: bru I might have seemed like a sign of weakness

596
00:29:51,720 --> 00:29:54,120
Speaker 1: to him, which I get it because I was like

597
00:29:54,160 --> 00:29:59,200
Speaker 1: that to have happened to me. And but I tell you, Mike,

598
00:29:59,240 --> 00:30:03,040
Speaker 1: if you're listening, big dog, my frat brother, you sight fight.

599
00:30:03,840 --> 00:30:08,600
Speaker 1: You know, Mike called me, let's do this deal. Still, broh,

600
00:30:08,720 --> 00:30:11,960
Speaker 1: it is only thirty let's say thirty two years, thirty

601
00:30:11,960 --> 00:30:14,560
Speaker 1: three years later, bro, come on, let's do this.

602
00:30:15,120 --> 00:30:16,800
Speaker 2: You know, Mike, if you listened to come on the

603
00:30:16,800 --> 00:30:18,560
Speaker 2: podcast too, man, you know what I'm saying.

604
00:30:19,600 --> 00:30:21,640
Speaker 1: But you know, the thing that made me feel really good.

605
00:30:22,640 --> 00:30:25,480
Speaker 1: His financial guy said, you're the first person to turn

606
00:30:25,560 --> 00:30:29,360
Speaker 1: Mike's money down. He said, I'm proud of you because

607
00:30:29,360 --> 00:30:32,440
Speaker 1: you weren't just taking his money. But I don't think

608
00:30:32,600 --> 00:30:36,720
Speaker 1: I was ready for a Michael Jordan for me to

609
00:30:36,760 --> 00:30:40,680
Speaker 1: be responsible not to lose his money. It takes a look,

610
00:30:40,760 --> 00:30:42,480
Speaker 1: It takes a certain level of self away. And I

611
00:30:42,520 --> 00:30:44,840
Speaker 1: didn't You got to think about it, man. I had

612
00:30:44,920 --> 00:30:48,320
Speaker 1: never been in that kind of environment or been trained,

613
00:30:48,360 --> 00:30:52,160
Speaker 1: so I didn't even know. You know, man, And I'm

614
00:30:52,200 --> 00:30:55,400
Speaker 1: telling you, brouh, I needed that money. That was a

615
00:30:55,440 --> 00:30:57,400
Speaker 1: time period. I'm like, I don't know if we're gonna

616
00:30:57,400 --> 00:30:59,520
Speaker 1: make it past ninety two ninety three, cause it was

617
00:30:59,600 --> 00:31:03,120
Speaker 1: just the wear and tear in the you know, just

618
00:31:03,200 --> 00:31:06,960
Speaker 1: making enough to make ends meet. But Mike, call me,

619
00:31:21,120 --> 00:31:21,520
Speaker 1: how do you.

620
00:31:21,440 --> 00:31:24,680
Speaker 2: Think Atlanta has influenced the way that you just approach business?

621
00:31:24,760 --> 00:31:27,840
Speaker 2: And also your company has been so instrumental in kind

622
00:31:27,840 --> 00:31:30,400
Speaker 2: of the growth in the look and feel of the city.

623
00:31:30,640 --> 00:31:33,280
Speaker 1: Man, let me tell you something, only in Atlanta, because

624
00:31:33,280 --> 00:31:36,640
Speaker 1: I could I have done and doing I'm doing. I'm

625
00:31:36,680 --> 00:31:40,560
Speaker 1: telling you here's the part that kind of freaks me out.

626
00:31:41,640 --> 00:31:44,680
Speaker 1: I came to Moorhouse fifty years ago. Man nineteen seventy four.

627
00:31:44,840 --> 00:31:48,080
Speaker 1: I'm a freshman, eighteen years old. I come down here

628
00:31:48,120 --> 00:31:53,000
Speaker 1: play football. My first week football practice. I'm going to

629
00:31:53,040 --> 00:31:57,040
Speaker 1: Madam Robert Hall. It's nineteen seventy four to August nineteen

630
00:31:57,080 --> 00:32:02,360
Speaker 1: seventy four. I see this big blue convertible El Dorado

631
00:32:03,200 --> 00:32:06,240
Speaker 1: with the top down, and I see this man get

632
00:32:06,280 --> 00:32:11,280
Speaker 1: out in the same powder blue pantsuit. It's Hank Aeron.

633
00:32:12,200 --> 00:32:15,560
Speaker 1: I'm standing there. Hank Aaron had just broke Bay Roof's record,

634
00:32:16,400 --> 00:32:18,960
Speaker 1: and I'm standing there next to Hank Aaron. He's talking

635
00:32:19,000 --> 00:32:22,320
Speaker 1: to me. Then I meet Andy Young, Jose William, I

636
00:32:22,360 --> 00:32:25,960
Speaker 1: was playing football with Jose William's son. I meet Daddy King,

637
00:32:26,200 --> 00:32:30,320
Speaker 1: John lieud Man. I'm meeting all these Maynard Jackson, I'm

638
00:32:30,360 --> 00:32:32,880
Speaker 1: meeting all these folks. I went to Herman Russell's house

639
00:32:33,440 --> 00:32:35,560
Speaker 1: as a freshman because I went A buddy of mine

640
00:32:36,040 --> 00:32:38,880
Speaker 1: took me by there and I meet Herman Russell. Then

641
00:32:38,880 --> 00:32:40,720
Speaker 1: I ended up living in one of his apartments in

642
00:32:40,760 --> 00:32:44,400
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy seven. My senior year nineteen is the summer

643
00:32:44,480 --> 00:32:47,440
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy seven. I'm a Martyr bus driver. Marty used

644
00:32:47,480 --> 00:32:50,520
Speaker 1: to hire college students to relieve a vacation and bus

645
00:32:50,640 --> 00:32:53,800
Speaker 1: drivers best summer job I had made five forty I

646
00:32:53,880 --> 00:32:57,120
Speaker 1: lived off I lived in Dogwood two off Bankhead Highway

647
00:32:57,200 --> 00:33:00,440
Speaker 1: by the Blue Flame. I never went in, but he's

648
00:33:00,440 --> 00:33:03,440
Speaker 1: about of Blue Flame. My wife might hear that time.

649
00:33:03,880 --> 00:33:10,240
Speaker 1: But my point being, I watched Atlanta grow just and

650
00:33:10,320 --> 00:33:12,720
Speaker 1: Maynard Jackson was the first black mayor. He had only

651
00:33:12,720 --> 00:33:15,520
Speaker 1: been a mayor a year when I came. And then

652
00:33:15,560 --> 00:33:19,640
Speaker 1: I remember Jimy Carter running for president. I helped John

653
00:33:19,720 --> 00:33:23,160
Speaker 1: Lewis run his first election. He lost because they would

654
00:33:23,200 --> 00:33:25,120
Speaker 1: come to the frat house and ask us to help.

655
00:33:26,000 --> 00:33:28,760
Speaker 1: And it was Earl Grays who came because he's a Q.

656
00:33:29,360 --> 00:33:31,840
Speaker 1: He came to frat house and asked us to come

657
00:33:31,880 --> 00:33:35,280
Speaker 1: out and help. So we did. And I got a

658
00:33:35,400 --> 00:33:39,920
Speaker 1: chance to see Atlanta in a way very few people

659
00:33:40,040 --> 00:33:43,040
Speaker 1: got to see. I got to watch it grow, and

660
00:33:43,080 --> 00:33:46,080
Speaker 1: I got to watch black people really get an opportunity.

661
00:33:46,840 --> 00:33:50,040
Speaker 1: And that's kind of what made me come back to

662
00:33:50,080 --> 00:33:52,680
Speaker 1: Atlanta just to give it a shot. And I'll never

663
00:33:52,720 --> 00:33:56,400
Speaker 1: forget when I been my first project at Underground Atlanta.

664
00:33:56,480 --> 00:33:58,640
Speaker 1: Andy Young was mayor and he came to meet me,

665
00:33:58,680 --> 00:34:01,320
Speaker 1: and I still got a picture of him that he wrote,

666
00:34:01,480 --> 00:34:05,360
Speaker 1: you know, congratulations and he said, you know, state of course,

667
00:34:05,600 --> 00:34:07,720
Speaker 1: don't give up. Then we end up being on the

668
00:34:07,760 --> 00:34:10,239
Speaker 1: board together at more House, you know, Hank Aaron, I

669
00:34:10,320 --> 00:34:13,560
Speaker 1: were organizations together. Herman Russell and I were on the

670
00:34:13,560 --> 00:34:17,160
Speaker 1: board together, Citizens Trust Bank and so people I used

671
00:34:17,160 --> 00:34:20,000
Speaker 1: to look up to and admire and being all of

672
00:34:20,600 --> 00:34:23,160
Speaker 1: I end up either doing business with them, on boards

673
00:34:23,200 --> 00:34:27,000
Speaker 1: with them, but I always still called them mister you

674
00:34:27,040 --> 00:34:32,560
Speaker 1: know whatever. And so I I've lived and I'm living

675
00:34:33,520 --> 00:34:38,400
Speaker 1: a dream that only in Atlanta can you live this dream.

676
00:34:38,480 --> 00:34:40,399
Speaker 1: I mean, I mean other cities do well, don't get

677
00:34:40,400 --> 00:34:43,560
Speaker 1: me wrong, but Atlanta they ain't nothing like it. I mean,

678
00:34:43,640 --> 00:34:47,640
Speaker 1: it's it's it's a it's a beautiful thing, particularly.

679
00:34:47,080 --> 00:34:49,879
Speaker 2: In Atlanta and particularly in the area that you're in,

680
00:34:49,920 --> 00:34:52,760
Speaker 2: you know, you know with construction. I mean, yeah, Herman

681
00:34:52,840 --> 00:34:56,879
Speaker 2: Russell is a legend, and you had the opportunity not

682
00:34:56,920 --> 00:34:59,120
Speaker 2: only to you know, to know him, but actually collaborate

683
00:34:59,120 --> 00:35:00,520
Speaker 2: with him, but to know right, I was like again,

684
00:35:00,640 --> 00:35:03,040
Speaker 2: especially with you all working on things like the Olympic

685
00:35:03,080 --> 00:35:06,239
Speaker 2: Stadium together, Like, how did that relationship help you, you know,

686
00:35:06,280 --> 00:35:08,360
Speaker 2: and help guide you and help me grow your business?

687
00:35:08,400 --> 00:35:10,000
Speaker 1: You know. One of the things I think that really

688
00:35:10,040 --> 00:35:12,840
Speaker 1: helped me with mister Russell, I never asked him for

689
00:35:12,880 --> 00:35:15,880
Speaker 1: anything other than knowledge. I never said, herman, can you

690
00:35:15,920 --> 00:35:19,000
Speaker 1: loan me money, give me some work. I just wanted

691
00:35:19,000 --> 00:35:22,080
Speaker 1: to pick your brain. So we became we became really close.

692
00:35:22,120 --> 00:35:25,640
Speaker 1: He really helped me a lot because he knew I

693
00:35:25,680 --> 00:35:27,799
Speaker 1: really wanted to do this. You know, I've been wanting

694
00:35:27,840 --> 00:35:29,359
Speaker 1: to do what I'm doing since I was a child.

695
00:35:29,400 --> 00:35:31,400
Speaker 1: I used to play with lego building blocks of rector

696
00:35:31,480 --> 00:35:35,600
Speaker 1: sets and all that in the sixties, and I just

697
00:35:35,640 --> 00:35:39,840
Speaker 1: made a pivot from architecture to construction. But mister Russell

698
00:35:39,960 --> 00:35:44,000
Speaker 1: was very, very supportive all the time to me, and

699
00:35:44,040 --> 00:35:47,719
Speaker 1: I'm close with his sons and daughter and his grandkids.

700
00:35:49,400 --> 00:35:52,839
Speaker 1: I've had some people who are really supportive like him,

701
00:35:53,239 --> 00:35:56,719
Speaker 1: and I had some folks who weren't helpful, you know,

702
00:35:56,880 --> 00:35:59,600
Speaker 1: they out of whatever reason. And that's why I go

703
00:35:59,680 --> 00:36:03,719
Speaker 1: out my way to try to always be approachable and

704
00:36:03,960 --> 00:36:07,640
Speaker 1: share knowledge with anybody, because I know how it feels

705
00:36:07,680 --> 00:36:10,560
Speaker 1: when you're trying to make it, when you're when you're struggling,

706
00:36:11,280 --> 00:36:14,680
Speaker 1: and somebody you look up to ignoredge you won't even

707
00:36:14,680 --> 00:36:16,320
Speaker 1: give you the time of day or blow you off.

708
00:36:16,680 --> 00:36:19,320
Speaker 1: And that's why I always respected mister Russell because he

709
00:36:19,320 --> 00:36:23,920
Speaker 1: he always took time, and a lot of other folks

710
00:36:23,920 --> 00:36:24,319
Speaker 1: did too.

711
00:36:25,040 --> 00:36:26,880
Speaker 2: What excites you around the corner? Like what do you

712
00:36:26,880 --> 00:36:28,680
Speaker 2: get excited about as far as the future of your

713
00:36:28,680 --> 00:36:31,239
Speaker 2: business and construction and you know all the things you

714
00:36:31,239 --> 00:36:31,719
Speaker 2: have going on.

715
00:36:31,760 --> 00:36:35,640
Speaker 1: You know what excites me the most is can I

716
00:36:35,960 --> 00:36:41,480
Speaker 1: ever leave my childhood trauma behind where I'm not wrestling

717
00:36:41,480 --> 00:36:46,120
Speaker 1: with anxiety during the day and just really be the

718
00:36:46,160 --> 00:36:51,400
Speaker 1: best builder I can be and remove that fear because

719
00:36:52,000 --> 00:36:54,360
Speaker 1: what happened to me is a child, When your innocence

720
00:36:54,440 --> 00:36:59,680
Speaker 1: is stolen, it does something to you of belief in

721
00:36:59,680 --> 00:37:02,520
Speaker 1: yourself and stuff, and especially when you hide it, when

722
00:37:02,520 --> 00:37:05,120
Speaker 1: you suppress it and you hide it and you try

723
00:37:05,160 --> 00:37:09,160
Speaker 1: to bury it for decades, it changes a lot of

724
00:37:09,239 --> 00:37:12,840
Speaker 1: how you think that you don't even realize. So for me,

725
00:37:13,440 --> 00:37:15,600
Speaker 1: like when I went to Africa last year, spent them

726
00:37:15,600 --> 00:37:19,239
Speaker 1: eight days on kill Him in Jarro, my buddy whose

727
00:37:19,280 --> 00:37:21,799
Speaker 1: idea was on the third day he got sick and

728
00:37:22,120 --> 00:37:23,560
Speaker 1: he had to come off the mountain. So I spent

729
00:37:23,600 --> 00:37:26,400
Speaker 1: the last five days as me and the guy and

730
00:37:26,440 --> 00:37:28,359
Speaker 1: it was four other people, but I didn't know them,

731
00:37:28,360 --> 00:37:30,640
Speaker 1: so they were doing their thing. And I spent a

732
00:37:30,640 --> 00:37:32,520
Speaker 1: lot of time just talking to God and on that

733
00:37:32,600 --> 00:37:36,400
Speaker 1: mom and I never forget. I was talking to God about,

734
00:37:36,520 --> 00:37:38,120
Speaker 1: you know, what I went through as a child and

735
00:37:38,239 --> 00:37:41,960
Speaker 1: different stuff. And I heard God tell me, he say, bruh,

736
00:37:42,040 --> 00:37:44,040
Speaker 1: when have I ever left for you? Look at you,

737
00:37:44,040 --> 00:37:47,600
Speaker 1: you standing in Africa on Mount kill Him in jarro Bro.

738
00:37:47,760 --> 00:37:51,640
Speaker 1: You not only survived you through. Now I've been there,

739
00:37:51,760 --> 00:37:54,799
Speaker 1: you know, and it kind of helped me change how

740
00:37:54,840 --> 00:37:57,160
Speaker 1: I looked at things in Africa. Then my wife flew

741
00:37:57,200 --> 00:38:00,759
Speaker 1: over on my last day, and then her and I

742
00:38:00,840 --> 00:38:03,880
Speaker 1: spent twelve days living in the bush and treehouses, intents,

743
00:38:04,000 --> 00:38:08,280
Speaker 1: chasing animals. Man, it was that trip was the first

744
00:38:08,320 --> 00:38:11,760
Speaker 1: time I felt I had a history before slavery, because

745
00:38:11,760 --> 00:38:15,560
Speaker 1: I can't go back probably more than eighteen seventy. But

746
00:38:15,640 --> 00:38:18,160
Speaker 1: when I was in Africa, man, it was the most

747
00:38:18,200 --> 00:38:22,000
Speaker 1: fringing thing. Living in the woods and the bush like that,

748
00:38:22,600 --> 00:38:25,439
Speaker 1: with no windows, the screens so you can hear the line,

749
00:38:25,480 --> 00:38:27,880
Speaker 1: You can hear everything at night. And once you go

750
00:38:27,920 --> 00:38:30,520
Speaker 1: in your tent or your treehouse, you do not leave

751
00:38:30,520 --> 00:38:33,400
Speaker 1: till the sun come out. They make that real clear.

752
00:38:33,640 --> 00:38:37,600
Speaker 1: Do not leave and the first night to hear the lions,

753
00:38:38,880 --> 00:38:41,080
Speaker 1: knowing you ain't got no glass, you just got screen,

754
00:38:41,160 --> 00:38:44,359
Speaker 1: kind of freaked me out. Then they said, look, bruh,

755
00:38:44,400 --> 00:38:46,600
Speaker 1: you way out here. We're in the Serengeti and stuff.

756
00:38:47,160 --> 00:38:49,520
Speaker 1: They like that lion is probably two three miles away,

757
00:38:49,760 --> 00:38:53,239
Speaker 1: but that sound just travels. But it was just so

758
00:38:53,480 --> 00:38:56,960
Speaker 1: relaxing and my wife and I for the first time

759
00:38:57,920 --> 00:39:00,920
Speaker 1: and being in business, I didn't find the one email.

760
00:39:01,160 --> 00:39:04,520
Speaker 1: I told everybody, I'm out. If something happened, y'all figure

761
00:39:04,520 --> 00:39:08,840
Speaker 1: it out. And it was so cleansing to the TOCs

762
00:39:08,960 --> 00:39:12,480
Speaker 1: like that, man, to just just me and my wife again,

763
00:39:12,680 --> 00:39:15,479
Speaker 1: you know. And man, it was the most romantic trip

764
00:39:15,560 --> 00:39:18,960
Speaker 1: we ever had because our showers were outside, so man

765
00:39:19,000 --> 00:39:21,759
Speaker 1: were taking showers outside with monkeys jumping over here. And

766
00:39:21,800 --> 00:39:23,439
Speaker 1: I told my wife, so when of these monkeys jumped

767
00:39:23,440 --> 00:39:26,440
Speaker 1: down here, we're gonna have a problem. But it was

768
00:39:26,760 --> 00:39:31,520
Speaker 1: just so freeing to just be out in nature, in

769
00:39:31,640 --> 00:39:35,399
Speaker 1: wildlife with the animals and just watching them. I mean,

770
00:39:35,440 --> 00:39:38,400
Speaker 1: it was incredible. I can't even put words with it.

771
00:39:39,400 --> 00:39:42,480
Speaker 2: What's one piece of advice you would give a younger

772
00:39:42,920 --> 00:39:43,879
Speaker 2: David Moody.

773
00:39:44,520 --> 00:39:49,759
Speaker 1: Oh gosh, the one piece of advice I would give myself, Yeah,

774
00:39:49,800 --> 00:39:52,640
Speaker 1: what happened to you is a child, was horrible, but man,

775
00:39:52,680 --> 00:39:56,960
Speaker 1: don't let it consume your life. It has consumed me

776
00:39:56,960 --> 00:40:00,000
Speaker 1: because I keep reliving it. Every day. I'm triggered because

777
00:40:00,040 --> 00:40:02,440
Speaker 1: there's something on the news or something that talks about

778
00:40:02,440 --> 00:40:09,040
Speaker 1: what I went through and suffering in silence and thinking

779
00:40:09,320 --> 00:40:11,600
Speaker 1: it was my fault even though it wasn't. I was,

780
00:40:11,680 --> 00:40:15,560
Speaker 1: you know, preyed upon and groomed, and you know, you

781
00:40:15,880 --> 00:40:18,839
Speaker 1: just I would tell my say, hey, man, yeah it

782
00:40:18,840 --> 00:40:21,960
Speaker 1: was bad, but it's a small piece of your life.

783
00:40:22,040 --> 00:40:26,200
Speaker 1: You survive, You're gonna be okay. That's that's the part,

784
00:40:26,360 --> 00:40:28,120
Speaker 1: because you know, I couldn't even go to my mother

785
00:40:28,160 --> 00:40:31,520
Speaker 1: and father because you know, my mother thought something had happened,

786
00:40:31,719 --> 00:40:34,439
Speaker 1: and she went and my mother love her. They both

787
00:40:34,480 --> 00:40:37,520
Speaker 1: passed away in twenty nineteen, but my mother, and this

788
00:40:37,560 --> 00:40:39,520
Speaker 1: is why we had to be careful. We say to children.

789
00:40:40,680 --> 00:40:43,160
Speaker 1: My mother said, don't let nobody touch you. He had

790
00:40:43,200 --> 00:40:45,120
Speaker 1: already touched me. So now I think it's my fault,

791
00:40:45,840 --> 00:40:48,279
Speaker 1: so I immediately shut down. Now I don't know if

792
00:40:48,280 --> 00:40:50,400
Speaker 1: I'd have said anything in the sixties what happened anyway,

793
00:40:50,400 --> 00:40:51,960
Speaker 1: because man, I would have caught more hell than in

794
00:40:51,960 --> 00:40:54,600
Speaker 1: the neighborhood if the word got out. You know this,

795
00:40:54,680 --> 00:40:58,200
Speaker 1: an adult had did this. So what I would tell

796
00:40:58,280 --> 00:41:01,680
Speaker 1: myself was like, man, yeah it was bad, but boy,

797
00:41:01,760 --> 00:41:04,400
Speaker 1: you so much stronger than you realize. You got this

798
00:41:05,200 --> 00:41:09,160
Speaker 1: dream big. Don't don't be ashamed, you know. So that's

799
00:41:09,200 --> 00:41:12,840
Speaker 1: what I would tell myself. And you know, the other

800
00:41:13,000 --> 00:41:18,120
Speaker 1: thing that I really think about is we have to

801
00:41:18,239 --> 00:41:21,719
Speaker 1: believe that we can do something great. Now, I'm going

802
00:41:21,800 --> 00:41:25,640
Speaker 1: to say this, and it's important. My faith is really

803
00:41:25,880 --> 00:41:27,640
Speaker 1: is what got me to where I am, and I

804
00:41:27,840 --> 00:41:31,480
Speaker 1: really work on that to believe even more. And I

805
00:41:31,520 --> 00:41:34,840
Speaker 1: realized most of my life, even though I'm religious and

806
00:41:35,080 --> 00:41:37,480
Speaker 1: I believe in God and I believe in the higher Being,

807
00:41:38,800 --> 00:41:40,200
Speaker 1: I still felt I had to do it on my

808
00:41:40,280 --> 00:41:46,759
Speaker 1: own often. And in reality, we always got people, you know.

809
00:41:46,800 --> 00:41:48,560
Speaker 1: Even though I had other people helping me in the

810
00:41:48,640 --> 00:41:52,520
Speaker 1: business and stuff, I always felt I had I had

811
00:41:52,520 --> 00:41:54,000
Speaker 1: to rely on me because I didn't want to put

812
00:41:54,000 --> 00:41:55,520
Speaker 1: it all on my wife. And my wife is the

813
00:41:55,520 --> 00:41:59,640
Speaker 1: most strongest person I ever met. Because I always tell people,

814
00:41:59,680 --> 00:42:02,080
Speaker 1: you know, you got the right person. When I had

815
00:42:02,120 --> 00:42:05,520
Speaker 1: that breakdown, my wife ran to me and not from me,

816
00:42:06,520 --> 00:42:08,640
Speaker 1: and when she's gone through things, I've ran to her,

817
00:42:08,760 --> 00:42:12,680
Speaker 1: not from her. And I've seen relationships when some bad

818
00:42:12,719 --> 00:42:16,319
Speaker 1: stuff happen, the other person runs, They flee, it's too

819
00:42:16,440 --> 00:42:21,160
Speaker 1: much for him. And that's why I always will have

820
00:42:21,760 --> 00:42:24,520
Speaker 1: the respect and give my wife her flowers, because she

821
00:42:24,680 --> 00:42:26,520
Speaker 1: ran to me when I was at the lowest point

822
00:42:26,520 --> 00:42:28,600
Speaker 1: in my life. And that's what it takes.

823
00:42:28,600 --> 00:42:30,840
Speaker 2: That's what partnership is all about. Oh yeahy y'all celebrating

824
00:42:30,880 --> 00:42:34,239
Speaker 2: forty two years. Forty two years. Man, that dog man.

825
00:42:34,440 --> 00:42:37,399
Speaker 1: But when I first met her at sixteen, couldn't stand her.

826
00:42:37,680 --> 00:42:39,799
Speaker 1: She couldn't stand me. But I told her, I'm number

827
00:42:39,840 --> 00:42:42,000
Speaker 1: twelve in your program, but number one in your heart,

828
00:42:42,360 --> 00:42:44,200
Speaker 1: and she blew me off. So that's how we talked

829
00:42:44,200 --> 00:42:46,000
Speaker 1: in nineteen seventy two.

830
00:42:46,160 --> 00:42:48,200
Speaker 2: Well, look, mister Moody, we appreciate you so much for

831
00:42:48,280 --> 00:42:50,560
Speaker 2: pulling up and coming out. You've had an amazing story.

832
00:42:50,560 --> 00:42:53,919
Speaker 2: Congratulations on all the amazing things you've accomplished, and also

833
00:42:53,960 --> 00:42:55,759
Speaker 2: for just again putting your fingerprint on the city of

834
00:42:55,800 --> 00:42:57,800
Speaker 2: Atlanta for all the work you've been doing.

835
00:42:58,560 --> 00:43:00,799
Speaker 1: I've definitely heard about you over the years.

836
00:43:00,840 --> 00:43:03,720
Speaker 2: I've seen it on you know, different sides, billboards and

837
00:43:03,920 --> 00:43:05,640
Speaker 2: things being built. Was the honor to have you in

838
00:43:05,680 --> 00:43:08,239
Speaker 2: here on the podcast, and we can't wait to see

839
00:43:08,239 --> 00:43:08,839
Speaker 2: what happens next.

840
00:43:08,840 --> 00:43:10,920
Speaker 1: Man. Hey, thanks for having me and I can tell

841
00:43:10,960 --> 00:43:15,319
Speaker 1: you right now the future, guys, Grace and Mercy. Man,

842
00:43:15,320 --> 00:43:17,640
Speaker 1: I'm just getting cranked up in business because I'm finally

843
00:43:17,680 --> 00:43:21,280
Speaker 1: freeing myself to believe that we can do something. This

844
00:43:21,280 --> 00:43:22,800
Speaker 1: this outstanding.

845
00:43:22,400 --> 00:43:25,200
Speaker 2: Absolutely well, you know, congratulations. Can't wait to see it

846
00:43:25,239 --> 00:43:26,239
Speaker 2: and we out y'all.

847
00:43:26,280 --> 00:43:27,600
Speaker 1: That's the pod. Peace.

848
00:43:29,120 --> 00:43:31,360
Speaker 2: You've been listening to butter Nomics and I'm your host,

849
00:43:31,520 --> 00:43:34,200
Speaker 2: Brendan Butler. Comments feedback. Want to be a part of

850
00:43:34,200 --> 00:43:36,759
Speaker 2: the show, send us an email today at Hello at

851
00:43:36,760 --> 00:43:40,080
Speaker 2: butterdomics dot com. Butter Nomics is produced in Atlanta, Georgia

852
00:43:40,120 --> 00:43:43,439
Speaker 2: at iHeartMedia by Ramsey, with marketing support from Queen and Nike.

853
00:43:43,760 --> 00:43:46,880
Speaker 1: Music provided by mister Hanky. If you haven't already, hit

854
00:43:46,920 --> 00:43:47,920
Speaker 1: that subscribe.

855
00:43:47,520 --> 00:43:49,840
Speaker 2: Button and never missed an episode, and be sure to

856
00:43:49,840 --> 00:43:52,359
Speaker 2: follow us on all our social platforms at butter dot

857
00:43:52,400 --> 00:43:55,839
Speaker 2: at l. Listen to button Nomics on the iHeartRadio app,

858
00:43:55,960 --> 00:43:58,520
Speaker 2: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

859
00:44:01,040 --> 00:44:03,920
Speaker 1: Pount Pump, Pump Out out