1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:02,400 Speaker 1: Will Lucas here in Black Tech, Green Money. I am 2 00:00:02,520 --> 00:00:04,880 Speaker 1: in New York right now and away from the studio, 3 00:00:04,920 --> 00:00:07,160 Speaker 1: so this one's gonna sound a little bit different. I'm 4 00:00:07,160 --> 00:00:08,880 Speaker 1: here for the Afro Tech meet up. We've been going 5 00:00:08,920 --> 00:00:12,280 Speaker 1: all across the country. We've hear Chicago already, We've here 6 00:00:12,360 --> 00:00:15,920 Speaker 1: Atlanta today, We're in New York and Miami, coming up Seattle. 7 00:00:15,960 --> 00:00:17,919 Speaker 2: We're gonna be all over the place this year. But 8 00:00:17,920 --> 00:00:19,959 Speaker 2: I'm so excited to bring you this episode. 9 00:00:20,200 --> 00:00:23,240 Speaker 1: I'm talking to Morgan Debonn who's a founder and CEO 10 00:00:23,360 --> 00:00:26,200 Speaker 1: of Blavity and afro Tech, and she's an author. 11 00:00:26,280 --> 00:00:30,040 Speaker 2: Now Rewrite Your Rules, which is out today, is April first. 12 00:00:30,040 --> 00:00:33,160 Speaker 2: The book is out today, Rewrite Your Rules. 13 00:00:33,000 --> 00:00:36,080 Speaker 1: The Journey of the success in less time, with More Freedom, 14 00:00:36,479 --> 00:00:39,400 Speaker 1: And the book asked this question and it provides an answer. 15 00:00:39,800 --> 00:00:43,000 Speaker 1: What if the path to fulfillment isn't about doing more 16 00:00:43,240 --> 00:00:45,200 Speaker 1: but redefining what matters most? 17 00:00:45,600 --> 00:00:46,720 Speaker 2: Check out the episode. 18 00:00:47,040 --> 00:00:50,879 Speaker 1: So on a recent episode you dropped, you started off saying, 19 00:00:51,240 --> 00:00:52,960 Speaker 1: you know, if you're going to ask for a million dollars, 20 00:00:53,000 --> 00:00:55,880 Speaker 1: are you willing to invest a million dollars into yourself? 21 00:00:56,560 --> 00:00:58,880 Speaker 1: And I think that's kind of like revealing to some 22 00:00:58,960 --> 00:01:00,560 Speaker 1: people when they think about, oh, hey, I need to 23 00:01:00,600 --> 00:01:02,720 Speaker 1: go raise money for this, Like if you have the money, 24 00:01:02,960 --> 00:01:05,080 Speaker 1: would you put your own money in? Like when you 25 00:01:05,120 --> 00:01:08,240 Speaker 1: thought about that? And that to that conversation, what is that, 26 00:01:08,480 --> 00:01:10,240 Speaker 1: you know, trying to get people to think about when 27 00:01:10,240 --> 00:01:11,399 Speaker 1: they think about raising money. 28 00:01:12,160 --> 00:01:16,880 Speaker 3: Most people want to raise money because they don't want 29 00:01:16,920 --> 00:01:19,480 Speaker 3: to be uncomfortable. They want to pay for them, set 30 00:01:19,480 --> 00:01:22,320 Speaker 3: their salary, they want to quit their job, they want 31 00:01:22,360 --> 00:01:27,960 Speaker 3: to have some sort of comfort. Entrepreneurship is not comfortable. 32 00:01:28,040 --> 00:01:31,319 Speaker 3: There's nothing you can do. There's no amount of money 33 00:01:31,360 --> 00:01:33,880 Speaker 3: that's going to make you comfortable when you decide to 34 00:01:33,920 --> 00:01:36,840 Speaker 3: be an entrepreneur. And I think that a lot of 35 00:01:36,880 --> 00:01:40,320 Speaker 3: people have glamorized it because of social media. When you're 36 00:01:40,360 --> 00:01:43,680 Speaker 3: thinking about raising money or you're thinking about growing your business, 37 00:01:43,880 --> 00:01:47,360 Speaker 3: the real question is how much does it cost to 38 00:01:47,480 --> 00:01:52,280 Speaker 3: beating this solution, to bring this solution to the world, 39 00:01:52,400 --> 00:01:55,840 Speaker 3: And not cost because you need to pay yourself, but 40 00:01:55,880 --> 00:01:58,320 Speaker 3: actually the cost of building the product, the cost of 41 00:01:58,360 --> 00:02:01,720 Speaker 3: building a team, the cost of growing this thing for 42 00:02:01,880 --> 00:02:06,400 Speaker 3: a solution to solve a problem. And notice I didn't 43 00:02:06,400 --> 00:02:08,600 Speaker 3: say to bring this product to life or to build 44 00:02:08,600 --> 00:02:11,080 Speaker 3: your brand or do all this soft stuff. You know, 45 00:02:11,160 --> 00:02:13,280 Speaker 3: so many people run around the world with these beautiful 46 00:02:13,280 --> 00:02:16,480 Speaker 3: decks and these beautiful websites, and then you ask them, well, 47 00:02:16,960 --> 00:02:19,079 Speaker 3: how many people are using your product? And the answer 48 00:02:19,120 --> 00:02:21,840 Speaker 3: is zero? Yeah, we got it about that. 49 00:02:22,960 --> 00:02:24,839 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I mean speaking to that, Like, what does 50 00:02:24,919 --> 00:02:27,720 Speaker 1: momentum look like in the early stages, because I think 51 00:02:27,720 --> 00:02:29,560 Speaker 1: so often we get caught up just doing a bunch 52 00:02:29,600 --> 00:02:33,520 Speaker 1: of stuff and you have you know, it encouraged us 53 00:02:33,520 --> 00:02:35,440 Speaker 1: to have a bias toward action, But like, how do 54 00:02:35,480 --> 00:02:38,240 Speaker 1: we know that we are focusing on the right things. 55 00:02:38,240 --> 00:02:39,360 Speaker 1: What does momentum look like? 56 00:02:40,520 --> 00:02:43,760 Speaker 3: Yeah, momentum has the game has changed. You know, Momentum 57 00:02:43,760 --> 00:02:45,960 Speaker 3: when I was first starting the company is completely different 58 00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:48,560 Speaker 3: than now. You know, people expect if you're going out 59 00:02:48,600 --> 00:02:51,160 Speaker 3: to raise money, people expect your business to be break 60 00:02:51,200 --> 00:02:55,120 Speaker 3: even or profitable. They expect that your product already has traction, 61 00:02:55,320 --> 00:02:58,880 Speaker 3: and traction means you already have users and customers, that 62 00:02:58,919 --> 00:03:02,440 Speaker 3: people are already trends out with you. So gone are 63 00:03:02,440 --> 00:03:05,160 Speaker 3: the days where you could just have a napkin and 64 00:03:05,240 --> 00:03:10,359 Speaker 3: an idea and raise half a million dollars. Yeah that's over, okay, 65 00:03:10,680 --> 00:03:13,639 Speaker 3: And the reason is over is because the cost of 66 00:03:13,760 --> 00:03:16,920 Speaker 3: creating a company is so cheap. Now anybody can make 67 00:03:17,000 --> 00:03:19,920 Speaker 3: a company. Anybody can file for a Delaware ce corp. 68 00:03:20,080 --> 00:03:23,680 Speaker 3: Anybody can use AI to help build an MVP of 69 00:03:23,680 --> 00:03:25,280 Speaker 3: a product. Or you don't even have to be able 70 00:03:25,320 --> 00:03:27,079 Speaker 3: to code anymore to be able to build an app 71 00:03:27,160 --> 00:03:30,200 Speaker 3: or bring a bring a website to life. So the 72 00:03:30,240 --> 00:03:32,519 Speaker 3: barrier to entry is so much lower. 73 00:03:33,080 --> 00:03:35,120 Speaker 1: Was it ever real for us? The napkin idea and 74 00:03:35,200 --> 00:03:36,920 Speaker 1: raise a half a million dollars? A million dollars? 75 00:03:37,120 --> 00:03:37,280 Speaker 2: You know? 76 00:03:37,360 --> 00:03:40,200 Speaker 3: I know one black guy who had a whiteboard and 77 00:03:40,320 --> 00:03:43,480 Speaker 3: was very storytelling with the vibes and raise money. I 78 00:03:43,520 --> 00:03:46,320 Speaker 3: know maybe two people that were able to do that. 79 00:03:46,960 --> 00:03:47,280 Speaker 2: Wow. 80 00:03:47,720 --> 00:03:49,119 Speaker 3: Yeah, so it is possible. 81 00:03:49,680 --> 00:03:51,080 Speaker 2: Yeah yeah. 82 00:03:51,120 --> 00:03:53,000 Speaker 1: And so I think about because I watch a lot 83 00:03:53,040 --> 00:03:54,920 Speaker 1: of your content and if you are not following Morgan 84 00:03:55,000 --> 00:03:57,360 Speaker 1: on Instagram, if you're not a part of her, you 85 00:03:57,360 --> 00:03:59,400 Speaker 1: know channels you need to get in there, especially if 86 00:03:59,400 --> 00:04:02,280 Speaker 1: you are trying to a scale a small business. But 87 00:04:02,360 --> 00:04:05,280 Speaker 1: I think about because I'm asking for a friend here. 88 00:04:05,280 --> 00:04:07,080 Speaker 1: This is one of those asking for a friend questions. 89 00:04:07,840 --> 00:04:10,040 Speaker 1: You know, you talk about as quickly as possible moving 90 00:04:10,120 --> 00:04:14,920 Speaker 1: from operating tasks to CEO task, and you know, I 91 00:04:14,960 --> 00:04:17,760 Speaker 1: get that. It's like working on your business and in 92 00:04:17,800 --> 00:04:20,320 Speaker 1: your business. Is how I translate that. You know, if 93 00:04:20,360 --> 00:04:22,280 Speaker 1: I want to be a crafts person, you know, then 94 00:04:22,320 --> 00:04:24,400 Speaker 1: you're not talking to me. That's that person's they want 95 00:04:24,400 --> 00:04:26,080 Speaker 1: to own a job. But I'm not talking about You're 96 00:04:26,080 --> 00:04:27,400 Speaker 1: not talking about people who want to own a job. 97 00:04:27,440 --> 00:04:29,880 Speaker 1: You want to own a business. But I think my 98 00:04:30,000 --> 00:04:32,320 Speaker 1: question is like, what is the mindset shift that has 99 00:04:32,360 --> 00:04:35,920 Speaker 1: to happen when you start something because maybe you're passionate 100 00:04:35,960 --> 00:04:38,719 Speaker 1: about it, maybe saw a market opportunity, but you find 101 00:04:38,760 --> 00:04:42,280 Speaker 1: yourself doing a lot of the work and you would 102 00:04:42,320 --> 00:04:45,880 Speaker 1: love to delegate tasks off, but there's a myriad of 103 00:04:45,920 --> 00:04:47,320 Speaker 1: reasons why you feel like you can't. 104 00:04:47,920 --> 00:04:48,160 Speaker 2: Yeah. 105 00:04:48,680 --> 00:04:51,240 Speaker 3: You know, when I talk to most people, and when 106 00:04:51,279 --> 00:04:53,679 Speaker 3: you look at small businesses in this country in general, 107 00:04:54,120 --> 00:04:58,160 Speaker 3: the average small business has an employee of one. Yeah, 108 00:04:58,200 --> 00:05:02,400 Speaker 3: so most people are operating like solopreneurs. They don't have 109 00:05:03,040 --> 00:05:09,080 Speaker 3: secondary contractors. They are self employed and they're a solo entrepreneur. 110 00:05:09,520 --> 00:05:12,599 Speaker 3: And the challenge was this is that your income, your 111 00:05:12,720 --> 00:05:15,520 Speaker 3: revenue is completely capped by only what you can do. 112 00:05:16,400 --> 00:05:18,880 Speaker 3: Right if you're in the services industry, it's only how 113 00:05:18,960 --> 00:05:22,279 Speaker 3: much time do you have to deliver that service. If 114 00:05:22,279 --> 00:05:25,760 Speaker 3: you are building a product, it's how much time do 115 00:05:25,880 --> 00:05:30,160 Speaker 3: you have to go and fulfill that product? And that 116 00:05:30,680 --> 00:05:33,400 Speaker 3: at some point can no longer scale. You only have 117 00:05:33,480 --> 00:05:36,159 Speaker 3: twenty four hours in a day. And for people to 118 00:05:36,200 --> 00:05:38,280 Speaker 3: be able to get to the next level in their 119 00:05:38,320 --> 00:05:41,760 Speaker 3: career and also to actually fulfill the dream of entrepreneurship, 120 00:05:41,800 --> 00:05:46,240 Speaker 3: which is freedom, freedom of time, freedom of not having 121 00:05:46,279 --> 00:05:48,279 Speaker 3: to limit the amount of income you can make because 122 00:05:48,279 --> 00:05:51,440 Speaker 3: of what your bosses. The salary band is. If your 123 00:05:51,520 --> 00:05:56,800 Speaker 3: real goal is freedom, then you can't operate and not 124 00:05:56,960 --> 00:06:00,360 Speaker 3: spend time being strategic on how you're going to grow 125 00:06:00,400 --> 00:06:03,599 Speaker 3: your business. So CEO tasks versus operating task is this 126 00:06:03,680 --> 00:06:08,240 Speaker 3: framework that's really important. It basically helps you outline how 127 00:06:08,279 --> 00:06:11,720 Speaker 3: do I identify every single thing that i'm doing that 128 00:06:12,240 --> 00:06:15,919 Speaker 3: technically somebody else could be doing. That's your operating task. 129 00:06:16,240 --> 00:06:19,719 Speaker 3: So you're operating right now. You're filing the invoices, you're 130 00:06:20,160 --> 00:06:23,560 Speaker 3: posting on social media, you're calling all the clients, You're 131 00:06:23,560 --> 00:06:26,520 Speaker 3: doing every single little thing, filing the taxes in your 132 00:06:26,560 --> 00:06:29,680 Speaker 3: work life or your personal life. You're picking up the kids, 133 00:06:29,760 --> 00:06:32,120 Speaker 3: you're making dinner, You're doing all the things you're doing 134 00:06:32,160 --> 00:06:35,320 Speaker 3: your laundry, and then you have your CEO task. What's 135 00:06:35,360 --> 00:06:39,479 Speaker 3: your task that only you can do? Tasks that either 136 00:06:39,480 --> 00:06:41,680 Speaker 3: bring you joy but you never want to give up, 137 00:06:41,960 --> 00:06:46,839 Speaker 3: or tasks that are uniquely your responsibility as the CEO 138 00:06:46,920 --> 00:06:49,640 Speaker 3: of your life or the CEO of your business. And 139 00:06:49,720 --> 00:06:52,799 Speaker 3: so for someone like you, will that might be setting 140 00:06:52,839 --> 00:06:56,920 Speaker 3: up the locations for your new events. That might be 141 00:06:57,000 --> 00:07:01,000 Speaker 3: setting the menu for your business, your rest that might 142 00:07:01,040 --> 00:07:04,640 Speaker 3: be deciding what guests come on this podcast. You're setting 143 00:07:04,680 --> 00:07:07,560 Speaker 3: the strategy. Once you set the strategy, somebody else can 144 00:07:07,600 --> 00:07:11,080 Speaker 3: execute the work. So the real question for small business owners, 145 00:07:11,120 --> 00:07:12,720 Speaker 3: and the real question for people who are listening to 146 00:07:12,720 --> 00:07:15,160 Speaker 3: this is, well, I'm broke. How can I pay for 147 00:07:15,200 --> 00:07:18,360 Speaker 3: somebody else to do the thing? Well, AI, there's so 148 00:07:18,480 --> 00:07:21,400 Speaker 3: many tools, there's so many apps, there's so many systems 149 00:07:21,400 --> 00:07:23,640 Speaker 3: that exist to be able to take away some of 150 00:07:23,680 --> 00:07:26,800 Speaker 3: that automation that you're doing manually and start to make 151 00:07:26,840 --> 00:07:29,600 Speaker 3: it more efficient for you. So what tools can you 152 00:07:29,720 --> 00:07:31,400 Speaker 3: use in order to be able to get that done? 153 00:07:31,800 --> 00:07:35,000 Speaker 3: And then the next thing is, Okay, where's your tribe? 154 00:07:35,040 --> 00:07:37,640 Speaker 3: What are the people around you that you can start 155 00:07:37,680 --> 00:07:39,480 Speaker 3: to delegate to. This might be your partner. This might 156 00:07:39,480 --> 00:07:41,280 Speaker 3: be your husband, this might be your neighbor, this might 157 00:07:41,320 --> 00:07:43,440 Speaker 3: be your mama. I don't really care, but somebody that 158 00:07:43,560 --> 00:07:45,800 Speaker 3: gets somebody else to do it if you can't. 159 00:07:45,600 --> 00:07:49,600 Speaker 4: Afford some else do or you just drop the ball 160 00:07:49,680 --> 00:07:51,040 Speaker 4: and you say we're just not going to do these 161 00:07:51,040 --> 00:07:55,160 Speaker 4: things because here's the thing, You'll never ever be able 162 00:07:55,200 --> 00:07:57,320 Speaker 4: to grow your income and grow your revenue if you 163 00:07:57,360 --> 00:08:01,280 Speaker 4: are the only person doing operating tass just won't happen. 164 00:08:01,720 --> 00:08:03,720 Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean you've picked up one of them. There's 165 00:08:03,920 --> 00:08:06,280 Speaker 1: three reasons I can think of is why people don't 166 00:08:06,280 --> 00:08:08,640 Speaker 1: do it either you picked up either is I can 167 00:08:08,640 --> 00:08:11,120 Speaker 1: do it cheaper, but there's also I can do it 168 00:08:11,160 --> 00:08:13,720 Speaker 1: better or I can do it faster. Those are like 169 00:08:13,760 --> 00:08:17,320 Speaker 1: three reasons why people don't delegate off those tasks. And 170 00:08:17,360 --> 00:08:21,560 Speaker 1: from your perspective, why doesn't that message seem to resonate 171 00:08:22,160 --> 00:08:24,720 Speaker 1: far enough with our community. 172 00:08:24,920 --> 00:08:26,440 Speaker 3: I mean, I think there's a lot of fear with 173 00:08:26,640 --> 00:08:28,760 Speaker 3: what if they get it wrong, then I've lost money, 174 00:08:28,960 --> 00:08:31,880 Speaker 3: I've lost time because I got to do the work anyways, 175 00:08:32,200 --> 00:08:34,360 Speaker 3: or I lose money because I paid somebody else to 176 00:08:34,400 --> 00:08:36,920 Speaker 3: do something it didn't get done. Now I got to 177 00:08:36,960 --> 00:08:39,120 Speaker 3: do it and have the resources anymore. I messed up 178 00:08:39,160 --> 00:08:42,160 Speaker 3: my cash flow. And I think that fear is what 179 00:08:42,280 --> 00:08:45,400 Speaker 3: holds most people back because they don't want to be uncomfortable. 180 00:08:45,400 --> 00:08:46,800 Speaker 3: They don't want to be in a situation where they're 181 00:08:46,800 --> 00:08:48,400 Speaker 3: doing somebody else's work when they're like, I should have 182 00:08:48,400 --> 00:08:49,800 Speaker 3: designed myself in the first place. 183 00:08:51,080 --> 00:08:51,240 Speaker 2: You know. 184 00:08:51,320 --> 00:08:53,000 Speaker 3: The challenge with that is that if you always have 185 00:08:53,040 --> 00:08:54,920 Speaker 3: that mentality, if you're not ever willing to be in 186 00:08:54,960 --> 00:08:59,559 Speaker 3: that uncomfortable zone where you are relying on somebody else 187 00:08:59,800 --> 00:09:03,920 Speaker 3: to get something done, then you're never going to get 188 00:09:03,960 --> 00:09:06,719 Speaker 3: to the next level. You're never going to get to 189 00:09:06,760 --> 00:09:08,760 Speaker 3: the next level. So, yeah, you might need to learn 190 00:09:08,760 --> 00:09:11,360 Speaker 3: how to hire better. You might be really bad at hiring. 191 00:09:11,400 --> 00:09:13,320 Speaker 3: I was bad at hiring when I first started this company. 192 00:09:13,320 --> 00:09:16,160 Speaker 3: It was not good at writing job descriptions and setting 193 00:09:16,240 --> 00:09:19,080 Speaker 3: up the right interview structure or setting up the right onboarding. 194 00:09:19,320 --> 00:09:21,160 Speaker 3: You're going to be bad at stuff. So I think 195 00:09:21,240 --> 00:09:24,480 Speaker 3: more people need to get comfortable being bad at things. 196 00:09:24,880 --> 00:09:28,160 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, you make me think about a comment. 197 00:09:29,320 --> 00:09:31,520 Speaker 1: I was talking to a friend of mine who's who 198 00:09:31,520 --> 00:09:36,640 Speaker 1: owns several businesses wildly successful, and you make me think about, like, 199 00:09:36,679 --> 00:09:39,160 Speaker 1: what if you are the secret sauce though in your business, 200 00:09:39,200 --> 00:09:42,800 Speaker 1: like what if people buy partially at least largely because 201 00:09:42,840 --> 00:09:45,000 Speaker 1: of you? And I think about, you know, bringing into 202 00:09:45,160 --> 00:09:47,480 Speaker 1: you know, a home for me, like with toll house. 203 00:09:47,640 --> 00:09:50,200 Speaker 1: You know my vision for a toll House, which is 204 00:09:50,200 --> 00:09:52,839 Speaker 1: a private social club. We have five bars, five lounges, 205 00:09:52,880 --> 00:09:56,160 Speaker 1: the coffee house, cigar lounges, jazz club, the whole coworking space, 206 00:09:56,200 --> 00:10:00,040 Speaker 1: all that. And my vision was to build like the 207 00:10:00,080 --> 00:10:02,760 Speaker 1: Soho House for communities that will never get a Sohol house, 208 00:10:02,840 --> 00:10:06,200 Speaker 1: like there was maysent Midwestern communities who had the people 209 00:10:06,640 --> 00:10:08,880 Speaker 1: and probably had the money, but would not be on 210 00:10:08,960 --> 00:10:12,200 Speaker 1: Soho House as radar. And he said, part of the 211 00:10:12,240 --> 00:10:15,440 Speaker 1: reason why this works in Toledo is because it's you 212 00:10:15,640 --> 00:10:20,600 Speaker 1: doing it and you don't necessarily scale to Indianapolis or 213 00:10:21,440 --> 00:10:25,840 Speaker 1: Cincinnati perhaps. And so I think about listening to you 214 00:10:25,920 --> 00:10:28,480 Speaker 1: talk like what if you are the secret sauce, how 215 00:10:28,520 --> 00:10:29,360 Speaker 1: do you then scale? 216 00:10:30,520 --> 00:10:32,800 Speaker 3: Well, if you're the secret sauce, then the question becomes 217 00:10:32,800 --> 00:10:35,160 Speaker 3: how do you save more time so that you're only 218 00:10:35,160 --> 00:10:38,520 Speaker 3: doing the thing that is your secret sauce? So you know, 219 00:10:38,600 --> 00:10:40,840 Speaker 3: what are the other things that will Lucas is doing 220 00:10:41,440 --> 00:10:44,760 Speaker 3: that you ain't got to do. That are your operating tasks, 221 00:10:44,800 --> 00:10:46,960 Speaker 3: but you don't have somebody else doing them. So if 222 00:10:47,000 --> 00:10:49,480 Speaker 3: you were only spending forty hours a week doing your 223 00:10:49,520 --> 00:10:52,640 Speaker 3: secret sauce, you could be traveling to Cincinnati, you could 224 00:10:52,720 --> 00:10:54,920 Speaker 3: be traveling to Chicago, you could be doing all these 225 00:10:54,960 --> 00:10:57,640 Speaker 3: other things, but you can't because you're sitting tied to 226 00:10:57,720 --> 00:11:02,679 Speaker 3: a desk doing all these operating task So I'm just 227 00:11:02,720 --> 00:11:07,600 Speaker 3: saying my perspective is that, like anything that people want 228 00:11:07,640 --> 00:11:11,920 Speaker 3: to do, like you can do whatever you want to do, 229 00:11:12,320 --> 00:11:15,480 Speaker 3: but you have to be willing to delegate. You have 230 00:11:15,600 --> 00:11:18,719 Speaker 3: to be willing to bring other people along in your 231 00:11:18,800 --> 00:11:22,319 Speaker 3: journey because that is what is required to live an 232 00:11:22,360 --> 00:11:25,000 Speaker 3: extraordinary life. Now, you want to be boring, You want 233 00:11:25,000 --> 00:11:26,400 Speaker 3: to not grow, You want to do the same thing 234 00:11:26,440 --> 00:11:28,640 Speaker 3: every single day. You want to be you know, ted 235 00:11:28,720 --> 00:11:31,760 Speaker 3: on cash flow, you want to be trying to ask 236 00:11:31,760 --> 00:11:35,520 Speaker 3: somebody for a two percent raise every six months. Then 237 00:11:35,800 --> 00:11:38,520 Speaker 3: stay where you are. But you're probably aren't going to 238 00:11:38,640 --> 00:11:38,840 Speaker 3: like me. 239 00:11:43,480 --> 00:11:44,040 Speaker 2: Yeah, I guess. 240 00:11:44,120 --> 00:11:45,880 Speaker 1: I guess that's a fundamental question, Like who is the 241 00:11:45,880 --> 00:11:48,200 Speaker 1: book for? You know, rewrite your old rules, re write 242 00:11:48,200 --> 00:11:48,680 Speaker 1: your rules. 243 00:11:49,120 --> 00:11:52,439 Speaker 3: Yeah, when I wrote this book, rewrite your rules. Took 244 00:11:52,480 --> 00:11:55,640 Speaker 3: me about five years to write it. And I wrote 245 00:11:55,640 --> 00:11:58,200 Speaker 3: this book because I felt like I was meeting so 246 00:11:58,240 --> 00:12:01,000 Speaker 3: many people who are at a crossroad, so many people 247 00:12:01,160 --> 00:12:03,959 Speaker 3: who are doing really good, like they've got a lot 248 00:12:04,000 --> 00:12:07,160 Speaker 3: going for themselves. They followed all the steps, they went 249 00:12:07,200 --> 00:12:09,839 Speaker 3: to good schools, they got a great first job out 250 00:12:09,840 --> 00:12:13,880 Speaker 3: of college, and now they're in their mid thirties or 251 00:12:13,920 --> 00:12:17,480 Speaker 3: early thirties, and they're kind of like, how did I 252 00:12:17,520 --> 00:12:20,040 Speaker 3: get here? And I can see the path forward and 253 00:12:20,080 --> 00:12:21,920 Speaker 3: I don't like it, Like I don't want to keep 254 00:12:22,000 --> 00:12:25,040 Speaker 3: going down this path that I was set out on, 255 00:12:25,440 --> 00:12:28,560 Speaker 3: whether because I just followed the momentum of what society 256 00:12:28,600 --> 00:12:30,600 Speaker 3: was telling me I was supposed to be doing. But 257 00:12:30,640 --> 00:12:34,360 Speaker 3: they feel like there's more for them, and they're not 258 00:12:34,400 --> 00:12:38,080 Speaker 3: sure how to make decisions to make sure that they 259 00:12:38,120 --> 00:12:41,760 Speaker 3: don't keep going down that path. They're not sure to 260 00:12:42,559 --> 00:12:46,800 Speaker 3: what should happen first. Should I take slow down a 261 00:12:46,840 --> 00:12:50,000 Speaker 3: second and start dating seriously so that I can eventually 262 00:12:50,000 --> 00:12:53,880 Speaker 3: find my match and have a kid. Should I quit 263 00:12:53,880 --> 00:12:57,000 Speaker 3: my job and become a full time entrepreneur, but then 264 00:12:57,280 --> 00:13:02,880 Speaker 3: I take a big income, hit out responsibilities. Or should 265 00:13:02,880 --> 00:13:05,280 Speaker 3: I get rid of my not be a full time 266 00:13:05,280 --> 00:13:08,679 Speaker 3: content creator because it was booming, and now I actually 267 00:13:08,960 --> 00:13:11,840 Speaker 3: have no time. I'm working all the time just to 268 00:13:11,840 --> 00:13:13,880 Speaker 3: make ends meet, and it was easier when I got 269 00:13:13,880 --> 00:13:16,080 Speaker 3: a direct deposit every two weeks. Maybe I should go 270 00:13:16,120 --> 00:13:19,000 Speaker 3: back to work, right, Like, there's just so many decisions 271 00:13:19,040 --> 00:13:23,400 Speaker 3: that we're constantly making, and we don't we're not using 272 00:13:23,400 --> 00:13:27,880 Speaker 3: a system to help ourselves make the best decisions with 273 00:13:27,920 --> 00:13:31,199 Speaker 3: the data and the infrastructure to feel confident with the 274 00:13:31,240 --> 00:13:33,800 Speaker 3: decision that we're making. So this book is a tool 275 00:13:34,080 --> 00:13:36,000 Speaker 3: to help you do that. This book is a tool 276 00:13:36,040 --> 00:13:39,120 Speaker 3: to help you feel confident with the decisions that you're 277 00:13:39,120 --> 00:13:42,120 Speaker 3: making so that you can literally have more joy and 278 00:13:42,160 --> 00:13:46,360 Speaker 3: more freedom and enjoy the process that you're going through 279 00:13:46,440 --> 00:13:49,800 Speaker 3: instead of all this anxiety around am I making the 280 00:13:49,880 --> 00:13:53,520 Speaker 3: right decision? All that's indecision that happens because there are 281 00:13:53,559 --> 00:13:55,120 Speaker 3: a lot of choices in this world today. 282 00:13:56,400 --> 00:14:00,160 Speaker 1: What did you learn differently when you were started building 283 00:14:00,880 --> 00:14:03,959 Speaker 1: your mancha more mancha versus when you're doing the journal 284 00:14:04,120 --> 00:14:07,240 Speaker 1: like that. I imagine there's things that you learned, like, 285 00:14:07,400 --> 00:14:08,960 Speaker 1: I don't want to do that again, so I'm gonna 286 00:14:08,960 --> 00:14:09,640 Speaker 1: do that differently. 287 00:14:11,240 --> 00:14:14,000 Speaker 3: Yeah, So I have so many field businesses, you know, 288 00:14:14,080 --> 00:14:16,280 Speaker 3: The thing about field businesses is that nobody ever sees 289 00:14:16,320 --> 00:14:20,720 Speaker 3: them except for like the five customers that you had. Okay, yeah, 290 00:14:20,720 --> 00:14:22,600 Speaker 3: if you if you go to this warehouse. Oh my, 291 00:14:22,800 --> 00:14:27,280 Speaker 3: I've wasted so much money shipping things from warehouse to 292 00:14:27,400 --> 00:14:30,920 Speaker 3: warehouse in this country, just trying to reduce my rent. 293 00:14:31,200 --> 00:14:36,240 Speaker 3: But I've had so many field businesses I can't even 294 00:14:36,280 --> 00:14:38,280 Speaker 3: mention them. So I had one journal company, so we 295 00:14:38,320 --> 00:14:41,840 Speaker 3: were we were. I thought that the world must have 296 00:14:42,920 --> 00:14:45,520 Speaker 3: my journal, which was a mix of like a mole 297 00:14:45,600 --> 00:14:50,280 Speaker 3: skin but a slightly more structure, okay, And I felt 298 00:14:50,320 --> 00:14:52,800 Speaker 3: like you had to have this, so I built it. 299 00:14:52,800 --> 00:14:55,480 Speaker 3: It was printed in India. We've paid all this money 300 00:14:55,480 --> 00:14:57,880 Speaker 3: for this beautiful leather and all this stuff. Then my 301 00:14:57,920 --> 00:15:00,880 Speaker 3: second field business was a skincare company called it Rose Essentials, 302 00:15:01,160 --> 00:15:03,960 Speaker 3: and I felt like, again, this was like seven years ago. 303 00:15:04,040 --> 00:15:06,280 Speaker 3: I felt like skincare was the new frontier. That like, 304 00:15:06,880 --> 00:15:08,600 Speaker 3: in the same way that black girls were spending so 305 00:15:08,640 --> 00:15:09,960 Speaker 3: much time in injury on our hair, that we were 306 00:15:09,960 --> 00:15:11,640 Speaker 3: going to spend so much time and injury on our skin. 307 00:15:11,720 --> 00:15:13,960 Speaker 3: And I wasn't wrong. That trend is true and that 308 00:15:14,000 --> 00:15:17,320 Speaker 3: has definitely come to fruition. I underestimated them out of 309 00:15:17,440 --> 00:15:20,320 Speaker 3: marketing that was attached to me as a person for 310 00:15:20,360 --> 00:15:23,800 Speaker 3: the skincare business, and same thing for the journal. These 311 00:15:23,840 --> 00:15:26,480 Speaker 3: weren't things that I was willing to constantly be on 312 00:15:26,520 --> 00:15:29,000 Speaker 3: social media about. I wasn't gonna wake up every morning 313 00:15:29,320 --> 00:15:32,360 Speaker 3: and be like, look at my skincare routine. And I 314 00:15:32,440 --> 00:15:35,160 Speaker 3: was like, I'm the freaking CEO of a multimillion dollar company, 315 00:15:35,240 --> 00:15:36,560 Speaker 3: Like I don't have time to be on Instagram in 316 00:15:36,560 --> 00:15:38,240 Speaker 3: the morning showing you my skincare routine. 317 00:15:39,280 --> 00:15:40,120 Speaker 2: That makes sense, you know. 318 00:15:40,120 --> 00:15:44,640 Speaker 3: What I'm saying. So so that was the market wasn't 319 00:15:44,800 --> 00:15:49,280 Speaker 3: aligned with how that what works with my life love, right, 320 00:15:49,760 --> 00:15:53,000 Speaker 3: So that was the biggest thing. And then for a 321 00:15:53,080 --> 00:15:56,640 Speaker 3: more macha. Now it's nothing for me to wake up 322 00:15:56,640 --> 00:16:00,000 Speaker 3: in the morning and make a macha, like that's actually 323 00:16:00,320 --> 00:16:03,360 Speaker 3: within my workflow, right, Like it's easy to be like, hey, 324 00:16:03,440 --> 00:16:05,080 Speaker 3: have a morning macha with me and like let's talk 325 00:16:05,080 --> 00:16:10,000 Speaker 3: about whatever, right or like literally, you know, like it's 326 00:16:10,000 --> 00:16:11,600 Speaker 3: just part of my flow in a way that I 327 00:16:11,640 --> 00:16:13,920 Speaker 3: don't mind having a camera on it. And you know, 328 00:16:14,040 --> 00:16:16,760 Speaker 3: one thing when you're building a brand is you want 329 00:16:16,800 --> 00:16:20,320 Speaker 3: it to be you gotta set the company culture and 330 00:16:20,360 --> 00:16:24,360 Speaker 3: the brand equity, but I very quickly put a bunch 331 00:16:24,400 --> 00:16:28,640 Speaker 3: of non black people on the more Macha Instagram page. 332 00:16:28,760 --> 00:16:33,240 Speaker 3: I think back in the day, I was just so black, militant, righteous, 333 00:16:33,280 --> 00:16:35,400 Speaker 3: like black black, black black, It's gonna be a black 334 00:16:35,400 --> 00:16:38,960 Speaker 3: skincare company. It's gonna be a black you know, notebook company. 335 00:16:39,120 --> 00:16:42,760 Speaker 3: Well moremcha. I'm like, I don't care if you're green, blue, tall, short, 336 00:16:42,920 --> 00:16:45,000 Speaker 3: I do not care. We hired a cute little blonde 337 00:16:45,000 --> 00:16:50,240 Speaker 3: girl to be in our videos tutorials, like we're shipping 338 00:16:50,280 --> 00:16:54,200 Speaker 3: it out to influencers all over the country, moms, everybody, 339 00:16:54,600 --> 00:16:56,080 Speaker 3: you know. So I think that was the other thing 340 00:16:56,160 --> 00:16:58,840 Speaker 3: is I changed my go to market and really said 341 00:16:59,440 --> 00:17:01,800 Speaker 3: like let me, let me get out of the way 342 00:17:01,840 --> 00:17:03,440 Speaker 3: because I know myself and I don't want to be 343 00:17:03,440 --> 00:17:04,520 Speaker 3: in front of a camera every day. 344 00:17:05,800 --> 00:17:07,520 Speaker 2: Yeah, that makes that makes total sense. You know. 345 00:17:07,520 --> 00:17:10,679 Speaker 1: I'm like, again, I've been waiting for this episode for 346 00:17:10,720 --> 00:17:13,320 Speaker 1: so long. I've been building up these questions because I 347 00:17:13,359 --> 00:17:15,800 Speaker 1: feel like, there, I'm gonna tell you the problem that 348 00:17:15,840 --> 00:17:17,520 Speaker 1: I have, and I imagine a lot of people have 349 00:17:17,600 --> 00:17:20,720 Speaker 1: this issue. It's like you hear people like you talk 350 00:17:20,840 --> 00:17:23,280 Speaker 1: and solutions and things that you should stop doing. 351 00:17:23,320 --> 00:17:24,399 Speaker 2: Things you should start doing. 352 00:17:24,840 --> 00:17:27,080 Speaker 1: And then what your my brain says is like, but 353 00:17:27,200 --> 00:17:31,639 Speaker 1: there's nuance to my situation that her answer doesn't solve 354 00:17:31,640 --> 00:17:34,920 Speaker 1: for like, there's always like, you know, but they don't 355 00:17:35,000 --> 00:17:38,720 Speaker 1: understand because this thing over here, you know, And so 356 00:17:38,800 --> 00:17:41,800 Speaker 1: I wonder, like, what do you what do you hear 357 00:17:41,840 --> 00:17:42,520 Speaker 1: when I say. 358 00:17:42,320 --> 00:17:46,520 Speaker 3: That, I just hear excuses. I mean, there's always going 359 00:17:46,600 --> 00:17:50,600 Speaker 3: to be something that's special about somebody's scenario. But the 360 00:17:50,640 --> 00:17:53,800 Speaker 3: fundamentals of business are always true, and the fundamentals of 361 00:17:53,840 --> 00:17:56,600 Speaker 3: self development are always true. You're You're your biggest limitation 362 00:17:56,760 --> 00:17:59,800 Speaker 3: for growth. The difference between will looks today and will 363 00:17:59,800 --> 00:18:01,879 Speaker 3: look this, who's got ten million dollars in cash in 364 00:18:01,880 --> 00:18:07,240 Speaker 3: the bank. It's the same with Lucas, so that it's 365 00:18:07,280 --> 00:18:10,240 Speaker 3: your brain. Yeah, it's your ability to think through problem 366 00:18:10,320 --> 00:18:13,800 Speaker 3: solvings at a strategic level. It's your ability to bring 367 00:18:13,920 --> 00:18:17,680 Speaker 3: other people with you so that they become problem solvers 368 00:18:18,720 --> 00:18:22,000 Speaker 3: for it, right, Like that is the limitation. But it 369 00:18:22,040 --> 00:18:24,919 Speaker 3: all starts with you. And that's why I'm in my 370 00:18:24,960 --> 00:18:28,199 Speaker 3: work smart framework. The first module, the first thing that 371 00:18:28,240 --> 00:18:30,879 Speaker 3: we talk about is you. It's like, before we can 372 00:18:30,920 --> 00:18:34,040 Speaker 3: go delegate to everybody else, what are you doing, Like, 373 00:18:34,600 --> 00:18:36,800 Speaker 3: what does your calendar look like? If I looked at 374 00:18:36,840 --> 00:18:39,600 Speaker 3: your calendar today, Will, And I said, you. 375 00:18:39,880 --> 00:18:41,480 Speaker 2: Don't want to look at that, No, I do. 376 00:18:42,400 --> 00:18:46,159 Speaker 3: I said, Will, what do you want to do? How 377 00:18:46,240 --> 00:18:47,880 Speaker 3: much money do you want to make next year? 378 00:18:48,119 --> 00:18:48,439 Speaker 2: This year? 379 00:18:48,520 --> 00:18:49,960 Speaker 3: How much money do you want to make this year? 380 00:18:50,359 --> 00:18:54,080 Speaker 3: And what are your like deliverables for yourself? What are 381 00:18:54,080 --> 00:18:56,440 Speaker 3: the things that you want to get done this year 382 00:18:56,560 --> 00:18:59,440 Speaker 3: to put out into the world. And then I looked 383 00:18:59,440 --> 00:19:02,480 Speaker 3: at your calend under and said, well, how are you 384 00:19:02,520 --> 00:19:05,440 Speaker 3: spending your time? I can guarantee you they do not match. 385 00:19:05,800 --> 00:19:09,840 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, you're probably right. You're probably right, they don't match. 386 00:19:11,800 --> 00:19:13,359 Speaker 1: What's the biggest rule you had to be write for 387 00:19:13,400 --> 00:19:15,920 Speaker 1: yourself young life? 388 00:19:16,160 --> 00:19:18,520 Speaker 3: I think the biggest rule I had to rewrite for 389 00:19:18,640 --> 00:19:23,879 Speaker 3: myself was when I realized that nobody is grading me. 390 00:19:24,320 --> 00:19:30,920 Speaker 3: Nobody is Like, nobody is waking up in the morning 391 00:19:31,000 --> 00:19:34,480 Speaker 3: and saying you did a good job today. Nobody's waking 392 00:19:34,520 --> 00:19:36,760 Speaker 3: up in the morning and say you did a bad 393 00:19:36,880 --> 00:19:40,639 Speaker 3: job at that today. Like once you move out of college, 394 00:19:40,960 --> 00:19:48,160 Speaker 3: there's no more like scaling grade scale where everybody has 395 00:19:48,160 --> 00:19:51,399 Speaker 3: the same metrics of success. Yeah, And it took me 396 00:19:51,480 --> 00:19:58,880 Speaker 3: a while to stop looking for external metrics of success. 397 00:19:59,000 --> 00:20:01,160 Speaker 3: What do I mean by that? Like, when you enter 398 00:20:01,200 --> 00:20:03,920 Speaker 3: Silicon Valley, the metric of success is how much money 399 00:20:03,920 --> 00:20:08,119 Speaker 3: do you raise? Right when you enter into the workplace, 400 00:20:09,200 --> 00:20:12,560 Speaker 3: Especially in the time that I was there, it was 401 00:20:12,720 --> 00:20:16,520 Speaker 3: who's getting the best jobs, who's getting the best internal mentors, 402 00:20:16,560 --> 00:20:19,600 Speaker 3: who's getting the best products to work on, who's getting 403 00:20:19,640 --> 00:20:23,840 Speaker 3: the coolest products to work on? Like it was constantly 404 00:20:23,880 --> 00:20:26,479 Speaker 3: comparing to other people at your level to see am 405 00:20:26,480 --> 00:20:29,719 Speaker 3: I better than these people and my cohort at the 406 00:20:29,760 --> 00:20:33,679 Speaker 3: best Right, It's all arbitrary, it's all bullshit, like it 407 00:20:33,720 --> 00:20:37,760 Speaker 3: doesn't matter. So once I stopped letting go this desire 408 00:20:37,840 --> 00:20:42,639 Speaker 3: to be the best employee, I stopped caring and I 409 00:20:42,640 --> 00:20:46,320 Speaker 3: started to do what I wanted to do. When I decided, wait, 410 00:20:46,880 --> 00:20:49,840 Speaker 3: I don't need to keep raising money just because society 411 00:20:49,840 --> 00:20:52,639 Speaker 3: and Silver Value is saying you got to keep raising money. 412 00:20:52,840 --> 00:20:55,000 Speaker 3: You raise money and then you start raising your next 413 00:20:55,040 --> 00:20:57,080 Speaker 3: round while you're raising your current round, and you're hiring 414 00:20:57,119 --> 00:20:58,720 Speaker 3: all these people and you're burning through it, and then 415 00:20:59,040 --> 00:21:02,000 Speaker 3: you keep going and you keep growing. Once I said, 416 00:21:02,160 --> 00:21:05,959 Speaker 3: ah ah, I'm not doing this anymore. I'm done, I 417 00:21:05,960 --> 00:21:07,919 Speaker 3: did what I needed to do. I protected the company 418 00:21:08,000 --> 00:21:12,040 Speaker 3: I have, we have great investors, I've got the board governance. 419 00:21:13,040 --> 00:21:16,680 Speaker 3: Let's build a good company. Let's build a profitable company, 420 00:21:17,800 --> 00:21:22,000 Speaker 3: a profitable venture backed company five years ago. Yeah, yeah, right, 421 00:21:22,359 --> 00:21:24,520 Speaker 3: which was what was best for me and best with 422 00:21:24,640 --> 00:21:27,280 Speaker 3: my employees, and best for our community and best for 423 00:21:27,359 --> 00:21:30,840 Speaker 3: our audience. Once I made that decision, the level of 424 00:21:30,920 --> 00:21:35,159 Speaker 3: freedom that I had was just revolutionary and transform my 425 00:21:35,240 --> 00:21:37,840 Speaker 3: life because then you start to make decisions differently when 426 00:21:37,880 --> 00:21:41,240 Speaker 3: you're actually going for metrics that you demass the things 427 00:21:41,320 --> 00:21:44,760 Speaker 3: the definition of success, then it completely alleviates all this 428 00:21:45,040 --> 00:21:48,720 Speaker 3: stress that we all carry around with us to perform 429 00:21:49,040 --> 00:21:50,920 Speaker 3: at a level that we don't even care about. 430 00:21:52,040 --> 00:21:55,960 Speaker 2: Yeah. Step, that's deep. You know. 431 00:21:56,040 --> 00:21:59,440 Speaker 1: There's there's a description of the book where I'm gonna 432 00:21:59,480 --> 00:22:01,720 Speaker 1: quote this says, we come to see of your life 433 00:22:01,760 --> 00:22:05,600 Speaker 1: with this transformative guide to leaving hustle culture behind and 434 00:22:05,640 --> 00:22:09,639 Speaker 1: creating a more sustainable, balanced definition of success. And I 435 00:22:09,680 --> 00:22:12,359 Speaker 1: think about that because I remember this tweet. I saw 436 00:22:13,280 --> 00:22:15,760 Speaker 1: somebody else was talking about hustle culture and grind culture 437 00:22:15,760 --> 00:22:18,360 Speaker 1: and how that was bad, et cetera. And this tweet said, 438 00:22:18,440 --> 00:22:20,879 Speaker 1: the only people that talk about hustle culture being bad 439 00:22:20,920 --> 00:22:22,439 Speaker 1: and the grind culture being bad as the people who 440 00:22:22,480 --> 00:22:26,359 Speaker 1: already made it. Yeah, and I think about I wanted 441 00:22:26,359 --> 00:22:28,560 Speaker 1: to position that to you is because I've heard you 442 00:22:28,600 --> 00:22:30,760 Speaker 1: talk about you know, like, look, you've got to figure 443 00:22:30,760 --> 00:22:34,320 Speaker 1: out what works for your life and Morgan's made it. 444 00:22:34,359 --> 00:22:35,560 Speaker 2: Like, how do you respond to that? 445 00:22:35,880 --> 00:22:39,159 Speaker 3: Yeah? Yeah, I say there's a difference between hustle culture 446 00:22:39,240 --> 00:22:44,640 Speaker 3: and work hard. Hard work is necessary, like putting hours 447 00:22:44,640 --> 00:22:47,280 Speaker 3: in is necessary. Your ten thousand hours principle is a 448 00:22:47,320 --> 00:22:52,600 Speaker 3: principle that I completely agree with. So I think there's 449 00:22:52,640 --> 00:22:55,360 Speaker 3: a difference. Hustle to me is grind. So you can't 450 00:22:55,440 --> 00:23:00,480 Speaker 3: grind anymore, groupe force it, like push harder than everybody 451 00:23:00,480 --> 00:23:06,400 Speaker 3: else around you first and last out. Okay, that's hustle culture. 452 00:23:06,960 --> 00:23:10,040 Speaker 3: Work hard is let me put my best effort in 453 00:23:10,680 --> 00:23:14,200 Speaker 3: and be smart about how I'm doing that. So even 454 00:23:14,240 --> 00:23:17,000 Speaker 3: if I'm able, if I'm able to get the same accomplishment, 455 00:23:17,240 --> 00:23:19,640 Speaker 3: same outcome and deliverable as everybody else, but it took 456 00:23:19,680 --> 00:23:23,680 Speaker 3: me two hours less. I reward myself for that hard 457 00:23:23,720 --> 00:23:25,720 Speaker 3: work and the fact that I was strategic with my 458 00:23:25,800 --> 00:23:31,119 Speaker 3: effort to get the same deliverable for less time. That's 459 00:23:31,160 --> 00:23:35,760 Speaker 3: the challenge that I'm trying to encourage people to reconsider. 460 00:23:36,480 --> 00:23:38,359 Speaker 3: It's not about the amount of hours that you put in. 461 00:23:38,440 --> 00:23:41,440 Speaker 3: It's about the deliverable. Even with my own employees, when 462 00:23:41,480 --> 00:23:44,399 Speaker 3: someone's like, I'm working so hard, you know, I'm staying 463 00:23:44,440 --> 00:23:47,119 Speaker 3: up all nine, I'm doing this, doing that, I'm working 464 00:23:47,119 --> 00:23:51,439 Speaker 3: on the weekends, I'm like, why you shouldn't be? Like, like, 465 00:23:51,720 --> 00:23:55,680 Speaker 3: you shouldn't be That doesn't appeal to me. You don't 466 00:23:55,720 --> 00:23:58,159 Speaker 3: get brownie points for me. There used to be a 467 00:23:58,240 --> 00:24:02,359 Speaker 3: time where I felt differently where I measured my employee's 468 00:24:02,359 --> 00:24:03,920 Speaker 3: success partially. 469 00:24:03,440 --> 00:24:07,240 Speaker 2: By who's in office late, who's. 470 00:24:06,920 --> 00:24:10,360 Speaker 3: Working hard, from like a who's putting it the time 471 00:24:10,480 --> 00:24:15,440 Speaker 3: in Yeah, but I completely said, wait, screw that. I'm okay. 472 00:24:16,160 --> 00:24:21,440 Speaker 3: If Jeremiah over here takes seven hours to do something 473 00:24:22,000 --> 00:24:25,280 Speaker 3: even though it took Susie over here nine hours to 474 00:24:25,320 --> 00:24:29,679 Speaker 3: do that shows me Jeremiah has more potential and capacity. 475 00:24:30,480 --> 00:24:33,200 Speaker 3: So let's reward Jeremiah for that and then ask Jrmiah, 476 00:24:33,240 --> 00:24:37,119 Speaker 3: what else do you want to do? Right? And I 477 00:24:37,119 --> 00:24:40,240 Speaker 3: think I think that is a fundamental shift that we 478 00:24:40,280 --> 00:24:44,480 Speaker 3: all have to make, which is like, there's no brownie 479 00:24:44,520 --> 00:24:50,720 Speaker 3: points for literally burning yourself out and working all night, 480 00:24:50,800 --> 00:24:54,480 Speaker 3: all day, and that's not you don't get a badge 481 00:24:54,480 --> 00:24:56,480 Speaker 3: of honor. That's actually a weakness. 482 00:24:58,640 --> 00:25:01,520 Speaker 1: You know, there was this study Small Business Administration put 483 00:25:01,560 --> 00:25:03,920 Speaker 1: out some time ago, and I remember it vividly because 484 00:25:03,960 --> 00:25:07,480 Speaker 1: it said eighty percent of black owned businesses are in 485 00:25:07,560 --> 00:25:10,919 Speaker 1: the bottom twenty percent of categories for revenue generations. So 486 00:25:10,960 --> 00:25:15,720 Speaker 1: we over index on landscaping, small restaurants. 487 00:25:15,720 --> 00:25:17,280 Speaker 2: Hospitality exact exactly. 488 00:25:17,320 --> 00:25:21,160 Speaker 1: We over index on that. And you know, I'm interested 489 00:25:21,160 --> 00:25:23,560 Speaker 1: in your thoughts on how we can think. 490 00:25:23,400 --> 00:25:25,120 Speaker 2: Differently about that, how do we scale? 491 00:25:25,359 --> 00:25:28,439 Speaker 1: And so I think about even barbershops, you know, like 492 00:25:28,480 --> 00:25:32,160 Speaker 1: there's no black owned Boricks or Supercuts, and I wonder why, 493 00:25:32,200 --> 00:25:35,520 Speaker 1: because we have so many barbers and hairstyles in our community. 494 00:25:36,320 --> 00:25:41,400 Speaker 1: Are what are we missing about that that your message says, like, look, guys, 495 00:25:41,400 --> 00:25:42,960 Speaker 1: there's a bigger opportunity out here. 496 00:25:43,359 --> 00:25:45,680 Speaker 3: I think we have a collaboration problem. You know, I've 497 00:25:45,720 --> 00:25:50,000 Speaker 3: acquired three companies in the last ten years, and one 498 00:25:50,040 --> 00:25:51,320 Speaker 3: of the reasons I was able to do that is 499 00:25:51,359 --> 00:25:58,680 Speaker 3: because I view collaboration as a core like strategic advantage 500 00:25:58,720 --> 00:26:03,520 Speaker 3: that I have to peers. Why do we need three 501 00:26:03,600 --> 00:26:10,320 Speaker 3: different barbershops who all maintain the same overhead of leases 502 00:26:10,640 --> 00:26:19,920 Speaker 3: and payroll and insurance and equipment and HR systems, and 503 00:26:20,000 --> 00:26:22,560 Speaker 3: there's a lot of overhead. Ten to fifteen percent of 504 00:26:22,880 --> 00:26:26,400 Speaker 3: business's costs is just overhead that every single business has 505 00:26:26,440 --> 00:26:31,320 Speaker 3: to have. If you're all one company, then it's it's 506 00:26:31,320 --> 00:26:34,120 Speaker 3: that same HR person for the whole company, right, It's 507 00:26:34,119 --> 00:26:36,480 Speaker 3: the same creative team for the whole company. At Blavity, 508 00:26:36,840 --> 00:26:41,679 Speaker 3: it's the same talent team for the whole company. So 509 00:26:41,840 --> 00:26:44,320 Speaker 3: we're able to get economies of scale because we decided 510 00:26:44,359 --> 00:26:47,960 Speaker 3: to collaborate and bring other businesses in underneath the Blavity 511 00:26:47,960 --> 00:26:51,960 Speaker 3: in portfolio, and that has allowed us to then spend 512 00:26:51,960 --> 00:26:54,640 Speaker 3: more time doing our CEO task and less time doing 513 00:26:54,640 --> 00:26:58,240 Speaker 3: the operating task. So if all those barbershops were able 514 00:26:58,280 --> 00:27:01,320 Speaker 3: to say, you know what, I gonna set my ego aside. 515 00:27:01,400 --> 00:27:03,840 Speaker 3: It doesn't need to be called JoJo's barbershop and Becky 516 00:27:03,920 --> 00:27:06,399 Speaker 3: Q's barbershop and Data da Barbershop. We're gonna just be 517 00:27:06,440 --> 00:27:09,720 Speaker 3: called black barbershop, okay. And we're gonna have three black 518 00:27:09,720 --> 00:27:12,120 Speaker 3: barbershops in this entire city, and each one is gonna 519 00:27:12,119 --> 00:27:15,360 Speaker 3: be run by Jojo and them. But the back end 520 00:27:15,880 --> 00:27:20,640 Speaker 3: administrative work is going to be centralized. How much money, 521 00:27:20,800 --> 00:27:23,280 Speaker 3: more money could they have, how much more cash flow 522 00:27:23,320 --> 00:27:25,840 Speaker 3: could they have? And also time because you don't have 523 00:27:25,880 --> 00:27:28,200 Speaker 3: three barbershops trying to figure out barbers trying to figure 524 00:27:28,200 --> 00:27:31,760 Speaker 3: out how to run a business when they set out 525 00:27:31,800 --> 00:27:35,960 Speaker 3: to be the barbers and that is I think one 526 00:27:35,960 --> 00:27:39,280 Speaker 3: of the challenges is that it requires collaboration. Black folks, 527 00:27:39,280 --> 00:27:41,960 Speaker 3: we love to collaborate on everything else. We collaborate at church, 528 00:27:42,000 --> 00:27:46,119 Speaker 3: We collaborate on carpools, We collaborate on meals, family dinner, 529 00:27:46,160 --> 00:27:50,400 Speaker 3: we collaborate on funerals, we collaborate on weddings. We collaborate 530 00:27:50,480 --> 00:27:53,400 Speaker 3: on so many things. Fraternity sororities. We are good at 531 00:27:53,600 --> 00:27:56,399 Speaker 3: ruling by committee. We are good at coming together. But 532 00:27:56,560 --> 00:28:01,840 Speaker 3: something about business, there's not that many black acquisitions happening 533 00:28:02,440 --> 00:28:05,320 Speaker 3: and black mergers, and I think that has to do 534 00:28:05,359 --> 00:28:05,720 Speaker 3: with ego. 535 00:28:07,840 --> 00:28:10,560 Speaker 2: What do you say to people who have multiple interests? 536 00:28:10,560 --> 00:28:12,960 Speaker 1: They have multiple things going on, you know, when you 537 00:28:12,960 --> 00:28:15,280 Speaker 1: are trying to advise them in how to you know, 538 00:28:15,520 --> 00:28:17,800 Speaker 1: still live a balanced life in some way. 539 00:28:18,160 --> 00:28:19,800 Speaker 2: But I have so many interests. 540 00:28:21,000 --> 00:28:25,359 Speaker 3: I think there's a difference between interests, hobbies, passions, and 541 00:28:25,440 --> 00:28:29,400 Speaker 3: things that make you money, you know. So in the book, 542 00:28:29,440 --> 00:28:32,679 Speaker 3: we have this framework that I live by and I 543 00:28:32,760 --> 00:28:35,159 Speaker 3: encourage people to live by, which is the six pillars 544 00:28:35,200 --> 00:28:38,200 Speaker 3: of life. The six pillars of life, at any given point, 545 00:28:38,480 --> 00:28:41,640 Speaker 3: you can only be optimizing three of them. So the 546 00:28:41,680 --> 00:28:47,560 Speaker 3: six pillars are money, stability, Right, So money is are 547 00:28:47,600 --> 00:28:49,120 Speaker 3: you making enough money to do the things that you 548 00:28:49,160 --> 00:28:51,040 Speaker 3: want to do when you want to do them. Stability 549 00:28:51,120 --> 00:28:53,400 Speaker 3: is do you feel stable? Like, are you in a 550 00:28:53,400 --> 00:28:56,719 Speaker 3: place where you feel grounded? And if not, you need 551 00:28:56,760 --> 00:28:58,800 Speaker 3: to focus on that. These two things are kind of 552 00:28:58,800 --> 00:29:01,600 Speaker 3: your foundational pillars. Yeah, if one of them is off, 553 00:29:01,680 --> 00:29:03,480 Speaker 3: then you got to fix one of them. The next 554 00:29:03,520 --> 00:29:06,280 Speaker 3: one is wellness. Do I feel good doing the things 555 00:29:06,280 --> 00:29:10,600 Speaker 3: that I'm doing every day? Do I mentally, physically, spiritually? 556 00:29:10,720 --> 00:29:14,320 Speaker 3: Do I feel good? The next one's relationships. Do I 557 00:29:14,440 --> 00:29:16,360 Speaker 3: like the people around me? Am I spending time with 558 00:29:16,440 --> 00:29:19,680 Speaker 3: people that I care about? My Do I have a partner? 559 00:29:20,120 --> 00:29:22,200 Speaker 3: Do I have the family that I want? Do I 560 00:29:22,200 --> 00:29:25,360 Speaker 3: have the friends the church community that I want? Okay, 561 00:29:25,600 --> 00:29:31,080 Speaker 3: then there's passions. Am I doing things just for me? Right? 562 00:29:31,200 --> 00:29:34,000 Speaker 3: For me? It's painting. For others, it might be skiing, 563 00:29:34,360 --> 00:29:38,719 Speaker 3: it might be all types of stuff. Okay, And then 564 00:29:38,760 --> 00:29:44,680 Speaker 3: the last one stability, money, relationships, passions, wellness. Who am 565 00:29:44,720 --> 00:29:45,120 Speaker 3: I missing? 566 00:29:46,400 --> 00:29:48,160 Speaker 2: Don't you got to buy the book to get the 567 00:29:48,200 --> 00:29:49,600 Speaker 2: last one? You got to buy book to get. 568 00:29:49,480 --> 00:29:51,360 Speaker 3: The last I like that. 569 00:29:51,760 --> 00:29:53,680 Speaker 2: I like that, that was good. 570 00:29:55,200 --> 00:30:01,680 Speaker 3: I actually I'm like, no, I actually money, stability, freedom, 571 00:30:02,320 --> 00:30:06,560 Speaker 3: passions and wellness, freedom, freedom, freedom. I was like, what 572 00:30:06,640 --> 00:30:09,040 Speaker 3: am I missing? Are you the boss of you or 573 00:30:09,120 --> 00:30:11,640 Speaker 3: somebody else the boss? If you want to pick up 574 00:30:11,680 --> 00:30:14,160 Speaker 3: and travel the world, can you do that? Like? How 575 00:30:14,240 --> 00:30:16,840 Speaker 3: much freedom do you have in your life? Are you 576 00:30:16,880 --> 00:30:21,440 Speaker 3: an independent person? Or are you ruled by the systems, 577 00:30:21,480 --> 00:30:24,800 Speaker 3: the society, the people around you? And freedom is one 578 00:30:24,840 --> 00:30:27,080 Speaker 3: of those things that I think a lot of us 579 00:30:27,240 --> 00:30:30,720 Speaker 3: inherently that's what we're looking for. We're looking to have 580 00:30:30,800 --> 00:30:33,960 Speaker 3: more control over what we say and what we do. 581 00:30:35,320 --> 00:30:39,280 Speaker 3: And between those six you can only again focus on three, 582 00:30:39,680 --> 00:30:41,960 Speaker 3: and they change at different seasons of your life. When 583 00:30:41,960 --> 00:30:45,560 Speaker 3: you first maybe are having kids, and then your relationships, 584 00:30:45,640 --> 00:30:49,800 Speaker 3: your stability, and your money, which means you have no freedom. 585 00:30:50,040 --> 00:30:52,280 Speaker 3: You're not leaving the house at seven o'clock to go 586 00:30:52,320 --> 00:30:54,560 Speaker 3: to the bar with the boys. Because you're focused on 587 00:30:54,600 --> 00:30:56,840 Speaker 3: your three things. Maybe you're not able to make it 588 00:30:56,880 --> 00:30:59,320 Speaker 3: to your gym class. You know, will work out like 589 00:30:59,320 --> 00:31:01,280 Speaker 3: you use work out out and do to our workouts 590 00:31:01,280 --> 00:31:04,040 Speaker 3: on a Saturday because you're focused on your family. Right, 591 00:31:04,400 --> 00:31:06,120 Speaker 3: There's going to be other seasons where you're like, I'm 592 00:31:06,120 --> 00:31:08,160 Speaker 3: trying to get this promotion and I'm grinding super hard. 593 00:31:08,320 --> 00:31:10,560 Speaker 3: So you're on money because you really want to get 594 00:31:10,560 --> 00:31:11,800 Speaker 3: to the next level because you want to be your 595 00:31:11,800 --> 00:31:15,120 Speaker 3: own boss, your freedom. And then yeah, maybe that means 596 00:31:15,160 --> 00:31:16,920 Speaker 3: you don't. You are missing a couple of dinners, you 597 00:31:16,960 --> 00:31:19,080 Speaker 3: are missing so and so's birthday party, you are missing 598 00:31:19,120 --> 00:31:21,640 Speaker 3: so and So's wedding because you're really focused on your goal. 599 00:31:21,920 --> 00:31:25,320 Speaker 3: At any given season, these things are going to change, 600 00:31:25,680 --> 00:31:28,719 Speaker 3: and the question is just being able to audit your 601 00:31:28,720 --> 00:31:31,080 Speaker 3: life and say, wait, have my pillars changed and I 602 00:31:31,120 --> 00:31:34,720 Speaker 3: just didn't explicitly change my behavior to match them, which 603 00:31:34,720 --> 00:31:37,200 Speaker 3: is why I'm feeling resentment and I'm feeling frustrated. 604 00:31:40,200 --> 00:31:43,200 Speaker 1: That's super good I'm thinking about. 605 00:31:43,840 --> 00:31:44,720 Speaker 2: No, I'm going to use a. 606 00:31:44,680 --> 00:31:47,840 Speaker 1: Sports analogy, which I shouldn't do, but there is You know, 607 00:31:47,920 --> 00:31:50,400 Speaker 1: you can tell a great athlete by if they make 608 00:31:50,400 --> 00:31:54,200 Speaker 1: the people around them better. Not only are they doing 609 00:31:54,240 --> 00:31:58,200 Speaker 1: great things, but the people around them are, and I 610 00:31:58,200 --> 00:32:00,880 Speaker 1: think about you like you are that person. You've been 611 00:32:00,880 --> 00:32:02,920 Speaker 1: that person for me, You've been that person for other 612 00:32:02,920 --> 00:32:03,880 Speaker 1: people who I know who. 613 00:32:03,760 --> 00:32:04,440 Speaker 2: Are around you. 614 00:32:04,960 --> 00:32:08,680 Speaker 1: And people make more money when they hang around Morgan Debond, 615 00:32:08,840 --> 00:32:11,560 Speaker 1: They have more all these things when they hang around 616 00:32:11,640 --> 00:32:12,200 Speaker 1: Morgan Devon. 617 00:32:12,880 --> 00:32:15,560 Speaker 2: And how should we then audit our circles? 618 00:32:15,560 --> 00:32:18,480 Speaker 1: Because not everybody can hang around Morgan Debond, So how 619 00:32:18,520 --> 00:32:21,320 Speaker 1: can we how should we audit our circle, you know, 620 00:32:21,640 --> 00:32:24,120 Speaker 1: with an unbiased view of like, look, I know I 621 00:32:24,240 --> 00:32:26,480 Speaker 1: like hanging around you, but this is probably not a 622 00:32:26,640 --> 00:32:28,000 Speaker 1: wise investment of my time. 623 00:32:28,400 --> 00:32:30,840 Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, there's something. There's a chapter in the book 624 00:32:30,880 --> 00:32:33,800 Speaker 3: around people and the people in your life and the 625 00:32:33,840 --> 00:32:37,400 Speaker 3: difference between mentors and advisors. Right, So I'm a lot 626 00:32:37,440 --> 00:32:40,160 Speaker 3: of people's advisor. I'm your advisor, Right, I want to 627 00:32:40,200 --> 00:32:43,840 Speaker 3: make more money? You call me. For a lot of people, 628 00:32:43,880 --> 00:32:46,479 Speaker 3: I'm their chief revenue officers, Like you want to make 629 00:32:46,480 --> 00:32:47,840 Speaker 3: more money. I'm gonna tell you how. I know. You 630 00:32:47,880 --> 00:32:51,400 Speaker 3: still got to do the work, Okay, So you got 631 00:32:51,400 --> 00:32:55,240 Speaker 3: to surround yourself. If your personal life doesn't have those 632 00:32:55,240 --> 00:32:56,880 Speaker 3: people who are motivating you and helping you get to 633 00:32:56,920 --> 00:32:59,200 Speaker 3: the next level, that's okay, you know, this. I don't 634 00:32:59,200 --> 00:33:02,120 Speaker 3: believe that everybody around you has to be transactional or 635 00:33:02,160 --> 00:33:05,040 Speaker 3: add value to your life in that way. I'm actually 636 00:33:05,040 --> 00:33:07,560 Speaker 3: completely cool with it. So all this social media that's 637 00:33:07,600 --> 00:33:10,920 Speaker 3: like catch you, audit your friends, your friends circle, is 638 00:33:10,920 --> 00:33:13,120 Speaker 3: a reflection of how big I don't believe that. I 639 00:33:13,120 --> 00:33:15,560 Speaker 3: think that's bullshit. Not everybody in your life has to 640 00:33:15,560 --> 00:33:20,280 Speaker 3: be adding value to You can hire and find advisors 641 00:33:20,320 --> 00:33:22,280 Speaker 3: who can help you get to the next level. An 642 00:33:22,320 --> 00:33:25,360 Speaker 3: advisor is someone who's already done it. And your advisors 643 00:33:25,600 --> 00:33:29,080 Speaker 3: may be a podcast, your advisors may be my book, 644 00:33:29,160 --> 00:33:32,120 Speaker 3: your advisor may be YouTube channels. Right, Like, there's so 645 00:33:32,240 --> 00:33:36,360 Speaker 3: many free resources and cheap resources for you to solve 646 00:33:36,400 --> 00:33:39,920 Speaker 3: a problem that you have from experienced people who've already 647 00:33:39,960 --> 00:33:43,200 Speaker 3: done it, experienced people who've already done I'm not talking 648 00:33:43,200 --> 00:33:46,080 Speaker 3: about these people selling online courses or the biggest business 649 00:33:46,080 --> 00:33:48,680 Speaker 3: they've ever run is the business that they're running on you. 650 00:33:50,280 --> 00:33:54,680 Speaker 2: The online course. Yeah, okay, out there. 651 00:33:55,000 --> 00:33:59,480 Speaker 3: So they are out there everywhere. So you really got 652 00:33:59,520 --> 00:34:02,800 Speaker 3: to be careful try to evaluate everybody in your life 653 00:34:02,840 --> 00:34:07,000 Speaker 3: against what do they provide back to me. I think 654 00:34:07,040 --> 00:34:09,960 Speaker 3: that it's important to not make everybody in your life 655 00:34:10,000 --> 00:34:13,800 Speaker 3: responsible for your own development. You're responsible for your development, 656 00:34:14,160 --> 00:34:17,480 Speaker 3: You're responsible for your growth. You're the person who's in 657 00:34:17,480 --> 00:34:20,080 Speaker 3: the driver's seat of your life. So just like when 658 00:34:20,080 --> 00:34:22,920 Speaker 3: I'm the CEO, if I have a deficit because I'm 659 00:34:22,920 --> 00:34:27,040 Speaker 3: a bad people manager, it's not my employee's job to 660 00:34:27,160 --> 00:34:29,799 Speaker 3: make me a better people manager. It's my job to 661 00:34:29,840 --> 00:34:33,120 Speaker 3: go find the resources, to go find the executive coaches, 662 00:34:33,680 --> 00:34:37,280 Speaker 3: to go read the books and become a better people manager. 663 00:34:37,880 --> 00:34:40,840 Speaker 3: It's the same thing in your personal life. 664 00:34:41,280 --> 00:34:44,000 Speaker 1: I'm going to ask an EBC question every day carry 665 00:34:44,080 --> 00:34:47,320 Speaker 1: question like what is Morgan's What is in Morgan's every 666 00:34:47,400 --> 00:34:49,600 Speaker 1: day Carrie? What are the things that you've got to 667 00:34:49,640 --> 00:34:55,560 Speaker 1: have access to? Tools, software, things that you need within 668 00:34:55,640 --> 00:34:56,600 Speaker 1: an arms reach. 669 00:34:56,520 --> 00:34:58,200 Speaker 2: To help you be successful day to day? 670 00:34:58,360 --> 00:35:01,920 Speaker 3: The only thing I need is this my mobile phone. 671 00:35:02,120 --> 00:35:04,200 Speaker 3: That's the only thing I need. And the reason for 672 00:35:04,280 --> 00:35:07,439 Speaker 3: that is there's literally times where I'm like, I don't 673 00:35:07,440 --> 00:35:10,879 Speaker 3: even want to see a computer today. Like I used 674 00:35:10,880 --> 00:35:12,759 Speaker 3: to date a guy who literally I don't even think 675 00:35:12,760 --> 00:35:16,200 Speaker 3: he owned a computer, but he ran probably like two 676 00:35:16,320 --> 00:35:20,520 Speaker 3: or three multimillion dollar businesses, a huge venture fund, and 677 00:35:20,600 --> 00:35:23,760 Speaker 3: I just was fascinated. I was like, you don't make decks, 678 00:35:23,880 --> 00:35:26,719 Speaker 3: like you don't look at Excel spreadsheets, like you don't 679 00:35:26,719 --> 00:35:28,520 Speaker 3: need to get in there and chase some numbers or 680 00:35:28,520 --> 00:35:31,520 Speaker 3: something like. He was like, I have an iPad, Like 681 00:35:31,600 --> 00:35:33,120 Speaker 3: if I need to do something like, I'll do on 682 00:35:33,120 --> 00:35:36,000 Speaker 3: an iPad. But there's somebody else who's like doing the 683 00:35:36,040 --> 00:35:39,640 Speaker 3: grunt work and then I am tweaking the things, and 684 00:35:39,719 --> 00:35:41,759 Speaker 3: I was, I mean, this was very early on in 685 00:35:41,800 --> 00:35:43,320 Speaker 3: my career, so I wasn't at a point where I 686 00:35:43,400 --> 00:35:46,680 Speaker 3: had that much freedom. Right, our freedom was not one 687 00:35:46,719 --> 00:35:50,200 Speaker 3: of my pillars at the time, but it was aspirational 688 00:35:50,239 --> 00:35:53,320 Speaker 3: for me to say, Wow, I have that much freedom 689 00:35:53,320 --> 00:35:56,480 Speaker 3: that I'm no longer dictated by a device to get 690 00:35:56,520 --> 00:35:59,520 Speaker 3: my work done, to be able to produce content, produce value, 691 00:35:59,560 --> 00:36:01,719 Speaker 3: to be able to talk to my employees. And so 692 00:36:01,880 --> 00:36:04,239 Speaker 3: I've really created a systement at Blavity where I'm like, 693 00:36:04,400 --> 00:36:06,920 Speaker 3: if you work for me, you don't send me emails 694 00:36:08,320 --> 00:36:14,120 Speaker 3: like like slack me or nothing. That's right, Okay, don't 695 00:36:14,239 --> 00:36:17,520 Speaker 3: call me, don't text me. You're not gonna get texts 696 00:36:17,560 --> 00:36:20,200 Speaker 3: from Morgan Debon. You're not gonna get phone calls from 697 00:36:20,200 --> 00:36:23,760 Speaker 3: Morgan Debon, slack me bro even when we have vendors. 698 00:36:23,760 --> 00:36:27,120 Speaker 3: Our partners like the gathering Spot and Glavity are working 699 00:36:27,120 --> 00:36:29,719 Speaker 3: on something. I'm like, Ryan, you guys slack Okay, so 700 00:36:30,320 --> 00:36:33,600 Speaker 3: joint slack channel. Now there's a gallery spot, Blavity, joint 701 00:36:33,600 --> 00:36:38,280 Speaker 3: slack channel. Okay, Slack is my headquarters. We're fully remote, 702 00:36:38,440 --> 00:36:43,120 Speaker 3: but I can do everything from my phone, so that 703 00:36:43,320 --> 00:36:45,440 Speaker 3: is the biggest that's the only tool I need. This 704 00:36:45,480 --> 00:36:50,120 Speaker 3: could make you a millionaire right here, straight on your phone. 705 00:36:50,280 --> 00:36:53,160 Speaker 3: You don't have to have all this crazy equipment. And 706 00:36:53,200 --> 00:36:55,600 Speaker 3: that's that's just going back to fundraising. That is the 707 00:36:55,640 --> 00:37:00,680 Speaker 3: reason why just making money is now a new requirement 708 00:37:01,120 --> 00:37:04,000 Speaker 3: for raising money because it's so easy. 709 00:37:06,600 --> 00:37:08,879 Speaker 2: What does success look like for you now? And now? 710 00:37:09,160 --> 00:37:11,000 Speaker 2: Has that definition changed for you over time? 711 00:37:12,880 --> 00:37:15,480 Speaker 3: You know, I think it's tough to talk about success 712 00:37:15,760 --> 00:37:19,680 Speaker 3: for me now because I really have hit every dream 713 00:37:19,719 --> 00:37:21,640 Speaker 3: that I've ever wanted for myself in a lot of 714 00:37:21,640 --> 00:37:25,440 Speaker 3: different ways. And so there's actually a part of me 715 00:37:25,520 --> 00:37:28,120 Speaker 3: that's going through an exercise of pushing myself to take 716 00:37:28,160 --> 00:37:30,560 Speaker 3: more risk because I am so comfortable and I am 717 00:37:30,600 --> 00:37:32,799 Speaker 3: so happy and I am so fulfilled. I wake up 718 00:37:32,800 --> 00:37:35,200 Speaker 3: every day and I say, ooh, oh, it feels good 719 00:37:35,239 --> 00:37:40,560 Speaker 3: to be me. Okay, it feels so good to be me, 720 00:37:40,719 --> 00:37:43,360 Speaker 3: and I like that. For everybody listening to that, that 721 00:37:43,480 --> 00:37:45,759 Speaker 3: you have that level of contentment in your life, we're like, 722 00:37:45,800 --> 00:37:48,239 Speaker 3: ooh yeah, no, I do not want to trade with 723 00:37:48,320 --> 00:37:51,920 Speaker 3: anybody else. I feel good. I like the choices that 724 00:37:51,960 --> 00:37:54,319 Speaker 3: I make every day. I like I like the things 725 00:37:54,360 --> 00:37:57,080 Speaker 3: I stress about. The things I stress about, they're not 726 00:37:57,120 --> 00:37:59,520 Speaker 3: that big of a deal. Right. I'm not saying I 727 00:37:59,520 --> 00:38:02,080 Speaker 3: don't have days. I'm not saying there's not times when 728 00:38:02,080 --> 00:38:03,759 Speaker 3: I look at Blavity's P and L and I say, oh, man, 729 00:38:03,760 --> 00:38:05,960 Speaker 3: we made some mistakes here, we overspent here, we could 730 00:38:05,960 --> 00:38:07,960 Speaker 3: have pushed this harder, we could have hit these different goals. 731 00:38:08,120 --> 00:38:10,720 Speaker 3: I have all of those things. But I feel really 732 00:38:10,760 --> 00:38:13,239 Speaker 3: good about how we operate. I feel good about my 733 00:38:13,320 --> 00:38:15,759 Speaker 3: leadership team. I feel good about the fact that everybody's 734 00:38:15,920 --> 00:38:18,400 Speaker 3: marching towards a mission that matters. I feel good about 735 00:38:18,560 --> 00:38:20,600 Speaker 3: the fact that I wake up every day and I 736 00:38:20,640 --> 00:38:22,520 Speaker 3: can decide what I want to wear or not because 737 00:38:22,560 --> 00:38:25,000 Speaker 3: of how people are gonna judge me as a black 738 00:38:25,320 --> 00:38:28,359 Speaker 3: founder or black female CEO, but because of what I 739 00:38:28,400 --> 00:38:31,480 Speaker 3: want to wear today and how I want to present myself. Right, 740 00:38:31,600 --> 00:38:35,439 Speaker 3: I feel good about the things I think about, And 741 00:38:36,640 --> 00:38:42,960 Speaker 3: I think that is the truest definition of success for anyone. 742 00:38:44,480 --> 00:38:47,040 Speaker 3: How do you get there? For some people listening to 743 00:38:47,080 --> 00:38:49,839 Speaker 3: this that's so far away from where they are. They're 744 00:38:49,880 --> 00:38:53,839 Speaker 3: waking up every day dreading going into work that day. 745 00:38:54,040 --> 00:38:58,280 Speaker 3: They're waking up today feeling like, I'm so freaking cold. 746 00:38:58,360 --> 00:39:00,719 Speaker 3: Why do I live here? You're waking up in the 747 00:39:00,719 --> 00:39:03,439 Speaker 3: morning and you're just like, I'm exhausted. Did I even 748 00:39:03,520 --> 00:39:07,000 Speaker 3: sleep like I'm mentally exhausted and I just woke up. 749 00:39:07,600 --> 00:39:09,799 Speaker 3: You got to fix that. You got to like lean 750 00:39:09,840 --> 00:39:13,120 Speaker 3: into that tension and fix whatever the root is the issue, 751 00:39:13,200 --> 00:39:15,600 Speaker 3: whatever that root issue is, you got to fix that. 752 00:39:15,640 --> 00:39:17,040 Speaker 3: You don't have to live that way. 753 00:39:18,960 --> 00:39:19,320 Speaker 2: April. 754 00:39:19,360 --> 00:39:22,520 Speaker 1: First, we write your rules, The Journey to Success in 755 00:39:22,600 --> 00:39:26,960 Speaker 1: Less Time with More Freedom, Morgan Debond, Such a pleasure. 756 00:39:27,480 --> 00:39:29,920 Speaker 3: Thanks for having me. Well everybody, I look forward to 757 00:39:30,400 --> 00:39:33,480 Speaker 3: hearing how this book transforms your life and you know 758 00:39:33,520 --> 00:39:36,080 Speaker 3: what things you discover about yourself along the way. My 759 00:39:36,200 --> 00:39:38,440 Speaker 3: hope is that you use this as a tool to 760 00:39:38,520 --> 00:39:41,600 Speaker 3: be able to make these decisions and to move quickly 761 00:39:41,840 --> 00:39:43,200 Speaker 3: so that you can have more joy. 762 00:39:43,040 --> 00:39:46,000 Speaker 1: And more free Black Tech Green One is a production 763 00:39:46,080 --> 00:39:49,240 Speaker 1: to Blavity afro Tech, the Black Effect podcast. 764 00:39:48,840 --> 00:39:51,480 Speaker 2: Network in Night High Media. It's produced by Morgan Debon 765 00:39:51,600 --> 00:39:54,640 Speaker 2: and me Well Lucas, with the digital production. 766 00:39:54,440 --> 00:39:58,000 Speaker 1: Support by Kate McDonald say and Jada McGee. Special thank 767 00:39:58,040 --> 00:40:00,480 Speaker 1: you to Michael Davis in Love Beach More about my 768 00:40:00,520 --> 00:40:02,400 Speaker 1: guess at other tech this stuff it's an innovators at 769 00:40:02,400 --> 00:40:03,680 Speaker 1: afrotech dot Com. 770 00:40:04,200 --> 00:40:05,840 Speaker 2: Video version of this episode will. 771 00:40:05,719 --> 00:40:08,160 Speaker 1: Drop to Black Tech Green Money on YouTube, So tap in, 772 00:40:08,920 --> 00:40:11,600 Speaker 1: enjoy your Black Tech Green Money, Share us with somebody, 773 00:40:12,400 --> 00:40:13,240 Speaker 1: don't get your money. 774 00:40:13,880 --> 00:40:14,480 Speaker 2: Decent love