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Speaker 1: An illegal alien from Guatemala charged with raping a child

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Speaker 1: in Massachusetts. An MS thirteen gang member from Al Salvador

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Speaker 1: accused of murdering a Texas man of Venezuelan charged with

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Speaker 1: filming and selling child pornography in Michigan. These are just

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Speaker 1: some of the heinous migrant criminals caught because of President

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Speaker 1: Donald J.

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Speaker 2: Trump's leadership.

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Speaker 1: I'm Christy nom the United States Secretary of Homeland Security.

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Speaker 1: Under President Trump, attempted illegal border crossings are at the

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Speaker 1: lowest levels ever recorded, and over one hundred thousand illegal

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Speaker 1: aliens have been arrested. If you are here illegally, your

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Speaker 1: next you will be fined nearly one thousand dollars a day, imprisoned,

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Speaker 1: and deported.

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Speaker 2: You will never return.

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Speaker 1: But if you register using our CBP home app and

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Speaker 1: leave now, you could be allowed to return legally. Do

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Speaker 1: what's right. Leave now. Under President Trump, America's laws, border

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Speaker 1: and families will be protected.

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Speaker 3: Sponsored by the United States Department of Homeland Security Earners.

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Speaker 3: What's going on?

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Speaker 4: Listen, eylu is relaunching, revamping, retooing. That's why we're creating

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Speaker 5: We got yes twenty twenty three. We got a lot

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Speaker 5: in still a lot playing for you guys. So you

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Speaker 5: know that EYLU already includes monthly financial planning calls with ME,

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Speaker 5: book club calls with Troy, real estate calls with MG

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Speaker 5: the mortgage got access to the Home Buying Blueprint Volume

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Speaker 5: one and Volume two.

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Speaker 3: Part of the.

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Speaker 5: Revamp will include twenty seven local chapters from across the

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Speaker 5: United States, live interactive teaching hands on not just pre

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Speaker 5: recorded videos, plus fifteen brand new curriculums.

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Speaker 6: The biggest just got bigger.

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Speaker 7: Head over to eyl University dot com. That's EYL you

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Speaker 7: n I V E R s I t Y dot com.

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Speaker 6: See you there.

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Speaker 5: We have the honor of having a conversation with two

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Speaker 5: of Baltimore's brightest entrepreneurs, really killing the game. And they're

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Speaker 5: also a couple as well. So this is going to

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Speaker 5: be a very through conversation about business, about family, about

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Speaker 5: how to balance that and really growing different verticals, something

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Speaker 5: that I think any entrepreneur needs to learn. You can't

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Speaker 5: rely just on one stream of income. That's extremely important,

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Speaker 5: and you guys have built the very impressive portfolio for

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Speaker 5: being joining us in this conversation will go over but

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Speaker 5: first and foremost, thank you for being joined us in

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Speaker 5: this conversation.

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Speaker 6: Appreciate it.

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Speaker 3: Thank you.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, and it means a lot, right we talk about

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Speaker 4: going back and giving back. The fact that we're here

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Speaker 4: in Morgan, the fact that your alumni for Morgan, the

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Speaker 4: fact that you've got some business skills from here, it

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Speaker 4: means that much much, that much more that you're coming

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Speaker 4: back and give it to the community that helps you

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Speaker 4: with some of yourself.

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Speaker 6: Clap it up for Chris with being back in the building.

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Speaker 3: Thank you.

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Speaker 5: So I want to I want to just over some

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Speaker 5: companies that you guys have. So you have BTST Services,

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Speaker 5: which is a mental health company, right.

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Speaker 3: You have Selfish, which is a beauty spa in event space.

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Speaker 5: You have Carpe Dim, which is a management company that

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Speaker 5: supports startups and small businesses. You have Outcrowd Restaurant Group,

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Speaker 5: which is a company that develops and manages a chain

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Speaker 5: of food and beverage and entertainment venues. You have black Swan,

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Speaker 5: a restaurant in Baltimore that's part of the group. You

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Speaker 5: have Signment Enterprises, an investment firm with business holdings in

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Speaker 5: Carpe Dim, BTSD, and all of the other companies that

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Speaker 5: you have, and then you also have the BTST Cares,

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Speaker 5: which is a nonprofit organization that serves poverty stricten individuals

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Speaker 5: in the DMV area. So did I leave anything out?

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Speaker 5: Maybe like ten, So extremely impressive portfolio. We'll talk about

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Speaker 5: each one of them individually. But just before we start,

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Speaker 5: all of those businesses, all those businesses doing well, was

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Speaker 5: this your plan from the beginning? Did you guys know

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Speaker 5: that you were going to be successful entrepreneurs? Did you

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Speaker 5: know that you was going to have multiple businesses up

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Speaker 5: and running.

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Speaker 3: To do something?

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Speaker 8: And I knew I wanted to have impact. Would I

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Speaker 8: think that you know, we've been dis diversified and a

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Speaker 8: successful and operate in these businesses. I would say, no,

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Speaker 8: we've been blessed to reach some phenomenal heights. And when

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Speaker 8: I first started out, I mean I probably only wanted

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Speaker 8: to achieve a fraction of this. I think she saw

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Speaker 8: more in me at the time than I did, and

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Speaker 8: saw more for us as well. So you know, I

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Speaker 8: think one thing leads to a leads to the next.

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Speaker 8: So I didn't go into it saying, hey, this is

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Speaker 8: exactly what we want to do, this is how we

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Speaker 8: want to create these businesses. This is what we want

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Speaker 8: our portfolio to look like. I think just continue to

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Speaker 8: just connect yourselves with great individuals, put yourself in the

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Speaker 8: right RUMs. I saw a video the other day where

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Speaker 8: you was talking about exposure, and I think exposure, you know,

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Speaker 8: has been great for me, you know, and for us

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Speaker 8: continuing to you know, when when you're around certain things,

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Speaker 8: now you can begin to normalize it. You can normalize

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Speaker 8: it to know that you can achieve it. You like

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Speaker 8: I like black Swan. A lot of people I know

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Speaker 8: a few guys I know tried to open head restaurants before,

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Speaker 8: and I'm like, oh, this dude looks like me. He

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Speaker 8: can do this. I know I can do this. Not

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Speaker 8: from a cocky perspective. I just like, I know I'm

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Speaker 8: smart like he is, or whatever else, and just people

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Speaker 8: who throw on the events and stuff like that. And

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Speaker 8: we was just talking with her dad. It's not just

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Speaker 8: the exposure from the perspective of, hey, I can achieve this,

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Speaker 8: but the exposure that now you know how to move

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Speaker 8: in those RUMs when you're there, right, You learn to

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Speaker 8: get comfortable, You learn what the conversations are, You learn

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Speaker 8: how people live and how they structure their lives and stuff.

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Speaker 3: Like that.

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Speaker 8: So I think just exposure helped create opportunities for us

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Speaker 8: and kind of let us know what was possible, and

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Speaker 8: then I think things just continue to happen from there.

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Speaker 6: What you say, sir, you said something very important.

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Speaker 4: You said you saw something to you that you didn't

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Speaker 4: from the beginning before all that some of those characteristics

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Speaker 4: that you saw from the beginning, before all the success

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Speaker 4: before I mean during the T shirt did what did

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Speaker 4: you see in them?

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Speaker 6: And I guess vice versa what you see in her?

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Speaker 4: And said like, this is going to be somebody that

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Speaker 4: I can spend my life with, but this is also

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Speaker 4: somebody that I can actually build business with.

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Speaker 3: You can share it, you can start at my incredible looks.

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Speaker 9: Oh yes, of course. My answer is totally different than his.

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Speaker 9: I did not aspire to be an entrepreneur. I was

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Speaker 9: not that kid like, oh, I want to own a business.

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Speaker 6: No.

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Speaker 9: I thought I was going to go to college, get

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Speaker 9: a degree, and get a nine to five. That was

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Speaker 9: going to be my life. I was okay with it,

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Speaker 9: and that was all I saw. But it wasn't until

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Speaker 9: we met that I realized that he had a level

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Speaker 9: of freedom that I didn't have.

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Speaker 2: So I got up.

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Speaker 9: I went to work every day, I'm slaving away at

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Speaker 9: a desk, and he would call me from a golf course, so.

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Speaker 3: We'll do it.

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Speaker 9: It created a level of envy, it really did. And

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Speaker 9: eventually over the years I left and came on board

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Speaker 9: with him. But he also was one of the hardest

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Speaker 9: working people that I had ever met.

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Speaker 2: So that was what I saw.

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Speaker 9: Regardless if it was a small business, a medium sized business,

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Speaker 9: whatever it was, he would get up every day and

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Speaker 9: go for it. And that was kind of what I

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Speaker 9: saw that I and I understood that he had a

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Speaker 9: gift and I could trust that the businesses he was

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Speaker 9: starting were going to be successful.

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Speaker 5: That's sweet, you should say, so, Chris, let me ask

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Speaker 5: you this at Morgan stage, So.

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Speaker 8: Can I can I tell what I say? I didn't

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Speaker 8: want it to be one sided. I guess with her.

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Speaker 8: You know when we we we we were brought up

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Speaker 8: like two different ways but similar, but two different ways.

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Speaker 8: And so you know the way that she sees the

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Speaker 8: world sometimes it is opposed. It used to pose sometimes

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Speaker 8: the way I see the world. And some people can

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Speaker 8: look at that and see like, oh, that's just create

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Speaker 8: just great opposition, Like we have great value in the

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Speaker 8: way that she sees it's the same. We don't see

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Speaker 8: eye to eye, but there's great value in the way

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Speaker 8: that she sees the world. I may be a little

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Speaker 8: bit more risky, she may be a little bit more conservative,

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Speaker 8: and she kind of helps balance out that risk exposure.

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Speaker 3: Right.

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Speaker 8: But even outside of that, she saw like that with

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Speaker 8: the healthcare company, she was like, I only provided one

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Speaker 8: small service of it of the total portfolio of the

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Speaker 8: total company that we provide now and the year she

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Speaker 8: was like, you should just go ahead and have your

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Speaker 8: own clinic. You should do this while you're waiting on

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Speaker 8: them for a referral. And I was comfortable, and I'm like,

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Speaker 8: because I like this. You know I'm doing I do

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Speaker 8: well at what we do. And she she sees the

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Speaker 8: world differently. So I admire that perspective in her and

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Speaker 8: her her structure and her order. You know, like you

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Speaker 8: need to mighty that can see the world differently and

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Speaker 8: provide great balance for that.

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Speaker 3: You know. She was our first HR director.

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Speaker 8: So when she left her job, she I was upset

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Speaker 8: that she like she said that she was I was

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Speaker 8: at work. I mean I was I wanted to go

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Speaker 8: on vacation and she had to go work flex time

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Speaker 8: and work extra hours, and I'm like, dude, this is

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Speaker 8: killing our vacation, Like I need you just need to leave,

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Speaker 8: Like let's go. You can come here. I have a

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Speaker 8: bunch of files and this file frum. Come organize these.

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Speaker 8: And so the company began to grow and you got HR.

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Speaker 8: But it really doesn't work when your wife is HR

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Speaker 8: of your company. Nobody really has a safe space. And

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Speaker 8: not that they needed one, but I'm just saying nobody

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Speaker 8: had a safe space to complain. So and then she

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Speaker 8: just continued to be a mom and then started her

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Speaker 8: own stuff.

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Speaker 3: So I just love the way that, you know, she

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Speaker 3: sees it.

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Speaker 8: It's frustrating at times, but I love the way that

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Speaker 8: she sees the world differently than me.

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Speaker 5: So we have Morgan State, and I know that there's

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Speaker 5: at least a few students here. So I want to

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Speaker 5: ask this question, what are some important lessons you learned

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Speaker 5: at Morgan State University's Graduate School of Social Work that

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Speaker 5: you applied to be tst Services.

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Speaker 6: Go Bears.

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Speaker 8: First thing I learned is that you, yeah, it's this

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Speaker 8: bridge at Morgan where everybody hangs out at and you

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Speaker 8: just you know, you just can't stay there for too long,

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Speaker 8: or you'll wind up doing an extra year of college

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Speaker 8: like I did.

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Speaker 3: A couple who's counting, see this is the world.

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Speaker 8: I'm looking at it optimistically and she's looking at it

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Speaker 8: very rationally right now. But you know, when I was

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Speaker 8: so my undergrad was in business and my graduate degree

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Speaker 8: was in social work, so I understood I was able

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Speaker 8: to learn how to market, right I always I had

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Speaker 8: a few businesses before I came to Morgan, but I

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Speaker 8: was able to take this understanding of how to market

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Speaker 8: and brand and formalize it into constructural business terms and

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Speaker 8: then just learn understand how business operates on a macro level.

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Speaker 8: And then you mix that with the understanding of psychology

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Speaker 8: and social work, so you understand human behavior. So now

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Speaker 8: you understand human behavior and you match that with marketing.

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Speaker 8: Now you can understand you can create things that you

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Speaker 8: understand how people respond to and what is their need.

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Speaker 8: Their need is to be heard, their need is to

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Speaker 8: be feel to feel validated, to feel accepted, at all

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Speaker 8: of these other things. So then you create concepts and

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Speaker 8: experiences that you know make people feel these ways. So

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Speaker 8: that was one of the biggest things that I've learned

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Speaker 8: that Morgan, And yeah, what are.

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Speaker 5: Some of those, like, can you give an example of

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Speaker 5: like something? Because you're right as far as the psychology,

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Speaker 5: a lot of times people don't think psychology and business go.

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Speaker 3: Hand in hand.

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Speaker 5: Even when I was learning business sales, I learned a

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Speaker 5: lot of things about psychology and the art of selling

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Speaker 5: to get people to buy into things. So anything in

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Speaker 5: particular that stands out that you learned that you carried

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Speaker 5: over to business.

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Speaker 3: I mean I learned this before Morgan.

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Speaker 8: I used to work at a telemarketing firm NBNA, selling

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Speaker 8: credit cards and getting people give you a response. And

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Speaker 8: so when people give you a response, they told you

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Speaker 8: how to cushion it to be like, hey, I understand

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Speaker 8: what should we learn later learn as validation or affirment.

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Speaker 8: So you provide them that statement and then you cushing

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Speaker 8: it and then you rebuttle so you don't just take

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Speaker 8: no for the answer. You're like, hey, I understand why

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Speaker 8: you feel that way, however, you know, so making sure

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Speaker 8: and just you know, you really don't take no for

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Speaker 8: an answer in that type of environment.

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Speaker 3: So that's something that sticks with me.

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Speaker 8: I always tell my son, like, no, it's not a no,

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Speaker 8: you just haven't said the right thing yet. Or met

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Speaker 8: the right person for that to become a yes. So

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Speaker 8: that kind of sticks out to me.

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Speaker 4: I'm thinking the years two thousand and eight and you're

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Speaker 4: going into the mental health here field not the most

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Speaker 4: popular field at the time.

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Speaker 6: Most people are probably even thinking that this could be

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Speaker 6: a lucrative field.

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Speaker 4: Is the study of human behavior would make you feel

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Speaker 4: so confident that this could be something number one that

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Speaker 4: could change your community and number two we can build

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Speaker 4: business around.

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Speaker 8: So I would like to say that, but I started

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Speaker 8: BTSC before I went back and got my Masters of

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Speaker 8: Social Work. So I when I used to own a

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Speaker 8: clothing store called c Note and so it was it's

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Speaker 8: an urban clothing store. We designed our stuff and we

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Speaker 8: had a store for it. And you know, it's a

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Speaker 8: sales driven business. So the first set of sales and

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Speaker 8: we were working with limited capital, so the first set

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Speaker 8: of sales we were put back into our reup and

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Speaker 8: getting new merchandise. So I didn't get paid until like

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Speaker 8: the third set of sales, and a lot of times

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Speaker 8: those third set of sales never came. So I've got

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Speaker 8: a part time job, and I was working at group

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Speaker 8: homes and I was working at overnight at just mentoring companies.

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Speaker 8: So I kind of saw I got my experience in

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Speaker 8: my end too social work and working in these type

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Speaker 8: of organizations there, and from there I just developed a

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Speaker 8: love for passion for helping and for and just like

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Speaker 8: helping improve these individuals' lives.

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Speaker 3: But then I also saw.

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Speaker 8: A lot of the gaps in service delivery, and I

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Speaker 8: was like, man, they're really doing these We were just talking

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Speaker 8: about this in the back. They weren't providing holistic you

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Speaker 8: know what. We were just talking about this in the back.

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Speaker 8: They weren't providing you know, teaching them about how to

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Speaker 8: manage money and stuff like that and uh, employment skills.

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Speaker 8: So I wanted to build a program that embodied those

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Speaker 8: different characteristics.

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Speaker 3: And that's kind of how I got into it.

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Speaker 8: And then when I went back to social my master's degree,

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Speaker 8: I didn't even want to go back for my masters.

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Speaker 8: One of my buddies was like, you you're nothing without

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Speaker 8: those letters behind your name. And I'm just being arrogant.

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Speaker 8: I'm like, I do better than the teachers. What am

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Speaker 8: I going to go do go back to school for

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Speaker 8: or whatever? Just ignorance and he was like, you're nothing

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Speaker 8: without those letters behind your name. So I went back

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Speaker 8: and got my license, and then doing that I learned

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Speaker 8: about that this isn't not just like a hustle you're

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Speaker 8: just not working with these individuals.

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Speaker 3: You can really build.

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Speaker 8: A sustainable like and like scalable business and really have

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Speaker 8: tremendous impact throughout the community.

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Speaker 5: So either one of you can answer this question what's

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Speaker 5: the business model for this? Like how do you actually

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Speaker 5: make money from mental health services?

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Speaker 2: I know you're not asking me, don't look at me.

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Speaker 8: Well you should know too because you actually she actually

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Speaker 8: worked in the billing department, which is me and her billing.

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Speaker 3: We were a small business when she had a baby.

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Speaker 8: We were we were in the hospital billing and everything else,

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Speaker 8: like a few hours after she gave birth.

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Speaker 3: So we definitely know how to build a part of it.

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Speaker 8: But the way we it's it's so you provide needed services.

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Speaker 8: It's no different than you going to your doctor for

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Speaker 8: a physical or you going to your for your primary

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Speaker 8: care of obg yn. Right, they've been able to or

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Speaker 8: a company like Cosa Permanente. Right, they just created an

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Speaker 8: ecosystem where, hey, we provide services that consumers need. Right,

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Speaker 8: So we provide therapy, we provide these other support services.

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Speaker 8: We provide psychiatry medication management, and for that, insurance companies

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Speaker 8: pay us, right, So it's I guess it's just scale,

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Speaker 8: you know, and we have the better that we are

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Speaker 8: able to do, you know.

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Speaker 3: And we have several facilities throughout the state.

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Speaker 8: Of Maryland, and we provide telehealth, so we service basically

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Speaker 8: the entire state of Maryland. So I guess we've just

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Speaker 8: been able to build a significant footprint that allowed us

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Speaker 8: to scale and just have a lot of individuals who

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Speaker 8: patronize the business.

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Speaker 2: But I think you also left out.

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Speaker 9: We started off with children, right, and we were treating

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Speaker 9: children that had I guess they were mild diagnosis, right,

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Speaker 9: But we started realizing that the PTSD and the ADHD

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Speaker 9: was starting deeper than.

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Speaker 2: Within those children, but it was coming from the home.

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Speaker 9: So then we decided to treat the parents, and so

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Speaker 9: then we grew to service and adults as well, and

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Speaker 9: then from there it was almost as if every time

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Speaker 9: we grew it was because of a need that the

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Speaker 9: community had, not necessarily something that we saw, like you.

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Speaker 3: Were talking about just creating those verticals.

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Speaker 8: So we have this example like Disney World, Right, you

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Speaker 8: go to Disney World, you typically stay in the Disney park,

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Speaker 8: you eat it Disney restaurant, you go to a Disney park,

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Speaker 8: you buy Disney merch all.

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Speaker 3: Of that other stuff.

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Speaker 8: They created an entire ecosystem that wraps you up and

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Speaker 8: Disney related stuff. We want our client to come to

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Speaker 8: us and get total care. So if you come for

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Speaker 8: us for you were you know, maybe just hyperactive in school.

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Speaker 8: So hey, they referred to us for a diagnosed I

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Speaker 8: mean referred to us for an evaluation. We complete that

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Speaker 8: evaluation and from there we identify that they need therapy,

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Speaker 8: and then from their therapy, it's not enough to maintain.

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Speaker 8: So we want to you know, give them a you know,

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Speaker 8: you want to engage the psychiatrist for medication management, and

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Speaker 8: then we have support services associated with that, and then

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Speaker 8: we have you know, SUID because substance abuse is a

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Speaker 8: major problem as well that it runs co currently with

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Speaker 8: mental health. So we created this whole ecosystem of those things.

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Speaker 8: And then some of the sub clients also need places

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Speaker 8: to live, so that you can create housing opportunities.

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Speaker 3: And stuff like that.

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Speaker 8: So you just build a whole ecosystem and it's not

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Speaker 8: from like a capitalistic perspective, it's from a need perspective

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Speaker 8: and if you can, and mental health is that people

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Speaker 8: running And a lot of problem with social workers and

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Speaker 8: mental health is that people do stuff because they love

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Speaker 8: the work that they do, but then they don't have

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Speaker 8: the business acumen behind it. So you get a lot

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Speaker 8: of passionate people and they would operate in a deficit

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Speaker 8: if it was up to them because they just love

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Speaker 8: the work that they do. And my partner Jada always

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Speaker 8: says that the two doesn't have to be mutually exclusive.

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Speaker 8: You can do great work then and be also run

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Speaker 8: a successful business as well. So you know, that's kind

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Speaker 8: of like you know how a business model works.

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Speaker 4: You brought up Disney, and part of our conversation backstage

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Speaker 4: was if you go to Disney World, the chance of

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Speaker 4: you seeing Bob Eiger Price slim, right, You're not going

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Speaker 4: to see the CEO there.

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Speaker 6: And a lot of times in our communities when we.

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Speaker 4: Create businesses, we create them because we like them, but

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Speaker 4: we become employees to the business. So talk about scaling

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Speaker 4: your business but having systems in place that they can

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Speaker 4: run where you don't have to necessarily be there every

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Speaker 4: day on the clock.

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Speaker 9: So the term we've coined is sustainable systems.

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Speaker 3: Right, sustainable, replicatable.

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Speaker 9: All right, sustainable and replicatable systems. And the reason why

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Speaker 9: is because the goal is not to be a slave

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Speaker 9: to your business. The goal is to be able to

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Speaker 9: create the business, make it operable, hire people that can

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Speaker 9: now run the business that you've created, and now you're

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Speaker 9: able to move on to something else. If you're in

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Speaker 9: there every day, you it's hard to see the it's

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Speaker 9: hard for you to focus on everything that the business

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Speaker 9: needs because you're in the middle of it, in the mud,

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Speaker 9: doing it every day. You can't necessarily come up with

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Speaker 9: the marketing plans or the business plan or learn how

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Speaker 9: to grow the business if you're basically just operating.

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Speaker 2: It day to day.

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Speaker 9: So what we like to do is create systems that

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Speaker 9: we can now right write up, train someone to do them,

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Speaker 9: hand it off to them, and now they're able to

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Speaker 9: go off and do something.

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Speaker 8: Well, even things that we don't have to write out.

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Speaker 8: It's funny people some people are like, Janine, what do

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Speaker 8: you do?

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Speaker 7: Like?

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Speaker 8: I don't want to work in the business. I don't

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Speaker 8: want to choose like I invest, I invest. I don't

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Speaker 8: want to work in the business. I don't want to

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Speaker 8: be the chef. I don't want to be the GM.

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Speaker 8: I'll invest in the business. I'll help with creative concept,

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Speaker 8: I'll help get it there. We'll interview the correct people

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Speaker 8: and put them in place. But the best thing you

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Speaker 8: need to do is is I don't want to create

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Speaker 8: the policy. You know, I don't have a formal background

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Speaker 8: in each business that we own. You want to hire

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Speaker 8: the individuals who have that knowledge, who are smarter than

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Speaker 8: you create a team that people sometimes think that when

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Speaker 8: you hire smarter people in these respective fields, that they're

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Speaker 8: a competition there, that you should be intimidated. It's like, no,

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Speaker 8: I know what I want to create. Here's the vision.

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Speaker 8: How do we do this, Let's bring this the market,

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Speaker 8: how do how do we how do we make this happen?

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Speaker 8: How do we make this experience? And then we'll chime

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Speaker 8: in high level about you know, feedback and stuff like

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Speaker 8: that of what we want to see from it.

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Speaker 3: So she's a little bit more hands off.

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Speaker 8: I'm managing some of the managers at some point through

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Speaker 8: like our you know, our KPI meetings or whatever else

445
00:20:52,600 --> 00:20:52,880
Speaker 8: like that.

446
00:20:53,840 --> 00:20:54,879
Speaker 6: Got just a quick follow up.

447
00:20:54,960 --> 00:20:56,680
Speaker 4: So when we're talking about scale, you said that you've

448
00:20:56,720 --> 00:20:59,399
Speaker 4: moved throughout the state. When do you know it's the

449
00:20:59,480 --> 00:21:02,600
Speaker 4: appropriate time to now have multiple locations because that's something

450
00:21:02,600 --> 00:21:04,160
Speaker 4: where we're in our business, it's like, yeah, we're doing

451
00:21:04,160 --> 00:21:06,119
Speaker 4: great here, but we want to test the waters and

452
00:21:06,160 --> 00:21:07,159
Speaker 4: see how far our reaches.

453
00:21:07,359 --> 00:21:08,560
Speaker 6: How do you figure that part out?

454
00:21:08,720 --> 00:21:11,439
Speaker 8: I want to answer that by going back to the

455
00:21:11,480 --> 00:21:13,760
Speaker 8: question that you asked at first. I think what we

456
00:21:13,840 --> 00:21:16,120
Speaker 8: have to do as a community. We look at hey,

457
00:21:16,160 --> 00:21:18,800
Speaker 8: we I'm a I'm a baker, so I want to

458
00:21:18,840 --> 00:21:21,320
Speaker 8: start a bakery. Right, We got to get used to

459
00:21:21,320 --> 00:21:23,639
Speaker 8: owning businesses that we don't operate and that are in

460
00:21:23,720 --> 00:21:26,480
Speaker 8: fields that we have no experience in, right, Because the

461
00:21:26,480 --> 00:21:28,920
Speaker 8: goal isn't to be a slave to the business. You

462
00:21:28,920 --> 00:21:30,720
Speaker 8: you have the idea and you want to build it.

463
00:21:31,000 --> 00:21:33,200
Speaker 8: And if you if it's just you, how many cakes

464
00:21:33,200 --> 00:21:33,680
Speaker 8: can you bake?

465
00:21:33,840 --> 00:21:35,640
Speaker 3: So how many? How can you scale that? Right?

466
00:21:36,320 --> 00:21:36,520
Speaker 5: Uh?

467
00:21:36,560 --> 00:21:38,919
Speaker 8: So what we've been able to do is it's been

468
00:21:38,960 --> 00:21:42,439
Speaker 8: a blessing that we've been able to scale because the

469
00:21:42,560 --> 00:21:43,480
Speaker 8: need we the meet.

470
00:21:43,520 --> 00:21:44,560
Speaker 3: The need calls us.

471
00:21:44,840 --> 00:21:47,440
Speaker 8: Right, So before we go open the office in a

472
00:21:47,480 --> 00:21:50,639
Speaker 8: specific location, we've already had referral sources there. We've already

473
00:21:50,680 --> 00:21:53,040
Speaker 8: been working in that area in some sort, So us

474
00:21:53,080 --> 00:21:54,800
Speaker 8: open the office is just a form of say it's like,

475
00:21:54,840 --> 00:21:57,040
Speaker 8: we like to go with a demand in there, but

476
00:21:57,320 --> 00:21:59,159
Speaker 8: we what I like to say is like we like

477
00:21:59,240 --> 00:22:02,119
Speaker 8: to go with a demand this and where the resources

478
00:22:02,119 --> 00:22:03,760
Speaker 8: they are like, because you could have a demand and

479
00:22:03,800 --> 00:22:04,679
Speaker 8: then not have the staff.

480
00:22:04,720 --> 00:22:08,000
Speaker 3: We had that in Secil County. We had a great demand.

481
00:22:08,040 --> 00:22:10,280
Speaker 8: People are saying, come out here, there's no other organizations

482
00:22:10,320 --> 00:22:10,760
Speaker 8: out here.

483
00:22:10,960 --> 00:22:12,760
Speaker 3: We're like, perfect, we got out there.

484
00:22:12,800 --> 00:22:15,200
Speaker 8: The workforce wasn't there, so there was a reason why

485
00:22:15,240 --> 00:22:17,719
Speaker 8: people weren't out there, right, So where the where the

486
00:22:17,800 --> 00:22:20,119
Speaker 8: where the where the demand and where the resources in

487
00:22:20,160 --> 00:22:23,520
Speaker 8: a sect is where we like to be. And but

488
00:22:24,640 --> 00:22:27,879
Speaker 8: you have to create systems that are And it's so

489
00:22:27,920 --> 00:22:32,399
Speaker 8: funny that, uh, when my partner, Jada, she had joined

490
00:22:32,480 --> 00:22:34,760
Speaker 8: us when we were just when we were scaling the clinic, right,

491
00:22:35,240 --> 00:22:38,360
Speaker 8: and she was like, we have to I had paid disparities.

492
00:22:38,720 --> 00:22:41,640
Speaker 8: Somebody in pg got paid this thing, somebody in Baltimore

493
00:22:41,640 --> 00:22:42,400
Speaker 8: got paid this thing.

494
00:22:42,880 --> 00:22:44,320
Speaker 3: We had no vacation policy.

495
00:22:44,359 --> 00:22:46,240
Speaker 8: The policy would just go whenever you want, just don't

496
00:22:46,280 --> 00:22:49,200
Speaker 8: be abusive or whatever else. She was like, no, we

497
00:22:49,320 --> 00:22:52,920
Speaker 8: have to have the same policy everywhere. The people's role

498
00:22:53,000 --> 00:22:54,760
Speaker 8: have to be the same the pay has to be

499
00:22:54,800 --> 00:22:58,359
Speaker 8: the same everything. So that's creating a system, right, and

500
00:22:58,400 --> 00:23:00,960
Speaker 8: then how do we manage these companies in other areas.

501
00:23:01,000 --> 00:23:02,480
Speaker 8: We have to have touch points, right, we have to

502
00:23:02,520 --> 00:23:05,479
Speaker 8: have dashboards and touch points. We have to have these

503
00:23:05,640 --> 00:23:08,439
Speaker 8: these different meetings that allow us to touch in but

504
00:23:08,560 --> 00:23:09,800
Speaker 8: without actually being there.

505
00:23:09,920 --> 00:23:10,159
Speaker 5: You know.

506
00:23:10,240 --> 00:23:15,760
Speaker 8: So, but in your payroll system, just different things like payroll, right,

507
00:23:16,000 --> 00:23:17,760
Speaker 8: making sure that people are put in the right way.

508
00:23:17,840 --> 00:23:21,399
Speaker 8: Make sure that you're how we running payroll. Let's do

509
00:23:21,480 --> 00:23:24,359
Speaker 8: it this way, whether this is a small business or

510
00:23:24,359 --> 00:23:26,840
Speaker 8: whether this is a corporation, because we know we want

511
00:23:26,840 --> 00:23:28,800
Speaker 8: to scale up to that. Like right now, black Swan

512
00:23:29,240 --> 00:23:32,639
Speaker 8: has more employees than the needs and it has a

513
00:23:32,800 --> 00:23:36,600
Speaker 8: very overwhelming management system. But we're not building this for

514
00:23:36,800 --> 00:23:39,919
Speaker 8: one black Swan. We're building this for eight black Swans.

515
00:23:39,960 --> 00:23:41,840
Speaker 8: So it may seem od to people who are in

516
00:23:41,840 --> 00:23:45,280
Speaker 8: the restaurant industry now, but when we're eight restaurants in,

517
00:23:45,840 --> 00:23:47,639
Speaker 8: they'll already have their rhythm when we'll be able to

518
00:23:47,680 --> 00:23:48,480
Speaker 8: run to the next thing.

519
00:23:49,359 --> 00:23:54,400
Speaker 5: So the healthcare business in America, as far as it's

520
00:23:55,080 --> 00:23:59,640
Speaker 5: the largest business in America, as far as expenditures federal government,

521
00:23:59,720 --> 00:24:01,959
Speaker 5: I think it's like thirty five percent of the budget,

522
00:24:02,200 --> 00:24:07,560
Speaker 5: more money spent on healthcare than the military. And most

523
00:24:07,560 --> 00:24:10,280
Speaker 5: people when you think about healthcare, you think about, you know,

524
00:24:10,840 --> 00:24:15,960
Speaker 5: doctors and disease and surgery, but mental health is a

525
00:24:16,200 --> 00:24:20,040
Speaker 5: is a very big part of it is unfortunately getting

526
00:24:20,040 --> 00:24:23,879
Speaker 5: bigger and bigger. So the business is actually a pretty

527
00:24:23,960 --> 00:24:28,680
Speaker 5: brilliant idea, but it seems costly to start How what

528
00:24:28,760 --> 00:24:32,359
Speaker 5: was the startup cost? And like for anybody that's looking

529
00:24:32,359 --> 00:24:34,840
Speaker 5: to get into the space, what do they need, like

530
00:24:34,880 --> 00:24:39,120
Speaker 5: what certificates with certifications, what do you need to actually

531
00:24:39,560 --> 00:24:41,520
Speaker 5: get into the space that you guys are in.

532
00:24:42,119 --> 00:24:46,320
Speaker 8: So to your point, behavioral health is something that is

533
00:24:46,359 --> 00:24:50,840
Speaker 8: like it's growing substantially, Like well, it's a good and

534
00:24:50,840 --> 00:24:53,520
Speaker 8: a bad thing. The need for behavior health has grown,

535
00:24:53,520 --> 00:24:55,520
Speaker 8: which is a sad thing because you know, people are

536
00:24:55,520 --> 00:24:57,040
Speaker 8: dealing with a lot of traumas and a lot of

537
00:24:57,920 --> 00:25:01,760
Speaker 8: disorders and people have been dealing with these things previously.

538
00:25:01,880 --> 00:25:04,560
Speaker 8: Is just that now they understand what they're dealing with.

539
00:25:04,600 --> 00:25:07,080
Speaker 8: So imagine you've been struggling with something and there was

540
00:25:07,160 --> 00:25:09,400
Speaker 8: no doctor, there was nobody that could speak to you

541
00:25:09,760 --> 00:25:10,920
Speaker 8: about what you're going through.

542
00:25:11,400 --> 00:25:12,919
Speaker 3: If I if I hurt my leg, I know, I

543
00:25:12,920 --> 00:25:13,280
Speaker 3: can go.

544
00:25:13,240 --> 00:25:15,280
Speaker 8: To an orthopedic or something like that and they could

545
00:25:15,280 --> 00:25:17,159
Speaker 8: tell me what I'm going through, right, But I know

546
00:25:17,240 --> 00:25:21,480
Speaker 8: I'm feeling flood, I'm feeling fluttered, and I'm feeling nervous,

547
00:25:21,520 --> 00:25:23,119
Speaker 8: and I don't you know, some people might not know

548
00:25:23,160 --> 00:25:26,280
Speaker 8: that that labeled that as anxiety, right, I mean, obviously

549
00:25:26,280 --> 00:25:30,399
Speaker 8: there's other diagnostic criteria associated with that. But uh So,

550
00:25:30,520 --> 00:25:32,679
Speaker 8: now it's great that the market is growing, there's an

551
00:25:32,640 --> 00:25:35,399
Speaker 8: awareness around that, and that there is even more of

552
00:25:35,480 --> 00:25:38,200
Speaker 8: awareness growing, especially in the urban communities, because for years

553
00:25:38,200 --> 00:25:41,840
Speaker 8: we've suffered in silence, right, We've we've dealt with you know,

554
00:25:41,920 --> 00:25:44,240
Speaker 8: trauma from murders and all this other stuff. We suffered

555
00:25:44,240 --> 00:25:47,280
Speaker 8: in silence. But now there's an awareness growing for and

556
00:25:47,960 --> 00:25:50,800
Speaker 8: there is a market. Firms like for us, the big

557
00:25:50,840 --> 00:25:54,639
Speaker 8: businesses are seeing this. Private equity firms like for us,

558
00:25:54,920 --> 00:25:57,720
Speaker 8: like our company was just acquired by a private equity firm,

559
00:25:58,080 --> 00:26:05,640
Speaker 8: Webster Webster Equity Partners, thank you, and so they it's

560
00:26:05,680 --> 00:26:08,520
Speaker 8: the first time we actually announced that, thank you, but

561
00:26:08,600 --> 00:26:11,720
Speaker 8: we were acquired. I mean, we're still we're still part

562
00:26:11,720 --> 00:26:14,200
Speaker 8: owners in it as well, but they wanted to they

563
00:26:14,280 --> 00:26:17,200
Speaker 8: believe in what we are doing. Like these are bankers

564
00:26:17,840 --> 00:26:20,840
Speaker 8: who have no aspiration to be service providers, but they

565
00:26:20,880 --> 00:26:23,119
Speaker 8: know that this is a hot market right now. And

566
00:26:23,200 --> 00:26:24,800
Speaker 8: what they saw on us is that, Hey, you have

567
00:26:24,840 --> 00:26:27,439
Speaker 8: this great platform, you built this great business. What do

568
00:26:27,480 --> 00:26:31,040
Speaker 8: you need to continue to expand throughout Maryland, neighboring states

569
00:26:31,040 --> 00:26:33,120
Speaker 8: across the country. One of the biggest things we need

570
00:26:33,160 --> 00:26:36,280
Speaker 8: is access to capital. So now that Webster has a

571
00:26:36,280 --> 00:26:38,879
Speaker 8: fund of almost two billion dollars that they've raised, that

572
00:26:38,960 --> 00:26:41,520
Speaker 8: we have access to you to continue to do more

573
00:26:41,520 --> 00:26:44,760
Speaker 8: of what we do, but then buy other companies throughout

574
00:26:44,760 --> 00:26:47,680
Speaker 8: the state of Maryland, companies who are already existing doing

575
00:26:47,720 --> 00:26:50,639
Speaker 8: great work that you know may be looking to expand,

576
00:26:50,680 --> 00:26:53,520
Speaker 8: maybe looking for access, strategy and stuff like that, or

577
00:26:53,640 --> 00:26:56,760
Speaker 8: just who never thought about selling or stuff because they're

578
00:26:56,840 --> 00:26:59,480
Speaker 8: strength in numbers. If and and the best thing about

579
00:26:59,600 --> 00:27:01,960
Speaker 8: in then the process, and especially when you roll equity

580
00:27:01,960 --> 00:27:04,919
Speaker 8: in is that I get the I benefit from your

581
00:27:04,960 --> 00:27:07,080
Speaker 8: success and you benefit from my success. So we want

582
00:27:07,119 --> 00:27:10,600
Speaker 8: to continue to work together. So it's like, hey, five

583
00:27:10,640 --> 00:27:13,359
Speaker 8: or six of us, we're doing well individually. I was

584
00:27:13,359 --> 00:27:17,040
Speaker 8: watching Mike Sisseski. He was saying, if you punt somebody

585
00:27:17,119 --> 00:27:19,520
Speaker 8: like this, it doesn't hurt, right, you'll wind up hurting yourself.

586
00:27:19,720 --> 00:27:21,800
Speaker 8: But if you punt somebody like this with five fingers

587
00:27:21,800 --> 00:27:23,919
Speaker 8: put together, you're gonna have more of an impact. So

588
00:27:24,040 --> 00:27:26,080
Speaker 8: just to think about the amount of impact that we

589
00:27:26,080 --> 00:27:28,080
Speaker 8: can have in these communities if we can come together

590
00:27:28,080 --> 00:27:30,560
Speaker 8: and form these bigger organizations.

591
00:27:31,040 --> 00:27:33,000
Speaker 3: But if you're looking to get started.

592
00:27:32,640 --> 00:27:35,520
Speaker 8: Obviously there's a totally different process than that we're fifteen

593
00:27:35,600 --> 00:27:36,000
Speaker 8: years in.

594
00:27:37,920 --> 00:27:38,399
Speaker 3: In Maryland.

595
00:27:38,400 --> 00:27:40,919
Speaker 8: You gotta go through like Maryland Medicaid, you gotta be

596
00:27:40,960 --> 00:27:43,399
Speaker 8: a Medicaid provider. You gotta go through CARF get your

597
00:27:43,400 --> 00:27:45,480
Speaker 8: car for accreditation. Like this isn't just something why I

598
00:27:45,560 --> 00:27:47,120
Speaker 8: wake up and say stuff like that. Right with Big

599
00:27:47,160 --> 00:27:48,560
Speaker 8: Brother program I want to work with adults.

600
00:27:48,600 --> 00:27:50,440
Speaker 3: I want to you know, they have YMCAs for stuff

601
00:27:50,480 --> 00:27:50,679
Speaker 3: like that.

602
00:27:50,760 --> 00:27:54,159
Speaker 8: Right with Big Brother programs, this is we're treating people's

603
00:27:54,640 --> 00:27:57,080
Speaker 8: mental health. So this is a very serious thing, you know.

604
00:27:57,440 --> 00:28:00,480
Speaker 8: I see some programs people are just like, you know,

605
00:28:00,520 --> 00:28:03,919
Speaker 8: playing basketball, and if there's a treatment model associated with that,

606
00:28:03,920 --> 00:28:06,040
Speaker 8: then that's perfect, you know. But some people are just

607
00:28:06,080 --> 00:28:09,120
Speaker 8: doing other things that aren't really clinically sound. So when

608
00:28:09,119 --> 00:28:10,919
Speaker 8: people are getting into this, you have to first make

609
00:28:10,960 --> 00:28:12,800
Speaker 8: sure that you're getting into this from a clinically sound

610
00:28:12,800 --> 00:28:16,400
Speaker 8: perspective as it relates the startup costs. I mean, if

611
00:28:16,400 --> 00:28:18,520
Speaker 8: you're starting to PERRP, if you're starting a clinic, or

612
00:28:18,520 --> 00:28:19,640
Speaker 8: you're starting to sub program.

613
00:28:19,840 --> 00:28:23,160
Speaker 3: I'll give Jeanine her credit. This had I had BTSD.

614
00:28:23,200 --> 00:28:24,920
Speaker 8: We were mentoring program, we were trying to get into

615
00:28:25,000 --> 00:28:29,000
Speaker 8: becoming a medicaid provider and provider and more services. And

616
00:28:29,200 --> 00:28:31,640
Speaker 8: I had contracts that were I'm paying me. I wasn't

617
00:28:31,720 --> 00:28:34,119
Speaker 8: keeping proper ar reports and stuff like this. I just

618
00:28:34,160 --> 00:28:36,600
Speaker 8: need they owe me money. And I needed to expand

619
00:28:36,640 --> 00:28:39,600
Speaker 8: into this healthcare thing and they needed, you know, I

620
00:28:39,680 --> 00:28:42,720
Speaker 8: think I needed I can't remember how much. But Janine

621
00:28:42,720 --> 00:28:44,120
Speaker 8: look with data, her full one K.

622
00:28:45,280 --> 00:28:48,840
Speaker 3: It's beautiful. She looked with data. I almost got joke

623
00:28:48,920 --> 00:28:50,800
Speaker 3: up now thinking about it. But she looked with data.

624
00:28:50,880 --> 00:28:54,480
Speaker 3: Her full one K gave me eleven thousand dollars. And

625
00:28:54,520 --> 00:28:55,320
Speaker 3: she was like, yo, your.

626
00:28:55,280 --> 00:28:57,080
Speaker 9: Parents don't notice she's just announced it to the world.

627
00:28:57,160 --> 00:28:58,520
Speaker 9: You say, what, my parents don't know that?

628
00:28:58,800 --> 00:29:04,479
Speaker 3: Oh, well they should be happy it's been replenished.

629
00:29:04,800 --> 00:29:08,840
Speaker 8: So she she was like one of my first maybe

630
00:29:08,880 --> 00:29:11,480
Speaker 8: only investor, you know, and and bt s T she

631
00:29:11,560 --> 00:29:14,960
Speaker 8: invested eleven grand got hor and this was within months

632
00:29:14,960 --> 00:29:16,640
Speaker 8: of dating.

633
00:29:17,200 --> 00:29:18,360
Speaker 3: So you know, I was we.

634
00:29:18,280 --> 00:29:21,280
Speaker 9: Were married married, yes, I don't know that.

635
00:29:25,960 --> 00:29:29,040
Speaker 8: It might well we weren't married, but and she was

636
00:29:29,080 --> 00:29:29,600
Speaker 8: at her job.

637
00:29:29,640 --> 00:29:31,600
Speaker 5: She was like, yo, listen, that's a big difference between

638
00:29:31,600 --> 00:29:33,720
Speaker 5: months and dating, and.

639
00:29:34,720 --> 00:29:39,600
Speaker 3: Had looking like tenderless swindler, like I just finished.

640
00:29:39,240 --> 00:29:41,560
Speaker 6: You two days is all it took.

641
00:29:44,000 --> 00:29:48,040
Speaker 3: Yes, by the way, that's a new line.

642
00:29:48,120 --> 00:29:49,840
Speaker 6: Yes, they really loved me.

643
00:29:49,960 --> 00:29:54,560
Speaker 5: If you really really loved me, that for me, real

644
00:29:54,600 --> 00:29:56,480
Speaker 5: quick show, that's.

645
00:29:56,280 --> 00:29:58,680
Speaker 2: Not what happened. I was not recommend that to anyone's daughter,

646
00:29:58,720 --> 00:29:59,000
Speaker 2: but I.

647
00:29:58,920 --> 00:29:59,240
Speaker 6: Know it was.

648
00:29:59,520 --> 00:30:01,840
Speaker 3: It was scary for you, regardless of being married or not.

649
00:30:03,760 --> 00:30:06,000
Speaker 4: This episode is brought to you by P and C Bank.

650
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665
00:30:57,040 --> 00:31:01,200
Speaker 4: the line even builds odds are they're using Square. We

666
00:31:01,360 --> 00:31:03,880
Speaker 4: love supporting businesses that run on Square because it just

667
00:31:03,920 --> 00:31:07,160
Speaker 4: feels seamless. Whether it's a local coffee shop, a vendor

668
00:31:07,200 --> 00:31:09,480
Speaker 4: at a pop up market, or even one of our

669
00:31:09,520 --> 00:31:13,160
Speaker 4: merch partners. Square makes it easy for them to take payments,

670
00:31:13,400 --> 00:31:17,080
Speaker 4: manage inventory, and run their business with confidence, all from

671
00:31:17,200 --> 00:31:20,600
Speaker 4: one simple system. If you're a business owner or even

672
00:31:20,720 --> 00:31:24,240
Speaker 4: just thinking about launching something soon, Square is hands down

673
00:31:24,280 --> 00:31:27,320
Speaker 4: one of the best tools out there to help you start, run,

674
00:31:27,520 --> 00:31:30,840
Speaker 4: and grow. It's not just about payments, it's about giving

675
00:31:30,880 --> 00:31:32,960
Speaker 4: you time back so you can focus on.

676
00:31:32,920 --> 00:31:34,400
Speaker 6: What matters most ready.

677
00:31:34,400 --> 00:31:37,760
Speaker 4: To see how Square can transform your business, visit Square

678
00:31:37,840 --> 00:31:42,360
Speaker 4: dot com, backslash go, backslash eyl to learn more that

679
00:31:42,560 --> 00:31:48,040
Speaker 4: Square dot com, backslash go backslash eyl, don't wait, don't hesitate,

680
00:31:48,160 --> 00:31:50,520
Speaker 4: let's square handle the back end so you can keep

681
00:31:50,560 --> 00:31:51,720
Speaker 4: pushing your vision forward.

682
00:31:54,040 --> 00:31:55,560
Speaker 8: It was scary, and she gave it to me, and

683
00:31:55,960 --> 00:31:57,880
Speaker 8: we were now able to become and we had to

684
00:31:58,120 --> 00:32:01,240
Speaker 8: resent capital we had mixed with at our capital that

685
00:32:01,280 --> 00:32:03,960
Speaker 8: they needed to see. And then when we decided to

686
00:32:04,000 --> 00:32:06,120
Speaker 8: advance to a clinic, you know, that was a whole

687
00:32:06,120 --> 00:32:08,560
Speaker 8: different story about how that needed to go. But you know,

688
00:32:08,600 --> 00:32:10,760
Speaker 8: I would say you can get in it pretty reasonably,

689
00:32:10,800 --> 00:32:13,520
Speaker 8: you know, fifty thousand dollars or less, you know, depending

690
00:32:13,560 --> 00:32:16,200
Speaker 8: on the size of your program, how robust you're trying

691
00:32:16,200 --> 00:32:16,880
Speaker 8: to be or whatever.

692
00:32:16,960 --> 00:32:19,280
Speaker 3: You know, I would say that. But outside of that,

693
00:32:19,320 --> 00:32:19,720
Speaker 3: one thing.

694
00:32:19,600 --> 00:32:22,360
Speaker 8: I would like for people to understand is that, you know,

695
00:32:23,080 --> 00:32:24,760
Speaker 8: it's good to use our own money, but if we

696
00:32:24,760 --> 00:32:26,800
Speaker 8: can use other people money, that is excellent. So if

697
00:32:26,800 --> 00:32:30,920
Speaker 8: you can build lines of credit, work a great banking

698
00:32:31,000 --> 00:32:34,360
Speaker 8: relationship with someone so that you can kind of expedite

699
00:32:34,360 --> 00:32:37,320
Speaker 8: that growth, because for years, we got our first line

700
00:32:37,320 --> 00:32:39,840
Speaker 8: of credit in twenty twenty in the middle of a pandemic.

701
00:32:39,880 --> 00:32:41,680
Speaker 8: I still don't know how we got a line of credit.

702
00:32:41,720 --> 00:32:42,480
Speaker 3: In the pandemic.

703
00:32:43,520 --> 00:32:46,600
Speaker 8: Well, actually I do know, because they changed healthcare providers

704
00:32:46,600 --> 00:32:48,280
Speaker 8: and they owed us a crap a lot of money.

705
00:32:48,400 --> 00:32:52,200
Speaker 8: So we finally had an AR report. But there was months.

706
00:32:52,720 --> 00:32:55,560
Speaker 8: I mean when she had our son, we were growing

707
00:32:55,600 --> 00:32:58,840
Speaker 8: our program. Another company tried to take us out, and

708
00:32:58,920 --> 00:33:01,320
Speaker 8: so we had to like start another office and another

709
00:33:01,400 --> 00:33:04,640
Speaker 8: office and we had to come on Jada join and

710
00:33:05,480 --> 00:33:11,240
Speaker 8: we literally went months without being paid. Like we made

711
00:33:11,320 --> 00:33:15,960
Speaker 8: this total investment into the program. We drained our complete savings.

712
00:33:16,000 --> 00:33:18,400
Speaker 8: I mean, we were like getting there, we were getting

713
00:33:18,600 --> 00:33:21,000
Speaker 8: it was about to get bad, right, and she was thinking, like, Yo,

714
00:33:21,040 --> 00:33:22,360
Speaker 8: this might not have been the greatest decision.

715
00:33:22,360 --> 00:33:25,640
Speaker 3: Now, but we went months without being paid.

716
00:33:25,640 --> 00:33:27,240
Speaker 8: But if we had a line of credit, we could

717
00:33:27,280 --> 00:33:30,040
Speaker 8: have still grow and not have to worry about not

718
00:33:30,120 --> 00:33:34,320
Speaker 8: paying ourselves. So if the facyt it is initially working

719
00:33:34,320 --> 00:33:37,800
Speaker 8: capital and stuff like that, the better it is initially.

720
00:33:38,280 --> 00:33:40,280
Speaker 6: That she means having flashbacks.

721
00:33:41,760 --> 00:33:43,960
Speaker 4: So I mean, you went from one employee and we

722
00:33:44,040 --> 00:33:45,360
Speaker 4: talked about not becoming a.

723
00:33:45,320 --> 00:33:48,360
Speaker 6: Slave to the business at three hundred employees. What's that?

724
00:33:48,480 --> 00:33:52,120
Speaker 4: I mean, especially in our community, the retention process, right,

725
00:33:52,200 --> 00:33:54,520
Speaker 4: we've talked about this, trying to hire the right people

726
00:33:54,560 --> 00:33:56,320
Speaker 4: and trying to give back to the community and making

727
00:33:56,320 --> 00:33:59,160
Speaker 4: sure that you know, we're giving opportunities to people that

728
00:33:59,200 --> 00:34:01,320
Speaker 4: look like us. What what is that like for your business?

729
00:34:01,360 --> 00:34:06,000
Speaker 4: Obviously going from one to three hundred, the retention process, it.

730
00:34:06,000 --> 00:34:11,040
Speaker 9: Depends on which business we're speaking of, right, because what

731
00:34:11,280 --> 00:34:14,360
Speaker 9: day to day looks like at BTSD is completely different

732
00:34:14,480 --> 00:34:17,760
Speaker 9: than what the data looks like at Selfish Beauty. Our clients,

733
00:34:17,880 --> 00:34:20,680
Speaker 9: not our clients, I'm sorry, our employees have We try

734
00:34:20,719 --> 00:34:25,320
Speaker 9: to keep happy back by their commission honestly, their commission

735
00:34:25,320 --> 00:34:30,080
Speaker 9: base and they are technically ten ninety nine employees, so

736
00:34:30,120 --> 00:34:33,239
Speaker 9: they like to feel like they're self employed and they're

737
00:34:33,239 --> 00:34:35,640
Speaker 9: not employees of us, when at the end of the day,

738
00:34:35,640 --> 00:34:40,400
Speaker 9: they're still under the same umbrella. But we we always

739
00:34:40,400 --> 00:34:41,480
Speaker 9: treat everyone with respect.

740
00:34:41,520 --> 00:34:42,760
Speaker 2: We try to be really nice.

741
00:34:42,840 --> 00:34:44,719
Speaker 9: We know that the field that we're in, which is

742
00:34:44,719 --> 00:34:47,840
Speaker 9: the beauty industry, you could go anywhere, you can work anywhere,

743
00:34:47,840 --> 00:34:49,600
Speaker 9: you could go to a suite, you could leave us

744
00:34:49,600 --> 00:34:51,719
Speaker 9: in any moment, So we try to create more of

745
00:34:51,760 --> 00:34:52,640
Speaker 9: a family culture.

746
00:34:53,120 --> 00:34:54,640
Speaker 2: We are all a big family.

747
00:34:54,719 --> 00:34:57,359
Speaker 9: We look out for each other and we know that yeah,

748
00:34:57,400 --> 00:34:58,560
Speaker 9: we could go anywhere.

749
00:34:58,239 --> 00:34:59,560
Speaker 2: Else, but we're happy here.

750
00:35:00,160 --> 00:35:03,080
Speaker 9: That's kind of the culture that we create a selfish

751
00:35:03,280 --> 00:35:05,120
Speaker 9: but BTSD, I guess it's similar.

752
00:35:05,320 --> 00:35:07,880
Speaker 8: Why we even say its selfish is it's it's different,

753
00:35:07,920 --> 00:35:12,080
Speaker 8: it's it's tough. Still, retention is tough because while the pandemic,

754
00:35:12,440 --> 00:35:14,359
Speaker 8: you know, it put a lot of people out of work,

755
00:35:14,680 --> 00:35:17,280
Speaker 8: but it also motivated and created a bunch of entrepreneurs

756
00:35:17,320 --> 00:35:19,719
Speaker 8: at the same time, right, and definitely a lot of

757
00:35:19,719 --> 00:35:21,880
Speaker 8: work from home people. It's hard to get people to

758
00:35:21,880 --> 00:35:23,720
Speaker 8: come in office of retention. You got to be flexible

759
00:35:23,800 --> 00:35:25,920
Speaker 8: first of all, right, because some people just don't want

760
00:35:25,960 --> 00:35:29,239
Speaker 8: to come back in. But that but in that entrepreneurship

761
00:35:29,280 --> 00:35:31,600
Speaker 8: meant people like, hey, I can be an entrepreneur. Taking

762
00:35:31,640 --> 00:35:34,600
Speaker 8: this and exaggerated it right, people like, hey, I can

763
00:35:34,640 --> 00:35:36,719
Speaker 8: be an entrepreneur, I could be a nail tech. I

764
00:35:36,719 --> 00:35:39,400
Speaker 8: can go open my own suite. You can, but can

765
00:35:39,440 --> 00:35:41,640
Speaker 8: you generate your own referrals as well? Because what you

766
00:35:41,680 --> 00:35:43,879
Speaker 8: try to do is take our clients and go open

767
00:35:43,880 --> 00:35:46,120
Speaker 8: your own that's not true entrepreneurship in this in this.

768
00:35:46,120 --> 00:35:47,640
Speaker 2: Case, and then they put CEO in front of it

769
00:35:47,760 --> 00:35:48,480
Speaker 2: there exactly.

770
00:35:48,560 --> 00:35:51,520
Speaker 8: So retention is hard, especially when people have all of

771
00:35:51,560 --> 00:35:54,879
Speaker 8: these options, which is great. Optionality is great entrepreneurship is great,

772
00:35:55,200 --> 00:35:56,680
Speaker 8: Like we're just preaching like, hey, you don't might not

773
00:35:56,719 --> 00:35:58,840
Speaker 8: want to be a slave to that job, right, but

774
00:35:59,520 --> 00:36:04,000
Speaker 8: it also creates a vulnerability in the market of like

775
00:36:04,080 --> 00:36:06,319
Speaker 8: hiring and maintaining people. So what you have to do,

776
00:36:06,480 --> 00:36:09,000
Speaker 8: like she was saying, is create a great environment where

777
00:36:09,040 --> 00:36:12,000
Speaker 8: people feel valued, they feel respected, and that one that

778
00:36:12,000 --> 00:36:15,360
Speaker 8: they feel compensated appropriately for their job. But they also

779
00:36:15,640 --> 00:36:17,359
Speaker 8: believe in the mission in what you're doing.

780
00:36:17,440 --> 00:36:17,640
Speaker 3: Right.

781
00:36:17,880 --> 00:36:19,960
Speaker 8: So a lot of the staff we have, they will

782
00:36:20,040 --> 00:36:23,799
Speaker 8: run through a wall for BTSD or even black Swan, right,

783
00:36:24,040 --> 00:36:27,800
Speaker 8: So they believe that the black Swan we had people,

784
00:36:27,960 --> 00:36:30,080
Speaker 8: you know, we never black Swan was set up where

785
00:36:30,080 --> 00:36:32,960
Speaker 8: it was just hey for everybody, right, and it was urban,

786
00:36:33,040 --> 00:36:35,640
Speaker 8: but it was for everybody. I guess people thought.

787
00:36:35,480 --> 00:36:37,840
Speaker 3: Black Swan meant black black Swan.

788
00:36:37,640 --> 00:36:40,319
Speaker 8: Right, So they're like, yo, everybody that we hired was

789
00:36:40,360 --> 00:36:42,200
Speaker 8: all black, right, I mean all shades of black, all

790
00:36:42,239 --> 00:36:47,200
Speaker 8: styles of black, everything, right, and so but after but

791
00:36:47,840 --> 00:36:49,960
Speaker 8: they what they believe the reason why that was is

792
00:36:50,000 --> 00:36:51,960
Speaker 8: because they believe, like yo, this is a black owned

793
00:36:52,000 --> 00:36:55,320
Speaker 8: restaurant in Harbor East and body in the culture. It's elevated.

794
00:36:55,320 --> 00:36:57,640
Speaker 8: It's still sophisticated. I want to be a part of that.

795
00:36:58,000 --> 00:37:00,759
Speaker 8: People like man, there's three beautiful women that are running

796
00:37:00,800 --> 00:37:04,560
Speaker 8: Selfish Beauty. They're cool, they're business women, they are successful.

797
00:37:04,840 --> 00:37:06,000
Speaker 8: I want to be a part of that. I want

798
00:37:06,000 --> 00:37:07,319
Speaker 8: to be in that environment. And the same thing with

799
00:37:07,360 --> 00:37:10,200
Speaker 8: BTS today. Believe in the work that we're doing and

800
00:37:10,239 --> 00:37:12,319
Speaker 8: the commitment that we have to these communities, and they

801
00:37:12,320 --> 00:37:13,760
Speaker 8: really want to be a part of that as well.

802
00:37:14,040 --> 00:37:16,560
Speaker 8: But I would say, you got to stay flexible and

803
00:37:16,600 --> 00:37:18,040
Speaker 8: create these work environments.

804
00:37:18,120 --> 00:37:19,520
Speaker 3: Okay, we know that that's the threat.

805
00:37:19,840 --> 00:37:21,799
Speaker 8: So how do we create these work environments that make

806
00:37:21,880 --> 00:37:25,440
Speaker 8: people feel as independent as possible, but still provide the

807
00:37:25,480 --> 00:37:26,480
Speaker 8: god rails and the.

808
00:37:26,440 --> 00:37:28,920
Speaker 3: Support selfish institution.

809
00:37:29,600 --> 00:37:36,600
Speaker 5: So I want to talk about Selfish completely different business

810
00:37:36,880 --> 00:37:40,040
Speaker 5: from mental health space where you're in the beauty spa

811
00:37:40,440 --> 00:37:44,920
Speaker 5: event space. Right, So how does that idea come about?

812
00:37:45,520 --> 00:37:51,760
Speaker 5: And was there any hesitation in doing too many different

813
00:37:51,800 --> 00:37:52,600
Speaker 5: things at one time?

814
00:37:54,080 --> 00:37:57,080
Speaker 9: So let me start by I guess reverse engineering this.

815
00:37:57,600 --> 00:38:01,880
Speaker 9: Before I left my my job and went to BTST,

816
00:38:02,200 --> 00:38:04,080
Speaker 9: I had done a multitude of things. I had worked

817
00:38:04,080 --> 00:38:07,200
Speaker 9: in health care for the health insurance company. Then I

818
00:38:07,280 --> 00:38:10,759
Speaker 9: left that and went to Social Security. I did work

819
00:38:10,760 --> 00:38:11,640
Speaker 9: at best Buy as well.

820
00:38:13,160 --> 00:38:14,160
Speaker 2: Then I want to I want to.

821
00:38:14,120 --> 00:38:15,239
Speaker 3: Shout out for the best lives.

822
00:38:15,320 --> 00:38:18,120
Speaker 8: She was working at the at the at the healthcare company,

823
00:38:18,160 --> 00:38:20,879
Speaker 8: at best Buy and getting a graduate degree and being

824
00:38:20,880 --> 00:38:21,879
Speaker 8: pregnant at the same time.

825
00:38:21,960 --> 00:38:23,120
Speaker 2: Yeah, I did all the same time.

826
00:38:23,920 --> 00:38:25,560
Speaker 3: Thank out the.

827
00:38:25,560 --> 00:38:26,360
Speaker 6: Reward points for that.

828
00:38:27,560 --> 00:38:29,320
Speaker 3: And you made a cash out of for one K.

829
00:38:31,000 --> 00:38:34,320
Speaker 4: What are sources and income?

830
00:38:34,360 --> 00:38:39,480
Speaker 9: I'm like, god us, but you talk about climbing the ladder.

831
00:38:39,560 --> 00:38:41,680
Speaker 2: That was literally the definition of climbing the ladder.

832
00:38:41,760 --> 00:38:44,000
Speaker 9: I was just doing whatever I could to get whatever

833
00:38:44,040 --> 00:38:46,719
Speaker 9: experience I could, and at the time, honestly, when I

834
00:38:46,760 --> 00:38:48,560
Speaker 9: was working for Blue Crossman Shield, they were paying for

835
00:38:48,600 --> 00:38:50,319
Speaker 9: me to be in grad school, so it all just

836
00:38:50,360 --> 00:38:53,080
Speaker 9: made sense. So Nita to say, I picked up a

837
00:38:53,120 --> 00:38:55,760
Speaker 9: lot of skill sets in each one of those jobs

838
00:38:56,280 --> 00:38:59,160
Speaker 9: that I needed to further me on where I was

839
00:38:59,160 --> 00:39:01,000
Speaker 9: going to ultimately end up. But I had no idea.

840
00:39:01,200 --> 00:39:03,200
Speaker 9: I was just doing what I thought was best. So

841
00:39:03,239 --> 00:39:05,680
Speaker 9: then you fast forward to me leaving Social Security and

842
00:39:05,719 --> 00:39:07,960
Speaker 9: coming on to BTSD Well, the only reason why I

843
00:39:08,080 --> 00:39:10,320
Speaker 9: knew how to do HR and human resources things was

844
00:39:10,360 --> 00:39:13,880
Speaker 9: because when I worked at care first, I was in marketing,

845
00:39:14,080 --> 00:39:15,960
Speaker 9: but they also had me doing a lot of data

846
00:39:16,120 --> 00:39:20,120
Speaker 9: entry things with people's information, and I kind of learned

847
00:39:20,120 --> 00:39:23,080
Speaker 9: how to process it. So needless to say, I kind

848
00:39:23,080 --> 00:39:25,400
Speaker 9: of just picked up all in. I continue to just

849
00:39:25,480 --> 00:39:28,680
Speaker 9: add from the different careers that I had, and I

850
00:39:28,719 --> 00:39:32,719
Speaker 9: continue to just add it to my resume. So now

851
00:39:32,800 --> 00:39:36,880
Speaker 9: I'm at BTST, I'm doing HR and clearly, like he said,

852
00:39:37,000 --> 00:39:40,960
Speaker 9: you can't be the owner's wife and BEHR. And then

853
00:39:41,000 --> 00:39:43,480
Speaker 9: as we were growing, it was just too many employees

854
00:39:43,520 --> 00:39:47,319
Speaker 9: for me to honestly handle. So once I had our

855
00:39:47,360 --> 00:39:49,560
Speaker 9: second son, I just kind of took some time off,

856
00:39:49,880 --> 00:39:52,600
Speaker 9: and during that time off, I was able to kind

857
00:39:52,600 --> 00:39:56,919
Speaker 9: of like develop my own ideas and identity and things

858
00:39:56,920 --> 00:39:59,160
Speaker 9: that I really liked for myself, and I realized that

859
00:39:59,200 --> 00:40:01,799
Speaker 9: beauty was one of them. So I kind of reached

860
00:40:01,840 --> 00:40:04,400
Speaker 9: out to two of my friends and the three of

861
00:40:04,480 --> 00:40:08,000
Speaker 9: us agreed that there was a need for more of

862
00:40:08,120 --> 00:40:10,640
Speaker 9: the spot salon feel. A lot of people were going

863
00:40:10,640 --> 00:40:14,160
Speaker 9: to sweets and that just wasn't what we grew up knowing, right, Like,

864
00:40:14,200 --> 00:40:16,200
Speaker 9: we wanted a one stop shot where you could come

865
00:40:16,280 --> 00:40:18,239
Speaker 9: and get your nails done, get your lashes done, get

866
00:40:18,280 --> 00:40:20,200
Speaker 9: a facial, get your hair done. You could do it

867
00:40:20,239 --> 00:40:22,520
Speaker 9: all and in the same spot, but enjoy it while

868
00:40:22,560 --> 00:40:24,200
Speaker 9: you were there. You can have a drink, you can

869
00:40:24,239 --> 00:40:28,000
Speaker 9: do your work, you can literally make a day of it.

870
00:40:28,040 --> 00:40:30,640
Speaker 2: And it's beautiful. Yes it has art installations and it's

871
00:40:30,680 --> 00:40:32,440
Speaker 2: a beautiful place. She comes to come see it.

872
00:40:32,920 --> 00:40:36,839
Speaker 9: But that was the actual main motivating driving force behind it,

873
00:40:37,080 --> 00:40:39,520
Speaker 9: like wanting to create a place that we personally would

874
00:40:39,560 --> 00:40:42,959
Speaker 9: have wanted to go to. And as far as knowing

875
00:40:42,960 --> 00:40:44,800
Speaker 9: if we could do it, we had adults.

876
00:40:44,840 --> 00:40:46,280
Speaker 2: We were definitely nervous. We were scared.

877
00:40:46,320 --> 00:40:48,799
Speaker 9: We don't provide services at all, neither one of us,

878
00:40:49,160 --> 00:40:51,319
Speaker 9: none of us. Like we don't do hair, we don't

879
00:40:51,320 --> 00:40:53,759
Speaker 9: do it, nail, nothing. So it definitely was a matter

880
00:40:53,920 --> 00:40:58,200
Speaker 9: of encouraging people to believe enough in us to work

881
00:40:58,239 --> 00:41:01,759
Speaker 9: for us, and that probably was the most difficult part,

882
00:41:02,160 --> 00:41:06,360
Speaker 9: but they did and then once we hit the ground running,

883
00:41:07,120 --> 00:41:08,840
Speaker 9: it kind of was a go from there. Now we

884
00:41:08,880 --> 00:41:10,560
Speaker 9: had a hiccup because we had only been open for

885
00:41:10,560 --> 00:41:13,000
Speaker 9: three months in COVID hit so then we had to close,

886
00:41:13,239 --> 00:41:15,280
Speaker 9: But it ended up being a blessing for us because

887
00:41:15,280 --> 00:41:17,440
Speaker 9: it gave us a chance to figure out our pivots,

888
00:41:17,640 --> 00:41:19,680
Speaker 9: things that may have not worked the first three months

889
00:41:19,719 --> 00:41:22,799
Speaker 9: we were open or recalibrate and figure it out.

890
00:41:22,880 --> 00:41:23,560
Speaker 2: That's a change.

891
00:41:23,719 --> 00:41:26,120
Speaker 9: Now we had six months to sit back and recalibrate

892
00:41:26,200 --> 00:41:28,279
Speaker 9: and figure it out. So then we opened up. And

893
00:41:28,280 --> 00:41:30,480
Speaker 9: when we, I mean we reopened. And when we reopened,

894
00:41:30,560 --> 00:41:33,200
Speaker 9: we had zero staff. We had lost everyone because they

895
00:41:33,239 --> 00:41:36,120
Speaker 9: got PPP loans and they were doing nails and god

896
00:41:36,200 --> 00:41:39,120
Speaker 9: knows where at this point, and so we had to

897
00:41:39,120 --> 00:41:42,120
Speaker 9: start all over again. But it just gave us more

898
00:41:42,120 --> 00:41:43,920
Speaker 9: grind and grit and we've kind.

899
00:41:43,760 --> 00:41:44,479
Speaker 2: Of figured it out.

900
00:41:44,920 --> 00:41:47,160
Speaker 4: Chris, as I'm listening to the story of Selfish, I

901
00:41:47,200 --> 00:41:50,319
Speaker 4: wrote down the quote, not only do we treat the exterior,

902
00:41:50,360 --> 00:41:52,680
Speaker 4: but we feed your interior. And when I hear that,

903
00:41:53,480 --> 00:41:56,239
Speaker 4: I think mental health. Right, it's self care, like that's

904
00:41:56,280 --> 00:41:59,479
Speaker 4: part of mental health. And so as the ideas coming

905
00:41:59,520 --> 00:42:02,560
Speaker 4: about seeing it and you start the business, are you

906
00:42:02,640 --> 00:42:04,880
Speaker 4: looking at this like this is another value add inside

907
00:42:04,880 --> 00:42:06,120
Speaker 4: of the first system that I created.

908
00:42:06,760 --> 00:42:09,359
Speaker 8: Yeah, so I thought that investing in that business would

909
00:42:09,400 --> 00:42:11,440
Speaker 8: be cheaper than her continue to get these services a

910
00:42:11,520 --> 00:42:12,920
Speaker 8: la carte elsewhere.

911
00:42:13,960 --> 00:42:16,320
Speaker 3: But it really wasn't.

912
00:42:16,480 --> 00:42:18,839
Speaker 8: But no, so Selfish, like we were they were thinking

913
00:42:18,840 --> 00:42:21,200
Speaker 8: about the name. It was like selfish and I was,

914
00:42:21,360 --> 00:42:23,480
Speaker 8: we were like selfish. It was like, yo, that's perfect,

915
00:42:23,520 --> 00:42:25,920
Speaker 8: like because you need to own that. It's okay to

916
00:42:25,960 --> 00:42:28,480
Speaker 8: be selfish. That's one of the taglines, like it's okay

917
00:42:28,560 --> 00:42:32,799
Speaker 8: like we women sometimes sacrifice themselves to give to everybody else.

918
00:42:32,840 --> 00:42:35,400
Speaker 8: They put their mask on last on the plane and

919
00:42:35,440 --> 00:42:38,880
Speaker 8: everything else like that, and never make time for themselves.

920
00:42:38,960 --> 00:42:40,600
Speaker 3: So it's like, it's okay to be selfish.

921
00:42:41,040 --> 00:42:42,560
Speaker 8: And then so while they were doing it, I'm like,

922
00:42:43,000 --> 00:42:45,520
Speaker 8: we should add a mental health component to this because

923
00:42:45,520 --> 00:42:48,640
Speaker 8: we have this lounge and selfish. So we started getting

924
00:42:48,640 --> 00:42:52,960
Speaker 8: mental health professionals who did like something Tuesdays.

925
00:42:53,440 --> 00:42:54,839
Speaker 2: It's called self care.

926
00:42:55,520 --> 00:42:59,200
Speaker 3: I don't know, it was on a Tuesday. Yeah, and

927
00:42:59,239 --> 00:42:59,960
Speaker 3: people would come in.

928
00:43:00,000 --> 00:43:02,480
Speaker 8: When these women who came for all of this beauty stuff,

929
00:43:02,719 --> 00:43:05,319
Speaker 8: it was like, yes, you're looking good on the outside,

930
00:43:05,320 --> 00:43:08,160
Speaker 8: but how do we also treat that inside as well?

931
00:43:08,440 --> 00:43:11,400
Speaker 8: And so people will come to these different panels and

932
00:43:11,480 --> 00:43:13,839
Speaker 8: just hit these conversations and just leave fuller, you know,

933
00:43:14,000 --> 00:43:15,000
Speaker 8: inside and outside.

934
00:43:15,040 --> 00:43:20,879
Speaker 5: So so what's the stations all through that to have

935
00:43:21,440 --> 00:43:25,719
Speaker 5: a chain of locations all throughout you know America? Like,

936
00:43:25,880 --> 00:43:27,799
Speaker 5: what's your vision for that?

937
00:43:28,480 --> 00:43:31,920
Speaker 9: Honestly, we would love to have more, and that is

938
00:43:31,960 --> 00:43:35,200
Speaker 9: the goal to open more in different locations in different states.

939
00:43:35,480 --> 00:43:39,600
Speaker 2: But employing staffing is hard, It really is hard.

940
00:43:39,680 --> 00:43:43,560
Speaker 9: And so while we're here and in Baltimore and we

941
00:43:43,600 --> 00:43:45,680
Speaker 9: have a good thing going, we're kind of just trying

942
00:43:45,719 --> 00:43:48,480
Speaker 9: to put all of our focus and emphasis into that one.

943
00:43:48,840 --> 00:43:51,520
Speaker 9: And at some point we'll open another location another state,

944
00:43:51,840 --> 00:43:53,839
Speaker 9: but when we feel like the time is right and

945
00:43:53,880 --> 00:43:57,560
Speaker 9: when we feel like we have found the staff that

946
00:43:57,600 --> 00:44:00,000
Speaker 9: we can hire, because client tele isn't really our issue,

947
00:44:00,440 --> 00:44:02,799
Speaker 9: it's making sure that we have technicians that can serve

948
00:44:02,800 --> 00:44:03,520
Speaker 9: as the clients.

949
00:44:04,400 --> 00:44:06,840
Speaker 8: You were going to say something, well to your point,

950
00:44:07,560 --> 00:44:09,360
Speaker 8: you asked, how do you know when you're ready to scale?

951
00:44:09,440 --> 00:44:09,640
Speaker 3: Right?

952
00:44:10,120 --> 00:44:12,240
Speaker 8: You got to make sure you have those operating systems

953
00:44:12,239 --> 00:44:14,680
Speaker 8: in place first, Right, So if we know, hey, we're

954
00:44:14,719 --> 00:44:17,359
Speaker 8: a little deficient in this area, our ordering is this,

955
00:44:17,640 --> 00:44:20,799
Speaker 8: or our pay rates to this, or our turnover is this,

956
00:44:21,320 --> 00:44:23,640
Speaker 8: we might not be ready to scale yet because we

957
00:44:23,719 --> 00:44:25,520
Speaker 8: got to get this one together. Like people love black

958
00:44:25,520 --> 00:44:26,800
Speaker 8: Swall and they were like, hey, you guys need to

959
00:44:26,800 --> 00:44:27,759
Speaker 8: take black Swall somewhere else.

960
00:44:27,840 --> 00:44:29,439
Speaker 3: I'm like, we're probably.

961
00:44:29,080 --> 00:44:31,560
Speaker 8: About three months out right now of where we need

962
00:44:31,600 --> 00:44:34,880
Speaker 8: to be finalizing our systems, looking at our financial reports,

963
00:44:35,200 --> 00:44:37,520
Speaker 8: all of that other stuff, getting our labor costs down.

964
00:44:37,640 --> 00:44:38,520
Speaker 3: To be able to scale.

965
00:44:38,560 --> 00:44:41,239
Speaker 8: So, I think, to Jenning's point, once they continue to

966
00:44:41,280 --> 00:44:43,600
Speaker 8: tighten those screws, because people just want to run, and

967
00:44:43,719 --> 00:44:46,080
Speaker 8: Instagram make people want to run because they want to

968
00:44:46,080 --> 00:44:48,520
Speaker 8: be seen and give the appearance that they're doing something.

969
00:44:49,040 --> 00:44:52,120
Speaker 8: But you need to make sure that that you have

970
00:44:52,640 --> 00:44:55,000
Speaker 8: this foundation and that you have the footings, not just

971
00:44:55,040 --> 00:44:57,560
Speaker 8: the foundation, because the footings go below the foundation. That

972
00:44:57,680 --> 00:45:01,239
Speaker 8: you have these footings in place allow you to build this,

973
00:45:01,800 --> 00:45:04,320
Speaker 8: you know, this this high rise that you're attempting to build.

974
00:45:04,520 --> 00:45:06,279
Speaker 3: So who's rue of the day to day operations of

975
00:45:06,360 --> 00:45:09,520
Speaker 3: the SWA Me, that's a lie.

976
00:45:10,239 --> 00:45:11,800
Speaker 9: I don't even know the last time he has stepped

977
00:45:11,800 --> 00:45:14,600
Speaker 9: foot in the SPA. Actually, the three of us flit

978
00:45:14,680 --> 00:45:17,759
Speaker 9: everything evenly, but anything as far as their life more

979
00:45:17,960 --> 00:45:22,960
Speaker 9: hr compliance, anything as far as they're licensing or just

980
00:45:23,120 --> 00:45:24,279
Speaker 9: managing the people right.

981
00:45:24,680 --> 00:45:26,759
Speaker 2: And then my partner Kelly is the money girl.

982
00:45:26,880 --> 00:45:30,359
Speaker 9: She handles all of our bookkeeping and the pay well

983
00:45:30,440 --> 00:45:33,239
Speaker 9: I do payroll, but she had like the register and

984
00:45:33,600 --> 00:45:37,000
Speaker 9: she also does a lot of our marketing. And then Keisha,

985
00:45:37,040 --> 00:45:40,560
Speaker 9: who is our third partner does like systems, she does ordering,

986
00:45:40,640 --> 00:45:44,680
Speaker 9: she does our booking system, anything that's like our computer

987
00:45:44,920 --> 00:45:45,440
Speaker 9: data and.

988
00:45:45,400 --> 00:45:46,439
Speaker 2: Everything else needs to be done.

989
00:45:46,520 --> 00:45:48,959
Speaker 9: But the three of us have three very different skill

990
00:45:49,040 --> 00:45:52,719
Speaker 9: sets and it makes one collective perfect person. Like if

991
00:45:52,760 --> 00:45:55,000
Speaker 9: you could put the three of us into one person, we.

992
00:45:54,960 --> 00:45:56,040
Speaker 6: Would be vultual.

993
00:45:56,320 --> 00:45:58,880
Speaker 8: I think that's important what she's saying, and for everybody

994
00:45:58,920 --> 00:46:01,640
Speaker 8: out there is you can't be afraid of partnerships.

995
00:46:01,719 --> 00:46:01,879
Speaker 3: Right.

996
00:46:01,920 --> 00:46:03,120
Speaker 8: A lot of people want to do it all on

997
00:46:03,160 --> 00:46:06,560
Speaker 8: their own, or they get into partnerships, but the wrong partnerships.

998
00:46:06,840 --> 00:46:09,120
Speaker 8: You got to get into partnerships where there's where you

999
00:46:09,160 --> 00:46:11,239
Speaker 8: guys benefit each other, where you're the ying to the

1000
00:46:11,280 --> 00:46:14,000
Speaker 8: other person's yang, right, where hey, I might be good

1001
00:46:14,000 --> 00:46:17,440
Speaker 8: at marketing, but somebody is better at operation, or this

1002
00:46:17,480 --> 00:46:19,279
Speaker 8: person can do this and they can do this because

1003
00:46:19,280 --> 00:46:22,000
Speaker 8: the goal in partnership, whether it's marriage or anything else,

1004
00:46:22,080 --> 00:46:24,440
Speaker 8: is to lighten each other load. Right, to make that

1005
00:46:24,760 --> 00:46:26,560
Speaker 8: so I can benefit from your skill set, you can

1006
00:46:26,600 --> 00:46:28,840
Speaker 8: benefit from my skill set, and you don't have to

1007
00:46:28,840 --> 00:46:31,680
Speaker 8: do everything. And when stuff hit the fan, we can

1008
00:46:31,719 --> 00:46:33,520
Speaker 8: do a capital raise together and it's not all coming

1009
00:46:33,520 --> 00:46:36,239
Speaker 8: out of my pocket. Right, So partnership you shaying the highs,

1010
00:46:36,280 --> 00:46:39,040
Speaker 8: you saying the loads, but you also work to reduce

1011
00:46:39,040 --> 00:46:40,680
Speaker 8: the burden. So partnership is a great thing.

1012
00:46:40,920 --> 00:46:44,680
Speaker 4: Speaking of partnership and being that you're inside of the

1013
00:46:44,719 --> 00:46:48,319
Speaker 4: mental health space with the with the SPA selfish and

1014
00:46:48,440 --> 00:46:52,479
Speaker 4: obviously with BTST, how do you ensure yours right because

1015
00:46:52,480 --> 00:46:55,520
Speaker 4: you're adding a lot to your plate. There's parents, there's

1016
00:46:55,560 --> 00:46:58,200
Speaker 4: obviously the relationship that you have as a couple. How

1017
00:46:58,239 --> 00:47:01,240
Speaker 4: do you ensure that you're making sure that your mental

1018
00:47:01,360 --> 00:47:03,640
Speaker 4: health is where it needs to be so that you

1019
00:47:03,640 --> 00:47:04,239
Speaker 4: can function that.

1020
00:47:04,280 --> 00:47:05,239
Speaker 2: All over therapy.

1021
00:47:06,200 --> 00:47:08,319
Speaker 9: We we've been in therapy for god knows what ten

1022
00:47:08,400 --> 00:47:11,680
Speaker 9: years and it's and it's not always because there's a

1023
00:47:11,719 --> 00:47:14,759
Speaker 9: problem we have, we lessen the problems or don't, or

1024
00:47:14,840 --> 00:47:17,399
Speaker 9: we be and together. And it's to ensure that we

1025
00:47:17,480 --> 00:47:20,359
Speaker 9: lessen the problems or don't or we run into its

1026
00:47:20,480 --> 00:47:22,759
Speaker 9: least amount of problems as we can, because without it,

1027
00:47:22,760 --> 00:47:24,279
Speaker 9: it's us trying to figure it out on our own.

1028
00:47:24,719 --> 00:47:27,040
Speaker 9: And to add, he's a licensed therapist and he tries

1029
00:47:27,080 --> 00:47:29,160
Speaker 9: to do the therapy on me and it doesn't work.

1030
00:47:29,520 --> 00:47:30,719
Speaker 2: It doesn't work.

1031
00:47:30,920 --> 00:47:33,880
Speaker 8: A compliant client. It's not my skill set. It's just

1032
00:47:33,960 --> 00:47:38,399
Speaker 8: that you're a tough client for anybody. But and and

1033
00:47:38,440 --> 00:47:40,319
Speaker 8: it's hard. And when you're a therapist, you're not It's

1034
00:47:40,440 --> 00:47:43,040
Speaker 8: it's certain code of ethics. You're not supposed to like

1035
00:47:44,160 --> 00:47:46,439
Speaker 8: sleep with the person that you're doing therapy with.

1036
00:47:46,520 --> 00:47:49,440
Speaker 3: So you know, I kind of jack that up.

1037
00:47:49,560 --> 00:47:54,080
Speaker 8: But uh, but I would say, like she said, as

1038
00:47:54,080 --> 00:47:55,680
Speaker 8: a as a licensed therapist, one of the things they

1039
00:47:55,680 --> 00:47:57,719
Speaker 8: tell you when you're in school is that before you

1040
00:47:57,760 --> 00:47:59,279
Speaker 8: do therapy, you need to sit in the chair of

1041
00:47:59,320 --> 00:48:01,600
Speaker 8: a client and make sure that you receive therapy so

1042
00:48:01,680 --> 00:48:04,640
Speaker 8: that you understand the process and the vulnerability associated with it.

1043
00:48:04,880 --> 00:48:06,520
Speaker 8: But in addition to that, when I was talking about

1044
00:48:06,520 --> 00:48:09,040
Speaker 8: that balance, I'm run, run, run, run run.

1045
00:48:09,120 --> 00:48:09,759
Speaker 3: Like at work, we.

1046
00:48:09,800 --> 00:48:14,359
Speaker 8: Created this, this this program, this the way we evaluate opportunities.

1047
00:48:14,400 --> 00:48:17,320
Speaker 3: Right. We call it like incubation and incubation stage.

1048
00:48:17,360 --> 00:48:19,040
Speaker 8: You can just think as much as you want, you

1049
00:48:19,040 --> 00:48:21,920
Speaker 8: can create as much as you want, and there's no limits.

1050
00:48:21,960 --> 00:48:24,400
Speaker 8: Janine used to limit me in my incubation stage, right,

1051
00:48:24,440 --> 00:48:26,839
Speaker 8: So we're like, hey, you gotta let Chris think, right,

1052
00:48:28,040 --> 00:48:32,600
Speaker 8: and then you have operational stage. Operational stages when we

1053
00:48:32,600 --> 00:48:35,080
Speaker 8: we we really work through the nuts and bolts of

1054
00:48:35,120 --> 00:48:38,120
Speaker 8: these ideas. We try to bring them down and say,

1055
00:48:38,239 --> 00:48:40,239
Speaker 8: is this a real opportunity? What does this looked like?

1056
00:48:40,560 --> 00:48:41,760
Speaker 3: Is this a win? Is this a loss?

1057
00:48:41,760 --> 00:48:43,920
Speaker 8: How does this look And then if we decide to

1058
00:48:44,000 --> 00:48:45,640
Speaker 8: go forward, so we will say no to it at

1059
00:48:45,640 --> 00:48:47,960
Speaker 8: that point, or we decide to go forward, and then

1060
00:48:48,000 --> 00:48:50,680
Speaker 8: we decide to go forward, it's called implementation. So then

1061
00:48:50,680 --> 00:48:54,759
Speaker 8: we implement in that idea and then we're gonna evaluation

1062
00:48:54,800 --> 00:48:57,120
Speaker 8: as the last stage, right, so then we're evaluating for

1063
00:48:57,239 --> 00:48:59,200
Speaker 8: us to create this idea, for us to do that,

1064
00:48:59,239 --> 00:48:59,759
Speaker 8: what was the win?

1065
00:49:00,120 --> 00:49:02,799
Speaker 3: What did we lose for gaining that win?

1066
00:49:02,920 --> 00:49:05,280
Speaker 8: Because even when you're winning, you're gaining you're losing something

1067
00:49:05,719 --> 00:49:07,719
Speaker 8: to do to do a big event or something we

1068
00:49:07,760 --> 00:49:09,200
Speaker 8: might have spent a lot of time, a lot of

1069
00:49:09,239 --> 00:49:11,440
Speaker 8: money thing something they could have been doing.

1070
00:49:11,520 --> 00:49:12,720
Speaker 3: Micro lose. We lost.

1071
00:49:12,880 --> 00:49:14,680
Speaker 8: We took our marketing team off of this thing and

1072
00:49:14,719 --> 00:49:16,719
Speaker 8: something they could have been doing micro marketing on because

1073
00:49:16,719 --> 00:49:18,000
Speaker 8: we're doing this macro marketing.

1074
00:49:19,400 --> 00:49:22,719
Speaker 3: But I'm sorry, what was that going with that?

1075
00:49:23,400 --> 00:49:25,200
Speaker 2: We were talking about our mental health.

1076
00:49:25,080 --> 00:49:27,120
Speaker 3: And oh yes, so I like to run.

1077
00:49:27,560 --> 00:49:30,280
Speaker 8: I'm in that incubation stage a lot, and where Janine

1078
00:49:30,360 --> 00:49:34,200
Speaker 8: is like, Chris, I'm not signing up for another thing else.

1079
00:49:34,280 --> 00:49:35,920
Speaker 8: Right now, we're trying to get this family in order.

1080
00:49:35,960 --> 00:49:37,440
Speaker 8: We're trying to do that, and then you'll plan three

1081
00:49:37,520 --> 00:49:39,839
Speaker 8: vacations for us to go on. But she's like, hey,

1082
00:49:39,840 --> 00:49:41,839
Speaker 8: we need to slow our life down, right. So it's

1083
00:49:41,840 --> 00:49:43,600
Speaker 8: that yin and yang. I'm like running like, oh no,

1084
00:49:43,640 --> 00:49:45,439
Speaker 8: this would be a dope idea, this would be great, great, great,

1085
00:49:45,640 --> 00:49:47,520
Speaker 8: And she's like yeah, yeah, yeah, And I'm like, yo,

1086
00:49:47,560 --> 00:49:49,759
Speaker 8: you're not handing me. No, you're really not listening, Like, Yo,

1087
00:49:49,840 --> 00:49:52,080
Speaker 8: this is great, come on, let's go. Why aren't you excited?

1088
00:49:52,200 --> 00:49:55,120
Speaker 8: Because she's like, because I see you getting burnt out.

1089
00:49:55,120 --> 00:49:57,280
Speaker 8: I see you getting overwhelmed. I see you getting frustrated.

1090
00:49:57,440 --> 00:49:59,319
Speaker 8: I see you not being here. I see you know,

1091
00:49:59,480 --> 00:50:02,239
Speaker 8: me having a this, I see all of these other things.

1092
00:50:02,280 --> 00:50:04,600
Speaker 8: I see the investment. I see all of this. So

1093
00:50:04,640 --> 00:50:06,480
Speaker 8: let's kind of balance this oude a little bit so

1094
00:50:06,960 --> 00:50:08,919
Speaker 8: to help my mental health. Like that ying to the Yang,

1095
00:50:09,000 --> 00:50:12,000
Speaker 8: She's like, slow down, let's eat what's on our plate first,

1096
00:50:12,000 --> 00:50:13,799
Speaker 8: and then let's think about how to how we want

1097
00:50:13,800 --> 00:50:14,400
Speaker 8: to move forward.

1098
00:50:14,719 --> 00:50:15,400
Speaker 6: Stop it up with you.

1099
00:50:19,480 --> 00:50:21,040
Speaker 3: So before we leave with the thing, I'll talk about

1100
00:50:21,040 --> 00:50:21,920
Speaker 3: the restaurant.

1101
00:50:22,160 --> 00:50:26,760
Speaker 5: So you go into the restaurant business, which is probably

1102
00:50:26,760 --> 00:50:31,120
Speaker 5: the hardest business to be successful and extremely difficult. And

1103
00:50:31,560 --> 00:50:33,880
Speaker 5: you already have all the other stuff that you're managing.

1104
00:50:35,800 --> 00:50:39,359
Speaker 5: What's the inspiration for opening a restaurant.

1105
00:50:39,600 --> 00:50:42,960
Speaker 8: So a part of these vacations that she picked there

1106
00:50:42,960 --> 00:50:44,920
Speaker 8: and all these random places throughout the world, and so

1107
00:50:44,960 --> 00:50:48,359
Speaker 8: we would go across the country all over and get

1108
00:50:48,400 --> 00:50:51,440
Speaker 8: these great dining experiences, right, and then we would come

1109
00:50:51,440 --> 00:50:55,120
Speaker 8: back to Baltimore on with energy like Yo, let's go,

1110
00:50:55,200 --> 00:50:55,879
Speaker 8: let's keep this going.

1111
00:50:55,920 --> 00:50:57,640
Speaker 3: We just got home, let's go hit another restaurant.

1112
00:50:57,920 --> 00:51:00,640
Speaker 8: And then the dining experience is what the donning scene

1113
00:51:00,719 --> 00:51:02,760
Speaker 8: wasn't what we were getting in other places. And Baltimore

1114
00:51:02,800 --> 00:51:05,799
Speaker 8: has a great dining experience, is great food and everything else.

1115
00:51:06,000 --> 00:51:07,359
Speaker 3: But it wasn't that energy that.

1116
00:51:07,360 --> 00:51:09,680
Speaker 8: I was like that or matting Dog, let's tell or

1117
00:51:09,680 --> 00:51:12,160
Speaker 8: I was getting that tow or somewhere else like that

1118
00:51:12,360 --> 00:51:14,680
Speaker 8: or matting Dog or something. Right, So it wasn't this

1119
00:51:14,880 --> 00:51:19,680
Speaker 8: just this this metropolitan trendy energy right where music, fashion

1120
00:51:19,760 --> 00:51:21,040
Speaker 8: and food connected.

1121
00:51:21,120 --> 00:51:21,279
Speaker 3: Right.

1122
00:51:22,800 --> 00:51:25,120
Speaker 8: So I would just get frustrated. I'll be at restaurants.

1123
00:51:25,440 --> 00:51:27,680
Speaker 8: I'd be like jenin look at this light mixture. They

1124
00:51:27,719 --> 00:51:29,760
Speaker 8: could have did this, and it had been cooler listen

1125
00:51:29,800 --> 00:51:32,320
Speaker 8: to this playlist if they'd have put if they'd put

1126
00:51:32,560 --> 00:51:34,920
Speaker 8: you know, Shaka khan On, I guarantee you sales at

1127
00:51:34,960 --> 00:51:37,080
Speaker 8: the bar will go up by this percentage and everything else.

1128
00:51:37,160 --> 00:51:40,320
Speaker 9: Can y'all imagine literally thinking you're going to dinner and

1129
00:51:40,360 --> 00:51:42,200
Speaker 9: this man is ripping this restaurant to shred.

1130
00:51:42,280 --> 00:51:43,480
Speaker 3: I literally went to one of the owners.

1131
00:51:43,480 --> 00:51:45,040
Speaker 8: I said, play this playlist and let me know off

1132
00:51:45,080 --> 00:51:46,880
Speaker 8: sales go up.

1133
00:51:48,360 --> 00:51:49,960
Speaker 3: I said, I said, play this, play this, let me

1134
00:51:50,000 --> 00:51:50,759
Speaker 3: off sales go up.

1135
00:51:51,400 --> 00:51:53,359
Speaker 8: I guarantee you he ain't played that other playlist since

1136
00:51:53,440 --> 00:51:56,799
Speaker 8: it was Charles and said trunk. And then so I

1137
00:51:56,920 --> 00:52:00,200
Speaker 8: just started connected with other restaurant tours and I'm just like, hey,

1138
00:52:00,360 --> 00:52:01,640
Speaker 8: why don't you guys do it like this?

1139
00:52:01,960 --> 00:52:03,760
Speaker 3: How do you do it like this? What's the passion?

1140
00:52:03,800 --> 00:52:04,560
Speaker 3: How does this work?

1141
00:52:04,680 --> 00:52:07,120
Speaker 8: So just putting myself in the in the in the

1142
00:52:07,560 --> 00:52:10,759
Speaker 8: in the educational phase of meeting the people, understanding the

1143
00:52:10,800 --> 00:52:12,680
Speaker 8: field a little bit more before I was in there,

1144
00:52:13,200 --> 00:52:15,920
Speaker 8: just preparing myself for the opportunity whenever I wanted it to.

1145
00:52:16,320 --> 00:52:18,120
Speaker 8: And then one of my buddies called me one day

1146
00:52:18,160 --> 00:52:21,320
Speaker 8: and said, hey, Chris, this restaurant is going out of business.

1147
00:52:21,360 --> 00:52:23,200
Speaker 8: I think that we could do this. You can come

1148
00:52:23,560 --> 00:52:25,680
Speaker 8: and decorate it however you want. You could have the

1149
00:52:25,760 --> 00:52:28,440
Speaker 8: light fixture that you want and everything else, and you know,

1150
00:52:28,480 --> 00:52:31,399
Speaker 8: I'll do the food. But then the pandemic happened, and

1151
00:52:31,480 --> 00:52:33,960
Speaker 8: he had other a few other investments that he of

1152
00:52:34,000 --> 00:52:36,120
Speaker 8: restaurants that he wanted to make sure. But it was

1153
00:52:36,160 --> 00:52:38,120
Speaker 8: perfect because I was able to find our chef chefs

1154
00:52:38,160 --> 00:52:40,880
Speaker 8: say on Bryce and have him if y'all y'all know,

1155
00:52:41,000 --> 00:52:42,920
Speaker 8: chef y'all got to make some noise for his land shops,

1156
00:52:44,640 --> 00:52:50,160
Speaker 8: thank you, and so you know, uh, we were able

1157
00:52:50,200 --> 00:52:53,440
Speaker 8: to it. Just the opportunity. I was ready for the opportunity.

1158
00:52:53,840 --> 00:52:56,120
Speaker 8: I had already talked to the people. I understood how

1159
00:52:56,160 --> 00:53:00,359
Speaker 8: this worked and everything else. But again I have my partners, right,

1160
00:53:00,440 --> 00:53:04,280
Speaker 8: So my partner Jada and Chris Chris was managing partner,

1161
00:53:04,520 --> 00:53:07,480
Speaker 8: and who have like several years. And then you bring

1162
00:53:07,520 --> 00:53:11,400
Speaker 8: in Keisha and Jamil, who have like a different perspective

1163
00:53:11,440 --> 00:53:15,319
Speaker 8: and who will just like just have high level relationships

1164
00:53:15,400 --> 00:53:19,439
Speaker 8: or whatever. So we decided we were going to start

1165
00:53:19,480 --> 00:53:21,319
Speaker 8: this restaurant. It was just you know, and we had

1166
00:53:21,360 --> 00:53:23,960
Speaker 8: prepared ourselves so I think just putting yourselves in those

1167
00:53:24,000 --> 00:53:25,319
Speaker 8: runs before you're ready to be there.

1168
00:53:25,360 --> 00:53:26,680
Speaker 3: You know, you don't have to feel insecure.

1169
00:53:26,960 --> 00:53:29,560
Speaker 8: Start learning us, start learning the field, doing your research

1170
00:53:29,600 --> 00:53:31,959
Speaker 8: and everything else like that. And so, like Janine said,

1171
00:53:32,120 --> 00:53:35,080
Speaker 8: Janine was very meticulous on the cocktail menu we set

1172
00:53:35,120 --> 00:53:37,080
Speaker 8: with chef. We went over the food, he said this.

1173
00:53:37,160 --> 00:53:38,680
Speaker 8: He was like, no, we're going to do it like this.

1174
00:53:38,760 --> 00:53:41,360
Speaker 8: That's how do we bring these two together or whatever

1175
00:53:41,360 --> 00:53:44,080
Speaker 8: else like this, because chef cooks up here and I'm like, Chef,

1176
00:53:44,120 --> 00:53:46,239
Speaker 8: we have to bring the menu down here to make

1177
00:53:46,280 --> 00:53:48,840
Speaker 8: sure that it's palatable and that it's consumable, and that

1178
00:53:48,880 --> 00:53:50,680
Speaker 8: people feel like they can eat there three four days

1179
00:53:50,719 --> 00:53:52,719
Speaker 8: a week if they desired. And so we were able

1180
00:53:52,760 --> 00:53:54,800
Speaker 8: to create that and then we put the right management

1181
00:53:54,840 --> 00:53:57,200
Speaker 8: system team in place. But I won't sell you any

1182
00:53:57,280 --> 00:53:59,120
Speaker 8: dreams and say, hey, we just turned it over to

1183
00:53:59,160 --> 00:54:01,360
Speaker 8: the management team. Three months after that, we lost our

1184
00:54:01,440 --> 00:54:05,160
Speaker 8: GM and the first night in the restaurant, Jeanne, me

1185
00:54:05,160 --> 00:54:09,120
Speaker 8: and Jeannine both trying to touch tables run help with reservations.

1186
00:54:09,120 --> 00:54:10,799
Speaker 8: It was it was a mad house because I mean

1187
00:54:10,880 --> 00:54:13,840
Speaker 8: it sold out in the first thirty minutes. For three months,

1188
00:54:14,080 --> 00:54:16,719
Speaker 8: it was just a mad house. We had to turn

1189
00:54:16,760 --> 00:54:18,520
Speaker 8: away the owner, the Washington Nationals.

1190
00:54:18,520 --> 00:54:19,040
Speaker 3: It was so bad.

1191
00:54:19,080 --> 00:54:22,120
Speaker 5: But why why was it so successful so early?

1192
00:54:22,880 --> 00:54:24,480
Speaker 2: I think marketing, marketing.

1193
00:54:24,560 --> 00:54:27,480
Speaker 8: It was that understanding of human behavior and marketing. Our

1194
00:54:27,600 --> 00:54:32,759
Speaker 8: rollout was incredible. We sent black boxes with black champagne, flutes, champagne,

1195
00:54:33,239 --> 00:54:36,400
Speaker 8: an invitation, say you're invited to this black swan. I

1196
00:54:36,400 --> 00:54:39,520
Speaker 8: mean we had Baltimore's Who's who there, people came from

1197
00:54:39,520 --> 00:54:40,680
Speaker 8: out of town and we had.

1198
00:54:40,560 --> 00:54:42,360
Speaker 2: What three grand opening events?

1199
00:54:42,440 --> 00:54:44,120
Speaker 3: Yeah, we had several grand opening events.

1200
00:54:44,239 --> 00:54:47,600
Speaker 8: Like the anticipation was there, and we started a lot

1201
00:54:47,600 --> 00:54:51,000
Speaker 8: of businesses not out of trying to fill avoid right.

1202
00:54:51,280 --> 00:54:53,000
Speaker 8: He was asking me for like, how do you why

1203
00:54:53,000 --> 00:54:55,200
Speaker 8: do you start these business It's like healthcare.

1204
00:54:55,239 --> 00:54:56,879
Speaker 3: We wanted to fill avoid in a healthcare thing.

1205
00:54:57,360 --> 00:55:02,000
Speaker 8: Beauty wanted to creative void where and where black people

1206
00:55:02,120 --> 00:55:04,080
Speaker 8: all of this, and then restaurant where and they could

1207
00:55:04,080 --> 00:55:06,359
Speaker 8: see technicians that look like them and it's not all

1208
00:55:06,360 --> 00:55:08,960
Speaker 8: of this And in restaurant there was nobody providing that

1209
00:55:09,040 --> 00:55:11,919
Speaker 8: style of dining, right, So I think that people were

1210
00:55:11,960 --> 00:55:14,440
Speaker 8: just so excited to have a style of dining like

1211
00:55:14,480 --> 00:55:16,960
Speaker 8: this that was also sophisticated.

1212
00:55:17,680 --> 00:55:20,239
Speaker 3: And everybody just signed up Man to come out and

1213
00:55:20,280 --> 00:55:21,640
Speaker 3: the food, and the food is amazing.

1214
00:55:21,760 --> 00:55:23,359
Speaker 9: But I don't want to make it seem like it

1215
00:55:23,400 --> 00:55:27,080
Speaker 9: was all uniforns and rainbows because he drags me into

1216
00:55:27,120 --> 00:55:30,920
Speaker 9: the restaurant business, kicking and screaming. I wanted no parts

1217
00:55:31,520 --> 00:55:35,160
Speaker 9: of opening a restaurant. But you know, as the ball

1218
00:55:35,239 --> 00:55:38,440
Speaker 9: got rolling, I started really like saying that there was

1219
00:55:38,440 --> 00:55:40,080
Speaker 9: a vision for this and it was okay, and there

1220
00:55:40,080 --> 00:55:41,879
Speaker 9: was a need and it was gonna be good, and

1221
00:55:42,360 --> 00:55:45,120
Speaker 9: it turned out to be amazing. But I didn't see

1222
00:55:45,120 --> 00:55:45,799
Speaker 9: the vision at first.

1223
00:55:45,800 --> 00:55:46,919
Speaker 3: For that one, it's a risk.

1224
00:55:47,000 --> 00:55:48,520
Speaker 2: My father, it was a huge risk.

1225
00:55:48,600 --> 00:55:50,680
Speaker 8: My father used to own a West Side carry out

1226
00:55:51,040 --> 00:55:53,279
Speaker 8: and I saw the lows of this man. I saw

1227
00:55:53,360 --> 00:55:56,759
Speaker 8: him and his partner's fighting. He's making food, they're not

1228
00:55:56,880 --> 00:55:59,560
Speaker 8: using proper purveyors and all that other stuff. They're going

1229
00:55:59,560 --> 00:56:02,680
Speaker 8: to the grosscery store and everything. So I've seen the

1230
00:56:02,719 --> 00:56:06,080
Speaker 8: ills of it, man, And honestly, we've just been blessed.

1231
00:56:06,080 --> 00:56:06,279
Speaker 6: Man.

1232
00:56:06,560 --> 00:56:09,200
Speaker 8: We've been blessed by the support of everybody that comes out.

1233
00:56:09,320 --> 00:56:13,520
Speaker 8: All the time people just advocate, people speak about Black Swan.

1234
00:56:13,560 --> 00:56:14,600
Speaker 3: They put us in the RUMs.

1235
00:56:14,600 --> 00:56:16,800
Speaker 8: We catered the Preakness, We were one of the catas

1236
00:56:17,200 --> 00:56:20,200
Speaker 8: for the Preakness. They put us in the hospitality tents

1237
00:56:20,480 --> 00:56:22,520
Speaker 8: for all our like the very expensive tints of the

1238
00:56:22,520 --> 00:56:27,280
Speaker 8: finish line. That's because somebody else was in a rum

1239
00:56:27,560 --> 00:56:29,719
Speaker 8: and they put us in that room verbally right, and

1240
00:56:29,760 --> 00:56:33,759
Speaker 8: they advocated that Salanda Robin, They like, hey, we need

1241
00:56:33,800 --> 00:56:36,239
Speaker 8: more representation of like us, and so we're going to

1242
00:56:36,280 --> 00:56:37,759
Speaker 8: advocate and put you in that room.

1243
00:56:37,840 --> 00:56:41,080
Speaker 3: So I wish it's a community, man, it's not just us.

1244
00:56:41,360 --> 00:56:41,960
Speaker 6: That's incredible.

1245
00:56:42,000 --> 00:56:45,240
Speaker 4: So the obvious question now is what are the growth

1246
00:56:45,320 --> 00:56:49,520
Speaker 4: goals for black Swan. I mean, are we figuring that guests.

1247
00:56:49,560 --> 00:56:52,719
Speaker 4: We got Harbor East, but maybe we expand some other places.

1248
00:56:53,000 --> 00:56:55,600
Speaker 8: Yeah, so again it's outcrowd, right, So black Swan is

1249
00:56:55,600 --> 00:56:57,480
Speaker 8: one concept of outcrowd. So we want to take black

1250
00:56:57,480 --> 00:57:00,880
Speaker 8: Swan and DC Atlanta the concepts that we're opening, right,

1251
00:57:00,880 --> 00:57:03,080
Speaker 8: I really want to see in LA. But then we

1252
00:57:03,120 --> 00:57:05,680
Speaker 8: have other concepts that we're opening, right. We're under some

1253
00:57:05,800 --> 00:57:09,360
Speaker 8: were negotiating some lois right now to bring a concept

1254
00:57:09,400 --> 00:57:10,759
Speaker 8: to market by the end of the year.

1255
00:57:11,840 --> 00:57:12,640
Speaker 3: We have a few others.

1256
00:57:12,640 --> 00:57:15,759
Speaker 8: So just continue to just you don't make you know,

1257
00:57:15,800 --> 00:57:19,120
Speaker 8: you don't do just phenomenally great in one restaurant, right,

1258
00:57:19,120 --> 00:57:21,800
Speaker 8: you need to have scale to pennies need to add

1259
00:57:21,840 --> 00:57:24,120
Speaker 8: up to make some dollars in restaurants, right, so you

1260
00:57:24,160 --> 00:57:25,200
Speaker 8: need to have multiple of them.

1261
00:57:25,240 --> 00:57:28,000
Speaker 3: But continue to use Black Swan as a vehicle.

1262
00:57:28,560 --> 00:57:30,720
Speaker 8: So many people come through there, and people for some

1263
00:57:30,760 --> 00:57:32,280
Speaker 8: reason they feel like if you know food and you

1264
00:57:32,280 --> 00:57:34,600
Speaker 8: can create environment, you must know great business.

1265
00:57:34,600 --> 00:57:36,560
Speaker 3: And I'm like, that's not most restaurants.

1266
00:57:36,640 --> 00:57:39,080
Speaker 8: People, you know, like those restaurants go out of business

1267
00:57:39,120 --> 00:57:41,240
Speaker 8: in six months and we just celebrated our two ye anniversares.

1268
00:57:41,280 --> 00:57:43,680
Speaker 3: So it's a blessing. But literally, thinking.

1269
00:57:45,000 --> 00:57:48,000
Speaker 8: It's a vehicle connect with people, build with people. I

1270
00:57:48,040 --> 00:57:51,160
Speaker 8: mean people from Ben Crump to just Jesse Jackson was

1271
00:57:51,200 --> 00:57:55,480
Speaker 8: there last week. Lamar comes through just everybody and anybody

1272
00:57:55,480 --> 00:57:56,080
Speaker 8: that's in town.

1273
00:57:56,160 --> 00:57:56,400
Speaker 3: Now.

1274
00:57:57,480 --> 00:57:58,880
Speaker 8: I was about to say he's gonna come through to night,

1275
00:57:58,880 --> 00:58:01,480
Speaker 8: but I was and say that. But there it is

1276
00:58:01,960 --> 00:58:03,800
Speaker 8: like now they have a place that they can go

1277
00:58:03,840 --> 00:58:05,560
Speaker 8: and it feels like, hey, this is the energy, this

1278
00:58:05,640 --> 00:58:06,880
Speaker 8: is the vibe.

1279
00:58:07,040 --> 00:58:11,560
Speaker 5: Well, Christian Jannine, you guys are amazing. Thank you for

1280
00:58:11,720 --> 00:58:13,600
Speaker 5: joining us. Make some noise.

1281
00:58:16,320 --> 00:58:18,040
Speaker 3: Can I say something before you close out?

1282
00:58:18,400 --> 00:58:20,160
Speaker 8: I want to give you guys your flowers and give

1283
00:58:20,160 --> 00:58:23,280
Speaker 8: you guys your roses and say thank you for you guys, right,

1284
00:58:25,240 --> 00:58:27,600
Speaker 8: shout out to Raven and Tony for putting us together

1285
00:58:27,680 --> 00:58:31,600
Speaker 8: first of all, having a vision to be like, hey,

1286
00:58:31,600 --> 00:58:33,560
Speaker 8: I need to connect people. We need to talk about

1287
00:58:33,560 --> 00:58:36,320
Speaker 8: wealth and our community in a real way. And you know,

1288
00:58:36,360 --> 00:58:39,240
Speaker 8: we's so funny. We met last week at Essence where

1289
00:58:39,240 --> 00:58:40,400
Speaker 8: people are just sharing wealth.

1290
00:58:40,440 --> 00:58:41,480
Speaker 3: Man, it was just so great.

1291
00:58:41,920 --> 00:58:46,280
Speaker 8: But with you guys are doing, our communities haven't had

1292
00:58:46,320 --> 00:58:48,880
Speaker 8: access to you for a long time, Right, Like that

1293
00:58:49,000 --> 00:58:51,600
Speaker 8: exposure that we were talking about. When people know that

1294
00:58:51,680 --> 00:58:53,800
Speaker 8: you can do something or see that someone can do

1295
00:58:53,840 --> 00:58:56,520
Speaker 8: something they like, it just becomes a lot brighter. What

1296
00:58:56,680 --> 00:58:59,439
Speaker 8: you guys are providing is that the ambitious dream, right.

1297
00:59:00,440 --> 00:59:02,800
Speaker 8: But what you guys are providing is that is that

1298
00:59:03,600 --> 00:59:05,040
Speaker 8: is the lens for that exposure.

1299
00:59:05,120 --> 00:59:05,320
Speaker 3: Right.

1300
00:59:05,720 --> 00:59:09,680
Speaker 8: You're sitting down with people who they never had access to,

1301
00:59:09,760 --> 00:59:13,640
Speaker 8: teaching policies and business ideas and concepts that they would

1302
00:59:13,640 --> 00:59:16,439
Speaker 8: have never been able to go one. They're not teaching

1303
00:59:16,480 --> 00:59:19,760
Speaker 8: them in publish our school systems. They're actually not teaching

1304
00:59:19,760 --> 00:59:21,240
Speaker 8: some of this stuff in college because a lot of

1305
00:59:21,240 --> 00:59:24,240
Speaker 8: this stuff is real work, real on the job experience

1306
00:59:24,320 --> 00:59:26,840
Speaker 8: that helps you navigate these things. And you guys are

1307
00:59:26,840 --> 00:59:30,560
Speaker 8: bringing this to people's TV screen right now or computer

1308
00:59:30,600 --> 00:59:32,240
Speaker 8: screens or telephones.

1309
00:59:32,520 --> 00:59:33,560
Speaker 3: And that is remarkable.

1310
00:59:33,600 --> 00:59:35,640
Speaker 8: Man. You're I don't think that you under I hope

1311
00:59:35,640 --> 00:59:38,440
Speaker 8: that you understand the level of impact that you're having

1312
00:59:38,440 --> 00:59:41,520
Speaker 8: in our communities. And that impact you might not see today,

1313
00:59:41,840 --> 00:59:44,600
Speaker 8: but somebody who might have thought that something was impossible,

1314
00:59:44,920 --> 00:59:47,400
Speaker 8: they now have faith and have optimism because of that.

1315
00:59:47,640 --> 00:59:49,880
Speaker 8: So continue to do and invest, pass and you'll just

1316
00:59:49,960 --> 00:59:52,160
Speaker 8: continue to take it to another level. Continue to do

1317
00:59:52,200 --> 00:59:53,280
Speaker 8: the great work that you're doing.

1318
00:59:53,320 --> 00:59:56,160
Speaker 3: Man. Our communities needed, honestly appreciate it.

1319
00:59:56,600 --> 01:00:00,000
Speaker 5: Thank you making some noise for this wonderful couple right here.

1320
01:00:01,960 --> 01:00:05,640
Speaker 1: An illegal alien from Guatemala charged with raping a child

1321
01:00:05,680 --> 01:00:09,440
Speaker 1: in Massachusetts. An MS thirteen gang member from Al Salvador

1322
01:00:09,680 --> 01:00:13,840
Speaker 1: accused of murdering a Texas. Man of Venezuelan charged with

1323
01:00:13,920 --> 01:00:17,800
Speaker 1: filming and selling child pornography in Michigan. These are just

1324
01:00:17,920 --> 01:00:21,680
Speaker 1: some of the heinous migrant criminals caught because of President

1325
01:00:21,680 --> 01:00:22,120
Speaker 1: Donald J.

1326
01:00:22,200 --> 01:00:23,160
Speaker 2: Trump's leadership.

1327
01:00:23,440 --> 01:00:27,080
Speaker 1: I'm Christy nom the United States Secretary of Homeland Security.

1328
01:00:27,400 --> 01:00:31,160
Speaker 1: Under President Trump. Attempted illegal border crossings are at the

1329
01:00:31,200 --> 01:00:35,080
Speaker 1: lowest levels ever recorded, and over one hundred thousand illegal

1330
01:00:35,080 --> 01:00:38,919
Speaker 1: aliens have been arrested. If you are here illegally, your

1331
01:00:39,000 --> 01:00:43,160
Speaker 1: next you will be fine nearly one thousand dollars a day, imprisoned,

1332
01:00:43,440 --> 01:00:47,080
Speaker 1: and deported. You will never return. But if you register

1333
01:00:47,400 --> 01:00:50,520
Speaker 1: using our CBP home app and leave now, you could

1334
01:00:50,560 --> 01:00:54,720
Speaker 1: be allowed to return legally. Do what's right, leave now.

1335
01:00:55,000 --> 01:00:59,840
Speaker 1: Under President Trump America's laws, border and families will be protected.

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01:01:00,000 --> 01:01:02,040
Speaker 6: Sponsored by the United States Department of Homeland Security,