1
00:00:03,400 --> 00:00:04,280
Speaker 1: But D'andela yee.

2
00:00:04,280 --> 00:00:06,840
Speaker 2: I'm here on a Wealth Wednesday with my girls, Stacy Tuesday.

3
00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:09,719
Speaker 3: Happy Wealth Wednesdays, everybody, and we are going big.

4
00:00:10,800 --> 00:00:12,920
Speaker 4: It's Wealth Wednesdays. We are going so big.

5
00:00:13,080 --> 00:00:15,440
Speaker 3: We are going bigger than we've gone in a long time.

6
00:00:15,480 --> 00:00:17,200
Speaker 3: And we have mister Derek.

7
00:00:17,200 --> 00:00:18,200
Speaker 4: Hayes for you.

8
00:00:18,920 --> 00:00:23,040
Speaker 3: And Derek is the founder and CEO of Big Daves.

9
00:00:23,280 --> 00:00:24,279
Speaker 4: And we're gonna talk about a.

10
00:00:24,280 --> 00:00:26,840
Speaker 1: Lot of cheese steaks. Y'all know, y'all know what I'm

11
00:00:26,840 --> 00:00:28,000
Speaker 1: talking about.

12
00:00:29,120 --> 00:00:29,880
Speaker 4: Cheese stays.

13
00:00:30,440 --> 00:00:33,320
Speaker 3: This is not your ordinary cheesecake. This sandwich was ranked

14
00:00:33,360 --> 00:00:38,080
Speaker 3: top ten sandwiches in the world by World Food Champions.

15
00:00:38,360 --> 00:00:43,120
Speaker 3: And Derek's been honored in Forbes twenty twenty one Next

16
00:00:43,159 --> 00:00:45,680
Speaker 3: one thousand to Watch. You've done a lot since then.

17
00:00:45,720 --> 00:00:49,360
Speaker 3: You've been an naacp Immage Awards honoree. You're gonna learn

18
00:00:49,400 --> 00:00:53,400
Speaker 3: all about businesses, franchising. I know you have ten franchise

19
00:00:53,440 --> 00:00:58,240
Speaker 3: locations in Central Florida, now five in South Carolina. Really

20
00:00:58,280 --> 00:01:02,400
Speaker 3: one of the fastest restaurants change in the country. And

21
00:01:02,680 --> 00:01:06,480
Speaker 3: you always talk about you got there because it's about purpose. Yeah,

22
00:01:07,400 --> 00:01:10,240
Speaker 3: tell us about your purpose and about Big Dave's and

23
00:01:10,440 --> 00:01:11,039
Speaker 3: that connection.

24
00:01:11,280 --> 00:01:12,759
Speaker 5: Well, first of all, I just want to tell y'all

25
00:01:12,800 --> 00:01:15,760
Speaker 5: thank you for having me fresh from Martha's vinyan. So

26
00:01:16,520 --> 00:01:17,800
Speaker 5: I got out his vacation mode.

27
00:01:17,840 --> 00:01:21,760
Speaker 2: Oh my god, you're not no, no, no vie. Let

28
00:01:21,800 --> 00:01:24,560
Speaker 2: me tell you my god daughter. She goes to Spelman,

29
00:01:24,640 --> 00:01:27,080
Speaker 2: but before she goes back to school, she is stopping

30
00:01:27,120 --> 00:01:28,840
Speaker 2: in Martha's vinyard. I just want to live her life

31
00:01:28,840 --> 00:01:31,160
Speaker 2: for a couple of days because she's having a time

32
00:01:31,280 --> 00:01:31,959
Speaker 2: it spoils you.

33
00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:34,120
Speaker 5: I mean, you see, you know, a bunch of people

34
00:01:34,160 --> 00:01:36,640
Speaker 5: that look like you, people that don't look like you,

35
00:01:36,720 --> 00:01:39,840
Speaker 5: are coming together, you know, celebrating one thing, you know,

36
00:01:40,280 --> 00:01:41,920
Speaker 5: having a good time of vacation. There was a lot

37
00:01:41,920 --> 00:01:44,960
Speaker 5: of panels, a lot of information picked up. So I

38
00:01:45,120 --> 00:01:47,720
Speaker 5: challenge anybody you know who hasn't ever been to Martha's

39
00:01:47,760 --> 00:01:48,520
Speaker 5: Vineyard to get there.

40
00:01:48,760 --> 00:01:49,400
Speaker 4: It's amazing.

41
00:01:50,200 --> 00:01:51,919
Speaker 5: What was and what was your question?

42
00:01:53,120 --> 00:01:53,560
Speaker 3: Your why?

43
00:01:55,640 --> 00:02:00,680
Speaker 5: Look? I still obviously my purpose was my father. I

44
00:02:00,680 --> 00:02:03,639
Speaker 5: mean that was legitimately the reason why I started the business.

45
00:02:03,680 --> 00:02:05,480
Speaker 5: I mean I watched my dad take his last breath

46
00:02:05,480 --> 00:02:07,640
Speaker 5: in front of me. But before he died, you know,

47
00:02:07,720 --> 00:02:10,799
Speaker 5: I promised him I was going to do the right thing.

48
00:02:10,840 --> 00:02:13,400
Speaker 5: I was gonna break my generational curses, and I was

49
00:02:13,400 --> 00:02:17,640
Speaker 5: gonna stay focused. Now, needless to say, ten years of

50
00:02:17,800 --> 00:02:20,320
Speaker 5: you know, blood, sweat, and terrors building his business a

51
00:02:20,320 --> 00:02:23,119
Speaker 5: little over ten years now. It's been a roller coaster ride.

52
00:02:23,120 --> 00:02:25,640
Speaker 5: It hasn't been easy, but I know that my purpose

53
00:02:25,720 --> 00:02:29,280
Speaker 5: was always stronger than anything of defeat. And I feel

54
00:02:29,280 --> 00:02:31,320
Speaker 5: like when your purpose is stronger than defeat, you will

55
00:02:31,320 --> 00:02:33,680
Speaker 5: never let it defeat you. So even in my hardest moments,

56
00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:35,799
Speaker 5: I always seen it end of the road. I always

57
00:02:35,840 --> 00:02:38,920
Speaker 5: knew that eventually people will start paying attention. Eventually people

58
00:02:38,960 --> 00:02:41,360
Speaker 5: will see what I'm doing. Eventually people will see what

59
00:02:41,360 --> 00:02:44,359
Speaker 5: I mean to the community, and not only just that,

60
00:02:44,440 --> 00:02:47,239
Speaker 5: you know, I represent everything when they say a kid

61
00:02:47,280 --> 00:02:49,560
Speaker 5: can do. I come out of a very dangerous place

62
00:02:49,560 --> 00:02:53,959
Speaker 5: in West Philly, very low income community, you know, when

63
00:02:53,960 --> 00:02:56,400
Speaker 5: they say the whole gentrification thing, I was there way

64
00:02:56,440 --> 00:02:58,239
Speaker 5: before that. So I've seen, you know, a lot of

65
00:02:58,280 --> 00:03:00,840
Speaker 5: things happen in my life, and now I'm starting to

66
00:03:00,880 --> 00:03:03,640
Speaker 5: see communities, you know, change today. And I'm able to,

67
00:03:03,720 --> 00:03:06,680
Speaker 5: you know, spread the word. And I'm challenging myself to

68
00:03:06,760 --> 00:03:10,040
Speaker 5: keep on going to pushing kids forward because I know

69
00:03:10,120 --> 00:03:12,920
Speaker 5: it's not the lack of like you know, household is

70
00:03:12,919 --> 00:03:15,520
Speaker 5: really just the resources. You know, a lot of them

71
00:03:15,560 --> 00:03:17,680
Speaker 5: are trapped in a box. You know. We said that

72
00:03:17,720 --> 00:03:19,680
Speaker 5: they're bad kids. We said that a lot of things.

73
00:03:19,680 --> 00:03:21,720
Speaker 5: But y'all looking at that. I got forty tattoos on

74
00:03:21,720 --> 00:03:24,320
Speaker 5: my body. I come from the same environment they doing now.

75
00:03:24,520 --> 00:03:26,840
Speaker 5: Rink six in the Nation and fast casual, the first

76
00:03:26,880 --> 00:03:28,240
Speaker 5: African American to ever do it.

77
00:03:28,480 --> 00:03:31,560
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, that's so true what you say about kids too,

78
00:03:31,560 --> 00:03:34,160
Speaker 2: because a lot of times it's just where their energy

79
00:03:34,200 --> 00:03:36,560
Speaker 2: is directed to it. Yeah, those kids that y'all say

80
00:03:36,600 --> 00:03:39,120
Speaker 2: are the bad kids are the ones that actually can

81
00:03:39,160 --> 00:03:42,240
Speaker 2: be the most intelligent, the smartest. Is just who's around them,

82
00:03:42,280 --> 00:03:45,480
Speaker 2: what they're exposed to. One thing could like change your

83
00:03:45,640 --> 00:03:48,640
Speaker 2: trajectory for you. Would you say that one thing was

84
00:03:48,640 --> 00:03:51,840
Speaker 2: your father when he passed, or was it something a

85
00:03:51,880 --> 00:03:54,440
Speaker 2: spark in you before that that you knew that at

86
00:03:54,520 --> 00:03:56,000
Speaker 2: some point you would be an entrepreneur.

87
00:03:56,800 --> 00:03:58,760
Speaker 5: I think it was. It was instilled in me my

88
00:03:58,800 --> 00:04:01,560
Speaker 5: whole life, because I've seen men work money through Friday

89
00:04:01,600 --> 00:04:05,480
Speaker 5: to take care of families. But my father was a

90
00:04:05,560 --> 00:04:08,840
Speaker 5: strong reason because it's like I honored this man just

91
00:04:08,880 --> 00:04:10,760
Speaker 5: as much as I honored God. You know, it's my

92
00:04:10,840 --> 00:04:12,800
Speaker 5: best friend. You know. It was a person I would

93
00:04:12,840 --> 00:04:16,120
Speaker 5: run to any situation I was in, anybody I would

94
00:04:16,160 --> 00:04:18,720
Speaker 5: ask for advice. So when he wasn't there anymore, I

95
00:04:18,760 --> 00:04:21,200
Speaker 5: wanted to make his name live on. So I always

96
00:04:21,240 --> 00:04:24,039
Speaker 5: told myself that, you know those blue signs on those exes,

97
00:04:24,080 --> 00:04:25,440
Speaker 5: when you see the McDonald's and all of them, you're

98
00:04:25,440 --> 00:04:27,839
Speaker 5: gonna see the Big Dave cheese steaks, because I wanted

99
00:04:27,880 --> 00:04:29,680
Speaker 5: my dad to live on in every city and state

100
00:04:29,720 --> 00:04:31,880
Speaker 5: around America. And right now I'm going to traject you

101
00:04:31,960 --> 00:04:34,360
Speaker 5: to do that. And it's really you know, I you know,

102
00:04:34,480 --> 00:04:36,680
Speaker 5: I tell people, you know, I always say online, I'm

103
00:04:36,680 --> 00:04:40,000
Speaker 5: building a billion dollar company. It's not for the financial gain.

104
00:04:40,360 --> 00:04:42,080
Speaker 5: I know of a kid from West Philly out to

105
00:04:42,080 --> 00:04:44,680
Speaker 5: ghetto build a billion dollar company. I'm about to motivate

106
00:04:44,760 --> 00:04:48,480
Speaker 5: kids globally, not just nationally, globally, because they're going to say, wait,

107
00:04:48,880 --> 00:04:51,400
Speaker 5: he only got a high school diplomba. Wait, he ain't

108
00:04:51,480 --> 00:04:53,680
Speaker 5: go to college. Wait how did he do this with

109
00:04:53,760 --> 00:04:55,919
Speaker 5: no resources? You know, So all of those things is

110
00:04:55,920 --> 00:04:57,520
Speaker 5: just going to motivate them to do the same thing.

111
00:04:57,839 --> 00:05:00,240
Speaker 5: And it could take the footsteps that I've taken. I

112
00:05:00,240 --> 00:05:02,159
Speaker 5: wouldn't want them to take allway the same road that

113
00:05:02,200 --> 00:05:05,000
Speaker 5: I've taken, because I felt like some of these steps

114
00:05:05,000 --> 00:05:07,240
Speaker 5: I've taken, you know, there was big shoes to fill.

115
00:05:07,320 --> 00:05:10,200
Speaker 5: I mean, I just never took no for an answer,

116
00:05:10,279 --> 00:05:12,720
Speaker 5: And honestly, you really just got to get out your

117
00:05:12,720 --> 00:05:15,640
Speaker 5: own way and have thick skin because when you walk

118
00:05:15,640 --> 00:05:18,560
Speaker 5: in certain rooms, the judgmental content is already at the

119
00:05:18,560 --> 00:05:19,080
Speaker 5: front door.

120
00:05:19,600 --> 00:05:20,600
Speaker 4: How did you do this.

121
00:05:20,520 --> 00:05:22,160
Speaker 3: With such limited resources?

122
00:05:22,600 --> 00:05:26,320
Speaker 5: I'm a hustler, That's just really what it is. I mean,

123
00:05:26,680 --> 00:05:29,279
Speaker 5: I come from a place where you know, anybody know Philly.

124
00:05:29,600 --> 00:05:34,040
Speaker 5: Philly people are hustlers, We go getters, we grind our

125
00:05:34,160 --> 00:05:38,559
Speaker 5: demeanors from. But also I believe in myself. I believe

126
00:05:38,560 --> 00:05:40,560
Speaker 5: in myself when anybody can believe in me. You know

127
00:05:40,800 --> 00:05:42,480
Speaker 5: a lot of people wait for people to believe in them,

128
00:05:42,480 --> 00:05:43,960
Speaker 5: and they get that spark and say I feel good

129
00:05:44,040 --> 00:05:46,240
Speaker 5: such and such such just about me. No, I don't

130
00:05:46,240 --> 00:05:48,200
Speaker 5: care if nobody clasp for me. Nobody could word in

131
00:05:48,279 --> 00:05:51,240
Speaker 5: my soil, my battery charge, because I know me. When

132
00:05:51,240 --> 00:05:53,599
Speaker 5: you know you, you will be okay. I tell anybody

133
00:05:53,560 --> 00:05:56,719
Speaker 5: to challenge theyself, to define themselves before they define somebody else.

134
00:05:56,839 --> 00:05:58,600
Speaker 1: You know, I'm from New York, so we're used to

135
00:05:58,680 --> 00:05:59,160
Speaker 1: driving it.

136
00:05:59,160 --> 00:06:01,680
Speaker 2: I would literally to Philly to get cheese steaks, right,

137
00:06:02,000 --> 00:06:03,960
Speaker 2: there's a couple of times I've done that. But you

138
00:06:04,040 --> 00:06:08,200
Speaker 2: opened your first location in Atlanta. Yes, And I don't

139
00:06:08,240 --> 00:06:12,280
Speaker 2: know how popular cheese steaks were in Atlanta when you

140
00:06:12,360 --> 00:06:14,920
Speaker 2: went there and did that. But what is that process

141
00:06:15,040 --> 00:06:18,360
Speaker 2: like of bringing something that's unfamiliar to a place where

142
00:06:18,360 --> 00:06:20,560
Speaker 2: you're not from there, But now you have to get

143
00:06:20,560 --> 00:06:22,719
Speaker 2: people used to wanting to get something. And it was

144
00:06:22,760 --> 00:06:24,680
Speaker 2: in a gas station, right, was the first place that

145
00:06:24,720 --> 00:06:27,960
Speaker 2: you opened up an actual physical location. So tell me

146
00:06:28,040 --> 00:06:31,680
Speaker 2: how you managed to even market yourself and overcome that.

147
00:06:32,520 --> 00:06:35,719
Speaker 5: Well, For one, I actually started in a gas station

148
00:06:35,800 --> 00:06:37,919
Speaker 5: outside of the city, which was like thirty five minutes

149
00:06:37,920 --> 00:06:39,760
Speaker 5: from Atlanta. So that was the one challenge I had

150
00:06:39,800 --> 00:06:42,000
Speaker 5: against me. But nobody wanted to lease me in space,

151
00:06:42,040 --> 00:06:44,640
Speaker 5: so I had to take what God gave me. I'm like, look,

152
00:06:44,680 --> 00:06:46,880
Speaker 5: I got the product, I know, I got the hustle.

153
00:06:46,920 --> 00:06:49,159
Speaker 5: Eventually they going to come, but it took me a

154
00:06:49,200 --> 00:06:51,920
Speaker 5: year and a half to start getting traffic, any traffic.

155
00:06:51,960 --> 00:06:54,080
Speaker 5: And that was a hard thing for me. You know,

156
00:06:54,160 --> 00:06:56,120
Speaker 5: I had spent many days in my car plan and

157
00:06:56,120 --> 00:06:58,039
Speaker 5: praying to God because I took my last money and

158
00:06:58,040 --> 00:07:00,600
Speaker 5: put into this business. But I always like the shot

159
00:07:00,680 --> 00:07:04,560
Speaker 5: Eve out Eve. She was shooting barbershop and she came

160
00:07:04,640 --> 00:07:07,239
Speaker 5: a bit of cheese steak, and that was like literally

161
00:07:07,320 --> 00:07:09,600
Speaker 5: the breaking point of my career because when she ate

162
00:07:09,640 --> 00:07:11,920
Speaker 5: that cheese steak, she put it on her social media

163
00:07:12,000 --> 00:07:14,360
Speaker 5: platforms and I had five hundred people in the parking

164
00:07:14,360 --> 00:07:16,160
Speaker 5: lot the next day. I mean more traffic now I

165
00:07:16,200 --> 00:07:18,400
Speaker 5: can handle. I tell people all the time, you can

166
00:07:18,600 --> 00:07:21,280
Speaker 5: work your butt off as much as you want. If

167
00:07:21,280 --> 00:07:23,680
Speaker 5: you're not ready for it, you will fold. So I

168
00:07:23,760 --> 00:07:25,960
Speaker 5: always be ready when when that call come. And I

169
00:07:26,000 --> 00:07:28,720
Speaker 5: was ready for that phone call. And from year to

170
00:07:28,840 --> 00:07:32,800
Speaker 5: year twenty eighteen, I ranked number seven world and sandwiches,

171
00:07:32,840 --> 00:07:35,480
Speaker 5: not just cheese steaks and sandwiches. And that gave me

172
00:07:35,560 --> 00:07:38,400
Speaker 5: like a big opportunity to start being able to scale

173
00:07:38,480 --> 00:07:40,560
Speaker 5: the brand because now you know, like when you a

174
00:07:40,600 --> 00:07:42,760
Speaker 5: new business, it's hard to least. Spaces like Tennis don't

175
00:07:42,760 --> 00:07:44,640
Speaker 5: want to give it to They're like, hey, well, how

176
00:07:44,640 --> 00:07:47,080
Speaker 5: many locations you got, And if you like, yeah, I

177
00:07:47,080 --> 00:07:49,040
Speaker 5: got one location in the gas station, You're like all right, well,

178
00:07:49,040 --> 00:07:50,640
Speaker 5: come see me later. You know, you get a couple

179
00:07:50,680 --> 00:07:53,880
Speaker 5: more and now I'm anchor tennis and most of the

180
00:07:53,880 --> 00:07:56,119
Speaker 5: places I'm in. You know, it's you know, I've seen

181
00:07:56,160 --> 00:07:59,920
Speaker 5: my whole life transition in the last like for force

182
00:08:00,120 --> 00:08:03,920
Speaker 5: of my years, just like year over year getting more opportunities.

183
00:08:04,200 --> 00:08:06,520
Speaker 5: But most of all, I ain't taking no fun answer,

184
00:08:06,560 --> 00:08:08,600
Speaker 5: Like I'm really knocking on these doors saying, listen, I

185
00:08:08,600 --> 00:08:10,640
Speaker 5: deserve this, and if you don't want to give it

186
00:08:10,640 --> 00:08:12,520
Speaker 5: to me, you're going to feel it when you see

187
00:08:12,560 --> 00:08:15,320
Speaker 5: it because I gave you everything that I was supposed to.

188
00:08:15,520 --> 00:08:17,880
Speaker 5: It's like somebody coming to you right now saying they

189
00:08:17,960 --> 00:08:20,520
Speaker 5: qualified to come talk on this show, and you know

190
00:08:20,640 --> 00:08:22,880
Speaker 5: that they have all the occolades and all the special

191
00:08:22,920 --> 00:08:25,800
Speaker 5: things that it takes to be on this platform, and

192
00:08:25,840 --> 00:08:27,680
Speaker 5: you don't want to give it to them. So who

193
00:08:27,760 --> 00:08:29,680
Speaker 5: wrong is that? You know? That's the way I look

194
00:08:29,680 --> 00:08:30,760
Speaker 5: at it. I say, you know, they're not going to

195
00:08:30,840 --> 00:08:32,560
Speaker 5: keep locking me out these rooms, and right now they

196
00:08:32,600 --> 00:08:33,360
Speaker 5: don't have no choice.

197
00:08:33,400 --> 00:08:35,120
Speaker 2: You know, Derek, there's a lot of people who are

198
00:08:35,160 --> 00:08:38,719
Speaker 2: starting their own businesses and starting where you started, right

199
00:08:38,800 --> 00:08:41,960
Speaker 2: where it might not be any customers for a while,

200
00:08:42,000 --> 00:08:43,600
Speaker 2: you're still trying to like get it going. You said

201
00:08:43,600 --> 00:08:46,040
Speaker 2: it took a year and a half until that happened.

202
00:08:46,120 --> 00:08:48,559
Speaker 2: So were you the person there that was physically having

203
00:08:48,559 --> 00:08:51,080
Speaker 2: to work? Because that's also something that for entrepreneurs to

204
00:08:51,160 --> 00:08:53,520
Speaker 2: understand that a lot of times when you're launching a.

205
00:08:53,440 --> 00:08:55,600
Speaker 1: Business, you have to physically, yeah, you at.

206
00:08:55,559 --> 00:08:58,200
Speaker 2: Present and do the work, and sometimes you might not

207
00:08:58,240 --> 00:09:00,520
Speaker 2: even have other employees. So I just want you to

208
00:09:00,520 --> 00:09:03,120
Speaker 2: talk about those early days because for somebody else starting,

209
00:09:03,160 --> 00:09:05,960
Speaker 2: this could be an inspiration to them to know this

210
00:09:06,000 --> 00:09:08,840
Speaker 2: is the because they could see you now and be like, yeah,

211
00:09:08,920 --> 00:09:11,720
Speaker 2: he's doing great, he's got this, he's got this platform,

212
00:09:11,800 --> 00:09:14,000
Speaker 2: he's all over the place. I see him at invest pass.

213
00:09:14,320 --> 00:09:16,280
Speaker 2: He just came from Martha's vineyard. But to know what

214
00:09:16,360 --> 00:09:18,080
Speaker 2: happened before that, I think is important.

215
00:09:18,240 --> 00:09:21,280
Speaker 5: Oh man, that's actually good because that's what I really

216
00:09:21,280 --> 00:09:24,640
Speaker 5: care about. I care about people seeing the sea before

217
00:09:24,679 --> 00:09:26,760
Speaker 5: the flowers grown because it was a lot of work.

218
00:09:27,280 --> 00:09:30,240
Speaker 5: So I actually like to I'm gonna pat myself on

219
00:09:30,280 --> 00:09:32,920
Speaker 5: the back right now because I actually started in a

220
00:09:33,000 --> 00:09:36,280
Speaker 5: gas station seven hundred and forty nine square feet with

221
00:09:36,360 --> 00:09:38,760
Speaker 5: a broken fry and a broken grill, and at that time,

222
00:09:39,160 --> 00:09:40,839
Speaker 5: I didn't realize that I was, even in my own

223
00:09:40,840 --> 00:09:42,560
Speaker 5: life in danger the way things was hooked up and

224
00:09:42,600 --> 00:09:44,440
Speaker 5: it I just was hustling. I'm like, plugged the cording,

225
00:09:44,559 --> 00:09:46,920
Speaker 5: you know, I'm just whatever. He's just winging it. I'm like,

226
00:09:46,920 --> 00:09:49,200
Speaker 5: I don't know what's going on. But at the same time,

227
00:09:49,360 --> 00:09:52,000
Speaker 5: like you know, the people, they seen so much hustling me,

228
00:09:52,080 --> 00:09:54,840
Speaker 5: they see so much like grinding that they wanted to

229
00:09:54,880 --> 00:09:57,680
Speaker 5: see me make it. And I think I think the

230
00:09:57,720 --> 00:10:00,480
Speaker 5: people kept me strong throughout the years of it was

231
00:10:00,520 --> 00:10:04,240
Speaker 5: but most of all, I think it was just honestly

232
00:10:04,320 --> 00:10:06,079
Speaker 5: me wanting to get to a certain point that I

233
00:10:06,200 --> 00:10:08,440
Speaker 5: never been. I wanted to challenge myself. But in the

234
00:10:08,480 --> 00:10:11,200
Speaker 5: gas station, it was like I felt like I was

235
00:10:11,200 --> 00:10:14,079
Speaker 5: on an island by myself because I felt like nobody

236
00:10:14,120 --> 00:10:16,720
Speaker 5: was paying attention. And I'm like, I'm this young kid

237
00:10:16,840 --> 00:10:20,240
Speaker 5: from West Philly. I got all this traffic, but I

238
00:10:20,240 --> 00:10:22,440
Speaker 5: don't know what I'm doing. But I'm hustling, you know,

239
00:10:22,480 --> 00:10:24,559
Speaker 5: I'm just looking for that right person to come alone

240
00:10:24,559 --> 00:10:26,840
Speaker 5: and say I'm gonna help you get to the next point.

241
00:10:26,880 --> 00:10:29,240
Speaker 5: And that didn't happen for me until later on. But

242
00:10:29,640 --> 00:10:31,960
Speaker 5: I had to take all of those years and just

243
00:10:32,400 --> 00:10:35,800
Speaker 5: you know, at nighttime, I'm reading tutorials. I'm just teaching

244
00:10:35,880 --> 00:10:38,000
Speaker 5: myself so that now when I'm sitting at the table,

245
00:10:38,360 --> 00:10:40,280
Speaker 5: I know somewhat of what I'm talking about, so they

246
00:10:40,280 --> 00:10:43,760
Speaker 5: could take me serious. But those were the best years

247
00:10:43,800 --> 00:10:46,520
Speaker 5: of my career because those were the years where I

248
00:10:46,559 --> 00:10:50,840
Speaker 5: was challenging myself the most. Because it's easier to make

249
00:10:50,880 --> 00:10:52,800
Speaker 5: something out of yourself when the world know who you

250
00:10:52,840 --> 00:10:55,480
Speaker 5: are and you getting opportunities, But when you ain't getting

251
00:10:55,480 --> 00:10:58,880
Speaker 5: opportunities and you hustling, and nobody sees the hard work,

252
00:10:58,960 --> 00:11:02,120
Speaker 5: nobody sees the grind. And you're looking at your reviews,

253
00:11:02,160 --> 00:11:03,959
Speaker 5: every one of them, and you every time you see

254
00:11:04,000 --> 00:11:06,440
Speaker 5: a five star, you jumping out. You're just like, yes,

255
00:11:06,520 --> 00:11:09,240
Speaker 5: they love it, you know, and that feeling is very

256
00:11:09,240 --> 00:11:11,480
Speaker 5: hard to get back. But most of all, I was

257
00:11:11,520 --> 00:11:14,560
Speaker 5: taking care of individuals that was in that community, like

258
00:11:14,600 --> 00:11:17,520
Speaker 5: it was. It was guys who was divorced or you know,

259
00:11:17,800 --> 00:11:20,360
Speaker 5: a wife deceased or whatever, and they would come and

260
00:11:20,400 --> 00:11:22,520
Speaker 5: get you know, big days three or four times a week,

261
00:11:22,520 --> 00:11:26,080
Speaker 5: and I had partial relationships with these people, and nobody

262
00:11:26,120 --> 00:11:29,160
Speaker 5: cooked for me. I worked my butt off seven years,

263
00:11:29,200 --> 00:11:32,040
Speaker 5: seven days a week to build this business. I just

264
00:11:32,080 --> 00:11:34,640
Speaker 5: got off the grill three or four years ago. Wow,

265
00:11:34,679 --> 00:11:37,480
Speaker 5: so you know you can't take your hand off the wheel.

266
00:11:38,280 --> 00:11:41,320
Speaker 5: A billionaire said this to me. He said, listen, do

267
00:11:41,400 --> 00:11:43,120
Speaker 5: you want to build a famous mom and pop or

268
00:11:43,200 --> 00:11:45,400
Speaker 5: you want to scale this brand? And I said, I

269
00:11:45,400 --> 00:11:47,400
Speaker 5: want to scale this brand. That was always my goal.

270
00:11:47,800 --> 00:11:49,520
Speaker 5: He said, well, in order to scale this brand, you

271
00:11:49,520 --> 00:11:52,760
Speaker 5: got to learn the brand. Right now, you teaching inside

272
00:11:52,760 --> 00:11:54,520
Speaker 5: the facility, you're working with the social but now you

273
00:11:54,559 --> 00:11:57,360
Speaker 5: got to run the machine. And running the machines take

274
00:11:57,400 --> 00:12:00,360
Speaker 5: you to learn profit and lost cocks, even that, all

275
00:12:00,360 --> 00:12:02,000
Speaker 5: of these things. To know what you're doing, putting the

276
00:12:02,080 --> 00:12:04,720
Speaker 5: right c suites together, the right people, that's going to

277
00:12:04,720 --> 00:12:07,320
Speaker 5: help you scale. Because let me tell you something, loyalty

278
00:12:07,400 --> 00:12:09,400
Speaker 5: is one thing, but if you don't know what the

279
00:12:09,400 --> 00:12:11,840
Speaker 5: hell you're doing, loyalty don't mean nothing in scaling the brand.

280
00:12:12,120 --> 00:12:13,920
Speaker 5: You really got to know what you're doing. And I

281
00:12:14,000 --> 00:12:16,880
Speaker 5: go so hard off of loyalty. I had to say,

282
00:12:16,920 --> 00:12:19,720
Speaker 5: you know what, I got to be loyal to myself too.

283
00:12:20,320 --> 00:12:22,679
Speaker 5: And being loyal to yourself is understanding that you're paying

284
00:12:22,679 --> 00:12:25,160
Speaker 5: people in position you know that don't have the expertise

285
00:12:25,200 --> 00:12:27,720
Speaker 5: to take you to that level. The smart thing to do,

286
00:12:27,800 --> 00:12:29,560
Speaker 5: I like to say, is if you believe in somebody

287
00:12:29,679 --> 00:12:31,840
Speaker 5: and they going hard for you and they don't have

288
00:12:31,920 --> 00:12:33,920
Speaker 5: the expertise to get there, you pick somebody in front

289
00:12:33,920 --> 00:12:36,080
Speaker 5: of them that's can teach them and guide them so

290
00:12:36,120 --> 00:12:38,000
Speaker 5: that you provide opportunities for them. And that's what I

291
00:12:38,000 --> 00:12:38,520
Speaker 5: started doing.

292
00:12:38,600 --> 00:12:40,920
Speaker 3: Talk about that because you obviously had a great product,

293
00:12:40,920 --> 00:12:44,000
Speaker 3: you believed in, you hustled, you worked. That's very different

294
00:12:44,160 --> 00:12:47,040
Speaker 3: than running and scaling a company. Yeah, I mean completely

295
00:12:47,080 --> 00:12:49,400
Speaker 3: different skills, and a lot of entrepreneurs get caught up

296
00:12:49,400 --> 00:12:52,520
Speaker 3: in their idea but also not realizing you have to

297
00:12:52,760 --> 00:12:54,400
Speaker 3: have all those skills to run a company.

298
00:12:54,440 --> 00:12:55,920
Speaker 5: Well, you gotta have the smart to know that. You

299
00:12:55,960 --> 00:12:58,600
Speaker 5: can't be the smartest person in the room. That's just

300
00:12:58,600 --> 00:13:03,040
Speaker 5: odd to it. I went from saying and I to we,

301
00:13:04,040 --> 00:13:06,720
Speaker 5: and when you get to we, we win. I lose.

302
00:13:07,440 --> 00:13:09,960
Speaker 5: You know I did this, I did that, And now

303
00:13:10,000 --> 00:13:12,880
Speaker 5: on your team, looking like, well what about when we

304
00:13:12,880 --> 00:13:14,719
Speaker 5: was hustling with you, doing these things we was doing

305
00:13:14,760 --> 00:13:16,679
Speaker 5: with you? You want everybody to feel included, you know, you

306
00:13:16,720 --> 00:13:19,080
Speaker 5: wanted to feel like a team, like my company really

307
00:13:19,160 --> 00:13:21,800
Speaker 5: run like a fortune five and your business. I got

308
00:13:21,800 --> 00:13:24,640
Speaker 5: different departments. I run a company. I'm the face of

309
00:13:24,679 --> 00:13:27,120
Speaker 5: the company, but I don't run the operations. I got

310
00:13:27,160 --> 00:13:29,640
Speaker 5: a president right now, I got a director of operations.

311
00:13:29,920 --> 00:13:32,320
Speaker 5: I got a franchise advisor with over one hundred restaurants.

312
00:13:32,360 --> 00:13:34,720
Speaker 5: So like, my team is really corporately sound and strong

313
00:13:35,000 --> 00:13:36,800
Speaker 5: because I know when I step in those rooms and

314
00:13:36,800 --> 00:13:38,720
Speaker 5: I'm going to the different levels, I'm getting a certain

315
00:13:38,760 --> 00:13:39,560
Speaker 5: respect I deserve.

316
00:13:39,920 --> 00:13:42,240
Speaker 2: You know, sometimes we're so used to running our business,

317
00:13:42,240 --> 00:13:44,560
Speaker 2: like you said, it started off as a mom and pop. Yeah,

318
00:13:44,600 --> 00:13:46,880
Speaker 2: and it feels like you're giving up control in a

319
00:13:46,920 --> 00:13:49,040
Speaker 2: certain type of way because you're used to things happening

320
00:13:49,120 --> 00:13:52,079
Speaker 2: a certain way and operating on that level. How was

321
00:13:52,120 --> 00:13:54,520
Speaker 2: it for you mentally to be able to be like,

322
00:13:54,800 --> 00:13:57,480
Speaker 2: I gotta trust other people. I gotta put these people

323
00:13:57,520 --> 00:13:59,800
Speaker 2: in position, because sometimes we know we need to do that,

324
00:14:00,080 --> 00:14:03,360
Speaker 2: but kind of letting it go is a little difficult.

325
00:14:03,559 --> 00:14:06,600
Speaker 5: It was the hardest thing. Honestly, It was probably harder

326
00:14:06,600 --> 00:14:08,880
Speaker 5: than anything that I ever dealt with, because it's your baby.

327
00:14:09,440 --> 00:14:11,880
Speaker 5: It's like letting somebody watch your child, and you be like,

328
00:14:12,920 --> 00:14:15,880
Speaker 5: is this person qualified to like watch my children? To

329
00:14:15,920 --> 00:14:18,079
Speaker 5: spend the night and all those things. So like your

330
00:14:18,240 --> 00:14:21,360
Speaker 5: your business, especially a business that you picture blessed, wet

331
00:14:21,360 --> 00:14:22,920
Speaker 5: and tears in and you seeing it growing, and you

332
00:14:23,000 --> 00:14:25,280
Speaker 5: gotta now, you know, put it in somebody else's hands.

333
00:14:25,320 --> 00:14:27,520
Speaker 5: You got to make sure that they represent the same

334
00:14:27,560 --> 00:14:29,360
Speaker 5: things that you represent. You got to make sure that

335
00:14:29,400 --> 00:14:31,640
Speaker 5: their goals are the same goals that you want. And

336
00:14:31,680 --> 00:14:33,320
Speaker 5: you also got to look at it like this, if

337
00:14:33,360 --> 00:14:35,360
Speaker 5: you were if your benefit is just a money gain

338
00:14:35,480 --> 00:14:38,800
Speaker 5: or money grab, this is not for you, because I'm

339
00:14:38,840 --> 00:14:41,360
Speaker 5: looking at history. You know, even when people you know,

340
00:14:41,840 --> 00:14:43,680
Speaker 5: you know, even in my family, like hey man, you

341
00:14:43,760 --> 00:14:46,160
Speaker 5: didn't turn into a celebrity. No I'm not. I'm legendary.

342
00:14:46,200 --> 00:14:48,520
Speaker 5: I'm gonna be something much bigger than any celebrity can

343
00:14:48,560 --> 00:14:50,840
Speaker 5: ever put a title one. Because that's what that's what

344
00:14:50,880 --> 00:14:54,440
Speaker 5: I believe in myself. When you're looking at the Warren Buffets,

345
00:14:54,480 --> 00:14:56,920
Speaker 5: the Elon Musk, when you're looking at the Robert Smiths,

346
00:14:57,480 --> 00:14:59,920
Speaker 5: the Rich Dennis, all these all these people that have

347
00:15:00,000 --> 00:15:01,840
Speaker 5: I've done things in their careers to get to a

348
00:15:01,880 --> 00:15:04,880
Speaker 5: certain point. They had to do something that was uncomfortable

349
00:15:04,920 --> 00:15:06,240
Speaker 5: to get there. And right now I'm going through my

350
00:15:06,320 --> 00:15:09,440
Speaker 5: uncomfortable stage and that's getting away from people that don't

351
00:15:09,480 --> 00:15:12,600
Speaker 5: fit me, that don't represent me and don't operate the

352
00:15:12,600 --> 00:15:15,360
Speaker 5: way I operate, and that go from family, friends, anybody,

353
00:15:15,440 --> 00:15:18,560
Speaker 5: because I'm not gonna let nobody stop me from getting

354
00:15:18,560 --> 00:15:19,840
Speaker 5: to the point I want to get to. On how

355
00:15:19,880 --> 00:15:20,960
Speaker 5: hard I work talk.

356
00:15:21,120 --> 00:15:24,320
Speaker 3: You mentioned being uncomfortable, talk about an experience that you

357
00:15:24,520 --> 00:15:27,520
Speaker 3: had in this whole journey that that was this was

358
00:15:27,560 --> 00:15:28,880
Speaker 3: like my big learning moment.

359
00:15:29,040 --> 00:15:32,200
Speaker 5: Well are you looking at it right now? So right

360
00:15:32,240 --> 00:15:34,640
Speaker 5: now I'm in my Series A raise. I got this

361
00:15:34,720 --> 00:15:39,000
Speaker 5: far without raising capital, So right now, you know me

362
00:15:39,120 --> 00:15:41,400
Speaker 5: saying I own one hundred percent of my company on paper,

363
00:15:41,720 --> 00:15:43,760
Speaker 5: it won't look at like that. You know that I'm

364
00:15:43,800 --> 00:15:45,680
Speaker 5: raising capital now, and that's something that I got to

365
00:15:45,720 --> 00:15:48,160
Speaker 5: live with and be okay with. So the next chapter

366
00:15:48,240 --> 00:15:51,400
Speaker 5: of my career, I gotta be okay with who I

367
00:15:51,520 --> 00:15:54,040
Speaker 5: allow to be a part of this journey and make

368
00:15:54,080 --> 00:15:56,520
Speaker 5: sure that I pick the right soldiers that I'm continuing to,

369
00:15:56,560 --> 00:15:59,360
Speaker 5: you know, move forward with this brand. It's very uncomfortable

370
00:15:59,400 --> 00:16:04,440
Speaker 5: because when you're looking at VC's private equity, whether it's friends, family,

371
00:16:04,520 --> 00:16:07,200
Speaker 5: anybody that wants to join around, you want to make

372
00:16:07,240 --> 00:16:09,080
Speaker 5: sure they aline to what you're doing, and I change

373
00:16:09,120 --> 00:16:12,160
Speaker 5: the culture in your business and right now, that's something

374
00:16:12,200 --> 00:16:14,280
Speaker 5: that I've never experienced right now, and I'm going into

375
00:16:14,280 --> 00:16:17,120
Speaker 5: that right now. But I have the experience to know

376
00:16:17,360 --> 00:16:19,560
Speaker 5: what's right and wrong for me. And I waited to

377
00:16:19,600 --> 00:16:21,400
Speaker 5: get to this point to get the right evaluation that

378
00:16:21,400 --> 00:16:22,840
Speaker 5: I wanted. I didn't want to rush.

379
00:16:22,760 --> 00:16:25,000
Speaker 2: Right And you know, you've spoken about being the face

380
00:16:25,040 --> 00:16:27,600
Speaker 2: of your brand, and I've known you for a while,

381
00:16:27,960 --> 00:16:29,880
Speaker 2: and I do want to say I've always felt like

382
00:16:30,040 --> 00:16:33,760
Speaker 2: you have preferred to stay in the background. I don't

383
00:16:33,760 --> 00:16:36,200
Speaker 2: know if that's true or not, but you are the

384
00:16:36,240 --> 00:16:38,560
Speaker 2: face of your brand, and so doing these interviews. I

385
00:16:38,560 --> 00:16:40,920
Speaker 2: saw you on Denna Kings too, so that was a

386
00:16:40,960 --> 00:16:43,360
Speaker 2: really dope space. Thank you, you know, to being and

387
00:16:43,400 --> 00:16:45,840
Speaker 2: I've seen you do a ton of interviews also, But

388
00:16:46,480 --> 00:16:48,600
Speaker 2: was that something that you were like because I've never

389
00:16:48,640 --> 00:16:49,840
Speaker 2: felt like you were the person that.

390
00:16:49,840 --> 00:16:50,600
Speaker 1: Wanted to be like.

391
00:16:50,760 --> 00:16:52,600
Speaker 4: I wanted to build the business front and center.

392
00:16:52,760 --> 00:16:56,160
Speaker 5: I wanted to build the business. I felt like the

393
00:16:56,240 --> 00:16:58,560
Speaker 5: talking would come later. I wanted to make sure that

394
00:16:59,240 --> 00:17:01,360
Speaker 5: I had what I what I had to back up.

395
00:17:01,600 --> 00:17:03,760
Speaker 5: You know, it's like boxing, you know, it's like I

396
00:17:03,800 --> 00:17:05,840
Speaker 5: can knock this guy out. But if you ain't in shape,

397
00:17:05,840 --> 00:17:08,080
Speaker 5: in your mindset, ain't there, You're not gonna win the battle.

398
00:17:08,440 --> 00:17:11,080
Speaker 5: I wanted to make sure that before you know, I

399
00:17:11,119 --> 00:17:14,000
Speaker 5: got to a certain point, I was able to deliver.

400
00:17:14,200 --> 00:17:17,760
Speaker 5: And it was difficult because even when I was ready,

401
00:17:18,200 --> 00:17:20,679
Speaker 5: I wasn't getting the attention that I deserved. And when

402
00:17:20,720 --> 00:17:23,119
Speaker 5: I was putting out, I mean, you know, I'm a

403
00:17:23,160 --> 00:17:25,600
Speaker 5: black kid that've been making millions and millions of dollars

404
00:17:25,600 --> 00:17:28,840
Speaker 5: a year over year, no where, no big articles, no

405
00:17:29,040 --> 00:17:32,080
Speaker 5: national headlines and any of that. I mean, how can

406
00:17:32,119 --> 00:17:34,960
Speaker 5: you not explore that and showcase that what's going on?

407
00:17:35,480 --> 00:17:38,440
Speaker 5: But again, I'm a weapon. I understand that. So they

408
00:17:38,520 --> 00:17:40,240
Speaker 5: got to hide me a little bit because if I

409
00:17:40,280 --> 00:17:42,439
Speaker 5: do come out, then I'm motivating every kid in the

410
00:17:42,440 --> 00:17:45,080
Speaker 5: ghetto right now that you don't want to have those opportunities.

411
00:17:45,800 --> 00:17:51,120
Speaker 3: Wow, your business really took off through the F word franchising. Yes,

412
00:17:51,240 --> 00:17:54,000
Speaker 3: And we talked to so many entrepreneurs and you know,

413
00:17:54,040 --> 00:17:56,200
Speaker 3: you're thinking about I want to start a small business.

414
00:17:56,240 --> 00:17:57,640
Speaker 4: So I want to start a small business.

415
00:17:58,960 --> 00:18:00,800
Speaker 3: How do we get our commuit unity to kind of

416
00:18:00,840 --> 00:18:05,280
Speaker 3: shift from starting small businesses to growing bigger businesses.

417
00:18:05,359 --> 00:18:06,760
Speaker 4: It's particularly through franchising.

418
00:18:06,880 --> 00:18:10,240
Speaker 5: Well, first of all, we're so we're so far behind

419
00:18:10,320 --> 00:18:13,280
Speaker 5: because it's less than eight percent of African Americans that

420
00:18:13,359 --> 00:18:16,959
Speaker 5: even own a franchise. So let's talk about the actual

421
00:18:17,000 --> 00:18:19,560
Speaker 5: part of even understanding what you're trying to build, because

422
00:18:19,560 --> 00:18:22,160
Speaker 5: most of us sell before we even get something powerful,

423
00:18:22,520 --> 00:18:25,040
Speaker 5: because we are looking for some financial gain to make

424
00:18:25,080 --> 00:18:27,480
Speaker 5: it out of our bad situations. That when we have

425
00:18:27,600 --> 00:18:31,239
Speaker 5: something strong and somebody says he here's twenty million, and

426
00:18:31,280 --> 00:18:33,119
Speaker 5: you take twenty million, they turn your company to a

427
00:18:33,119 --> 00:18:35,800
Speaker 5: four hundred million dollar company. It happens over and over

428
00:18:35,840 --> 00:18:38,080
Speaker 5: and over again. That's the reason why African Americans has

429
00:18:38,119 --> 00:18:40,960
Speaker 5: never taken a fast casual brand to a billion dollars

430
00:18:41,000 --> 00:18:43,520
Speaker 5: because we always sell too fast because when it gets

431
00:18:43,560 --> 00:18:45,959
Speaker 5: hard to get difficult, it get uncomfortable, and we're not

432
00:18:46,000 --> 00:18:48,120
Speaker 5: willing to fight that fight. Well, I'm going to fight

433
00:18:48,160 --> 00:18:49,639
Speaker 5: that fight. I'm going to do it no matter how

434
00:18:49,680 --> 00:18:52,200
Speaker 5: hard to get because i have a goal that I'm

435
00:18:52,200 --> 00:18:55,280
Speaker 5: trying to get to. And it's not because of me

436
00:18:55,600 --> 00:18:58,200
Speaker 5: just saying oh, I'm different from anybody else. I understand

437
00:18:58,240 --> 00:19:00,800
Speaker 5: what's happening to us. I'm in a rooms now, I

438
00:19:00,880 --> 00:19:05,040
Speaker 5: understand what's going on. So I'm like that that thing

439
00:19:05,200 --> 00:19:06,520
Speaker 5: you see. You know, if I could see it, I

440
00:19:06,520 --> 00:19:09,560
Speaker 5: could be it. And no matter whether it's black, white,

441
00:19:09,640 --> 00:19:11,840
Speaker 5: no matter if it's Asian, no matter who it is.

442
00:19:12,200 --> 00:19:14,320
Speaker 5: If I'm around the information, I know it's for me too.

443
00:19:14,720 --> 00:19:16,359
Speaker 5: I soak it in like a sponge. I can have

444
00:19:16,400 --> 00:19:19,800
Speaker 5: the same opportunity. So somebody can come right now offer

445
00:19:19,840 --> 00:19:21,639
Speaker 5: me one hundred to hundred million for my company. They

446
00:19:21,640 --> 00:19:22,399
Speaker 5: can kick rocks.

447
00:19:24,040 --> 00:19:26,399
Speaker 4: Just know what I'm going Your.

448
00:19:26,119 --> 00:19:28,520
Speaker 1: Plan is to have one hundred franchises by the end

449
00:19:28,520 --> 00:19:28,880
Speaker 1: of the year.

450
00:19:28,920 --> 00:19:30,560
Speaker 5: Yeah, I'm on my way. I'm about to make some

451
00:19:30,560 --> 00:19:31,520
Speaker 5: big announcements soon.

452
00:19:31,680 --> 00:19:35,000
Speaker 1: Oh wow, you look so happy.

453
00:19:35,840 --> 00:19:37,800
Speaker 5: Man. Listen, I got so much stuff that I'm about

454
00:19:37,800 --> 00:19:40,080
Speaker 5: to drop twenty twenty six. Man, it's like I feel

455
00:19:40,119 --> 00:19:43,760
Speaker 5: like I'm still dreaming. I do it because you know,

456
00:19:44,040 --> 00:19:45,560
Speaker 5: for a lot of years, man, you know, I sat

457
00:19:45,600 --> 00:19:47,159
Speaker 5: in a dark place because I felt like I was

458
00:19:47,160 --> 00:19:49,920
Speaker 5: getting annoyed with something powerful. But God say the best

459
00:19:49,920 --> 00:19:50,720
Speaker 5: for last.

460
00:19:51,119 --> 00:19:53,359
Speaker 3: When you let's talk a little bit more about franchising.

461
00:19:53,400 --> 00:19:56,880
Speaker 3: When people think about doing it, it's a great way

462
00:19:56,880 --> 00:20:00,280
Speaker 3: to have a small business in some ways, and as

463
00:20:00,320 --> 00:20:02,600
Speaker 3: you franchise big daves, how do you still kind of

464
00:20:02,680 --> 00:20:04,480
Speaker 3: keep control.

465
00:20:04,119 --> 00:20:06,640
Speaker 5: Well a culture. So, so I'm glad you actually brought

466
00:20:06,640 --> 00:20:08,680
Speaker 5: that up. So and anybody that's franchising, I think you

467
00:20:08,680 --> 00:20:10,720
Speaker 5: should do the same thing what I'm about to say. So,

468
00:20:10,760 --> 00:20:14,280
Speaker 5: we got something called Discovery Day. Discovery Day you find

469
00:20:14,320 --> 00:20:17,160
Speaker 5: out what the person is about there once you show

470
00:20:17,200 --> 00:20:19,720
Speaker 5: them the systems and your business, they go around your restaurants.

471
00:20:20,480 --> 00:20:23,160
Speaker 5: But the one thing I asked before Discovery Day is over,

472
00:20:23,520 --> 00:20:25,680
Speaker 5: I say, pitch your money to the side. What can

473
00:20:25,720 --> 00:20:28,480
Speaker 5: you do to help me and resources scale this brand?

474
00:20:28,640 --> 00:20:30,119
Speaker 5: And right now I'm a young brand. And if you

475
00:20:30,160 --> 00:20:33,040
Speaker 5: can't answer that, then that changes things for me because

476
00:20:33,480 --> 00:20:35,879
Speaker 5: if money gain is all you went out of this,

477
00:20:36,000 --> 00:20:38,000
Speaker 5: what's going to happen when the economy ever get rough

478
00:20:38,080 --> 00:20:40,239
Speaker 5: or anything like that. Are you still a rod? Are

479
00:20:40,240 --> 00:20:42,480
Speaker 5: you still trying to figure out ways of bringing the

480
00:20:42,480 --> 00:20:45,240
Speaker 5: company together? Are you going to create opportunities to help

481
00:20:45,240 --> 00:20:47,920
Speaker 5: the company scale. That's why I'm so happy and proud

482
00:20:47,920 --> 00:20:51,600
Speaker 5: of Derek Lewis down and Orlando, because Derek was the

483
00:20:51,640 --> 00:20:54,760
Speaker 5: ex PEPSI president, but he put his money where his

484
00:20:54,800 --> 00:20:57,679
Speaker 5: mouth is. He bought ten locations. He was able to

485
00:20:57,760 --> 00:21:01,520
Speaker 5: open up two Brick and Waters now three stadiums that

486
00:21:01,600 --> 00:21:05,360
Speaker 5: he's being represented in. I'm also in now in South

487
00:21:05,440 --> 00:21:09,760
Speaker 5: Carolina and Columbia. Amazing location, one of my best locations,

488
00:21:09,760 --> 00:21:12,560
Speaker 5: sixteen hundred square food box depending out record breaking numbers.

489
00:21:12,720 --> 00:21:14,120
Speaker 5: And I'm gonna go ahead and give it to y'all

490
00:21:14,119 --> 00:21:16,000
Speaker 5: on this. I'm about that an now it is Greenville,

491
00:21:16,040 --> 00:21:17,640
Speaker 5: South Carolina. Whe I'm about to do the wild break

492
00:21:17,680 --> 00:21:18,120
Speaker 5: next week.

493
00:21:18,280 --> 00:21:19,520
Speaker 1: Wow, congratulations.

494
00:21:19,600 --> 00:21:22,119
Speaker 5: And I'm about to announce another one. That's the Georgia

495
00:21:22,119 --> 00:21:25,560
Speaker 5: World Congress Center where investmentster is health this year. So

496
00:21:25,560 --> 00:21:28,040
Speaker 5: I'm gonna be doing some amazing things for investment.

497
00:21:28,040 --> 00:21:29,360
Speaker 1: Oh wow, perfect.

498
00:21:29,080 --> 00:21:31,520
Speaker 3: Timing, Screenville, South Carolina.

499
00:21:31,640 --> 00:21:32,400
Speaker 4: You heard it here.

500
00:21:32,560 --> 00:21:36,239
Speaker 5: Yes, I had to break the news. Yes I had

501
00:21:36,240 --> 00:21:39,320
Speaker 5: to give it. Oh maybe puts the hold that, but

502
00:21:40,200 --> 00:21:40,800
Speaker 5: it's all good.

503
00:21:41,840 --> 00:21:46,080
Speaker 2: Listen, well Wednesday breaking news exclusives exactly. And I want

504
00:21:46,119 --> 00:21:48,520
Speaker 2: to talk about Ahtlantha because, as you discussed, like also

505
00:21:48,760 --> 00:21:51,520
Speaker 2: knowing that when you're talking to potential franchise owners on

506
00:21:51,560 --> 00:21:54,440
Speaker 2: Discovery Day, knowing that, Okay, this is not just about money.

507
00:21:54,520 --> 00:21:55,960
Speaker 1: Let's put the money to the side.

508
00:21:56,280 --> 00:21:59,680
Speaker 2: But also you have been very intentional on making sure

509
00:21:59,680 --> 00:22:02,600
Speaker 2: that you're involved in community as well. When you're thinking

510
00:22:02,640 --> 00:22:04,840
Speaker 2: about other people to be involved in who you're doing

511
00:22:04,840 --> 00:22:08,159
Speaker 2: business with, is that something you take into consideration also.

512
00:22:08,040 --> 00:22:09,600
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean because you want to know what these

513
00:22:09,640 --> 00:22:12,080
Speaker 5: people represent. I mean, you know, I wanted to be

514
00:22:12,119 --> 00:22:14,560
Speaker 5: a line. You know, community is what built me. You know,

515
00:22:14,560 --> 00:22:16,160
Speaker 5: a lot of people would like to say that. It's

516
00:22:16,200 --> 00:22:18,359
Speaker 5: like it's almost like accepting in the world. You know,

517
00:22:18,359 --> 00:22:20,080
Speaker 5: everybody'd be like, I want to thank God. It's just

518
00:22:20,119 --> 00:22:23,119
Speaker 5: the natural thing to do. But community is really the

519
00:22:23,200 --> 00:22:26,080
Speaker 5: right thing to do, because without community, you have no business.

520
00:22:26,320 --> 00:22:28,520
Speaker 5: If these people aren't standing in your lines every day

521
00:22:28,760 --> 00:22:31,080
Speaker 5: and supporting you, how are you actually making money to

522
00:22:31,119 --> 00:22:34,639
Speaker 5: continue to pay your payroll, scale your brand. So I

523
00:22:34,720 --> 00:22:37,280
Speaker 5: always try to give back, whether that's you know, me

524
00:22:37,720 --> 00:22:41,080
Speaker 5: helping out Carver High School a few years back, donating

525
00:22:41,119 --> 00:22:43,920
Speaker 5: twenty thousand dollars into their hub and now their hub

526
00:22:44,000 --> 00:22:46,680
Speaker 5: is named after me. Whether that's giving forty thousand dollars

527
00:22:46,760 --> 00:22:49,920
Speaker 5: to an actual business in New York City, which I'm

528
00:22:50,200 --> 00:22:52,199
Speaker 5: thousand miles away from, but you know, I heard the

529
00:22:52,240 --> 00:22:54,760
Speaker 5: story of it, this business being around for a long time,

530
00:22:55,080 --> 00:22:57,280
Speaker 5: or whether that's you know, feeding over forty hospitals, you

531
00:22:57,280 --> 00:22:59,800
Speaker 5: know in COVID or a thousand people in the community

532
00:22:59,840 --> 00:23:03,400
Speaker 5: doing COVID every single day, or to me partnering with

533
00:23:03,440 --> 00:23:07,480
Speaker 5: my pinky with Rashad Brooks, donating his family a car,

534
00:23:07,600 --> 00:23:11,080
Speaker 5: giving the school of scholarships, life insurance, or paying life

535
00:23:11,080 --> 00:23:14,040
Speaker 5: insurance on twenty five thousand black men with my wife.

536
00:23:14,040 --> 00:23:16,960
Speaker 5: So I've done so many things when it comes to community,

537
00:23:16,960 --> 00:23:19,840
Speaker 5: because the business is one thing, community is another thing.

538
00:23:19,840 --> 00:23:22,760
Speaker 5: Philanthropy is something else. That's three different businesses that I operate.

539
00:23:23,440 --> 00:23:25,720
Speaker 5: And I'm very intentional about how I move with the

540
00:23:25,720 --> 00:23:28,639
Speaker 5: community because I always want them to understand who I

541
00:23:28,680 --> 00:23:31,680
Speaker 5: am as a person first before they buying a product.

542
00:23:31,720 --> 00:23:34,280
Speaker 5: So like I got die hard fans like that really

543
00:23:34,320 --> 00:23:36,640
Speaker 5: loved me, you know, like really rock for me, stand

544
00:23:36,720 --> 00:23:39,240
Speaker 5: for me. Anything that happens in my business. They're always there.

545
00:23:39,720 --> 00:23:42,520
Speaker 5: And money came by that, and fake words came by that.

546
00:23:42,600 --> 00:23:46,040
Speaker 5: Real truth represents that because when we was in COVID

547
00:23:46,280 --> 00:23:48,360
Speaker 5: and we was in the middle of that pandemic, none

548
00:23:48,400 --> 00:23:51,040
Speaker 5: of us ain't enough experience it before. And I told

549
00:23:51,040 --> 00:23:54,200
Speaker 5: my account even when he was going against me. Yeah,

550
00:23:54,280 --> 00:23:56,760
Speaker 5: but you know why I did that, because you know,

551
00:23:56,800 --> 00:23:58,679
Speaker 5: it's easy for us to get on platforms like this

552
00:23:58,720 --> 00:24:00,560
Speaker 5: and run on them up and tell people we stand for,

553
00:24:00,720 --> 00:24:03,280
Speaker 5: but who really stand for things when it really happens.

554
00:24:03,320 --> 00:24:05,159
Speaker 5: I want to show people that's really what I stand for,

555
00:24:05,200 --> 00:24:07,840
Speaker 5: That's really who I am as a person. Not even

556
00:24:07,920 --> 00:24:10,479
Speaker 5: knowing what's going to happen the next day. Mind you,

557
00:24:10,800 --> 00:24:13,639
Speaker 5: we every business at that time taking a big hit financially.

558
00:24:14,760 --> 00:24:16,720
Speaker 5: I was walking in hospitals with an N ninety five

559
00:24:16,760 --> 00:24:20,720
Speaker 5: on feeding the doctors and nurses in there because I'm like,

560
00:24:20,720 --> 00:24:23,400
Speaker 5: hold on, we got the frontline workers right here. They

561
00:24:23,400 --> 00:24:25,800
Speaker 5: don't know what's going on with COVID nineteen. We've never

562
00:24:25,840 --> 00:24:27,800
Speaker 5: heard of it. But I want to stand there and

563
00:24:27,880 --> 00:24:30,240
Speaker 5: help these people so that now they know they're not

564
00:24:30,280 --> 00:24:32,240
Speaker 5: in this alone. They're giving them healthy least I could

565
00:24:32,240 --> 00:24:34,280
Speaker 5: do his feed them.

566
00:24:34,400 --> 00:24:34,560
Speaker 4: Now.

567
00:24:34,600 --> 00:24:36,760
Speaker 2: Listen, you brought up your wife, Pinky. You know I

568
00:24:36,800 --> 00:24:39,520
Speaker 2: love me some Pinky, So I want to know and

569
00:24:39,720 --> 00:24:42,400
Speaker 2: I remember when you guys got married. Obviously you guys

570
00:24:42,400 --> 00:24:43,800
Speaker 2: have a growing family.

571
00:24:44,000 --> 00:24:46,440
Speaker 5: Man like we like the Brady Bunch man.

572
00:24:46,520 --> 00:24:48,960
Speaker 1: You guys are franchising, franchise right.

573
00:24:48,920 --> 00:24:51,160
Speaker 5: Franchising kids. That's the clothe line.

574
00:24:52,960 --> 00:24:55,120
Speaker 2: But I wanted to ask you, like if I feel

575
00:24:55,200 --> 00:24:56,800
Speaker 2: like when I talk to Pinky. When I talk to you,

576
00:24:56,840 --> 00:24:59,640
Speaker 2: it's business business. How is it for you guys? Like

577
00:25:00,080 --> 00:25:02,679
Speaker 2: how how do are y'all able to switch off, you know,

578
00:25:02,760 --> 00:25:04,800
Speaker 2: talking about things at home? And do you is there

579
00:25:04,840 --> 00:25:07,920
Speaker 2: any type of like all right, we gotta not mention things?

580
00:25:08,000 --> 00:25:11,160
Speaker 2: Or is it always like is that your bedroom language too?

581
00:25:11,880 --> 00:25:15,240
Speaker 5: It's so normal that I don't even pay attention sometimes,

582
00:25:15,280 --> 00:25:19,280
Speaker 5: you know. Like so Pinky, she's a big part of

583
00:25:19,320 --> 00:25:22,440
Speaker 5: my motivation because she lock in sometimes when I don't

584
00:25:22,440 --> 00:25:25,400
Speaker 5: feel like locking it, you know, like she she might

585
00:25:25,440 --> 00:25:27,360
Speaker 5: be like, dude, we gotta do this, and nobody, look, man,

586
00:25:27,680 --> 00:25:29,679
Speaker 5: let's let me get some time tired. But you know what,

587
00:25:30,440 --> 00:25:32,600
Speaker 5: tired don't make greatness. And I had to learn it

588
00:25:32,640 --> 00:25:34,640
Speaker 5: over the years. Pinky is one of the hardest working

589
00:25:34,720 --> 00:25:38,600
Speaker 5: people I know change. She's always locked in, she's always

590
00:25:38,640 --> 00:25:40,640
Speaker 5: going for it, and I know she went the best

591
00:25:40,640 --> 00:25:43,320
Speaker 5: for me. So we motivate each other. I mean, we

592
00:25:43,600 --> 00:25:45,920
Speaker 5: sit there and we talk about business ideas, but most

593
00:25:45,920 --> 00:25:48,480
Speaker 5: of all, we enjoy each other. It ain't always easy

594
00:25:48,520 --> 00:25:51,320
Speaker 5: because we both too entrepreneurs just trying to grow. Sometimes

595
00:25:51,400 --> 00:25:54,960
Speaker 5: we get in competition, you know, not purposely, but we

596
00:25:55,040 --> 00:25:57,280
Speaker 5: gotta make sure that we don't let outside people try

597
00:25:57,280 --> 00:25:58,960
Speaker 5: to stare us against each other. And that's what we

598
00:25:59,000 --> 00:26:02,080
Speaker 5: do the best because we see it coming from afar.

599
00:26:02,200 --> 00:26:05,080
Speaker 5: Whether we don't care who it is. Whenever somebody says

600
00:26:05,119 --> 00:26:07,800
Speaker 5: something versus the other company, we're looking at each other like, yeah,

601
00:26:07,800 --> 00:26:08,560
Speaker 5: this person gotta go.

602
00:26:09,080 --> 00:26:11,760
Speaker 3: Some of her is rubbing off on you. She's very

603
00:26:11,760 --> 00:26:12,840
Speaker 3: health conscious.

604
00:26:12,840 --> 00:26:14,880
Speaker 5: Oh, many got be working.

605
00:26:16,600 --> 00:26:16,719
Speaker 3: Right.

606
00:26:17,119 --> 00:26:18,040
Speaker 5: Yeah.

607
00:26:18,240 --> 00:26:18,480
Speaker 3: You know.

608
00:26:19,040 --> 00:26:21,400
Speaker 5: For me, you know, my dad passed away from lung

609
00:26:21,400 --> 00:26:25,600
Speaker 5: cancer and I'm thirty eight years old. Now, my metabolism

610
00:26:25,680 --> 00:26:28,040
Speaker 5: slowed down, so you know, eating you're gonna get that gut.

611
00:26:28,080 --> 00:26:29,840
Speaker 5: So I'm like, you know, I gotta start working out.

612
00:26:30,200 --> 00:26:32,560
Speaker 5: I never had to worry about gaining weight ever in

613
00:26:32,600 --> 00:26:35,440
Speaker 5: my life. It was always a fast, fast burn every

614
00:26:35,440 --> 00:26:37,480
Speaker 5: time I eat. I used to, you know, tease my

615
00:26:37,520 --> 00:26:39,639
Speaker 5: cousins like, yeah, y'all gott to worry about that. I'm cool.

616
00:26:40,000 --> 00:26:43,040
Speaker 5: But when you're almost forty, you know, things changing. Honestly.

617
00:26:43,440 --> 00:26:44,879
Speaker 5: You know, we can say that we want to get

618
00:26:44,920 --> 00:26:46,280
Speaker 5: to the billion, we could say we want to get

619
00:26:46,280 --> 00:26:48,639
Speaker 5: to one hundred million, whatever your desire is, but if

620
00:26:48,640 --> 00:26:50,240
Speaker 5: your health in dare, You're never gonna get to none

621
00:26:50,280 --> 00:26:51,800
Speaker 5: of it, you know, so I had to make sure

622
00:26:51,800 --> 00:26:54,080
Speaker 5: that my health come first, and I want to see

623
00:26:54,080 --> 00:26:56,280
Speaker 5: my kids grow up. You know, my dad never seen

624
00:26:56,320 --> 00:26:58,920
Speaker 5: me make it past twenty one. You know, I want

625
00:26:58,960 --> 00:27:00,719
Speaker 5: to see my son when he gets get married. You know,

626
00:27:01,160 --> 00:27:03,199
Speaker 5: I got married, and that was one of the hardest

627
00:27:03,200 --> 00:27:05,439
Speaker 5: things for me, is not to have my dad there seeing,

628
00:27:05,560 --> 00:27:09,679
Speaker 5: you know, me love and cherish somebody in a moment.

629
00:27:09,760 --> 00:27:11,280
Speaker 5: So I had to keep them there in spirit. So

630
00:27:11,880 --> 00:27:14,160
Speaker 5: I actually want to see my kids go through those

631
00:27:14,200 --> 00:27:15,560
Speaker 5: moments and I want to be there. I want to

632
00:27:15,560 --> 00:27:18,200
Speaker 5: play with my grandkids. I want to give them resources

633
00:27:18,200 --> 00:27:20,480
Speaker 5: and opportunities. I want to say, hey, you know, you

634
00:27:20,480 --> 00:27:22,159
Speaker 5: can even go to college or take a trade or

635
00:27:22,280 --> 00:27:24,560
Speaker 5: just jumping in the business. But I want to be

636
00:27:24,600 --> 00:27:27,520
Speaker 5: the one that's there to do it. And you know

637
00:27:27,960 --> 00:27:30,000
Speaker 5: what I'm doing right now for my dad. It ain't

638
00:27:30,040 --> 00:27:33,520
Speaker 5: easy because some days I need them, you know, some

639
00:27:33,640 --> 00:27:36,200
Speaker 5: days I really need to talk to him. Some days

640
00:27:36,240 --> 00:27:38,480
Speaker 5: I wish I was there to hug him or just

641
00:27:38,560 --> 00:27:41,040
Speaker 5: have that conversation saying you know, this is hard, but

642
00:27:41,640 --> 00:27:43,600
Speaker 5: I know when it gets hired, he right there beside

643
00:27:43,640 --> 00:27:46,320
Speaker 5: me every single time, So you know, I'm living in faith.

644
00:27:46,760 --> 00:27:50,360
Speaker 3: Some entrepreneurs Yeah, they just don't think they have time

645
00:27:50,400 --> 00:27:53,240
Speaker 3: to take care of themselves, and they just don't make

646
00:27:53,280 --> 00:27:56,680
Speaker 3: that link between health and the success of your business,

647
00:27:56,680 --> 00:27:58,439
Speaker 3: and they think of it's almost as a luxury. And

648
00:27:58,480 --> 00:28:01,080
Speaker 3: it also takes a big mental health on them as well.

649
00:28:01,119 --> 00:28:02,640
Speaker 3: What advice would you have for them.

650
00:28:02,800 --> 00:28:06,320
Speaker 5: It's gonna sit you down. If you don't take your

651
00:28:06,320 --> 00:28:09,360
Speaker 5: health serious, It's gonna eventually sit you down. I tell

652
00:28:09,400 --> 00:28:11,560
Speaker 5: you what. I've been working out now for about a month,

653
00:28:12,040 --> 00:28:14,639
Speaker 5: and I'm so clear, I'm so conscious. I wake up

654
00:28:14,640 --> 00:28:17,959
Speaker 5: in the morning with energy. I was burnt out, you know, literally,

655
00:28:17,960 --> 00:28:19,720
Speaker 5: I'm not afraid to say that. For years, I was

656
00:28:19,800 --> 00:28:22,520
Speaker 5: just like running off an empty tank because I'm just

657
00:28:22,600 --> 00:28:26,120
Speaker 5: always working, always trying to build, always create opportunities for myself.

658
00:28:26,600 --> 00:28:28,760
Speaker 5: But you're just lying to yourself. You're smiling into the world,

659
00:28:28,800 --> 00:28:31,600
Speaker 5: but you're crying inside because you're tired. And lately, I

660
00:28:31,720 --> 00:28:35,040
Speaker 5: just been taking my health real serious, eating different, and

661
00:28:35,080 --> 00:28:38,640
Speaker 5: not only that, I'm praying, praying a lot more. You know.

662
00:28:38,680 --> 00:28:42,280
Speaker 5: I was just in church with Jamal Brian from Martha's Veyarrant,

663
00:28:42,760 --> 00:28:44,800
Speaker 5: and Jamal, I'm gonna go ahead and tell you, bro

664
00:28:44,880 --> 00:28:47,280
Speaker 5: that word hit me like you know a lot of people,

665
00:28:47,400 --> 00:28:50,400
Speaker 5: you know, when they're in situations when we're talking about God,

666
00:28:51,080 --> 00:28:52,960
Speaker 5: they get in a shame mode because they don't want

667
00:28:52,960 --> 00:28:55,760
Speaker 5: to see people see them, you know, rejoice and feel

668
00:28:55,840 --> 00:28:58,840
Speaker 5: good about being in church and those things. But how

669
00:28:58,840 --> 00:29:00,760
Speaker 5: can you be ashamed to guy who brung you here?

670
00:29:00,800 --> 00:29:02,120
Speaker 5: You know, I had to even snap out of that

671
00:29:02,200 --> 00:29:06,040
Speaker 5: myself while I'm in church and Marthe's venyrant, everybody sitting there,

672
00:29:06,040 --> 00:29:07,840
Speaker 5: you know, looking at each other, looking pretty and all

673
00:29:07,880 --> 00:29:10,080
Speaker 5: those things. I'm here right now to get these sins

674
00:29:10,120 --> 00:29:13,160
Speaker 5: forgiven and give another chance in a longer life. So

675
00:29:13,200 --> 00:29:15,440
Speaker 5: I ain't here any playing around. So when you know

676
00:29:15,520 --> 00:29:17,800
Speaker 5: Pastor Brian was saying that message in that word that

677
00:29:17,840 --> 00:29:20,040
Speaker 5: he gave, I was one hundred percent of locked in

678
00:29:20,080 --> 00:29:23,040
Speaker 5: because it resonated because we was a group of African

679
00:29:23,080 --> 00:29:27,240
Speaker 5: Americans sitting at the highest high in one place in

680
00:29:27,360 --> 00:29:31,120
Speaker 5: Martha's Vinyrant, and all of us come from different places,

681
00:29:31,120 --> 00:29:34,080
Speaker 5: different backgrounds, whether it's the ghetto or whether you came

682
00:29:34,120 --> 00:29:37,280
Speaker 5: from you know, a silver spoon. You got to understand

683
00:29:37,280 --> 00:29:39,480
Speaker 5: what it's like to not come from it and what

684
00:29:39,600 --> 00:29:42,200
Speaker 5: it is to actually have it. And that was special.

685
00:29:43,000 --> 00:29:43,800
Speaker 1: This is special too.

686
00:29:43,800 --> 00:29:45,760
Speaker 2: I want to say, you're only thirty eight years old,

687
00:29:45,880 --> 00:29:47,960
Speaker 2: thirty eight years young. Yes, I have to say, and

688
00:29:48,000 --> 00:29:50,239
Speaker 2: to think of everything that you've accomplished so far. I

689
00:29:50,280 --> 00:29:53,560
Speaker 2: know your dad would be extremely proud to see how

690
00:29:53,560 --> 00:29:55,440
Speaker 2: all of this has been unfolding for you.

691
00:29:55,600 --> 00:29:58,920
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, you know, honestly, I'm really think I

692
00:29:58,920 --> 00:30:02,320
Speaker 5: think the Martha's vyr T I needed because I'm too

693
00:30:02,360 --> 00:30:05,160
Speaker 5: hard on myself sometimes. And it's not because you know,

694
00:30:05,480 --> 00:30:07,840
Speaker 5: I feel like I want to just keep making announcements

695
00:30:07,880 --> 00:30:11,240
Speaker 5: and keep on, you know, making things happen. I really

696
00:30:11,320 --> 00:30:13,360
Speaker 5: challenge myself so like, you know, how like you look

697
00:30:13,400 --> 00:30:15,520
Speaker 5: at your like your year over year, like what do

698
00:30:15,560 --> 00:30:18,680
Speaker 5: you want to be this year? I wanted to walk

699
00:30:18,720 --> 00:30:21,600
Speaker 5: into twenty twenty six just being clear. I feel like

700
00:30:21,640 --> 00:30:24,200
Speaker 5: I'm always figgy. I feel like, you know, I always

701
00:30:24,240 --> 00:30:26,520
Speaker 5: got multiple things going on in my mind. And I

702
00:30:26,560 --> 00:30:28,400
Speaker 5: finally got a point where I say, you know what,

703
00:30:28,520 --> 00:30:30,120
Speaker 5: I'm gonna take a pause and learn how to just

704
00:30:30,160 --> 00:30:33,040
Speaker 5: be clear and conscious for who I am in the world.

705
00:30:33,040 --> 00:30:35,320
Speaker 5: Going to see that later on, because when we just

706
00:30:35,400 --> 00:30:38,000
Speaker 5: running and running and running and doing things. Especially you know,

707
00:30:38,080 --> 00:30:40,120
Speaker 5: you've been in You've been in the media for so

708
00:30:40,280 --> 00:30:42,880
Speaker 5: long I mean think about it. Think about it, like,

709
00:30:42,960 --> 00:30:45,400
Speaker 5: you know, when do you really have time to yourself.

710
00:30:45,400 --> 00:30:47,280
Speaker 5: You go to the market, you go anywhere, Oh hey Angela.

711
00:30:47,320 --> 00:30:49,640
Speaker 5: You know, it's like every somebody always saying something to you.

712
00:30:49,640 --> 00:30:52,200
Speaker 5: You can't do nothing wrong because it's going straight to

713
00:30:52,200 --> 00:30:55,000
Speaker 5: the tabloids. So it's like, all this pressure comes with

714
00:30:55,200 --> 00:30:58,040
Speaker 5: our line of work that we want. But then we

715
00:30:58,120 --> 00:31:00,960
Speaker 5: got to understand too. We build in these massive things,

716
00:31:01,040 --> 00:31:03,040
Speaker 5: but we also trend set her. So you can't ask

717
00:31:03,080 --> 00:31:04,960
Speaker 5: for something and not lead the right way at the

718
00:31:05,000 --> 00:31:08,120
Speaker 5: same time, So you can't ask for to be special

719
00:31:08,160 --> 00:31:09,920
Speaker 5: and not come with the pressure. I like to say this,

720
00:31:10,360 --> 00:31:13,040
Speaker 5: you can't ask for success if you're not willing to

721
00:31:13,040 --> 00:31:13,800
Speaker 5: get hit with the bag.

722
00:31:14,040 --> 00:31:15,520
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know what I'm saying now, you're right.

723
00:31:15,600 --> 00:31:17,480
Speaker 2: And I do have to say, even seeing like with

724
00:31:17,600 --> 00:31:20,160
Speaker 2: Pinky and she had to, she's always been really public

725
00:31:20,200 --> 00:31:22,600
Speaker 2: and honest about things that she has to go through,

726
00:31:22,640 --> 00:31:24,719
Speaker 2: And I think that's important because if not, you let

727
00:31:24,720 --> 00:31:27,120
Speaker 2: other people tell the story for you and you have

728
00:31:27,200 --> 00:31:29,280
Speaker 2: to come forward and be like, look, I got to

729
00:31:29,320 --> 00:31:30,440
Speaker 2: tell y'all what happened, and.

730
00:31:30,680 --> 00:31:33,680
Speaker 5: She did that so well. I mean, like, you know, honestly,

731
00:31:34,160 --> 00:31:36,120
Speaker 5: a lot of us was like not even you know,

732
00:31:36,200 --> 00:31:38,280
Speaker 5: we was giving her a different advice from you know,

733
00:31:38,520 --> 00:31:41,200
Speaker 5: from her standpoint. But that's why Pinky is who she

734
00:31:41,320 --> 00:31:43,240
Speaker 5: is because she always want to be honest with people.

735
00:31:43,240 --> 00:31:46,680
Speaker 5: She's an open book. See. The thing with people got

736
00:31:46,720 --> 00:31:48,960
Speaker 5: to stop doing even with entrepreneurs when it comes to

737
00:31:49,920 --> 00:31:53,160
Speaker 5: musicians or athletes, if you pick the money to the

738
00:31:53,200 --> 00:31:54,800
Speaker 5: side and just look at the work and look at

739
00:31:54,800 --> 00:31:57,600
Speaker 5: the person, then you won't get tricked out of anything.

740
00:31:57,640 --> 00:31:59,800
Speaker 5: Because you know, when we look at the wealthiest people

741
00:32:00,120 --> 00:32:02,160
Speaker 5: world and we could see something come out on the

742
00:32:02,200 --> 00:32:04,960
Speaker 5: tabloids about somebody not paying something, you're like, oh, that

743
00:32:05,000 --> 00:32:08,280
Speaker 5: person's going broke. Y'all don't understand business. You know, like

744
00:32:08,640 --> 00:32:11,960
Speaker 5: businesses is formulas and procedures on how you keep your

745
00:32:11,960 --> 00:32:15,360
Speaker 5: financial gains. If you it's like, you know, even when

746
00:32:15,360 --> 00:32:18,680
Speaker 5: people file bankruptcy, right, some of these people filing bankruptcy with.

747
00:32:20,360 --> 00:32:21,600
Speaker 1: The bank, look at the president.

748
00:32:21,720 --> 00:32:24,440
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean shit many times. Yeah. But the thing

749
00:32:24,600 --> 00:32:27,400
Speaker 5: is that, you know, I think that from a culture,

750
00:32:27,520 --> 00:32:30,480
Speaker 5: it's a culture of our race that when we hear

751
00:32:30,560 --> 00:32:33,560
Speaker 5: anything happening when it comes to a household or a business,

752
00:32:33,920 --> 00:32:36,760
Speaker 5: we think it's over instead of coming together help uplifting

753
00:32:36,760 --> 00:32:40,520
Speaker 5: that person. Because I've seen my wife raise multiple hundreds

754
00:32:40,560 --> 00:32:42,520
Speaker 5: of thousand dollars for people while she was fighting for

755
00:32:42,560 --> 00:32:43,200
Speaker 5: her own life.

756
00:32:43,320 --> 00:32:45,040
Speaker 1: I've seen her go online and just be like, go

757
00:32:45,720 --> 00:32:46,760
Speaker 1: to this business.

758
00:32:46,520 --> 00:32:48,840
Speaker 5: And by and by and listen. When she did that,

759
00:32:48,920 --> 00:32:51,040
Speaker 5: she was actually she raised two hundred and some thousand

760
00:32:51,040 --> 00:32:53,200
Speaker 5: dollars for that business while she was trying to get

761
00:32:53,400 --> 00:32:55,600
Speaker 5: millions of dollars for her for herself.

762
00:32:55,680 --> 00:32:58,280
Speaker 2: Yeah, sometimes people also assume that you have money and

763
00:32:58,320 --> 00:33:00,120
Speaker 2: they think you're in a position and you're like, the

764
00:33:00,160 --> 00:33:04,280
Speaker 2: business is in the family too.

765
00:33:04,400 --> 00:33:06,800
Speaker 5: I mean, like right now, my family sees everything that

766
00:33:06,840 --> 00:33:09,920
Speaker 5: I have going on, and nothing against them. But you know,

767
00:33:10,480 --> 00:33:12,080
Speaker 5: I got a lot of employees. I got a lot

768
00:33:12,080 --> 00:33:14,240
Speaker 5: of bills. It takes a lot. I got four hundred employees.

769
00:33:14,240 --> 00:33:15,880
Speaker 5: It takes a lot to around my company, you know,

770
00:33:16,240 --> 00:33:19,320
Speaker 5: And at the same time, I'm building wealth. I didn't

771
00:33:19,320 --> 00:33:21,040
Speaker 5: get to a point where I can just sit still

772
00:33:21,040 --> 00:33:22,840
Speaker 5: and stagnant every day. And even if I did, I

773
00:33:22,840 --> 00:33:25,600
Speaker 5: wouldn't stay stagnant. I mean that's just not me. And

774
00:33:25,400 --> 00:33:28,640
Speaker 5: I you know, sitting down with Tyler Perry and Kerry

775
00:33:28,680 --> 00:33:31,280
Speaker 5: Franklin and Jeez with the dinner Kings. It was so

776
00:33:31,480 --> 00:33:34,440
Speaker 5: special for me because I got a chance to talk

777
00:33:34,480 --> 00:33:37,600
Speaker 5: to first of all, my good friend Jesus, that's my brother.

778
00:33:37,800 --> 00:33:41,000
Speaker 5: We talk about so many things on so many levels

779
00:33:41,000 --> 00:33:43,880
Speaker 5: of culture, business and relationship. Shout out to him. He

780
00:33:43,920 --> 00:33:46,800
Speaker 5: always give me good advice. But Tyler Perry just told

781
00:33:46,800 --> 00:33:50,200
Speaker 5: the world that he's still going through things as being

782
00:33:50,240 --> 00:33:53,840
Speaker 5: a billionaire. He's still not getting the same due as

783
00:33:53,880 --> 00:33:56,000
Speaker 5: being a billionaire. So how can I walk in the

784
00:33:56,080 --> 00:33:58,560
Speaker 5: room saying I'm not getting what's due for me when

785
00:33:58,560 --> 00:34:00,800
Speaker 5: I got a black man who's proof in himself and

786
00:34:00,920 --> 00:34:04,200
Speaker 5: still fighting and getting certain situations. And I think that

787
00:34:04,360 --> 00:34:06,960
Speaker 5: for me, humbled me and open eyes for a lot

788
00:34:06,960 --> 00:34:10,560
Speaker 5: of things. And Kurt Franklin just that that's soul like

789
00:34:10,640 --> 00:34:13,160
Speaker 5: he put into like you, like instilling you. He could

790
00:34:13,239 --> 00:34:14,959
Speaker 5: just he can give you a little bit of game,

791
00:34:14,960 --> 00:34:18,000
Speaker 5: but it's like you feel it. So all of those guys, Man,

792
00:34:18,040 --> 00:34:20,799
Speaker 5: I appreciate just having an opportunity on my birthday, on

793
00:34:20,840 --> 00:34:23,439
Speaker 5: my thirty eighth birthday, I got to sit with those

794
00:34:23,480 --> 00:34:26,040
Speaker 5: giants in my career. And I'm never going to forget

795
00:34:26,040 --> 00:34:29,000
Speaker 5: about that moment because that's shape in my future right now.

796
00:34:30,080 --> 00:34:34,640
Speaker 4: Wow, last thing on with you is you. I've been.

797
00:34:36,120 --> 00:34:38,520
Speaker 3: So touched by your father, and your father's just coming

798
00:34:38,560 --> 00:34:40,839
Speaker 3: out in every part of you. How do you when

799
00:34:40,880 --> 00:34:43,319
Speaker 3: your kids look at your journey, what do you want

800
00:34:43,360 --> 00:34:44,080
Speaker 3: them to have seen.

801
00:34:45,080 --> 00:34:46,960
Speaker 5: I just want my kids to respect me and love me.

802
00:34:48,040 --> 00:34:52,040
Speaker 5: I feel like a lot of kids fare their parents,

803
00:34:52,480 --> 00:34:55,000
Speaker 5: not love them and respect them. It's a difference like

804
00:34:55,400 --> 00:34:57,880
Speaker 5: if you had abusive parent your whole life. You just

805
00:34:57,920 --> 00:34:59,839
Speaker 5: fear them, you know, and you hate them later on.

806
00:35:00,560 --> 00:35:02,680
Speaker 5: I want my kids to really honor me and see

807
00:35:02,680 --> 00:35:05,440
Speaker 5: what I did was really for them, for their financial game,

808
00:35:05,520 --> 00:35:07,839
Speaker 5: for their resources, for their opportunity. Because let me tell

809
00:35:07,880 --> 00:35:09,840
Speaker 5: you something. I don't know if you guys know, but

810
00:35:10,280 --> 00:35:13,240
Speaker 5: we're getting replaced by robots, We're getting replaced by AI.

811
00:35:13,680 --> 00:35:16,400
Speaker 5: If you ain't out here opening up a format for

812
00:35:16,440 --> 00:35:18,680
Speaker 5: your kids and your family to be able to survive,

813
00:35:18,719 --> 00:35:21,080
Speaker 5: and you in trouble and right now, you know, I

814
00:35:21,120 --> 00:35:23,200
Speaker 5: look at a lot of people's you know, spending days,

815
00:35:23,200 --> 00:35:24,960
Speaker 5: you know, partying. Nothing against that. I spent a lot

816
00:35:24,960 --> 00:35:26,200
Speaker 5: of days party. I did a lot of party in

817
00:35:26,200 --> 00:35:28,120
Speaker 5: my twenties. There's so much party in my twenties. I

818
00:35:28,120 --> 00:35:30,680
Speaker 5: don't care about doing it in my thirties. But I

819
00:35:30,719 --> 00:35:34,200
Speaker 5: feel like partying is okay, But what are we celebrating, Like,

820
00:35:34,239 --> 00:35:36,960
Speaker 5: what am I celebrating? I'm going out every weekend? What

821
00:35:37,160 --> 00:35:39,680
Speaker 5: the hell am I celebrating popping bottles on all these things?

822
00:35:39,840 --> 00:35:41,399
Speaker 5: And I used to do that. I used to blow

823
00:35:41,960 --> 00:35:45,040
Speaker 5: so much money. I spent millions, you know, just just

824
00:35:45,080 --> 00:35:47,640
Speaker 5: doing stupid stuff by the jetry cars, all these things.

825
00:35:48,160 --> 00:35:49,880
Speaker 5: But now it took me to do it, and I

826
00:35:49,920 --> 00:35:52,319
Speaker 5: gotta teach it differently because I can't sit here and

827
00:35:52,320 --> 00:35:54,520
Speaker 5: be ignorant to things that I know that's not gonna

828
00:35:54,520 --> 00:35:56,439
Speaker 5: be what's gonna take you to the next level. What's

829
00:35:56,440 --> 00:35:58,000
Speaker 5: gonna take you to the next level is do the

830
00:35:58,040 --> 00:36:01,359
Speaker 5: things that's gonna be uncomfortable, and that's staying focused, that's

831
00:36:01,360 --> 00:36:04,960
Speaker 5: staying relevant, and that's staying real educated in your business,

832
00:36:04,960 --> 00:36:06,920
Speaker 5: because if you don't learn how to operate your business,

833
00:36:06,960 --> 00:36:09,160
Speaker 5: somebody else will and you will always have to call

834
00:36:09,200 --> 00:36:11,279
Speaker 5: them for the answer, and guess what that does? That

835
00:36:11,400 --> 00:36:12,680
Speaker 5: always make you behind the gun.

836
00:36:14,040 --> 00:36:16,600
Speaker 1: But we appreciate this. This has been amazing. I love it.

837
00:36:16,600 --> 00:36:17,399
Speaker 1: I'm glad you came.

838
00:36:17,600 --> 00:36:19,120
Speaker 5: No, I'm glad that I got a chance, and I

839
00:36:19,120 --> 00:36:20,879
Speaker 5: can't wait to finally get up here on the way

840
00:36:20,920 --> 00:36:23,720
Speaker 5: up other announcements.

841
00:36:23,000 --> 00:36:25,240
Speaker 3: Which you're gonna come back to Wealth Wednesdays to break

842
00:36:25,320 --> 00:36:25,760
Speaker 3: of course.

843
00:36:26,000 --> 00:36:28,080
Speaker 2: Yes, and then when you all do Real Housewives of Atlanta,

844
00:36:28,120 --> 00:36:29,319
Speaker 2: you know you can come up here and talk about

845
00:36:29,320 --> 00:36:29,560
Speaker 2: it too.

846
00:36:30,040 --> 00:36:38,200
Speaker 3: About that, Okay, nice try, Thank you so much, Derek.

847
00:36:38,920 --> 00:36:40,879
Speaker 3: We'll be coming by for some cheese steaks since you.

848
00:36:41,400 --> 00:36:43,359
Speaker 5: Hopefully you know I mean being in New York soon.

849
00:36:43,440 --> 00:36:46,840
Speaker 4: You know I'm franchising, so let us know, let us know.