Speaker 1: Wait in the morning Breakfast Club. Morning. Everybody is DJ
Speaker 1: Envy and Ngula Yee, Charlomagne and the guy. We all
Speaker 1: the Breakfast Club. We got some special guests in the
Speaker 1: building from the Gathering Spot. We have Ryan Wilson and T. K. Peterson.
Speaker 1: Welcome guys, good to be here, Greenwood and the Gathering
Speaker 1: Spot there. Well, let's let's break it down for people
Speaker 1: that don't know what is the Gathering Spot. So the
Speaker 1: Gathering Spot is a private network that we established in
Speaker 1: Atlanta in twenty sixteen. We're in the community business. We
Speaker 1: figure out how to connect people. Youngest members twenty one,
Speaker 1: oldest is ninety. So we spend time building connections, hosting programs,
Speaker 1: and we have physical clubs across the country. I actually
Speaker 1: just had Mary J. Blige's um Yes Stan Devon Woman.
Speaker 1: Their whole entire event was there at the Gathering Spot.
Speaker 1: So how can people become a member if they wanted
Speaker 1: to become a member of the Gathering Spot. So you
Speaker 1: go online, right, we have a process that starts there.
Speaker 1: You'll get in contact with a person on our membership
Speaker 1: team and then we interview everybody. Right, It's really important
Speaker 1: for us to get to know every single member of
Speaker 1: the community. To make those connections that I was talking about,
Speaker 1: We've got to spend time really understanding what makes you
Speaker 1: you and then from there we send out acceptances. So
Speaker 1: it kind of works like college. You put your application
Speaker 1: in and then we'll tell you soon after if you're
Speaker 1: if you're a member. How many members are there? There's
Speaker 1: twelve thousands of the country across the country that with membership.
Speaker 1: What does that include? What do I get with the
Speaker 1: membership and how much is membership feeds? And why would
Speaker 1: somebody want to do it? Got so the membership includes
Speaker 1: access to the physical locations we have so in Atlanta
Speaker 1: we have about twenty five thousand square feet in DC
Speaker 1: on LA roughly the same size, so physical clubs that
Speaker 1: have events space, a private restaurant and bar, and a
Speaker 1: workspace where private offices and conference rooms. That thought being
Speaker 1: that anything you would need to do in a modern
Speaker 1: day's worth of work you can do inside of the space,
Speaker 1: both professional and social. And then we have our own
Speaker 1: content platform digital platform there and local perks and different benefits.
Speaker 1: But the biggest attraction to being a part of the
Speaker 1: community is that one another you're meeting other people who
Speaker 1: are are like minded and highly driven and see value
Speaker 1: and being part of something that's larger than themselves. So
Speaker 1: very similar to college where you're meeting people who are
Speaker 1: lifelong friends and partners and different things. This is how
Speaker 1: you keep that connectivity beyond the educational setting and with
Speaker 1: you for the rest of your life, hopefully. Interestingly enough,
Speaker 1: you know, when I started at my private label store
Speaker 1: and Detroit, the meeting that I had with my partner
Speaker 1: Mikey was at the Gathering Spot. So that's where we
Speaker 1: actually had our first initial meeting in person to kind
Speaker 1: of talk about getting things started. So like stories like
Speaker 1: that or what it's about for us, Like we look
Speaker 1: now it's been all seven years since TJS open, and
Speaker 1: there's so many business partners in relationships. We even have
Speaker 1: TGS babies where people are like I met I met
Speaker 1: at TGS and now now look at us. That's why
Speaker 1: we started side Piece at the Gathering Spot. Hey, look
Speaker 1: there there are a lot of different I say. And
Speaker 1: that's that's again the one we were talking about this
Speaker 1: in twenty thirteen. That was the plan. How do we create, yes,
Speaker 1: a place, but a network where we can build with
Speaker 1: one another. Right knowing that there's not enough places around
Speaker 1: the country to be able to do that. So we
Speaker 1: started in Atlanta, but we're building them all over the country. Now, Now,
Speaker 1: what is membership fees? How much is it supposed to
Speaker 1: be a membership? And can I bring in people? Because
Speaker 1: you know, how does that work? Yeah? Great question. The
Speaker 1: fees are it's two hundred dollars a month or two
Speaker 1: thousand dollars for the year to be a member of
Speaker 1: the gathering spot. And yeah, you're allowed three guests pretty
Speaker 1: much at any time without giving advanced noise. If you
Speaker 1: need more than that, we asked that you reach out
Speaker 1: so we can make sure that there's enough space for
Speaker 1: your for your guests. What made you decide Atlanta was
Speaker 1: the right place to start. I think Atlanta is one
Speaker 1: of the more important cities in the country, right, and
Speaker 1: we've believed that for a really long time. But you
Speaker 1: look between the colleges and universities, the big businesses that
Speaker 1: are there, the small businesses and startups that are there,
Speaker 1: and then you've got the culture that's coming out of
Speaker 1: the city, right, that special sauce. We we couldn't pass
Speaker 1: that up, right, That's what you see inside of the club.
Speaker 1: You'll see people who are wearing suits and tires sitting
Speaker 1: next to people who are wearing t shirt and jeans, right,
Speaker 1: and so our goal is to try to figure out
Speaker 1: how to make them talk to each other. But you
Speaker 1: have to be in a city that understands and kind
Speaker 1: of moves in that way already, and so we planted
Speaker 1: in Atlanta. But we're in the community business, So I mean,
Speaker 1: we're at this point able to do this work all
Speaker 1: over the country. Camp in DC, right, So, yeah, DC
Speaker 1: was the second one, and then we recently opened another
Speaker 1: in Los Angeles, and that's the physical clubs where we
Speaker 1: have membership communities. Actually one here in New York, Chicago, Detroit, Houston, Charlotte.
Speaker 1: So they're TGS folks everywhere. Now, I was going to ask,
Speaker 1: you know, Drake talks about kicking it with Jack Harlowe
Speaker 1: at the Gatherer Spot. So you have celebrities as well
Speaker 1: out of members or do you have celebrities that you
Speaker 1: know come through because they feel safe? Yeah? Yeah, yeah yeah.
Speaker 1: Terms of brother Man, he is a long time support
Speaker 1: that showed us a lot of love the whole Grand
Speaker 1: Hustle team. We're forever thankful for their support very early on.
Speaker 1: But yeah, we have we have celebrity members. Oftentimes we
Speaker 1: have a lot of people whom the team around the
Speaker 1: celebrity is oftentime the member, so they're like manager, they're
Speaker 1: assist sent their attorney, so the apparatus around them. And
Speaker 1: then because of that, they're familiar with the space and
Speaker 1: because it's a private community, they have you know, private
Speaker 1: get together as regularly. So we're fortunate that we've We've
Speaker 1: worked with Drake and an Oval team several times over
Speaker 1: the years. It's always a great time with them. Now,
Speaker 1: why would you turn somebody down if they wanted to
Speaker 1: become a member? Why would you turn them down? So
Speaker 1: we're looking for people who are connectors, right, So if
Speaker 1: you're one of those people that likes to walk in
Speaker 1: rooms and just pass out your business card and not
Speaker 1: say anything and the interaction is really transactional, you're probably
Speaker 1: not a good fit for TGS. But this is about relationships, right,
Speaker 1: So if you're not a person that displays interests in
Speaker 1: building real relationships, this is probably not the best environed
Speaker 1: for you. I Mean, we ask a lot of questions
Speaker 1: in our interview, but the main thing that we're asking
Speaker 1: and the question that everyone gets is what animates you
Speaker 1: outside of the office, and we like, we really care
Speaker 1: about the answer to that question, Like you have to
Speaker 1: talk to us about that other thing that you're passionate about.
Speaker 1: That's what we ultimately build programs around. So it's important
Speaker 1: to get to you, like the real you. And if
Speaker 1: you don't want to bring that to the table again,
Speaker 1: like this is probably not the best place for you
Speaker 1: now right now, this always fascinates me. So I want
Speaker 1: to get to the Greenwood part. When you guys have
Speaker 1: done this whole partnership. Now, the wording is they did
Speaker 1: Greenwood acquired the gathering spot, and so as people who
Speaker 1: have built this up right as a baby from the beginning,
Speaker 1: what was the decision that what was the thinking behind
Speaker 1: you making that decision to go into business with Greenwood?
Speaker 1: So there are a lot of things in this, right,
Speaker 1: but first and foremost, if you look at what we've
Speaker 1: been talking about at TJS for years, right, So, the
Speaker 1: pandemic hits and we had a very vocal campaign called
Speaker 1: we All We Got and the thing that we were
Speaker 1: talking about was we've got to support one another and
Speaker 1: like be radical in that support. That's us talking a
Speaker 1: lot though about money, right, and so The conversation that
Speaker 1: was happening a lot in the community is that we
Speaker 1: just don't have access to the right resources and the
Speaker 1: right tools to be able to advance our personal and
Speaker 1: our business interests. So what we're doing with Greenwood is
Speaker 1: is something that that really is is special. Right. When
Speaker 1: you hear the term black on black, a lot of
Speaker 1: times that phrase doesn't end positively, but in this this
Speaker 1: context it does. Right, This is black on black m
Speaker 1: and A. And we're working together to build a really
Speaker 1: really big company. Knowing that we bring the community that
Speaker 1: we have at TGS now together with the financial tools
Speaker 1: and resources that Greenwood has. Those those two things together
Speaker 1: are super super powerful. So we decided it was it
Speaker 1: was better to go with each other than to be
Speaker 1: trying to build a business separately. Now, black people only
Speaker 1: allowed at the gathering spot. You just said, Jack Harlowe
Speaker 1: is there, but I don't know he's a member. He
Speaker 1: might have came with somebody else that somebody I'm asking
Speaker 1: both both. No, So look, we are we are specific
Speaker 1: at TGS and at Greenwood that while everybody is welcome,
Speaker 1: we are speaking to our commune directly, right, and so
Speaker 1: that is where we are focused, right, we're talking to
Speaker 1: black folks and if never mixed words about that. It's
Speaker 1: important for us to have places you mentioned safety earlier.
Speaker 1: We have to have places where we are safe and
Speaker 1: can build and grow with one another. So again, everyone's welcome,
Speaker 1: but we are definitely specific about where the perspective. I
Speaker 1: think something that Ryan has said over the years as
Speaker 1: true is that there's places where we're tolerated or accepted.
Speaker 1: This is a place that was built for is this
Speaker 1: is black owned, black man is black operated. This is
Speaker 1: our platform. Now let me ask you this sale. We
Speaker 1: talk about working in tandem, right, black on black but
Speaker 1: in a positive way. So why acquiring and not a partnership?
Speaker 1: So I mean that really got down to just the
Speaker 1: way that the best way to construct the deal, right.
Speaker 1: I mean Greenwood is a big platform, right if you
Speaker 1: look at just technology companies generally, the way that they're
Speaker 1: able to scale a little bit different than what we
Speaker 1: were doing. But the way that this works truly day
Speaker 1: to day is that we are partnering, right, Like our
Speaker 1: teams are working with one another. Weird. I think this
Speaker 1: is an example of like again for other business owners
Speaker 1: that are out there, it's possible to find arrangements, like
Speaker 1: we've been working together for a long time. We just
Speaker 1: have expanded the family and are proud to work with
Speaker 1: Agreen with team Dane Damp. Now, how difficult was it
Speaker 1: to get everything together? I meant, you know off saying
Speaker 1: you want to have a membership club, How difficult was that?
Speaker 1: Because you need a vision and it has to be
Speaker 1: a vision of not just one of two people, You
Speaker 1: need a bunch of people because to join a membership
Speaker 1: type of club, I can't just as just me and
Speaker 1: one person like you need numerous people. So how difficult
Speaker 1: was that? Big difficult? Big difficult. So the hardest thing
Speaker 1: as always you guys know as entrepreneurs as well as
Speaker 1: you need capital, which is the first step. So something
Speaker 1: we talked about is that we got ninety seven knows
Speaker 1: before we got the first yes when it came to
Speaker 1: get an investor. And then when you finally make it
Speaker 1: to the part where you have the capital to build
Speaker 1: out the location, then you start operating the business. And
Speaker 1: like you said, we're a private membership club and people
Speaker 1: want to see it before they sign up, and you
Speaker 1: wouldn't want to come to a place that doesn't have
Speaker 1: anyone in there, So it was. It was we say
Speaker 1: hand to hand combat every day we went out and
Speaker 1: we were in Atlanta and meeting as many people as possible. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, we're just getting to the place honestly where
Speaker 1: we can talk about that part of the journey. Um,
Speaker 1: I mean it was it was like super rough. A
Speaker 1: lot of people told us no and like not the
Speaker 1: like no, I'm not interested, polite nose. We were getting
Speaker 1: like no, like get out of my office, I don't
Speaker 1: like this. You're gonna fail knows. And you know, it
Speaker 1: took just us continuing to believe that like the thing
Speaker 1: that we saw that could really be a thing that
Speaker 1: we could build. We just had to figure out how
Speaker 1: to make that happen. That we see this as as
Speaker 1: like assignment work, right, this is something that we feel
Speaker 1: uniquely called to do and didn't want that part of
Speaker 1: the process to stop us. But I mean, when you
Speaker 1: don't get paid for years, right, it's you know, it's
Speaker 1: a difficult. Yeah, And we we spent the first several
Speaker 1: years of the business really trying to figure out one
Speaker 1: how to make it happen, but then to how to
Speaker 1: keep it on everybody else that works for you around
Speaker 1: you cannot pay yourself. At first, all the money goes
Speaker 1: back into the business. It would be the people that
Speaker 1: work for you, but they're the ones that are making
Speaker 1: money while you're Yeah, there were years where it was
Speaker 1: like everybody in this joint is making more money than us,
Speaker 1: like truly every we weren't paying ourselves anything. But I
Speaker 1: mean you you got to see it through. I mean,
Speaker 1: we we kept going knowing that like there would be
Speaker 1: a day where we'd be able to participate to and
Speaker 1: we just had to stick around long enough to make
Speaker 1: that happen. And that's why that's gonna say. That's why
Speaker 1: we're forever grateful to the founding members of the club,
Speaker 1: particularly in Atlanta, because they bet on two guys and
Speaker 1: a and a concept way before there was any proof
Speaker 1: and to put in. So we have people who signed
Speaker 1: up in twenty fifteen to become members just because they
Speaker 1: met us. So they saw they saw a post on Instagram,
Speaker 1: and they just liked the concept and they wanted to
Speaker 1: truly support. And that's why, like every time we talk,
Speaker 1: we always say like first and foremost were we just
Speaker 1: work here and we're happy to serve and be a
Speaker 1: part of this organization. But it's member left. It's all
Speaker 1: about the members and the twelve thousand plus people who
Speaker 1: have invested, but particularly the people in Atlanta, the founding
Speaker 1: members there who made it possible. Salute to Mayor dickens
Speaker 1: In in Atlanta, who's a founding member of the club
Speaker 1: who recently got elected as a mayor of Atlanta. Like
Speaker 1: that's how that's how long and deep rooted we are
Speaker 1: in that community. I was going to ask, So, now,
Speaker 1: who handles checks and balances? Right, two hundred dollars a month,
Speaker 1: Sometimes a two hundred dollars gonna get decline? So who
Speaker 1: calls that person? And if that person decides to come
Speaker 1: to the gathering spot after they've been declined six times?
Speaker 1: Who says My grandmother used to say, I ain't talking
Speaker 1: about anybody, but I'm talking about somebody. Yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: we have a team, right, So that's actually tek's responsibility
Speaker 1: inside of the business. So for everybody out there talk
Speaker 1: to t Yes. But honestly, there hasn't been a huge
Speaker 1: problem for us. I mean this, there's a lot of
Speaker 1: things that you get with the TGS membership, and you know, yes,
Speaker 1: access to the space itself and the programs, but like
Speaker 1: the people, right and so people don't want to miss
Speaker 1: out on being able to continue to build those relationships.
Speaker 1: What about pictures? Can you take pictures in the gathering spot?
Speaker 1: So you were you were allowed to take pictures of yourself,
Speaker 1: you were not allowed to take pictures of other people. Right,
Speaker 1: So no, We've had a lot of special moments to TGS.
Speaker 1: But I'll knock on wood, but none of those things
Speaker 1: have have gone out to the public. Right. People take
Speaker 1: it seriously, honestly, one of the most special moments. We
Speaker 1: were fortunate that we hosted John Singleton back in twenty sixteen,
Speaker 1: his last um, his last and speaking engagement before he
Speaker 1: unfortunately passed, And we're celebrating the twenty fifth anniversary of
Speaker 1: Boys in the Hood. This was brought to us thanks
Speaker 1: to our brother Shakazoom at DTP. And he was supposed
Speaker 1: to be like a thirty minute talk and he ends
Speaker 1: up speaking for like two and a half hours because
Speaker 1: he's so comfortable and he's trusted in the room, and
Speaker 1: two is the end. He's like, Hey, I'm gonna show
Speaker 1: you something I'm working on, like I just got trust y'all,
Speaker 1: please don't record any of this and don't show anyone
Speaker 1: And then he shows us like the first fifteen minutes
Speaker 1: of snowfall didn't leak right because everyone understands it's a community,
Speaker 1: so you can't you can't violate that trust and so
Speaker 1: you know we that was I mean, there's many special
Speaker 1: moments to this point that are like that where people
Speaker 1: just took seriously the fact that we're there for one another.
Speaker 1: We've got to we've got to be responsible to one
Speaker 1: another in that way and now working together as partners.
Speaker 1: I think it's important to talk about that balance too,
Speaker 1: because I think a lot of times in business, getting
Speaker 1: into partnerships with the right people means so much. So
Speaker 1: what are the skills that you guys bring because I
Speaker 1: think sometimes I've had experiences where you can't go into
Speaker 1: business with somebody who you'all both do the same exact thing.
Speaker 1: It has to be like, this is my responsibility, you
Speaker 1: said t case responsibility is calling people whose credit cards
Speaker 1: didn't go through. But what are the ways that you
Speaker 1: guys work together that makes it happen? Because sometimes we
Speaker 1: want to do things, we don't want to do it
Speaker 1: on our own. We want to find the right partner,
Speaker 1: but it's not easy. Ahead the fortunate things that we
Speaker 1: have complimentary skill sets. So Ryan is a lawyer by training.
Speaker 1: He went to Georgetown Law all that good stuff, and
Speaker 1: I studied financing accounting. I was a portfolio manager before
Speaker 1: I started doing this. UM. So we have defined lanes
Speaker 1: and I think that is that is a critical um
Speaker 1: part of it, and I don't I don't want to
Speaker 1: downplay the friendship part. That is important because there's a
Speaker 1: level of trust that has to occur for a partnership
Speaker 1: to work properly. Like there's there's no one I speak
Speaker 1: to more often than Ryan. There's there's no move that
Speaker 1: I make that he's not aware of, because everything we
Speaker 1: do impacts the other person and impacts the business. So, UM,
Speaker 1: if we weren't friends, I WoT I wouldn't be sure
Speaker 1: how long it take to develop that like level of like, hey,
Speaker 1: I'm about to go do this, so I'm going to
Speaker 1: visit my mom. I will do that. UM. And they're
Speaker 1: like having defined areas where it's like if it's something
Speaker 1: with marking or our strategy, like that's Ryan's lane, We're
Speaker 1: gonna do that. If it's like I want to move
Speaker 1: to this accounting platform, I want to set up this
Speaker 1: type of payment process system, it's like okay, like TK
Speaker 1: said it, let's do that. And having having your areas
Speaker 1: and spears. I think our core parts of being able
Speaker 1: to operate as as a partnership and be friends and
Speaker 1: then understanding that like the truth is like the dynamic
Speaker 1: of our friendship has changed because we're business partners and
Speaker 1: like we were at his family's house on Sunday and
Speaker 1: we still end up talking about work because like that's
Speaker 1: that's that's what. We just have a drink. I mean,
Speaker 1: but we're honest with each other. We have been the
Speaker 1: entire time. Like we don't we don't mix words with
Speaker 1: each other. We hold each other super accountable. So if
Speaker 1: I dropped the ball, he tells me he drops the ball,
Speaker 1: I tell him, right, And we've tried to keep ego
Speaker 1: out of this, right, I mean even now working with
Speaker 1: new partners, we have the same sort of energy right
Speaker 1: where we're just trying to get the thing done, like
Speaker 1: what is the best way to get there? And if
Speaker 1: you got the skill set to do it, then like
Speaker 1: go in the game, like shoot the shot, right. We
Speaker 1: we we've always tried to keep the mission ahead of
Speaker 1: any of the personal stuff because some people's friendships get
Speaker 1: damaged over working together too. And so that's why I
Speaker 1: think that's important because we've seen that happen a lot
Speaker 1: where people fall out with each other. So when y'all
Speaker 1: don't agree on things, what happens. So we set ground rules.
Speaker 1: So I'll say this first, we set ground rules at
Speaker 1: the beginning of this process, and we we planned out
Speaker 1: when we had those, like when we have these moments,
Speaker 1: how are we going to get through them? Right? And
Speaker 1: so it's in our operating documents. It's a part of
Speaker 1: how we have like understood how we're going to talk
Speaker 1: to each other. And that's helped, right because when a
Speaker 1: thing happens, we go back to that playbook and are
Speaker 1: able to march through. Okay, so this is the decision.
Speaker 1: And again we like we have different twim lanes. So
Speaker 1: if it's something that ultimately is in his lane, he's
Speaker 1: got to be the person that that that it's you,
Speaker 1: it's on you. Yeah, and he respects the same thing
Speaker 1: when when it's something that's in my universe. So like
Speaker 1: one hundred, like it would be like Ryan would be like, hey,
Speaker 1: I want to like I want to do this activation,
Speaker 1: I want to invest in this, and I'm like, ah,
Speaker 1: I'm not sure if I want to do it to
Speaker 1: that level. And it's like sometimes it's okay, bet, like
Speaker 1: we can we can kill downs. Other times it's like no,
Speaker 1: like it's really a point that we do this. So
Speaker 1: I'm like, if we're gonna shift some budget over there
Speaker 1: a better hit, I mean, I'll give I'll give you
Speaker 1: an example. So a year ago I went to Ticke
Speaker 1: and I was like, hey, look, we're opening the club
Speaker 1: in DC and I want to fly private plane with
Speaker 1: all of the members to the club. And he was like, cool,
Speaker 1: we'll get like you know, ten twelve seed or something.
Speaker 1: And I was like no, no no, no, like we need
Speaker 1: to fly like over one hundred people like and he
Speaker 1: was like like, I don't what you mean on a
Speaker 1: hundred people? How are we gonna do that. I'm like,
Speaker 1: I don't know, man, Like like you got to figure
Speaker 1: that part out. But like we got to figure out
Speaker 1: how to get our folks up to DC. And you know,
Speaker 1: you know, I did my part of the work, he
Speaker 1: did his part, and we flew the plane up and
Speaker 1: it was seven It was a seven thirty seven thirty
Speaker 1: seven to thirty seven. But yeah, it was a beautiful
Speaker 1: experience all the members from Atlanta that wanted to go.
Speaker 1: Who sit in the Who's in the back? Like, how
Speaker 1: do you you about to get into? Now? I remember
Speaker 1: you remember who get that first class? Who back? Even
Speaker 1: though it's a plane. Look, somebody's sitting in the front.
Speaker 1: Somebody sitting, but you would be in the back because
Speaker 1: I've been to the gathering spot and you haven't. Oh no,
Speaker 1: that's fair. I'll put it like I would just walk.
Speaker 1: I was a road thirty two eight. I'll put it
Speaker 1: like that. We were walking. Look, we had that problem.
Speaker 1: We're walking on It was like, oh oh it's first come,
Speaker 1: first sir. Everybody has Like we weren't going to set
Speaker 1: up front, so we had to we had to just
Speaker 1: yeah where you we flew? We were. Now, well, how
Speaker 1: does things change now we're green with right? What are
Speaker 1: some of the added benefits that members get? So a
Speaker 1: couple of things, right, and there's there's things now and
Speaker 1: things that are coming. The things now So members have
Speaker 1: the ability to to join the platform, right, you have
Speaker 1: access to the tool, you can get the card um immediately,
Speaker 1: and we'll continue to see new products built and developed
Speaker 1: for the entire community. Right. And so again we've been
Speaker 1: talking about money for a really long time at TGS,
Speaker 1: our money just simply does not circulate enough times in
Speaker 1: the community. And so the work that we're going to
Speaker 1: be doing together it's about trying to disrupt that, right.
Speaker 1: I mean, we were looking at a statu here recently,
Speaker 1: ninety seven percent of black folks income it's spent outside
Speaker 1: of the community, and our dollar doesn't even circulate one time.
Speaker 1: So the real work between TGS and Greenwood is getting
Speaker 1: specific about that, right that we're going to We're gonna
Speaker 1: highlight businesses, we're gonna highlight people, and we're gonna get
Speaker 1: them the tools necessary to be successful all right financially,
Speaker 1: which is a tool that we didn't have in our toolkit. Wow, Well,
Speaker 1: how can people become a member? If they want to
Speaker 1: try to become a member? How do they become a member?
Speaker 1: So you could you could join us, go to the
Speaker 1: gathering spot, dot club or go to Bank Greenwood. Right,
Speaker 1: we would love for you to be a member of
Speaker 1: both communities. It's a it's a really easy process on
Speaker 1: both fronts, and you can find us on social too.
Speaker 1: Can you interview Envy right now? Can I interview? Can
Speaker 1: I interviewership? Okay, let's do this around. Okay, we're getting serious. Okay,
Speaker 1: So I mean we've got to start off with the basis.
Speaker 1: So like, what what's your name? What do you do? Hi?
Speaker 1: My name is Sean Casey. Sean Casey, and I'm an entrepreneur. Okay,
Speaker 1: And how long have you been doing that work? All
Speaker 1: my life? Since I was sixteen years old? Why do
Speaker 1: you like doing it? Um? Well, I love money, but
Speaker 1: other than that, I like to help people as well.
Speaker 1: I try to make sure I encourage younger individuals to
Speaker 1: do the right thing. See, growing up in Queens, I
Speaker 1: tell everybody this story all the time. I seem clue
Speaker 1: who was my neighbor And if it wasn't for him,
Speaker 1: I don't know what I would do. He encouraged me
Speaker 1: to be a DJ, to follow you know, his heart
Speaker 1: and not be a drug dealer or do anything illegal.
Speaker 1: So I followed him and that's the reason I'm a DJ,
Speaker 1: and I like to really encourage people to do the same.
Speaker 1: I'm taking those What other ways do you get back
Speaker 1: to the community, now, How do you like to stay involved?
Speaker 1: I'm in there's many different ways. I mean, we conduct
Speaker 1: seminars which we teach minorities black and brown people, how
Speaker 1: to invest, whether it's my real estate, or it's anything financially,
Speaker 1: whether it's opening up their own business, opening their own store.
Speaker 1: And of course we do the typical turkey drives toys
Speaker 1: for times and things like that that I feel like
Speaker 1: everybody does. But we do that too. To the communities.
Speaker 1: Sounded good to me. You sounded like a gamber here
Speaker 1: with my thoughts are what are the right flags? I'm interested?
Speaker 1: All right? So the fact that he led with he
Speaker 1: loves money, and then he also said that he has
Speaker 1: the seminars that he does. It feels like he's coming
Speaker 1: to just get stuff. Yeah, I've been honest, That's what
Speaker 1: I'm being honest. Then he also did some name dropping.
Speaker 1: He mentioned Clue being his neighbor. No one asked that.
Speaker 1: And so I just feel like, I don't know if
Speaker 1: we want to groupie in the gathering side, Well your groupie.
Speaker 1: These are just my thoughts. You guys need me as
Speaker 1: part of the INTERVIEWW Yeah, I'm sorry, sir. You know what,
Speaker 1: in a year you can let's say, now we just said, okay,
Speaker 1: we're gonna have to decline his membership. Can he reapply
Speaker 1: like a year from Wow, well you know, you know
Speaker 1: that's how Lamborghini was created, when the guy from Lamborghini
Speaker 1: wanted to get a Ferrari and fraud. So you're gonna
Speaker 1: go start your own. That's another Let's talk about trademark
Speaker 1: for a second. So you know, the gathering spot is
Speaker 1: a protecting mark, um, but us serious is like the
Speaker 1: point for us at TGS is not trying to keep
Speaker 1: everybody out right, like we do more things to have
Speaker 1: folks come in than anything, right, So it's a community
Speaker 1: based business. So while there are memberships that are part
Speaker 1: of the whole thing, the doors of the club are open.
Speaker 1: I mean we we opened our doors for the first
Speaker 1: time in twenty twenty to any activists or organizer in
Speaker 1: the city. They needed a place to organize, whether you
Speaker 1: remember or not, right, And so it's stuff like that
Speaker 1: that is it's serious work for us, like we have
Speaker 1: to have places where we can build genuinely. And again,
Speaker 1: the same thing exists on the Greenwood side right now.
Speaker 1: Like if you are currently not banked, underbanked, or just
Speaker 1: need a banking relationship where the institution has been built
Speaker 1: for you, Greenwood is that platform. And seriously with the
Speaker 1: gathering spot, when I launched my Fresh Juice business, which
Speaker 1: is back during Fresh Juice, I did an event there
Speaker 1: that you guys open the doors for me to come
Speaker 1: in and bring the juices in and make some cocktails
Speaker 1: with these press juices, and it was amazing for me
Speaker 1: to even be able to tap into that network of
Speaker 1: people that you guys have access to. Well, it's what
Speaker 1: we're here for. If you have a business, who we're
Speaker 1: here to be supportive. We've got to be specific about that. True,
Speaker 1: and it's not just entrepreneurs if you if you don't
Speaker 1: have a business, it is still a great place for
Speaker 1: you to come in and meet people and do social adventure.
Speaker 1: And you know this edification is happening all the time.
Speaker 1: It's really just about being connected like that is that's
Speaker 1: the biggest thing. It's about connection and collaboration and seeing
Speaker 1: value because you can start to get stifled if you
Speaker 1: if you just work in your one area. That's one
Speaker 1: of the big drivers for us. Like I worked in finance.
Speaker 1: Ryan was in the legal field, and I started to
Speaker 1: feel like the only people I was meeting were people
Speaker 1: who worked in my specific type of finance, like I
Speaker 1: worked in mortgage backed securities, and people who did that
Speaker 1: with that mortgage backed securities. You know, he'll go ahead.
Speaker 1: I know he's going to try to tap you after this.
Speaker 1: I'm not. And that's that's a good thing though. That's
Speaker 1: that is how we advance ourselves by learning about someone.
Speaker 1: It's like, oh, you know I do electrical work. Conside's like, oh,
Speaker 1: I I was wondering about this project I had in
Speaker 1: my house, and now you have that resource. And that's
Speaker 1: what that's about. It like resource building and by knowing
Speaker 1: who's in your community, and like that's that's my favorite
Speaker 1: part of the work that we do. It's like, if
Speaker 1: you have an idea or a concept or anything you
Speaker 1: want to share, like, let's figure out how we can
Speaker 1: there's there's enough for everyone. Let's figure out how we
Speaker 1: can all platform one another. You could do a real
Speaker 1: estate event there have done many, right, Yeah, because no,
Speaker 1: I mean it's it's truly built for that. And so
Speaker 1: now like the second iteration of the business is we
Speaker 1: can now have the right financial instruments to now be
Speaker 1: able to start to supply the right resources to one another.
Speaker 1: Because like we would have the conversation about real estate,
Speaker 1: but then a lot of folks would would be talking
Speaker 1: about well, like, well, who do I partner with? And
Speaker 1: to actually get this deal done, We're about to be
Speaker 1: able to answer that question in a railway like we
Speaker 1: can be We don't have to ask anybody for partnership.
Speaker 1: We can ask ourselves, right like, and we have the
Speaker 1: tools and the resources to do that ourselves without asking anybody.
Speaker 1: That's what TJS and Greenwood is is about. What about
Speaker 1: buying the land where your locations are? And then, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's important, but I mean, and we know firsthand how
Speaker 1: difficult it is to do that. Mean, we started this
Speaker 1: journey when we were twenty four and forget buying anything.
Speaker 1: People weren't willing to even lease us space. Sat in
Speaker 1: an office and watched a major landlord in town tell us,
Speaker 1: I will not lease you this space, no matter how
Speaker 1: well capitalized you are, like quote unquote, And so it
Speaker 1: is important to us to like, we've got to encourage
Speaker 1: not only ourselves, but everybody, got it. We've got to
Speaker 1: own own as much as we possibly can. I can't
Speaker 1: wait to write my book and talk about him in
Speaker 1: my book, because I mean, what's the rationale behind that?
Speaker 1: Just I don't I can't speak to the rational I
Speaker 1: can just say that there are there are a lot
Speaker 1: of industries where, including banking, right where we have been
Speaker 1: consistently just pushed out of the process. And it is
Speaker 1: it is like way over time that we own those
Speaker 1: businesses and those industries and are starting to do the
Speaker 1: stuff ourselves. Right. This this is not about and can
Speaker 1: save as the sounds. We are not trying to be
Speaker 1: invited to anybody's table anymore. Right. Work we're trying to
Speaker 1: do is and the work that we're doing is about
Speaker 1: building our own tables. Sincerely, because we we witnessed for
Speaker 1: years asking and getting kicked out the office, not being
Speaker 1: able to get a deal done right, and so I
Speaker 1: don't want that experience for anybody else. It almost truly
Speaker 1: took us off of our path. I thank you guys.
Speaker 1: It's so inspirational to me just the way, because I
Speaker 1: remember when the gathering Spot first started, my good friends
Speaker 1: Jane Yes always been like, if we have to go
Speaker 1: to the gathering Spot, and so just to see, you
Speaker 1: know just how far you guys have come in this
Speaker 1: period of time. And I know it definitely wasn't easy.
Speaker 1: Some people probably felt like it wouldn't ever get done
Speaker 1: the way that it has. I congratulate you, because it's
Speaker 1: a huge deal. And I think people watching this should
Speaker 1: all say, how can I be a member? How can
Speaker 1: I join the community? Even if you're not in Atlanta, DCLA,
Speaker 1: Like you said, there are communities in Chicago and Detroit
Speaker 1: and New York and other spaces where they can also
Speaker 1: be a member in support. Yeah, please please come join
Speaker 1: us and be a part of this collective. It's a
Speaker 1: it's a really special time for us as as a company.
Speaker 1: And you know, to tk's a point earlier, we're just
Speaker 1: extremely we can't We're just grateful. People are like jee like,
Speaker 1: like shaka like like. The only reason we made it
Speaker 1: was because the community decided that they weren't going to
Speaker 1: let the business go under, even folks that y'all seeing here,
Speaker 1: I mean Doctor Key of the Village Market, Pinky Slutty Vegan,
Speaker 1: And we've been a part of this tribe together, really
Speaker 1: growing together, and that that that is something that we
Speaker 1: don't take lightly. And so anybody that's interested in joining
Speaker 1: the work, we'd love to have have you at TGS
Speaker 1: or agree with all right, Well, thank you guys for
Speaker 1: joining us, and make sure check out the gathering spot
Speaker 1: and it's the Breakfast Club, Good morning,