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Speaker 1: What's f's way up at Angela Yee And it is

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Speaker 1: Wealth Wednesday time. You know, we love that time of

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Speaker 1: the week. And my partner, my co host, Stacy Tisdale

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Speaker 1: is here.

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Speaker 2: Happy Wealth Wednesdays, everybody, This is big. Wealth Wednesdays is

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Speaker 2: very thrilled to be shining a light on Black Business

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Speaker 2: Month August. And not only are we shining a light

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Speaker 2: on Black Business Month, but we are going to have

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Speaker 2: a guest co host for the remainder of the month,

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Speaker 2: John Templeton, who was the founder and creator of Black

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Speaker 2: Business Month. He also in two thousand and four he

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Speaker 2: created the State of Black Business Report, which you'll learn

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Speaker 2: about that really changed the way things happen for black businesses.

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Speaker 3: Very excited to talk about that.

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Speaker 2: And we have joining us for this first celebration of

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Speaker 2: Black Business Month, the one and only Michelle Anthony. Hey,

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Speaker 2: and you're going to learn so much about this woman

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Speaker 2: who has founder See of Anthony and Associates. She knows

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Speaker 2: the government contracting space like you would not believe and

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Speaker 2: has a tremendous story. So Wealth Wednesday getting on it

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Speaker 2: for Black.

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Speaker 1: Business and we are talking about Wealth today for real,

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Speaker 1: all right, John William Timbleton let's start with you and

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Speaker 1: National Black Business Month and the creation of that. Can

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Speaker 1: you just give us some insight into what made you

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Speaker 1: decide to do this? What National Black Business Month is.

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Speaker 4: Well, the last speech that Martin Luther King gave, he said,

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Speaker 4: I may not get there with you, but we as

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Speaker 4: a people are going to get to the promised Land.

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Speaker 4: So what we've done for the last twenty one years

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Speaker 4: through our State of Black Business Report, is actually defined

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Speaker 4: what it is. Because if you don't know where we're going,

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Speaker 4: we're never going to get there, right right. So ten

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Speaker 4: years ago we created our ten Plan, the African American

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Speaker 4: Economic Strategy. So it's ten very simple things that actually

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Speaker 4: solve most of the problems that we have. So we

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Speaker 4: want to increase the number of African American businesses that

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Speaker 4: have employees to ten percent of the black businesses, so

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Speaker 4: that would be from one hundred and sixty thousand to

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Speaker 4: four hundred thousand. We want to make sure that ten

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Speaker 4: percent of African American income is capital at African American banks.

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Speaker 4: There are seven hundred thousand business loans made every year

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Speaker 4: according to the Fair Reserve, only ten thousand of them

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Speaker 4: are made to black businesses and sixty percent of those

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Speaker 4: are by black banks. So it's real simple. The more

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Speaker 4: money black banks have, the.

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Speaker 1: More money that goes into our community. So our black businesses.

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Speaker 4: Yes, and so it's our money, so we can decide

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Speaker 4: where it goes. So it's very simple to direct it

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Speaker 4: to the places that support us. And we also share

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Speaker 4: a goal with the National Association of Real Estate Brokers

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Speaker 4: to have two million new Black homeowners. So Stacey joined

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Speaker 4: us in Brooklyn, and I know a place that you

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Speaker 4: know and love. So I'm chairman of the Central Bookly

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Speaker 4: Economic Development Corporation.

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Speaker 2: My fault, she wasn't there. I didn't give her the address.

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Speaker 4: Oh we know where to find her, right, So I've

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Speaker 4: been chairman there for five years and we are using

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Speaker 4: it as a template for how to create prosperous black

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Speaker 4: neighborhoods for the people who live there. So Brownsville is

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Speaker 4: the densest concentration of public housing in the world, but

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Speaker 4: we've had for the last three years, had the steepest

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Speaker 4: decline in violent crime in New York City. And so

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Speaker 4: we announced Brownsville Advanced Manufacturing Center, where we're going to

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Speaker 4: have companies come in and make AI maintenance drones for

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Speaker 4: offshore wind and have companies come in and do cybersecurity.

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Speaker 4: And we're redeveloping the Belmont Corridor and bringing in the

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Speaker 4: movie theaters, restaurants, that sort of thing, so that the

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Speaker 4: one point five billion dollars just in Brownsville stays in Brownsville,

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Speaker 4: and that's going to be the template for what we're

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Speaker 4: doing around the country. So we're opening advanced manufacturing centers

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Speaker 4: in La to do AI chips in Oakland, do a

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Speaker 4: sound stage for a movie theater in San Francisco where

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Speaker 4: I live. We're opening the Sergeant Johnson National Museum of

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Speaker 4: African American Art.

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Speaker 2: Wow. So just to give everybody a sense this whole

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Speaker 2: mission and the reason that we're focused on this for

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Speaker 2: Wealth Wednesdays is we focus so much on entrepreneurship. There's

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Speaker 2: so many entrepreneurs out there, and we have a very

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Speaker 2: strong small business mindset that we're proud of. But we

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Speaker 2: have to get out of a small business mindset and

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Speaker 2: we have to think create industries. We have to think

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Speaker 2: create communities. And just gonna blow your mind with this woman,

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Speaker 2: Michelle in just a moment, but John, just to talk

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Speaker 2: about the way you put things in action. You help entrepreneurs.

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Speaker 2: You helped get sixteen billion dollars to nine hundred thousand

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Speaker 2: African American entrepreneurs in twenty twenty one. So we're talking

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Speaker 2: about big scale people and entrepreneurs out there should be

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Speaker 2: listening because we got ways for you to get part

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Speaker 2: of that money too. Talk about that.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, we changed the rules on the PPP loans. In

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Speaker 4: the first year the PPP, only ten thousand African American

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Speaker 4: businesses got loans about five hundred million dollars, which we

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Speaker 4: think that's a lot of money, right, But they gave

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Speaker 4: out seven hundred big right, So.

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Speaker 1: It was so hard for certain companies to be able

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Speaker 1: to get that money.

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Speaker 4: Because, yeah, intersting bank relationship and we didn't. So we

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Speaker 4: changed the rules. So you go directly to the SBA,

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Speaker 4: and we're from ten thousand to nine hundred and ninety thousand.

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Speaker 4: So this year there's another program called the State Small

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Speaker 4: Business Credit Initiative, and the Treasury is sent all this

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Speaker 4: money to the States to loan the small businesses. No

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Speaker 4: small businesses know about it money, it's just sitting there.

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Speaker 4: And so during August, we want to make sure that

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Speaker 4: a million African American businesses apply to the State Small

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Speaker 4: Business Credit and you go to our site black money

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Speaker 4: dot Com and to each state.

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Speaker 1: For each.

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Speaker 4: Everybody, we have the contact person for the state Small

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Speaker 4: Business Credit Initiative and also for the Hollings Manufacturing Extension Program.

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Speaker 4: The government will show you everything you need to know

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Speaker 4: to go into manufacturing because manufacturing is what stabilizes the community.

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Speaker 4: Once again, people don't know that right. The other thing

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Speaker 4: that we have on each state is the USDA Rule

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Speaker 4: Development Agency. The USDA is the only agency that can

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Speaker 4: build a city from scratch, right, so everything you need

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Speaker 4: to build a city, USDA can do. Once again, we

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Speaker 4: don't know about it. So those three things we want

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Speaker 4: to make sure everybody is engaged in that because Michelle

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Speaker 4: will mention to you the last quarter of their federal

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Speaker 4: fiscal year is when federal agencies are just trying to

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Speaker 4: get rid of all the money left and we need

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Speaker 4: to be in the mix. Make sure we have our

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Speaker 4: sam codes so do we actually know what's going on?

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, And we have just to make it easy for everybody.

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Speaker 2: If you follow Wealth Wednesdays on Instagram, we have the

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Speaker 2: link in our bio. You go, it's blackmoney dot Com

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Speaker 2: slash thirty one ways thirty one days. And you know

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Speaker 2: it's impossible almost to get in the rooms where the

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Speaker 2: actual deals are made. But every night during the month

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Speaker 2: of August you are going to be invited into those

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Speaker 2: rooms for live deal making sessions. So again that's black

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Speaker 2: Money dot Com thirty one ways and thirty one days.

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Speaker 2: We want to help you scale.

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Speaker 1: Okay, speaking of scaling, this person has done. You are

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Speaker 1: the youngest of seven, grew up in Montgomery, Alabama during

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Speaker 1: the nineteen seventies, and at fourteen years old, developed found

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Speaker 1: out that you loved courts stenography. I'm going to just

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Speaker 1: shut up now, Michelle.

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Speaker 5: Yes, I'm all the way from Montgomery, Alabama, born and

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Speaker 5: raised and grew up pretty poor, you know, typical grew

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Speaker 5: up in the hood, you know. But what was different

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Speaker 5: back then, though still dealing with like governor former Governor

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Speaker 5: Wallace and then the mayor was Emory Farmer, and they

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Speaker 5: still had a system going on in my government at

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Speaker 5: the time that you know, even though segregation and the

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Speaker 5: science had come off the walls, but it was still

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Speaker 5: being implemented day to day. So growing up, you knew

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Speaker 5: your place, and you knew your side of town, and

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Speaker 5: there was their side of town. So at the age

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Speaker 5: of actually I was thirteen going on fourteen. There's a

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Speaker 5: program under President Carter at the time called the Sita Program,

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Speaker 5: and it was a program wherein the government would give

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Speaker 5: one child and a family a job, and surprisingly I

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Speaker 5: was chosen. And my sister was two years older than me.

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Speaker 5: She was fifteen and I was thirteen. I have no

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Speaker 5: idea about child labor laws. I don't know any of

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Speaker 5: that other than I think that that was the beginning

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Speaker 5: of God's favor shifting my life in this direction. So

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Speaker 5: at thirteen, I was placed in the Montgomery County Courthouse.

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Speaker 3: Went to the.

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Speaker 5: Courthouse and for the first time I was able to

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Speaker 5: sit in the back of a courtroom and just watch

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Speaker 5: the court cases all day long. As I was sitting there,

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Speaker 5: there was a lady at the front of the courthouse.

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Speaker 3: And she would just be I would just see her.

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Speaker 5: Fingers moving and her head would go from side to side,

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Speaker 5: but she was never speaking, and I was so you know,

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Speaker 5: children are so impressionable. I was like, what is she doing?

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Speaker 5: So I finally got the courage one day and she

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Speaker 5: happened to be white. So I had never interacted with

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Speaker 5: a white person before because I lived on the black

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Speaker 5: side of town, so we didn't go over there. And

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Speaker 5: so when I saw her, I was, you know, finally

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Speaker 5: got the courage to go up and ask her. And

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Speaker 5: she told me what it was, and that you had

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Speaker 5: to be able to type two hundred and twenty five

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Speaker 5: words a minute and you take down and everything that's

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Speaker 5: said and then you you know, And she pulled out

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Speaker 5: the little tape out of her machine, showing me the shorthand.

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Speaker 5: And from that day I was sold. I had never

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Speaker 5: seen anything, and I fell in love with the law.

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Speaker 5: And I say that as my background because the law

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Speaker 5: has been very, very very important in my ability to

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Speaker 5: scale and grow because I love the law. Also, you know,

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Speaker 5: you have to be willing to read the law. You

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Speaker 5: have to be able to try and comprehend what's being said.

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Speaker 5: So as a court reporter, I spent about fifteen years

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Speaker 5: in courtrooms, taking all types of cases, everything from capital

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Speaker 5: murder you know, as best as you know accidents. So

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Speaker 5: what it did was it was building a very well

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Speaker 5: rounded atmosphere for me to see expert witnesses, the best attorneys,

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Speaker 5: the worst attorneys, best judges. Why why people got away

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Speaker 5: with stuff.

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Speaker 2: While you were working for yourself.

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Speaker 5: I was working for myself and I did, and so

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Speaker 5: we would produce the record, which was an official document.

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Speaker 5: And because these records contained the verbatim.

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Speaker 3: Word of what was spoken.

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Speaker 5: If someone had a capital murder case, my transcripts had

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Speaker 5: to be correct. So that's how I've applied that to

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Speaker 5: government contracting the documents I produced. I have that same

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Speaker 5: mindset the level of importance of what I produced. So

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Speaker 5: after I left home and went into the military, I

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Speaker 5: went into the military. After going into the military, I

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Speaker 5: had some issues in the military that caused me to

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Speaker 5: exit early. And those issues a lot of times, well

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Speaker 5: back then, there were no rules in place to protect

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Speaker 5: women in the military.

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Speaker 3: We were just put.

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Speaker 5: Alongside the male soldiers or what have you, and there

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Speaker 5: was just literally at that time.

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Speaker 2: It wasn't sexual harassmental way.

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Speaker 3: It hadn't even been defined in the dictionary.

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Speaker 5: Anita Hill had not even taken Clarence Thomas on the Hill,

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Speaker 5: so none of those rules applied. So there were a

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Speaker 5: lot of issues that were going on and women were

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Speaker 5: suffering in the military, but they had no voice. So

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Speaker 5: I eventually got out, went in to the Court Reporting

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Speaker 5: Academy and was just on top of my game top

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Speaker 5: and class did everything. I was so excited because I

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Speaker 5: was getting ready to live my dream and my dad

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Speaker 5: bought all of my equipment.

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Speaker 3: You know, he had me all ready to go, you

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Speaker 3: know what I'm saying.

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Speaker 5: A proud dad, and got out was the person that

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Speaker 5: was next in line for my internships and all that.

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Speaker 5: Every court reporting agency that I went to in the

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Speaker 5: Hampton Roads, Virginia area.

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Speaker 3: Were owned by white firm owners and so they had

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Speaker 3: it on lock.

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Speaker 5: And it was what was going on was they had

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Speaker 5: verbal agreements dating back to the seventies and the eighties

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Speaker 5: that they wouldn't compete against each other, and so that

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Speaker 5: you know, so the firm that had Norfolk Circuit Court,

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Speaker 5: they wouldn't compete against the firm that had the one

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Speaker 5: in Virginia Beach. So what happened was if you were

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Speaker 5: not a part of the clique or one of the

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Speaker 5: people that they accepted, you would just have to go

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Speaker 5: back to whatever you were doing beforehand, because they wouldn't

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Speaker 5: even let you when you were locked out.

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Speaker 1: Were there other black women or black people doing this way, as.

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Speaker 5: There were, but the majority of them had opted to

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Speaker 5: go back to what they used to do before because

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Speaker 5: they couldn't get a job, and I thought that was ridiculous.

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Speaker 5: And I was fresh out of the army, and I

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Speaker 5: was determined, you know, I want to be a court reporter.

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Speaker 5: I'm gonna court report in somebody's court room. So it

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Speaker 5: was this determination that I've always had, no matter what

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Speaker 5: the obstacle has been, no matter whether it's discrimination, whatever

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Speaker 5: it was, I've always had this mindset that I was

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Speaker 5: going to do whatever I felt I wanted to do,

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Speaker 5: and I wasn't going to be stopped.

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Speaker 2: So you started your own comfort.

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Speaker 5: So yes, So what happened was my dad had bought

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Speaker 5: all my equipment, I had passed everything, I was ready

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Speaker 5: to go.

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Speaker 3: It was just because of the color of my skin.

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Speaker 5: So I decided and I prayed, and I was led

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Speaker 5: to reach out to Christian attorneys and black attorneys, and

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Speaker 5: they invited me to the Black Bar Association meeting and

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Speaker 5: I explained to them. And as I was there talking

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Speaker 5: to them, they realized that they hadn't been seeing any

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Speaker 5: black court reporters out of Norfolk, Virginia, Beach, Chesapeake, Hampton, Portsmouth,

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Speaker 5: Newport News, all of those cities. So when I said it,

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Speaker 5: it was like the light bulb came on. They all

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Speaker 5: started giving me their business. I started taking their depositions

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Speaker 5: and all this other stuff. So that's how the business

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Speaker 5: was formed, was because I couldn't get a job. And

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Speaker 5: so once I did that, I decided to challenge the

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Speaker 5: powers that be. Well when I challenged them, of course

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Speaker 5: I got black ball because I was trying to get

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Speaker 5: a written contract at that time, and they told me.

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Speaker 3: One of the judges told me one of these.

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Speaker 5: Firm owners would have to die, retire, or sell their

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Speaker 5: business before we'll.

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Speaker 3: Give you a contract. Wow, he literally did. So guess

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Speaker 3: what I did.

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Speaker 5: I did my due diligence, my research, and I realized

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Speaker 5: that his career goal was he wanted to be on

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Speaker 5: the State Supreme Court. So I decided to put a

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Speaker 5: package together because I knew how to put evidence together.

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Speaker 5: I put a package together and I sent it to

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Speaker 5: the State of Virginia Supreme Court and I turned him

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Speaker 5: in and so so they eventually.

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Speaker 3: Decided for the City of Norfolk.

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Speaker 5: They put it out to bid, and guess what I bid,

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Speaker 5: And I was the lowest bidder, and they still wouldn't

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Speaker 5: give it to me.

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Speaker 3: So they went through.

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Speaker 5: The motion, went through the motion and I was getting

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Speaker 5: death threats at that time because I was messing with

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Speaker 5: people's money, and so I ended up talking with another attorney,

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Speaker 5: mister Bill Robinson, bless his heart and bless his soul.

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Speaker 5: He was a Virginia General Assembly representative. So he put

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Speaker 5: forth legislation on the floor to make that mandatory that

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Speaker 5: they because those were state dollars. Any person that's convicted

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Speaker 5: of a felony, their cases, every piece of any piece

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Speaker 5: of their litigation, anything regarding their case, has to have

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Speaker 5: a record, has to have an official record. And so

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Speaker 5: what happened was, mister Robinson, they put it forth. So

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Speaker 5: it passed in the House overwhelmingly, and it lost in

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Speaker 5: the Senate by four votes. And I was told some

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Speaker 5: of the judges called in some favors from some of

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Speaker 5: their old buddy boyfriends and they killed it in the Senate.

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Speaker 3: No problem, I'm still determined. I'm going to do this.

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Speaker 1: Wow, most people would have given up.

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Speaker 3: Oh no, not me.

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Speaker 5: So then I prayed again, and all of a sudden,

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Speaker 5: it was right around the time that Anita Hill took

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Speaker 5: Clarence Thomas on the Hill, and all of a sudden,

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Speaker 5: there was this big burst of federal claims of sexual harassment,

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Speaker 5: workplace discrimination. All of that was birth then, and all

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Speaker 5: of a sudden they needed court reporters all around the country.

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Speaker 5: And here was I and there were people who looked

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Speaker 5: like me who wanted to give me a chance. So

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Speaker 5: that's how the first case I took was for the

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Speaker 5: Army Corps of Engineers out of Norfolk, Virginia, and her

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Speaker 5: name was Rosemary Whitehurst.

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Speaker 3: Bless her heart and bless her soul.

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Speaker 5: She gave me my first federal case, and I began

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Speaker 5: to take that model, and I grew it, and I

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Speaker 5: grew it, and then I went back and I hired

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Speaker 5: those black girls that had gone to school with me

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Speaker 5: that didn't get a job.

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Speaker 3: I went back and hired as many of them as

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Speaker 3: I could.

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Speaker 5: In nineteen ninety seven, I started the first black court

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Speaker 5: reporting firm in Hampton Roads, and I do have the

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Speaker 5: newspaper articles and things like that from it.

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Speaker 3: But we made history.

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Speaker 4: And there a couple of things that are notable is

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Speaker 4: that she signed out the help of Black Trade associations,

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Speaker 4: and what we do each day during thirty one Raysed

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Speaker 4: thirty one days is let people know what the Black

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Speaker 4: trade associations are for each industry, because we have this

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Speaker 4: limited idea of what black businesses are, so we don't

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Speaker 4: think about black court reporters, We don't think about black

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Speaker 4: folks doing cybersecurity or AI chips or anything like that.

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Speaker 4: But there are associations of black people in each of

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Speaker 4: those fields, and so by identifying associations, then people don't

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Speaker 4: have to feel like they're fighting these battles alone.

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Speaker 2: That's really helpful.

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Speaker 3: So you.

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Speaker 2: Did all that, and then you moved to Atlanta and

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Speaker 2: created Anthony and associates, and then you moved to Atlanta

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Speaker 2: to really scale it. Yes, and that's when the world

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Speaker 2: of government contracting.

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Speaker 1: We have to hear about this because we hear about

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Speaker 1: government contracts all the time and how important that is

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Speaker 1: for people to be able to scale their businesses. And

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Speaker 1: I feel like so many people like government contacting government contracting,

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Speaker 1: but as you can attest to, not a lot of

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Speaker 1: black businesses actually get these government contracts.

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Speaker 2: And Michelle has gotten millions and millions of dollars, millions

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Speaker 2: of millions of dollars and government contracting. So dare we

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Speaker 2: say a billion? I'm just gonna shut up now, and Okay,

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Speaker 2: so tell us how government contracting helped you scale and

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Speaker 2: develop a AI into what it is now.

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Speaker 5: So once I moved to Atlanta, that's when all of

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Speaker 5: a sudden, I started understanding that there were more things

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Speaker 5: I could offer the federal government. And so as I

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Speaker 5: began to research and understand better how to utilize the

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Speaker 5: systems and the tools that were available. You know, that

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Speaker 5: was very very critical doing my due diligence, doing my research,

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Speaker 5: because what I had done is I have been performing

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Speaker 5: extremely well, and I had one client with to its

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Speaker 5: military Sealift Command, and they had given me their work

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Speaker 5: from like nineteen ninety eight all the way to like

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Speaker 5: two thousand and eight, two thousand and nine or something,

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Speaker 5: maybe even longer than that. So I was exposed to

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Speaker 5: the federal government, but I was still doing the court reporting. Now,

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Speaker 5: mind you, I had the small business mindset at that time.

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Speaker 5: I never dreamed that I could make a million dollars.

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Speaker 5: I never dreamed of that. I just you know, the

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Speaker 5: truth of the matter was I just wanted a job

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Speaker 5: and they wouldn't give me a job. So they made

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Speaker 5: me mad. And so when they made me upset, I

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Speaker 5: really started thinking outside of the box.

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Speaker 1: Right your backwards against the wall. A lot of times,

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Speaker 1: that's when you make those critical moves.

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Speaker 5: And I have four children, so I was like, you know,

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Speaker 5: and I'm thinking, like the mind of that the female

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Speaker 5: line is, you know, hey, the cubs got to eat.

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Speaker 5: So in my mind, I always keep that in mind.

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Speaker 5: So as I got to Atlanta and I started networking

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Speaker 5: and meeting other people because down in Hampton Roads, you're

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Speaker 5: not in the mecca.

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Speaker 3: Washington, d C. Is the mecca. That's where all of

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Speaker 3: the major wheeling and dealing and.

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Speaker 5: All that other stuff is going on. So if you're

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Speaker 5: outside of that space, I learned quickly you need to

394
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Speaker 5: build relationships. So I started building key relationships. I started

395
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Speaker 5: attending different conferences and different things to get information. Then

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Speaker 5: I started realizing that's really not producing the results I'm

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Speaker 5: looking for. So I was like, Okay, so you're going

398
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Speaker 5: you're paying all this money and you're not really getting it.

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Speaker 3: Okay, where is it? How do I do it?

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Speaker 5: So then I started understanding the value of relationships teaming,

401
00:20:34,119 --> 00:20:37,399
Speaker 5: and then I started remembering the value of the experts

402
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Speaker 5: that would give their testimony in the different areas that

403
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Speaker 5: the attorneys were not familiar with, but they would always

404
00:20:42,320 --> 00:20:45,600
Speaker 5: bring in an expert. So I started combining all these things.

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Speaker 3: In my mind.

406
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Speaker 5: The government does something that they call market research, so

407
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Speaker 5: I needed to do market research. So I started researching

408
00:20:53,119 --> 00:20:56,119
Speaker 5: my competitors, researching what else I could do. And I

409
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Speaker 5: also had been I had been awarded the eight A

410
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Speaker 5: EIGHTAC certification, So when I was in Hampton Rose, I

411
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Speaker 5: didn't know what I had. But by the time I

412
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Speaker 5: got to Atlanta and started you know, Atlanta is another

413
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Speaker 5: business mecca, but it's not as focused on the federal

414
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Speaker 5: government as other areas.

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Speaker 3: But I had a lot of people telling me, oh,

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Speaker 3: you know.

417
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Speaker 5: What, you know, you have that aight A And I

418
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Speaker 5: was like, yeah, what is that? The aight A certification

419
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Speaker 5: is another social economic certification that the SBA will give minorities. Basically,

420
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Speaker 5: they'll give it to anyone that now they've changed the

421
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Speaker 5: rule because of the attack on DEI and affirmative action,

422
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Speaker 5: so you have to write a letter now explaining how

423
00:21:33,680 --> 00:21:36,720
Speaker 5: you've been disadvantaged. But prior to you didn't have to

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00:21:36,760 --> 00:21:39,600
Speaker 5: do that and writing a letter. I can tell anybody

425
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Speaker 5: how to write the letter you need to write. But anyway,

426
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Speaker 5: so the aight A program is a program where they

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Speaker 5: will set aside soul source contracts up to four million

428
00:21:48,119 --> 00:21:50,959
Speaker 5: dollars in value if you have an eight A certification,

429
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Speaker 5: and so you have to apply and be approved for

430
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Speaker 5: the eight A and that gives small businesses an opportunity

431
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Speaker 5: to get their foot in the door, right, But there's

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Speaker 5: a there's a catch to that. It's a nine year program.

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Speaker 5: Most people get hooked on the soul source and they

434
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Speaker 5: don't want to do the work to learn how to compete. See,

435
00:22:11,359 --> 00:22:14,600
Speaker 5: if you're gonna do government contracting, you can't live off

436
00:22:14,600 --> 00:22:18,760
Speaker 5: soul sources. You need to be able to compete against

437
00:22:18,840 --> 00:22:21,919
Speaker 5: your competitors. And when and once you start building up

438
00:22:21,960 --> 00:22:25,560
Speaker 5: that pedigree and you have that capability, you're unstoppable. So

439
00:22:25,800 --> 00:22:28,840
Speaker 5: for me, in the A day program, I received multiple

440
00:22:28,920 --> 00:22:30,959
Speaker 5: That's where I got my first million dollar And what

441
00:22:31,119 --> 00:22:34,080
Speaker 5: was it? I got my first million dollar contract two

442
00:22:34,080 --> 00:22:37,080
Speaker 5: months after I moved to to Atlanta.

443
00:22:36,680 --> 00:22:38,040
Speaker 2: To do what court reporting.

444
00:22:38,760 --> 00:22:42,440
Speaker 5: I was doing court report nationwide, court reporting all fifty states,

445
00:22:42,520 --> 00:22:44,840
Speaker 5: all the rural areas. Because back in the day when

446
00:22:44,840 --> 00:22:49,040
Speaker 5: they were building the atomic bombs, there were nuclear plants

447
00:22:49,320 --> 00:22:52,440
Speaker 5: that a lot of people were working in and now

448
00:22:52,800 --> 00:22:56,600
Speaker 5: these people were developing cancers, and so the government was

449
00:22:56,640 --> 00:23:00,359
Speaker 5: holding these hearings to take the testimony of the family

450
00:23:00,400 --> 00:23:02,479
Speaker 5: members who were trying to say, hey, this is what

451
00:23:02,520 --> 00:23:04,760
Speaker 5: I've seen and what have you. So I was awarded

452
00:23:04,760 --> 00:23:07,959
Speaker 5: a contract for the Mind Safety and Health Administration and

453
00:23:08,000 --> 00:23:10,080
Speaker 5: it was a one point nine million dollar contract, and

454
00:23:10,119 --> 00:23:10,520
Speaker 5: I was like.

455
00:23:10,840 --> 00:23:13,359
Speaker 1: This is important because a lot of people when like

456
00:23:13,440 --> 00:23:16,600
Speaker 1: I know, when I first started hearing about government contracts,

457
00:23:16,640 --> 00:23:20,280
Speaker 1: I'm thinking of this is some service that has to

458
00:23:20,320 --> 00:23:23,920
Speaker 1: be related to government. But the government contracts they need

459
00:23:24,000 --> 00:23:27,320
Speaker 1: everything they do. They need absolutely everything. So you might

460
00:23:27,359 --> 00:23:29,880
Speaker 1: not even think that your business is applicable, but there's

461
00:23:29,880 --> 00:23:31,560
Speaker 1: something out there for.

462
00:23:31,400 --> 00:23:32,560
Speaker 3: You, like some coffee.

463
00:23:32,760 --> 00:23:36,760
Speaker 2: They might need food, and they pay well they do.

464
00:23:37,080 --> 00:23:40,760
Speaker 5: They have events, so the people who do event planning.

465
00:23:40,960 --> 00:23:43,320
Speaker 5: The government does contracts for event planning all the time.

466
00:23:43,400 --> 00:23:45,040
Speaker 1: Let me ask you this when you talked about bids

467
00:23:45,080 --> 00:23:47,320
Speaker 1: and how previously you had the lowest bid but you

468
00:23:47,359 --> 00:23:50,520
Speaker 1: still didn't get the contract when you were in Montgomery.

469
00:23:49,960 --> 00:23:51,480
Speaker 3: No, No, in Norfolk.

470
00:23:51,520 --> 00:23:52,240
Speaker 2: Oh that was Enoughfolk.

471
00:23:52,320 --> 00:23:55,600
Speaker 1: Okay, how do you know what to like what your

472
00:23:55,600 --> 00:23:57,960
Speaker 1: bid should be, because you also don't want to price

473
00:23:58,000 --> 00:23:58,520
Speaker 1: it too low.

474
00:23:58,840 --> 00:24:01,720
Speaker 5: That's a part of your research. Those are strategies that

475
00:24:01,760 --> 00:24:04,720
Speaker 5: I'm going to start teaching now. And that's called your

476
00:24:04,760 --> 00:24:07,679
Speaker 5: pricing strategy. And you have to do and you do

477
00:24:07,760 --> 00:24:11,320
Speaker 5: your research and you're able to understand, Okay, what does

478
00:24:11,400 --> 00:24:13,880
Speaker 5: the market what will the market bear? Because what you're

479
00:24:13,880 --> 00:24:16,080
Speaker 5: saying is you don't want to be priced out and

480
00:24:16,359 --> 00:24:19,040
Speaker 5: because if you're too high, then you're not going to win,

481
00:24:19,080 --> 00:24:21,440
Speaker 5: and if you're too low, sometimes you are a risk.

482
00:24:21,560 --> 00:24:24,440
Speaker 5: One of the things everybody needs to understand. The government

483
00:24:24,560 --> 00:24:28,360
Speaker 5: is risk averse. They want to mitigate risk at all

484
00:24:28,400 --> 00:24:32,240
Speaker 5: costs because if you don't understand how important your performance

485
00:24:32,440 --> 00:24:36,480
Speaker 5: is your record. You have to have a performance record

486
00:24:36,760 --> 00:24:39,439
Speaker 5: that the government can trust. And a lot of times

487
00:24:39,480 --> 00:24:42,680
Speaker 5: what happens is small businesses because they have lack of

488
00:24:42,760 --> 00:24:47,560
Speaker 5: access to financial resources, things of that nature, the government

489
00:24:47,600 --> 00:24:49,600
Speaker 5: will kind of be a little leary. You know that

490
00:24:49,640 --> 00:24:52,600
Speaker 5: they can do the work. So but when you understand

491
00:24:52,640 --> 00:24:54,840
Speaker 5: how to leverage that, how to team and how to

492
00:24:54,920 --> 00:24:58,919
Speaker 5: partner and put together a package that checks all the

493
00:24:59,400 --> 00:25:00,600
Speaker 5: checks all the for.

494
00:25:00,520 --> 00:25:02,560
Speaker 3: Them, you you eliminate.

495
00:25:02,720 --> 00:25:05,000
Speaker 5: What you're doing is is I'm eliminating your reason to

496
00:25:05,200 --> 00:25:06,280
Speaker 5: your ability to say no.

497
00:25:06,920 --> 00:25:08,640
Speaker 3: And those are strategy. So a lot of.

498
00:25:08,600 --> 00:25:10,920
Speaker 5: Times when I'm looking at opportunities and what we do,

499
00:25:11,320 --> 00:25:14,440
Speaker 5: and the more we grow. While the government is doing

500
00:25:14,480 --> 00:25:16,400
Speaker 5: what they're doing, or my opponent is doing they're doing

501
00:25:16,480 --> 00:25:19,200
Speaker 5: they're playing checkers. I'm always playing chess, So I'm always

502
00:25:19,240 --> 00:25:21,840
Speaker 5: gonna make a chess move and I'm always gonna outsmart

503
00:25:21,880 --> 00:25:26,320
Speaker 5: you because I understand that we should be playing chess.

504
00:25:25,920 --> 00:25:26,720
Speaker 3: Not checkers.

505
00:25:27,359 --> 00:25:29,320
Speaker 5: Because we play checkers, you're gonna end up, you know,

506
00:25:29,520 --> 00:25:31,840
Speaker 5: with with with everybody else, Chess is gonna get you

507
00:25:31,840 --> 00:25:32,240
Speaker 5: at the top.

508
00:25:32,440 --> 00:25:38,000
Speaker 2: Right, How do we there's so much here? So one,

509
00:25:38,160 --> 00:25:41,040
Speaker 2: there's so much money out there for black businesses through

510
00:25:41,080 --> 00:25:45,080
Speaker 2: government contracts. It sounds just so complicated, and there's so

511
00:25:45,160 --> 00:25:48,679
Speaker 2: many people out there who you know, are teaching it,

512
00:25:48,720 --> 00:25:50,840
Speaker 2: but people are still having hard time getting contracts.

513
00:25:51,080 --> 00:25:55,000
Speaker 4: If I could step on you for a second, A

514
00:25:55,080 --> 00:25:58,840
Speaker 4: big part of what we're doing during August is that

515
00:25:59,160 --> 00:26:04,120
Speaker 4: there are thousands of people like Michelle who have the

516
00:26:04,160 --> 00:26:07,760
Speaker 4: lived experience of having to do it. They know where

517
00:26:07,880 --> 00:26:15,240
Speaker 4: the barriers are, and so our strategy is for our

518
00:26:15,359 --> 00:26:18,919
Speaker 4: various African American companies that are already in the game

519
00:26:19,560 --> 00:26:24,000
Speaker 4: to team together. So, for instance, the typical model that

520
00:26:24,000 --> 00:26:26,359
Speaker 4: we've been taught for the last fifty years is you

521
00:26:26,400 --> 00:26:30,480
Speaker 4: have to be a subcontractor to some big white front, right,

522
00:26:30,760 --> 00:26:34,760
Speaker 4: that doesn't get us anywhere. He's become a permanent subcontractor.

523
00:26:35,480 --> 00:26:39,960
Speaker 4: So look at construction. One of our successes over the

524
00:26:40,040 --> 00:26:44,240
Speaker 4: last five years. We've gone from a low of two nine,

525
00:26:44,240 --> 00:26:46,560
Speaker 4: only two point nine percent of construction workers of black

526
00:26:46,680 --> 00:26:49,879
Speaker 4: five years ago. We've been able to increase se to

527
00:26:50,000 --> 00:26:53,840
Speaker 4: seven point one. But because of all the attacks on

528
00:26:54,400 --> 00:26:57,080
Speaker 4: affirmative action over the last twenty five years or so

529
00:26:57,240 --> 00:26:59,680
Speaker 4: that myself and my partner Fred Jordan has been fighting,

530
00:27:01,720 --> 00:27:06,679
Speaker 4: the size of African American construction companies hasn't grown. So

531
00:27:07,000 --> 00:27:09,520
Speaker 4: it's very rare to find a black company that can

532
00:27:09,560 --> 00:27:14,520
Speaker 4: actually finish your whole building. Right. But if you take

533
00:27:15,200 --> 00:27:20,480
Speaker 4: an architecture firm from Memphis and a construction company from Chicago,

534
00:27:20,720 --> 00:27:24,080
Speaker 4: and a general contractor from Atlanta and another company from

535
00:27:25,000 --> 00:27:27,960
Speaker 4: Los Angeles, all of a sudden, you have a joint

536
00:27:28,040 --> 00:27:32,840
Speaker 4: venture that can compete for prime contracts. So our model

537
00:27:33,600 --> 00:27:40,199
Speaker 4: is to take our local and regional level companies, combine

538
00:27:40,280 --> 00:27:45,359
Speaker 4: them so that they're national companies. But also more importantly,

539
00:27:45,880 --> 00:27:50,480
Speaker 4: we have our seventy Cities Initiative, So there's seventy cities

540
00:27:50,520 --> 00:27:53,200
Speaker 4: in Africa and the Caribbean that have more than median population.

541
00:27:54,400 --> 00:27:59,159
Speaker 4: They're doing light rail, they're doing dams, they're doing airports,

542
00:27:59,200 --> 00:28:03,080
Speaker 4: all that sort of thing. So by taking these teams,

543
00:28:03,760 --> 00:28:07,760
Speaker 4: we can then take these teams overseas and get the

544
00:28:08,080 --> 00:28:12,920
Speaker 4: larger experience doing bigger projects so that then we can

545
00:28:12,960 --> 00:28:16,080
Speaker 4: compete for the government contracts. And the great thing about

546
00:28:16,119 --> 00:28:19,560
Speaker 4: it is the government will pay for us to do

547
00:28:19,680 --> 00:28:20,920
Speaker 4: work overseas.

548
00:28:21,480 --> 00:28:23,680
Speaker 2: You want to get on one of these teams, that's

549
00:28:23,680 --> 00:28:27,000
Speaker 2: why we're partnering with them. Go to blackmoney dot com

550
00:28:27,000 --> 00:28:30,760
Speaker 2: Slash thirty one ways thirty one days each night in August.

551
00:28:30,800 --> 00:28:33,960
Speaker 2: There's a different industry that they're going to be building

552
00:28:34,000 --> 00:28:36,080
Speaker 2: the teams and they're looking for people to put on

553
00:28:36,119 --> 00:28:38,400
Speaker 2: the teams. It's not just a mentoring session, it's actual

554
00:28:38,480 --> 00:28:41,600
Speaker 2: deal making. You want to definitely be a part of that.

555
00:28:42,800 --> 00:28:49,160
Speaker 2: I'm not done talking to you so getting educated about

556
00:28:49,160 --> 00:28:52,600
Speaker 2: government contracts and I know that's something that you're passionate about. Yes,

557
00:28:53,120 --> 00:28:55,600
Speaker 2: And honestly, I have seen you call the nine hundred

558
00:28:55,640 --> 00:28:59,440
Speaker 2: million dollar woman. As I've gotten to know John Templeton

559
00:28:59,600 --> 00:29:02,680
Speaker 2: and on the Black Business Month, there are so many

560
00:29:03,200 --> 00:29:07,560
Speaker 2: black near billionaires out there that have really moved from

561
00:29:07,560 --> 00:29:10,520
Speaker 2: that mindset of being a small business owner and created

562
00:29:10,560 --> 00:29:16,040
Speaker 2: industries and you can't help. But notice they kind of hide.

563
00:29:17,920 --> 00:29:20,440
Speaker 2: We don't even know that they exist. We don't have

564
00:29:20,520 --> 00:29:23,600
Speaker 2: them for role modeling. They're very quiet. Why are these

565
00:29:23,720 --> 00:29:29,800
Speaker 2: ultra successful black business owners or industry creators silent? And

566
00:29:29,880 --> 00:29:31,480
Speaker 2: I'm going to start by asking you.

567
00:29:34,320 --> 00:29:40,640
Speaker 5: We're silent because we understand you can't go around waving

568
00:29:40,720 --> 00:29:44,520
Speaker 5: a big flag because if you do, they're bad actors

569
00:29:44,920 --> 00:29:47,440
Speaker 5: that are going to do all they can to try

570
00:29:47,520 --> 00:29:50,320
Speaker 5: and stop you from growing and you know, getting even

571
00:29:50,440 --> 00:29:56,280
Speaker 5: more success. So it kind of it's sad, but most

572
00:29:56,280 --> 00:29:58,160
Speaker 5: of us don't have our pictures on our website.

573
00:29:58,160 --> 00:29:59,800
Speaker 3: Most of us, you know, like me.

574
00:30:00,080 --> 00:30:03,240
Speaker 5: This whole thing I'm doing here, this is so not me,

575
00:30:03,880 --> 00:30:08,360
Speaker 5: you know, But it's time for me to come out

576
00:30:08,360 --> 00:30:13,560
Speaker 5: of obscurity, John, And I'm doing it because at this

577
00:30:13,680 --> 00:30:17,640
Speaker 5: point in time, I've made my mind up that regardless

578
00:30:17,640 --> 00:30:21,320
Speaker 5: of what is attempted to try and block and stop,

579
00:30:21,680 --> 00:30:24,560
Speaker 5: what God has purposed for me is not going to work.

580
00:30:25,080 --> 00:30:27,840
Speaker 5: And I'm willing to come out and teach and share

581
00:30:28,360 --> 00:30:31,160
Speaker 5: so that more people that look like me can understand

582
00:30:31,240 --> 00:30:32,320
Speaker 5: you can do the same thing.

583
00:30:32,560 --> 00:30:34,040
Speaker 3: You just have to do it the right way.

584
00:30:34,200 --> 00:30:36,840
Speaker 1: And you know when you spoke about DEI being under attack,

585
00:30:36,960 --> 00:30:39,520
Speaker 1: that's why this is really important right now too. Yes,

586
00:30:39,760 --> 00:30:42,120
Speaker 1: just because there's a lot of things that are more

587
00:30:42,160 --> 00:30:45,040
Speaker 1: obstacles for people to be able to level out that

588
00:30:45,080 --> 00:30:48,680
Speaker 1: playing field. People who deserve the opportunity, who are quite capable.

589
00:30:49,160 --> 00:30:52,960
Speaker 1: But because there's like how you were locked out of

590
00:30:53,000 --> 00:30:55,680
Speaker 1: being able to work in the courtroom, that same thing

591
00:30:55,760 --> 00:30:57,880
Speaker 1: is happening now even though you could graduate top of

592
00:30:57,920 --> 00:31:02,400
Speaker 1: your class, have all the skills, hiring as favors or

593
00:31:02,440 --> 00:31:03,800
Speaker 1: for people who look like them.

594
00:31:03,920 --> 00:31:07,360
Speaker 5: Yeah, but the blessing is my life. The blessing on

595
00:31:07,440 --> 00:31:11,360
Speaker 5: my life is this everything that has been attempted to

596
00:31:11,480 --> 00:31:15,160
Speaker 5: stop or block me. God has taken that as like

597
00:31:15,240 --> 00:31:19,560
Speaker 5: a stepping stone and a footstool, and I have exceeded

598
00:31:19,880 --> 00:31:21,160
Speaker 5: everything because of them.

599
00:31:21,560 --> 00:31:24,040
Speaker 3: So if I wanted a job, he gave me a business.

600
00:31:24,360 --> 00:31:26,440
Speaker 3: You see what I'm saying. So I started a business

601
00:31:26,480 --> 00:31:27,240
Speaker 3: thirty years.

602
00:31:27,080 --> 00:31:30,400
Speaker 5: Ago, and now I'm able to employ people around the country.

603
00:31:30,720 --> 00:31:34,600
Speaker 5: Now I've been able to sustain and build an entire infrastructure,

604
00:31:35,040 --> 00:31:36,200
Speaker 5: all because a person.

605
00:31:35,960 --> 00:31:36,640
Speaker 3: Wanted a job.

606
00:31:37,080 --> 00:31:40,160
Speaker 5: So all negativity that comes that you is not bad.

607
00:31:40,680 --> 00:31:43,560
Speaker 5: It is because when you learn how to overcome it,

608
00:31:43,720 --> 00:31:45,520
Speaker 5: and when you learn how to see the positive and

609
00:31:45,560 --> 00:31:48,560
Speaker 5: speak the positive and manifest in your mind what you

610
00:31:48,640 --> 00:31:51,880
Speaker 5: want your outcome to be, you will change whatever the

611
00:31:51,960 --> 00:31:55,320
Speaker 5: situation is. And that's what I've done. So every obstacle,

612
00:31:55,680 --> 00:31:58,720
Speaker 5: everything that you would think would have stopped me, I

613
00:31:58,760 --> 00:32:01,520
Speaker 5: have found the positive in it, and I've taken that

614
00:32:01,840 --> 00:32:04,360
Speaker 5: and I've grown it. And that's what I would say

615
00:32:04,400 --> 00:32:08,120
Speaker 5: to our people. Every one of us experience it at

616
00:32:08,120 --> 00:32:10,480
Speaker 5: some level. Because we look like each other. We just do,

617
00:32:11,040 --> 00:32:13,480
Speaker 5: and we wake up with that this paint job that

618
00:32:13,520 --> 00:32:15,720
Speaker 5: we have, we can't change it. So all we can

619
00:32:15,760 --> 00:32:18,240
Speaker 5: do is take it and use it and make it

620
00:32:18,280 --> 00:32:21,640
Speaker 5: work because it can, and we can overcome whatever the

621
00:32:21,720 --> 00:32:23,760
Speaker 5: obstacles are. You just have to be willing to do

622
00:32:23,800 --> 00:32:27,400
Speaker 5: the work. This listen, government contracting, let me help you out.

623
00:32:28,120 --> 00:32:31,200
Speaker 3: It's not a hustle get rid of the hustle mindset,

624
00:32:31,240 --> 00:32:32,760
Speaker 3: because it's legitimate.

625
00:32:33,040 --> 00:32:35,720
Speaker 5: It is one of those situations where you do this wrong,

626
00:32:35,880 --> 00:32:38,960
Speaker 5: you're going to either face a healthy fine or jail

627
00:32:39,040 --> 00:32:41,320
Speaker 5: time because this is a federal government, so you can't

628
00:32:41,320 --> 00:32:44,040
Speaker 5: pull any of that stuff on them. You gotta come correct,

629
00:32:44,120 --> 00:32:47,440
Speaker 5: and if you're willing to come correct, understand that you

630
00:32:47,560 --> 00:32:50,480
Speaker 5: need someone to teach you, what laws to pay attention to,

631
00:32:50,880 --> 00:32:52,920
Speaker 5: what do you need to make sure you do and

632
00:32:53,040 --> 00:32:55,840
Speaker 5: don't do in order to get you in trouble, because

633
00:32:55,880 --> 00:32:57,720
Speaker 5: at the end of the day, it's not worth it.

634
00:32:57,920 --> 00:33:00,479
Speaker 5: What is it if you can't maintain and so what

635
00:33:00,480 --> 00:33:03,960
Speaker 5: you've gained. And I want everybody listening to me as

636
00:33:04,120 --> 00:33:08,440
Speaker 5: as black people, we need to understand and learn how

637
00:33:08,640 --> 00:33:12,320
Speaker 5: to whatever we gain, we must maintain it, sustain it

638
00:33:12,720 --> 00:33:15,600
Speaker 5: so that whatever we gain it can outlive us.

639
00:33:16,000 --> 00:33:18,800
Speaker 3: That's success. And the other thing that is success that

640
00:33:18,840 --> 00:33:21,800
Speaker 3: I've learned is not so much the money. It's the knowledge.

641
00:33:22,440 --> 00:33:25,000
Speaker 5: The more that I can train and educate and pass

642
00:33:25,080 --> 00:33:27,440
Speaker 5: on even to my children that I used to think,

643
00:33:27,440 --> 00:33:28,880
Speaker 5: you know what, I'm going to do all this.

644
00:33:28,800 --> 00:33:31,360
Speaker 3: So my children won't have to struggle in whateverever.

645
00:33:31,600 --> 00:33:34,240
Speaker 5: And I had an AHA moment with God and he

646
00:33:34,240 --> 00:33:37,360
Speaker 5: helped me to understand if you give them the knowledge,

647
00:33:38,440 --> 00:33:40,960
Speaker 5: they can take what you've done and make it even greater.

648
00:33:41,440 --> 00:33:43,600
Speaker 5: But if you only give them the money and they

649
00:33:43,640 --> 00:33:45,800
Speaker 5: didn't go through what you went through to get it,

650
00:33:45,960 --> 00:33:48,320
Speaker 5: they're not going to understand it, appreciate it, nor be

651
00:33:48,360 --> 00:33:50,760
Speaker 5: able to sustain it. So you have to put that

652
00:33:50,960 --> 00:33:55,120
Speaker 5: all together and understand that is what I'm doing with

653
00:33:54,840 --> 00:33:59,480
Speaker 5: my four children right now, creating generational wealth, exposing them

654
00:33:59,560 --> 00:34:05,000
Speaker 5: to revenue, exposing them to government contracting, corporate corporate contracts,

655
00:34:05,360 --> 00:34:08,640
Speaker 5: business in general. I don't care what business there is.

656
00:34:09,000 --> 00:34:11,000
Speaker 5: If you introduce me to it, I can run it.

657
00:34:11,080 --> 00:34:11,640
Speaker 1: M hmm.

658
00:34:11,800 --> 00:34:13,360
Speaker 2: And then the last thing I need to touch on

659
00:34:13,440 --> 00:34:18,360
Speaker 2: with you. So Michelle's really good at manifesting what she wants.

660
00:34:18,400 --> 00:34:20,680
Speaker 2: So we're all really happy that she's decided that she

661
00:34:20,719 --> 00:34:22,680
Speaker 2: wants to fix climate change.

662
00:34:23,040 --> 00:34:27,400
Speaker 5: Oh yeah, yes, that's another area. I don't have grandchildren,

663
00:34:28,239 --> 00:34:32,160
Speaker 5: but I'm planning. So about three years ago, I was

664
00:34:32,239 --> 00:34:35,120
Speaker 5: offered an opportunity to work with a gentleman that had

665
00:34:35,160 --> 00:34:39,640
Speaker 5: created a smart battery technology made out of graphene. And

666
00:34:39,680 --> 00:34:41,839
Speaker 5: for most of us, we haven't heard of graphene. Most

667
00:34:41,840 --> 00:34:44,200
Speaker 5: of us are familiar with our lithium batteries in our

668
00:34:44,280 --> 00:34:48,080
Speaker 5: cell phones, in our laptops and things of that nature.

669
00:34:48,239 --> 00:34:51,640
Speaker 5: Lithium is highly explosive and very unfriendly to the to

670
00:34:51,719 --> 00:34:56,600
Speaker 5: the environment. Graphene is another substance that has been developed.

671
00:34:56,600 --> 00:34:59,959
Speaker 5: It's a new material and it's like it's a single

672
00:35:00,239 --> 00:35:02,960
Speaker 5: layer sheet and it's just it's a single layer of

673
00:35:03,239 --> 00:35:07,640
Speaker 5: carbon atoms. And with this it is the hardest, it

674
00:35:07,719 --> 00:35:11,960
Speaker 5: is the thinnest, and it is the best most electrically

675
00:35:12,120 --> 00:35:18,759
Speaker 5: and thermal conducive nanomterial in the world. So it can

676
00:35:18,840 --> 00:35:23,280
Speaker 5: when I say that, basically the graphene can capture ninety

677
00:35:23,280 --> 00:35:27,000
Speaker 5: five percent of the Sun's energy. So what we've done

678
00:35:27,080 --> 00:35:29,920
Speaker 5: is I've created an energy company named after my son

679
00:35:30,000 --> 00:35:33,080
Speaker 5: and dwell A Energy, and I've created also a power

680
00:35:33,160 --> 00:35:35,840
Speaker 5: company and dwell A Power and all four of my

681
00:35:35,920 --> 00:35:39,120
Speaker 5: children are co founders of this organization and we're beginning

682
00:35:39,120 --> 00:35:42,200
Speaker 5: to tackle climate change and we want to be known

683
00:35:42,239 --> 00:35:44,120
Speaker 5: as the Black Family of Energy.

684
00:35:44,239 --> 00:35:44,959
Speaker 3: And when we.

685
00:35:44,960 --> 00:35:48,200
Speaker 5: Get involved with this climate change, it is because our

686
00:35:48,280 --> 00:35:50,760
Speaker 5: children can be at the bus stop at the school.

687
00:35:51,120 --> 00:35:54,440
Speaker 5: All of those buses are running diesel fuel. And we

688
00:35:54,560 --> 00:35:58,239
Speaker 5: wondered why COVID so many children had issues breathing and

689
00:35:58,280 --> 00:36:01,799
Speaker 5: the respiratory problems. It was because the daily things that

690
00:36:01,840 --> 00:36:03,880
Speaker 5: we do and we are emitting into our environment, no

691
00:36:03,920 --> 00:36:06,640
Speaker 5: one is paying attention of the damage that it's doing.

692
00:36:07,440 --> 00:36:10,240
Speaker 5: So what we want to do with this is partner

693
00:36:10,560 --> 00:36:15,400
Speaker 5: and become a leader in energy and explain and also

694
00:36:15,520 --> 00:36:19,560
Speaker 5: create a partnership when we provide power back from graphene

695
00:36:20,480 --> 00:36:22,879
Speaker 5: and clean up the energy and the environment. We want

696
00:36:22,920 --> 00:36:25,279
Speaker 5: to share a part of the wealth back with the

697
00:36:25,320 --> 00:36:28,080
Speaker 5: people who purchase the power. So see, we want to

698
00:36:28,120 --> 00:36:31,160
Speaker 5: flip it. Typically Georgia Power, They're just going to send

699
00:36:31,200 --> 00:36:33,800
Speaker 5: you a bill. We want to create a system and

700
00:36:33,840 --> 00:36:37,840
Speaker 5: a process where if we can help incentivize you to

701
00:36:37,880 --> 00:36:40,759
Speaker 5: pay attention to what you're doing and instead of using

702
00:36:40,880 --> 00:36:44,520
Speaker 5: lithium which is explosive and harming the atmosphere, or these

703
00:36:44,560 --> 00:36:47,880
Speaker 5: fossil fuels, if we can incentivize people that, hey, we

704
00:36:47,920 --> 00:36:49,359
Speaker 5: will make you a part of this and you can

705
00:36:49,360 --> 00:36:50,000
Speaker 5: get a check.

706
00:36:50,480 --> 00:36:52,279
Speaker 3: See I love checks, So if you.

707
00:36:52,200 --> 00:36:55,000
Speaker 5: Can give me a check for doing something good, I

708
00:36:55,040 --> 00:36:56,480
Speaker 5: think I would want to be a part of that.

709
00:36:56,719 --> 00:36:59,399
Speaker 5: So we're working through that piece right now. But we're

710
00:36:59,440 --> 00:37:02,520
Speaker 5: working on pros in Africa. We have a project in

711
00:37:03,200 --> 00:37:05,799
Speaker 5: the US that we we've gotten a contract or letter

712
00:37:05,760 --> 00:37:09,520
Speaker 5: of intent from the state of Hawaii. We're in the

713
00:37:09,560 --> 00:37:14,000
Speaker 5: Great Pacific Garbage Patch. If you haven't heard of it,

714
00:37:14,200 --> 00:37:18,920
Speaker 5: look it up. That is the largest compilation of plastics

715
00:37:18,960 --> 00:37:22,040
Speaker 5: that have accumulated in the middle of the Pacific Ocean,

716
00:37:22,920 --> 00:37:26,000
Speaker 5: and that if we don't get a hold of that,

717
00:37:26,080 --> 00:37:29,200
Speaker 5: eventually it could cause what they call an ELLE, which

718
00:37:29,239 --> 00:37:33,160
Speaker 5: is an extinction life event. And so if you look

719
00:37:33,239 --> 00:37:37,319
Speaker 5: up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, that's one of the

720
00:37:37,480 --> 00:37:40,800
Speaker 5: contracts for plastics and the garbage that we're going to

721
00:37:40,880 --> 00:37:44,359
Speaker 5: take that garbage and convert it to graphene energy. And

722
00:37:44,400 --> 00:37:47,239
Speaker 5: once we converted to graphene, we'll be able to we'll

723
00:37:47,280 --> 00:37:51,640
Speaker 5: be able to produce electricity as well as biofuels, green fuels,

724
00:37:51,840 --> 00:37:54,960
Speaker 5: so the jet fuel, diesel fuel, all of this technology

725
00:37:55,000 --> 00:37:58,080
Speaker 5: we already have is been patented and we're getting ready

726
00:37:58,080 --> 00:37:59,080
Speaker 5: to launch it right now.

727
00:38:00,600 --> 00:38:01,440
Speaker 3: This is amazing.

728
00:38:01,640 --> 00:38:06,680
Speaker 2: This is we are bringing it Wealth Wednesdays is bringing

729
00:38:06,680 --> 00:38:08,719
Speaker 2: it Black Business Month. And we're so honored to have

730
00:38:08,760 --> 00:38:12,160
Speaker 2: this partnership with the creator of Black National Black Business Month,

731
00:38:12,880 --> 00:38:17,800
Speaker 2: John Templeton and everybody. Again, their goal is to create

732
00:38:17,920 --> 00:38:21,160
Speaker 2: one billion black businesses over the next year. They do

733
00:38:21,280 --> 00:38:24,480
Speaker 2: that with their eyes closed, and they're looking for partners

734
00:38:25,280 --> 00:38:29,040
Speaker 2: and and have opportunities for black entrepreneurs. And they're having

735
00:38:29,440 --> 00:38:33,799
Speaker 2: nightly deal making sessions every night. In August thirty one

736
00:38:33,840 --> 00:38:37,720
Speaker 2: ways and thirty one days. You can get that blackmoney

737
00:38:37,760 --> 00:38:41,040
Speaker 2: dot Com slash thirty one ways thirty one days. We

738
00:38:41,120 --> 00:38:44,279
Speaker 2: made it easy follow Wealth Wednesdays on Instagram and it's

739
00:38:44,320 --> 00:38:46,560
Speaker 2: in the link. And John just briefly touch on some

740
00:38:46,600 --> 00:38:49,239
Speaker 2: of the industries that you're going to be making deals in.

741
00:38:49,680 --> 00:38:49,919
Speaker 3: Well.

742
00:38:49,960 --> 00:38:54,480
Speaker 4: For instance, we're looking at sports, the name, image and likeness.

743
00:38:54,560 --> 00:38:58,879
Speaker 4: Now every athlete is a business person. We're looking at

744
00:38:59,280 --> 00:39:01,879
Speaker 4: food security. We have a gentleman and if you thought

745
00:39:01,960 --> 00:39:05,520
Speaker 4: that was amazing, we have a gentleman on from Ghana

746
00:39:06,080 --> 00:39:11,080
Speaker 4: on August first, who will be talking about soilist.

747
00:39:10,560 --> 00:39:14,520
Speaker 2: Plants and you have like beauty, I know there's also.

748
00:39:15,440 --> 00:39:16,160
Speaker 3: Plants, right, So.

749
00:39:18,520 --> 00:39:23,240
Speaker 4: But on Marcus Garvey Day, we're going to have the

750
00:39:23,280 --> 00:39:27,400
Speaker 4: Director of Public Private Partnerships for the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

751
00:39:27,520 --> 00:39:30,880
Speaker 4: So all of the businesses that are being created in Nigeria.

752
00:39:31,040 --> 00:39:35,799
Speaker 4: Nigeria's two million people, So we took Nigeria, Ethiopia, and

753
00:39:35,920 --> 00:39:39,400
Speaker 4: South Africa. It's the same size as the United States,

754
00:39:40,800 --> 00:39:47,319
Speaker 4: and so those countries are are pleading for entrepreneurs to

755
00:39:47,400 --> 00:39:50,360
Speaker 4: come and be part of their development. And we're creating

756
00:39:50,400 --> 00:39:53,239
Speaker 4: those relationships with the people who are making the decisions

757
00:39:53,280 --> 00:39:57,440
Speaker 4: on it, so everybody should definitely be part of thirty

758
00:39:57,440 --> 00:39:58,600
Speaker 4: one race thirty one days.

759
00:39:58,680 --> 00:39:59,800
Speaker 1: This is global, it's.

760
00:39:59,680 --> 00:40:03,000
Speaker 2: Not this is global everybody. We totally brought it this

761
00:40:03,040 --> 00:40:06,040
Speaker 2: month and it's in all sorts of industries you can imagine. Again,

762
00:40:06,400 --> 00:40:09,640
Speaker 2: go to black money dot com Slash thirty one ways

763
00:40:09,680 --> 00:40:12,479
Speaker 2: thirty one days and thank you both.

764
00:40:13,320 --> 00:40:15,600
Speaker 1: Yeah, looking forward to this whole entire month with you

765
00:40:15,640 --> 00:40:18,319
Speaker 1: guys and for everybody to be able to participate, because

766
00:40:18,360 --> 00:40:20,319
Speaker 1: of course we have a special way up code for you.

767
00:40:20,600 --> 00:40:23,759
Speaker 2: So absolutely well we've done. When you go to that

768
00:40:23,800 --> 00:40:28,439
Speaker 2: particular website black money dot com Slash thirty one ways

769
00:40:28,440 --> 00:40:31,400
Speaker 2: thirty one days, there is a way up discount built

770
00:40:31,440 --> 00:40:34,960
Speaker 2: into this for fifty percent off. It usually costs. You

771
00:40:35,000 --> 00:40:38,080
Speaker 2: can't get into those rooms, but those of you out

772
00:40:38,120 --> 00:40:39,960
Speaker 2: there way up can get in for the entire month

773
00:40:39,960 --> 00:40:41,400
Speaker 2: for two hundred and fifty dollars.

774
00:40:42,520 --> 00:40:44,040
Speaker 3: And can I let them know where they can reach

775
00:40:44,080 --> 00:40:47,040
Speaker 3: me out? Oh yes please? Okay if they right now?

776
00:40:47,080 --> 00:40:50,239
Speaker 5: Because I typically have been under the radar, but my

777
00:40:50,320 --> 00:40:53,480
Speaker 5: team has put together in all the social media platforms,

778
00:40:54,200 --> 00:40:57,000
Speaker 5: I think you can find me under Michelle Fagan's anthony

779
00:40:58,000 --> 00:41:01,279
Speaker 5: and that's Fagan's well Michelle my c H E L

780
00:41:01,400 --> 00:41:04,080
Speaker 5: L E F E A G I N S.

781
00:41:04,200 --> 00:41:06,520
Speaker 2: You're going to be tagged on all that. I don't

782
00:41:06,520 --> 00:41:07,360
Speaker 2: even have to worry.

783
00:41:07,160 --> 00:41:09,800
Speaker 3: Okay, because people can't pronounce my maiden name.

784
00:41:09,680 --> 00:41:11,719
Speaker 1: So Michelle Fagin's and yeah, we're going.

785
00:41:11,680 --> 00:41:14,239
Speaker 2: To be posting all the Michelle's stuff, tagging you. And

786
00:41:14,280 --> 00:41:18,520
Speaker 2: we're really looking forward to doing a big educational program

787
00:41:18,560 --> 00:41:22,239
Speaker 2: with Michelle in twenty twenty five to get everybody they're

788
00:41:22,320 --> 00:41:23,920
Speaker 2: right footing and government contracting.

789
00:41:24,040 --> 00:41:26,000
Speaker 1: And you'll be in these thirty one ways in thirty

790
00:41:26,000 --> 00:41:27,120
Speaker 1: one days, right, you'll be in.

791
00:41:27,120 --> 00:41:30,279
Speaker 3: The room yees, not most of them A part of that.

792
00:41:30,480 --> 00:41:32,799
Speaker 5: Part of then I'll tell you why. Let me give

793
00:41:32,840 --> 00:41:35,600
Speaker 5: you the last tip. This is the fourth quarter for

794
00:41:35,680 --> 00:41:39,080
Speaker 5: the federal government on that year, and so Michelle got

795
00:41:39,120 --> 00:41:41,640
Speaker 5: to get back to making that money. So that's where

796
00:41:41,640 --> 00:41:44,080
Speaker 5: I'll be, but I'll check in with my partner.

797
00:41:44,160 --> 00:41:49,520
Speaker 4: Yeah, And one big part of it is our annual report.

798
00:41:49,640 --> 00:41:56,160
Speaker 4: So this year the title is Vote Black Business. So literally,

799
00:41:56,680 --> 00:42:01,680
Speaker 4: as Angela just said, the survival of Black businesses is

800
00:42:01,719 --> 00:42:08,040
Speaker 4: on the ballot in November. So she's from Montgomery. If

801
00:42:08,080 --> 00:42:12,000
Speaker 4: you've gone to the lynching memorial down there, as I've

802
00:42:12,040 --> 00:42:18,759
Speaker 4: walked through four thousand names, the most common characteristic of

803
00:42:18,800 --> 00:42:21,160
Speaker 4: those people they were in business.

804
00:42:22,520 --> 00:42:23,279
Speaker 3: Oh yeah.

805
00:42:23,320 --> 00:42:27,440
Speaker 4: And so we have two and a half million African

806
00:42:27,480 --> 00:42:30,120
Speaker 4: Americans that have graduate degrees, but only one hundred and

807
00:42:30,160 --> 00:42:34,840
Speaker 4: sixty thousand confirms that have employees. So we have to

808
00:42:34,920 --> 00:42:38,400
Speaker 4: make it safe for black people to be in business.

809
00:42:38,440 --> 00:42:41,360
Speaker 4: We talk about, you know, police brutality and all that

810
00:42:41,400 --> 00:42:45,479
Speaker 4: sort of thing, we have commercial brutality that we got

811
00:42:45,520 --> 00:42:49,840
Speaker 4: to stop. And the only way to fight a bully

812
00:42:50,880 --> 00:42:53,759
Speaker 4: is punch him in the face. And so the best

813
00:42:53,800 --> 00:42:56,520
Speaker 4: way for us to do that is to do exactly

814
00:42:56,560 --> 00:43:02,520
Speaker 4: what African American businesses did in eighteen sixty eight when

815
00:43:02,600 --> 00:43:05,799
Speaker 4: they said we need to be able to sign contracts

816
00:43:05,840 --> 00:43:09,839
Speaker 4: and enforce them. So it was black businesses that insisted

817
00:43:10,440 --> 00:43:13,160
Speaker 4: on the fourteenth Amendment, and the black folks who ran

818
00:43:13,239 --> 00:43:16,160
Speaker 4: all the docs said if we don't get fourteenth Amendment,

819
00:43:16,600 --> 00:43:19,719
Speaker 4: we're going to shut down all the docks. So we

820
00:43:19,880 --> 00:43:22,480
Speaker 4: need to be in the same spirit as those black

821
00:43:22,520 --> 00:43:26,160
Speaker 4: folks like Isaac Myers at Port of Baltimore back in

822
00:43:26,160 --> 00:43:29,840
Speaker 4: eighteen sixty eight who went from working on the docks

823
00:43:30,400 --> 00:43:36,440
Speaker 4: to purchasing the shipyard and so. But we give you

824
00:43:36,520 --> 00:43:40,359
Speaker 4: the tools so that you don't have to go through

825
00:43:40,400 --> 00:43:43,759
Speaker 4: all the battles that Michelle went through, but we give

826
00:43:43,800 --> 00:43:47,040
Speaker 4: you the armor to be able to fight effectively. So

827
00:43:47,120 --> 00:43:51,120
Speaker 4: please join us at black money dot com backslash thirty

828
00:43:51,120 --> 00:43:52,440
Speaker 4: one way thirty one days.

829
00:43:52,920 --> 00:43:54,759
Speaker 1: All right, well, thank you. And in case you couldn't tell,

830
00:43:54,840 --> 00:43:57,800
Speaker 1: John Templeton is a wealth of information as well. First

831
00:43:57,800 --> 00:44:01,480
Speaker 1: black journalists, first journalists about Black History Month.

832
00:44:02,040 --> 00:44:03,200
Speaker 3: And it's a historian.

833
00:44:03,200 --> 00:44:06,160
Speaker 1: You can tail that back in nineteen seventy six and

834
00:44:06,160 --> 00:44:08,719
Speaker 1: he created the State of Black Business Report, which is

835
00:44:08,760 --> 00:44:10,920
Speaker 1: literally used to create government policy.

836
00:44:11,080 --> 00:44:13,440
Speaker 2: So, like I said, we're bringing it this month people.

837
00:44:13,719 --> 00:44:15,600
Speaker 2: Happy wrth Wednesday, Happy weth Wednesday.

838
00:44:18,120 --> 00:44:18,359
Speaker 3: Well,