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Speaker 1: Afrotech Conference is back, bringing together over twenty thousand tech enthusiasts, founders, investors,

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Speaker 1: and more for another unforgettable year.

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Speaker 2: For years, afro Tech.

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Speaker 1: Has been the go to event for black innovators in

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Speaker 1: tech with the brightest mind share the latest developments and insights,

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Speaker 1: and this year we're bringing the experience to Houston, Texas

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Speaker 1: from November thirteenth through the sixteenth. Join us to learn

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Speaker 1: from the innovators and leaders who are shaping the future

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Speaker 1: of tech. From insightful panels to curated meetups and expansive recruiting,

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Speaker 1: you'll connect with industry trail blazers. In addition to focusing

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Speaker 1: on the latest and AI and data, this year's programming

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Speaker 1: explores the intersections of tech with health, environment and creative design.

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Speaker 1: Don't miss your chance to be.

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Speaker 2: Part of it.

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Speaker 1: Secure your spoted afro Tech Conference twenty twenty four today

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Speaker 1: visit Afrotech Conference dot counted by your ticket.

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Speaker 2: Now you know it's time.

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Speaker 3: Tune in, Tune out to Beta wealth, listening to black

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Speaker 3: minds focused to LAFA our health, building up the future

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Speaker 3: from the thoughts we see teching dreams of blood. It's

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Speaker 3: our time to leave generational gigs like the boots to

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Speaker 3: be treat with this podcast, groove be set up vision screen,

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Speaker 3: It's black tech, green money.

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Speaker 2: You go with the show. When all this used to

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Speaker 2: street said help, what's rower? Hey?

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Speaker 4: Pop bag?

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Speaker 5: This screw?

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Speaker 2: What's the truth?

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Speaker 4: Be sold? In this digital world?

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Speaker 2: All and gold all gone gone, Black tech, green money

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Speaker 2: will lucas here? Hey. So I made this use an AI.

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Speaker 2: I thought it was pretty sweet, So I'm gonna give.

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Speaker 4: It a shot.

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Speaker 1: We'll see how it goes. But I made this using

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Speaker 1: AI on udio. I also tried sooner, but this one

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Speaker 1: on udi yo came out way harder, way harder, and

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Speaker 1: it was much.

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Speaker 2: Easier to make.

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Speaker 1: So shout out to everybody making a music. That's what

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Speaker 1: we're doing now. So this episode, I'm talking to C.

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Speaker 1: David Moody Jr.

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Speaker 2: The President. You're CEO of C. D.

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Speaker 1: Moody Construction, one of the largest black on construction companies

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Speaker 1: in the nation.

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Speaker 2: This was such a pleasure to do. His career spans

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Speaker 2: over three decades.

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Speaker 1: He's built iconic projects that you know for sure, like

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Speaker 1: the Mercedes ben Stadium in Atlanta, Mainard H. Jackson International

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Speaker 1: Concourse at the Atlanta Airport Arsfield Jackson Airport, Turner Field,

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Speaker 1: they worked on, Phillips, Serena, they worked on like all

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Speaker 1: the stuff that's iconic. He probably had his head in

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Speaker 1: it and he's been doing it while navigating the complexities

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Speaker 1: of the construction industry.

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Speaker 2: So it's such a pleasure to talk to you.

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Speaker 1: And I want to start this off with talking about

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Speaker 1: the differences in like hand to hand sales and like

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Speaker 1: doing big business like you're doing today. What is the

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Speaker 1: difference between winning a customer and winning a contract?

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Speaker 5: Realistically, to me, they're the same because this is about relationships.

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Speaker 5: It's about people trusting you. People believe in that you

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Speaker 5: can deliver the product that they want. So to me,

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Speaker 5: whether it's a small or big, you know, project or

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Speaker 5: winning a customer, the dollar size doesn't matter because to

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Speaker 5: that person, whatever dollar them out they're spending is a

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Speaker 5: lot to them.

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Speaker 4: But it's really about trust. It's really about relationships and

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Speaker 4: trust to that end.

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Speaker 1: And I was reading your story, like you started with

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Speaker 1: a team of three people, you know, doing concrete foundations

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Speaker 1: in underground in Atlanta, and you know, I think about

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Speaker 1: when I read that part of your story. You know,

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Speaker 1: four percent of black owned businesses still today just about have.

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Speaker 2: Employees.

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Speaker 1: Ninety six percent of our businesses have little or no employees.

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Speaker 1: Nobody's on the payroll, so so entrepreneurs, so proprietors, and

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Speaker 1: et cetera. How did you figure out how to scale?

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Speaker 1: How did you figure out how to go from three

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Speaker 1: people to sixty plus people?

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Speaker 4: You know, that's that's almost like a trick question.

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Speaker 5: And the reason I say that, you got to think

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Speaker 5: about when I started my business, I was thirty one

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Speaker 5: years old.

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Speaker 4: I'm sixty eight now. I had no idea.

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Speaker 5: You know, sometime you start businesses and get into things because.

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Speaker 4: You're just so naive.

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Speaker 5: You know, if I if I knew all that I

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Speaker 5: know now, back then, I don't know if i'd have

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Speaker 5: did it. I didn't realize the wear and tear of

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Speaker 5: making payroll, the responsibility of other people.

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Speaker 4: You know, you eat what you kill, so you're constantly

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Speaker 4: on the hunt.

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Speaker 5: I'm glad I was naive, because if I knew the

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Speaker 5: wear and tear and what it took, I.

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Speaker 4: Wouldn't have done it. I'm not gonna lie.

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Speaker 5: No, I probably wouldn't have. Could have been too scary.

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Speaker 5: It just it would have been too overwhelming and too scary.

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Speaker 5: And then once you're in.

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Speaker 4: I had to feed my family, so I couldn't quit.

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Speaker 5: But there are many times I wanted to quit because

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Speaker 5: it's it takes a lot, it really does.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm living that life right now. And what's so

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Speaker 1: interesting is I learned this one principle that I hold

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Speaker 1: dear too.

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Speaker 2: Now.

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Speaker 1: I wish I would have learned it earlier. And I'm

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Speaker 1: going to ask your thoughts on this is if I

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Speaker 1: would have learned to reinvest the money earlier, I would

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Speaker 1: have been much better off. And so when because I

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Speaker 1: wasn't taught business growing up, you know, you make you

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Speaker 1: invest ten dollars and you get back twenty. Now you

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Speaker 1: go spend that extra ten when you could have put

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Speaker 1: that money back in and made the thing bigger. And

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Speaker 1: so the thing I learned was about reinvesting the profits.

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Speaker 1: What lessons have you learned about growth about business growth

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Speaker 1: that might have helped you along the way?

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Speaker 4: You know, I was kind of I was fortunate even

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Speaker 4: though my dad was not a business person.

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Speaker 5: He was a professor and then vice provos at the

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Speaker 5: University of Michigan. My dad grew up in the Depression,

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Speaker 5: and you know, things were tight and grew up very

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Speaker 5: poor in Louisiana.

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Speaker 4: He always taught me to save. He said, don't care

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Speaker 4: if you say, but ten dollars.

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Speaker 5: So when I started my business, which we started under capitalized,

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Speaker 5: like all of us pretty much do. Whenever I made

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Speaker 5: a few dollars, I was scared to spend it. I

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Speaker 5: did reinvest it and make sure I could take care

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Speaker 5: of my family. So my dad also taught me always

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Speaker 5: live beneath my means, so that way, if you run

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Speaker 5: into tough times, your life style doesn't really have to change.

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Speaker 5: So since I've been in business, I've lived beneath you know,

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Speaker 5: We've lived beneath our means.

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Speaker 4: We've always tried to make sure we saved. And starting

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Speaker 4: a business broke and very little capital. To me, I

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Speaker 4: was always scared to go broke. So I was a

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Speaker 4: little different. You got remember I started in the eighties.

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Speaker 4: You know, I'm sixty eight years old. Life was a

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Speaker 4: little different. There was no social media or no internet

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Speaker 4: and stuff. So a lot of the flash you see

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Speaker 4: today we didn't see. You know, you might see the

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Speaker 4: Avenue or jet magazine, but that was about it.

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Speaker 5: So we really I just always had the Randy Day

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Speaker 5: mentality as far as saving and especially be an entrepreneur.

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Speaker 1: To that point, do you think that what we're being

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Speaker 1: sold on social media actually hurts us and harms us

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Speaker 1: in our journey of entrepreneurship.

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Speaker 5: I think social media has its great benefits, but I

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Speaker 5: also think if you believe everything you see, it can't

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Speaker 5: hurt you because you think you should be at a

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Speaker 5: certain point.

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Speaker 4: I'll give you a good example.

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Speaker 5: When I went you know, I'm a graduate of Morehouse

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Speaker 5: College in Howard University, and I went back for my

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Speaker 5: tenure reunit Morehouse, and I was thirty two of my

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Speaker 5: business had just started.

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Speaker 4: So a lot of my classmates who have been out

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Speaker 4: ten years.

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Speaker 5: I finished med school, law school, NBA's, you know, all

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Speaker 5: kind of these professional jobs. So they were pretty They

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Speaker 5: were kind of into their career and starting to get,

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Speaker 5: you know, accumulate stuff and wealth. And I was really

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Speaker 5: kind of embarrassed in because of my reunion. I was

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Speaker 5: just starting, you know, my wife and didn't know how

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Speaker 5: we're gonna pay the house no each mon. I mean,

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Speaker 5: we were struggling, and I felt I almost felt like, damn,

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Speaker 5: I failed.

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Speaker 4: But by the twentieth reunion, it was a different ballgain.

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Speaker 5: So that's why you got to be so careful kind

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Speaker 5: of keeping up with you know, other people.

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Speaker 4: It just run your own race.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it seems like almost impossible to do these days

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Speaker 1: because you know, and it's not even just the people

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Speaker 1: that we see driving the nicest cars and et cetera.

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Speaker 1: But like social media is the highlight reel. So you know,

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Speaker 1: even if it's like hey, I get this, I get

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Speaker 1: to have lunch with my wife at you know, you

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Speaker 1: know lunchtime. Actually other people that work that we're chasing

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Speaker 1: these things that we may not be have earned yet

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Speaker 1: one or just haven't been free enough yet. So even

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Speaker 1: the things that aren't the big, flashy cars or the watches,

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Speaker 1: how do we stay focused when it's even those simple

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Speaker 1: things that we feel like we should have just as

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Speaker 1: a right.

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Speaker 5: For me, it's all about who you are. Like I said,

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Speaker 5: I'm very fortunate. My wife and I will be married

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Speaker 5: forty two years graduations, and.

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Speaker 4: We just.

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Speaker 5: We've always lived a very simple life, you know my wife.

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Speaker 5: Yes we got nice things, don't get me wrong. But

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Speaker 5: the thing that really helped me, and I always tell

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Speaker 5: people just to really helped me struggle through the tough

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Speaker 5: times in business. I didn't have a lifestyle. I had

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Speaker 5: to feed for my wife and myself to be happy.

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Speaker 5: My wife was happy with, you know, going to get

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Speaker 5: a pizza. She's still happy with just go and get

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Speaker 5: a pizza.

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Speaker 4: So onm I.

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Speaker 5: So when you don't have a lifestyle to feed, it

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Speaker 5: makes life much easier in trying to build a business

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Speaker 5: or just in general, just try and build a career.

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Speaker 4: Build a career. But the other thing that's very importan

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Speaker 4: too is that you got to protect your peace.

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Speaker 5: You know, trying to have all these things, to do

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Speaker 5: all these things while you're trying to build it can

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Speaker 5: upset your peace. And as I get older now my

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Speaker 5: piece is so important to me. I really protect my piece.

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Speaker 5: And I'm fortunate enough with a wife that when I

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Speaker 5: go home ninety nine point nine percent of the time,

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Speaker 5: it's going to be peace at home. And then usually

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Speaker 5: the all time is not because I didn't do something

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Speaker 5: I was supposed to do, you know, but that piece

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Speaker 5: is so important.

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Speaker 1: You know, you make me think about people who are

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Speaker 1: successful want to be around other successful people, and so

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Speaker 1: often how we live and are trained in our society

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Speaker 1: is you have to look successful. How have you been

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Speaker 1: able to navigate you know, when when you were growing

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Speaker 1: your business, trying to win contracts, and but you didn't

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Speaker 1: maybe wear the suit that that guy wore.

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Speaker 2: Or pulled up in the car that that lady drove.

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Speaker 1: Then, so how do you, you know, present yourself as

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Speaker 1: somebody who's desirable to do business with if you're trying

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Speaker 1: to maintain look, you know, I'm still don't live below

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Speaker 1: my means.

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Speaker 5: You know, that's a very interesting question, and it's a

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Speaker 5: it's a good question when I look back. You know,

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Speaker 5: I couldn't afford you know, fancy suits or anything. And

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Speaker 5: it's funny even to this day, hop buy my suits

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Speaker 5: on line, you know, for seventy five percent off. If

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Speaker 5: I even wear a suit anymore. I don't wear anything

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Speaker 5: named brand. I went through that one stage after about

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Speaker 5: five years in business, got a couple of tailor made suits,

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Speaker 5: and I was looking like you spending that money and

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Speaker 5: you're a construction food you go out there in the dirt,

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Speaker 5: you know.

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Speaker 4: So I learned real quickly.

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Speaker 5: I went through the tailor made's suit face for a

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Speaker 5: couple of years and stuff, and I said, man, that's crazy. Man,

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Speaker 5: give me stuff. I can get concrete on dirt on

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Speaker 5: you know, go to a meeting, kick my shoes get

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Speaker 5: the I'm just a firm believe you gotta remember now

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Speaker 5: I'm giving you answers from a sixty eight year old

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Speaker 5: man now, even though I'm an active sixty eight you know,

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Speaker 5: I hiked Mount killiman Jarl last year. I'm very active

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Speaker 5: with outdoors. But I've seen a lot of life now.

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Speaker 5: So when I was in my thirties, you know, I wanted,

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Speaker 5: you know, I thought, man, I wanted to flash or

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Speaker 5: certain things. But I also had two kids, and my

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Speaker 5: wife went back to nursing school to become our end

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Speaker 5: so we could have a steady income while I was

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Speaker 5: trying to build a business. So this has been a

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Speaker 5: real team effort. But I'd learned pretty quick, you know,

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Speaker 5: going through certain phases. You know, I just never got

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Speaker 5: into spend the money on stuff that I couldn't get

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Speaker 5: a return, and it's better to put money away so

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Speaker 5: you know, your kids can go to school. And then

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Speaker 5: you get to a certain age you realize, well, I

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Speaker 5: want to make sure I got money that if I

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Speaker 5: have health challenge is down the.

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Speaker 4: Road, you got it.

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Speaker 5: And like my wife and now we take good trips

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Speaker 5: and stuff like that. We've been in the same house

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Speaker 5: for twenty nine years. Yeah, that we built nothing extravagant

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Speaker 5: and nothing, and so we we've just maintained a certain

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Speaker 5: what I call medium, you know, just a good lifestyle

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Speaker 5: that we enjoy ourselves. But we're not killing ourselves to

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Speaker 5: have a lifestyle to be happy. And I hope I'm

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Speaker 5: making sense.

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Speaker 1: No, that that made perfect sense, perfect sense, And it

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Speaker 1: was on time for me too. So I appreciate that

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Speaker 1: you talked a little bit about.

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Speaker 2: You know, maintaining your piece.

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Speaker 1: And I value that so much because you know, you

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Speaker 1: faced a lot of personal trauma growing up, and you

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Speaker 1: know you found healing through therapy and other things, and

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Speaker 1: you know so often you know, as entrepreneurs particularly, and

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Speaker 1: I don't this this doesn't just have to be an

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Speaker 1: entrepreneur your answer, So you can talk personal if you like. Right,

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Speaker 1: when you think about the journey entrepreneurs that I'm want

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Speaker 1: to ask the'm not new perspective. When you think about

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Speaker 1: the journey that we go through, it's like you are

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Speaker 1: constantly worried about not just feeding your family, but the

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Speaker 1: families are the people who work for you, and that

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Speaker 1: is also, you know, very pressurizing. So I think about

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Speaker 1: how do you approach leadership and business with that. You know,

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Speaker 1: those feathers or those bookmarks captain your story.

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Speaker 4: You know.

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Speaker 5: Again, another really good question, and I'm glad you brought

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Speaker 5: up about what I kind of went through through childhood.

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Speaker 5: If people want to know what that is, they can

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Speaker 5: go to my Instagram page or LinkedIn or something and

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Speaker 5: read more. Because I don't believe in triggering people. But

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Speaker 5: you know, I dealt with a childhood trauma that nobody

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Speaker 5: should go through. But in the sixties, you didn't talk

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Speaker 5: about it. You know, I buried it, hoped I could

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Speaker 5: just get through it. But I was only fooling myself

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Speaker 5: because it impacts you so much. And to the point

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Speaker 5: in nineteen ninety two, I was my business was four

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Speaker 5: years old. I had complete breakdown, but I couldn't tell anybody,

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Speaker 5: and I had to suffer in silence. God blessed me

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Speaker 5: that my business didn't fall and fail. But I share

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Speaker 5: a lot about this because I want to help as

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Speaker 5: many people one realize healing as possible. We were made

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Speaker 5: to be, you know, incredible, but more importantly, you got

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Speaker 5: to get to help you need because our mental health

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Speaker 5: and performance go hand in hand. And trying to be

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Speaker 5: an entrepreneur and dealing with trauma and trying to act

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Speaker 5: like it's not real or things didn't happen. It made

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Speaker 5: it really hard for me when I look back, trying

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Speaker 5: to run a company and deal with my trauma and

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Speaker 5: secret and when I say secret, even for myself per se.

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Speaker 5: When I had my breakdown in ninety two, I only

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Speaker 5: got therapy to understand panic attacks. I didn't get a

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Speaker 5: trauma therapist. I don't even know they really existed them

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Speaker 5: to understand how this trauma. So it was twenty twenty

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Speaker 5: I started feeling like I was having to break down

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Speaker 5: again because I was just powering through. We have a

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Speaker 5: bad habit. We powered through, power through stuff. But when

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Speaker 5: you do it for twenty five and thirty years, it

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Speaker 5: wears you down. And finally I went and got a

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Speaker 5: trauma therapist and then cognitive behavior therapy.

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Speaker 4: And that's why I hyped mount kill them.

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Speaker 5: In JARB was to you know, take myself on a

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Speaker 5: challenge of dealing with all types of the triggers that trauma,

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Speaker 5: you know, brought on to me.

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Speaker 4: So the one advice I would give any entrepreneur.

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Speaker 5: Deal with anything you know that's really impacting you through

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Speaker 5: therapy and you know, whatever different type of therapy to

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Speaker 5: free yourself, because when you are free from those things,

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Speaker 5: when I say free, you don't forget what happened, but

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Speaker 5: you know how to manage them and embrace where you are.

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Speaker 5: Your performance will go to another level, Like I'm just

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Speaker 5: now running my company for the first time where I

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Speaker 5: feel somewhat free. And that's why I say I really

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Speaker 5: protect my piece.

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Speaker 1: Now that's really good, you know, I want to go

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Speaker 1: a level deeper there, because you've mentioned a little couple

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Speaker 1: of minutes ago that you grew up in the eighties

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Speaker 1: and nineties in your business where you didn't have to

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Speaker 1: worry about social media and now so so while you

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Speaker 1: were going through those that trauma that was panic attacks,

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Speaker 1: you still had to show up to work, still had

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Speaker 1: to put on face for your employees. Today, we've got

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Speaker 1: to put on a face for social media for the

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Speaker 1: employees who will see us watching our social media as entrepreneurs.

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Speaker 1: So there's a little bit of a conundrum, a compounded conundrum,

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Speaker 1: because not only do we have to show up in

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Speaker 1: the office for the people who are choosing to follow us,

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Speaker 1: but the people, even if they're on instant office, they're

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Speaker 1: watching us online. And so how do you so how

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Speaker 1: do you advise us to still manage that when we

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Speaker 1: got to do it publicly?

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Speaker 5: Now, Well, you know, I'm going to tell you something.

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Speaker 5: The best saying until you got to take care of

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Speaker 5: yourself and you got to be honest. You got to

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Speaker 5: be transparent for your folks to follow and really be

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Speaker 5: behind you. I mean, you don't have to tell them everything,

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Speaker 5: but they got to know where you are, what you're feeling,

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Speaker 5: and what you're going through. But I'm like that with

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Speaker 5: everybody who works here because I'm very transparent about where

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Speaker 5: I've been through. So, like, we don't have sick days,

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Speaker 5: we have mental health days, you know, because some days

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Speaker 5: you just need a break. So why call in and

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Speaker 5: lie and say you sick, Just say I need I

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Speaker 5: got a mental health day.

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Speaker 4: I just need to chill. Some days you just need

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Speaker 4: to chill.

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Speaker 2: I love that. So I want to turn this page again.

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Speaker 4: You know.

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Speaker 1: So we talk a lot about when you're building the business,

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Speaker 1: you know, there's always somebody in the garage trying to

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Speaker 1: take you out. There's always somebody building that new thing

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Speaker 1: that's designed to replace the institutions that exist today. When

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Speaker 1: you think about technology, what's happening with AI what's happen

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Speaker 1: happening with blockchain, all these things? What is what are

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Speaker 1: you thinking about? And who are you putting around you

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Speaker 1: to ensure that Moody can continue to be at the

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Speaker 1: top of the field.

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Speaker 5: I'm keeping you like you know, I brought my son

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Speaker 5: in here to make sure my computer was set up,

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Speaker 5: so you know, he has his masters from Georgia Tech

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Speaker 5: NBA and a degree in technology. So I try and

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Speaker 5: surround myself with younger people smarter than me. But I'm

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Speaker 5: not afraid of technology. But one thing I've never done,

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Speaker 5: I've never worried about my competition because it's enough to

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Speaker 5: go around and I'm gonna get my share. I'm a

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Speaker 5: firm believer. If I'm too busy worrying about what other

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Speaker 5: people are doing in my industry, I'm taking the focus

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Speaker 5: off the stuff I need to be paying attention to.

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Speaker 5: So I'm either gonna get my share or I'm not.

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Speaker 5: But if I'm worried about oh man, this new company's company,

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Speaker 5: they doing this, and they doing that, Hey do what

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Speaker 5: you do well, keep making sure you getting better and

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Speaker 5: get the good people around you and then let them

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Speaker 5: young folks run.

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Speaker 1: So, speaking to technology, how has technology changed the construction business,

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Speaker 1: and like, what are you seeing in technology that's going

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Speaker 1: to help more black people get to where mister Moodie is.

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Speaker 4: Okay, I was laughing about this. This August was fifty years.

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Speaker 5: That I came to Moorhouse when I was eighteen. When

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Speaker 5: I came to Moorhouse, there was no desktop computers. There

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Speaker 5: was no Internet, no cell phones. You did your paper

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Speaker 5: on a typewriter. If you couldn't type, you had to

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Speaker 5: pay somebody. The computer classes we took was either Fortran

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Speaker 5: or Cobalt.

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Speaker 4: Wow.

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Speaker 5: When I started in my professional career as an architect,

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Speaker 5: there was no desktop computers in nineteen eighty one.

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Speaker 4: We actually had to draw free, you know, every day

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Speaker 4: with a triangle teach square. Now computers do pretty much

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Speaker 4: do so much of it.

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Speaker 5: When I first started in business, there were not even

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Speaker 5: fax machines where people quote, you know, send their quotes in.

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Speaker 5: For those who don't know the fax.

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Speaker 4: Machine, Google is or you know what the fax machine is.

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Speaker 5: So when I first started, there were hardly cell phones

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Speaker 5: were just coming out, but they were either in your

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Speaker 5: vehicle only or the big box phone and they were

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Speaker 5: thirty five cents a minute. You could easily have a

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Speaker 5: thousand dollars phone bill cell phone bill. So technology has

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Speaker 5: changed in ways that is incredible in my industry to

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Speaker 5: help on the production side. But technology can only do

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Speaker 5: so much where you're gonna always need people to hang steel, finish, drivewall.

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Speaker 5: I mean, there are a lot of parts of construction

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Speaker 5: that would always be skilled crafts people. And there was

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Speaker 5: a recent article the new millionaires out of plumbers and HVACVW.

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Speaker 5: So construction is an incredible industry for people who like

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Speaker 5: working with their hands.

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Speaker 4: They can make a really good living.

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Speaker 1: You know, you started your business in nineteen eighty eight,

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Speaker 1: and so I'm a believer that you know, the success

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Speaker 1: you want is already out there. You just have to

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Speaker 1: become the type of person that can capture it. If

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Speaker 1: that's the if you are aligned with that, how have

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Speaker 1: you evolved from the man who started this business to

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Speaker 1: the man you are today? What would you tell that,

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Speaker 1: mister Moody thirty forty years Yes, the.

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Speaker 4: Big thing is a couple.

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Speaker 5: You know, again, we all got a story, okay, But

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Speaker 5: when you deal with a childhood trauma and try and

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Speaker 5: act like it didn't really happen, and you're wrestling with that,

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Speaker 5: if I had to go back and do it again.

443
00:22:47,119 --> 00:22:49,560
Speaker 4: I would tell myself to believe in myself more.

444
00:22:50,760 --> 00:22:52,640
Speaker 5: Also, I grew up in the sixties, so I never

445
00:22:52,720 --> 00:22:55,119
Speaker 5: saw a black architect wire I was seventeen and I

446
00:22:55,200 --> 00:22:59,200
Speaker 5: only knew one. I didn't meet my first major black

447
00:22:59,280 --> 00:23:01,840
Speaker 5: builder to in the More House and met mister Russell.

448
00:23:02,400 --> 00:23:05,680
Speaker 5: So I only saw one black architect and one black

449
00:23:05,760 --> 00:23:09,000
Speaker 5: builder until I was in my twenties. So what I

450
00:23:09,119 --> 00:23:13,080
Speaker 5: really realized we are what we see. And if you know,

451
00:23:13,440 --> 00:23:16,000
Speaker 5: that's why it's so important that people of color and

452
00:23:16,119 --> 00:23:20,200
Speaker 5: women of color are in key positions in different things,

453
00:23:20,320 --> 00:23:23,119
Speaker 5: because if you see things and a lot of us

454
00:23:23,240 --> 00:23:26,159
Speaker 5: doing it, if you see people who look like you

455
00:23:26,359 --> 00:23:30,719
Speaker 5: doing things, you believe more than you can. But if

456
00:23:30,720 --> 00:23:37,080
Speaker 5: you see one or two For me, because I limited

457
00:23:37,160 --> 00:23:40,280
Speaker 5: what I thought I could do because I said.

458
00:23:40,600 --> 00:23:43,119
Speaker 4: Well, we just only go to a certain point because

459
00:23:43,520 --> 00:23:44,440
Speaker 4: I've never seen it.

460
00:23:45,480 --> 00:23:50,320
Speaker 5: And I think that's a part that it's so important

461
00:23:51,200 --> 00:23:54,399
Speaker 5: that I think technology and the Internet does is very

462
00:23:54,520 --> 00:23:58,840
Speaker 5: helpful is when our kids and young people can see

463
00:24:00,080 --> 00:24:02,919
Speaker 5: more people who look like them doing some incredible stuff,

464
00:24:03,480 --> 00:24:05,760
Speaker 5: because it does inspire you. But if you never see

465
00:24:05,760 --> 00:24:09,240
Speaker 5: people who look like you doing things, it's hard, and

466
00:24:09,359 --> 00:24:12,760
Speaker 5: many of us, especially in my generation, we were the

467
00:24:12,920 --> 00:24:13,879
Speaker 5: first or one.

468
00:24:13,760 --> 00:24:15,159
Speaker 4: Of the few and many things.

469
00:24:15,600 --> 00:24:18,720
Speaker 5: So that's another set of baggage we all carried like

470
00:24:18,920 --> 00:24:21,280
Speaker 5: we cannot mess up. We can't screw upcause we'll hurt

471
00:24:21,280 --> 00:24:24,200
Speaker 5: of those who come behind us. And it's probably still

472
00:24:24,200 --> 00:24:26,680
Speaker 5: true for some of y'all in the technology and other world,

473
00:24:26,920 --> 00:24:27,960
Speaker 5: you know, people of color.

474
00:24:28,080 --> 00:24:32,320
Speaker 4: So wearing a mask is hard, and caring that extra

475
00:24:32,400 --> 00:24:33,080
Speaker 4: weight is hard.

476
00:24:34,760 --> 00:24:38,360
Speaker 1: You mentioned, you know, starting in business with limited capital

477
00:24:38,440 --> 00:24:41,800
Speaker 1: early in this conversation, and you know so many of

478
00:24:41,880 --> 00:24:46,120
Speaker 1: our businesses are cash deprived, especially at the early onset.

479
00:24:47,440 --> 00:24:49,200
Speaker 2: What are some practical steps.

480
00:24:48,960 --> 00:24:53,760
Speaker 1: You've learned that can help you know, if the money's

481
00:24:53,800 --> 00:24:56,520
Speaker 1: not flowing in fast, how do we continue to grow

482
00:24:56,840 --> 00:25:00,399
Speaker 1: and be able to provide services when there's know a

483
00:25:00,560 --> 00:25:01,640
Speaker 1: need there for capital?

484
00:25:02,200 --> 00:25:04,720
Speaker 5: Well, I think the one thing I see that's more

485
00:25:04,800 --> 00:25:07,960
Speaker 5: But it doesn't happen a lot to people business of color.

486
00:25:08,880 --> 00:25:11,600
Speaker 4: But a lot of people are raising money that I

487
00:25:11,640 --> 00:25:16,119
Speaker 4: didn't even think could it do.

488
00:25:16,280 --> 00:25:18,160
Speaker 5: I mean, I'm looking at people raise ten and twenty

489
00:25:18,240 --> 00:25:21,919
Speaker 5: million dollars for startups and all kinds of stuff. I mean,

490
00:25:22,000 --> 00:25:23,840
Speaker 5: my wife and I started with a couple of grand

491
00:25:23,920 --> 00:25:28,480
Speaker 5: we borrowed, and it's when you start off under capitalized.

492
00:25:29,720 --> 00:25:32,800
Speaker 5: I don't know if you ever get comfortable that, you know,

493
00:25:32,960 --> 00:25:36,600
Speaker 5: regardless of how well you do, because you know what

494
00:25:36,680 --> 00:25:39,200
Speaker 5: it's like to just never have enough to even go

495
00:25:40,200 --> 00:25:42,879
Speaker 5: and so it's a lot of mental stuff that you

496
00:25:43,040 --> 00:25:46,760
Speaker 5: have to adjust to. But I'm glad to see how

497
00:25:47,680 --> 00:25:51,960
Speaker 5: people are able to raise capital now, and I wish

498
00:25:52,440 --> 00:25:54,959
Speaker 5: more of us would get people to invest in us

499
00:25:55,760 --> 00:25:58,080
Speaker 5: who've earned it and show they can give a good

500
00:25:58,119 --> 00:26:01,720
Speaker 5: product and then give a return to investors.

501
00:26:01,880 --> 00:26:02,920
Speaker 2: To that end, is it?

502
00:26:04,720 --> 00:26:07,879
Speaker 1: So there's this conversation of hey, do I own you know,

503
00:26:08,240 --> 00:26:11,560
Speaker 1: one hundred percent of something small or a little bit

504
00:26:11,600 --> 00:26:14,760
Speaker 1: of a percent of something really really big. Can you

505
00:26:14,880 --> 00:26:17,000
Speaker 1: speak to that? Because so often, like we want to

506
00:26:17,400 --> 00:26:19,760
Speaker 1: maintain all of it, we won't control it all.

507
00:26:20,040 --> 00:26:20,280
Speaker 4: Well.

508
00:26:22,080 --> 00:26:26,560
Speaker 5: I used the stock market for my investments, but I

509
00:26:26,720 --> 00:26:31,840
Speaker 5: think I couldn't have a partner, you know, not because

510
00:26:31,880 --> 00:26:34,680
Speaker 5: I'm difficult to work with. I just wanted to run

511
00:26:34,760 --> 00:26:37,320
Speaker 5: my own show. I mean, Michael Jordan was going to

512
00:26:37,400 --> 00:26:39,680
Speaker 5: invest in my company in the early nineties. I still

513
00:26:39,720 --> 00:26:43,240
Speaker 5: got the picture where he signed congratulations and good luck

514
00:26:43,320 --> 00:26:47,440
Speaker 5: to our construction company. At the last minute, I went

515
00:26:47,480 --> 00:26:50,920
Speaker 5: to his financial guy and turned them down. He said,

516
00:26:50,960 --> 00:26:53,720
Speaker 5: you're the first person to ever turned them down. Now,

517
00:26:53,800 --> 00:26:55,600
Speaker 5: I said, I turned them down because I wanted to

518
00:26:55,680 --> 00:26:58,000
Speaker 5: know what I could do on my own. But about

519
00:26:58,040 --> 00:27:01,320
Speaker 5: eight months later I actually had my breakdown. And when

520
00:27:01,359 --> 00:27:04,560
Speaker 5: I think back, people didn't understand that, and I might

521
00:27:04,600 --> 00:27:07,200
Speaker 5: have lost my business. They might say, hey, you know

522
00:27:07,359 --> 00:27:09,920
Speaker 5: you so messed up, we got to take over. So

523
00:27:11,800 --> 00:27:14,800
Speaker 5: the other thing about partnerships, I think they're great as

524
00:27:14,880 --> 00:27:17,920
Speaker 5: long as you got all the rules and agreements laid

525
00:27:18,000 --> 00:27:18,919
Speaker 5: out in front.

526
00:27:19,560 --> 00:27:20,720
Speaker 4: That's got to be real clear.

527
00:27:20,760 --> 00:27:25,440
Speaker 5: I've just heard so many horror stories where people didn't

528
00:27:25,480 --> 00:27:27,840
Speaker 5: do the paperwork like they should have in front, and

529
00:27:27,920 --> 00:27:30,560
Speaker 5: then when one of them needed to get out or

530
00:27:30,640 --> 00:27:33,680
Speaker 5: more cash call and can create problems. But I think

531
00:27:34,400 --> 00:27:37,200
Speaker 5: if you have the right set up, the right you know,

532
00:27:37,320 --> 00:27:40,119
Speaker 5: each person knows the role they're playing. I think you

533
00:27:40,200 --> 00:27:45,399
Speaker 5: can have incredible businesses with multiple people invested, but everybody

534
00:27:45,520 --> 00:27:48,360
Speaker 5: got to know their rule, their role.

535
00:27:48,320 --> 00:27:48,800
Speaker 4: And the deal.

536
00:27:50,320 --> 00:27:52,160
Speaker 1: Two more far, I let you go because you said

537
00:27:52,200 --> 00:27:54,960
Speaker 1: something about paperwork that made me think about you know,

538
00:27:55,040 --> 00:27:57,760
Speaker 1: when you've done a lot of business with governments, you

539
00:27:57,840 --> 00:28:01,080
Speaker 1: know local governments, state governments.

540
00:28:00,720 --> 00:28:01,160
Speaker 2: Et cetera.

541
00:28:01,320 --> 00:28:05,200
Speaker 1: You know some really really big projects internal baseball field, Philterena,

542
00:28:05,400 --> 00:28:10,159
Speaker 1: Coca Cola, Mercedes Benz like some beautiful stuff. And a

543
00:28:10,240 --> 00:28:11,840
Speaker 1: lot of times when we try to go get those

544
00:28:11,920 --> 00:28:15,760
Speaker 1: big contracts. Since you mentioned paperwork, so many of our businesses,

545
00:28:15,840 --> 00:28:17,639
Speaker 1: too many of them, I should say, don't have the

546
00:28:17,680 --> 00:28:22,360
Speaker 1: paperwork ready because those people need to see documentation. Can

547
00:28:22,400 --> 00:28:26,480
Speaker 1: you talk about the impetus or talk about the things

548
00:28:26,520 --> 00:28:28,359
Speaker 1: that we need to get right in order to go

549
00:28:28,520 --> 00:28:29,920
Speaker 1: secure big contracts like that.

550
00:28:30,600 --> 00:28:32,600
Speaker 5: Well, first of all, you got to have your internal

551
00:28:33,200 --> 00:28:39,320
Speaker 5: house in order as far as like accounting, marketing, and construction.

552
00:28:39,440 --> 00:28:42,680
Speaker 5: Your project managers good estimators and know how to put

553
00:28:42,720 --> 00:28:45,960
Speaker 5: that together. But I might not have a partner in

554
00:28:46,120 --> 00:28:48,800
Speaker 5: CD Moody Construction, but I do a lot of joint

555
00:28:48,920 --> 00:28:53,000
Speaker 5: ventures where US and other companies form a relationship, form

556
00:28:53,040 --> 00:28:56,440
Speaker 5: a separate company, and go after big projects. So to

557
00:28:56,560 --> 00:28:59,160
Speaker 5: get those big projects, you also got to be willing

558
00:28:59,520 --> 00:29:02,920
Speaker 5: to join and resources and companies with other companies who

559
00:29:03,000 --> 00:29:07,120
Speaker 5: are like minded, who want to see you be successful

560
00:29:07,240 --> 00:29:09,360
Speaker 5: and allow you to really grow.

561
00:29:09,920 --> 00:29:10,880
Speaker 4: And that's how you do it.

562
00:29:11,080 --> 00:29:13,680
Speaker 5: Or you find clients who want to see you grow

563
00:29:13,880 --> 00:29:16,760
Speaker 5: and give you those opportunities. But the only way you

564
00:29:16,840 --> 00:29:20,760
Speaker 5: can really scale you got to have people who who

565
00:29:20,800 --> 00:29:23,240
Speaker 5: are bigger than you, who are willing to help you

566
00:29:23,360 --> 00:29:25,880
Speaker 5: get opportunities and help you grow on it.

567
00:29:27,240 --> 00:29:28,960
Speaker 1: Last one is, you know you do a lot of

568
00:29:29,040 --> 00:29:34,120
Speaker 1: community engagement, and I'm interested in the role your community

569
00:29:34,200 --> 00:29:36,200
Speaker 1: work has helped in your success.

570
00:29:38,040 --> 00:29:39,320
Speaker 4: I just think that's mandatory.

571
00:29:39,560 --> 00:29:42,600
Speaker 5: I think part of being in business we have a

572
00:29:42,680 --> 00:29:46,520
Speaker 5: responsibility to get back to our community. I try and

573
00:29:46,600 --> 00:29:49,640
Speaker 5: help as many young entrepreneurs with advice. You know, I

574
00:29:49,680 --> 00:29:51,760
Speaker 5: can't get to everybody who reaches out, but I do

575
00:29:51,920 --> 00:29:54,520
Speaker 5: my best. That's why I have a pretty big social

576
00:29:54,640 --> 00:29:59,080
Speaker 5: media presence to try and get information out. I definitely

577
00:29:59,160 --> 00:30:02,880
Speaker 5: talk to students about the beauty of construction, the great

578
00:30:02,960 --> 00:30:05,960
Speaker 5: lifestyles you're gonna have in construction, the amount of money

579
00:30:06,000 --> 00:30:09,720
Speaker 5: you can make in construction. And I also speak a

580
00:30:09,800 --> 00:30:12,360
Speaker 5: lot to people who've dealt with the trauma I've dealt with,

581
00:30:12,920 --> 00:30:17,520
Speaker 5: and I really try and set an example. We're all

582
00:30:17,560 --> 00:30:20,800
Speaker 5: gonna get knocked to our knees, but we are all

583
00:30:21,160 --> 00:30:24,760
Speaker 5: stronger than we realize, and we will get up. And

584
00:30:24,840 --> 00:30:27,200
Speaker 5: I'm a firm believer a god has created all of

585
00:30:27,320 --> 00:30:29,720
Speaker 5: us to be awesome. We just got to believe it

586
00:30:29,960 --> 00:30:32,440
Speaker 5: and not be afraid, get the help we need, and

587
00:30:32,520 --> 00:30:34,400
Speaker 5: then just go for it because.

588
00:30:34,160 --> 00:30:37,320
Speaker 4: Life goes quick. I mean, I'm sixty eight. I remember

589
00:30:37,400 --> 00:30:39,760
Speaker 4: coming to Morehouse fifty years ago like it was yesterday.

590
00:30:40,240 --> 00:30:44,560
Speaker 5: Atlanta barely it had just reached a million people when

591
00:30:44,640 --> 00:30:49,120
Speaker 5: I came, and Maynard Jackson had only been the mayor

592
00:30:49,200 --> 00:30:51,800
Speaker 5: for a year and Jimmy Carter was getting ready to

593
00:30:51,880 --> 00:30:55,720
Speaker 5: run for president. So I've seen Atlanta in ways that

594
00:30:56,600 --> 00:30:59,680
Speaker 5: just And I was a Martyr bus driver the summer

595
00:30:59,720 --> 00:31:03,760
Speaker 5: of nineteen seventy seven. Marta used to hire college students

596
00:31:03,840 --> 00:31:07,280
Speaker 5: to relieve the vacation and bus drivers. So my best

597
00:31:07,320 --> 00:31:11,040
Speaker 5: summer job I ever had was driving Marta and I

598
00:31:11,160 --> 00:31:14,640
Speaker 5: drove a different route every day and bus fair was

599
00:31:14,720 --> 00:31:15,680
Speaker 5: fifteen cents.

600
00:31:17,880 --> 00:31:18,600
Speaker 2: That's the story.

601
00:31:19,640 --> 00:31:22,000
Speaker 1: Black Tech Green Money is a production of Blavity Afro

602
00:31:22,200 --> 00:31:25,080
Speaker 1: Tech on the Black Effect podcast Networking Night Hire Media.

603
00:31:25,200 --> 00:31:26,880
Speaker 1: It's produced by Morgan Debonne and me.

604
00:31:27,280 --> 00:31:30,040
Speaker 2: Well Lucas, with the additional production support by.

605
00:31:30,040 --> 00:31:33,160
Speaker 1: Kate McDonald s, Ergan and Jada McGee. Special thank you

606
00:31:33,200 --> 00:31:35,520
Speaker 1: to Michael Davis in Love Beach. Learn more about my

607
00:31:35,560 --> 00:31:38,520
Speaker 1: guessing Other Technics Up is an innovator's at afrotech dot com.

608
00:31:39,280 --> 00:31:40,880
Speaker 2: Video version of this episode.

609
00:31:40,520 --> 00:31:42,600
Speaker 1: Will drop to Black Tech Green Money on YouTube, so

610
00:31:42,800 --> 00:31:46,160
Speaker 1: tap in, enjoy your Black Tech Green money, Share us

611
00:31:46,160 --> 00:31:48,240
Speaker 1: to somebody, Go get your money.

612
00:31:48,920 --> 00:31:49,520
Speaker 2: Piece of love,