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Speaker 1: Enjoying Black Tech Green Money. It would mean a lot

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Speaker 1: if you rate us five stars on Apple Podcasts or

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Speaker 1: Google Play. The way the algorithm works, the more you

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Speaker 1: rate and say nice things, they'll introduce black Tech Green

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Speaker 1: Money to more people, and more of us need this content.

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Speaker 1: So thank you for rating this podcast five stars today.

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Speaker 1: Afro Tech nineteen, Oakland, California. Kareem web is an entrepreneurial

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Speaker 1: activist and the CEO of Fourth Movement in l a

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Speaker 1: based social equity initiative that seats, that's, trains, finances and

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Speaker 1: partners with individuals from communities who have been heavily impacted

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Speaker 1: by the application of criminal justice to own and operate

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Speaker 1: competitive retail businesses. He's on stage speaking with political commentator

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Speaker 1: Angela Rye about the wealth generation opportunity in the cannabis industry.

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Speaker 1: People have leveraged our creative genius all around the world,

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Speaker 1: whether it be music, television, film, whatever. We we never

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Speaker 1: really have gotten our fair pieces of pie based upon

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Speaker 1: what we've contributed to culture. This is an opportunity to

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Speaker 1: leverage our technological expertise and marry that with culture, you know,

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Speaker 1: in order to create what's disruptive in the space. You

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Speaker 1: know you've got a few distribution channels because there's so

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Speaker 1: much rigor around the legal market and licensing and how

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Speaker 1: you have to check for people's age and the testing

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Speaker 1: and all of that. Yeah, that's great, But there's an

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Speaker 1: infinite amount of different types of products that we're gonna

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Speaker 1: see in the space. People are gonna use cannabis and

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Speaker 1: ways that we're not even talking about today. Um, there's

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Speaker 1: all kinds of new I P coming to the marketplace

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Speaker 1: in different ways that we're gonna be able to talk

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Speaker 1: about it. UH. Brands to stand up uh, and then

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Speaker 1: unique ways to leverage find out what people want exactly

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Speaker 1: when they want it, and how to get it to them. UH.

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Speaker 1: And we can leverage our creative genius like we have

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Speaker 1: around culture creation and fashion and music and film in

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Speaker 1: this space and then own it. I'm Will Lucas Mrs

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Speaker 1: Black Tech, Green Money. I'm gonna introduce you to some

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Speaker 1: of the biggest names, some of the brightest minds and

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Speaker 1: brilliant ideas. If you're black in building or simply using

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Speaker 1: tech to secure your bag, this podcast is for you.

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Speaker 1: D J. Don Cannon and CEO Kayleas Shelton are the

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Speaker 1: co founders of tomorrow app and that that helps you

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Speaker 1: create a freelancer within minutes. Kennon is a multi platinum

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Speaker 1: music producer, and Kayla as a formal performer and lifestyle entrepreneur.

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Speaker 1: This is the moment for creative freelancers, the brilliant graphic designer,

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Speaker 1: photographer or stylists that no longer needs to wear an

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Speaker 1: employee badge. I asked Kayla and Donna about how technology

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Speaker 1: has shifted up into the right the amount of and

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Speaker 1: reward of opportunities available to these creatives. For me, like,

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Speaker 1: I've been a creative freelancer probably since about seventeen or eighteen,

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Speaker 1: so it definitely has changed so so so much. When

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Speaker 1: I used to have to hire photographers or um, higher

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Speaker 1: models or higher you know, anyone, I now can do

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Speaker 1: it myself. I have a tripod, I have an app.

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Speaker 1: I used this app called video Leap, and it's amazing.

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Speaker 1: I use it on my phone. I don't use it

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Speaker 1: on my computer. Um So it's just really changed everything.

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Speaker 1: It's a it's a lot easier to navigate creating your

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Speaker 1: own brand, creating your own business, and sustaining it, you know,

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Speaker 1: without having to always work out a hundred dollars an

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Speaker 1: hour or more so, it's it's insane. Yeah. Do you

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Speaker 1: do you see done? Or what do you see with

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Speaker 1: the future of ownership of a creative assets? Because I

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Speaker 1: know we talked so much about these days of you know,

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Speaker 1: owning your intellectual property, owning your masters in, etcetera. And

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Speaker 1: historically there were the big company. If you took a

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Speaker 1: picture that the company you worked for might have owned it,

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Speaker 1: or if you worked if you were hired by you know,

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Speaker 1: a different agency that photography, that that picture they owned it.

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Speaker 1: How do you see ownership evolving in this day when freelancers,

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Speaker 1: you know, producers can just go do their own thing

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Speaker 1: and don't have to be beholden to somebody. Ownership is

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Speaker 1: a very important important thing. O. Can you hear me?

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Speaker 1: Thank you? Ownership is very important to me. Uh and

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Speaker 1: you know to others because we grew up, we grew

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Speaker 1: up wanting to, you know, teach our community how to

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Speaker 1: have ownership, you know what I mean? And you know

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Speaker 1: with the artists that I have, I always preach to

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Speaker 1: them about investing itself. Having ownership is very important. UM.

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Speaker 1: It's very different from um, you know, the industry where

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Speaker 1: your likeness is being sold and you know things like

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Speaker 1: this is very different, but now you're able to invest,

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Speaker 1: like even with you know, our app. It's like creators

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Speaker 1: are on there, and the importance of it is to

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Speaker 1: keep them organized, keep them in their profession, not have

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Speaker 1: to go do odd jobs to stay you know, in

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Speaker 1: a good vision of the creative but also invest in

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Speaker 1: it at the same time and help other people invest

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Speaker 1: in it, you know, at the same time to keep

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Speaker 1: them pushing, you know. So that's very important to me,

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Speaker 1: and you know, and Kayle as well. How would you

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Speaker 1: say down that hardware and software becoming less expensive? You know,

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Speaker 1: I remember growing up wanting to have an MPC you

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Speaker 1: know whatever thousand, three thousand or whatever was thousands and

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Speaker 1: thousands of hours, right and you know, as soon as

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Speaker 1: you get close to save enough money, something happens and

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Speaker 1: you gotta go spend that money. So all the you know,

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Speaker 1: you know, the game. And so how has things become

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Speaker 1: less expensive because you can download an app right now

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Speaker 1: for an NPC you just you know whatever, nineteen bucks

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Speaker 1: and create beats and produce songs. How has that allowed

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Speaker 1: more people to get in on creative production? It just

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Speaker 1: opened the game for more people to be entrepreneurs. And

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Speaker 1: do their own thing before you had to rely you know,

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Speaker 1: I wanted the intern just I was able to go

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Speaker 1: to you know, j D Spot and uses the NPC

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Speaker 1: to make beats you know what I'm saying, or you know,

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Speaker 1: you know, so on and so forth. So I think

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Speaker 1: it's just open a game. Uh. I think in Atlanta,

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Speaker 1: I was maybe one of the first to ever try

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Speaker 1: Serrotto software, which you know, vinyl and on turntables had

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Speaker 1: became very expensive at the time, and I was like, yeah,

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Speaker 1: if I have a different type of setup, I can

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Speaker 1: cut my costs and be able to get my gig

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Speaker 1: and do it well. And people kind of laughed at me,

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Speaker 1: you know, And you know, as I move forward, I

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Speaker 1: see some of the kids now they're using these software.

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Speaker 1: Some of them are free, you know, even I spent

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Speaker 1: you know, thousands of dollars on waves plug ins and

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Speaker 1: and they're so cheap. So, you know, in turn, like

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Speaker 1: with the game changing, I think it's just setting up

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Speaker 1: the world to really really embrace more entrepreneurs, more creative people,

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Speaker 1: and just give you a chance to say, hey, you

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Speaker 1: don't need the NPC to be the biggest you know,

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Speaker 1: producing the world. You don't need Uh, this tablet to

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Speaker 1: draw the best dress in the world. You don't need,

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Speaker 1: you know, a certain microphone to be that. You know,

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Speaker 1: everything is set up for you win. I was always

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Speaker 1: for thinking like this. I always embraced it, you know.

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Speaker 1: You know, Kayla, he said a word that I'd like

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Speaker 1: to touch on and ask you about. He talked about entrepreneurship,

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Speaker 1: and it was you're creative and we're all all of

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Speaker 1: us on this called creatives and but also business people too,

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Speaker 1: and historically you didn't see like the intermingling of the two.

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Speaker 1: You had the creative who just did the creative side,

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Speaker 1: and then the business people did business. They didn't do both.

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Speaker 1: And what he's talking about, I'd love to get your

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Speaker 1: thoughts on, because what it sounds like you guys are

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Speaker 1: doing is trying to empower creatives to take ownership of

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Speaker 1: the whole business side and be entrepreneurial, even if they

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Speaker 1: don't consider themselves entrepreneurs. What would you say to that, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I think definitely For me, Like, I've always been a freelancer,

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Speaker 1: so I've never like really had a boss. I've always

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Speaker 1: like starting off as a recording artist, I was the talent,

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Speaker 1: but I still you know, I didn't report to anybody,

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Speaker 1: and so I had to hand either make sure I

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Speaker 1: had had an account, I had to have my own lawyer.

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Speaker 1: I had to make sure I understood you know, the

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Speaker 1: terms and things like that. So um, it was challenging,

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Speaker 1: but I pushed through. I made it through, and I

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Speaker 1: learned so much along the way. Even after that, starting

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Speaker 1: my own business the leg Love, I had to handle

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Speaker 1: every aspect of it, the creative side, the designing, the sourcing,

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Speaker 1: the content, creating the content, and bookkeeping and things like that.

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Speaker 1: So right now with since things have like fast forward

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Speaker 1: so much, the app Tomorrow app really just allows you

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Speaker 1: to have that structure. It allows you to have your

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Speaker 1: own portfolio in a marketplace. You don't have to have

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Speaker 1: your own website. You don't have to pay those website

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Speaker 1: fees to promote your work. You don't have to hire

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Speaker 1: someone to keep record of it, or you don't have

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Speaker 1: to keep record of yourself. It's all in the app,

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Speaker 1: and it's all from discovery to booking to payment. We

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Speaker 1: also offer you know, uh, taxes, so you can fire

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Speaker 1: your fire your taxes straight from all the work that

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Speaker 1: you've gotten from the app. So for me, it's like

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Speaker 1: all the struggle that we've gone through all the like

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Speaker 1: late nights of like am I gonna like fail? Am

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Speaker 1: I gonna just destroy my whole name and brand? It's

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Speaker 1: really it's a tool, and we plan on building that

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Speaker 1: so it has even more value, more resources to the creative,

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Speaker 1: so creatives can get a leg up, you know, so

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Speaker 1: they can be taken seriously, because what I've seen is

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Speaker 1: that creatives are making the world go around, especially with

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Speaker 1: like COVID this last year, everyone's having to scramble and

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Speaker 1: figure out like dang, how how are you gonna do this?

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Speaker 1: And it's the creative people who are stepping up and

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Speaker 1: um inspiring and you know, taking things to the next level.

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Speaker 1: That's that's a very great point I want to add to.

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Speaker 1: Even in our beta stages of this app, we've gotten

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Speaker 1: a lot of good feedback from people are saying, Yo,

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Speaker 1: you don't know how much this is, but us organized

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Speaker 1: and turning my business into a real business and things

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Speaker 1: like that, you know, and that's very important because we

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Speaker 1: don't have that as creatives. We don't have the you know,

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Speaker 1: most of us are really really really super creative and

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Speaker 1: then lack a little bit on business. This gives you

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Speaker 1: a chance to not worry about it, not worry about

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Speaker 1: getting stiff out of money, and you know, just keeping

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Speaker 1: a schedule right and just having everything in one It's

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Speaker 1: like important. And the data stages. Everybody was coming with

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Speaker 1: that and we were happy. We're like, oh, they like

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Speaker 1: the organization of it, you know. Yeah, I mean I

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Speaker 1: think some so much about that, you know, and dealing

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Speaker 1: with photographers and videographers. You you hear these horror stories

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Speaker 1: about them producing the work, but because they didn't know

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Speaker 1: how to envoid, so they don't have their stuff set

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Speaker 1: up properly, they don't end up getting paid like they should,

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Speaker 1: you know, and so um are you guys, I'm sure

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Speaker 1: I've heard these horror stories and you know, so I

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Speaker 1: wonder where is that line between somebody who doesn't see

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Speaker 1: themselves as an entrepreneur but you're you're saying, look, you

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Speaker 1: still got to handle your business. Though, I think that

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Speaker 1: line is blurring a lot, because I mean everyone has

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Speaker 1: the opportunity now, Like we see with like influencers, and

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Speaker 1: you have like these major influencers who might already be celebrities,

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Speaker 1: but then you have these micro influencers who might have

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Speaker 1: a thousand followers, but they have a genuine following and

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Speaker 1: there they make good content and then the larger brands

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Speaker 1: like Nike is reposting them. So they're taking this, you know,

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Speaker 1: just creativity and turning it into a business for themselves.

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Speaker 1: And with the app, with Tomorrow App, it's like you

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Speaker 1: can be the creative that gets hired, and then you

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Speaker 1: can also use the app to hire the creative that

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Speaker 1: you need to for your team. So if you've been

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Speaker 1: hired to be a photographer and there and the person

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Speaker 1: who hires you, the client is like, we really need

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Speaker 1: models and um a voiceover, and you're like, okay, you

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Speaker 1: can actually use the app to go find those people

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Speaker 1: and then come back to your client and be like,

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Speaker 1: I got I got the whole I got the whole

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Speaker 1: team ready for you. So it's really blurring those lines

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Speaker 1: of do I have to be an entrepreneurs to be

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Speaker 1: able to be a boss and handle and handle this

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Speaker 1: whole thing. It's making it really seamless with so many

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Speaker 1: more people in the game. You know, cameras, you know,

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Speaker 1: instead of being ten thousand dollars, you can go buy

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Speaker 1: one for five hundred now, you know, instead of the

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Speaker 1: MPC being you know, three thousand dollarge. You can go

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Speaker 1: get a digital one for you know, a couple of

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Speaker 1: tens tens of dollars, you know, instead of etcetera, etcetera. Um,

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Speaker 1: how can creatives then separate themselves and actually shine when

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Speaker 1: there's so many more people in the game. This is

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Speaker 1: my favorite subject and Kayla knows this, which separates you

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Speaker 1: from the rest of the crew. Supposedly crew is studying

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Speaker 1: and that's one of my favorite things, going back and

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Speaker 1: studying textures. Uh, that's a photographer learning the lenses, learning

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Speaker 1: the cameras. Who use the camera? Where can you find

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Speaker 1: the camera? Where's the camera museum? Let's see some books

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Speaker 1: where those you know, photos were in those? You know

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Speaker 1: the same thing with me. I understand a lot of

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Speaker 1: things about music because I studied Stevie Wonder. I looked

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Speaker 1: at some of the pianos that he picked and why

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Speaker 1: he picked them. While you recorded in certain places to

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Speaker 1: get certain reverbs, why they use certain mix and why

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Speaker 1: you know a lot of times. Um, when I came up,

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Speaker 1: I had the cheapest equipment, but I made it sounded

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Speaker 1: the sounds so professional and people understand now it's like, oh,

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Speaker 1: you're really a student of the game. That's how you

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Speaker 1: learned it. That's what separates you. Is just that's my

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Speaker 1: favorite thing just to study the think the rest of

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Speaker 1: over there like yeah yeah, and um, I think on

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Speaker 1: top of that that is for sure, that's what just

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Speaker 1: keeps you going have a long career. And I think

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Speaker 1: when things get so saturated, I think it's about an experience.

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Speaker 1: It's about like who did you like working with the most?

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Speaker 1: You know, who came on time, who respected your time,

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Speaker 1: who had a great um, you know, disposition when they

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Speaker 1: showed up, who stayed a little bit later. And I

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Speaker 1: think those who who's more organized, you know, who who

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Speaker 1: knew who was prepared when they showed up on set

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Speaker 1: or when they took on a project. I think that

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Speaker 1: is super important, especially for me, even you know, with

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Speaker 1: all my experiences, it's like I'm gonna go back to

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Speaker 1: this person because I can talk to them well and

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Speaker 1: at the end it might take a little bit longer,

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Speaker 1: but I'm going to have a good experience. I'm gonna

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Speaker 1: get what I needed, and I'm gonna want to use

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Speaker 1: them again. Um versus someone like Okay, they're they're popular

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Speaker 1: or you know, they can do it, but you know,

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Speaker 1: the experience was trash. So I think that how you

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Speaker 1: show up to work um is a huge part of

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Speaker 1: what's gonna set you apart and allow you to continue

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Speaker 1: to thrive and have client repeat client after client, love it,

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Speaker 1: love it. Um. Do I want to talk about like

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Speaker 1: the economics of creating platforms and and what I mean

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Speaker 1: by this is both from like a music producer standpoint,

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Speaker 1: being the producer versus the maybe the artists who's paying

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Speaker 1: you for the track, or you know, being the creator

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Speaker 1: of tomorrow app a platform for artists and creators versus

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Speaker 1: just being the creative. And what I mean by that

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Speaker 1: it's like, is there a big difference in the economics

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Speaker 1: of the person who is the performer versus the person

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Speaker 1: who's building the platform? And why I ask is because

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Speaker 1: I wonder what it takes for more people to see

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Speaker 1: the opportunity behind the scenes versus just the one out front. Um.

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Speaker 1: It's all preference makes to me. I think, you know, um,

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Speaker 1: if you're thinking about a performer, Uh, performers have so

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Speaker 1: many streams of income. You know, if they're not using

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Speaker 1: one platform, they get it, they're doing different things. For instance,

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Speaker 1: a lot of the artists you know that I speak

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Speaker 1: of the music. Then you know into uh our stem

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Speaker 1: type company which you know, you own everything, you put

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Speaker 1: out everything. They just you know, handle the marketing. Um

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Speaker 1: that's something where the economic changes because now you get

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Speaker 1: a bigger royalty base, you get a bigger performance uh

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Speaker 1: peal of the of the orange. And you know sometimes

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Speaker 1: uh it calls for that, you know, being a producer,

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Speaker 1: sometimes I would love that because now I'm splitting with

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Speaker 1: the artists and not cutting up with thirty four you

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Speaker 1: know companies. But on the economic uh get more the pie,

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Speaker 1: you know, and you know, in the music world, being

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Speaker 1: in certain platforms like tomorrow, I think freelancers make more

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Speaker 1: money honestly being an entrepreneur than they would based working

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Speaker 1: for a company collecting the salary salary being exclusive. I

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Speaker 1: just think the piece of the pie is larger and

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Speaker 1: the outcome is larger. You know, what would you say, Kelly,

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Speaker 1: You you were a performer and now you're on in

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Speaker 1: a different industry and creating a platform, and I wonder

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Speaker 1: what your thoughts are um on just just taking the Hey,

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Speaker 1: you're hiring me to do something versus I'm gonna own

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Speaker 1: and build a platform to serve more people in scale. Yeah, Well,

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Speaker 1: I would say just like for me, I like it said,

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Speaker 1: it's a preference I prefer over the years, I prefer

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Speaker 1: to be behind the scenes. I prefer that it's a

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Speaker 1: lot less stressful, not in front of the camera and

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Speaker 1: not having to, you know, just deliver this like performance

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Speaker 1: every single time for me with like since I was

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Speaker 1: a little girl, UM, I have always dreamed. I had

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Speaker 1: an idea that I wanted to create a company that

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Speaker 1: was had great culture that UM I saw some of

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Speaker 1: my aunts and uncles who hated their jobs and they

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Speaker 1: hated their bosses and they just lived like from nine

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Speaker 1: to five was just a mess, and they live for

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Speaker 1: the weekends. And I'm like, one day, I'm going to

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Speaker 1: create that. So I'm gonna hire all my family and

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Speaker 1: we're just gonna we're gonna be good. And I feel

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Speaker 1: like this is what that's what's becoming with the Tomorrow

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Speaker 1: app and what we're doing with the Start Engine Raise.

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Speaker 1: You know, I'm recreate. We've created the platform, it's black owned,

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Speaker 1: is independently owned at this point, and we do we

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Speaker 1: create the culture. We create you know what it's gonna

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Speaker 1: be like to work with us, work for us and

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Speaker 1: things like that, and with the startup um crowdfunding. It's

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Speaker 1: another opportunity to allow our peers, for the community to

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Speaker 1: own a piece of a promising tech startup at the

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Speaker 1: very beginning stages. And that's like not an opportunity that

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Speaker 1: comes on around the corner, especially being black owned. Um

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Speaker 1: you know woman black woman co founded and lad. It's

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Speaker 1: just exciting for me and um, I feel like it

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Speaker 1: should be exciting to other people. You know, everyone's buying

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Speaker 1: their little stocks and little things here on cash app

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Speaker 1: and all that kind of stuff, and it's just like, wow,

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Speaker 1: this is this is the time you know, we're and

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Speaker 1: we're providing this opportunity. So, um, this is a this

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Speaker 1: is where I've always you know, saw myself being. I

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Speaker 1: didn't know it's going to be an app um, but

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Speaker 1: this feels this is home. You know that There was

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Speaker 1: this quote I found from you that talked that talked

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Speaker 1: and you were talking about music as you were talking

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Speaker 1: specifically about generation now. But I think it's applicable here.

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Speaker 1: I mean you in the quote you said was generation

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Speaker 1: now and self explanatory. It's the generation of people the now,

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Speaker 1: in the future, not the past. And the reason I

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Speaker 1: think it's applicable here And my question is also I

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Speaker 1: wonder what in your mind the next set of iconic

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Speaker 1: cultural designers and and creative producers might look like, because

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Speaker 1: I think about, you know, I grew up in the

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Speaker 1: days like No Limit in Cash Mo on the End,

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Speaker 1: Twave House, and I remember like pinning Pixel, like the

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Speaker 1: covers of those albums like you and those guys like

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Speaker 1: ran the game, and they were, you know, a creative house.

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Speaker 1: And I wonder, because we're shifting to a day where

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Speaker 1: everybody can just you know, put you know, a banner

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Speaker 1: up and be their own entrepreneur, what might the future

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Speaker 1: of creative and cultural icons look like in the day

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Speaker 1: where everybody is in the game. Uh Well, from my standpoint,

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Speaker 1: I look for multipurpose. So if I'm going for artists,

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Speaker 1: even creatives like you know when we talk about generation now,

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Speaker 1: it's in theory a record label and it's at one

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Speaker 1: stop media uh shot. And the reason why I think

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Speaker 1: about it as such is because I meet lawyers every

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Speaker 1: day that just got you know, out of school, and

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Speaker 1: I got a photographers. I just actually met with a

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Speaker 1: videographer that had a vision, and I think that what

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Speaker 1: is the new what the new look for those and

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Speaker 1: new creators and entrepreneurs. I think it is if you're

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Speaker 1: an artists, know how to sing, you know how to wrap,

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Speaker 1: you know how to make beats, know how to record yourself,

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Speaker 1: know how to dress, know how to influence people on

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Speaker 1: social media. That's five or six things right there that

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Speaker 1: the future has put in front of us that now

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Speaker 1: you need to learn to be there. Uh. The generation

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Speaker 1: before us really have one job, and it was really

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Speaker 1: rapping and making short of music sounded tight. Now we're

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Speaker 1: moving the artists. I'm being there like big bro. I

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Speaker 1: know how to produce, I know how to write, I

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Speaker 1: know how to play, I know how to dress. I

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Speaker 1: can play back basketball. You know what I'm saying. It's

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Speaker 1: like all of those are what's making up the future guys,

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Speaker 1: you know, and women of the world, like some of

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Speaker 1: these women that you know they're styling. Uh, they're talking

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Speaker 1: to women about makeup on YouTube. They're doing all these

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Speaker 1: great things, and they're all all the weapons. The more

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Speaker 1: weapons you have, the more I see you going far

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Speaker 1: in the future. And I said, you know, tomorrow is

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Speaker 1: like that ration now and tomorrow has a similar field

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Speaker 1: because it's like the next generation of those people with

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Speaker 1: multi uh, multi talent. What would say, that's exactly what

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Speaker 1: it is, because I mean, yeah, you just like you

399
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Speaker 1: were saying earlier, well like, um, it's saturated. You know,

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Speaker 1: the internet has brought a lot of opportunity at the

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Speaker 1: same time, it has saturated a lot of things that

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Speaker 1: you know once were you know, I won't say pure,

403
00:22:28,960 --> 00:22:30,920
Speaker 1: but you know, just you had to work a little

404
00:22:30,920 --> 00:22:33,679
Speaker 1: bit harder to be in that space. And so what

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Speaker 1: do you do with that? You just you you take

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Speaker 1: what you have and you, you know, you make it

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Speaker 1: the best of what it is, rather than just being

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Speaker 1: like dang, no, now now they now they're selling clothes.

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Speaker 1: Now they're doing it. And it's just like everyone has

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Speaker 1: an opportunity. Everyone has an opportunity. And I go back

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Speaker 1: to saying, you're the experience that you provide to people.

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Speaker 1: That's what's gonna that's what's gonna give you, your your community,

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Speaker 1: your trying the people that that stick with you. Because

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Speaker 1: that's really the only thing that we can feed off

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Speaker 1: of right now is the experiences that are happening because

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Speaker 1: everything else is just like you know, it's it's news

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Speaker 1: for on Monday and then it's gone to something else

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Speaker 1: on Tuesday. Then Wednesday, and so these experiences are really

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Speaker 1: special and they and they can transform you know, all

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Speaker 1: the way from from you know, personal experiences to your

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Speaker 1: your work experiences. And and one thing that I always

422
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Speaker 1: hear it's like, you know, do something you love and

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Speaker 1: you never work a day in your life. And I

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Speaker 1: think that's what it's about. And now we have the

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Speaker 1: opportunity to do that. So Don is a DJ and

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Speaker 1: music producer and is a former performing artist. So many

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00:24:03,400 --> 00:24:06,399
Speaker 1: of us see the flashing lights and selfie opportunities and

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Speaker 1: think that the person out front is the only one

429
00:24:09,040 --> 00:24:13,080
Speaker 1: getting the back. In reality, many people whose names you'll

430
00:24:13,160 --> 00:24:17,720
Speaker 1: never know are going to the bank every day. So

431
00:24:17,840 --> 00:24:20,399
Speaker 1: should more creators be on the side of developing the

432
00:24:20,520 --> 00:24:26,359
Speaker 1: platforms that enable creative expression? Okay, Less Shelton speaks on it.

433
00:24:26,600 --> 00:24:29,760
Speaker 1: If you have that passion, if you have that drive, um,

434
00:24:29,800 --> 00:24:33,040
Speaker 1: if that's your why then go for it? For sure,

435
00:24:33,320 --> 00:24:38,479
Speaker 1: it's not everyone's um dream to create tools. You know,

436
00:24:38,560 --> 00:24:42,200
Speaker 1: I've always wanted to solve problems and you know, help

437
00:24:42,760 --> 00:24:47,439
Speaker 1: and so that's just my background, my personality. UM. So

438
00:24:48,000 --> 00:24:49,960
Speaker 1: if you want to say, like, okay, in order to

439
00:24:50,040 --> 00:24:54,480
Speaker 1: be competitive in the entrepreneurial space, yeah, like we learn

440
00:24:54,520 --> 00:24:57,520
Speaker 1: how to do it all, you know, um, but also

441
00:24:57,640 --> 00:24:59,760
Speaker 1: as an entrepreneur, you do have to be able to

442
00:25:00,040 --> 00:25:03,040
Speaker 1: it back and restructure and figure out your strengths and

443
00:25:03,040 --> 00:25:07,000
Speaker 1: your weaknesses and so that you can really have some success.

444
00:25:07,040 --> 00:25:09,639
Speaker 1: Like it's not about doing it all. Like for me,

445
00:25:09,760 --> 00:25:13,360
Speaker 1: I delegate a lot of things just because I can

446
00:25:13,359 --> 00:25:15,520
Speaker 1: see that vision and I say, Okay, I'm not gonna

447
00:25:15,520 --> 00:25:18,120
Speaker 1: try to do this because I'm only gonna be able

448
00:25:18,160 --> 00:25:19,879
Speaker 1: to do it six I need to done a hundred

449
00:25:20,760 --> 00:25:23,560
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna delegate that, that, that, and that, And

450
00:25:23,640 --> 00:25:26,160
Speaker 1: if my only job is to be the visionary that's

451
00:25:26,200 --> 00:25:29,280
Speaker 1: looking at everyone and making sure they're doing their job,

452
00:25:29,359 --> 00:25:33,040
Speaker 1: then then I'm okay with that. Um. So I think

453
00:25:33,080 --> 00:25:37,320
Speaker 1: that it's it's really gonna be like knowing knowing yourself,

454
00:25:37,720 --> 00:25:40,639
Speaker 1: knowing itself enough to know, Okay, what do I really

455
00:25:40,720 --> 00:25:44,800
Speaker 1: want and why and what tools do I have to

456
00:25:44,800 --> 00:25:47,840
Speaker 1: actually make that that happen. And then that's the decision

457
00:25:47,880 --> 00:25:50,040
Speaker 1: of am I gonna be on this side or on

458
00:25:50,119 --> 00:25:53,679
Speaker 1: this side or boat Okay. I wonder like what was

459
00:25:53,760 --> 00:25:57,480
Speaker 1: the gap in the market that you you have to

460
00:25:57,600 --> 00:26:01,320
Speaker 1: have seen versus with what you guys are doing versus

461
00:26:01,320 --> 00:26:03,639
Speaker 1: other platforms like an up work or a fiver, like,

462
00:26:03,680 --> 00:26:06,520
Speaker 1: what was the opportunity you saw that they couldn't touch.

463
00:26:07,119 --> 00:26:09,000
Speaker 1: The way it came about was I was talking to

464
00:26:09,040 --> 00:26:12,160
Speaker 1: a friend of mine. She works in Atlanta in film

465
00:26:12,200 --> 00:26:15,479
Speaker 1: and television in the wardrobe department, and typically how she

466
00:26:15,600 --> 00:26:18,960
Speaker 1: works is she works on pilots, and so the pilots

467
00:26:19,040 --> 00:26:21,720
Speaker 1: last about three or four months. She'll book a pilot

468
00:26:21,720 --> 00:26:24,680
Speaker 1: and by the time that one's rapping, she'll booked another one.

469
00:26:24,720 --> 00:26:27,800
Speaker 1: So that's her her flow of income and work would

470
00:26:27,800 --> 00:26:31,240
Speaker 1: come a time where it was several months where she

471
00:26:31,320 --> 00:26:33,840
Speaker 1: had not been booked. So she was like, yeah, girl,

472
00:26:34,600 --> 00:26:37,800
Speaker 1: I started door dashing. And she's like yeah, I mean,

473
00:26:38,040 --> 00:26:40,359
Speaker 1: I'm glad I can door dash, but still, you know,

474
00:26:40,600 --> 00:26:42,720
Speaker 1: I'm supposed to be on set. I'm supposed to doing this.

475
00:26:42,800 --> 00:26:45,320
Speaker 1: And so that was the AHA moment for me when

476
00:26:45,320 --> 00:26:47,880
Speaker 1: I was like, dang, why is there not something? Why

477
00:26:47,920 --> 00:26:51,639
Speaker 1: is there not a door dash for creative services? Because

478
00:26:51,880 --> 00:26:55,919
Speaker 1: I was seeing on Instagram everyone's looking that they're posting

479
00:26:56,000 --> 00:26:59,040
Speaker 1: like tags a tag of hair salads, tag award of salads,

480
00:26:59,280 --> 00:27:01,639
Speaker 1: tag of her home, of her you know, and trying

481
00:27:01,680 --> 00:27:05,320
Speaker 1: to source people from Instagram and then all the hassle

482
00:27:05,359 --> 00:27:07,520
Speaker 1: of going through it and then finding their page and

483
00:27:07,520 --> 00:27:10,080
Speaker 1: and seeing if it's really good, and then talking to them,

484
00:27:10,119 --> 00:27:12,600
Speaker 1: seeing if they're if they know how to talk, and

485
00:27:12,600 --> 00:27:15,240
Speaker 1: then paying them. So it was just like, okay, that's

486
00:27:15,240 --> 00:27:18,920
Speaker 1: what we need. We need we need something that UM

487
00:27:19,040 --> 00:27:21,960
Speaker 1: allows people to discover the talent and look at and

488
00:27:22,040 --> 00:27:26,280
Speaker 1: assess their abilities right there, talk to them right there,

489
00:27:26,440 --> 00:27:30,520
Speaker 1: pay them right there. Focusing on the creative services like

490
00:27:31,119 --> 00:27:34,800
Speaker 1: UM up work and freelancer and UM with the other

491
00:27:34,840 --> 00:27:38,640
Speaker 1: one fiber Um. They're like the top leading UM. They

492
00:27:38,720 --> 00:27:42,240
Speaker 1: really you know, it's just like it's still like corporate stuff.

493
00:27:42,240 --> 00:27:45,080
Speaker 1: It's still like counting or still just things that we're

494
00:27:45,119 --> 00:27:48,480
Speaker 1: just not creative. Help I answer the question you did,

495
00:27:48,560 --> 00:27:50,440
Speaker 1: and don I want you to chime me here because

496
00:27:50,440 --> 00:27:52,200
Speaker 1: I feel like, you know, okay, let's have something early

497
00:27:52,240 --> 00:27:54,560
Speaker 1: like creatives run the world, and particularly my if you

498
00:27:54,640 --> 00:27:57,439
Speaker 1: ask me black, creatives run the world, right and and

499
00:27:57,480 --> 00:27:59,359
Speaker 1: I love like with what you guys are doing, like

500
00:27:59,359 --> 00:28:02,199
Speaker 1: with people salute, with people like Isaac Hayes doing with

501
00:28:02,280 --> 00:28:07,000
Speaker 1: fan base, and you know, I think additionally, on top

502
00:28:07,040 --> 00:28:10,359
Speaker 1: of Kyla's points, it's also meaningful that if this is

503
00:28:10,359 --> 00:28:14,199
Speaker 1: something that we own the right and so not just

504
00:28:14,400 --> 00:28:17,200
Speaker 1: that they are these business check boxes you can push,

505
00:28:17,200 --> 00:28:22,560
Speaker 1: but we own this absolutely absolutely, man, Isaac, this is funny, Man,

506
00:28:22,640 --> 00:28:25,480
Speaker 1: Isaac talked for years. Man, we were trying to figure

507
00:28:25,480 --> 00:28:29,639
Speaker 1: out how to actually help others with a platform. Um,

508
00:28:29,680 --> 00:28:32,520
Speaker 1: we didn't know what different platforms were were they were

509
00:28:32,720 --> 00:28:35,240
Speaker 1: gonna be. But you know, his wind up being fan

510
00:28:35,320 --> 00:28:38,880
Speaker 1: base and it serves a great purpose and then you know,

511
00:28:39,000 --> 00:28:42,920
Speaker 1: as tomorrow we serve a better purpose for creatives and

512
00:28:42,960 --> 00:28:45,720
Speaker 1: being entrepreneurs, you know. To add on what she said

513
00:28:45,760 --> 00:28:50,200
Speaker 1: in the last statement, UM, I always come across people

514
00:28:50,200 --> 00:28:53,560
Speaker 1: that are super talented and they always say, Yo, I'll

515
00:28:53,560 --> 00:28:55,520
Speaker 1: come see you. I got I gotta work from nine

516
00:28:55,560 --> 00:28:58,040
Speaker 1: to six, and then after that I'll come see you.

517
00:28:58,080 --> 00:28:59,600
Speaker 1: And then they'll come see me and they'll be done

518
00:28:59,760 --> 00:29:03,840
Speaker 1: or you know, and out of the ideas. And I

519
00:29:03,880 --> 00:29:06,360
Speaker 1: just wanted to put it into that somehow, because that's

520
00:29:06,360 --> 00:29:08,560
Speaker 1: what I run into all the time. When I get

521
00:29:08,560 --> 00:29:10,360
Speaker 1: off work. I'm gonna send you the the you know,

522
00:29:10,400 --> 00:29:12,120
Speaker 1: the session though, I want to I want to try

523
00:29:12,160 --> 00:29:13,720
Speaker 1: to put it into that because I've seen the pain

524
00:29:14,360 --> 00:29:17,040
Speaker 1: and a struggle that they had just having to work

525
00:29:17,040 --> 00:29:19,720
Speaker 1: something they didn't didn't want to do UM just to

526
00:29:19,720 --> 00:29:22,400
Speaker 1: take care of the responsibilities of the human And you know,

527
00:29:22,440 --> 00:29:24,920
Speaker 1: I was like, yo, somehow, some way, I'm I'm going

528
00:29:24,960 --> 00:29:26,960
Speaker 1: to figure it out. But when she brought the idea,

529
00:29:27,440 --> 00:29:29,360
Speaker 1: it was just amazing. I said, Oh, yeah, this is it,

530
00:29:29,520 --> 00:29:32,720
Speaker 1: this is it. You see so many apps, you know,

531
00:29:32,800 --> 00:29:35,200
Speaker 1: even like clubhouse, even you see so many apps that

532
00:29:35,360 --> 00:29:38,680
Speaker 1: capitalized on the culture that we drive, and so I

533
00:29:38,720 --> 00:29:41,800
Speaker 1: think it's important that we have things that you got,

534
00:29:41,880 --> 00:29:47,000
Speaker 1: like like you guys are creating things that we can own. Yeah. Absolutely, Yeah,

535
00:29:47,120 --> 00:29:50,640
Speaker 1: It's like it's like a family member. It's like, Okay,

536
00:29:50,840 --> 00:29:54,280
Speaker 1: we're not exploiting you, because we would be exploiting ourselves,

537
00:29:54,360 --> 00:29:56,320
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, Like we really feel it,

538
00:29:56,520 --> 00:30:01,920
Speaker 1: like it was just and so when when we started,

539
00:30:02,040 --> 00:30:04,640
Speaker 1: you know, at the beginning before we just um launched

540
00:30:04,680 --> 00:30:07,960
Speaker 1: our crowdfunding campaign, you know, we we went we took

541
00:30:08,000 --> 00:30:11,080
Speaker 1: some investor meetings and and things like that, and we

542
00:30:11,080 --> 00:30:14,520
Speaker 1: weren't feeling it. We're like no, because you know, you

543
00:30:14,560 --> 00:30:17,040
Speaker 1: get to this point, you spent so much of your

544
00:30:17,080 --> 00:30:18,960
Speaker 1: time and your heart, our money to fund this and

545
00:30:19,000 --> 00:30:22,280
Speaker 1: bring this product that you that you need yourself because

546
00:30:22,360 --> 00:30:26,280
Speaker 1: you're the customer, You're you're the creative, and then you

547
00:30:26,320 --> 00:30:31,520
Speaker 1: have you know, investors of maybe another race that UM

548
00:30:31,600 --> 00:30:35,640
Speaker 1: are like, well are you sure or well we challenge

549
00:30:35,720 --> 00:30:40,160
Speaker 1: you to do this, and it's just like no, no, no, no, no,

550
00:30:40,160 --> 00:30:45,560
Speaker 1: no no no. So it was it really the concern

551
00:30:46,040 --> 00:30:49,560
Speaker 1: rose again like dang, you know we are doing something

552
00:30:49,640 --> 00:30:53,560
Speaker 1: different by going this route UM and sticking to our

553
00:30:53,600 --> 00:30:57,480
Speaker 1: guns and you know, self funding UM as long as

554
00:30:57,520 --> 00:31:00,760
Speaker 1: we can UM. But it was something like, we didn't

555
00:31:00,800 --> 00:31:05,360
Speaker 1: we didn't build this just for you know, money or

556
00:31:05,560 --> 00:31:09,479
Speaker 1: just you know, just to exit and go on with

557
00:31:09,520 --> 00:31:12,880
Speaker 1: our lives. We we really wanted to create something like special,

558
00:31:13,120 --> 00:31:16,600
Speaker 1: something that will last and not turn into some of

559
00:31:16,720 --> 00:31:18,760
Speaker 1: you know what these other brands have kind of turned

560
00:31:18,800 --> 00:31:22,240
Speaker 1: into in noo shade to anyone who has exited, because

561
00:31:22,320 --> 00:31:24,920
Speaker 1: you know, we will exit at some point, but at

562
00:31:24,920 --> 00:31:27,280
Speaker 1: the same time, before we exit, you know, we bring

563
00:31:27,400 --> 00:31:30,320
Speaker 1: our people along with Yeah, that's an excellent point that

564
00:31:30,400 --> 00:31:33,479
Speaker 1: you said, go ahead. I was just saying that's very

565
00:31:33,480 --> 00:31:35,560
Speaker 1: important that you know, me and kay Will always talked

566
00:31:35,600 --> 00:31:40,920
Speaker 1: as well about you know, not only people investing UM,

567
00:31:40,960 --> 00:31:44,360
Speaker 1: you know, us wrapping our arms around us being black tech.

568
00:31:44,560 --> 00:31:46,520
Speaker 1: You know, You got Don Dixon out there, she's doing

569
00:31:46,560 --> 00:31:48,880
Speaker 1: big things. You got Isaac Hayes, he's doing big things.

570
00:31:49,040 --> 00:31:51,320
Speaker 1: And they embraced us and we embrace them. We're all

571
00:31:51,360 --> 00:31:54,240
Speaker 1: moving in a world where we can help others. You

572
00:31:54,280 --> 00:31:56,520
Speaker 1: know what I mean. We do this. This is our culture.

573
00:31:56,640 --> 00:31:58,440
Speaker 1: You know what this is. You know what I'm saying,

574
00:31:58,720 --> 00:32:01,280
Speaker 1: Let's do this together. Be apart. I want you to

575
00:32:01,320 --> 00:32:04,400
Speaker 1: be apart. I educate people all day long about why

576
00:32:04,440 --> 00:32:07,040
Speaker 1: this is such a great opportunity on both sides, like

577
00:32:07,280 --> 00:32:09,760
Speaker 1: get your job in your in your career on order,

578
00:32:10,000 --> 00:32:12,160
Speaker 1: get your investments in order. The more we have like this,

579
00:32:12,280 --> 00:32:15,200
Speaker 1: the stronger we are. So I feel like that that's

580
00:32:15,240 --> 00:32:17,160
Speaker 1: one of the things that I look forward to. It's like,

581
00:32:17,400 --> 00:32:20,080
Speaker 1: you know, we have to stop you know, the quote

582
00:32:20,120 --> 00:32:24,320
Speaker 1: unquote hating of everything that's going on and just embrace everything,

583
00:32:24,360 --> 00:32:27,720
Speaker 1: you know, invite people, continue to educate and be And

584
00:32:27,800 --> 00:32:30,600
Speaker 1: Kayla had this conversation all time. It's the education of it.

585
00:32:30,600 --> 00:32:33,200
Speaker 1: It's the education of it and bringing us to light man,

586
00:32:33,200 --> 00:32:35,160
Speaker 1: because it's not too many of us doing this stuff. Man.

587
00:32:35,200 --> 00:32:38,240
Speaker 1: You know, Don and I'd love to hear your thoughts

588
00:32:38,240 --> 00:32:41,240
Speaker 1: on this, because there is an investment opportunity here for

589
00:32:41,360 --> 00:32:43,840
Speaker 1: folks to be able to participate in what you guys

590
00:32:43,880 --> 00:32:48,239
Speaker 1: are building in UM. If you think about historically the

591
00:32:48,320 --> 00:32:52,719
Speaker 1: systems to create, we're owned by a select few. So

592
00:32:52,760 --> 00:32:55,240
Speaker 1: I mean the systems again. I talked about the NPC

593
00:32:55,320 --> 00:32:57,280
Speaker 1: that those were owned by a select few people and

594
00:32:57,320 --> 00:33:01,440
Speaker 1: only so few people could make apps. And if you

595
00:33:01,480 --> 00:33:03,800
Speaker 1: think about what Obama did with the Jobs Act, which

596
00:33:03,840 --> 00:33:07,520
Speaker 1: created the opportunity for things like start Engine, you know

597
00:33:07,600 --> 00:33:11,160
Speaker 1: today like the systems to investing. H I'm sorry, Historically

598
00:33:11,160 --> 00:33:14,160
Speaker 1: the systems to invest were only offered to so few

599
00:33:14,160 --> 00:33:17,000
Speaker 1: people who were credited investors and all this stuff. And

600
00:33:17,040 --> 00:33:20,000
Speaker 1: if you weren't in, you weren't getting in on the

601
00:33:20,080 --> 00:33:24,040
Speaker 1: next wealth generating opportunity. So talk about the times that

602
00:33:24,080 --> 00:33:29,920
Speaker 1: we're in and the opportunity to create generational wealth. Last summer,

603
00:33:29,960 --> 00:33:33,280
Speaker 1: me and Kayla were investing UM through Start Engine on

604
00:33:33,280 --> 00:33:35,400
Speaker 1: a few things, just you know, looking through and just

605
00:33:35,920 --> 00:33:39,440
Speaker 1: uh joking at you know, products or services and stuff

606
00:33:39,440 --> 00:33:42,560
Speaker 1: that we can we can pretty much UM invest in.

607
00:33:42,640 --> 00:33:45,360
Speaker 1: And it just came full circles like, yo, do we

608
00:33:45,400 --> 00:33:47,240
Speaker 1: talk to vcs now? We should just go and give

609
00:33:47,280 --> 00:33:50,280
Speaker 1: an opportunity to the community. That's what it is getting

610
00:33:50,320 --> 00:33:52,360
Speaker 1: people involved. Creatives are part of this. Now we can

611
00:33:52,400 --> 00:33:54,520
Speaker 1: say hey at this, we can see other people. We

612
00:33:54,760 --> 00:33:58,040
Speaker 1: uh older people can say, oh my grandparents, my grand

613
00:33:58,320 --> 00:34:02,000
Speaker 1: my grandsons and granddaughters work. It's just such an opportunity

614
00:34:02,320 --> 00:34:04,640
Speaker 1: to be a part of something new. It's fresh. You know,

615
00:34:04,760 --> 00:34:07,200
Speaker 1: everybody doesn't have a chance to be a part of

616
00:34:07,200 --> 00:34:10,160
Speaker 1: that app, Like you said, you know, but you know

617
00:34:10,760 --> 00:34:13,680
Speaker 1: in two thousand twelve and it was made available. So

618
00:34:14,000 --> 00:34:17,919
Speaker 1: we m also take you know, full, full full take

619
00:34:18,000 --> 00:34:20,960
Speaker 1: it all to us. You know, that's all we need. Man.

620
00:34:33,920 --> 00:34:36,480
Speaker 1: Black Tech Dream Money is the production of Blackvity app

621
00:34:36,520 --> 00:34:39,560
Speaker 1: fro Tech on the Black Effect Podcast Network and I

622
00:34:39,680 --> 00:34:43,120
Speaker 1: Heared Media And it's produced by Morgan Davon and me

623
00:34:43,920 --> 00:34:47,759
Speaker 1: Well Lucas, with additional production support by Love Being Your

624
00:34:47,840 --> 00:34:51,799
Speaker 1: Raven Near Bar. Special thank you to Michael David's since

625
00:34:51,840 --> 00:34:54,839
Speaker 1: a car savon Jan you know like the wine. Yes

626
00:34:54,920 --> 00:34:58,040
Speaker 1: that's his real name. Learn more about my guests and

627
00:34:58,040 --> 00:35:02,799
Speaker 1: other tech disruptors and innovators a protect dot com. It's

628
00:35:02,800 --> 00:35:05,640
Speaker 1: gonna bet your money. He's Love