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Speaker 1: Throwing it back to Black Tech, Green Money episode two.

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Speaker 1: Brian Michael Coxon is a musical producer and songwriter responsible

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Speaker 1: for more than a hundred million album sales, thirty five

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Speaker 1: number one hits, and twelve Grammy nominations, including nine wins.

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Speaker 1: On one of the first episodes of Black Tech, Green Money,

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Speaker 1: asked Brian about the value of building a strong network

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Speaker 1: with people who are at or close to your level.

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Speaker 1: Firstus always reaching upward to try to get put on

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Speaker 1: by someone much further down the road. The majority of

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Speaker 1: help that I've been getting in my life for the

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Speaker 1: past ten sixteen years have been directed from people who

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Speaker 1: got came up with whether it's the Shock is the Lose,

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Speaker 1: whether it's the Delicia Butterfields, whether it's you know, John Johnson's,

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Speaker 1: whether it's you know what I mean, Chris Higgs, Like

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Speaker 1: these are people who stakes was a little heat helping me.

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Speaker 1: He put me on. But if we look at it,

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Speaker 1: you know, we talked about it all the time, like

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Speaker 1: we were learning that through learning together. I look at

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Speaker 1: the people around me and the people who's who helped me,

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Speaker 1: they were definitely ahead of me, but they weren't Jimmy,

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Speaker 1: I V you know, they couldn't just kind of check

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Speaker 1: and just saved my life. We had to literally work,

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Speaker 1: you know, learned together, and I needed them to guide

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Speaker 1: me to get to those places, you know what I mean.

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Speaker 1: I would say that and then I looked at my

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Speaker 1: peers like a Volician Butterfield, Christie Henderson. Any help that

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Speaker 1: I need, I could just reach out for them. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean, that's my network and we came up together,

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Speaker 1: came from nothing. So I was telling me to be

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Speaker 1: your net worth de termin is your net worth right,

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Speaker 1: So at the day, yeah, you could like moving up

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Speaker 1: is a is a good thing, you know. I mean

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Speaker 1: if somebody can help you, who's who's who's in position

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Speaker 1: to help you? If if a if you're able to

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Speaker 1: get to a puff or get to a you know,

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Speaker 1: gon be caught whoever. Right, It's cool, you know what

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Speaker 1: I mean. But at the end of the day, I

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Speaker 1: can help you get the point. B. But the people

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Speaker 1: that you surround yourself with all the words, is gonna

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Speaker 1: be your your direct anchor. You know what I'm saying,

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Speaker 1: Because you know the way call me for every looking

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Speaker 1: I can't call card days for every little bit. So

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Speaker 1: I can't call Jimmy Ivan or not. You know, I

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Speaker 1: can't call you know man anything, anything I got an

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Speaker 1: issue with anything. I want to bounce off anybody as

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Speaker 1: I bounce off. I could call Chris Easy. I can

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Speaker 1: call Belicia Easy. I could call j Q Easy. I

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Speaker 1: could call John's Easy. You know. I mean, these are

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Speaker 1: all people that we all came up together. The importance

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Speaker 1: of having people around you and create your network around

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Speaker 1: you is I mean, it's necessary because you might you

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Speaker 1: know if you don't, you know when the vallet is

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Speaker 1: hit and you out there by yourself, who my vallet

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Speaker 1: is hit? I was. I was in a good space

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Speaker 1: because I wasn't out there by myself. I have people

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Speaker 1: what came up with and we can help each other

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Speaker 1: and each other. I'm one lu Kiss and this is

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

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Speaker 1: of the biggest names, some of the brightness and brilliant ideas.

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Speaker 1: If you're black in building or simply using tech to

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Speaker 1: secure your bag, this podcast is for you. Dr Key

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Speaker 1: Hallman is the founder at the Village Market, a t

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Speaker 1: L whose mission is to support the sustainability of socially conscious,

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Speaker 1: community minded black entrepreneurs and black owned startups. I ask

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Speaker 1: Dr Kid about the secret sauce to the blueprint getting

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Speaker 1: black entrepreneurs from different industries in the same commercial space

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Speaker 1: with the goal of not only building their businesses, but

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Speaker 1: our businesses. I think the blueprint is together. I don't

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Speaker 1: think I've created something that hasn't been done. And I

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Speaker 1: would tell you in twenty sixteen, I wasn't up against

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Speaker 1: what we're all facing right now, and that's being forced

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Speaker 1: to be online so pre pandemic, I was teamed like,

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Speaker 1: we need to see each other in person. We need

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Speaker 1: to figure out how to use our best gifts. Like

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Speaker 1: if if your gift is whatever it is, will and

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Speaker 1: my gift is whatever it is. My whole thought belief

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Speaker 1: is that you're more powerful if I drawn with you

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Speaker 1: and you're drawn with me. And so even in this

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Speaker 1: e commerce space, I think there's some very unique opportunities

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Speaker 1: for entrepreneurs, artists in the great minds to collaborate and

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Speaker 1: a lot of that comes from conversations like this. So

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Speaker 1: when we think, when we have these type of conversations,

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Speaker 1: then we start to understand, like what you're really about,

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Speaker 1: because what I know, especial about black folks is always

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Speaker 1: much more than just a T shirt. It's always much

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Speaker 1: more than than than the hair care products. There's a story,

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Speaker 1: there's a legacy behind that, and there's also an aspiration

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Speaker 1: to create something that we've never seen. So the point

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Speaker 1: of entry to me and collaboration, especially in this digital space,

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Speaker 1: is getting on zoom, getting cute, getting the lighting together,

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Speaker 1: and having a conversation about how we got started, what

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Speaker 1: we're doing, and what we can do together. I think

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Speaker 1: those unified efforts in these most intimate ways and also

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Speaker 1: convenient ways of being able to communicate, helps us start

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Speaker 1: to establish what the partnerships look like in the twenty

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Speaker 1: first century. Now when the world opens back up, there's

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Speaker 1: nothing like being in the space in a room that

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Speaker 1: synergy that you all do it at afro Tech, at Glavity,

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Speaker 1: we do it at the Village Market. There's nothing like

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Speaker 1: that vibration of being in a space of collaborative minds

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Speaker 1: with a future thinking but also who are so thankful

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Speaker 1: to being a present moment together. There's nothing there's nothing

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Speaker 1: like that. So I look forward to being in that

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Speaker 1: space so we can comfortably convene together. But in the meantime,

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Speaker 1: how we can collaborate is literally doing what you and

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Speaker 1: I are doing right now. And I've asked you this

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Speaker 1: question before, but I want to make sure that people

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Speaker 1: really get this next answer, because what I don't want

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Speaker 1: people to leave here with after they hear your beautiful

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Speaker 1: words today, but I don't want them to leave with

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Speaker 1: is the idea what I'm gonna go support black businesses

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Speaker 1: because you don't go to Target to support Target. You

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Speaker 1: just go there because they got what you need. And

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Speaker 1: so how do we get over this idea that we

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Speaker 1: have to quote unquote support that our businesses need to

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Speaker 1: support versus they're looking for their consumers and they I'm

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Speaker 1: shopping there because they provide you indeed, and good question,

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Speaker 1: because I do truly believe support is a verb, but

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Speaker 1: I also know there's a count of narrative of how

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Speaker 1: we talk about words and words have power. So when

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Speaker 1: you go on to buy from black is because you

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Speaker 1: want the best on your body, want the best in

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Speaker 1: your house. So I think it's the way that we

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Speaker 1: think about and how we're normalizing our intentionality of making

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Speaker 1: sure that we find in support of black owned business

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Speaker 1: that we intentionally buy from a black owned business. That's

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Speaker 1: different than support. Support says I can take it to

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Speaker 1: leave it. When those things that we want, we heavily

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Speaker 1: pursue those, even if it's not conveniently around the corner

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Speaker 1: for us. So I think we start thinking about about

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Speaker 1: black businesses. What we've seen due to centuries of redlining

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Speaker 1: and things like that, it's not as quote unquote convenient

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Speaker 1: to find those black owned businesses, and so we're thinking about, like,

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Speaker 1: how do I do that in such a way. I

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Speaker 1: have to go and support and do this thing. But

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Speaker 1: what I tell the entrepreneurs in the village, and as

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Speaker 1: I tell entrepreneurs who are in this space, I mean,

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Speaker 1: folks are missing out if they're not rocking your product.

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Speaker 1: Both are not People are missing out if you're not

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Speaker 1: the black owned doctor that's taking care of their kids,

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Speaker 1: if this is not the black owned school that's educating

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Speaker 1: your young folks. And I think it's so it's the

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Speaker 1: way that we talk about ourselves is the way that

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Speaker 1: we start normalizing the narrative of what it means to

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Speaker 1: just be about black business. And I think that's beyond

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Speaker 1: quote unquote supporting, because that sound more philanthropick in nature,

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Speaker 1: and rather than making it just a part of our

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Speaker 1: lifestyle and what we do what did you do at

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Speaker 1: the village to ensure the narrative around doing business with

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Speaker 1: black owned businesses was changing? Because you know, we have

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Speaker 1: this whole thing. You know, I can't do business with

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Speaker 1: black folks because they ain't got good customer service, the

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Speaker 1: whole thing. What did you do at the village to

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Speaker 1: make sure, I, look, this is a place of excellence,

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Speaker 1: and how did you how did you both inspire that

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Speaker 1: with your your vendors um and then how did you

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Speaker 1: shape that narrative with the people who would be coming

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Speaker 1: near the shop? Yeah? Good, super good question again. And

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Speaker 1: so even before we get to the vendors, even before

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Speaker 1: we get to the consumers, I made sure that I

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Speaker 1: had a good team. I made sure that I had

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Speaker 1: a really good team that understood like what we were

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Speaker 1: striving to build, because then it had these thoughts had

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Speaker 1: to outlive me. Then we began to work with entrepreneurs, brands,

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Speaker 1: i e. Vendors and so our job is if you

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Speaker 1: ever had issues with customer service, let us help you

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Speaker 1: out there. And so that programmatic piece before we are,

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Speaker 1: before we would do a marketplace, we work with entrepreneurs

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Speaker 1: over a course of thirty thirty to ninety days, to

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Speaker 1: prepare them what I said, to just be ready to

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Speaker 1: be overwhelmed by a village of people who are seeking

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Speaker 1: to buy. And so I think that programmatic components what

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Speaker 1: made sure that the insurance that when you came to

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Speaker 1: the village market that these are these entrepreneurs, these brands

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Speaker 1: are well prepared to meet you, well prepared to make

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Speaker 1: sure that the pos systems are in place. Were prepared

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Speaker 1: to make sure that the meller system is locked in

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Speaker 1: so you can be able to communicate with them after that,

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Speaker 1: and that you have enough product that your branding is there,

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Speaker 1: that you're marketing there. And so that was that multi

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Speaker 1: pronged um process of ensuring that the entrepreneurs were prepared

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Speaker 1: to meet the village. And then only thing that we

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Speaker 1: told the village that you don't want to miss this

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Speaker 1: if you think you've seen the movie, were kind of

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Speaker 1: nothing like experiencing it, because that's what the village market is.

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Speaker 1: And I think, again, I am, I'm a former educator,

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Speaker 1: but I truly understand the power of words. But when

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Speaker 1: you beyond words, then you have to be able to

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Speaker 1: meet that with a moment. I made sure that the

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Speaker 1: village market literally dripped an excellence from the art on

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Speaker 1: the wall, to the brands that were showcasing, to the

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Speaker 1: musicians that were playing, and I and I showed the

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Speaker 1: plethora of what it means to be in a black

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Speaker 1: artistic space, from jazz brent bands to kid drummers to

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Speaker 1: tap dancers to live art. All of that is inside

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Speaker 1: of the village market. And so I think when we

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Speaker 1: talk about excellence, excellence, it's not siloed. It's not a

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Speaker 1: it's not a single narrative. And so it should be

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Speaker 1: beyond just entrepreneurs. We should create whole experiences. But before

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Speaker 1: we create that experiences, we have to make sure that

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Speaker 1: the entrepreneurs are prepared to meet their consumer because at

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Speaker 1: the end of the day, the only way that we

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Speaker 1: can really ensure economic mobility we have to buy. Well,

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Speaker 1: let's talk about that program, like what what do you

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Speaker 1: do when somebody comes to you with the fantastic product

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Speaker 1: on its face may not have the operational excellence, Like,

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Speaker 1: talk to me about that program, you know, whatever that

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Speaker 1: when you as he every word as curriculum, But talk

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Speaker 1: to me about what that looks like over those you know,

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Speaker 1: periods of times where you're taking them before you put

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Speaker 1: them on the floor. They're going through this process sure,

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Speaker 1: and so the curriculum is our word former teacher and me,

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Speaker 1: So we really build a curriculum around this. And also

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Speaker 1: that point of entry for us first is the application

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Speaker 1: and then we've created an amazing group break where we

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Speaker 1: are I have a council of thirteen scores who rotate

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Speaker 1: every every ninety days who are looking at applications and

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Speaker 1: we're looking at different things. We're looking at entrepreneurs to

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Speaker 1: make sure that they have a way to uh that

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Speaker 1: the audience and their buyers can buy outside of the

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Speaker 1: village market, meaning they have an e commerce space that

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Speaker 1: their separation between their personal life and their brand identity

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Speaker 1: and if it's merging, is merging in ways that makes sense. Um.

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Speaker 1: That is also very clear on message of what we're doing.

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Speaker 1: We're truly striving for the up the upper mobility for

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Speaker 1: all of us. So we're looking at these things that

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Speaker 1: once entrepreneurs get accepted into the Village or get accepted

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Speaker 1: into our Elevate program that's running now, then they then

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Speaker 1: entrepreneurs have one on one meetings and interviews with business

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Speaker 1: coaches and so the questions we ask, what are your

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Speaker 1: wildest dreams and what is it what is it gonna

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Speaker 1: take you to get there? If target is your wildest dream,

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Speaker 1: is it all is the only target because it's the

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Speaker 1: only thing you've seen, or are you afraid to go

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Speaker 1: build your own thing? And so we we want to

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Speaker 1: know those answers because that helps us create a place

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Speaker 1: based curriculum that makes sense to that entrepreneur. And so

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Speaker 1: once the entrepreneurs are accepted into the village, and once

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Speaker 1: in the village, you're always a villager. Don't believe in

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Speaker 1: the council culture. Here we prepare. We make sure that

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Speaker 1: those entrepreneurs have honestly everything they need. So if there

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Speaker 1: is if there's a gap in their website, if they're

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Speaker 1: not checking, if they don't have s c oh in place,

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Speaker 1: if they're not looking at the analytics in their analytics,

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Speaker 1: if they're not understanding their numbers, we have classes and

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Speaker 1: workshops around that, and then we do the big reveal UM.

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Speaker 1: And that is all before the pandemic. Since the pandemic

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Speaker 1: has happened, all of that has changed, and we have

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Speaker 1: our Elevate program that runs every day for so proprietors

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Speaker 1: and so at the end of the Elevated program UM,

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Speaker 1: entrepreneurs have an opportunity to be in our new retail

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Speaker 1: space located upon City Market. There's open seven days a week.

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Speaker 1: And but will the catalysts of what we do and

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Speaker 1: what makes the Village market extremely special. We don't just

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Speaker 1: throw entrepreneurs out there like we're literally hand in hand.

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Speaker 1: We're on this journey together. If you if we grow,

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Speaker 1: that means you have wrong. And there's honestly we what's

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Speaker 1: so special about our work, And I think other black

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Speaker 1: lead organizations there's not enough spaces created when entrepreneurs can test, refined,

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Speaker 1: fell forward, failed, completely flat on their face, and then

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Speaker 1: have counsel around them to help them solve some of

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Speaker 1: these big problems problems by where capital problems, by where

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Speaker 1: scaling operations problems. Was I just have no idea what

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Speaker 1: I'm doing. I thought I just wanted to sell a candle.

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Speaker 1: Now I have all these thousands of units that's going

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Speaker 1: out of the door, and I have to grow to

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Speaker 1: meet this moment. And so what we do is just

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Speaker 1: make sure wherever the moment is, that there is somewhere

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Speaker 1: in the village that can meet them where they are.

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Speaker 1: There is um a phrase you used in there, and

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Speaker 1: you called the upper mobility, and I think too too

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Speaker 1: often when we hear that phrase, it's just about economics.

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Speaker 1: And there's also a point that you talked about, you know,

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Speaker 1: uh in other interviews I've read, when you talked about

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Speaker 1: how food is import them and our education is important.

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Speaker 1: Can you talk about your idea of uppord mobility with

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Speaker 1: all those things holistically? Yeah, when you said the word,

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Speaker 1: I think our mobility anything over is holistic. I think

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Speaker 1: the only way that things can move it must create

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Speaker 1: a complete circle. And so for me, the first point

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Speaker 1: of entry is mental health. So before we talk about economics,

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Speaker 1: before we talk about even education, if the mind isn't well,

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Speaker 1: then it's hard to dream something bigger for yourself. It's

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Speaker 1: it's also hard to dream something bigger where you can

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Speaker 1: actually believe that collaboration won't cut you out of the deal.

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Speaker 1: And so it's like training our minds that think differently,

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Speaker 1: training our minds to understand the general generational curses are

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Speaker 1: very real thing, but we don't have to live and

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Speaker 1: stay there. So we work hand to hand with a

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Speaker 1: number of mental health practitioners, and we've done this for

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Speaker 1: years to ensure that entrepreneurs on we start normalizing what

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Speaker 1: therapy is and so we can start literally trained here

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Speaker 1: to start building. Now, the upward mobility is mental health,

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Speaker 1: making sure that entrepreneurs have the resources, the technical, technical

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Speaker 1: assistance to education in place. Then we start focusing on

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Speaker 1: how the trust scale of business, because what I don't

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Speaker 1: want to happen is that we rescale and then everything

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Speaker 1: everything is thriving except for us, that the money is

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Speaker 1: sitting in the bank account. And and this is the

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Speaker 1: most isolated we've ever felt, the most heartbroken and lonely

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Speaker 1: we've ever felt, and also fear of even outgrowing where

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Speaker 1: we are. And I think all of that goes to

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Speaker 1: a place of wellness. Um, if entrepreneurs are like myself,

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Speaker 1: the things I'm doing well, I have no relationship to it.

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Speaker 1: In my family, UM first generation, my sister and I

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Speaker 1: college graduates, first generation entrepreneur in this way, with the

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Speaker 1: exception of my great grandparents being entrepreneurs in Mississippi. But

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Speaker 1: in the way that I'm doing it, I haven't. I

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Speaker 1: haven't seen this before. And so another part of that

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Speaker 1: over mobility is understanding that to be upward you have

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Speaker 1: to have peers of like mind and and like intention

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Speaker 1: and like enthusiast them to help you figure this thing

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Speaker 1: out that many of us are experiencing for the first time.

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Speaker 1: I would imagine you've had this experience. But I talked

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Speaker 1: to a lot of people who run like small business

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Speaker 1: and maybe they make candles, maybe they you know, do

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Speaker 1: shade better like you just whatever, you know, the thing

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Speaker 1: that they can whip up in their kitchen, And too

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Speaker 1: many of them in my mind, because I want to

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Speaker 1: get your opinion and I don't want to, like, you know,

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Speaker 1: spoil the water before I put this over to you.

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Speaker 1: Just you know, they're happy with just selling a few,

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Speaker 1: They're happy with just making enough with their things to

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Speaker 1: say they did a thing. What do you think is

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Speaker 1: the root of that number one? And this is something

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Speaker 1: that needs to be solved. And if so, how do

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Speaker 1: we solve this idea that we can only be as

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Speaker 1: big as this? Yeah, I don't know if it's a

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Speaker 1: thing that you solve like an equation. I think it's

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Speaker 1: a journey of wellness. I think as we love ourselves more,

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Speaker 1: we know the capacity and whish that we can achieve things.

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Speaker 1: I think we are almost sometimes a little afraid that

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Speaker 1: if this grows to something else that's more exposure to me.

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Speaker 1: This more opposite opportunity for me to fail. Limited thinking

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Speaker 1: is something that is ingrained due to deep oppression. It's

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Speaker 1: hard for us and many people to start visualizing themselves

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Speaker 1: being like a mogul in the industry because they have

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Speaker 1: never seen and they think that's only for select few

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Speaker 1: that has to be in sound a certain way and

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Speaker 1: come from a certain thing. But all of it again

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Speaker 1: goes to mindset, and mindset is only that relationship to environment.

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Speaker 1: And so the solution is, how do we nurture our environment,

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Speaker 1: how do we nurture ourselves that it can be more

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Speaker 1: than it can be more than a candle. We can

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Speaker 1: literally create the jar that every coundle needs. We can

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Speaker 1: create the wax that I'm sure I'm sort free I'm

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Speaker 1: hoping sort candles and and and all these countles out

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Speaker 1: there that people are looking for. That we can be,

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Speaker 1: we can be on the manufacturing in so I think

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Speaker 1: that proximity of seeing people who have done it. And

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Speaker 1: I shared this to a good friend of mine um

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Speaker 1: just this past weekend. He talked about the things that

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Speaker 1: he wanted to do and the reason why he believed

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Speaker 1: he can do all these things just because he's had

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Speaker 1: a vast number of experiences that's being so close to

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Speaker 1: proximity to it. And so I don't think the solution

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Speaker 1: is something is one plus one equals to I think

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Speaker 1: it's the journey of understanding that there's a parts of

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Speaker 1: us that need to be healed, parts of us that

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Speaker 1: we don't even know how great we can be our

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Speaker 1: And I actually talked to my doctor and she shared

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Speaker 1: that many of us have no idea how great we

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Speaker 1: can feel because we've never experienced being a healthy before.

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Speaker 1: And I think visions and aspirations are the same, So

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Speaker 1: it'll be aside hustle because you don't know you can

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Speaker 1: do anything else. And I press upon everyone that the

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Speaker 1: gift of vision is already anointed. I won't folks to

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Speaker 1: truly understand that everyone. Everyone does not get the vision

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Speaker 1: to create a path for themselves. And when you get it,

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Speaker 1: you don't even have to worry about imposter syndrome. You

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Speaker 1: have already been given the first thing that you need,

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Speaker 1: and that's the seed of a big vision. So just

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Speaker 1: I mean go after it. I unapologetically go after everything

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Speaker 1: that is in my mind because I know that it

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Speaker 1: is divinely protected. What I don't do is go after

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Speaker 1: things that I know are not for me though, and

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Speaker 1: you can feel it. I love a love that. Um.

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Speaker 1: How closely tied is civil rights, UM, social equality, closely

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Speaker 1: health disparities to economic power? And I want to ask

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Speaker 1: a specifically of you, because you know you like almost

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Speaker 1: self proclaimed social entrepreneurs, which means you're not just in

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Speaker 1: it for the money. But how closely tied are those

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Speaker 1: things to economic power? Yes? I mentioned earlier about redlining,

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Speaker 1: and that was created to literally starved communities. And so

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Speaker 1: if a community does not have a place where people

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Speaker 1: can eat healthy foods, if there is no way that

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Speaker 1: kids can be educated, then that that community would always

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Speaker 1: be a other and deserters with without things that people

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Speaker 1: can do to survive and live, and so economic mobility,

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Speaker 1: that whole picture again, all of that has to be included,

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Speaker 1: and that social entrepreneur in me, I'm always thinking about

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Speaker 1: beyond the foods that we're eating, what type of foods

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Speaker 1: are we eating and what is it doing to our bodies?

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Speaker 1: What type of things are we reading, How we're educating

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Speaker 1: our children, how we're educating ourselves, Because what is going

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Speaker 1: to take and what is going to require for us

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Speaker 1: to really move our community forward? Is that we're thinking

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Speaker 1: about all these things all the time. Now, you don't

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Speaker 1: have to be the magician. You don't have to be

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Speaker 1: the one that has the magic in that area. That's

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Speaker 1: why we have the village. But I do think comprehensive development,

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Speaker 1: comprehensive community building and thinking about where we can be

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Speaker 1: ten fifteen years from now. It's gonna requires to start

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Speaker 1: thinking about the foods that were eating again, what's happening

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Speaker 1: in our communities, why it's not happening in our communities.

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Speaker 1: But then taken and honestly for black folks to know

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Speaker 1: that this was created by design, and we know how

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Speaker 1: something is designed, you have a much better way of

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Speaker 1: being able to tackle it. But it's not something that

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Speaker 1: can be tackled overnight. Is want to require people to

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Speaker 1: separate their privilege because sometimes we're super happy to be

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Speaker 1: at the table. We so happy that we outside of

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Speaker 1: that neighborhood that we grew up and I get it.

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Speaker 1: But the but the thing about growing up in the neighborhood,

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Speaker 1: of growing up in the country in Mississippi like I did,

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Speaker 1: and knowing that those spirities exist those of us who

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Speaker 1: have have an opportunity to get out, then our job

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Speaker 1: is to do is to literally go back. And if

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Speaker 1: we think about the Civil Rights movement, the leaders understood

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Speaker 1: their call, they understood their charge. We think about the

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Speaker 1: Great migration from Mississippi to Chicago. My family left miss

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Speaker 1: left Mississippi, go to Chicago. But they were supposed to

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Speaker 1: go to create a better pathway, create a better life.

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Speaker 1: And so what we can't do is to understand that

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Speaker 1: we're supposed to create something better, then we just stopped

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Speaker 1: and we never go back. So over mobility truly has

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Speaker 1: to do with how we think about our positioning power

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Speaker 1: and leveraging it to bring the community forward. I want

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Speaker 1: to talk about this social entrepreneursial thing because again, like

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Speaker 1: this is not something this is not a business you

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Speaker 1: build just because you have a billion people gonna using

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Speaker 1: you're gonna be this trillionaire like you know, Jeff Basos,

433
00:22:16,080 --> 00:22:19,800
Speaker 1: Although you can do well while doing well. I want

434
00:22:19,840 --> 00:22:22,480
Speaker 1: you to talk about how that works because there I

435
00:22:22,480 --> 00:22:25,880
Speaker 1: would imagine if there is aspiring doctor keys out there

436
00:22:26,160 --> 00:22:28,960
Speaker 1: who in their other the town, may you know, think

437
00:22:29,000 --> 00:22:32,320
Speaker 1: about putting together a market or doing something else, but

438
00:22:32,359 --> 00:22:35,600
Speaker 1: they haven't not not yet figured out how to do

439
00:22:35,680 --> 00:22:40,920
Speaker 1: well while doing well. Talking speaking out yeah, so I

440
00:22:40,960 --> 00:22:43,080
Speaker 1: mean you said it will you can you can do

441
00:22:43,160 --> 00:22:47,000
Speaker 1: well while doing well. Um. The goal is to not

442
00:22:47,119 --> 00:22:50,760
Speaker 1: say what we've always been. It's all right to make money.

443
00:22:50,960 --> 00:22:54,119
Speaker 1: It's not right to being authentic, it's not right to

444
00:22:54,200 --> 00:22:57,160
Speaker 1: just do things for the money. Um. But in order

445
00:22:57,200 --> 00:23:00,119
Speaker 1: for us to seek any sense of economic liberation is

446
00:23:00,119 --> 00:23:02,320
Speaker 1: going to require many of us to start making money

447
00:23:02,359 --> 00:23:04,240
Speaker 1: and put that money together to build things that we

448
00:23:04,320 --> 00:23:08,000
Speaker 1: have never seen. So with those social entrepreneurs like myself

449
00:23:08,040 --> 00:23:10,200
Speaker 1: out there, I can just tell you what I've done.

450
00:23:10,240 --> 00:23:12,960
Speaker 1: I can only speak about from my own experiences. I

451
00:23:13,040 --> 00:23:15,600
Speaker 1: made sure that the village was very it was very

452
00:23:15,640 --> 00:23:17,600
Speaker 1: clear on what our intentions were. But I made sure

453
00:23:17,640 --> 00:23:20,119
Speaker 1: that in the background of that that I had a

454
00:23:20,160 --> 00:23:23,439
Speaker 1: comprehensive business plan with verticals in place. But what is

455
00:23:23,440 --> 00:23:26,320
Speaker 1: the nonprofit arm and what is the for profit arm?

456
00:23:26,359 --> 00:23:29,320
Speaker 1: And it's okay to exist in both spaces. They're doing

457
00:23:29,359 --> 00:23:31,560
Speaker 1: good to do good, But then that for profit is

458
00:23:31,600 --> 00:23:33,439
Speaker 1: to make sure that you can bring your team on

459
00:23:33,880 --> 00:23:36,880
Speaker 1: that that I have nephews who are who I I'm

460
00:23:36,920 --> 00:23:39,280
Speaker 1: hoping one day that I can hand something out to them,

461
00:23:39,359 --> 00:23:42,080
Speaker 1: and when it comes to land value and things like that.

462
00:23:42,359 --> 00:23:43,840
Speaker 1: But I can't do that if I'm only in the

463
00:23:43,880 --> 00:23:45,960
Speaker 1: space of doing things out of place with my heart

464
00:23:46,359 --> 00:23:49,440
Speaker 1: and I'm not thinking about what is that financial impact

465
00:23:49,440 --> 00:23:52,280
Speaker 1: that financial game. But one thing that I don't compromise,

466
00:23:52,359 --> 00:23:55,359
Speaker 1: and I'm and I'm hoping no social entrepreneur or any

467
00:23:55,359 --> 00:23:58,440
Speaker 1: black entrepreneur, I don't think you ever should compromise your people.

468
00:23:59,040 --> 00:24:01,000
Speaker 1: And I know that's hard. I know it's hard when

469
00:24:01,040 --> 00:24:03,160
Speaker 1: things come at you and you're like, man, this is good.

470
00:24:03,760 --> 00:24:06,439
Speaker 1: But we all have that intrinsic thing that happens inside

471
00:24:06,440 --> 00:24:08,480
Speaker 1: of us when we know that something is deeply out

472
00:24:08,480 --> 00:24:12,199
Speaker 1: of alignment. That level of discomfort that we have to

473
00:24:12,280 --> 00:24:15,119
Speaker 1: live and experience when we do things out of alignment

474
00:24:15,200 --> 00:24:18,959
Speaker 1: is not worth it. All money, as our grandparents to say,

475
00:24:19,200 --> 00:24:21,760
Speaker 1: not good money. To leave that not good money over

476
00:24:21,800 --> 00:24:24,360
Speaker 1: there and make some really good money and make sure

477
00:24:24,359 --> 00:24:26,960
Speaker 1: you hire a really good team, because once you hire

478
00:24:27,000 --> 00:24:29,320
Speaker 1: a really good team, then you're able to scare your business.

479
00:24:29,680 --> 00:24:32,040
Speaker 1: But it put the verticals in place to make sure

480
00:24:32,080 --> 00:24:35,040
Speaker 1: that the revenue model is solid, make sure there's enough

481
00:24:35,480 --> 00:24:38,280
Speaker 1: after your revenue models is solid, and you can go

482
00:24:38,320 --> 00:24:39,800
Speaker 1: out there and if you want to give grants and

483
00:24:39,840 --> 00:24:42,040
Speaker 1: things like that. But it's hard to give from a

484
00:24:42,080 --> 00:24:46,240
Speaker 1: place where you don't have things. You see, I'm sure

485
00:24:46,320 --> 00:24:49,000
Speaker 1: a lot of small businesses who just aren't ready to

486
00:24:49,119 --> 00:24:52,880
Speaker 1: be in the village market. And I'm wondering what are

487
00:24:52,880 --> 00:24:56,000
Speaker 1: some of those things that people don't have in place

488
00:24:56,560 --> 00:24:58,400
Speaker 1: that they're not even ready yet for that I talk

489
00:24:58,600 --> 00:25:00,440
Speaker 1: and talk about some of the tactical things they should

490
00:25:00,520 --> 00:25:03,200
Speaker 1: be doing, you know, to be able to be ready

491
00:25:03,400 --> 00:25:05,679
Speaker 1: for whether it whether it's a village market or just

492
00:25:05,720 --> 00:25:08,920
Speaker 1: doing business period. Things that you need to do. Yeah,

493
00:25:09,040 --> 00:25:12,640
Speaker 1: so um for any entrepreneur in the village or wherever

494
00:25:12,800 --> 00:25:15,360
Speaker 1: you the first part to make sure you prepare to

495
00:25:15,359 --> 00:25:19,080
Speaker 1: make sure your your business is legit So have you

496
00:25:19,280 --> 00:25:22,240
Speaker 1: have you done all the things that legitimizes your business,

497
00:25:22,280 --> 00:25:25,119
Speaker 1: like that's the Instagram blue check. I guess have you

498
00:25:25,160 --> 00:25:28,920
Speaker 1: got your business license in place? Because there's gonna come

499
00:25:28,920 --> 00:25:31,359
Speaker 1: a time where you where especially when we get this

500
00:25:31,440 --> 00:25:34,400
Speaker 1: bank and stuff together, that you may need access to capital,

501
00:25:34,560 --> 00:25:36,720
Speaker 1: you may need a line of credit, you may need

502
00:25:36,760 --> 00:25:39,560
Speaker 1: along and so what they're what the first thing is

503
00:25:39,600 --> 00:25:41,200
Speaker 1: they're going to ask you for is how many times

504
00:25:41,200 --> 00:25:43,639
Speaker 1: when you foul taxes and you can't sit with a

505
00:25:43,640 --> 00:25:46,399
Speaker 1: black stare so the only way that you can foul taxes,

506
00:25:46,440 --> 00:25:48,360
Speaker 1: you've got to make sure you have a legit businesses

507
00:25:48,720 --> 00:25:51,399
Speaker 1: in place and a lot of And I understand the

508
00:25:51,440 --> 00:25:54,800
Speaker 1: intimidation factor of that, but getting get legit meant and

509
00:25:54,800 --> 00:25:57,920
Speaker 1: getting your certification is not It's not a hard process.

510
00:25:58,000 --> 00:26:02,760
Speaker 1: It's just sitting down and doing um starting there. That's

511
00:26:02,840 --> 00:26:05,439
Speaker 1: the first step of making sure your business is legit

512
00:26:05,800 --> 00:26:08,119
Speaker 1: and then just being very clear on what are those

513
00:26:08,160 --> 00:26:11,080
Speaker 1: short and long term goals. And I will say your

514
00:26:11,160 --> 00:26:13,320
Speaker 1: short term goals don't have to be the same what

515
00:26:13,480 --> 00:26:15,600
Speaker 1: you see as the highlight reel of some of the

516
00:26:15,600 --> 00:26:18,400
Speaker 1: people who you look up to on Instagram. I mean,

517
00:26:18,680 --> 00:26:21,000
Speaker 1: if we're catching a highlight reel, you missing all the

518
00:26:21,080 --> 00:26:23,680
Speaker 1: years that they had to put in to even create

519
00:26:23,720 --> 00:26:26,439
Speaker 1: the highlight reel. So I wouldn't even assess that I

520
00:26:26,440 --> 00:26:28,639
Speaker 1: would put that as the long term. But in a

521
00:26:28,680 --> 00:26:30,560
Speaker 1: short term, do you want to make sure that your

522
00:26:31,119 --> 00:26:34,560
Speaker 1: your brand identity is solid, these colors that you're choosing,

523
00:26:34,600 --> 00:26:37,720
Speaker 1: these words that you're using, that voice and brand voice,

524
00:26:37,960 --> 00:26:40,560
Speaker 1: Like what are you about if people never see your

525
00:26:40,600 --> 00:26:42,760
Speaker 1: face but met your company, what do you want them

526
00:26:42,760 --> 00:26:45,359
Speaker 1: to see? That's the stuff that you start thinking about

527
00:26:45,359 --> 00:26:47,920
Speaker 1: who is that customer, Who is that customer that would

528
00:26:47,960 --> 00:26:51,440
Speaker 1: go that would shot from you during the pandemic asthetive pandemic.

529
00:26:51,760 --> 00:26:54,960
Speaker 1: Start considering who that person is. And then from a

530
00:26:55,080 --> 00:27:01,080
Speaker 1: very tactical sense, I recommend everyone getting an accountant and

531
00:27:01,119 --> 00:27:04,480
Speaker 1: getting a small business attorney. And there's organizations like the

532
00:27:04,640 --> 00:27:06,560
Speaker 1: s b A that you can work with, and that's

533
00:27:06,600 --> 00:27:09,240
Speaker 1: throughout the country. To make sure that you have those

534
00:27:09,280 --> 00:27:12,240
Speaker 1: two people in place. I find that to be number one,

535
00:27:12,280 --> 00:27:15,280
Speaker 1: because they're gonna make sure how I started this, gonna

536
00:27:15,280 --> 00:27:17,639
Speaker 1: make sure that you are legit, because you have to

537
00:27:17,680 --> 00:27:20,680
Speaker 1: be prepared for when the great day comes, when all

538
00:27:20,680 --> 00:27:24,639
Speaker 1: the algorithms clide together and you see yourself popping. You

539
00:27:24,720 --> 00:27:28,520
Speaker 1: gotta be prepared for that customer overflow. It is going

540
00:27:28,560 --> 00:27:30,520
Speaker 1: to happen if you continue to push at it and

541
00:27:30,520 --> 00:27:33,719
Speaker 1: work at it um. But I really want to share again,

542
00:27:34,640 --> 00:27:39,359
Speaker 1: beyond those tacticals senses, it is so important to disconnect

543
00:27:39,440 --> 00:27:42,320
Speaker 1: from social sometimes because if you would look at the

544
00:27:42,320 --> 00:27:45,280
Speaker 1: progression the highlight reel of other people, you are constantly

545
00:27:45,320 --> 00:27:48,240
Speaker 1: feel that you're feeling, You're constantly feel that there's no

546
00:27:48,320 --> 00:27:52,159
Speaker 1: space for you that is oversaturated, that I can't do

547
00:27:52,200 --> 00:27:54,760
Speaker 1: it like this person, and as long as you're watching that,

548
00:27:54,760 --> 00:27:56,960
Speaker 1: that is stifling what you can truly be and what

549
00:27:57,000 --> 00:27:59,920
Speaker 1: you can truly become. So another because another tape of

550
00:28:00,000 --> 00:28:03,359
Speaker 1: a sense of getting prepared as getting unplugged. You have

551
00:28:03,480 --> 00:28:06,800
Speaker 1: to be clear on what you're striving to be old

552
00:28:07,280 --> 00:28:09,439
Speaker 1: and why you're striving to build it, and then you

553
00:28:09,480 --> 00:28:13,240
Speaker 1: start creating your plan behind that. But my advice for

554
00:28:13,280 --> 00:28:15,800
Speaker 1: those first investments, and this is just what I did.

555
00:28:16,440 --> 00:28:19,840
Speaker 1: I got my accountant, I got my small business attorney,

556
00:28:20,160 --> 00:28:22,119
Speaker 1: and now at the place where I can hire somebody

557
00:28:22,119 --> 00:28:24,479
Speaker 1: who's always there. But at first, these are just contract

558
00:28:24,560 --> 00:28:28,040
Speaker 1: the folks who I could afford when it was important.

559
00:28:28,359 --> 00:28:30,000
Speaker 1: But what you get to the place where you're able

560
00:28:30,000 --> 00:28:34,840
Speaker 1: to keep these people on staff. Um there we just

561
00:28:34,880 --> 00:28:37,919
Speaker 1: say Atlanta is a special places. It is just it's

562
00:28:37,960 --> 00:28:41,200
Speaker 1: a special place, especially for black people. It's a special place.

563
00:28:41,880 --> 00:28:45,160
Speaker 1: And it's not like to me, like rocket science, that

564
00:28:45,280 --> 00:28:49,080
Speaker 1: this works in Atlanta because Atlanta's they wing you and

565
00:28:49,160 --> 00:28:53,720
Speaker 1: plus Atlanta it's gonna work. How does this work outside

566
00:28:53,760 --> 00:28:56,840
Speaker 1: of Atlanta? So if if if I am you and

567
00:28:56,840 --> 00:29:00,240
Speaker 1: I'm trying to grow or I am aspiring you, I'm

568
00:29:00,680 --> 00:29:03,440
Speaker 1: in the town that's like, Okay, how do you build

569
00:29:03,440 --> 00:29:10,160
Speaker 1: community around commerce and black vendors in consumers? How do

570
00:29:10,200 --> 00:29:15,720
Speaker 1: you do that outside of the Yeah, in fair question.

571
00:29:16,160 --> 00:29:19,880
Speaker 1: So I also think Atlanta is a very special, special city.

572
00:29:20,240 --> 00:29:22,840
Speaker 1: But if you take the word Atlanta the way Atlanta

573
00:29:22,840 --> 00:29:27,320
Speaker 1: has comprised of people, every community, every city has people,

574
00:29:28,080 --> 00:29:30,560
Speaker 1: Every city has folks that that's like Dr KEI and

575
00:29:30,600 --> 00:29:32,880
Speaker 1: like Will. Now we may have our own flavor to it,

576
00:29:33,120 --> 00:29:35,280
Speaker 1: but there's people out there who want to be disruptive

577
00:29:35,320 --> 00:29:37,440
Speaker 1: and want to do things that they've never seen before.

578
00:29:37,760 --> 00:29:39,560
Speaker 1: You get all those dis rough the people in the

579
00:29:39,680 --> 00:29:42,440
Speaker 1: room together and you started thinking of the master plan.

580
00:29:42,640 --> 00:29:45,960
Speaker 1: And this is in Baseville, Mississippi, where I'm from um

581
00:29:46,000 --> 00:29:49,640
Speaker 1: to Ohio to Detroit. You can do the same thing

582
00:29:49,840 --> 00:29:52,240
Speaker 1: all like mind, people need to start getting the room

583
00:29:52,280 --> 00:29:55,200
Speaker 1: and talking together, talking about insecurity so we can go

584
00:29:55,200 --> 00:29:57,320
Speaker 1: on and get that out of the way, started talking

585
00:29:57,320 --> 00:29:59,600
Speaker 1: about these big plans that we have and what we

586
00:29:59,640 --> 00:30:03,760
Speaker 1: can do collaboratively together and what connections we have. Because

587
00:30:03,920 --> 00:30:06,400
Speaker 1: then we bring those connections together, now we have a

588
00:30:06,440 --> 00:30:09,560
Speaker 1: working ecosystem in our in our community that we can

589
00:30:09,600 --> 00:30:13,160
Speaker 1: start plug and play. But I truly believe Atlanta it

590
00:30:13,200 --> 00:30:16,040
Speaker 1: has all the secret sauce, but Atlanta has the secret

591
00:30:16,080 --> 00:30:20,000
Speaker 1: sauce of people who decided to bring their sauce together

592
00:30:20,360 --> 00:30:22,600
Speaker 1: in order to get something done. And so do I

593
00:30:22,640 --> 00:30:25,400
Speaker 1: think this can happen in Mississippi? Yes? Do I think

594
00:30:25,400 --> 00:30:27,560
Speaker 1: it can happen across the country. It doesn't matter if

595
00:30:27,600 --> 00:30:30,080
Speaker 1: the city is hot Atlanta and not. I really do.

596
00:30:30,320 --> 00:30:32,320
Speaker 1: I think it all deals with the people that you

597
00:30:32,360 --> 00:30:35,760
Speaker 1: are in close proximity. And it takes how what you

598
00:30:35,800 --> 00:30:40,800
Speaker 1: and I are doing today, It takes communication, It takes authenticity,

599
00:30:40,840 --> 00:30:44,240
Speaker 1: It takes talking about things that we are not subject to,

600
00:30:44,240 --> 00:30:47,160
Speaker 1: talking about a whole lot those things that make us insecure,

601
00:30:47,480 --> 00:30:49,720
Speaker 1: and then we start working together. Before we ever start

602
00:30:49,760 --> 00:30:53,360
Speaker 1: working together, having these conversations and saying like, what's like,

603
00:30:53,440 --> 00:30:56,520
Speaker 1: what's the goal? Because the regardless of how well I

604
00:30:56,600 --> 00:30:58,760
Speaker 1: may be doing, how well you may be doing well,

605
00:30:58,880 --> 00:31:01,680
Speaker 1: none of us are doing well enough. One of us,

606
00:31:01,840 --> 00:31:05,920
Speaker 1: none of us individually have can even imagine the potential

607
00:31:06,120 --> 00:31:08,480
Speaker 1: of where we can be if we keep our minds

608
00:31:08,480 --> 00:31:12,160
Speaker 1: that strong and continue to work forward and work together. So, yeah,

609
00:31:12,240 --> 00:31:16,880
Speaker 1: collaboration city, the city, conversations, um, getting those networks in

610
00:31:16,920 --> 00:31:19,120
Speaker 1: the room, all the plugs and the community, get them,

611
00:31:19,160 --> 00:31:21,920
Speaker 1: getting them all in the same room and understand that

612
00:31:22,120 --> 00:31:24,120
Speaker 1: the only way we can conquer the thing, it has

613
00:31:24,160 --> 00:31:46,520
Speaker 1: to be done together. Black Tech Green Money is in

614
00:31:46,560 --> 00:31:48,640
Speaker 1: production of Black and the Afro Tech on the Black

615
00:31:48,800 --> 00:31:52,480
Speaker 1: Fact podcast Networking I Hired Media. It's produced by Morgan

616
00:31:52,560 --> 00:31:56,640
Speaker 1: Dubon and me Well Lucas, with additional production support by

617
00:31:56,680 --> 00:32:00,320
Speaker 1: Love Beach and Raven near Born. Especially thank you Michael

618
00:32:00,400 --> 00:32:03,160
Speaker 1: Davis and sa Carsa von Jan you know like the Wine.

619
00:32:03,440 --> 00:32:06,680
Speaker 1: Yes that's his real name. Learn more about my guests

620
00:32:06,680 --> 00:32:10,240
Speaker 1: and other technis represent innovators at afro tech dot com.

621
00:32:10,360 --> 00:32:12,400
Speaker 1: The video version of this episode would drop the Black

622
00:32:12,440 --> 00:32:15,080
Speaker 1: Tech Green Money on YouTube next week, so tap in

623
00:32:16,520 --> 00:32:19,200
Speaker 1: enjoying Black Tech Green Money. Leave us a five star

624
00:32:19,320 --> 00:32:24,160
Speaker 1: rating on iTunes. Gonna get your money, Peace and love,