Latest / Virtuous Leaders with Dr. Johann D'Souza / Ep.68 – David Niccolini: Faith vs. Human Trafficking | Catholic Virtue | Modern Slavery | Entrepreneur | Family Values

Transcript

Ep.68 – David Niccolini: Faith vs. Human Trafficking | Catholic Virtue | Modern Slavery | Entrepreneur | Family Values · Virtuous Leaders with Dr. Johann D'Souza

0:00
There are probably more human souls in some form of modern
0:04
slavery or human trafficking today than at any other point in
0:09
the course of human history. You're a serial entrepreneur.
0:17
What made you decide to get into fighting human trafficking?
0:21
Sure. So that is kind of a little bit
0:24
of a long story, but I got involved, I met a venture
0:29
Capital Group out of Fort Worth at this point.
0:33
Now they're out of Fort Worth, Zurich and Singapore.
0:36
But I got to know these people in 2018.
0:40
They invested in one of my company's Evidence City in 2021.
0:47
And and that's that's how I got to know them.
0:49
They're Kingdom impact minded investors.
0:53
So when we went through the due diligence process, obviously
0:56
there was they wanted to know business model, founders, return
1:00
on investment, addressable market size, all all that kind
1:04
of due diligence that you would expect in AVC environment.
1:08
But they also want to know what impact we are going to make.
1:11
And as believers in Jesus Christ, they wanted to know how
1:14
we are going to take the money they were giving us from their
1:17
limited partners and how we are going to use that for Kingdom
1:20
impact. So, so to get to your answer,
1:25
when I met them in 2018 and when they invested in US in 2021,
1:29
they had not yet got involved in anti trafficking or counter
1:33
trafficking efforts. But by 2022, they as a venture
1:37
Capital Group were leaning into the problem, leaning into
1:40
looking for solutions, especially around investing
1:44
capital in data and tech to fight human trafficking.
1:48
So that was my experience or, or, or maybe my introduction,
1:54
they held a conference back in late 2022 that I attended as one
1:59
of their founders. And, and basically I spent a day
2:03
learning about human trafficking in, you know, in the 21st
2:07
century. And I was, first of all, I was
2:10
shocked. I was astounded.
2:12
I had no idea the, the scale, the issue, the size, the evil,
2:18
the depravity. And but quickly my shock and
2:23
amazement turn to resolve to say, you know what, what am I
2:28
going to do about that? So as, as the venture capital
2:31
firm leaned into it, I did with my partner at Evidence City, as
2:35
we started thinking about how our data, our tech, our company
2:40
could address that issue. And at Evidence City, we focus
2:43
in on global supply chain transparency.
2:47
And, and that has to do with the fact that the global economy is
2:50
so large, so complicated, nefarious and evil actors kind
2:56
of hang out in that global economy and they siphon off
2:59
legitimate dollars for evil purposes.
3:01
So things like child labor, forced labor, human human
3:05
trafficking, indentured servitude.
3:07
And so a, a Fortune 50 company isn't, isn't in the business of
3:13
supporting human trafficking, but the complexity of their
3:16
supply chain going all around the world is such that, that
3:20
when you get, you know, two or three or 4° of separation from
3:24
that Fortune 50 company that they are unwittingly supporting
3:29
forced labor, child labor, what have you.
3:31
So, so evidence that he works on global supply chain transparency
3:34
to address those issues. My, my newest venture, also
3:38
backed by the same venture Capital Group that they asked me
3:40
to, to, to come on board and look into is called Hotel
3:44
Shield. And Hotel Shield is a little bit
3:46
more direct in, in our, in our aim and our mission and our
3:50
fight and that is to basically empower the hospitality
3:55
vertical. So think hotels, motels,
3:57
lodging, empower them to prevent, detect and respond to
4:03
human trafficking on their properties in real time.
4:06
So that's a long winded answer, but that's that's kind of how I
4:09
found myself into all of this. So I did a PhD in clinical
4:13
psychology in the 21st century and what I was taught is that
4:19
slavery was an issue here in the US couple 100 years ago.
4:22
And now the biggest issue is systemic racism and we don't see
4:27
slavery anymore. So we really, what's the point
4:30
of even talking about it? Is that is that right?
4:32
Is that accurate? No, no, no, I would, I, I would
4:36
disagree with that. So according to the United
4:39
Nations and, and obviously, you know, we all have our opinions
4:42
about the UN, but according to the United Nations that tries to
4:46
track this. I mean, when you think about it
4:50
bad, you know, organized crime syndicates, human traffickers,
4:55
they don't report their quarterly earnings like an SEC
4:59
traded company, right? So it's, it's a little bit hard
5:02
to put exact numbers on this, but people who follow this at
5:06
the UN as well as a lot of nonprofits, governmental
5:10
agencies, law enforcement agencies, what have you.
5:14
There are currently, it's believed in, in one form of
5:18
modern slavery or another is believed that the number is
5:21
about 50 million people worldwide.
5:26
Some of that is sex trafficking, some of its forced labor, some
5:30
of its indentured servitude somewhat, you know, there are
5:33
varying degrees of it. It's all awful.
5:35
It's all evil. I don't mean to split hairs, but
5:39
but there are, there are all kinds of ways in which people
5:44
find themselves in these horrible situations.
5:47
And, and, and sometimes, interestingly enough, depending
5:51
on the culture, might not even want to leave the situation
5:56
because like, for example, there are a lot of workers in the
6:00
Middle East under horrible conditions, horrible living
6:03
conditions. However, every month they're
6:06
able to send back money to India or Nepal or Pakistan or other
6:11
countries as well. And, and back home, they're a
6:14
hero. They're they're sending back
6:16
more money that is supporting not only their immediate family,
6:20
but often times their extended family in such a way that that
6:24
that even though they're informed, like, hey, you're
6:27
being taken advantage of, like you should have ready access to
6:30
your passport. You should be able to go.
6:32
And you know, you should be here lawfully, right?
6:34
There are processes to do that. And so I don't want to get into
6:37
all the insurance and outs of the spectrum of modern slavery.
6:40
I don't think we have time to delve into that.
6:42
And, and I honestly, I'm not an expert, but what I can tell you
6:47
is that there are probably more human souls in some form of
6:53
modern slavery or human trafficking today than at any
6:57
other point in the course of human history.
6:59
And you might say to yourself, well, wait a minute, that's
7:01
slavery. You know, 1000 years ago or 2000
7:05
years ago or even 3000 years ago was a lot more common and a lot
7:09
more accepted. So wouldn't there be more
7:13
statistically or percentage wise?
7:15
Yes, probably, but but the fact that we are 8 billion people
7:20
today and and 50 million so that the percentages might be
7:24
smaller, but the actual numbers of people in this situation is
7:29
probably larger than it's ever been at any point in human
7:32
history. Once you get into the topic,
7:35
scratch the surface, it gets really dark really quickly,
7:39
which is honestly one of my hesitations to get into the
7:42
topic. How do you how do you address
7:44
that concern or calories, if you will?
7:47
Yeah, it's a real concern. And I, I work with, I'm, I'm
7:52
fortunate enough to be involved with all kinds of people that
7:55
are, that are attacking this issue from, from where they sit.
7:59
So law enforcement, government, academic nonprofits, Ng OS, as
8:05
well as people that I'm more closely aligned with venture
8:09
capital and, and entrepreneurs and founders, right?
8:17
And it can get very dark very quickly.
8:21
There are briefings and discussions that I've had that
8:28
are downright horrific as a as a Catholic and as a believer in
8:35
Jesus Christ, as many of as many of the people that I'm involved
8:39
with or, or associated with are as well.
8:42
There's a spiritual component to what's going on.
8:45
So it's not just the physical world, it's not just the secular
8:48
physical world of what's happening, but there's a
8:50
spiritual element and component to what's going on.
8:54
And so for those, for those reasons that I laid out, one,
8:59
some of the stuff is just really evil.
9:02
I mean, it is like man's inhumanity to man at a level
9:07
that you wouldn't think is possible when you, when you live
9:12
your nice life and take your kids to soccer practice and, you
9:15
know, pick up the dry cleaning and etcetera, etcetera.
9:18
It's, it's a, it's an evil that is, that is hard to comprehend
9:22
at times. And then because of the
9:25
spiritual element, it can get very, very dark because of that
9:29
as well. So, but I, I go back to that
9:33
conference that my, the venture Capital Group put on back in
9:36
2022. Within 24 hours, the Lord had
9:40
put something on my heart. I won't go into all the details,
9:44
but he had put it on my heart that that I needed to do
9:46
something back in 2022. I had no idea what that was.
9:51
I, I still don't really think that I know exactly what that is
9:56
here, You know, three years later.
9:59
I'm just trying to obediently walk step by step and, and
10:02
figure, figure out where the Lord wants me and what he wants
10:05
me to do. And I'll try to do that and I'll
10:08
try to be obedient to that. But it's, it is important.
10:16
It is important to pray. So I pray a lot.
10:19
I just among, among your Catholic viewers, I have a
10:23
spiritual director. He is put in my hands a lot of
10:31
exorcism prayers for the laity. I'm not, you know, I'm not a
10:36
clergy. I'm a layperson.
10:38
I'm just a practicing Catholic, but there are exorcism prayers
10:42
that, that, that I have access to.
10:44
So I, I pray those on a somewhat regular basis.
10:48
And, and then I just keep on trying to walk forward and
10:51
trying to make a difference. And it's, it's hard.
10:55
There's a, you know, you know, in a way, the evil that you
10:58
speak of or the, the really awful, awful, dark stuff that
11:03
you speak of. In some ways that's not as hard
11:09
as the skepticism and the apathy that I run into that, that I
11:17
think the, the, the skeptics, at least I can have an argument
11:21
with the apathetic or, or just, you know, it reminds me of
11:25
revelation, right? Like better to be hot or cold,
11:29
but lukewarm. I, I spit you out And, and that
11:32
that apathy is, is difficult in, in view of what we know and what
11:37
we're trying to do, the apathy is very difficult to deal with.
11:40
From whom do you get that apathy?
11:44
From, from people in positions of authority and budget who, who
11:55
say everything from, you know, not my problem to the problems
12:06
too big. I'm a cog in a wheel.
12:08
What can I really do? And when you're talking about,
12:12
you know, Fortune 500 Global 1000 companies that are worrying
12:17
about worrying about the next shareholder report or the next
12:20
earnings report, you know, and, and you're talking about
12:27
increasing budgets in in places that are cost centers, right.
12:33
So there's, there's not going to be any return on investment in
12:36
terms of dollars and cents then. Yeah, it's kind of like what?
12:41
Like what do you want me to do about it?
12:42
Not that apathy is difficult to deal with.
12:45
Yeah. I was wondering if those Fortune
12:47
50 companies are, to what extent they really care.
12:50
Do they? I think, I think that I think
12:57
individuals at that those companies care.
13:00
I think the the companies, the the the institution, the
13:04
bureaucracy, however you want to the entity is we like to think
13:12
that they're mindless. There's actually so you know, we
13:16
know the scripture that says, you know, you cannot serve 2
13:19
masters, right? You cannot serve God and mammal
13:22
the it's interesting in the Bible, one of my pastors once
13:27
said that anytime you know you're reading Scripture and
13:31
there's an original word, write a word in the original Aramaic
13:35
or a word in in an ancient language that they never
13:38
translated that's never been translated into vernacular.
13:41
It's really important to pay attention to those.
13:43
And Mammon is 1. And ultimately, if you, if you
13:46
go down to the notes or you go online, do your Bible study, it
13:49
will tell you that you know, it's money or maybe it's the
13:52
love of money. But but Mammon is actually like
13:58
a, a minion of the devil, right? It is, it is actually so, so
14:04
when you take all the humanity out of business, you take all
14:08
the humanity out of capital or you take all the humanity out of
14:11
business. Capital just wants a return,
14:15
does it doesn't care how it gets it.
14:16
It just just wants a return and not, and not the the largest
14:19
possible. And most businesses simply want
14:22
to grow. They want, they want to add to
14:24
the bottom line, they want to add to the top line, right.
14:27
And, and in a way, we that becomes an idol, that becomes a
14:34
God that becomes serving Mammon. And and so the individuals, I
14:40
think when, when you sit down and talk to them, they're not
14:44
necessarily apathetic, but they feel powerless in a structure,
14:49
in an environment, in a machine that that doesn't care about
14:55
human beings, doesn't care about anything, just wants, wants
14:58
more. So you know that that's a lot of
15:02
my own personal made my own personal little mini sermon
15:06
there. But but that's so the the
15:09
individuals are are not necessarily apathetic, but they
15:12
feel powerless within the the structure that they find
15:16
themselves in. Out of the individuals that do
15:19
help, what proportion of them are not motivated by faith or
15:23
religion? That's a good, that's a good
15:27
question. I, I haven't really thought
15:29
about that before. So I'm I'm kind of doing some
15:31
mental calculations in my head as as I try to respond in a
15:35
thoughtful way. I will tell you that when I'm
15:44
very, I'm very open in my faith, both in, in a digital format.
15:50
So if anybody finds me on LinkedIn, you'll see that the
15:52
first thing I say is faith driven.
15:55
I'm, I'm also very open in my posts.
15:57
And that's just that's who I am. And that's where I am in my
16:01
life. And I'm, I'm very comfortable
16:03
with it. But not only am I like that
16:05
digitally, I'm, I'm, you know, I'm like that in, in real life,
16:09
right? As the kids say IRL, in real
16:12
life, I'm also pretty open about it.
16:16
No, no, no, no, I don't try to force it on anyone.
16:19
I don't try to proselytize, but but I'm very just open and
16:23
transparent about that. And I will tell you that when I
16:26
meet someone else who professes to love Jesus Christ, man, it's
16:32
a it's, it's a lot quicker to finding solutions together then
16:38
then when I don't. So, so my, my sample size, I say
16:43
all that to say that my sample size is skewed.
16:48
It's skewed because I know I usually have better response
16:53
responses, better immediate responses, and better long term
16:57
results when I'm dealing with another believer on the other
17:01
side. I asked that question because it
17:03
seems to me that we're in a battle between secular humanism
17:06
and deism, and I think the last presidential election was a
17:11
great example of that. You see that Trump brought
17:15
together people from from different backgrounds, but who,
17:19
for the most part, shared the theistic worldview versus the
17:23
secular humanism of do what you will.
17:26
Yeah, there is. Don't quote me on this.
17:31
I don't have it in front of me. I think it's Peter, Peter Thiel
17:36
or Peter Thiel and and is basically, you know, there there
17:44
is a growing basically he sees the world heading in in one of
17:48
three directions, right, Just based on number of people and
17:56
and the the money and influence and power behind these groups of
18:00
people. One is Beijing 11 is the Chinese
18:05
Communist Party and, and their view of the world, their view of
18:10
their place in it, their view of human life.
18:14
And, and so that that's kind of one path.
18:16
Another is the, the Muslim population over billion plus and
18:23
their belief in their, the Prophet Muhammad and Allah.
18:26
And kind of like they, they have their path and they, they kind
18:30
of have a worldview of the way the world should should be.
18:34
And then, and then in the West, probably kind of postmodern post
18:39
World War 2, this, this group of, of individuals that kind of
18:45
had this new world order of working through the UN and
18:50
working through capital democracy, secular, you know,
18:55
it's been called socialist democracy, all all kinds of
18:58
things. And those are kind of like the
19:01
IT seemed that that by, you know, 2000 and eight 2010, like
19:09
those were the three options and they were the only three
19:12
options. And then, you know, a man by the
19:16
name of Donald Trump came down to golden escalator and said, I,
19:20
you know, there's, there's a fourth way.
19:22
And and, you know, we'll see, we'll see which one wins out,
19:26
right? You know, luckily as as
19:29
believers, you know, spoil a little alert in the end, God's
19:34
God wins, right? So like we know that the
19:36
victories already been won and we know who the ultimate winner
19:39
is. But but within, you know, kind
19:41
of this physical world, there, there are these very, very
19:45
powerful, you know, elements. And and up until 2016, there
19:51
were three and Donald Trump introduced a a fourth.
19:55
I think it is based heavily on Judeo-christian ethics.
20:00
And American exceptionalism, and it is, it is 1/4 path that a lot
20:05
of people have embraced and we'll see what happens.
20:09
You said earlier there's a spiritual component to the
20:11
darkness. What did you mean by that?
20:16
So, you know, as, as, as believers, the secular world
20:26
believes in coincidences, right? Just kind of like odd things and
20:30
weird things that happen. As a believer, I don't, I
20:34
believe it's all part of God's plan.
20:36
And so, you know, when things happen, the secular world says
20:41
why, right. So if, if, if your, if your 3
20:49
year old daughter develops brain cancer, the secular world says
20:53
why, why would an all loving, you know, all powerful God what,
20:58
why and, and what I learned years ago from a good friend of
21:03
mine is that why is not a very faithful question.
21:07
What is the faithful question? And so whatever's happening in
21:12
your life, try to ask what and not why.
21:16
So when things have happened to me, when, when I've stumbled,
21:23
when, when things have happened to family members that are close
21:26
to me over the last couple of years, I, I'm not, you know, not
21:32
trying to draw on straight lines all the time, but sometimes
21:36
it's, it's pretty hard when again, not when, when you ask
21:40
why, but when you ask what, what is going on here, what, what is
21:44
happening here? And it's, you know, I know to
21:50
some people this probably sounds crazy and, you know, maybe you
21:53
should put me in a padded room. But but yeah, I think, you know,
21:57
I think to a certain extent, I'm under attack.
22:00
My investors are under attack. Sometimes that that rolls over
22:05
to my family. And so a lot of prayer try to
22:10
try to walk the best I can in the physical world and deal with
22:14
things in, in reality and the physical, but always, always in
22:19
parallel praying. So I I hope that answers your
22:23
question. Is there any particular example
22:25
that stands out to you of being under attack?
22:32
Yeah, there are a couple. I, I, I'm trying to decide how
22:41
personal I want to get one, one in particular.
22:46
Some things were going on, some things were going on personal
22:50
things were going on with my son and I woke up in a start.
22:56
I, I've always had, in fact, my, my wife is, gets very mad at me
23:00
and very jealous at me because I've never had a problem
23:03
sleeping. I'm, I'm one of those people
23:04
that I can fall asleep anywhere. I could fall, you know,
23:08
sometimes my wife and I are having a conversation and you
23:11
know 2 sentences in I'm asleep and which you know anyways I
23:17
have. Trouble sleeping?
23:19
And, and usually, like, you know, through the course of my
23:23
life, no, no trouble sleeping until the alarm goes off, right?
23:27
Very rarely do I get woken out of out of a sleep and and in
23:32
this case, something was going on with my son and I woke up in
23:38
a start and I felt surrounded by evil.
23:43
It was, it was, it was dark. I mean, not just literally dark
23:50
because it was the middle of the night, but it was, it was dark
23:52
and it was thick and it was kind of all around me.
23:55
And I prayed for about a good hour straight and including over
24:01
my son who's who was asleep and I don't know, maybe he'll watch
24:05
this. He doesn't eat.
24:06
We've never even talked about it.
24:08
So it is a little bit personal. But yeah, prayed for about an
24:13
hour straight and then all of a sudden, and especially towards
24:15
the end, prayed a lot to Mary, which in, again, I'm not an
24:24
expert by any stretch of the imagination, but if you read
24:27
some of the Vatican supported exorcism teachings and articles
24:32
and what have you, they'll tell you that the Satan absolutely is
24:37
terrified of our mother. And so a lot of that hour was
24:41
spent praying to Mary. And then all of a sudden, just
24:44
as quickly as it came on and woke me up out of a sleep, it
24:49
was gone and I fell right back asleep.
24:51
Then I, you know, so, so yeah, there's, there's, there's a
24:55
little bit personal, but there's an example.
24:59
Let's pause here for all the listeners to offer a silent
25:02
prayer for David and his family. I just had an image of Our Lady
25:17
smiling at you when I was praying there, so I hope the
25:21
good work. David I, I, I greatly appreciate
25:24
it from you as well as from your listeners.
25:27
Prayers, Prayers are always welcome.
25:30
So you talked about a major challenge.
25:33
Jeez. And I believe you, man.
25:36
I mean, the devil doesn't take days off.
25:38
And who's he going to be attacking?
25:40
He's not going to be attacking the apathetic guy.
25:43
That guy doesn't need anyone to help him on it and be apathetic.
25:46
He's going to be attacking you people who are the game changers
25:49
and. I don't want to, I don't want to
25:53
elevate myself here. So I and I don't believe that's
25:56
what you're doing, but just just to be clear to anybody
25:58
listening, I'm not trying to elevate myself here.
26:00
I again, I am just trying to faithfully walk like step after
26:04
step and and it's hard and I fall, but I just, I just try to
26:09
get up and take that whatever step I feel the Lord is leading
26:14
me to just try to take that and keep moving forward.
26:16
Well, I think that's wise, man, because the biggest ally of the
26:20
devil is pride, right? So especially people on the
26:23
front lines, biggest challenge is staying humble.
26:25
And that's yeah, we're going to fall if we're not, if we're not
26:28
striving for that. So, so respect there.
26:32
So you mentioned a major a challenge.
26:34
Can you share with us some some successes?
26:38
Sure. So there are a tremendous amount
26:49
of, you know, great individuals that your listeners have
26:56
probably, you know, never heard of or maybe they've heard of
27:00
them, but they're not, you know, not fully aware of like some of
27:07
the battles that are going on and, and, and the war, the war
27:12
is raging. But, but it is, it is important
27:17
sometimes to just stop and, and take, take, stop and take stock
27:21
of some of the successes we've had.
27:25
So I, I'm involved, one of my investors is Tim Tebow.
27:30
I'm sure you know a lot of your listeners know Tim through his
27:34
college football days, his NFL days, now his foundation.
27:42
So, so I work with with him through, through his platform
27:45
and through his bully pulpit. I've met a tremendous amount of
27:49
people and, and he's been a driving force as well as my
27:54
venture Capital Group and creating some, some ecosystems
27:58
where we can come together and we can, we can talk about the
28:01
darkness, we can talk about the ideas, we can talk about moving
28:04
people and capital and bandwidth, but we can also
28:08
celebrate the successes. So I'm going to kind of share
28:11
some of those, one of which that your listeners might not be
28:14
aware of, but as, as one of my friends talks about, you know,
28:22
Pornhub is not a platform and it is not a business.
28:30
It is a crime scene. And for years they did nothing.
28:37
Well, no, that's not true. For years they profited off of
28:44
statutory rape videos, they profited off of non consent
28:50
recordings. They profited off of all kinds
28:54
of things and and over the last just over the last six months,
29:01
Pornhub is in big trouble for good reason.
29:04
It is it is they have finally cleaned out all of their files.
29:08
And I mean, it's just, it's, it's amazing.
29:11
It's amazing to think how many, how many files, how many images,
29:15
how many videos that that they had created over the years, but
29:19
they finally cleaned out all of that.
29:21
In some places, they're they're actually off completely offline.
29:25
And again, because the, the company that was created
29:28
Pornhub, as well as the private equity groups that came and, and
29:33
bought it and, and spread it were, were creating the were,
29:41
were involved in illegal activity and no one seemed to
29:46
care. I speaking about that apathy,
29:49
right? It's like, you know, governments
29:51
didn't care, law enforcement didn't care.
29:53
Well, well, I'm, you know, I know the people who did care and
29:57
kept caring when no one else did and kept fighting and kept
30:01
sharing one of the another success that recently happened
30:06
that your your listeners can Google is have that have them
30:10
Google the take it down act, which just was just passed.
30:14
And again, this is this is non consensual or what's called
30:18
revenge porn. And, and, and you know, you
30:21
might be saying to yourself, like, why, you know, why am I
30:24
talking about, why am I talking about video?
30:28
Why am I talking about digital? Why am I, you know, like, aren't
30:31
you working on, on human trafficking?
30:33
Aren't you working on modern slavery?
30:34
And the answer is it's all interconnected in order for, in
30:39
order for someone, in order for someone to be, to become a
30:45
victim of, of human exploitation, right?
30:49
Whether it's human trafficking or a one off or what have you.
30:52
If someone is is, is involved in human expectation, you need to
30:57
have access to them, right? They need to be vulnerable.
31:03
And then you need to go about in some way coercing them right
31:06
now, sometimes that is, and again, sorry for your listeners
31:11
talking about such, you know, serious and dark things, but you
31:14
know, sometimes that's an actual, like kidnapping by
31:19
force, right? By, by, by actual physical harm
31:24
and hitting or threat of knife or gun or what have you.
31:29
But sometimes it's simply access with grooming, right?
31:35
Access with, with breaking that person down over a period of
31:40
days or weeks or even months, right?
31:43
With so when, when you think about the And so that's why I
31:47
talk about some of the wins in the digital world, because the
31:50
the digital world, the proliferation of our ability to
31:54
communicate, the proliferation of our ability to reach out and
31:57
touch anyone in the world that is providing evil people more
32:03
access, right? And access that, that, you know,
32:08
if it was the 19, you know, 60s and someone was trying to talk
32:13
to your 10 year old daughter at the playground, right?
32:17
Someone there would have said, Hey, who's that guy?
32:20
Why are you talking to her? Why are you offering her an ice
32:23
cream cone or candy or, or what have you in the digital world?
32:27
All of that can happen right under our noses, right?
32:31
And so, so there are a couple of examples.
32:34
And, and then there are also a lot of lot of people I know,
32:38
both in law enforcement as well as outside law enforcement who
32:42
become deputized that, you know, bang on doors, knock down doors,
32:48
look for survivors, look for the evil people perpetrating the
32:51
stuff, you know, arrest them, get them prosecuted
32:56
appropriately and, and hopefully in jail.
33:00
So, so there, there's, you know, there's a lot going on that
33:04
people are not aware of. And, and it goes back to where I
33:06
started, which was shock when I just when I learned that this
33:09
whole world existed back in 2022 And I started going, doing my
33:14
own research, getting into the statistics and everything and
33:17
saying to myself, how did I not know about this?
33:20
It's there, It's there, but you have to look for it.
33:23
That whole pornography, pornography industry is so dark
33:26
and and that's what the parents and children don't understand.
33:29
When I talk about Jonathan, I talks about this underestimation
33:34
of the digital dangers on social media and smartphones, and how
33:38
that's so much more dangerous than the physical dangers of
33:42
letting your child walk to the park.
33:44
Yeah, I know. I know some great people again
33:47
using, using capital data and tech, but great people trying to
33:52
create, you know, healthy phones, right?
33:57
It's like we used to have phones, now we have smartphones.
34:00
Now we're starting to realize that these smartphones are, are
34:03
bringing all these unintended consequences, right?
34:06
Of, of screen time, 24/7 access, access to all kinds of, you
34:10
know, evil things through the Internet.
34:14
And so, but what they found is, is that people don't want dumb
34:19
phones, that they don't want to go back to a, a dumb phone
34:23
that's just a phone. But what they are open to is a
34:28
healthy phone, a basically a phone with locks on it that says
34:33
like, you know, we won't download that app, right?
34:36
Like you, you have bought this phone because you said you
34:40
wanted to be healthy. So there are there are white
34:42
label apps and there are healthy apps and then there are apps
34:46
that we have considered and it and it's your choice.
34:48
But if you buy this phone, you're not going to be able to
34:50
download these apps. What's an example of that?
34:56
Techless is is 1 company that's working on this.
35:00
They make the wise phone I believe.
35:02
Yes, yes. And, and I also have some
35:05
friends in the UKII won't mention them by name right now
35:10
just because they're, they're in some great conversations with,
35:15
you know, they're in great conversations with the two major
35:22
manufacturers of smartphones. And so 11 is here in the United
35:28
States and 1 is in South Korea, and they're in discussions with
35:31
both of them. And I'll, I'll just, you know,
35:33
I, I pray for them and I, I hope they're going to, I hope they're
35:37
going to have great success. Well, I wanted to take advantage
35:41
of your extensive business experience.
35:43
Before we end, could you just share with us maybe 3 takeaways,
35:47
learnings from your, your bid, your past business experience
35:51
for any entrepreneurs listening to this?
35:53
Sure. So #1 relationships always put
36:06
relationships first. It's hard.
36:09
It's a it's, it's a long game. Sometimes it sometimes it takes
36:16
forever to pay off. Sometimes it never pays off.
36:20
Or at least, you know, maybe doesn't pay off in dollars and
36:22
cents. But all.
36:25
I always try to emphasize relationships over transactions.
36:32
That would probably be 1. I think it's pretty
36:35
self-explanatory. But I over the course of my
36:37
life, I have found that, you know, focusing on the
36:41
transaction might make a difference this month or this
36:45
year, but focusing on the relationship just, you know,
36:50
continues, continues to bless you.
36:52
So, so we were, we were created, obviously, we were creating the
36:57
image of God. We are created to be in
36:59
relationship with God and, and we were also created to be in
37:02
community and relationship with other.
37:05
And so in whatever you do, focus on the relationship.
37:11
Second point is to focus on faith over fear.
37:19
And, and what I mean by that is a lot of people in business or,
37:26
or in, in, in life in general, they, they look at things
37:31
through the lens of, of a 0 sum game, right?
37:39
And, and a 0 sum game leads to fear and fear leads to bad
37:45
decisions and bad actions, bad thoughts, bad decisions, bad
37:48
actions. Focus on faith and realize that
37:52
our God is a God of abundance and, and that whatever you can
37:58
dream for yourself or think for yourself or think for your
38:01
company, God can think bigger, right?
38:06
And, and, but, but in order for that to happen, you have to put
38:12
him first, right? And, and, and I'm not preaching
38:17
the prosperity gospel, the false gospel of prosperity gospel.
38:22
I don't know what the Lord has in store for you or any of your
38:25
listens, listeners, or you know, I really don't know what he has
38:28
in store for me. I just know that by putting him
38:32
first and by putting faith first versus fear, that's the right,
38:37
the right way to go. And, and life is much better
38:41
that way. And then the third thing is I
38:45
came to entrepreneurship rather late in age.
38:50
Usually entrepreneurs are, you know, the, the young men and
38:55
women, maybe early 20s, maybe early 30s, maybe they've had
39:02
some, some experience and strike on, on their own.
39:05
Maybe they're doing a side hustle.
39:06
Maybe they go to MBA school and an MBA school.
39:10
They meet a couple other people and, and you know, start
39:12
something. I, I came to it late.
39:16
And as I, and part of the reason I came to it late was I never
39:24
thought it was possible for me. I never thought that was me.
39:29
And it's, it's possible for anybody.
39:32
It's possible for anybody. I mean, I, I will say that we
39:35
could go into a longer discussion about like what I
39:37
think are the characteristics and the capabilities and the
39:41
skill sets that you need as a founder or a founding team.
39:45
You know, we could, we could dive deep into that, but I would
39:48
say, you know, none those conversations are immaterial
39:52
unless you believe that it's possible for you.
39:55
And, you know, maybe it is, maybe it isn't, but at least be
39:59
open to the idea. In some ways, I wish I'm very
40:02
happy on the path that I took and, and where I am.
40:05
But in some ways I think to myself, man, if I, you know, I
40:09
had started at 24, like, where would I be?
40:12
But you know, that's OK. I'm I'm where I am and things
40:16
are good. For the values based
40:18
entrepreneurs listening to this, we got three lessons from David
40:21
here. Relationships over transactions,
40:24
Faith over fear, and it's possible for anyone.
40:28
David, is there anything else you want to share with us?
40:31
No, I, I really appreciate the time, appreciate your podcast
40:35
and, and the chance to share. I, I guess I, I, I'll take that
40:38
back. I have one thing to share.
40:40
I'm pretty easy to find on LinkedIn and, and I love what
40:45
one of the things that I that I do on the side right now is I
40:51
consult and work with founders and startups and and young small
40:55
businesses. It's something that, that I hope
41:01
to get back to one day. I was actually doing it and, and
41:05
hotel shield came along and I, and I had some investors that,
41:09
that wanted me to dive into this and, and I'm blessed and happy
41:12
to be doing so. But that, that consulting and
41:15
that advising is something that I, that I hope the Lord will let
41:19
me get back to one day. But in the meantime, I'm easy to
41:22
find and I'm, I'm always happy to talk to someone, 30 minute
41:25
call and just say, Hey, what are you thinking about?
41:27
Let's let's bounce some ideas back and forth and and open
41:31
again, open up that relationship that may never turn into
41:36
anything or, you know, could turn into something great for
41:40
for both sides. So I'm all I'm always open to
41:42
that. Thank you, David.