Latest / Corpus Christi Originals Podcast / #16 | Jackie Salinas [Touched By Money]

Transcript

#16 | Jackie Salinas [Touched By Money] · Corpus Christi Originals Podcast

0:44
SPEAKER_00: Excellent menu choices.
0:46
SPEAKER_00: Check them out July 15th through 17th at Comic Con.
0:50
SPEAKER_00: Uh without further ado, here's the podcast.
0:52
SPEAKER_00: How are you doing, Jackie?
0:53
SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the show.
0:54
SPEAKER_01: I'm doing good.
0:55
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for having me.
0:56
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's a pleasure to have you on.
0:58
SPEAKER_00: When I uh I we stumbled upon you on TikTok.
1:02
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
1:02
SPEAKER_00: And dude, your videos are fire.
1:04
SPEAKER_00: Like, I we really love your videos.
1:06
SPEAKER_00: Uh they're funny.
1:08
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:08
SPEAKER_00: So I mean, so how did you get into all that stuff?
1:12
SPEAKER_00: Like, when did you decide to start doing all that stuff?
1:14
SPEAKER_01: You know, it's so funny because I was at my cousin's wedding, and my cousin's like, man, Jackie, like, your braids are so crazy.
1:23
SPEAKER_01: Like, you need to make a TikTok, and like you need to post like on TikTok.
1:26
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, Man, my son, I have a TikTok.
1:29
SPEAKER_01: I tried to use it at first for like a weight loss journey.
1:32
SPEAKER_01: It didn't really pop off.
1:33
SPEAKER_01: I just like kind of got bored of it.
1:34
SPEAKER_01: I was like, nah, I'm good.
1:35
SPEAKER_01: Well, my son would post on there.
1:37
SPEAKER_01: And so I was like, man, I don't know.
1:39
SPEAKER_01: But then I was like, you know what?
1:40
SPEAKER_01: Cool.
1:40
SPEAKER_01: I did it.
1:41
SPEAKER_01: And like the first video that I posted on there, it got like a thousand views.
1:45
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, oh shit, okay, maybe my cousin was right.
1:48
SPEAKER_01: Like, I'm gonna start doing it.
1:49
SPEAKER_01: So, you know, it took a while for me to like really get comfortable and like really kind of find I feel like even now I'm still kind of trying to find my way on TikTok because I do have a big following on there, but I feel like I gained probably like half of my following I gained from whenever I was trying to braid Kevin Gates' hair.
2:07
SPEAKER_01: So now that I'm not posting about Kevin Gates, I feel like my videos aren't doing as good as they used to, but I'm trying to get back there, trying to see what the people want to see more of.
2:15
SPEAKER_01: I feel like they want to see the braids, but not as many people want to see the braids, like they want to laugh, they want to see you know stupid little things or relatable things.
2:23
SPEAKER_01: So I'm just still trying to figure that out.
2:25
SPEAKER_00: Right, cool.
2:26
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I have I feel like people like the stuff to learn stuff.
2:29
SPEAKER_00: I mean, and TikTok's primarily videos, you know, and YouTube, yes, yeah, you know, has has like learning videos and stuff.
2:36
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, definitely.
2:37
SPEAKER_00: That's cool.
2:38
SPEAKER_00: Seems like you're on the right track.
2:39
SPEAKER_00: And I was gonna ask you like, do you get into like like teaching how to do what you do?
2:44
SPEAKER_01: Or yeah, you know, in 2018 and 2019, I actually did offer braiding classes.
2:49
SPEAKER_01: Um, the barber shop that I was at, it was um most of the barbers didn't work on Sundays, so it was cool.
2:55
SPEAKER_01: Like, I would just use the shop and I would take like four girls, five girls, whatever that for like I could handle on my own and be able to give them all individual uh attention.
3:04
SPEAKER_01: And I I did do that for a while, but once I left that shop after COVID, the new shop that I was at, everybody worked on Sunday.
3:11
SPEAKER_01: Well, not everybody, but the majority of the shop did work on Sunday, so it was like I didn't really have that available to me, you know.
3:17
SPEAKER_01: So I do like I want to get back into it, but it's like I don't know.
3:21
SPEAKER_01: I feel like after COVID, my life's been so crazy that I haven't had time, and people ask me all the time for classes.
3:27
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, that's definitely another another affinity to make money because obviously you're making money doing this.
3:32
SPEAKER_00: You do this full time, don't you?
3:33
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yes, yeah, that's what's up.
3:35
SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
3:36
SPEAKER_00: Uh, yeah.
3:36
SPEAKER_00: So you got hit.
3:37
SPEAKER_00: So what happened during COVID?
3:38
SPEAKER_00: Did you y'all stop?
3:40
SPEAKER_00: Did you stop like altogether?
3:41
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I did.
3:42
SPEAKER_01: Whenever they um did the quarantine, like I really did.
3:45
SPEAKER_01: I took it serious because I do have kids, my older son has asthma, so I really took that serious and I didn't like I don't want people coming to my house because before, I mean, before I ever braided in a shop, I braided at home.
3:56
SPEAKER_01: So my clients are like, Oh, well, I could just go to your house, but I'm like, nah, I'm not really comfortable with that.
4:01
SPEAKER_01: So I did stop completely.
4:02
SPEAKER_01: Thank God for like all the COVID relief.
4:05
SPEAKER_01: I know a lot of people didn't get the help that they needed, but I was fortunate enough to get the help that I needed, so that worked out for me, honestly.
4:13
SPEAKER_00: Right, that's cool.
4:14
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so you didn't feel comfortable doing it out of your home.
4:16
SPEAKER_00: Uh yeah.
4:18
SPEAKER_00: So so yeah, so did you get more clients like doing it that like doing it that way, like going to shops, like that people will come in, hey, she braids hair, and then you know what I mean?
4:27
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I do feel yeah, I do feel like um I probably did get more clientele off of being inside of a shop.
4:35
SPEAKER_01: Um whenever I was at home, I would just advertise on Facebook, which I did have a lot of people, you know.
4:41
SPEAKER_01: But whenever I went to the shop, and when I like when I first went to a shop, I didn't really take it serious.
4:47
SPEAKER_01: I would just pay my booth rent, like whatever.
4:49
SPEAKER_01: But then I was like, no, you know what?
4:51
SPEAKER_01: I need to focus more on doing hair, and I'm gonna make it like I'm gonna do it.
4:55
SPEAKER_01: And so I started being in the shop every day and like posting, like, hey, I'm braiding hair, pull up, you know, walk-ins, welcome, whatever.
5:02
SPEAKER_01: And of course, like the barbers have clients and they're seeing that I braid hair, and I would start seeing like a lot of times people tag me, like, hey, this person does braids whenever somebody's asking, but then I started seeing comments that were like, I used to work at So Blindy, and they would say, Oh, there's a girl at So Blindy, there's a girl at So Blindy.
5:18
SPEAKER_01: Like, they might not have known my name, but they know that there's a girl at So Blindy who braids hair, so I feel like I was getting a lot of people off of that as well.
5:25
SPEAKER_00: Cool.
5:26
SPEAKER_00: So so that so at that point is that when did you just start decide to start like branding yourself?
5:31
SPEAKER_00: Because you you're touched by money, right?
5:33
SPEAKER_01: Yes, so uh branding myself, I really like I don't know.
5:40
SPEAKER_01: I think I was on Instagram because that's what I would mainly do because braiding was not a big thing here, it really wasn't.
5:46
SPEAKER_01: I didn't even think that I was gonna be where I'm at today because of braiding hair, and um, I would get on Instagram and that's where I would pull a lot of inspiration for different styles from.
5:56
SPEAKER_01: You know, I would just look at like really, really good braiders on Instagram, and I started noticing, you know, like they all had names like uh Natalie Styles or um Braids by Ginny, you know, or Jenny Braids and stuff like that, you know.
6:11
SPEAKER_01: So I was like, man, well, one day I saw somebody, she wasn't a hair braider, she was like, I don't know, I think she did facials and stuff like that, but her thing was touched by honey.
6:20
SPEAKER_01: Well, when I was in prison, they used to call me Money Baby.
6:22
SPEAKER_01: So I was like, Touched by money, you know, like that's a dope ass name, and it I feel like it really embodies me.
6:28
SPEAKER_01: So I was like, I think I'm gonna use that.
6:30
SPEAKER_01: And you know, I did that.
6:31
SPEAKER_01: I had uh Keith Ramiro make me a logo, and from there, like I feel like I actually really honestly feel like branding myself and making a logo made me go up a level in hair braiding because I think people took me more serious once I did that.
6:47
SPEAKER_01: It wasn't just like, oh, that's some girl who braids hair at her house or whatever, you know.
6:51
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's awesome.
6:52
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's cool.
6:53
SPEAKER_00: Man, definitely.
6:54
SPEAKER_00: And your prices range in anywhere between what$25 to$150.
6:59
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
6:59
SPEAKER_00: Uh, and then you mentioned in one of your videos that you you recently went, you bumped it up.
7:04
SPEAKER_00: Uh yes.
7:06
SPEAKER_00: And one of the reasons was because some you know they would tip you more, you know, they would pay you that amount that you wanted anyway, right?
7:12
SPEAKER_00: Or that that you're charging.
7:14
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
7:15
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
7:16
SPEAKER_01: I feel like, you know, I feel like in any industry, if you're doing something and your clients are tipping you more than$10, like five dollars, I feel like an acceptable tip is five dollars, ten dollars, whatever, you know.
7:28
SPEAKER_01: Like if they're tipping you 20, 30, 40, if they're tipping you a lot more on top of what you're doing, it's because your prices are too low and they know what you're doing is worth more.
7:37
SPEAKER_01: So they're not gonna be mad at you if you raise your price, you know what I mean?
7:40
SPEAKER_01: But um, and and at that, like I would always feel like too, like, you know, I have people like I don't care if people don't tip, tipping is not necessary, like it's but it's you know, of course, like everybody wants tips, but you're still gonna get the same level of service no matter if you tip or not.
7:56
SPEAKER_01: But there is extras if you do tip, you know, of course, you're gonna be considered first if you were trying to get um like a cancellation, like soon as they oh, you have a cancellation today.
8:06
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna go with the person who tips before I go with the person who doesn't tip, like I'm gonna fit them in, or if they want something, you know, like they just get a little bit more service out of it.
8:15
SPEAKER_01: And um I just feel like my prices were already so low, like some of my some of my styles, like the prices have been the same since I was doing it at home.
8:27
SPEAKER_01: And honestly, like the skill level has improved so much from three years ago, no, not even three years, four or five years ago, that it's like there's no way I should be charging the same as what I was before, you know.
8:40
SPEAKER_01: And I'm using different products now, and even at that, the price of the products is going up, like everything's going up.
8:46
SPEAKER_01: So um, I understand that there are some people who probably weren't gonna be able to keep coming to me after I raise my prices, which you know, no hard feelings, like, but at the end of the day, at the end of the day, this is my bread and butter, this is how I survive, and you know, I have to provide for kids.
9:00
SPEAKER_01: I'm a single mom, so right, I have to look out for us too.
9:04
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, for sure.
9:04
SPEAKER_00: You're definitely you're definitely providing a service, and then at the end of the service, it's a product for the person.
9:10
SPEAKER_00: So it's like, how do you how do you gauge how much to charge?
9:13
SPEAKER_00: Because you're you you're taking like hours at a time to do like one job.
9:18
SPEAKER_00: So yeah, you see what I'm saying?
9:20
SPEAKER_00: So it's like you gotta figure out how to charge.
9:22
SPEAKER_00: How do you do how do you do that anyway?
9:23
SPEAKER_00: Do you charge by like time or by like the finished product?
9:26
SPEAKER_00: I mean, how do you factor that into your price?
9:29
SPEAKER_01: So, what I do now is I try to make fifty dollars an hour.
9:33
SPEAKER_01: So basically that's what my prices go off of.
9:36
SPEAKER_01: Now, if it starts to become a job that's more difficult, which could be because uh the hair is thicker, the hair's longer.
9:44
SPEAKER_01: Um, some styles require me to braid in positions that are very uncomfortable.
9:50
SPEAKER_01: I will take that into account, you know, because at the end of the day, like you know, all of that is a factor.
9:56
SPEAKER_01: But the main thing that I factor in is the time.
9:58
SPEAKER_01: So, you know, basically people can know if they know how long a style is gonna take, they can pretty much estimate how much I'm gonna charge them.
10:05
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's cool.
10:07
SPEAKER_00: That's good.
10:07
SPEAKER_00: You did that for yourself, you know what I mean.
10:09
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you have you got you support, do you support two you have two sons, right?
10:12
SPEAKER_01: Yes, I have two sons.
10:14
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, do they live with you?
10:15
SPEAKER_01: Yes, they live with me.
10:16
SPEAKER_01: Their dads are both in prison, so you know, I don't get any help like that.
10:20
SPEAKER_01: My youngest son, his his dad's family does help me, but um, my older son, no, I don't really get any help with him.
10:28
SPEAKER_00: Wow, man, that's that's tough.
10:29
SPEAKER_00: That's really tough.
10:30
SPEAKER_00: Single mom, man.
10:31
SPEAKER_00: You're doing that's awesome.
10:32
SPEAKER_00: So, yeah, your story is interesting to me because you you didn't start doing Brady.
10:37
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you were you were how do you say you went to prison for a little bit, right?
10:41
SPEAKER_00: And I think it's funny because uh people say that you learned it in prison, but you didn't.
10:45
SPEAKER_01: No, and I didn't.
10:46
SPEAKER_01: And it's like what and it almost comes to the point that I'm just like, yes, I learned in prison, guys.
10:52
SPEAKER_01: That's where I learned because it's like it doesn't matter how many times I tell people, yeah.
10:56
SPEAKER_01: Hey, if that's a story that y'all like, then yes, I learned in prison.
11:00
SPEAKER_01: But I was like, you know, I learned how to braid hair when my son, when my first son was a baby, like when he was first born.
11:08
SPEAKER_01: Um, because I would stay at home.
11:09
SPEAKER_01: The guy that I was with at the time, you know, we all uh he had three kids of his own that live with us, so he worked and I would stay home with all the kids.
11:16
SPEAKER_01: They none of them were old enough to go to school, so I would stay home with them.
11:20
SPEAKER_01: And you know, I was like, man, I've always like I remember probably being six years old, five or six years old, my mom took me to Mexico and got all my hair braided, right?
11:30
SPEAKER_01: And ever since that day, like I've loved braids and I've loved them, but my my mom didn't know how to braid hair, and I didn't have any friends at the time that knew once I got to high school, I did have one, but it's always like, mom, take me to Mexico so they can braid my hair, right?
11:43
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to just get like halfway or whatever.
11:46
SPEAKER_01: And so uh, whenever I was a stay-at-home mom, I was like, you know what?
11:51
SPEAKER_01: My ex-husband, he had three little girls, so I was like, I'm gonna learn how to braid hair so I could do their hair and whatever.
11:56
SPEAKER_01: So I learned at home.
11:57
SPEAKER_01: And I mean, I can go back on my memories on Facebook and see where I'm like, hey, who wants and I also had like I wanted to cut hair, so I'm like, who wants a haircut or who wants uh their hair braided?
12:07
SPEAKER_01: Like I was really trying to do it.
12:09
SPEAKER_01: Nobody wanted it, nobody wanted it.
12:12
SPEAKER_01: I have more people hit me up for haircuts than like actually braids.
12:15
SPEAKER_01: So I'm like, okay, well, obviously braiding's not a thing, right?
12:19
SPEAKER_01: But at least I knew how to do it for myself.
12:21
SPEAKER_01: And if the the my stepdaughters wanted it, you know, I could do it for them.
12:24
SPEAKER_01: So I was like, that's cool.
12:26
SPEAKER_01: I'm happy with that.
12:27
SPEAKER_02: Um that's cool.
12:28
SPEAKER_01: It did come in handy when I was in prison, you know what I mean?
12:30
SPEAKER_01: It did come in handy in prison, and uh after prison, like I went to barber school.
12:37
SPEAKER_01: I I always ever since I was in middle school, I wanted to do hair.
12:40
SPEAKER_01: At first, I wanted to like dye hair and stuff like that.
12:44
SPEAKER_01: Like, I wanted to do women's hair, and then I was like, once I started doing that stuff for myself and getting it done and then see and hearing stories from my hairstylist about how you know when people get mad or whatever, I'm like, man, I don't know, I don't want to mess anybody's hair up like that.
12:57
SPEAKER_01: Because when you're when you're talking about dyeing a woman's hair or even cutting a woman's hair, I know the feeling when somebody cuts my hair too short.
13:04
SPEAKER_01: I just cut my own hair and I cut it too short.
13:06
SPEAKER_01: So I like I know that feeling, and I don't I don't make anybody feel like that.
13:10
SPEAKER_01: So I was like, nah, um I transitioned to wanting to cut hair because of my little boys, and then um I just never went to barber school, but whenever I got out of prison, I had that opportunity because I was in the halfway house, and you know, uh, in order to get out the halfway house, I either needed to have a job or go to school.
13:26
SPEAKER_01: So, you know, anybody knows that it is hard.
13:29
SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna say that it's not hard to get a job when you get out of prison because it is like people do judge you, you know what I mean?
13:35
SPEAKER_01: And um, so I signed up for barber school.
13:38
SPEAKER_01: It was taking a long time because of financial aid, um, but I ended up getting a job in the meantime to get out.
13:44
SPEAKER_01: And so then when I started in barber school, my first day there, there was a guy trying to braid hair on a mannequin.
13:50
SPEAKER_01: And I asked him, I was like, Do they uh teach you how to braid hair here?
13:53
SPEAKER_01: And he's like, No, I'm really just trying to teach myself.
13:56
SPEAKER_01: So I said, That's cool.
13:57
SPEAKER_01: Like, I know how to braid hair.
13:58
SPEAKER_01: So if you have any questions, like ask me, like, I'll help you.
14:00
SPEAKER_01: And he's like, Oh yeah.
14:02
SPEAKER_01: So I started showing him on the mannequin, and like the other students are like, Oh my god, like you could braid hair and braid my hair, braid my hair, right?
14:08
SPEAKER_01: So I'm like, all right, cool.
14:10
SPEAKER_01: I started braiding people's hair at the school, and I'm like, man, like I made a little$25 at the school that day, and I'm like, this is cool, like I like this.
14:17
SPEAKER_01: And this one girl, she's like, You need to take pictures of all the braids that you do and post them on Facebook.
14:22
SPEAKER_01: Like, people will come to you and they'll pay you.
14:23
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, girl, yeah, right.
14:26
SPEAKER_01: Like, I tried that, you know, I tried that like 10 years ago, and she was like, No, dude, for real, listen to me for real.
14:31
SPEAKER_01: So I'm like, all right, cool.
14:33
SPEAKER_01: I posted it on Facebook, and like it did start to take off, and you know, mainly I was doing like men's braids and stuff like that, or like simple women's braids.
14:41
SPEAKER_01: And I I know that I remember when I was in prison, we used to watch outside, we used to watch uh keeping up with the Kardashians a lot, and I know that they would start, they would be getting these two braids, but they would get it with weave with their hair with hair added in, and I'm like, I need to learn how to do that because I know that if I learn how to do that, I'm gonna have so many girls coming to me for that.
15:02
SPEAKER_01: So I taught myself off of when I originally taught myself how to braid hair, I taught myself off of YouTube.
15:07
SPEAKER_01: So I looked that up on YouTube, tried it on myself.
15:11
SPEAKER_01: It was so ugly, but I tried it, you know?
15:14
SPEAKER_01: And then I had a friend that she was very open to, she loved braids, so she was so open to me trying stuff on her hair, and um, so I started trying it on her and started getting better at it, and then yeah, I feel like doing the those two Dutch braids, like that really elevated me too to a lot more clientele than what I had before.
15:31
SPEAKER_00: So, like that was the style at the time, so everybody wanted it.
15:34
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think the Kardashians were making it very popular, you know?
15:38
SPEAKER_01: So it was like just a really good timing for me to hop in to the braiding.
15:42
SPEAKER_00: That's freaking awesome.
15:43
SPEAKER_00: So, why do you why do you add the extra hair just just for more thickness in it?
15:46
SPEAKER_00: Or what I was worried about.
15:47
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, some girls do it for thickness.
15:50
SPEAKER_01: I mean, and I'll say girls, but men do it as well.
15:52
SPEAKER_01: Some people do it for thickness, some people do it for length.
15:55
SPEAKER_01: Me, I do it for thickness and length because I have thin hair.
15:58
SPEAKER_01: Like sometimes you'll catch me when I have like when I have the four braids in my hair.
16:02
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if you ever see one of my videos like that.
16:04
SPEAKER_01: When I have the four braids, I don't add hair except for like at the end just to make my bun a little bit thicker.
16:09
SPEAKER_01: But yeah, like I usually like if I do the two braids, I I like them thick, so I add like a lot of hair and I like them long.
16:16
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's cool.
16:17
SPEAKER_00: And most of your it's uh it's interesting because most of your clientele is uh like Hispanic or Mexican, I guess you could say yeah.
16:24
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, how do you how do you feel about like the that?
16:26
SPEAKER_00: Like uh are there are there people that are like African American or however you want to say it, uh, that do that around here?
16:34
SPEAKER_00: And do they you know I mean do African Americans come or black people come to you or you know how yeah, what are your thoughts on that type of stuff?
16:41
SPEAKER_01: You know, I do have a lot of black clients.
16:43
SPEAKER_01: Um I feel like I might have more male uh clients that are black opposed to female.
16:50
SPEAKER_01: Um I have a lot of mixed clients too, because you know, of course, the population down here, but um, you know, I I know that there's probably like a lot of black people out there that don't want to try me because I'm Mexican and and I've experienced that.
17:04
SPEAKER_01: Uh I have clients that you know they'll be like, yeah, uh these girls are like that they liked my braids, but when I told them who did them, all of a sudden they weren't good no more.
17:14
SPEAKER_01: And like because they're Mexican.
17:16
SPEAKER_01: That's crazy.
17:17
SPEAKER_01: Or I've had people say that they come and they're like, Oh, I thought you were black, and I'm like, I mean, I don't know why you would think that.
17:22
SPEAKER_01: You see my logo, like I'm not black on my logo, but you know, whatever, like it is what it is, but um, yeah, and I feel like even on and on TikTok, I get a lot of hate about that too, you know.
17:35
SPEAKER_01: So it's like, and I've had people also say, like, oh, uh, you don't like that I wasn't advertising enough black hair on my page, but it's like I post what I do.
17:46
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I can't force more black people to come to me.
17:49
SPEAKER_01: Like when I do a black person's hair, I post their hair too.
17:51
SPEAKER_01: I post everybody's hair.
17:52
SPEAKER_01: Like, I mean, I'm not gonna say I post everybody because I don't post everybody because there's some days where I'm just going so fast I don't have time to take pictures.
17:59
SPEAKER_01: Like, I I you know, so I post as as I can, but I try to like once I had somebody like hating in my inbox about it, I was like, okay, let me try to make more of a point to post more black hairstyles.
18:11
SPEAKER_01: But you know, the other thing too is that I don't offer like I don't offer like a lot of box braids or styles that have really small braids just because of the time that it takes.
18:21
SPEAKER_01: There's other women out here that braid hair that can do those styles way faster than me, you know.
18:25
SPEAKER_01: So I'll I'll leave that to them as opposed to I know what I'm good at, you know what I mean?
18:30
SPEAKER_01: So I'm gonna stick to my little avenue, you know, and maybe that's why I have more male clients or more Hispanic clients as opposed to female clients or black clients, you know what I mean?
18:40
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's very interesting.
18:41
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's that's interesting too, like the late how you say the length of the hair, because black people have real short hair, a lot of them.
18:48
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, just to and it's crazy because I see I saw your uh I think it was a live, it was a live video, a couple of live videos you had.
18:54
SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh, it took you an hour, two hours, you know what I mean?
18:58
SPEAKER_00: And and you're you have your your long nails, and it seems like your nails like help you divide the hair.
19:03
SPEAKER_00: It's pretty cool.
19:04
SPEAKER_01: Yes, yeah, the nails definitely help.
19:07
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so do you and you have them kind of like sharpened.
19:10
SPEAKER_00: Do you do that?
19:10
SPEAKER_00: You do that on purpose?
19:12
SPEAKER_01: Yes, yeah, I have them pointy right now.
19:14
SPEAKER_01: My nails are so bad, they're like half of no, more than half of them are broken.
19:19
SPEAKER_01: Seven of them are broken.
19:20
SPEAKER_01: I don't know what happened.
19:21
SPEAKER_01: It's I guess because I got them too long this last time, but yeah, I leave them pointy so that it's easier while I'm braiding to actually like pick the hair up and keep going, as opposed to having to get my comb and like you know, so it's faster.
19:33
SPEAKER_01: But they whenever I do get them too long, it does start to become a problem for whenever I'm doing shorter hair or when I'm braiding down to the end, because now the nails are like you know, hitting each other, it's like a problem.
19:45
SPEAKER_01: So, yeah, yeah.
19:46
SPEAKER_01: I like literally like these nails broke, and like this is how long they are, right?
19:50
SPEAKER_01: This is how long they're supposed to be.
19:52
SPEAKER_01: So, like this one broke, but I had to, I have to shave it into like at least a little bit of a point, or I can't braid it.
19:58
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, I can't braid with it like that because then it's now it's like a problem, it's like a little nub and it's not doing anything.
20:04
SPEAKER_00: That's funny.
20:05
SPEAKER_00: So now you got the gel, the hair gel.
20:08
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, how'd you get that going?
20:10
SPEAKER_00: I I mean, did you have somebody make that for you?
20:12
SPEAKER_00: How'd you get that going?
20:13
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, man, me and my my nail tech, you know, we linked up on that.
20:18
SPEAKER_01: She helped me out, she really looks out for me.
20:20
SPEAKER_01: She she has been in business for a long time, so she has a lot of people that she's in touch with.
20:26
SPEAKER_01: So she helped me with that.
20:27
SPEAKER_01: We're also looking into doing um scalp oil and like um like a refreshing spray for your braids as well.
20:34
SPEAKER_01: So we're looking into that.
20:36
SPEAKER_00: That's cool.
20:36
SPEAKER_00: How how long how long do do the braids last whenever you do somebody's head uh or hair or whatever?
20:43
SPEAKER_00: How long does it does it last to to keep it fresh like that?
20:46
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
20:47
SPEAKER_00: Not not fresh, but but to where the hair's not just sticking out little picos everywhere, you know what I'm saying?
20:52
SPEAKER_01: So a lot of that depends on the person's hair, um, and it also like depends on their lifestyle.
20:58
SPEAKER_01: But like I have some clients that they're really good with um the aftercare for their hair, and their braids will look really good for two weeks.
21:05
SPEAKER_01: Um, there's some that maybe it's just like a week, a week.
21:08
SPEAKER_01: I know there's some of them that it's like a couple days, and I'm like, you're not sleeping with your wave cap, right?
21:13
SPEAKER_01: And they're like, no.
21:14
SPEAKER_01: So I'm like, yeah, I know how it is.
21:16
SPEAKER_01: Like when I do my son's hair, like his hair would get frizzy so fast, but it's like he will never sleep with his his uh do rag, he'll never wear his shower cap in the shower.
21:27
SPEAKER_01: So I mean, I know like whenever people try to be like, oh well, the hair messed up real quick, but I'm like, okay, so I have a little kid at home and I know how he acts.
21:34
SPEAKER_01: So I can tell by the way that your hair's messed up, like it's not just like from the way I braided it, it's from the way you're taking care of it.
21:41
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, right on.
21:42
SPEAKER_00: So you don't you're not taking any clients younger than six years old anymore.
21:45
SPEAKER_01: Right.
21:48
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, I have enough, like the ones that I have right now are enough.
21:53
SPEAKER_01: That's fun.
21:53
SPEAKER_01: Like it's hard, you know, like in the beginning, whenever I first started braiding hair, like I I don't care who you were.
22:01
SPEAKER_01: Like, I'm doing your hair.
22:02
SPEAKER_01: You could be, I mean, I'm not gonna say anybody because I'm gonna draw the line at like a little tiny baby.
22:08
SPEAKER_01: But I did do like I think the youngest that I did was like a year and a half.
22:12
SPEAKER_01: But you know, and that's because two of those kids that were a year and a half when I started braiding their hair, I still braid it to this day.
22:18
SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
22:19
SPEAKER_01: So it's cool, but uh like some of them it's just like it's just too hard.
22:26
SPEAKER_01: Um, especially like Hispanic kids, um, if their hair, if they have like really fine, thin hair, like I tell people like I don't suggest braiding it because it's not gonna last.
22:36
SPEAKER_01: Uh if their hair has a little bit of texture, then okay, it's different.
22:39
SPEAKER_01: But like I was that was a problem I was having was like these little tiny kids coming and their hair is so baby fine that it's not lasting and they're wasting their money because as soon as it's done, then the baby's like this boom, pulls the braid out.
22:51
SPEAKER_01: Because the hair is just there's nothing you can do, like the hair is just so short and it's also so silky that it's just like boom, pull it, pull it, pull it right out.
23:00
SPEAKER_01: So, yeah, that that's one of the reasons why like I stopped doing kids that young.
23:04
SPEAKER_01: Um, also the fact that I was in a barber shop setting.
23:08
SPEAKER_01: Um, sometimes, you know, it's not really appropriate for kids in there, you know, and I can't control every grown man in the shop and what they talk about, especially the clients.
23:18
SPEAKER_01: Like, you know, I can have a little bit of say so with the barbers, but when it comes to clients and what they talk about, you know, it's like sometimes it gets inappropriate in there.
23:27
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I'm sure you know how it gets in barbershops sometimes, like it's not always like that, but it is like that sometimes.
23:33
SPEAKER_01: It's unfortunate, but you know, I I don't really feel like if I was in more of a family-oriented barber shop, it would be different.
23:41
SPEAKER_01: Um, most of the people in the shop that I'm at, they have an age limit on kids as well.
23:45
SPEAKER_01: So it was like we really didn't have a lot of kid plants in there, and then um, of course, the crying a lot of I don't mind it.
23:52
SPEAKER_01: I have kids, you know, I don't mind it, but yeah, some of the barbers like they don't they don't want to hear that, you know, they don't want to hear kids screaming and crying, and yeah, I don't blame them.
24:03
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no kidding.
24:04
SPEAKER_00: That's uh yeah.
24:05
SPEAKER_00: So you you've mentioned that that's interesting, like what people talk about in the barber shop.
24:10
SPEAKER_00: Is there has there ever been a time where y'all are like, hey, all right, that's enough, you know what I mean?
24:14
SPEAKER_00: Have have you ever had to deal y'all ever had to do that?
24:17
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I've had I've had a client uh tell us if we could stop cussing so much.
24:22
SPEAKER_01: I have a bad mouth, and I try to work on it, but yeah, I've had that situation, like me and one of the barbers, it was just me and another barber in there, and he was like, Hey, can y'all like please stop cussing so much?
24:32
SPEAKER_01: Like the key my son's here, and there was like another time too, like the parents didn't say anything, but I hit like the stuff that they were talking about, like strippers and all this stuff, and I'm like, dude, there's these two little boys in here.
24:45
SPEAKER_01: Wow, I mean, they're boys, it's I mean, it's better than being girls in there, but at the same time, like you don't know what somebody somebody wants their kids exposed to, you know.
24:54
SPEAKER_01: So whenever I see kids in the shop, I try to like be like, you know what, I want to say something to one of the barbers, I'll be like, I'll tell you later, you know, like I'll just try to cut it short.
25:04
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's cool that you're conscious of that, uh, and it shows that you care about you know people around, which is is a good thing in service when it comes to being in service, you know what I mean?
25:13
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean you go to a restaurant, you go to a restaurant, and you imagine the waiters cussing to each other, you know, talking to each other like that.
25:19
SPEAKER_00: You're like, what the heck?
25:19
SPEAKER_00: I'm here to be served, you know.
25:21
SPEAKER_00: So yeah, it definitely makes sense.
25:23
SPEAKER_00: Uh yeah, for sure.
25:25
SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
25:26
SPEAKER_00: So you so you recently moved to where's your uh where you which which barbershop are you working out of now?
25:33
SPEAKER_01: So now I'm at Blurry Phase, which is in the same shopping center as uh the easy pond that's on Weber and S P I D.
25:40
SPEAKER_01: Uh Boozers is yes, yes, by boozers, yes.
25:43
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, a lot of the a lot of the audience on on our page, they know boozers.
25:48
SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah, perfect.
25:49
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
25:50
SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
25:51
SPEAKER_00: And so you moved from how so have you been you've been at different barbershops.
25:54
SPEAKER_00: You moved from one recently.
25:56
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, from on point, yeah.
25:57
SPEAKER_01: I've been at this is my third barbershop that I've been at.
26:00
SPEAKER_00: Is I mean, is there is there like a do you just I mean what happens?
26:03
SPEAKER_00: How come you just you just move just to just to move the barbershop?
26:07
SPEAKER_01: So like the first one uh was like a conflict with like me and the owner and stuff like that.
26:13
SPEAKER_01: And uh I had already been planning on moving to the shop that I went to uh due to situations with the other barbers there, but I just like I kept staying for the owner, and then you know, during the quarantine we just decided like you know it's best if I leave.
26:29
SPEAKER_01: And I'm really glad that I did because you know I had this idea, like, and I'm not trying to talk down the shop that I was at because I did love that shop, like, and it was it was it was great for the time, you know, but me being the braider that I am now, like I could never go back to a shop like that, you know.
26:46
SPEAKER_01: Um just like anything, there's levels to these shops, like you know, you have a base, you have a basic barbershop, you have a high-end barbershop, you have a hood barbershop, you know what I mean?
26:57
SPEAKER_01: And so it's just like and it's really crazy because I feel like when I was at the hood barbershop, I had so much, so much clientele that did not belong in there, you know what I mean?
27:07
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, I can't even believe that they were coming to me over there, you know what I mean?
27:10
SPEAKER_01: So I'm glad, like yeah, and you know, and now at the shop that I'm at, it's just me and two other barbers, so it's a lot more intimate.
27:20
SPEAKER_01: Uh, most of the time I I have like a pretty uh open schedule, like I'm there nine to seven pretty much every day.
27:30
SPEAKER_01: Um on Sundays just till six because my son's football schedule, but I'm there all day, so most of the time I'm actually there alone, you know.
27:38
SPEAKER_01: Um I would say like 50% of the time I'm alone, and the other half I'm with the other two barbers, so yeah, that's it's a little bit more intimate experience.
27:46
SPEAKER_01: The other shop I was at, it's like we were pretty much all there all the time.
27:50
SPEAKER_01: You know, occasionally it would be like me and one or two barbers.
27:53
SPEAKER_01: It would like be very rare that it would be just me in the shop.
27:57
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, do you have do you have to have like a certificate or something to do what you do?
28:02
SPEAKER_01: No, for braiding hair, you don't.
28:04
SPEAKER_00: Really?
28:04
SPEAKER_00: Wow, interesting.
28:05
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I wonder why that is.
28:07
SPEAKER_00: Do you know why?
28:08
SPEAKER_01: Uh I believe because we don't use chemicals or any kind of uh sharp instruments for it.
28:14
SPEAKER_01: Wow, I think that once you start once you start using chemicals and stuff like that, then you need the license.
28:20
SPEAKER_01: Because like if I wanted to do like relaxers or perms, of course, you need your cosmetology or barber license for that.
28:26
SPEAKER_01: Um even like sew-ins, because you're using a needle, you need a you need, I'm not sure what license you need, but you're supposed to have a license for that.
28:34
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so what do what do you call yourself?
28:36
SPEAKER_00: Like, because I know there's like yeah, I'm just a hair, I'm just a braider.
28:41
SPEAKER_01: That's what they used to tell you.
28:44
SPEAKER_00: I put a post recently, I was like, I don't know what to call her.
28:47
SPEAKER_00: I was just a hairstylist, barber, or I mean what do I call you?
28:50
SPEAKER_00: It was yeah, braider.
28:52
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, braider, that's awesome.
28:53
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and then man, you're you guys need to go check her out.
28:56
SPEAKER_00: Uh so they find you at Touch by Money on Instagram, Facebook, or TikTok, right?
29:00
SPEAKER_00: Sorry.
29:01
SPEAKER_01: Yes, even Snapchat.
29:02
SPEAKER_01: All my uh social media platforms are Touch by Money.
29:06
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's awesome.
29:07
SPEAKER_00: And then uh Touch by Money Cool, you put the name Touch by Money down there.
29:11
SPEAKER_00: All right, so uh I use people usually put their name.
29:14
SPEAKER_00: Uh that's awesome.
29:15
SPEAKER_00: So uh which uh which schools did you go to here in Corpus?
29:19
SPEAKER_01: Uh I went to uh Grant, I went to Kal Allen, and I went to Carroll.
29:25
SPEAKER_00: Kell Allen.
29:26
SPEAKER_00: Which H E B do you shop at?
29:29
SPEAKER_01: When I was in Kal Allen?
29:32
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, which one you go to?
29:34
SPEAKER_01: I don't go to HEB.
29:39
SPEAKER_01: You know what?
29:40
SPEAKER_01: Like one day I'm gonna get my life together and I'm gonna be that mom that goes to HEB and buys food to cook at home, but like right now, the way my life is, I don't even like the last time that I went to HEB for groceries, I don't even remember.
29:52
SPEAKER_01: Maybe whenever the freeze happened.
29:55
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's funny.
29:58
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's the last time I cooked.
30:00
SPEAKER_01: I know that.
30:00
SPEAKER_01: That was the last time that I cooked.
30:02
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
30:03
SPEAKER_00: You remember what you cooked?
30:05
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I made Fidel.
30:07
SPEAKER_00: Oh, dang.
30:08
SPEAKER_00: I haven't had Fidel in a minute.
30:10
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, wow, that's awesome.
30:12
SPEAKER_00: Fidel's good.
30:13
SPEAKER_00: All right, I'm trying to see, I'm trying to look at my notes here, see what else I got.
30:16
SPEAKER_00: You cover a lot of stuff.
30:17
SPEAKER_00: Oh, do you mind um well?
30:19
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you want to talk about it.
30:20
SPEAKER_00: Maybe like your your story of uh why you went to prison.
30:24
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
30:25
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, if you can yeah, we can talk about that.
30:27
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so um, you know, a lot uh I feel like too that it really does have a lot to do with my success in braiding, honestly.
30:36
SPEAKER_01: But you know, before uh before I was a hair braider, you know, I sold like I sold drugs, right?
30:43
SPEAKER_01: Like just to be honest about it.
30:45
SPEAKER_01: Like, and I I knew a lot of people, like that's probably why I went to prison because I was moving so fast and working with so many different people.
30:52
SPEAKER_01: Um, so I feel like a lot of that people knowing me from that, and me having, I guess you could say like street cred or whatever, like people wanted to support me when I came home and when they saw like okay, you're doing something right.
31:06
SPEAKER_01: Like a lot of people from my past, I'll say like from my past or whatever, like they came and they'll come get their hair done, or they'll they'll support, you know, support goes way more than just like coming and giving me money, like buying products or doing their hair, like just posting my work on Facebook, sharing stuff on Instagram, you know, tagging me, telling people about me, like that's a really huge form of support as well.
31:30
SPEAKER_01: Like, I have people who've never got their hair done by me, but they will tag me in every single post when somebody's looking, they will share all my posts, you know what I mean?
31:40
SPEAKER_01: So uh I really do appreciate that support.
31:42
SPEAKER_01: So um, you know, the actual reason that I went to prison was because I like to tell everybody because I answered the phone, and everybody's like, What?
31:51
SPEAKER_01: What does that mean?
31:51
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, Well, basically, somebody called me, I answered the phone and said, Yeah, okay, but I ended up telling them, like, no, I don't like because they wanted me to go to drop the stuff off, and I was like, nah, I'm good.
32:04
SPEAKER_01: And he's like, But I need you to go because you're the one in charge.
32:07
SPEAKER_01: And when he said that, I was like, nah, this is a setup, I don't want to go.
32:12
SPEAKER_01: But my co-defendant, I had told him, like, hey, look, which was my boyfriend at the time.
32:16
SPEAKER_01: I told him, Look, tell him I'm not going.
32:19
SPEAKER_01: You already know the rules.
32:20
SPEAKER_01: I don't like to meet new people.
32:21
SPEAKER_01: Like, just tell him I'm not going.
32:23
SPEAKER_01: And he's like, All right, so I guess they keep going back and forth, back and forth.
32:27
SPEAKER_01: And he's like, Hey, I'm just gonna go because we need the money, which we didn't.
32:32
SPEAKER_01: He was just we like he was being greedy.
32:34
SPEAKER_01: I should have stopped him, but I was just like, you know what?
32:36
SPEAKER_01: Okay, well, I think that that is a setup, and when they arrest you, don't say shit about me, okay?
32:42
SPEAKER_01: Like, that's exactly what I told him, and he's like, Okay, whatever, right?
32:46
SPEAKER_01: So he goes.
32:47
SPEAKER_01: Um, I call him and I'm like, check on him.
32:50
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, hey, what's up?
32:51
SPEAKER_01: How's it going?
32:51
SPEAKER_01: You know, he's like, Oh, everything's good, everything's good.
32:54
SPEAKER_01: Uh, we just got here, and I'm like, all right, cool, whatever, call me when it's done.
32:58
SPEAKER_01: He's like, All right, so then he calls me, he's like, Everything's good, and I'm like, okay.
33:02
SPEAKER_01: I said, You didn't meet the guy, right?
33:04
SPEAKER_01: And he's like, nah, nah, nah.
33:05
SPEAKER_01: I was like, You just dealt with, you know, the the person, right?
33:08
SPEAKER_01: And he's like, the person that we knew, and he's like, Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
33:12
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, okay, cool.
33:13
SPEAKER_01: Five minutes later, he calls me.
33:15
SPEAKER_01: Hey, we got pulled over.
33:16
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, bruh, like leaving the apartment, or like where at?
33:21
SPEAKER_01: Like, because uh it was, I don't know what the apartments are called now, but you know, Marbella apartments, whenever it was Marbella, that's where he this was at.
33:29
SPEAKER_01: And so uh he's like, No, like right here on Holly.
33:31
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, Okay, well, what?
33:34
SPEAKER_01: He's like, nah, we're good.
33:35
SPEAKER_01: Like they're just taking pictures of us.
33:36
SPEAKER_01: Like, I guess it's gang unit, it was him and his friend.
33:39
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, All right, like you sure you're good?
33:42
SPEAKER_01: Because I knew he had other stuff in the car.
33:44
SPEAKER_01: He's like, Yeah, no, they're not even searching the car.
33:46
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, all right, cool.
33:48
SPEAKER_01: So he gets home, he gives me the money, it's all hundred dollar bills, and I'm just like looking at him like, really, what is this?
33:55
SPEAKER_01: And he's like, That's what he gave me.
33:56
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, So when do we ever pay people like that?
34:00
SPEAKER_01: Like, when do I go and give people hundred dollar bills?
34:02
SPEAKER_01: Like, I'm always, you know, for the amount that they're buying, they're not users, you know what I'm saying?
34:07
SPEAKER_01: So it's like, what hustler is coming and paying$100 bills?
34:10
SPEAKER_01: And he's like, Well, probably because he's traveling, and and I'm like, Oh, really?
34:14
SPEAKER_01: Like, now I'm like, Okay, told this dude not to talk to him.
34:17
SPEAKER_01: Why does he know this information?
34:19
SPEAKER_01: So now I'm fishing, right?
34:20
SPEAKER_01: So I'm like, oh, really?
34:21
SPEAKER_01: Where's he from?
34:21
SPEAKER_01: He's like, San Antonio, and I'm like, oh, San Antonio, and I'm like, oh okay, that's weird.
34:26
SPEAKER_01: Like, what did he look like?
34:27
SPEAKER_01: And he's like, uh, he had on a hat and uh he had a beard and a mustache, and I'm like just thinking in my head, like, you know, you told me you didn't meet this guy, right?
34:35
SPEAKER_01: Like, what are you talking about?
34:37
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, okay, so let me get this straight.
34:41
SPEAKER_01: I told you not to meet these people, right?
34:43
SPEAKER_01: And he's like, Well, and I'm like, okay, I don't even want to hear it, but why would somebody come from up there down here when up there they could have better stuff for a better price?
34:52
SPEAKER_01: Like, I don't know, like it just works like that.
34:53
SPEAKER_01: So he's like, Oh, I don't know, I don't know.
34:55
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, look, I don't know why you didn't go to jail today, but I know you sold to an undercover.
34:59
SPEAKER_01: And he's like, Whatever, whatever, right?
35:02
SPEAKER_01: So then six months later, here comes the feds knocking in our uh kicking in our door, you know, and they're like, You sold to an undercover, and I'm sure you don't even remember who it was with how much drugs you sell.
35:12
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, I know exactly who it was.
35:15
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, I know exactly who it was, and then like and I told my code of it.
35:20
SPEAKER_01: I'm I looked at him and I'm like, bro, I told you, I knew, and I knew I should have been hard, like more uh, like I should have been more like no, you're not going.
35:29
SPEAKER_01: But I was just like, I didn't really know how it all worked.
35:31
SPEAKER_01: I didn't think that I was gonna get in trouble, but because I answered the phone, that's why I mean I and I don't want to say it's just because I answered the phone.
35:38
SPEAKER_01: Me answering the phone is why they caught me because they had me on the phone saying, Yeah, I got it, whatever.
35:44
SPEAKER_01: But um, they never caught me with anything.
35:47
SPEAKER_01: They never caught me with anything, and uh they wanted me, they didn't want my co-defendant.
35:52
SPEAKER_01: My co-defendant got into it because he wanted to go, you know, and so like they also my the charge I actually went to prison for was it was an ounce that we sold to this person.
36:04
SPEAKER_01: Um, with the feds, they do it by purity, so it really was like half an ounce, which doesn't really matter because you know how the laws go or whatever, so it's like the same regardless.
36:12
SPEAKER_01: But um, after we had hit that lick with him, he wanted he wanted to buy more.
36:18
SPEAKER_01: So really they were trying to bury me, you know what I mean?
36:21
SPEAKER_01: And they he was asking me for a whole pound, and I was just like, nah, I can't do it.
36:26
SPEAKER_01: But after him asked me and asked me, I told him, like, yeah, I can just drop the money off somewhere and I'll tell you where to pick it up.
36:32
SPEAKER_01: Well, that right there is enough for a conspiracy.
36:35
SPEAKER_01: So they had me with what my co-defendant actually sold to him, and then with me saying they had me with conspiracy to deliver a pound.
36:43
SPEAKER_01: So um, since it's my first offense, they let me plead out to my lesser charge.
36:47
SPEAKER_01: So that really worked out for me because I could have been gone for a long time and I thank God every day.
36:52
SPEAKER_01: Like, I'm so glad that that's what we got caught up for, and it wasn't something else.
36:56
SPEAKER_01: Like, we were like it was a little three-month period where I was doing things bigger than I had ever done.
37:01
SPEAKER_01: And I feel like had I kept going, if it if maybe if they would have caught me three, like if we would have made that deal three months later than what we did, and then they would have caught me another three months later, they probably would have caught me with a lot of stuff in my house that could have put me away for a long time, and it would have been hard physical evidence compared to just you know somebody's word or me on a phone call, you know what I mean?
37:25
SPEAKER_01: So I am thankful for that.
37:28
SPEAKER_00: You gave that a lot of thought, man.
37:29
SPEAKER_00: That's so crazy.
37:31
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, how how so how long did you were you there for?
37:35
SPEAKER_01: I was there for a year.
37:36
SPEAKER_01: I did a year, a year on uh pretrial probation on a monitor where I could only go to work and come home.
37:43
SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, CPS took my kids.
37:46
SPEAKER_01: So I had I'm really glad too that I was able to stay out for as long as I was beforehand because um I wouldn't have been able to get my kids back, honestly.
37:56
SPEAKER_01: I wouldn't have been able to get them back, and they didn't want to give them back to me.
37:59
SPEAKER_01: They did not want to give them back to me until they knew what was gonna happen with me at court.
38:03
SPEAKER_01: But like uh I just told them like um I'm gonna get probation, I'm gonna get probation.
38:08
SPEAKER_01: I knew I wasn't getting probation, but I told them I'm gonna get probation, and so that's when they're like, all right, cool.
38:13
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I had they're like really told me that of anybody who's had their kids taken in the way that I did, like I was thank god I had family, so my kids weren't in foster care or anything, they were with my mom, but I wasn't allowed contact with them unsupervised, so I couldn't live with them.
38:27
SPEAKER_01: And uh that was for I want to say three months that I couldn't live with them, and then they let me move in with my mom, and then within two months of living with my mom, they let me move out with them, and they let me um I didn't have like complete custody back yet, but uh, I think I think it took me maybe like six months to get them back fully, and they were like, that's like the fastest that anybody's ever done it.
38:50
SPEAKER_01: So yeah, I was like, man, but you're not taking my kids, like you're not taking my kids.
38:55
SPEAKER_01: There's no way, you know, that they're the ones that even though I was doing wrong, I was doing it for them.
39:00
SPEAKER_01: Like everything that I do it's for them, and now I know like doing it the wrong way is more destructive to them than positive.
39:09
SPEAKER_01: So that's that that's always been my motivation since I came home, too, is like, you know, I have to do this for them, I can't go back, especially with them having fathers that are incarcerated as well.
39:21
SPEAKER_01: They don't have like they don't have nobody, and even though my family is good, nobody's gonna take care of your kid the way you take care of your kids.
39:29
SPEAKER_01: When my mom would bring my kids to see me in prison, like I would get so mad at her about the way that they were dressed, they wouldn't have haircuts, and you know, at the end of the day, like of course, you know, haircuts and clothes and all that stuff cost money, but I made sure that my kids had a lot of stuff before I left as far as shoes and clothes that fit.
39:52
SPEAKER_01: So I don't know why my mom was putting them in clothes that didn't fit them.
39:54
SPEAKER_01: They were coming to they were coming to visitation in clothes that were too small, and I'm like, why are you doing it?
40:00
SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
40:01
SPEAKER_01: And then the haircut situation, their barber was like, hey, if you have somebody to bring them, I'll cut their hair for free till you come home.
40:09
SPEAKER_01: So she really can't say that it's about the money, you know.
40:12
SPEAKER_01: But my mom said the reason she didn't want to do it is because she don't like the barbershop's atmosphere, which is the barbershop that I ended up working at first, you know.
40:20
SPEAKER_01: Like I said, it's a good barbershop.
40:22
SPEAKER_01: And at the time, you know, this is before appointments were a big thing.
40:26
SPEAKER_01: I feel like now appointments are so big that you it's hard to find a barbershop that takes walk-ins.
40:31
SPEAKER_01: Now, his at that time he was only like walk-ins only.
40:34
SPEAKER_01: So, and I mean, even if you did have an appointment, you're gonna wait.
40:36
SPEAKER_01: So, my mom's like, I'm not gonna be waiting in there for two hours while they're playing all that rap music, and you know, I'm all real conservative.
40:43
SPEAKER_01: So she's like, No, I'm like, girl, drop them off, you know, like they they're familiar with everybody in there, you know.
40:50
SPEAKER_01: Like uh the the barber and the barber's girlfriend at the time, the girlfriend at the time I went to school with her, so she knew my kids well, and then you know, the barber he's been cutting their hair, so I'm like, he doesn't care if you leave them there, but my mom's like, No, I ain't leaving them anywhere.
41:04
SPEAKER_00: That's funny.
41:05
SPEAKER_00: Wow, man.
41:06
SPEAKER_00: So so as soon as you got out, you were like, I need to do something to make money.
41:10
SPEAKER_00: I need to do something other than is that is that what happened?
41:13
SPEAKER_01: I mean, you know, when I you know, it's so crazy because like I feel like when I first came home and you know, it was just a year, but it's a long time, and especially for kids, and especially like being without your kids, like it's hard to readjust back into you know, when you're in prison, you are told what to do every minute of the day.
41:37
SPEAKER_01: You don't you're not doing stuff that you want to do, like you you have free will to an extent, but like you have to be at this place at this time, and you gotta be at this place at this time.
41:46
SPEAKER_01: You eat here and you eat what we give you, like you're not you don't have choices, like so coming out and having choices and having freedom, it's like okay, like I found myself like and it's messed up, but I found myself like oh nah, um, I can't like I can't take care of the kids because my mom had them, right?
42:07
SPEAKER_01: So whenever I was in the halfway house, she still had them.
42:09
SPEAKER_01: When I got out of the halfway house, I was still on a monitor for I want to say like two weeks until my halfway.
42:15
SPEAKER_01: I only had a month and a half of halfway house.
42:17
SPEAKER_01: So uh I was on the monitor until I got out of the out of the halfway house completely.
42:22
SPEAKER_01: And so I was using the monitor as like a reason to not have my kids at home, like you know, and it's like it was stupid, but I guess it's just like you get home and you're like, that's the last thing you want to deal with is kids, you know what I mean?
42:33
SPEAKER_01: Like, yeah, it's it's it's I don't like saying that because I hate that I was like that, but I was like that for like maybe the first month of actually being home at my house, and then I had to snap out of it, like, hey, you're a mom, like these are your kids, and it's not these people have already been taking your kids, taking care of your kids for the last year, like it's your turn.
42:52
SPEAKER_01: So um, I had to really like snap out of that.
42:55
SPEAKER_01: I had to start taking um, I was working at a hotel and then going to school, so I had to start taking that more serious, you know, because I had bills and I had stuff, and it was like the hotel job wasn't giving me enough money to pay my bills, and especially being in barber school, barber school is from 12 to 6.
43:14
SPEAKER_01: So it's kind of hard to get a job outside of that, you know, because shifts aren't like it's just not built for like the way that ships are built, you know what I mean?
43:22
SPEAKER_01: And then to have kids and to have all this other stuff.
43:24
SPEAKER_01: So I ended up moving back in with my mom, and I think that was probably one of the biggest motivations, too, was like, my mom don't care how old you are.
43:31
SPEAKER_01: If you're in this house, you got rules.
43:33
SPEAKER_01: So I'm like, I need to get out of here, like I need to live here.
43:38
SPEAKER_01: So that was like a big motivation to keep doing the right thing.
43:41
SPEAKER_01: And I'm not gonna say that I just like got out and was like 100% into the right thing, you know what I mean?
43:47
SPEAKER_01: I did like resort back to old ways, and like I would get and I just knew like I was so scared about it that it's like if you're gonna be that scared, stop doing it.
44:00
SPEAKER_01: Like, don't do it.
44:01
SPEAKER_01: Like, you shouldn't have to do it.
44:02
SPEAKER_01: Like, I was in a relationship from the time that I got out for I guess for like about two years of being out, that it was like it started off really great.
44:12
SPEAKER_01: You know, we were both doing the right things and doing everything we needed to do, but he ended up falling into, you know, drug use and uh I guess basically hustling to support that.
44:24
SPEAKER_01: And whenever we finally called it quits, you know, when he started hustling, it's hard.
44:30
SPEAKER_01: It's like like I always tell my mom too, like I was never addicted to drugs, but I was addicted to money.
44:37
SPEAKER_01: So when I'm sitting here watching somebody else do it, it's hard to not want to do it.
44:42
SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
44:43
SPEAKER_01: Like it's basically like a crackhead sitting next to somebody doing crack.
44:46
SPEAKER_01: So I'm like, I I just started doing it too.
44:48
SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
44:49
SPEAKER_01: I started hustling too.
44:50
SPEAKER_01: So I'm like, whenever we broke up, we would go 50-50 on everything.
44:55
SPEAKER_01: Now I felt like, oh, hair's not gonna support me, hair's not gonna support me.
44:58
SPEAKER_01: And that's why I said whenever I started working at the shop, I wasn't taking it serious because I was taking hustling serious, and I was like, I don't even know.
45:06
SPEAKER_01: Like, I kept I would tell myself every night, like, and I'm still on probation at this time, like her parole, you know what I'm saying?
45:12
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, why am I doing this?
45:14
SPEAKER_01: I'll tell myself every night, why are you doing this?
45:15
SPEAKER_01: Why are you doing this?
45:16
SPEAKER_01: Because if you go back, my mom always told me, if you go back, I'm not taking your kids again.
45:21
SPEAKER_01: You better hope that their dad's or their dad's family is gonna take them because I'm not gonna take them.
45:25
SPEAKER_01: My mom and my stepdad are pretty old, like older, you know what I'm saying?
45:29
SPEAKER_01: So um, I'm like, man, I I but it was just hard because I don't like that feeling of not knowing, like, am I gonna be able to take care of myself?
45:38
SPEAKER_01: And so I ended up meeting somebody who, you know, at the time, like he was doing the same thing, but was like, I'll do it for you.
45:47
SPEAKER_01: Don't you go to work, like I'll do this for you.
45:50
SPEAKER_01: And so I started like saying, you know what, that's that's when I said I'm gonna take care more seriously and I'm gonna make sure that hair is gonna support everything that I do.
45:58
SPEAKER_01: And I would tell him, and people would like talk shit about it, but it wasn't that he didn't have money because he had a lot of money, but right, I would tell him, Don't pay nothing.
46:06
SPEAKER_01: Please not, I don't want you to pay any of my bills because when you leave, I wanna know, and it's fucked up to say that, but you know, just if you leave or whatever, I want to know that I could pay all my bills without you because I don't ever want to feel the way that I just felt with this other dude again.
46:21
SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
46:22
SPEAKER_01: So uh, you know, he took over that or whatever, but it didn't give me peace, it did not give me peace, and I'm like, I can't do this.
46:31
SPEAKER_01: Like, you have to stop too.
46:33
SPEAKER_01: Like, if you want to be with us, like you're gonna have to stop because I'm not leaving my kids, so I'm not leaving them, and I know like even if even if I'm not doing anything, it don't matter what you tell those police because I'm pretty sure it's gonna become federal or whatever, and the feds are not gonna play with me.
46:50
SPEAKER_01: They're gonna you've already been once, and whenever you went the first time, you were the brains of everything, and we know that.
46:57
SPEAKER_01: So we're not like we're not gonna sit here and think that you know, oh, you had nothing to do with it.
47:02
SPEAKER_01: So I was like, you have to stop because I can't sleep at night, I'm having nightmares, like whatever.
47:07
SPEAKER_01: And so he did, like he stopped.
47:08
SPEAKER_01: You know, we did have our differences and we broke up, but he got all the way legit.
47:12
SPEAKER_01: He got a job, and he still to this day has that job.
47:15
SPEAKER_01: And I really thought that once we broke up that he wouldn't, but you know, he changed his life too, and he always thanks me for that.
47:21
SPEAKER_01: But it's like, man, you know, I I couldn't I couldn't go back to that now.
47:26
SPEAKER_01: Like, I couldn't.
47:28
SPEAKER_01: Before I would think about it and be like, you know what, okay, okay, but see my kids, dude.
47:34
SPEAKER_01: Like, I could never like sometimes, like, even their grandma, like basically it was between their two grandmas to take care of them while I was gone.
47:42
SPEAKER_01: My mom and then my youngest son's mom.
47:45
SPEAKER_01: She would stay with them during the week, and then my mom would have them on the weekends, and like my youngest son's grandma would tell me, like, that my baby would like wait by the door the first two weeks that I was gone, like, he would wait by the door for me to come home, and I wouldn't come home.
47:58
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, I can never do that to them again.
48:01
SPEAKER_01: And it's crazy because even like today, I'm with my son at the pet store, and he he's eight.
48:07
SPEAKER_01: I mean, he's eight, he's ten now.
48:09
SPEAKER_01: At the time, he was three when I left, and he brings up stuff from when he was two years old, and I'm just like that has to be pretty traumatic for you to remember something when you're two years old because I don't remember stuff from that young, you know what I mean?
48:23
SPEAKER_01: So it's like I don't ever want to put them through that again, ever.
48:28
SPEAKER_00: It's good for you, real good for you.
48:31
SPEAKER_00: That's awesome, that's awesome, man.
48:33
SPEAKER_00: That's uh it's like a selfless thing when you care more about somebody else than yourself, and especially your kids, you know.
48:38
SPEAKER_00: Uh I mean, like just hearing about what happened in Uvalde, it was like, damn, that's that's crazy, you know what I mean?
48:45
SPEAKER_00: Imagine if that was our kids over there and so close by, you know, you can't do nothing to it.
48:50
SPEAKER_00: Dang, it's uh it's a it's a good what you're doing.
48:53
SPEAKER_00: Um that's awesome.
48:54
SPEAKER_00: We're proud of you, so that's awesome.
48:56
SPEAKER_00: That is awesome.
48:57
SPEAKER_00: So we got two comments.
48:58
SPEAKER_00: Uh Moni on Facebook says, I've heard uh I see her videos on braiding, she does an awesome job.
49:05
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, and then Marcus Canales Sr.
49:09
SPEAKER_00: says, Powerful testimony.
49:11
SPEAKER_01: I've been in a very similar situation, you know, and and I feel like I man, you know, I have family members that tell me, like, you're proud that you went to prison, and it's not that I'm proud about it, like I'm proud that I went through it, and here I am today because not everybody goes through it and comes out on top, and you know, like it's I don't know, it's hard because I feel like anybody can do it, anybody can do it, but it's not easy.
49:42
SPEAKER_01: That's the thing, like everybody feels like, oh, like this person went to prison and they're good, and and you know, and they expect everybody to be like that, but everybody went through different things to get there.
49:53
SPEAKER_01: I feel like drug addiction makes it a lot harder.
49:56
SPEAKER_01: I'm blessed that I was never really like addicted to a drug.
49:59
SPEAKER_01: Like, I'm not gonna say I never did drugs when I was doing what I was doing, but it was never something like other than smoking weed, like I was never doing something every single day, like I have to do this.
50:08
SPEAKER_01: Like, even whenever I got caught up, it was easy to quit smoking, like it wasn't a problem.
50:12
SPEAKER_01: But you know, not everybody is like that.
50:15
SPEAKER_01: So, like I said, you know, honest, my my struggle was the money, was making money.
50:20
SPEAKER_01: Even, you know, even before I went, while I was still on the monitor, I was still doing stuff.
50:24
SPEAKER_01: When I came home, I was still doing stuff, but I had to realize like that wasn't that was my struggle, and I had to realize like that it wasn't worth it.
50:31
SPEAKER_01: But you know, like I have another friend that also went to the feds, you know, and he became a bar, he got out, went to barber school.
50:41
SPEAKER_01: He now he owns his own barber shop, and this man is covered in tattoos from his head to his toes.
50:48
SPEAKER_01: And it's like that's when I'm like, you know what?
50:50
SPEAKER_01: He's proof right here, too.
50:52
SPEAKER_01: Like, if you want it bad enough, you can do it.
50:54
SPEAKER_01: Because yes, people are gonna discriminate, they're gonna judge you based on how you look, they're gonna judge you on your tattoos.
51:00
SPEAKER_01: I have tattoos on my neck, on my face.
51:02
SPEAKER_01: People do judge me for it, and I'm sure there's people who don't want to bring their kids to get their hair done for me, or people who don't want to get their hair done for me because of how I look, right?
51:09
SPEAKER_01: But at the same time, there's people who love me for it, you know what I mean?
51:12
SPEAKER_01: Because I am who I am and I and I don't hide it.
51:15
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's good.
51:16
SPEAKER_01: But you know, a lot of people can do it.
51:18
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, for sure.
51:19
SPEAKER_00: People need that authenticity authenticity from us.
51:22
SPEAKER_00: That's very awesome, man.
51:23
SPEAKER_00: I had a I had a so so damn.
51:27
SPEAKER_00: I had something in my mind.
51:28
SPEAKER_00: So money is like the it's kind of like the driver sometimes, it seems like even before like before people go to prison, like they go to prison for selling drugs or whatever.
51:38
SPEAKER_00: Like, cause my my dad, my dad did sold drugs a lot, and he we we were almost gonna be taken away from my dad.
51:45
SPEAKER_00: It's kind of similar to your story.
51:48
SPEAKER_00: And uh uh my mother wasn't around, so something happened.
51:52
SPEAKER_00: My dad got probation for like a long period of time, and he was able to keep us with him, you know what I mean.
51:57
SPEAKER_00: My stepmom helped my dad raise us, so it's kind of a lot of people can relate to that, definitely.
52:03
SPEAKER_00: Uh, what I was thinking is that like people start to do sell drugs probably because they like drugs, and then another one is because they can make money that way.
52:11
SPEAKER_00: So it's like we need it it shows you the importance of money.
52:17
SPEAKER_00: Not not in a sense that it's it you're you're greedy for it, but we need it from our day-to-day lives.
52:23
SPEAKER_00: You see, you see what I'm saying?
52:24
SPEAKER_00: Like money connects people, you it connects you to your clients because you they pay you money, you give them a service, you know what I mean?
52:31
SPEAKER_00: It creates that relationship with one another.
52:34
SPEAKER_00: And so I don't know, it's just it's interesting to me how people like you say, like it's a choice.
52:40
SPEAKER_00: We make a decision, yeah.
52:42
SPEAKER_00: It's either this or that, and it and it's it's like worlds apart when you make this one decision to that one decision.
52:48
SPEAKER_00: It's like how how is it so difficult?
52:51
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
52:52
SPEAKER_00: How is it so difficult to want to change and do better for yourself?
52:56
SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
52:57
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, it's it really is though, honestly.
53:01
SPEAKER_00: Congratulations on that.
53:02
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, uh, thank you.
53:04
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, awesome.
53:05
SPEAKER_00: Uh, if anything else, um, you got anything else you want to share?
53:10
SPEAKER_01: Um off the top of my head, no, and probably like in 30 minutes, I'm like, man, I should have said this, or I should have said that.
53:18
SPEAKER_01: But no, I think we did talk about a lot of stuff, but yeah, you know, um definitely I guess if anybody is watching this that's like going through what I went through and you need anything, encouragement, advice, whatever, you can always message me on any of my social medias.
53:37
SPEAKER_01: Um I I like I feel like I went through what I went through for a reason.
53:42
SPEAKER_01: And um I I love to see people I I like to say uh growing through what they're going through.
53:51
SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
53:52
SPEAKER_01: Like I love to see it.
53:53
SPEAKER_01: So anybody, like if they need advice, help, anything, like I'm here.
53:58
SPEAKER_01: Um now being where I'm at, I do have a lot more people that I know that maybe can help them out in whatever they're doing.
54:04
SPEAKER_01: So I'm always here for anything like that.
54:07
SPEAKER_01: Anyone who, especially like young girls that want to start braiding hair, like need help, like do it.
54:12
SPEAKER_01: Anybody needs advice on like tips on braiding hair, like methods.
54:16
SPEAKER_01: I'm so cool.
54:17
SPEAKER_01: I feel like people get lost in the way that I look and think that I'm mean and I'm not.
54:21
SPEAKER_01: I'm like so nice and I'm so helpful, but like you have to ask me.
54:25
SPEAKER_01: I don't just go giving it, you know what I mean?
54:28
SPEAKER_01: But you gotta ask, and like it's cool, but I'm here for anybody that needs me.
54:32
SPEAKER_00: That's cool.
54:33
SPEAKER_00: So, what do you I mean, why do you decide why do you do that?
54:35
SPEAKER_00: Like, because some people they won't want to do that, they won't want to help other people out like that in that sense.
54:40
SPEAKER_00: You know, why why do you decide to do that?
54:42
SPEAKER_01: Because I feel like nobody helps me, nobody helped me, but that's not gonna make me feel like I'm not gonna help nobody.
54:52
SPEAKER_01: Like, I want to help everybody to succeed because I hate seeing people doing bad, man.
54:59
SPEAKER_01: Like, that's one thing that I hate, and I know I can't help everyone, and I know not everybody wants help because at the end of the day, like I know sometimes like people who have come to me for help, like braiding hair, they want to get started braiding hair.
55:11
SPEAKER_01: Like, I get mad because they don't have that same drive and motivation that I had in the beginning.
55:17
SPEAKER_01: Like, sometimes I feel like people see me now and think like, oh, she's gonna help me and I'm gonna be where she's at now.
55:24
SPEAKER_01: But they don't they don't see that to get here.
55:28
SPEAKER_01: Right.
55:28
SPEAKER_01: There was days, okay.
55:30
SPEAKER_01: Like I told you, I went to barber school from 12 to 6.
55:32
SPEAKER_01: There's days that I got up in the morning and I was braiding hair till 11, 11:30, going to school, sometimes going to school late, going to school all day, braiding hair at school for free, you know, like just for tips or whatever.
55:44
SPEAKER_01: Uh, after school, getting out at six, going and picking up my kids, taking them home, or even taking them with me to more people's houses and braiding hair till two in the morning.
55:53
SPEAKER_01: And at that time, like I told I was living with my mom, so I'm not bringing people to my house to do hair, I'm going to everybody's house and doing their hair, and like I said, till two in the morning, and people don't see that.
56:03
SPEAKER_01: And I was doing that every single day.
56:05
SPEAKER_01: I wasn't taking a day off.
56:06
SPEAKER_01: If you hit me up and you wanted braids, all right, I'm coming.
56:09
SPEAKER_01: Like, I'm coming, I'm gonna go over there.
56:11
SPEAKER_01: If you hit me up with some style that I've never done, yeah, I could do it.
56:15
SPEAKER_01: I'm coming, you know what I mean?
56:16
SPEAKER_01: I'm coming, or I'll tell them like I haven't done it, I'll try it, but I'm not gonna charge you like a crazy price because it's gonna be my first time.
56:24
SPEAKER_01: Like, you know, I I put in a lot of work to get to where I'm at, and people think too, like, because I have all these rules for booking with me, and I'm like, use the app, do this, do that, whatever, whatever.
56:35
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but because I had to be the way I was before to get to this point, now I now I can be picky.
56:43
SPEAKER_01: Now I can be choosy on who I service and who I don't service.
56:46
SPEAKER_01: Uh, you know, I do the booking app not only because it's more convenient for me and my clients, whether they think so or not, it is more convenient.
56:54
SPEAKER_01: Some people don't believe that, but it is, but also it also puts like a little bit of emphasis on who really wants to get their hair done by me, because you have to go download an app, you have to go on there and book the appointment, and then you have to pay a deposit.
57:08
SPEAKER_01: Some people don't want to do all that, and that's fine because I don't you obviously don't want your hair done by me, but people do all that, and that shows like, hey, I want to get my hair done with you, or whatever.
57:17
SPEAKER_01: And it's like I like I tell people all the time, it's like the same thing, like with tattoo artists.
57:22
SPEAKER_01: Like, oh, I don't want to pay a deposit.
57:24
SPEAKER_01: Oh, I don't want to wait three months.
57:25
SPEAKER_01: Well, then you really don't want that tattoo from that person.
57:28
SPEAKER_01: Like, go to I mean, there's somebody out here for everybody, there's a braider out there that will answer your phone call at one o'clock in the morning and say, Yeah, I got you tomorrow or whatever, like, but that's not me no more.
57:39
SPEAKER_01: Uh, there's a tattoo artist that'll take you as a walk-in, and but there's other ones that won't, you know, like there's somebody out here for everybody, honestly.
57:46
SPEAKER_00: Right.
57:46
SPEAKER_00: That's a good strategy because you you weed out you weed out the ones that actually want it and the extra wins.
57:51
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and the ones that exactly, or the ones that might waste your time and book appointments now, show up, come late.
57:58
SPEAKER_01: Like, I had a lot of people that it was hard to get them when I switched over to a shop, it was hard to get a lot of people on to being on time.
58:07
SPEAKER_01: And you know, before I was a lot more relaxed about it because I needed it, like I need you to come because I might not have somebody after you.
58:14
SPEAKER_01: But once it got to a point to where it's like, yeah, I got a person at 11, I got a person at 12, got a person at one.
58:20
SPEAKER_01: If I if you come 30 minutes late, everybody's getting late.
58:23
SPEAKER_01: And then, you know, it just gets pushed back and back and back.
58:25
SPEAKER_01: And I remember at So Blindy, there was times that I would have clients there waiting for you for an hour for two hours, and they had an appointment.
58:32
SPEAKER_01: And I hated that that was happening, you know what I'm saying?
58:35
SPEAKER_01: And they would wait and I would feel so bad, and I would want to give them a discount, but sometimes, sometimes there are days where it's like I really can't give them no discount because I need this money because this is the last money I'm gonna make for my rent.
58:47
SPEAKER_01: Because at that time, like I said, I was in a lot different position than I am now.
58:51
SPEAKER_01: Now I'm a lot more comfortable.
58:53
SPEAKER_01: But you know, like back then, and I would just feel so bad, like, damn.
58:57
SPEAKER_01: So that's when I started feeling like, you know what?
58:58
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to when I went to the news shop, I was like, I don't want to waste anyone's time.
59:03
SPEAKER_01: And I'm not gonna say that there that none of my clients ever have to wait.
59:06
SPEAKER_01: Like there's times when they do have to wait 30 minutes, or you know, heaven forbid they have to wait for an hour because I really like that happens every once in a while when I just misjudge somebody's hair, and I'm like, oh damn, this took a lot longer than I expected.
59:18
SPEAKER_01: But you know, like I try not to waste people's time anymore because I don't want my time wasted, you know what I mean?
59:23
SPEAKER_01: Everybody's time is valuable, and it and I can't say that my time is more valuable than the next person, all of our times are valuable, so yeah, for sure.
59:30
SPEAKER_01: Man, that's a big thing for me now.
59:32
SPEAKER_00: That's awesome, man.
59:33
SPEAKER_00: Man, I there's a lot of stuff.
59:35
SPEAKER_00: There's more stuff I want to ask you, but I gotta wrap it up here.
59:38
SPEAKER_00: My my kids are over here, my wife's waiting on me.
59:40
SPEAKER_00: So I I really appreciate you coming on, Jackie.
59:43
SPEAKER_00: Um, no problem.
59:45
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so how so how we find you on how how do we find you online?
59:49
SPEAKER_01: Touch by money on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, even Snapchat.
59:53
SPEAKER_01: I'm on all those platforms.
59:55
SPEAKER_01: Um, you can message me on any of those.
59:58
SPEAKER_01: I guess really just Instagram and Facebook, because TikTok, you have to be friends, but anything else you can message me.
1:00:03
SPEAKER_01: Questions, even my my Snapchat is public, so you can follow me on Snapchat, you can message me there as well.
1:00:09
SPEAKER_01: Um, if you want to book an appointment with me, download the app Booksea and you just search for Touch by Money, and I have all my prices, all my availability, everything's on there.
1:00:18
SPEAKER_00: Nice.
1:00:18
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'll leave links in the description also so you guys can find her there.
1:00:21
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
1:00:22
SPEAKER_00: All right, Jackie, thank you so much.
1:00:24
SPEAKER_01: No problem.
1:00:26
SPEAKER_01: Thank you, you too.
1:00:28
SPEAKER_01: Okay, bye.
1:00:29
SPEAKER_01: Bye.
1:00:30
SPEAKER_00: All right, y'all.
1:00:30
SPEAKER_00: That was Jackie Selena of Touched by Money.
1:00:33
SPEAKER_00: There's links in the description where you can find her on Instagram, Snapchat, uh, TikTok, Facebook, and also if you want to support this podcast, check out the merch at Copis Christie Originals.com.