Latest / DA CREW Podcast / Chasing The Yes hosted by Aleatha Robinson | Special Guest Reginald Lewis Ed.D.

Transcript

Chasing The Yes hosted by Aleatha Robinson | Special Guest Reginald Lewis Ed.D. · DA CREW Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Welcome, Welcome you tuned in.
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: To the Crew, podcasts and media network.
• 0:13
  Speaker 3: Where voices rise, stories shine, and purpose meets the world.
• 0:18
  Speaker 4: Welcome to the Come on in. This is Barris stops
• 0:24
  Speaker 4: to be area change. We got to change pride here
• 0:29
  Speaker 4: in our heart.
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: Welcome home, Welcome through.
• 0:34
  Speaker 4: There's a place call you.
• 0:37
  Speaker 3: The crew around the world, lifting every voice too.
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: We make space for the voicelessly hope for the undeserved,
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: real talk, real stories.
• 0:49
  Speaker 4: Every voice deserves to be.
• 0:51
  Speaker 3: Heard, streaming live, We on the move, Facebook, Twitch, Kick YouTube,
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: from the mic to the nations.
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: We transformation.
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: Change begins with us, faith, purpose, power of.
• 1:07
  Speaker 4: Trust seen around the world. Tonight that crew shine and
• 1:12
  Speaker 4: grow business where it starts. We all the change. We
• 1:20
  Speaker 4: are the change d hearing our hearts.
• 1:28
  Speaker 5: They told me, no, too blind, too broken, too late,
• 1:37
  Speaker 5: two different, too loud, too ambitious, Ever push me from
• 1:44
  Speaker 5: closet of purpose.
• 1:48
  Speaker 4: No. Now I'm chasing the.
• 2:02
  Speaker 6: W prey from precious pain and survival.
• 2:25
  Speaker 5: Fighting every day just to keep revival built from the dirt.
• 2:30
  Speaker 6: But I still rolls higher, walking through stones. But I
• 2:34
  Speaker 6: still kept fire.
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: They said my dreams were away from me, said I
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: should quit, said this was it.
• 2:39
  Speaker 6: But every closed up a strong Every sent back Holy.
• 2:44
  Speaker 4: Made my vision larger.
• 2:50
  Speaker 6: I got purpose running through my vel, breaking every curse,
• 2:55
  Speaker 6: every change, Honey, answer to.
• 2:58
  Speaker 4: My family, press and I refuse to die for you.
• 3:04
  Speaker 4: I's not stop sign. I was just never mountain in
• 3:08
  Speaker 4: my life. It's pushing me to study it. Sounds chasing,
• 3:19
  Speaker 4: come to it.
• 3:20
  Speaker 5: Faith, this sidmuch, no fan, no limits, no regret.
• 3:26
  Speaker 4: Now the devil can stop what heaven stop chasing? Are
• 3:33
  Speaker 4: so freaking never China help me back, You'll fren pay,
• 3:38
  Speaker 4: but I'll go come. I was born a ride in
• 3:42
  Speaker 4: that soup. Don chasing, steady, steady, stop chasing my.
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: Say.
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: Say for every mother trying not to break, for every
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: father caring heavyweight, for every child that was overlooked, for
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: every dream they misunderstood, for every entrepreneur building from zero,
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: for every survivor becoming their own hero, for every person
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: they counted out.
• 4:13
  Speaker 4: This is your anthem, screaming loud.
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: You don't need.
• 4:15
  Speaker 4: Permission to become.
• 4:16
  Speaker 6: You don't need approval to overcome the same pain to
• 4:19
  Speaker 6: trying to bury.
• 4:20
  Speaker 4: You can become the reason remembers you. I am the
• 4:28
  Speaker 4: side or break WHOA I am? The curse, destroy WHOA
• 4:34
  Speaker 4: I am? The beauty. I am the jewels and one?
• 4:41
  Speaker 4: How did it come this fuck to quit? How did
• 4:45
  Speaker 4: fun just to lift? Smule? Every no prepared me for?
• 4:50
  Speaker 4: They can down? Walking in purpose given in the road.
• 4:58
  Speaker 4: Gets Hi.
• 5:08
  Speaker 7: Hey, how you guys doing today? This is Alita Robinson
• 5:11
  Speaker 7: from Chasing the Yes podcast. I'm so excited about today.
• 5:15
  Speaker 7: Today is a good day listing. We have doctor Reginald
• 5:21
  Speaker 7: Lewis today.
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: So listen.
• 5:24
  Speaker 7: This guy amazing an author, entrepreneur, educator, I mean amazing.
• 5:32
  Speaker 7: So we're gonna get to it. We're gonna get into
• 5:35
  Speaker 7: a lot of things tonight. We're gonna get into some information.
• 5:38
  Speaker 7: We're gonna get into some advice. We're gonna just we're
• 5:40
  Speaker 7: gonna dig deep and we're just gonna have a conversation tonight.
• 5:43
  Speaker 7: So without further ado, Hey, mister Lewis, how you doing,
• 5:48
  Speaker 7: Doctor Lewis?
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: How you doing?
• 5:52
  Speaker 8: I'm doing good. I'm doing good. It's an honor to
• 5:55
  Speaker 8: have you here today.
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: Now, it's good to be here. Just thank you for
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: this opportunity. Such a blessing. And I just love your platform.
• 6:03
  Speaker 7: Absolutely, Thank you so much, Thank you so much. So
• 6:07
  Speaker 7: I guess we can jump right in. Like I told you,
• 6:10
  Speaker 7: we could just have a discussion. I want to get
• 6:11
  Speaker 7: to know you. I, like I said before, I looked
• 6:15
  Speaker 7: through a little bit of your.
• 6:16
  Speaker 8: Book and I love, I love, love love your book.
• 6:19
  Speaker 7: I wanted to get into what made you write your
• 6:23
  Speaker 7: book and the story that you know that runs into
• 6:26
  Speaker 7: how you how you got into writing the book and
• 6:29
  Speaker 7: what it.
• 6:29
  Speaker 8: Means to you.
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: Sure, sure, So I guess what I'll do is I'll
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: take you on a journey. Okay. I started in uh,
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: you know, elementary school, high schools, an excellent student, gifted student.
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: And when I finally went to college, I said, you
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: know what, Howard University is where I want to be.
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: I want to be part of the mecca. The problem
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: was during orientation. I would say, I wouldn't say the problem,
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: but it was how I internalized the message. During orientation,
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: one of the leaders made a statement, you know, look
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: to your left, look to your right. One of you
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: will not be at graduation. And I thought, wow, who
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: is that going to be? And unfortunately it was me.
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: I started. I didn't apply myself to way that I
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: should have. I didn't utilize all of my gifts. I
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: started to I started a party, started, I stopped going
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: to class, and so my grade suffered. And so I
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: had an old school dad. He said, look, you're not
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: gonna waste my money. And so you're either gonna come home,
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: go to the military, or you're gonna go to work.
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: And so what ended up happening was I started, you know,
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: working in some jobs, taking different jobs. I also attended
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: some classes at the community college in New York, one
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: of the state universities as well, takeing some classes just
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: to make sure that, you know, I could develop the
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: skills that I needed. Because ultimately I wanted to earn
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: my degree. I just didn't. I didn't I didn't have
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: a plan, right, so went to college. I just thought,
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: you know what, hey, I was always making a's and
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: it was just gonna be easy. But I had to
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: have a plan, so, you know, I ultimately not eleven.
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: Happened many moons later, and I found myself without a
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: job and no degree. It's it's hard for me to
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: to pivot and try to find a job. I was
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: working in the PR industry and worked for a number
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: of big brands, but I didn't have that degree. So
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: I always felt like I didn't belong in those those space.
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: But I really did because I developed the skills, I
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: just didn't have the degree, the credential.
• 9:06
  Speaker 7: Uh.
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: So I went to a journalist convention National Association of
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: Black Journalists Milwaukee, two thousand and two. I met a
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: young lady who who has now been my wife for
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: almost twenty two years, and we just you know, we
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: got married a couple of years later. And I've realized
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: that if I wanted to be married and I wanted
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: to have children, I wanted to set an example for them.
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: So fast forward that I started a program at Paulcorn
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: College in Dallas, Texas, and it was for adult learners,
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: and so I was able to earn a four point zero.
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: I graduated with honors from Paulcrinn College, and then I
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: was able I was promoted at I was a journalist.
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: I was a news producer at the time, and and
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: so I was able to I was.
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: Promoted on the job.
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: So at that point I felt like, Wow, I actually
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: accomplished something. And then I saw tangible results as a
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: result of that. But more importantly, our daughter was My
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: wife was carrying our daughter at the time. So I
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: tell my daughter, yes, you've been to three graduations, you
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: only realized two of them, but you were there. She
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: was there when I graduated with my undergraduate degree BS
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: and organizational management and so.
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: And what what Paul Quinn College did.
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: With so effectively is it made me feel like I
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: could do anything. They helped with building self efficacy. Uh,
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: they made me feel like I belonged. Although I was
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: an adult learner, I still felt like I was part
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: of the campus community. Professors knew me, and so that
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: was so important. And so as I we kind of
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: navigated some very tough periods here in the state of
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: Texas and and some other states across the country, started
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: with anti DEI legislation, attacking critical race theory and all
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: these other buzzwords they wanted to utilize. Basically, what they
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: wanted to do was to suppress our greatness. And so
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: I got I was working for the the Texas A
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: and M system, and I was. They did some shuffling
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: because of some things that were coming out of the
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: state legislature. And as a part of that, I noticed
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: that my institution, as well as others in the state,
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: started to change their marketing strategies. Instead of trying to
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: be inclusive, they wanted to go to this typical homogenized look, right,
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: people that you know, basically it was white centered marketing,
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: and this is totally unacceptable. If you're in this institution
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: that has thirty forty fifty thousand students, you should be
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: able to show some minority faces, especially if they are
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: paying tuition, because they deserve to be part of the community.
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: And so a lot of students, you know, I started
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: to hear things like, well, I'm not I don't really
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: feel comfortable on this campus. Maybe I should transfer to
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: another campus, and just other marginalized students, students from underrepresented
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: groups started to voice their opinions about how they were
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: being perceived, not only on the website from marketing, but
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: also in the classroom. Their intelligence was being challenged and
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: so it was a difficult time. And so at that
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: point something in me said, you know what I have, this,
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: this is burning inside of me.
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: And that's how the book was manifested.
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: It was it was born out out of trauma to
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: be to be honest, and so students, all all students,
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: but certainly students of students of color, APLE students, LGBTQ students,
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: all those students need to feel like they belong because
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: if you're going to go to a school and pay
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: eighty thousand dollars. Yeah, you need to be represented, absolutely, yes,
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: and so that's how the book was born.
• 13:31
  Speaker 7: And that's amazing, that's awesome because you're right. I mean
• 13:35
  Speaker 7: a lot of the times and different. So I'm disabled
• 13:38
  Speaker 7: and I'm a minority as well, So we have to
• 13:45
  Speaker 7: have some type of inclusion. I don't care what nobody says.
• 13:49
  Speaker 7: They can say what they want to say, but we
• 13:52
  Speaker 7: do want to feel included. I don't care what area,
• 13:56
  Speaker 7: what LGBT, I don't care.
• 13:58
  Speaker 8: You know what I mean.
• 13:58
  Speaker 7: We all want to have some type of inclusion. So
• 14:01
  Speaker 7: I felt it when I when I read the title
• 14:04
  Speaker 7: of your book.
• 14:06
  Speaker 8: You know what I mean.
• 14:06
  Speaker 7: The belonging is the brand, Like I really did. When
• 14:11
  Speaker 7: you're able to be a part of something or you
• 14:14
  Speaker 7: feel as though you're a part of something, gives you
• 14:16
  Speaker 7: a purpose. So I understood that very well. Your career
• 14:22
  Speaker 7: has taken you through marketing, communications, higher education, and even
• 14:29
  Speaker 7: organizations I'm gonna mess it up, critique, is it? Yeah,
• 14:38
  Speaker 7: the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the NHL. So what
• 14:45
  Speaker 7: lessons from those experiences can you can entrepreneurs take to
• 14:51
  Speaker 7: build stronger businesses and brands?
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: Okay, the first thing I would recommend is being able
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: to control your narrative. Okay, okay.
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: Storytelling is very important.
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: Whether that's you're sharing the fact that you launched a
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: new product or new service, or you're trying to you know,
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: pitch to a multi billionaire for some VC funding. You
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: need you need to control your narrative because once the media,
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: because I like, as I mentioned, I worked for the
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: for the media that was a news producer. Once a
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: journalist is able to take control of that and shape it,
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: then that that has a negative impact on your overall brand.
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: And so what you want to be able to do
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: is to to establish that culture. And you do that
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: by having a strategy. You know, some people may say
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: have a business plan, you can have all of those elements,
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: but once you have that strategy, you have to be
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: fearful a free list executing. You can't be fearful because
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: fear has has hampered many many careers, you know, from
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: from athletics to business. Fear will keep you from reaching
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: your destiny. And if you have that, you know, once
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: you can control that narrative, uh and that brand, they'll
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: engender trust. And so when people trust you, it doesn't
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: matter if you create a bookmark or you create a car.
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: If you gender that trust, people will always follow you.
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: They'll go looking for you. They'll move to another state
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: and still try to find you. So but but you
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: you have to control that narrative so they know, like, Okay,
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: all right, when Miss Robinson says something that's gospel.
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: I know that.
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: You know, I've heard from her for the last decade.
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: She's been very consistent. Uh, that's what you want, you
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: But and you do that by controlling, uh, control of
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: that narrative because you know, for example, with Circus LA,
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: when I worked at a firm that Circus La hired
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: UH for their first tour in the United States. It's
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: a company, the theatrical company that's based out of Montreal, Canada.
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: And so what what they wanted was like they wanted
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: to in New York City.
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: UH wanted to compete with Ringland Brothers and barnin be.
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: Uh. And so I literally had to call journalists and
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: celebrities and beg them to take tickets in order to
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: attend this this this this circus if you will UH.
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: So you know, you know I'm talking to agents, like
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: I'll give you a client twelve tickets fourteen twenty. However,
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: they have many tickets they need, but I just need
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: you all to attend. You know, some of these performances,
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: well we had you know, sold out. Well we kind
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: of papered it. I mean it was full, and the
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: reviews were amazing. Celebrities were telling their friends and colleagues
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: about it. And so that first run, like they had
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: to extend and run actually, and so that started it.
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: Huge success. And now Circus Lay is around the world.
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: You know, they have different circuses that different you know,
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: they have one that's always you know, based in Vegas,
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: and so they just depending on the audience. You know,
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: they do their very good about market segmentation. They know
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: their audience and so they.
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: Say, okay, well.
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: This is the demographic and these are the types of
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: individuals that travel to Vegas.
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: This is the circus that we're gonna have there.
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: We're not gonna take the same one that we travel
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: with twenty years ago. Like you know Ringler Brothers did,
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: is they change the themes, the performers, and so that's
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: why they're so successful. And so even in business, we
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: have to be able to pivot and make those changes,
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: adapt to the markets, you know, So that that way
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: we can continue to stay relevant. Now, you can have
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: a core product or service, but you need to be
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: able to have some sub brands as well.
• 19:46
  Speaker 7: That's awesome. Yeah, I understand what you mean. And actually
• 19:50
  Speaker 7: you put me right to my next question. So my
• 19:55
  Speaker 7: next question is at CMCEE Academy, which is the academy
• 20:00
  Speaker 7: that I built a CEO mind Shift Creator Empire. That's
• 20:06
  Speaker 7: the name of it, academy, right, And so at CMCEE Academy,
• 20:14
  Speaker 7: which we teach entrepreneurs to the importance of discipline, structure,
• 20:19
  Speaker 7: and execution. From your perspective, what separates entrepreneurs who build
• 20:26
  Speaker 7: lasting businesses from those who struggle to move beyond having
• 20:31
  Speaker 7: a great idea.
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: That's a great question, and I think one of the
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: biggest differentiators to me would have to be successful entrepreneurs
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: visualize the outcome. So if they want to sell a
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: product or service, they you know, aspire entrepreneurs will say, well,
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: you know, I want to launch this by August. Successful
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: entrepreneurs state I want to launch by August, and I
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: was by the end of August, I want to have
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: one hundred customers paying at on these tiers. You know,
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: I got a gold barns and silver level, and they
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: know how to attack those different areas. They know like, okay,
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: when I start to reach out to folks who are
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: gonna who are the ones that are going to pay
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: the premium level versus the lower level?
• 21:38
  Speaker 8: Uh?
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: And they know how to work all those different levels.
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: So they have a They see the outcome and they
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: attack the outcome. And there's nothing wrong with with having
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: goals and executing those goals, but you don't you don't
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: want those to You want to have a direction. You know,
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: It's kind of like having the GPS. You know, you
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: you you.
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: Want to know where you're going. You may not know
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: exactly where you hit it.
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: You may not know that. You know, maybe you say
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: I wanted one hundred customers and you just hit ninety.
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: That's fine. What does the next quarter look like or
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: the next year? You know, just building off of those
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: like hey, I want to increase by two percent each month,
• 22:25
  Speaker 2: you know, having those goals and pushing towards those goals
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: and just never giving up. You know they're there. You know,
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: I've worked with some big brands that have you know,
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: faced some some difficult times. You know, at one point,
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: dancy to Harlem almost closed its doors because it didn't
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: have enough money, didn't have enough funding. Although the multi
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: millionaires and billionaires in New York loved Dancy of Harlem,
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: but the operational costs were so much.
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: They traveled around the world worldwide tours. It was expensive.
• 22:57
  Speaker 8: Yeah, so.
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: You know they've had to furlough, you know, some dancers,
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: you know, for a few years just to make ends meet.
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: But now they're thriving, so there may be some some
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: lean times and you just can't be discouraged by those.
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: Every company, you know, you know, runs into those periods,
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: but just you know, keeping you on the prize and
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: keeping you on that goal.
• 23:22
  Speaker 7: Okay, thank you so much. That's some good advice, like
• 23:26
  Speaker 7: very very good advice.
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 23:29
  Speaker 7: One thing that really inspired me about your story is
• 23:34
  Speaker 7: your educational journey. You left college which turning years later,
• 23:41
  Speaker 7: aren't your bachelor's degree and eventually your doctor And what
• 23:46
  Speaker 7: kept you going And what would you say to someone
• 23:50
  Speaker 7: who feels like they're behind in life or in business.
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: Hmmm, that's good. I think for me, the big this
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: thing was I had champions. I had people supporting me,
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: championing me. Now not to say that my parents didn't
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: support me. Early on, I just was young and dumb.
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: I thought I knew everything and I could do anything
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: without any uh, without any assistance. And so I learned.
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: I learned the hard way that it definitely takes a village.
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: But I tried to do without that village.
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: Uh So later on, you know, I had a daughter,
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: you know, you know, when I was working on my
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: n b A. You know, I was taking some online
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: classes and she would actually sit on my lap as
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: I did, you know, took some exams, and so she
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: was an inspiration because I didn't want I didn't want
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: to let her down, U. But more importantly, I didn't
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: want to let myself down as a as a black man.
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: I had struggled trying to get that at the bachelor's degree.
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: And I said never again. I said, it's full full
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: steam ahead. And I had, you know, family members, younger
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: family members looking at me. My wife's family members were looking,
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: uh to see how I was progressing. And they were
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: always uh feeding me positive you know thoughts, scriptures. They
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: would show up two events, you know, if I did presentations,
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: they were there. So just you know, ensuring that you
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: know and and everyone you know, folks may not have
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: that support system, but I have one champion.
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: It could be a coworker.
• 25:48
  Speaker 2: Just let them love on you and support you and
• 25:52
  Speaker 2: you know, build that stealth efficacy. But then also find
• 25:56
  Speaker 2: those when you're in the you know, the collegiate en buyers.
• 26:01
  Speaker 2: Finding your people on the campus, and that could be
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: from you know, student organizations. You know, maybe you know,
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: working in the president's office or finding some you know,
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: some administrators you can connect with, but try to find
• 26:18
  Speaker 2: try to plug in to a couple of organizations one
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: that even stretches you. It may not be one that
• 26:25
  Speaker 2: you're really connected to aligned with, but they learn something
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: and find new advocates that you may be able to
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: utilize for future endeavors. You know, once you graduate and
• 26:38
  Speaker 2: you're in the workforce, you may end up working with
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: some of those individuals.
• 26:42
  Speaker 7: Okay, And so I have a follow up question behind that, because,
• 26:46
  Speaker 7: like you said, there could be two different ways, right,
• 26:49
  Speaker 7: you cannot have the community and you could have a community.
• 26:55
  Speaker 7: What would you tell the person that does not have
• 26:57
  Speaker 7: the community and all they have is them else pushing
• 27:01
  Speaker 7: them to do this. I mean, I'm gonna say me
• 27:05
  Speaker 7: for instance, right, it's just me.
• 27:08
  Speaker 8: And I am doing this.
• 27:11
  Speaker 7: All everything that I am doing or I am accomplishing
• 27:14
  Speaker 7: or you know, completing is I'm doing it. I'm pushing
• 27:18
  Speaker 7: myself right to do these things. What what advice would
• 27:22
  Speaker 7: you give me? Because sometimes I wake up and be like,
• 27:25
  Speaker 7: you know what, all if I could do it today,
• 27:30
  Speaker 7: I want to give up. I'm not gonna lie. I
• 27:32
  Speaker 7: do have those times. But what would you what advice
• 27:35
  Speaker 7: would you give me? If you don't have that? Now
• 27:39
  Speaker 7: I do have friends. I do have friends that say,
• 27:41
  Speaker 7: you know you're doing a good job.
• 27:42
  Speaker 8: You know you're doing what.
• 27:43
  Speaker 7: You But as far as a village or a community,
• 27:47
  Speaker 7: I don't have that.
• 27:48
  Speaker 8: So what what what type of advice would you give me?
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: Sure I would I would say that just connect with
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: individuals like Okay, for east example, if you're having a
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: rough day, you can't work on an assignment, you know,
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: you may you may. You don't want to bounce something
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: on someone, attack somebody like me, you know the people
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: you interview, people come in contact with. Create a little network, right,
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: create a little group chat and just say, look, I'm
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: working on a paper. Can one of you you know,
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: review something? Or I may want to bounce an idea
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: off of someone uh, and then that way you just
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: kind of you know, extending that net, right or even
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: if you're taking classes and they may be online classes,
• 28:41
  Speaker 2: you know, connect with somebody you know in in your class, okay,
• 28:46
  Speaker 2: you know, and just say, you know, I like your work.
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: You know, I think your work is is something that
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: that I can relate to or respect or something like that,
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: and just say, look, can we work together on something
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: or can we just you know, like get some coffee
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: or you know, the virtual chat or whatever the case
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: may be.
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: Is just being open to those those conversations. All right.
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: It's almost like when you start a new job.
• 29:24
  Speaker 2: And you know, you got it on your own, no
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: one connected you, and you have to start building your
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: work your network at work, and so you try to
• 29:37
  Speaker 2: find those people you feel like, you know, you align with,
• 29:43
  Speaker 2: you know, whether they look like you, they have the
• 29:46
  Speaker 2: same political views as you, educational values. But as you
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: start to build that network, now becomes a case of
• 29:56
  Speaker 2: you know, you turn and you have thirty or forty
• 29:59
  Speaker 2: people cheering you on for one reason or another, or
• 30:03
  Speaker 2: it may be one season.
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: You know, you may say, hey, I'm working on this
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: in my.
• 30:08
  Speaker 2: Piesis and I need ten people to look at it
• 30:13
  Speaker 2: and you have those ten people, and it's just you know,
• 30:16
  Speaker 2: like I said, I'm totally open to working with you,
• 30:22
  Speaker 2: helping you, cheering you on because you know, you know,
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: like I tell people, you know, once you make it,
• 30:29
  Speaker 2: you reach back and you you bring somebody with you.
• 30:32
  Speaker 7: Absolutely absolutely, thank you so much for that. I really
• 30:36
  Speaker 7: appreciate it. Okay, So the next question is, if you
• 30:42
  Speaker 7: were helping me build the curriculum for CMCEE Academy, what
• 30:47
  Speaker 7: are three what are the three most important lessons every
• 30:52
  Speaker 7: new entrepreneur should learn before they focus on growing or
• 30:57
  Speaker 7: scaling their business.
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: I would say, find out all of the.
• 31:07
  Speaker 2: You know, trademarks, licenses, you know, all of the thing
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: the legal things, uh, you know, try to find out
• 31:18
  Speaker 2: you know you're going to do an LLC SO propriety ship,
• 31:22
  Speaker 2: you know, figure those things out, you know, earn those.
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: Things out early.
• 31:28
  Speaker 2: And then again, you know, have that business plan, that
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: marketing strategy, uh, in order and be ready to execute
• 31:35
  Speaker 2: with timelines, budget, things of that nature. And then also
• 31:41
  Speaker 2: just you know, what what are your outcomes?
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: Uh?
• 31:44
  Speaker 2: Do you want to just build awareness with customers? Are
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: you actually trying to generate sales? You know, because you
• 31:54
  Speaker 2: know at that point, now you're looking at calls to action.
• 31:56
  Speaker 2: What do you want them to do? Do you want
• 31:58
  Speaker 2: them to download something? Do you want them to you know,
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: click and buy immediately? Lead generation? Uh. So, once you
• 32:06
  Speaker 2: have those things figured out, then you can kind of
• 32:10
  Speaker 2: build your funnel in order to achieve you know, achieve
• 32:15
  Speaker 2: those respective goals as I mentioned before. And you know
• 32:18
  Speaker 2: you may have you know, three tiers of of membership
• 32:22
  Speaker 2: if you will.
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: Uh. And you know, once you have that funnel, you.
• 32:25
  Speaker 2: Realize, Okay, this is how I attack each tier and
• 32:30
  Speaker 2: you know, fill those those spots.
• 32:32
  Speaker 7: Okay, And that's kind of what I do teach about
• 32:35
  Speaker 7: I teach about market research. They have to do that.
• 32:38
  Speaker 7: They have to make sure that the niche that they're
• 32:40
  Speaker 7: going in is a passion. That's what I teach people.
• 32:44
  Speaker 7: You know, if you're going if you're going to have
• 32:45
  Speaker 7: a nisue, you have to teach in your passion because
• 32:49
  Speaker 7: if you don't and it's just something that you feel
• 32:51
  Speaker 7: will make money only, then you won't have the heart
• 32:56
  Speaker 7: and the passion to continue. And a lot of people
• 32:58
  Speaker 7: are a lot of entrepreneurs end up doing that and
• 33:01
  Speaker 7: it's just about the money and it doesn't last, or
• 33:05
  Speaker 7: if it doesn't last, they are miserable in what they do,
• 33:09
  Speaker 7: but they love the money that they're making, right, and
• 33:11
  Speaker 7: so to me, it doesn't make sense.
• 33:13
  Speaker 8: So that's the thing that I teach.
• 33:16
  Speaker 7: You know, when I am teaching people when I'm cold,
• 33:19
  Speaker 7: that's what I That's what I teach them about. I
• 33:22
  Speaker 7: think market research is really one of the most important
• 33:25
  Speaker 7: things that you could do. Find out you know what
• 33:29
  Speaker 7: you what you are starting the business that you're starting.
• 33:32
  Speaker 7: Go look at people that already has a successful business.
• 33:35
  Speaker 7: Go look and see what you know, what what is
• 33:38
  Speaker 7: what's the number on.
• 33:40
  Speaker 8: It that that that that I don't know what what
• 33:43
  Speaker 8: just happened?
• 33:43
  Speaker 7: I'm sorry, y'all give me one second because I can't
• 33:46
  Speaker 7: see I can't see you in my computer doing something.
• 33:49
  Speaker 8: Okay, what you know?
• 33:52
  Speaker 7: How much money they make and that and that and
• 33:54
  Speaker 7: that in that field, you know those type of things.
• 33:58
  Speaker 7: So you know, I'm I'm asking questions because I'm still
• 34:02
  Speaker 7: learning that at the same time, like I said, you know,
• 34:04
  Speaker 7: so it's great.
• 34:06
  Speaker 2: I mean, I like, I like what you said about
• 34:09
  Speaker 2: passion because I think about my early educational journey and
• 34:14
  Speaker 2: that I didn't have that and that's.
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: Why it was easy for me to leave.
• 34:18
  Speaker 2: So passion is is very important and I didn't really
• 34:22
  Speaker 2: understand that until later in life because all I was
• 34:27
  Speaker 2: doing was, you know, especially after I started working, was
• 34:30
  Speaker 2: working to make money. You know, it was it was
• 34:33
  Speaker 2: go to work, make money, and not the growth wasn't there.
• 34:41
  Speaker 2: So yes, definitely on the market research side, you know,
• 34:45
  Speaker 2: just to augment what you said, which was which was great,
• 34:50
  Speaker 2: you know, conducting that swat analysis, right, you know, when
• 34:54
  Speaker 2: you do that market research, looking at your strengths, weaknesses, opportunity,
• 35:00
  Speaker 2: some threats, and how the competitors fit into that. Uh,
• 35:04
  Speaker 2: that's very key, you know because I see a lot
• 35:07
  Speaker 2: of and I'm sure this happens where you are, but
• 35:09
  Speaker 2: we got a lot of coffee shops that pop up, right, yes,
• 35:14
  Speaker 2: I mean.
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: Like all over the place.
• 35:15
  Speaker 2: And so the ones that are successful, you can tell
• 35:21
  Speaker 2: they conducted market research in the right way and they
• 35:27
  Speaker 2: really they did a good job and drilling down and
• 35:32
  Speaker 2: looking at those opportunities and combating those threats, you know,
• 35:37
  Speaker 2: like from you know, like a Starbucks, right like Starbucks
• 35:40
  Speaker 2: market share, but it's probably gonna stay where it is
• 35:45
  Speaker 2: because those customers are kind of baked in. They're loyal
• 35:51
  Speaker 2: there there there's so many people that that want something different,
• 35:56
  Speaker 2: and so the ones that are successful, really you can
• 36:01
  Speaker 2: tell they've done some good market research. They it was
• 36:05
  Speaker 2: deep and it was rich. So, yes, you're absolutely right
• 36:09
  Speaker 2: on that marketing. Marketing research.
• 36:12
  Speaker 8: Yeah, thank you so much.
• 36:14
  Speaker 7: This is the last question that I have, but I
• 36:17
  Speaker 7: have a couple of bonus questions as well, if you
• 36:19
  Speaker 7: got the time. Okay, So the last question is when
• 36:25
  Speaker 7: people finish reading your book and hearing your story, what
• 36:31
  Speaker 7: do you hope they remember about doctor Reginald E. Lewis,
• 36:37
  Speaker 7: not only as an author and educator, but as a leader.
• 36:42
  Speaker 7: What does the legacy mean to you?
• 36:45
  Speaker 2: Wow, that's powerful. I think it's far. What I want
• 36:50
  Speaker 2: individuals to walk away with is that I am committed
• 36:55
  Speaker 2: to inclusivity. Inclusive marketing is what I breathe, eat, breathe sleep,
• 37:06
  Speaker 2: Inclusive marketing because I try to center the voices that
• 37:10
  Speaker 2: are not commercialized.
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: I want to make sure that all students.
• 37:17
  Speaker 2: All individuals, feel like they belong if they even if
• 37:22
  Speaker 2: they don't come to my camp my campuses, I.
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: Want them to feel like they belong in higher education.
• 37:30
  Speaker 2: I don't want young black men to feel like they
• 37:33
  Speaker 2: don't belong like I only I only if I'm not
• 37:38
  Speaker 2: being recruited for for athletics. I don't deserve to be
• 37:41
  Speaker 2: on that campus.
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: No, you do. You could take a different route, yeah,
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: if you want to.
• 37:47
  Speaker 2: You know, if you have aspirations of going to the
• 37:49
  Speaker 2: NFL or the NBA, and you know your scout's you
• 37:52
  Speaker 2: know agents telling you that yes, you are likely to
• 37:55
  Speaker 2: do that, then you know, that's a different conversation.
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: But for the ones who are.
• 38:01
  Speaker 2: Not going to start, uh, but they need a good education,
• 38:05
  Speaker 2: you know, instead of playing sports your first year, you know,
• 38:10
  Speaker 2: look at some different opportunities, dive into that major. It's
• 38:15
  Speaker 2: your basics out of the way, maybe at a community college,
• 38:18
  Speaker 2: and then transfer in and then maybe you're better prepared
• 38:22
  Speaker 2: for everything, you know, the athletics side, the academic side.
• 38:27
  Speaker 2: And I want people that read this book to know
• 38:30
  Speaker 2: that there are schools out there that really want them
• 38:34
  Speaker 2: on campus. And then there are there's some schools that
• 38:37
  Speaker 2: you know, are retreating, they're closing, you know, multicultural centers,
• 38:43
  Speaker 2: they eliminating programming.
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: Maybe that's a place that you should avoid.
• 38:49
  Speaker 2: But I want everyone to be educated on what's happening,
• 38:53
  Speaker 2: so that I'm you know, making decisions blindly about where
• 38:58
  Speaker 2: they go to college, like I did, you know, had
• 39:01
  Speaker 2: I really looked at, you know, the pros and cons,
• 39:06
  Speaker 2: that probably would have selected a different school for me,
• 39:10
  Speaker 2: you know how it was a great school, one of
• 39:12
  Speaker 2: the least, but it was the right environment for me.
• 39:16
  Speaker 8: Yeah.
• 39:17
  Speaker 7: Yeah, And I think that goes hand in hand with
• 39:19
  Speaker 7: your passion. You have to be around people that has
• 39:23
  Speaker 7: the same you know, they say that you need to
• 39:26
  Speaker 7: be around people that has the same drive as you,
• 39:30
  Speaker 7: that has the same dream as you, you know what
• 39:32
  Speaker 7: I mean, And that will help you get to like
• 39:35
  Speaker 7: you was talking about the end of knowing what the
• 39:38
  Speaker 7: end part, you know what I mean, you knowing where
• 39:40
  Speaker 7: your end result is at. You have to be around
• 39:43
  Speaker 7: those type of people. So I absolutely get that as well.
• 39:46
  Speaker 7: So this one is going to be rapid fire. I
• 39:49
  Speaker 7: have like four questions really quick.
• 39:53
  Speaker 8: So what hopped my bad?
• 39:55
  Speaker 7: What's one marketing mistake you see entrepreneurs make over and
• 40:00
  Speaker 7: over again?
• 40:03
  Speaker 2: I would I would have to say the storytelling piece,
• 40:09
  Speaker 2: because they try to they try to control in a
• 40:15
  Speaker 2: in a way. Okay, so if they when they hire
• 40:18
  Speaker 2: someone to handle the marketing, they try to control it
• 40:25
  Speaker 2: and they get it away and they don't allow the
• 40:29
  Speaker 2: expertise to actually unfold. They're impatient. They want results like yesterday,
• 40:38
  Speaker 2: but instead of you know, seeing it grow organically. Want
• 40:42
  Speaker 2: what you want is sustainability. You want twenty years of
• 40:48
  Speaker 2: of of brand presidence. You don't want two years just allowing.
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: The expert to do his or her job.
• 40:57
  Speaker 2: I see that mistake quite all often that they get
• 41:00
  Speaker 2: in the way, and when they do it themselves, they
• 41:04
  Speaker 2: lack the consistency.
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: There's there's no strategy.
• 41:08
  Speaker 2: You know. They may me.
• 41:12
  Speaker 8: Your hands old person all the time.
• 41:15
  Speaker 7: Yet I have learned through trial and error and through
• 41:19
  Speaker 7: people telling me friends, you know, associates, family members, you
• 41:24
  Speaker 7: always want your hand and everything, like.
• 41:26
  Speaker 8: You know what I'm saying.
• 41:27
  Speaker 7: So you're absolutely correct, because I'm gonna have to relinquish that.
• 41:33
  Speaker 7: I'm gonna have to say, Okay, this person needs to
• 41:36
  Speaker 7: handle that like it's not you know what I mean.
• 41:38
  Speaker 7: I need them to do the marketing. So you are
• 41:40
  Speaker 7: absolutely right about that. That's so true.
• 41:44
  Speaker 2: Okay, you know even with you know, with the with
• 41:48
  Speaker 2: the book marketing, Like I don't want to relinquish anything,
• 41:51
  Speaker 2: and so because I think I know everything, but sometimes
• 41:56
  Speaker 2: I need to remove myself from it because other individuals
• 42:00
  Speaker 2: see the full landscape and see the bigger picture instead
• 42:04
  Speaker 2: of just what's in front of me.
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: Uh So, just being able to you know, just you know,
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: just kind of move out of the way. How to
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: do that as well?
• 42:15
  Speaker 7: Yeah, okay? And then also how can entrepreneurs create a
• 42:20
  Speaker 7: sense of belonging and trust with their customers from day one?
• 42:27
  Speaker 2: Now that's gonna be through I would say a combination
• 42:30
  Speaker 2: of marketing and communication.
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: You want to you.
• 42:35
  Speaker 2: Want to have a newsletter, you know, a digital newsletter
• 42:41
  Speaker 2: that you can send down to your customers. You are
• 42:43
  Speaker 2: responsive to feedback on social your social media channels. You
• 42:49
  Speaker 2: want to be able to to have real time information
• 42:54
  Speaker 2: from your customers if you can, you know, and they
• 42:58
  Speaker 2: may be rating a product, you know, even a you know,
• 43:02
  Speaker 2: a survey, you know, after this podcast, what do you think?
• 43:05
  Speaker 2: You know, what kind of guests would you like to
• 43:08
  Speaker 2: see in the next you know, two to three weeks?
• 43:12
  Speaker 2: You know, Always staying in touch with your customers because
• 43:15
  Speaker 2: once they feel like they're just a number and you're
• 43:21
  Speaker 2: looking for a sale and there's no there's no connection there.
• 43:26
  Speaker 2: They want to have a connection to the brand and
• 43:29
  Speaker 2: the brands that are successful always they stay connected, uh
• 43:34
  Speaker 2: to their clients. And so it's as entrepreneurs, it's important
• 43:37
  Speaker 2: to you know, set a cadence and may be a
• 43:40
  Speaker 2: monthly e newsletter send that out. You know, you may
• 43:43
  Speaker 2: not have a whole lot of information, but maybe you
• 43:46
  Speaker 2: just put a poll question in there. You know, what
• 43:49
  Speaker 2: are your thoughts on this? It could be something related
• 43:52
  Speaker 2: to your business, it could be something related to the industry.
• 43:56
  Speaker 1: But making sure.
• 43:57
  Speaker 2: That you you know you you you'll end up with
• 44:01
  Speaker 2: some loyal customers who you can always count on as
• 44:04
  Speaker 2: early adopters.
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: Uh. And so that's that's what's that's important.
• 44:08
  Speaker 2: It's just developing that connection with your with your customers.
• 44:13
  Speaker 8: Absolutely, thank you so much.
• 44:15
  Speaker 2: Welcome.
• 44:15
  Speaker 7: One said, I definitely have to know when to let
• 44:18
  Speaker 7: someone else do the work, laugh I out, Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
• 44:23
  Speaker 7: And actually Trivida is like she my found boy. I
• 44:26
  Speaker 7: have to go to her like that's that. Trivida is
• 44:29
  Speaker 7: somebody that I get on the phone with and that's
• 44:32
  Speaker 7: about the only person. But I'll call her and be
• 44:34
  Speaker 7: like my sound but like I have to tell her
• 44:39
  Speaker 7: and the next question and I'll make this be the
• 44:44
  Speaker 7: last one. Okay, So what's one daily habit that has
• 44:48
  Speaker 7: contributed most to your success.
• 44:52
  Speaker 2: Writing in the journal, outside of outside of prayer, I
• 44:58
  Speaker 2: would say it's writing the journal because my brain works
• 45:04
  Speaker 2: in a way that I just have like these these
• 45:08
  Speaker 2: moments where it's just so much information enters my brain,
• 45:13
  Speaker 2: that all these ideas and I have to write them
• 45:15
  Speaker 2: down because they may not be fully baked. But if
• 45:20
  Speaker 2: I can go back to it, you know, on Friday,
• 45:24
  Speaker 2: after I've written it on Monday, maybe I can make
• 45:27
  Speaker 2: the connection and carry it out.
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: To a full, fully fleshed idea. And so.
• 45:36
  Speaker 2: It is. And another thing is my lens is always okay.
• 45:42
  Speaker 2: So when I when I when I for marketing or
• 45:44
  Speaker 2: pr when I look at things, I'm looking at things
• 45:49
  Speaker 2: from a multi cultural lens, in a legal lens because
• 45:57
  Speaker 2: I want to make sure that all customers are accounted for.
• 46:03
  Speaker 2: But then also I'm looking at them legally, like how
• 46:07
  Speaker 2: can the media turn this and make this into a negative.
• 46:13
  Speaker 2: As a news producer, you know, I was always trying
• 46:16
  Speaker 2: to find that little nugget.
• 46:20
  Speaker 1: To create a story for my newscast.
• 46:22
  Speaker 2: And sometimes, you know, the angle is positive and sometimes
• 46:27
  Speaker 2: it wasn't. And I mean to be honest with you,
• 46:30
  Speaker 2: but you know I always try to, you know, put
• 46:33
  Speaker 2: on that my former journalists had, and I try to
• 46:39
  Speaker 2: look at things from a legal perspective, like how if
• 46:43
  Speaker 2: this were to happen, how would I respond, you know,
• 46:47
  Speaker 2: by my product or service?
• 46:49
  Speaker 1: How would I counsel with someone else?
• 46:52
  Speaker 2: So I'm always thinking of those types of things and
• 46:55
  Speaker 2: those things I have to write down, you know, so
• 47:00
  Speaker 2: especially when it comes to things like this.
• 47:02
  Speaker 1: Uh.
• 47:03
  Speaker 2: If you know, for you know, for example, if you
• 47:07
  Speaker 2: put something on your website and someone decides, hey, I'm
• 47:10
  Speaker 2: going to write into the Attorney General and I'm gonna
• 47:14
  Speaker 2: fileow an official complaint because I feel like this is
• 47:18
  Speaker 2: you know, this is this is this, this is cr
• 47:21
  Speaker 2: critical race theory, right or whatever boogieyman, the latest boogeyman
• 47:26
  Speaker 2: is respond you know, what are those talking points? You know,
• 47:31
  Speaker 2: if you know a journalist you know knocked on your
• 47:33
  Speaker 2: door say so, I'm always thinking of those types of things.
• 47:39
  Speaker 2: Write them, you know, I'll write them down. And what
• 47:41
  Speaker 2: I do, and what I think all entrepreneurs should do
• 47:46
  Speaker 2: is have a messaging vault. So it could be just
• 47:50
  Speaker 2: a document in Google, you know Google, you know, sheets
• 47:54
  Speaker 2: or word uh, and you talk about different scenarios. You know,
• 47:59
  Speaker 2: if you have a product and you know, you know,
• 48:02
  Speaker 2: for example, maybe it's you know, some food catering service.
• 48:07
  Speaker 2: What happens if somebody gets sick, somebody eats lettuce and
• 48:10
  Speaker 2: then you end up, you know, having some issues and
• 48:16
  Speaker 2: they find out if it came from my food?
• 48:18
  Speaker 1: Like, how do I respond to.
• 48:20
  Speaker 2: A journalist come and asking me why I continue to
• 48:23
  Speaker 2: use lettuce when there's a recall?
• 48:26
  Speaker 7: Mmmm?
• 48:27
  Speaker 2: You know, so I'm always I'm always thinking ahead. So
• 48:31
  Speaker 2: as an entrepreneur, you should have that messaging vault. That's
• 48:35
  Speaker 2: how you control your narrative. Is that when they come
• 48:37
  Speaker 2: to you, you're able to deliver those messages and not
• 48:43
  Speaker 2: get you know, thrown off track or you know, they
• 48:48
  Speaker 2: can't take advantage of you and get it, get it
• 48:51
  Speaker 2: by getting that upper hand.
• 48:52
  Speaker 7: Okay, so I got some more questions. I thought I
• 48:54
  Speaker 7: was done. I thought I was done. I'm sorry, Okay,
• 48:58
  Speaker 7: what would you stay two entrepreneurs that are kind of
• 49:02
  Speaker 7: afraid of using any AI tools to help them to
• 49:07
  Speaker 7: create things in their business or even start a business
• 49:12
  Speaker 7: or whatever the case may be. And do you as
• 49:16
  Speaker 7: well use AI to help you with business?
• 49:20
  Speaker 2: I do, and I use it for ideation because it
• 49:25
  Speaker 2: many times when I'm trying to think of something and
• 49:29
  Speaker 2: I'm stuck, and I may use it to brainstorm, and
• 49:34
  Speaker 2: you know, like you know, with you know, now you
• 49:36
  Speaker 2: could just you can name your your AI tool, right
• 49:40
  Speaker 2: you could? You know, hey, Sheila, Yeah, you know bound
• 49:47
  Speaker 2: something off of you And being an older individual, I'm
• 49:55
  Speaker 2: kind of on that. I'm on the border as are
• 50:00
  Speaker 2: as how I feel about AI, but I have to
• 50:05
  Speaker 2: utilize it in order to maintain relevancy.
• 50:10
  Speaker 8: I was just just took it out my mouth. Yes,
• 50:14
  Speaker 8: I took that out of my mouth.
• 50:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah, relative as much as I want to say, well,
• 50:18
  Speaker 1: I don't want to do it on.
• 50:18
  Speaker 2: My own, and this is my idea. Now the tool
• 50:23
  Speaker 2: is there. Use the tool, yea, even if it's just
• 50:27
  Speaker 2: to build the framework. You don't have to fill in
• 50:31
  Speaker 2: all the rooms, you know when building a house. Just
• 50:34
  Speaker 2: build the frame, you know, and then you see, like
• 50:40
  Speaker 2: you know what this the AI is using best practices,
• 50:45
  Speaker 2: so I don't have to create this from scratch. It's
• 50:49
  Speaker 2: best practices and I can just fill in what I
• 50:52
  Speaker 2: need to and so it cuts down on all the
• 50:55
  Speaker 2: work you have to do. It makes you more efficient.
• 50:59
  Speaker 2: And also so if you need to store things, you
• 51:02
  Speaker 2: can go back, look at chats and see like you
• 51:05
  Speaker 2: know what, this is how this morphed over time, and
• 51:09
  Speaker 2: this is how we got to this point.
• 51:11
  Speaker 1: How do we take this to? How do we scale
• 51:13
  Speaker 1: the business?
• 51:15
  Speaker 2: Asked like, look, I want to go from one hundred
• 51:17
  Speaker 2: customers to ten thousand customers in twelve months.
• 51:20
  Speaker 1: How do I do that?
• 51:21
  Speaker 2: Yes, it'll give you a plan.
• 51:24
  Speaker 1: This is who we do each month.
• 51:26
  Speaker 2: Each week? What have you?
• 51:28
  Speaker 1: And so to say no, you kind of for me.
• 51:34
  Speaker 2: You know, I would basically, you know, box myself out
• 51:38
  Speaker 2: of any you know, any jobs, right, you know they
• 51:43
  Speaker 2: And this is how this is what how I feel
• 51:46
  Speaker 2: about AI. Now, if you don't learn how to use it,
• 51:50
  Speaker 2: you get left out of the market. Yes, you'll get
• 51:53
  Speaker 2: left out. And so now you know if it's like hey,
• 51:58
  Speaker 2: you know write my that's different.
• 52:01
  Speaker 8: Right yeah yeah yeah yeah.
• 52:03
  Speaker 2: But in order to because your competitors are going to
• 52:09
  Speaker 2: use it, right, and so you have to you have
• 52:14
  Speaker 2: to keep.
• 52:15
  Speaker 1: Up with everyone.
• 52:17
  Speaker 2: Now, I don't you know, I'm not for like kids
• 52:20
  Speaker 2: using it in class and things of that nature, but
• 52:25
  Speaker 2: I mean, I mean I could see like if they're
• 52:28
  Speaker 2: doing homework and they got to read something from like
• 52:31
  Speaker 2: the early nineteen hundreds. I mean, I mean, hey, we
• 52:36
  Speaker 2: went and got cliff notes and other things to kind
• 52:38
  Speaker 2: of break things down for so, I mean I don't
• 52:42
  Speaker 2: see a problem with it, but you know, as far
• 52:45
  Speaker 2: as like completing assignments and like, I'm not with that.
• 52:49
  Speaker 2: But from a business standpoint, you got to use the tools.
• 52:53
  Speaker 7: That are yeah, and you have to use tools that
• 52:56
  Speaker 7: your competitors are using. And that's literally what I teach
• 52:59
  Speaker 7: to I teach people, but I teach them how to
• 53:03
  Speaker 7: use multiple platforms of AI, to use them together as
• 53:08
  Speaker 7: a as a whole or as a team, so they'll
• 53:11
  Speaker 7: know how to use all of them, and each one
• 53:14
  Speaker 7: of them has a separate type job, right, So that's
• 53:19
  Speaker 7: what I teach also to entrepreneurs or you know, people
• 53:24
  Speaker 7: that come in and say, well, I don't even know
• 53:26
  Speaker 7: how to use AI. I hold AI classes. I teach
• 53:29
  Speaker 7: them about, you know, what to do with it. Chat
• 53:33
  Speaker 7: is for this, manages for this, claud is for this,
• 53:38
  Speaker 7: you know, and how you can use it in different
• 53:39
  Speaker 7: ways and you can build things faster. You don't have to,
• 53:44
  Speaker 7: you know, try to figure everything out by yourself. Like
• 53:46
  Speaker 7: you said, the ideation, like you having the ideas if
• 53:50
  Speaker 7: you don't have the ideas. You can speak something into
• 53:53
  Speaker 7: chat and say, Okay, this is what I'm thinking, this
• 53:55
  Speaker 7: is what I want to build, and it automatically gives
• 53:57
  Speaker 7: you a framework of what you can you know, what
• 54:02
  Speaker 7: you can develop literally in a couple of weeks to
• 54:05
  Speaker 7: a couple of months. Right, Yes, so I teach that
• 54:09
  Speaker 7: as well.
• 54:10
  Speaker 8: Okay.
• 54:11
  Speaker 7: And then so if you could give every entrepreneur right
• 54:16
  Speaker 7: now that's listening the advice, some advice that could help
• 54:20
  Speaker 7: them this week, what would it be?
• 54:24
  Speaker 2: M I would say, share your story with your local media. Okay,
• 54:33
  Speaker 2: And I say that as a former news producer, because
• 54:39
  Speaker 2: newscasts have an audience of at least one hundred and
• 54:46
  Speaker 2: fifty two hundred thousand homes depending on where you live.
• 54:51
  Speaker 1: You can reach those homes with one story. You can
• 54:55
  Speaker 1: repurpose that story, share it on socials, put on your
• 54:58
  Speaker 1: website references you know, you can even in your marketing
• 55:02
  Speaker 1: materials as seen on NBC fifteen. That's how you use
• 55:09
  Speaker 1: the media to your advantage. You enter two hundred thousand
• 55:12
  Speaker 1: homes if you paid for it, you should be spending
• 55:15
  Speaker 1: on you know, a lot of money in order to
• 55:21
  Speaker 1: to to advertise for that type of market share and again,
• 55:25
  Speaker 1: you know, if it's a really good story, you may
• 55:28
  Speaker 1: be in Atlanta, Georgia.
• 55:31
  Speaker 2: Which the story originates. But then you know the NBC
• 55:36
  Speaker 2: affiliate in in New York or LA or Chicago, they
• 55:42
  Speaker 2: may pick up that same story. So now you're spreading
• 55:46
  Speaker 2: your network. And then once you realize you in those markets,
• 55:50
  Speaker 2: and then you could do some some some targeted marketing.
• 55:54
  Speaker 7: Yes, yes, that's good advice. Thank you, thank you so much.
• 55:59
  Speaker 7: Now tell everybody how they can get a hold of
• 56:03
  Speaker 7: your book.
• 56:03
  Speaker 8: They can get information from you, they can get.
• 56:05
  Speaker 7: Into contact with you. Everything is about you for however
• 56:09
  Speaker 7: long you speak.
• 56:11
  Speaker 1: Okay, sure, and I appreciate it.
• 56:13
  Speaker 2: So if for anyone interested in belonging as the brand, uh,
• 56:19
  Speaker 2: they can go to my website doctor REGINALD Lewis dot com,
• 56:23
  Speaker 2: r E G N A L D L e w.
• 56:26
  Speaker 1: I S dot com.
• 56:28
  Speaker 6: Uh.
• 56:28
  Speaker 2: They can find me on Instagram uh at doctor reggielu uh.
• 56:33
  Speaker 2: And then on TikTok they can find me as well
• 56:37
  Speaker 2: of Reggie lou there uh. And right now I have
• 56:43
  Speaker 2: the paperback which is the second edition. The first edition
• 56:47
  Speaker 2: was an ebook, so both of those items are available there. Uh.
• 56:50
  Speaker 2: And if anyone is interested in hearing me speak, uh,
• 56:56
  Speaker 2: or you know, maybe a book signing. They can reach
• 56:59
  Speaker 2: out at Reggie Lewis forty four at gmail dot com.
• 57:04
  Speaker 7: Okay, do you have any services or anything like that
• 57:07
  Speaker 7: that you that you do other than yeah.
• 57:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I would say, you know, media relations. You know,
• 57:16
  Speaker 2: if anyone is interested in developing a plan, uh to
• 57:20
  Speaker 2: work with those media outlets, you.
• 57:23
  Speaker 1: Know, I can certainly help with that, you know.
• 57:26
  Speaker 3: Uh.
• 57:27
  Speaker 2: It could be as smallest a little town in Idaho
• 57:31
  Speaker 2: or all the way up to LA and New York.
• 57:33
  Speaker 1: I have contacts all across the.
• 57:34
  Speaker 2: Country and if anyone is interested in working with me,
• 57:37
  Speaker 2: reach out to me at Reggie Lewis forty four at
• 57:39
  Speaker 2: gmail dot com and we can we can help you.
• 57:43
  Speaker 7: Okay, thank you so much, doctor Lewis. I really do
• 57:47
  Speaker 7: appreciate you. I have been I've had an amazing time.
• 57:50
  Speaker 7: I've got some information. I know that the viewers have
• 57:53
  Speaker 7: gotten some information.
• 57:55
  Speaker 2: You are amazing.
• 57:56
  Speaker 7: Like just listening to you tonight really gave me a
• 57:59
  Speaker 7: lot of perspective on even my life, even what I'm doing.
• 58:03
  Speaker 7: So I really do appreciate you, and thank you so much.
• 58:07
  Speaker 7: Everybody that came into Chasing the Yes podcast.
• 58:10
  Speaker 8: Thank you so much. This is Alita and we're starting off.
• 58:14
  Speaker 8: Thank you guys for showing up.
• 58:16
  Speaker 1: Thank you very much. Chris Robinson, Hey, blessing you too.
• 58:24
  Speaker 6: Exactly