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Ryan Wilson & TK Petersen Interview · The Breakfast Club

0:00
Speaker 1: Wait in the morning Breakfast Club. Morning. Everybody is DJ
0:07
Speaker 1: Envy and Ngula Yee, Charlomagne and the guy. We all
0:09
Speaker 1: the Breakfast Club. We got some special guests in the
0:11
Speaker 1: building from the Gathering Spot. We have Ryan Wilson and T. K. Peterson.
0:15
Speaker 1: Welcome guys, good to be here, Greenwood and the Gathering
0:18
Speaker 1: Spot there. Well, let's let's break it down for people
0:20
Speaker 1: that don't know what is the Gathering Spot. So the
0:23
Speaker 1: Gathering Spot is a private network that we established in
0:26
Speaker 1: Atlanta in twenty sixteen. We're in the community business. We
0:29
Speaker 1: figure out how to connect people. Youngest members twenty one,
0:32
Speaker 1: oldest is ninety. So we spend time building connections, hosting programs,
0:36
Speaker 1: and we have physical clubs across the country. I actually
0:39
Speaker 1: just had Mary J. Blige's um Yes Stan Devon Woman.
0:42
Speaker 1: Their whole entire event was there at the Gathering Spot.
0:46
Speaker 1: So how can people become a member if they wanted
0:48
Speaker 1: to become a member of the Gathering Spot. So you
0:50
Speaker 1: go online, right, we have a process that starts there.
0:54
Speaker 1: You'll get in contact with a person on our membership
0:56
Speaker 1: team and then we interview everybody. Right, It's really important
0:59
Speaker 1: for us to get to know every single member of
1:01
Speaker 1: the community. To make those connections that I was talking about,
1:04
Speaker 1: We've got to spend time really understanding what makes you
1:07
Speaker 1: you and then from there we send out acceptances. So
1:09
Speaker 1: it kind of works like college. You put your application
1:11
Speaker 1: in and then we'll tell you soon after if you're
1:15
Speaker 1: if you're a member. How many members are there? There's
1:18
Speaker 1: twelve thousands of the country across the country that with membership.
1:21
Speaker 1: What does that include? What do I get with the
1:23
Speaker 1: membership and how much is membership feeds? And why would
1:25
Speaker 1: somebody want to do it? Got so the membership includes
1:28
Speaker 1: access to the physical locations we have so in Atlanta
1:31
Speaker 1: we have about twenty five thousand square feet in DC
1:34
Speaker 1: on LA roughly the same size, so physical clubs that
1:37
Speaker 1: have events space, a private restaurant and bar, and a
1:40
Speaker 1: workspace where private offices and conference rooms. That thought being
1:42
Speaker 1: that anything you would need to do in a modern
1:44
Speaker 1: day's worth of work you can do inside of the space,
1:46
Speaker 1: both professional and social. And then we have our own
1:49
Speaker 1: content platform digital platform there and local perks and different benefits.
1:54
Speaker 1: But the biggest attraction to being a part of the
1:57
Speaker 1: community is that one another you're meeting other people who
2:00
Speaker 1: are are like minded and highly driven and see value
2:03
Speaker 1: and being part of something that's larger than themselves. So
2:05
Speaker 1: very similar to college where you're meeting people who are
2:08
Speaker 1: lifelong friends and partners and different things. This is how
2:11
Speaker 1: you keep that connectivity beyond the educational setting and with
2:15
Speaker 1: you for the rest of your life, hopefully. Interestingly enough,
2:17
Speaker 1: you know, when I started at my private label store
2:20
Speaker 1: and Detroit, the meeting that I had with my partner
2:23
Speaker 1: Mikey was at the Gathering Spot. So that's where we
2:25
Speaker 1: actually had our first initial meeting in person to kind
2:29
Speaker 1: of talk about getting things started. So like stories like
2:32
Speaker 1: that or what it's about for us, Like we look
2:35
Speaker 1: now it's been all seven years since TJS open, and
2:38
Speaker 1: there's so many business partners in relationships. We even have
2:40
Speaker 1: TGS babies where people are like I met I met
2:43
Speaker 1: at TGS and now now look at us. That's why
2:45
Speaker 1: we started side Piece at the Gathering Spot. Hey, look
2:51
Speaker 1: there there are a lot of different I say. And
2:55
Speaker 1: that's that's again the one we were talking about this
2:57
Speaker 1: in twenty thirteen. That was the plan. How do we create, yes,
3:00
Speaker 1: a place, but a network where we can build with
3:03
Speaker 1: one another. Right knowing that there's not enough places around
3:06
Speaker 1: the country to be able to do that. So we
3:09
Speaker 1: started in Atlanta, but we're building them all over the country. Now, Now,
3:11
Speaker 1: what is membership fees? How much is it supposed to
3:13
Speaker 1: be a membership? And can I bring in people? Because
3:15
Speaker 1: you know, how does that work? Yeah? Great question. The
3:17
Speaker 1: fees are it's two hundred dollars a month or two
3:19
Speaker 1: thousand dollars for the year to be a member of
3:21
Speaker 1: the gathering spot. And yeah, you're allowed three guests pretty
3:24
Speaker 1: much at any time without giving advanced noise. If you
3:26
Speaker 1: need more than that, we asked that you reach out
3:28
Speaker 1: so we can make sure that there's enough space for
3:30
Speaker 1: your for your guests. What made you decide Atlanta was
3:32
Speaker 1: the right place to start. I think Atlanta is one
3:34
Speaker 1: of the more important cities in the country, right, and
3:36
Speaker 1: we've believed that for a really long time. But you
3:39
Speaker 1: look between the colleges and universities, the big businesses that
3:42
Speaker 1: are there, the small businesses and startups that are there,
3:45
Speaker 1: and then you've got the culture that's coming out of
3:47
Speaker 1: the city, right, that special sauce. We we couldn't pass
3:51
Speaker 1: that up, right, That's what you see inside of the club.
3:53
Speaker 1: You'll see people who are wearing suits and tires sitting
3:55
Speaker 1: next to people who are wearing t shirt and jeans, right,
3:57
Speaker 1: and so our goal is to try to figure out
3:59
Speaker 1: how to make them talk to each other. But you
4:01
Speaker 1: have to be in a city that understands and kind
4:03
Speaker 1: of moves in that way already, and so we planted
4:06
Speaker 1: in Atlanta. But we're in the community business, So I mean,
4:09
Speaker 1: we're at this point able to do this work all
4:12
Speaker 1: over the country. Camp in DC, right, So, yeah, DC
4:15
Speaker 1: was the second one, and then we recently opened another
4:18
Speaker 1: in Los Angeles, and that's the physical clubs where we
4:21
Speaker 1: have membership communities. Actually one here in New York, Chicago, Detroit, Houston, Charlotte.
4:27
Speaker 1: So they're TGS folks everywhere. Now, I was going to ask,
4:30
Speaker 1: you know, Drake talks about kicking it with Jack Harlowe
4:33
Speaker 1: at the Gatherer Spot. So you have celebrities as well
4:35
Speaker 1: out of members or do you have celebrities that you
4:37
Speaker 1: know come through because they feel safe? Yeah? Yeah, yeah yeah.
4:42
Speaker 1: Terms of brother Man, he is a long time support
4:44
Speaker 1: that showed us a lot of love the whole Grand
4:46
Speaker 1: Hustle team. We're forever thankful for their support very early on.
4:49
Speaker 1: But yeah, we have we have celebrity members. Oftentimes we
4:52
Speaker 1: have a lot of people whom the team around the
4:55
Speaker 1: celebrity is oftentime the member, so they're like manager, they're
4:59
Speaker 1: assist sent their attorney, so the apparatus around them. And
5:04
Speaker 1: then because of that, they're familiar with the space and
5:06
Speaker 1: because it's a private community, they have you know, private
5:10
Speaker 1: get together as regularly. So we're fortunate that we've We've
5:13
Speaker 1: worked with Drake and an Oval team several times over
5:15
Speaker 1: the years. It's always a great time with them. Now,
5:18
Speaker 1: why would you turn somebody down if they wanted to
5:20
Speaker 1: become a member? Why would you turn them down? So
5:22
Speaker 1: we're looking for people who are connectors, right, So if
5:24
Speaker 1: you're one of those people that likes to walk in
5:27
Speaker 1: rooms and just pass out your business card and not
5:29
Speaker 1: say anything and the interaction is really transactional, you're probably
5:33
Speaker 1: not a good fit for TGS. But this is about relationships, right,
5:39
Speaker 1: So if you're not a person that displays interests in
5:42
Speaker 1: building real relationships, this is probably not the best environed
5:45
Speaker 1: for you. I Mean, we ask a lot of questions
5:47
Speaker 1: in our interview, but the main thing that we're asking
5:50
Speaker 1: and the question that everyone gets is what animates you
5:52
Speaker 1: outside of the office, and we like, we really care
5:55
Speaker 1: about the answer to that question, Like you have to
5:57
Speaker 1: talk to us about that other thing that you're passionate about.
6:00
Speaker 1: That's what we ultimately build programs around. So it's important
6:03
Speaker 1: to get to you, like the real you. And if
6:06
Speaker 1: you don't want to bring that to the table again,
6:07
Speaker 1: like this is probably not the best place for you
6:09
Speaker 1: now right now, this always fascinates me. So I want
6:11
Speaker 1: to get to the Greenwood part. When you guys have
6:14
Speaker 1: done this whole partnership. Now, the wording is they did
6:16
Speaker 1: Greenwood acquired the gathering spot, and so as people who
6:19
Speaker 1: have built this up right as a baby from the beginning,
6:23
Speaker 1: what was the decision that what was the thinking behind
6:26
Speaker 1: you making that decision to go into business with Greenwood?
6:30
Speaker 1: So there are a lot of things in this, right,
6:31
Speaker 1: but first and foremost, if you look at what we've
6:34
Speaker 1: been talking about at TJS for years, right, So, the
6:36
Speaker 1: pandemic hits and we had a very vocal campaign called
6:40
Speaker 1: we All We Got and the thing that we were
6:42
Speaker 1: talking about was we've got to support one another and
6:45
Speaker 1: like be radical in that support. That's us talking a
6:48
Speaker 1: lot though about money, right, and so The conversation that
6:51
Speaker 1: was happening a lot in the community is that we
6:52
Speaker 1: just don't have access to the right resources and the
6:54
Speaker 1: right tools to be able to advance our personal and
6:57
Speaker 1: our business interests. So what we're doing with Greenwood is
7:01
Speaker 1: is something that that really is is special. Right. When
7:04
Speaker 1: you hear the term black on black, a lot of
7:06
Speaker 1: times that phrase doesn't end positively, but in this this
7:10
Speaker 1: context it does. Right, This is black on black m
7:12
Speaker 1: and A. And we're working together to build a really
7:16
Speaker 1: really big company. Knowing that we bring the community that
7:18
Speaker 1: we have at TGS now together with the financial tools
7:22
Speaker 1: and resources that Greenwood has. Those those two things together
7:26
Speaker 1: are super super powerful. So we decided it was it
7:29
Speaker 1: was better to go with each other than to be
7:32
Speaker 1: trying to build a business separately. Now, black people only
7:35
Speaker 1: allowed at the gathering spot. You just said, Jack Harlowe
7:39
Speaker 1: is there, but I don't know he's a member. He
7:41
Speaker 1: might have came with somebody else that somebody I'm asking
7:45
Speaker 1: both both. No, So look, we are we are specific
7:53
Speaker 1: at TGS and at Greenwood that while everybody is welcome,
7:57
Speaker 1: we are speaking to our commune directly, right, and so
8:02
Speaker 1: that is where we are focused, right, we're talking to
8:04
Speaker 1: black folks and if never mixed words about that. It's
8:07
Speaker 1: important for us to have places you mentioned safety earlier.
8:10
Speaker 1: We have to have places where we are safe and
8:12
Speaker 1: can build and grow with one another. So again, everyone's welcome,
8:16
Speaker 1: but we are definitely specific about where the perspective. I
8:20
Speaker 1: think something that Ryan has said over the years as
8:22
Speaker 1: true is that there's places where we're tolerated or accepted.
8:26
Speaker 1: This is a place that was built for is this
8:27
Speaker 1: is black owned, black man is black operated. This is
8:30
Speaker 1: our platform. Now let me ask you this sale. We
8:33
Speaker 1: talk about working in tandem, right, black on black but
8:35
Speaker 1: in a positive way. So why acquiring and not a partnership?
8:40
Speaker 1: So I mean that really got down to just the
8:42
Speaker 1: way that the best way to construct the deal, right.
8:45
Speaker 1: I mean Greenwood is a big platform, right if you
8:48
Speaker 1: look at just technology companies generally, the way that they're
8:51
Speaker 1: able to scale a little bit different than what we
8:53
Speaker 1: were doing. But the way that this works truly day
8:57
Speaker 1: to day is that we are partnering, right, Like our
8:59
Speaker 1: teams are working with one another. Weird. I think this
9:01
Speaker 1: is an example of like again for other business owners
9:05
Speaker 1: that are out there, it's possible to find arrangements, like
9:08
Speaker 1: we've been working together for a long time. We just
9:11
Speaker 1: have expanded the family and are proud to work with
9:14
Speaker 1: Agreen with team Dane Damp. Now, how difficult was it
9:16
Speaker 1: to get everything together? I meant, you know off saying
9:18
Speaker 1: you want to have a membership club, How difficult was that?
9:21
Speaker 1: Because you need a vision and it has to be
9:23
Speaker 1: a vision of not just one of two people, You
9:24
Speaker 1: need a bunch of people because to join a membership
9:27
Speaker 1: type of club, I can't just as just me and
9:29
Speaker 1: one person like you need numerous people. So how difficult
9:32
Speaker 1: was that? Big difficult? Big difficult. So the hardest thing
9:37
Speaker 1: as always you guys know as entrepreneurs as well as
9:39
Speaker 1: you need capital, which is the first step. So something
9:43
Speaker 1: we talked about is that we got ninety seven knows
9:45
Speaker 1: before we got the first yes when it came to
9:47
Speaker 1: get an investor. And then when you finally make it
9:49
Speaker 1: to the part where you have the capital to build
9:52
Speaker 1: out the location, then you start operating the business. And
9:55
Speaker 1: like you said, we're a private membership club and people
9:58
Speaker 1: want to see it before they sign up, and you
10:00
Speaker 1: wouldn't want to come to a place that doesn't have
10:02
Speaker 1: anyone in there, So it was. It was we say
10:04
Speaker 1: hand to hand combat every day we went out and
10:06
Speaker 1: we were in Atlanta and meeting as many people as possible. Yeah,
10:10
Speaker 1: I mean, we're just getting to the place honestly where
10:12
Speaker 1: we can talk about that part of the journey. Um,
10:16
Speaker 1: I mean it was it was like super rough. A
10:19
Speaker 1: lot of people told us no and like not the
10:21
Speaker 1: like no, I'm not interested, polite nose. We were getting
10:23
Speaker 1: like no, like get out of my office, I don't
10:26
Speaker 1: like this. You're gonna fail knows. And you know, it
10:29
Speaker 1: took just us continuing to believe that like the thing
10:32
Speaker 1: that we saw that could really be a thing that
10:35
Speaker 1: we could build. We just had to figure out how
10:38
Speaker 1: to make that happen. That we see this as as
10:40
Speaker 1: like assignment work, right, this is something that we feel
10:42
Speaker 1: uniquely called to do and didn't want that part of
10:46
Speaker 1: the process to stop us. But I mean, when you
10:48
Speaker 1: don't get paid for years, right, it's you know, it's
10:54
Speaker 1: a difficult. Yeah, And we we spent the first several
10:56
Speaker 1: years of the business really trying to figure out one
10:59
Speaker 1: how to make it happen, but then to how to
11:01
Speaker 1: keep it on everybody else that works for you around
11:04
Speaker 1: you cannot pay yourself. At first, all the money goes
11:06
Speaker 1: back into the business. It would be the people that
11:09
Speaker 1: work for you, but they're the ones that are making
11:11
Speaker 1: money while you're Yeah, there were years where it was
11:15
Speaker 1: like everybody in this joint is making more money than us,
11:18
Speaker 1: like truly every we weren't paying ourselves anything. But I
11:22
Speaker 1: mean you you got to see it through. I mean,
11:23
Speaker 1: we we kept going knowing that like there would be
11:26
Speaker 1: a day where we'd be able to participate to and
11:29
Speaker 1: we just had to stick around long enough to make
11:30
Speaker 1: that happen. And that's why that's gonna say. That's why
11:33
Speaker 1: we're forever grateful to the founding members of the club,
11:36
Speaker 1: particularly in Atlanta, because they bet on two guys and
11:40
Speaker 1: a and a concept way before there was any proof
11:42
Speaker 1: and to put in. So we have people who signed
11:44
Speaker 1: up in twenty fifteen to become members just because they
11:48
Speaker 1: met us. So they saw they saw a post on Instagram,
11:51
Speaker 1: and they just liked the concept and they wanted to
11:53
Speaker 1: truly support. And that's why, like every time we talk,
11:56
Speaker 1: we always say like first and foremost were we just
11:58
Speaker 1: work here and we're happy to serve and be a
12:01
Speaker 1: part of this organization. But it's member left. It's all
12:04
Speaker 1: about the members and the twelve thousand plus people who
12:07
Speaker 1: have invested, but particularly the people in Atlanta, the founding
12:10
Speaker 1: members there who made it possible. Salute to Mayor dickens
12:14
Speaker 1: In in Atlanta, who's a founding member of the club
12:17
Speaker 1: who recently got elected as a mayor of Atlanta. Like
12:19
Speaker 1: that's how that's how long and deep rooted we are
12:21
Speaker 1: in that community. I was going to ask, So, now,
12:23
Speaker 1: who handles checks and balances? Right, two hundred dollars a month,
12:27
Speaker 1: Sometimes a two hundred dollars gonna get decline? So who
12:31
Speaker 1: calls that person? And if that person decides to come
12:34
Speaker 1: to the gathering spot after they've been declined six times?
12:36
Speaker 1: Who says My grandmother used to say, I ain't talking
12:42
Speaker 1: about anybody, but I'm talking about somebody. Yeah, I mean
12:46
Speaker 1: we have a team, right, So that's actually tek's responsibility
12:50
Speaker 1: inside of the business. So for everybody out there talk
12:54
Speaker 1: to t Yes. But honestly, there hasn't been a huge
12:57
Speaker 1: problem for us. I mean this, there's a lot of
12:59
Speaker 1: things that you get with the TGS membership, and you know, yes,
13:02
Speaker 1: access to the space itself and the programs, but like
13:04
Speaker 1: the people, right and so people don't want to miss
13:07
Speaker 1: out on being able to continue to build those relationships.
13:10
Speaker 1: What about pictures? Can you take pictures in the gathering spot?
13:13
Speaker 1: So you were you were allowed to take pictures of yourself,
13:17
Speaker 1: you were not allowed to take pictures of other people. Right,
13:22
Speaker 1: So no, We've had a lot of special moments to TGS.
13:25
Speaker 1: But I'll knock on wood, but none of those things
13:27
Speaker 1: have have gone out to the public. Right. People take
13:30
Speaker 1: it seriously, honestly, one of the most special moments. We
13:33
Speaker 1: were fortunate that we hosted John Singleton back in twenty sixteen,
13:36
Speaker 1: his last um, his last and speaking engagement before he
13:40
Speaker 1: unfortunately passed, And we're celebrating the twenty fifth anniversary of
13:44
Speaker 1: Boys in the Hood. This was brought to us thanks
13:46
Speaker 1: to our brother Shakazoom at DTP. And he was supposed
13:50
Speaker 1: to be like a thirty minute talk and he ends
13:52
Speaker 1: up speaking for like two and a half hours because
13:54
Speaker 1: he's so comfortable and he's trusted in the room, and
13:55
Speaker 1: two is the end. He's like, Hey, I'm gonna show
13:57
Speaker 1: you something I'm working on, like I just got trust y'all,
14:00
Speaker 1: please don't record any of this and don't show anyone
14:03
Speaker 1: And then he shows us like the first fifteen minutes
14:06
Speaker 1: of snowfall didn't leak right because everyone understands it's a community,
14:11
Speaker 1: so you can't you can't violate that trust and so
14:14
Speaker 1: you know we that was I mean, there's many special
14:17
Speaker 1: moments to this point that are like that where people
14:19
Speaker 1: just took seriously the fact that we're there for one another.
14:22
Speaker 1: We've got to we've got to be responsible to one
14:24
Speaker 1: another in that way and now working together as partners.
14:27
Speaker 1: I think it's important to talk about that balance too,
14:30
Speaker 1: because I think a lot of times in business, getting
14:34
Speaker 1: into partnerships with the right people means so much. So
14:38
Speaker 1: what are the skills that you guys bring because I
14:40
Speaker 1: think sometimes I've had experiences where you can't go into
14:43
Speaker 1: business with somebody who you'all both do the same exact thing.
14:46
Speaker 1: It has to be like, this is my responsibility, you
14:48
Speaker 1: said t case responsibility is calling people whose credit cards
14:51
Speaker 1: didn't go through. But what are the ways that you
14:54
Speaker 1: guys work together that makes it happen? Because sometimes we
14:58
Speaker 1: want to do things, we don't want to do it
14:59
Speaker 1: on our own. We want to find the right partner,
15:00
Speaker 1: but it's not easy. Ahead the fortunate things that we
15:06
Speaker 1: have complimentary skill sets. So Ryan is a lawyer by training.
15:10
Speaker 1: He went to Georgetown Law all that good stuff, and
15:12
Speaker 1: I studied financing accounting. I was a portfolio manager before
15:15
Speaker 1: I started doing this. UM. So we have defined lanes
15:18
Speaker 1: and I think that is that is a critical um
15:20
Speaker 1: part of it, and I don't I don't want to
15:22
Speaker 1: downplay the friendship part. That is important because there's a
15:24
Speaker 1: level of trust that has to occur for a partnership
15:28
Speaker 1: to work properly. Like there's there's no one I speak
15:31
Speaker 1: to more often than Ryan. There's there's no move that
15:34
Speaker 1: I make that he's not aware of, because everything we
15:37
Speaker 1: do impacts the other person and impacts the business. So, UM,
15:40
Speaker 1: if we weren't friends, I WoT I wouldn't be sure
15:42
Speaker 1: how long it take to develop that like level of like, hey,
15:44
Speaker 1: I'm about to go do this, so I'm going to
15:46
Speaker 1: visit my mom. I will do that. UM. And they're
15:49
Speaker 1: like having defined areas where it's like if it's something
15:52
Speaker 1: with marking or our strategy, like that's Ryan's lane, We're
15:55
Speaker 1: gonna do that. If it's like I want to move
15:56
Speaker 1: to this accounting platform, I want to set up this
15:59
Speaker 1: type of payment process system, it's like okay, like TK
16:02
Speaker 1: said it, let's do that. And having having your areas
16:05
Speaker 1: and spears. I think our core parts of being able
16:07
Speaker 1: to operate as as a partnership and be friends and
16:10
Speaker 1: then understanding that like the truth is like the dynamic
16:13
Speaker 1: of our friendship has changed because we're business partners and
16:16
Speaker 1: like we were at his family's house on Sunday and
16:19
Speaker 1: we still end up talking about work because like that's
16:21
Speaker 1: that's that's what. We just have a drink. I mean,
16:24
Speaker 1: but we're honest with each other. We have been the
16:26
Speaker 1: entire time. Like we don't we don't mix words with
16:28
Speaker 1: each other. We hold each other super accountable. So if
16:30
Speaker 1: I dropped the ball, he tells me he drops the ball,
16:32
Speaker 1: I tell him, right, And we've tried to keep ego
16:35
Speaker 1: out of this, right, I mean even now working with
16:37
Speaker 1: new partners, we have the same sort of energy right
16:41
Speaker 1: where we're just trying to get the thing done, like
16:43
Speaker 1: what is the best way to get there? And if
16:45
Speaker 1: you got the skill set to do it, then like
16:48
Speaker 1: go in the game, like shoot the shot, right. We
16:50
Speaker 1: we we've always tried to keep the mission ahead of
16:54
Speaker 1: any of the personal stuff because some people's friendships get
16:57
Speaker 1: damaged over working together too. And so that's why I
17:01
Speaker 1: think that's important because we've seen that happen a lot
17:03
Speaker 1: where people fall out with each other. So when y'all
17:05
Speaker 1: don't agree on things, what happens. So we set ground rules.
17:10
Speaker 1: So I'll say this first, we set ground rules at
17:13
Speaker 1: the beginning of this process, and we we planned out
17:15
Speaker 1: when we had those, like when we have these moments,
17:17
Speaker 1: how are we going to get through them? Right? And
17:19
Speaker 1: so it's in our operating documents. It's a part of
17:22
Speaker 1: how we have like understood how we're going to talk
17:24
Speaker 1: to each other. And that's helped, right because when a
17:27
Speaker 1: thing happens, we go back to that playbook and are
17:30
Speaker 1: able to march through. Okay, so this is the decision.
17:33
Speaker 1: And again we like we have different twim lanes. So
17:35
Speaker 1: if it's something that ultimately is in his lane, he's
17:39
Speaker 1: got to be the person that that that it's you,
17:43
Speaker 1: it's on you. Yeah, and he respects the same thing
17:46
Speaker 1: when when it's something that's in my universe. So like
17:49
Speaker 1: one hundred, like it would be like Ryan would be like, hey,
17:51
Speaker 1: I want to like I want to do this activation,
17:53
Speaker 1: I want to invest in this, and I'm like, ah,
17:55
Speaker 1: I'm not sure if I want to do it to
17:56
Speaker 1: that level. And it's like sometimes it's okay, bet, like
17:59
Speaker 1: we can we can kill downs. Other times it's like no,
18:01
Speaker 1: like it's really a point that we do this. So
18:03
Speaker 1: I'm like, if we're gonna shift some budget over there
18:06
Speaker 1: a better hit, I mean, I'll give I'll give you
18:08
Speaker 1: an example. So a year ago I went to Ticke
18:10
Speaker 1: and I was like, hey, look, we're opening the club
18:12
Speaker 1: in DC and I want to fly private plane with
18:14
Speaker 1: all of the members to the club. And he was like, cool,
18:17
Speaker 1: we'll get like you know, ten twelve seed or something.
18:19
Speaker 1: And I was like no, no no, no, like we need
18:20
Speaker 1: to fly like over one hundred people like and he
18:22
Speaker 1: was like like, I don't what you mean on a
18:25
Speaker 1: hundred people? How are we gonna do that. I'm like,
18:26
Speaker 1: I don't know, man, Like like you got to figure
18:28
Speaker 1: that part out. But like we got to figure out
18:30
Speaker 1: how to get our folks up to DC. And you know,
18:33
Speaker 1: you know, I did my part of the work, he
18:35
Speaker 1: did his part, and we flew the plane up and
18:38
Speaker 1: it was seven It was a seven thirty seven thirty
18:42
Speaker 1: seven to thirty seven. But yeah, it was a beautiful
18:44
Speaker 1: experience all the members from Atlanta that wanted to go.
18:46
Speaker 1: Who sit in the Who's in the back? Like, how
18:48
Speaker 1: do you you about to get into? Now? I remember
18:52
Speaker 1: you remember who get that first class? Who back? Even
18:54
Speaker 1: though it's a plane. Look, somebody's sitting in the front.
18:57
Speaker 1: Somebody sitting, but you would be in the back because
19:00
Speaker 1: I've been to the gathering spot and you haven't. Oh no,
19:03
Speaker 1: that's fair. I'll put it like I would just walk.
19:08
Speaker 1: I was a road thirty two eight. I'll put it
19:10
Speaker 1: like that. We were walking. Look, we had that problem.
19:14
Speaker 1: We're walking on It was like, oh oh it's first come,
19:17
Speaker 1: first sir. Everybody has Like we weren't going to set
19:20
Speaker 1: up front, so we had to we had to just
19:23
Speaker 1: yeah where you we flew? We were. Now, well, how
19:28
Speaker 1: does things change now we're green with right? What are
19:30
Speaker 1: some of the added benefits that members get? So a
19:33
Speaker 1: couple of things, right, and there's there's things now and
19:35
Speaker 1: things that are coming. The things now So members have
19:38
Speaker 1: the ability to to join the platform, right, you have
19:41
Speaker 1: access to the tool, you can get the card um immediately,
19:44
Speaker 1: and we'll continue to see new products built and developed
19:48
Speaker 1: for the entire community. Right. And so again we've been
19:51
Speaker 1: talking about money for a really long time at TGS,
19:54
Speaker 1: our money just simply does not circulate enough times in
19:56
Speaker 1: the community. And so the work that we're going to
19:59
Speaker 1: be doing together it's about trying to disrupt that, right.
20:01
Speaker 1: I mean, we were looking at a statu here recently,
20:05
Speaker 1: ninety seven percent of black folks income it's spent outside
20:08
Speaker 1: of the community, and our dollar doesn't even circulate one time.
20:12
Speaker 1: So the real work between TGS and Greenwood is getting
20:15
Speaker 1: specific about that, right that we're going to We're gonna
20:19
Speaker 1: highlight businesses, we're gonna highlight people, and we're gonna get
20:21
Speaker 1: them the tools necessary to be successful all right financially,
20:25
Speaker 1: which is a tool that we didn't have in our toolkit. Wow, Well,
20:28
Speaker 1: how can people become a member? If they want to
20:30
Speaker 1: try to become a member? How do they become a member?
20:32
Speaker 1: So you could you could join us, go to the
20:35
Speaker 1: gathering spot, dot club or go to Bank Greenwood. Right,
20:38
Speaker 1: we would love for you to be a member of
20:39
Speaker 1: both communities. It's a it's a really easy process on
20:43
Speaker 1: both fronts, and you can find us on social too.
20:46
Speaker 1: Can you interview Envy right now? Can I interview? Can
20:48
Speaker 1: I interviewership? Okay, let's do this around. Okay, we're getting serious. Okay,
20:56
Speaker 1: So I mean we've got to start off with the basis.
20:57
Speaker 1: So like, what what's your name? What do you do? Hi?
20:59
Speaker 1: My name is Sean Casey. Sean Casey, and I'm an entrepreneur. Okay,
21:08
Speaker 1: And how long have you been doing that work? All
21:10
Speaker 1: my life? Since I was sixteen years old? Why do
21:13
Speaker 1: you like doing it? Um? Well, I love money, but
21:16
Speaker 1: other than that, I like to help people as well.
21:18
Speaker 1: I try to make sure I encourage younger individuals to
21:23
Speaker 1: do the right thing. See, growing up in Queens, I
21:25
Speaker 1: tell everybody this story all the time. I seem clue
21:28
Speaker 1: who was my neighbor And if it wasn't for him,
21:30
Speaker 1: I don't know what I would do. He encouraged me
21:31
Speaker 1: to be a DJ, to follow you know, his heart
21:34
Speaker 1: and not be a drug dealer or do anything illegal.
21:36
Speaker 1: So I followed him and that's the reason I'm a DJ,
21:38
Speaker 1: and I like to really encourage people to do the same.
21:40
Speaker 1: I'm taking those What other ways do you get back
21:44
Speaker 1: to the community, now, How do you like to stay involved?
21:46
Speaker 1: I'm in there's many different ways. I mean, we conduct
21:49
Speaker 1: seminars which we teach minorities black and brown people, how
21:52
Speaker 1: to invest, whether it's my real estate, or it's anything financially,
21:57
Speaker 1: whether it's opening up their own business, opening their own store.
22:00
Speaker 1: And of course we do the typical turkey drives toys
22:03
Speaker 1: for times and things like that that I feel like
22:04
Speaker 1: everybody does. But we do that too. To the communities.
22:07
Speaker 1: Sounded good to me. You sounded like a gamber here
22:10
Speaker 1: with my thoughts are what are the right flags? I'm interested?
22:14
Speaker 1: All right? So the fact that he led with he
22:16
Speaker 1: loves money, and then he also said that he has
22:19
Speaker 1: the seminars that he does. It feels like he's coming
22:21
Speaker 1: to just get stuff. Yeah, I've been honest, That's what
22:24
Speaker 1: I'm being honest. Then he also did some name dropping.
22:27
Speaker 1: He mentioned Clue being his neighbor. No one asked that.
22:29
Speaker 1: And so I just feel like, I don't know if
22:31
Speaker 1: we want to groupie in the gathering side, Well your groupie.
22:35
Speaker 1: These are just my thoughts. You guys need me as
22:38
Speaker 1: part of the INTERVIEWW Yeah, I'm sorry, sir. You know what,
22:45
Speaker 1: in a year you can let's say, now we just said, okay,
22:48
Speaker 1: we're gonna have to decline his membership. Can he reapply
22:51
Speaker 1: like a year from Wow, well you know, you know
22:53
Speaker 1: that's how Lamborghini was created, when the guy from Lamborghini
22:56
Speaker 1: wanted to get a Ferrari and fraud. So you're gonna
22:58
Speaker 1: go start your own. That's another Let's talk about trademark
23:07
Speaker 1: for a second. So you know, the gathering spot is
23:09
Speaker 1: a protecting mark, um, but us serious is like the
23:13
Speaker 1: point for us at TGS is not trying to keep
23:15
Speaker 1: everybody out right, like we do more things to have
23:18
Speaker 1: folks come in than anything, right, So it's a community
23:22
Speaker 1: based business. So while there are memberships that are part
23:24
Speaker 1: of the whole thing, the doors of the club are open.
23:26
Speaker 1: I mean we we opened our doors for the first
23:28
Speaker 1: time in twenty twenty to any activists or organizer in
23:32
Speaker 1: the city. They needed a place to organize, whether you
23:33
Speaker 1: remember or not, right, And so it's stuff like that
23:36
Speaker 1: that is it's serious work for us, like we have
23:38
Speaker 1: to have places where we can build genuinely. And again,
23:42
Speaker 1: the same thing exists on the Greenwood side right now.
23:44
Speaker 1: Like if you are currently not banked, underbanked, or just
23:49
Speaker 1: need a banking relationship where the institution has been built
23:54
Speaker 1: for you, Greenwood is that platform. And seriously with the
23:58
Speaker 1: gathering spot, when I launched my Fresh Juice business, which
24:01
Speaker 1: is back during Fresh Juice, I did an event there
24:03
Speaker 1: that you guys open the doors for me to come
24:05
Speaker 1: in and bring the juices in and make some cocktails
24:08
Speaker 1: with these press juices, and it was amazing for me
24:11
Speaker 1: to even be able to tap into that network of
24:12
Speaker 1: people that you guys have access to. Well, it's what
24:15
Speaker 1: we're here for. If you have a business, who we're
24:17
Speaker 1: here to be supportive. We've got to be specific about that. True,
24:21
Speaker 1: and it's not just entrepreneurs if you if you don't
24:23
Speaker 1: have a business, it is still a great place for
24:24
Speaker 1: you to come in and meet people and do social adventure.
24:27
Speaker 1: And you know this edification is happening all the time.
24:31
Speaker 1: It's really just about being connected like that is that's
24:34
Speaker 1: the biggest thing. It's about connection and collaboration and seeing
24:37
Speaker 1: value because you can start to get stifled if you
24:41
Speaker 1: if you just work in your one area. That's one
24:42
Speaker 1: of the big drivers for us. Like I worked in finance.
24:45
Speaker 1: Ryan was in the legal field, and I started to
24:47
Speaker 1: feel like the only people I was meeting were people
24:49
Speaker 1: who worked in my specific type of finance, like I
24:51
Speaker 1: worked in mortgage backed securities, and people who did that
24:55
Speaker 1: with that mortgage backed securities. You know, he'll go ahead.
24:58
Speaker 1: I know he's going to try to tap you after this.
25:00
Speaker 1: I'm not. And that's that's a good thing though. That's
25:04
Speaker 1: that is how we advance ourselves by learning about someone.
25:07
Speaker 1: It's like, oh, you know I do electrical work. Conside's like, oh,
25:10
Speaker 1: I I was wondering about this project I had in
25:12
Speaker 1: my house, and now you have that resource. And that's
25:15
Speaker 1: what that's about. It like resource building and by knowing
25:17
Speaker 1: who's in your community, and like that's that's my favorite
25:20
Speaker 1: part of the work that we do. It's like, if
25:22
Speaker 1: you have an idea or a concept or anything you
25:25
Speaker 1: want to share, like, let's figure out how we can
25:27
Speaker 1: there's there's enough for everyone. Let's figure out how we
25:29
Speaker 1: can all platform one another. You could do a real
25:32
Speaker 1: estate event there have done many, right, Yeah, because no,
25:37
Speaker 1: I mean it's it's truly built for that. And so
25:40
Speaker 1: now like the second iteration of the business is we
25:43
Speaker 1: can now have the right financial instruments to now be
25:47
Speaker 1: able to start to supply the right resources to one another.
25:49
Speaker 1: Because like we would have the conversation about real estate,
25:52
Speaker 1: but then a lot of folks would would be talking
25:54
Speaker 1: about well, like, well, who do I partner with? And
25:57
Speaker 1: to actually get this deal done, We're about to be
25:59
Speaker 1: able to answer that question in a railway like we
26:01
Speaker 1: can be We don't have to ask anybody for partnership.
26:04
Speaker 1: We can ask ourselves, right like, and we have the
26:06
Speaker 1: tools and the resources to do that ourselves without asking anybody.
26:10
Speaker 1: That's what TJS and Greenwood is is about. What about
26:13
Speaker 1: buying the land where your locations are? And then, yeah,
26:17
Speaker 1: it's important, but I mean, and we know firsthand how
26:21
Speaker 1: difficult it is to do that. Mean, we started this
26:23
Speaker 1: journey when we were twenty four and forget buying anything.
26:27
Speaker 1: People weren't willing to even lease us space. Sat in
26:30
Speaker 1: an office and watched a major landlord in town tell us,
26:35
Speaker 1: I will not lease you this space, no matter how
26:37
Speaker 1: well capitalized you are, like quote unquote, And so it
26:42
Speaker 1: is important to us to like, we've got to encourage
26:45
Speaker 1: not only ourselves, but everybody, got it. We've got to
26:48
Speaker 1: own own as much as we possibly can. I can't
26:51
Speaker 1: wait to write my book and talk about him in
26:53
Speaker 1: my book, because I mean, what's the rationale behind that?
26:56
Speaker 1: Just I don't I can't speak to the rational I
26:59
Speaker 1: can just say that there are there are a lot
27:02
Speaker 1: of industries where, including banking, right where we have been
27:05
Speaker 1: consistently just pushed out of the process. And it is
27:10
Speaker 1: it is like way over time that we own those
27:14
Speaker 1: businesses and those industries and are starting to do the
27:18
Speaker 1: stuff ourselves. Right. This this is not about and can
27:21
Speaker 1: save as the sounds. We are not trying to be
27:23
Speaker 1: invited to anybody's table anymore. Right. Work we're trying to
27:27
Speaker 1: do is and the work that we're doing is about
27:30
Speaker 1: building our own tables. Sincerely, because we we witnessed for
27:33
Speaker 1: years asking and getting kicked out the office, not being
27:38
Speaker 1: able to get a deal done right, and so I
27:40
Speaker 1: don't want that experience for anybody else. It almost truly
27:45
Speaker 1: took us off of our path. I thank you guys.
27:51
Speaker 1: It's so inspirational to me just the way, because I
27:53
Speaker 1: remember when the gathering Spot first started, my good friends
27:56
Speaker 1: Jane Yes always been like, if we have to go
27:59
Speaker 1: to the gathering Spot, and so just to see, you
28:02
Speaker 1: know just how far you guys have come in this
28:04
Speaker 1: period of time. And I know it definitely wasn't easy.
28:07
Speaker 1: Some people probably felt like it wouldn't ever get done
28:10
Speaker 1: the way that it has. I congratulate you, because it's
28:12
Speaker 1: a huge deal. And I think people watching this should
28:15
Speaker 1: all say, how can I be a member? How can
28:17
Speaker 1: I join the community? Even if you're not in Atlanta, DCLA,
28:20
Speaker 1: Like you said, there are communities in Chicago and Detroit
28:23
Speaker 1: and New York and other spaces where they can also
28:25
Speaker 1: be a member in support. Yeah, please please come join
28:27
Speaker 1: us and be a part of this collective. It's a
28:30
Speaker 1: it's a really special time for us as as a company.
28:33
Speaker 1: And you know, to tk's a point earlier, we're just
28:36
Speaker 1: extremely we can't We're just grateful. People are like jee like,
28:40
Speaker 1: like shaka like like. The only reason we made it
28:43
Speaker 1: was because the community decided that they weren't going to
28:45
Speaker 1: let the business go under, even folks that y'all seeing here,
28:48
Speaker 1: I mean Doctor Key of the Village Market, Pinky Slutty Vegan,
28:51
Speaker 1: And we've been a part of this tribe together, really
28:54
Speaker 1: growing together, and that that that is something that we
28:56
Speaker 1: don't take lightly. And so anybody that's interested in joining
28:59
Speaker 1: the work, we'd love to have have you at TGS
29:03
Speaker 1: or agree with all right, Well, thank you guys for
29:05
Speaker 1: joining us, and make sure check out the gathering spot
29:07
Speaker 1: and it's the Breakfast Club, Good morning,