Latest / Corpus Christi Originals Podcast / #50 | Johnny Martinez [On Point Barbershop]

Transcript

#50 | Johnny Martinez [On Point Barbershop] · Corpus Christi Originals Podcast

0:00
SPEAKER_02: What's going on, y'all?
0:00
SPEAKER_02: Copis Christian Originals.
0:01
SPEAKER_02: This is an episode with Johnny Martinez, the owner of the on point barber shop.
0:05
SPEAKER_02: I hope you enjoy the show.
0:06
SPEAKER_02: Appreciate y'all.
0:07
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, man.
0:07
SPEAKER_02: So what's up?
0:08
SPEAKER_02: How you doing?
0:08
SPEAKER_02: Not much.
0:09
SPEAKER_02: Chilling, man.
0:09
SPEAKER_02: Chilling.
0:10
SPEAKER_01: Enjoying the Sunday off, you know.
0:11
SPEAKER_02: All right, all right.
0:12
SPEAKER_01: So yeah, so your uh your shop is on Costores?
0:16
SPEAKER_01: Yes, sir.
0:16
SPEAKER_01: Okay, okay.
0:17
SPEAKER_01: Where the old Enriquez used to be.
0:19
SPEAKER_01: It's now Neil's uh Miyamor, right there.
0:21
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, they switched it up.
0:22
SPEAKER_01: So we're I've been in that shopping center now.
0:24
SPEAKER_01: This year will be five years.
0:25
SPEAKER_02: Dude, dope.
0:26
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's awesome.
0:27
SPEAKER_02: How you like it?
0:27
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's good, it's been a ride, man.
0:29
SPEAKER_01: It's been a ride.
0:30
SPEAKER_02: Where where were you before that?
0:31
SPEAKER_01: Uh I've been a barber for 13 years.
0:33
SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah.
0:33
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so I've been getting it in.
0:35
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
0:36
SPEAKER_02: So so you got into that industry.
0:38
SPEAKER_02: Uh has it been how's that been for you?
0:39
SPEAKER_02: Like uh I mean, so what's it like?
0:43
SPEAKER_02: What's so when I think about like industries, I'm thinking about business, entrepreneur mindset mindset.
0:48
SPEAKER_02: Was it was it difficult for you to figure out the business aspect of that?
0:51
SPEAKER_01: Uh, you know what, honestly, a little bit at first.
0:53
SPEAKER_01: And then I had a I had a homeboy, uh, I went to a shop where I started working at, and I was blessed to be in a shop with a whole bunch of like veterans, you know what I mean?
1:01
SPEAKER_01: That's been in the game a long time.
1:02
SPEAKER_01: So they kind of hit me to the game and let me know what you know what's to expect and stuff like that.
1:06
SPEAKER_01: Because you know, people have a misconception that you know, you go out and get a barber's license, yeah, and you know, and you jump in a shop and you're just gonna just gonna out the gate, you're gonna off and run in and make your money, you know what I mean?
1:17
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
1:17
SPEAKER_01: And that's not how it is, you gotta grind it out, you know what I mean?
1:20
SPEAKER_01: So it was it was it was it was a rough one.
1:22
SPEAKER_01: It was a rough one.
1:22
SPEAKER_01: The first year it was rough, but yeah.
1:24
SPEAKER_02: So it's a lot of a lot of like figuring it out on the job, like learning as you go.
1:28
SPEAKER_01: Man, it was a little bit of everything, bro.
1:30
SPEAKER_01: Like that financial stuff, you know what I mean?
1:32
SPEAKER_01: Learning how to manage it, because you know, when you're a barber, you're your own boss.
1:35
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, you pay booth rent, so the the shop owner, he's not gonna tell you when to come and when to leave, you know what I mean?
1:41
SPEAKER_01: So you gotta you gotta take matters in your own hand and how much money you want to make, it's what you're gonna put in, you know.
1:46
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so it's a risky, you know.
1:48
SPEAKER_01: It's not like these other a lot of other careers where you can go and you know, you go to school, you graduate, you get your degrees, whatever, and you you know what you're gonna make.
1:56
SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
1:57
SPEAKER_01: The first year, you're gonna you know what you're gonna you don't.
1:59
SPEAKER_02: Wow, crazy.
2:00
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so you gotta hustle.
2:01
SPEAKER_01: You have to, you have to, and it's gonna show your clientele is gonna show your hustle, you know what I mean?
2:05
SPEAKER_01: Like I worked my first my first year working.
2:07
SPEAKER_01: I probably took off maybe like two, three days the whole year.
2:10
SPEAKER_01: I worked every holiday seven days a week, wow, grinding 12 hours a day.
2:14
SPEAKER_01: I was in it.
2:15
SPEAKER_02: That's what's up, man.
2:15
SPEAKER_02: I like your I like your girl down there.
2:17
SPEAKER_02: A little shine, little shine, little shine going on, bro.
2:20
SPEAKER_02: That's what's up, man.
2:21
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's awesome, man.
2:22
SPEAKER_02: And I seen that uh most hated dude a long time ago on i37.
2:26
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it was like a house, right?
2:28
SPEAKER_02: It was painted on the on the house.
2:30
SPEAKER_01: That's my homeboys, man.
2:31
SPEAKER_01: That's the brand most hated.
2:32
SPEAKER_01: Look out for it, man.
2:33
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, that's what's up, most hated.
2:34
SPEAKER_02: Hell yeah.
2:36
SPEAKER_02: Dude, that's what's up.
2:36
SPEAKER_02: So it's it's just a clothing brand, or okay, okay.
2:39
SPEAKER_02: Just clothing, brand.
2:40
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, that's what's up, man.
2:41
SPEAKER_02: So we I we got introduced just now.
2:43
SPEAKER_02: Uh, and I'm Jesus, Jesus Hernandez.
2:46
SPEAKER_02: Uh, and we got I got put onto you by uh Javier.
2:50
SPEAKER_01: Yes, sir.
2:50
SPEAKER_01: That's my boy.
2:51
SPEAKER_01: He's been one of my been coming to me for a long time.
2:53
SPEAKER_01: You know, I always say I hate using the word client.
2:55
SPEAKER_01: Okay, because clients like I don't know, it's it's not personal, you know what I mean?
2:59
SPEAKER_01: Like, that's my boy, you know what I mean?
3:01
SPEAKER_01: That's not my client, it's my boy, you know.
3:02
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, not just a business transaction or a number I can do.
3:05
SPEAKER_01: No, I know his family, he knows my family type deals, you know what I mean?
3:08
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's what's so yeah, you build that relationship with with your with your people, you know.
3:11
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, he was mentioning, he was like, Yeah, that guy got the story.
3:13
SPEAKER_02: I was like, oh, okay, sounds pretty cool, you know what I mean?
3:16
SPEAKER_02: Let's get it going.
3:17
SPEAKER_02: And I actually I it's funny because he mentioned you and I saw his picture, right?
3:22
SPEAKER_02: I was like, hey, I I work alongside that guy over there at the plant.
3:26
SPEAKER_02: Oh yeah, and I seen him, right?
3:27
SPEAKER_02: And I was like, hey, that's that guy.
3:29
SPEAKER_02: So I go and see him, and then we were communicating.
3:31
SPEAKER_02: Uh and I was and I told him, Hey man, I'm trying to get your boy on, uh, you know, uh, and I'm trying to message him, and he's like, Oh, that's you.
3:38
SPEAKER_02: I was like, Yeah, that's me, bro.
3:40
SPEAKER_01: So yeah, shout out to him, man.
3:41
SPEAKER_01: That's corpus, man.
3:42
SPEAKER_01: Everybody you're gonna run into somebody somewhere, you know.
3:44
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so you're from Corpus?
3:46
SPEAKER_01: No, I've been down here.
3:47
SPEAKER_01: Um, I think I've been going on like eight years down here.
3:50
SPEAKER_01: I had I was down here 10 years ago.
3:52
SPEAKER_01: I was down here for like nine months, checked it out.
3:54
SPEAKER_01: I bounced out to Cali, went back to Milwaukee, and then came back here.
3:57
SPEAKER_01: But I'm originally from Wisconsin, from Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
4:00
SPEAKER_01: No kidding.
4:01
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's a crazy story.
4:02
SPEAKER_01: Javi always says it's crazy how like I ended up in Corpus with no live off of Facebook posting.
4:08
SPEAKER_01: No way.
4:08
SPEAKER_01: Because I'm telling you, man, I used to be on it like on my grind, you know.
4:11
SPEAKER_01: So I used to always post, like, even by the time I came down here, I was already like four years into cutting hair, you know what I'm saying?
4:18
SPEAKER_01: So, like, but every day when I would go to the shop, I'd check in every day.
4:22
SPEAKER_01: Yo, open the clothes, open the clothes, just heading out, sun up to sun down, you know, every day, every day, every day, every day.
4:28
SPEAKER_01: And there was a uh a uh barber owner down here, he had hit me up and was like, hey bro, you ever think about coming down the corpus?
4:35
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, Man, at that time, I was just just getting off of probation.
4:39
SPEAKER_01: I was just going through a little split, you know what I'm saying, with my chick that I was with at the time.
4:43
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, you know what?
4:45
SPEAKER_01: Uh like I need to get away.
4:46
SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
4:47
SPEAKER_01: Like, I'm maybe I should go check it out.
4:48
SPEAKER_01: I'm off of probation.
4:49
SPEAKER_01: I can move around how I want to.
4:51
SPEAKER_01: And he thought I was, he thought I was, he thought I was bullshit.
4:53
SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
4:54
SPEAKER_01: He didn't know that I was really gonna come 1300 miles down.
4:57
SPEAKER_01: And I and I said, Hey, bro, I get off of probation like in a month.
5:02
SPEAKER_01: I said, give me two months after that, I'll be there.
5:04
SPEAKER_01: And he's like, get out of here, you know what I mean?
5:06
SPEAKER_01: Ain't no way in no way.
5:07
SPEAKER_01: And then finally I called him, I said, Hey bro, I already I I found a spot down there, I got a house locked in out there, I'll be there.
5:12
SPEAKER_01: And he and I popped up and he's like, bro, I told you you got a chair down here when you come out.
5:16
SPEAKER_01: How the hell, bro?
5:18
SPEAKER_01: And then probably it took me like probably six months when I came here to build my clientele to fully book to working six days a week.
5:25
SPEAKER_01: Six months, yeah, six months.
5:27
SPEAKER_01: Oh but that's open and close, open and close, shop hours.
5:30
SPEAKER_01: I asked, you know, at that time there was only a hand less than a handful of barbershops that were actually open on Mondays.
5:37
SPEAKER_01: So I had asked him, like, hey bro, I'm used to working every day.
5:40
SPEAKER_01: I don't know about the five days a week thing.
5:42
SPEAKER_01: Like, you think I could come in on Mondays?
5:43
SPEAKER_01: And he's like, Man, like, yeah, I don't know if no anybody's gonna even know we're open, you know what I'm saying?
5:49
SPEAKER_01: Stuff like that.
5:49
SPEAKER_01: And he said, But I'll post it, you know, I'll I'll let everybody know I'll that you're open.
5:53
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I just started taking off on Mondays and I started building my clientele up like that.
5:57
SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah.
5:57
SPEAKER_01: I built a lot of my clientele off the off the uh military and stuff like that, word of mouth, word of mouth, just talking to people and yo, I'm I'm not from here either, you know what I mean?
6:05
SPEAKER_01: And they're like, Oh, okay, we'll send people this way.
6:08
SPEAKER_01: Ah man, I appreciate it.
6:09
SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
6:09
SPEAKER_01: Like always, always, always telling people, you know, like I appreciate your business and appreciate you sending me people.
6:14
SPEAKER_01: And that's how that's really like I I rarely advertise as much as I should, you know.
6:19
SPEAKER_01: But I have word of mouth and I have my clientele, my loyal clientele that's been with me for years.
6:23
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so the the first clientele piece of clientele was from Facebook or uh a little bit, a little bit Facebook, Instagram, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
6:31
SPEAKER_01: Had to try to use what I could when I was down here.
6:33
SPEAKER_01: I knew nobody, like I had nobody down here.
6:36
SPEAKER_01: No, no, I got one of my dad's cousins down here, you know what I mean?
6:39
SPEAKER_01: She's a little bit older, you know what I mean?
6:41
SPEAKER_01: I was like, like I had no clientele down here.
6:44
SPEAKER_02: So so okay, so you've so you had family that uh one person that lived out here in Corpus?
6:48
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
6:48
SPEAKER_01: They're from here, or they're from they're from here.
6:50
SPEAKER_02: Okay, okay.
6:51
SPEAKER_02: So all right, so you do kind of have ties with somebody here in Corpus.
6:54
SPEAKER_02: And but you you were born in Milwaukee, yes, sir.
6:56
SPEAKER_02: Whoa, that's crazy.
6:58
SPEAKER_02: Okay, yeah, man, that's awesome, dude.
6:59
SPEAKER_02: That sounds like a long journey.
7:01
SPEAKER_02: So you must have been through a lot of stuff.
7:02
SPEAKER_02: You mentioned probation, bro.
7:03
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so it's been a while or yeah, it's been a while, man.
7:06
SPEAKER_01: I've I've been off the probation and everything like that for about like uh since I think 2014, when I was done completed with everything, you know?
7:14
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but yeah.
7:16
SPEAKER_02: So were you trying to find other types of jobs before uh cutting hair?
7:20
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but like I had uh I did a little time or whatever, and when I had got out, one of my homeboys that I had working for before, he was doing construction.
7:30
SPEAKER_01: And when I came home, I started working for him, right?
7:33
SPEAKER_01: And when I was working for him, and this is no lie, this one when on a fluke, we had a job that was like 45 minutes out.
7:39
SPEAKER_01: We get lost, whatever, we're like an hour and plus change out now.
7:43
SPEAKER_01: And on the ride back, he's like, yo, like he called me wing because I was everybody's wingman, I was a right-hand man, I was a wingman, right?
7:51
SPEAKER_01: So he's like, yo, uh, what do you want to do?
7:53
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, shit, I want to go home, fool.
7:54
SPEAKER_01: What you mean?
7:55
SPEAKER_01: We've been out with lost all day in this set.
7:57
SPEAKER_01: Like, I want to go home.
7:58
SPEAKER_01: He's like, nah, man, like, what do you want to do future wise?
8:00
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, man, like, uh, what you mean, bro?
8:03
SPEAKER_01: Like, and he's like, bro, like, I don't want you to jump back in the streets, and I can't, I can't uh give you what I want you to have, what you should have.
8:12
SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
8:13
SPEAKER_01: Like, I can't give you uh um insurance, and I can't give you, you know what I'm saying, guaranteed, you know, because you know, in a construction, it's a it's it's a you know, yeah, you never know when it's gonna be busy, slow, whatever.
8:24
SPEAKER_01: Yes, so all of a sudden he's like, Man, well, what do you like to do?
8:27
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, hustle, like that's what I like to do, that's what I was good at.
8:31
SPEAKER_01: That's all, you know what I mean?
8:32
SPEAKER_01: Like, that's really what I thought, like for a very long time.
8:35
SPEAKER_01: Like the streets was the only thing for me.
8:37
SPEAKER_01: Even when I got locked up, like people would be like, Hey, what you gonna do when you get home?
8:40
SPEAKER_01: Uh shit, run it up again.
8:41
SPEAKER_01: Go back to what I was running back.
8:43
SPEAKER_01: I don't know nothing else.
8:44
SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
8:45
SPEAKER_01: Like, I wasn't the best in school, not at all.
8:46
SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
8:47
SPEAKER_01: Like, I graduated, yeah, but like, man, I finessed my way through school, you know what I mean?
8:52
SPEAKER_01: And and I'm it's nothing like I'm not ashamed of it now because I learned from a lot of things, you know what I'm saying?
8:57
SPEAKER_01: So I learned how to finesse my way, but on a cool, like I graduated with like a third and fourth grade reading level and comprehension and stuff like that.
9:03
SPEAKER_01: And it took me to go to jail to sit in that cell and and teach myself how to read and write.
9:08
SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
9:08
SPEAKER_01: Off of reading books, off of reading like hood books, they're like urban books, you know what I'm saying?
9:13
SPEAKER_01: They're like hood stories, you know.
9:14
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
9:15
SPEAKER_01: And that's what kept me like reading, reading.
9:17
SPEAKER_01: And once my mom found out that I could that I was reading, she was like, Shh, whatever you need, however, whatever book she wants, just tell me what it is.
9:24
SPEAKER_01: And I'm sending them, send them.
9:25
SPEAKER_01: So she sent them, send them.
9:26
SPEAKER_01: And yo, I swear, dude, when I first got locked up and I'd write my mom, it'd probably be like a little paragraph, you know what I'm saying?
9:31
SPEAKER_01: A little paragraph, and then probably about six, seven months in, yo, I'm doing pages back in front, you know what I mean?
9:36
SPEAKER_01: Just writing, writing, writing.
9:37
SPEAKER_01: And so I literally taught myself how to read and write, like when I was locked up.
9:41
SPEAKER_02: Wow, amazing, dude.
9:42
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so so back in school in your school days, like the so what would you was it like because I was like that too when I when I got to college, I I had to take remedial classes, bro.
9:55
SPEAKER_02: Like and every single word I had to look it up in the dictionary to try to figure out what it meant.
9:59
SPEAKER_02: And I'm trying to figure out like how did I how did it get to where I graduated, and I was like that.
10:05
SPEAKER_02: You know what I'm saying?
10:05
SPEAKER_02: Like uh, so what do you was it something that caused you to not like learn?
10:10
SPEAKER_02: Was it the teaching style?
10:12
SPEAKER_02: Do you think you know what I'm saying?
10:13
SPEAKER_01: They they like you know, said I had a learning disability, you know what I'm saying?
10:17
SPEAKER_01: As something like early ages, like first grade, you know what I mean?
10:20
SPEAKER_01: But back then when I was, you know, I'm 40, I'm 40, I'm gonna be 41 Friday.
10:24
SPEAKER_01: So back then, like they didn't have all the different stuff that they have now for kids, you know what I'm saying?
10:30
SPEAKER_01: Different learning techniques and stuff like that.
10:31
SPEAKER_01: So it was basically they were embarrassing you, you know what I'm saying?
10:34
SPEAKER_01: Taking, taking the few kids that did have a learning disability, taking them out of the classroom, and you know, doing certain things with them, bringing them back and this, that.
10:42
SPEAKER_01: And it was, it was, it was a rough one, man.
10:43
SPEAKER_01: No lie, it was rough.
10:44
SPEAKER_01: It was rough from being, you know, being picked down, bullied, and fighting all the time, yeah.
10:48
SPEAKER_01: Going in school.
10:49
SPEAKER_01: Like, yeah, I fought a lot.
10:50
SPEAKER_01: Like my mom, she tried to like uh we're we grew up primarily in the hood, you know what I'm saying?
10:55
SPEAKER_01: And my mom, yo, she was a grinder too, and she wanted to try to get us a better way, you know what I'm saying?
11:00
SPEAKER_01: So she signed, she signed me and my sister up to uh to like go to school as a program.
11:05
SPEAKER_01: It was called like the chapter 220 program, where they took like kids from the hood and they brought them in like the nicer neighborhoods, you know what I'm saying, to try to give them a better chance, you know.
11:13
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but at that time and like the early 90s, yo, it was a lot of racism, you know what I'm saying?
11:18
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
11:18
SPEAKER_01: So everywhere there, you know, so it was different, man.
11:22
SPEAKER_01: It was going to school with a lot of whites, and and it was only a handful of us, you know what I'm saying?
11:25
SPEAKER_01: The Mexicans, blacks, and wow.
11:27
SPEAKER_01: So it was it was different, man.
11:28
SPEAKER_01: Wow, that is different, man.
11:30
SPEAKER_01: It's not like that over there.
11:30
SPEAKER_01: And then especially like, hey, on top of that, you know, my years have always been like this, you know what I'm saying?
11:35
SPEAKER_01: So hey, my you know, my pops told me at a young age, you know, I remember coming home, you know, calling them and crying, like, hey, they keep picking on me.
11:41
SPEAKER_01: And he says, Son, you're gonna have to stick up for yourself because no one else is.
11:44
SPEAKER_01: Like, as soon as they open their mouth, Jay, handle business, handle business.
11:49
SPEAKER_01: No, no arguing, no back and forth, handle business right away.
11:52
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
11:52
SPEAKER_01: So, I mean, I took a couple L's doing that Yeah, man, for sure.
11:56
SPEAKER_01: Hey, but but but I swear to you, by by third, fourth grade, they knew what time is it.
12:00
SPEAKER_01: They are everywhere, everybody already knew what time is it.
12:02
SPEAKER_01: How else are they gonna learn it?
12:03
SPEAKER_01: Jump out there with them if you want to, you're gonna get a couple hands.
12:05
SPEAKER_01: That's dope, man.
12:06
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
12:06
SPEAKER_01: Stop been a shit talking person ever since.
12:09
SPEAKER_02: Damn, man.
12:10
SPEAKER_02: Wow.
12:11
SPEAKER_02: You gotta do that, man.
12:12
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you gotta stick up for yourself, man.
12:14
SPEAKER_01: You have to, yeah.
12:14
SPEAKER_01: And it was like I said, it was a little rougher back then.
12:16
SPEAKER_01: They didn't have people getting in trouble for bullying and stuff like that back then.
12:19
SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
12:20
SPEAKER_01: There wasn't no telling on somebody, and you know what I mean?
12:23
SPEAKER_01: Like, that's just gonna make things worse.
12:24
SPEAKER_01: So me and me and my A1 man, still to this day, man, still my best friend since first grade, right?
12:30
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, me and him, we we we teamed up.
12:32
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, teamed up, bro.
12:33
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we teamed up.
12:34
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we weren't taking no L's, that's for sure.
12:36
SPEAKER_01: We didn't take no L's.
12:37
SPEAKER_02: We got uh Divad uh Zetterman, he said happy birthday.
12:41
SPEAKER_02: Thank you, appreciate you.
12:42
SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
12:42
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, man.
12:43
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I turned 42 in November.
12:45
SPEAKER_02: That's true.
12:46
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's starting to hurt yeah, dude.
12:48
SPEAKER_02: I seen all man, I seen you pumping that iron, bro.
12:51
SPEAKER_02: So you said you slowed down a little bit?
12:52
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, I fell off, bro.
12:54
SPEAKER_01: I fell off bad, man.
12:55
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
12:57
SPEAKER_01: I had went through some things, some personal stuff, and I had just fell off, and I needed to need to get back on though.
13:02
SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
13:03
SPEAKER_01: That's an outlet for me for real.
13:05
SPEAKER_01: That's the outlet, bro.
13:05
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, stress reliever.
13:07
SPEAKER_02: We were talking about that on the on the live stream earlier.
13:10
SPEAKER_02: That uh for people like because I'm ADDA D H D.
13:13
SPEAKER_02: I've been through all that stuff too.
13:15
SPEAKER_02: I didn't really fight a lot, I've just kind of ignored everything.
13:18
SPEAKER_02: Uh, but yeah, having an outlet we were mentioning is one like mine was music.
13:23
SPEAKER_02: I played guitar, that was my outlet, you know what I mean.
13:25
SPEAKER_02: And then of course I had to be, I mean, I didn't have to be, but I chose to be in like sports, football, and stuff like that.
13:30
SPEAKER_02: Because my dad had me in since I was nine, eight years old.
13:33
SPEAKER_02: So I knew that, and that was another outlet because I had trouble communicating with people, you know what I mean?
13:40
SPEAKER_02: I didn't communicate at all.
13:41
SPEAKER_02: So one of the outlets was speeding football because I got to like physically hit somebody without getting in trouble, you know what I mean?
13:48
SPEAKER_02: Uh so I like that part, you know what I mean?
13:51
SPEAKER_02: And then I lifted weights, of course, too.
13:53
SPEAKER_02: And that's I I kind of have a small love for that as well.
13:55
SPEAKER_02: When I saw you doing that one tens, bro, on both hands, shoot, that's dope.
14:00
SPEAKER_02: Uh yeah, man.
14:00
SPEAKER_02: That's so that's cool.
14:01
SPEAKER_02: So you grew up in Milwaukee, uh, and union for the A1 handled it together.
14:06
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
14:07
SPEAKER_02: Uh, so you learned all that.
14:08
SPEAKER_02: And then so you when you were inside, you were you were reading a lot, you taught yourself how to read.
14:13
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
14:13
SPEAKER_01: I actually got a culinary arts degree when I got locked up.
14:16
SPEAKER_02: Nice.
14:16
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I got it.
14:17
SPEAKER_01: I got my culinary arts degree there.
14:18
SPEAKER_01: Prior before going in, I was working in kitchens for a couple like six, seven years or so.
14:22
SPEAKER_01: Oh wow.
14:23
SPEAKER_01: Working in and out of kitchens.
14:24
SPEAKER_01: I worked at a uh a German restaurant for like two years, Italian restaurant for like six, seven years.
14:29
SPEAKER_01: So it's pretty dope, man.
14:31
SPEAKER_02: Wow, so so you couldn't so you couldn't see yourself continuing in that path, and you just no, it's like cooking's cool.
14:37
SPEAKER_01: Like I dig it, you know what I'm saying?
14:39
SPEAKER_01: It's it's cool, but uh working wise, bro, you gotta have you gotta have a different level of patience, you know what I mean.
14:45
SPEAKER_01: You work with a lot of people, a lot of stuff, a lot of argument in the kitchen.
14:48
SPEAKER_01: It's stressful, you know, it's stressful.
14:49
SPEAKER_01: It's not like that that shit on TV where they're smiling when they're cooking, you know what I mean?
14:53
SPEAKER_01: It's just it's a hell story and there's a storm in their in their kitchens, you know.
14:57
SPEAKER_01: Big shout-out props, everybody in them kitchens, man.
14:59
SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah, no kidding.
15:00
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we appreciate you, yeah, definitely, man.
15:04
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, and you and you don't own your own business.
15:07
SPEAKER_02: So, do you own your own you own your own business, right?
15:09
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I own my own barbershop, yep.
15:10
SPEAKER_02: And I also I breed dogs too.
15:12
SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah, I seen that on your on your page.
15:13
SPEAKER_02: So what are they, Frenchies or yes, sir?
15:15
SPEAKER_02: Okay, so there's a whole whole whole thing going on with that, yeah, yeah.
15:19
SPEAKER_01: A little dibbling dabbling in it.
15:20
SPEAKER_01: You know, I've been going in it for about like three years now or so, like about three, four years.
15:24
SPEAKER_02: So you you breed them and then you you sell them?
15:27
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, okay, okay.
15:28
SPEAKER_01: So they're pretty popular.
15:29
SPEAKER_01: How do you do how do you go about selling them?
15:31
SPEAKER_01: Uh use social media, friends, family, word of mouth, stuff like that.
15:34
SPEAKER_01: Right, social media is I like this last two litters ago, I had flew out to Memphis, dropped the dog off, and jumped right back on a plane and hit back over here.
15:42
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
15:43
SPEAKER_02: So yeah, yeah, that's so how so they they sell pretty good.
15:46
SPEAKER_02: Like, uh are the prices on them pretty good?
15:48
SPEAKER_01: They were really good.
15:48
SPEAKER_01: Though the market's pretty flooded right now, so it's like you know, everybody's lowballing right now, but you know, it's it's just like anything else, man.
15:55
SPEAKER_01: It's just a wave you gotta ride, you know.
15:56
SPEAKER_01: It's just an expensive wave to ride, though, you know.
15:58
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, man.
15:59
SPEAKER_01: I got seven, I got seven at my house right now.
16:01
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
16:02
SPEAKER_02: Wow.
16:03
SPEAKER_02: So you gotta raise those.
16:04
SPEAKER_02: Wow, that that's gotta be a lot.
16:06
SPEAKER_02: How did you get into that?
16:07
SPEAKER_02: That so from so you're cutting hair, and then you figure you find out about this type of side side gig, or I mean.
16:12
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, like um, so you know, I've always been cutting hair.
16:16
SPEAKER_01: I I was grinding out here in Corpus.
16:18
SPEAKER_01: I had rented out my own private suite.
16:20
SPEAKER_01: I did that for two years out of Salon by JC, and I was there, and one day I got to sitting down and I was like, yo, like I need my own shop, you know what I'm saying?
16:29
SPEAKER_01: Like, but I don't want a big shop.
16:30
SPEAKER_01: I never wanted no big shop, I wanted, you know, a small, tight-knit circle, you know what I'm saying?
16:34
SPEAKER_01: And I got doing the math on what I was saving, you know what I mean?
16:38
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, man, it's gonna take me two years before I hit my mark, what I what I want, what I'm comfortable jumping out there with.
16:44
SPEAKER_01: And yo, out of the flute, yo, everything happens for a reason, you know what I'm saying?
16:48
SPEAKER_01: Interesting.
16:48
SPEAKER_01: And and I jump, jump on Facebook, and one of the homies was was counting out money on there, right?
16:54
SPEAKER_01: And he's like 3,000 one week in a barbershop.
16:58
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, one week.
16:58
SPEAKER_01: In one week, and I said, and I so I hit him, you know, hey, close mouth, don't get fed.
17:02
SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
17:03
SPEAKER_01: Like, I hate when somebody says, like, oh, this dude did what he did.
17:07
SPEAKER_01: If he did it right, you better follow suit.
17:09
SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
17:10
SPEAKER_01: Like, if he's going the right direction, right, you need to go in that direction too.
17:13
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so I hit him up.
17:14
SPEAKER_01: No shame, my game.
17:15
SPEAKER_01: Hey, bro, like, hey, where you work at?
17:18
SPEAKER_01: And he tells me, Odessa.
17:19
SPEAKER_01: Oh, and I said, Oh yeah.
17:21
SPEAKER_01: I said, You getting it like that?
17:22
SPEAKER_01: He was like, bro, I only work in the evenings.
17:25
SPEAKER_01: He said, I'm only working five, six hours a day.
17:28
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
17:29
SPEAKER_01: He's like, I take off one, two days a week, too.
17:31
SPEAKER_01: Damn.
17:31
SPEAKER_01: And I said, and you're making that much?
17:33
SPEAKER_01: And he was like, bro, out here, there's a two-hour waiting list.
17:37
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, two hour waiting list.
17:39
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, nah, hell nah, you're crazy.
17:41
SPEAKER_01: And he said, Yeah, bro.
17:42
SPEAKER_01: Uh hey, I'ma I'm gonna I'm gonna tell the owner to hit you up on Instagram, let him check out your work.
17:47
SPEAKER_01: Owner hits me up in 15 minutes.
17:49
SPEAKER_01: It's a Tuesday.
17:50
SPEAKER_01: I'll never forget it.
17:51
SPEAKER_01: He's like, What's up, Johnny?
17:52
SPEAKER_01: Hey man, I see your work.
17:54
SPEAKER_01: Um I need you out here.
17:55
SPEAKER_01: Come out here, come get this money.
17:56
SPEAKER_01: I said, Man, is there really money out there like that?
17:58
SPEAKER_01: He said, I'll tell you what, you come out here for two days.
18:00
SPEAKER_01: If you don't make a thousand dollars in two days, he was like, I'll give you whatever you didn't make.
18:05
SPEAKER_01: You make only make five in two days, I'll give you 500.
18:08
SPEAKER_01: And I said, You know what?
18:09
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna take you up on that.
18:10
SPEAKER_01: I'll be there Saturday.
18:11
SPEAKER_01: He's like, You for real?
18:13
SPEAKER_01: And I said, bro, I don't uh about the bag, I don't play, bro.
18:17
SPEAKER_00: I'm on it, bro.
18:18
SPEAKER_01: So hey, cancel some appointments Saturday.
18:21
SPEAKER_01: Hey, jumped, jumped in a whip, hit it out there, ran it up, made I worked 12 hours, I made 980 in 12 hours, and I was like, Yeah, this is the move now then.
18:31
SPEAKER_01: So I just I did it for a year straight.
18:32
SPEAKER_01: I told myself a year, one year I gave myself.
18:35
SPEAKER_01: I went out there November 1st was my first day out there in 2018.
18:41
SPEAKER_01: And November 1st, 2019, I opened my shop.
18:44
SPEAKER_01: Wow, yeah, you saved all that money in one year, yeah.
18:48
SPEAKER_02: Wow, yeah, damn.
18:49
SPEAKER_02: That's discipline right there, bro.
18:50
SPEAKER_01: Just grinding it though, just grinding it, driving to Odessa every week.
18:54
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I was still having to come back, you know what I'm saying?
18:55
SPEAKER_01: Every week.
18:56
SPEAKER_01: I leave every Wednesday, I come back every Sunday.
18:58
SPEAKER_02: Man, bro, wow, that's grinding, bro.
19:00
SPEAKER_02: Craps, man.
19:01
SPEAKER_02: That's awesome, dude.
19:03
SPEAKER_02: Do you so man, that's that's a lot of money to handle, bro.
19:06
SPEAKER_02: Do you do you have do you find yourself having uh how do you how do you handle your money like as far as uh like this is what I mean?
19:15
SPEAKER_01: Like the more I make, the more I spend.
19:17
SPEAKER_01: Exactly, bro.
19:18
SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
19:18
SPEAKER_01: So so you ain't got a budget.
19:19
SPEAKER_01: You ain't you ain't trying to mess with no budget.
19:21
SPEAKER_01: Nah, I didn't count.
19:22
SPEAKER_01: I don't I've never been like that.
19:25
SPEAKER_01: Yo, I've always been like nobody has.
19:26
SPEAKER_01: I don't think it's but I think it's because for where we come from, you know what I'm saying?
19:30
SPEAKER_01: Different, like hey, I've always lived by tomorrow's not promised, you know what I'm saying?
19:34
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna save all this money and not do what with it, you know?
19:36
SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna work my ass off every day and not have fun, not let my kids see fun stuff and not let them do things, you know what I mean?
19:42
SPEAKER_01: Right, right.
19:43
SPEAKER_01: It's cool.
19:43
SPEAKER_01: If that's your thing, that's cool.
19:44
SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
19:45
SPEAKER_01: To stack your money and don't spend it.
19:47
SPEAKER_01: Be hold on in them pockets as long as you can.
19:49
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
19:50
SPEAKER_01: But for me, I'm gonna run it up no matter what.
19:52
SPEAKER_01: If I'm broke today, I'm gonna go to work tomorrow.
19:54
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know what I mean?
19:55
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna do my thing.
19:56
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna figure out how to make the money, how to get it.
19:57
SPEAKER_01: Gotta make it, you know what I'm saying?
19:58
SPEAKER_01: I gotta make it.
19:59
SPEAKER_01: Gotta make it.
20:00
SPEAKER_02: So your daughter is in uh my daughter's eight.
20:03
SPEAKER_02: And yeah, we're teaching her about money, and we're kind of we're more on the conservative conservative side of money, like we save it, we put it away.
20:11
SPEAKER_02: Of course, we spend some of it, you know what I mean?
20:13
SPEAKER_02: Stuff like that.
20:13
SPEAKER_02: And so I'm teaching her like uh this is where money comes from.
20:16
SPEAKER_02: You clean your room, you get five bucks on Friday.
20:18
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you know what I mean?
20:19
SPEAKER_02: Because if you're just giving them the money, they're gonna grow up thinking, well, I gotta get money from mom and dad.
20:24
SPEAKER_02: That's where money comes from.
20:26
SPEAKER_01: I got three daughters.
20:28
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so you got three.
20:29
SPEAKER_01: Oh man.
20:30
SPEAKER_01: No boys?
20:31
SPEAKER_01: Nope.
20:32
SPEAKER_01: I got seven, uh, my son that passed away.
20:34
SPEAKER_01: Oh, sorry, man.
20:34
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, it's good.
20:35
SPEAKER_01: Um, my daughter, she's seven years old.
20:38
SPEAKER_01: I have a daughter that's 12 years old, and I have my 17-year-old that's gonna graduate this year.
20:43
SPEAKER_02: Wow, dude.
20:44
SPEAKER_02: Oh my god.
20:45
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, wow.
20:46
SPEAKER_01: So so you're raising them.
20:47
SPEAKER_01: Do you cut their hair?
20:48
SPEAKER_01: Somebody else cuts their hair?
20:49
SPEAKER_01: Nah, we have somebody cut their hair.
20:50
SPEAKER_01: I used to cut my daughter's hair.
20:51
SPEAKER_01: I used to cut their hair when, you know, just little trims and stuff like that.
20:55
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
20:56
SPEAKER_01: My my little ones always like, yeah, you can't cut my hair.
20:58
SPEAKER_01: I'm bald like you.
20:59
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, all right, cool.
21:01
SPEAKER_01: Say less.
21:02
SPEAKER_01: I don't have to cut it.
21:02
SPEAKER_02: That's awesome, man.
21:03
SPEAKER_02: So you so you started cutting hair.
21:05
SPEAKER_02: Uh uh, so did you did you were you were you deal dealing like in were you involved in like drugs and stuff like that before?
21:14
SPEAKER_02: Like, how do you make that lifestyle change?
21:15
SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
21:16
SPEAKER_01: It was it was kind of uh getting back to that one, man, it was kind of like a uh uh easy switch once somebody explained it to me.
21:24
SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
21:25
SPEAKER_01: So I had one of my homeboys, I'm like, man, I like I would when I first started, I was kind of coming and going for the first week, you know what I mean?
21:32
SPEAKER_01: Like, man, well, I don't have nothing to do, I'm gonna leave, you know, and this that.
21:35
SPEAKER_01: So my homeboy pulls up, he's like, hey, he's like, remember when we were getting money, you know, he's like, this is your trap house, dog.
21:41
SPEAKER_01: This is your spot.
21:43
SPEAKER_01: Don't leave your spot and you don't miss no licks.
21:46
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Damn, you know what, you're right.
21:48
SPEAKER_01: So I gotta stay in here and grind it out.
21:50
SPEAKER_01: So that's exactly what I did.
21:51
SPEAKER_01: The same way, you know, same same mentality you have in the street, you can you can switch that, you know what I'm saying?
21:56
SPEAKER_01: And you can just revert it into whatever you're trying to get it, you know.
22:00
SPEAKER_01: That's I just learned that learn how to do it.
22:01
SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
22:02
SPEAKER_01: Hey man, my first year, barbering I used to tell everybody, man, if I made$100 that day, I spent$150.
22:07
SPEAKER_01: He figured out I spent$150.
22:13
SPEAKER_02: So how so I paid that I own a brand.
22:16
SPEAKER_02: I have to pay taxes on the wholesale stuff that I buy.
22:18
SPEAKER_02: How do you deal with that?
22:19
SPEAKER_01: That's horrible.
22:20
SPEAKER_01: That's horrible.
22:21
SPEAKER_01: It's like the biggest L I've ever taken.
22:23
SPEAKER_02: And it's nothing I can do with my is it worse than is it worse than in the streets having to deal with the tax man?
22:28
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
22:30
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
22:30
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
22:31
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
22:31
SPEAKER_01: You could you could duck him.
22:32
SPEAKER_01: You could do whatever you need to do with him.
22:34
SPEAKER_01: You ain't ducking Uncle Sam, boy.
22:36
SPEAKER_01: That man coming everywhere.
22:37
SPEAKER_01: Faithfully, he's coming.
22:39
SPEAKER_01: Both hands out.
22:41
SPEAKER_01: Both hands out.
22:42
SPEAKER_01: Hold on to the ankles.
22:43
SPEAKER_01: Like it's over.
22:44
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's that's that's a rough one, man.
22:45
SPEAKER_01: It's rough.
22:46
SPEAKER_01: It's hard on barbers, man.
22:47
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
22:48
SPEAKER_02: So do you so you have to have a license, or how do you you tax so you tax the person and then you pay an amount on that tax, or what?
22:57
SPEAKER_02: Or you know what I'm saying?
22:58
SPEAKER_01: Like I charge booth rent for the people that rent for me.
23:00
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
23:01
SPEAKER_02: Oh, okay.
23:01
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
23:02
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
23:02
SPEAKER_02: So you own your shop.
23:03
SPEAKER_02: People are renting the the chair or the booth.
23:05
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
23:05
SPEAKER_02: From so that's part that so that's a whole business in itself, other than just cutting air.
23:09
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
23:09
SPEAKER_02: Wow.
23:10
SPEAKER_02: So you got to keep track of that.
23:11
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
23:12
SPEAKER_02: Okay, okay.
23:12
SPEAKER_02: How many booths do you have in your in your shop?
23:15
SPEAKER_01: There's seven, seven of there's seven booths.
23:17
SPEAKER_01: I have uh it's six of us in there right now.
23:19
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
23:19
SPEAKER_01: I'm not really too like uh I'm kind of picky about who I let in.
23:24
SPEAKER_01: I got a cool vibe though, you know what I'm saying?
23:25
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to throw off our vibe, like everything's cool, everybody's chilling, joking, clowning with each other and stuff like that.
23:31
SPEAKER_01: And I got a stumped down team, man.
23:33
SPEAKER_01: Everybody's good, you know what I'm saying?
23:34
SPEAKER_02: How do you find yourself like vetting or not vetting, like uh figuring out who you want in there?
23:40
SPEAKER_02: Like, do you interview them or I mean do you just order them?
23:42
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes, like word of mouth, most of the time, you know what I mean?
23:45
SPEAKER_01: It's mostly word of mouth.
23:46
SPEAKER_01: A lot of people get referred.
23:47
SPEAKER_01: I got a lot of homeboys that own barber shops, man.
23:50
SPEAKER_01: Shout out to all my homeboys, you know.
23:52
SPEAKER_01: Hey, we're all going through it together, you know what I mean?
23:54
SPEAKER_01: And for real, for real, there's a lot of homeboys that that send people their way, send us our way, you know what I mean?
23:59
SPEAKER_01: Like, so everybody shows love, you know.
24:00
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
24:01
SPEAKER_02: Well, so what what's some of the things that you try to avoid?
24:04
SPEAKER_02: Like, what's some of the some of the stuff you try to avoid in your shop as far as the culture goes in there?
24:10
SPEAKER_01: Man, I just uh man, I try to duck the hood vibe, man.
24:16
SPEAKER_01: Like, like I just I want my people to feel comfortable in there, you know what I'm saying?
24:19
SPEAKER_01: Everybody feel comfortable, you know.
24:21
SPEAKER_01: We don't gotta be worrying about nothing going on in there and stuff like that, but you know, you control that by who you hire, right?
24:26
SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
24:27
SPEAKER_01: You control that's who you hire is the vibe you're gonna get.
24:30
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
24:30
SPEAKER_01: Because you're gonna go to to the barber, your barber, and you guys got a vibe already.
24:34
SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
24:35
SPEAKER_01: You don't have to be on that other shit, you know what I'm saying?
24:37
SPEAKER_01: It's it's pretty cool though.
24:38
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's a it's a it's a ride and it's different working with different people that come from different walks of life, you know what I'm saying?
24:44
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, right on like so hood vibe is like uh like just people bringing in bad business in here, yeah, talking about it, yeah.
24:51
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, there's a certain place and time you talk freely, you know what I'm saying, about certain things, and yeah, you know, sometimes some people don't have filters, you know what I mean.
24:59
SPEAKER_01: And we have we have I I personally cut up several cops, you know what I'm saying?
25:03
SPEAKER_01: And so I try to make it, you know what I'm saying?
25:06
SPEAKER_01: But they understand, they're they're they're cool with it, you know what I mean?
25:08
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, they're trying to, you know.
25:09
SPEAKER_02: I think it was I had uh Jackie, I don't remember her last name, but she braids hair, she's yeah, Touch by Money, yeah, Touch by Money, yeah.
25:16
SPEAKER_02: She was on the podcast a while back, and we were talking about we talking about touched on that topic also, yeah.
25:21
SPEAKER_02: And she was mentioning like how you know you have families or kids come in here or whatever, and y'all are talking about something happening at the club or whatever.
25:29
SPEAKER_02: I don't know what y'all talk about.
25:31
SPEAKER_02: And that's that's just uh it's difficult to have, especially if you're trying to have client, you know, yeah, more clientele come in.
25:38
SPEAKER_01: And I think that's all on the barber, you know what I'm saying?
25:41
SPEAKER_01: Because like in a conversation, if if I know the person next to me is cutting up somebody, maybe that's not about that life, you know what I'm saying?
25:49
SPEAKER_01: And I know who I'm cutting up and how they talk.
25:52
SPEAKER_01: And you know, some you know, some people talk loud, you know, so you can hear what's going on.
25:56
SPEAKER_01: So then you as a barber, you gotta divert that conversation, you know what I'm saying?
26:00
SPEAKER_01: You gotta spin that, you know.
26:00
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's crazy, right?
26:01
SPEAKER_01: You gotta spin that conversation to something else.
26:04
SPEAKER_01: Hey, how's the family doing?
26:05
SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
26:06
SPEAKER_02: So do so do cut so when you're conversing like that, do you come do y'all converse, but do barbers curse with ever uh uh uh have a conversation with another barber or another client all at the same time?
26:17
SPEAKER_02: Oh yeah, like yeah, like uh all the time, traditional barbershop I guess, yeah, yeah.
26:21
SPEAKER_01: We had it all the time.
26:22
SPEAKER_01: We're always in there joking, climbing with each other across the shop.
26:25
SPEAKER_01: Everybody's in there, yeah.
26:26
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
26:27
SPEAKER_02: That's awesome, man.
26:28
SPEAKER_02: That's a cool, yeah.
26:29
SPEAKER_01: We talk shit equally, equally, equally, equally as well.
26:33
SPEAKER_02: Do y'all ever compare like tips or like uh how much money I'll make?
26:37
SPEAKER_01: No, we actually got something on at uh at our shop.
26:39
SPEAKER_01: Uh we got a little running joke.
26:41
SPEAKER_01: It's like, hey, bro, what time you here tonight?
26:43
SPEAKER_01: Oh, I leave at seven.
26:45
SPEAKER_01: Uh what time you leave at nine?
26:47
SPEAKER_01: All right, sucker.
26:48
SPEAKER_01: Like, you know what I'm saying?
26:50
SPEAKER_01: Just kind of like and then hey, at the same time, we're on each other.
26:53
SPEAKER_01: Like, we shop on opens up at 10.
26:56
SPEAKER_01: Most of my barbers get there a little bit earlier or they come at 10 o'clock.
26:59
SPEAKER_01: I I got barbers that start at 7:30 in the morning.
27:01
SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
27:02
SPEAKER_01: My boy Heck out there getting it, Edgar's out there getting it at 7 in the morning, 7:30 in the morning.
27:07
SPEAKER_01: You know, he was just there at the shop when I was leaving, two more heads of walking in that he had there.
27:10
SPEAKER_01: So that's Sunday money, you know what I mean?
27:12
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's that's how you knock that booth right now.
27:14
SPEAKER_02: That's how you do it, yeah, man.
27:15
SPEAKER_02: So the your guy, the talking about that, your your guy, your guys in their shop, the ones that work for you.
27:22
SPEAKER_02: Uh do y'all ever get to the to to the point where y'all are uh y'all like because we're talking about mental health earlier.
27:30
SPEAKER_02: Like, do y'all talk, do you talk about that stuff with your your workers, or is it just strictly like, oh, there's nothing.
27:36
SPEAKER_01: I think we do.
27:37
SPEAKER_01: I think I I I think you could probably say that because we probably we're really cool with each other, like everybody's really cool with each other.
27:42
SPEAKER_01: So if somebody's going through something, you know what I'm saying?
27:44
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
27:44
SPEAKER_01: And if they speak on it, we're gonna, you know what I mean?
27:46
SPEAKER_01: We're we're gonna help each other out and do what we gotta do.
27:48
SPEAKER_01: You know, I've been you know, I've been a barber for you know a while, and I've owned a shop for a while, and I've come close with a lot of barbers, you know what I'm saying, that that work with me, that have worked for me, you know what I mean?
27:59
SPEAKER_01: And it and it's it's I know this business, you know what I mean?
28:02
SPEAKER_01: It's a it's a grimy business, man.
28:04
SPEAKER_01: People come and go, you know what I mean?
28:05
SPEAKER_01: And people, you just gotta understand that.
28:07
SPEAKER_01: And and sometimes, yeah, it hurts.
28:08
SPEAKER_01: Being a bar, you know, like uh you build a friendship with people, and then if they leave or they they go somewhere else to another shop, it's kind of like damn, like that's how it feels, you know what I'm saying?
28:18
SPEAKER_01: But it's business, okay.
28:20
SPEAKER_01: But how whatever at the end of the day, whatever the reason they left, that's for them, you know what I'm saying?
28:25
SPEAKER_01: And I gotta respect them.
28:26
SPEAKER_01: You gotta let it go.
28:26
SPEAKER_01: And yeah, yeah, I don't have hard feelings for nobody, you know what I'm saying, that work for me and stuff like that.
28:31
SPEAKER_01: But you know, when when uh tragic stuff happens in a shop, you know, family something happens, you know what I'm saying, and you really see who's who's riding with you, you know what I'm saying?
28:41
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, for sure.
28:42
SPEAKER_02: I think I I read the Bible, I think it was uh there's a verse where it says, like when basically when somebody is there for you in your bad times, they're there, they're there for you in their good times, not necessarily the other way.
28:53
SPEAKER_02: If they're there for you in the good times, and not there for the bad times, yeah.
28:56
SPEAKER_02: You see it.
28:57
SPEAKER_02: For sure, for sure, for sure.
28:58
SPEAKER_02: So you mentioned the the business of haircutting, so I I assume there's other there's barbers or or owners that are not as like that like you are, as far as leaving business, business people leaving.
29:10
SPEAKER_01: There could be Yeah, some people take it personal, you know what I'm saying?
29:13
SPEAKER_01: And and and it just depends on each situation, you know.
29:16
SPEAKER_01: Some barbershop owners invest in barbers, you know what I'm saying?
29:20
SPEAKER_01: They give people time.
29:22
SPEAKER_01: I've I've had people personally work for me and and be like, yo, hey, I'm gonna charge you this until you get your feet, you know what I'm saying?
29:29
SPEAKER_01: And and so if I'm going out of my way, I'm taking money out of my pocket for you to get right, and then for you to bounce when you do get right, you know what I'm saying?
29:38
SPEAKER_01: You might feel some type of way about that, you know?
29:40
SPEAKER_02: That's good, man.
29:41
SPEAKER_02: Why do you I mean why do you find yourself, how do you find yourself doing that?
29:44
SPEAKER_02: Like, is there like have you been always been like a caring person in that way?
29:49
SPEAKER_01: Or I think I think because uh I've been blessed with people that are around me that that care for me, you know what I'm saying?
29:54
SPEAKER_01: And and when I first started at the barbershop, I had no clientele.
29:58
SPEAKER_01: I had no, I was trash cutting hair, you know what I'm saying?
30:01
SPEAKER_01: But I had guys around me that are blessing me with game.
30:04
SPEAKER_01: I had my my boy Thotho who owned who used to own the barbershop I used to work at, he blessed me.
30:08
SPEAKER_01: He's like, yo, I'm only gonna charge you this month or this much, you know what I'm saying, per week until you get on your feet.
30:14
SPEAKER_01: But in the meantime, yo, if you want to come in early and you want to sweep, if you want to come in or you wanna stay till late and mop up, and you know, we'll knock off bootfront.
30:22
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and so that's what I did every day.
30:24
SPEAKER_01: I was there early to get some money off my bootfront, stay late, help them sweep up, do what it gotta do, you know, try to try to stay in it.
30:32
SPEAKER_01: So you saw, so you so what you saw, you you were like that helped me.
30:36
SPEAKER_01: I just had to pay it forward now, and I still do it.
30:38
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I still do it.
30:39
SPEAKER_01: Yup, I still do it, I still try to still try in any way, you know what I'm saying?
30:43
SPEAKER_01: And yeah, you know, sometimes we're able to to help out, and sometimes like, hey man, I've had my barbers look out for me.
30:48
SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
30:49
SPEAKER_01: Like, hey bro, I know you're going through it, like here, you know.
30:51
SPEAKER_01: Hey man, I appreciate it.
30:52
SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
30:53
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so it's love, you know, it's uh good shared.
30:57
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, bless those that bless you, you know what I mean?
30:59
SPEAKER_02: So yeah, so blah, so does that are you do you consider yourself like a spiritual person?
31:04
SPEAKER_02: Because you you're you're saying like blessed.
31:06
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, to me is like yeah, no, I definitely, bro.
31:08
SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm I'm trying, bro.
31:10
SPEAKER_01: I'm trying to get more back into church, you know what I'm saying?
31:12
SPEAKER_01: I've been strong going to church for like nine months now.
31:14
SPEAKER_01: I volunteer at Church Unlimited on the West Side.
31:17
SPEAKER_01: Oh, okay.
31:17
SPEAKER_01: I do that every Wednesday, every Wednesday morning from like uh 10 o'clock to 12, 1230.
31:22
SPEAKER_01: And we cut and we cut people there.
31:24
SPEAKER_01: Oh, now we cut people that it's like a um, it's like it's not really a it's a I guess you call it a church, but it's more like a uh mission place where they uh they hand out food.
31:33
SPEAKER_01: They got a food pantry.
31:34
SPEAKER_01: You can go there, get uh exchange your clothes there, you can go get hygiene there, and you can get a haircut there.
31:41
SPEAKER_01: And then before you can do all that, you can go and uh listen to the service that was done that Sunday.
31:45
SPEAKER_02: Wow, dude.
31:45
SPEAKER_01: So yeah, it's it's a real dope, it's real dope, man.
31:48
SPEAKER_01: It's real dope.
31:49
SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of people there that go unrecognized, you know what I'm saying?
31:51
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and that really are faithful to being there every Wednesday and and trying to give back, you know what I mean?
31:57
SPEAKER_01: Trying to give back.
31:58
SPEAKER_01: And so I've been I've been on that.
31:59
SPEAKER_01: I miss one, I miss one Wednesday in nine months.
32:03
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
32:04
SPEAKER_01: So, but yeah, I've been I've been trying to make it make it my presence there, man.
32:07
SPEAKER_01: I've been going there for a long time.
32:08
SPEAKER_01: I started doing that.
32:09
SPEAKER_01: Um, I've been going strong for like nine months, but I started like 10 years ago doing when I first came down to church.
32:16
SPEAKER_01: Okay, yeah, and I started volunteering over there.
32:18
SPEAKER_01: We used they used to have a thing called Take to the Streets.
32:20
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if you ever heard of that.
32:21
SPEAKER_01: But we they used to come down here over by the bus station.
32:25
SPEAKER_02: Wow.
32:25
SPEAKER_01: And we cut hair out there, go pray with the people out there, you know what I'm saying?
32:29
SPEAKER_01: Try to give them some break bread with them, you know what I mean?
32:31
SPEAKER_01: Give them some food and stuff like that.
32:33
SPEAKER_01: But yeah.
32:34
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, just to be able to talk to those, uh, to the homeless people out there, man.
32:37
SPEAKER_01: Like it's wild, bro.
32:39
SPEAKER_01: It's wild.
32:39
SPEAKER_01: You know, some people think like every person out there is a drug user, you know what I'm saying?
32:43
SPEAKER_01: And yeah, and and it's once you get to meeting some of these people, bro, it's deeper than that, bro.
32:48
SPEAKER_01: It's deeper than that.
32:48
SPEAKER_01: It's like some mental, like mental health, yeah, bro.
32:51
SPEAKER_01: They don't have nowhere to go.
32:52
SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
32:52
SPEAKER_01: Like, they don't want to be around their family because they don't want their family to see them what they're going through and stuff like that.
32:57
SPEAKER_01: Like I've met some man, I met some crazy, I met some, I met some crazy stories out there, man.
33:01
SPEAKER_01: I met some people with some deep stories out there.
33:03
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's crazy.
33:04
SPEAKER_01: Wow, it's crazy.
33:05
SPEAKER_01: And I and I get I get shown plenty of love over there on the west side at the at the church unlimited and stuff like that.
33:10
SPEAKER_01: Like, all the guys know me over there, you know what I mean?
33:11
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's cool.
33:12
SPEAKER_01: They all rock with me over there.
33:13
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so do you feel like so now so it seems like uh giving of your time like that has been a part of your life?
33:20
SPEAKER_02: Bro, that helps.
33:21
SPEAKER_01: It helps.
33:22
SPEAKER_01: You know, I never realized like uh it was probably like two months ago or something, like the pastor has said something in church, and he was referring to when you give back, when you give back volunteering, any in any way, not even volunteering, just in any way, when you give back, you could kind of uh don't think about your worries and you're thinking about somebody else's for a second, you know what I'm saying?
33:45
SPEAKER_01: So nine months ago, I feel like my world is you know what I'm saying, everything's going crazy for me, you know?
33:50
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I just needed uh a couple hours out of the day to where I don't worry about me and I could focus on somebody else.
33:56
SPEAKER_01: So it really helps me, you know what I'm saying?
33:59
SPEAKER_01: Like it helps me mentally, you know what I'm saying?
34:01
SPEAKER_01: Like to a like it humbles you, yeah.
34:04
SPEAKER_01: It's it's no is no other humbling experience, you know what I'm saying?
34:08
SPEAKER_01: Like, you know, I'm a big shoe head, I'm a shoe kind of sewer, you know what I'm saying?
34:11
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, I got sneaker head, bro.
34:13
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so when so for me, like I'm always shoe checking, like every, you know, like and I like every shoe, you know what I mean?
34:19
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, damn, I'm kinda live, you know what I'm saying?
34:21
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, damn.
34:22
SPEAKER_01: But you know, when you get around certain situations when you're over there and you're like, damn, this homeboy don't even have matching shoes.
34:27
SPEAKER_02: Wow, crazy, bro.
34:28
SPEAKER_01: I don't have matching shoes.
34:30
SPEAKER_01: No, yeah, yeah, and and yeah, but they go there and we we put them on, you know what I'm saying?
34:35
SPEAKER_01: They get right when they leave there, man.
34:36
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, man.
34:37
SPEAKER_01: They get right, they get right.
34:38
SPEAKER_01: We get thanked, and that thank you.
34:40
SPEAKER_01: It sounds crazy, bro.
34:41
SPEAKER_01: That them them thank yous from people that actually, you know.
34:45
SPEAKER_01: I always tell people, hey, if I walk out this door, right, and you're coming behind me, and I hold the door for you.
34:51
SPEAKER_01: Hey, I appreciate it.
34:51
SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
34:52
SPEAKER_01: Like, right?
34:52
SPEAKER_01: It's just standard though, right?
34:54
SPEAKER_02: Right.
34:54
SPEAKER_01: You do that to courtesy, you do that to anybody, but when you finish cutting somebody's hair and they really appreciate that and they let you know, you're like, hey, bro, like, hey, I appreciate you doing this, man.
35:04
SPEAKER_01: Wow, you know what I'm saying?
35:05
SPEAKER_01: It's different, it's a different type of feeling you get from that, man.
35:08
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, like you actually did something, yeah, yeah.
35:11
SPEAKER_02: Like you're doing something for them that that they can't actually do back, like that you can't do that.
35:16
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'm not there's nothing in return they can do for me.
35:18
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know what I'm saying?
35:19
SPEAKER_01: Like, I wouldn't like oh, you get people in there too.
35:22
SPEAKER_01: Like, hey, can I give you a tip?
35:23
SPEAKER_01: No, like no, you can't.
35:25
SPEAKER_01: No, you can't, bro.
35:26
SPEAKER_01: Well, thank you.
35:27
SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
35:28
SPEAKER_01: A thank you or they can make different, bro.
35:31
SPEAKER_02: So, like you give it to you give them a haircut, but they don't have money, like so.
35:34
SPEAKER_02: Your exchange in that in that instance would be them giving you money, but they can't because they don't they don't have money, you know what I mean?
35:41
SPEAKER_02: So that that's awesome.
35:42
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I find that awesome.
35:43
SPEAKER_02: Uh, that you can like uh give to somebody and and that that what you brought up, like not thinking about yourself for that few minute hours or whatever that you're doing, you're actually thinking about somebody else.
35:54
SPEAKER_01: And it and it pays like yo, I I could sit here and try to finesse the story about it, but like I can only tell you from personal experience, bro.
36:04
SPEAKER_01: When you give back, that shit comes back.
36:07
SPEAKER_01: It might not come like you know, when you bless somebody, that blessing, like even I bless all the time, you know what I'm saying?
36:14
SPEAKER_01: I look out, people that know me know what I do.
36:16
SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
36:16
SPEAKER_01: Like I'm not a person that's all you know cameras, you know, hey, here do this for you, this I don't do that, you know what I'm saying?
36:23
SPEAKER_01: So when when the more you give, you're gonna get them blessings back, and sometimes them blessings might not come to you, but they'll come to people around you, and having blessed people around you is a blessing.
36:33
SPEAKER_02: Wow, okay.
36:33
SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
36:34
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
36:36
SPEAKER_02: I like that because I I like that there's like a I don't know where it is in the Bible, but like it says like everything that you touch it it'll prosper or something like that.
36:46
SPEAKER_02: Uh basically meaning like if you're if your life is evolving around like God basically, you put it in first or whatever, then everything uh will will come into place.
36:58
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, oh yeah, his time in the yeah we just gotta keep doing our work.
37:01
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, we gotta keep keep grinding, keep doing our thing, and yeah, people I I see that too, because like I'll I'll be like I'll be doing stuff for people or something, and just out of out of the norm because like w just like in the workplace, bro, people are rude, they're mean to you, and then just doing something that's nice for them, or even like giving like an enemy or somebody that doesn't like you, giving them a taco or something like that.
37:25
SPEAKER_02: That makes a difference.
37:26
SPEAKER_02: Yeah that that's part of you doing what you know that the right thing, and then like you're saying, in return, it's gonna it's gonna come back.
37:34
SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah, it's gonna come back to you every time.
37:36
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, every time, yeah, it's awesome, man.
37:38
SPEAKER_01: There's there, I mean, there's times, you know, it's just business, bro.
37:41
SPEAKER_01: Business is no business is steady, you know what I'm saying?
37:44
SPEAKER_01: It's a it's a roller coaster, bro.
37:45
SPEAKER_01: You gotta ride them waves, even when you're down, you gotta just keep on going and remain in faith.
37:49
SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
37:50
SPEAKER_01: Everything happens for a reason.
37:51
SPEAKER_01: Now, and I stand on that one, you know what I'm saying?
37:53
SPEAKER_01: Right on.
37:53
SPEAKER_01: I was put in certain places and in in my life, some bad places, yeah, but even in even in the worst places in my life in jail, I've met some of the realest dudes that I still talk to right now, that still that that were like speaking light into me.
38:06
SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
38:07
SPEAKER_01: Because I was young, you know, I was young and I was you know, I was hard-headed, you know.
38:10
SPEAKER_01: But they were like, yo, bro, like chill out, bro.
38:12
SPEAKER_01: Like, hey, no, stop telling people that shit, you know, telling people like you know, I'm gonna go back out and get it down.
38:18
SPEAKER_01: Nah, nah, don't don't talk like that.
38:20
SPEAKER_01: Don't speak, don't speak that into your existence, you know what I'm saying?
38:22
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
38:23
SPEAKER_01: And you know, they I used to tell people all the time, yeah, I'm coming back.
38:26
SPEAKER_01: I know it.
38:26
SPEAKER_02: Wow.
38:27
SPEAKER_01: Cause I'm not naive, bro.
38:28
SPEAKER_01: Like, like, bro, you can't run a red light 10 times and not expect to get hit.
38:33
SPEAKER_02: Wow, dude.
38:34
SPEAKER_01: So you so you thought you were gonna go back?
38:36
SPEAKER_01: No, I knew I was, bro.
38:38
SPEAKER_01: You knew you were I knew, I knew I I felt it, bro.
38:40
SPEAKER_01: Like, I as crazy as it sounds, bro.
38:42
SPEAKER_01: I used to dream of being in prison when I was a kid.
38:44
SPEAKER_03: Are you serious?
38:45
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I swear to God, bro.
38:46
SPEAKER_01: I used to dream, I have dreams, I used to have dreams, bro.
38:48
SPEAKER_01: Like that I'd be in prison and stuff like that, and then it shit was a reality, bro.
38:52
SPEAKER_01: But you know, when you chase that life, that life will catch you.
38:55
SPEAKER_01: I got you.
38:55
SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah.
38:55
SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
38:56
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna you you're gonna chase that fast life that is it's it's a yeah.
39:00
SPEAKER_01: The finish line, you know what I'm saying?
39:02
SPEAKER_01: It's gonna come a lot faster than you think, and when you least expect it, you know, at the best times, man.
39:07
SPEAKER_01: Like, eh.
39:08
SPEAKER_02: Did anybody you know like uh like die or pass away?
39:11
SPEAKER_02: Like, like in that in that in that game, I guess you could say.
39:16
SPEAKER_01: Uh yeah, you know, had more more ODs to be honest with you.
39:20
SPEAKER_01: A lot of my homeboys, like a lot of a lot of my people, man, a lot of people that I know, associate with and stuff like that, have gone down that road, you know.
39:27
SPEAKER_01: A lot of people, man.
39:28
SPEAKER_01: A lot of people.
39:29
SPEAKER_02: Oh man.
39:30
SPEAKER_01: Jugs are real big in Milwaukee, bro.
39:32
SPEAKER_01: Real big, real, real big.
39:33
SPEAKER_01: You know, so it's it comes with the territory, though.
39:36
SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
39:37
SPEAKER_01: It's like, hey, like I said, you run that red light ten times, you're gonna get hit once.
39:42
SPEAKER_02: And yeah, I talking to somebody along the lines of that uh they were saying, like, you can find it in Milwaukee or wherever.
39:48
SPEAKER_01: You can find it anywhere.
39:49
SPEAKER_01: Anywhere, bro.
39:50
SPEAKER_02: Anywhere, like you can, I'm pretty sure you can find it here somewhere.
39:53
SPEAKER_01: Anywhere, anywhere, you see what I'm saying?
39:55
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, it's that's that's that's crazy to me how.
39:58
SPEAKER_01: But at the same token, like that's how I look at it now.
40:00
SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
40:01
SPEAKER_01: Like, damn, you can find drugs anywhere.
40:03
SPEAKER_01: But my mindset back then was like I could sell drugs anywhere.
40:06
SPEAKER_02: Uh huh.
40:06
SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
40:08
SPEAKER_01: So I would I used to go to man, they used to put me in all these drug and alcohol classes and stuff like that.
40:12
SPEAKER_01: And they used to be like, you know, people talking about all their addictions, and they come to me, you know, you gotta speak, you know what I'm saying?
40:18
SPEAKER_01: I'm just like, yo, I'm not addicted to drugs, I'm addicted to selling.
40:23
SPEAKER_01: I want money, I'm addicted to selling.
40:25
SPEAKER_01: I'm not, I promise I'm not addicted.
40:27
SPEAKER_01: I ain't never done none of this shit.
40:29
SPEAKER_01: They done that's wild, bro.
40:33
SPEAKER_02: Were your parents would your parents hustlers?
40:36
SPEAKER_02: Like, no, not hustlers, but like did were they hustling to make money, you know.
40:40
SPEAKER_01: My mom, bro, she's the biggest hustler I know.
40:42
SPEAKER_01: So you learned it from her, or uh no, but I got my grind from my mom.
40:45
SPEAKER_01: I always tell people that, man.
40:47
SPEAKER_01: Growing up, my mom, my mom supported us and took care of us on her own.
40:50
SPEAKER_01: She was working 60, 70 hours a week.
40:52
SPEAKER_01: My mom got it in, boy.
40:54
SPEAKER_01: I can't, you know, you know how you hear that saying, like, you got it out of the mud, you know what I'm saying?
40:58
SPEAKER_01: I can never say that because my mom got us out the mud.
41:00
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
41:01
SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
41:02
SPEAKER_01: We just she just put me on concrete for me to get it through.
41:04
SPEAKER_02: Oh, so you're so your pops wasn't around.
41:06
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, my pops, I used to uh fuck my pops on the weekends, you know what I'm saying?
41:10
SPEAKER_01: I used to be rocking pops on the weekends and stuff like that.
41:12
SPEAKER_01: My mom pops was always there, though.
41:13
SPEAKER_01: Always there.
41:14
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
41:14
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he was always there.
41:15
SPEAKER_02: Wow.
41:16
SPEAKER_01: And my pops used to work uh at a community center.
41:20
SPEAKER_01: And he used to work for a school that they had there, and then he he was a mentor there at the school, started out being security.
41:25
SPEAKER_01: He was a mentor, and then he went on, they had they opened up a drug rehab place, and he was a program director there.
41:31
SPEAKER_01: No, wow, yeah, he was programming people over there.
41:34
SPEAKER_01: So he worked there for like 20-something years.
41:36
SPEAKER_01: But my mom, uh, back in Wisconsin, we only have one electricity company, and my mom worked at that electricity company for like 40-something years.
41:43
SPEAKER_01: Wow, yeah, yeah.
41:45
SPEAKER_01: Since she was 19, it was her first.
41:50
SPEAKER_01: You serious?
41:51
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
41:52
SPEAKER_02: So did she get a pretty good retirement coming out of there?
41:54
SPEAKER_02: Or yeah, yeah, put it in though.
41:55
SPEAKER_02: She got them years.
41:57
SPEAKER_02: Of course, yes.
41:58
SPEAKER_01: She uh she actually retired being a vice president secretary.
42:01
SPEAKER_02: Wow.
42:02
SPEAKER_01: So yeah, she was in that position for a while.
42:04
SPEAKER_02: Oh man, dude.
42:05
SPEAKER_01: So we I literally I could say, like, I got to see my mom like literally go from the bottom and work her way all the way up.
42:12
SPEAKER_01: My mom, I remember my mom used to work in a cubicle, you know what I'm saying?
42:16
SPEAKER_01: Like one of them movies you see where it's just a bunch of cubicles and people in there going away at and then my mom had her own office the size of a small apartment building.
42:24
SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
42:25
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, downtown.
42:26
SPEAKER_01: It was live, man.
42:27
SPEAKER_01: It was dope.
42:28
SPEAKER_01: It's dope to look back and to think about it.
42:30
SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
42:30
SPEAKER_01: Like, though, my mom came so far, like, yo, she ain't never gave up.
42:34
SPEAKER_01: And I'm gonna tell you, man, I put my mom through hell.
42:36
SPEAKER_01: We all did, man.
42:37
SPEAKER_01: We all did, you know what I mean?
42:38
SPEAKER_01: Well, but I put my mom through hell, but I'll tell you, man, from the first from the first case to the to release date, my mom was there.
42:44
SPEAKER_01: She was there.
42:44
SPEAKER_01: Oh man, every day.
42:46
SPEAKER_01: Every day.
42:46
SPEAKER_01: When I was in the feds, you only get uh 300 minutes a month to talk on the phone.
42:50
SPEAKER_01: And so I used to make it my point to break that down.
42:53
SPEAKER_01: I used to talk to my mom for 10 minutes a day.
42:55
SPEAKER_02: Wow, dude.
42:56
SPEAKER_01: That was my escapegoat, though.
42:57
SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
42:58
SPEAKER_01: That was like, man, it was like I needed that, you know what I mean?
43:01
SPEAKER_01: And sometimes my mom would be like, yo, I want to come see you, and I'll be like, nah, I don't want you to come right now.
43:04
SPEAKER_01: Oh man.
43:05
SPEAKER_01: I don't I don't I don't I don't want visits right now because like you know, when you go on visits, you take your mind out of what you're in, you know what I'm saying?
43:11
SPEAKER_01: And and sometimes it fucks you up for a couple days, you know what I'm saying, to get back out of that depression and shit like that.
43:16
SPEAKER_01: So I was cool with my mom only coming a couple months, and when she did though, it was it was it was live though.
43:21
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I needed that.
43:22
SPEAKER_01: Ain't nothing like getting your mom's hugs, you know what I'm saying?
43:24
SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, definitely, man.
43:25
SPEAKER_01: Feeling that embrace, you know.
43:27
SPEAKER_01: She did it though, man.
43:28
SPEAKER_01: She rolled with me the whole way.
43:29
SPEAKER_01: That's amazing.
43:30
SPEAKER_01: It's crazy, man.
43:30
SPEAKER_01: It's crazy.
43:31
SPEAKER_01: This the one person like and my sister, my sister, my dad, everybody, but my mom, dog, like wow, like, nope, you're gonna do it, Johnny.
43:39
SPEAKER_01: Anything you do, look at what you do.
43:40
SPEAKER_01: I know what you do.
43:41
SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
43:42
SPEAKER_01: Whatever you've done, you've you put your mind to and you do it.
43:44
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, like anything from the street to business.
43:46
SPEAKER_01: Like, you know, people thought I was crazy when I started messing with these Frenchies, you know what I mean?
43:51
SPEAKER_01: You're crazy spending all that money on them.
43:53
SPEAKER_01: Well shit.
43:54
SPEAKER_01: It paid off.
43:55
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
43:55
SPEAKER_01: Try you gotta try it out too.
43:57
SPEAKER_01: Like some people are scared to try, they're scared to fail.
44:00
SPEAKER_01: Go every you know what I'm saying?
44:01
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, a lot of people will try a few things, but they're afraid to fail, though.
44:05
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, most of the time people try things when they know it's a for sure, you know what I'm saying?
44:08
SPEAKER_01: Oh, that makes sense.
44:09
SPEAKER_01: So you know, it's it's it's that it's that that pride of failing, you know what I'm saying?
44:13
SPEAKER_01: And I man, I don't fail so many times in my life, I don't care anymore.
44:16
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and then try it, yeah.
44:18
SPEAKER_02: I got you like in our culture, too.
44:20
SPEAKER_02: Like we'll just sit back and check out.
44:22
SPEAKER_02: See, look at that guy, look what's gonna happen.
44:24
SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
44:25
SPEAKER_02: That's not me, it's them, you know what I mean?
44:27
SPEAKER_02: It's you gotta try, bro.
44:28
SPEAKER_02: You got to you have to be wanna.
44:30
SPEAKER_02: We're talking about entrepreneur entrepreneurship earlier.
44:32
SPEAKER_02: You gotta learn how to fail.
44:34
SPEAKER_01: Oh, you have to know what I mean.
44:35
SPEAKER_02: You yeah, right, you gotta learn how to fail.
44:37
SPEAKER_02: Like, I mean, look at you.
44:38
SPEAKER_02: Like, have has there ever been like stuff that you tried and you failed, and you're like, all right, I'm gonna try something else?
44:44
SPEAKER_01: Selling drugs.
44:45
SPEAKER_01: I failed.
44:46
SPEAKER_01: If it was good, I'd be somewhere else, you know what I'm saying?
44:49
SPEAKER_01: Right, you know, but yeah, I failed at that.
44:51
SPEAKER_01: I failed at a couple jobs, you know what I'm saying?
44:53
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but yeah, for the most part, though, it's you know, it's a it's a roller coaster, man.
44:57
SPEAKER_01: It's a life roller coaster, and I I strongly believe in everything happens for a reason.
45:01
SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
45:02
SPEAKER_01: So whether I lost a job or that I quit a job or got fired, or hey, it wasn't meant for me.
45:06
SPEAKER_01: You know, another door will open up, hey, yeah, or I'm gonna knock on one.
45:09
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know what I'm saying?
45:10
SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna wait for one to open.
45:11
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna knock on one.
45:12
SPEAKER_02: Oh, come on, bro.
45:13
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you gotta make it happen.
45:14
SPEAKER_02: Poppy game Chachi, appreciate you joining.
45:16
SPEAKER_02: She said 100.
45:17
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, man, keep that 100.
45:19
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I I like I like the fact that you were talking about your parents, bro.
45:22
SPEAKER_02: Like, okay, we gave them hell too, you know what I mean?
45:25
SPEAKER_02: Well, something that you learned from your dad or your mom, they they would tell you, and you're like, nah, you don't know what you're talking about, but you think about it you're now and you're like, they were right.
45:34
SPEAKER_01: You know, a lot of things, and man, if my mom's watching this, man.
45:38
SPEAKER_01: Now a lot of things she said, man, a lot of things, you know.
45:42
SPEAKER_01: You look back and you think about some of the things, like, man, Johnny, you know, you gotta relax.
45:46
SPEAKER_01: You know, that was my mom saying all the time, Johnny, relax, dude, relax, dog, like relax.
45:51
SPEAKER_01: And now I catch myself being older, and when them heated times come up, he's like, hey, relax, dog, relax, chill out, bro.
45:57
SPEAKER_01: Chill out, dog, it's not that serious, man.
45:59
SPEAKER_01: Just relax, you know.
46:01
SPEAKER_01: My dad, now my dad is another story, man.
46:03
SPEAKER_01: My dad is a wild one, boy.
46:05
SPEAKER_01: My dad's wild, bro.
46:06
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, my dad's a turn up, so he gives some crazy advice, but yeah.
46:10
SPEAKER_01: Right on, bro.
46:11
SPEAKER_01: He gives the crazy advice, yeah.
46:13
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but yeah, my pop's always been there too, man.
46:15
SPEAKER_01: He's always been supportive of me, he's always always been my rider for real.
46:20
SPEAKER_01: Like, even when I was doing things I wasn't supposed to do, he'll tell me, you know what I'm saying?
46:23
SPEAKER_01: Like, hey, be careful, you know what I'm saying?
46:25
SPEAKER_01: Like, I know what you're doing, but be careful doing it.
46:27
SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
46:28
SPEAKER_01: And you need me, I'm here.
46:29
SPEAKER_01: Like, whatever it is, whatever it is.
46:31
SPEAKER_02: Uh so he'll let so so he's like he'll let you, like he knows what you're doing, but he'll let you figure it out.
46:36
SPEAKER_01: As soon as I turn 18, that man told me, do whatever you want to do, but do it.
46:41
SPEAKER_01: Do whatever you're gonna do.
46:42
SPEAKER_01: You want to work, work hard, do it.
46:44
SPEAKER_01: You wanna hustle, yes.
46:45
SPEAKER_01: Hey, you're gonna have to do it.
46:48
SPEAKER_01: Like, you take what comes with it, you know what I'm saying?
46:51
SPEAKER_01: Because a lot of shit comes with it.
46:52
SPEAKER_01: You know, it's not sweet no more.
46:53
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, the game's not sweet.
46:56
SPEAKER_01: That's just over with.
46:57
SPEAKER_02: It's like you were you were talking about like how uh like in schools, uh, like like bullying, safe space, and all that stuff.
47:03
SPEAKER_02: Like, once people get out of kids get out of school, they got a whole world waiting for them, bro.
47:08
SPEAKER_01: Man, man, and these kids today, boy, it's trouble.
47:11
SPEAKER_01: It's hard.
47:12
SPEAKER_01: I think it's harder nowadays.
47:13
SPEAKER_01: No lie on kids nowadays, man.
47:15
SPEAKER_01: It's hard, bro.
47:16
SPEAKER_01: You gotta think we didn't come up with all the stuff that we've come giving our kids, you know what I'm saying?
47:20
SPEAKER_01: Right from even from clothes to whatever, you know what I'm saying?
47:24
SPEAKER_01: They didn't have we didn't have that shit, man.
47:25
SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
47:26
SPEAKER_01: Designer shit like that.
47:27
SPEAKER_01: We didn't have that shit.
47:28
SPEAKER_01: So now these kids they get they get everything handed to them throughout school, and then when it's when game's over, when high school's over, when the real world comes in, and no one ain't handing them shit.
47:39
SPEAKER_01: And then now they gotta figure out what they're gonna do.
47:41
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, some people decide to go different ways, you know what I'm saying?
47:45
SPEAKER_01: And you know, there's a lot of options out there for you to go nowadays, you know.
47:50
SPEAKER_02: And it's like what do you lean on?
47:51
SPEAKER_02: Well, what are you really gonna believe in or lean on what did you learn now?
47:55
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, exactly.
47:56
SPEAKER_01: I'm like I'm like, hey, I don't knock school, bro.
47:58
SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
47:59
SPEAKER_01: I I think, but for your future, I think the best thing that happens in school is you're networking.
48:06
SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
48:07
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, like you gotta network with people in school, and yeah, you pay attention to what you're doing and try to be great at it, you know what I'm saying?
48:13
SPEAKER_01: But in the long run, like, man, you know, you're from corpus here.
48:17
SPEAKER_01: Hey, if you don't know somebody to get in somewhere, you're gonna be it's gonna be some trouble, you know what I'm saying?
48:23
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, for sure.
48:24
SPEAKER_01: It's all about who you know, who you network in, and and that revolves around what kind of person you are.
48:28
SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
48:29
SPEAKER_01: If you're a good person, you know, I'm not saying you gotta be the best, happiest person in the world, give everybody a hug when you see them.
48:33
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but hey, it takes nothing to say what's up to people, you know.
48:36
SPEAKER_01: Hey, how you doing?
48:37
SPEAKER_01: Woo, woo, whatever, you know.
48:38
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, hey, what are you doing?
48:39
SPEAKER_01: You know, I still go out once in a while.
48:41
SPEAKER_01: I don't go out much, but when I do go out, I'm always chopping it up with people.
48:44
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'm always cool, I'm cool.
48:45
SPEAKER_01: Some people think I'm not just because what I look like or whatever, yeah.
48:48
SPEAKER_01: Um stereotype, yeah.
48:50
SPEAKER_01: I'll be the first one to clown with you and laugh with you and stuff like that.
48:52
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, put on some RB, I'm gonna start singing and dancing and shit.
48:56
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
48:57
SPEAKER_02: One of my coworkers is like, You're on a podcast, right?
48:59
SPEAKER_02: He's like, Yeah, you had that one guy with all the tattoos on there.
49:02
SPEAKER_02: I was like, Yeah, and whatever.
49:03
SPEAKER_02: You know, he's like, Yeah, no, that's cool, dude.
49:06
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so yeah, it definitely is stereotype, man.
49:08
SPEAKER_00: Nah, yeah, 100%.
49:10
SPEAKER_02: Like, and like I've got cousins that are that have tattoos and stuff too.
49:13
SPEAKER_02: So I guess growing up around, not really growing up with them, but but having them as primos and seeing them at you know uh family parties or whatever, and talking to them, knowing like they're oh, they look like this, but they're not like this, you know what I mean?
49:27
SPEAKER_02: Or they well, they might be, you know what I mean?
49:29
SPEAKER_02: You never know, you gotta figure it out.
49:30
SPEAKER_02: Shaking the dice.
49:31
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, exactly.
49:32
SPEAKER_02: Bro, you gotta you gotta try it.
49:34
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
49:34
SPEAKER_02: Because like a lot of us too, like we learn to not communicate like growing up.
49:39
SPEAKER_02: We don't we don't want to network.
49:41
SPEAKER_02: Stay in your own lane.
49:41
SPEAKER_02: We stay in our own lane, we don't want to network because because you got because in all honesty, you make yourself vulnerable to figure out who who's the person to trust, who's the person not to trust.
49:52
SPEAKER_02: You have to open yourself up to to talk to them to figure it out.
49:55
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and it sucks, dude, because social media, they're the snakes are watching, bro.
50:01
SPEAKER_02: They're looking, they're lurking.
50:02
SPEAKER_02: I think social media is so fake, though, bro.
50:04
SPEAKER_02: That's what I'm saying.
50:05
SPEAKER_01: You know what I tell everybody?
50:06
SPEAKER_01: You you could be anybody you post to be.
50:09
SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
50:10
SPEAKER_01: You could be the biggest baller in the world on Facebook, on Instagram, or whatever.
50:13
SPEAKER_01: It's on who you these, you know, yeah, women, girls, you know, whatever.
50:17
SPEAKER_01: You know, they can be whatever they want to be, guys, they can do whatever they want to be.
50:21
SPEAKER_01: Until you meet somebody in person, you really see how they're moving.
50:24
SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
50:25
SPEAKER_01: It's different, it's different, man.
50:26
SPEAKER_01: It's different.
50:27
SPEAKER_01: And I and I and I have met people like that.
50:29
SPEAKER_01: I'm that I've known on Facebook, and then when I read them, you know what I'm saying?
50:33
SPEAKER_01: They're like, damn, bro, you you know, yeah, it's cool.
50:35
SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
50:36
SPEAKER_01: Like, I didn't think this, that.
50:37
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, yeah, well, you know.
50:38
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, for sure.
50:40
SPEAKER_02: I was I think I was reading something, you gotta use your eyes to see, and you gotta use to hear what they're saying.
50:45
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, is what you're seeing lining up with what they're saying.
50:49
SPEAKER_02: That's how you figure out uh, you know, if that person is who they are, they say that they are you got two years, one month.
50:55
SPEAKER_01: That means you gotta listen twice as much as you talk.
50:57
SPEAKER_02: You gotta listen, you gotta watch, yeah.
50:59
SPEAKER_02: Use your senses to figure it out, man.
51:00
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, dude.
51:01
SPEAKER_02: Well, this has been a good interview podcast, man.
51:04
SPEAKER_02: We're gonna coming up on an hour.
51:05
SPEAKER_02: Uh, thanks for coming on the show.
51:07
SPEAKER_01: Man, thanks for having me, bro.
51:08
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, no, thanks for having me, though.
51:10
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I like talking to people, man.
51:11
SPEAKER_02: I hope somebody learns something out there, they're listening, they're watching, whatever, man.
51:15
SPEAKER_02: So your spot is on Castorus.
51:17
SPEAKER_02: What's the address?
51:18
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, 5230 Costores Suite 15.
51:20
SPEAKER_01: Sweet 15 on point barbershop.
51:22
SPEAKER_02: On point barbershop.
51:23
SPEAKER_02: All right.
51:24
SPEAKER_02: How'd you come up with that name anyway?
51:25
SPEAKER_01: I had a client come up with it, one of my boys.
51:27
SPEAKER_01: Ain't no lie.
51:28
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, when I was gone from when I was gone in Odessa, yeah, he said, Man, I'm over here waiting in this barbershop, and you know, this dude's my appointments 15 minutes ago.
51:37
SPEAKER_01: Like, man, I and I don't know, haircuts ain't even that that good.
51:40
SPEAKER_01: Like, he's like, bro, he's like, you were always on time.
51:43
SPEAKER_01: You're always you at my appointment times this time.
51:46
SPEAKER_01: I'm in the chair.
51:47
SPEAKER_01: You're you're getting me taken care of.
51:48
SPEAKER_01: You're on point every time.
51:49
SPEAKER_01: He said, bro, you should name your barbershop when you come back on point.
51:52
SPEAKER_01: I said, bro, you know what?
51:53
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna name it on point.
51:54
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's it.
51:56
SPEAKER_02: And you want to maintain that standard, right?
51:58
SPEAKER_02: That's what you're trying to do.
51:58
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's good, man.
52:00
SPEAKER_01: Just try to be on point.
52:00
SPEAKER_02: Hell yeah, that's awesome.
52:01
SPEAKER_02: So yeah, it's there on Costores.
52:03
SPEAKER_02: Uh do so, how how do we find you online?
52:06
SPEAKER_02: Do you are you mostly on Facebook?
52:07
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'm mostly on Facebook.
52:08
SPEAKER_01: Instagram, I'm on Instagram, but I'm not really heavy on Instagram like that.
52:12
SPEAKER_01: But I got Instagram, Facebook, I'm point, I'm point uh kennels 361, um Johnny Cutz361, uh, or Johnny Martinez on Facebook.
52:23
SPEAKER_02: And you're and you use Booksy for people to to to book, okay.
52:26
SPEAKER_01: Yes, sir.
52:27
SPEAKER_01: What's the tag on that?
52:28
SPEAKER_01: It's uh Johnny Cutz Martinez at Booksky.
52:31
SPEAKER_02: Okay, um, yeah.
52:32
SPEAKER_02: Johnny Johnny Cut Martinez at Booksy.
52:35
SPEAKER_02: All right, cool, man.
52:36
SPEAKER_02: You guys know where to find him?
52:37
SPEAKER_02: He's either on Costores or you can book an appointment.
52:39
SPEAKER_02: Appreciate you guys.
52:40
SPEAKER_02: Stay tuned for the next uh podcast.
52:42
SPEAKER_02: Uh, I think we got Poppy Game Chachi, I'm not sure, but she's coming on next, uh next few ones or whatever.
52:47
SPEAKER_02: Uh, can't remember.
52:48
SPEAKER_02: Akai Servin, some other people coming on the podcast.
52:52
SPEAKER_02: Thank you for joining.
52:52
SPEAKER_02: Thanks for the producer back there, Chris.
52:54
SPEAKER_02: Uh produce live stream studios.
52:57
SPEAKER_02: Stay tuned for the next few podcasts.
52:58
SPEAKER_02: Have a good one, y'all.
52:59
SPEAKER_02: Bye.