Latest / Black Fridays: Business Growth for Entrepreneurs, Creators & Professionals / Reinventing Success: Herman Moore’s Journey Beyond Sports - Ep. 138 w/ Herman Moore

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Reinventing Success: Herman Moore’s Journey Beyond Sports - Ep. 138 w/ Herman Moore · Black Fridays: Business Growth for Entrepreneurs, Creators & Professionals

0:00
[SPEAKER_01]: So what I was taught earlier was that entrepreneurship is a way of surviving, is a way to always be to provide for yourself.
0:07
[SPEAKER_01]: I may not be able to go on here and get a job, but cannot take care of myself.
0:10
[SPEAKER_01]: Can I use my talents and my skills and then take those and transform those into something that somebody wants and then create something that I'm gonna stay after that's gonna now make it so I have a tool, which is a survival tool of life.
0:23
[SPEAKER_01]: And entrepreneurship is at the root of that, crawl of us.
0:46
[SPEAKER_00]: This episode is bought to you by our friends at Bamboo.
0:50
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, I am sitting in the podcast room at the Bamboo Detroit location right now, which is where you have seen a ton of the Black Friday's podcast episodes.
0:58
[SPEAKER_00]: And the reason that it is is because Bamboo has been Black Friday's creative hub for the last couple of years.
1:04
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1:04
[SPEAKER_00]: It's much more than our creative HQ.
1:07
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1:11
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, rather you need a private suite that's customized to your like-ins, so that you can effectively get worked done, or if you need a space to be able to host a meeting or a conference call, bamboo has flexible, creative spaces, and a supportive community to match.
1:25
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1:29
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1:36
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1:38
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1:42
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's time for you.
1:43
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1:44
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1:44
[SPEAKER_00]: You to join the Bamboo community.
1:46
[SPEAKER_00]: That's it.
1:47
[SPEAKER_00]: Time to get into the show.
1:49
[SPEAKER_00]: What up dope, like Friday's family, welcome back to another installment of the Black Friday's podcast.
1:53
[SPEAKER_00]: Before we get into today's episode, I need you to go hit that like button, subscribe, comment, and then also share some videos with your family friends and love ones so that we can keep this thing going.
2:02
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, now that we got that business out of the way, today we have a legend in the building.
2:07
[SPEAKER_00]: He is a serial entrepreneur, a speaker, a philanthropist, and, by the way, just so happens to be one of the all-time great receivers who play in the NFL.
2:21
[SPEAKER_00]: And lion fans, you should know exactly who this person is.
2:24
[SPEAKER_00]: I would like for you all to do me a favor and help welcome my guests for today.
2:29
[SPEAKER_00]: NFL and Detroit Lions legend and business man.
2:33
[SPEAKER_00]: Mr. Humbermore, how you doing today, my brother.
2:35
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm good.
2:35
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for having me.
2:37
[SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely.
2:38
[SPEAKER_00]: We appreciate it.
2:40
[SPEAKER_00]: And I got to start here in terms of your journey because I saw you
2:44
[SPEAKER_00]: make a post or you are at an event.
2:47
[SPEAKER_00]: You talked about how you had sort of an orthodox journey into football, which is the avenue that allowed us to be introduced to Herman Moore, the person.
2:56
[SPEAKER_00]: And I just want to know what was that like for you because you had mentioned that you were actually the punter of your team.
3:02
[SPEAKER_00]: You didn't have any recruitment letters or anything like that.
3:05
[SPEAKER_00]: So how did that journey start for you?
3:08
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, I grew up in the housing projects in a place called Danville, Virginia.
3:13
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think most people realize now since I've been a Michiganer that I wasn't born here, but I stayed here.
3:20
[SPEAKER_01]: And I did that because this is really where my adulthood has taken place.
3:25
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, I always tell people I was born in Virginia, but I was raised in Michigan.
3:29
[SPEAKER_01]: But that journey in sports, it was always something to do.
3:33
[SPEAKER_01]: You're out in the inner city or you're in just kind of the urban area.
3:38
[SPEAKER_01]: Sports is a big part of what we do.
3:40
[SPEAKER_01]: And for me, it was a release.
3:43
[SPEAKER_01]: It was a way to escape.
3:45
[SPEAKER_01]: somewhat, you know, the environment we were in.
3:47
[SPEAKER_01]: So just by doing that, I just didn't care what position.
3:50
[SPEAKER_01]: I started out my first time playing him and it was, uh, number sixty.
3:55
[SPEAKER_01]: I was actually probably the smallest guy on the team and they gave me a lineman's number.
3:59
[SPEAKER_01]: So I already knew I wasn't going to play.
4:01
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, at that point at the most part.
4:03
[SPEAKER_01]: So I just learned through through the years just to accept being a part of that team, chemistry, that team environment.
4:10
[SPEAKER_01]: And while I wasn't a superstar, it didn't matter.
4:12
[SPEAKER_01]: The lessons I was learning along the way and the people that I had an opportunity to be around that mentored me was worth the journey.
4:19
[SPEAKER_00]: And what turned it up for you?
4:20
[SPEAKER_00]: When did you start to get good or recognize, like, hey, I could actually have a future in just paying versus, you know, just trying to have avenue to stay out of trouble.
4:28
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, it really started to take root.
4:31
[SPEAKER_01]: I started to see my athleticism starting to develop and probably the tenth grade, but I gravitated more towards basketball.
4:37
[SPEAKER_01]: That was my sport.
4:38
[SPEAKER_01]: And then I got into track and feel football was still something I was pretty decent at, but I really hadn't quite hit my stride.
4:45
[SPEAKER_01]: And luckily, you know, you talked earlier about
4:48
[SPEAKER_01]: the journey itself.
4:50
[SPEAKER_01]: And it was because there just happened to be a scout in the stadium that was for another team, another high school who happened to be a scout for the University of Virginia.
5:00
[SPEAKER_01]: That's how I got my first scholarship offer.
5:02
[SPEAKER_01]: And then after that, a lot of other teams in the ACC, it's a mother's that thought maybe they overlook me.
5:09
[SPEAKER_01]: And they started to provide me letters of, you know, visits and stuff like that to come and see their schools.
5:15
[SPEAKER_01]: But ultimately, I settled on the University of Virginia and it wasn't really until really my, probably my sophomore, my junior year after the starting receiver got injured.
5:25
[SPEAKER_01]: I got an opportunity going against Penn State and did really well.
5:29
[SPEAKER_01]: And from then on, I became a starter.
5:32
[SPEAKER_01]: everything kind of fell in place, made, started to really well in school, athletically and as an athlete, I started to really excel in tracking field and also in football and after that, it started to become a reality, probably I'd say in nineteen eighty nine and then in nineteen ninety going into my right shirt junior year.
5:55
[SPEAKER_01]: I started to show up on a lot of the charts in terms of being a prospect for the NFL's became a receiver that was being looked at and then once I let the nation I knew.
6:06
[SPEAKER_01]: If you're going to be taken over to see you, who better to take them than the number one guy coming out?
6:09
[SPEAKER_01]: So that's when it became a reality in nineteen ninety one when I ultimately got drafted.
6:15
[SPEAKER_01]: That's spring by the Detroit Lions.
6:17
[SPEAKER_00]: And when you did get drafted, well first, taking me through what was that draft day like for you when you got that call and they said, we want you because you first round or tip pick overall like what was that experience like for you.
6:28
[SPEAKER_00]: That was good.
6:28
[SPEAKER_01]: It was nice because at that time, the largest amount of money I'd ever seen was five hundred dollars.
6:34
[SPEAKER_01]: That was a bill for it.
6:36
[SPEAKER_01]: When I was at the University of Virginia, so I knew my life had changed.
6:39
[SPEAKER_01]: I knew they wouldn't be paying me more than five hundred bucks.
6:42
[SPEAKER_01]: And I was nothing better instead of being in New York.
6:45
[SPEAKER_01]: I was sitting at home with my mother, my sister, my family.
6:50
[SPEAKER_01]: And ultimately,
6:53
[SPEAKER_01]: sharing that moment with them and the people that kind of saw me and helped me go through my journey is what made it special because I was around the love.
7:02
[SPEAKER_01]: And I have to say when that happened, I didn't know what to expect and it granted.
7:09
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not the money they paid today.
7:11
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, I think my first contract was about six or seven hundred thousand dollars a year as a first round pick to pick overall.
7:18
[SPEAKER_01]: But ultimately, I knew it was life changing money for me at that time.
7:22
[SPEAKER_01]: It doesn't mean that that's what you're going to need to suffice for the rest of your life.
7:27
[SPEAKER_01]: But it was enough to change the trajectory of where our family currently was at and also give us hope for, you know, way in which we build legacy.
7:37
[SPEAKER_00]: And at that moment in time, early in your career, let's say that first season, when you got drafted and it was time to go to work in the NFL, did you feel like I made it like I arrived or did you feel like the work is just now beginning.
7:50
[SPEAKER_01]: But I first got into the NFL and I'll be honest, I was nervous.
7:55
[SPEAKER_01]: because I was early, twenty, twenties, and you're amongst people been in the league for five years, ten years, even longer.
8:04
[SPEAKER_01]: And these were adults.
8:06
[SPEAKER_01]: These were grown folks.
8:08
[SPEAKER_01]: And they were doing this as a livelihood.
8:10
[SPEAKER_01]: And I was there to take someone's job.
8:12
[SPEAKER_01]: Because they don't increase the spaces on the roster.
8:15
[SPEAKER_01]: That means you, you, you subtract people because you're adding people.
8:19
[SPEAKER_01]: And so, you know, when I first got in, it was
8:23
[SPEAKER_01]: It was a little bit eye-opening piece for me because I was away from really my support system.
8:30
[SPEAKER_01]: I was in an area that was unfamiliar and I was here alone.
8:33
[SPEAKER_01]: I didn't bring my family, no one else was here with me.
8:37
[SPEAKER_01]: So just getting acclimated to that was tough, but I had the foundational pieces that were important.
8:44
[SPEAKER_01]: to allow me to have the patients, but also the persistence to see it through, because there came with struggles.
8:50
[SPEAKER_01]: Anyone who understands they've seen my career and the documented time line of my career will understand that things then get off rosy for me and they didn't accelerate.
9:00
[SPEAKER_01]: I had to go in and really grow up very fast.
9:04
[SPEAKER_00]: So I got only one more football question for you.
9:07
[SPEAKER_00]: And then we go to interview, we'll take a different direction.
9:09
[SPEAKER_00]: But before we get into that, I got introduced my favorite part of Black Friday, which is freestyle Friday.
9:20
[SPEAKER_00]: So Herman, I know you, you had your man and many talents.
9:23
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm gonna need you to give us some bars, you got the freestyle, give us a poem, sing, whatever whatever the flavor is.
9:30
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh my goodness, man, you hit me hard.
9:33
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, when I started freestyle, I can't do the freestyle, you know, the clean version of what I do because most of the songs I came up with, man, and it's an energy and it has anger.
9:43
[SPEAKER_01]: But you know, as always this one,
9:47
[SPEAKER_01]: part that I throw people with is in college.
9:51
[SPEAKER_01]: One of the things I had to do was quote the Raven by Edgar Allen Paul.
9:56
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
9:57
[SPEAKER_01]: And that throws people.
9:58
[SPEAKER_01]: Once upon a midnight jury, while I pondered, we can worry over a mini quaint and cure his volume of forgotten lore while not at nearly napping, suddenly there came a wrapping and something gently tapping tapping at my chamber door.
10:09
[SPEAKER_00]: Ladies and gentlemen, we got Edgar Allen Pope for the first time on the podcast.
10:13
[SPEAKER_00]: Or I mean, sorry.
10:14
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I get a little deep with it, but you know, a little bit of Sam Jackson.
10:19
[SPEAKER_00]: All right.
10:24
[SPEAKER_01]: I already know that the righteous man, the set on all.
10:28
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on now.
10:29
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to stop.
10:31
[SPEAKER_00]: I see the bag is deep.
10:32
[SPEAKER_00]: I appreciate it.
10:33
[SPEAKER_00]: So if you don't mind, I would love for you to still answer our repertoire questions as well.
10:37
[SPEAKER_00]: Sure.
10:37
[SPEAKER_00]: So all right, let's start here.
10:39
[SPEAKER_00]: What is something on your playlist that people with shot be shot to think that you listen to?
10:45
[SPEAKER_01]: Classical.
10:48
[SPEAKER_01]: Keep it simple, keeping the simple classical music, calls me down, puts me in a meditative state, and it's just instrumental.
10:55
[SPEAKER_01]: No, I don't need any lyrics, I don't need any words, I just need the actual songs.
11:00
[SPEAKER_00]: With that free game, they for you, that is life in general.
11:03
[SPEAKER_01]: That's free game, that's life anytime I need to just go and work and go into a little bit deeper meditation in terms of the soul and doing a little deeper diet, pulling back my own layers.
11:12
[SPEAKER_01]: That's a good way to do it.
11:13
[SPEAKER_00]: Love that now your resume in football.
11:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
11:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Nobody question the production that you had in type of career that you had collegiate and professionally, but I want to know what's the sport that you were or are currently bad at bad.
11:26
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
11:27
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
11:28
[SPEAKER_01]: You said yourself up that question.
11:33
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if you just tell me the sport.
11:35
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm gonna figure it out.
11:36
[SPEAKER_01]: I just need a minute.
11:37
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
11:38
[SPEAKER_01]: But Zay, if I had to pick something on bad at.
11:40
[SPEAKER_01]: Wow.
11:40
[SPEAKER_00]: or currently bad at, and you know, obviously is one firm improvement.
11:43
[SPEAKER_00]: I support.
11:47
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know, man.
11:47
[SPEAKER_01]: You're like, I do this.
11:48
[SPEAKER_01]: I can't speak.
11:49
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm trying to think it's nothing that I've played and I don't do well in.
11:52
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't, you know, that's, hey, I'm telling y'all.
11:55
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm being honest.
11:57
[SPEAKER_01]: You like that.
11:59
[SPEAKER_00]: That's where I am.
12:00
[SPEAKER_01]: But I guess baseball.
12:01
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, baseball.
12:02
[SPEAKER_00]: I was going to say that was a struggle for me growing up.
12:04
[SPEAKER_00]: Like I dabble in a lot of things, but yeah, baseball was trying to hit that ball.
12:08
[SPEAKER_00]: That's a different, that's a different type of beast.
12:10
[SPEAKER_00]: I'd rather go off than do that.
12:12
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm not even going to put me on a, you're not even going to give me on the plate because if you hit me with the ball, it's going to be problems.
12:17
[SPEAKER_01]: Exactly.
12:18
[SPEAKER_01]: All right.
12:18
[SPEAKER_00]: And I like the likelihood of someone hitting the ball is probably high.
12:22
[SPEAKER_00]: So.
12:22
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
12:24
[SPEAKER_00]: And I would love to get your line of thinking on this.
12:28
[SPEAKER_00]: during the time frame that you play with the lines, who do you think from this current roster would be a great fit for that team if you had to take a single player or if you thought from a position standpoint, who would be a great fit for that team?
12:40
[SPEAKER_00]: Wow, that's got some questions on you.
12:43
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm trying.
12:44
[SPEAKER_01]: But you know what, it's, that's a tough one because I'm gonna be biased and wanna bring in another receiver, but we would stack that receiver.
12:51
[SPEAKER_01]: So I'm gonna say, yeah, you know, trying to remove Johnny or Brett.
12:54
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, or myself and trying to switch someone else out would be tough unless you're going to bring in a garlic album, right?
12:59
[SPEAKER_01]: In a receiver, but then I look at the running back position and we had Barry, but we're going to go to running back.
13:04
[SPEAKER_01]: Then yeah, I might want to take Jamir.
13:06
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
13:06
[SPEAKER_01]: Good.
13:07
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, I'm bringing it right.
13:08
[SPEAKER_00]: That's a nice back fit.
13:09
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
13:09
[SPEAKER_01]: And then we we had Lyman, you know, Michael Swip, I swap out my boy, Longness, or you know, guys, sorry defensively.
13:16
[SPEAKER_01]: We had some dogs, man.
13:18
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
13:18
[SPEAKER_01]: So a lot of people don't know that.
13:19
[SPEAKER_01]: And that we'll get on that another time.
13:22
[SPEAKER_01]: But because I always tell people, man, it's like when we talk about yesterday, or we talk about different areas of the guys.
13:31
[SPEAKER_01]: unless you know the sport and you understand the team is hard to make that conversation happen to where people understand this fluid because they only don't know their error that they're looking at because they're younger or you know the ones who are the OGs.
13:46
[SPEAKER_00]: Got it.
13:47
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, that's fair.
13:48
[SPEAKER_00]: What advice would you give to a younger version of yourself?
13:53
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's say that two year old that came into league if you had five minutes to talk to him, like what game would you give to him?
14:00
[SPEAKER_01]: be authentic, stand up for yourself when you know that you don't agree with something, but always finding a way not to have conflict with it, but you look for the resolution, but you got to stand fast in your foundation.
14:14
[SPEAKER_01]: You got to stand fast in the things that you truly believe in, especially if you know that they're right and they're rooted in principle and good principles and character.
14:23
[SPEAKER_01]: And for me, you get caught into a space
14:27
[SPEAKER_01]: where you're wanting to stay popular and you don't want people to speak ill of your name.
14:32
[SPEAKER_01]: So sometimes you do things that may compromise you as a person and what your character is and what you will and you won't tolerate.
14:39
[SPEAKER_01]: Then as I got older, I just hate that because if that's not part of your fabric and you all of a sudden start doing it later when people have seen you being more agreeable to things that you probably shouldn't have been.
14:50
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it throws people.
14:52
[SPEAKER_01]: And they think that you're, you know, kind of compromising it.
14:55
[SPEAKER_01]: So I've learned now just, you know, what I say is what I say.
14:58
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
14:58
[SPEAKER_01]: And because I know I'm a person coming from a deep rooted place of principles and character.
15:05
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm coming from respect.
15:07
[SPEAKER_01]: So I, I just, I speak my truth.
15:10
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
15:10
[SPEAKER_00]: I love that.
15:11
[SPEAKER_00]: As a person who's still actively going through that and learning that, I definitely appreciate you giving that type of game to your younger self because I can leverage that as well just from a standpoint in terms of just growing as a person and then growing in business as well.
15:26
[SPEAKER_00]: It's very important to be able to stand your ground and know your values and what you stand for.
15:30
[SPEAKER_01]: And because in this day and age, you know, there's so much influence that comes from so many different places and everyone wants to be in.
15:36
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
15:36
[SPEAKER_01]: And no one wants to be the outliers sitting on the outside.
15:39
[SPEAKER_01]: And so there comes a lot of different pressure that perhaps I didn't have to face, but the pressure I faced back then was no matter what someone did to me and said to me, I have to
15:48
[SPEAKER_01]: handle that or accept it a certain way and that's not right.
15:51
[SPEAKER_01]: Sometimes you got to you got to build that space around you to where you know if you're going to step into this space, you got to come right.
15:58
[SPEAKER_01]: And if not, you're going to stay on the outside perimeter and you can't skirt the process.
16:02
[SPEAKER_01]: Unfortunately, you're young person, but you're still going to have to go through taking those foundational pieces.
16:10
[SPEAKER_01]: being steadfast with it, but at the same time, you're going to be defining who you are, but once you find that authentic person who you are, you don't compromise it for people.
16:18
[SPEAKER_01]: And I feel like as athletes, especially me as an athlete and the public I did that too much early, and now in my later years, and I say later, I'm only in my mid-fifties, but
16:30
[SPEAKER_01]: I've learned that I'm going to be very true and transparent when we're talking and when I'm talking to someone and let that be my truth.
16:37
[SPEAKER_01]: Absolutely.
16:38
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
16:39
[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to end on that.
16:40
[SPEAKER_00]: That's perfect in the freestyle Friday.
16:42
[SPEAKER_00]: That was the summary right there.
16:43
[SPEAKER_00]: So if we appreciate you so as promised my last football question is
16:50
[SPEAKER_00]: Nobody can, like I say, question your resume and your production throughout your NFL career and any wide receiver that gets the chance to play professionally in any league would kill to have the type of career that you had.
17:02
[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm just curious as to during your playing time, what was your motivation as to
17:09
[SPEAKER_00]: make you want to get up and try to strive for greatness in that sense.
17:13
[SPEAKER_00]: And just be the best teammate you could be, best player you could be like, what was that thing that kept feeding you that energy to keep going to have the type of career you had?
17:23
[SPEAKER_01]: I think because of the environment, because of where I grew up and how I grew up, single parent, the word now became so popular was grit.
17:32
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, I saw that every day.
17:33
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, I saw resilience every day.
17:35
[SPEAKER_01]: I saw determination.
17:38
[SPEAKER_01]: accountability and all those things from a single parent who was my mother who had to work two, three jobs to make it work.
17:44
[SPEAKER_01]: And when I started looking at my career and I started looking at the things I was doing in football, the things that motivated me to keep going is that I understood where I came from, I understood the journey that had been.
17:57
[SPEAKER_01]: that I was making at the time.
17:59
[SPEAKER_01]: And in that journey, being able to say, what is my purpose?
18:03
[SPEAKER_01]: See a lot of times we run, we do things, but we don't do them in purpose.
18:08
[SPEAKER_01]: We haven't defined it.
18:09
[SPEAKER_01]: We haven't defined what does the wind look like.
18:12
[SPEAKER_01]: And so when I'm trying to win, I'm trying to win and everything I do, whether it be as a person, whether it be as in business, whether it be as a father, whether it be as a friend, whether it be as a business partner, whatever that case may be,
18:24
[SPEAKER_01]: And I tell people, I'm not trying to be good.
18:27
[SPEAKER_01]: People go, what do you mean?
18:28
[SPEAKER_01]: You're not trying to be good, because I'm trying to be great.
18:31
[SPEAKER_01]: We were born to be great.
18:33
[SPEAKER_01]: We were born to be excellent, you know, extraordinary.
18:37
[SPEAKER_01]: Not average.
18:38
[SPEAKER_01]: Average is something that you just fall back into because you're not trying.
18:41
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, so for me, that's what makes me get up every day.
18:46
[SPEAKER_01]: And if I'm gonna get up and do it, I'm trying to do it my best.
18:49
[SPEAKER_01]: Doesn't mean I'm gonna succeed every time.
18:51
[SPEAKER_01]: It doesn't mean that everything's going to work out the way that it's opposed to.
18:54
[SPEAKER_01]: But at the end, I know I'm going to sleep well.
18:57
[SPEAKER_01]: I know the results are the results.
18:59
[SPEAKER_01]: I couldn't have done any more.
19:00
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe I could have done some things a little bit smarter.
19:02
[SPEAKER_01]: But I did what I did and I get up the next day and I make it better.
19:05
[SPEAKER_01]: Love that period.
19:06
[SPEAKER_00]: Love it.
19:07
[SPEAKER_00]: And speaking of which you have mentioned like
19:11
[SPEAKER_00]: Doing my research at business portfolio is absolutely phenomenal in the things that you've been able to do in your career, post in a fail.
19:18
[SPEAKER_00]: And I want to know, when did that mindset start for you to think out from the early or more business minded?
19:25
[SPEAKER_00]: Was that something that you grew up with or, you know, my head opportunities to see when you're younger, did it not come to you until later in your career or during your career?
19:33
[SPEAKER_00]: When did you start to get that those wheels turned into saying, I could do some stuff off the field?
19:39
[SPEAKER_01]: I came from a lady by the name of Mary Francis Moore and everybody who knows mama Moore.
19:45
[SPEAKER_01]: One thing they'll know about her is she's very entrepreneurial.
19:48
[SPEAKER_01]: And even to this day, my mom wants to she'll call me on a Saturday bike.
19:52
[SPEAKER_01]: So I want to go do a yard sale.
19:56
[SPEAKER_01]: I want to go to the flea market.
19:58
[SPEAKER_01]: And she wants to go sell things.
19:59
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's not because it's her DNA.
20:03
[SPEAKER_01]: That's where she comes from.
20:04
[SPEAKER_01]: And for her, it wasn't a survival.
20:08
[SPEAKER_01]: And so what I was taught earlier was that entrepreneurship is a way of surviving.
20:13
[SPEAKER_01]: is a way to always be to provide for yourself.
20:16
[SPEAKER_01]: I may not be able to go on here and get a job, but can I take care of myself?
20:19
[SPEAKER_01]: Can I use my talents and my skills and then take those and transform those into something that somebody wants and then create something that I'm gonna stay after that's gonna now make it so I have a tool which is a survival tool of life.
20:32
[SPEAKER_01]: And entrepreneurship is at the root of that.
20:34
[SPEAKER_01]: Crawl of us.
20:35
[SPEAKER_01]: I think entrepreneurship has made me a better team member, has made me a better employee.
20:39
[SPEAKER_01]: because you understand what goes into owning a business.
20:42
[SPEAKER_01]: You go what the responsibility accountability is as a worker when you're in a business.
20:47
[SPEAKER_01]: So when I got into this, I've always wanted to have my own business, but I had to wait until my career was over.
20:57
[SPEAKER_01]: So I get a little bit of a late start.
20:59
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm now in my early, very early thirties.
21:03
[SPEAKER_01]: And now I'm looking at franchises, I'm looking at business, and I just said, hey, I want to have legacy.
21:08
[SPEAKER_01]: I want to have something that extends beyond this, not just what I made in football, because that's not going to last generation.
21:14
[SPEAKER_01]: That's not generational wealth.
21:16
[SPEAKER_01]: That's enough for me to be with my own bubble, to take care of myself, my kids, my family.
21:22
[SPEAKER_01]: But I want to be able to create generational wealth in order to do that, then you have to build legacy.
21:27
[SPEAKER_01]: And you have to build some things that are going to be beyond you.
21:30
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's what I'm, that's my mission now.
21:32
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what I met in life.
21:33
[SPEAKER_00]: Love that.
21:34
[SPEAKER_00]: And when it came time for that opportunity, did you land on?
21:38
[SPEAKER_00]: Because I know you have experience being a franchisee.
21:40
[SPEAKER_00]: Was that your first entrepreneurial business ownership endeavor being a franchisee of cinema?
21:46
[SPEAKER_01]: It was.
21:46
[SPEAKER_01]: So I started out actually.
21:47
[SPEAKER_01]: I got in.
21:49
[SPEAKER_01]: I got my feet wet with a mailbox, et cetera, at that time, which was one of fastest growing franchises in the country at the time.
21:57
[SPEAKER_01]: And I had one unit.
22:00
[SPEAKER_01]: And I found that that wasn't really, it didn't really embody who I was as a person.
22:06
[SPEAKER_01]: So I ended up getting it to stand up on.
22:07
[SPEAKER_01]: Love to eat.
22:09
[SPEAKER_01]: And you know anyone who's who's been here, especially if you go there in a fear lane, you go to any other place, those were my places.
22:16
[SPEAKER_01]: So I wanted all the Senate bonds here at Michigan.
22:17
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know all the ones in Florida about a year, two after that, became Senate bonds second largest partner in terms of franchise owners franchisees.
22:27
[SPEAKER_01]: And then I got the bug for business.
22:29
[SPEAKER_01]: And I saw that my strength was wanting to build, wanting to innovate and wanting to have something that was bigger than me.
22:39
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's still where I met this day.
22:41
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's what gets me up every day.
22:43
[SPEAKER_01]: Every day is not, not because it's something that I need.
22:45
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm doing it because I'm trying to change lives with people period.
22:49
[SPEAKER_00]: And what was that experience like being a franchisee?
22:52
[SPEAKER_00]: And like you said, you were there.
22:54
[SPEAKER_00]: Second largest franchisee partner at that period of time.
22:56
[SPEAKER_00]: And you clearly was not being out of park.
22:58
[SPEAKER_00]: So what was that experience like with them?
23:00
[SPEAKER_00]: And then how did you do your research to say, because you could start at any type of business at that period of time, we'll make you land on why I know what made you land on cinema.
23:08
[SPEAKER_00]: We'll make you land on a franchisee.
23:12
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, Senate bond.
23:14
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I'm gonna walk it back just for a second.
23:16
[SPEAKER_01]: So people will understand the journey.
23:18
[SPEAKER_01]: I told you that earlier, you know, there's a journey that we get on and then we're building this legacy.
23:22
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
23:23
[SPEAKER_01]: When I got in the Senate bond, it was brought to me by another person.
23:26
[SPEAKER_01]: At the time, I was being represented by a pretty well-known firm here in Southeast Michigan.
23:33
[SPEAKER_01]: And they happen to know the people who at the time was AFC enterprises publicly traded company and all these other things.
23:40
[SPEAKER_01]: They own churches, fried chicken, pie pies, dunking doughnuts, all those little glomerate.
23:45
[SPEAKER_01]: And when I got into it, it was always told, you know, you get into franchise and because you don't want to go in business by yourself.
23:53
[SPEAKER_01]: But you want to have someone like a franchise partner who gives you all the systems that give you all the foundational pieces that you need and all those things.
24:00
[SPEAKER_01]: And then it was like, well, you got that one.
24:02
[SPEAKER_01]: Now you got mailbox, et cetera.
24:03
[SPEAKER_01]: And then it's like, wow, just keep getting franchises.
24:05
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, here's the problem.
24:07
[SPEAKER_01]: You still have to be educated.
24:09
[SPEAKER_01]: You still have to be a business person.
24:11
[SPEAKER_01]: You have to know the business of franchising.
24:13
[SPEAKER_01]: And just because I could buy franchises.
24:15
[SPEAKER_01]: And just because I could go out and become a franchisee, didn't mean that I was ready for business.
24:20
[SPEAKER_01]: You can't skirt the process, which is education.
24:23
[SPEAKER_01]: It's preparation is understanding the vernacular of the business world.
24:27
[SPEAKER_01]: It moves differently.
24:29
[SPEAKER_01]: And because I didn't give myself enough time, while I did well, when problems hit, which we start to have with our economy,
24:38
[SPEAKER_01]: How do you problems all that unless you have the experience?
24:41
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just like practicing the running routes.
24:43
[SPEAKER_01]: And I started to realize how much I still need to lean on other people.
24:47
[SPEAKER_01]: So now I have other people helping me run my business, but I got to go off with what they know, not what I know.
24:52
[SPEAKER_01]: So I don't know if they're right or wrong, checks and balances.
24:55
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I slowed it down a little bit and up getting out of center bond selling all those and then starting to really build myself as understanding business.
25:04
[SPEAKER_01]: I gave myself a little bit more of a runway and then there the educational piece gave me strength and it gave me the wisdom that was necessary to say, wow, this is something that's broken in our system because there was a high failure rate in business.
25:17
[SPEAKER_01]: small business owners and it's all in the educational piece.
25:20
[SPEAKER_01]: It's about being passionate about what you do.
25:22
[SPEAKER_01]: It's about understanding and how do you become an expert in your field?
25:26
[SPEAKER_01]: How do you become an innovator in your field versus just a follower?
25:30
[SPEAKER_01]: And again, that's the process over time.
25:34
[SPEAKER_00]: and then you get the opportunity to I would love to be able to break down a little bit more in terms of team eighty four so you get a chance to start your own hold in this company and then develop businesses and brands within that but before we get to that part would love to know like how did you accumulate the team in order to excuse me
25:53
[SPEAKER_00]: Developed the businesses that you've been able to have over the years, like whether it's the team that started with you and continued with you or at different points in time, like, what is your approach to finding those right people to develop those things with?
26:06
[SPEAKER_00]: Because I think I heard in a previous interview of yours, you talked about how, like, I'm not going this thing alone, and then you mentioned it here as well.
26:13
[SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, how do I find those, those specialists, those people who know these specific things that I don't, so we can all make each other stronger.
26:19
[SPEAKER_00]: How do you approach that?
26:20
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, I'll go back again.
26:21
[SPEAKER_01]: So starting out, even though I was a business owner, typically that's top down because I'm the owner and everything flows down.
26:29
[SPEAKER_01]: But I came in with a different attitude because I came in at least knowledgeable.
26:34
[SPEAKER_01]: So I started to learn even though I didn't have to.
26:36
[SPEAKER_01]: They didn't make me have to go through training at how to roll cinnamon rolls and make sure I put in too much butter on it or too much anything.
26:43
[SPEAKER_01]: I went into this system.
26:45
[SPEAKER_01]: I became an employee of the business.
26:47
[SPEAKER_01]: I still had manager.
26:48
[SPEAKER_01]: I was a lowest person on a total pole.
26:50
[SPEAKER_01]: whether sweeping the floor is cleaning the rolling rolls they were teaching me how to roll rolls and how to you know to make the bread rise the right way and then go out into the food court and actually sample stuff in the middle of a Saturday at great lakes crossing and asking people do you want it right
27:07
[SPEAKER_01]: So when I did that, it allowed me to grow closer to understanding the business, understanding the mindset of the people and the team members that were there, that we call our employees.
27:15
[SPEAKER_01]: And then it allowed me to have a better relationship and communication with them.
27:18
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think there was a different respect.
27:20
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, you can't do that in every business.
27:22
[SPEAKER_01]: But I would encourage any business owner to say, you know what, know your business, know what you're doing.
27:29
[SPEAKER_01]: Once I did all those things, I really started dialing to say, here's the type of team member I need.
27:36
[SPEAKER_01]: Because every business is not the same.
27:39
[SPEAKER_01]: You need a different mindset.
27:40
[SPEAKER_01]: You need a different acumen of a person when depending on the industry that you're in.
27:46
[SPEAKER_01]: Some need to be a little bit more outgoing.
27:48
[SPEAKER_01]: Some need to be a little bit quieter.
27:50
[SPEAKER_01]: Some need to be a little bit more mental.
27:53
[SPEAKER_01]: And some need to be a little bit more personable.
27:54
[SPEAKER_01]: Depends on your business.
27:56
[SPEAKER_01]: So understanding how to carve that out.
27:59
[SPEAKER_01]: What's the personality of your business?
28:01
[SPEAKER_01]: What's the brand of your business?
28:02
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's ultimately let me into wanting to be into branding and marketing.
28:06
[SPEAKER_01]: And wanting to get into my bonus L systems that were antiquated.
28:09
[SPEAKER_01]: They were old.
28:10
[SPEAKER_01]: We were eighty five percent cash based business.
28:13
[SPEAKER_01]: And we're taking receipts.
28:15
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm trusting you with eighty five percent of my money.
28:19
[SPEAKER_01]: to put it in a drawer and count it correctly and then put these receipts and make these manual deposits.
28:24
[SPEAKER_01]: We didn't live in a digital era.
28:26
[SPEAKER_01]: So I was early and started getting into how do I change our opponent's health systems?
28:30
[SPEAKER_01]: How do I get into making sure that our team members were scanning in properly from HR standpoint and tracking them with the biometrics versus just in?
28:42
[SPEAKER_01]: Scouts honor.
28:42
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, you know, I was here on time.
28:44
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and I left at this time.
28:46
[SPEAKER_01]: So once I started figuring out all those things is just amazing how I was able to identify what I needed, you know, and I didn't have to have someone tell me if anything, they were just either supporting or validating and there's power and knowledge.
29:00
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, that's power and knowing.
29:02
[SPEAKER_01]: And as a business owner, if you don't have that,
29:05
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just a matter of time before you're going to crash and burn.
29:08
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, thousand percent.
29:10
[SPEAKER_00]: And you go from French IZ to developing your own enterprise with team A. D. Ford, we're now developing your own conglomerate of businesses.
29:17
[SPEAKER_00]: So first, with team A. D. Ford being your holding company, I want you to give us the ground level of what is a holding company to have a firm understanding of that.
29:27
[SPEAKER_00]: And then talk more about the businesses that you've been able to develop a choir work with under the team A. D. Ford umbrella.
29:34
[SPEAKER_01]: Absolutely.
29:35
[SPEAKER_01]: When I first started out, I ended up having businesses, a lot of LLCs at one point, I think I had fifteen LLCs.
29:42
[SPEAKER_01]: Every time I would do some of those LLC, LLC, LLC, LLC.
29:46
[SPEAKER_01]: And that realizing there's different business structures you can do.
29:49
[SPEAKER_01]: I started getting into only intellectual property and for people in the audience, that's something that's proprietary for you, whether it be a patent, whether it be trademarks, whether it be copyrights, things of that nature that give you market,
30:03
[SPEAKER_01]: positioning, but it also gives you the ability to have a unique position in a market for capture that kind of holds other people at bay as almost kind of a I can up you one because I have a patent in this industry and you don't.
30:19
[SPEAKER_01]: So you have to some things have to come through me proprietary things.
30:22
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, once we
30:25
[SPEAKER_01]: I started getting the businesses, I said, you know what, that's rethink this.
30:28
[SPEAKER_01]: So then I started getting with some other attorneys and saying, how should I structure this?
30:33
[SPEAKER_01]: Not only for protection and liability reasons for myself, for my family, for my future, my legacy, but how do I protect myself and my entity?
30:42
[SPEAKER_01]: So I don't have cross-clarization or cross-alibilities across those companies.
30:48
[SPEAKER_01]: So by creating a holding company, I ended up putting a lot of things there, which is exactly what it sounds like.
30:53
[SPEAKER_01]: That's why I held all of my intellectual property.
30:55
[SPEAKER_01]: That's why I held a lot of my names and some other things that I did not want to be at risk in the normal course of time when I do business.
31:04
[SPEAKER_01]: And then I operated down in the business levels below that, and I created the LLCs below the holding company.
31:10
[SPEAKER_01]: So team eighty four would be here.
31:12
[SPEAKER_01]: Then I would have whether it be licensing, intellectual property, or licensing, other proprietary things down to those companies.
31:19
[SPEAKER_01]: And then I'll allow those companies to individually operate.
31:22
[SPEAKER_01]: They're separate, but they're all together.
31:25
[SPEAKER_01]: They're independent.
31:26
[SPEAKER_01]: And the anatomy of business, what I learned, is what are the core things that make a business really go?
31:33
[SPEAKER_01]: There are people.
31:34
[SPEAKER_01]: So there's the HR component.
31:37
[SPEAKER_01]: There was the financial piece.
31:39
[SPEAKER_01]: That's there.
31:40
[SPEAKER_01]: So you got to understand the budgeting.
31:41
[SPEAKER_01]: You got to understand how to buy.
31:42
[SPEAKER_01]: You got to understand inventory if you're current commodities.
31:44
[SPEAKER_01]: You got to understand the cost of services and what's the return on those fees and all these other things.
31:52
[SPEAKER_01]: dealing a lot with marketing and branding, because who are you?
31:56
[SPEAKER_01]: What do you do?
31:58
[SPEAKER_01]: What's your business?
32:00
[SPEAKER_01]: What's your cause?
32:02
[SPEAKER_01]: What's your identity?
32:04
[SPEAKER_01]: And then I started looking at
32:07
[SPEAKER_01]: purchasing and shipping logistics and things that nature and then the final one was technology which was something what can give me the competitive advantage and that was more infrastructure-based whether it be software or systems or building our own proprietary systems.
32:21
[SPEAKER_01]: So after I kind of was the math scientist I said I want to get all these pieces so that we actually own each of those strategically.
32:29
[SPEAKER_01]: I started to purchase each one of those or build
32:32
[SPEAKER_01]: those different enterprises or entities that would then support any business venture that I would do because ultimately what the young entrepreneur does is because we don't own processes from start to finish we have to keep out sourcing those to different people which then
32:49
[SPEAKER_01]: causes you to lose a, you know, whether it's five percent here, two percent here, ten percent here.
32:53
[SPEAKER_01]: And before you know it, that's all your profit margin.
32:55
[SPEAKER_01]: So that's why a lot of entrepreneurs end up having only a, a business that pays them a salary versus having a business that they can grow in scale.
33:05
[SPEAKER_00]: And do you ever think about it in the sense of just hearing how you break down business and then also listen to how your mom had the entrepreneur experience as well and how that influence a lot of what you do today?
33:18
[SPEAKER_00]: Have you ever kind of thought about or like in the portfolio that you have developed in terms of business to like a magic Johnson or some of the other athletes that have transitioned into this world and have been able to accumulate like portfolios of businesses?
33:32
[SPEAKER_00]: Have you ever thought about that for yourself?
33:34
[SPEAKER_01]: So I love to look at the blueprint as I call it in business that some others have done successfully.
33:42
[SPEAKER_01]: And also you look at those that have done some things and had some missteps because there's something to learn from both sides, not just when people are succeeding, there's things to learn from failure.
33:51
[SPEAKER_01]: And I would argue that there's probably more to learn from failure than it is from just watching success after success after success.
33:58
[SPEAKER_01]: And Magic Johnson and Shikill O'Neill
34:01
[SPEAKER_01]: I really watched kind of how they work.
34:03
[SPEAKER_01]: I looked at that diversification of businesses that they were in.
34:08
[SPEAKER_01]: I started to see that there was whether it's very known to me or to the public that's looking in.
34:14
[SPEAKER_01]: We may now understand why they're making the moves that they're making, but I do understand from an overall component how they're spreading it.
34:22
[SPEAKER_01]: in terms of their risks.
34:25
[SPEAKER_01]: I see how they're having diversification, which gives them larger market capture, but also gives them the opportunity to have different touch points.
34:34
[SPEAKER_01]: And then they have brands that are somewhat connected with the meaning they're passionate about it.
34:40
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not something that you go, wow, that brand doesn't make sense for that person.
34:44
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, to where it's a stretch.
34:46
[SPEAKER_01]: But when we start getting it to technologies, which is a place where I gravitate, there's not a lot of people that look like me who are building intellectual property or creating patents or investing into patents and then taking those internment to something else.
35:01
[SPEAKER_01]: So, I'm also looking to try and create this other pathway.
35:05
[SPEAKER_01]: That's a little different in what you've seen in athletes, but those are two guys and two examples that I follow quite a bit and look at what they've done because I think they've created a nice path in a blueprint that while we don't have to do exactly what they've done, they've given us some of the steps that you should take, but at the same time.
35:28
[SPEAKER_01]: I get it from everyone from even entrepreneurs who have just pop up shops.
35:32
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, motivate me.
35:33
[SPEAKER_01]: So I don't turn away and just say, you know, you got to be a multi-billion dollar company or hundreds of millions of dollars company.
35:41
[SPEAKER_01]: I can look at some of the most the the smallest newest most budding entrepreneurs that if given the right opportunity, they can be game changers.
35:50
[SPEAKER_00]: That's phenomenal.
35:51
[SPEAKER_00]: And speaking of that playbook, it knows two examples specifically.
35:54
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm seeing you in the commercial.
35:55
[SPEAKER_00]: So I know you definitely begin into your acting bag as well.
35:58
[SPEAKER_00]: So how does that kind of factor into the personal brand that you have built?
36:02
[SPEAKER_00]: Because that's one thing that I've respected as far as our career goes with that.
36:06
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that you do an excellent job in terms of making people aware of the dates that you do, who you are, what you stand for, whether it's the speaking engagement, whether it's a video or things like that.
36:15
[SPEAKER_00]: I think you do an excellent job at that.
36:17
[SPEAKER_00]: So how has that kind of played into you developing your personal brand?
36:21
[SPEAKER_01]: I appreciate that.
36:22
[SPEAKER_01]: Really, again, it's been a process and as much as I would have liked to have gotten here faster and quicker, I think I'm running with the opportunities I'm running with where I'm supposed to be in life and I'm here where I'm supposed to be.
36:37
[SPEAKER_01]: I learned and where I really think I started to take off and do better is when I became more authentic.
36:47
[SPEAKER_01]: I thought I was being authentic because I am a, I consider myself a kindhearted person.
36:52
[SPEAKER_01]: I consider myself a person who is very community oriented.
36:56
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm an advocate.
36:57
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm a champion for others.
36:59
[SPEAKER_01]: I feel like I'm unselfish and all those things.
37:02
[SPEAKER_01]: But at the same time, there's, there's a perception that I need to make sure I carry out.
37:07
[SPEAKER_01]: So it appeases a sponsor or it makes this person over here who I may want to do business with go, hey, I can do business with him because he kind of, he, he,
37:16
[SPEAKER_01]: He brings what I think we need to show our audience.
37:20
[SPEAKER_01]: But then I started saying, I need a new audience.
37:22
[SPEAKER_01]: I need one where I can be me.
37:26
[SPEAKER_01]: And that said, if I can't be that, then I'm not going to be anything else.
37:30
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm not far removed from where I was, but one thing I am on very transparent and what I have to say, what I will and I won't do.
37:40
[SPEAKER_01]: If I like you or I don't like you, not in a disrespectful way, but I'm going to command respect when we're sitting and we're talking, especially if I'm getting, I'm giving it to you.
37:48
[SPEAKER_01]: So I call it my mirror effect.
37:50
[SPEAKER_01]: No, how am I treating you?
37:51
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, if I'm treating you kind of I'm expecting that back.
37:54
[SPEAKER_01]: If you if you treating me crazy me is going to get up or we're going to have some problems.
37:57
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, right.
37:58
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, whatever I handle it, but I'm a handle it in a very professional way.
38:02
[SPEAKER_01]: And once I start realizing you command that from people.
38:05
[SPEAKER_01]: life is easy.
38:06
[SPEAKER_01]: It slows down.
38:08
[SPEAKER_01]: Your circle becomes more tailored for you as a person because you no longer having to sit here and appease that person, that person be something for this one over here and something up here.
38:18
[SPEAKER_01]: I can be me and I'm going to be me and then the people around me, we all get it.
38:23
[SPEAKER_01]: We all vibe.
38:25
[SPEAKER_01]: And the same thing is carried over to business.
38:28
[SPEAKER_01]: And the relationships look a little different than the ones I started out with.
38:33
[SPEAKER_01]: But like I said before, I'm right where I'm supposed to be.
38:36
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
38:36
[SPEAKER_00]: And I heard you talk before about a bias that you deal with at the athlete athlete bias in one of the challenges in terms of trying to do business post career.
38:47
[SPEAKER_00]: So I want to know if you could kind of break that term down for us and then tell us how you've been able to overcome that.
38:53
[SPEAKER_01]: In business.
38:54
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, we, we, we revere and we look at the athletes and we go that person's special.
39:01
[SPEAKER_01]: They got the doors that are open for them.
39:04
[SPEAKER_01]: I look at how many people will come to me and go, hey, I need you to, I want to do business with you.
39:07
[SPEAKER_01]: And I go, okay, let's do business.
39:08
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not going to feel that I'm interested in.
39:10
[SPEAKER_01]: And they go, I think you can get us into this door.
39:13
[SPEAKER_01]: And early on, I'm going back to like I said before in my career.
39:18
[SPEAKER_01]: I would go anything and everything.
39:19
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, okay, I'll go and I'll make a call while I'll reach out to a person that I know or a company that I've done this deal with before and see if they'll give me some opportunities.
39:29
[SPEAKER_01]: But I realized after a while, they wanted what they wanted for me.
39:33
[SPEAKER_01]: And that was, they wanted the personality.
39:35
[SPEAKER_01]: They wanted the brand recognition and alignment.
39:37
[SPEAKER_01]: And they wanted to make it to where it wasn't a mutually beneficial piece.
39:41
[SPEAKER_01]: It was, hey, I'm gonna pay you for this and you do that thing.
39:44
[SPEAKER_01]: Cool.
39:45
[SPEAKER_01]: Then I started saying, well, listen, what is the value of my brand?
39:49
[SPEAKER_01]: What is my purpose?
39:50
[SPEAKER_01]: What is my position?
39:51
[SPEAKER_01]: What is my legacy?
39:52
[SPEAKER_01]: What is the, what is it that I'm trying to do?
39:53
[SPEAKER_01]: And once I start to understand my value, I started realizing that I'm giving up way too much for what I'm receiving in monetary value.
40:03
[SPEAKER_01]: Because what they have is some things they're going to have.
40:05
[SPEAKER_01]: Not necessarily in perpetuity, but they're going to have their, it's not, it's not a balanced piece.
40:11
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
40:13
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, as an athlete, we're looked at as we need you to be the shining piece.
40:18
[SPEAKER_01]: We need you to go in and be the face and the voice.
40:21
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's about it.
40:24
[SPEAKER_01]: I did that.
40:25
[SPEAKER_01]: And then after I did that, there was this false sense of thinking that that was a deeper relationship than what it was.
40:32
[SPEAKER_01]: Because then once I got into business, and I became very deeply invested in business with my own funds, some things work, some things didn't.
40:39
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the nature of it.
40:41
[SPEAKER_01]: But.
40:42
[SPEAKER_01]: when you go back to those same relationships, and you go, I now have a business I wanna do business with you, you would be amazed how often either don't get callback, you're not taking serious, or they turn you on and say, do you have a minority certification or in the before it starts to get kind of unraveled here, DE and I, right?
41:02
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, all those are speaking to me in limitations.
41:05
[SPEAKER_01]: You're not talking to me about anything that is about evaluating my business.
41:09
[SPEAKER_01]: My skill set, the investments I've made, the time and energy I put into making sure that I have to be better than the same person that doesn't look like me.
41:19
[SPEAKER_01]: And this isn't about a race thing.
41:21
[SPEAKER_01]: It's about a factual thing.
41:22
[SPEAKER_01]: And whether it's a bias that occurs that people don't mean to happen,
41:26
[SPEAKER_01]: It happens whether it's subconsciously or not.
41:30
[SPEAKER_01]: And people will think, well, it's easy for you to go on a door.
41:33
[SPEAKER_01]: No, it's not.
41:35
[SPEAKER_01]: The doors I go into are the ones where I'm least known.
41:38
[SPEAKER_01]: And they're basing it based on the merit of what I do as a business.
41:42
[SPEAKER_01]: They're basing it on, what is it I'm bringing?
41:44
[SPEAKER_01]: When I come in, I talk to you about bringing a patent that I have.
41:47
[SPEAKER_01]: You're listening to me and saying it's about a patent, not Herman Moore, Detroit line, let's take a picture.
41:52
[SPEAKER_01]: And what do you know about business?
41:54
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not that deal.
41:56
[SPEAKER_01]: And I find that other contemporaries and other people that were in the same space didn't have those same troubles.
42:02
[SPEAKER_01]: And then I started understanding businesses and fair and it's not equal.
42:07
[SPEAKER_01]: You could have the best product, but the person has a better relationship or they have some other type of behind the scenes relationship that you may not get the deal, even if you're a better, how do you get around that?
42:17
[SPEAKER_01]: So that's why in the building, I'm blessed to have been able to do that.
42:22
[SPEAKER_01]: building businesses and companies to where we can be vertically integrated and where we can control the go meaning when we say we're going to do something we go and do that thing that we don't have to go big crawl and and do all that stuff to do it because it's too hard and I don't want to make that path
42:38
[SPEAKER_01]: hard for the other entrepreneur to get involved with.
42:42
[SPEAKER_01]: I want to get rid of some of those barriers that are placed there that are unnecessary, that keep us from innovative people and talented people.
42:50
[SPEAKER_01]: But yeah, the challenge has been, they've been real.
42:53
[SPEAKER_01]: And I can tell you right now, the people and the companies that people would think that I would do business with or should be doing business with, almost impossible.
43:02
[SPEAKER_01]: for me to do business with.
43:04
[SPEAKER_01]: Or there's no communication, there's no conversation to be had in that space.
43:10
[SPEAKER_01]: And I don't say that in a bitter way, as much as it was a heart lesson learned.
43:16
[SPEAKER_01]: But I knew my resilience.
43:18
[SPEAKER_01]: I knew the team that I need to build to understand that we're not going to wait for people to give us things.
43:25
[SPEAKER_01]: We're only rolling people that want to move with us.
43:28
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's become our mantra.
43:30
[SPEAKER_01]: and it's bowed as well.
43:31
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what God will.
43:33
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
43:34
[SPEAKER_00]: Some of the best wisdom I ever got was from one of my friends, dad.
43:37
[SPEAKER_00]: He said, you messed with the people that messed with you.
43:39
[SPEAKER_00]: I just keep it that simple.
43:41
[SPEAKER_01]: It is.
43:41
[SPEAKER_01]: But I think about it's not that hard.
43:42
[SPEAKER_01]: Like I used to, and I always like to say this, like people say, you know, you need to get to know that company X over that's okay.
43:49
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, how should I do it?
43:50
[SPEAKER_01]: You need to go buy
43:52
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, a ten thousand dollar or a five thousand dollar booth at this show and be there and show your stuff.
43:57
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
43:58
[SPEAKER_01]: I do it one time.
43:59
[SPEAKER_01]: Cool.
43:59
[SPEAKER_01]: I do it a second time.
44:00
[SPEAKER_01]: No calls.
44:01
[SPEAKER_01]: Do it a third time.
44:01
[SPEAKER_01]: No calls.
44:02
[SPEAKER_01]: Some people may say, well, you just don't have what they want.
44:04
[SPEAKER_01]: No.
44:04
[SPEAKER_01]: We do because we go through.
44:06
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, anyone who knows us and knows our team.
44:09
[SPEAKER_01]: We're never short on going out and saying, we want to do excellent things.
44:13
[SPEAKER_01]: Not not good things.
44:14
[SPEAKER_01]: We're trying to be excellent.
44:17
[SPEAKER_01]: And then, well, you got to go play golf for four hours.
44:19
[SPEAKER_01]: What is it that you're going to learn from me and play golf?
44:23
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, you may get to know me as a person.
44:24
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
44:24
[SPEAKER_01]: I got enough out here on a personal side for consistency of character.
44:28
[SPEAKER_01]: If you want to sit down and break bread, you want to sit and have a meeting and we go through and you can pull back my layers of my business and whether or not we have merit and business to do business with you.
44:39
[SPEAKER_01]: You do your due diligence there.
44:41
[SPEAKER_01]: You can do your due diligence on me as a person of character by whether it's online, whether it's in public, whether it's asking me information that allows you to go through your process.
44:50
[SPEAKER_01]: But if you're saying that unless I play golf with you, and if that's the criteria,
44:55
[SPEAKER_01]: How's that tell me if my business is good or not?
44:59
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
45:00
[SPEAKER_01]: Some people get offended about saying, I don't go play golf.
45:03
[SPEAKER_01]: I really just coming meet.
45:04
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
45:04
[SPEAKER_01]: Instead of doing that four hours, how about we have a good hour, hour and a half.
45:08
[SPEAKER_01]: And I let you just kind of drill me and peel back the layers on my business or talk to us about what we done, talk about our clients, get our testimony, you know, testimony from different clients, whatever.
45:18
[SPEAKER_01]: And based on merit, it's amazing.
45:21
[SPEAKER_01]: I can't even get them to see my space.
45:23
[SPEAKER_01]: I go, hey, I got physical building.
45:25
[SPEAKER_01]: Come look at it.
45:27
[SPEAKER_01]: But then you want to be a nacer, but you want to come out and vet me.
45:29
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
45:30
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
45:30
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the bias.
45:32
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the struggle.
45:32
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the challenges that even I have.
45:35
[SPEAKER_01]: So if I'm having those, how do you think these entrepreneurs are going to survive and how do you think they're going to be able to make it work?
45:41
[SPEAKER_01]: If they got to go through those types of hurdles, when another person would just go, hey, hook up my cousin or my friend or a so-and-so son who just graduated and you're giving them the opportunity.
45:50
[SPEAKER_01]: Again, life's not fair.
45:53
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I don't let that be the deterrent.
45:55
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't let that be the thing that ultimately breaks, you know, the stride or the will before we do.
46:00
[SPEAKER_01]: You just keep going.
46:01
[SPEAKER_00]: It works big.
46:03
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a big place.
46:04
[SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely.
46:05
[SPEAKER_00]: Would you say that that's like the secret sauce for someone who is an entrepreneurship to better understand if they should begin in business with someone in terms of the playbook that you use where it's like instead of me basically you know playing your game and
46:20
[SPEAKER_00]: I think in the terms of kissing the ring like hanging out doing all this type of extra stuff like, no, let's get on this call is doing me the things like that.
46:27
[SPEAKER_00]: And if they're not willing to do that, which is something that's a value and something that you stand on, then you should you should move on, probably.
46:33
[SPEAKER_00]: Right.
46:34
[SPEAKER_01]: I think so.
46:35
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think we we as.
46:37
[SPEAKER_01]: And I say the people in my age group or those that are aging out of business right now, you know, do better, right?
46:45
[SPEAKER_01]: We got to break the tradition of making it hard for a classification of people to have opportunity.
46:50
[SPEAKER_01]: We got to stop saying we only going to give this this section of people over here, this amount.
46:56
[SPEAKER_01]: And we're going to we're going to put sillings on what they're able to do and what they're not able to do.
47:00
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
47:00
[SPEAKER_01]: instead of just saying, listen, it would be fair across the board.
47:03
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to tell you right now, I don't think there's many people that's if you're innovative, if you're smart, if you're disciplined, if you're passionate, it's going to be with you and it's going to stop, it's going to follow the opportunity, but what I find is that
47:16
[SPEAKER_01]: There's so much you have to keep trying to overcome the disappointment of people who kind of have access and have the keys who make it far more difficult than it should be for people that they're looking for.
47:29
[SPEAKER_01]: You're looking for these people, but you're going to make it difficult.
47:31
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, look for these people, then you're going to deter them.
47:34
[SPEAKER_01]: And basically slapping the face and go, I'm going to let you do all this hard work, but I've already got my mind made up over here.
47:41
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
47:41
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, that's where we are in some places.
47:43
[SPEAKER_01]: Another thing is people don't want to admit that.
47:45
[SPEAKER_01]: And the people that are in those places doing that.
47:47
[SPEAKER_01]: And they hear this, they're the ones who are going to be upset because that's what they're doing.
47:50
[SPEAKER_01]: Stop doing it.
47:52
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, and I feel that right now, the way things are working, I like the fact that commerce and businesses open up.
48:02
[SPEAKER_01]: I love the fact that we do things and e-commerce and we do some things that that aren't always necessary brick and mortar.
48:09
[SPEAKER_01]: But there are things that we can do that allow us to create businesses because we want to, right?
48:16
[SPEAKER_01]: And you don't need the startup capital, sometimes that you think you just need the idea and the initiative to do it.
48:21
[SPEAKER_01]: And then along the way, there's enough grants, there's enough people out here and just keep being persistent and you gotta keep getting after it.
48:28
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's just the nature of the entrepreneur too.
48:29
[SPEAKER_01]: If you're gonna be that, the entrepreneur?
48:34
[SPEAKER_01]: You have to be prepared to be an entrepreneur.
48:35
[SPEAKER_01]: It means you're going to have to make some sacrifices.
48:37
[SPEAKER_01]: You have to have some times where you're going to question yourself.
48:41
[SPEAKER_01]: You're going to question whether or not this this journey, this path is worth it.
48:44
[SPEAKER_01]: And if it's going to even work.
48:46
[SPEAKER_01]: But then ultimately at the end, you're the one who's going to determine.
48:51
[SPEAKER_00]: the next stop period.
48:53
[SPEAKER_00]: And you had mentioned innovation and creation in terms of that, which you have been a master at thus far.
48:59
[SPEAKER_00]: And it seemed like team eighty four is expanded and we've talking about it off camera beforehand.
49:03
[SPEAKER_00]: So we'll love to know about the new space and you mentioned you got a brick and mortar and the new space was going on with that and what other lanes are you all diving into.
49:12
[SPEAKER_01]: What we're looking at is really is how do we take all the lessons that we've learned and I have a very seasoned team of entrepreneurs and people that have worked for the largest of organizations and entities from hundreds of millions to billions of dollars type companies down to those who are just starting from nothing and going from the bottom to the top.
49:31
[SPEAKER_01]: And because we have all those layers from top down to bottom up, there's a good mesh of people and understanding of what it takes to to build the right people.
49:43
[SPEAKER_01]: I enjoy the fact that as a business, we look to try and offer opportunities to others and we try and build our business through helping others.
49:52
[SPEAKER_01]: And that there's a there's a method to that because if I can help you to be successful in your business and I can take some of my resources and help you be successful and or be a partner with it or create products that we both gonna share in terms of the profit or the revenue that comes off of that then that's a way for us to mutually be successful.
50:10
[SPEAKER_01]: We come in with that mindset.
50:12
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the way we come out of it.
50:13
[SPEAKER_01]: We come out of it trying to say, no, not what's best routine, maybe four.
50:17
[SPEAKER_01]: What's best for the team?
50:18
[SPEAKER_01]: What's best for the partnerships that we have or the entrepreneurs that we work with.
50:22
[SPEAKER_01]: So right now, being in shipping logistics has been a big piece.
50:27
[SPEAKER_01]: We've been doing that since, two thousand nineteen.
50:29
[SPEAKER_01]: We've moved a lot of product for a lot of large companies with different municipalities and
50:35
[SPEAKER_01]: different RFPs that we've won and things of that nature.
50:38
[SPEAKER_01]: So that's been a nice business force being into branding and marketing and being in the influencer space.
50:48
[SPEAKER_01]: I've done that with a young lady, Christy Zavakar, who used to work with one professional teams here in the market actually a couple of them.
50:58
[SPEAKER_01]: And in there, understanding the importance of branding and understanding the importance of storytelling and letting people know who you are and what you stand for and what your product is and what it does and all these things.
51:12
[SPEAKER_01]: And then how to go across these digital platforms out here now.
51:15
[SPEAKER_01]: If you're not competing on social and you're not competing with different software and not even learning AI, can't fear it.
51:21
[SPEAKER_01]: You got to understand how do you you find your place and use it.
51:25
[SPEAKER_01]: We're doing that.
51:26
[SPEAKER_01]: We sell people.
51:27
[SPEAKER_01]: We now just open up our studios.
51:29
[SPEAKER_01]: I love that you already talked to you about.
51:34
[SPEAKER_01]: I grew up watching movies, I love movies, the theater and the atrics, but how do we get them to have their own space?
51:44
[SPEAKER_01]: Everybody out here right now is trying to have their voice that's trying to create this identity and I don't think they realize how powerful that tool is and showcasing who you are showcasing your brand and we want to be able to give them the opportunity to come in not only do that but also learn
52:00
[SPEAKER_01]: the dudes and don't sub it because they're as a social responsibility when you put it out there in a digital space you may not be able to pull it back so that's an important piece from the educational piece for us e-commerce again how do you become not just confined to the boundaries of where you are and what you can see how do you become
52:22
[SPEAKER_01]: competitive in a global landscape.
52:25
[SPEAKER_01]: E-commerce allows you to do that, whether it be global or be national or whether it be regional or whether it be statewide, you can extend your boundaries beyond just where you are and what you see depending on what your business and your business services are and commodities.
52:40
[SPEAKER_01]: And then, you know, and finally, it's just for me being, I just love being a thought leader.
52:48
[SPEAKER_01]: just going out and how do I take what I've learned and share that with others?
52:52
[SPEAKER_01]: How do I become more of an educator in the space?
52:55
[SPEAKER_01]: But also allow people to know where to get resources and so that they are equipped with the right tools to be successful in business.
53:04
[SPEAKER_01]: As I said earlier,
53:06
[SPEAKER_01]: The main thing I learned, and if I had to attribute something to being successful in business to become as come from education, who am I, what is it I want to do, researching what my business is and what it does, and then really diving deep into those.
53:24
[SPEAKER_01]: those verticals.
53:26
[SPEAKER_01]: And we do print promotions.
53:27
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, you got it sometimes, figure out, you know, how do you wear swag?
53:30
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, even right here today.
53:31
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
53:32
[SPEAKER_01]: We're in our own style.
53:33
[SPEAKER_01]: And there's empowerment that comes from building your own brand and wearing your own stuff.
53:38
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, you have one yours, right?
53:40
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
53:41
[SPEAKER_01]: And when you wear it, you feel a sense of accomplishment.
53:44
[SPEAKER_01]: So how do we take our businesses?
53:47
[SPEAKER_01]: And how do we turn those into tools?
53:49
[SPEAKER_01]: And which each around businesses, we have entrepreneurship programs that are part of that.
53:52
[SPEAKER_01]: We have education that's part of each one of those.
53:55
[SPEAKER_01]: And then we take that and say, here are all the ingredients that can make you successful in life and make you self-sufficient and independent.
54:04
[SPEAKER_01]: And then we go, here's how you these could work together.
54:07
[SPEAKER_01]: But we want you to use your mindset and your innovation around that to now give it its own identity based on who you are as a person right and it keeps them very motivated and it keeps people very much
54:20
[SPEAKER_00]: connect it to to their brand and to their purpose.
54:23
[SPEAKER_00]: Love that and speaking of that because you are servicing people in business and then also servicing people from the nonprofit standpoint.
54:31
[SPEAKER_00]: I would love for you.
54:32
[SPEAKER_00]: I can't let you get up out here without talking about your philanthropic endeavors because I know that you put a lot of effort and intentionality behind that.
54:39
[SPEAKER_00]: So we'll love for you to talk about how you give back in the ways that you choose to give back, whether it's just hermen to person or team, eighty four or any of the other business, especially when it comes to our young folks.
54:50
[SPEAKER_00]: Right.
54:51
[SPEAKER_01]: So we believe, you know, I appreciate the question because the first thing they, they push us as athletes to do what, go do a camp.
54:58
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
54:58
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
54:58
[SPEAKER_01]: Go do a sports camp.
54:59
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, you know, my sports window on the go from here to here, you know, and most people don't even make it past junior high to high school.
55:08
[SPEAKER_01]: And then high school to college, it gets smaller.
55:11
[SPEAKER_01]: College of pro gets even smaller.
55:12
[SPEAKER_01]: And then even having success in the professional space is even smaller.
55:17
[SPEAKER_01]: How can we change that and say, you can play the sports and we're not even talking about a backup plan.
55:22
[SPEAKER_01]: We talk about people building and then doing that, I go, how do we take business and allow that to empower them to say sports is what I'm going to do now and I'll take it to wherever I take it.
55:35
[SPEAKER_01]: And then after that, I want to have something that's going to be with me for the rest of my life that I can feel proud of that becomes part of my fabric and that's where entrepreneurship comes in.
55:42
[SPEAKER_01]: The other part we want to do is health and nutrition.
55:46
[SPEAKER_01]: Mental health is something that has been talked about quite a bit in this day and age.
55:50
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's important because if the mind isn't moving right, nothing else is going to move.
55:55
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, you got to be mentally right.
55:57
[SPEAKER_01]: and nutritionally, if you're not eating right and you don't have the sustenance that you need, then you're not thinking right.
56:04
[SPEAKER_01]: All these things work and give you the whole.
56:08
[SPEAKER_01]: How do we give you purpose?
56:09
[SPEAKER_01]: How do we give you nutrition?
56:10
[SPEAKER_01]: How do we give you the mental side of it?
56:14
[SPEAKER_01]: The healthy mindset to be able to go after anything and not have that deterrence and that thing that makes you quit.
56:23
[SPEAKER_01]: So that's how philanthropic efforts tackle life is a foundation that after I did the sports camps and all those things, which is a good touch point with kids and you know, being around them, they get to see us and we give them a little nice fun days and all that.
56:35
[SPEAKER_01]: I said, I just want to build people.
56:39
[SPEAKER_01]: and there's so much that gets missed in sports.
56:41
[SPEAKER_01]: And what they don't learn is there's growth that happens in sports.
56:45
[SPEAKER_01]: So I use sports in the camp as kind of an introduction point to get kids interested, not knowing that they're being mentored.
56:54
[SPEAKER_01]: And then from there they've been built and understanding sports is giving you leadership qualities, is giving you conflict resolution.
57:02
[SPEAKER_01]: ways to solve things, being prompt and on time, purpose, understanding and defining, winning and lossing, and how to deal with the winning and losing, how to deal with different people and personalities and different walks of life, because there's not often that teams are just made up, even if it's just one race or ethnicity, there's different types of personalities that are within that, right?
57:27
[SPEAKER_01]: So how do you work with that?
57:29
[SPEAKER_01]: With our efforts now, it's really focused on that, just the mental health, education systems, dealing with our first responders, public servants and all those people because while we may have some conflicts with them as people or as cultures, they're necessary.
57:45
[SPEAKER_01]: We learn a very chaotic place.
57:47
[SPEAKER_01]: So there's got to be a bridge and a bond that happens there and it can't be us versus them or them versus us, type deal.
57:54
[SPEAKER_01]: It's got to be how do we start to break down that wall as well.
57:57
[SPEAKER_01]: So that's where we play a role.
57:59
[SPEAKER_01]: as a nonprofit and organization by going out and just trying to empower people.
58:05
[SPEAKER_01]: And we do that by bringing these different tools like our entrepreneurship program, our different clubs, or our different activities as a way to get in there.
58:16
[SPEAKER_01]: But then once we're in there, we give them something that's actually nourishing to building them as people.
58:22
[SPEAKER_00]: love that.
58:23
[SPEAKER_00]: So Herman, what do you feel like it's on the horizon for you as a person?
58:27
[SPEAKER_00]: What's next for your businesses team, eighty-four?
58:29
[SPEAKER_00]: We're gonna see you somewhere at commercials, might see you at some movies like what do you feel like it's on the horizon for you and what's next?
58:35
[SPEAKER_00]: What's in the crystal ball?
58:38
[SPEAKER_01]: I hope to start to really accelerate a lot of things we're doing with the entrepreneurs to be honest with you and how do we continue to grow our business and doing business with bigger partnerships so that they understand the value and the work that we're doing which it should be
58:56
[SPEAKER_01]: excellent standard of work or services that we provide but in doing that you're also supporting a cause in a community driven business and that's one that's looking to give back from the benefit of us to our business together we're going to go out here and change lives and we're going to make doors more accessible and open for others and then we want to be able to give them hope because we have hope if I can't have hope how can I how can I
59:19
[SPEAKER_01]: push hope back and say, yeah, this is what you have to look forward to if I can't uncover other organizations or businesses or even at another level, far more levels than where I'm at right now, that can do so much more to support companies like ours who are cause driven and it's not just about what I can sell you or what I can, I can earn from you versus how do we do business that will help the whole period?
59:43
[SPEAKER_01]: That's who we are.
59:44
[SPEAKER_01]: That's teammateie four.
59:46
[SPEAKER_00]: Love that.
59:47
[SPEAKER_00]: So it sounds like the future is very bright.
59:49
[SPEAKER_00]: It's very bright.
59:50
[SPEAKER_01]: It's very bright, but it needs people.
59:54
[SPEAKER_01]: And I've preached teamwork and anyone who's watching me and my thought leadership, sort of my speaking, it's tough to do things in the visual way.
1:00:02
[SPEAKER_01]: It's tough to do things by yourself.
1:00:03
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
1:00:04
[SPEAKER_01]: I can't do it without my team.
1:00:06
[SPEAKER_01]: hands down and we can't do it without our partners and we can't do it without the representation and access to the people but also having access to opportunities that will allow us to do more.
1:00:21
[SPEAKER_01]: So that's it.
1:00:23
[SPEAKER_01]: We can fix what's broken and that's the one thing I've learned so I don't give up hope just yet on everything that's happening out in the world but I know that there's a coming together that has to happen that's a transparency that has to happen not only in business but as people communication and if we can come across and we can fix that we can fix a whole lot of things and we can fix them fast.
1:00:43
[SPEAKER_01]: thousand percent.
1:00:44
[SPEAKER_00]: So, Herman, if the people want to follow you, they want to follow your journey, they want to tap in, they want to get involved, anything that you got going on, where can they find you?
1:00:50
[SPEAKER_00]: What's the social's, what's your, the best way to get in contact with your team, what's the website, all that stuff?
1:00:55
[SPEAKER_01]: Yep.
1:00:56
[SPEAKER_01]: So, you can always find me on my social channels on LinkedIn, Instagram,
1:01:04
[SPEAKER_01]: Facebook or meta, uh, X, uh, but if you go to my website, uh, home and more, eighty four dot com, you can find us there if you want to learn more about our foundation.
1:01:14
[SPEAKER_01]: You can go to tackle life dot org.
1:01:17
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, but definitely we'll make sure that you and your team have all of our social handles, um, define me.
1:01:23
[SPEAKER_01]: Just look for a verify page that actually has followers and people doing work on it.
1:01:26
[SPEAKER_01]: And you'll know those in my actual pages, but we encourage people to reach out to us.
1:01:30
[SPEAKER_01]: We love ideas.
1:01:32
[SPEAKER_01]: But we are very serious about what we do.
1:01:34
[SPEAKER_01]: We don't just take anything and everything that's going to throw us at us because there's a vetting piece that has to be done there.
1:01:40
[SPEAKER_01]: And we're not going to give our time.
1:01:42
[SPEAKER_01]: to people who aren't as serious and committed when we could be given that time to those who are putting their blood sweat and tears behind what they do.
1:01:50
[SPEAKER_01]: So I'm only one person, we're only one company, but we're resilient.
1:01:54
[SPEAKER_01]: I have a team of dedicated people that I'll ride and die with.
1:01:59
[SPEAKER_01]: any day of the week, and I love being here in Southeast Michigan, being connected to the city of Detroit.
1:02:06
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm hoping that I can do more there.
1:02:08
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm hoping that the access will be greater, and it will start to open up even greater than what it's been.
1:02:13
[SPEAKER_01]: And anywhere I go throughout this state, because I'm not just stuck between boundaries and walls, I go where the people, as you say, you do business with people that want to do business with you.
1:02:25
[SPEAKER_01]: That's it.
1:02:25
[SPEAKER_01]: That's period.
1:02:27
[SPEAKER_01]: that's period in the ethnicity.
1:02:29
[SPEAKER_01]: To me at that point, it should be easy to do it with certain different ethnicities.
1:02:34
[SPEAKER_01]: But even if it isn't, it's not about that.
1:02:36
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm here for people.
1:02:38
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm here to help.
1:02:40
[SPEAKER_01]: And I would love to help, obviously, people of color.
1:02:43
[SPEAKER_01]: I want to help.
1:02:44
[SPEAKER_01]: My community.
1:02:45
[SPEAKER_01]: I want to help.
1:02:46
[SPEAKER_01]: Those that I know look like me, but I need to people there to help me do that.
1:02:51
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm really grateful because this has been a great experience, a great interview because I like to say it.
1:03:06
[SPEAKER_00]: and stuff that you've done off the field and then as a diet hard lying fan, like, I mean, I've been in the trenches since I was a kid.
1:03:14
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I ain't going nowhere as far as that goes.
1:03:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Of course, appreciate things you do on the field, but love how you embrace the Detroit community, the state of Michigan, and just being able to continue to stick around here, be intentional about the work you do around here.
1:03:27
[SPEAKER_00]: and also the work that you're trying to also do with our youth and then the entrepreneurs as well.
1:03:32
[SPEAKER_00]: So we really appreciate it.
1:03:34
[SPEAKER_00]: And please, let's know how we can be able to support you with Black Friday's family or myself so that we can keep this stuff that you got going on going.
1:03:41
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, I'll just tell people to keep watching because we are ready and made a commitment.
1:03:44
[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to work together.
1:03:45
[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to do some things as well.
1:03:47
[SPEAKER_01]: And I want you to challenge me on that as being a person of my work like that.
1:03:52
[SPEAKER_01]: And as I said before,
1:03:54
[SPEAKER_01]: Keep up the great work has been absolute pleasure being here with you and speaking with you and I wish you all the continuous success as well.
1:04:00
[SPEAKER_01]: Appreciate that.
1:04:00
[SPEAKER_01]: That's that's big praise.
1:04:02
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm so thank you so much.
1:04:03
[SPEAKER_00]: And everybody watching, listen, we're going to tap it with your own piece.